#and the initial framing is that one of the two(it is unclear which) was told to write a book about their life as a musician

[painted-bees]

I am writing....a hypothetical first episode for the cortes trio...and it's really cute.

[antialiasis]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: all of my thoughts (part 1)

All right, this is me, watching my way through my current obsession The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the umpteenth time and rambling about everything that comes to mind as I go, which ended up with me typing over thirty thousand words because I am incapable of shutting up. Because that is truly excessive, I will be posting my thoughts in three parts; this is part one (covering roughly the first hour and thirteen minutes of the Extended Cut, up through the end of the desert/carriage sequence), and I'll probably post part two in a few days to a week, pending editing and such and some of the other things I should be doing.

Because that's a lot of reading to commit to without knowing what you're getting into, especially if you're here from the tag, here's what to expect in brief:

This is all of my thoughts, simply whatever comes to mind, but my thoughts on fiction tend to be heavy on in-depth analysis of characters, their motivations and how they tick, so a lot of this falls into that general category.

In particular, there will be a whole lot of thoughts on Tuco, Blondie, and their evolving character dynamic, which is my favorite part of the movie. I will not be looking at it through a shippy lens, for what it's worth (romantic shipping is not generally how I personally engage with fiction), but I hope anyone who finds their dynamic compelling in whatever way might still enjoy some of my thoughts on them!

In between, there's also a bunch of other commentary on stuff like the narrative function of scenes (especially on the scenes that were cut in the International Cut of the film and whether the film is better with or without them), directorial or editing or production design or storytelling choices, acting choices, foreshadowing and parallels, as well as some lighter commentary on bits that amuse me or bug me or that I particularly enjoy.

Sometimes I will just be making observations about random things I didn't necessarily notice or pick up on on my first viewing; many of them are probably kind of obvious, but if I didn't pick them up seeing it once, probably there's at least a chance they might be interesting for other people who have only seen it once.

This is not a recap of the movie, but I do try to quote lines or explain bits that I'm commenting on, so hopefully you can follow along if you've seen the movie at all. I don't know how coherent this would be if you haven't seen the movie, but if you choose to read a post like this about a movie you haven't seen anyway, godspeed to you.

Tuco's introduction

The opening scene sure is a microcosm of Sergio Leone's directorial style. Slow, silent close-ups, wide shots, unclear exactly where the scene is going initially, these unnamed characters eventually converge on a saloon -- and then instead of following them inside, Tuco comes crashing through the window and we freeze-frame. It's very drawn out (I had a bit of an "Is the whole movie going to be like this" moment watching it for the first time), but the comic timing of Tuco and the freeze-frame is great; instantly we go from this super slow, dramatic buildup to this fun, humorous subversion that really sets a tone. All that buildup was actually for introducing this guy.

In the process, we learn that 1) Tuco is someone at least three different people want to kill, 2) he's someone skilled and resourceful enough to manage to shoot them first and then make his escape through the window even after being caught unawares during a meal by three people working together, and 3) even in the process of doing that he brings his food with him -- probably actually pretty revealing about his background of poverty, not wanting to waste food when he has it. We'll of course see him introduced further a little later, but this really says a lot for only actually containing about ten silent seconds of him, and also benefits from being funny.

It's kind of amusing how bloodless most gun deaths are in this movie, considering it doesn't shy away from blood in other parts. The surviving bounty hunter does have some blood on his hand as he tries to shoot after Tuco, probably to convey that he's injured despite still being alive, but the others are just cleanly lying there with no signs of damage. Maybe it's paying homage to what other Westerns looked like -- the actual cowboy gunslinging specifically is very idealized, sanitized and almost cartoonish, compared to a lot of the other violence in the film. I remember being a kid and hearing about the trope of people in old Westerns getting shot and dramatically going flying as a result, despite that normal bullets are far too small for their momentum to send a person flying anywhere -- you don't actually see too much of that in modern movies, where everything tends to look much more realistic, but this movie definitely has a lot of very dramatic flailing and spinning around when people get shot in a way that looks pretty distinctly silly and cartoony today. Ultimately it meshes pretty well with the overall tone of the film, though; this movie is gritty in many respects, but it does not aspire to realism.

Angel Eyes' introduction

The way Angel Eyes just silently waltzes into Stevens' home and helps himself to some of his food while maintaining eye contact the whole time is so weird and uncomfortable, it's delightful. What an entrance.

Stevens has a limp. People who have fought in the war tend to be visibly scarred by it in this movie -- truly something that just permeates every background detail, that you don't really think about on a first viewing when you think the Civil War is just a setting backdrop.

There is zero dialogue in this film until more than ten and a half minutes in (though the first three minutes of that are the opening credits, so it's seven and a half minutes of actual movie with no dialogue). I think this is a very fun choice which contributes to the viewer really feeling how unbearable the silence is for Stevens by the time he starts asking Angel Eyes if Baker sent him - half of that silence wasn't even technically part of this scene, but it really intensifies it by making the silence here feel even longer than it is.

When Stevens says, "I know nothing at all about that case of coins!", Angel Eyes looks up with interest from where he'd been casually looking at his food. Evidently he had had no idea there was any case of coins involved, only that he was meant to collect a name, but once Stevens mentions it, his interest is piqued.

Angel Eyes casually offers, "Well, Jackson was here, or Baker's got it all wrong," while cutting off and eating a piece of bread with a large knife, sort of implicitly daring Stevens to try to say Baker's got it all wrong and see what happens. When he's got Tuco captured later, Angel Eyes does a similar thing of staying friendly-threatening as he casually asks questions, but once Tuco actually refuses to talk of his own accord, out come the claws. This time, though, Stevens does not take the bait, probably sensing that that would lead nowhere good for him.

He says, "Maybe Baker would like to know just what you and Jackson had to say about the cash box" -- this isn't the info he came for, but maybe Baker would be interested. Really it's Angel Eyes himself who is intrigued -- he'll go on to tell Baker that that's my bit. But he doesn't really bother pushing Stevens for it, instead moving on to admitting he's being paid for the name specifically. Probably he figures once he gets the name, he'll have all the info he needs to track him down anyway by his usual means (which it turns out he does).

The casual, grinning confidence of Angel Eyes' assertion that if Jackson weren't going by an alias he would've found him already, "That's why they pay me," really makes you believe it, doesn't it. It's exposition about what Angel Eyes does, but is also executed to work as a nice character-establishing moment about his competence.

Christopher Frayling's otherwise fun and informative commentary on the film talked about how Angel Eyes' missing fingertip was provided by a hand double in the final truel -- but you can see in this scene that Lee van Cleef's own right hand is definitely missing that fingertip (though I did not notice it at all until I thought to specifically look for it). Very curious where the notion of a hand double came from -- he even named a specific guy.

Angel Eyes casually announces that when he's paid, he always sees the job through, even though that's just going to make Stevens desperate -- Angel Eyes knows he can shoot first, no big deal.

He shoots Stevens through the table and the food, even. How does he aim.

Angel Eyes grabs his gun and turns around to shoot Stevens' son before he actually comes into view (specifically, we see him start to react to something about ten frames before we can first see the tip of the son's rifle). Presumably, in-universe, he heard him coming, but we don't hear him coming at all over the blaring background chord, so it feels like Angel Eyes just knows he's coming by some sixth sense. Very effective at making him seem even more threatening, especially since there's also generally a conscious decision in this movie to act as if the characters can't see anything that's out of frame for the viewer -- Blondie and Tuco get caught out by that rule a couple of times in amusing ways, but Angel Eyes actively defies the auditory equivalent.

(It's neat how the family photo, used for Angel Eyes obliquely threatening Stevens' family, also serves as foreshadowing for the fact he also has this second, older son we hadn't seen yet at that point.)

The fact Angel Eyes sneaks into Baker's bedroom when he's sleeping to report back is so extra. A normal person would just arrange to meet him the next morning, but no, Angel Eyes does the creepy stalker thing. Probably makes the murdering him in his bed bit a little easier, though, which also suggests he was definitely intending on that bit the whole time and didn't just "almost forget".

Baker's brow furrows and his eyes shift uncomfortably when Angel Eyes mentions the cash box; clearly he was hoping Angel Eyes would never find out about that bit (very reasonably, given what happens next).

All in all, Angel Eyes' introduction is super striking. The casual veneer and smug grins painted over a deeply tense sense of threat; the absolute deadly confidence; the fact he shoots Stevens' son too so easily and presciently, almost as a footnote to it all; casually walking out with the money that Stevens offered him for sparing his life; and then, on the ostensible basis that when he's paid he always sees the job through, casually killing Baker too.

Although he explains the murder of Baker as simply seeing the job through, though, Stevens didn't actually ask him to kill Baker; all he ever suggested he wanted was to be left alone, and all he said about the money was that it's a thousand dollars, after asking what Angel Eyes was being paid for murdering him. I expect Angel Eyes simply chooses to take it as payment for the 'job' of killing Baker for motivated reasons; that way, he can act as if the money is still 'payment' for him even though he rejected Stevens' attempt to bribe him, and it's much easier to go after the cash box himself if Baker's out of the picture, after all.

This creates an interesting ironic sense that while Angel Eyes effectively presents his own introduction as being all about his unassailable professional principles about always performing the job he's been paid for, and I took him at his word on my first viewing, he's not really all about those principles at all -- and as the movie goes on, indeed, he's simply pursuing the cash box for his own reasons rather than because anyone's paying him for it. His 'professional principles' don't come up again, because that's not really what this intro was telling us at all.

Which isn't to say he doesn't always see a job through after being paid (I can definitely believe that; if he has a reputation for getting the job done no matter what, that makes people more likely to pay him in the future, and he sure has no qualms about completing any job), just that that's not at all the main thing driving his character, as you might initially assume. The thing his intro is really telling us about him is that he's ruthless, terrifying, extremely competent, very interested in this cash box, and has absolutely no trouble casually murdering whoever might be standing in the way of accomplishing what he wants. And I think it's very effective at showing that.

Blondie's introduction

This scene opens with Tuco on a galloping horse in a way that naturally invites the viewer to assume this is following directly from when he flees from the saloon in his intro, and that's what I assumed on my first viewing -- but nah, not only does he not have the food and drink, he's wearing different clothing. Given the surviving bounty hunter from the intro will be appearing later and indicating that was eight months ago, and this is decidedly the most obvious place for the bulk of the timeskip to be happening, probably this is actually several months later. This film is not at all big on time indicators -- for the most part, we have no idea how much time is passing, everything feels like it's happening pretty much in sequence, and we can only vaguely infer that there must be longer gaps between particular events.

The straight-up photograph on Tuco's wanted poster is pretty hilarious. There's even a scene later with a little gag about the long exposure times for photographs at the time. Probably this is just a funny prop for two scenes to make it very obvious to the viewer that it is absolutely him on the wanted poster even as he adamantly denies it, but it's also very funny to imagine Tuco patiently posing for his own wanted poster.

Framing through it, all three of the bounty hunters surrounding Tuco when Blondie comes along are in fact going for their guns when Blondie shoots them, which makes sense -- for all that Blondie is not much of a noble hero, he generally does not tend to shoot people until they're at least starting to draw on him. (There's one notable exception, which will come up in part two.)

I enjoy Tuco's weird little nervous, disbelieving grin as he realizes this stranger just shot the bounty hunters but is sparing him. Tuco's own worldview, as shaped by his background, is dominated by self-interest; it's every man for himself, and it's up to him to do whatever it takes, tell whatever lies, betray whoever he has to, to get ahead. And yet, there's this endearing naïveté to him, where he's not really suspicious of other people's motives accordingly -- he's surprised Blondie would save him, but his brain doesn't immediately go to this guy just wants to be the one to collect my bounty. We see this a lot throughout the film.

We cut (with great comic timing) from Blondie sticking a cigar in Tuco's mouth to Tuco spitting out a cigar while tied up on his horse as Blondie takes him into town -- an edit that suggests continuity, like only a short time has passed and it's the same cigar that he just hadn't had the chance to spit out yet (sort of dubious if you really think about it, since surely it would've taken a bit for Blondie to tie him up and get him onto his horse). This reinforces our initial assumptions about what's happening, where Blondie would just have tied him up before riding straight into town, but given the con they turn out to be running, there must have actually been an offscreen conversation about it and the cigar is there as a bit of cheeky misdirection for the audience.

(It probably makes sense that when Blondie put the cigar in his mouth, he was actually about to propose they run this bounty scheme together -- as the movie proceeds, we see that Blondie generally shares cigars in more of a friendly sort of way, after all.)

"I hope you end up in a graveyard!" yells Tuco. They sure do all end up in a graveyard! This is some very cheeky foreshadowing and I love it.

Tuco yelling ineffectual threats about how Blondie can still save himself by letting him go, while actually tied up and completely at his mercy, is just extremely Tuco.

Then he shifts tack very abruptly to saying he feels sick and needs water, only to then spit in Blondie's face. Later he furiously calls the deputy a bastard just for walking out of a building, only to then immediately shift to saying he's just an honest farmer who didn't do anything wrong. Tuco often does this, shifting from one approach to the next in a way that makes it really obvious he's bullshitting, but he keeps doing this, just throwing shit at the wall to see if anything sticks, even when this is counterproductive to the whole effort. He is presumably playing it up a bit here, but it's still in its own way pretty representative of who he is and what he's actually like. He's so characterful.

"Who says so? You can't even read!" says Tuco about whether it's him on the wanted poster, which is some delightful nonsense hypocrisy/projection given we will later see that Tuco himself can only barely read. I love him. (And why would reading even have anything to do with it; he's obviously looking at the plain actual photograph of him right there. Love Tuco's absolute nonsense.)

Another absurd change of tactics: "Hey, everybody, look, look! He's giving him the filthy money!" - as if he's going to rally onlookers against the sheriff and Blondie somehow on the basis that money is exchanging hands, isn't that suspicious.

Tuco calls Blondie Judas for accepting the money (referencing the thirty pieces of silver, of course), which will get a fun echo later.

"You're the son of a thousand fathers, all bastards like you!" I love that Tuco has invented compounding recursive bastardry just for Blondie. Not only is he a bastard, all one thousand men his mother slept with were also bastards. Glorious. (You can see Blondie's amused by this one; he actually smiles a little bit before throwing a match at him.)

I wonder if Blondie actively encouraged him to go quite this hard on the insults, to make them look less associated, or if he just did this. One would think it would be risky, on Tuco's end, to be this over the top in literally spitting in the face of the guy who could just let him hang if he happened to change his mind -- but then again, Tuco genuinely doesn't expect Blondie to double-cross him.

Tuco's crimes, as of this first hanging, are: murder; armed robbery of citizens, state banks and post offices; the theft of sacred objects; arson in a state prison; perjury; bigamy; deserting his wife and children; inciting prostitution; kidnapping; extortion; receiving stolen goods; selling stolen goods; passing counterfeit money; and, contrary to the laws of this state, the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice! All this paints a picture of a pretty colorful backstory, but most of it is relatively petty; other than the murder (possibly of people like the bounty hunters we saw him dispose of in the opening), we can gather he's been scrounging up money through anything from cheating at cards up to armed robbery and kidnapping, he lied under oath (checks out), he set a prison on fire (presumably to escape), he ran off from his wife and kids and then married someone else he presumably also ran off from, and then there's "inciting prostitution" which I'm guessing means offering someone not previously engaged in sex work money for sex.

It obviously checks out that he'd do anything for money, and bigamy and deserting his wife and children rhyme with his off-hand mention at the monastery later that he's had lots of wives here and there; in general, it tracks that he would make big commitments and then just break them. So all in all, these seem like probably a bunch of genuine crimes that he actually committed. (He also nods somewhat smugly at the marked cards and loaded dice bit.)

Blondie's MO seems to be to first shoot the whip out of the hand of the guy who's meant to be setting the horse off and then shoot the actual rope (and then random attendees' hats, for good measure). Better hope that first shot doesn't spook the horse.

It really is very reasonable of Tuco to want a bigger cut for being the one running the risks; you wouldn't generally want to do a job with a significant chance of getting you killed without being very well compensated for that. Unfortunately, Blondie doing the cutting means he's the one with all the power here -- if he's dissatisfied with his share, he can just pocket all the money and let Tuco die -- which puts him at the advantage in the negotiation, and he knows it.

I enjoy how in the middle of "If we cut down my percentage, it's liable to interfere with my aim," Blondie offers Tuco a cigar, this casual friendly move in the middle of what is effectively a threat.

Tuco does a little understated, "Hmm," of acknowledgement that makes it feel like this was genuinely unexpected. But then he just returns the threat: "But if you miss, you had better miss very well. Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco." Which sets up his quest for revenge on Blondie after the double-cross, obviously, but is also fun to recall during the final scene: Tuco actively advised Blondie not to leave him alive if he was going to double-cross him.

Tuco why are you eating the cigar

Next time he's in the noose, it's for a whole new list of crimes that ends with, "For all these crimes, the accused has made a full, spontaneous confession." Yeah, he probably just went off spewing confessions to a string of colorful invented offenses as Blondie brought him in, didn't he, maybe hoping it would raise the bounty. (At the cinematic screening where I saw it for the first time, I missed the spontaneous confession thing due to no subtitles and spent half the movie experiencing some jarring mental dissonance over Tuco's growing goofy likability versus the offhandedly having been convicted of multiple rapes near the start thing. But it's actually pretty strongly telegraphed that the new crimes here are simply bullshit; a spontaneous confession to a variety of new things that were decidedly not on the earlier list, that he could not possibly have done in the implied presumably not very long timespan between the first and second hanging, mostly distinctly more dramatic crimes than the original set, all sounds strongly like a Tuco throwing shit at the wall thing.)

Tuco looks a lot more restless during the second hanging, where for the first one he was pretty calm -- probably a little bit nervous about Blondie's "liable to interfere with my aim" remark, even though they'd presumably come to an agreement to stick with the 50/50 split.

He notices a woman being scandalized, seems sort of put out for a second, but then growls at her to scare her more. What a Tuco.

Another minor character presumably disabled in the war: Angel Eyes' incidentally legless informant. (Whom he calls Shorty, like the guy Blondie teams up with later, who is definitely a different guy because that guy has legs -- sort of a funny aversion of the usual one Steve limit. Genuinely a bit puzzled by why they did that -- is it like that in the Italian version or just the English dub?) I wonder if the bit where he moves around by holding a couple of bricks and using them to walk on is something inspired by a real person or people at the time.

Calling him a 'half-soldier' is pretty rude, Angel Eyes.

Look, I'll accept that we're calling Blondie Blondie, sounds like that's what you'd call him in Italy, but there's really no excuse for "A golden-haired angel watches over him." The man's hair is brown. It's not even a light brown. What are you talking about, Angel Eyes.

But to not get too distracted by that part of the line: Angel Eyes obviously recognizes the con they're running. I think that's probably because he knows of Blondie and that this is a thing he does (he's presumably done it with others before), so when he notices Blondie's around at a hanging, he's like ah, yes, there's him doing his thing, guess he's running with Tuco now. My own feeling is Blondie and Angel Eyes basically only know of each other, though -- no direct evidence they're not more familiar or anything, but they don't really act like they have a personal history, I think, compared to Tuco and Angel Eyes who obviously do.

After the threat about a pay cut being liable to interfere with his aim, I originally figured Blondie missing the rope (or rather, it seems to have grazed but not severed it) might have been deliberate, meant to scare Tuco a bit and make him think twice about proposing that again. But ultimately, on a closer look, I'm pretty sure he really did just miss, both because his expressions and body language feel more in line with that and because Tuco's rant after they escape indicates that Blondie's explanation to him was that anyone can miss a shot -- if it was meant as a warning, probably he wouldn't then go on to actively make it sound like he'd just happened to miss.

(That line also indicates it probably wasn't that he did hit it dead-on but the rope was just sturdier than expected -- if Blondie said anyone can miss a shot, that sounds like he at least believes it's because he missed, and I don't see any sensible reason he would lie about that here.)

That said, I think it's fun to imagine that the reason for the miss was that that discussion really did interfere with his aim -- that little bit of tension with Tuco led to him being a little careless this time, even though he didn't mean to miss and thought he had it.

The thing that actually prompts Blondie to stop and leave Tuco is Tuco's rant about how nobody misses when I'm at the end of the rope and When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the devil bite your ass. For all that he explains it as being about how there's no future in this with a guy who'll never be worth more than $3000, there's a specific point where he stops his horse and decides to ditch him, and it's when Tuco's complaining turns into guilting him about missing and the experience of being on the other end. Blondie will not be guilted and does not want or need this; just going to ditch him and wash his hands of him and find somebody else. I get the sense that Blondie doesn't really want to think about that miss too hard, at this point, and Tuco won't leave him alone about it, and so he leaves him.

