#beyond that I think the notes address most everything I wanted to say

[deunmiu-dessie]

(unedited) captain price sfw alphabet, 𝒶⸺𝓏

𝒜 = affection (how affectionate are they? how do they show affection?) : with you, being affectionate comes easy to him; wanting to hold you and kiss you, cook for you, and many other things, just to see you happy, comes easily for john. price's love for you knows no bounds; he makes sure to go above and beyond in making sure you feel cherished and appreciated. from surprise date nights to heartfelt letters while he's deployed, to random bouquets when he comes home from work. price never misses an opportunity to show you how much you mean to him.

john's affectionate acts are not only a manifestation of his love, but also a reflection of his deep commitment to your happiness and overall well-being even though he can't be with you all the time. on another note, price's love language would be a mix between acts of service and gift-giving. he tends to send you a lot of things when he's away from home for long periods of time but also builds things for you to make day-to-day life easier for you when he is home. since he's an early riser, he loves to wake you up with breakfast and coffee; truly he just loves to see you happy.

𝐵 = best friend (what would they be like as a best friend? how would the friendship start?) : hm, john is the type of best friend that would stay up through the night to give you advice, no matter what time you'd call him, he'd pick up and would listen to you wholeheartedly. he's also the 'parent' best friend, he's always looking out for you, no matter what. heading to a club? send him the address just in case. going out on a date? send a picture of the person you're with and their license plate. it's just who he is, the man can't help but be worried, especially with the job that he has and because you're not part of his 'world', you see most things through rose-tinted lenses. ( most definitely the two of you met at a bar, hit it off, and exchanged numbers. )

𝒞 = cuddles (do they like to cuddle? how would they cuddle?) : you guys are probably tired of me saying this, but john is a touchy man, and it's not inherently sexual at all. i like to think it's because he wants to make sure you're real, that you're not something he's conjured up in his head, and that you won't just disappear. now that he has you, the thought of being without you is almost unbearable- in fact, he's not sure how he lived without you in the first place. long story short, john loves cuddling with you and he almost always initiates it first. e.g., resting your legs over his thighs and pulling as much of your body over his lap as possible, and wrapping his arms around you while the two of you watch a movie on the couch. however, when the two of you head for bed, you guys usually find yourselves in the 'pretzel' position more often than not.

𝒟 = domestic (do they want to settle down? how are they at cooking and cleaning?) : read me!

𝐸 = ending (if they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?) : john would do it face to face and it'd probably appertain to your safety. with the job that price does, being with him is like having a big, red target on your back at all times. but everything about john is sincere, and you can see how much it's tearing him up inside, because this man loves you with every ounce of his being, and the thought of not being able to come home to you, is like a bullet to his heart. however, the choice is solely up to you.

𝐹 = fiance(e) (how do they feel about commitment? how quickly would they want to get married?) : price is hesitant at first, not because he doesn't love you or anything like that, but because he doesn't want you to be alone. he's gone for weeks at a time and intermittently months as well. it can be lonely and if it's something that bothers you, he would prefer to wait for the two of you to get married.

𝒢 = gentle (how gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?) : treats you as if you'll break, like you'll vanish from his hands as soon as he takes his eyes off of you; it annoys you at times but eventually you realize that john just can't bear the thought of losing you. tf-141 literally gets whiplash when price is on the phone with you compared to how he is with them, soap complains about it often.

𝐻 = hugs (do they like hugs? how often do they do it? what are their hugs like?) : john loves hugging you and he does it as often as you'll allow him to. when he hasn't been home in a while, his first hug consists of wrapping you up tightly in his arms and twirling you around before setting you down and planting a kiss to your lips, and murmuring how much he's missed you. but on a daily occurrence, his hugs are soft and usually done from behind, where he places kisses on your jawline and collarbone. when you're feeling sad, or when you're annoyed and need time to cool off, he'll press you to his chest and cup the back of your head with his hand, the other wrapped around your waist as he gently totters side to side.

𝐼 = i love you (how fast do they say the L-word?) : john, deep down, knew he liked you the moment he saw you standing in the rain looking like a drenched cat. john knew he would spend the rest of his life with you the moment you cursed at him and asked him, "what the hell he was lookin' at." actually, he's waiting on you, giving you time to grow feelings for him. and while you said it first, nearing a year into your relationship, and shyly as well-- john had always known. [ connected with this post! ]

𝒥 = jealousy (how jealous do they get? what do they do when they’re jealous?) : price is a grown man, he feels too secure in his relationship for all of that. he loves you and you love him, there's not a doubt in his mind for you. you're both equally obsessed with each other. there are times when the two of you go out and some men or women might hit on you, but either you resolve it or he does, it's never that serious for him.

𝒦 = kisses (what are their kisses like? where do they like to kiss you? where do they like to be kissed?) : price kisses you deep and slow, and you swear you feel the love in every single one of john's kisses, like he's pouring it down your throat in hopes of coating your entire being. john prefers your mouth, loves to kiss you until you giggle against his lips; kiss you until your lips are puffy and cute; kiss you until the anger from working later than you usually do is no longer on your mind. but john also kisses you in passing. e.g, while reaching for something in the cabinet above you, he'll press a kiss to your temple. you're brushing your teeth in the morning as he's getting out of the shower? boom, a kiss to your hairline. cooking dinner while he's on his way out to pick up a few items from the grocery store? a kiss to your neck. he loves kissing you and does it any chance he can get. now, john loves it when you kiss the underside of his chin, or the side of his mouth--- turns him into putty, i swear it does.

