#and in terms of the show itself - they couldn't have had that without the incredible team involved

[phantoms-lair]

88 for the crossover roulette.

Okay, this one took me a while

~~~~ "You really are like a cockroach aren't you?"

Vlad whirled around. No human should be in this place! Especially not one he didn't know. And he didn't recognize the tall lanky man one bit, though it was hard to make out his face covered by a hood. "How did you get in my house?"

"There are many ways to get into places Plasmius." he snarled.

Well that was that then. Whoever he was, he couldn't live. He created a duplicate behind the man, ready to strike him unawares-

Only to scream as the duplicate popped and incredible pain lanced through his body.

"Like it?" The stranger sneered, showing off his belt. "Improved model of the specter deflector. Little bit of the Plasmius Maximus built in too. Good luck using your powers for the next several hours." he crouched before Vlad's prone form. "Now where were we? Oh right, you being a cockroach. You do the stupidest shit and then you escape consequences by lying. You lie to your business partners before you rob them blind. You lied to Valerie about everything about ghosts. You like to yourself about how nothings ever your fault and that Mom would ever like you. You lie to Dad about being his friend while trying to kill him."

"Daniel?" Vlad gasped. The man pulled back his hood revealing a familiar face made foreign by age. This Danial was clearly an adult, though not a healthy one, gaunt and wary. "But the specter deflector?"

"Let me tell you a story Vlad. It has a sad beginning. Hell, it's sad all around, but the beginning packs a wallop. It start with a freak explosions at a fast food place causing the deaths of Maddie, Jack, and Jasmine Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley. None of whom became ghosts after that. One survivor, who only survived because his half ghost body regenerated the damage, one Danial Fenton."

"Originally the next of kin to take him is was his Aunt Alicia, but since reconnecting with his 'best friend' Jack had wanted it changed to Vlad Masters. Maddie resisted at first, but after Vlad pretended to save Danny from Pariah Dark, again an incident he'd caused in the first place and again lying, she'd agreed."

"But Vlad wasn't as happy to have control of the boy as he once would have been. He'd blamed him for living when his mother hadn't. He wanted the boy to act grateful for even being in his presence when all the boy wanted was to have died with his loved ones. Needless to say it didn't work out. But did you give him to his Aunt? No. You decided you just needed a better version of him. You'd already been working at your cloning experiments, even if they weren't...built to last." He looked a tube containing a small girl sadly. "But you did the thing you did best besides lying. You got greedy."

"I was at your mercy. Obviously you could have harvest my DNA at your leisure and made a perfect clone, but you decided you wanted more. You decided to splice your own DNA in, so it would truly be 'your' son and that's where everything went wrong."

"You're the first halfa Vlad, but you know how first drafts are. Or maybe you don't, I doubt you ever did your own work. First drafts are messy and incomplete. And that's you as a halfa. Twenty years of experience, but Little Me was catching up to you in less that one. He was also good to go without any serious recovery time while you needed years of hospitalization and even then had flare ups. In terms of blending I was mayonnaise, kept stable and homogenous. You were oil and vinegar, constantly trying to separate. That's what the ecto acne was, you know. Not some skin condition like puberty gone wrong. It was your human body trying to purge itself of ghostly contaminants. Trying to reject Plasmius. And maybe you'd be healthier if you let it."

"But back to the point. You were an imperfect halfa. And you passed that along to the clones you made with your DNA. They failed even faster and you decided the solution was more power. You used me as a battery, draining my ectoplasm into your creation, damaging my body so much I can't create more. You essentially made me human again Vlad. But it still wasn't enough. And you decided it couldn't need much more, so you decided to transfer a bit of your own, only for your creation to take all of it."

"I guess credit where credit it due, you cured my death wish. I lived. I escaped and warned people. They didn't believe me of course. Thought I was mad with grief, especially Val. Until the attacks started. I don't know what the fuck you made with our combined DNA, but whatever it was it had both our memories and neither of our moral compasses, or at least any you pretend to have. It fed off death. And no one was ready for it. For a while I was imprisoned because it would pretend to be me and as such I was deemed a risk. But time helped that. I aged and it didn't. It's human form would always be 14 year old Danny Fenton while it's ghost form was a horrible amalgamation of us. It killed. It destroyed. Anything we did to keep it out it would eventually overpower. Until we decided to game the system."

"Time travel, Vlad. Remove the triggering incident. But not even Clockwork can change things all willy nilly. But what he did was seed things in the past to make the Observants of then panic and order him to fix it. Of course they did it by ordering my death, so Clocky had to work around that. Prove Little Me was worth the chance. Little Me ended up in my time and guess what you did Vlad? Can you guess? You lied again. Made up a whole sob story of how you were just trying to help me with my grief by surgically removing my ghost half and how my ghost half then attacked and stole yours and you'd spent all those years trying to fix it. And he believed you. He's burdened with guilt for a time that never happened and believes you're capable of changing and deserve a second chance. Your lies always work, don't they. But I know better. You can't lie to me, not anymore."

"But I'm not going to kill you Vlad, do you know why?"

"Because you're Daniel. I'm sure you're telling yourself something about how I'll suffer more alive, but the truth is you just can't bring yourself to do something like cold blooded killing." Vlad sneered.

"Wrong. You have no idea what I had to do to survive the hell you made." Danial smiled. "I just respect dibs."

"What? OW!" Vlad's body spasmed as something was forcefully injected into it. He looked up behind him and saw an older version of Valerie Grey, twirling a pressure injector, almost exactly like the ones he used to treat his symptoms when they reoccurred. (The scheming part of his brain realizing that would mean it wouldn't raise any alarms if marks from it were found on his body)

"A little compound based on one of the Fenton's projects. I strengthens ectoplasm and makes it stronger. It would be a real boost for past Danny or any other ghost. But for you? Well, your human form was barely holding it together with the ectoplasm you had."

Vlad whimpered, feeling the bubbling under his skin he recognized from his ectoacne only a hundred times worse.

"Goodbye Vlad." Valerie uncaringly stepped over his dying form and wrapped her arms around Danny, the two joining in a kiss.

"It worked." There was joy in Danny's voice for the first time in along time. "It really worked Val. The future, our loved ones, they're safe."

"They are." Valerie smiled down on him. "So we doing this?"

"Yeah. It's selfish, but I think we've both earned a little selfish." Danny pulled a USB and stuck it in Vlad's computer, Mikey's code rewriting several things. "There we go, edited to include another clone of me and one of you."

"How long are we going to have to be in those tube?" Val wrinkled her nose a little.

"Not long. The evidence we dropped off should get the investigation here in less than a day. Also I missed seeing you with long hair."

"It wasn't practical." Valerie grinned. "But Little You saw me with the buzzcut so I had to grow it back." Thankfully with all the wonders of the Infinite Realms, something to instantly grow hair was downright mundane and something Clockwork had been happy to maintain the timeline.

The story now was the story that had to be. If the Observants discovered they were manipulated they might undo their undo. But Vlad had to be handled and with the narrative the Observants had gotten they wouldn't do it themselves.

(Valerie had actually ranted about this, about how even in the lie Vlad had spun the Monster was half him, But the Observants had put all the blame on the mourning 14 year old. Typical.) The 'responsible' thing would be to let themselves fade from the timeline. Or barring that disappearing and starting new. But as Danny had said, they'd earned a bit of selfishness.

If they posed as clones of their past selves there was a chance their families would be contacted and taken in. It was a gamble. Maybe the authorities they'd contacted would destroy them or turn them over to the GiW. Maybe the Fentons or Damian Grey would see them as a violation of their children and reject them. But they'd take the gamble. It wasn't any worse than the one they'd just taken to save the future. And besides, their younger selves needed all thee help they could get

Sure Danny didn't have powers anymore, but he had the experience fighting his younger self had lacked. If everything worked out, not even Pariah Dark would have a chance against two Danny's working together.

~~~~

Future Danny, Valerie, and Clockwork: We'll seed these images to the Observants so they know all they have to do to save the future is prevent the explosion

Observants: Naturally there's only one way to fix this, KILL THE CHILD

Future Danny, Valerie, and Clockwork: *facepalm*

[noir-fem]

daisy's thoughts on *that* scene

SPOILER WARNING!! I'M ABOUT TO YAP ABOUT HOTD SEASON TWO, SPECIFICALLY BLOOD AND CHEESE!!

DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS!!!

the scene itself

obviously, the show couldn't adapt B&C verbatim without traumatizing child actors in the process, so i'm happy that certain changes were made and that the actual murder happened off screen. i still think they could have kept small details that made it so horrific in the books without hurting child actors though.

the problem is mainly within the writing because there's really no build up. there's no scenes of Helaena being loving with her kids beforehand, no slaughtering of guards or bed maids to make Blood and Cheese look scarier, nothing that builds an impending sense of dread. also B&C being confused/low key cartoonish villains didn't help. these guys are supposed to know the Red Keep's secret pathways like the back of their hand; showing how intruders could get into the keep so easily definitely would have made the scene scarier.

also making B&C into a "misunderstanding " and having Aemond be the original target completely downplays the most evil thing the Blacks ever did and further shows that the writers are unashamedly biased towards the Blacks. the main message of the story is that both sides were war criminals who did awful things!! the senseless cruelty of targeting a toddler for something he had no role in was literally the point of B&C!!

i get that maelor doesn't exist yet, but they still could have done "a son for a son" and kept Helaena being forced to choose between her kids. one person on here suggested having her point to Jaehaera in order to spare Jaehaerys (the heir to the throne), but B&C killing Jaehaerys instead. i think something like that would have kept the psychological torture of having to choose and could still have been done without scaring child actors.

overall, if the writers were trying to out-do the Red Wedding in terms of horror, it didn't work. What made the Red Wedding so terrifying in the first place was the psychological aspects of it and all the tiny clues the audience was given beforehand, the small details telling the viewers that something bad is coming.

that being said, the show's adaptation of B&C still captured the horror of a child being murdered in front of his mother without showing it/being gratuitous. they did an amazing job with just letting you hear the sounds and leaving the rest to the imagination.

in conclusion: r.i.p. sweet baby jaehaerys. daemon targaryen, your days are numbered.

Helaena's reaction (or, rather, lack thereof)

i didn't properly understand/appreciate Helaena's reaction to B&C until i saw other people's takes and rewatched the scene for myself.

at first, i would have liked to see some sort of desperation like there was in the books (like Helaena begging and offering her life). HOWEVER, book!helaena and show!helaena are obviously gonna have some differences, especially with show!Helaena being a dreamer. and with her being coded as autistic/neurodivergent, her reaction makes total sense to something that i myself would do.

say it with me: there is no "right" or "wrong" way to react to trauma!! your brain is literally just doing whatever it has to do to get you out of that situation, and that looks different for everyone. a lot of people freeze or fawn! it doesn't mean that they're "emotionless" or unaffected by what's happening!!

now looking at it, Helaena's silent shock and horror were more gut wrenching to watch than any amount of screaming or begging imo. she's probably already seen this happen in her visions and knows that there's nothing she can do to stop it: all she can do is get herself and Jaehaera out of there. her resigned facial expression, her eyes, her quiet little pleas as she's carrying Jaehaera, her literally dissociating in order to get her and her daughter out of the situation and clinging onto her baby for dear life. Phia's acting was incredible and i believe she did her best with what the writers gave her.

now lastly....

the alicole scene

why???? just WHY????

look i'm all for alicent and criston being hypocrites and alicent finally getting to experience pleasure, but having helaena walk in on her and criston RIGHT after watching her son get brutally murdered.... i don't even need to say any more about this. nobody needs to explain why that is a bad writing choice.

my opinions on the show's take on B&C will likely change depending on how they handle helaena and alicent's reactions to it later on in the series. might even dabble in writing fics and drop my own take on this storyline sometimes hehe.

in conclusion, somebody PLEASE take Helaena's pain, quadruple it, and give it to daemon NOW.

[soullikethesea]

Still overwhelmed. Today was quite nice. I exercised/socialized for like half the day, rested in bed, then cooked dinner and did the grading work. I didn't make it to the prep work, so that will be a bit stressful tomorrow.

I spent some of the weekend at my sister's place and for a few days before I went I could tell that I was tensing up. While walking the last bit to her place, I almost fainted and had couple of jump-scares where I thought that environmental noises were her suddenly showing up behind me.

The time itself was fine, but I was quite tired and therefore I couldn't really be "my best self" and so I worry about her family tolerating/liking me. But Sunday she told me what my gut had been telling me without words, without consciously knowing: she talked to our dad and they made up.

So the deep loyalty is back.

I'm happy for her that they have an actual relationship. It's different than what my dad has with me, where everything is on his terms and I know I cannot count on him to be there when I would need him to be. It scares the hell out of me that now she is back within his realm.

She already told me that she would always pick him over me, when I was a teenager. It just feels so damn painful and unsafe. And I noticed some of the family legacy happening to my nephew. Someone was calling him "too nice", and I swear that it is our curse. He doesn't stick up for himself when others reject him.

It all just brings up so much emotion. Too much, too scary. Things are no longer the way they were. My oldest siblings said that they have also lost touch with our parents, it's not just me and the sister that now made up. They are no longer almighty and incredibly powerful.

But I still feel like *I* am small and powerless. Like I'm a feather that can be blown away in the wind. Worth-less. "Iota" comes to mind, "I don't give an iota about that" (kind of like "not giving a damn"). It was one of the first names I gave myself. Iota; Nothing.

But my covers are soft and I have a hot water bottle. I live in a different house now. I'm already old. All I have to do right now is keep breathing and perhaps sleep.

[joydilouis]

The Greatest song analysis

Ahhh I had to analyze this song. It is too loud to resist.

This entire album is about sifting through the pain of the past and having faith that the future will be better. Just like my song lyric analysis for Lucky again Here The Greatest is yet another song that projects that happy future where Louis and his love no longer have to hide.

Tell you I'm on my way

Nothing can make me late

Said I had a plan for us- (Probably the same masterplan he reminisced about in silver tongues.) There is a theory they were supposedly given permission to come out in 2015 and when zayn left management went back on the agreement. Nothin can make me late, as in he was set and ready to do it with no cold feet.

Time had came and changed it all- Zayn left, babygate started and 1D broke up. A series of events they could not predict.

We had to disappear- (they were closeted in the band but we still saw them in close proximity because they were in the same band. After the hiatus, us seeing them together at all publicly stopped.)

'Cause nothing gets through here, through that circle 'round my heart where the best of me should start- (what is in his heart couldn't come across to management who told them to keep it all to themselves in private. 'Spreading you open is the only way of knowing you' both these lyrics hint at the iron closet louis was put in. There is no way he could get across that he wasn't a straight man with a kid from a one night stand and a longtime gf. The best of him meaning who he really was as a person and who he loves. AIMH tweet comes to mind.)

I said you know me

Alone, we're only

Just as good as the rest- totally gay lyrics. Alone? If this is about el then it doesn't make sense because he is supposed to be with her long term. Alone meaning he was not with the person sometimes and so everyone assumes he is straight without his person around because when he is stunting he is basically alone.

Together we're the greatest

We'll never be left cold again- Larry Stylinson the name itself holds power. They have so many fans and shippers etc., so much support despite not being to openly thank us the fact that they have support without confirmation is incredible. If and when they do come out and show that they are together and not with other people that day they will truly be the greatest and never have to hide in the cold closet again. Coacoac when that first blow hits you cold.

