#bc shannon never got out. and all she wanted was a little more time..........

[eddiediazenjoyer]

thinking about post established buddie conceptions of shannon makes me CRAZYYYYYY like we always talk about shannon and eddie being in the hole Together and how her asking for a divorce was her getting out and leaving eddie in it. but. crucially. she didn't actually get out of the hole bc she died. so in this world where buddie finally get together and eddie gets Out. where does that leave shannon? now he's the one leaving her in the hole as he gets out. bc she will forever be trapped on her way out of the hole. so close, but still in it. she didn't get to have ANYTHING, and eddie, bc he's the one who survived, gets to have everything. and she didn't even get to get a divorce. eddie gets to have it all, their son, a real, true love, a family-- an entire life and shannon is stuck forever asking for a divorce from a man who compared their marriage to falling into a vat of chocolate and slowly sinking to death. and he got to get out and learn what love and life should actually look like. but she never did. and i think eddie would hate himself for this

[wellcollapse]

i think eddie’s queercoding is a little messy and the writers’ intentions with his sexuality feel inconsistent at times (hence the endless debate over his specific brand of queerness) but honestly? nobody on my dash is explicitly saying it, so i will. i really do think he’s just bisexual with an emotional and/or romantic preference for men.

like i do think he was deeply in love with shannon, and i fully believe that his trauma surrounding their fractured relationship and her subsequent death plays into his intimacy issues with his other girlfriends, but i also think that outside of that, there’s always been an element of needing to Be a certain way in his relationships with women that he’s never faced with men because he’s never stopped to consider that his relationships with men could be romantic in nature. it’s why his relationship with shannon failed in the first place: given what we know about eddie’s background and the way that he had to take on the ‘man of the house’ role as a child, it’s likely that as soon as he found out that he was going to be a father, he immediately fell prey to the role that was hand-carved out for him: to be a provider for shannon, to be strong and stoic and to never let anyone know how he was feeling. and so he did it, but it didn't work, because he left her, and then she left him, and by the time they came back together, sex was the only method of connection he had left because he was too afraid to open his heart up to her. maybe they once felt that magic as kids on a lake, but then they grew up. and they didn't grow together. and the tragedy of it all is that this was never imposed upon him by shannon. all she wanted was a partner, but he couldn’t be that for her because he never allowed himself to be vulnerable. with ana, although he pursued her because he liked her and because he wanted to stop feeling like he was drowning in his grief for shannon, he stayed despite knowing something was wrong because he wanted to be a good father and do right by his son. still a provider, but this time it was attempting to provide a sense of security for his son who’d already lost so much. he didn't want to take away another person that his kid cared about, and so he thought, i have to give it a try, maybe i’ll feel the way i should eventually, right? and with marisol……honestly, s6 told us point-blank that eddie is terrified of being alone and i think the reason why he stayed with her for so long is so that he could avoid that loneliness. (and also bc buck told him to. i blame buck for that).

but anyway. before i got sidetracked, the point i was going to make is that there isn't any indication in the text that eddie isn't physically attracted to the women he's dated. he canonically enjoys having sex with them and he was in love with shannon....but i just think that from what we've seen, he's more emotionally drawn to men and he finds it much easier for him to be vulnerable in his relationships with men specifically because he's never considered that he could love them. this way, he never has to be afraid of letting them down in the one specific way that men let down their wives. with buck, there’s no pressure. buck has always made eddie feel safe enough that he's never felt the need to perform or put those emotional barriers up because he doesn’t have to provide anything other than his company. he can just be eddie, and that's enough for buck. and tbh this also tracks with the platonic relationships he's had with both men and women. when he doesn't feel the pressure of a romantic relationship, he blooms and feels much more comfortable sharing aspects of his life that he wouldn't trust his girlfriends with (see: the beach scene with felisa where they discussed chris's experience with the tsunami. i can't name a single scene where eddie opened up to a romantic interest about something similar). buck is the only person he's given both his love and his trust to, and i think both of them are strong enough that he'll continue to feel secure even after they transition to a romantic relationship because buck has proven over and over again that eddie can crack his heart open and buck will be there to hold him through it. also lest anyone think this is straight!eddie truthing (or anything except for bisexual, really)....please go watch the poker scene. he wants buck AND he loves him AND he trusts him. yay

[bidisasterevankinard]

“people would kill me for it but: Eddie, in one episode with Shannon, showed more misogyny than Tommy to Hen ever”

….are you blind now that you’ve turned your back on a ship that you liked? Loved?

Okay fine, you don’t have to like Buddie anymore but it feels like you’re stretching for reasons to shit on Eddie now just because you no longer support Buddie.

How the FUCK was he more misogynistic than Tommy? Tommy was a piece of shit in that original episode. I even remember you being against him before you got twisted…

Eddie’s issue with Shannon is her abandoning him. He was NOT misogynistic to her. I’m not even sure where you get that from??

I think you need to think a bit more about the definition of that word before you go around throwing accusations around.

And this is coming from someone who doesn’t hate on either ship. Just hates people making stupid claims they can’t back up.

Before last part I wasn't gonna answer, but last part happen. Why Eddie's relationship always gone? Because he needs "mother for my child". The mother who he never let to work when she begged him to come home and help with Chris. He chose to stay in Afghanistan. Then she begged him to go to LA to her DYING mother, but no, Eddie needs his family and time. Then he puts her through his bed first before letting her go back to their life, but not see their son first and further most. His dick was in Shannon for two months before he decideds maybe "I should ask Chris about Shannon". Why Shannon juts let him back when he left her TWICE? oh yeah sorry, he was a hero who was on war. HE CHOSE IT. He chose to run from his wife "to provide for family". Shannon wanted to provide too, but Eddie literally said "Chris needs you home"

And then he decided they need to live together bc he thought she's pregnant, but before it she again told him "I want to work to provide for Chris too." He said you don't have to, I can do it. Why she can't work? Carla can take care of Chris when she works too

And we saw it with Ana and Marisol. What women in Eddie's life do with him? have sex, babysit Chris when Eddie is on the job or even hangs out with friends, cook. Now, question: don't you think it's pretty low role for women in life?

Eddie literally sees women as housekeepers as his father (Ramon always left Helen alone with kids for work. He literally left Helen pregnant and with two little kids).

So question, does Eddie misogynistic?

Also i said I don't like buddie, but I never said I don't like Eddie. And I WAS talking about his flaws, just less bc I was scared bc Eddie is the most lovable here and all his flaws is normal for his fans or took as proof for gay! Eddie. Especially his misogyny. It's Eddie's gans loves to find teh reason to hate Tommy, but the moment you say he's better than Eddie in smt, boom 💥 you're wrong and anons like you are here (also so brave of you to come anon)

Now, Hen begins. Tommy was silent with Hen. Just silent. (With Chim he made one racist comment at the start, but then was silent.) And then in the end of the Hen begins, Tommy congratulate her with good job, and it implied he and Sal was people who was against Gerrard too and made complains against him

So, Eddie has deep misogyny roots and always shows it with partners, Tommy was just bad ally for Hen. Who's bigger misogynist now?

🫳🎤

[bonesandthebees]

YESSS OH MY GOD PLEASE SCREAM AT ME I've read the entire thing but I don't remember where in the book each thing happens so I can't say shit yet out of fear of spoilers but I am SO READY to ramble with you once you're done AAAAA

-❄️

IM LOSING MY MINDDDD like I've hit the stage I hit when I was reading priory where I become so obsessed with the book I just want to read it all the time and it's all I can think about it's so so good

I'll talk a little bit about what's making me so insane the most below the cut - spoilers for a day of fallen night (prequel to the priory of the orange tree) below!

just. glorian and wulf. aaaaaa I love their relationship so much. I had a strange feeling wayyyy earlier in the book that something was going to happen and wulf might end up being the one to get glorian pregnant but just. they mean so much to me. their friendship is so sweet.

