#and like sure it’s funny that they used ‘the French’ as an example

[terriblelizbians]

hyperfocus on language and using the “correct” phrasing/words is not great and can often be harmful to activist causes yeah yeah but like. i don’t love when that swings to the other direction of like, mocking people for being uncomfortable with certain terms

[taniahylian]

Paulina and Regulus

Okay, I'mma post this cuz I think I'm going insane (I probably am), but here me out. There's too many coincidences that point out to there being a connection between the two, even if don't know exactly what kind of connection.

First let's start for the most obvious thing... Paulina's blue polka dot scarf.

It's not the same as Regulus', obviously, but it is very similar. Yet, if this was the only coincidence I wouldn't be making this theory... yet here I am.

Next it's this peace sign sticker that's next to Paulina's picture at the restaurant, but also on Regulus' backpack. Again, on it's own could be just a coincidence, but maybe it's not.

In that picture it says Apple on the background, and there's an apple in that same poster, and I don't think I need to saw how this connects to Regulus. To the side there's also a vinyl disc, like those Regulus always carries with her, which wouldn't be a big deal... except we're in the 1990's, when using CD's was already a lot more popular than vinyls.

And there's also the fact that Paulina's mom married J's father, who was from a world-famous family of alchemists. How is this relevant to Regulus? Well, she's an alchemical genius. Maybe Paulina's mom had an interest in alchemy too and that's how she ended up meeting J's dad.

Now... I want to point out that, at least to me Regulus and Paulina look quite similar.

It's not a one-to-one resemblance, of course, but they look similar enough for me to think they might be related, maybe, especially since Paulina's blue scarf was a gift from her parents. That said... as funny as it'd be to say to Regulus "So you are a mother!", I don't think that's the case at all. Firstly because Paulina is French, while Regulus is British, but most importantly because Paulina is human; she doesn't have any powers at all.

Of course we don't know Regulus' lineage, so she could be only half-arcanist, and therefore she'd be able to have a mostly-human child if she married a pure blood human, but... I don't think that's the case. Sonetto says in ch1 that Regulus' talent is rated "S", which most likely mean she's either pure blood, or very close to it, so any child she had would be at least a half-blood arcanist.

That said... the dates would match. Regulus was 15 in 1966, and lets assume Paulina was the same age when she left J, let's say 1989, one year before the event takes place. That'd mean Paulina was born in 1974, and Regulus would've been 23 years old at that point. However, if she is Paulina's mom, she died very young (around 30 years old?), as we know Paulina and J became orphans soon after becoming sibilings... and, believe it or not, the fact that Regulus would die young is actually hinted at by Mr. Apple in the mini chapter after ch7.

So... it is possible that Regulus had a child with a French person, said child, Paulina, happened to be born without powers despite her arcanist lineage (like Kumar, for example), then they moved to San Francisco, where Regulus met J's father, bonded with him thanks to their shared love of alchemy, got married and then died soon after. However... idk, it doesn't seem right to me? I think there might be different kind of connection between them, although I'm not sure what.

Maybe I'm just losing my head, idk. Most likely, honestly, but it's fun to speculate XD

Anyways, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.

[janus-cadet]

Who's hyped for the 60th anniversary? I am. So, have another doctor-who-themed-tarot-card : the 10th Doctor (and the 14th, now, I guess!) as The Tower.

Can't say I'm super proud of that one, but eh. I tried. Now, why did I choose this card? Great question, imaginary person. Let me answer that below this lovely cut.

I love to use cards about change to illustrate the Doctor- and nothing spells more *change* than the Tower. When this card appears upright, you must expect the unexpected- a massive change that you will not be able to escape. For example, he will knock four times, and there is no changing that. You can stare sadly in the rain all you like, pull your best puppy dog eyes, the result will be the same. Change is here to tear things up, create chaos and destroy everything in its path- weither it would be in the form of an entire planet, a victorious Time Lord or a old, innocent ToyMaker, that is to be decided. This change will hit you when you'll feel safe and comfortable, a fire if clarity and insight, cuting through the lies you have been telling yourself- no, the laws of time are not yours, my dear, and no, you can't help everyone. This change is scary by essence, even if it proves itself necessary ; and Ten, more than the other, is the most reticent to it. Even if after the Tower experience, you are to learn from it, and hopefully grow stronger and wiser.

Reversed, the card suggests that you are undergoing a signifiant personal transformation. Yes, consultant, you are about to regenerate. Rejoice. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to be ginger. You may be going through a existentiel crisis, because yes, you're probably the last of your species. At least, when your ex is not popping around, which is always such a surprise for you. YOU are the one creating the change, so you can step into a new and evolved version of yourself, even if this version is not blessed with the existence of eyebrows. You can also be trying to resist the change, Mister I-Don't-Wanna-Go, and delaying the necessary destruction. Yes, it's not fair. But it has to happen. Just know that if you continue to resist this change, it will force its way into your life even more.

So yeah. 10th Doctor, as The Tower. I have to admit- I like the french name better, for this one. It's called La Maison-Dieu, or The God-House. Fitting, for such a character, with his burning Tardis.

Only need to find one for 9th, 11th and 12th, now. Perhaps I'll also do the classics, I don't know.

And that's it for today! Hope you liked it. I sure did. As a last treat, here are all of the Doctor Who cards so far ! Funny how the three Masters were my first, and now, the 10th Doctor is my 30th.

[shadowfloofster]

I've seen people say you can't compare the QSMP to the DSMP because they're both completely different servers with different starts.

The thing is you can compare them. Not the stories told themselves because of course they're going to be different as they're 2 servers with different starts with 2 nearly completely different sets of people.

You can compare the treatment of the creators by the fandom, players (other cc on the server) and admins though.

Foolish for example. He made SO many amazing high quality builds to use and be shown to people. Ranboo and Tubbo had him build a giant mansion for them to live in! Yet it was entered maybe once after being finished. Foolish was able to use his builds for his own lore maybe once. Only a few people like Bad really acknowledged them by messing around in the area of them or adding something easy to get rid of to them as jokes.

Bad's treatment on the DSMP was frustrating to watch. He was the butt of the joke every time he was around. People would constantly swear on his streams because it was so funny for them! They constantly destroyed his and Skeppy's house and griefed the front of it. No one other than his friends really listened to him about things. And the egg arc was supposed to be something that was a massive danger to the server! But how does the server and fandom not directly involved treat it? Like a joke. Bad and his friends clearly worked really hard on this arc to include more than just the 'main characters' and their small circle, yet it was brushed off as if nothing by the players and fandom, treated like it was stupid.

Quackity's lore just kinda- happened. There isn't much I can say as I don't remember a lot of it tbh which isn't a great sign.

Philza and Wilbur probably got the better end of the stick for lore due to being connected to the main lorr, but it still wasn't great for them either.

A lot of CCs not on the QSMP have mentioned how the communication for the server was terrible too. At the start of lore on the DSMP, it made sense as they were purely doing improve so there wasn't really anyone to run things through. But the fact the issue was bad the entire time made the CCs on the server feel ignored and not want to play on it.

It was rare for people to interact with others outside their already established circles unless they're friends outside the server.