No fallin' all to pieces- (hinting at Harry's song Falling where he sings about falling alone without his love, Coacoac's dead birds and broken beaks.)

We're the greatest

It's you and me until the end- Louis ain't going back to that shit again he gonna remain in the light with his love.

Life for us is never over- we are not going to give up or give into letting others control them anymore.

The way you know somethin

Your face reminding me

Of a love you cannot hide- Harry reminding him of the past and what they've been through and saying with his look that he cannot go back there. He is reminding louis he can't hide his feelings, he was never good at it and doesn't wanna do it again.

But don't need to tell me why- doesn't need to tell louis because he knows what is written on his face (no pun intended.)

Back dancin' in the dark

Back to the very start- louis explains why harry doesn't need to tell him what he is thinking about. He is thinking about the unbearable idea of having to go another day stunting and hidden.

Finding' pieces that can fit

We can hope for what we miss- missed out on a lot of shit not being able to go public.

Bridge and chorus again reaffirming his decision.

[vodka-redbull-daily]

December 5th, 2023 (Part 2)

*Graphic Sexual Content*

Today I met with J--- at the hotel that I had rented out a week or so ago. I got some breakfast after leaving W----'s because even though I left pretty early in the morning, it was still a little bit too early to actually get to the hotel. I had called ahead to ask if I could check in early since they're checking it's usually at 3pm and on the phone they told me that they could let me in at 11 like planned. Originally, I had scheduled an eye doctor's appointment but I hadn't been planning on staying over at W----'s house, and I didn't sleep too well. In between Archer making your messes everything and chewing on things and W----s incredibly loud snoring (it was so loud I originally thought he was asleep on the couch right next to the front door when I walked in), I canceled my appointment and just moved it to a different day since there was no way I was gonna get there on time. There was plenty of time to do the appointment and then get the hotel, just not enough to actually do the appointment itself. Once I got to the hotel, it was about 10 am and I went to go see if I could check in.

I got to the front desk and told them my reservation details and asked to check in. They told me that check in wasn't until three and I told them that I had gotten basically prior approval on the phone. Apparently, the room they had given to me wasn't actually clean yet, since it was so early in the morning and they just moved me to a different room. They have basically upgraded me from a queen to a king, but that means it costs more money. That's all right. Since J--- had actually paid a little bit more than I'd asked him to do in the first place.

I got to the hotel room and J--- texted me to let me know that he was gonna take a shower when he got here because the plumbing in the place he was at wasn't working correctly. He also told me he was gonna stop at a sex shop and asked if I wanted anything. I said no except for the fact that I've been trying to find some lube, but that was more for me than him, so I wasn't planning on having him get it from me. He did anyway and also he said the lady at the front counter gave him a bunch of free condoms and when he showed me the bag it definitely was a bunch. There's a lot in there like two handfuls. He also brought some red bull and vodka; however, this hotel didn’t have any cups. So we were just taking turns, taking a sip of vodka out of the bottle and chasing out with the Red Bull. Honestly not that great. Zero out of 10. Do not recommend.

He also bought himself a stimulant. I know they're called poppers, but I know that's a slang term and that's actually not the legal name and I know that it's technically illegal if you call them that. At least that's what I've heard from the online videos and articles from the BDSM community/gay community.

He kept saying how awkward it was and how weird he felt. And honestly, I didn't feel that weird. I just felt really tired and not really at all in the mood. B------ had told me to walk in the room and act like I'm six foot four to really own the space but I was just really tired and he was being really weird about it. He kept saying that he thought it was a sting operation and that the cops are going to come get him any second. A little bit dramatic if you ask me.

I tried to be all dominant, like when we were making out and stuff I tried directing him to take off his clothes, tried to be very direct and to the point without being pushy about it. It was weird, because I couldn't tell if he was enjoying it or not. He said he wanted somebody to be dominant like that. He started snorting the stuff and honestly it smelled like ass. Even after he's already left it still smells pretty bad. 

After he managed to take our clothes off, I tried to be dominant and tried to direct him to eat me out. He told me that something he wanted me to do anyway. I had him kneel on the side of the bed and I scooted over to the edge where he ate me. I normally don't like to cum while somebody's eating me since it's so messy, but that seems to be a turn-on for him and also P--- So I tried to be sexy, asking him if he wanted to eat it and he said yes. So I came in his mouth.

I guess he likes it but I guess I also never know. I think we did that like two or three times before he crawled on the bed and lay next to me and started fingering me very aggressively. It felt good. Some of the best fingering I've had in a while. The problem that came so hard that I actually ended up shitting myself. That happens every now and then especially if I eat something that doesn't sit too well with my stomach. He didn't say anything about it. I asked him if he wanted to have me ride his dick and he said yes. So he laid back on the pillows and we started playing with a dick trying to get it hard. 

I was kissing and biting in between his legs running my fingernails up and down his thighs squeezing and licking his balls. nothing was really working but he kept asking me to be rougher with his balls and just to straight up slap them. I guess he was in to ball torture. we did this for a little bit, I would squeeze his balls tight and then put them on my mouth and stuck on them. Even using a little bit of teeth. He really liked this like his whole body was shaking with pleasure and I really thought he was going to cum. after a little bit of running my hands up and down his thighs, it seemed like he was really interested in me touching his asshole. So I went ahead and asked him to give me the lube that he had gotten. I opened it and I lubed my fingers before sticking them in his ass. He did in fact really enjoy this and we even go all the way up to two fingers.

He didn't cum from this though and actually ended up going soft again. I cleaned up a little bit and washed my hands and he asked to just relax for a minute. So we cuddled there for a second and he kept saying how awkward it was and that's why he couldn't get hard. After a little bit of making out, he pushed my hand down to his cock. I don't know what it is about guys wanting me to basically just jerk them off, but he very quickly got hard again and then was on the edge almost cuming just from that alone. He then asked me to sit on his face. I did and held onto the headboard as he ate me.

it wasn't really that pleasurable. It's hard to get an angle that works like that, but he was the one who had asked. So while he did that, and I was gripping his hair because I had noticed that he liked that earlier. he kept making all these weird noises and I thought he might be suffocating so I tried to give him space. But I don't really know if it worked or not. After we were finished I did tell him that if we ever do it again I would like him to tap on my thigh to give me some kind of indication if I was suffocating him. He did eventually cum  from aggressively masturbating as he ate me, so I got off him and we laid there and talked for a little bit. I was kind of hoping he didn't want to go for round two.

Even though we hadn't actually been here that long. I'm kind of tired and I definitely don't feel like being dominant right now. He talked for a little bit, cleaned himself up and then left. He left behind the bulk of the red bulls, the vodka, and the Condoms. I guess those are for me now. He paid forever ago since I had to get the hotel so no actual adding to the statistics today. Besides adding to my body count, that is.

Total Earned: $5,720

Body Count: 18

Dick Pics: 22

Videos: 2

Nudes sent: 4

Head Recieved: 3

Head Given: 15

Sex Ranking:

B-------

Him

T----

W----

P------

F----

G---

A---

G--

R--

J---

T------

J--

M--- (x2)

D--

J-----

A----

M---

[girlinplaits]

Screaming. Crying. Throwing myself against a wall; A walkthrough of Netflix’s ‘Heartstopper’ with Set Decorator Maxwell Fine

Image credits: Netflix, Rob Youngson, See Saw, Maxwell Fine 

This post has been copied from Maxwell Fine's website for future reference.

My phone didn’t stop buzzing on a random Wednesday in February 2021. Colleagues and friends were tweeting, facebooking and whatsapping me to tell me See Saw was producing a new show called Heartstopper for Netflix and I had to get myself involved. After making a little bit of a name for myself in LGBTQIA+ creative projects earlier in my career It sounded like the perfect fit for my next TV show!

I’m Maxwell Fine and for the past 10 years I have worked as a Set Decorator in TV, Advertising and Music promo. I’ve been in the most bizarre and fabulous situations on set from steaming silk curtains for Kate Winslet on a Lancome campaign to watching Lady Gaga be strung up to a studio ceiling in Japanese ropes for an Art Film. I’ve made panel shows, scripted comedies and fiercely bold dramas for BBC, Disney and Netflix amongst others - the list really does go on and on.

Thankfully, my phone often rings and my inbox is filled with requests here and there “can you do that?” or “Are you available to jump on this?” and on this particular random Wednesday afternoon, the brilliantly bold and BAFTA award winning designer Tim Dickel, asked me to jump on a Zoom to discuss a new project.

I had never heard of (the absolutely delightful) New York Times Best selling Author, Alice Oseman’s ‘Heartstopper’ before the script landed in my inbox. Like a lot of people, once I discovered it I couldn’t get it out of my head. There were so many parallels to my own life and I immediately understood why it was a queer story that just had to be told mainstream. If you can, you must - and so we did!

A few years previous I had campaigned for Switchboard LGBT+ helpline with the launch of my Print and Neon sculpture project ‘Robbed’. I created a load of typographical artworks inspired by a mentally exhausting jaunt I had with an ex partner who struggled with coming to terms with his sexuality.

The Art Department on a shoot take care of everything visual. From designing and building sets, booking Animals and Characters Vehicles, Food styling through to all the props and furniture used to dress a space. Paperclips to Spaceships - it’s up to the Art Department who design, buy and coordinate. As a Set Decorator, I work with a Designer and team to bring their vision to life through … stuff!

Observation is king.

I learnt to be a keen observer really early in secondary school. I was around 14 years old when I found myself squirrelled away at the back of the Art Classroom. I found myself set up on a stool next to the photocopier because I wouldn’t stop talking to my friends all lesson. I soon worked out that I really liked playing with materials and making things and so, headphones in I would sit for hours and hours, in lunch breaks and after school - making things. Painting, drawing, crafting sculptures, working with layering, cutting things out, trying again and again to make something out of nothing - a theme that would take me into this weird and wonderful career in Television!

We were being taught to observe. A weird task perhaps but an important one that would give me grounding for my future career working in TV design! As students, we would look at the world around us and try and replicate. Impressionist brush strokes, shadows and highlights on fruit, the texture of an onion out of papier mache - whatever we were working on - observation was king. Looking back now, I can not stress enough the importance of this life skill.

I gently honed my craft and with a lot of encouragement from teachers I passed my GCSE in Art and moved onto A Levels, then graduated Secondary school to a Foundation course in Art and Design and then onto Central Saint Martins to study Performance design as a University degree.

When we find Charlie sitting alone on the floor in the Art Classroom pondering life, it really made me think back to my own experience at school. Okay - so it’s wasn’t quite the same and our stories are different - but that connection to creativity and our shared curiosity with the world Charlie has is familiar to my story too.

In practice, being lead by our brilliant designer Tim, I tried to take the messy creativity of my own Art Classroom at School through to the Art Classroom at Truham. Together with our fabulous Production Buyer Zoe Seiffert and our Art Department team, we worked to create endless lists of what we were going to put in this empty room to bring it to life as a working Art Classroom.

I dug out some old photos I had of my Art room and we started to observe and take notes. Paint bottles, dirty brushes, coursework, notebooks, portfolios, stacks of paper. “Plants! We always had plants!” Zoe noted - quick - we popped some plants in the space and then our Art Assistants started making sketches of leaves, paintings of trunks to put around the place - as if the students had had a botanical project of some sort and had made work from the objects around them. All the amazing Artwork you see in the space was conceived by Tim and made in house by our team. Themes of Identity, open doors, the eye project, animal and environmental sculptures, self portraits - we were really exploring classic school themes here!

We added layers upon layers to bring life to the abandoned school we were filming in. We brought in coloured glass objects on window sills for light to bounce through, splattered paint all over the walls and repainted furniture. Our Art Assistants made recycled sculptures from coloured cellophane we found at a recycling warehouse on the outskirts of London. Tim has a knack of finding brilliant source images to work from. Sea animals, giant Jellyfish sculptures, Cassette tapes made from string, Fingerprint Artwork made from Newspaper cuttings - the creativity was endless!

You may notice throughout the series the Artwork in the room changes as the story moves through the seasons and our Characters develop their romance. Cacti sculptures come into bloom, Tissue Paper buds begin to blossom and we add more detail as the series progresses - in a way, the props here have their own way of growing with the Characters!

To say this set specifically was a labor of love is an understatement. We moved the artwork around the walls more than you’ll ever know, mounting, stapling, creating labels and really trying to capture the vibe of a busy British Secondary school Art room. We knew it was the one place in School where Charlie seeks refuge and so the relief of uncapped creativity needed to come through the props and dressing in this space more than anywhere else in the School.

Continuing our theme of integrating Alice’s illustrations, the sets in the Schools are almost their own character!

Tim was keen to create contrasting shapes and block colours to define spaces and keep the visual clean and graphic. The team made some epic 3D science posters in the Higgs form room and printed a semi transparent window film of the Periodic table to put in the window panes. Throughout the schools you can find nods to illustrations. From the Hokusai inspired blowing leaf mural (drawn by Alice!) in the Hallway (a beautiful nod to the winds of change!) at Truham to the Julian Opie inspired mural outside by the picnic benches. The best design ideas are often the simplest.

Tim wanted to work with the concept of a Geography classroom in the Truham Form room. Volcano sculptures made by students (actually made by our super talented Art Assistants) and segmented diagrams of Geodes and Rocks on the windows. We even found some really cool sandy beige school chairs from the 70’s to use here. Tim loves using light panels and placed a brilliant display of backlit images of rocks in the corner behind Nicks head for the scene where Charlie and Nick first meet. I loved the idea of rocks being formed under pressure and the metaphor of our characters blossoming romance - it all seemed to fit quite nicely. There are little gems like this all over the sets if you’re on the look out!

How to fill an empty space

Rule number one: Some spaces need to remain empty and some spaces are full on purpose.

Everything you see on screen is intentional, from dying plants to folded post-it notes. The colour of confetti through to the pattern on Nellie the dogs collar - every single item was hand picked by the Art Department with intention. You might think, why does this matter? Well, if it was any other way - we’d be telling a different story!

I talk a lot about contrast in this blog and really it’s the idea of full spaces vs empty spaces, light rooms vs dark rooms that bring the magic of a set together. The Dark, empty hallway Charlie follows Ben down vs the busy bright and colourful Art Room Charlie feels truly comfortable in to discuss his innermost feelings with Mr Ajai - everything we do is designed to support the storyline.

Working from Alice’s source material, we wanted a sense of hand drawn details in our sets. You can see this in patterns on ceramics and fabrics all over our sets. We tried to select elements that had a friendly illustrative element to them, from mugs to water bottles, curtains to cushions. The shapes within objects have softness, curves, uneven lines - we set ourselves guidelines to know what sort of objects to search for when we were buying.

As in most film shoots, we worked to create the perfect environment for our characters to exist in to let the story unfold. Charlie’s room is eclectic and messy because his story can be seen as eclectic and messy. He absorbs everything going on around him, over thinks and questions everything, so our question was; how do we show this through stuff?

Nicks room is more uniform in style. Nick’s life can be seen as more stereotypically ‘together’ than Charlie’s and so his Bedroom reflects this. It looks more settled and more formulaic. For me, the way Charlie embraces his sexuality is a direct result of him being so creatively curious in life. Although he might not think it, he’s bold, courageous and sure of himself. We wanted to create a design contrast between Nick and Charlie’s spaces to show their differences. Having such rich source material from Alice’s illustrations was a brilliant starting point for us to create from.

