#at least you didn't die in cairo time

[meret118]

First thoughts on The Diplomat season 2

Wow! It's terrific! I think it would have been even better with a normal length season, but it was still great. Totally worth the binge watch! :) Spoilers below.

Poor Ronnie! I figured if an american was going to die it would be the most minor character, but it's still sad. I'm very glad the impact of their death on the other characters wasn't downplayed.

So many great scenes! The Wyler's argument in the bedroom and the shoes. Stuart chewing Kate out. The fireworks and the aftermath.

Eidra is my new favorite. I hope she and Stuart don't get back together though. He asks her not to go to Cairo, even though that would be a promotion, asks her to go public with their relation, even though he knows he may be going back to DC very soon, ambushes her with personal shit at work multiple times, refuses to believe they're over, and then says she's the problem. She deserves way better.

I hope we see more Dennison next season. I can't help but wonder if a lot of his scenes were cut for time. I would have liked him to tell Kate why he's supporting Trowbridge and wants nothing to do with her anymore for example, and what he thinks about how she's handled the whole thing. They primarily focused on the plot and the Wyler's relationship this season.

The story of Debora Cahn only doing six episodes when Netflix wanted eight because she was tired seems odd to me. If she needed more time or help why not ask them for it? They love the show, and renewed season three before this one even dropped. It just feels . . . odd to me.

I still loved the new season, except for one thing - I was shocked that Kate didn't push back on burying what really happened in the meeting with the PM etc. That seems totally OOC to me. It's practically the only time she's kept her mouth closed the whole show! Later, she even tells the VP what they know about her instead of lying or just saying orders from Billie and playing dumb. Keeping quiet is not in her nature, and burying it doesn't seem like advice she would give either, at least not right then.

Allison Janney rocks! She was manipulating Trowbridge of course, and Kate too. Until Billie reacted the way she did I wondered for a second if Hal lied so Kate would take the job. Shouldn't they tell Eidra about what Roylin told Hal?

Why is Kate so easily manipulated by Penn? Is it just because she's a woman too? The only other one who was able to do it, other than Hal, was Roylin in season one after all. Penn speaks, and it's like Kate completely changes her opinion to whatever Penn says every time. I hope we learn something to explain it. It just feels like bad writing in an otherwise brilliant show at the moment to me. Maybe the explanation was cut for time this season? (When she finally does stand up to Penn, it bites her in the ass of course.)

Hal just can't take the win. He has to go behind Kate's back. Again.

WOW! That ending!!!! I did not see that coming at all!

Favorite Lines:

1."Did you fuck him?"

"No!

". . ."

"I didn't."

"Were you planning to?"

"Yeah." (Said very matter of factly.)

2. "I didn't do this to you when you, when you kept things in the vault."

"Why did you never ask me?"

"Because I trusted you."

"I don't trust you. I don't. Do you trust you?"

"Is this the part of the conversation where you get mean because you're not getting what you want?"

"It's not mean. I love you, but this is based on something other than trust. That can't be news to you?"

"I need to eat something. You're making my head hurt."

So he has food sent up so she'll eat off his plate and drop it. Plus it's not his head that's hurting. Even though he's the one that has lied repeatedly their whole marriage. Yet in this case he's actually trying to protect her. . . . And so he can get his foot in the WH too. So many layers! :)

3. (About Scottish Independence) "They're nice, sweet people. They are cold all the time. Let them make their own decisions."

[chihirolovebot]

wrap me up (take me home).

featuring. jotaro kujo/reader, implied jotakak/reader (past)

word count. 1.04k

synopsis. ten years after cairo, you pay a visit to a gravesite. thankfully, you aren't alone.

content. implied jotakak/reader, major sdc spoilers, mentions of death, gender-neutral reader, cemeteries, fluff, minor angst

merry ficmas masterlist.

You dream of Cairo one night.

You all sleep under the stars. The deserts get unspeakably cold during the nights, but you and Kakyoin make a sleepy cuddle-pile with Jotaro sandwiched between all of you, and though he grumbles and laments his lack of personal space, he doesn't push at either of you with anything near his full strength. Even at just seventeen he could've pummelled you both into chum. But he didn't, and he doesn't, so Kakyoin nuzzles into his side and you wrap yourself around one toned arm and start to point out constellations above you.

"How strange is it," Kakyoin says softly. "We're looking at the same sky as our parents back in Japan. They can all see the same stars as us."

Jotaro casts him a flat look from under the dark hair that tumbles over his forehead. "Don't get all sentimental when I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry, sorry," Kakoyin relents with a breathy laugh as you tut and elbow Jotaro in the ribs for his crudeness. "I just... do you suppose we'll be home, soon?"

You bite your lip. You taste stray grains of sand and the kushari you'd eaten for dinner. "Dio can't hide forever," is what you conjure up when it becomes clear Jotaro won't answer. The boy in the middle stares up at the shimmering sky, blue eyes contemplative, softer than you usually see them.