I'm just going so insane over glorian in general. she's a child!!! she's a 16-17 year old girl who is so scared but is so determined to be the best queen she can. her mother thought she wasn't enough and even though her mother isn't here to see her fulfill her duties she's so determined to be more than what her mother thought she would be. I seriously adore how samantha shannon wrote her. she genuinely feels so much like a teenage girl even as she gets more and more responsibilities settled on her shoulders.

and just. the way she's chained to her castle walls until she has a child. her body is an incubator and she can't defend her people the way she wants until her womb has served its purpose. she wants so badly to be more than a womb, she wants to be the shield for her people. she wants to be their protector. she wants to be their queen. but she can't do that until she continues this vicious cycle of the berethnet queens.

(also I just deeply appreciate how clear samantha shannon made it that glorian is aroace. I know she wrote tané as aroace in the first book which was great but it wasn't the kind of thing I could extrapolate from the text on my own. glorian's orientation never feels unnaturally slotted in it's just a part of who she is but it's very explicit at the same time. and I especially appreciate it since she does have sex! and she doesn't hate it, even joking with wulf like "oh how terrible we have to do this several times" but also knowing once she's pregnant she's never going to have sex again. like yes asexuals can have sex and even enjoy it and I just love the nuance glorian is given)

but man. glorian shieldheart. she's so young but she's doing such an amazing job as queen already and I'm so glad she had wulf and that he made sure she was comfortable and okay. I am terrified something is going to happen to wulf but if he survives the grief of ages I am so deeply hoping he gets assigned to stay in Inys serving glorian as a knight so he can watch his daughter grow up even if its from afar

also of course I love all the other characters too. I love dumai and nikeya's dynamic so much and I'm so obsessed with the two of them (I had first suspected maybe they were going to have something between them but I brushed it off and when I realized we were going that direction I literally cheered out loud). and tunuva... oh tunuva I love you. I want her to find wulf so badly. I'm also a bit pissed at esbar saying that tunuva doesn't feel the priory are enough, she's trying to find her SON!! I get you might not love your daughter more than any other priory sister esbar but tunuva loves both her children so deeply. I am very scared of what canthe/kalyba is up to. also when tunuva first told the story of how she lost her son to canthe I thought to myself "man wouldn't it be wild if that was wulf" and then I brushed it off bc I was like how would he get to inys. still don't know how he got there but I'm sure canthe had something to do with it.

just. aaaaaa. I'm losing my mind snowflake help

[piningbuddies]

what if.. chris dying is the thing to bring buddie together.. the grief??

oh. oh anon.

i'm going to give you the absolute benefit of the doubt and say this message wasn't sent out of malice, it was just out of ignorance and that's fine. you're human. but i have more than a few things to say about this so it's going below a read more for anyone who's interested.

tw for talks of death/dying and the grieving process in quite a lot of detail, as well as mentions of cancer/treatments. you've been warned folks!

okay, so. my dad died when i was 11, and my mum died when i was 20, and just this last month my maternal grandmother died. i'm not saying that for any kind of sympathy or anything, it's just so you know i have some sort of idea as to what i'm talking about. i've seen up close and personal how losing a loved one wrecks someone. take my mum as an example: after my dad died, things got dark. i'm not going to go into detail bc tbh it's not any of the internet's business but my mum really spiralled after losing my dad. she was utterly lost and for a long while, i wasn't sure my mum would ever go back to the way she was.

taking it from a different perspective, when my mum died, i saw what it did to my grandparents. for a bit of background, my mum was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2018 pretty much out of nowhere. she went through 7 cycles of chemo, 2 surgeries and 4 weeks of radiation and she was declared cancer free, and then she was killed by a pulmonary embolism. we were all kind of lulled into a false sense of security and then the rug was completely and utterly pulled from underneath us, and it hurt like hell. but i watched what it did to my grandparents in particular. my grandad was pretty much the same as always, maybe a little quieter (a product of the stoicism of his generation maybe).

my grandmother, on the other hand, wanted to go into excruciating detail all the time. in the months immediately after my mum died, she wanted me to recount the night she died in as much detail as i could. for context, my grandparents weren't at the hospital when my mum died, but i was. i was my mum's next of kin, and so a lot of the burden fell on me in terms of making decisions about continuing/withdrawing care. so my grandmother needed to know everything, and i was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because it hit a point where i wanted so desperately to help, but i had no idea what to do because the one thing my grandmother wanted me to do was ultimately hurting me.

now, how does this all link back to your original message? a child dying is not a reason to begin a new relationship, basically. a relationship started in the wake of grief, especially grief that profound is never going to be healthy, and it's never going to last. look at what happened to eddie after losing shannon - he spiralled, and he spiralled hard, and that's completely understandable. much of eddie's arc in s3/4a was coming to terms with life after losing shannon, and trying not to get stuck in his grief. even when he's dating ana, we see that he's not really ready for that - a relationship centered around his grief is never going to work in the long run, and that plays a role in his whole breakup with ana in the first place.

if christopher died? eddie wouldn't recover from that. sure, maybe he'd survive the acute grief. he'd go back to work and maybe he'd even have some fleeting moments of happiness here and there. but he'd never be the same eddie that we know currently. it took him so long to move out of the grief surrounding shannon and the circumstances around her death. but, as we've seen on the show for seasons now, christopher is his life. everything eddie does, everything eddie is is for chris. if christopher died, eddie would become a shell of his former self. he wouldn't be able to move past that, and he wouldn't be in any place to be in any sort of meaningful, romantic relationship.

buck would obviously also be grieving, but his grief would look different to eddie's. neither of them would be in any sort of place to get together romantically in the wake of christopher's death, and i think implying that they could do that isn't fair to them or to their characters. they'd be too aware of a major missing element in their relationship, and i don't think it's fair to insinuate that they could feasibly get together in the wake of christopher's death. i just can't ever see that conceivably happening, i'm sorry.

(also insinuating a child dying would...encourage his parent to begin dating someone...almost in a hopeful tone...it isn't the one for me)

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP2. Replay Part 6

Rosa seems to be having enough of team Yasu's shit though, I don't think this is part of the script she's just tired of all the games.

Most the vitrol Rosa spreads is hatred at herself too, of course.

Oh yeah, she's definitely done with their shit. Rosa never trusted Team Yasu much anyway, but by now she definitely 100% her safety is not guaranteed. Eva was much more naive in that sense, going so far as going to sleep calmly in her room bc she assumed being an accomplice guaranteed her safety.

Seems Gohda is trying to take heat off Shannon here to guarantee his safety.

Haha, even now Maria is trying to goad Battler into what Yasu really wants him to do...

Her talk about being their mother feels very ingenuine compared to Natsuhi... Natsuhi really was trying to protect them Rosa more or less left both George and Jessica to die.

I wish that was true Battler...

Aaaaa Battler you are so sweet. Also Rosa is throwing so much vitriol at the servants - which again is her own self-hatred shining through. She's as much of a dirty accomplice as them.

I was pretty harsh on Battler on ep1 but I kind of want to hug him right now.

Shannon has uh, told George a lot hasn't she? Guess she was trying to ease into more serious issues but George dismissing it as silly girl things made her not go further.

Hahah guess he is freaking out about the Shannon/Kanon/Yasu revelation too.

Thought this was part of the script since I thought Gohda knowing that was kind of odd... but all the servants start kind of freaking out about the change of plans so it seems that it is not. Guess it's just a story that got passed around after Natsuhi mentioned it once or when someone noticed it cleaning her room.

Or uh, kill Kumasawa and Nanjo.

She does, though, her losing is what she wants!