More echoes in Blondie and Tuco's relationship: Blondie specifically says, "Adios," when leaving Tuco in the desert, which Tuco will say back to him at the inn.

Tuco's reaction, once again throwing shit at the wall, goes from insults to angrily ordering him to cut the rope off and get off the horse (as if he has any power to make him do anything, standing there unarmed with his hands tied), to a series of hilariously off-the-wall threats ("I'll hang you up by your thumbs!"), to disbelief/desperation: "Wait a minute, this is only a trick! You wouldn't leave me here! Come back! Wait! Blondie! Listen, Blondie!" before the final ¡Hijo de una gran putaaaa! The last couple stages once again get echoed in the final scene. I enjoy the "You wouldn't" - Blondie's supposed to be better than this, even after he'd threatened his aim might suffer if he got less money. They were supposed to be friends, damn it! (Tuco really wants to believe that people actually like him, and often chooses to live in the world in which they do.)

I truly love the fact Blondie gets the freeze-frame and onscreen caption of "the good" just after ironically admonishing Tuco for his ingratitude after Blondie has double-crossed him, taken the money they were going to split, and left him in the desert with this hands tied. As I wrote in the post with my initial impressions on the movie, this is the most uncalled for, mean-spirited thing he does in the entire movie, and getting the caption right here makes it really drip with irony, which is exactly the right thing to do with it, compared to if they'd put it earlier when it might have looked like it was meant to be played straight. There's no gallant hero here, only this guy, who is kind of a bastard. Blondie genuinely grows to deserve the title more as we go on, and that's one of the fun things about the movie, but we have established that the base point is low.

Blondie's intro tells us a number of things: he's a very good shot, casually confident, silent and stoic and unruffled by most anything, happy to be a conman ripping off bounties by bringing in criminals and then freeing them again to repeat the same scheme elsewhere, willing to make oblique threats to get his way and to shoot first when anyone seems about to pull a gun on him, and enough of a bastard to leave Tuco behind in the desert. But he's definitely the most enigmatic of the three main characters; he doesn't talk or emote much, leaving exactly what's going on in his head pretty vague and open to interpretation, even as some of his actions are pretty striking and interesting. This has nerdsniped me, because I enjoy thinking about what's going on in characters' heads; please be prepared for an excessive amount of analysis of what might be going through his mind in almost every scene he's in.

Angel Eyes and Maria

The choice to open this scene with Maria getting thrown off a carriage with a bunch of drunk Confederates and the choked-up yell of "You filthy rats!" after them is probably largely just to get across the suggestion that she's a prostitute, making it easier to connect that she's the one Angel Eyes' informant told him about. But I appreciate that it gives her a little bit of a tragic existence outside the confines of the plot and makes her sympathetic even before Angel Eyes starts beating on her. (A secondary purpose for this is also probably to show some Confederate soldiers just being assholes; the film makes a point of featuring both sympathetic and asshole moments from both sides of the Civil War.)

Like with Stevens, while Angel Eyes makes his presence very threatening, he starts off nonviolently (well, relatively; the way he pulls her inside is not exactly gentle), just telling her to go on talking about Bill Carson -- but when she refuses to volunteer any information and just says she doesn't know him, the claws come out instantly. There's none of the veneer of casual friendliness he had with Stevens, though, just an intensely scary stare and threatening demands. (The scare chord playing in the background doesn't help.) All in all, Angel Eyes was already terrifying but he is even more so in this scene.

I do also appreciate that while the interrogation is brutal and deeply uncomfortable and thick with the danger of sexual violence, it does not go there -- he's physically but not sexually violent, he's only interested in the information, and once he has it, we see him just leave. This is a completely sexless film, and I think we're all very lucky for that; it's one reason The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has aged relatively well, compared to for instance some of Sergio Leone's other films. (That's not to say I have anything against portrayals of sexuality or even sexual violence in media in principle, but I've gotten the sense that back in the sixties, media that did portray it tended to be profoundly weird about it.)

Tuco returns to town

We don't get to see Tuco suffering in the desert, only making his way across the rope bridge and then stumbling toward the well and finally indulging, but I think it does get across that this was an ordeal for him, and that becomes easier to appreciate on a rewatch, after seeing Blondie go through it later. Tuco's skin has fared a lot better than Blondie's, but his lips are pretty cracked.

The gun seller looks so proud of his little selection of revolvers and is so eager to please him by showing him more. It's painful how long he keeps trying to be helpful in selling him a gun even when Tuco just grabs the bottle of wine out of his hands and dismantles half of his guns to put together a custom revolver. And then Tuco just uses the gun, with a cartridge the owner gave him, to rob him of the money he has in the till, oof.

Man, those targets just casually in the shape of Native Americans.

Sergio Leone just has a thing for characters shoving something in somebody else's mouth unbidden, doesn't he. Blondie sticks his cigar in Tuco's mouth during his intro, then Tuco puts the sign in the shopkeeper's mouth, and then it happens very memorably in Once Upon a Time in the West as well. I forget if it's in A Fistful of Dollars or For a Few Dollars More, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised.

The gun store scene is theoretically skippable (Christopher Frayling's commentary indicated it was cut in British prints of the film, though I gather it survived in the US cut), but it's pretty fun in its audacity, and is also doing some good setup work for Tuco's character. So far, apart from his intro suggesting some degree of scrappy ability to shoot before he gets shot, he's been shown in a pretty ineffectual light, getting ambushed and captured and raging helplessly with his hands tied. But here we get to see that Tuco really knows his way around guns and has implausible trick-shooting skills to rival Blondie's -- and, of course, that he really is an unrepentant bandit who thinks nothing of doing this when he wants a gun and some money, lest we were left too sympathetic to him when Blondie left him.

The cave

Tuco presumably bought the chicken with some of the $200 he robbed from the gun store; he presents it like having a single chicken by itself is amazing riches. Does say a lot.

I enjoy his very blatant talking to himself about how oh, he's so lonely, but he's rich, wonder where his friends are now. He clearly figures that Pedro/Chico/Ramon are there listening and just avoiding him. He talks like they were such great friends, but somehow the fact they don't come out until he starts loudly talking about how if only they were there he'd give them $1000 each doesn't make it seem like they ever had a relationship that went much beyond assisting each other in committing crimes to their mutual advantage -- and Tuco clearly in fact knows this, since he knows exactly what line to go for to lure them out. (But no, Tuco definitely has great friends, because he is a cool and well-liked dude who has definitely made good choices in life.)

I've seen people online suggesting that Blondie and Tuco ran their scam a lot more often than the two times we actually see, but this scene seems to make it explicit that they only did it exactly those two times: Tuco specifically indicates Blondie has $4000, which is simply equal to half of the first $2000 bounty that they split plus the entire $3000 bounty for the second time that he kept for himself.

This is one of the scenes added in the Extended Cut, despite having been cut even from the Italian version of the movie after its original Rome premiere. The primary ostensible purpose of it is just to establish where Pedro/Chico/Ramon came from (the featurette on the restoration makes it explicit that the guy overseeing the Extended Cut, John Kirk, just thought it was a plot hole and decided to reinsert the scene when he discovered it existed because of that, despite Sergio Leone himself having decided to cut it for pacing reasons). It is true I think I would probably ask myself some questions about Tuco's buddies if I'd seen a cut without it; Tuco's seemed like a lone wolf so far, and without it there's no indication at all of who these guys are or why they're working for/with him for this.

On the other hand, the scene kind of sets them up as if they're a lot more important than they are, and its internal coherence feels a little off: them only coming out when Tuco tempts them with money, despite that Tuco's been there for a bit talking at them about what good friends they were, actively suggests they don't actually like or trust him (which makes good sense!), but then it also has this dialogue about how they thought he'd been killed, which feels as if it's randomly offering up an unnecessary and somewhat contradictory second explanation for why we haven't seen them with him up to this point. The bit about them thinking he was dead doesn't actually connect to anything and seems to give undue weight and improperly conserved detail to Tuco's relationship with these guys, who are ultimately just some throwaway goons that exist in one scene before dying and never being mentioned again. I think probably the movie is actually better off without this scene, as Sergio Leone apparently concluded himself.

The inn

More of the war in the background -- this time with the innkeeper privately opining about how those rebels are cowards and it'll be better when the Yankees have beaten them as the Confederate army retreats out of the town, only to then yell "Hurray for Dixie!" as they're passing by. Not the only character in this movie who just pretends to support whichever army he's currently looking at. (We see more injured soldiers in the background here.)

Love the tension of the buildup here. Blondie's gun lying dismantled on the table at the start, the brothers approaching in the midst of all the noise, the close-up of Blondie's hand freezing and eyes narrowing at the clink in the sudden silence, straining to hear as there's nothing (the fact it stopped when the army did actively suggests someone's trying to be sneaky), then frantically loading the revolver with a second-third-fourth bullet as the background noise restarts and then juuuust managing to finish and shoot the three of them in rapid succession as they burst in. These silent close-up shots of his hands and eyes also deliver a rare moment of tangible alarm from Blondie; he's legitimately scared for a bit there and you can feel it, which is greatly appreciated from a character who spends most of the movie being stoic and enigmatic.

Enjoy Blondie choosing to explain how he knew they were coming by going, "Your spurs," just before firing the final shot (just giving this guy a little tip about where he messed up before killing him, as you do), but also I deeply enjoy that him firing that last smug bullet, which he probably didn't really need to when the guy was collapsing anyway, leaves him defenseless when Tuco draws attention to himself at the window. Blondie is very smart and competent, we've just watched him survive three people sneaking up on him while he's cleaning his gun because he managed to notice the tiny sound of a clinking spur and put together what it meant and load his gun in time, but then he makes this near-fatal mistake by getting a little too cocky about it, and that's definitely tastier than if he'd obviously needed all his bullets there.

I have seen it suggested that Tuco intentionally used the brothers as cannon fodder here, but I'm not sure the movie necessarily suggests that; presumably the idea was for them to successfully sneak up on Blondie and catch him completely unawares without the unexpected silence exposing the rogue spur clink, which wouldn't have had to involve any of them getting killed (heck, if they'd happened to be just a little earlier, Blondie would've still been in the middle of cleaning his gun). Tuco and the others had clearly talked about their approach ahead of time, so they were perfectly aware that they'd be going up there by the door and Tuco would be coming in by the window and presumably thought that sounded like a good plan. And we have no idea exactly at what point Tuco managed to make his way in, so we don't have any indication either way on whether he theoretically could have intervened to save them in some manner -- my first assumption would be he got in after Blondie had stood up, which is after he shot them. Sneaking up on him from two different directions makes sense either way. I wouldn't necessarily put it past Tuco to figure the brothers will probably get killed and do it anyway, but I don't think we can say that for sure.

Either way, I enjoy Tuco doing his quick little sign of the cross when he says "Those that come in by the door." He did in fact just get them killed by bringing them here, and while he's not going to say anything about that to Blondie, it shows him acknowledging it in a small way. Tuco's religiosity is a great little character trait that has no impact on the plot but just adds more color and dimension to him as a character -- it adds a really fun bit of visual irony to punctuate some of his various decidedly un-Christian actions, and it has a rich sense of being rooted in his background given his family was presumably religious.

Blondie's shrugging, "It's empty," feels like he's initially kind of expecting them to just talk: he takes Tuco wanting him to remove the pistol belt as a practical thing, just telling him to remove his weapon so he can put his away, and so Blondie removes it but tells him that's not really necessary because he can't shoot him anyway. Tuco could have shot him already if he were here to kill him, right? He probably expects, initially, that Tuco is just here to get his half of the money, or possibly all of it.

Instead, Tuco responds with, "Mine isn't" -- he's deadly serious and he's not putting his gun away at all.

"Even when Judas hanged himself there was a storm, too." There's Judas again! Tuco originally called Blondie that while playing it up for the scam, but as far as he's concerned now, it's true actually. Love the furious energy of him sitting there having found this Biblical parallel and decided this is the specific revenge he wants on this guy and bringing a noose to arrange that. Blondie's never had a rope around his neck, never felt the devil bite his ass? Well, now he will. And he'll make him do it himself, because Judas hanged himself.

Blondie warily (and correctly) suggests the 'storm' is actually cannon fire -- because he decidedly does not want to be anywhere near the war, and by the time cannons are getting fired in the vicinity, he thinks they should probably be getting the hell out of there, and if Tuco agrees, then perhaps pointing that out is a ticket out of this pretty alarming situation he has found himself in. But Tuco, of course, is not really interested in entertaining that just when he has Blondie right where he wants him. He's going to hang him right here if it's the last thing he does.

Blondie goes along with it, slowly, silently, looking kind of wary and skeptical more than anything. When I was first watching this movie, I kept expecting him to do something, to distract him in some clever way and then lunge at him to disarm him or something, like you'd usually expect the main character to do in an action movie. But the thing is that's just not how Blondie operates. He doesn't do bold risky action-hero feats. He can absolutely shoot a gun with the best of them, but he has no particular physical skills, never even throws a punch in this whole movie unless you count the backhand slap on the tied-up Tuco earlier; when unarmed, all he's really got is his brains. Blondie gets by on being smart and careful and analytical. When Blondie finds a gun pointed at him, and has no leverage over the other guy, he will do what he's told, make no sudden movements, and wait until he sees some kind of actual opening, because otherwise he's just going to get shot. He buys what little time he can going along with the hanging while his brain silently whirs away evaluating his options for how he can get out of this, and that's about it for what he can do.

What are his options? He doesn't have a lot. Tuco is standing too far away to reach before he shoots but too close to realistically miss, never takes his eyes off him for more than a second, keeps his gun pointed squarely at him. It wouldn't be hard for him to get out of the noose -- it's a big noose, he's barely in it, his hands are free. But if he did, Tuco would presumably just shoot him instead. Probably his best chance, once Tuco says he's going to shoot the legs off the stool, is to try to make a move just when he fires, slip out of the noose and then probably make some kind of last-ditch attempt to overpower him before he's ready to shoot again, and I imagine Blondie was getting ready to attempt just that before they were interrupted. But even then, it's very questionable whether he could have actually escaped like that. All in all, things are looing pretty dicey for him by the time the rogue cannonball comes to his rescue -- but once it does, he's out of there fast, grabbing his chance now he's got it.

Either way, as little as he gives away as it's happening, Blondie's genuinely staring death in the face here for this whole sequence, and this experience clearly left enough of an impression on him for him to make a point of turning this specifically back on Tuco in the final scene, even though Tuco's going to torment him in a much more extended and agonizing way in the desert, so I'm enjoying the quiet implication there.

The cannonball is kind of interesting because this is absolutely a textbook deus ex machina. Usually I like the rule that a contrived coincidence can get the characters into a situation but ideally not out of it. This is definitely getting Blondie out of a situation, and definitely has that sense of being a little unsatisfying as the answer to how's he going to get out of this one. And yet, the fact Blondie really was helpless to do much about it is kind of the point here. If Blondie had actually won out in this encounter, it wouldn't have nearly the same meaning when he finally ends up turning the situation around in the desert, nor when he tells Tuco to get in the noose at the end -- narratively, we need this to be an instance of Tuco beating out Blondie and then toying with him for it to have the right impact, and hence, since he can't actually die here, he needs to get out without winning.

(It does also help a bit that the ongoing cannon fire was already set up and established, even if it just happening to hit the building is purely coincidental.)

Being saved by a cannonball, of course, is again the constant insistent presence of the war in the background, now coming into the characters' lives just a bit more directly.

Meanwhile, Tuco in this scene, man. He is finally the one in the position of power, just relishing having control and being able to order Blondie to do things and have him actually do them and the grim sense of justice in seeing him be the one in a noose for once. Cheerful lines like, "It's too big for your neck, huh? We fix that right away." Grinning as he explains that he'll shoot the legs off the stool. But then when it comes to actually doing it… he takes an extra breath, with this kind of hesitant expression on his face, before echoing Blondie's "Adios." As he points the gun, it's shaking a bit. Tuco doesn't feel totally right here and I love it a lot.

Tuco does absolutely want to see Blondie suffer right now -- we're about to see him chase him down again so he can torture him in an even more drawn-out and awful way, after all. But once he actually kills him it'll all be over, and he just goes back to his usual shitty bandit life, one more person that he'd once thought was a friend gone. This has been a couple of minutes of mildly satisfying catharsis, but not totally satisfying, too brief, too easy -- and there's probably some basic squirm of empathy there, when he's been in that position, can vividly remember the squeeze of the rope -- but the bastard deserves this for betraying him, so he's doing it anyway.

All in all, this is possibly the scene I have rewatched the most. This is significantly because I happen to have a big dopamine whump button in my brain labeled 'HANGINGS', but it's also just a sequence of masterful tension leading up to this delightfully twisted, tense and thoroughly loaded character interaction following on the previous scenes between Tuco and Blondie in fun specific ways that build up to even more fun things later. What a character dynamic.

The fort

I don't have too much to say about this one. It's a very impressive set, the war is brutal, the sarcasm of the Confederate captain Angel Eyes talks to and the ease of bribing him with some booze is nice foreshadowing and a parallel for the poor Union captain Blondie and Tuco will meet, but ultimately this scene is mostly about filling in how Angel Eyes learns about Batterville. (Or is it Betterville? The subtitles say Batterville and that's what it sounds like everyone's saying, but Christopher Frayling and the subtitles on him say Betterville.) This is a restored scene in the Extended Cut, which exists in the Italian version but was cut from the International Cut.

Angel Eyes pauses and swallows looking at the injured soldiers and later lets the captain keep the booze he brought, vaguely suggesting a glimmer of sympathy for their plight, which is sort of interesting but also a little divorced from the rest of the movie. Villains having different sides to them is neat, but I don't think we get a great sense of why Angel Eyes would be sympathetic to these men but also treat the prisoners at Batterville -- who are soldiers from the Confederate army just like these ones -- how he does later with zero remorse, so I'm not sure this is actually doing much for the movie on a character level in the end, and if anything may be a little counterproductive to the kind of extremely cold-blooded villain that Angel Eyes is otherwise set up to be.

I suppose the idea might be that Angel Eyes is theoretically capable of sympathy, but also capable of simply discarding it the moment it's useful to him. Alternatively, the idea could be that at the moment he feels in some sense that if the war catches up with him he could be in these soldiers' place, but then he goes on to enlist with the Union army to get into Batterville, at which point he's on the winning side so who cares. Angel Eyes does display nerves later at the truel, once he's in a situation he's not in control of where he might very well die, so maybe it checks out that while he feels not totally secure in not winding up like these men himself, their grim conditions get to him a bit.

I do think it is kind of nice to have this scene in terms of keeping Angel Eyes' storyline going and maintaining the sense that he's still out there looking for Carson, even aside from the added plot clarity; without it, he'd just kind of not exist for a very significant chunk of the film.

I've also seen it argued that it brings out the horrors of the war too early, given the film's slow progression from the war as simply backdrop for the plot to eventually spending the leadup to the climax with it in stark focus. I think that's a legitimately interesting point, but also that it didn't stop me absorbing that progression just fine when first seeing the film as the Extended Cut -- soldiers are injured here, yes, but they aren't truly lingered on, and all in all it felt mostly just like a logical part of the established war-as-backdrop at this stage.

All in all, I have some mixed feelings on this scene and what it contributes, but I'm tempted to conclude the film might be better without it overall.

The desert

Tuco tracking down Blondie by finding his cigars at every campfire is pretty hilarious. Imagine what Blondie could have avoided if he just stopped smoking like a chimney.

(It's sort of surprising Blondie got so far ahead of Tuco to begin with -- he wouldn't have had long to get downstairs and to his horse while Tuco was recovering from the fall and getting out of the rubble, so one would've thought Tuco could've been basically right on his heels. I guess Tuco went in the wrong direction initially and had to catch up.)

Tuco forbidding Blondie to shoot down Shorty, oof. Once again Tuco is fundamentally out for himself, and right now he wants to deny Blondie this more than to let this stranger live, so down he goes. (Nonetheless, he flinches watching it, again bit of instinctive empathy despite that he mostly suppresses it -- it hits pretty close to home.)

Blondie continues to comply with the orders of the guy who's pointing a gun at him, but he clearly doesn't feel great about this, apologizing, gaze lingering on Shorty even as he's preparing to stand up. Clearly his moral line lies somewhere between leaving Tuco to fend for himself (where he might die, but sometime later in the desert where Blondie would never know) and letting Shorty hang, dying right in front of him when he was expecting a rescue. Perhaps Blondie didn't even know he had this line until now.

A moment of silence for Blondie's original horse, whom he probably rode out here, but who is presumably just left behind as Tuco takes him away and never seen again. This movie does not really give a damn about individual horses -- the characters' horses repeatedly disappear and go unmentioned only for them to later manage to get a different horse somewhere without comment -- but as a former horse girl this is the sort of thing I notice and wonder about.