You go to sleep seventeen years old and whole.

You wake twenty-eight, and it's cold.

Not the same sort of cold you'd find in an Egyptian desert at night. This one is clinical and smells of lemongrass air refresher; the air conditioning of your fancy hotel bleaches the oxygen in the room and makes your hair stand on end, and you irritably get out of bed to switch it off. Japan gets cold enough in January as it is, you don't need it and it's a total waste of resources, anyway.

At least you're only here for a couple of days.

You find Jotaro in the bathroom, skin gleaming, fresh-washed. He's dressed already, white suit luminescent against his skin, but for all his care to look put together you can see the circles stretching under his dull eyes, dark and deep.

"Morning," you conjure up. He nods.

"You slept okay?"

"Not really." You hoist yourself up onto the bathroom counter with a sigh. "I dreamed of Cairo."

Jotaro's shoulders stiffen. For a moment, you think he won't answer—but then he drops his eyes and mutters, "Me, too."

"Stars?"

"...Yeah."

You let the silence ruminate for a moment before hopping back to your feet with a deep sigh. "Come on, then. I'm freezing, I want a shower."

You wash and dress in simple black clothes. It feels appropriate for the day—it is one of mourning and respect, after all. And you've always sort of liked dressing in a polar opposite way to Jotaro. It calls attention to the both of you, draws eyes in the street, reminds you that you're still here, alive, still together and in love. You didn't die a thousand miles away from home.

Not like him.

Kakyoin's hometown is small and modest, and the same goes for the cemetery. You don't have to look for his headstone—you two come here every year on January sixteenth, after all. You pick your way across the grass silently, and you stoop down to press hydrangeas against the slab of marble.

And it's as it always is. You kneel, Jotaro stands. You both pray for his spirit, though you muse that if he hasn't found peace after eleven years he's probably shit out of luck by now. He's probably keeping himself around out of spite. Smug bastard.

You miss him so, so badly.

You feel his absence every time you wake at Jotaro's side, every time you take his hand and he has one left over, dangling emptily at his side. The age at which Kakyoin died has begun to feel younger and younger as the two of you grow older—and it's not all melancholy. You're married, after all. You're in love, unconditionally. But there is a gap there, too, always has been since that night against Dio eleven years ago.

You stand just as the hard earth is beginning to bite at you, hands shaking. Jotaro notices, because of course he does.

"Cold?" he asks, probably mostly to spare your feelings. You nod, and he grumbles under his breath as he envelopes your hand in one of his huge ones and tucks them deftly into his pocket. Jotaro always runs so, so warm—he was like your personal heater, travelling through planes of desert in winter at night all those years ago.

"You're warm," you tell him fondly. Jotaro casts a sideways look at you as you begin to leave the cemetery, as though trying to gauge if you're making fun of him. But you're not, of course. You're grateful.

After a moment of blank-faced scrutinisation, Jotaro's face softens ever so slightly, the way it sometimes did back in 1989 when he looked over you and Kakyoin, the way it seems to do so much more often these days as he sheds his teenage rage and sullenness.

"Yeah, it's freezing," he grunts, fingers squeezing yours gently. He's always so very gentle with you, always terrified of hurting you. He never could, which is something he has still yet to truly internalise. He's used to breaking things, your Jotaro. If only he knew how fast he'd held the three of you together. "We can catch a flight back to Tokyo tonight."

"Sounds good," you murmur. "We should spend Christmas here one year, you think? Kakyoin always talked about how nice this place was at Christmas."

Jotaro hums. "Not a bad idea. Erm... his mother did say we were always welcome. I dunno."

"I think he would've liked that," you murmur. "Hey. Thanks."

He blinks at you, expression just a touch bewildered. "What for?"

"Warming me up." Your hand squeezes his, lovingly, and Jotaro flushes and turns away, muttering profanity under his breath. You beam as you walk; in some ways, he really hasn't changed at all.

In some ways, neither have you. You're still dreaming of Cairo, staring up at the stars.

[starry-blue-echoes]

Hi, it's me! The anon who submitted the vampiric Joseph AU. Wanted to share a few more ideas that I had.

Basically, the whole world thinks Joseph actually died in Cairo. It checks out considering everything else that had happened there, plus there were probably some eye-witness accounts to DIO attacking him. All company stuff went to Suzi Q, maybe Holly too? She's not a business person, but I see her helping out where she could. Joseph still runs it, just with Suzi Q being sort of a stand-in for him.

In regards to this with Josuke, he doesn't know for a while that the person who's been helping him out is actually his father. I guessed that with having to make a will so suddenly, somehow Josuke was discovered way earlier than the beginning of Part 4. I had it where he was sort of just this unknown person that helped Josuke out when he was in danger, especially when he was younger. (Plus he probably got some good inheritance money. Dad points? It's like a +0.5 point.)