𝐿 = little ones (how are they around children?) : john is the type to play football with the kids at family gatherings or neighborhood cookouts, rather than drinking beers with the other adults. the type to toss a baseball back and forth with the troubled teenager and listen to his problems while the cooking is still happening. and also let the girls paint his nails (albeit sloppily) when he's having a conversation with someone. (the team won't let him live it down) he's good with kids and teenagers alike.

𝑀 = morning (how are mornings spent with them?) : as lazy and slow as possible. mornings are usually spent, with john waking up before you and preparing breakfast, soft music playing; along with the sound of the early birds news channel. the front door is opened with the screen locked in place to get some fresh morning air, the neighborhood is silent since it's only six in the morning and john sits out on the porch with sam, an english mastiff dog that the two of you had gotten weeks ago. then you wake up like clockwork, thirty minutes after john has left the bed, dragging your feet and finding him on the porch. with bleary eyes and mumbles of a 'good morning' you'll place a kiss to the side of his mouth and take a sip of his coffee before going back inside with sam trailing loyally on your heels. mornings with john are soft and intimate.

𝒩 = night (how are nights spent with them?) : nights with john are spent with a glass of wine shared while the two of you cook dinner. nights with john are filled with laughter and sweet, bitter kisses. nights with john are spent twirling and shimmying to the music playing on the radio. nights with john are spent with the two of you perched on the island, feeding each other and discussing the future. nights with john are spent with him reading to you as you're sat on his lap, curled into his chest. nights with john are spent with calls to the tf-141 team to see if they're still available for tomorrow's cookout with just the five of you. nights with john are spent with him carrying you to bed after you've fallen asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. nights with john are your absolute favorite.

𝒪 = open (when would they start revealing things about themselves? do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?) : john waits, gives you bits and pieces here and there, lets that sit on you before feeding you more and more; until he's bared himself to you completely.

𝒫 = patience (how easily angered are they?) : john does not anger easily and when he is angry it's never directed at you, always at someone else. john doesn't yell when the two of you argue either, he's calm and collected, and listens to your point before explaining his own. he's not condescending though and he never talks down to you or dismisses your argument, he's mature and the two of you always work whatever it is out before closing it with a kiss.

𝒬 = quizzes (how much would they remember about you? do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?) : you guys, john remembers the clothing you were wearing when the two of you first met, even if you were obscured slightly by the rain. even the things you say in passing while you're rambling, he remembers. john focuses immediately when you start talking, partially because he loves the sound of your voice and the other part because he wants you to know that he's listening to you.

𝑅 = remember (what is their favorite moment in your relationship?) : read me!

𝒮 = security (how protective are they? how would they protect you? how would they like to be protected?) : oh, very protective. he's always so hesitant about leaving you alone and usually asks if you can stay with a friend or family. while everyone knows everyone in the neighborhood the two of you have settled in, he's still untrusting--- besides price is a different man outside of his domestic life, he had enemies, and people looking to kill him; and they could easily do that by finding you. which is why, just a couple of weeks ago the two of you went out to adopt a dog, an english mastiff the two of you had named sam. he feels a bit more comfortable leaving you home alone now.

𝒯 = try (how much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?) : most days that are big, john is on a mission somewhere halfway across the world. but he makes sure to call and talk to you as long as he can until he can come home and celebrate with you. thankfully, the two of you are mostly homebodies so anniversaries and things of that nature are spent at home with each other, baking a cake to decorate and eat, cooking each other's favorite meal, and giving gifts. price prides himself on remembering the small details in your relationship and always gives you the best gifts, he usually makes you cry with how thoughtful they are.

𝒰 = ugly (what would be some bad habits of theirs?) : john smokes cigars. it's his bad habit and you're actively trying to get him to stop. the man tries to sneak off sometimes to enjoy one but you always end up finding him and tossing it out. you scold him often and he always gets out of it by kissing you silly. you guys, don't forget to keep an eye on him.

𝒱 = Vanity (how concerned are they with their looks?) : maybe just a bit concerned. he is older than you, after all, there are plenty of men younger than him out there with bodies more fit than his. the man strongly believes you can do better than him, which you always shut down with glares or kisses. you love john as he is and tell him that all the time. everything about him is so manly and he makes you feel so well taken care of. besides, you love the little pudge of his tummy, he got it after getting into a relationship with you after all. you love to feed him and he loves your cooking, the two of you go hand in hand.

𝒲 = whole (would they feel incomplete without you?) : read me!

𝒳 = xtra (a random headcanon for them.) : john crumbles to his knees, his mesmerizing blue eyes welling up with tears, and the air leaving his lungs. his thick eyebrows drawing together, and his trembling hands tenderly find solace against your belly, while his lips form a delicate line. the sound of your gentle laughter instantly captures his attention, causing his eyes to lock onto yours, and a soft chuckle escapes his lips as he blinks away his tears. "you're pregnant?" { excerpt }

𝒴 = yuck (what are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?) : being lied to, he'd rather you come clean in anything you do.