Our team worked on fleshing out the illustrations and adding layers of British Teenage life to them. We discussed how these characters would have grown up in these bedrooms and what the objects would be within them that make the bedrooms theirs.

There’s magic in the clutter!

We try to create a sense of realism by mixing and contrasting objects and colour tones. Brand new things next to vintage fabrics, hard surfaces next to soft, light next to dark. It can even get as granular as Matt next to Gloss - it’s all in the contrast. People tend to gather things in their environments over time from all sorts of places. It’s our job on a shoot to find the balance and create a convincing space in a super fast turn around -often a matter of weeks from concept to finished set.

Charlies bedroom wanted to be messy but also had to have a sense of ownership. We wanted to give him layers and layers of life that had collected as he’d grown up in the bedroom. We start with working out the furniture and then the rest falls into place from there. Our question often was, if there were 100 objects available what ones would Charlie pick to have in his bedroom? Out of all the things in the world, what represents him the most? Lamps, shoes, trinkets and bedding, books and posters - everything chosen specifically with the character in mind. I like to think the props tell their own story!

Early on Tim was keen to involve graphic shapes in the design for Heartstopper which came directly from Alice’s illustrations. The key to this was pulling reference directly from the Graphic novels. Stripes, stars, squiggles, leaves - you can see it in every scene and every shot. I found the rug from Charlie’s bedroom in a closing down sale in North London. We thought it worked really nicely with its bold geometric shapes in the scene where Nick and Charlie are on the floor doing homework.

I knew from reading my scripts (1000 times) that we had a sleepover here and our Characters would be hanging out on the floor. We found a vintage mattress to pull in on the floor for this scene and a load of random bedding and camping accessories we imagined would have been hauled out of the attic by Charlie’s dad. Charlie’s ‘cabin bed’ is raised up on cabinets which gives us some texture and shape behind him when he’s leaning against it sitting on his bedroom floor.

I found a job lot of amazing vintage erasers - we really wanted a sense of collections and nic’naks on shelves, stuffed behind the bed and on the desk. Our Art Assistants set to work scribbling, doodling, scratching marks into the furniture and remaking various things to turn one thing into another. A camel sculpture wears a vintage Action Man jacket, Toy Soldiers climb around Charlie’s bedroom door. It went on and on, including the excessive Converse piled around the room and plenty of Knitted jumpers noted in the graphic novels! If you looked super closely, we even scratched height marks into Charlie’s bedroom door frame as if his parents had noted different heights as he grew up.

Tim wanted realism in the sets to ground them in something believable and provided us with a lot of creative references to work from. We spent a long time researching what teens had in their bedrooms to guide us! I was asked if I could frame one of my Art prints for Charlie’s bedroom and we thought that the iconic ‘Stand Tall’ print would be the perfect piece to pop on his bedside table. It’s available to buy here if ever you needed an ounce of positivity and encouragement in your life too!

Our fantastic Art Assistant Anastasia Louka is a creative force and is behind most of the hand drawn elements in the show. Anastasia set about doodling and drawing, scribbling and making little personal bits all over the sets. The idea was to show a life lived in these spaces. We love stuff and our stuff (much like our clothes) show the world who we are.

Charlie’s house wanted to continue on the theme of being relaxed and creative. We wanted to create a connection to Charlie’s bedroom with a more grown up feel to it. The house needed to be familiar and cosy - we settled on the idea of his parents, much like Charlie being worldly people who had collected a variety of things in their lives. Peoples homes and bedrooms are often nests where they bring objects back from their experiences out in the world. Human beings are brilliant collectors of stuff and we try to show this when we work on sets for any project.

We set about buying in a load of artifacts from their travels, lots of terracotta and memorabilia from Europe. We thought about trinkets they may have brought home from a holiday to put on Kitchen surfaces, bits and pieces Charlie’s Dad may have collected over time on the fireplace in the living room. Teapots and vases, jugs and magnets - all sorts! I found a patterned sofa on eBay that I thought looked super comfy and something his mum would have bought when they moved in. Maybe something to bring gentle nostalgia for that iconic scene where Charlie is asleep on the Sofa with Nick.

I think the whole vibe of the house is that they’ve been there since Charlie and Tori were kids. There’s something about an old house that is so warm and lovely rather than something new and clean looking that can be a bit more hostile as an environment. Rather than going heavy with pattern, we worked with variations on tone and colour shades within ceramics and various pieces of wood furniture with knocks and deep wood grain to look like they had lived a life. We carried this through to slouchy cushions and floppy tropical plants, everything we put into the space was to create a sense of warmth, the sets here were almost sunkissed.

Nick’s room wanted to be a contrast to Charlie’s. In Charlie’s bedroom we see a lot of personal creativity in the objects he surrounds himself with. It’s almost like his Mum has decorated it for him and he’s added personal touches as a layer on top of that. We start our story with Nick not really knowing much about his sexuaility, so we wanted to add heteronormative touches to his room to ground his Character visually.

Our King of Rugby has a lot of trophies and sports medals. We dressed Robots on the window sill, Tin Spaceships and sports themed games, metal gridded shelving, Aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling and of course a load of hoodies everywhere - it’s a boys bedroom. There are a few bits from when he was younger but we thought maybe his mum had had a good clear out and a redecorated as he grew up. He even has a double bed!

As with all our sets, when we have hard surfaces we needed to cosy it up a bit and we do this here with soft linen curtains, throwback bedding and a slouchy corduroy beanbag. I especially loved Alice’s ‘Straight boy puts up one string of fairy lights for Christmas and never takes them down’ vibe.

Of course, there’s buckets of personality in Nick’s bedroom too but we wanted it to be less free flowing and fluid than Charlie’s. Knowing Nick’s mum was a Doctor we thought there had to be a sense of formality and style to the space to contrast with Charlie’s wholly creative and organic environment. The most ‘out there’ this room gets is the bright yellow sunglasses hanging on the peg board! Crazy Nick ;) There’s more structure to the objects we put into this space, less eclectic and more scandinavian design themes - block colours and cleanly shaped objects in light wood, chrome and frosted perspex. I think this sets the tone for a teen who seemingly has his life together and allowed us to strike that distinction when he realises it may be taking a turn in a different (but fabulous) direction as our story develops. I guess it depends on how much you think ‘stuff’ defines a person.

We had the challenge of bringing life a few more amazingly detailed bedroom sets for the other Characters in our story. We knew we wanted a Top-Shot of Darcy’s room and that they were super super expressive as a person. We set about finding all sorts of things to have on their bedroom floor that they could lay amongst from toys to clothes through to random bits of bedding from their childhood and even some fun fairy lights and streamers to throw into the mix. Elles bedroom was a bit more refined, she’s a talented artist so we made a load of doodles and paintings to put on the wall. The fun part was getting variations between the bedrooms and this comes through in the detail the team put into the sets.

Tao’s bedroom was bursting with Polaroid photos and amazing Artwork made by our in house Graphic Designer Mike Cranston. For this set, Tim wanted to push through that Tao was a film lover so we collected a load of vintage equipment, old cameras and even wire sculptures of cameras to dot around his bedroom. Tim found a gridded wallpaper to use as the base to line up all the wall elements with and it flowed from there - LED lighting behind the bed, cool perspex shelves to display his collection of cameras on - it all came together and was the perfect setting for Tao and Elle’s movie night together!

Tara’s bedroom was one of my favourites - the script said she was surrounded by stuffed toys - so we went to town and covered her entire bed in 40 teddy bears! We also got to work on a snippet of Isaacs bedroom as he sits against a wall (classically) head in a book! With all of the sets, we tried to get a lived in look going by washing bedding on a high heat and leaving out to air dry and putting them on the beds unironed. It’s all in the detail!

Harry’s 16th Birthday party is where it all comes together so we had to make it fabulous! When Designer Tim asked us to arrange Balloons all over the exterior of this magical building I knew exactly who to call. Our fabulous Balloon Queen Jane and team were up for the task! We had some coloured balloon samples sent to our office and plotted out where the balloons would go on a print out of the building. There were 1000’s of Balloons inflated indoors the day before filming and then were strung out of windows for the shot when Charlie arrives at the party in his dad’s car.

Another challenge on this set was to recreate Floral arrangements from the books when Charlie and Nick have their first kiss. I took note of Alice’s illustrations and I knew Jenny Tobin (Florist to the stars!) could do them justice. We referenced Daisies and meadow flowers with their big relaxed droopy heads and floppy leaves. It was important to us the florals were friendly and approachable instead of stiff and corporate. Charlie and Nick run off to find a quiet spot to catch up at the party and we wanted to try and match the florals here to Alice’s Illustrations as best we could in real life. A lot of thought goes into everything we put on screen and most of the florals in Heartstopper are Jenny’s brilliant work.

Towards the end of our shoot schedule, in the middle of Summer we started work on the Herne Bay / Pier sets. Our designer Tim had some amazing mood boards of truly British Seaside scenes so we set about pulling in all the various items we’d need to recreate that. Our production buyer Zoe found some fantastic sealife balloons that we thought harked back to our Art Classroom sculptures (we love a throwback reference!) and we filled baskets with all sorts of things you’d find at the seaside. From buckets and spades, through to pool noodles and parasols - if its on a beach we had it.

One of the final scenes we filmed was the merry-go-round fairground ride that was (inside scoop!) filled with crew!! Safe to say, by the 5th time round I was feeling like I was about to vomit but it was far too late to get off as we were already filming and I was right in the back of shot.

Of course there are plenty of other sets that we worked on for the show that I haven’t gone into detail about but overall we worked to create a fully realised splash of queer teen British loveliness throughout. I was continually humbled by the 110% our team put into every day at work on this project, we really were all working at a million miles per hour to make the visual the best we could and try to do Alice’s brilliant world justice.

All said and done, I hope our side of the story has come through in the props and set dressing for the better! It was a massively exciting project to work on and myself and our fantastic production buyer Zoe felt a huge responsibility to Alice, the fans and the LGBTQI+ community to inject as much vibrancy and life into these sets as we could. We knew from the start how groundbreaking this show would be for Netflix and our community as a whole. We made sure we took extra care selecting every one of the thousands of items we put into the sets and felt so lucky to have Tim, Alice, Patrick, Zorana and Euros to guide us each step of the way.

We could not have done it if it wasn’t for the inspiring framework our designer, Tim Dickel had set out for the visuals for the show - his endless creativity and passion for storytelling is compelling and bursts through every scene! Most importantly, we had a tonne of fun pulling it all together which is really, what it’s all about.

As always with the LGBT+ projects I work on, we stand on the shoulders of the giants who have come before us and we pay immense gratitude to everyone in the queer space past and present who have created work to better the community we all belong to.

[justoceanmyth]

Hi!! What’s your most favorite but most hated atla character? Also what’s your idea on the most popular ships such as kataang/zutara etc and which ship would you like to see more of (if any)?

Thank you!

This is a spicy question!

Well, my most-hated favorite character is surprisingly easy to answer-- it's Wan Shi Tong. I think that he deserves so much better than he's gotten from the fandom. While there are definitely some other characters that could take this spot (Aang comes to mind), I think that the general distaste from even the casual fans of the show toward Wan Shi Tong makes him my most hated fav.

People should ask me more questions about Wan Shi Tong, I'd love to answer them. He's so much fun!

Alright, so in order to answer the next part of your question I jumped over to the ATLA ao3 fandom tag & grabbed the top three in order of popularity.

Katara/Zuko

In terms of the ship itself? Honestly it's just not my cup of tea. My favorite thing to do when it comes to shipping is to figure out how and why the characters would be drawn to each other, the themes of the relationship, how that resonates with the overall themes of the show, and what each person would be drawn to in the other. And I genuinely can't figure out how Katara would fall in love with Zuko. Like I just don't see anything in Zuko that would draw Katara to him, and without that spark I can't see anything happening. It's not even a "oh i ship it/i don't ship it" type of opinion-- those two opinions require that you can see some kind of chemistry between the two. And ultimately I'm not interested in the ship enough to try and wrap my head around it.

Which leads me into my next take-- because I find that my opinions on a ship are often colored by the fandom surrounding it. Part of the reason I'm uninterested in trying to ever wrap my head around Zuko/Katara is because it's just. So Very Big. ZK fandom is large, loud, and incredibly annoying. I find that a lot of their takes on the show are also… off-putting to say the least. I love some good fanon ships (though I do often like the canon pairing of a work as well), but the canon ship is never a threat. I've never found myself needing to construct large arguments about how one ship is bad in order to prove my ship's right to exist. That's kinda funky. I also can't stand the amount of Aang hate that comes from that area of the fandom.

Overall my take on ZK is: I'll pass. Thanks.

Sokka/Zuko

I just don't get them? I don't get the ship, I don't like the ship, it has all the problems that I had with ZK except Zuko and Sokka have literally two episodes where they interact with each other in a meaningful way, I just. Why is it popular? I don't get it.

Also the shippers are very annoying imo.

Overall my take on ZS is: I don't get it and I don't want to.

Aang/Katara

I love Aang/Katara It just happens to hit on all the things I like about ships-- there's so much depth to it in regards to why the characters might be drawn to each other, the themes of the relationship are rich and interesting to think about, they resonate strongly with the message of the show, and I can find numerous reasons that either character would be drawn to the other one. Overall there's so much to think about and work with in regards to their relationship and dynamic that I couldn't really sum up all my thoughts in this post.

I think when it comes to KA my biggest frustration is that fan content/fanon can feel stagnant sometimes-- where everything starts to feel like it coexists with canon peacefully, or fills in missing scenes, or has some duty to end in a way that allows for canon to pick up the story from the end. But there's so many interesting possible canon alterations and AUs that would lend interesting complications to the Aang/Katara dynamic, but I feel that people aren't always willing to let canon go for long enough to explore the alternatives. I'd love to see more non LoK/Comics compliant fan content that pairs Kataang together. I feel like there's often this thought that "we're fans of the canon ship, we need to keep as close to canon('s idea of their future) as possible" when it would be so much more interesting to-- idk, try and avoid using LoK or the comics at all!

It would be fun!

Overall take: I love the ship, the amount of potential in the ship, and the complexities that can exist in the dynamic!

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

Hello! Can I ask c!Wilbur for the ask game?

First impression: Who the hell is this British Hamilton fanboy and why won't the YouTube comment section of Eight by Sleeping At Last shut up about him? (I first discovered this song through a Jotaro Kujo analysis; it's still funny to me that one of my hyperfixations bled so directly into another.)

Impression now: Bastard. Beloved. Probably one of the objectively best characters on the server in terms of how well thought-out his arc is, and for the sheer impact he's had. I can’t decide if I want to wrap him in a fuzzy blanket and carry him like a baby animal, or shove him in a washing machine set to its highest spin setting and watch him flop around. Also, holy fuck, this guy is gifted kid anxiety given physical form. Please get him a proper therapist.

Favorite moment: Hhhhhhh him standing up for c!Niki during the Red Festival. To think that just minutes prior, he was seriously contemplating killing every person in attendance, including her, but he just couldn't do it... yet. Was this his compassion returning to him, or was it another attempt at self-destruction? Possibly both. Who knows. That entire stream shows c!Wilbur at his best and worst, imo.