Blondie presumably initially figures Tuco's just taking him somewhere a short distance away to try to make him hang himself again or something. But then Tuco shoots the canteen out of his hands, and the hat off his head for good measure (love Tuco casually replicating Blondie's little hat-shooting trick just to rub it in), and it starts to sink in that no, that's not it, is it. Where are they going? On a nice walk of a hundred miles through desert. "What was it you told me the last time? Ah, 'If you save your breath, I feel a man like you would manage it.'" Tuco's not taking him anywhere; this is just torture, once again a very specific torture. Blondie made Tuco walk seventy miles through the desert? Tuco'll make him walk a hundred miles, or however long it takes before he dies a slow and agonizing death, and that'll show him. I deeply enjoy how in this movie, between the two of them, it's never just generic revenge, but always this hyperspecific replication of the other's previous cruelties.

Tuco's cute pink parasol is such a choice.

He's so utterly gleeful watching Blondie helplessly stumbling until he faceplants in the sand. Tuco relishes power and control when he can get it, not only for the Blondie-specific reasons (Blondie had all the power from beginning to end in their bounty scheme, and exercised it to leave Tuco helpless) but probably also because of his background -- poverty sure is a way to feel perpetually helpless and subject to external whims, and escaping it through banditry probably represented a sense of freedom from all that, where he can just go out and take what he wants and other people can be subject to his whims for once.

In the sequence added in the Extended Cut, the collapsed and dehydrated Blondie looks at Tuco's boot right beside his face, swallows, tenses for a heave of effort -- and then grabs the boot, only for it to just be the empty boot, Tuco cheerfully bathing his feet a short distance away. (Blondie is definitely suffering from the "characters can't see anything out of frame" thing here, but I kind of enjoy the literal implication that his eyes can just barely even focus and the boot manages to be all he can make out in his field of vision, even if it stretches plausibility a bit.) I do quite like this bit, not least because this is the one time we actually properly see Blondie attempting resistance. He silently went along with the hanging and he silently goes along with the desert walk, too -- which makes sense, because he's being ordered to at gunpoint, and as I went into earlier, he doesn't have action hero armor that'd let him do much to fight back in these situations without just getting shot, and he's generally too careful to try under the circumstances. But it means that he feels very passive in these sequences, and seeing this moment where he finally does think he has a chance to strike back, and the hate in his eyes and how painstakingly he gathers all of the energy he can muster to grab it, helps a lot to contextualize the rest and make him more tangibly an active character who cares what's happening to him for this. With this bit, it's easy to extrapolate that he has been waiting for any chance to take him down this whole time, and this is the one time he (seemingly) finds one. Without it, his character just has no sense of agency at all the entire time he's being tortured, which would mute the whole thing a bit.

(Well, okay: a little before this, there is this wide shot, where we can see Tuco stationary on his horse and Blondie walking towards him -- then stopping, extending his foot a little further forward and sort of pathetically lunging for that last step, at which point Tuco's horse just moves further away, and Tuco laughs. This might be, and is on closer examination probably meant to be, Blondie making some form of stumbling attempt to sneak up on him. But it's a wide shot so you can barely see him, it goes by in seconds, and it's hard to tell what he's actually doing -- he could just be trying to catch up to Tuco, which is how I think I'd mostly been taking it before I started squinting at this -- which makes it not really serve the same purpose.)

(I gather the script had a bit, which was filmed and possibly in a version of the Italian release in 1966 but lost today apart from a small fragment, where Blondie slides down a hill into an animal skeleton lying there and grabs a bone that he could use as a weapon, but Tuco shoots it out of his hand and warns him not to try that again. That would have also provided that bit of agency, but given that was cut, the boot scene was all that was left, and I do maintain that cutting that too is bad for the movie.)

After he realizes it's just the boot, and of course Tuco's not letting him get close, and he has no hope of getting one over on Tuco at this point, Blondie sort of slumps in defeat for a moment, and then looks up, and then starts to crawl towards the water. It's pretty painful to watch; the utter helpless humiliation of being so thirsty and drained of defiance that he would drink the water Tuco just washed his feet in is its own grotesque flavor of torture, and then Tuco won't even let him have that.

After that, Blondie manages to push himself onto all fours, looks at Tuco for a moment -- probably realizing that even if he tried to rush him right now it would accomplish absolutely nothing other than entertaining Tuco more -- and then just crawls away, finally going somewhere of his own volition. He's not going to make it far at this point, and if it looked like he might Tuco would just shoot him, but maybe he can at least die somewhere a bit further away from him.

Tuco stands up and initially reaches for his gun as Blondie crawls off, but then he just laughs, seeing that there's absolutely no danger of Blondie making it very far or shaking him off -- he can just casually pack up his stuff and then follow him at a leisurely pace.

In the Italian/Extended Cut, Blondie rolling down the hill is continuing from this, whereas in the International Cut, Tuco had just gotten off his horse to approach him after he initially collapsed, suggesting that collapse wasn't quite as bad and that he was just sort of continuing but on all fours -- gives it a little bit of a different air.

I do appreciate just how pathetic Blondie's crawl/roll down the hill is. He sort of picks himself up again after the initial stumble but then just collapses on his back, admitting defeat. He's going to die here and he doesn't have the energy to do anything about it. Tuco lets that bottle roll down and come to a stop by his head and he doesn't even react.

Tuco spends a moment just looking at him down there before bringing out his gun to put him out of his misery. Probably less out of desire to actually put him out of his misery and more out of seeing he's not going to be able to make Blondie walk anywhere further right now, and he's not going to sit around waiting, and definitely not leaving him alive.

Blondie barely moves as Tuco points the gun at him, just closing his eyes again and swallowing and accepting that this is it. At the inn he had a chance but this time is a full-on definitely thought he was going to die here and was powerless to stop it, and this is also something that Blondie turns back on Tuco at the end.

(And yet Tuco keeps pointing his gun to kill him and taking a while to actually fire it, doesn't he. Part of this is just the movie doing dramatic timing but part of it is a genuine slight hesitation on his part, as shown more obviously at the inn.)

But then comes runaway carriage ex machina, just in time! Tuco not just shooting him first before checking on it is another notable moment of hesitation on his part. Once again, we actually need a deus ex machina, because Blondie needs to have been totally helpless here or it would completely change the implications for what's being set up.

This is another good scene that I enjoy a lot, particularly Blondie getting ready to grab the boot, although I'm also just a big fan of exhausted, dehydrated men stumbling around deserts. It's very merciless and ugly (gotta love the energy of getting Clint Eastwood at his handsomest for your movie and then absolutely fucking up his face with the gnarliest-looking sunburn makeup), really thoroughly parses as torture where the hanging scene was more quiet buildup, and Tuco's absolute cruelty here versus Blondie's exhausted helplessness is very important in viscerally setting up why Blondie does what he does at the end. But I also enjoy how strongly Tuco's actions here are still rooted in the specifics of how Blondie treated him. I just really love the twisted, fucked-up way the whole chain of revenge is built up between the two of them, and how interestingly their relationship then develops with all that hanging over it.

The carriage

I appreciate that we see Blondie juuust prop himself up to look as Tuco goes to intercept it -- he goes on to discreetly crawl all the way to it during the sequence that follows while we're focused on Tuco, and briefly seeing that he takes an interest and has mustered a tiny bit of energy again helps set that up.

More of Tuco's religiosity as he does the sign of the cross multiple times over the corpse of the soldier who initially falls out… and then immediately loots the corpse. Oh, Tuco.

I remembered the amputee informant's description of how Bill Carson was missing an eye, so as soon as we saw one of the apparently-dead soldiers in the carriage wearing an eyepatch I was like ohhhhh!! The storylines are connecting!! (And we're more than an hour into the Extended Cut when it happens. This movie very slow-paced compared to a modern film and yet so thoroughly enjoyable.)

You can juuust see Carson starting to blink a bit as Tuco searches him.

Tuco standing there glancing to the right out of the corner of his eye when he hears a noise from the wagon, while by the rules of the movie he can't actually see anything over there, is very funny. He even waits a bit before turning around to point his gun, as if knowing whoever is there can't see him either until he turns.

Tuco interrogating Carson about the $200,000 while the latter begs for water is another truly painful scene; Tuco's only invested in the dollars and anti-invested in saving Carson's life ("Don't die until later!"), straining to get him to talk first for as long as he possibly can, until he figures the guy is going to straight-up croak before talking, at which point of course he switches tack. Presumably he thinks if he actually gives him water Carson's liable to change his mind about telling him anything, so he has to get it out of him first if at all possible.

I also enjoy his annoyance with Carson telling him about his name and having been Jackson before but now Carson; the audience needs him to say his name, and it's probably also helpful to mention he used to be Jackson, but to Tuco it's just a waste of time. "Carson, Carson, yeah, yeah. Glad to meet you, Carson. I'm Lincoln's grandfather. What was that you said about the dollars?"

Tuco repeats the name of the cemetery near the very end of the exchange with Carson: "Sad Hill Cemetery, okay. In the grave, okay. But it must have a name or a number on it, huh? There must be a thousand, five thousand!" - which means that, since Blondie doesn't know the name of the cemetery (unless Blondie did know it the whole time and just pretended not to, which I guess we can't really rule out), he can't have been listening in by this point. Directly after this, Tuco tells Carson not to die and goes to get water. So Blondie pretty much can't have caught any of the stuff about the cash when Carson said it originally, and can't have known the full strategic significance of talking to him beforehand.

Instead, Blondie probably quietly crawled after Tuco with the aim of maybe being able to get the jump on him while he's distracted with whatever this is, and he only got close enough just at the end to see Tuco talking to Carson and telling him to not die. Then, as Tuco ran off for the water, Blondie obviously could not follow him back there, but instead crawled the rest of the way to the back of the wagon to see who Tuco's so desperate to keep alive, where Carson managed to gasp out something about a grave marked 'Unknown', next to Arch Stanton, and that it had money in it (Blondie does definitely learn there's money, since he then knows to use that as leverage). This is supported by how Blondie just refers very nonspecifically to having been told a name on a grave. He's really pulling a bit of a bluff here since he doesn't (presumably) know what cemetery this grave is in, so if Tuco hadn't happened to have learned that bit (which Blondie can't know), this information would not actually be that useful to either of them. But so long as he can make it sound like he can lead Tuco to riches right now, he has an actual shot at surviving.

I enjoy the way Blondie manages the tiniest wisp of a victorious smile to Tuco's "What name?!" just before passing out. The moment he sees Tuco's furious desperation to learn the name he's talking about, he knows he's won and that Tuco's going to do whatever he can to ensure his survival. He can pass out in peace.

Tuco's shifty eyes and expressions as he has to reevaluate everything are great. Eli Wallach really, really just makes this movie with his performance. I love Blondie and all, and Clint Eastwood in his thirties is very attractive, but I think it's criminal that I had heard about this movie and about Clint Eastwood being in it but had never heard Eli Wallach's name. He's so good and singlehandedly makes Tuco the best thing about it. I love him.

And there comes the Tuco tack-switch! He's not just invested in keeping Blondie alive for the money; he's his friend! As if this is somehow going to be persuasive to the man he's just spent hours torturing and toying with.

I love this absolutely bonkers goddamn character dynamic. First Blondie saves Tuco from the bounty hunters, then he apparently turns him in for the bounty, then you learn actually they're running a scam together, then Blondie screws over Tuco in a way that makes you kind of root for Tuco to get back at him, then Tuco painstakingly, cruelly labors to punish him for it in the most specific twisted ways until you're anxious for how Blondie's going to get out of this, then this happens… and because Tuco is the character he is, of course it works. He is already the guy who switches tack on a dime when it seems to serve him in the moment. We've just spent this whole carriage scene building up how singlemindedly fixated he is on this money once he hears about it. There are already so many striking layers going on in the interplay between these two guys and it makes it delicious to realize we've just added yet another layer and the rest of the movie is going to involve them having to work together after all this. And because it's the cash box from the Angel Eyes storyline, we're following up on that too in the process, with the also-delicious implicit promise that that's how they're going to bump into him. This is just such a gleefully fun and satisfying moment where everything comes together and I love it.

(Continued in part two! Thanks for reading if you got this far.)

[mimicha-arts]

Wasn't even sure if I want to post it, but anyway. I like to be more objective, analyze everything and so on. But this is the last week - which means I will live in delulu. Just don't take anything seriously. This post is a mixture of thoughts, guesses, a little personal opinion, not a theory. It's about possibilities. To begin with, I must say that my expectations have unfortunately broken free, and I cannot keep them in check. I also hope that, as always, the final episode will be more than 30 minutes ;)

REMINDER SPOILERS for ep11/ep12/s2

Keep calm No one has shot Cheng Xiaoshi in this timeline (yet)

Possibility 1 If it's just one shot. There is a possibility that the shot is a trick, where the frames and words should be in a different order. First there should be a shot scene where Qian Jin is still wearing the bulletproof vest. Most likely, he will simply run out of ammo later.

If so, yes, Cheng Xiaoshi was shot. Yes, the bullet partially hit. In fact? It was a miss. By all logic, the events when Qian Jin does not have a vest are what comes next in chronology. He must be left without firearms, so he switches to hand-to-hand combat. At the moment when Xiaoshi raises his hand to strike, you can see that he has a wound/torn clothing in a very obvious place, but this is not a through shot. Also Lu Guang's words, as an answer to Cheng Xiaoshi's worries: "You're not better than me, anyway" - probably, this “similarity” reflects the duality of their wounds.

And it's gonna be just like this... Or. Possibility 2 There will be two shots. And even if Qian Jin runs out of ammo, Xiao Li still appears in the scene, he most likely has a gun. I'm not sure if they can put such a serious and important moment in a teaser, but.

Keep in mind that where XIao Li is, there is always an absolute mess (do we trust him at all, haha). Considering all the actions of the police, either the animation studio is really salty about police work in the real world, or the constant fuck ups is deliberate actions.

Although I think Li Tianchen's attention will be focused on Li Tianxi or Qian Jin... Speaking of XƎTЯOVerthink, we still have "Li Tianchen and a bouquet of flowers". He has a very strong motivation to “get it all back.” If he shot at Lu Guang, but Cheng Xiaoshi blocked him with himself, it would make sense.

Ok, maybe things will be different. Anything can happen.

Qiao Ling

Everyone already assumed - it came true, since in the opening her eyes lit up in an extremely interesting way, and now in the preview we see the activation of her abilities.

Considering that this is (probably) the second time we see such a scene, we can say with some degree of certainty that Qiao Ling initially did not have her own abilities, but upon the death of Li Tianxi, Qiao Ling received her abilities or activated powers which are more compatible with the inner “core” of Qiao Ling herself.

Again, I think she kinda fits the role of "healer" in the team. This may also be related to the fact that in collaboration with 花亦山心之月 one of her abilities was directly related to healing and restoring HP. If this was done on purpose a year ago, if collaboration lore is particularly canon and hints... Ohhhhhh :)

I'm not sure if Qiao Ling's abilities will be a "one-time opportunity" since it is unclear whether we will remain in this timeline/reality. Considering all the elements in her posters (hearts, the music player, stop button), I think she will have the ability to stop/freeze time in the moment. It is precisely because of the symphony of life, probably she represents a “pause” button.

Lu Guang, Cheng Xiaoshi and Vortex

Something has to happen. Everyone understands perfectly well what the fandom is waiting for. Everyone perfectly understands hints and literally directly said things (visually and with OSTs). But we are all afraid that this situation is a hoax. Ugh, me too. This is terribly funny.

But let's not forget. This is the essence of LinkClick. Confuse everyone, make them doubt and overthink, and then take the most literal and direct path. Because that's what the game is about. I like to think of s2 as a game with an audience. I would laugh that Lu Guang would just be a "normal guy", but (c)... Nah, I think he is an onion with many layers.

YES. I'm still confused by the circumstances of the shot in the ep 12 intro. But we have so little understanding of where the truth is that I will continue to support the most obvious and direct way to the end.

In my opinion: s1 events is the cyclical past but with changing circumstances/Lu Guang's attempts, s2 is the present in which a “vortex” will occur, they will switch roles, and s3 is Chen Xiaoshi’s stage of depression - so Cheng Xiaoshi will be the one who will face the destiny from the other side, either learn how to live without Lu Guang, either find a way how to get him back. If everything goes this way - everything in s3 will ultimately lead to an attempt to change the node of their meeting so that they never intersect, but this is completely mystical speculation based on foreshadowing.

Considering how Cheng Xiaoshi's abilities are developing, 12 hours is not his limit. That’s why I’m betting on time jumping/rewriting from Cheng Xiaoshi's side. This choice had already arisen before him twice. We are getting closer and closer to what this will lead to. I guess one of his main themes as a character is, can he remain “himself” until the very end? I am referring to 天真.

I'll accept any scenario, just in general knowing WHAT Director Lee likes to do in his works... Huh. Also this poster for s2 extremely strange “does not coincide” with themes is s2. Like, we discussed the cameras several times, the difference in reflections and so on, but there is one point that was barely brought up. At least I didn't see it lately, cause I'm kinda new here. They're here in their damn SCHOOL uniforms (校服), we never had a flashback or anything with this designs in s2. Well. Time-jumps into the past, at the moment of the “nod/meeting” on the basketball court, but now all events will go on behalf of Cheng Xiaoshi? Yo. Is it possible that we will see (s3) their “past” not through flashbacks, but through the prism of the present? This seems like a rather interesting idea to me. If we are considering "The Arrow of Time" here, all events are relative, and it's also possible.

Considering that we all know about the “dark-design!CXS” in the intro, it never matched his design in s1, and there is an obvious link between the seasons and the passage of time, where exactly s2 is the present, and the entire s1 is a continuous "flashback". I'm not a big fan of posting materials from the art books, but it's just bits… In concept sketches of scenes, Cheng XIaoshi has a dark design, like in his intro. His eyes are not black, they are kinda ligher, like yellow, so these are not concepts for s1 at all (I’m speculating) - these are probably his concepts for s3, reliving the events when the Vortex turns over.

Anyway. Cheng XIaoshi is going to take a burden. Therefore, it is easy to draw parallels in s2ep3, we all understand the context. The themes of promises. Also, the ring. He is character with the obvious path - he have to realize the truth, find out about everything and live with it, keeping the memories. Especially about one "forget-me-not" person.

This is my personal opinion and empty speculation. So, in overall:

Lu Guang's vision was a flashback, he took over Cheng Xiaoshi's abilities at the time of death and was able to rewrite the events, but it's not the same as Cheng Xiaoshi's time jumping in the past. The color coding can be anything, but since red-lilac (as connection with twins) and white went to Qiao Ling, and all the Easter eggs point to green, Lu Guang still most likely originally had a green-yellow color coding, blue for Cheng Xiaoshi, idk.

All of Lu Guang's knowledge of lore and abilities comes from his personal experiences - for me, he as a character is literally imbued with the theme of regrets and the severity of his own actions. We saw how much his emotional moments, worries and sincerity were centered around Cheng Xiaoshi in s1, and everything became completely straightforward in s2.

Difference in design - in my eyes refers to the fact that Cheng Xiaoshi from the past could not survive his “fate” in any scenario before this attempt. And Cheng Xiaoshi from this timeline is the only one who got the opportunity to “move further into the future.” There's a chance that the story will begin once again, but from a different, now “correctly chronological angle” , if we take it from the point of view in the intros, precisely at the transitional moment from s2 to s3. But at the same time, I think that they cannot completely destroy the current chronology of events.

A lot depends on the date of Cheng Xiaoshi’s birthday, so maybe when he crossed his “age limit” everything goes to an end. I will scream if this shot is not actually a happy return to the photo studio, but Cheng Xiaoshi's birthday celebration in the past.

What about Lu Guang? Well. We literally have lyrics for "The Tides" - if this ED won't spoil everything that happens, I don't understand the lyrics at all. I don't think Lu Guang's existence will be eradicated from the universe, time or reality now. I think the current version of him will end up dead/cut off by the universe from the current version of Cheng Xiaoshi.

Will my understanding of events deceive me? Very likely. I'm not sure of anything except one thing - I'm wrong somewhere. Especially because here I do not take into account the plot role of Hatman (we have no idea what he is trying to achieve and what his influence will be in this particular situation) Again, a friendly reminder - this is all pure speculation. Lu Guang is a mystical liar, and this is not a fair game. We're playing bingo.

But am I completely sure that Lu Guang is absolutely pathetic and miserable, that he is the person who, despite all his words and rules, could not let go the person he loves?

Yes.

Qian Jin

Honestly? I love what they did. Oh, it will be a sexy main villain with complex morals? He has his own vision of justice blah blah blah. No, we have a very dirty story here, some people just fucked up everything in their lives and everything in the lives of the people around them. “And what, everything was just like that, so useless, is that how the script works?” Ok, everything may change in ep12, but.. yeah? And I think that's great. Because that's how life works, too. One of the most terrifying experiences in life is to be around such people in power. I'm not making excuses for Li Tianchen's actions, but I have deep empathy for him - his life really was nothing but a nightmare. I have no questions about his logic or methods of “asking for help” - because he is a victim of abuse.