𝒵 = zzz (what is a sleep habit of theirs?) : lmaoo the man snores, it's not too loud and it never wakes you up out of your sleep. but whenever you wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, you catch the wheezing snore he makes.

[lissa612]

Can someone point me to where in 9-1-1 canon it is shown that Buck thinks of “Evan” as a separate identity or a version of himself he escaped?

Because we’ve got Buck 1.0 that’s been clearly mentioned in the past as a persona he’s outgrown, but I can’t remember him ever saying anything like “That was Evan…This is Buck.” He started going by Buck because it was convenient. He liked it and perhaps considered it a fresh start along with the career he found to finally be his calling, so he kept the nickname…But even the reasoning there is speculation because I can’t recall him ever saying anything more than “Everyone calls me Buck now. I kinda like it.” But there were still people who would call him Evan. His girlfriend, his sister, his best friend when he wanted to make sure he was hearing him, and his therapist (who honestly should be the most mindful of his comfort with mode of address) just off the top of my head. The only time he seems upset when called Evan was when his parents did it after he apparently asked him to call him Buck…That seems to be more about them ignoring his wishes than any sort of visceral rejection of the name itself.

I keep seeing chatter about how it’s disrespectful of Tommy to be calling him Evan. But I can’t find anything in actual canon to back that up. You can head canon that Tommy ignored Buck when he introduced himself like “I’m Evan Buckley - Call me Buck” but that never happened. You can just as easily head canon that Buck blushed and told Tommy that he likes how he says “Evan” when Tommy catches that everyone else calls him Buck and tries to correct himself. I’d argue that one of those head canons fits better with actual canon, but there are arguments for both…Neither is absolutely wrong.

So you can totally head canon that Tommy is someone who ignored Buck’s wishes to be called Buck. But then you also have to head canon that Buck, despite all the progress he has made through the years, is someone who would actively pursue someone who has shown they ignore his wishes - Something we have seen in canon to be a boundary for him. Which is fine if you want to do that…Head canons allow for all kinds of freedom in interpretation. But it’s not canonical fact.

Buck has historically disassociated with parts of his past self with his software upgrades from Buck 1.0, but when was the last time he did that? Buck 3.0 was back in season 4. He’s grown and changed a lot since then without needing to proclaim himself to be Buck 4.0. But beyond that, he’s never proclaimed there to have been an early beta version of the software called “Evan”. Really the only thing we know was upgraded between Buck 1.0 and Buck 2.0 was how Buck handled sex and relationships. Was “Evan” the base code in Buck 1.0? If so, has the code changed so much to have erased that? (Again, there’s nothing explicit in canon, so we can head canon that all day).

Bobby noted at the end of the season how much growth he has seen in Buck. I don’t think anyone who has watched the show could argue against the truth of that statement.

That is canon.

But you can ponder on it and come up with head canon…Perhaps what we are seeing is a more self-actualized version of Buck who doesn’t need to think of any progress he’s made in terms of upgrades because the therapy has finally made him realize he is all of those versions of himself and they are all him - He is the result of everything he has experienced and everything he has done and every decision he has made, and who he is will keep constantly evolving with every new experience and decision.

Regardless, Evan Buckley is Buck. And he is Mr Buckley. And he’s Firefighter Buckley. And he’s Buckley. And he’s Evan.

Unless he’s told someone to NOT refer to him as one of those names and they do anyway, they aren’t showing any disrespect by referring to him in any of those ways. We have examples in canon of that happening. We also have examples of viewers seemingly deciding it happened without canonical basis.

That’s a head canon. Have fun with it but remember to not force it onto others.

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

things from my nlm vod notes abt ghostbur that make me slightly insane:

-Ghostbur was not missing all his memories when he came into existence. He showed up in the ruins with all his memories, then over the course of about ninety minutes on Nov 17th lost most of them, before which he acted like just a more detached and apathetic version of wilbur as he was in pogtopia (this version is named lucibur by quackity i think)

-ghostbur first manifesting because quackity n tubbo n fundy were trying to figure out the tune of the lmanberg anthem

-Nov 17th Ghostbur to Tubbo: "I feel like I need to say to you especially that I wasn't intending to blow up Tubbo's L'Manberg, to be honest, I wanted to blow up Tommy's L'Manburg. I-I made him president and then I was going to blow it up- as sort of a testament to his reign. But then he gave it to you, and I think you’ll be a good leader."