Now with the QSMP

Foolish has built multiple things on the server and has been acknowledged by everyone at this point. Bad might mess with them a lot still and encourage others to join him but you can tell the respect people still have for each one. Vagetta wants a version of the statue Foolish built him on other servers. People and fandom admire his builds and always make sure that if there's any damage to it, it's easily undone. Cellbit has made the castle Foolish built him his home the moment it was finished, he's been using it since. He paid him fully and made sure he was fully supplied and had company while building, staying on for hours to talk to him as he built.

Bad is respected by everyone on the server. He's taken seriously by everyone. Everyone trusts him with their kid's lives. Phil asks Bad to babysit Tallulah and Chayanne if he can't. The french trust Bad more than anyone outside their language group. Forever trusts Bad the most on the server other than Baghera. If someone needs something they'll go to him. All the eggs love him and so does the fandom. He's part of the joke instead of the butt of it. He can laugh along with the jokes made, even ones directed at him. When people swear on his streams and he languages them, they immediately apologize and switch to one of Bad's replacements (fudge being the main one) and no one makes fun of it either! They don't start swearing relentlessly at him to annoy him.

Even though Quackity doesn't show up often, when he does people are happy to interact with him and update him on what's happened if he wants it.

People can be off the server for weeks without being isolated because they're not keeping up with major lore, especially as people are happy to update anyone on anything they want to know. Hell people can be on a lot without being involved in lore but still be included as much as anyone else! As soon as there's a threat to the eggs or a new way to protect them, it spreads to everyone like wildfire and everyone's taken it on within a week.

The new arrivals are always welcomed by the islanders already there. They support them and treat with the same respect they do with everyone else. They merge with everyone else nearly immediately and become part of the community without hesitation.

The communication with the admins is clearly amazing too. Philza has pointed out how appreciated he feels compared to other servers. When an egg dies unfairly they're quick to get back to them within hours. If there's a general issues they're quick to get back to them and fix things. People are allowed to have their own stories alongside the main one. Events are planned and discussed so everyones aware before it happens. Anyone who wants to take part is welcome to if it's a big thing due to how open they usually are (rescuing Cellbit and Felps, travelling to Bobby's death site, etc). Thinfs are adapted and changed when needed and all CCs are in the loop.

Being able to watch the QSMP and not feel like any POV I watch is being mistreated or ignored is great. I couldn't watch anything but lore streams with the DSMP because Bad was my main POV and it made me so uncomfortable to watch him being made fun of constantly and be treated as a joke.

The QSMP feels like a community of people, instead of factions trying to go against each other. DSMP was my first and only smp experience and while it was great at first, it quickly soured. The QSMP treats it's CCs and fandom as if they genuinely matter, making sure everyone is welcomed and no one is isolated.

[wingsoverlagos]

Today, I’d like to share one of Mark Lewisohn’s most entertaining fucked-up citations. This citation, Tune In 13-23, contains a rare example of Lewisohn almost saying something correct/insightful about Paul McCartney before hopelessly fumbling, as well as a far-less-rare example of Lewisohn correcting Paul on a bit of trivia while simultaneously mangling the source material. Here’s the text of the endnote itself:

In pink, Lewisohn lets us know that Paul, reflecting in the ‘90s on the events of 1960, did not correctly remember the name of the host. This is fine—I don’t take issue with Lewisohn correcting things the Beatles misremembered—but it’s very funny to see him correcting a bit of minutiae in the citation for two quotes he altered or misrepresented.

In yellow, we have what seems, on the surface, to be an actual insight about Paul: “Paul sometimes says ‘we’ in interviews when he means ‘I.’” This isn’t a paradigm-bending revelation—I’m sure my mutuals are all very aware of this habit of Paul’s—but it’s an insight nonetheless.

Or it would be, if this wasn’t said in relation to a quote where Paul clearly means himself and another person. So close, Mark! From Tune In:

Teenage Paul, out of his depth at a college party, pretends to be a singing Frenchman, creating ‘Michelle’ in the process. The first quote, the one where Lewisohn asserts Paul is using “we” in the singular sense, is from the Anthology (2000, p.198):

Do y’all see the problem here? “It was very sophisticated for me and George, so we were trying to hang in there and pretend we knew what was going on.” Emphasis added by me, just in case Mr. Lewisohn is reading and needs a little help.

This is not Paul saying “we” but meaning “I.” This is Paul explicitly stating how he and George felt. And like?????? The “clarification” Lewisohn provides in the endnote is completely unnecessary to begin with. There’s no reason to say Paul means just-him in this quote, unless Lewisohn is worried John will get lumped in with Paul’s loser teenager behavior. In that case, instead of lying and saying Paul actually meant just-Paul here, why not mention that George was at the party and out of his depth as well? Why do this??????

Onto Many Years From Now (1997):

The quote itself isn’t too altered. Lewisohn fails to mark the omission after “It was” with an ellipsis, but that’s small potatoes for him. The Irritating thing here was brought to my attention be @mythserene: even though Paul mentions three specific influences on his wannabe French style (Sacha Distel, Juliette Greco, and Maurice Chevalier), Lewisohn invokes an entirely different Frenchman, Jacques Brel.

With Lewisohn’s phrasing, he’s not incorrect. If Paul said “Joey Fatone and Justin Timberlake were huge influences on my choice to get frosted tips in 2001,” it wouldn’t be wrong to describe his appearance as “Lance Bass-esque.” But if you’re writing a musician’s biography, and that musician has named specific influences on their music or presentation, why would you not invoke those influences when the opportunity arises? Isn’t it more work—and less informative—to dig up some fourth French guy to slot in here instead?

Lewisohn thinks it’s worth the readers time to know that Paul forgot who hosted a party he attended as a teenager, at the same time putting in effort to avoid mentioning Paul’s stated influences.

[ellas-journey]

From a thing to wear to an icon of culture 👘

There is this hidden detail in Muzan that when I noticed I could not help but smile. Remember how he said that the thing he hated the most was change? Well coming from someone that had to live in 5 different eras is kinda funny, and it's even funny when you realize that he ended up adopting the Western fashion pretty fast. But that's the twist, if you look at Muzan's vest you come to realize that it's the exact same pattern as the kimono he used to wear. The best part? That was a thing that actually happened in history.