Haha.... Yasu think that's the best possible outcome but as we see in EP7 that's really not any better...

Yeah Battler, you are working on understanding her! Battler's honestly pretty sweet, as soon as he has any reason to believe someone he takes it.... which is also a weakness of his.

He doesn't see Beatrice like that yet, though.... but of course next chapter he does too.

BATTLER REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE - Beatrice

"Trying to suck Shannon in" into becoming Beatrice, of course.

Guess George had to grasp with the Shannon/Beatrice stuff a little since Gohda was killed first...

It's kinda interesting seeing which scenes strike me the most compared to 2019 when I originally read it... during that time I had a lot of issues with my mom who is a single mother so a lot of the Rosa/Maria scenes were really hard to go through... in the meantime I have a better relationship with her than before and have made peace with a lot of stuff, but in that time I have gotten sex trauma and I won't go into more detail than needed but I am unable to perform sexually as I would before... it's really hard to read this scene now because I can really relate to what Yasu is going through. You can see how she doesn't believe love is possible with her limited ability of sex and the issues with her body.

The part of Yasu that believes love can still be achieved and that she deserves love with the body she is cracking down to the assault from her mind that says she's disgusting and can never achieve love and that any love she receives is just from her lies and illusions...

This is the contrasting scene I was thinking of in EP1, where Natsuhi tries to make sure opening the door is safe for everyone... Rosa just basically lets Battler risk getting killed.

I doubt there was much of a fight here to be honest... I imagine Yasu just shot Gohda and a very shocked George swiftly. So all this mess must be Yasu being frantic after killing George.

Oh, Rosa definitely thinks Shannon is alive and just playacting and stopped Battler from investigating her corpse. He definitely confirms her death for the audience, conveniently enough. Of course, her stake is on the floor because she can't gouge her own forehead after shooting herself.

Obviously she's right and Genji IS a wolf... but again trusting Rosa as she is in this chapter is very hard.

Haha fuck you Rosa. She was obviously the one to place the letter and then shew drives Battler out with it.

Again, all her remarks about hating someone that would sell out for money are thinly veiled self-hatred rants.

Oh yeah, this is definitely Yasu's script, guess this was a last fuck you to Battler for not figuring out the plot.

[anonofseasons]

I'm going to ramble about clothing in Seasons. Again.

It's important to note that a character's perception of something is different from the writer's feelings on the matter or even the truth of the situation. Howie saying that his parents letting him pick out clothing designs/fabrics is one of the only ways they are permissive in their parenting. It's not permissive. They just didn't grow up, so the kids had their own clothing that they never grew out of. If they had been raised closer in age and never had been paused, Vivian absolutely 100% would have forced hand-me-downs on the kids as often as possible to pinch pennies. Vivian didn't have nice clothes growing up, but that changed with Gideon taking him in. And up until he was on the run with Graham, he learned to do some minor patchwork and otherwise afford a tailor for his nice garments. On the run, he had to be more creative and up his skill level, because he couldn't afford clothes. He bought from secondhand shops, adjusted things himself, and tried to make those clothes last forever bc he had no money. They did the same for Graham. Shannon came along and Vivian sewed him clothes with growing room. Little Shannon looks pretty frumpy, honestly. Vivian eventually got better at sewing and knitting, and Shannon had oversized sweaters over tailored clothes that could be brought out a bit as he grew. Very practical, though, and never anything overly fancy. They had more money when Shannon was older and Sophie was born. Her clothing was nicer, and I'm going to be blunt: Vivian doted on her. Most of Shannon's old clothes from when he was a baby were in poor condition before they even ended up on Shannon, so they're long gone. Sophie did end up with more outfits, but she also did have billowy dresses that would later be turned into skirts, and her pants would be repurposed, and some shirts became quilts - a lot of the stuff Howie describes in ch 56. But Sophie was fourteen - nearly fifteen - when El was born. He wore some of her old baby gowns and whatnot, because Vivian kept them, but then El had to have his own set due to the years between each child and the fact that Sophie was the first kid who actually got "Vivian sews really well" quality clothing. Vivian also cares about presentation, not just of himself but of his kids as well. With money to buy better materials, he wanted to at least not look poor. Like Shannon did! Sophie especially got the best treatment, but he was pretty good with El too. The first time hand-me-downs were even a consideration was when Howie was born. Howie had a few new things - if only because moths and insects and time exists, and not all baby items are going to survive after sixty years - but he did wear a lot of El's things that he had grown out of. And all his things were kept for Bee. (Worth mentioning that when Vivian had Howie, he intended to have another child as well. El wanted siblings, and Vivian had two winters and a summer... so he planned to have autumn and eventually spring soon after.) But El's age was paused, and Howie and Bee had theirs paused as well, and Vivian didn't have to worry so much about them growing out of clothing. Which was great. If they took care of it, they wouldn't be growing out of any clothes every few months! They could wear these nice garments for years to come! ...So yeah, it's not really permissive. Vivian just had three kids who didn't need to pass on clothing to one another. He's now stuck with three kids used to distinct fashion styles and colors. He's also in for a surprise when he realizes that Howie isn't wrong about getting taller than El (so legs of pants will be too high when they fit Howie's waist) and Beau's body type doesn't work with his older brothers' clothes very well. Shoes are less of an issue when they grow out of them, at least, since the younger siblings can indeed wear those. (And colors are pretty basic with brown/black. We can't all be Sophie with expensive dyed white leather boots that reach the kneecaps...)

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

Umineko, again

episode 1, part 7

i am not entering the Danger Zone where i want to see fanart of natsuhi but i cannot look her up bc i need my mind to be absolutely unblemished. if i saw a spoiler now, that would ruin everything. i actually care about this enough to actively avoid and fear spoilers. thats how serious it is getting. usually i really dont care.

so. back to the story.

eva suggests the servants did this together and its obvious she also fears what they could do, should they find out she knows. this makes sense superficially. perhaps it was even done under the directions of kinzo or natsuhi. man eva really fucking hates her. except why would the servants do this and why would shannon be a victim, too? and why would they draw that weird summoning circle on the sheds door? perhaps the closest theory that makes sense is that kinzo was behind it all and possibly got help from genji but even so... getting rid of his children and doing weird black magic shit might make sense but again, why shannon?

if this was an ace attorney game, we would now collect evidence. but it isnt and we cant because its dangerous. that would be too easy and umineko really loves to take its time before it presents you with conclusions.

never heard of her

concerningly, maria has entered her joker arc now. i cannot say whether this is her or beatrice using her as a vessel, much like i think she did during the reading of the letter. i just highly suspect shes doing that. ehhhh, not sure this needed three different cg's that get creepier each time. you're overdoing it man. its creepier if theres just a Little off about maria's face. this is my personal subjective criticism.

in general, i personally dislike the creepy child portrayal they started doing with maria. mostly bc i think its corny and instead of making things More Scary and creating tension, its just ruining the built up atmosphere. for me.

later on there is discussion whether her behaviour can be written off as Purely roleplay but i am not quite buying this. there has got to be more to it. then again if there is One thing that can change a childs speech pattern like this and influence their entire body language and behaviour.... it gotta be a witch hyperfixation and urge to roleplay.

so what does all of that mean!!!! huh!!!!!! it seems important to me that breaking free off bonds is a topic in this. everyone dead seems to at least share this common burden. some sort of social obligation to bound them. who doesnt!! but this seems to be an important topic in this game.

battler's personal resolution haver theme is really good. he is so funny. he is not buying any of this. from a rational standpoint it is correct of his to keep his guard up and suspect the worst of his questionable relative. from a meta standpoint it is extremely funny and bizarre he would rather blame a relative than escape into the more calming belief that a magical being could be causing all of this. even when the servants all straight up tell him beatrice is a person.

battler said NO escapism. i accuse my aunt of murder like a man. and then he also threatened the servants into talking, i guess. well, let him be mean, he has lost so much....

it seems battler specifically was just born with the inability to see or talk to her. skill issue. so she has to communicate with him through others? AND THE THING IS he is right. there is no reason to believe in a witch. he might look silly to others but i get him though.

is this beatrice in the room with us right now

servants of course accept beatrice as the culprit no problem and they seem to just straight up know that the six dead people were choosen by chance. interesting. so thats just one of the normal game rules? i guess? i had been wondering.

also i had not expected my comment about how natsuhi living reminded me of a game of werewolf to be this accurate. so maria's charm actually did it's due. wtf my questions are actually getting answered.