At the moment, it's the pure irony that Qian Jin always used everyone as tools, that even his "family" were never really on the same side with him, and in the end the real "tool" - is Qian Jin himself. In the hands of a Hatman. If earlier I believed that they could act as one (since I had other thoughts about Quede, and we also did not know Qian Jin’s motivation), now I am inclined to believe that Qian Jin never knew that he was just a pawn in someone else's hands. Also, that purple color is all around his figure ;) "Hatman" was never on the screen in present, but also always was here.

Twins

My bet is that they definitely don't fall out of the plot. Their role is too important, they must be included in the main cast to reveal the story arc of Hatman (here I'm sure he is Liu Xiao). If he promised Li Tianchen a meeting in the future - it will happen. Could he get a redemption arc? Perhaps. Will he be able to get his HE? I guess no. Hatman's words in flashbacks about his philosophy about hunters sound pretty straight forward. This will be a completely different antagonist, with his own philosophy and understanding of the structure of the world and society. But it's not entirely clear to me what path the plot is leading us down and what the final point will be. To what extent is our “main” antagonist really... the main “antagonist”, will Li Tianchen continue to follow the path of "destruction" or will he receive a redemption arch.

Given his background, it's possible, and I can generally see the possibilities for it, even considering that Li Tianchen was involved in a series of massacres. The different details of the murders and the broken chronology - I can get how this could theoretically be softened if it is divided who killed whom. Yes, we know that Li Tianchen generally had no problem stabbing a person with a knife. But I still don't understand the difference in murdering styles (also what's wrong with boots in some cases), considering that Li Tianchen probably prefers more planned and quiet methods (like murder-suicides). It probably doesn't mean anything, Li Tianchen personally confirmed that he killed these people, but I sense something strange here. For now, I cannot imagine, if Li Tianxi does not die completely, how the script will be able to maintain the right degree between drama and logic and at the same time not discount everything that happened in the plot. If events are rewritten, it all depends on what impact it leaves, whether this reality, where everything mattered, will continue to exist. But this is definitely not the end for all of them.

Hatman

I'm still firmly convinced that Hatman is Liu Xiao, not much has changed since my first post about him. Possible antipode of Lu Guang (was Lu An from the mini-series a subtle hint, haha). At the moment I'm leaning towards 3 ideas:

He is also a person with abilities and sees variations of the future that has not yet happened since childhood, which generally clarifies his mysterious phrases about possibilities and chances.

In terms of time, since all events are relative to each other, maybe he is able to move from the “present-future” to himself 7 years ago in order to “lead” Li Tianchen to the desired point in current events and correct the necessary course.

It's all part of a time loop, the events are rewritten, but he still has memories of them, which is why he can "correct" what happens when the "loop" of several years is repeated again.

What else am I sure of? He will have some kind of terrible background story with his mother, remember it. And, if we take into account another donghua from the same studio, perhaps Liu Xiao takes his “roots” and “references” from approximately the same character as Lu Guang himself - just each of them … adopted different features, references and archetypes. Because damn it, Liang Chao's legacy is real and I can't stop thinking about it - this is one of the characters from Tu Bian Ying Xiong: Leaf - his story and family situation have interesting points, especially considering some moments in the link click itself, which refer to Leaf's plot (same city, closing of a pharmaceutical company, some interesting easter eggs, all of it)

Photos from OP

I always wondered what was going on in all the photos in the opening. I didn't expect them all to be left with such intrigue until the very last episode.

We have two photos in the opening that are flying in the water, they are almost impossible to see because of the blur, I think that their meaning will be revealed this friday (same as diary). If the events were/will be rewritten, most likely it has something to do with these photos - the same two photos from the op, as well as in 3D scene.

Except for Chen Nan, there are a few more strange photos from the passage in the tunnel. More cases, covered bodies, a bicycle/bike handlebar or something like that... But I have no clear thoughts on them at all.

What are the main points?

Some could be picked up in episode 12 in my opinion. Or in s3, I hope they not fall into oblivion. I am not taking into account all the questions that left since s1, hello to April-September and Emma.

Qian Jin should probably die, his birthday present.

The real circumstances of Chen Nan's death, there is too much unreliable information.

Explanation of the circumstances of Chen Bin's death, since it's not confirmed.

Xiao Ma also will be choked on screen.

Did Wang Juan survive?

How exactly did the twins' parents die?

Context of Qiao Ling's abilities - will Li Tianxi be saved or not.

Where is Liu Min's phone, what is the danger of information inside

Some chances of hints for 7th case, maybe.

The boat / flipped phone / kettle, everything related to the time loop, why Lu Guang knew the place/left a photo. Why doesn't Lu Guang use his watch anymore?

Password, ring, call - these are not questions that will be answered immediately

Who will get the shot, in what timeline and how? If the vision shows different circumstances, what happened there?

What are the photos about, what is the book/diary from the OP?

We still hope and believe in Lu Guang flashbacks, if related to the previous points, then. Why do they need to use such "time machine" references -

Vortex in context, will time be broken completely?

Will circumstances bring Cheng Xiaoshi and Li Tianchen to some extreme point?

Why is there a photo studio frame with balloons?

Liu Xiao / Hatman as the main cliffhanger

Too much, probably. All thoughts are my delusions. Well. See you on Friday.

[initial-dream]

Mountain Vengeance - Mako Sato

This post is probably the quickest post I've made after the reveal of something (read: I figured this out last night lol) but I think it's funny enough to deserve a post so soon (read: I really want people to know this).

I'm sure at this point most people are aware of what Initial D Mountain Vengeance is, but for those of you who aren't here's a basic rundown. In the early 2000s, Tokyopop commissioned a PC game to be made based on the Initial D license. The game was made by Canopy Games and released by ValuSoft, and it is famously dreadful. From it's poor gameplay to it's limited soundtrack (as well as it's use of all of Tokyopop's changes), its one of the only pieces of Initial D media that is universally agreed to suck completely. If you're interested in seeing the game in action, there was a great video made by Vectrex several years ago about the game that is quite good. You can watch that here.

Outside of all of the more obvious issues with the game, one thing has always irked me about the game, and that is this file:

This file is used to represent Mako, when you are racing as, or against, her. I've always thought this image was odd, as it doesn't really look too much like her. For example, this is how Mako looked in Extra Stage (which this games image of Sayuki is from):

Definitely different right? Even down to hair colour. I decided to take a look into it, try and possibly find who this is. The clues are as follows: This appears to be an image from Second Stage, and there are only about two women in Second Stage who this could be, and it definitely isn't Natsuki. I've always had a hunch that this was Kazumi, and I went through a couple of episodes of Second Stage trying to find her, and lo and behold, in Second Stage - Act 13, what did I find?

The exact same frame used in the game, though obviously uncropped. So somewhere during the making of this game, someone managed to get an image of the wrong character (which is made worse by the fact that the number of notable female characters in the series is four) and it went entirely unnoticed all the way to release (and seemingly for the next 20 years after, as I'm unaware of anyone else reaching the same conclusion. Good thing no one played this game or someone might have realised lmao). I have to wonder if this image was supplied to the developers by Tokyopop or if they had to gather it themselves, its unclear who exactly is to blame.

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

“Why,” says her mentor with a kind of exasperated patience she is not ashamed to say she’s missed, “are there dental impressions in the leather binding.”

Kharish discreetly swipes some blood from her upper lip and nods. “They’re not mine,” she says, as preface, which is unnecessary; the altitude adjustment always leaves her a little lightheaded for a day or two. “The interred corpse had the text placed in its mouth. It was unclear for what purpose.” She swipes at her mouth again. The split lip had been healing just fine on the journey back to the college—it’s the dry cold, she thinks, that’s cracked it open again. “It did not… reanimate. Upon removal.”

“Nords,” grumbles Urag, and peers down at the delicate book on the table between them, careful not to obscure the light. “Nice technique with the shielding.” He unfolds the wire frame of a pair of glasses and puts them on, gingerly opening the cover of the book. It’s coming loose from the spine, the alteration magic woven around it the only thing keeping it from falling apart. The pages are translucent-thin, the ink of the spidery scrawl faded to a pale amber.

She’s holding her breath. Probably not helping the lightheadedness. She attempts the subtlest of exhales and tastes more blood on her lip. “Initial examination suggested this was not Shalidor’s, but an assistant’s, concerning the construction of Eyevea.”

He twitches an eyebrow. “I would disagree.”

“The handwriting—”

“It’s not Shalidor’s,” Urag says, “but it’s not an assistant’s, either.” He uses the thin tip of a dry, narrow quill to indicate an inscription in the corner of the leather interior, careful not to touch. “Ulfsild.”

She waits. The name is unfamiliar; if not an assistant, she isn’t aware of any other colleagues the original archmage might have allowed to take notes on his studies, especially of such a sensitive topic.

“Did you happen to notice reference to the author’s husband?” There’s a tinge of excitement to his voice.

“Erm,” Kharish says eloquently. “I… am unclear how the author’s relations relate to—”

“Ulfsild,” Urag cuts her off, setting the quill down and sweeping his glasses off to rub at the lenses with the end of his robes, “was Shalidor’s wife.”

Her eyes go wide. “No,” she says. And then, dragging her hands down her face to cover her mouth, “No.”

“The few records that mention her indicate that she did leave him,” he concedes, “so perhaps ex-wife is the more appropriate term, I suppose.”

Muffled by her hands, she says, “Then was the body—? That is—was that her?”

“It’s a possibility.” He turns to the second page with professional delicacy. “I’ll transcribe the text so we can study it without risking damage to the original. Regardless, we’ll let the archmage know; if Arniel can get permission to send unvetted mercenaries stomping through Dwemer ruins, the least Aren can do is let us send someone qualified to study the location. Maybe I’ll go myself. Ulfsild is something of a contested figure, as there’s so little known about her; her actual contributions to the study of magic—if any, we don’t even know for certain if she was a mage—were almost undoubtedly absorbed into the body of Shalidor’s work and credited to him. This could be quite revelatory. Most likely there won’t be much in the way of textiles left, but there’s plenty beyond…” He trails off, then squints at her. “What?”

She shuts her eyes. “The book,” she says. “It was… stuck.”

“It was stuck,” he repeats.

“In the mouth. Of the body.”

“Right. Hence the dental impressions.”

“I broke the jaw off,” she says.

Urag stares at her.

“It was very stuck.”

Slowly, he puts his head in his hands, elbows on the table. “You broke off the jaw,” he says, “of the wife of Archmage Shalidor, founder of the College of Winterhold, one of the greatest mages in history—”

“Ex-wife, you said,” she supplies, a little desperate, “and it could be—someone else!”

“It’s fine.” He does not look up, sounding as though convincing himself more than her. “It’s fine. Jaws can be reattached. —was it stuck because of a spell?”

“No! There was no magical signature, and I didn’t—I put it back.”

“You put—the jaw?”

Embarrassed, she says, “Well, it was a person. At one point. I didn’t want to be rude about it.” And an important one, evidently. Her palms are sweating. “There weren’t any other salvageable texts. I looked. I looked.”

“I know. I trust you would have.” He gets up, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Alright. Things happen to corpses all the time. Ask Phinis, they’re not made to stay together anyway.” Urag gestures to the book. “Still, it’ll be worth going over, with a find like this. Imagine.” He laughs, suddenly, and tugs a handkerchief from his pocket to offer. “You’ve got a split lip. Good job with this one.”

She takes the handkerchief and finds herself slowly mirroring his wide smile. Good job. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the archmage really will fund an expedition.

Whatever else happens, she thinks, holding the handkerchief to her mouth, this has got to be the most significant thing they’ll find all year.

[blind-rats]

The Quiet Misogyny of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

When accusations that Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, abused his power on multiple sets, few fans of his work seemed surprised. According to actor Charisma Carpenter, who had a recurring lead role as Cordelia Chase on Buffy and starred in its spinoff series Angel, Whedon created a toxic work environment and repeatedly harassed her on set. In a statement posted across the actress’s social media accounts, Carpenter revealed that the traumatizing experience of working with Whedon caused her anxiety and a chronic physical condition that she still struggles with today.

Carpenter’s statement comes directly on the heels of WarnerMedia’s investigation into workplace misconduct allegations levied against Whedon after he was hired as a replacement director on Justice League (2017) following Zack Snyder’s departure. In July 2020, actor Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg and worked with Whedon during post production on the film and its subsequent reshoots, wrote on Twitter, “[Whedon’s] on set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” As a show of support for Fisher, Carpenter revealed that she had participated in WarnerMedia’s investigation, stating, “Despite my fear about its impact on my future, I can no longer remain silent. This is overdue and necessary. It is time.” 

In December 2020, WarnerMedia shared that they had concluded the investigation and claimed they had taken “remedial action.” Prior to the investigation’s conclusion, Whedon voluntarily stepped down from his role as showrunner for the upcoming WarnerMedia-owned HBO series, The Nevers, due to the pandemic, so it remains unclear what so-called remedial action was actually taken against him.

The allegations against the director and former Hollywood sweetheart—or whatever the male nerd equivalent of that is—span nearly the entirety of his onscreen career. While some fans of Whedon may struggle to understand how a man whose work has been lauded for its depiction of Strong Female CharactersTM and themes of empowerment could perpetuate the abuse he outwardly condemned, other fans were less shocked. 

In addition to accusations by Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole, who wrote a scathing essay for the Wrap in 2017 about her ex-husband’s faux feminism and predatory affairs, rumors have swirled for years about Carpenter’s untimely departure from Angel. However, feminists who are familiar with Whedon’s shows, including Buffy, Firefly, and Dollhouse, as well as his first two Avengers films, have long-since recognized the quiet (and not-so-quiet) misogyny directly embedded within his filmography. 

To understand Whedon’s nerdy repackaging of entitlement toward women and their bodies, one must look no further than the subtext of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series that initially launched him to success.

During Buffy’s seven-season run from 1997 to 2003, and even still today, comedic sidekick Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) became a frequent target of feminist ire. There are countless think pieces, forums, blog posts, and Reddit threads dedicated to fans’ burning hatred of the character, and the show’s insistence on framing him as morally correct when he’s quite clearly in the wrong. From the very first episode, Xander is positioned as the “nice guy” of the friend group—the wisecracking, lovable nerd who reads X-Men comics and doesn’t get a second glance from most women. 

As the everyman, Xander caters to an audience of men and boys who might relate to his average looks, inability to entice women, and his literal powerlessness up against the superpowered women he fights alongside. His friends and allies have varying degrees of usefulness in the fight to protect Sunnydale, which sits on a demon hellmouth: Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Xander’s best friend and unrequited love interest, is imbued with vampire slaying abilities, and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), his other best friend and briefly-requited love interest, has ’90s-esque computer hacking skills and eventually becomes a powerful witch. Additionally, at any given time, he is surrounded by allies that range from friendly vampires and ex-demons to superstrong government soldiers and werewolves.

In any room he’s in, Xander is never the strongest, smartest, bravest, best looking, or even the most charming—he is utterly average in every way. In an early Season 1 episode, Xander sums up his character archetype perfectly when he says, “I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away.” Despite Xander’s mediocrity and inherent powerlessness in comparison to the women he surrounds himself with, one of his key character traits is his sexual entitlement. He regularly makes references to his perpetual horniness and sexualizes almost every beautiful woman he encounters. 

When he first meets Buffy, he immediately develops a crush on her, and despite her repeated rejections over the course of several seasons, he continues to wait for an opportunity to be with her. Xander pining over his best friend might not necessarily make him bad, but it’s concerning that he also harbors resentment toward every guy Buffy dates or shows interest in, occasionally even lashing out at her for daring to choose other men over him.

Worse, he views himself as a “nice guy” who is entitled to sexual and romantic relationships with the beautiful women he fawns over. Except Xander isn’t really a nice guy at all—his entire self-identification as a nice guy isn’t actually supported by his interpersonal relationships or behavior, and in fact, is often directly contradicted by them. 

Interestingly, Xander doesn’t simply act as a stand-in for sexually frustrated nerd boys in the audience who want to fuck women like Buffy; he is also, quite literally, Whedon’s self-insert character. Fans of the show had initially speculated about this, and Whedon confirmed it when he was interviewed by NPR in 2000, stating, “Xander is obviously based on me.” This was also reconfirmed during a panel at the 2011 Emerald City Comic Con when actor James Marsters, who played the vampire Spike, said, “[Xander] is Joss. That’s the way he sees himself.” As Buffy fans gain a clearer picture of Whedon’s behavior behind the scenes, it’s ironic that a man with a track record of abusing his power over women and people of color on set would align himself with a character whose primary character trait is powerlessness. 

Why does a director and showrunner who weaponizes his power over his cast members to control them—and in the case of Charisma Carpenter, attempt to literally control her body and reproductive choices by pressuring her to get an abortion—get to hide behind a fictional facade of helplessness? Because he likes comics and wasn’t popular with girls in high school? Perhaps the most unlikely indictment of Whedon comes from the series itself, in a Season 6 arc that flips the concept of the harmless nerdy misogynist on its head. In the sixth season of Buffy—which notably featured the least involvement from Whedon, as he stepped down to an executive producing role to focus on other projects—a new group of villains called the Trio is introduced. The Trio features three socially inept, Star Wars-loving and comic book-obsessed boys who attempt to neutralize Buffy and take over Sunnydale. The group of seemingly harmless nerds evolves into a major threat over the course of the season.

After creating a mindless sex robot and being dumped by his girlfriend Katrina (Amelinda Embry), Warren Mears (Adam Busch), the leader and most malicious member of the group, creates a device to render his ex-girlfriend into a state of submission so he can force her to be his sex slave. However, before he is able to rape her, the device malfunctions, and when she tries to escape, Warren hits her over the head with a champagne bottle and kills her. Later in the season, Warren also fatally shoots Tara, a fan favorite and one of the few queer women characters in the series. 

Despite their inability to adhere to a traditionally idealized version of smooth-talking and muscled masculinity, the Trio’s proximity to nerd culture does not exempt them from causing harm. In fact, their self-identification as geeky underdogs is what provides them cover and their desire to acquire social power is what fuels their violence.

In an oft-cited acceptance speech for the “Men on the Front Lines” award presented by Equality Now, Whedon recalled a common question he received from reporters: “So, why do you write these strong female characters?” In response, he said, “Because you’re still asking me that question.” 

Though the response offers an empowering sentiment and makes for a highly quotable soundbite, he betrays his real motivations for writing fictional women within the same speech. He says, “When I created Buffy, I wanted to create a female icon, but I also wanted to be very careful to surround her with men who not only had no problem with the idea of a female leader, but, were in fact, engaged and even attracted to the idea.” He then went on to “jokingly” say that he writes characters like Buffy “‘cause they’re hot.” 

Whedon’s acceptance speech unwittingly reveals the contradictions, and similarities, within both his work and interpersonal relationships. Though he may have spent decades fooling Hollywood and his fanbase with his performative brand of feminist allyship, Whedon’s public persona was always a ruse to disguise the fact that he never actually respected strong women. He simply wanted to fuck them.

[a-couple-of-notes]

Hades II Deep Dive (Part I)

This is not because I expect any of this to actually be true - I just have too much excitement about this game and decided to apply my hyperfixation to ◇ RESEARCH ◇ and ◇ NARRATIVE GUESSING ◇!

This is gonna be a long deep dive, and I’m gonna try to structure it coherently by dividing it into sections: characters, setting, and miscellaneous. Sources will be provided in a bibliography and in-text, because none of us can escape MLA no matter how far we run. Here we go!

[Edit after one entire day of drafting: when I said it was going to be long, I really meant "this is going to be massive." So this is part 1 of TBD. Please enjoy...whatever madness this is.]

PART I | PART II |

CHARACTERS

Melinöe

Mythology

The explosion of videos and articles on Melinöe after the announcement of the game means that you’ve likely encountered some of the mythological history behind her (and by some, I mean all, since there’s little surviving primary material on her.) The hymn in which she appears is Orphic Hymn 70. As always, there are a few different translations, but the broad strokes agree.

Melinöe is described as “saffron-cloaked” (Athanassakis, 2013), “saffron-robed” (Mastros, 2018), or even “saffron-veil’d” (Taylor, 1792). This is clearly where she draws her orange top from. She is said to be a “two-bodied specter” (Athanassakis) or “a phantasm, two-formed” (Mastros), which is probably where the ghost arm comes from, though Taylor interprets the text as limbs “partly black...and partly white.” (If I were reaching, I could say this is why much of the first part of the trailer is done in silhouette, with lots of contrasting dark and light.)