Also, totally right with Holly. Especially with more interaction with Josuke here, I can't help but feel Joseph has a lot of guilt regarding his wife, even if one of those situations wasn't his fault. He'd be very lost. All he wanted was a life with her, and to die with her. And now he's stuck to make this decision on his own, with the only way to do so being the most painful options he could imagine.

Definitely think that fight with Straizo also messes with his head a lot more. He knows it's possible to still use hamon, and that thought weighs heavy on his mind.

Sorry for the long ask! Have a lot of thoughts, thank you so much for replying to my initial ask!

- bread

hi bread it's nice to have you :D

but also YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I love the idea of Joseph faking his death. It was going to happen eventually, might as well take advantage of the opportunity now since it'll be easiest. He does what he can to help Suzie and Holly with everything, and all things considered he's still running the company. Suzie becomes almost like a puppet ruler in some ways with people not realize Joseph's still working behind the scenes

also if I may raise an idea for Joseph vibing around before Part 4 canon: what if Joseph ends up learning about Josuke and sorta..... moves in to Morioh. It's only about a year or so before canon, but Joseph wants to be there for the son he apparently had. The talk with Suzie was...... rough to say the least, and he knows he deserved it but it still hurt. He was ashamed of his actions, but he also didn't want this kid to suffer because of it. The kid might've gotten sick like Holly did all those years ago and have a Stand without any guidance for all he knew!

Suzie is luckily understanding. Upset yes, but she can respect Joseph's decision at the very least. Plus...... she needs a bit of time right now. It's not a divorce, but just..... right now she needs to work through these emotions and this breaking of trust. It hurts Joseph a lot, but again he saw this coming, recognizes he kinda deserves it, and respects her wishes

(Joseph does have to deal with the black pit in his stomach for a while because we have so little time left we need to solve this now if we don't one of us could die and then we'll be left angry and grieving and confused and regretting how the last thing we did was fight but at the same time he knows that if he forces it, he'll just fuck things up further and he CANNOT do that)

so Joseph becomes Josuke's New And Kinda Weird But Overall Really Fun Neighbor. Josuke absolutely loses it when he realizes Joseph has a Stand, and he's able to give the kid a lot of guidance about the Stand World in general

and for a pinch of angst........ Joseph not telling Josuke he's his father. He tells himself he will. That he's just waiting for things to settle down, waiting for Josuke to be comfortable with him, waiting for the right moment...... but deep down he knows that's never going to come. He's ashamed he wasn't able to be there for Josuke's life, ashamed to call himself a father because of his actions, but most importantly he's terrified of how Josuke will react. The kid has every reason to hate him, and as selfish as it may be Joseph doesn't want to lose him

but then of course things start to go sideways when the Arrow makes an appearance in Morioh :)

[practically-an-x-man]

✨🍕🧊🍀💎 for Ophelia and Rae?

Thank you so much! I hardly ever get to talk about Rae for these things (nothing malicious, just that so far none of my writer-friends have read A Love Once New bc it's so long, so nobody really knows her lol)

Under the cut for space :D

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Ophelia: Her full name is Ophelia Jo Octavius. Ophelia was chosen to give her the alliterative O's, connecting her to her father, but also for Hamlet's Ophelia (the literature connecting her to her mother, but also to hint at her tragic story and self-sacrificing attitude). Her middle name is Jo after Jo March - just Jo, not Josephine, a tiny detail that separates her from other multiversal versions of her. Plus, another literary reference.

Rae: Her full name is Rachel Ayla McKinney. I didn't pick Rachel for anything other than her using Rae as a nickname, but the name Rae means "protector" (connecting to her personality and shielding abilities). Ayla connects to her grandmother, a mutant with the same abilities she eventually develops (foreshadowing for ALON, since it starts before Rae gets her mutation). And McKinney is just bc she's Scottish lol, no deeper meaning besides that.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Ophelia: This one and the next one were answered here for her

Rae: She's traveled a lot, so she's stumbled into a lot of really good food that she couldn't recreate if she tried. I think her favorite was genuine tapas in Spain, split with a bunch of school friends while living abroad. Though Scotch eggs are a nostalgia food for her, and simple enough to make from home (wherever home may be at the time), so that's another favorite

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

Rae: Not at all. I've had her for a long time now, she was one of my first OCs, and about the only things that have stayed constant are 1. The fact that she gets her mutation from Apocalypse, 2. Her power being linked to silver light, and 3. her saving Warren from the plane crash. Everything else, her name, her backstory, the rest of her story leading up to the fight in Cairo, came later.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Ophelia: I watched No Way Home at least three times in theaters. The first time was just enjoying the movie with my friends, the second time was looking for details with my family, but the third time was when I started to get the idea for Ophelia. She was inspired mainly on the concept of a couple being flung together during No Way Home, then separated when the multiverse is repaired. Once I got that far, the details of her as a character (particularly her as Otto's daughter) came from rewatching Spider-Man 2 and being reminded of what a sweet couple Otto and Rosalie are. Giving them a daughter just fit everything into place so perfectly.