ALSO

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF THEM ALL

natsuhi with a gun

the lore for that gun is so fucking funny. grandpas western culture love is so unserious if you Are the western culture reading this

[stemmmm]

head in my fucking hands (part 6 finale)

great for battler to acknowledge this girl is beato's (and his! shes calling him father!) daughter but could he not have immediately followed it up with the idea of eventually dragging her around naked on a leash

what i want, i think what i need in order to find any satisfaction in the result of this story, is for baby beato to Never become proper beatrice. she remains a different person forever, on account of She's Not The Same Person and Making Her Into The Same Person Will Be Torturous Abuse. i would be very happy if the original beato with all her memories of battler returns, things spoken by other characters previously have felt like they implied that could happen given enough time. I just NEED her to not overwrite this little baby. i need us to not be creepy to this fucking baby.

TAZ the suffering game is looking.........bad. actually no its looking great because I am Suffering through the servant lovestory plotline (its just boring as shit to me, ive been told this exact story like 4 times now. in sequence)

honestly im stunned jessica has agreed to play because if it were me making the choice: 1. i wouldn't want to get in the way of my cousin's long established relationship 2. i dont want kanon to stay on the island forever, in fact 3. i dont want to stay on the island forever!! 4. why should i believe in any of this magic bs that game out of nowhere, fuck you? 5. i decide things for myself, i just found out my crush likes me back Today, i need more time to explore the relationship. if it doesnt work out it doesn't work out and that's not because of whatever shit you're pulling with "magic" now.

also baby beato being invited to this after battler resolved privately to be nicer to her sets this up to be such a major self fulfilling prophecy. at least his jumping in before she succeeded mmmmaybe defeated that purpose? who knows!

I'll be real, I don't think George eagerly declaring he'll kill his mom for Shannon means anything other than that he REALLY wanted to kill his mom

matching Jessica with kyrie was the best (worst) possible choice bc any uncertainty she could ever have would always be crushed by how mad fucked up kyrie is lmao

speaking of! I'm sure it was mentioned previously but being reminded that her and whatserfaces due dates were the same day has given me fodder for my standing theory that battler is kyries son. it was THE OTHER WOMAN who miscarried, and because Rudolph was already married to her, he went and somehow got the babies switched without kyrie knowing. explains why he and ange look SO perfectly similar (not that it matters that much) and ALSO explains why when Rudolph first brought up having a secret, he said he was gonna be killed. because battler and kyrie both were gonna crazy murder him for having done that.

I'm very happy that battler was immediately able to see Erika's situation for what it is: fuckin shit! I will say tho, don't see how the packing tape is going to help her. that trick has only seemed really helpful to witches in the past ?

ok good to get confirmation that my assumptions were right. the way she's cornered battler is complete bullshit though. just because you can retroactively make door seals doesnt mean you can retroactively do Fucking Anything You Want without telling the GM until they'd be fucked over by it?? thats not how games fucking work??? thats not how anything works? its cheap as hell

BUT. I LOVE the way that it's managed to establish that battler never once killed anyone. i was going on so much before about how i didnt like the beatrice situation that i didn't even have the thought to get a word in on how weird it was for battler to just accept killing his whole family when he couldn't even bring himself to accuse any one of them of murder. to announce he never killed them is sweet <3 my boy is back, he never left!

ALSO the closed room having been alluded to the whole time coming around was magnificent atmosphere. best horror this series has had so far

the shit between the pairs of lovers makes me want all of them to die. its so stupid. its so dumb. why why whyyyyy are we digging so deeply into this, insisting again and again "furniture cant love furniture cant love theyre furniture theyre furniture" when we have spent the entire full rest of the game saying no, theyre just people. its stupid this is stupid its doing nothing its accomplishing nothingggg

beato beato beato beato beatooooooo

i love that her whole plan is that she's irresistible. you cant say no to her. i made such a good puzzle, dont you want to see it? you've heard so much about this pussy from everyone, you dont even want a taste?

the fact that it was the puzzle shit that made her remember everything gives me the impression that because beato died when she was down bad she just impressed the battler love on what remained of her and fucked up completely because she was like ohhh be made just for him and serve him and also be someone who can play with him like one of the guyyysssssss.... and made the most demure, sweet little thing that could never kick battler and call him a bitch. she was so lovesick or whatever that she forgot her core being is making shitty puzzles everyone hates but can't help but get trapped in them and become obsessed. and also the crazy murder. anyways glad to see u back boo. i hope it is you with all your memories bc that'd be real sad and disappointing otherwise

oh no its sad and disappointing

hey wait... wait... wait,,, chotto a minute...... why does beato have to be so god damn simpering and babylike to be a wife or romantic in any way to battler. why does she have to be a different person to be lovable. battler said himself that he doesn't like that. hey. hey. this sucks. this sucks really bad. whys battler got a child bride. hey. why can she only say things that are kind in a baby voice. hey why are we acting like this is actually beatrice. just because she looks the same and loves battler means they should get married about it? so genuine connection means nothing?

i feel like... i didn't learn a damn thing here? i dont feel like i understand beato any better than when it started, tho i guess maybe i understand the reasons for doing magic a little more...? is it because i had love so i could see it... but it kinda makes me feel like this part accomplished nothing, like i could have honestly skipped it. all this part managed to do for me is lose like. all the good faith i had. we've firmly resolved things in a way that i think... is shit.

now accepting petitions to pick up episode 7 because. eugh. these last two parts have been dreadful for me.

part 5 (+?) thread

ep1 ep2 ep3 ep4

erika furudo is bern's fucking self-insert oc................ i knew they had to be the same person because they Look Like That and also. Name. but. oh my god this is funny. she's managed to say a single line btw, this is just spoiler knowledge and inference running

ah! ok so we are doing answer arc-ass answer arcs. cool i'm fine with that! makes things a lot easier to follow especially since more inane bullshit's gonna get thrown in

hate haaaaate seeing beato like this tho :(((( this is miserable, she makes me so sad, and battler saying over and over again "dw boo i'm gonna kill u for sure" also makes me so sad. get well soon queen!!!!!!!!

i may be wrong but i get the impression that this was kind of the same as the evolution of the real life beato's situation/personality.... and in that sense i can't imagine any of this ending well but i want it to so baddd because i love herrrrr she deserves the worllldddddddd

it's nice of them to rewind things for battler's sake but uh. erika's a bit of a fucking cunt huh. no love in this game, indeed. we are bringing out peoples worst and making sure battler has as miserable of a time as possible. it's interesting to see that the epitaph is solved before any murder but know that people still die in the end tho.

also love that we're saying kinzo's dead for real, none of this with natsuhi is happening. open your eyes battler, look. nothing's there. really good moment.

battler's been confronting the epitaph in terms of why it exists rather than solving it, and there's definitely been much spoken of miracles, added onto by lambda saying there'd be no point in the riddle if it wasn't hard which would add ammunition for a miracle to happen, though there's still the insistence that beato has nothing to gain from the riddle existing... at least materially. and she doesn't kill for pleasure. so there's the obvious point that she made the epitaph because she wanted to play with someone, specifically battler since he always lives, and battler himself mentioned the play aspect though I dont know how serious he was about that. beato's very obviously just wanted to play with him from the beginning, even though her kidnapping and torturing of him in the first place pretty heavily obscured that. if we accept play as her reason for it existing and doing the murder games, that still leaves the miracle up in the air. does the chance of a miracle occurring not count as a potential material gain? is doing something purposely to try and create a miracle not... a reason for doing it? is the miracle that beato could Actually be revived in some way or is there something else?