Wanting or not, the clothing that the people used to wear represents the history they lived through. "To look seriously at art objects of the everyday, such as clothes - their discourse and practices, their meaning-bearing forms and their codes of internal and external interpretations - in an essential, and often neglected, component of any study of modern aesthetics." - Slade, 2009 Yofuku [Western Clothing] is a type of clothing that is now common all over Japan, but during a lot of time, it was a type of clothes that only selected few grew up with. The 1st contacts with these types of clothing [even if extremely different from what we now call western clothing] was in the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived in Tanegashima. With them came not only different shapes but also different fabrics. But the “true” introduction to western fashion would only happen with Commodore Matthew Perry, catharsis to the Meiji restoration, where Emperor Meiji would start to dress in a typical western military outfit, and soon after the empress would start to aper in the typical victorian dresses. In the Edo period clothing visually distinguished the social classes. "Certain articles of clothing visibly differentiated people of diverse social classes, and simultaneously distinguished an individual within a specific group. The materials, motifs and construction of military campaign coats, for example, marked their wearers as men belonging to the military class." - Milhaupt, 2014; Samurai ranked on the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and merchants on the bottom. What happen was that most of the times the samurai where poor while the merchants lived in economic success. But samurai had the privilege of using certain types of fabrics and patters, even tho most of the times they could not afford them, and so, the merchants would start to adapt the fabrics and patters they were allowed to were and would end up becoming the patrons of arts and fashion. The trends of fashion would later be documented in ukiyo-e, and not only in the work of art sense, but also in pattern books were people could browse the prevailing styles. After the 1st contacts with the westerners, what would start to happen is that slowly but surely the Japanese would start to integrate the western ways of dressing into their lives. The Japanese started to introduce some of its elements with the kimono, shoes, hats, gloves, glasses, umbrellas, etc. Then in the 19th century a full change would happen starting from the man in the highest classes to the man in the lowest classes. The emperor decided to cut his topknot in 1872 and started to dress in western clothing in official appearances, also changing some of the more cultural habits like eating meat and more wester kind of meals. In the official portraits he appears adorned with a French-style military uniform with ornaments in gold and ostrich feathers. Before this, the emperor was never a public figure, so when pictures of the Meiji Emperor became available, and he started to appear more publicly the nation would have their eyes on him and start to imitate him. Women would, for the longest time still dress in the now classic kimono, that would develop as a symbol of the old and traditional Japan. The idea of the western clothing being associated with a modernized Japan and the Kimono [that literally means “thing to wear”] to a traditional country came from the fact that the emperor would choose to wear western clothes in more formal, international events, and for religious national events would choose the traditional Japanese court dress. The western clothes will end up being a symbol of the modernization of Japan, and the Meiji government would use it as yet another tool of national control. For all the Japanese born after 1945 the western clothes became the norm. Most families would end up transforming their kimonos into western clothing pieces, and the patterns sold for kimonos would double for kimonos and western clothing.

But it is funny to notice how despite it all Muzan is the one being presented in western clothing and Ubuyashiki is the one in traditional clothes, always being the contradiction of the other, but also it can also be interpretated as the Ubuyashibi family being "trapped" in the past since in hundred years the corps never killed an upper moon, the history never changed. And Muzan in his ever-changing cycle of his life, in the changing of eras and changing of personas he decided to reuse the only thing he could: his clothes. And just like him, they would adapt through the times.

MILHAUPT, Terry Satsuki. 2014 - Kimono: A Modern History. London: Reaktion Books [Ebook]; SLADE, Toby. 2009 - Japanese Fashion: A cultural History. Oxford, Berg. [Ebook];

[ineffable-suffering]

Ceci n'est pas une plume.

(from this doc of all of Neil's answered asks)

The meta goes a little like this: I like nerdy stuff about language (and also Good Omens), so I wanted to elaborate on why Angels and Demons don't actually ever speak any language except their own. They simply have the ability to flick a translation switch and (make anyone) understand what's being said in whatever other language.

Also, I end up making a way deeper point of it and why it's so telling that Aziraphale would learn French (and magic) the hard way, in the end.

Find out with me under the cut!

(Word count: 1820 | Reading time: ~8 minutes )

Aziraphale and Crowley's exchange in front of Marguerite's restaurant started me down this path and I'm pretty sure that this is actually how it works. Because it ties together a few other loose strings that have been floating around in my head about the whole langue deal in Good Omens.

Let's structure this by the questions Neil has already answered about it.

The Lead Balloon

I feel like the "in the beginning"-scene in S2 showed us that Crowley did not actually have much of an idea what exactly the plan for Earth and the humans were (instead, Aziraphale did). He might have found out later still, after asking his questions, but I feel like the second part of that answer is more likely to be true, since they both seem to understand this metaphor. This is further supported by:

Ergo: They're speaking in the language of Angels but we understand it in English (or whatever language we selected on our Amazon Prime). Automatically translated for us because Crowley and Aziraphale wanted us to understand them.

"Ciao. It's Italian. It means Food."

They sort of are, yes. Idiots who either forgot to turn on their own auto-translator, or idiots who aren't aware that they have one for other languages except English, or idiots who were miffed that Crowley actually knew-knew a word in another language and didn't want to admit that they didn't.

Où est la plume de la jardinière de ma tante?

Right, so. The exchange that fuelled this meta. First of all, as a funny side note, the origin of that peculiar sentence:

La plume de ma tante ("my aunt's quill") is a phrase in popular culture, attributed to elementary French language instruction (possibly as early as the 19th century) and used as an example of grammatically correct phrases with limited practical application that are sometimes taught in introductory foreign language texts. As Life magazine said in 1958, "As every student knows, the most idiotically useless phrase in a beginner's French textbook is la plume de ma tante (the quill of my aunt)." The phrase is also used to refer to something deemed completely irrelevant. [link]

So basically, it's historically the most nonsensical and dumb phrase any student of the French language gets taught. And yet Aziraphale has been "wittering on about it for the last 250 years". Even looking smug about it, to this very day. Gave me a good chuckle.

Also:

In the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, Catholic priest Damien Karras interviews [...] a girl believed to suffer from demonic possession. While Karras probes to determine whether the possession is a hoax, the demon Pazuzu—who has possessed the girl—speaks in Latin and French, languages presumably unknown to the girl. When Karras demands "Quod nomen mihi est?/What is my name?" in Latin, the demon exclaims "La plume de ma tante!", using the phrase as a non sequitur to mock and evade Karras' line of questioning. [link]

Using that particular phrase to avoid answering a question you're being asked? Like: "You speak every language in the world perfectly ...

Neil, Neil, Neil, *shakes head fondly*, is there anything that you don't give layered meaning to, ever? No. No, of course you don't. And I adore you for it.

The whereabouts of the aunt's gardener's pen questioned, Aziraphale then says "But you still understood me" when Crowley calls him out for his bad French.

This is curious and affirming of my auro-translator theory for two reasons:

1) Aziraphale wouldn't have said this if he'd uttered this sentence in the language of Angels and simply hit the auto-translate button. Because if he had done it that way, of course Crowley would have understood him. But the reason Crowley understands him is not because Aziraphale used his language auto-translate, but because, again, Aziraphale, for two hundred and fifty years, has been wittering on about the plume of his imaginary tante.

2) Point one is further proven by a tiny French nerdy fact I can provide because I actually did learn and graduate in French back in school, lol. Because Crowley actually makes a mistake while trying to not-automatically translate the sentence. He says:

But "jarndinère" is actually a female gardener (le jardinier = male, la jardinière = female). So, when Crowley says "he doesn't have a pen", he actually gets it wrong, which further proves to me that he (as well as all other angels and demons) doesn't actually understand the phrase like someone does who has learnt the language in a human way.

Crowley doesn't have the automated translation on in this moment, so he doesn't translate it correctly. Because he doesn't actually speak French. At least not in the sense that us humans interpret "speaking a language".

Comment ça?

Basically, what I'm trying to get at is: Would you say that Google Translate speaks every language in the world? That it's native and fluent in every tongue ever spoken? Or is it simply a program that can access all the language knowledge its been fed and as soon as you hit enter, it translates any and every language back to you?