Idea for a story: c!Wilbur's arc naturally lends itself to a lot of theatrics, but... I'd like to see him experiencing something down-to-earth. Something small, but just as meaningful. Maybe he's out fishing, not really catching anything (or anyone) but just enjoying the sounds of insects, birds, and the lapping waves. Maybe he's with a smaller c!Fundy, helping him brush mud and burs from his fur after a long day playing outside, or telling him about the tooth fairy after he just lost his first canine. Maybe he's with c!Tubbo and c!Tommy, making battle preparations that turn into a paper airplane battle because they're younger and happier and the stakes feel so much kinder. Maybe he's sitting at an old haunt and playing guitar, when the people who loved him come one-by-one to say something, sing along, or just... listen. Maybe he just gets to watch another sunrise after a good night's sleep. That's what I enjoy seeing.

Unpopular opinion: He wasn't being manipulative to c!Tubbo at all in the last stream, you guys are just mean. Also, they weren't drugs, they were fucking POTIONS. Do you REALLY want to take that joke to its logical extreme? Because I will take it there. And the implications are just as bad for you as they are for him. Do not do this. Trust me. You don't know what you're starting.

Favorite relationship: c!Crimeboys, without question. They've been so integral to each other's arcs since the very beginning. They enable each other's worst tendencies, feed into each other's insecurities, but underneath it all there's such a genuine sense of love and care that's stayed through thick and thin. It hurts, man. I do enjoy his dynamic with c!Quackity too, even though I'm incredibly picky about how it's portrayed.

Favorite headcanon: After being revived, c!Wilbur is constantly cold to the touch and doesn't really feel sensations the same way he used to - they're either dulled, or far more intense than they should be. He will have days where he can eat the spiciest foods without an ounce of discomfort, and others where he can't stomach anything at all. Sometimes, when he's devoted to a new project, he forgets that as a living being he still needs to eat at all.

[tomatograter]

i saw on twitter you reread the epilogues! would it be okay to ask how you feel about them now on a reread? have any of your opinions changed, for better or worse? i've really loved the art and analysis that's come out of your tumblr/twitter ever since they dropped, so i'm excited to know what you think. i couldn't get a great read on your feelings based on your tweets so that is why i am asking directly, hope that's okay!

Not much changed. That wasn't the first time I attempted to re-read the HS Epilogues, I've gone through bits and pieces of them a handful of times in the years since the original release and it's an effort I make to remind myself of events that happened because I tend to... forget. I don't mind reading books, I like those! In the hellscape that was 2020, according to my StoryGraph stats (great new site, by the way, stop using the Amazon-clawed Goodreads and transfer your account to a black led effort to diversify the current literary environment) I managed to read about 22 new books. Not too shabby for a total dumbass. The problem isn't that it was text-only, they just sort of mush together as a nondescript mass in my brain given enough time. 

The first time I finished the epilogues, I said they felt like a purposefully unfinished text, but one at odds with itself (though in much more undercooked words, as I had just spent the last 2 days busy reading it) and it's an impression that has deepened since.

I do not mean anything like "Meat contradicts Candy" with this, that'd be foolish; the dissonance is the fucking point. I know how dubiously canon alternate universes work and I *enjoy* them, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted years in the circus ring that is accompanying Big 2 Comics in the hopes they'd do anything genuinely cool with that concept. Instead, I find there is a general problem in terms of internal cohesion. The Epilogues want to be a lot of things at once, be it a continuation, an expulsion, a deliberate attempt at public scorn, a somewhat genuine play in heartfelt analysis, a reinvention of what came before, or a loaded gun pointed straight at one's own foot. And in the process, they end up undermining the impact of their own strongest moments. 

I don't like the Epilogues. Their lukewarm indecisiveness makes for a poor reading experience that needs far more asides, warnings and 'before you read it-'s than the book is worth. It is a text with a particularly distasteful, juvenile fixation in the show and repeated humiliation of sexual abuse victims, and manages to be more regressive about its female characters and what roles they're allowed to play than Homestuck, the 2009 Comic, ever was. And that was disappointing. It's as if the coming of adulthood must sort them into one of two categories: "wanted, desirable" woman or "unwanted, undesirable" woman. It also interacts with trans women in a really shitty way. It is a text married to traditional white-centric politics that makes an attempt to challenge them from that same perspective but falls flat on its face by pulling big moves like "making the alien-Hitler analogue character fight for a rebellion meant to represent racial liberation" and other unsavory choices. But I don't need to like the Epilogues to acknowledge them as both a text that exists and works within a shared universe. 

They're pretty fertile ground for dissection and analysis. I think it's interesting how they accentuate some of the worst facets of the HS "canon"/"lore" by being incredibly blatant about their connection to stuff like the Skaianet archives, how they play with Fanservice and Fan Expectation by dedicating so much time to solving or sinking ‘The Davekat Equation’, and how they elaborate on complex facets of old characters. It's a text that acknowledges the existence of fanfiction and popular fanworks on a direct quotable basis (like "Can't sleep without holding onto a motherfucker" of 4Chords fame) as well as Fan Movements that preceded it (the also Gamzee-based "Free the clown!" Rush from 2016) it's intrinsically interactive, and that's not something you can say about a lot of media. The olive branch beckons.

I don't recommend the Epilogues. To me, the Epilogues portray glimpses of two potential, but not absolute, futures soaked in limiting metadoomer pessimism, best appreciated as "what-if" tales taking on the questions of serialization, post-myth, the self-cannibalistic nature of franchises, the abstractness of Canon, the absurdity of fanon, and why fascists like milk. The Epilogues are also not going to magically disappear or un-exist from our collective recollection anytime soon, or… ever. These statements coexist. 

I think complex feelings towards media are best put to use in the making of your own art, which is unsurprising, given the fact I'm an artist and a fag, & I've personally enjoyed creating things that interact and rebuke aspects of that text. I've also been graced with the existence of wonderful art from others doing the same, may that be in the form of illustrations, written epics, analyses, comics, videos, songs, the collective transgendering of the series' main character, and all sorts of harder-to-categorize community creations. You can make the best of it. That's my favorite part of the whole ordeal, and one I don't regret one bit. 

I hope this is an appropriately satisfying answer on this subject, and if it isn't, well, here's the thing; you can write a better one.

[mc-critical]

Despite of the "rough" first season, I think we can all agree that the Janissary rebellion episodes were great. There is so much to enjoy here: a situation quite different from what we've seen, with comparatively higher stakes and especially, Mahidevran and Hürrem protecting each other's children. The amazing showcase of their motherly instincts that care only for the nurturing and safety of these kids, without ever taking into account that they are the enemy's, completely stole the show.

However, what I loved even more, is the aftermath of this protection, that served to drive one of the most human moments of Mahidevran's in front of Hürrem: her going to her chambers and trying to return her ring.

It was definetly an unexpected visit, a move no one would really see coming, judging by both Gülşah's look when she found out they were going to Hürrem and Hürrem and Nigar's surprised faces when they see her there. But it's been something she has thought through, something she's been wanting to settle for a while now. Given their previous confrontations, it makes us question what exactly is Mahidevran up to, what will she say and how exactly will she return that ring.

We see that Mahidevran's intentions were, in fact, genuine. She immediately reveals what motivated her and the fact that she starts off right with this is very telling in that she wants to be in good terms for once. There is only that feeling of gratitude. No insults, no vitriol, no acting proud in order to prevail. Can she manage that completely in front of her rival, though? Can she pull it off until the end?

I love the role of the ring here, because it serves as a visual demonstration of Mahidevran's inner conflict. Throughout the whole scene she's fighting with herself, consistently wondering whether to do the right thing or let her utter disdain for Hürrem overcome her once again. The reason she decided to come is something she would never allow herself to disregard: Hürrem's protection of Mustafa means something, because it's something she didn't even consider possible for her enemy to be able to do, something unbelievable. ("Hürrem was the one who protected you?") It's shocking and incredible for Mahidevran and she would certainly feel obliged to return the favor the only way she knows how, with the thing she now has, but Hürrem is desperately searching for. This is the first time she makes an effort to reach out to her, that's why it's not so easy. The person in front of her is unpredictable and fierce and her words could possibly drift Mahidevran away from her purpose, ignoring her attempts of solidarity. For every instance of this, she looks at the ring, as to remind herself why she's there in the first place.

But the same emerald ring in itself, is another aspect of her struggle in this scene. Up to this point, it is not the symbol of the SOW yet, but a symbol of love, a personal current or former gift with a deeply personal value. The ring meant a lot to Mahidevran even before Hürrem and it still holds its meaning, even after the supposed loss. That's why she wanted it so much after all, would she just willingly let go of it despite of the reason? Even after all these years, it was a chance for her to maintain hope in SS's love, to show to herself that she holds a place in SS's heart anyway. If she gives it to Hürrem, no matter how much she wants to, wouldn't it mean defeat? Wouldn't it mean her symbolically letting Hürrem to Süleiman's love permanently? Is it something Mahidevran can afford? She can't put her finger on it throughout the entirety of their conversation here and it shows. She knows she has to return that ring, but doesn't really know how, hence her diverting the conversation to a different topic entirely after she thanked her for Mustafa:

Mahidevran clearly wants to work her way until she reaches the desired moment, for she has to find out how is she gonna tell her that she has the ring, let alone give it back. She's still figuring out what to say, since she's doing something she's never done before.

And here come her "obstacles" that create and empower her inner conflict:

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand Hürrem's defences here. It's obvious she would put up that attitude to the person who would principally never miss a chance to humiliate her. How could she predict a peaceful visit from the one she forcefully had to ask forgiveness from, who derides her at every turn, who, not three episodes ago, gave a present to her son, but then appeared in front of her and "revealed the whole facade"? No way. It's a mask she has to put, to act high and mighty, to show she's the favored one his majesty shall consistently visit, to make it clear she shall always have that over Mahidevran. She's used to it already, treating it as something she needs to do during their every encounter.

But these same words, along with Hürrem telling her she will invite her for a şerbet on the terrace, put Mahidevran in a rocky position and make her doubt her first-try decision more and more. The moment she hears Hürrem mention Süleiman and all her lines one after another let her slowly "snap back into reality", be who she's always been for Hürrem, creating a neat parallel between both of them that seals the whole scene: with how Hürrem was like here, Mahidevran also saw her as she always had, leaving all existing contradictions behind. Because after Mustafa told her what her rival did, she saw a new side of Hürrem that she had never shown in front of her. And she acted accordingly, by attempting this very thing in the first place. Hürrem could've also witnessed Mahidevran's "weird" behavior, however the only thing she could do is act in utter disbelief - expecting another tricky "facade" and "preparing" herself with words just in case.

With the way the confrontation develops, they both get the confirmations they seemed to have wanted, setting up and then discarding the theme of a possible change, especially in Mahidevran's eyes. Hürrem is still the same Hürrem she's always known and it's not worth the try anymore. Conversely, Hürrem makes of this a usual conversation between them, with Mahidevran later giving her the hint that she has the ring to "call out" the symbol Hürrem thinks it is. ("That ring is my soul. It would harm anyone but me." - "If that ring is your soul, don't drop it. They will trample it underfoot.") Hürrem realizes the intention eventually, but it was too late and the probability for Mahidevran to ever return it to her is still out of the question.

And Mahidevran leaves without doing anything, with Hürrem figuring out the ring is in Mahidevran's hands. This way the dynamic between them stays the same.

This scene feels incredibly telling of Mahidevran's character development. There is a chance to let go of what the ring entails at the moment (her love for SS), but the feelings she has for both Süleiman and Hürrem render it impossible so far. She couldn't let go of it all, even for a moment, as of yet. But I find admirable and neat that she was willing to try it at this point of the show, it's just that it would still take her a long way to go to get there. She will get there, but not yet. Not from the first try.

[zoffra]

Why Hisoka decided to kill the troupe ?

Analysis in two parts:

1- Hisoka's pre-fight personality

2- Hisoka's post fight psychological change

Part 1 -

Let us make a point on Hisoka's character.

Hisoka's a character who takes pleasure in fighting strong opponents, it's his reason for living, it's like a drug in the proper sense of the term. If he doesn't fight for a long time, or if he's about to fight and - for whatever reason - the fight doesn't start, he'll kill anyone to satisfy his need and calm his excitement. This happens, for example, during hunter exam after meeting Kurapika and Leorio (= satisfying his need), or after Illumi's meeting with Killua and Alluka (= calming his excitement).

Other than that, he carefully chooses his opponents and will even refuse fights if he judges that the person isn't worth it.

Hisoka's incredibly patient. In order to fight Chrollo, he'll put in a lot of effort. He joins the spiders - which already isn't an easy task - and waits for three years that an opportunity presents itself, so that he finds himself alone with the leader and can fight him. The other members don't interest him - except maybe Machi to a much lesser extent.

After Chrollo lost his Nen, Hisoka assists the troupe in search for the exorcist. Shizuku assumes that Chrollo promised him a fight in exchange for his help. It's not known how long Chrollo's deprived of his Nen, whats certain is that several months go by.

Abengan's Nen works like this: he invokes a Nen beast whose shape and size varies according to the curse's power posed by his user. The stronger the curse, the longer that will takes time- and you can be sure that Kurapika's chain was far more powerful than Genthru's bomb.

Later, we learn from Gitarakuru that after recovering his Nen, Chrollo fled. During this time, he returned to Meteor city to prepare his fight and steal various capacities - in particular that of the dean, Shalnark and Kortopi. Finally, after all these waiting years, Hisoka's finally rewarded and they'll fight in a place - that Chrollo himself chooses, as floor master : Celestial tower.

I'll not describe the fight, I can only advise those who haven't read the manga to go and find out for themselves. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be 'disappointing'. But not for us, readers, for Hisoka.

Chrollo used sneaky methods, avoiding to maximum close contacts with Hisoka, while sending his puppets to fight for him, waiting for opportunities to hit him critically. Warning! This isn't a criticism, I'm not saying it's something bad, these are just the facts.

We know that Chrollo's calculating and that beyond his extraordinary physical abilities, he distinguishes himself from others by his intelligence. For me, this fight is the very reflection of his personality, calculated like music paper and orchestrated by Chrollo as master of ceremonies.

It's also a nose thumb at the relationship they've always had. Hisoka spent more time killing puppets with no interest to reach Chrollo, rather than fighting him. He finds himself in the situation where he has always been.

At the time of his 'death', Hisoka made a pact with the Nen to bring him back to life. By using condition and oath - his death being the condition to be fulfilled - he wish that his heart's functions and his lungs will be restored. And from there, the troupe will have big problems.

Part 2 -

Spiders made several mistakes. When they inspected Hisoka's body, they were negligent. When Shalnark testified to Hisoka's death by asphyxiation, no one found his hands position strange. By that I mean they're seasoned Nen users, cold-blooded killers, they know that Nen gets stronger after death.

An important detail is that you can revive a suffocation victim - it shouldn't last too long of course, but it's not as if his head was cut off. And that's exactly what Hisoka will do.

He probably used Ken to absorb the explosion, surrounded his heart and his lungs with his Gum, then practiced a cardiac massage to resuscitate himself, - I pass about after-effects that his brain would normally have undergone, which is an ease logical scenario.

Machi said one interesting thing: '[Hisoka] still paid me in advance.' This means that she was in contact with him before, and Hisoka asked her to stitch up his wounds after the fight. Machi probably understood it as 'if I win the fight, can you heal me', but for Hisoka there was probably a double meaning: healing his wounds if they were too serious so that he do himself, or if he hadn't been in fit state to do it.

Biggest mistake spiders have made has been to underestimate Hisoka.

Towards fight's end (chap 355) when a puppets horde rush towards him, Hisoka has an angry expression. Hisoka's neutral facial expression is a mischievous pout, or in fights where he has to fight seriously, he has a concentrated expression.