She was born at the mouth of Cocytus, one of the five rivers of the Underworld (more on that later). According to the hymn, her father is Zeus, who took on the guise of Hades and coupled with her mother Persephone.

Here’s where we get into the fun stuff, though. In Mastros' and Athanassakis’ translations, Melinöe is a “nymph of the earth” who doesn’t just live in the underworld - she appears on the surface at night in different forms to drive mortals to madness. Interestingly, the hymn seems to celebrate this ability, framing it as driving the madness out of souls. The hymn ends with the speaker beseeching the goddess to “show to the initiates a kindly and holy face,” and in Taylor’s version specifically, to bless “mystics, and [their] rites divine” in shrines.

The other surviving piece of Melinöe mythology is a bronze tablet from ancient Pergamon, depicting three goddesses: Dione (a Titan and the mother of Aphrodite), Phoebe (at first considered a Titan and grandmother to Artemis and Apollo, and later conflated with Artemis herself), and Nyx. Inscribed around the outside are the words “O Persephone, O Melinoë, O Leucophryne.” The purposes are unclear, but it may be a divination or scrying tablet.

In-Game

It’s debatable how much of this mythology will influence the actual character, especially given that this hymn is Orphic, and therefore comes from an unreliable (though lovable!) source in-universe. They’ve made some (wise) changes already, including ditching the Zeus-in-disguise angle to make Melinöe’s father Hades straight up.

It’s clear, though, that they’ve done their homework as usual: Melinöe’s clothing and her ghost arm are straight from the hymn. The frequent motif of the moon makes sense (as does her weapons being called “weapons of Night”), as Melinöe walks on the surface at night. And her being on the surface instead of in Hades has a mythological precedent, if Supergiant wanted to do a completely reversed "trying to break into the Underworld." (I don't think this is the case, but it's there.) She also has connections to the mystical elements Supergiant wants to explore, blessing shrines and being invoked in divination. For example, this could be a shrine here:

It will be interesting to see if the Titans on the tablet show up in any form, or if the List of Fated Prophecies is replaced by a divination tablet.

We can also make predictions off the original game. It’s a no-brainer that Supergiant will want some contrast with the first game, so I’m pretty confident that Melinöe will be serious and dutiful to a fault, where Zagreus was rebellious and banter-y. Just look at...well, all her lines from the trailer - “Not good enough” ; “No. I was born for this.” - as well as this screenshot: 

[“I’ve no excuses for my failure, Headmistress. But I swear to you and all the gods above and below, I’ll slay the Titan yet!”]

That’s not a rebel. That’s someone so responsible they’re gonna grind themselves into the ground. (Which also fits with her apparent deference to her father Hades - of course Hades is going to favor a kid who does what she’s told.)

Narratively, of course, this means that she’ll probably arc toward rebellion/coming into her own, so we’ll see how that goes, and if her brother Zagreus helps any with that.

[NEXT PART: Hecate]

Sources

Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin Wolkow. The Orphic Hymns. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mastros, Sara. “Orphic Hymn #70, for Melinöe.” Facebook, 24 May 2018, https://www.facebook.com/OrphicHymns/posts/2104260082937205/

“Phoebe.” Encyclopedia Brittanica, 6 Jul. 2012, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phoebe-Greek-mythology

Supergiant Games. “Hades II FAQ.” Supergiant Games, 8 Dec. 2022, https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades2-faq

—. “Hades II on Steam.” Steam, 8 Dec. 2022, https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145350/Hades_II/ 

—. “Hades II - Reveal Trailer.” YouTube, 8 Dec. 2022, https://youtu.be/l-iHDj3EwdI 

Taylor, Thomas. “LXX - To Melinöe.” 1792. Theoi Texts Library, 2017, https://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns2.html

[heavenbled]

character profile ; the nighthawk. (original character, destiny based.)

names ; sao tae, neptune nephinae species ; distributary-born awoken pronouns ; she/her gender ; trans woman sexuality ; lesbian, polyamorous* class/subclass ; solar hunter - golden gun preferred, strand user in recent time ghost ; triton (he/him) age ; revived in the dark ages, 900+ years alive. looks to be in her late thirties.

special ability ; shapeshifting

physical description ; the nighthawk can change their appearance based on one specific key factor mentioned later. sao has deep navy blue hair, her roots close to the scalp being a light blue, deep copper blue skin and luminescent purple eyes. her hair is usually seen half up/half down, thick and somewhat wavy with wisps falling close to her ears. she has a highly well-built frame despite standing at roughly 5'2" height without armor. both sao and neptune are decorated neck to feet in tattoos (more on those designs tba).

neptune on the other hand has bright blue hair, lighter blue at the scalp roots, and slightly lighter ocean blue skin. her hair is undercut all the way around and is usually seen in an ponytail/braid updo. in that undercut on both sides on the temple is a shaved design of an N. there are some dreads mixed with loose hair, and some ornaments on said locs. she has luminescent blue eyes. neptune stands at the same height as sao, and is slightly less muscular as the former - but still carries her strength in her own way. they are both incredibly strong and fit, sao more having to worry about carrying a sword that's entirely larger than her. the two look similar enough, yet just different enough for there to be a recognizable difference.

they both have long pointed ears also adorned in various lobe piercings, sharply pointed canines, and various forms of bioluminescence all across their body as characteristic of the awoken.

sao's favorite animal to shapeshift into is the snow owl, and neptune's is the snow leopard. the nighthawk can shapeshift into anything of course, but their favored forms usually are an indicator as to who's who at a given time.

light abilities ; the nighthawk has earned their name by their fierceness in battle and the golden gun in which they carry. sao and neptune both favor their celestial nighthawk, the two wearing different ornaments that are able to transmat via neural link with triton to indicate switches. blade barrage is used occasionally but definitely not as much. in present days, they are beginning to learn the ways of strand and have near mastered it, having a proficiency not seen in a typical lightbearer or even mortal.

history & personality ; sao tae, the first inhabitor of the body, was first revived somewhere in the dark ages. it was a bleak time and led to many things she regrets, namely losing an entire community she cared so much about because she was too weak to protect them. that specific moment is what turned her into lady sao without even having become an iron lord yet ; ruthless, victorious, and reckless for years after, she thrust herself onto lord saladin and demanded she be made an iron lord. she was initially rejected, however proved herself through combat and some other means of persuasion.

she was prideful and confident in her abilities, lady sao tae was known to be the sword of the iron lords. she wielded one she called kingslayer, a great longsword that stood at roughly six feet. erring on the side of arrogant and egotistical for about a century or two (timeline unclear), she was met with the first real instance of powerlessness and fear since that initial horrific loss when she was a new light: siva.

she held the utmost paranoia when met with felwinter's plan, and it created such cognitive dissonance that eventually led to her mind breaking. on the eve of the iron lords departing on that fateful mission, lady sao tae went awol. she absconded and ran away in a fit of pure fear, and it's something her brain later convinces her of fault in all their untimely and gruesome deaths. after learning about ironsbane, sao went absolutely insane ; if she wasn't catatonic, she was incomprehensible and absolutely beside herself. she was detached from reality entirely and had fully convinced herself that her truth was that she was the one who killed them all. it took years for her to regain control of her mind and herself, with particular help from a fellow risen - fenrir salazar.

and in that sao was never the same.

during the golden age, samira iseul yuan had a tumultuous and difficult, cold life. going from home to home with her twin siblings, it was so taxing and hard on her as a child that her number one coping mechanism was dissociation. samira had developed dissociative identity disorder from such despair and difficulties (put lightly). and even if such things had been 'reset' so to speak with revival as a lightbearer, those scars were only merely painted over — those very same scars break once more when her iron lords all perish.

and from this, neptune comes to life. she is the primary host of the nighthawk system for centuries after that, sao had gone completely dormant. in this, neptune is almost a wish by sao to be who she would be if things would've been different ; she is loud and shakes the room with her laughter, slightly arrogant almost on the side of slight god complex, gutsy and rushes into things headlong — her clan had denounced her the 'local frat boy'. she is all this and more, but even with all that confidence in the world, she is harrowed and haunted by a profound sadness she cannot comprehend.

neptune was the one amongst a few others who had slain oryx because she could, she was strong enough to be the one to do it and took pride in that. something from deep within spurred her on, something like the idea of not being able to protect the people closest to you from complete annihilation. and when rise of iron rolls around, sao wakes and takes control of the body for the first time in centuries to finish what felwinter had started.

neptune and sao beginning to work things out was onerous and took around a decade, as the former had the most difficulty believing she was not the only one who inhabited 'her own body'. it's only recently are these two able to work together seamlessly, switches becoming more fluid and connected enough with triton to stability. in the present day, they are both harsh and somewhat abrasive to newcomers in their life, but a certain tiredness and despair is beginning to melt into contentment, the beginnings of the desire to retire to a happier and more peaceful life.

main relationships ; - int65: many muses and relationships, but most notably sol. sol and nighthawk are in a committed relationship. wiiiiwiwiwiife. - other oc: kaifeng andar is her twin triplet. another friend not currently on tumblr has an oc that's the last triplet of the bunch.

tags ; gen tag | misc | hc | sao | neptune | art | playlist here

*personal hc that most lightbearers are poly, it comes with the immortality <3

[adamwatchesmovies]

I See You (2019)

Do I give credit to I See You for what it did well, or punish it for the mistakes it makes? Tough call. When this film works, you’re overwhelmed with nervousness, fear and questions. In the end, once we know everything there is to know, things don’t add up but you have to credit it for being effective in the moment, which makes it worth seeing but probably not more than once.

A ten-year-old boy is abducted while riding his bike through a park. Clues show numerous similarities between the crime and those of a serial killer captured 15 years ago. Detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) is assigned to the case. When numerous unexplainable events begin disturbing his wife, Jackie (Helen Hunt) and teenage son, Connor (Judah Lewis), it’s unclear whether these are linked to the case, the affair Jackie recently broke off, the feelings Connor harbors towards his mother, or something else.

It’s best to go into I See You knowing as little as possible. Though the film only lasts 96 minutes, it feels like so much more. Writer Devon Graye and director Adam Randall have you caught in this bear trap that keeps tightening the more you wriggle. In the background, you see little things. A missing photo or objects that aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Unfortunately, the family is too preoccupied with their drama to recognize what’s happening. Is it already too late? How does this connect with the kidnapping? Your mind is buzzing with theories and you can’t wait for the next clue.

At one point, I See You drops a bombshell. While it dashes away many of your hypotheses, the fear that made the air so thick doesn’t disappear, it merely changes. You thought you were watching one kind of movie, turns out this is something completely different. You're knocked off your feet and not in a way that feels cheap. Everything adds up neatly. You’re shocked no one’s thought of this twist earlier but at the same time, this is the kind of development that feels fresh and new, a 21st-century kind of terror.

After the initial twist, the movie remains good. But then we get another twist… and then another. With each new shocking reveal, I See You makes less sense. Turns out those unexplainable events were caused by two “phroggers”, young adults who've snuck into the Harper’s home and have been living there in secret. Mindy (Life Barer) seems harmless for someone who broke into a household while Alec (Owen Teague) seems increasingly unhinged. If we knew this was a home invasion horror/thriller from the beginning it would've been one thing, but only realizing it midway through? It makes things so much scarier than before.

And then, we get another twist. Turns out Greg… is the serial killer who kidnapped the kid at the beginning! You thought the family was trapped in the house with the phroggers but it’s the other way around. If the intruders get caught, who knows what Greg is capable of? It's not as good a reveal but still effective. Then, ANOTHER twist. Alec knew this from the beginning. In fact, he’s been deliberately tormenting the Harper family as revenge for what Greg did to him 15 years ago and the man in jail was framed!

Will you see these reveals coming? No, but mostly because some of this makes no sense. If Alec knew whose house he was breaking into, why did he bring Mindy? If his objective was to torment Greg, why does he attack Connor? Why spend time tormenting the armed police officer at all when he could’ve easily gotten his revenge on him in the middle of the night and gotten away with it no problem? Has Alec been sitting on the killer’s identity for 15 years? Why didn’t he say anything as a boy? Why not years later when the innocent man was thrown in jail and seeking an appeal? This twist simply raises too many unanswerable questions.

Despite the plot holes, enough about I See You works to make it worth your while. The thing is, you won’t see the flaws while the movie is playing. The tension is too thick, the scares too real. It keeps you guessing. It’ll have you paranoid and even the stuff that doesn’t work makes sense in the movie world. Loopy as it is, this is the first script from Devon Graye and it’s impressive. You’ll want to keep an eye out for his future projects. (June 29, 2020)

[filmmakersvision]

Lust Stories 2: All Films Ranked

July 9, 2023

by Inakshi Chandra-Mohanty

1. The Mirror

The film begins with a wide shot of a city. Towering apartments, surrounded by sprawling slums. Progress, countered by underdevelopment. This starting frame is just one example of the brilliant visual imagery that director Konkona Sen Sharma uses to set the stage for the complex relationship that develops between a woman and her maid. The Mirror is about a woman who walks in on her maid having sex in her bedroom. Lust and desire take over as she finds herself turned on by this spectacle prompting her to establish a pattern of secretly watching her maid’s sexual endeavors. This film is about much more than just lust. It is about two women who discover a new side to their sexuality that transcends class and caste. It is as much about the difference between them as it is about the common ground they find through this surreptitious activity. The themes are relevant. The writing, direction, and cinematography, are immaculate. And combined with the amazing performances by Amruta Subhash and Tillotama Shome, this short film becomes the best part of the anthology.

2. Tilchatta

A woman in an abusive marriage aspires for a better future for her son as she struggles to escape her terrible fate. Directed by Amit Sharma of Badhaai Ho fame, this film is a tragic tale of manipulation, violence, and revenge, with lust at the center of it all. The best aspect of this film is the ominous atmosphere. The spacious haveli, its unspoken secrets, the many characters, and their dubious intentions. But in the process of building atmosphere, at times the plot suffers. The initial idea and the buildup are executed well, but the relevance of the conclusion is unclear. It is a depressing end to an already depressing story and serves little purpose beyond shock. However, despite the twisted ending, Tilchatta is impactful and serves as a great closure to the anthology.

3. Sex with the Ex

It is no surprise that this segment is directed by Sujoy Ghosh. Known for films like Kahaani, Badla, and Ahalya, Ghosh’s filmography is mainly comprised of films of a similar suspenseful genre. However, this horror thriller disguised as a lust story is the biggest misfit in this anthology. The story follows a man who encounters his ex after being stranded in a village due to a car accident. While lust is clearly a pertinent part of the film leading to a shocking climax, it is unfortunately hidden by other aspects of the film. The story is too absorbed in its mystery and suspense that lust barely makes an impact. It also does not help that the artificial background visuals, while purposeful, are extremely jarring. But despite the flaws and predictability, the plot development is intriguing. While not a perfect film, it kept my interest alive and is definitely worth a one time watch.

4. Made for Each Other

The weakest film of the lot is R Balki’s Made for Each Other which ironically starts the 2 hour long journey. What should have been an explosive beginning is instead a futile, ill-executed drama about a to-be married couple and their forays with ‘sex’ prior to their wedding. The concept itself, with its emphasis on the importance of sex in marriage, is interesting. However, there is no development of the plot, no arc to the characters, and an overall absence of conflict in the story. It remains bland and stagnant throughout. On top of that, the idea of an extremely progressive “Dadi” and her comical conversations with her granddaughter on sex, seems contrived and unrealistic. The advice that this short brings forth is useful, but unfortunately not impactful due to the lack of depth and conflict. It’s thirty minutes of time passing, nothing happening. And at the end of it all, I found myself asking, what was the point?

As with any anthology film, Lust Stories 2 has its ups and downs. Some parts are so well-made I desire to revisit them and others so insignificant they are best forgotten. But it maintains a balance, and ultimately is a worthwhile watch.

[lauvra]

It's a lost opportunity at best to fail to question our reactions toward art, especially those works serving to stir and muddy the colours in us so that our asshole's pucker as if the artist had snuck up from behind, motivations ultimately unclear but visibly sinister. You're standing before a virgin cotton canvas stretched, framed and clumsily smudged with one rusted colour. Thought often fails to pair with our gut's disgust — maybe a single line runs through our mind to which we give immediate purchase and ponder the issue no further; more often we complain to all who'll listen about that shit they let fly under the category of contemporary art nowadays. What's our problem? We're distinctly offended by audacity, audacity as defined by impudence or arrogance for we value our attention and are loathe to lend it to pretenders. We consider the under-appreciated artists with more talent in their pinky-finger than whoever strung this shit together and want justice for them and recompense for priceless seconds spent. Audacity is also defined as willingness to take bold risks — but wait, you glare in defense of your scorn; "That's not me, I champion the underdog! I value the freedom, ambition, success of every man!" Watching somebody get away with their bold risk if it feels meritless is an affront to our goodwill but withholding that goodwill manoeuvres us against ourselves; bah, it's all the "artist's" fault! Bad art stirs nothing in its audience, but you're well riled up, why? Why are you right? Why do you feel? You react: what does that mean? Are you wrong? What aren't you seeing? You adjust your spectacles, lean toward the gallery statement below the vulgar glob and read: HUBRIS V. HUBRIS, Landmark 1937 "An uncontacted people were observed for 3 months in 1936, supplies planted nearby their location [Latitude: 38.2469° N, Longitude: 85.7664° W] sheathed in this cotton. The engagement with various objects was studied by anthropologists without incident until coordinates leaked via broadcast radio, prompting two retired missionaries to endeavor contact against authority with only one returning; William Hubris claims his partner John B. Meale was slain on a bed of cotton in offering to elders hours prior to his own aided escape. Recovered naked, eunuched with nought but this cloth to claim as his friend's remains, he shortly thereafter faced ex-communication from his parish under grounds of "morbid inclinations" Hubris was successfully divorced by his then-wife in the following year, citing William's failure in procreative duty. Her case was aided by the testimony of parishioners. Recovered at an estate auction in July of 2010, this piece was donated to this gallery paired with proof of its authenticity. This piece was deemed authentic by the American Anthropological Association and lauded as an historical monument to the empowerment of women in America, who, on the precedent of Hubris V. Hubris were finally granted the right to initiate divorce with men on equal grounding." Adjusting the crick in your neck you concede, "OK, fine, that's Brat."

[professionalacademy]

4 Ways To Adapt Your Digital Marketing To Reach New Audiences

It’s always been challenging to get a new business off the ground. Lacking an established brand makes it extremely difficult to convince people to believe in you, and startup resources are far too limited to support exhaustive marketing. You need to be smart and selective with your approach, and that means keeping a strict focus on a narrow audience comprising only those most likely to be interested in whatever you’re offering.

If you can impress those people, you can win them over, resulting in opportunities to exceed their expectations and start building a positive reputation through social proof. But what do you do once you’ve cornered that limited market? If you do an excellent job, you’ll eventually run out of new prospects within that narrow audience, making further growth seem impossible.

At that point, of course, your future lies in expanding your audience. While working to retain the customers you’ve already collected, you must look farther afield to find new opportunities. The question, though, is how you can reach those people. In this post, we’ll set out four ways in which you can adapt your digital marketing to reach new audiences. Let’s get to them.

USE BROADER FRAMING AND PHRASING

When you fixate on impressing a niche audience, you inevitably adapt your marketing materials to suit their specific needs and preferences. You know what technical terms they’ll understand, how they’ll want problems and solutions to be framed, and how they like to be addressed. When you open up your marketing approach, then, it’s essential that you dial this back.

Take out the technical terms that may be misunderstood. Research what messaging is likely to resonate most clearly, and make the necessary adjustments. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to win over your new audience in a single step, so don’t even try: your goal with your initial marketing should be to lay the groundwork for future materials. One you’ve made people familiar with your core concepts, you’ll have the chance to make a complete pitch.

EMBRACE A MULTILINGUAL APPROACH

If you’re eager for new prospects, one of the best ways to find untapped potential is to look overseas. After all, there are huge numbers of people out there who don’t speak your language or simply prefer to use sites that address them in their native tongues. If you can cater to them by offering content in their languages, you can achieve remarkable business growth.

If you want to do this, though, you’ll need to start by localizing all content on your website. Yes, that includes everything from the blog copy to the navigational elements, and it requires not only translation but also an appreciation of how references and tones can work well in one language but fall totally flat in another. Accounting for cultural differences is far from easy, but it’s time well spent given the revenue you stand to collect as a result.

TRY NEW SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Every narrow marketing audience has a social media preference, making it perfectly sensible for a budding business to pick one or two platforms and disregard all others. If all your customers use Facebook, for instance, you can handle all your social promotion through that and forget about other platforms. So when you’re trying to reach new people, those new platforms are key.

In this situation, it will markedly benefit you to leave your comfort zone. If you’ve never tried marketing on TikTok, for instance, you should seriously consider giving it a try. You might just find that there are many potential customers on there who don’t really engage with other social media platforms. And if it doesn’t work out, you’ll at least have learned from the experience.