Google Translate never learnt any language, it never sat down and went through the onslaughts of vocabulary and grammar that studying a language comes with. It never got frustrated with seemingly nonsensical sentence structures, subjonctifs (French-learnes, you know what I mean) tenses and conjugations. It never spent ages trying to understand different dialects and accents, never spoke with natives to figure out the hidden slangs and sarcasms that would never be translated on paper. It never went to night classes where the teacher wittered on about pens and gardeners and aunts.

No. Google Translate is being told a sentence and it soullessly, programatically recognizes the language through its binary coded translation filter and mirrors the equivalent in whatever other language you want it to.

It's furthest any-a thing could be from speaking a language.

And exactly like that.

Exactly like that is how angels and demons "speak" every language in the World. Hitting an imaginary auto-translate-and-auto-recognition button.

Aziraphale and French (and magic)

Just like with Aziraphale being giddy about the idea of human magic, of learning card tricks and pulling coins out from behind ears, Aziraphale chose to never hit his translate button when it came to French.

Why does Aziraphale learn magic the human way? Because he knows how to do it the ethereal way but that's "no fun."

And why does Aziraphale learn French the human way? Because he knows how to do it the ethereal way, but that's "no fun".

Let me recap real quick: Two of the very base principles of any angel's job and/or purpose (on Earth) is to 1) do miracles for humankind to ensure their souls will at some point be added to Heaven's tab and 2) be a being of Love and love all of Her creations.

Or, the condensed version: Magic and Love.

And what are the two things Aziraphale finds no fun (= boring and unsatisfying) to do the way it was intended for all angels?

Magic and (the language of) Love.

Aziraphale chose to try and learn magic as well as the language of love organically, without the God-given ability and the binary coded translation system Heaven provided his corporation with.

He wanted to learn it the human way. The hard way. The fun way.

Neil: "It's like magic tricks, which he is terrible at but loves to do, and miracles, which are no fun, but which he does very well."

Because that's the point, isn't it? Most of us think: "Wow, wouldn't it be great to be able to do actual magic? Simply snap your fingers and have any-a wish come true? Speak every and any language in the universe and never have to pick up a dictionary ever again?"

Sure, for the first few exciting moments, miracles and conversations maybe. But sooner or later, it renders everything meaningless. Soulless. Flavourless. And who loves flavour more than Aziraphale?

It's somewhat similar to why typing a sentence into Google Translate is never going to be as exciting as being able to finally translate it yourself after years of practising. Or why telling an AI to conjure up a picture of a beautiful landscape will never, ever be the same as working years on your own painting skills to one day finally be able to paint it yourself.

Heaven (and ultimately Hell) don't care about the process. The hardship. The pain and passion of putting work and effort into the journey. They only care about the end result. The means to an end.

Crowley: "They don‘t care how it gets done, they just want to know they can cross it off their list."

Want to speak any language in the world? There you go, automatic translator. Want to ensure humans will be added to the Heavenly/Hellish soul tab? Boom, you can do real magic. Get to work, then!

So, for Aziraphale to choose to learn the two things he was provided with to do his Heavenly work in the most efficient, soulless and flavourless way possible the human way instead, really says it all, doesn't it?

But he learnt the most important one the hard way, without his auto-translator.

The one language all angels are supposed to know fluently and wordlessly anyway.

The one language that makes an angel.

The language of Love.

Except that when it's programmed into you with the intent to only ever work as a means to and end instead of the beautiful journey it is, it will never be the real, organic, passionate, hard and wonderful thing it was meant to be.

And Aziraphale knows this.

Which is exactly why he learnt magic and French the real, human way.

***

Small addendum that I couldn't really fit into any paragraph up there: I think it's also really telling that Aziraphale only properly committed to learning French the right way by going to Monsieur Rossignol's (for those who haven’t seen it yet: rossignol means nightingale in French) night classes in 1760 after the first time we see Crowley rescue him (Bastille, 1739). There might have been a time before that where Crowley got him out of a precarious situation, but for all we know, it was the first one where Crowley really showed up for an angel in need who was absolutely swooning over it. Time to let the nightingale to teach you how to become fluent in Love!

[the-fandom-queenxox]

Blaming @sincerely-nines for letting the demons out

Here is the minecraft food update ideas that have been plaguing me fo a very long time:

(Also I know most of what I am about to list off are in many minecraft mods, you don't have to tell me about them, I just wanna yap about things)

(Also also I mainly talked about food we could have with the already existing edible minecraft items)

-First of all WHY DON'T WE HAVE APPLE PIE IN MINECRAFT!!! WE HAVE PUMPKIN PIE SURE BUT WE DESERVE APPLE PIE TOO!! Oh and also golden/enchanted golden apple pie... cause I think it would be funny and I want it

-Continuing the pie train sweet berry pie, glow berry pie, shepherd's pie(we have enough meat options to make it), chicken pot pie and also just learned about this one, fish pie

-Speaking of fish, sushi. "Oh bUt FAndOm yOU neEd riCe AnD SeAwEEd To mAKe sUsHI" no you don't, there are many recipes of sushi without rice in them and you can use the dried kelp as a substitute to seawed

-But also yeah they should add rice too

-Squids, we should be able to eat the squids... both of them(and yes you would get the glow effect if you ate the glow squid)

-Getting back on the pie train for a second for the actual last pie for the list(unless I forgot any that could be made via the limited items we have in minecraft), chorus fruit pie, cause it's funny to think about

-Carrot cake, chocolate cake or even better brownies, sweet berry cake and glow berry cake

-Sugar cookies

-Cheese!!! Which they made cheese in one of the april fools updates, so they infact can code this in, but I want it in a specific way, it is the height of a half slab and it is eaten like a cake... and maybe also cream, butter, yogurt or frosting even, since the one cake we do have seems to already have something like that on the sprite on it... also I think it would be funny if you crafted a whole stick of butter and eat it infront of your friends

-Speaking of "april fools updates" sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes

-Chocolate, just regular chocolate

-Add on from the last point hot chocolate

-French toast, we have all the ingredients for this why can't we have it?!

-Maybe some egg dishes? Like fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs...

-Oh it just came to me, eggs benedict! Just replace the english muffin with regular bread, which probably make it count as a sandwich now that I think about it... they should also add sandwiches...

-Maybe also some more dishes with mushrooms? Even though I don't lkke mushrooms irl it's kinda weird to only have one food item with them in it

-I also wouldn't mind if they made more stews or soup

-Puddings! More specifically bread pudding and chocolate pudding

-Caramel

-A lot of trees are actually very safe to eat the bark and seeds of

-Sunflower seeds

-Also apparently if you boil it, you can eat bamboo as well and we have that in minecraft so we should eat it

-Many types of juices!! Some short examples would be carrot juice, melon juice, beetroot juice... etc.