[messymindofmine]

I've talked a lot about Johnny this season and I'll be talking about it more bc God knows there is so much that needs to be said and apparently some of it needs to be said repeatedly but I also want to talk about Shannon a bit.

Shannon has by no means been a good parent to Robby right from the start but when she went to rehab, I did hope that we would see better behavior from her. I find it interesting that she has appeared at least once in every season yet she really doesn't seem all that interested in Robby. Sure, she went to rehab and that is so great for her. But she had no problem letting Daniel search for Robby. I know she says that her life coach advised her against it but I find that rather unlikely. A life coach's job is to motivate and help you make your own decisions. It is most certainly not to tell a mother not to go looking for her missing son. I can see how leaving rehab may have been a bad idea for Shannon if she didn't feel she could handle it but if she's already got a life coach, there was really no reason why she could have kept that coach on speed dial while looking for Robby and then gone back when he was found and she knew he'd be safe. Honestly, it feels like a cop out to me and it does fit with what we've seen of Shannon from the start. She simply handed Robby to Daniel when Robby went to her. Robby went to her bc he felt safe going to her and I understand why she called Daniel. It's not as though there was much she could've done for him at that point but she just called Daniel and stood by the side as he talked to Robby. She could have still sat beside him and held Robby's hand as Daniel talked. She could have comforted him. But she just stood by the side and watched. And then she watched as the cops took Robby away. Sure she reached out to touch him then and tell him it would be OK but by then it was too late. You can actually see Robby flinching away from her. I've talked about this part before but it bears repeating especially in light of s5. I know she sent him emails while he was in juvie but emails are easy. The LaRussos all sent Robby emails and Daniel even called him. All of these things are very low effort and we saw what happened after with them anyway. So yeah, emails are easy and don't really mean anything when the situation Robby got back to is the same.

She also went to Johnny in the prom episode to tell him about Silver but she straight up says that even though Silver gave her the creeps, she didn't ask him any questions. She's says she tried to talk to Robby but how long would she have even tried given that Silver dropped the car off right before Robby left for prom? An hour at most? Hardly enough time to determine that Silver had his hooks into Robby. She realized something was off about Silver, enough so that she went to Johnny but she still had no problem letting Robby leave for prom. You know that if it had been Amanda or Carmen, Sam, Anthony or Miguel would never have even left the house yet Shannon had no problem just letting Robby go.

In s5, Shannon seems to be doing quite well for herself yet she spares very little thought about Robby. When Johnny talks to her about having Robby stay with him for the summer, they talk about Robby without even acknowledging his feelings. Shannon simply says yes rather than saying she'll ask Robby about it. Then, she tells Johnny that they were both young and dumb and she's glad that Robby gets to see this side of him now. First off, Johnny was in his mid-thirties when Robby was born so dumb sure but hardly young enough to warrant his behavior. Shannon would have also been an adult at least but she didn't have the option to just run away the way Johnny did. She had to go through 17 hours of labor alone and then raise a child alone. Now, Shannon was obviously a terrible mother and neglected Robby to the point of abuse but it's clear that Robby still had some good times with her and apparently still does. It doesn't forgive her behavior but at least to Robby it means something. Johnny couldn't even do that much and still doesn't. That said, Shannon had no problem having Robby stay with Johnny even after she saw the state his place was in and how he didn't even have a proper phone let alone a proper job.

As a side note, I do find it strange that people just assume that Shannon's parents are still living based off of what she said about her and Robby going to their place. There's no indication in her statement that they're even alive. To me, it sounded simply like it was a place they had owned and she had access to. I find it unlikely that her parents would still be alive bc knowing Shannon, she would have simply dumped Robby with them early on. Plus we never hear Robby make any mention of them which he likely would have. Sure, he has a hard time asking for help but he's got a strong survival instinct and would have at least though about his grandparents if he'd even thought they were an option.

Anyway, it's pretty clear that while Shannon is doing quite well for herself, Robby remains an afterthought to her. From the start, she has been happy to hand Robby off to whoever will take him and that clearly hasn't changed since she got out of rehab. It seems pretty clear that Shannon has gotten to a point where she is ready to just hand Robby off for good and get on with her own life without him. This actually also explains Robby's behavior in s5 bc it must have broken his heart to have his mother, the one person who was a consistent factor in his life and who he always looked out for even though she should have been looking out for him, just hand him off to someone else. It further explains why he'd want to fit in with Johnny so much now. After all, he could've just packed his bags and left when Johnny kept pushing him to make amends with Miguel but if he hadn't had the option of going back to Shannon's, it would make sense why he would try so hard to fit into Johnny's life. Now, I dount Shannon would just tell Robby that she didn't want him or throw him out but Robby's a smart kid and he knows how to read people. He would've picked up on the fact that Shannon didn't want him around just like he picked up on how the only way for him to be accepted into Johnny's life is to get along with Miguel. So basically, both of Robby's parents have trapped Robby into a place where he's forced to ignore his own feelings and behave like a doormat for those around him in order to be accepted. It makes perfect sense why Robby behaved the way he did bc in his mind, if both his parents have made it clear he's not wanted anymore, his only option is to bow down and take whatever mistreatment he gets so that he can at least have a place in their lives. I've said before that Johnny may well "love" Robby in the way that a parent naturally loves their child but he clearly doesn't seem to love him as a person. I believe the same to be true of Shannon. She loves him and clearly provided him with the only affection he'd have got as a child. She clearly does spend some time with him doing fun things like watching movies and YouTube videos. However, she clearly has no interest in being a good mother to him

[littlespoonevan]

eddie joining in s1 you say??? say more right now i am begging

akjdshfjsah ok ok so truth be told, i'm a little obsessed with the idea of eddie meeting buck 1.0. just bc i'm so curious as to what he'd think of him?????? in fact when i wrote Buy Back the Secrets (aka my amnesia au) that was what it was supposed to be about but the whole thing kind of got away from me lmao.

but anyway i was watching 10 things i hate about you the other week right, and there's this exchange between kat and patrick:

"so you disappoint them from the start and then you’re covered right”

"something like that"

“then you screwed up.” 

“why?” 

“you never disappointed me.”

and ALL i could think about was eddie meeting buck during s1 when he's still using sex as a coping mechanism and putting up this cocky, confident front (and lbr acting out a little in the same way he would when he was a teenager bc he feels like he fucks up no matter how hard he tries not to) and seeing through all that and getting right to the heart of why buck acts the way he does.

and just. i can hear those words coming out their mouths y'know??????

anyway now i'm rewatching s1 i can't help imagining this scenario in a little more detail. like imagine eddie getting hired right as buck gets un-fired and he's panicking bc he really Does feel like he's about to be replaced and he so easily could bc he's still a probie and eddie's competent and not reckless and makes bobby happy. so maybe their introduction would still be similar

but also. buck 1.0 knew what the fuck he was doing and i refuse to believe he wouldn't have hit on eddie just a little bit lmao. but it would be almost a year earlier than canon so eddie would probably still be feeling a little fresh after separating from shannon and you kNOW he'd be flustered even though he doesn't want to be!!!

and yeah i'm just really curious about eddie would react to the therapist sleeping with buck or abby pulling buck's phone number from the 911 call and calling him bc she saw him on tv bc you know he's protective over buck's feelings - especially if he's the only one who understands how deep buck's feelings run at that point!!!!

and can u imagine buck 1.0 meeting chris?????