Rae: Like I said, I've had her for a long time now. I think the very first inklings of her were before I even knew what OCs/fanfic/etc. were at all, and her story was just a little daydream when I was bored. Once I started actually choosing to write her story, I wanted her to be a fireball from the beginning - impulsive and reckless and stubborn, to contrast Warren being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

Ophelia: Technically I did... it's how she gets into No Way Home, she dies in a laboratory explosion back in 2016 and gets flung to the new timeline with the events of the movie. But would I kill her again? Hm... only for fun whump side-pieces, not in her main fic. She's been through enough already.

Rae: No. Like Ophelia, she's been through a lot and deserves a break, but she's also too stubborn to die lol

OC Asks

[aut2imagineart]

The Reluctant Genie part 4

Jonas opened his eyes, gasping for breath. surveying his surroundings, he finds that he's just outside the city of Cairo. Without thinking, he staggered into the city managing to find the hotel he was staying in. Jonas observed his hotel room. It was meant for several guests but he was the only one there. He stumbled into his bedroom then fell face forward onto the mattress. He didn't want to question what just happened to him, he just wanted to rest... "Not the most accommodating place, is it?" Startled by the familiar voice, Jonas jumps out of his bed, looks outside of his bedroom and sees the genie floating just outside in a reclining position. "You!?" stuttered Jonnas, "No, wait a minute. This is a dream, isn't it?" The genie snapped her fingers causing Jonas to be drenched in water, enveloped with soap, then blown dried by gusts of wind. "Still think you're dreaming? If you're going to be in my presence you should at least be properly bathed." "Why are you here?" asked a confused Jonas. "I thought you wanted to be left alone and I was pretty sure you were going to kill me back there." "I was tempted but I'm not that cruel." answered the genie with a slight smile. "I'm actually quite impressed. You were more honest with me than most and were fully prepared to die back there. You even acknowledge me as royalty, albeit facetiously. That's the first reason. The second reason is as much as I enjoyed my solitude, I was starting to get bored within my lamp. I have some idea what the world is currently like thanks to my magic but I would like to see for myself. This time I won't have hordes of people pestering me to have favors granted. The third reason, I brought you to this city as you wanted and I just gave you a thorough bathing. As I mentioned before, I don't grant favors for free." Unsure how he feels, Jonas gives a response. "I'm am grateful to you for getting me to Cairo instead of killing me, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about what you would ask of me." "It's nothing much. I just want you to be my personal servant and guide to this modern world." "You gotta be kidding me." replied a slightly annoyed Jonas. "Of course, I can always send you back to the temple ruins." chuckled the genie. Jonas grumbled to himself before reluctantly saying "fine. I'm still surprised you'd want to put up with me though." "Trust me, I've dealt with much worse. Now you look exhausted. Why don't you go rest a while. You may find your bed to be much more comfortable." Sighing with some relief, Jonas walks back to his bedroom. "Oh, by the way," said the Genie with a more softened expression, "You're right about me not knowing what you went through and lost to retrieve my lamp. Whatever it was, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm curious to learn about it if you're ever willing to tell me." Jonas stared for a moment, gave a slight smile, then returned to his bedroom. The genie then thought to herself 'Poor thing, I guess I can go easy on him. He's rather resilient, and rather handsome. Maybe we will get along.'

I hope you enjoyed this short story.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

[cassyapper]

At the beginning of SDC, it seems pretty obvious that Jotaro feels like he can't ask for help/has to do things on his own given his solution to thinking he's possessed and dangerous is to lock himself in a cell until he can figure things out. Would you say that over the course of SDC, Jotaro came to realize/learn he could rely on others only to have that notion obliterated in the final acts, therefore reinforcing his initial ideas that he has to do dangerous things alone lest others get hurt, or do you think he never really believed he could ask for help/rely on others and the happenings of SDC just reinforced that? Maybe some third thing? I've seen various takes and wanna hear yours if you wouldn't mind!

anon i'm literally so excited that you asked me this because it gives me an opportunity to talk about this one aspect of jotaro's character that has driven me fucking nuts since 2020

so, tl;dr: i think it's the third thing and that third thing is it's a mix of he both learned to trust/sdc reinforced his refusal of help shtick (that is to say, he started to learn how to trust people, but because of how it ended, he closed himself off from that path for good)

full story:

i agree with you so much that he starts sdc believing he cannot rely on anyone, that he has to do it all alone lest someone get hurt. he more or less says this straight up in the prison scene, so you know I'm not just pulling this out of my ass:

HOWEVER: i think during the journey to cairo, he starts to learn to let go a bit. he still prefers to be in control, do not get me wrong, but he's willing to reach out more, to rely on others. we see this highlighted best in the lover's arc, with how he depends on kakyoin to keep his grandfather safe:

and in the anubis arc, when jotaro outright asks for joseph's help with his wound, and accept's polnareff's help while he waits for joseph to get there

he went from being terrified of when he's not in control and cornering and locking himself up like a rabid animal over it, to being uneasy when he's not in control, but also being able to trust the crusaders to have his back when he needs them. he still unfairly shoulders a lot of burdens, more than he really should, but he wouldn't be jotaro if he didn't. but, at this point, he wasn't so unhealthy about it; he was willing to be taken care of, he was willing to trust that others will do their parts

this doesn't last, though. because jotaro has been taking on so much, he still has this perception that things can really only be okay if he at least has a part in what's going on, should he not be at the head of it. and when the journey ends with his friends dying in battles that he had no part in (ie vanilla ice vs iggy, avdol, and polnareff; dio vs joseph and kakyoin and hierophant's barrier), dying in battles he wasn't there to save them from like before (saying, in justice)...but then he could defeat dio...i think that seriously messed with his head

like the grief alone ruined him, it was so consuming and he was so young and he lost so much in such a short amount of time, and i think the only way he could begin to rationalize it was to find a way to make sure it would never, ever happen again. and given his wont to shoulder things unnecessarily and his need for control before all this, i think that morphed into him being like "only i can fight. only i can go into dangerous situations because only i can ensure defeat of the enemy without dying." it's not that he thinks others are incapable necessarily (though he does have issues in that regard), it's just he thinks of himself as like, the op character in a fighting game. you can win any fight no sweat with him. you don't have to try as hard or lose as much health if you use him. and since this is real life, isn't it then his moral obligation to be the one at the front all the time? if he's the one who will be less hurt, less likely to die, while still getting the same result of killing the enemy? he thinks of himself as a one-man army

anyway that's part of why sdc is such a tragedy to me. jotaro was learning, he was reaching out, he was choosing to trust others for the first time in his life, but it got ruined before it could stick. jotaro's own grief prevents him from moving on, from being able to trust like that again, because he had never been stabbed in the underbelly like that and he never, ever wants to again, even if it means he'll die. and he will. and it makes me want to sob and scream and cry

[fdelopera]

In relation to Jake Lockley Wrestles with God.

As always your analysis is amazing! It's got my head reeling! And full of so many questions!

The frustrating bit is that we don't know when Jake was manifested! Steven was young enough to possibly study and learn about Jewish culture and traditions. Let's assume Jake didn't come around until Marc was mid teenager. How much may have been expected of him at that point to learn. He would have come around when all teenagers are in their most stressful and emotional time in their lives.

But what point in Jewish culture is he jumping headlong into? Assuming we are past the traditional Bar Mitzvah age, what are the next important steps? Things he would have been thrown into without prior intensive teaching and training.

Considering Jake has taken up the Hispanic heritage, presumably in Chicago, he is also thrown into other traditions that are expected of him. To be Hombre. To be tough and to always win.

I always saw Jake as the rebellious one. The one to take to heart the 'question' part of the Torah. Question the teachings. Demand answers of those around him. Demand that god be held accountable for his pain and mistreatment.

He will not only wrestle with god, but he will set out to stand over them and demand to be seen. So in talking to Harrow in Spanish, talking to Helen in Spanish, he is telling god "I am here. I will win. Because of this, you will lose."

Thank you @drifting-pieces-blog-blog for your Ask! Based on what we know about Jake, I have a feeling that his triggers to front have as much to do with protecting Marc from himself as protecting the system from outside threats.

Marc is more than capable of taking care of business in a fight. He is skilled, he has military training, and he has an appetite for both giving and receiving punches.

In fact, I think that Marc enjoys taking hits. He gets high on the sweat and the blood. He encourages people to try to take him down: “What, are we dancin'? We fightin'? What are we gonna do?” When he gets onto that rooftop in Cairo, he’s not afraid. He’s excited to get into this brawl.

But he also uses fighting to self-punish. To self-flagellate. Khonshu knows this, too. He tells Marc in a voice that’s both sardonic and truthful, “I know that you enjoy the work I have for you.”

I’m going to put the rest under a read-more. And I’m adding a trigger warning to this post for self-harm.

Marc often follows Khonshu’s directives and fights evildoers as a way to self-harm. To punish himself for Roro’s death. To punish himself for all the deaths that have come after. To punish himself for being a killer. To let someone who is “the worst of the worst” (in his mind, just as bad as him) take him down. And that’s when Jake steps in. Because there are times when Marc takes it too far. As he says to Steven, “You try taking a life. See how quickly you forget. Kept wishing I'd fail and one of them would kill me instead. The healing ended up being a curse.” And that’s when the body is at risk. Not necessarily at risk of death; at least, not while they have Khonshu’s healing to preserve them. But at risk of harm. At risk of hopelessness. At risk of giving up. Because they might not die, but they can still feel the pain of death. And that’s Jake’s trigger to front. He decimates whoever they are fighting against. Cause it’s the only way to get Marc to stop.