-Kinda going off topic with this one, but I wanna gnaw on the bones we get from the skeletons, mojang let me eat the bones!!! You can make it so if you eat one it gives nausea cause it is actually unhealthy to eat bone as is and can make you seriously sick, but I wanna be a rabid fucking animal damn it and scare off the hoes. Side note here but you can also eat bonemeal and be okay to do so, so yeah that is also an option

Aaannd that's all of them for me, but if any of you have some ideas on what else to add do let me know, I probably missed alot of things

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Heeey Raven! Just for the Sillies and funsies, did you when you first started the game had a difficult time pronouncing some of the names in the game? :'D

I first started the game in late 2022, so i joined the fandom a bit late, but let me tell you, i had a hard time pronouncing some of the dorm names! Like some of the dorm names that I had a difficult time pronouncing were Pomefiore, Heartslabuyl, Diasomnia, and ESPECIALLY ignihyde and i'm going to be honest i still have problems pronouncing some the dorm names once in a while! 💀

Like i pronounce Pomefiore "Pom-fi-or" (Weirdly enough at the beginning, i pronounced Pomefiore automatically with an "r" as in "Porm-fi-or.) Another example would be with Octavinelle my brain keeps thinking that it's "octovinelle" with an "o" instead of an "a" because i think of OCTOpus when i pronounce Octavinelle! I've also seen some fans pronouncing Octavinelle "oct-tine-ville" or "Octaville," which i think is really funny cuz no one can pronounce it! It's chaotic. 😂

Some goes for Mostro Lounge, i mentally added “n” to Mostro Lounge at the beginning of the game. I used to say Monstro Lounge until I realised that's wrong! 😭

then there's Heartslabuyl! dear fricking god! What a tongue twist! 😭 I used to pronounce and still do heartslabyul "heartzabyul." I don't know how accurate that is, but it's such a mouthful. 🫠

AND The ONE dorm i had the MOST trouble pronouncing was Ignihyde! 💀 and still can't do it right! Again, I've seen some fans pronouncing it "Ichigyde", "igh-knee-hide" or "Igunihaide".

Also, i keep reading Diasomnia as in Diasmonia, I don't know why, but it's automatically DiasMONIA in my head.

This all some weird Mandela effect! 💀

anyway i was actually going to mention some other funny things i misspelt or mistook something in the game when i first started, but this got so long that i'll just end it here and send another ask another day til then See ya! ✌🏻

I've never really had an issue with the unique names that come up in TWST! Everyone's going to be biased to their own ways of pronouncing the words, but personally I find it helps to break things down into smaller bits. I think I didn't have trouble with the dorm names because of this. If you slow down and take your time with them, it's not so hard. For example, I guessed "Pomefiore" must be said as "Pom-eh-fee-or-ay" because "pomme" means apple in French and "fiore" means flower in Italian. Likewise, the "somn" in "Diasomnia" refers to "somnus" in Lain, which means sleep.

Some of the variations in pronunciation naturally occur because the way things are said in Japanese is different than in English. For example, "Ignihyde" is said "Igunihaide" in Japanese, whereas in conventional English is it said as "Igh-knee-hide". Some people will choose to say it the Japanese way, others will say it in the conventional English way, and some will do it another way entirely. (I also want to point out that some words just sound plain awkward to say in English due to differences in what is considered "normal" grammar and syntax from language to language. "Octavinelle" said out loud is such a mouthful in English because we usually don't see this combination of letters.)

I try to not get caught up on whether or not I'm saying the names of new terms (character names, dorm names, etc.) "correctly" or not, because there is sure to be differences anyway, whether between languages or between individual dialects. (I talk about that more in this post!)

P.S. The "Monstro"/"Mostro" Lounge confusion was probably the most common mistake! That comes from a lot of fans assuming that the lounge must be named "Monstro" after the whale in Pinocchio.

[eleccy]

I think I see Apollo's character as very much not subservient to Kristoph Gavin. Even when he was working for him. Someone pointed it out in my fic comments and I'm glad they did because it's part of Apollo's nature to me that he argues and clashes with authority even before Phoenix manipulates him. Apollo was starry-eyed at the beginning but he was still quite suspicious and sassy, which I immediately liked about him. @katrinakaiba understands.

Like for example, after the Judge talks about Kristoph being the "best attorney in town" Apollo thinks to himself "Yeah, Gavin's got skills, but does he have Chords of Steel?". Granted he didn't say that out loud, he does have respect for his mentor. But merely the fact that he thinks this shows that while he looks up to Kristoph, there's a level of snark there in his mind. And Kristoph even tolerates Apollo's snark levels at certain points, especially insofar as it's directed towards Phoenix or Payne. He does pipe up about manners when Apollo makes a comment about the Judge's hearing. This is probably just something he's trying to teach Apollo about how you should act in front of the Judge, though (which is why it's so funny when Kristoph gets lightly reprimanded by the Judge later for sarcastic remarks)

Apollo absolutely describes Kristoph as his "trusted mentor" in the Profiles section, and in the French translation adds "I owe him everything". There's a lot of loyalty there, and the fact that Apollo does feel comfortable being himself in front of Kristoph generally is, to me, a sign that their relationship was quite warm and familiar as opposed to a master who disciplines a student harshly. Kristoph actually seems fairly selective about the guidance that he does provide, encouraging Apollo to try to figure it out by himself first before turning to him for help. He does talk over Apollo a bit, but that's more due to the scenario (even though, I'm sure it happened a lot even outside of court). He seems to be a bit more focused on making sure that Apollo understands (1) how to build a case, (2) how to avoid committing a social faux pas in court, and (3) how to corner a witness, which are all actually really useful.

I really want to explore this characterization more because it says a lot about how Kristoph really was, a kind teacher whom nobody would suspect. It's difficult to believe how someone so pleasant could hide so much, so easily.

[liketolaugh-writes]

I know I've talked about this before, but God, I'm never going to stop resenting the hold that Harry Potter has on me.

As an autistic person, special interests never really leave you, and that's more true for longer-standing ones. I really can't explain how all-consuming they are, how much time and energy and love you pour into them, how much joy and comfort you get from them. I'm kind of between special interests right now, after finishing both Constellations and Blue Food Project, and it's unsettling. Makes me restless, leaves a lot of time in my day. (Time I can use to look for jobs! Positives.)

Anyway. Harry Potter was definitely my longest-standing special interest to date. It was my SI through most of elementary school, and given the choice, I would do nothing except reread them, over and over and over and over again. My parents had to institute a rule where every time I finished the series, I had to wait a certain amount of time before I read it again, and I always did as soon as the time was up. There are parts of it, useless stupid lines, that I can still recite from memory. ("And he was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one that turned out to be pepper" has always been my favorite example.) I don't engage much with the Harry Potter fandom, because it's a mutant factioned thing that kind of scares me, but the story stays with me nonetheless.

Like many other fans, this letter broke my heart; I'm sure you know the one even without clicking the link. She's only gotten worse since then (every so often I still look at her Twitter account and mourn) but this was the beginning of the end. Most authors, I can forgive their transgressions; I can trust that they've grown, I can accept that their work is flawed, and I can enjoy what I read despite that.

Every since that letter, and plenty of the subsequent scandals besides, I've been unable to do that. I read any part of Harry Potter and I can see nothing but flaws. I see sexism, and ableism, and cultural appropriation and colonialism and hypocrisy. I think, why are there so many crowds of tittering girls? and why does everyone hate Fleur seemingly just for being French and pretty? and why did she design the Slug Club without any acknowledgement of 'this is literally how to break into a career field?' There is nothing there for me but frustration and hurt.