-ghostbur for all intensive purposes being a tangible guy who can walk around wherever he wants and talk to people and build things and hit people and play instruments. but he is like. metatextually unable to affect the plot in major ways. everything he does with nlm beyond aesthetic decoration is either advising other people or watching other people. he is powerless to stop exile or techno's execution or doomsday or anything. which i think is a neat way to do a ghost

-ghostbur riding around on horseback shooting people with his. gun? and invisible. he did this a lot and its very fucking funny

-ghostbur being the first person to call tubbo Mr President and also being deeply deeply insistent that tubbo wear wilbur's old presidential suit. i dont know what to make of that but its painful whatever it is

-ghostbur saying fundy makes him feel patriotic. hello

-ghostbur defining the difference between himself and wilbur as "he was a bad man and i am not." HELLO???? THERES LAYERS THERE

-ghostbur having moments of being very terse or harsh with tubbo or irritated with tommy before literally saying "sorry! im back to being friendly" which (if you choose to read into this like i do and not just take it as acting inconsistency) could imply that being nice is not like. the default state of how ghostbur is as a person? if that makes sense? like he doesnt naturally lean towards being nice to people, but rather its a conscious choice he just follows fucking religiously

-whatever the FUCK is going on with ghostbur and tommy before tommy got very attached to him during exile and continuing onwards. first interaction between them is from a tubbo stream where ghostbur says he's "thinking of throwing tommy out" of lmanberg and it only sounds half like a joke. ghostbur seemingly remembering tommy with crystal clarity. tommy referring to ghostbur as wilbur consistently before switching to ghostbur and then seeming significantly freaked out by him. ghostbur giving tommy invis potions (and tommys later psychological dependence on invis potions in season 4). tommy describing his relationship with ghostbur as "coworkers." ow.

-ghostbur's reason for building so much around new l'manberg is that he thinks it's his unfinished business (not addressing when tubbo speculates that tommy might be his unfinished business) and saying he doesn't understand why he's not dead.

GASP. GASP GASP.

OH THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS TO ME I AM MUNCHING ON THIS ASK LIKE A DELECTABLE TREAT !!!!!!!

1. DUDE Ghostbur’s first moments on the Dream SMP are so so interesting!! Yeah exactly, he was essentially just… Wilbur as a ghost. Fascinating! It seems like the longer Ghostbur was on the server, the more he leaned into a personality that was seperate from Wilbur’s, and the more he kinda became his Own Guy, rather than the ghost of a guy. Y’know? When he first showed up, his voice wasn’t high-pitched, he had most/all of his memories, and his personality was pretty much indistinguishable from Wilbur’s—and only after he had some time to experience life & think about things did he become Ghostbur, rather than Wilbur’s Ghost. I just think it’s very neat & a super cool part of his lore!

2. Something something Wilbur started the L’manburg National Anthem something something and Ghostbur was the one who finished it… something something. Unfinished symphonies being completed…

3. BROOOOO THAT QUOTE. “I wanted to blow up Tommy’s L’manburg” goshdangggg, man.

4. OH THAT IS A NEAT OBSERVATION!! Yes!!! Gosh every so often I think about the fact that Tommy really was one of the only people who tried to remember Ghostbur after he died; most everyone else either forgot about Ghostbur or acted as if he never existed. With that and also what you said about Ghostbur being unable to affect the plot, I just find it… so incredibly interesting. Ghostbur cannot float or fly or walk through walls like a typical ghost, but in almost every other aspect he is a ghost, in every sense of the word. He can’t grasp the plot or canon events with tangible hands; everything just slips through his fingers, rendering him helpless and powerless. Very interesting!

5. AJGSKSGSKSGSJSGS YEAHYEAHYEAH!!! Ghostbur’s strider <3 I think the strider’s name was Larrie? If I’m remembering correctly? Anyways yes Ghostbur turned into a little menace whenever he rode that thing and I appreciate it so much <3

6. Ough… </3 Thinks about Ghostbur saying “it looks like you’re filling in some big shoes” and thinks about Tubbo replying “I actually have very very small feet.” </333333 I think Ghostbur saw Tubbo in Such an optimistic light because he saw what Wilbur could have been, if things had turned out better. Ghostbur saw a strong man who wanted the best for his country and worked hard to get it there, and I think it reminded Ghostbur a lot of Wilbur during the early L’manburg days, when he was fiery and ambitious and headstrong and passionate and overflowing with love for a nation he’d built with his own two hands. And I think that put quite a bit of pressure on Tubbo, and also perhaps some dread, because unlike Ghostbur, Tubbo knows how Wilbur’s story ended—he remembers it. He remembers how dark and corrupted Wilbur got, and Ghostbur doesn’t have those memories and/or knowledge.

7. GHOSTBUR AND FUNDY YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS. TO ME.

8. THE RELATIONSHIP THAT GHOSTBUR HAS WITH WILBUR (AND VICE VERSA) IS INSANE TO ME!!! YES YOU’RE SO RIGHT THERE ARE SO MANY LAYERS!!! GOSH!!! Ghostbur really tried to distance himself Completely from Wilbur, often to the point of denial, repression, and general unhealthiness. While I do believe that Ghostbur and Wilbur are not the same person—and feel very strongly about that—I also definitely think that acknowledging the fact that Ghostbur would not exist without Wilbur, that he is deeply connected to Wilbur, and that there are similarities between them is hekkin important—and it’s something that Ghostbur tries his best not to do. And it’s not good!! It’s not healthy!! Ghostbur causes a lot of angst for himself because of this!!

And also Ghostbur’s strictly black and white worldview, especially during his earlier days, and especially in regards to Wilbur, does a lot more harm than good, and completely erases & ignores the good aspects that Wilbur had, and the good things he did throughout his life. I think Ghostbur likes to believe that Wilbur is an inherently, 100% purely evil monster of a man who can only do bad, destructive things—and of course that’s not true at all. Wilbur is a person just like Ghostbur, and he makes serious mistakes and has serious flaws, but y’know. He’s also human. And humans are a very messy mixture of good and bad.