PARTNER WITH VARYING INFLUENCERS

Sometimes there’s fairly little you can do to win people over directly. No matter how carefully you tweak your content and spread your message, they’ll either ignore your brand or disregard it for some unclear reason. When that happens, you need to take an indirect approach and look for ways to reach them without your history getting in the way. That’s where influencers come in.

Social media influencers hold a lot of power, even when they don’t have vast audiences. Their followers highly value their opinions and will pay close attention to their recommendations. If you can partner with some influencers in untapped niches and give them the creative freedom to adapt your marketing messages to suit their followers, you can pick up some fresh qualified leads with shockingly-little effort. Why not attempt it?

Do you want to develop your skills in these areas and more?

A CIM Marketing Qualification could be perfect for you! Professional Academy support marketers or aspiring marketers of all levels, and we can work with you to develop a study plan tailored to your needs. Whether you want to study online with a fully supported eLearning system, or attend face-to-face workshops with like-minded marketers & expert tutors, there's a study option for you.

Get in touch with our knowledgeable qualifications advice team to learn more, or download a marketing prospectus today.

[audrelileikaite]

Research Element 10: Timing, Walt Disney and the Fleischer Brothers

Our research element for this week was to research the animation principle of timing, used to adjust the personality and overall attitude of an animation, as well as the animators Walt Disney and the Fleischer brothers, arguably some of the most influential animators in existence.

Timing:

Timing is used to affect the energy and nature of an animation, by altering the number of/spacing between frames. This isn't limited to animating humans alone, and can be applied to any subject that can move. A large number of close-together frames makes the animation slower and more calm, in turn conveying a slow and calm personality, whereas a smaller number of frames further apart can indicate the opposite. The same keyframes can convey a wildly different action depending on the number of in-betweens it has. generally, animators tend to 'draw on twos' meaning one drawing is made for every two frames. This tends to lend well to more slow actions, as the poses have a longer focus and can therefore look inconsistent from frame to frame when a pose must be constantly redrawn. It also works for fast actions, as the lesser amount of frames makes the movement more snappy and not overly smooth. This doesn't mean that drawing on ones is worse, as it can be important in a very fast action with lots of unclear movement, which may be difficult to observe with less frames. To have a more dynamic animation, it is best to have a mix of different timings. Walt Disney:

Walt Disney is objectively one of the most important animators in the history of the medium, responsible for countless milestones in the animation industry as well as creating the most well-known animation studio in the world. His animation career began soon after Disney entered McKinley High School in 1917, where he studied cartoons on the side for his dreams of becoming a newspaper cartoonist. After ww1 in 1919, Disney gained experience as an inker and draftsman in commercial art studios, where he met and began working with Ub Iwerks, another animator who would soon start his own studio with Walt. In their new studio, the two of them created a series of animated sketches called 'Laugh-O'-grams' as well as the beginning pilot of the 'Alice' series, 'Alice in Cartoonland'. After a brief meet with bankruptcy, Walt and his brother Roy resumed the Alice series after its initial success. Iwerks was persuaded to join the team again, and ideas began to be created. Recognizable characters like Oswald the Rabbit and of course, Mickey mouse, who was followed by the rest of the iconic gang soon after. Disney was not the first to bring sound to films, but he was the first to use it in an animation, releasing 'Steamboat Willie' in 1928, changing the future of animation forever. Disney was clearly incredibly ambitious, which continued to show in his work from 1934 to 1937, during which time Walt Disney Animation Studios began work on 'Snow White and The Seven Dwarves', the first feature length animated film. However, during the development of this movie, Disney's role had transitioned from animator and designer to decision making and coordination. The film was an immense success, and cemented Walt Disney's impeccable reputation in the animation industry at the time.

The studio would continue to grow and create more animated films and shorts, but would see a sharp setback in 1941 after a massive animator strike. The studio would continue to work through the second world war, efficiently mixing live-action with animation like in 'The Three Caballeros' (1945) or Song of the South (1946), as well as creating propaganda films to stay in business and encourage patriotism among the public. It would be years until the studio recovered in quality from their strike, arguably not until the renaissance era of animation in the 1980s, almost 2 decades after the death of Walt Disney. The studio however, continued to animate and create animated films, of which many modern audience consider timeless classics, despite their relatively poor reception at the time of release. Walt Disney did become less directly tied with the animation process over his lifetime, but the legacy he left behind is undeniable. The Fleischer Brothers: Dave and Max Fleischer are names synonymous with early animation. The pair were ambitious animators, who served as a contrast to the content produced by Walt Disney in the height of their popularity. Max Fleischer is to credit for creating the rotoscope, a device which saved time by allowing tracing of live-action footage to guide an animated action. With the invention, the two created the character Koko the Clown, starring him in the Out of The Inkwell series, which began to develop more after the duo opened their own animation studio in 1921. The studio's most iconic character, Betty Boop, would be created in 1930 in vague likeness to the singer Helen Kane, debuting in the cartoon 'Dizzy Dishes'. The animations produced by the Fleischer brothers in the span of the 1930s were far more mature, dealing with themes of sex and death, than their Disney competitor's, providing more choice to animation fans of the time. This caused some issues to the studio later on as their star character, Betty Boop, had to be heavily altered after the widespread introduction of the Hays Code, causing her popularity to dwindle and for her series to be discontinued entirely in 1939. During the decade, the studio also introduced the comic character Popeye into a Betty Boop cartoon, who soon became a mainstay of the company. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Hays Code may have played a bigger part than the death of a single character for the studio, as it eventually became indistinguishable in style from the work Disney had been creating. Fleischer Studios began producing box office flop after flop, eventually leading to the studio being bought by Paramount Pictures, leading to the brothers going their seperate ways. The rise and fall of the brothers and their animation studio is quite tragic to research, and I believe that a large reason for the downfall of the studio was the motion pictures production code and censorship towards the attractions of the studio. In a way, the brothers had no choice but to become more like their competitors, which led to them fading into the background in their later years. That said, the animations produced in their hay day are still incredibly influential to animators even today, and their legacy remains intact for what they created without future restrictions.

[antique-forvalaka]

Okay I love your colour theory posts for Kinnporsche so much... Have you seen the Hidden Messages video on Be on Clouds YouTube channel? It really highlights the colouring used for each character, especially Kinn and red, and I think it would be really cool to look into in regards to the colour Theory side of things!

ooh what a lovely suggestion!

I do feel like I've seen the video before, but if that's the case i don't think i'd have mistaken gold as Kinn's colour instead lmao

So, initially i really didn't think the Hidden Messages video on Youtube would be worth doing a Colour theory on, since i thought a lot of it was really obvious, but upon my second watch i reconsidered.

I thought for the purposes of this analysis I'd try to stay a bit more true to the actual order the shots appear in, thus I'm starting with this one. It's the first shot we see, Kinn sitting in a dark room with a blue backlight. Please also pay attention to the Golden Lamp and candle, we'll see those again later.

These shots are just magnificient!!! They don't happen in direct sequence, this will not be the only time mirrored shots are 'interrupted' however. Obviously we have here both Kinn and Porsche in their respective colours, backlit with each other's. I wanna also call attention to their facial expressions as well, despite both having just as much dominion over the screen here Porsche seems less at ease than Kinn.

Just as the shots above, these one are in the same order as they appear in the video, yet are interrupted several times in the source material. The first shot here is dominantly only lit in red, whereas the later ones, when Kinn starts giving money to Porsche, his blue also enters the frame. I think it's very significant that Porsche burns the money. It's a callback (or uh foreshadowing in this case, as the video came out before the first episode) that Porsche isn't interested in money, in episode one he even refuses Kinn's numerous job offers and complains as being misunderstood as someone who can be bought.

As an aside, i did not change the aspect ratio of these at all, but as you can see some of the shots were made in a wider ratio than some of the others. Thus how much space these are allowed to take up on-screen is also significant!

A lot of these short scenes also play with mirrors and reflections, both Porsche and Kinn are often shown to mirror each other. Most visually appealing is this scene, in which Porsche turns in a slow circle and points his fingergun at this one-way mirror opposite him, as the camera turns to follow his hand. To reveal Kinn standing in such a way behind the mirror that it is unclear to an observer if he is just a reflection as well. He too is not actually holding a gun, just miming it. This scene is also lit more in Green than either blue or red, to underline the conflict. Both are still at odds, at opposite sides, though Kinn, positioned behind the one-way mirror reminiscient of Police interrogation is subtly implied to have more power here. There's also a bed on Porsche's side which gives the whole room a prison-like impression.

Again, both are (inverted) reflections of each other. They're in the same hallway and even the neon light in the background is mirrored. This could also play with the concept of being 'two halves of the same coin', which would fit in nicely with their later relationship. In any case, kudos to the director!

Here we have Porsche in a blue lit stairway, looking upwards yet descending into the depths, which are coincidentally lit in red as well! Possibly a metaphor for him joining the darker underbelly of Kinn's world. This is the point where we also start seeing more flashes of both Kinn and Porsche lit in blue, to parallel the constant flashes of both of them fighting in the red room. As an aside, the wall to Porsche's right is presumably the very same in front of which the striking portraits shown above were created.

The scenes of them fighting in the red room are now overlaid with these shots, of both of them in blue, though this time Porsche is backlit in orange (gold or red depending on your interpretation). Where before the focus was on the business relationship, the fighting and them being at odds, these shots instead show a more tender relationship. It may not be that obvious in these still frames but the second to last shot has Kinn foregoing the cigarette to instead caress the side of Porsche's face. This is also where my note on picture width and aspect ratio comes back into play. A lot of the dominantly blue shots, including Porsche's descent, are much less wide than most of the rest. Porsche is hemmed in, or his power is, and only in the last one of this sequence when it starts to rain and both hug (a picture i sadly couldn't include here) does the fram grow again!

Remember me saying to keep an eye on the lamp and cigarette? This is where those reappear. The postioning of both items relative to the camera suggests that this is actually the inverse shot of the very first one, which in combination with the second one here suggests that Kinn was always standing opposite Porsche, who was hidden behind the tapestry. Which btw, seems to be a very obvious allusion to Kinn's trust issues and reluctance to get close to his employees, as later implied by Pete in episode 2. It's a bit on the nose, especially as Porsche appears behind the burnt fabric presented as solution and core of the problem at once, but the visuals are too pretty to begrudge the simplicity too much. It's just sooooo nice to look at!!! The rest of this burning flag will also later be the very end of the video, as both men have dissappeared and the smoldering remains underline the series title!

Before that however we still have two more moments i want to highlight. One of which is this one. This seems to be the same room as the beginning, I've had to lighten it up a bit because it was really just that dark. Porsche is posing in front of the one way mirror again, almost in challenge. Later we have the reverse shot. Porsche has turned away from the mirror only for Kinn to appear behind him again, this time however none of them seem agressive and i think it's significant that Porsche may have his back turned but is still aware of Kinn behind him. A sign of trust or disrespect? Since this is in the later half i'd see it as the former.

Let's close this out with my two favourite shots.

These ones are the only two shots we get of this unknown bathroom, assumedly it is not one on the ma/fia family's property, but the tiling is in a reddish orange, which is evened out by the diffuse blue light from outside. This whole setting feels very intimate and the first shot, closer to the start of the video, still visualises some very obvious emotional distance. Porsche's side, or rather the side we directly see, in opposition to Kinn in the mirror also feels more real to the observer, more immediate. We start the series closer to Porsche's perspective as our viewpoint character.

Yet the last shot has Porsche join Kinn in his world instead, Porsche is the active one here, he not only left his own, seemingly more real, world but is also seeking bodily closeness. In this shot Kinn is also smiling, yet another difference to the first one!

Ah i gotta be honest, this one was a lot of fun! The visuals are incredibly striking, so thanks a lot for calling my attention to this again!!!!! I hope this analysis lived up to your expectations as well.

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

I just noticed i forgot my disclaimer this time, hahhah, so to make it short: All of this is subjective and was created with limited information re: character developement!

More of this here:

Major Players: Kinn

The Intersection of Kinn and Porsche / Green

Kinn’s Colour: A revision

Episode 2; Significant Scenes

Episode 3; Significant Scenes (+Tankhun)

Episode 4; Significant Scenes

Episode 5; Significant Scenes

[theforgottenmcrmy]

After All (Part 9/?)

Pairing: Riff X OC Jet Girl

Warnings: Explicit Language, Racism

Summary: After all, he had to have misinterpreted the time they’d spent together over the past few weeks. Her smiles and occasional laughter meant nothing. She must’ve been reminiscing on old times, was all. She was saving his neck, nothing less, nothing more. She didn’t owe him anything. If anything, he owed her.

Word Count: 8500 ish.

DISCLAIMER

Please note that this is a reimagining of the film West Side Story (2021) and as a result is slightly AU.

Masterlist /// Part 1 /// Part 8 /// Part 9 /// Part 10

A/N: As usual, thank you everyone for the comments, like, support, etc. :) It’s really been helping me stay motivated to continue this, which I really want to do. I’m starting to get crazy with my chapter lengths here, so I’ll try to keep it around 6000 for the future if possible. I was too excited to cut anything from this one- it gets the ball rolling a lot of different plot points in my opinion. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and have a good weekend! :)

Part 9: A Business Proposal

“Never again.”

“Never ever.” Riff promised, holding up his hand in a vague swearing gesture. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never in the scouts,” Roxie reminded him, rolling her eyes.

Riff shrugged. “Point still stands.”

“I mean it, Riff,” Roxie insisted seriously.

The pair, along with Action and Ice, made it back to the auto shop in record time. Ice and Action had split for the night once they reached the shop, but not before being thanked several times. Riff and Roxie would have gone directly back to her apartment, as they had the previous two nights, but Roxie insisted on getting the money to Riff’s apartment instead. She didn’t want to take any more chances and wanted to ensure that Riff had the full amount he’d need to pay Asim.

As if Asim wasn’t enough of a threat, the more immediate threat, the man they’d seen at the gambling house who they were pretty sure wanted to hurt both of them, was still at large. Thankfully, the goon he’d sent to follow them home ended up getting carted away by the cops for one reason or another. Maybe he’d get locked up for a while, and would be unable to relay what he’d seen to his boss. Even if he got cut loose, he only knew that they had headed to the West Side. He didn’t know where either of them lived, and as a result,  neither would his boss.

As long as they stayed out of the gambling houses- which they mutually agreed to- what were the chances of seeing either of those men ever again?

Roxie let Riff count the money, and for the second time, she slowly walked around the bedroom that used to be his uncle’s, taking in the room as she did.

The small, single bed along the far wall had a metal frame. The bed was not made. The sheets were wrinkled and thrown about, suggesting that either Riff had difficulty sleeping the previous night, or they had been disheveled as a result of another activity. If only to avoid feeling awkward, Roxie found herself hoping that the sheets were a mess as a result of the first possibility.

Besides the bed, and the desk, which was still just as cluttered with paperwork as it had been the last time she’d seen it, the room was remarkably bare. Whether it was by choice was unclear. She knew Riff had never been particularly materialistic- the only things he seemed to carry with him year after year had been his mother’s bracelet and the pendant he currently wore- but she would have thought he would take some initiative to really make the room his own.

Riff had always avoided talking about what life was like before he lived with his uncle like it was the plague, so Roxie wasn’t sure if he had his own room before. But when Riff did live with his uncle, she knew that he didn’t. Riff slept on cot on the floor in the living room, much like Diesel, Snowboy, and Gee-Tar currently were.

If it was one of the only times in Riff’s life that he had his own room, his own personal space to call his own, why hadn’t he made it feel more… personal? It was almost like he wasn’t expecting to be there for long at all, and that thought bothered her.

“Four hundred sixty,” Riff announced suddenly, breaking Roxie from her thoughts.

She quickly turned on her heels. “Really?”

They’d actually done it.

Riff had enough money to get Asim off his back, and Roxie had enough money to give her landlord to satisfy the debt her aunt had with him.

“Math was never my strong suit,” Riff admitted with a smirk, “But when it comes to money, I may as well be Einstein.”

Explain that mess of books over there, then. “That’s great,” Roxie replied quietly. Her eyes fell to the floor as Riff divided the cash evenly. When he held out her half to her, she took it and wordlessly put it in her purse.

“I guess that’s it, then?” Roxie asked after a moment, meeting his eyes once again.

Riff tilted his head ever so slightly. “Guess so,” he muttered, his eyes not leaving hers. There was a strange look on his face, almost a strange combination of emotions that she couldn’t begin to decipher.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as the pair began to ponder the bigger implications of their successful venture.

They had no reason to see each other anymore.

What would happen after their trips to the gambling houses ceased and after Asim was paid had only crossed Roxie’s mind a few times beforehand. Now that the moment had arrived, she found herself wishing she had given it more thought.

When Riff had proposed the solution to their mutual problem, he had promised to leave her alone afterwards, if that’s what she wanted. Did she really want that, though? Riff fulfilling that promise would be easier said than done, if not moot entirely.

Unless Velma provided a reason for her to change her mind, Roxie was not planning on ending their friendship, even if she was able to go back to school at the end of the summer. And since she still had at least a few months in the neighborhood, how reasonable was it to believe that she’d never run into another Jet again?

Still, Roxie believed Riff’s word well enough; he had sworn on his ma’s grave. She knew she could walk out the apartment right then and there, and so long as it was in Riff’s power to do so, she’d have a Riff-free, Jet-free, arguably problem-free life from there on out.

At least Riff was giving her a choice this time.

…

Years later, Roxie would look back at that moment. The few minutes of silence in Riff’s apartment as he watched her with guarded yet somewhat hopeful eyes would replay in her mind time and time again.

How could she have known then that her decision sealed both of their fates?

————————————————————————————

Riff tried not to make his apprehension outwardly visible as he watched Roxie carefully. She was deep in thought, and he was as well.

The entire evening, and for the better part of the last two weeks, he had been mentally preparing himself to embrace the fact that once they had won the money they needed, Roxie would take him up on his offer to leave her alone and never see her again.

Why wouldn’t she?

After all, he had to have misinterpreted the time they’d spent together over the past few weeks. Her smiles and occasional laughter meant nothing. She must’ve been reminiscing on old times, was all. She was saving his neck, nothing less, nothing more. She didn’t owe him anything. If anything, he owed her.

Riff had enough self-awareness to know that he was trouble. The Jets, as much as he loved them, were trouble. The whole West Side was trouble. Roxie knew all of these things. To him, it made no sense that she would take the risk of getting caught up in trouble at all if she was planning to leave the neighborhood again at the end of the summer.

As she should. At least he wouldn’t have to force her hand this time.

“I guess I should be walkin’ ya home now?” Riff prompted, not wanting the conversation to drag on for any longer than necessary. It was already after 4 AM. Hopefully her roommate was a sound sleeper and hadn’t noticed her absence, or else they’d have the cops about the neighborhood for a whole other problem.

“I’ve got a proposal for you.”

… What? “What?”

“A business proposal,” Roxie clarified, walking over to his desk. Her eyes scanned over the heaps of paperwork that littered the surface. She looked as though she tried to keep her composure, but he noticed the slight disapproval in the way her eyes raked over everything. “These are the books for the shop, right?”

Riff wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but he nodded nonetheless. He crossed the room with a few slow steps, coming to stand beside her as her focus remained on the desk.

He watched with interest as she picked up a stack of various papers and moved them around. Every now and then, she’d take an interest in a specific paper, and take a few moments to scan its contents. Eventually, she uncovered a notice of default for one of the several loans his uncle had agreed to.

Riff, intrigued by her bold actions, continued to watch as Roxie read the notice with a contemplative look on her face. “Courtesy of your uncle, huh?” she asked when she was finished, and then she put the piece of paper back on the desk once more. “Do you know how  much he owes?”

She took his silence as his answer. “Do you know how much money the shop has right now?”

It wasn’t much money at all, and he didn’t know the exact amount, but he didn’t have to answer that question- the disarray of accounting she had just glanced over would’ve given her the answer anyways.

“I’m going to help you,” Roxie asserted, looking up at him once again.

“Help with what?” Riff asked, still unsure of what she meant.

“This… mess,” Roxie answered carefully, vaguely gesturing to the desk. “Your uncle shouldn’t just get to leave town and dump all the problems he made on you.”

“Well, he did,” Riff answered simply, already feeling his frustration starting to rise. Talking about his uncle tended to make him feel that way.

“That doesn’t make it right,” she insisted, looking down at the desk once more. “I never thought you’d be one to do him any favors- not after everything he did.”

“Like hell I am!” Riff snapped. “Do you really think Tony’s folks let me crash with them after what happened to him?”

Roxie remained silent, her eyes still focused on the desk.