I've seen people in the trans community complain about cis folk asking if they can 'still enjoy' Harry Potter, which I understand. (I consider myself nonbinary, but my gender identity is so unimportant to me that I still consider my place in that community tenuous.) But this isn't that. This is frustration. Harry Potter was carved into me years ago, and I can't seem to dig it out, and I have yet to decide what to do with that.

But the story stays with me. The memory of it is inescapable. I don't even really need to reread the books to write fanfics, most of the time; I know every plot point by heart. How could I not? And every unanswered question, every point of shoddy worldbuilding that drives me nuts about that world - I can fix those. I do it all the time in other fandoms. It's really not that hard to create the answers to the plot holes that bother you.

Most of the Harry Potter fics I write are crossovers - Harry Potter goes well with just about any world, kind of like Avengers does. But there's one I've been playing with that bugs me in a special way.

I mentioned finishing 'Constellations,' my two part series where Percy Jackson goes to therapy for everything he goes through in the PJO and HoO books. That was a love letter to Percy Jackson, to Rick Riordan's writing. Like any writer, he has his flaws and weak points, but I love it nonetheless, every part of it. I wrote it with the intent to supplement and highlight canon for everything I love about it.

Now, I find myself writing a similar fic for Harry Potter, with Harry Potter going through therapy. It's in the beginning stages yet (such stories are obviously difficult) but it's such a fascinating topic that I can't shake it. What happens when a survivor of such vicious neglect suddenly is accused of seeking attention at every turn? How can someone so victimized by the Ministry come to trust them enough to work as an Auror? Did Dumbledore truly understand what he subjected Harry to with the Dursleys?

But with Constellations, I had respect for Riordan's writing that I don't have for Rowling's. Such a story would come from a completely different place. And that's fascinating, too. It's just complicated.

I'm not going anywhere with this, I guess. It's just- frustrating, to so thoroughly resent a story and a cast that I also love so much.

[krys-in-the-playhouse]

OC Brainrots #4: 'Bullying' Napoleon Hours

Haven't done a brainrot post in a while, so I thought I'd use this one to play along with Mo's (@xxsycamore/ @kissmetwicekissmedeadly 's) bullying Napoleon on his birthday prompts and see what my ikevamp girlies would do faced with the opportunity to 'bully' everyone's favorite former emperor.

For previous brainrots, check out the oc masterlist!

Thea

For Thea, I'd imagine her taking the imitating him route, more to tease him than anything. Like, maybe they're out doing shopping errands together a la that one story event where he's out getting groceries with Theo when they run into Shakespeare.

You know what, Theo can come get groceries with them too and he's a little jelly that Naps and Thea are having such a fun, silly conversation and he's feeling a little green-eyed that another man is chatting up his girl. Then, they happen across a handful of his students who asks him about this fencing technique they can't seem to get right.

Always happy to indulge his kids Naps goes to them while the other two are alone. Theo reveals about his jealous feels and Thea thinks it's cute and reminds him that she doesn't feel anything more for Naps than friendship, then proceeds to prove it by imitating him, deepening her voice, speaking in a bad French accent, and fencing with a stick she found on the ground, making Theo chuckle.

But don't think Naps will let this atrocity stand, oh no, as he sicks his students on her with tips on how to improve her form with a flourish of his cape not unlike a swooshy skirt twirl he's likely seen her do with her skirts on occasion, along with a cheeky little tease towards her in Italian (intentionally with his old Corsican accent) which makes her cringe. Theo laughs harder.

Abby

For Abby, she wouldn't be the type to intentionally bully Naps. She doesn’t wanna bully anyone, it's mean, especially someone as nice and cool as Napoleon! Would bullying even work on him? From someone like her? Surely not!

So, with that thought in mind, the best her teasing would come to is telling him something that he's been laughing at for the last five minutes isn't really that funny.

Like, she's a future person, so things in the past are going to be a little different than what she's used to in the modern day, right? Let's take laundry for example. Turn of the century France doesn't have automatic clothes washing machines and likely won't see them for a few more decades yet, unfortunately. Which means laundry day is an all-day test of strength and patience, especially when you need to wash for eleven people plus yourself. She has a personal vendetta against Arthur and his shirt fronts and collars because of the dried blood that refuses to come out and will glare at him every laundry day because of it.

On this thankfully perfectly temperate and sunny laundry day, Sebastian off doing a different chore (there's always a chore to be done in this huge mansion), but he had promised to come help her later on, so she was left on her own. And she gets to Arthur's pile of shirts that need to be cleaned and starched. And guess what she sees on the front and on the collar?

Well, she might have had thoughts of eviscerating him with a palette knife but the thought of cleaning his clothes again afterwards stayed her hand.

What she hadn't counted on was having an audience for the stages of wrath she went through as she looked at the offending white shirt. Namely one former emperor that happened to be passing by, returning from his adventures in town or something. He probably would have passed her unnoticed except he couldn't stop himself from laughing when he saw her face. First, the disbelief taking over her, moving quite rapidly to her clenching her teeth and clutching the fabric tightly in her tiny hands, to disgust, to finally letting a breath out and throwing the soiled shirt quite harder than necessary into the steel pot on the ground, splashing soapy water onto the grass. 

Napoleon laughed at the scene, loudly, making Abby jump and squeak in surprise, embarrassed that her little show had been witnessed. She wanted to go crawl into her room and hide in her shame, but laundry still needed to be done so she continued her task despite the red on her cheeks and ears making her look like a cherry tomato. Pouting, she also mumbles that she wasn't trying to be funny, making Naps smile sweetly.

He apologizes and takes off his jacket, intent on helping her to make up for laughing at her. He gives her some gentle head pats and took on the task of scrubbing Arthur's shirt for her. He then promises to threaten him for putting her through this arduous ordeal, his punishment to be to wash his own shirts if he does this again. Abby, finally, smiles a little, feeling a bit better, which makes Naps smile more, happy she wasn't angry anymore.

Thanks for coming along with me for this 'bullying' adventure with Napoleon!