I think that the journey Ghostbur goes on with his opinions about Wilbur is one of the most interesting parts of the entire SMP, and it’s a real shame that no one talks about it. Over the course of Ghostbur’s (admittedly very short) life, he goes from “Wilbur was evil and incapable of good” to “Wilbur did bad things but he wasn’t fully monstrous.” AND!! THAT IS SO COOL AND INTERESTING!! AND FILLED WITH SO MANY THINGS TO PICK APART & THINK ABOUT & PONDER!!!

And also the journey Wilbur goes on after revival in the way that he views Ghostbur. In so many ways it’s like a perfect mirror to Ghostbur’s journey!! Wilbur goes from “Ghostbur was weak and pathetic and I hate him” to “Ghostbur was a human being and he did a lot of good things and he’s worthy & deserving of an apology” AND!!! THE PARALLELS?? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING MEEEEEEE

9. Okayokay before reading this ask I did absolutely view that as acting inconsistencies, but bro. That is such a better idea?? Oh my gosh??? It adds another layer to Ghostbur’s wonderfully complex little mind!! Ohhh man I’m gonna be thinking about this now. Also ties into the fact that Ghostbur acted almost identical to Wilbur when he first came into existence, and gradually lost a lot of the Wilbur-esque traits as time wore on. Perhaps the meanness was a leftover trait of Wilbur’s during Pogtopia that Ghostbur adopted for a little while.

10. “ghostbur giving tommy invis potions (and tommys later psychological dependence on invis potions in season 4)” OH OH OH OH. OH. OH. O H H H H. WELL. THAT IS ANOTHER THING I AM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT. AJSGAJGSIAGSJSGSKSGIS!!!!!!!!!

Gosh Ghostbur & Tommy make me so insane I’m not freaking joking they’re so. they’re. they just. sighs. Imagine if your brother died and he leaves a ghost in his wake and the ghost is your brother but wait no he’s not your brother but he looks so similar and sounds so similar but he also looks so different and sounds so different and you don’t want to love him at first because he’s wrong and you can’t love a wrong brother but eventually love starts leaking out of you in uncontrollable rivers because gosh you miss your brother and this ghost is not your brother but he’s similar enough. Maybe you can try loving him too. And then you start loving him with a love that’s different than the love you had for your brother because this ghost is not your brother but maybe he can be a friend and sometimes you feel like you need to look out for him and it feels weird but you love him anyway even throughout all the strangeness. And then you watch the ghost die and you feel responsible and you miss him but now your brother is back. Except now your brother feels like a ghost and the ghost feels like your brother. Do you hear what I’m saying. They make me insane.

Also Tubbo suggesting that maybe Ghostbur is haunting Tommy. Also that.

10. Ghostbur is simply trying to cobble together an identity for himself but the problem is that he doesn’t know who he is, not really, so he’s constantly searching for something to live for, and he’s constantly confused and wondering and longing. Longing for something solid that he can set his mind on. And he really gravitated towards the idea of rebuilding L’manburg I think because 1) L’manburg was Wilbur’s unfinished symphony and Ghostbur feels like he’s the one who needs to be responsible for finishing it, and 2) rebuilding L’manburg would be beneficial for & appreciated by the residents, which would make them happy, and Ghostbur has his heart dead-set on making people happy, and 3) he has no idea what his purpose could be outside of L’manburg, so he finds it easier to pour himself into that country, so much so that he leaves little to no room for speculation on other possibilities for why he was “brought back.”

Ghostbur and his constant struggle with identity my beloved <3

Heyheyhey this was Such an exciting ask to receive I absolutely adored getting to read your super freakin interesting thoughts & ramble about my own ideas!! Thank you so much for sending this to me omg <333

[sleeplesssmoll]

Hey, I also finished event and isn't ending feels kinda rushed? Like it's kinda weird how Jessica did so much to make Blonney stay, but the second Vertin asks her to go with her, she agrees immediately and doesn't mention Blonney at all? Even when Blonney made almost the same proposal?

There are a few things I think could use some refinement but I do think Vertin and Blonney's proposals had a few key differences.

First off, we see how the humans treat Blonney. With limited access to the outside world, this gives Jessica her first impression of humans beyond Green Lake. They belittle and tease Blonney. In Jessica's eyes, Blonney is the most amazing person she knows (not that she knows many) and she still gets treated this way.

Jessica's conclusion: I would never fit in. I don't want to see the outside world. I will make Green Lake the perfect place and we can be happy here together.

Later, she meets Vertin and the others. She notes they are different from the people she normally deals with. As the story goes on, they team falls into “roles”. Tooth Fairy is the mediator. Sonetto is the one who gets stuff done. Horrorpedia is an information bank. Vertin is the problem solver who puts all the information together. She is the one they hand the clues to and with Horrorpedia's assistance, work through the mystery.

While Jessica was acting the entire time, the team's reactions are genuine. Vertin being the emotional support after she kills the butcher and asking her what her wishes are later are genuine acts of kindness.