THE POSSIBILITIES

basically. those are my thoughts. i need to write part two for Does Your Firehouse Know? and season 5 is going to render me absolutely useless in two weeks time so. will i write this before then? idk we'll see but stay tuned maybe lmao

[liesoverthec]

I don't know if you've paid any attention to this but do you know the official ages of the main characters? You've always paid attention to little details so i feel like you'd be the right person to ask this to.

Hi anon! ❤️ I’m SO SO sorry this took so long!

I appreciate you thinking of me for this - I have in fact paid attention to this 😂 I know about the general age of some characters, and I know within a year of others (depending on when their birthday is they may have aged up already!)

Bobby - 54. He says in the pilot that he’s 50 years old, and so you figure he’s at least 54 by now, if not 55 if his birthday was between January (when the pilot aired) and now!

Athena - mid 50s. In Athena Begins, I feel like it’s safe to assume she’s around 22 or 23, since she’s in law school but not close to finishing (and I really don’t think she took a gap year), and that was 1989, so she was *probably* born around 1966-67. Which would put her around 54-55 right now, which fits with how old Bobby is!

Hen - 41. She says in Future Tense that she joined med school at 40 (if she’s not rounding for dramatics). Since she got into med school last year in the s3 finale, I’d say 41 now. If she did just say 40 bc it was easy, I’d still say she’s between 39-42 now, bc she’d have to be close in age to 40 to round so automatically like that imo. But at this point I’m going with a simple 41.

Chim - Late 30s to early, early 40s. Chim is one of the two I really don’t have a good idea on. Chimney Begins is set in 2005, and he’s at least 21, since we see him drinking beer in that episode. So he was born sometime before 1984, which would make him 36 right now if he was exactly 21 then, but I think he’s a little older than that, since he’s been working in the bar for a while before the fire. I can’t remember any other details that would give him a more specific age, so if someone does and can provide them I would love to add them! Personally I’d say 39-40, bc I think he’s a little older than Maddie but not by much. I can say however that he has a March birthday! EDIT - thanks to the wonderful @shannon-diaz who remembered that we see Chim’s birthday on his license in 2x10 (you can see the pic provided in the notes!) HOWEVER! I want to make a disclaimer (which I would like to emphasize is not me trying to argue against the lovely Ann at all, she’s absolutely right about this, I just wanna say this) - they have already been changing Chim’s birthday since then, since the license says 10/20/1977 and they’ve since moved his birthday to March. So it’s absolutely possible that they’ve decided to change his age as well. BUT! At the point this was shown, they’d already committed to Madney becoming a thing, so it’s likely they thought about how old Maddie and Chim were in relation to one another. What I don’t know is if they thought about Maddie’s age before then, or if they put it off until they had to during the Daniel arc. All of this is to say - right now, as of end of s4, the best info we have says Chim is 44. But I could also absolutely see the writers pulling a switcharoo on the poor props crew and changing his age, since they’ve already discarded the birth date. So I say, go forth and know that Chim is 44! But also please don’t get mad at me if that information changes in the future 😂

Buck - 29. During the entire Buck Begins arc, they say multiple times that the family has been hiding a secret from him for 29 years, etc etc. In the Valentine’s Day ep in s1, Abby says Buck is 26. And in Kids Today (the opener to s3) Maddie specifically mentions he’s 28. So I’m most sure about Buck, out of everyone, esp since Oliver himself is 29. I think he’s the character where they’re sticking closest to the actor’s actual age.

Maddie - around 37. We know Maddie was 9 when Daniel died (Chim says she made the promise to not talk about Daniel when she was 9). Since Daniel died a little over a year after Buck was born, that puts Maddie around 8 at the time Buck was born, making her 37 to Buck’s 29 as of right now. Also, in ep 4 of s4, her mom mentions her being a “high risk pregnancy” since she’s over 35, but specifically does not say she’s over 40. So 37 or 38 for her. (Side note - Maddie is older than Daniel by between 1.5 to 2 years, since she says Daniel died when he was 7.) like I said, I’m most positive about Buck’s age but Maddie’s is a close second.

Eddie - early 30s? I also have no idea about him. My personal best guess would be 33, since that’s how old Ryan Guzman is now, and they’ve never in my recollection said anything to indicate a different age for him! (Same thing here as goes for Chim - if anyone can remember something let me know!) Note - I’ve been thinking on this a while and I actually feel pretty good about 31-33. We know Chris was born in 2011, so he’s turning 10 sometime soon, and that would make Eddie somewhere between 21-23 when he was born, which I feel fits with a timeline of him taking time to work with his dad after high school, and then joining the army, doing basic, and getting deployed all in time to get leave for Christopher’s birth.

And there’s all 7 mains! I’m going to link this in a bullet point in the next character details post, so if anyone wants to add information for Chim or Eddie (preferably with an episode number and/or scene so that I can verify it), I’ll edit this post and give you credit, so that way when I link this post, people will be able to see it all in one place, and the edits w credit will be in the tag for everyone to see!

Also all of these ages are as of right now, end of s4. If you want to write future fic or fic for a past season you’ll want to add or subtract years accordingly!

Thanks for the question, anon - putting together the “age puzzle” is like my favorite kind of challenge!

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[oneeyekitten80]

I’m thinking about Robby Keene so headcanons!

Robby doesn’t use labels for literally anything gender or sexuality whatever happens happens it’s about feeling it

“GENDER IS FAKE! SEXUALITY IS A SPECTRUM!”

Robby was a couple of months old when Johnny first saw him. Shannon was pissed for a while that johnny missed the birth so she didnt want to see him for a while after

Robby was really into Disney princesses when she was younger his favorite was Cinderella that was Shannon’s favorite princess when she was little too so she watched the movie a lot. Shannon got them a Cinderella dress for her 5th birthday. She saved up for months he was thrilled! Didn’t take it off for weeks. Still knows all the songs!

Robby has curly blond hair as a baby the curls loosened until it was straight by the time he was 7 but I think stayed blond like Johnny until she was 9 or 10

Robby wears feminine more now then when he was younger sam likes to pick out skirts for them to wear Johnny’s not a fan but he’s trying to learn so he stays quiet

“SAM: you don’t have to understand you just have to accept and be open to learning mr. Lawrence. It makes they happy.”

Robby didn’t see Johnny from the ages 3-5, 7-9 and the entire year when he was 13

The more Robby gets to know Miguel the more of a crush he gets.

“Tory: ha ha no that's great!