“Of course not,” Riff continued, answering his own redundant question. “I needed a place to live,” he sighed, and now his voice was significantly more quiet. “This… all this just came with it.”

Roxie looked up at him once again, and Riff looked at her as well. He thought his snap would have made her upset, or at least a little bit concerned, but to his surprise, she seemed even more determined than she had been.

“I’m going to help you clear this up,” she asserted once again.

Riff was beginning to feel like their conversation was going in circles. “There’s no point.”

“Do you have somewhere else to go?” Roxie asked him, waiting for an answer. When she didn’t get one, she continued. “I’m not naive, Riff- I know what’s happening here, I’ve been reading the papers.  And maybe fixing up the books will just delay the inevitable,” she admitted. “But you know you’d have a better shot against the Slum Clearance Committee if the shop wasn’t neck deep in its own debts.”

Though she had taken a while to get to the point, Riff couldn’t deny that he agreed with her. If he knew exactly where the shop stood financially- something he truly hadn’t been able to get an accurate picture of since he had taken over the shop- he’d be able to figure out how feasible it’d be to make some headway on paying back his uncle’s loans, not to mention the past due taxes. And if he were to find a way to pay the taxes, the New York Committee for Slum Clearance would suddenly have a lot less grounds to foreclose on the place and tear it down.

“Say I take your offer,” Riff posed hypothetically. “I already told ya, I don’t do charity.”

“It won’t be,” Roxie quickly assured him.

“Yeah?” Riff challenged half-seriously, his head tilting slightly. “What do ya want, then? Name your price.”

“I get to be friends with who I want, especially Velma,” she told him. “And you can’t do or say anything about it.”

“That all?”

“No. I want to be able to come and go in this neighborhood as I please without any grief from you or the other Jets,” Roxie informed him. “And for god’s sake- tell them to stop gawking at me every time I’m around. I feel like a damn zoo exhibit.”

Riff knew the other Jets had only ever stared at her when he was present because they were interested in his reaction, but perhaps she had a point. “If we make this arrangement,” he began, “what do I tell the guys?”

Roxie shrugged. “Tell them the truth- or not. Handle it however you want. Just don’t make it my problem anymore.”

Riff’s eyes narrowed slightly as he pondered her requests for a few moments. There was no doubt that this could be a mistake. Regardless of any old or new feelings that he was or was not beginning to feel for her, he still felt confident in his belief that he was not the best thing for her, and neither was the West Side. Wouldn’t this arrangement just make things harder on both of them when the inevitable happened?

On the other hand, Roxie would be equally responsible for any negative consequences that could result… and if she was offering to help on her own accord, why shouldn’t he take her up on the offer? This could be the best thing for Riff and the Jets, if the plan worked. He had plenty to benefit from it, and Riff could admit that selfless was hardly an adjective used to describe him.

Any emotional drawbacks weren’t really worth considering in the grand scheme, were they?

“Alright,” he said finally, holding out a hand to her. “Ms. Thomas, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Roxie rolled her eyes, but shook his hand a single time anyways. “Are we using formal names, Riff?” she asked then. “Or should I say Mr.-”

“-Nope, Roxie’s just fine,” he interrupted her with a slightly nervous smile. “Riff’s just fine, too.”

There was a moment of silence before both of them laughed from the tension.

Maybe this decision would come back to haunt Riff, like so many others had, especially the ones he had made about her. But it was worth the risk if it meant some of the guilt he carried with him would disappear.

————————————————————————————

Given the night’s events, sleep had eluded Ice.

By the time he made it back to his temporary living situation- which was crashing in the spare bedroom of his sister and her husband’s apartment- it was already almost 4 AM. He had tried to settle in and at least get a few hours of sleep, but he quickly realized that his brother-in-law would be getting up soon in order to get ready for work. Ice knew the man meant well, really, but for someone who couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds, he sure sounded like an elephant stomping around the tiny apartment in the early mornings.

By 5 AM, Ice had left the apartment once again.

The streets were pretty bare in the early mornings. By 6 AM, many folks would be on their way to work, but just before then, when the sky was just starting to lighten up, though the sun was still a ways away from rising, the neighborhood seemed almost peaceful.

It was a good time to be alone with one’s thoughts. Ice didn’t have much thinking to do those days, but alone time was still nice. No PRs, no Schrank, no Krupke… no Jets, except him. It was hard to believe any neighborhood in New York could ever be quiet, but at that time, it was just about the closest thing.

Of course, the occasional cab passed. Most of them never stopped, they were just passing through.

But as Ice made his way down a certain block, one of the cabs did. When it parked, one of the back doors of the cab opened, and three people hopped out.

“¿Es este el apartamento?” one of them, a woman, asked.

Ice couldn’t understand it, but he knew Spanish when he heard it. Great, more PRs.

At first, Ice continued walking down the sidewalk, but the voice he heard next made him stop in his tracks.

“Sí, María.”

Bernardo?

Instinctively, Ice slipped into the alleyway to his right. He stayed close to the wall, and peeked his head around the corner just enough so that he could still see the cab and its former passengers.

Sure enough, standing on the sidewalk next to the cab, was Bernardo. What was he doing out so early?

He handed something to one of the women next to him. Ice didn’t know her name, but he recognized her as Bernado’s girl. “¿Puedes pagar al conductor?” Bernardo asked her.

The woman sighed, and it was so loud that Ice could hear it even from his distanced vantage point. “Sí,” she huffed. “But you could do it yourself if you practiced your English.”

Bernardo said nothing in response. Instead, he turned to the other young woman. Ice didn’t recognize her. “Sacaré tus maletas del maletero,” Bernardo told her.

Ice watched as Bernardo moved to the back of the cab. Once the trunk was opened, he began to take out several suitcases and various bags and set them on the sidewalk. As he did, Ice looked at the young woman again, trying to place her. She wasn’t Bernardo’s girl, and she looked far too young to be his mother. But perhaps she was still family?

Riff’s gonna wanna hear ‘bout this.

————————————————————————————

Eventually, the sun had risen, and enough people were out and about that Ice figured the auto shop would be up and running for the day. His hunch was proven correct as he rounded the street corner and noticed one of the shop’s garage doors was wide open.

Once Ice entered the shop, he was greeted by Gee-Tar, Snowboy, and Diesel, who were already working on a truck that had been brought in. Mouthpiece was there too, but he was preoccupied with something over on the toolbench that Ice couldn’t quite see.

Riff was nowhere to be found.

As if Snowboy read his mind, he said to him, “Riff’s still upstairs.”

Ice didn’t find that hard to believe, and didn’t blame Riff at all. After everything that had happened the previous night and early morning, he’d still be getting some sleep too, if it had been possible. “Still sleepin’, huh?”

“Nope,” Gee-Tar responded, popping the second part of the word. “He’s got a girl with him.”

Ice felt his eyes widen with surprise. “What?”

“They’ve been in his room talkin’ for hours,” Snowboy confirmed.

Ice had a feeling that the girl was not Grazi. “You’re kidding.”

————————————————————————————

“There,” Roxie said, sounding decently pleased with herself.

Riff took in the sight of the desk, which was now nearly unrecognizable.

Once they had reached an agreement, Riff had offered to walk Roxie home for the second time. At that point, it was nearing 5 AM. But the idea seemed pointless; both knew that they would be unable to sleep for quite some time, and by then, it would already be daybreak, and it’d be safe for Roxie to walk home by herself.

Instead, they spent the better part of the last three hours or so going through and organizing the documents that had been cluttering Riff’s desk. It had taken them both some time, since Roxie was not familiar with the documents, and Riff had gotten so many invoices, receipts, and notices that it was hard to recall them all.

After those few hours, all the papers had been organized into specific piles. There were a few piles for the default notices, which were separated by the creditor. There was another pile for anything related to the outstanding local and state taxes, and another pile for all the receipts, invoices, and anything else pertaining to the shop that would need to be accounted for in the monthly books.

“Next time I stop by, we’ll organize it all by date,” Roxie said. “But hopefully this is less of a headache to look at until then.”

“Ya have no idea,” Riff agreed sincerely. He wasn’t looking forward to actually going through the stacks of papers by any means, but he wouldn’t hate seeing them in the current, organized state nearly as much as he had when they had been in complete disarray. “The shop is normally closed on Sundays, and the other occasional odd day,” he said, “but let me know when you have time to come in, and I’ll make it work.”

“I’ll have to think about that,” Roxie replied thoughtfully. “I’ve got to work some extra shifts to make up for the ones I traded for, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Of course. He’d almost forgotten that she had to get out of work a few nights to take care of their problem. “You work tonight?”

She nodded.

“I’ll just ask ya about it then,” Riff reasoned nonchalantly.

Roxie sighed. “That’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” she confessed. “I don’t need an escort home anymore.”

“Asim isn’t paid yet,” Riff reminded her. “And it still ain’t safe for a girl to be walkin’ home that late at night-”

“Why not?” she questioned. “The Sharks?”

“Yes, the Sharks.”

“They don’t know who I am,” Roxie insisted. “And I’m not worried about them.”

“Well I am,” Riff countered. “As ya know, things have changed ‘round here, Roxie. The PRs and Sharks are everywhere- it’s only a matter of time before one of them sees you hangin’ ‘round us and pieces it together.”

“What if they do?” she challenged him. “For all they know, we’re acquaintances, friends at best. There’s no reason that they’d even think of targeting me, is there?”

Riff narrowed his eyes, understanding what she was hinting at. Still, he would not take the bait. “I’m gonna walk you home tonight,” he told her. “I’m meetin’ with Asim tomorrow, so I’ll get one of the guys to do it instead.”

“Not Action,” she demanded.

“Fine, not Action,” Riff relented tiredly. “After that… we’ll discuss it.”

“You bet we will,” Roxie vowed, grabbing her purse from where it had been laying on the desk chair. She walked around him and headed towards the bedroom door.

Riff fought the urge to roll his eyes as he watched her pass him.

A deep part of him hated to admit it, but even though she could be so frustrating, he liked that she never failed to challenge him.

————————————————————————————

Diesel’s head snapped up to the landing as the apartment door opened, and Roxie, followed by Riff, stepped out onto the landing.

The whole crew watched as the pair descended the stairs. Unlike last time, Roxie spared everyone present a brief glance, and even gave Ice a brief nod, before walking out the open garage door.

All eyes then turned to Riff, who remained by the bottom of the stairs.

“Mornin’ boss,” Diesel greeted him, not bothering to hide his knowing smile.

Riff chose to ignore him. “I’m only gonna tell yous this once, so listen good, and spread the word,” he announced to the group, even though everyone’s attention was already on him. “Roxie is goin’ to be ‘round a bit more; she’s helpin’ with the books and the shop.”

This was an interesting turn of events, but Diesel could hardly say he was surprised. The two had been up to something recently, Diesel was sure of it… he just didn’t know what it was. Velma had mentioned that Roxie told her that she had spoken to Riff. Velma had her suspicions too. But even though Riff had asked for both of their help to speak to Roxie initially, Riff hadn’t approached either of them about the subject again.

“So… she’s cool?” Gee-Tar asked the question on everyone’s minds.

“She’s cool,” Riff confirmed. “No more starin’, either. She’s gonna be doin’ us all a favor, so all of yous are to treat her with nothin’ but respect. And if anyone, and I mean anyone-” he looked at Ice, as if communicating something silently to him, “-treats her with anythin’ less, I want to know.”

No one dared to say anything, but a few of the guys nodded.

“Ice, can I see ya upstairs for a minute?” Riff asked then, immediately turning to head up the stairs.

As Ice moved to follow Riff, Mouthpiece jogged past him, already heading out to spread the word.

“Oh, I can’t wait ‘til Grazi gets word ‘bout this,” Diesel commented quietly, earning a smik from Snowboy and a laugh from Gee-Tar.

————————————————————————————

Ice was still processing the information Riff had dropped when he entered the apartment. Riff gestured for him to follow him to his room. Ice had only been in the apartment above the shop a few times, but when he entered the bedroom, even he noticed the unusually organized desk almost immediately.

Riff said nothing at first.

“So…” Ice began, unsure of what to say. “Roxie stay here, then?”

Riff rolled his eyes, though it was playful rather than out of irritation. “Wasn’t like that,” he answered, moving a few stacks of papers around on the desk. “It was already late enough, and it just made more sense for her to hang here a bit ‘til she could walk home alone.”

Riff’s explanation made sense, but Ice still wondered what Grazi would think about it, even though it wasn’t any of his business. Riff had mentioned before that his relationship with Grazi was casual, but if she heard about Roxie’s visit to Riff’s apartment early in the morning, and didn’t get the full story… well, that’d make just about any girl jealous, he imagined.

Ice didn’t dare to wonder what the guys downstairs thought. They didn’t have the knowledge that Ice had about Riff and Roxie’s dealings over the past few weeks, and they would have no idea why Roxie had been at the apartment in the first place. He could only hope that they would take Riff’s threat seriously and not tarnish anyone’s good name.

Ice knew Riff, and if Riff said nothing happened between him and Roxie, he believed him.

Ice watched as Riff pulled open one of the desk drawers and revealed some stacks of cash that had been shoved into it. It wasn’t the most secure spot, but he doubted any of the guys crashing at the apartment had the guts to go through Riff’s personal belongings, considering they were living there at his mercy. Besides, just because some of the guys had sticky fingers, that didn’t mean the Jets ever stole from each other.

Riff pulled a few bills out of the drawer. “Here,” he offered, holding them out to Ice to take. “We had some extra. Wanted to give you and Action a cut for your help.”

Ice’s eyes flashed between the money and Riff. “You sure?” he asked.

Riff nodded. “You two saved our necks. Least you deserve.”

Ice hesitated. He glanced down at the desk, noting some of the papers had large, bold, red lettering printed across them. He couldn’t make out what any of it said specifically, but he had a pretty good idea- bold red lettering on papers rarely meant anything good, right?

Ice had figured the shop wasn’t doing too well. Riff didn’t discuss the specifics of it to anyone, at least not to his knowledge, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Business wasn’t consistent, and Ice knew Riff’s uncle was a piece of work. Ice thought it was suspicious when he let Riff run the shop when he moved upstate.

Eventually, Ice shook his head, declining Riff’s offer. “Give it to the shop.”

Riff’s face fell. “Really?”

Ice shrugged. “Does the shop need money, or not?”

“We all need money, but-”

“-Give it to the shop, then,” Ice repeated.

Riff stared at him for a moment, but when he realized that Ice was not going to change his mind, he sighed. “Doesn’t feel right, ya know,” Riff admitted, throwing the bills into the drawer and shutting it once again.

“If the shop goes under, we all lose,” Ice told him blankly. “A few dollars I never had to begin with don’t mean nothin’ to me, anyways.”

Riff nodded understandingly. “Well, thanks,” he replied quietly. “And, thank you again for your help last night… and last week.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ice dismissed him. “You still meetin’ Asim tomorrow night?”

“Yeah,” Riff confirmed. “Do you mind taggin’ along this time? Action’s comin’ too, but with this much cash on me walkin’ over there… I’d rather not take any chances.”

“Understood,” Ice replied quickly.

It was quiet for a moment, before Ice suddenly recalled what he had seen earlier in the morning. “Hey, Krazy Kat, I’ve got some news for ya.”

Riff looked at him, suddenly intrigued.

————————————————————————————

Though she was incredibly tired, Roxie’s first move as soon as she arrived back at her apartment complex was to head to her bedroom and withdraw the small shoebox she kept stashed under her bed.

She opened the box and moved the few family photos that rested on top out of the way gingerly, revealing her stash of cash.

When she had counted out the amount needed to pay for her aunt’s owed rent, she noted that most of the five hundred dollar stash would be depleted. She briefly contemplated if it was worth paying the full amount owed outright, but quickly dismissed the idea when she figured it wasn’t wise to run the risk of getting on her landlord’s bad side by delaying payment.

Roxie headed downstairs immediately after. She knocked on her landlord’s first floor apartment door, and when the man answered, he seemed shocked to see her there. He probably questioned the source of the money, but since he was getting paid, and he was, Roxie doubted he’d have the nerve to say anything about it.

When she made it back to her apartment upstairs, she realized Betty had already left for work. She hoped that since she had left her bedroom door closed, Betty hadn’t noticed her absence the night before. If she did, Roxie had idea what explanation she could give her.

Maybe she could joke about being out with a fella all night, but Roxie didn’t know Betty too well yet, and didn’t know how’d she react to that.

Roxie entered her bedroom once again and began to go through the motions of getting changed out of her clothes and putting on something more comfortable. As she did, she glanced at her alarm clock beside the bed and realized with immense relief could still get a few hours of sleep before she’d need to get ready for work.

Just as she was about to quite literally flop onto the bed, the phone rang from the living room.

Ugh.

There was a chance the call was for Betty, but from what Roxie had been able to gather from their prior conversations, it sounded like Betty had been working at her job for a while. Anyone who wanted to reach her would know that she was usually unavailable during weekday mornings.

Roxie left the bedroom quickly, and scurried over to the kitchen in an effort to get the call. When it was within reach, she swiftly picked up from the line, and answered it breathlessly.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end confirmed that the call was for her. She smiled as she listened to the caller.

“Sunday?” Roxie repeated after a few moments. “I have to work that night...” As she continued to listen, she took a few steps away from the device, twirling the cord around her finger absentmindedly.

Suddenly, she nodded, though she knew her gesture would not be seen. “Sunday morning would be perfect,” she said with a smile. “Yes, you’ll want to take the subway… and get off at that station… Sounds great, I’ll see you then.”

The smile was still on her face as she hung up the phone and made her way back to her bedroom, where her bed was nearly calling her name.

————————————————————————————

The following night, the midnight bells of a nearby church rang throughout the air.

As Riff entered the highway underpass, he noticed that Asim was already waiting for him. He wore a smug smile on his face that Riff would have absolutely loved to knock off. If he had the upper hand, he probably would’ve.

When he stood just a few feet across from Asim, Riff stopped, and made no move to withdraw the cash from his jacket pocket. He stared at Asim for a few moments, daring him to make the first move instead.

“Am I correct to assume you’ve decided to pay up?” Asim asked him. His eyes glanced up the block behind Riff, and Riff hoped he couldn’t spot Action or Ice lingering nearby. “Considering you’ve come alone.”

Without taking his eyes off of Asim, Riff reached into his jacket pocket and grab the stack of bills. “You can count it, if ya want,” he stated coolly, reaching out to hand the money over to Asim begrudgingly.

Asim took a single step toward Riff, not getting any closer than what was necessary, and quickly swiped the bills from Riff’s hand. He eyed Riff for a brief moment before proceeding to count the bills.

As Asim counted, Riff took a moment to look around the underpass himself. He wasn’t expecting it, but the last thing Riff wanted was to pay Asim five hundred dollars and get his ass kicked by some Egyptian Kings that may have been hiding in the shadows if Asim was feeling particularly spiteful.

“It’s all here,” Asim admitted, sounding somewhat surprised.

“Do you think I’d bother showin’ up if it wasn’t?” Riff snapped rhetorically, his patience already wearing thin.

Asim pocketed the cash, and as he did so, Riff briefly contemplated whether he had made a mistake. “I’m surprised, you know,” Asim informed him off-handedly. “I didn’t think your pride would allow you to consider anything but the violent option.”

Riff half-smiled. Asim must have thought he knew all there was to know about him- but if he had seriously believed that Riff would willingly allow the Jets to take on the Egyptian Kings and the Sharks at once, Asim didn’t know anything about him at all.

“We’re cool now, right?” Riff asked Asim then, eager to be done with the conversation and go their separate ways.

Asim nodded. “The Egyptian Kings will not be a problem for you or the Jets ever again,” he confirmed. “But, your Tony on the other hand-”

“-Yeah, yeah,” Riff interjected, waving him off dismissively. “I’ll make sure he keeps his nose clean.”

“I can’t guarantee any of them won’t try anything if they catch Tony alone,” Asim admitted. “You best keep an eye on him, Riff.”

“Who knows?” Riff pondered, choosing to humor him. “Maybe we’ll all turn over a new leaf.”

Asim narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure I believe that,” he decided after a moment. “But, having done so myself… I think you might like it.”

Riff would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t slightly taken aback by Asim’s advice. He sounded pretty sincere about it, but why Asim would care about what happened to Riff was beyond his understanding.

Riff watched as Asim turned and disappeared into the shadows. Despite knowing that he would likely never see him again, Riff couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that something felt unresolved.

————————————————————————————

Action and Ice hung back on the street corner and watched as Riff headed down to the highway underpass alone.

Action was looking forward to being done with this whole mess. The fact that Asim had the guts to threaten them with an Egyptian Kings return made his blood boil. Where did he get off? The Jets had beaten the Kings fair and square. Honor didn’t mean much to guys like them, but if it did, where was the honor in refusing to accept defeat?