There are other times, too, when Jake takes Marc out of a self-harm spiral. Because another method Marc has of self-harm is drinking. When you’re raised by a parent or a parental figure who is an alcoholic, drinking as a means of self-harm is a special kind of hell. It perpetuates the cycle of abuse, because now you’re becoming the thing you hated as a child. And I think there are times when Marc is drunk where he comes close to hurting himself in a way that he wouldn’t be able to recover from (or at least, not without Khonshu’s healing powers). And Jake steps in before he can get to that point.

Remember those gloves on the nightstand in their little hotel room in Cairo? At the beginning of the final scene in Ep. 2, the camera follows Steven’s gaze into the room. Steven has been kept on the inside for a while (represented by the sheet that briefly covers the mirror, before falling to the ground). Perhaps there was a fight between Steven and Marc, at which point Marc smashed the mirror and put the sheet over it. Both Steven’s and Marc’s hands are bloody from their fight at the mirror. However, there was more damage done to the room after Marc put the sheet up, because when Steven looks out, he appears genuinely shocked and distressed at the amount of destruction that Marc has caused in the room. He’s seeing this sight for the first time. Marc put up the “sheet” that symbolizes the barrier between them because he didn’t want Steven to see the destructive spiral he knew was coming. He’s ashamed of it. Marc sits on the floor, finishing a bottle of whisky. Then the camera pans over to the nightstand. We see the pair of black gloves. We don't realize until the very last scene of Ep. 6 what these gloves signify. These are Jake's gloves.

What was Jake doing? From what we know of him, he was probably wrestling Marc back from the cliff's edge, and then leaving without a trail to follow. Marc is at his lowest point. He’s lost the scarab, forcing him to “probably get himself killed running around Cairo” looking for Harrow’s followers, as Layla puts it. Layla has found him, which means that she’s in danger, and she has found out about Steven, which is a point of deep shame for Marc. As he says later, “For what it's worth, I had it under control until very recently.” Steven is “it” in this scenario. To put this in perspective, Marc is fine with Layla knowing that he’s killed people; however, her knowing about the way that his system has been shaped by their trauma is painful and humiliating — it’s more than he can bear. To make matters worse, Khonshu is furious with him, which Marc worries will cause the old god to double down on his threats to make Layla his next avatar. And worst of all, Steven has found out about him, and he’s seemed to have confirmed one of Marc’s greatest fears — if Steven knows WHO Marc is, he will hate Marc forever. And Marc will deserve that hatred. And I think there’s part of Marc that wishes he could just drink himself into oblivion. To thrash wildly against the room until he breaks himself to pieces. He’s hopeless and defeated. And that’s Jake’s cue.

Maybe Marc just thinks he blacked out for a while from the whisky. Jake’s gloves are symbolic of him being unknown to Marc and Steven. Jake doesn't even leave a trace of fingerprints for Marc and Steven to find. He is clandestine. Meticulous. Structured and organized. He has to be. If Marc or Steven knew about him, they could contend with him (like they do with each other), and those few seconds could mean the difference between life and death. Neither Marc nor Steven have gotten a more than a fleeting glimpse of Jake. A sense of someone, hovering on the edges of their awareness. But he’s there. And he keeps them safe. Jake Lockley has a JOB to do. His job is to protect the system from harm, even at the cost of his own connection with them.

As for when Jake came into being, I think it’s possible he first fronted during the MK system’s later childhood or early adolescence, at least based on my analysis that he protects against some specific types of self-harm. And while he might not have experienced their Jewish education in the way that Steven and Marc did, he would still have had plenty of Jewish experiences. The tutoring and training that prepares a child for their Bar Mitzvah is just the beginning of Jewish life. There is a world of Jewish experience that comes after. The Bar Mitzvah is the rite of passage in which a child becomes a responsible member of Jewish life. Once the child crosses that threshold, they now have duties to their family and to the community.

And Jake was there for that, I think. And he probably saw the utter hypocrisy in the MK system having to be performatively Jewish in public while being abused and neglected within an ostensibly Jewish home.

I can imagine he has his own associations with Jewishness — ways of being Jewish that are uniquely his, that he gets to own. I can empathize with Jake’s rejection of that thin veneer of performative faith that was used to cover up the abuse that lay just below the surface. I can also identify with his need to demand retribution for that abuse. He follows a doctrine of “an eye for an eye,” in which he demands accountability for the wrongs committed against him and the MK system; he wants to put an end to the cycle of abuse.