It's extremely rare to see him angry, and I think his change of mind manifests himself at that time. Hisoka's face takes half a page's place and is a terrifying blackness, it's an important moment. All accumulated frustration since years literally explodes during this bitter taster fight.

When he wakes up, we don't immediately notice his change of mind, but when he speaks it's clearer.

'Reality knows how to wake you up.' Hisoka realizes - if not already done - that he'll not be able to defeat Chrollo with his usual methods.

A little higher, I said the trio had underestimated Hisoka but I also think of Chrollo. During the fight he was arrogant, explaining his abilities, inviting him to flee and then, telling him that isn't to taunt him - you can't make me believe thats true.

'If you've learned your lessons from this, then next time make sure to choose your opponent and the location you fight.' Machi's words complete Hisoka's decision, it was clearly not the thing to say to him at this precise moment.

This how Hisoka's change of mind worked for me. Hisoka's an irrational person but he killed with a certain consistent logic - strong ones who deserve his attention. His death - more precisely, circumstances of the fight leding to his death - played a major role in his transformation. He's no longer undefeated and has been ridiculed, Chrollo practically whistling when he sent his puppets against him.

'No matter where they go and who they are with, I won't stop until I kill them all' It's revenge.

His actions are no longer directed by the will to fight strong adversaries, they're guided by the outright brigade eradication.

Strangely, he leaves Machi alive. Don't tell me thats because he just wants she getting her message across to the other members, there were a thousand ways to warn Chrollo and the others without leaving her alive - and considering the awkward position she was in, he could have kill her without slightest concern. - In an interview, Togashi says that he didn't want to kill her at that time because he has other plans for her.

Kortopi was visibly relieving himself when he was killed. He was a pointless opponent for Hisoka, especially considering the situation in which he found himself. This proves once again his change of mind, it's a method of murderer.

Same method when he sends Kortopi's head to Shalnark. At that moment, Shalnark grabs his friend's head - which is edifying of stupidity - to verify that it's him, and Hisoka punches him.

On several occasions, I've read some people would have liked to see a real Shalnark vs Hisoka fight. But we had it, and difference in strength is too great. At that moment, it's true that Shalnark couldn't use his Hatsu, nevertheless he could still use his Nen but he didn't even had time to defend himself with his Ten.

We don't know if Hisoka kills Shalnark in one blow, it's possible that he survived for a moment. However, this isn't what the staging seems to evoke. The fight literally takes a half page, speed with which Hisoka starts the fight and shock's power when he hits Shalnark leaves no doubt as to the fight speed end. In addition, even though Hisoka's Nen strengthened, he was seriously injured - he was able to repair his limbs in appearance, but he has no healing ability like Machi or quick regeneration like an enhancer.

The last chapter page sounds like a real turning point. We knew Hisoka was sadistic, he likes to torture his opponents psychologically (cf: Kastro fight, Goto), but we had never seen him at work physically. After his fight, he took the trouble to stage the Shalnark's and Kortopi corpses, tying Shalnark to the swing like a puppet, refering to his ability and his fight against Chrollo.

Chapter ends abruptly with a sentence / thought from Hisoka: 'There are 10 left.'

Number 10 is interesting. At that moment, members still alive are the following: Phinks, Feitan, Machi, Kalluto, Nobunaga, Shizuku, Franklin, Bonorenov and Chrollo.

That makes 9. I consider that - even if he didn't see her die - Hisoka is aware of the Pakunoda's death. He spent a lot of time with members at Greed Island and Chrollo, it's impossible that he didn't learn it.

The 10th member is therefore Illumi - reader learns of his membership in the troupe only 20 chapters later -, he was therefore recruited before Hisoka announced his vendetta against spiders.

Last point I wanted to emphasize: when Hisoka says 'there is 10 left', he includes Chrollo. This shows that he no longer puts him on a pedestal, seeing him as the head or someone important. It's simply a leg to be eliminated.

Hisoka's personality has radically changed, he has finished playing.

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

Chapter Eight: Here's To Hoping

(Image not mine)

Rated: PG

~You see I had this crazy dream last night, this man he talked to me He told me everything that's good and bad about my history

He told me that you are, you are the future

And the future looks good The future looks good to me~

"Jack," Sam sighed, checking his watch, "You gotta face the possibility that Marty may not be coming."

Jack was pacing back and forth across the motel's parking lot, trying his best not to slip on the crystallized asphalt. Dean had called the frozen tarmac 'Black Ice' and Jack felt that the term was quite accurate, it did feel like he was trying to walk on ice. But Jack just couldn't stand still. It was seven thirty-five A.M. and Marty still had not showed.

"No, she's coming. I'm sure of it!" Jack said with conviction, wringing his hands before shoving them into the pockets of his jacket. The small amount of force he applied was enough to throw him off balance. Jack's feet slipped out from beneath him and his head smacked against the frozen tarmac.

Sam flinched in sympathy but didn't move from the spot where he leaned against the Impala. He made no move to help Jack up as this was the sixth time he had bashed his head on the black ice in the last fifteen minutes. That fall and the five others before it would have been enough to kill or at least critically injure your typical human being.

So naturally, or rather unnaturally, Jack sat up and rubbed the back of his head. The blood soaked his hand as the wound quickly mended itself. Soon all that was left of the injury was a puddle of blood, nearly identical to five others on the ground that quickly began to freeze. Jack scooted on his knees to the edge of the parking lot and used the snow gathered there to wash the crimson substance off his hand. He stood carefully before beginning yet another round of pacing that would most likely end the same way it had the last six times.

Jack wished he could be sitting in the Impala with Dean and Cas but he found that waiting for Marty was more important to him, so he kept pacing. He wouldn't have to wait much longer. Dean had said that they would wait until eight o'clock before going to look for her. That arrangement had taken quite a while to agree upon. When Marty had failed to show up at six o'clock, Jack had immediately feared the worst.

"What if-what if she's hurt, or something? What if she got kidnapped?" He had worried.

"Jack, I'm sure everything is fine. People have different versions of what 'bright and early' means," Dean had reassured him, taking a long sip of coffee. He did not want to be up, but one thousand miles was a long way to go, so it was best they got up early. Besides, the earlier they checked out, the less they would have to pay, the motel charged by the hour and the rates weren't cheap.

"I know, but you saw what happened last night! What if those guys came after her again?" Jack had leaned back against the Impala's seats. The only reason he had gotten into the car in the first place was for the air conditioning. He was deeply worried that Dean might just decide to take off without Marty.

"Jack raises a valid point, Dean. The odds that those men from the bar should come after Martina, are considerable," Cas noted.

"Fine, if the shrimp doesn't show by eight, we go looking for her, and if we can't find her by ten, then I don't care; we're leaving without her," Dean decided. That was when Jack climbed out of the vehicle and began his trek back and forth across the parking lot. Sam had just followed him.

"I dunno, Jack. She seemed sorta skittish, don't ya’ think?" Sam now spoke.

"What are you saying?" Jack asked, turning to Sam.

"I'm saying that maybe you freaked her out. Maybe she got scared and ran off. Maybe- I don't know- maybe she's hiding, or something." Jack's eyes narrowed.

"You think she's scared of me?" He asked, though it sounded like more of a statement than a question. "What did I do wrong?"

"No, no. Jack, you didn't do anything wrong. I think, maybe she's just scared of coming with us- of what that might mean for her. I don't think she's scared of you, Jack. Marty doesn't seem like the sort of person that scares easy," Sam reassured. A smile tugged at the corner of Jack's mouth.

"You're right. She doesn't."

"If she doesn't show, we'll go looking, but you have to be ready in case she's changed her mind."

"She-she wouldn't do that, she promised!" Jack insisted.

"Sometimes people break their promises," Sam warned.

"She's coming. I know she is."

"Okay, Jack." Sam ducked back into the car, leaving the young Nephilim to wait in the cold. Jack turned on his heel to resume pacing.

He forgot he was standing on the ice.

Down Jack went. Yet again. Bashing his head on the asphalt. Yet again.

This time, Jack decided to just stay down for a bit and closed his eyes. He could hear Dean's obnoxious laughter echoing from inside the Impala. Jack came to the conclusion that black ice, and ice in general, was hard, impossible to walk on, and absolutely unforgiving when you slammed your head against it. Jack decided that he didn't like the black ice, he decided that he didn't like ice at all. This was fortunate as seemed as though the feeling was mutual.

There was a skidding noise somewhere off to his left and Jack opened his eyes. He turned his head towards the sound and directly beside him was Marty's amused looking face, only eight inches from his own.

"That was the most graceful thing I think I've ever seen in my life. You should consider ballet, Jack," She said.

Marty lay on the ice next to Jack with her head propped up on her elbow. Her mouth was twisted in a smirk and she held an eyebrow in a raised position. The expression appeared condescending, but Jack could see the sparks of affectionate mirth gleaming in her eyes.

Now, the reason why Marty was laying on the ground was a mystery to Jack. He was also baffled as to how she had managed to sneak up on him the way she had. If she had been walking down the street, he would have seen her coming, but he hadn’t, and it wasn't as though he had been laying on the ground for very long. If she had been close enough to see him fall, then how had he not seen her? Jack sat up and his brows pulled together in slight confusion.

"Where did you come from?" He asked. Marty followed his lead and sat up with a shrug. A large, overstuffed backpack was slung over her shoulders, yet she carried it with ease.

"From over there," She said, causally gesturing to the thicket of trees just behind the Motel as if it was a normal thing for people to go bushwhacking to their destination instead of simply taking the road.

"Why?" Jack wondered. Marty shrugged again.

"Cause' it's faster and way funner than using the road," She answered. Then she blinked and her face sort of scrunched up and she shook her head, laughing to herself. "Funner? Funner? That's not even a word! I think I need to use the sleep." Jack laughed with her for a moment before glancing to his feet and frowning. "What's wrong Jack-Jack?" The line between Jack's brows deepened and he looked to Marty.

"Why do you call me that?" He asked, temporarily distracted from his cold, slippery problem. Marty's mouth twitched with a tiny laugh.

"Jack-Jack is a character in a movie about superheroes. Have you ever seen The Incredibles?"

"No, I haven't."

"Oof, buddy! I'll have to show it to you one of these days, just remind me. Anyway, Jack-Jack is a baby with, like 50 different powers that he just uses willie-nillie and, yeah; it's a pretty funny movie and when you said you had powers and that you're, like two, that's just what I thought of," She explained. "And I'm rambling again, sorry!"

"I don't mind. I like knowing what you're thinking about," Said Jack. Marty ducked her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear in a shy sort of way.

"Nah, you'll get tired of it eventually." Marty tapped her forehead. "Up here is nothin' but a random mix of movie quotes, song lyrics, and paradoxical questions."

"I don't think so," Jack said, shaking his head. Marty made a face.

"Well I do! I live up there, dude! Anyway, what was the long face for?" Her change of subject brought Jack to his problem.

"I don't like ice," He said, as if that explained everything. Marty raised an eyebrow in question, "It's impossible to walk on!" Jack exclaimed.

"Ah, I see. I guess that explains why you look like a homicide victim." Marty gestured to the frozen pools of Jack's blood on the tarmac and the blood coating the back of his head. "Want some help getting up?" Jack nodded.

Planting her feet on the icy surface, Marty stood and extended her hand for Jack to take. He used her arm to pull himself up, doing his best to replicate what Marty had done to stand. He wobbled a bit and almost fell back down, but Marty caught and steadied him before that happened. When he was vertical again, Jack glanced toward the Impala and realized that now he had to get over to it without falling. Marty was quick to notice his worry.

"Come on, Jack. It's really not that hard, look!" Letting go of his hand and sliding out onto the ice, she twirled once, jumped into the air and then twirled again, lifting her foot to her knee. Her foot touched back down and dragged her to a stop, facing Jack who looked like he'd seen a miracle. "See?" Marty did jazz-hands.

"I don't think I can do that," Jack said, sounding a little intimidated.

"Oh, no way. That took me years, I was just showing off!" She explained with a wave of her hand. Moving back to him, she reached down to pick up an instrument case and wrap a gray plastic grocery bag around her hand.

"You should teach me!"

Marty chuckled and pulled some of her hair away from her face. Her black-to-grey-to-white hair was down again today, descending all the way to her knees. Jack had never met anyone with hair that long, but he thought it was amazing.

"Alright, just remind me take you ice-skating and movie bingeing, kiddo."

"I don't think you can call me 'kiddo'," Jack said with a frown.

"Why not? If you don't like it, I'll stop saying it."

"Well, I am biologically older than you, right?" Jack pointed out. Marty chuckled.

"Where does a two-year-old hear a word like 'biologically'?"

"I heard Sam use it."

"Makes sense." Marty shrugged. "Anyway, you're right, but I call everyone 'kiddo' age doesn't really matter. I call people all sorts of things."

"Like what?"

"You'll find out, honey-bunches-of-oats."

"Is that one of them?"

"Yup!" Marty snatched Jack's hand and helped him over to the car where she knocked on the driver's side window. Dean rolled it down and she glanced at the men inside. "Hey guys!"

***

"H-hey, Marty! You-you came!" Sam greeted me, he sounded surprised.

"I promised I would!" I said, I didn't miss the 'I-told-you-so' look Jack shot at Sam, "Dean, could you pop the trunk? I've got precious cargo." I raised the instrument case with my violin up into view.

"Yeah, sure." Dean climbed out of the car and skidded a little getting to the back where he opened the trunk.

I swallowed deeply. There were a LOT of weapons in there. Dean pulled on a tab and a panel came down, covering the arsenal in the truck's false bottom. I placed my case in carefully and slid it all the way to the back. Taking off my backpack, I positioned it between the case and the truck's door so my instrument wouldn't slide around. It was the most valuable thing I owned; I couldn't have it getting damaged. I then nodded to Dean and he closed the trunk. I was really doing this.

Jack opened the Impala's door for me and clung to it like a lifeline as I gathered my hair and slid into the backseat next to Cas. The boy followed after me and pulled the door shut.

"Here we go." Dean put the car into gear and rolled it out onto the road.

"So, where are you guy's taking me?" I asked, shifting to get comfortable in my seat.

"Lebanon, Kansas," Dean answered.

"Ooh, that's a long way away. I'm sorry I was so late. Did I make you very late?" Dean shrugged.

"Doesn't really matter, but yeah."

"I'm really sorry, I just wanted to say goodbye to somebody," I apologized, "But I brought chocolate! Will that atone for my sins?" I raised the bag of goodies Dan had given me.

"Hell yeah!" Dean reached back and opened his hand for the brown gold. I dropped a truffle into his palm, tossing one into Sam's lap and handing another to Jack. I held one out to Cas but he turned me down.

"No thank you, Martina," The angel said, gently.

"It's Marty, remember?" I corrected him and shrugged, unwrapping the candy. "Well, more for me, I guess." Dean reached his hand back again, asking for seconds. "Dude, this is gonna be a long ride, we gotta save our provisions." I declared, dramatically slapping his hand away.

"Aw, man!"

"Suck it up, butter-cup." I was about to pop the candy into my mouth when I noticed something on the wrapper. "Does anybody here like nougat?" I asked. Jack's head snapped up, his eyes begged for the truffle in my hand.

"I do."

"Oh good! I can't stand the stuff!" I passed him the chocolate. Jack looked at me like I was insane.