[miraculous-magicalconnections]

Gabriel Agreste/Monarque and Nathalie Sancoeur/Paon Aimant Redesign

For Gabriel's redesign, I wanted to really play into the character that he slowly became by the end of season 5, a deranged man who wants nothing more than to take down Ladybug and Chat Noir while simultaneously keeping the character he was at the start, a man who wants to save his wife no matter what

The outfit itself is identical to the one he wears in canon, however the colors have been changed to represent a Death's-head hawkmoth, because of this his brooch is now yellow while camouflaged to better fit into his outfit

He also dyes his hair, something I found funny while also further showing how he's holding onto the past and trying to make himself appear younger

He's French, Italian, and Japanese

Hawk Moth's redesign, now known as Monarque throughout the entire series, is something I actually really enjoy

Blue represents royalty in France, and given Gabriel sees himself as right, as good, as a ruler, a monarch, his costume is reminiscent of a blue butterfly to show off the "I'm in the right" mentality that he has

He mask looks similar to that of canon, but I specifically made it more angular, sharper, because Gabriel doesn't just encourage people's negative emotions, he MAKES them (this is seen a couple times in canon like in Jubilation but this is more true in my rewrite)

Gabriel is a great manipulator, one that knows how to make his word the truth, so I further made sure that his costume was sharp, but also smooth in it's patterns

The front of his costume is inspired partially by his Monarch design in canon that had the stained glass look to it, and the tail coat is inspired by post-rings Monarch's tailcoat

Another thing that's very apparent is that he has an actual mask, whereas the canon outfits head either a full head covering or a mask + a skin tone change, this was just because most fans didn't like it too much (especially Monarch when season 5 first aired) so I took a design element from Hawk Moth I really liked (the akuma mask imprint) and made it more apparent (by literally making it his mask)

To also clarify: Monarque's (and subsequently any Butterfly/Peafowl user) mask when Akumatizing or Kamikotizing people looks like that because of 1. who he is and 2. his intentions behind using the powers, for example if he were good, the mask would probably look how it does during seasons 1-3, so if Nathalie were to use the Butterfly Miraculous, her's would look different (same goes for if he used the Peafowl)

When it came to Nathalie's redesign, I put myself under a couple of limitations so it's not my favorite, but I still love how she came out

The first thing is that she has a cane, if you read her backstory you'll know she has chronic exhaustion but due to that she's typically in a wheelchair, on good days she's able to walk around with a cane

Her outfit I wanted to read as business but comfortable as (despite how insane he is) Gabriel isn't going to force Nathalie to be uncomfortable while working, so she's permitted to wear less formal clothes though she still likes to dress up

She is a lesbian because fuck the idea she does that out of love for GABRIEL and not Emilie, because as much as I love Gabenath, Nathalie has and always was in love with Emilie which is why she wants to help Gabriel

For Mayura's redesign, now known as Paon Aimant (loving peacock in French), I wanted to get rid of all the blue, so I made her leggings and boots a green-blue shade, I also kept her skin tone the same

Her mask is the first to not be a domino mask because I thought Nathalie wouldn't WANT to have one, so instead she has a one that covers her lower face (keep in mind, the Miraculous magic protects her identity regardless so this wouldn't make it any easier to figure out who she is)

I also made her hair short and blonde because it makes her look a lot like Emilie, the person she's doing this for, and I found it extremely fitting

On top of that, she's also taller than Gabriel and Monarque, this is because she wants that sense of power, and despite not having the height advantage when Nathalie, she has it as Paon Aimant

Her mask is very fluid, not only because she isn't anywhere near as harsh and manipulative as Gabriel/Monarque but also to further prove she's not doing this because she wants, but because this is the path she's been giving and she's (pun intended) flowing with it

[logogreffe]

Notes on Duolingo :

The goal of learning a language is ultimately being able to say even the dumbest things in your target language. BUT if you're a beginner, if you're just starting out, you should NOT train your brain and get a feel of the language with sentences that nobody uses !! Yet, if you use Duolingo that's what is going to happen...

Sure, some sentences on Duolingo are funny but ...no one uses those sentences in real life !

Duolingo has advantages I know, I've used it before, it's free, relatively easy to use...but at the end of the day ? You are practising reading/listening and translating some sentences that neither you nor native speakers will ever use !

I took a look at some Duolingo screenshots taken by French learners. Some sentences are really weird and some just do not sound natural at all.

[Important Note : I'm a French speaker from Mainland France (France métropolitaine) , when I'm saying "it doesn't sound natural" what I mean is that it doesn't sound natural for a French speaker from Mainland France, it might not be the case for the enormous amount of people also speaking French in other countries.] (The following examples were taken from @wtfduolingo) Example n° 1 :

A good example of a sentence you'll never use. Example n°2 :

Nobody says that... (to my knowledge, except maybe children under the age of 12 ?) How I would say "He only tells lies" in French : ( the 1st one is very formal, and the two last ones very informal) - Il ne raconte que des mensonges. - Il ne dit que des mensonges. - Il ment sans arrêt. - Il passe son temps à mentir. - C'est un mytho - C'est un gros mytho Note : "mytho" is the shortened version of "mythomane", mytho is a slang word used to talk about someone that lies.

Example n°3 :

Grammatically correct, but it doesn't sound natural at all if you're under the age of 65. How I would say it : - " Pourquoi devons-nous apprendre tout ça ?" (very very formal) - "Pourquoi doit-on apprendre tout ça" ? (formal) - "On doit apprendre tout ça ? Pourquoi ?" (casual/informal) Example n°4 :

This one is funny because if the answer had been "est-ce qu'il est déjà trop tard ?" I wouldn't have anything to complain about. The use of "Est-ce + adv or adj ..." is fine in emails or novels. But orally we don't use it anymore... It's really pretty don't get me wrong, but if I say "est-ce déjà trop tard ?" to my parents, I will be laughed at !

"Is it already too late ?" : - Est-ce qu'il est déjà trop tard ? (formal) - C'est déjà trop tard ? (casual/informal) I'm not saying everything you'll learn on Duolingo is "wrong" but... be careful how you spend your precious study time !

Another aspect that I think is important to criticize, is the reward system, the sounds, the colors. When I was using Duolingo my language goals got diluted. I wasn't learning a language, I simply wanted to gain points, to see green, to reach new levels. I was no longer thinking of grammar rules, of sentence structures...

I've used Duolingo to learn Arabic (MSA) for a while, and I noticed I wasn't looking at the full words. When I had to complete sentences I would just look at the first or last letter of each words to go faster and guess which one was a verb etc... At the end, I couldn't remember how to spell any words... This might be a "me problem" but try to think about it next time you use Duolingo. Are you really thinking ? Or just pressing buttons ?

One could argue that the main purpose of using an app like Duolingo that repeat the same vocabulary/sentences is that you should NOT be thinking constantly and that things should come naturally to you and I would agree IF ONLY the sentences were sentences that French speakers use in everyday life.......

Again this app is for some people the only (free) option to learn a language, and you can learn a lot on Duolingo ! But don't let it be your only source, try other apps, go watch youtube videos of people who have learned your target languages and see what apps they have used (unfortunately few are the youtubers I've seen recommending Duolingo, especially for languages like Korean, Japanese, Mandarin).

PS : No hate toward Duolingo, it's amazing that we're able to get free language lessons and that this app motivated people to step out of their confort zone and discover new languages ! I just disagree with the learning method that's all !