The sooner Riff could be done with Asim, and Roxie, the better. Then Riff could fully focus on the Sharks, who were getting far too bold for Action’s liking. More than a few run-ins with them already had him itching for a proper rumble. He’d love to watch that smirk fall from Bernardo’s face. But Action knew how it would look if he were the one to bring up the idea of a rumble to Riff.

Riff needed to be the one to call the shots. Action respected that, and the rest of the guys did too. But Riff was also capable of listening to the guys’ ideas once in a while- Ice practically had Riff’s ear whenever he wanted it. Didn’t mean Riff always did what he suggested, but he listened. And Action was starting to get mighty tired of being dismissed outright because he was too “hot-headed.”

Action swallowed his rising frustration quickly. Riff would come around to the idea of a rumble on his own, he was sure of it. And the sooner he did, the sooner Action’s problems would be solved.

The pair watched in silence for a few moments, diligently keeping an eye on Riff as he approached Asim in the distance.

Action glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes scanned the block up and down for any signs of trouble. “The sooner things get back to normal, the better,” he told Ice in a hushed tone, turning to look at the underpass once again.

Ice nodded curtly. “Agreed.” He looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and added carefully, “Well, the new normal.”

Action scoffed jokingly. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ice gave him a look as if he knew what he was referring too, but Action was- quite literally-  in the dark.

“If you still have a problem, you ought to squish it before Riff catches on,” Ice advised him, looking back towards the underpass, his eyes focusing on Riff once again. “Seems his mind is made up.”

Action looked to Ice, waiting for him to elaborate. When Ice did not, he demanded, unable to hide the frustration in his voice, “What are ya goin’ on ‘bout?”

Ice gave him an odd look. Despite the darkness, Action could tell that he was looking him over, as if analyzing him. “You… you don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“I thought Mouthpiece would’ve gotten the word around by now.” Ice looked away from him once again. “Riff asked Roxie to stick ‘round for a bit… help out with the shop.”

Action’s eyes were on Riff once again as he processed the news. “Oh, yeah?” he replied quietly.

Ice said nothing.

Action’s mind began to race. His first reaction was surprise, but that was quickly replaced with the anger that may as well have been his usual resting state. Why couldn’t Riff see what he did about Roxie?

She had been a liability back in the day, and she was likely to be a liability now. Riff, and the Jets in general, didn’t need another liability. She was a distraction. Riff needed to focus, and he needed to focus on two things only- getting one up on Sharks, and keeping the Jets on top.

Distractions would be the death of Riff, if he wasn’t careful. If it was the last thing Action did, he’d see to it that that wouldn’t happen.

————————————————————————————

Riff couldn’t believe it.

He was about the furthest thing from an optimist one could get, but he could’ve sworn that things were starting to look up. The doubt he felt after his last meeting with Asim quickly vanished.

The next morning, Riff had received a letter from Tony, letting him know that he was expecting to get released within the next week or so. They hadn’t discussed the details of his living situation afterwards, or who all would be going to the Bronx to meet him when he got cut loose, but those were minor details that would work themselves out in time.

The fact was, his brother was coming home, and Riff couldn’t be happier about it.

To only sweeten the good mood he was in, Roxie had managed to come over to the shop a few times after their initial agreement. She was only able to swing by during the day time due to her work, but Riff had meant it when he told her he would make time for her.

He had some initial feelings of dread when they first began to go through everything, but, intentionally or not, Roxie dismissed those feelings in him. The first time she came over, they spent the whole time organizing everything by date. The task itself was more boring to him than watching paint dry, but since she was with him, he found himself able to tolerate it surprisingly well.

The second time she came over, Roxie had started to walk him through the specifics of keeping track of the ins and outs going through the shop on a day to day basis. It all came down to the invoices for parts they ordered, when they couldn’t find them in the scrap yard that was, and payments they received from the few customers they managed to draw in.

Part of him thought Roxie would have taken the easy jab and insisted that his failure to keep track of everything thus far was simply due to his lack of responsibility, but she proved him wrong, and it was with slight shame that he had realized he should have known better. She had attempted to tutor him back in the day, and when she worked with him now, she was just as patient.  Riff hadn’t been a good student then, but that didn’t mean he’d never been capable of it. He was paying far more attention than he had when he’d been in school, largely due to the fact that there seemed to be far more at stake.

By the following Sunday, Riff was practically over the moon.

He smoked a cigarette and leaned back against the large wall in the park as he watched most of the crew engage in a game of basketball. It was practically becoming a new Sunday morning tradition.

As he took a drag of his cigarette, Riff decided to humor his good mood and daydream a bit. It was hard for him to truly believe that things were turning up in his favor, but there were many obvious signs that indicated such.

The Sharks hadn’t been a problem over the last few days. Whether it had anything to do with what Ice had told Riff he had seen the other morning, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t really care. Whenever they tried to start trouble again, which was inevitable, it wouldn’t matter- Tony would be back soon enough, and what more could Riff ask for in terms of support? If Tony was by his side, it would only be a matter of time before the Jets could put the Sharks in their place once in for all.

If the Jets came out on top, there’d still be the New York Committee for Slum Clearance to contend with. It was a long shot, Riff wasn’t stupid, but maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to save the shop. He’d love the opportunity to stick it to those fat cats in city hall.

Not to mention the possibility that some of his guilt he’d been keeping inside about Roxie could be alleviated in the process.

If all those things came true, well… Riff hadn’t given much thought to what he would do with his life after that. Up until recently, it never seemed to be a possibility.

Riff smiled contently to himself, feeling particularly satisfied. As he took another drag of his cigarette, the game of basketball some of the guys were playing ended. As the victorious team remained on the court and the defeated team sauntered off, five others who had been watching headed over to take their turn.

Baby John came to stand beside him, and Riff nodded at him.

Baby John, like many of the other Jets, hadn’t failed to notice Riff’s lightened spirits over the past few days. “Everything cool, Riff?”

Riff exhaled smoke, and smiled at the younger man. “You betcha, buddy boy,” he replied pleasantly. “I’m peachy keen.”

“Say, you got any plans for later?” Baby John asked him then, lowering his voice and glancing at the Tiger and Balkan, who were standing nearby. “A-Rab’s been gettin’ on my nerves lately…”

Baby John’s eyes trailed over to the basketball court. Riff looked over as well, and the two watched in silence as A-Rab made a particularly aggressive move to swipe the ball from Big Deal.

“Diesel mentioned ya had a knack for putting him in his place when it comes to basketball,” Baby John said. “I was wonderin’, if ya weren’t busy later, that is, if you’d be willin’ to show me some tricks and whatnot.”

Riff had a soft spot for Baby John, and he wouldn’t be surprised if all the guys had noticed. Any other time, he would’ve granted his request in a heartbeat. If only he didn’t already have plans for the evening. With everything that had been going on, he’d almost forgotten.

Riff’s smile faltered a bit. “I’m sorry kid, I’m supposed to be seein’ Grazi later tonight,” Riff told him regretfully.

Baby John’s face fell. “No worries.”

Riff extinguished the remainder of his cigarette on the wall behind him, and flicked it away. “How ‘bout I cut out from the shop early one day this week?” he offered. “I’ll show ya then- just you and me.”

At this, Baby John smiled. “Deal.”

Riff watched as A-Rab shoulder checked Diesel on the court. If Diesel was a twig, which he wasn’t, A-Rab’s force would’ve sent him tumbling down to the concrete. As it was, Diesel stopped in his tracks for a moment to shoot A-Rab a glare. A-Rab was too focused on shooting the ball to notice.

Riff loved all the Jets like brothers, he really did, but the thought of Baby John showing A-Rab up for once in basketball was far too enticing.

Riff sighed in contentment, and slowly looked across the park and towards the apartment complex across the street from the park entrance. He’d never admit it, but he’d glanced over there a few times throughout the morning. He wondered if Roxie was going to be out and about, like she had been the previous Sunday.

Riff’s luck seemingly continued, and at that moment, he saw Roxie heading out the lobby of the apartment complex. He continued to watch as she descended down the stairs and stepped onto the sidewalk.

Riff was so lost in his thoughts as he watched Roxie, he failed to see the three people walking towards her until they were right before her.

He watched them curiously, feeling a bit apprehensive as well. The two men and one woman didn’t look like PRs from here, or anyone he’d seen from the gambling houses, but one could never be sure.

Abruptly and harshly, Riff’s good mood he had maintained for the fast few days cracked as he watched one of the men present Roxie with flowers. His eyes narrowed a bit as he watched her accept them graciously. He was quite a bit away, but he swore Roxie was smiling at the man in response to his gesture.

Who the hell is that?!

————————————————————————————

The six by eight foot cell hadn’t retained any heat during the winter, so Tony shouldn’t have been surprised when the cell was almost as hot as an oven in the height of summer.

He laid on the top bunk, staring up at the ceiling. The state issued wool blanket, which he was highly considering throwing off to the side, was the only thing between him and the cool steel of the bed.

It was night time, or at least he thought it was, since he and the rest of the inmates had been locked up in their cells for the night, and there were no windows in his cell to confirm his theory. His cellmate snored like a boar from the bunk underneath him. Some guys in the wing would talk and bang on stuff all night, so it was rare that he got sleep anyways.

His own thoughts, specifically the memory of what he’d done over a year ago, usually wouldn’t allow him much sleep either. However, there was something else keeping him awake that night.

Tony had met his parole officer earlier in the day. Tony was pulled from rec time and shoved into a small room, where the man introduced himself.

He’d be the guy Tony would have to report to if he didn’t want to get thrown back in Riker’s, and Tony definitely didn’t want that. One year of hell was plenty enough convincing that Tony needed to clean his act up and turn his life around.

The parole officer had been pleased that Tony recognized that fact, and asked him who'd he be staying with once he was released.

His parents were completely out of the question. Tony’s father had all but disowned him, and his mother couldn’t look at him without crying after what he did. He had written to them several times during the course of his sentence though, and his mother had returned a few of his letters. He learned that his parents had to move out of their building when the owner sold it. The building was supposed to be torn down and replaced with a whole new structure. Tony’s parents had moved to another apartment a few neighborhoods over, but they were still not willing to take him in.

Tony’s next thought had drifted to Riff. Riff apparently was running his uncle’s shop now, and Tony knew that if he asked, Riff would let him crash with him until he got on his feet.

When he mentioned the idea to his parole officer, the man laughed. There was no way he’d sign off on Tony moving in with Riff, one of the guys who had helped create the hostile environment that led to Tony’s crime in the first place.

Tony knew he probably had a point. There was a fat chance that Riff and the rest of the Jets had had a catharsis like Tony had over the past year. They’d still be the same, up to their usual mischief and getting into trouble.

But that left Tony with very limited options. The meeting was adjourned, and his parole officer told him to think about a few alternatives before their next meeting in a few days.

Who else could Tony turn to for help? Who’d be willing to give himself a second chance?

Those thoughts left him there, staring at the ceiling of the cell once again, wishing desperately for the ceiling to disappear and reveal the starry night sky.

A/N: Any feedback is welcome and appreciated. I hope you enjoyed! :) If you’d like to be added to the taglist,  please send me a message, comment, or otherwise let me know. :)

After All Taglist: @whisperofsong​ @disguisedbassethound​ @lingerasthesmokeoncedid​ 

Part 10

Masterlist

[thewayshedreamed]

Nessian prompt:

We’re playing truth or dare and I just got dared to sit on your lap for the next two rounds but now I’m sitting on your hard-on and I’m kinda getting turned on cuz the ✨positioning✨. We’re both tryna fix the situation without drawing attention to us but the fidgeting definitely isn’t helping 👀

Thanks for the prompt, Bby! I know you sent it as part of my follower celebration, but it worked so well for @nessianweek Day 4: Rivalry that I couldn't pass it up.

Enjoy!

Warnings for strong language and mature themes. Slightly nsfw.

--

Nesta didn't know the last time she played Truth or Dare. She thought those days had left her at some point during undergrad, but apparently not. There she was, her last semester of graduate school, somewhat invested in a round of the game. The group had been playing for almost an hour, the drinks they poured becoming more and more stout as the night went on.

Gwyn and Emerie had convinced her to join them for a night out with the others, and to be fair, it had been quite some time since she'd allowed herself a carefree night out. Her sisters and Mor were there, as well as Rhys, Azriel, Cassian, and Lucien. Amren mentioned she would "see how things went", which meant she and Varian were staying in to fulfill their own agenda. There was no doubt that was for the best since their activities would likely scar them all.

It was Mor's turn, and her mischievous smile turned on her girlfriend. "Truth or Dare, Em?"

Emerie considered it for a moment, making a show of staring at the ceiling. One of the guys made a sound similar to a ticking clock, but she paid them no mind.

"Truth."

"Okay," Mor drawled, taking a long sip of wine. "Fuck, Marry, Kill; for Rhys, Azriel, Cassian."

Emerie's eyes grew wide, snapping to Feyre and back to Mor. Nesta dared to chuckle at her friend's tight position, earning a pointed glare reserved for the worst of traitors.

"Don't hesitate on my account," Feyre giggled, resting her head on Rhys' shoulder. "I'm curious."

"That's not a fair one!" Emerie argued, gesturing with her hands. "The answer is none of the above, on all counts. For more than one reason."

The three men had the audacity to look miffed at her rejection, even though none of them had any interest in Emerie. They'd all known each other too long for any blurred lines. Mor leaned heavily against her, a look of apology in her rounded, brown eyes.

"Fair enough," she conceded, pressing a kiss to Emerie's cheek.

"That's not how it works!" Cassian challenged. It was unclear whether his ego or strict principles motivated his outburst.

Nesta fought the urge to roll her eyes, to rise to the challenge in his voice like she usually did. But Emerie was her friend, and she wasn't going to take him pushing her lying down. The words left her with more snark than usual.

"Oh, would you come off it?"

His eyes snapped in her direction, locking in on her face like a predator circling prey. "Let me guess. You have an opinion."

Nesta's blood boiled, despite the fact that she told herself Cassian wouldn't get under her skin the next time they were around each other. She was 0 for... hundreds at that point.

"She answered it truthfully, so I don't see the problem."

"It's the way the question was framed, though. It's a game within the question. There were three options. 'None of the above' wasn't one of them."

Nesta loosened the reins on her eye rolling. Cassian was good for that. "No one made that rule."

"Sweetheart, the rules are pretty clear. But if you want to make sure they stay nice and loose so you can back out later, I get that."

Emerie cleared her throat, eager to redirect his challenge before the two of them escalated. "Show us how it's done, then. Truth or Dare, Cassian?"

His attention lingered on Nesta a moment longer, a familiar glint in his eyes. Her blood heated for an entirely different reason, and she was sure to berate it for doing so.

"Dare."

"I dare you to kiss Azriel," she said, grinning around the rim of her glass. "On the mouth."

Azriel pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, resigned to his fate. He knew Cassian better than anyone, and it was only a matter of time.

Without hesitation, Cassian said, "Oh, done. Tongue?"

A chorus of laughter drowned out Azriel incredulous curse in Cassian's direction. When she finally recovered, Emerie took mercy on Azriel and excused any tongue. Cassian didn't hesitate to lean toward Azriel, cupping him roughly by the back of the neck and planting a full kiss to his mouth. There were catcalls all around; not at all needed in the encouragement department.

Azriel turned his attention to Feyre, fully succumbing to his soft spot for her and letting her off on the easiest Truth ever. It was something to do with who she would most like to draw or paint of the lot of them, excluding Rhys. No surprises on her choice of Azriel himself, but to his credit, he didn’t preen at the compliment. He humbly nodded as if anyone alive wouldn’t want to catch those angles on canvas.

“Nesta,” Feyre called, interrupting another quip she had been prepared to launch Cassian’s way. She couldn’t remember why. “Truth or Dare?”

She took a long pull of her drink and licked her bottom lip. “Dare.”

“Hmm,” Feyre considered, and Nesta had to admit to being slightly terrified of how diabolical sibling could be in a game such as the one she played. It didn’t take long for her to realize she’d been right to feel that way. “I think you two need to learn to get along. I dare you to sit on Cass' lap. Minimum of two full turns.”

Nesta’s nostrils flared. Cassian’s red hot challenge bore a hole into the side of her head, and all she could hear was his taunt from before.

Sweetheart, the rules are pretty clear. But if you want to make sure they stay nice and loose so you can back out later, I get that.

She snapped her attention to his face, suppressing the urge to throttle him for the narrow-eyed smirk he offered. Angling his large body backward, he draped a muscled arm across the back of the couch and eased his thighs open. Cassian wouldn't be the one to back down, she realized.

"Fine." Nesta threw back the rest of her drink and set it roughly on the nearby table.

Cassian's eyes were sparkling, his smile feline. He tapped his thigh with his free hand to goad her, and she wondered if he— if they— would ever tire of the constant challenges. Nesta sauntered over and dropped heavily into the center of his lap, earning a loud oof.

"Fuck, Sweetheart," he fussed, gripped her waist in his large hands to rearrange their position.

The heat of his hands, the scrape of his calluses; they came together to monopolize her focus. She was almost sure that others were amused by their display, but her world was singularly focused.

Cassian cleared his throat while he eased her into a position that better balanced her weight. The tension eased from her thighs as she settled, only for him to shift her again. Nesta let out an exaggerated sigh at his constant fidgeting. The only silver lining to the near motion sickness she'd no doubt endure as a result was the steadiness of his grip against her.

The reason for all his maneuvering revealed itself seconds later. Nesta had been initially impressed with the muscle tone in his thighs, how firm the muscles felt beneath her. They were nothing in comparison to the very obvious hardness pressing against the swell of her ass.

Animated conversation continued around them, and Nesta took the opportunity to turn and offer an accusatory glare. He hissed against the pressure of her movement, sending her eyebrows into her hairline.

"Are you really h—"

"Shh!" Cassian ordered, clamping a hand over her mouth. "Can you not announce that shit to the entire room?"

Nesta blinked incredulously and dragged her tongue against his palm. He grimaced, rubbing his palm against his jeans as if she'd poured acid onto his skin.

"It's not my fault you can't... control that," she hissed.

"Well, shit, Nesta. When's the last time you had a beautiful woman on your lap and had to keep your boner in check?" His whisper was low, frantic. There were words that latched onto her nerves and left goosebumps in their wake, even when she barely heard them.

"It's only two turns," she managed, swallowing against the dryness in her throat. "Then, it'll be a non-issue."

Cassian's hands clung to her hips once more, the delicious grip of them even firmer than before. "You can't get up now; not in front of them." He gestured with a jerk of his chin to the rest of the room. "They're savages."

A laugh bubbled out of Nesta's chest, and surprisingly, it was more due to the unlikely alliance forged by biology than her pleasure in his panic. The irony wasn't lost on her, but she didn't get to dwell on it for long before Cassian started strategizing.

"We're supposed to get along, right?" He paused, waiting for the excessive noise level to settle around them. Someone must have performed a solid dare, and Nesta was mildly concerned that it hadn't managed to be a blip on their radar. "You're gonna have to keep fighting with me."

A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "To be clear, you want me to argue with you so that we can hide this?" She rocked back into him for emphasis, and a pained sound left him. Nesta was grateful for the small silver lining that was her private arousal, otherwise she and Cassian would be in the same boat. The way his eyelids fluttered didn't help.

"I'm asking your for a small favor. When I get my shit together, you're free to go. I'm not exactly happy about it either."

Another smile teased her lips. "Small?"

"Mother's tits. Just turned around."

Nesta complied, if for no other reason than to hide the chuckle she'd been trying to choke down throughout the conversation. They engaged with the others as nonchalantly as possible, ignoring each other completely until opportunities arose to take opposing stances on anything at all. The rules of the game. Who brought the best drinks. If someone had successfully completed their dare or answered their question. Cassian had been correct in assuming the group would advocate for their continued canoodling since they weren't yet cooperating with one another.

"Nesta," he almost growled, sometime after a dozen turns of their faux discord. "This isn't helping."

She whipped around, noting the pained expression on his face. "Wait, is this working for you?"

Cassian squeezed his temples between his thumb and middle finger, looking as if he was in as much disbelief as her. The tragic part was that the arguing hadn't curbed her own body's reactions to him, either.

"That's what it looks like."

Nesta didn't cage it then, the full and melodic laughter that shook her shoulders and made her eyes water. He continued bracing his head in his hand while she delighted in his torture.

"That's awfully kinky of you."

"Alright, enough out of you," he grumbled, situating her for the hundredth time. "You have any better ideas?"

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she flicked them away. "I guess your only choice is to wait until the game ends, or someone causes enough commotion for you to adjust and take a break for a few minutes."

Cassian huffed, clearly unimpressed with her tactics.

"You'll just have to trust me, of all people, to keep your secret in the meantime," she stated, turning her attention back to the room.

His only response was a muttered curse before she felt his forehead drop between her shoulder blades.