"Oh no, Jack. She doesn't like nougat, are you sure you guys can be friends?" Sam joked. At least I was pretty sure he was joking.

"You say that like I committed high treason!" I chimed.

"I dunno, I do feel betrayed," Jack said with his mouth full. I faked a gasp.

"I don't believe this! Jack, are you breaking up with me?" Dean burst out laughing, Sam snorted, and Jack just gave me his lopsided grin. My comment even won a quiet chuckle from Cas. I took that as a good sign.

"Yeah, I think so." Jack chuckled.

"Can we still be friends?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from my every word. Jack pretended to think about that.

"Only if you teach me to ice-skate," He mock-decided.

"It's a date! Wait, no its not, you broke up with me." I reached out and shook Jack's hand, sealing our satirical deal. The car shook with laughter and I gave myself a mental tally mark as I tied up my treat bag, placing it at my feet. When the laughter died down, Castiel was the first to speak up.

"Was that an instrument case you brought with you?" He asked.

"Yeah it is. Why?"

"I'd just like to get to know you," He answered simply.

"We all do. So, what instrument do you play, Marty?" Sam turned in his seat to look at me.

"Uh, I play the violin," I answered timidly.

"Are you very good?" Sam wondered.

"Um, well, I don't know. I'm sorta out of practice, but I started playing when I was eight," I replied. Sam chuckled.

"I'll take that as a yes." His tone was warm, despite his previous distrust. It made me smile, maybe I was winning him over.

"Okay, my turn," Dean spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"What's with the hair? I mean, that's a lot of hair. Why don't you cut it?" He asked. I bit my lip and nodded, trying to think of an acceptable answer.

"Well, my mom loved to braid hair, and my sisters, Bree and Jackie, hated having long hair so they cut theirs real short and my mom couldn't do anything with it, but I liked having my hair long. My mom would spend hours working on my hair, that was our time together. See, she always got so sad when I would cut it and now I just-" I stopped and looked at the floor of the Impala. "Now I just can't bring myself to cut it. Not without her. I don't want to make her sad. It's all I've got left of her." With a start, I realized I was crying and quickly wiped my tears away with my sleeve.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" I cut Dean off.

"It's okay." It had to be.

"Well, what about the color, what's that about? Or does this have a tragic story behind it too?" Dean asked, trying to make a joke. I cracked a smile.

"Oh, I've always wanted to have it like this. I love the fading colors, so hiding from a blood thirty vampire just gave me the motivation to actually go through with it," I shrugged.

"So, what's your real hair color?" Dean pressed.

"Black."

"Wait, that's natural?" He sounded stunned.

"Yeah!" I giggled a little. "The black is real, only the grey and white parts are dyed."

"You're lucky, black hair is cool. Looks good on you too."

"Thanks’ Dean."

That was when we passed the small, wooden sign on the side of the road. The paint was old, faded by the sun, and chipping away but I knew what the words said.

Now leaving Copper Harbor We'll get you back soon enough!

As I watched the town I'd called home for so many years fade from my view, I found myself hoping that I'd never return. I looked forward at the road ahead of me and the hunters beside me.

I looked to the future.

The future was looking pretty good.

~See, I had this crazy dream last night, this man he talked to me He told me everything that's good and bad about my history

He told me you are, you are the future

And the future looks good The future looks good to me~

Lyrics from: The Future Looks Good by One Republic

[bopinion]

2021 / 36

Aperçu of the Week:

"Most people are unhappy because they demand too much from happiness. Ambition is the greatest enemy of happiness, because it makes you blind."

Jean-Paul Belmondo, French film legend (1933-2021)

Bad News of the Week:

Humanity can't afford climate change! Exclamation point! It's simple: the consequences of climate change that we do NOT successfully deal with are many times more expensive than actively addressing - and solving - it with commitment. And the pleasant side effect would be that we get a planet on which one can actually still live in the future. Actually, a clear win-win situation. So why does so little happen? Or often nothing at all? Two recent studies shed light on the problem:

Researchers from European and U.S. universities published an article in "Environmental Research Letter" showing that the costs of the climate crisis could be up to six times higher than previously thought: global GDP could fall by 37 percent by the end of the century due to climate change. The study puts the damage caused per ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere at more than $3,000 - a multiple of the price per ton in the EU emissions trading scheme of 60 euros - caused, for example, by a flight from London to New York City and back.

For Germany, researchers at the Agora think tank and the University of Mannheim, commissioned by the Forum New Economy, get more specific: The federal, state and local governments are not investing nearly enough to achieve the climate targets currently officially declared. Based on current budget plans, the financing gap until 2030 alone amounts to 460 billion euros - for example, for the expansion of the public rail network and local transport or energy-related renovations.

U.S. President Joe Biden made it clear - "Global warming is real!" - when he surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Ida last week. He spoke of a "tipping point where we either act or we're going to be in real trouble. Our children are going to be in real trouble." Such statements are sadly lacking from Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping. The one still sees the all-dominant economic salvation of his country in the export of fossil energy and lets inconceivably large areas of forest in Siberia burn down without doing anything. And the other, with its positioning as a production center for world trade, is responsible for incredible transport emissions (China is even the world market leader for - what feels like a German thing - potatoes!) and is currently planning or building around 400 coal-fired power plants at home and abroad, especially in Africa. Many thanks for that.

Good News of the Week:

The chaotic disengagement of the Western allies from Afghanistan also highlights a security policy problem. German politicians, like all other forces present there, have had to admit that their own room for maneuver will (have to) come to a standstill the moment the U.S. forces exit. Or, to put it another way: without the U.S., nothing (more) works militarily. Official NATO responsibilities or not. Already under Obama, the USA has withdrawn more and more from the Middle East. With the result that Syria, for example, became the geopolitical plaything of Putin and Erdogan. The former "world policeman" doesn't like that job anymore. A vacuum has been created and is growing.

But now the voices on the European stage are getting louder to fill this vacuum. For example, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party (EPP) in the EU Parliament (the largest group and rallying point of all conservative parties in the EU), called yesterday for a military emancipation of the European Union: "Belarus, Ukraine, North Africa, the Middle East - the Americans will not solve these problems for us. We must now finally take responsibility and act independently." Specifically, the first thing he envisions is a European rapid reaction force. "We have hundreds of thousands of soldiers under arms. We don't have a problem with the mass, but with the capabilities and structures. We can't manage to secure the airport in Kabul. It's a question of will, of command and enforcement," Weber elaborates in an interview.

That makes sense. And it is realistic. Otherwise, global chaos will flourish. After all, the international threat to global security from terrorist forces has increased rather than decreased in the twenty years since 9/11. And there are more than enough failed states destabilizing their respective regions. And the alternatives to NATO - especially China and Russia - act for their own geopolitical benefit, not to create or secure peace, freedom and democracy. This is precisely what the EU should actually be able to do even better than the United States. For in European foreign and security policy, the development of technical and logistical infrastructure, easily accessible education and health care, an efficient security apparatus, a free judiciary and press, etc., traditionally play not only the supporting role of accompanying measures but are the focus of attention.

Our idea of democracy is thus not imposed, but is given a fertile breeding ground on which it can more easily emerge. Because its meaning and purpose becomes obvious. And incidentally, it also benefits Europe itself, keyword "reduction of causes of flight". Here, too, the old continent has a vested interest in itself. After all, you can cross the Mediterranean with a small boat that has been painstakingly patched together - but certainly not the Atlantic.

Personal happy moment of the week:

The day before yesterday we received the information for the new school year starting the day after tomorrow. For a long time it was feared - because children cannot be vaccinated yet and teenagers only recently, the progress of digitalization is still lame, the fourth wave is here, hardly any classrooms have air filtration systems and much more - that it could be the third "Corona year" in a row. But now it's official: full face-to-face instruction, all days, full class size, in all subjects (except for possible restrictions on physical education classes like swimming). Another piece of normalcy we're getting back. Nice.

I couldn't care less...

...that the international car show "IAA Mobility" in Munich, which ends today, was re-branded and even showed bicycles in two exhibition halls for the first time. As before, carmakers - now admittedly with electric drives and projects for other alternatives such as hydrogen - are concentrating on maintaining their business model of 'individual mobility". And they refuse to accept that mobility will have to be fundamentally rethought in the future. With the networking of different means of transport, sharing and on-demand models, restriction of avoidable transportation for people and, above all, goods, etc. Way to go...

As I write this...

...the summer vacations are coming to an end. And with it my own recreational time. Which actually (once again) doesn't deserve this term. So it should be easy for me to go back to work tomorrow. But still no trace of joyful anticipation. Mmmh...

[a-blue-secret]

CHAPTER VII

BACK TO MASTERLIST

Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII

GENRES: royal au; fantasy au; magic au; friends-to-enemies-to-lovers; king!beomgyu, vizier!taehyun

PAIRING: taegyu

WARNINGS: mild swearing

WORD COUNT: 3.9k+

AN: this is much shorter than the last one, thankfully! I think it’s time I explained abilities a little, so this is what this chapter does! I hope it makes sense :)

SUMMARY: Best friends turned enemies, Kang Taehyun has managed to trick Choi Beomgyu into his service, and to rule for a year and a day, until his youngest brother would be old enough to take the throne. Choi Beomgyu has no intention of being obedient however, and tries to thwart Taehyun’s orders at every turn. With a growing amount of distrust and lies within the court, will Taehyun manage to keep the kingdom of Gojongja from falling apart?

“I’m bored,” Beomgyu announced. “Dead bored.”

Taehyun blinked. “You called me here to tell me you’re bored?”

“Yeah.” Beomgyu kicked his legs up onto the armrest of the chair. “Extremely bored.”

Taehyun sighed, and leaned against the doorframe of Beomgyu's chambers. Ideally, he would have scolded Beomgyu for calling him for something as trivial as boredom, but in fact Taehyun was a little bored himself. His amazing planning and astounding work ethic meant that work that normally took a new monarch a year to complete had been done in just under half a year. Not to mention the additional vizier work he had to do as well. So instead of scolding Beomgyu and storming out, Taehyun sighed, lowering himself into a chair opposite Beomgyu. He folded his arms. “So what do you want me to do?”

Beomgyu gave a small smile. “I wanted you to come watch me!” Taehyun tilted his head in confusion. “I’ve been practicing my ability,” Beomgyu explained, grinning. “I wanted to show you!”

“You’re not bored, are you? You just wanted to show me.”

Beomgyu laughed, kicking his feet off the armrest and standing up. “So what? Now come on! Let’s go out into the gardens!”

Taehyun let Beomgyu take him by the wrist and drag him all the way to the Palace Gardens. They weaved in and out through the rows of flower bushes and trees, before ducking behind a large oak. There, hidden by a tall hedge was a door. Taehyun looked at Beomgyu, shocked. “H-how…”

“You showed this to me. Don’t you remember?”

“I… I forgot this existed… How did you still remember it?” Taehyun asked, gazing in amazement. Beomgyu just shrugged, and put his shoulder against the door to push it open.

“Dunno. I just did.” 

“Oh wow. It hasn’t changed a bit."

Taehyun gazed around the walled garden, turning around in shock. The ivy still hung thick on the red brick walls, and in the corner, a wooden swing still hung from an elm tree's branch. He walked over to it, slowly, and looked behind the tree. Yes, it was still there– the delicate, crystal flower Taehyun and Beomgyu had made, using their abilities. Taehyun picked up the crystal object, turning to face Beomgyu. 

"You didn't destroy it?"

"Why would I?" Beomgyu said, tilting his head to the side. "We spent so long making it. I may hate you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to destroy something which used up a ton of my energy. It would have been a waste to destroy it." He walked around, hands clasped behind his back. "Plus, making water out of air takes a lot of effort. I didn't want such effort to be shattered in a matter of seconds." He looked at Taehyun. "And I remember you telling me how hard it was to make that."

Taehyun gave a small smile, still looking down at the flower. He did remember. 

-: ✧ :-　　

"Ya Taehyun, have you ever thought about making a flower before?"

Taehyun looked at Beomgyu. "I make flowers all the time! It isn't hard."

"Okay, but hear me out," Beomgyu said, eyes shining. "Why don't we combine our abilities to make something?"

"Hm? But you can't make a wind flower…"

"With a little work, I could probably make the air turn into water droplets," Beomgyu explained eagerly. "And you can use the water to make crystals, right? And then we can mould the crystal into a flower!"

Taehyun tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It might be possible… but that would be a lot of hard work. I'd have to coat a flower with the water first, then crystallise the water, and then shrivel the flower and make it disappear." 

Beomgyu looked a little worried at the complicated-sounding process, but he beamed and looked at Taehyun. "I believe in you! You can do it!"

Taehyun smiled at how excited Beomgyu was. "I might be able to. Plus, I can probably steal a little bit of preserving potion from father's study, so that it can last forever." He looked at Beomgyu. "The process is going to be a long one, though. Do you think you can make enough water droplets to do that?"

"Of course! Come on Taehyun! Let's go to the garden and practice now!" Beomgyu jumped up, and clasped a hand around Taehyun's wrist, both of them laughing as Beomgyu dragged the young prince outside. 

-: ✧ :-　　

Taehyun set the flower down behind the tree again. "So anyway," he said. "What did you want to show me?"

Beomgyu grinned. "You know how I can turn air into water, albeit with great difficulty. I've mastered that though, by the way," he added. 

Taehyun waved his hand impatiently, sitting down on the swing. "Get to the point."

"I can now turn water into ice." Beomgyu lifted up his hand and concentrated. Very slowly, water droplets began to form along the surface of his fingers. They quivered, before slowly being dragged into the center of his palm as one big droplet. Slowly, very, very slowly, Taehyun watched as the clear liquid turned white with cold and froze over. Beomgyu plucked the ice ball from his palm, lifting it up to proudly show Taehyun. "See! I couldn't complete the final stage the first few times, because the cold ice hurt like hell. But now I can, and I barely feel the cold anymore. And look at this," he said, shaking off the water from his fingers. Once again, he extracted the moisture from the air, and this time created it into a small heart. He grinned, thrusting his palm out for Taehyun to inspect his creation. 

Taehyun stood up and curiously examined the ice heart. "That's… impressive," he admitted. "Seriously."

“I’m glad you think so.” Beomgyu watched as the ice began to slowly melt, forming wet puddles on his skin. “I still haven’t figured out a way to make it last, though,” he said, frowning, before looking up at Taehyun and quirking a grin. “But I suppose that’s what you and your ability do, right? Honestly, your ability’s such a broad term. ‘Nature’? You can grow flowers, preserve flowers, kill flowers, turn flowers into beasts… Why is nature such a formidable ability?”

Taehyun raised an eyebrow. “What, do you want me to preserve your ice marble for you?”

“It’s fine now,” Beomgyu replied, annoyed. “Honestly…”

Taehyun rolled his eyes at Beomgyu’s sulky frame. “Whatever. Besides, nature isn’t my true ability anyway."

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that," Beomgyu said. "Are you going to sit down?" Without waiting for an answer, Beomgyu pushed past Taehyun and sat down on the swing Taehyun had stood up from. Taehyun glared at him, folding his arms. Beomgyu blinked big eyes up at him, smiling innocently. "Will you push me?"

Taehyun gritted his teeth and walked away, leaning against the ivy-covered wall. Beomgyu shrugged, and began to idly swing back and forth. 

"So… what was your ability again? Your true one."

"Foreign exchange," Taehyun muttered. "Must be something like being bilingual."