[afterthefeast]

ep 3 rewatch

it’s been done to death but the fact that goodsir is the one who prevents silna from getting the charms she needed is so juicy. man despite your best intentions your hands are bloody from the start eh?

also hartnell & silna is a really good interaction because like, he’s really quite kind and respectful, be puts some supper in and gives condolences for her father but it doesn’t ultimately matter. i think it’s an example of how no matter how good their intentions are or how kind they may be the crew cannot do the right thing because they just have this insurmountable epistemological barrier by virtue of having been raised to buy into empire.

now that i’ve remembered who he is it’s possible de voeux is my most hated character in this show

also throwing silna’s father down the ice hole just. so cartoonishly evil.

obsessed with how consistently miserable meals on the erebus are shown to be. obviously this one is sad for good reason because gore isn’t there but it does paint a picture of a truly soul-sucking working environment. just deeply awkward for everybody involved.

also interesting to read the body language in franklin’s flashback to his officers chatting back in london. fitzjames is halfway out of the circle but leaning in pretty much how someone slightly left out of the school friendgroup would act (foreshadowing that he’s out of his depth and overcompensates socially?) and gore is the centre of attention (tallies with the impression that gore was pretty universally popular and does suggest to me that his early death really sent things downhill on erebus morale wise).

honestly jane franklin is so interesting to me. love that she’s a bit of a lady macbeth in some ways despite next episode pointing out that she also thinks her husband is a bit of an idiot.

mandatory religious service sir john u fucking square

the fact that franklin refuses crozier’s rescue plan right after we’re shown he had no rescue plan in the first place — motivated primarily by vanity. “i will not lose another man” is not his motivation surely. hilarious that he accuses crozier of vanity because of this as well. something deeply paternalistic about the whole speech too - franklin saying he takes some (but not all!) responsibility for crozier’s shortcomings as a captain. something about how everything crozier is is because of sir john, who is retroactively taking credit for moulding his whole personality, except for his flaws which are inherent to crozier, indelible failures. ALSO actually this is completely the imperial mindset like straight up. british imperial policy in africa (in contrast to french) focused very much on like, emphasising difference between indigenous people and the british administration. they would educate “able” colonised people in the british system but they would never be british (the french response, also evil, was just to say that everyone was now french what a gift). like, the attitude of, we will make you, as much as we can, a good imperial citizen, all of your achievements will be because we gave you that opportunity, but also you will never truly be one of us because you will always be Other and therefore wrong. very franklin & crozier in that scene.

the irony of course is that, the above said, in a limited sense franklin isn’t wrong — crozier’s tendency to isolate himself is actively detrimental.

also fitzjames’ obvious eavesdropping is really funny especially considering that it was not necessary. dundy was also listening in but managed to get away but fj just sort of freezes? very secondary mean girl behaviour of him

ok interesting that blanky & crozier assume little would refuse to disobey sir john and send off the search parties. also “there’s a spare captain on erebus”, fun thirty second foreshadowing. but also good example of how crozier is like…idk his self-sacrifical tendencies are obviously ultimately completely thwarted, and also not at all the best for his ship

DIGGLE WAS THE COOK??? ok craaaazy that he ended up in cannibalism kitchen then

IRVING WATERCOLOUR SPEECH. best moment of this whole fucking show. again really interesting that hickey has initially really misread the situation and it is worse than he thought it was BUT it’s also so funny how much he is clearly enjoying playing the repentant sinner. kind of into it methinks. also “you’re in the world’s best place for it” [“repairing” yourself] and “god sees you, mr hickey. here, more than anywhere” OKAYY.

DIVORCE!!!!! <3333

“to think you were such a good wife to me, all this months” hmmmmm

RAT SPEECH okay putting a pin in this speech because i am too tired to fully go through it but there’s a lot there about like. idk general human/animal stuff, also “rats devouring each other to make more rats” kind of a thesis statement maybe?

“just ask jopson” classic messy bitch jopson

“he sees something in me” / “he doesn’t see you at all” — “a man like me will do anything to be seen” / “that is not how i see you” yet another parallel between hickey & billy and crozier & fitzjames. which could mean anything

“educate this creature as to the dominion of the empire and the will of the lord behind it” well.

honestly goodsir trying to figure out how to arrange the leg will always be famous

little & dundy honestly looking straight up suicidal about fitzjames’ excessive grief. yet another erebus awkward workplace moment.

[andrewminyardapologist]

A Kevin Day hc I assume I'm not the first to have:

We see Kevin drinking during the course of the series. Often, he uses it to relieve extreme anxiety, like when Wymack handed him a bottle of liquor at the banquet and told him "you have ten seconds, go."

(While that's really funny, it also shows how MUCH Kevin drinks because I think he got half a bottle down in that time. In a liter of vodka there is somewhere around 25-30 standard drinks I believe? So that would put anyone without a drinking problem on their ASS. I was a heavy drinker for several years of my life, to the point where I could be blackout drunk and act sober. I am a lot smaller than Kevin, but that would probably put me into a coma if I didn't space it out over a couple of hours. Not mention Kevin was not appearing to be drunk during the banquet. So this leads me to believe he drinks a LOT. More than we see.)

The other time we see Kevin drink is at Eden's, and around the other Foxes for card games or bonding nights. Things that make it easy to not spiral into a dark place because of the alcohol.

He's also very drunk when he gets the chess piece tattoo, and is alone that time, drowning in memories. That was SUCH a huge deal for him. And, he was ALONE.

This is why I think that Kevin probably spends a lot of nights getting wasted by himself. While outwardly he is often very analytical in terms of things like exy and relating to other people, for example his apathy regarding Seth's death or Neil's injuries. Internally, however, he is an extremely emotionally intense person.

This comes out only when he is around really significant trauma triggers, essentially only when Riko is mentioned or when he has to see him in person.

A lot of people joke that Kevin is a coward, but I don't think he is. I think the amount of abuse that happens at the Nest is so intense that the fact Kevin can be in the same room as Riko at all proves how strong he is.

I think what drives him more than fear is grief, that's buried so deep down he can't see it until he's wasted. Riko was his abuser, but they were also inseparable. It's hard to reconcile that.

Kevin is grieving the loss of a brother, he is coming to terms with the fact that someone he cared for so deeply, who was such a large part of his life, could betray him in all of the ways he did. He is grieving the fact that he left Jean there, knowing how horribly Riko treats him.

It is to the point where he needs Andrew to ground him to the Foxes, to not run back there for all of the things he has lost.

I think there are a lot of moments readers didn't get to see where Kevin gets really drunk and can't help but sob. Quietly, into a pillow, somewhere where he's alone and no one can hear. I think when that happens, he either finds Andrew or Andrew finds him.

Andrew doesn't comfort Kevin. Doesn't try to. He just listens to the sounds and if Kevin wants to talk he lets him, even though it's basically unintelligible or sometimes it's in French. Andrew takes the bottle from him and puts it out of reach when Kevin is getting too drunk to not get alcohol poisoning.

Andrew makes sure Kevin gets to bed and leaves a puke bucket within reach. For his sake, not Kevin's. On the worst nights, he's stayed up to make sure Kevin doesn't die in his sleep.

They never speak of this. Andrew doesn't know if Kevin remembers, but he does in bits and pieces. And he seeks Andrew out enough times for Andrew to know his presence is wanted and not an intrusion.

I think when he finally gets sober, Andrew is there for him like that too. Just a presence. Instead of keeping Kevin from returning to Riko, he keeps him grounded when he wants nothing more than to drown himself in a bottle of something. Years down the line, on the rare nights Kevin contemplates breaking his sobriety, he video calls Andrew.

Andrew always answers, and rarely talks. Kevin might say one or two things, but mostly they just sit there together on the phone, Kevin knowing Andrew will come after him if he thinks Kevin is relapsing. Kevin will get a look on his face when the urges get bad, and Andrew will see it and simply say "no," and for some reason that's always enough to drag him back.