Conclusion: Vertin isn't just a clever person, she's also nice. Jessica even mentions she's grown to like Vertin when they are talking about wishes.

Then we have the ending. What makes Blonney and Vertin's proposals different?

It starts here:

Blonney trying to bargain with her without truly understanding the problem. Jessica explains that in the time Blonney was away she grew up and changed. She doesn't want to wait anymore.

Here Blonney tries again, making an offer she may not be able to uphold (parents). She lists a bunch of things she likes to do to tries and convince Jessica but Jessica had a taste of the outside through Blonney's colleagues. Jessica brings up the fact one day her true form will be revealed and she'll be treated like a freak. She also doesn't understand a lot of the things Blonney is bringing up. Overall the proposal feels flimsy. Blonney is not only saying these things to try and escape. She truly wants Jessica to be happy too but she doesn't know how to accomplish this.

Vertin tries another route with similar intentions. She walks Jessica through why it wouldn't work because even if she stayed, things would get stale for Jessica. Keeping people here is not the key to her happiness, it only numbs her loneliness.

Vertin addresses her fears of rejection, loneliness, and boredom. After this, she brings up the crazy things she's seen around the world to entice her interest. She is not using discos malls to convince Jessica, but instead the dreams she has of music, meadows, and arcanists tomfoolery. She is offering her the life of an arcanist not the life of a human like Blonney did. Blonney is beginning to embrace her heritage, but she still has that human lifestyle etched into her persona. The things she offered are more associated with humanity than arcanum.

Then Vertin says this:

She promised to give what she can offer. There are no grandiose claims like Jessica who thinks she can everything someone needs or Blonney who wants to offer things but she doesn't have the means to really do it. Vertin is offering to do what she can. That is also why she is the only one able to make a promise. I don't even think Jessica used the word "promise" when she was making her offers meaning there is extra weight behind the word in her eyes.

Bonus headcannons that no one asked for but this is the perfect place to put it. Thanks for the opportunity anon lol

Have you ever had a friend gets along with animals? For example, stray cats approach them on their own. Bunnies, naturally skittish creatures, warm up to them quickly. The squirrels get way to close and they chill. I think Vertin could fall into that category.

In this moment, Jessica can sense her intentions and finds them to be genuine. (This is an assumption, I don't speak bambi.)

Anyway, this is how I processed the ending.

I'm biased because I loved seeing Vertin, Madam Z, and Tooth Fairy in this event but one thing I'd definitely fix is the translation.

I am certain they wanted to use the word "interested" but we ended up with "attracted". This is great meme material but as a lorecrafter, it really gets in the way. The devil is in the details of this game so it's easy to overlook/misunderstand something because of clunky translation.

[utilitycaster]

Hi I’m a new critter and I love your account and both your meta and your takes on “drama” I genuinely want to know (if you don’t mind saying of course) what you consider to be the most egregious, bad faith cr take that you’ve ever seen. I just like reading your criticism because it’s both incredibly articulate and smart but also very satisfying

Hi anon,

Thank you! I do have to say this is a difficult question with a boring answer but I'll give you a tangential one as well to make up for it.

Obviously, the misogyny and death threats in C1 are the worst! Anything that rises to the combination of structural oppression and literal death threats is going to be the worst, even before you factor in how utterly tiny the stakes were here (and, frankly, you shouldn't factor that in; doesn't matter what the cause is, big or small! Do not send death threats!)

The reason I tend not to talk about that is because there's very little to say. It's misogynistic death threats. That's awful, inexcusable, and dangerous in any context. But if someone doesn't understand how terrible this is, I don't think I can say anything to add to that.

Anyway because that was true, but obvious and not terribly revealing, I have been thinking a lot about mean-spiritedness in the fandom and I'll talk about that here. It's something I try to be cognizant of, because here's the thing: I talk a lot of shit. I'm aware I talk a lot of shit. There's many reasons why I talk a lot of shit. But I do try very hard not to be mean-spirited. I think there is a very clear distinction between criticism, even harsh criticism, of things you don't like, whether it's in execution, concept, or they just aren't to your taste; and mean-spiritedness, which is much more based in a desire to do harm to others.

I think again the example I've mentioned recently of people harassing Liam until he took a song off a Caleb character playlist is the pinnacle. This doesn't have any real goal re: criticism - it doesn't address an issue with the character nor the narrative and the only personal preference it reveals is "I, a random fan, don't like that this song was used in this context" which is not really relevant and you can skip it. Harassment is never justified, and even behavior that skirted harassment really served only to be a dick to Liam. It didn't have a single result other than "Liam takes the song off and feels kind of bad for a while," which I suspect was in fact the goal for most people, and that's pretty abhorrent.

Harsh criticism is not necessarily constructive, but it is with the intent to reveal - either a personal preference, or what you believe to be a flaw (structural, thematic, etc) within the story. It might not have a goal - personal preference really is just "I don't like this guy" and that's fine. Mean-spiritedness, however, exists just to spew bile and do harm.

So the following (most of which are paraphrased, but all are things I've personally seen on Tumblr alone, and nearly all are from the last year or so) aren't per se the most egregious or bad-faith takes, but they are absolutely mean-spirited. They have all destroyed my estimation of the people saying them for the most part beyond repair, and in many cases, if they have not hurt my estimation of the ship or character they were intending to support, they have certainly increased my estimation of the things they were intending to oppose. (And it goes without saying: any harassment - any - is automatically mean-spirited).