Beomgyu snickered. "Perks of being from an uncommon clan, right? You get the weird abilities."

"Oh, shut up." Taehyun drew a small knife and half-heartedly chucked it at Beomgyu. In the air, it swerved before it could graze the King's cheek, instead impaling itself on the soft ground. Taehyun raised an eyebrow, impressed. "You've gotten better."

"And you've gotten softer," Beomgyu commented. "This tiny needle thing? It would barely scratch my face."

Taehyun rolled his eyes. "Take the compliment nicely, will you? Your ability has definitely developed."

"Yeah, but I still can't do archery," Beomgyu sighed. "It's so embarrassing as well. Ever heard of someone with wind manipulation not able to do archery?"

"Yeah. You."

Beomgyu glared at him. "Not helping."

"Well you weren't helping when you mocked my ability," Taehyun sniffed. "And besides, some uncommon clans have really cool abilities."

"Uh huh? Tell me."

Taehyun rolled his eyes. "I'm not bothered to waste my breath talking about useless things with you."

"Fine, then I won't believe you."

Taehyun glared. "Don't believe me? Fine. People from the Yeoju Gae clan can predict someone's death. People from the Kaesong Tan clan have the ability to fly. Deoksu Hak clan: able to heal quickly. Danyang Ya clan: create harmless illusions. Jinbo Sam clan: able to manipulate their facial features. Hongju Sobong clan–"

"Alright! Alright, I get it," Beomgyu interrupted. "Damn you and your incredible brain."

Taehyun smiled triumphantly. "And some common clans have the most shitty abilities. Remember that one guy from the Hansan Lee clan? Their ability was to have beautiful hands."

Beomgyu snorted at the memory. "He was so proud of it, as well."

Taehyun gave a small smile, before pushing himself away from the wall, arms folded. "Is that all you brought me here for? To watch you form ice crystals?"

"Yep." Beomgyu stopped swinging, sighing annoyedly. "Why am I swinging myself?" He put his feet down, and used the wind to push him instead. Taehyun rolled his eyes. 

"Stop showing off how versatile your ability is."

"I'm not showing off," Beomgyu retorted. "Yours is even more powerful anyway. Oh wait, I forgot it's not your real power."

Taehyun ignored the obvious jab. "But what I'm most concerned about is the fact that I have the Kang clan's ability, even though I'm not a full Kang."

Beomgyu sat thoughtfully on the swing. "Maybe because they adopted you? I dunno, maybe there's a ritual in which they managed to infuse their power into you."

"But if I have their ability, then that would technically make me part of the clan."

"Look, it doesn't make sense. And sometimes, we've just gotta deal with it." Beomgyu shrugged. "Life doesn't make sense, anyway."

Taehyun hummed. He lifted a hand to gently touch an ivy vine, feeling its green youth under his fingertips. He reached out with his senses, and slowly let a cherry blossom bloom on the end of the ivy. It gently unfurled its pale pink petals and spread out until it was fully bloomed. But Taehyun didn't stop there. He held it gently by the stem and watched as the petals spread out wide, and then began to turn brown and shrivel, watching as they dropped one by one. Eventually, there was no sign that a blossom had ever existed on the end of the ivy vine. Beomgyu watched as the brown petals lay pitifully on the grassy floor, before disintegrating into the air. 

"It's a shame these don't last," Taehyun murmured. 

"They'd last longer if you let them live," Beomgyu said. "They've never lasted longer than five seconds in your grasp."

Taehyun looked up at Beomgyu. "That's because it uses up my energy to make a blossom live, dumbass.”

“Don’t call the King a dumbass.”

“Well it’s what you are.” Taehyun dropped the vine, and opened the door of the secret garden. “If that’s all, I’ll be going back to the palace. Goodbye.”

Taehyun stepped out and shut the door firmly, ivy tendrils waving slightly. Beomgyu sighed. Why was Kang always the one to leave first?

Beomgyu let the wind that was pushing him die down, letting the swing gradually lose momentum and come to a stop. He stood up, and walked behind the elm tree to pick up the crystal flower. Gently, he fondled its smooth petals, a small smile playing on his lips. He stayed there in the garden for quite some time, cradling the crystalline object in his hands. 

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

"Sir, are you asleep?" 

Taehyun cursed, tripping over a fold in the carpet as he hurriedly buttoned up his sleeves. The person knocked on the door again, and he hopped over his boots to get to the door. He padded across the room barefoot, and yanked open the door. "No. I was washing. What's going on now?"

A messenger bowed. "His Greatness requests your presence in the ballroom, sire."

"Right." Taehyun noticed that his doorframe was suspiciously devoid of someone. "Hang on, where's Jungwon?"

"One of King Beomgyu's guards has already taken him down, sir. His Greatness said that you were able to defend yourself, so you would be fine without a guard for a few hours. He also said that it may be motivation to get you to come down quicker."

Taehyun clenched his jaw. "Fine. Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes."

The messenger bowed, before hurrying off. Taehyun sighed, before closing his door and walking over to pick up his boots. What was Beomgyu up to now?

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

"No, I said I wanted silver satin! Not silver latin! No one here understands latin so what's the point in writing it on the tablecloth? And how did you manage to engrave it in pure silver?"

Taehyun stared in shock. The ballroom looked completely different. Yesterday, it had looked bare and empty and a little draughty, but now it was a mess of greenery and silver and blue velvet. Various green plants were scattered all over the marble ballroom floor, and the staff kept accidentally bumping into leaves as they hurried about. Lace drapes were placed messily around pillars, and Taehyun could see a servant had accidentally caught their foot in one cream veil. The ballroom was bustling with people and extravagant fabrics. Standing at the heart of the chaos was Beomgyu, arguing with the servants about tablecloths. 

"Hm, this sort of texture is good, but it's a little too thick and heavy. Try and see if you can make it lightweight."

"Sire, it's velvet, it is not possible to make it any more lightweight without losing its texture–"

"I said what I said. Did you not hear me? Velvet can become much thinner than this. Ask the seamstress!"

"Beomgyu!"

Beomgyu turned round, annoyed at the informal call, before seeing Taehyun and beaming brightly. "Ah, my dear vizier! Come! What do you think – should I have ivy wreaths or holly wreaths? I'm having a bit of a dilemma. See, ivy wreaths are pretty, but they are such a pain to get rid of after one is done with them. On the other hand, holly wreaths are so prickly but are such a marvelous colour. Oh wait: let's have laurel wreaths! They're so much more attractive than the both of them combined." He clicked a finger, and a servant came rushing over. "Cancel that order for ivy. Replace it with laurel. Laurel wreaths are much prettier."

"Beomgyu," Taehyun said, teeth clenched. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"No cursing, Taehyun dear," Beomgyu said, smelling two bouquets that the maids presented him. 

"No, seriously. What are you doing?"

"Hm, the hyacinths smell nicest. Place the roses by the pillars, and we'll have the hyacinths around my throne." Beomgyu sent away the maids, and turned to Taehyun. "Why, I'm planning a revel! What else does it look like?"

"Why are you planning a revel?" Taehyun demanded. "You're meant to leave that to me and the people actually in charge of organising revels."

"This one is a special one!" Beomgyu said brightly. A servant presented him with two different napkins. "Eggshell blue goes better with the decorations," he said to them. Then, he turned back to Taehyun again. "Well, it may have been a couple of weeks since Lord Namjae demanded to see the terms of the contract, but it did have me thinking. I need to find a way to break the news to the public in a cheerful, fun way so we don't have another Namjae encounter. And then I thought, 'Ah! A revel! That would be the best way!' and here we are."

Taehyun clenched and unclenched his fists. "Call off revel preparations right now. This is stupid."

Beomgyu smiled mischievously. "No can do," he said. "Already sent out the town crier to tell the news."

Taehyun let out a breath. "You already sent out the–'' He placed a hand over his eyes and stayed like that for a count of ten. Then he took away his hand and looked at Beomgyu tiredly. "Fine. Fine. You do you. That's just… fine." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can't believe you sent out the town crier already…" he muttered. "But anyway," he said. "Why did you need me?"

Beomgyu beamed. "Scheduling!"

Taehyun blinked. "You- you what?"

"You see," Beomgyu said, slinging an arm over Taehyun's shoulder as the two of them began to walk about, "this is no ordinary revel. This is an important speech disguised as a revel. So therefore, it is important to get the timings right so that things go smoothly."

"Sir Taehyun," a servant said, rushing up to them. "What would be a better wine? Dark silver, or glittering opal?"

"What?"

"To help set the mood sire," the servant explained patiently. "King Beomgyu said that wine, food dishes, and music will be decided by you, since they are the most important when it comes to psychologically convincing our guests that what is happening will be fine."

Taehyun looked helplessly at Beomgyu. He was going to do what now? Beomgyu just smiled encouragingly, gesturing for Taehyun to answer the servant. 

"Uh, go with the thick, pearlescent wine," he said finally. "Glitter would look too fake, and dark silver has ominous connotations."

The servant bowed, and rushed off. 

Taehyun shook off Beomgyu's arm. "First the alliance, and now the revel? Why do you keep doing things without telling me?"

"First of all, I am not your child. I don't have to tell you everything that I do. Secondly, this is a good idea. You would just prefer it to be a statement read out on a balcony, all cold and harsh and unfeeling. However, a speech given out during a warm, delightful revel, with wonderful music and delicious food… that would almost definitely guarantee that we will not have a repeat of a Namjae incident."

“...Fine. Fine. I can do scheduling in my study, though. Is there a reason I need to be down here?”

“Didn’t you hear the servant?” Beomgyu said, going over to some drapes hung over the pillars. “You need to organise food, drinks and music too. You need to be here for music. Which do you think goes best?” Beomgyu said, holding up two cream veils.

“They look the same to me,” Taehyun said, crossing his arms. Beomgyu dropped his arms, tutting.

“A prince, not knowing his off-white from his pale cream? What did they teach you?” 

Taehyun rolled his eyes. “That’s not off-white. It’s ivory. Plus-” Taehyun stepped forward to drape the lace over his arms- “Both don’t look right. You shouldn’t put pale colours on our white pillars. Go with navy, or even silver. Also, cream is too warm compared to the rest of the decorations. Even that eggshell blue would look better than it. Or, even better, ivy tendrils. They would look good.”

Beomgyu raised his eyebrow appraisingly. “Nice taste.”

Taehyun ignored him. “So when is the revel?” When Beomgyu didn’t answer, Taehyun whipped around to look at him, alarmed. “It’s not tomorrow, is it?”

Beomgyu laughed, looking at him after having inspected crystal glasses. “God, no. I’m not dumb. It’s in four days.”

Taehyun rubbed his forehead. “Four days… you didn’t set a dress code did you?”

“No, no. I just said that we were having a revel to celebrate the Flower Moon, seeing as the Flower Moon in four days.” 

Taehyun nodded. “That’s fine.”

“I also like the implications of the Flower Moon,” Beomgyu added. “It symbolises new beginnings, since it's when the flowers begin to bloom."

Taehyun looked at Beomgyu. "You really want this alliance, huh?"

Beomgyu nodded, looking closely at a candelabra. "It's just kind of like me thanking Aruyeo, for when they took me in."

"A bit of an extravagant thank you, don't you think?"

Beomgyu shrugged, setting down the silver object. "Maybe, yeah." He pointed a finger at Taehyun. "But don't you dare say that this isn't beneficial to Gojongja, because it is." He made a shooing motion to Taehyun. "Now go. You need to sort out the music and food and all those sorts of things. After, send me the schedule and I'll take care of things from there."

Taehyun raised his eyebrow, but walked away without complaint. Beomgyu wouldn't be able to organise everything without his help. Sooner or later, a whining Beomgyu would come clinging to his arm, demanding that the vizier write his speech for him, or change the timetable because he didn't like it. Taehyun rolled his eyes at the thought. He knew Beomgyu far too well. 

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

"Taehyunnn," Beomgyu whined. "I don't get this. Why is the dancing period so long?"

Taehyun sighed yet again. "Because it is a revel. You need to have dancing."

"Yes, but for this long?"

"That's how long the dancing period usually is, sir."

Beomgyu groaned, flapping the schedule in the air. "And there's no dining time on here! What am I going to do with the tablecloths???"

"There will be tables dotted around the ballroom which will have food on them," Taehyun said. "And servants will go round with canapes and wine. Don't worry, okay?"

"You invited the common folk, right?" Beomgyu checked. 

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who sent out the town crier."

"Right. I did." Beomgyu twirled the quill between his fingers. "I think I did. I hope I did. Anyway," Beomgyu sat up properly, setting the schedule down, "this all looks fine." He glanced up at Taehyun. "Could you write the speech for me?"

Taehyun let out a deep sigh. He pulled out a parchment full with scribbled notes. "I knew you'd ask me that," he said. "Here. Some bullet points to help you start." When Beomgyu tried to protest, Taehyun held up a hand. "No. I'm not writing it for you. You're not a baby." He stood up. "I'll be going now. Good luck with your speech."

Taehyun strode out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Beomgyu grumbled to himself, glaring at the door. "He's my vizier. Shouldn't he be doing this stuff?" Beomgyu sighed annoyedly. "Let's see what notes he's written…"

After closing the door, Taehyun immediately headed down the hallway. 

"Sir," Jungwon said, "Lord Yeonjun has asked for you."

Taehyun scowled. "What does he want?"

"The messenger said that he wanted to… bond? with you, sire."

Taehyun rubbed the bridge of his nose, before turning on his heel and walking back in the opposite direction. 

"S-sir?"

"I just remembered I need to return some books to the library," Taehyun said over his shoulder without looking back. "Come on."

Jungwon frowned. He decided not to mention that Lord Yeonjun's room was in the opposite direction, since Sir Taehyun probably knew that, which was why he was going somewhere else. Instead, he silently followed after the vizier, and obediently carried some of the books to the Palace Library for him.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

In his room, Yeonjun paced up and down. He bit his nail worriedly, before quickly slapping his hand down. The curtain curled around his ankle like a snake, and he quickly shook it off. Yeonjun shook his head, trying to stay calm. He looked at his door again. It was a risk using a messenger to alert Taehyun, but he hoped that the vizier was polite enough to come anyway. He paced around a little more. Sir Taehyun… come on… this is important. 

[theradioghost]

could you elaborate on the long term plot of greater boston? i don't mind spoilers! i tried it but couldn't get past the first episode :( but i trust your taste and i've liked every other show you've rec'd so i wanna keep listening

EDIT: okay for some reason the formatting of this post is EXTREMELY befuckened and I can’t get it to behave, so it’s possible that this isn’t going to display with a spoiler cut and if so I am VERY sorry. the “keep reading” break is in the ask instead of the body of the post I have no idea what’s happening right now but if you don’t want spoilers please be aware this post spoils like everything about the show

Sure thing! I will .... do my best, but because of the nature of GB’s plot it’s a bit difficult to describe it without ending up either way too detailed or way too vague. But I will absolutely do my best because if there is any show out there that deserves it, this is that show. Cut for Obvious Spoiler Reasons!

So, there’s a LOT of plot that goes on, but what a plot summary could never convey is that the real heart and soul of this show is the characters. There are a metric fuckton of them, and every one of them is multidimensional and dynamic and wonderful, even if it’s not always obvious at first.