I agree that Jake would be likely to question God, as I wrote about in the post you mentioned. He would wrestle with the religious teachings that he received piecemeal and second-hand from his disjointed time growing up. He would have been the one most likely to experience their Jewishness as an outsider looking in. That kind of forced distance gives perspective. It’s an elevation above the chessboard — a vantage point that can allow for certain insights, like the insight not to take things at face value, but instead to fight back. To demand autonomy. To rebel. To follow one’s own path. Jake’s doctrine is one of LIFE, and he will wrestle with anyone who tries to take away his personhood. Including Marc.

As for his chosen communities, I can see him being drawn to explore his Latino heritage. To find strength in that. To reclaim that part of himself. To speak with others who are NOT the family. Because in Chicago in the 90s and 00s, he would have found some Latine Jewish community. But it would have primarily been older people; not teenagers. So I can imagine he would have sought out Hispanic community and learned about his heritage there. To go where the Spectors are not known, so that Jake can have at least a few people who know him by his name.

I can see him wrestling to form an identity that is his, and not handed down with the associated baggage from his forefathers. As he should. Because we who are outsiders often have the greatest claim to our cultural heritage. The greatest claim to be seen and acknowledged as having a RIGHT to it. Because it wasn’t handed to us; it doesn’t come to us easily. Instead, we have had to FIGHT to make it our own.

[ricochetoconnell]

For the canon+muse POV game, Rick looking after Evie at Hamunaptra, post-Medjai attack/Ardeth Bey's warning.

Leave this place or die.

The warning echoed ominously in Rick's mind as he plucked the fuse from the dynamite fizzing in his hand and watched the dark-robed figures dissolve into the night. As if Hamunaptra hadn't been full of enough bad omens to start with. At least Rick knew how to deal with human attackers on horse-back; It was whatever else was under these sands that made him so uneasy.

He turned to survey the damage -- to count how many more lives this damned place had claimed -- and his heart thudded to a painful stop in his chest.

"Evelyn!" Her name was past his lips before he realized, panic constricting his throat as he saw her small frame splayed in the sand. No, no, no. I told her to wait there, dammit.

He was already stumbling to her side when her foot twitched and she began to move, and his knees nearly went weak with relief that she was alive. 

“Hey,” he said lowly when he saw wide, green eyes starring up at him. He snatched the gun from her hands and discarded it before reaching down to gently haul her upwards, inspecting her for any signs of injury. “Are you alright?”

She felt so delicate under his large, battle-roughened palms, and he cursed himself for having left her side. He was supposed to be protecting her, and he was beginning to suspect -- had suspected since she’d waltzed into Cairo prison like she owned the place, really -- that Evelyn Carnahan wasn’t the type to stay put when someone told her to.

She looked a little dazed, but otherwise unharmed, and her jaw was set in a resolute line as she answered him. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You sure?" He asked, to calm the dread that had settled into his gut at the sight of her laying there. He clasped her chin gently and tilted her head, still searching for any sign that she had been hurt. His gaze was met with nothing but unmarred skin, so soft he couldn't keep his fingers from exploring -- tracing the line of her jaw, grazing her cheek, fluttering against the elegant length of her neck.

“Thank you," she said, and it was her eyes that finally settled him. As soft and delicate as she might feel under his hands, those eyes were as sharp and determined as ever, dancing bright in the firelight. 

For a moment he was lost in those liquid depths and the warmth he found there, in the fact that she didn’t pull away from, in the way her body leaned into his -- the way she fit against him.

And then Daniels’ voice was breaking the spell, sounding triumphant despite the losses they had just suffered.  "See, that proves it! Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand."

"For them to protect it like this, you just know there's treasure down there,” Henderson chimed in, but Rick was already shaking his head. 

"No, these men are a desert people. They value water, not gold." Rick had spent enough time in the desert to know where priorities usually lay. He didn’t know who this mysterious group was -- he was fairly sure they weren’t Bedouin or Tuareg -- but nothing about them, three years ago or now, made him think they were interested in treasure.

But then, it was hard to think about anything with Evelyn's fingers tracing lines against his chest, warm even though the material of his shirt.

Her touch was so distracting Rick didn't even notice Burns come up beside him until the man was speaking, sounding noticably more shaken than his more gold-minded brethren. "Ya know, maybe just at night we could combine forces, hm?"

It wasn't the worst idea Rick had heard, especially since their group was considerably smaller. He had just turned his head to agree when he felt Evelyn pulling away. He let her go--despite the urge to pull her closer, to keep her there and safe with him--and turned to see her rushing towards Jonathan as he stumbled out from behind a collapsed column, pistol in one hand and Glenlivet in the other.

As he watched her corrall her already half-drunk brother back to their camp, her voice equal parts relieved and scolding, Rick made a decision; If Evelyn Carnahan wasn't the type to stay put, he was just going to have to stay by her side.