Robby: shut uppp

Tory: so you have a thing for like both the sunshine prince and little ruff princess huh

Robby: don't you too?😑🤨

Tory:...jesus 😒”

He and Amanda are close she’ll take them shopping

Loves Tony hawk

Him and moon are good friends bc I like this idea and I think it's fun

Sam gets them to paint her nails he's better at it bc she used to do it for Shannon

Like Robby and johnny relationship Shannon and Robbys are rocky. He will never talk bad about her in front of ppl but after living with the Larussos she gets an ache when thinking about the mother Shannon should have been. But really Shannon's is better bc she at least TRIES johnny does a bit more now but Shannon always has and Robby misses her

Tory and Robby get long bc they both love rocky horror. For Halloween tory dressed up like rocky (short gold shorts and sports bra showing off her muscles. Sam choked on her drink when she saw her) and Robby were Dr. Frank n Ferner( corset make-up heels the works. They had so much fun)

[hoediaz]

okay but who’s who in the spiderman buddie au.

oh anon... you've just opened the biggest can of worms ever i'm so sorry for what's about to happen. this got. way too long so i'm putting this under a cut to save everyone but the TLDR is version is: eddie is peter parker/spider-man, buck is both johnny storm/the human torch and mary jane watson, shannon is gwen stacy rip. way too long explanation below if you care it's ok if u don't xoxo

first of all, i'm mostly going off of 616 comics spider-man & co just bc there's a Lot of it and i am deeply unwell. so. eddie is peter. eddie is also not peter, because i think 616 peter is like MUCH more aggressive and prone to violence than eddie would ever be. peter threw wolverine out of a window bc he vaguely insulted mary jane. eddie's foray into violence was demonstrably Wrong. peter being violent is like, a tuesday. however, there is a lot of overlap: they are both (sometimes over-)protective, they both have a very firm and clear sense of responsibility (again, sometimes to their detriment), they both put the weight of the world on their shoulders when no one asked (shannon's "bc eddie always know what's best for everyone, god forbid you stop for a second and actually ask them what they need" v peter core), they will both fight until the bitter end to make it back to their family, neither of them can hold off on being a little bit of a bitch sometimes, etc etc. two pieces of canonical pieces of evidence to support this that no one asked for: first, peter being an asshole about psychics (peter, you. literally have superpowers) and "he's never going to stop trying" yeah <3 ... Yeah <3

now. buck. now here's the thing, literally the first thing i thought when i first heard buck say, "as far as i'm concerned the world began when i was born," in s1e1 was, "wow johnny storm core." buck is very deeply johnny like, beat for beat, buck (and especially s1 buck) is johnny storm. surface level whore who really just wants a family above all else? hot tempered one second, crazy empathetic the next? raised and loved by his older sister more than anyone else in the world? surrounded by family and "meaningful relationships" but still feeling alone most of the time? clinging to romantic relationships that don't work, or are straight up bad for him? buck is quite literally johnny's tethered. johnny textually calling himself expendable and i'm supposed to be normal ok:

johnny and peter's comic relationship too -- starting off at each other's throats, eventually becoming best friends, johnny quite literally putting peter in his will, etc etc -- has a Lot of buddie hallmarks too.

buck also has BIG mary jane energy, which makes sense because johnny and mj are pretty similar as it is. (also. to be on my gwenmj shit for a second, buddie big gwenmj energy with mj talking about gwen: "she did her best to make [us best friends], even when i kept her at arms length, the way i did with everyone. she saw through the party girl mask i always wore, saw the frightened, abused kid inside.")

so i guess, to stop nerding out about spider-man for ten seconds and actually answer your question, in my image of a buddie spider-man au, eddie is spider-man no doubt. but there's So many different directions it could go for buck (peter biggest whore in all of comics fr) (the peterfel hero vs cat burglar angle would be delicious. the petermj soulmates angle -- one more day au where married buddie has their marriage and future daughter erased from the timeline absolutely delicious. the petergwen secret identity to Tragic End angle, peterjohnny rivals to besties angle. it's all delicious) BUT i think if i were to sit down and really write one, i would go with the buck as both johnny and mary jane. i'm not sure if i would go with buddie both being superheroes, eddie with a secret identity, buck as a pseudo-celebrity, or with eddie secret identity superhero and buck as a Normal Person (buck knowing eddie's spider-man p much the whole time just like mary jane did so real and so true). either way, shannon for sure as gwen, eddie's first love who he couldn't save. buck as both johnny (peter talking to gwen's grave: "but when i'm around johnny storm i can hear myself cracking wise again") and mary jane (staying with peter after gwen dies even when he tries to push her away) in the aftermath of everything.

honestly, the two things keeping me from a spider-man au the most are a) superhero aus require Plot and i am so bad at coming up with Plots and b) i would be so tempted to just. straight up copy the comics and swap out the names. the negative zone arc, with buck "dying" only to be (mostly) alive in the negative zone where he's forced to fight in gladiator style competitions, dying over and over again for two years (but only ~3 months for eddie & co)? the first person buck sees when he manages to get out of the negative zone being eddie? or, uncanny avengers #20, buck being possessed by the red skull, who tortures eddie by threatening to kill buck in front of him? or, post civil war eddie having the knowledge of his secret identity wiped from everyone's memories, only for buck to Know there's something wrong? they're all so buddie coded right out of the box.

ANYWAY god sorry i've never shut up a day in my life! y'all can't ask me about spider-man unless you're prepared for me to be the most annoying person alive god bless

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

I love Ro as much as the next gal but what I wouldn't give for a little peek into her cranial cavity.

Why is she so fixated on sokeefe? I doubt she'd play with lithe ppl's emotions since she clearly cares about them. Would she even know? She's probably never had friends before who her dad wasn't paying. Maybe romance works differently in Ravagog, and she just wants everything out in the open bc she doesn't understand, similar to how she doesn't understand why elves care so much about abilities. If that were the case, ogres probably have totally different body language as well, and considering the only elves who really knew she existed were Cadence and Videos, both of whom were working on ogre etiquette(not that they were spending all that much time together anyways), there's no reason she'd know she was on a bad topic until it was too late. Now it's Too Late, and Sophie's.. quietly fuming? An understandable reaction, esp being raised around humans, but Soph is over here trying to play it cool or deflect or whatever, but she's never really told Ro straight up that she felt uncomfortable. It makes sense for Sophie to be afraid of the reaction given Ro's abrasive personality, but I don't think she'd be merry with any genuine malinent. From Ro's pov, she might just be acting how she did around her old friends, talking about how smart she is and how much she knows about them expecting the kids to go along with it in the same way, maybe even thinking she was doing what's best. Then, Sophie is doing all she can and ends up proving Ro right (in Ro's mind or actually) until Sophie states "please stop talking about this, I'm not comfortable discussing it with you."

But then what? This is the part of the scenario my mind gets lost in. Does she ask Sophie what she's so afraid of? I know she's a fan of rhetorical questions, but I doubt it'd go over well. Does she just back off? Does she keep pushing? I just don't understand because in reality, I don't know where she's coming from.

Atp she sounds like Shannon's voice, yelling at her own self-insert on behalf of fans.

But,

This book, we actually got some of Sophie and Ro being friends. In the last few, we got Keefe and Ro friendship AND Ro backstory as well. Hopefully we'll find out more soon besides the illusion of friendship in her past of my own invention though which has been hinted at. I just want to understand and I really don't yet. What are her actual goals? Is she just taking her bodyguard job day by day for her dad's sake and keeping herself entertained? I doubt it, seeing as she'd likely have requested reassignment a While ago. Is she making it her personal mission to sort through all the shit? Maybe, considering it seems like she thinks she knows best about all of Keefe's issues, and this supposed fixation on sokeefe is simply narrator's bias considering we don't actually hear what she says whenever Sophie isn't around. Did she treat her old friends like that if she had any? Was it okay? Did they let her? Is it actually different for them? Does she understand how Sophie feels about her or not? I need to know! I don't get it! I'm frustrated that I don't get it.

[hmslusitania]

I see we're going ape over buddie and Choices tonight so

Yknow in 2.07, when Shannon comes back and her and Eddie have their first scene together? The argument at the end, after Eddie says it wouldn't be a good idea for her to see Christopher bc she left them, she says she needed him, she needed a husband and a co-parent - and "I needed someone to have my back!"

To which EDDIE says, "I always had your back"

*insert Incredibles "coincidence? I think NOT" gif here*

(Also side note, I do like that the show doesn't try to sugarcoat what Shannon did being messed up, and that Eddie's own actions weren't really the right thing either[thinking about his conversation with Buck where he says he got to pretend he left for a noble cause even tho he was running], and that it was just a sticky situation that neither of them were equipped to handle in any way, and snowballed. I do kind of wish we could've gotten post-divorce Shannon and Eddie and Christopher interactions, figuring out how they fit together, if at all, bc I like those intricate and messy situations but I could see how that might get too close to retreading old ground re: Michael and Athena's divorce. But I do hate how ive seen the fandom like. Seem to oversimplify things with Shannon sometimes? And make her the ultimate villain, and Eddie Did Nothing Wrong, Ever)

Hi Anon!