"I hope Fjord and Jester have divorced [author's note: they were not married] and I hope it hurt."

"I hope Caleb and that floaty fuck have broken up by the solstice."

"I hate Ashton, and Campaign 3 wouldn't be any different if they weren't there."

"My wishlist for this episode is that Chetney hits on Fearne and Ashton cockblocks him"

"I hope Fearne makes that robot eat his stupid coin"

"I'm not surprised that Yasha missed, because Yasha is bad at everything."

"Funny how Vex goes against her husband but does everything that Keyleth says" [Author's note: later proved to be hilariously untrue]

"No one cares about Travis's characters."

"Oh, Liam meant that Essek's own guilt would still exist by 'It won't help the inside?' I thought he was just being a fucking twat."

I think some people go into fandom not because they want to talk about characters, but because they see it as an opportunity to hit someone. I think some people believe they are entitled to a "win" (not normal to want nor possible to achieve and often less about the story and more about the fandom agreeing with them) and will engage in any tactic no matter how underhanded if they don't think they're getting it. That's what mean-spiritedness is in the end. It's not a single opinion, and often it goes under the radar compared to more stupid but less clearly unpleasant takes - a lot of the above didn't result in a ton of discourse because most people see these and rightfully go "oh that person is a tar pit" and block them - but it's certainly, outside of bigotry (which is also frequently also mean-spirited) - the most bad-faith approach to fandom on the whole.

[latibvles]

true north.

and we’re back! a little late but I plan on doing all ten prompts TRUST AND BELIEVE! on that note, this next one is wedding — so here’s inez, post-war, where the invitation to a wedding between friends pushes her to leave the nest for a third time. luckily alex’s door is always open. tagging @upontherisers for listening to me rock back and forth over them. I did an embarrassing amount of googling about trains for this one that's how you KNOW it got serious.

—

Maybe it’s not fair of her to say that the invite is what did her in.

No, the invitation was the most expected part of this — going to June and Benny’s wedding sounds and feels more normal than most things. It was always going to turn out this way, wasn’t it? A big wedding with everyone there, practically acting both as a celebration and a reunion. Most who wanted to keep contact, kept it, Inez herself included — but knowing June and Benny, they probably went the extra mile anyway to hunt down those who had disappeared.

The combination of June’s fierce determination and Benny’s kindness is a force in its own right.

Maybe it’s just the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Maybe it’s that Inez is walking into her family’s living room, and telling her mother she’ll be going to Chicago in next May for the ceremony — and then has to remind her who June Cielinski is.

“What classes didja have? Y’never told me about her!” She’s bouncing Judith on her knee — who’s entranced with her father’s car keys at the moment. Inez’s jaw clenched.

“No ma she’s— she’s from my crew. She was our bombardier.”

There’s a click of her mother’s tongue, a feigned recollection of a June and an unrelated anecdote about how she’d always liked that name, how it was a contender before they decided on Judith for her baby sister, who looks at Inez and smiles, showing off a missing tooth.

So maybe it’s not the invitation itself, but the reminders that stem from it. Everything, from the moment she set her bag down in her family’s doorway, has felt unequivocally wrong. She loves her family — Inez is sure of that — but maybe there was a reason Ben married so quickly and then moved all the way to Texas that Inez is only just now seeing. The only things that feel right are the things she’s done that are separate from this house.

The collection of letters she keeps under her bed, namely. She’d asked for Alex’s address impulsively, not expecting him to so willingly give it over. But he did — tore a page from his sketchbook and scribbled it for her, and she’d kept that piece of paper tucked in her pocket from the camp, to Paris, to London, all the way back here, until it was crumpled beyond recognition and the writing faded with time. That was when he was still living at home. Now they wrote pretty regularly, back and forth, which was… nice.

With a little help from his parents and after figuring out his finances, he’d gotten himself a place a little bit out of the city. I love Detroit, he writes, but I think the quiet’s doing me some good. Sometimes, he sends drawings. He tells her about how he’s thinking of picking up teaching, now that he’s in the Reserve, and she tells him to go for it. He’d be good at it. He has the patience for children.

She tells him about Judith, and how the baby takes after their brother Ben more than herself. She tells him about the job she’s picked up at the schoolhouse, as a teacher’s assistant and how grateful she is that she could find work after all this. She doesn’t tell him about how out of place she feels, how stuck she is. Some things you just don’t say through a letter, and some things you just don’t say at all.

That all sounds great, he writes, I’m happy for you, and she knows he means it. You spend roughly nine months with someone, you can usually deduce whether or not they’re saying things just to be nice or not. Alex doesn’t just say things to placate people. If you ever find yourself coming this way, my door’s always open.

She hopes he means that, too. If this were five years ago, leaving home might’ve been terrifying to her. Now though, it was thoroughly scratched from the list of things that made her sick to her stomach.

My invite to Benny and June’s wedding came in, she writes.

Mine too. Looking forward to seeing everybody, he writes back.