[regrettable-username]

Okay so I've been thinking a lot about this and watt would actually slap as a slasher, so lets imagine it as one! Slashers tend to go one of two ways (I made up these terms btw idk if there are real ones or not):

Purity plot: murders least to most "pure" (this is the horny teens being killed with a virgin being last)

Revenge plot: murders least to most "guilty" (first victims seem kind of random or have barely done anything, later victims do worse and worse things to deserve being killed in the mind of the killer)

I made up murder/plot sequences for each type (Riley is still the killer in both). Assume both plots happen in the course of one night, as slashers do.

1 – Purity Plot:

Beginning is exactly the same. First Chess dies, followed by Farrah. Both are least "pure" due to their substance use. Their reasons for dying would also be the same as Riley justifies, but in this version Riley just goes down a spiral of unhinged anxiety that leads her to keep killing for less and less of an offense.

Next are Anneleigh and Clark, both for pissing Riley off for breaking the rules but also for being horny teens. They're murdered at the same time after their duet (or nearly the same time—maybe Clark is killed right after Anneleigh leaves but runs back when she hears him scream, and then the killer jumps out to get her too).

Next would probably be Kate for lgbtq reasons since Riley keeps trying to get practice going even though at least one body has definitely been discovered by now and Kate keeps trying to stop practice (like she does in act two). She sings a reprise of Skype Tomorrow (it will somehow fit idk) before getting murdered.

Surprise! In this version Eva joins the Tigers at the beginning of the show, but for the same reason (she gets a scholarship). She flirts with Kate at the beginning, who is conflicted since she's in love with Chess. Riley also gives the same awkward privilege speech. When it's time for her murder, Eva does her pretty much the same song (the vibes of "why did i join a murder squad????") and dies immediately after for lgbtq reasons for trying to leave and call the police.

Next up is Reese, who for some reason ends up alone and gets offed after some kind of reprise of Captain of the Team, both amping up her purity factor while possibly implying Riley thinks she wants to steal her role as captain.

Finally, we have Cairo and Mattie. I honestly can't decide what to do for them, since Cairo is definitely not "pure" compared to everyone else but gives the most potential as a final girl. Mattie is definitely the most "pure" but doesn't give a lot of final girl potential. Getting drunk and passing out could also get her easily killed earlier. But I think it would be really fun if Riley (and the audience) just straight up forgot about Mattie, and while Riley and Cairo are having their final girl stand-off (right after wallflower reprise) Mattie runs in and kills Riley herself, having observed everything that happened until then. Mattie and Cairo are the survivors.

2 - Revenge Plot

Murder victims in this type of plot start off with people that aren't necessarily bad, but once you know who the killer is you look back and think "oh yeah that kind of makes sense." So in this version, Kate is the first to die after Riley tells her to take a walk (since she pissed Riley off). In this version, Skype Tomorrow happens before Kate and Chess even enter the sleepover since it's too good a song to skip.

Next is Clark. Same reason and timing as the purity plot, but Anneleigh doesn't know.

Meanwhile, Reese does her solo and is murdered for the same reason as the purity plot (wanting to be captain).

Eva arrives with the pizza and is killed immediately. She's the first body discovered, and they realize she was from a rival cheer team (killed for being too good?)

Mattie is next to show up dead, but instead of having a murder scene someone just finds her body after she goes to throw up (Riley will later admit that she didn't kill Mattie, it was just a coincidence). Two dead bodies found in a row spurs an emotional Before the Breakdown-esque number (it just has to show up somewhere okay). Somehow they all split up after this despite it being very stupid.

Anneleigh goes back to the pantry and is killed when she finds Clark's body, for being the problem that brought him here in the first place and being fucking annoying to Riley. (Also—we're ignoring the "what if farrah slept with clark and god punished them" storyline. Instead it would be really cool to have a song about her conflicting relationship with faith).

Chess is killed next, both because she is one of the most "guilty" in Riley's eyes but also since Anneleigh just died some of the audience might think Farrah is the killer and that is fun mystery. Chess dies after she finds Kate's body (which she ran off to find once she realized she was missing for too long), and she is the first person to notice the (offstage) killer before dying (by shouting "you!!!" or something idk).

Farrah finds Reese's body, and has pretty much the same reprise of BtB as original. Riley enters, visible to the audience, and Farrah starts apologizing to her about everything. But it's not enough, and Riley still kills her. Cairo sees this but leaves before Riley notices her.

That means all we have left is Cairo, and its unclear if Riley actually wants her to live or not (I'm leaning yes). They passionately sing a Wallflower or is it a reprise?) as Riley realizes that Cairo knows she is the killer. When it ends, Cairo kills Riley. She is the only surivor.

That was way longer than necessary but so much fun to think about!! Obviously there are some holes and pacing issues but that's just the nature of watt (sorry preston ily) but I still think it works well. Lmk if yall have other thoughts, I would love to hear them!!!

we are the tigers but it's like your classic slasher movie where everyone dies except final girl cairo who has to kill riley

[orionlodubyal]

Happy (belated) Birthday to Alexander Siddig!

 I hope you get a role where you both get the love interest, and also don't die.