The decision to have Buck and Eddie's first bonding moment end with "You can have my back any day" and "or, y'know, you could have mine" only to then six episodes later find out that at least a contributing factor to Eddie's marriage dissolving was that he "didn't have her back" is like. Such a galaxy brain chaos move for them to take, honestly. Like?? They could've had the phrasing be literally anything in 2x07 but instead they had it directly echo Buck and Eddie in 2x01. What was the reason? Why did they do this?

As for the rest of your ask:

(gosh this got long and, uh, opinionated. It is Not Pretty below the cut)

One of the things I really liked about Eddie Begins is that we did get to see him at the beginning of his journey in being Chris's dad because it gives us an opportunity to appreciate how amazingly he's grown as a father. Like, he didn't start out as a perfect dad and he was definitely kind of lost in the woods at the beginning there when it came to the whole "how do I parent" thing. And before Eddie Begins, we'd only ever seen the end result of the growth he's gone through, where he really is a fantastic dad whose son is basically his entire reason for being. Before Eddie Begins, we get to hear him say things like "I left first" and "I've failed that kid more times than I can count but I love him enough to never stop trying" but we kinda have to take that on faith? Because we hadn't actually seen him be anything besides a good dad until we saw his Begins episode. (And even then in his begins it's like "area man in his early 20s unsure how to care for small child while also coping with PTSD and a toxic support system" which like. yeah. no shit. there's one hell of a learning curve there)

The thing about Eddie and Shannon as a couple and as parents that always gets to me is that they were so fucking young. We don't know exactly how old Eddie is in the show, but we can guesstimate pretty safely that he's around the same age as Ryan which would make him between 23 and 24 when Chris was born, and it seems reasonable to believe Shannon was around the same age. It's also a pretty common reading in the fandom -- although I'm not sure how much canon support there is for it because we really, really don't know anything about their relationship pre-Christopher unless I'm forgetting something -- that they got married because Shannon got pregnant and that was the Done Thing. And when you're 23-24, baby on the way, freshly married, that is just like. So much. It sure as hell ruined my parents' relationship when they did that exact thing, and then they disliked each other until they were 27 and then they got divorced, and no one was happier than me about it, I have to tell you.

Back to the show, I can only give you my impressions, obviously, but the impression I have always gotten from the whole "I left too" conversation and the context that goes into it and the different behaviours we see exhibited by the characters is that Eddie "left" first and it comes across to me that he was basically an early twenty-something kid running scared from the abstract concept of being a father in general, and then when he was forced home by an honourable discharge, and was confronted with the reality of Christopher, he managed to step the fuck up and become Christopher's dad. It's there in 2x02, right? "Oh, you've got a kid? I love kids!" "I love this one." Eddie doesn't strike me as a Swiss Army Knife all-purpose Dad(tm) the way Bobby is. Eddie is Christopher's dad. (and like, of course, he's obviously moved by kids when he's on a call, we've seen that enough times to know that if there's a child who can even glancingly remind him of Christopher, Eddie's sense of self-preservation goes out the window, and I love that about him as heart-stopping as it can be in practice)

Shannon, on the other hand, didn't run from the idea of being a mother -- at first. When she left, it wasn't from the abstract. She left Chris (and "gave up" on Eddie, thanks Helena). She was not running from a concept, she was running from a reality. I think Shannon is a fascinating character to include in a television show as a side character, because she really isn't a one note character. Like, she was unarguably a bad mother, and from what we saw, she was a questionable romantic partner to have (but as you said, anon, Eddie was also not 100% the best romantic partner when he was with Shannon either; their entire relationship so far as I can tell was built on sexual chemistry which, uh, super does not sustain a relationship), but she also seems to have been a devoted daughter? I mean, yeah, it's entirely possible that her mom being sick was a convenient excuse to bail -- and obviously she didn't come back after her mom died, and didn't, y'know, contact her son or husband in the interim, so yes, I can see that being a valid way to read the situation. I don't think she's the Ultimate Evil, because she strikes me as a very human character in all the ways that people are more often than not really fucking flawed.

But then we get back to the actual break-up scene. The first time I watched it (and second, and third; then the fourth time the person I was watching with was like "I mean, sure, but it could also be read in this light") her "I'm just learning how to be someone's mother" speech really bothered me? Partly because it was the abstraction of it, right? Eddie doesn't like kids, he likes Christopher, and Shannon sort of had the inverse journey there, I guess, where it went from she didn't know how to be Christopher's mother, to she didn't know how to be a mother. And that speech bothered me because it always sounded to me like she was bailing again. She begged Eddie to let her back into Christopher's life (guilt? I guess?) and like, straight up bribed him with sex which was sure a choice, and then decides -- for a second time -- that she's out. It sounded, to me, she was handing Eddie papers and maybe, in a few years, possibly, once she'd had "time" to "figure out how to be someone's mother" she would try again. Just like she had in the interim between leaving when Christopher was little and the time of season 2.

And like, that could totally be a misunderstanding of the scene and what she was saying. It's what I took away from it, but that could very well be influenced by the fact I was raised by divorced parents and my dad had custody and if you count up all the time I spent with either parent when I was a minor, I was predominantly raised by my father and have had an especially tempestuous relationship with my mother that is mostly (sometimes) repaired now that I'm in my late twenties and have not lived with her since I was sixteen.

Back to the show, and to your comment that the fandom tends to treat Shannon like the Ultimate Evil and act like Eddie Did Nothing Wrong, I mean. Yeah. Fandom as a rule tends to shirk nuance. We're all fools here on the internet sitting in our blue industrial waste container crying about a wee woo show. I personally believe a more nuanced take on that might be that Eddie has shown a great capacity to learn from his mistakes (sometimes to make fun, shiny, new ones, but for the most part, just like ends up doing better the next time) and Shannon did not show that capacity in the time we knew her.

I think, depending on what they did with it, there was potential for an interesting storyline if they'd played through the divorce. I don't think it would've been rehashing ground covered by Michael and Athena's divorce because I can't see Eddie and Shannon having reached a point of amicability and friendship. The only thing we know they had in common was Christopher, and frankly, when you boil it down, the ways they engaged with Christopher as a person were so disparate that -- to me -- it really didn't seem like they had Christopher in common when you get right down to it. But I wouldn't have wanted to see Christopher and Eddie dragged through an ugly divorce process. They deserve better than that.

There's also a conversation to be had about Shannon's blatant ableism towards her own son, but that is extremely not my lane since I am not disabled myself. But even from an outside perspective, basically their entire parking lot conversation in Haunted, uh, haunts me with it's repugnance and the fact that instead of calling her on any of it, Eddie "Chronically touch starved" Diaz's response was to kiss her? Gosh golly do I wish that was one of the mistakes he learned from properly instead of finding a new, shiny version.

ANYWAY this got long, tl;dr (although if you clicked on the read more, you probably read it) version is No, Shannon is not the Ultimate Evil, she's a shitty mom not a demon in a skin suit and a pretty yellow sundress; and No, Eddie is not a flawless human who's never done wrong in his life but holy fuck is he trying and he'd be the first person to tell you he's made mistakes (and often has been); and no, sorry, I don't want to see the divorce storyline play out because we probably would've had to see either Eddie Bashing, Shannon Redemption, or Shannon turning up again like a cardboard cut out of a cartoon villain the way Eva did and I want to be witness to exactly zero of those things.