Leon Stamatis of course starts the show by abruptly dying of Existential Crisis/Panic Attack on a roller coaster, which sets everything else in motion. Of that big ensemble cast, at first the most important players are

Nica, Leon’s little sister who wants to be famous but doesn’t really have any concrete plans as to how

Dimitri, Leon’s little brother who is currently traveling in a submarine attempting to find Atlantis and keeps sending Leon letters, unaware that he’s dead

Louisa, Leon’s recent ex, a wedding photographer who later quits and becomes a crime scene photographer slash detective

Leon’s best friend/roommate Michael, who is unemployed and has just had a relapse after being sober for 12 years because he has no idea what to do without Leon

Gemma, a lesbian who absolutely hates her job as an editor at Third Sight, a company which publishes magazines relating to astrology/psychic stuff/divination/etc

Charlotte, Gemma’s pregnant wife, who has recently lost her job as an animation background artist and is feeling directionless

Professor Paul Montgomery Chelmsworth, aka the Mayor of the Red Line, a slightly eccentric college professor and casual friend of Leon’s who is inspired by his death to call for a referendum declaring that the Red Line of the Boston subway system will become an independent city.

It’s that last one that is the real ~main plot~ of the show: at first, more and more of the characters getting caught up in the campaign to create the city of Red Line, and then the chaos that results when they succeed and actually have to run it. But you also have characters like Louisa and Nica and Michael, dealing with a whole rainbow of grief and distress as they cope with Leon’s death. His eccentric personality is the other driving force of the show’s events -- Leon was caring and compassionate, but also obsessed with timetables, organization, and scheduling every action in his life down to the minute.

The other major force in the show is Third Sight, a magazine publisher with a focus on fortunetelling and the like; Michael ends up working there, along with Gemma and several other major characters. Third Sight also has an enigmatic boss no one has ever seen, who turns out to be a manipulative little bastard named Oliver West.

While Red Line successfully becomes a city, “Mayor” Chelmsworth turns out to have some major commitment issues and vanishes as soon as the vote passes, leaving Charlotte and Gemma to clean up the mess. Charlotte ends up interim mayor, but also begins to campaign for the upcoming mayoral election, in which she has two opponents: Isabelle Powell, a Black realtor and an incredible character whom I absolutely cannot do justice here, and Emily Bespin, Literally The Worst Person Who Has Ever Existed, Holy Fuck I Hate Her So Much.

The election is being manipulated behind the scenes by Oliver West, who also takes advantage of Nica’s isolation and a near mental breakdown to convince her to help him by orchestrating several escalating ~pranks~ in Red Line. Honestly he’s manipulating literally everyone, and also heavily backing Emily Bespin, in an attempt to profit off of influence in the new city. Eventually this ends up with Michael kidnapped and imprisoned, several other characters attacked and one badly hurt during a wedding in Red Line, and Isabelle Powell’s nephew framed for the attack. That results in Powell’s supporters beginning a set of protests which throw Red Line into even further chaos, even as Charlotte and Nica begin to have some real moral epiphanies about how they’ve been acting.

As events continue to escalate and the election draws closer and closer, the now-assembled cast have to figure out just who exactly is manipulating events and how -- not to mention how to prove Powell’s nephew’s innocence, what the hell has happened to Michael, and what the hell they’re going to do if Bespin wins the election and makes good on her promise to evict everyone involved in the protests.

Meanwhile, Dimitri is traumatized by finding a mass grave at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, gets rescued and then imprisoned in Alaska by infamous vanished plane hijacker DB Cooper, finally makes it home to Boston disillusioned and lonely only to inevitably find out his brother has been dead for two years, and then gets totally rejected by his sister, because he basically can’t catch a break.

Also meanwhile, the same conflicts playing out in Red Line play out on a more metaphysical level, in the structure of the show itself. While the first season only hints at the possibility that Leon might not be quite as gone as everyone thinks, as the show progresses Leon’s ghost makes his presence known by starting to argue with the omniscient narration. Increasingly taking over the show’s narration until a brilliant scene where said narrator quits and audibly gets up from the microphone and leaves, Leon, the man who spent his whole life trying to impose order on the chaos of the universe around him, finds himself battling the very structure of the story they’re in, in an attempt to help his friends as both he and they are caught up in the chaos of Red Line and Oliver West’s plans. Unfortunately, the structure of the story has other ideas, and plans of its own.

None of this, of course, even begins to touch on the cheese robots; or Michael’s ongoing struggle with self-actualization and alcoholism; or Mallory the foulmouthed teenager who somehow manages to first witness and then be involved in nearly every major plot event of the show; or the in-depth examination of structural racism as it relates to things like housing and city planning and Boston’s history and well-intentioned white liberals and the imprisonment of Black youth; or Star Trek obsessed chaotic neutral gay reporter Chuck Octagon and that one time he flirted with his own mirror universe self; or the complex but beautiful process of Charlotte and Gemma working on their relationship in the midst of all this chaos because while they have troubles throughout they truly love one another and are trying to be better people; or the fact that one of the other major characters is an insufferable Loud Vegan member of a polyamorous commune who -- on the advice of his ~spirit advisor~ the ghost of 19th century feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft keeps changing his name throughout the show to things including Earthman, Panda Bear, Extinction Event, and Dipshit; or the unfortunately real Olive Garden food truck; or the laughter and the tears and the flamethrowers and the fact that one of the show’s most important and heartbreaking conversations takes place on an amusement park log flume ride audibly filled with liquid nacho cheese.

It’s a good show, is what I’m saying, basically.

[babaleshy]

Something I May Need to Stop Doing...

I'll be venting in this post, but this is about the desire to move out of a desperate want for change right now even though such a move is not meant to be.

On occasion, I go onto zillow's website and check out houses around Pittsburgh out of curiosity just to see what houses are going for what price in what kind of condition. I've noticed something incredibly enticing: there are some houses going for under $100,000 and are technically livable. It's just got flaking/chipping paint, may need new rugs, and other general clean-ups. The only "major" thing I wanna do to any of these houses falling under this criteria is the fact that I feel more comfortable with a tin roof.

These houses that I find are within city limits, most of these houses I've shown an interest in are close to sidewalks. This means if I were to move into one of these houses, then I'd have a chance to properly commute!

Ah, but why exactly am I making this post? What is it that I'm venting about? And what did I mean earlier when I said "not meant to be?"

Back in 2014 (autumn, specifically), my husband and I had to move out of our apartment in downtown Pittsburgh to my parents' farm in Ohio. Two reasons made us do this: one was the skyrocketing rent prices when HUD sold our building, causing rent to go from $539/mo to $720/mo. My husband worked at a casino, and was making $10/hr, so when rent prices went up like mad, we really began to struggle to survive. The other thing was bedbugs. The building manager laughed at our discomfort and said, "What do you expect me to do about it? Where would everyone go for the building to be treated?" Like, you're a shit manager if you haven't come up with those contingency plans.

Paying $720/mo for a bedbug-infested apartment (bedbugs are fucking hard to get rid of) and living in a constant state of itchy breakout made us decide it was time to move in with my parents. Because we literally could not afford to live anywhere else, and our student loan debt fucked up our credit scores, so we couldn't even get a house (and we were looking for one at the time!).

We used to think living on this farm was temporary until reality set in, that there is absolutely no possible way for us to make it on our own now. My husband has ADHD and anxiety and is still struggling to practice to get his driver's license (it's hard when my dad is a major source of my husband's stress; my dad's an asshole and gets worse by the year), and I'm Autistic, so I can't hold down a regular job, and nothing else is hiring.

In terms of getting a job for me at all, either I'd have to go to school for my special interest for the job (ecology, entomology, and/or paleontology) or I'd rather work in a library.

Welp, college is far too expensive for me to pay out of pocket, and my already existing student loan debt is barring me from getting any sort of financial aid to go back to school at all. As far as the library is concerned? Remember when I said my husband is currently struggling to practice for his license? (He doesn't get much practice because my dad is a stressful asshole that makes my husband have a horrible headache and anxiety after he drives). We have 2 vehicles, one my mom uses to get to work, and the other my dad uses to take my husband to work as well as do errands in like grocery shopping and shit like that.

I can't get a ride.

Can't ride a bicycle, either. It's definitely not safe (I live in America, if you couldn't tell). My parents' farm is deep within one of the back roads with one of the properties on this road being an oil rig. The oil workers drive like assholes, not caring what animal they hit, speeding through here. There are dirtbikes and four-wheelers that speed through here, too. There's no room for 2 vehicles to pass one another, and nothing but pure fucking hill the moment you step off the side of the road. I literally cannot bike here.

But let's pretend I got onto one of the main roads on either end of our road. It's even worse! And STILL no room for bicyclists! This goes for fucking miles until you reach a residential area! Except for a nearby little village-town that has the closest library branch. It's the village my husband grew up in, but there's a lot of sketchy turns, corners, and again, no room for bicycles. This includes main roads.

With all this in mind, I actually considered the possibility of moving to that village, because the village itself is actually safe enough to bike ride in. The problem is: I'm not guaranteed to get a job at the library at all. I tried getting a job as a library clerk at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, got interviewed and everything, and didn't get the job for whatever reason. In fact, I'm not guaranteed a job at all at any library branch, regardless of the neighborhood. So moving to such an area depending on the chance of being hired there is not worth it.

Such a village is actually rather unfriendly, and that goes for a lot of communities here on this side of Ohio. You'd think this was one of the southern states from its people and what flags they fly.

So why not Pittsburgh? Why not move there if we could?

Well, I thought about it. It has all the perks I could expect such as public transportation, somewhat safer bicycling areas to commute to school and work, and more importantly: THINGS TO DO.

Living in the middle of nowhere blows when you want to, on your own without relying on someone to drive you, go and do something, such as buying fabric or art supplies for future projects, or going to the library, or anything, really! Yeah, I do want to garden, but I don't have the means to do that on a damn farm (long, frustrating story that made me stop believing my parents' promises).

Not to mention, I still have friends in Pittsburgh, If I wanna see them, they don't have to drive an hour and 45 minutes (and that's if they have a car) to visit. I got 2 friends here in the area, and they're busy with their work's demanding schedules. When we do hang out, Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and D&D can only do so much until it gets old and boring and you wanna do something else that isn't hanging out at a dead mall. There is truly nothing to do here. Pittsburgh has the museums, libraries, parks, and far more interesting establishments to lurk in.

So again: why not Pittsburgh?

Because that city has changed and is still changing compared to when I was last there. My regular watering hole (The Beehive) is no more. There are neighborhoods being gentrified (meaning I'm not guaranteed to keep my home even if I pay it off). Businesses are closing, meaning people will be losing their jobs, and some of the other places hiring (like libraries) are not guaranteed to hire me, especially when I haven't had a job since 2010.

There's also my cat to consider; she gets stressed at the sound of a lawn-mower (I don't blame her). She wouldn't be able to handle the sounds of the city. Unless we found a place not too close to downtown, such a move is a no-go.

I've daydreamed about living in Pittsburgh again. I'm homesick for Pittsburgh. I've realized only recently that that city was my home. Not this farm, not even the house I grew up in. I felt like a person who didn't have to rely on people for rides and such. It's the only place where I've truly lived on my own and enjoyed it.

I've actually considered moving out of this country and found that even more impossible. No matter which country you pick, no matter what language you learn, not only do you have to pay for your things to be shipped, for your plane ticket for a one-way trip, or whatever you need to become a citizen there, you still have to pay at least $2,000 to revoke your American citizenship or else you will be forced to pay American taxes despite never setting foot on American soil ever again.

Thanks to capitalism, America has made it fucking impossible for the average person to leave for good. If you are born here, you are financially enslaved here unless you're wealthy enough to leave.

So... What's the plan?

Well, for now: not much. The pandemic has set plans back a bit, but my parents have a lien on the house thanks to my private student loans my mom was bullied and forced into co-signing for. She... I guess?... is almost done paying them off? I don't know. My parents don't like communicating need-to-know info with me and then get mad when I don't absorb it through osmosis. Once the lien is taken off the house, mom wants to move north to be near her sister, and she said she'll try finding a farm for sale near Kent State so it'll be an easier commute (be it by bicycle or by car). My intention is to enroll there to be able to get a job as an ecologist (focus in entomology, specializing in arachnology) with a minor in paleontology.

Once I've gotten that all taken care of (as well as my husband going back to school for what he wants), we move to the pacific northwest, mainly just north of Seattle somewhere.

I hate Ohio. I hate running into people I've gone to school with that I try to avoid (more like I see them, but they don't recognize me? At least I hope not?). I hate this place so much. I hate this climate, being near people I don't want just randomly showing the fuck up. And what's the use of living near family when they don't want to bother visiting you? I hate hearing my mom tell me so-and-so that I obviously want nothing to do with told her to tell me they said hi. I'm tired of fearing I'll run into someone that abused me in the past because now they're back in the fucking area again apparently.

I've got my fingers crossed that something is gonna give and college to some level (community college?) will be free for residents or something. It'll give me a chance to go back to school for something close to what I wanna do so I can maybe get a job? Completing something at a community college would at least make it easier for me to get enrolled at a university.

My husband and I picked Seattle (or close to Seattle) for its climate. It's (usually) not blistering hot every goddamn year, and it's not horribly cold thanks to the mountain range (I'm quite cold-intolerant). We both enjoy overcast weather and rain. We'd rather take our chances with volcanoes than earthquakes or hurricanes in areas where these things are guaranteed to happen yet nobody ruling these areas wants to invest in infrastructure that helps stand a chance against them. Seattle also has a nice combination of city and wilderness side-by-side. Not much of that with Pittsburgh.

If I was forced to only move to Pittsburgh and no other city, I wouldn't mind, especially since I'm more familiar with Pittsburgh than I am with anything in my current local area (because I had to travel on foot instead of relying on a car to get to places!). Fuck, my mom wouldn't even let me do anything by myself out of the yard when we lived in the village I grew up in because she was a paranoid fuck and by the time I JUST STARTED gaining independence for having a bike and bicycling to the post office everyday, we moved to this farm.

Oh, this isn't a roof over my head I should be thankful for. My parents got screwed. Our water is full of iron and calcium that no filter can fix, so we constantly have plumbing problems, the post and internet connections are questionable at best, we get ant infestations from 2 species EVERY YEAR, all for a farm my mom wanted for horses she always wanted and eventually got but has little next to no energy to spend the time she wants with them and she refuses to admit her age has a lot to do with it on top of her working so she sits in the living room on THREE DIFFERENT DEVICES sucking up bandwidth to religiously watch every fucking livestream of a country singer she likes (and complains if she's missing it for any reason!), scroll through Facebook, and play a fucking shitty app game!

Our internet out here? The physical equipment is outdated (copper wires instead of fiber-optic cables) because the fucking company doesn't wanna spend the money to upgrade it.

So instead, we're stuck here, with my husband losing his sanity bit by bit by the day at his shitty retail job (every other available job offering would be worse in this area) and I sit here and hope that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I could start gardening soon.

I miss Pittsburgh. I really do. But despite all of its benefits it would give me and my husband if we moved back, I don't think it will happen.

In the off-chance that we don't move north, that my dad's assholery intensifies and he decides to remain here (he has to legally agree to sell this house in order for my mom to move north; dad's reasons keep fucking changing), Pittsburgh is a nice back-up plan. Pitt University actually has the major I'd want to go back to school for, as well as what my husband wants to go back to school for, and we'd already be familiar with the city and what to expect of it. However, we're aiming higher, and hoping to move to the pacific northwest, instead.

But I think to avoid losing my sanity, I should stop daydreaming about a future that may never be.

Fingers crossed!