That’ll be May of next year. A nice spring wedding in Chicago — because some people really do have it all figured out. Inez is not one of them. Part of her, pessimistically so, thinks that she never will be. She’s not resentful of her friends for moving on with their lives. She’s just angry that she can’t seem to do it herself.

It’s funny how she can reach her limit and still endure. The AAF taught her that. She packs a bag, but it goes untouched in the back of her closet for two whole weeks. At the very least — it’s enough time to pocket an extra check.

It’s enough time to say that she’s thought it through. To have an epiphany — to come to terms with it. At least she remained time conscious despite the changes she went through. She was molded into a pot but cast so quickly that there’s a crack in her now that feels impossible to ignore.

Leaving feels more natural to her than staying, even if she’ll end up coming back to this place in a few days. That much she knows of. But as of right now, this house feels like a bird cage with the door left open; her parents were probably just waiting for her to leave.

She heads to the train station after helping her mom wash dishes, after Judith’s gone to bed. Inez doesn’t announce her leaving like she might’ve in the past. She just takes one of Alex’s letters and walks the length of the beaten old sidewalks until she makes it to the station. The last time she was here, she was happy to be home. Now leaving brings a strange sort of relief.

It’s three different trains she’ll have to take. She’d probably end up on his doorstep in the afternoon if her math is right. And it usually is.

Inez tries, feebly, to sleep on the first train — from Nashville to Louisville, but some habits she just can’t seem to break. Thorpe Abbotts and the air raids made her a light sleeper, and the Stalag made it worse. She jerks back into consciousness with every bump, every coo of a baby, every high pitched squeal of the rails when they roll into a station. She’s always half expecting to wake up in that block again to Savorre grunting in suppressed pain, or Harrie right next to her, face shoved into the flimsy pillows to muffle whatever onslaught of tears was overtaking her.

It’s never that, though. It’s always the dim lights of the train car, the quiet murmurings of its occupants, her bag clutched tightly to her chest like it was a person because she didn’t want to fumble with shoving it in the space above her. She’d rather have a familiar weight in her lap. Inez would hardly call it sleep, more like sporadic naps, broken up by her snaps into being awake and trying to make some sense of what state she’s in to little avail. She hits Louisville at 2:00am.

There’s still time for her to turn back but, well, that doesn’t exactly make much sense. Doesn’t sit right with her, so she doesn’t.

About halfway through the second train that takes her from Kentucky to Ohio — she’s a livewire really, bouncing her knee, rustling through her bag for a book Jo sent her a couple weeks ago. As 4am ebbs into 5am and the night sky starts shifting into the gray-blue of dawn, she’s becoming more and more restless, and by the time she’s getting on that last train in Ohio that’ll take her to Detroit, she can’t help but wonder if this is a terrible idea.

Her nail beds, already the subject of her merciless picking, are a nightmare to look at and she wonders if she can get away with keeping her hands hidden in the pockets sewn into her skirt once she gets there. If she gets there. She could ask about direct routes back home the moment she hits the station and it’d be like she was never even here. She hugs her bag tighter to herself, like it would provide her some comfort.

And by the time she hits Detroit, it’s almost noon, and the city is busy, and Inez is reminded vaguely of pins in a map — of her old pilot who’d smiled as she put her pin right in the heart of it. Yeah, this makes sense, is really the only conclusion she comes to as she tries to hail down a cab. She half expects her pilot to be the driver.

It isn’t though. His name is Frank. He’s nice. For the thirty minute drive out from Detroit to a more suburban area, something that looks a little more like home, he tells her about how business has really been booming in the past year with all the soldiers coming back from overseas.

He asks if she knew everyone who served. She nods and dismisses it with a “feels like everybody knows somebody,” that makes him smile and laugh in agreement.

But talking to Frank doesn’t much prepare her for pulling up to the house that matched the address in her pocket. It’s a small house with a bright green lawn — white siding and a small porch, a pair of work boots by the front door. A bag of fertilizer. No flowers in the boxes yet though. She can feel her heart in her throat as the cab pulls off and she stares at the path up for a long, silent moment.

It feels right, being here, but he could easily tell her to go away. What was she even supposed to say? Anything she could come up with sounded petulant. My mother forgot who June was so I left. My house feels like a cage. My parents keep pretending I didn’t go to war and it sucks. She eyes one of the spindly cracks working its way through the pavement and her hands ball into fists, her bag feeling impossibly heavy. She should go home. She could walk it, she was paying attention the whole drive over. It’s only noon, there’s gotta be a direct train from here t—

The sound of the screen door rattling as it opens and shuts is familiar. Her gaze snaps up.

Alex is in a white singlet and jeans, wiping his hands with a dirty rag when he catches her. The shock on his face is evident, then the confusion.

“Inez?” She thinks he’s beelining it towards her, but he stops by his mailbox first, opening it. “Did I– Did I miss a letter? I didn’t know you were—”

“No. No I just…” Inez cringes as she lets go of her bag and it lands beside her feet with a gentle thump, but she can’t help picking at her hands. “You said your door’s always open so I…” Her mouth opens and closes like a fish, scrambling for some explanation beyond a simple it feels right, coming here. He’s coming towards her now, with the familiar, friendly smile, and relief washes over her as he looks over her face, then reaches down to take her bag.

“How long are you here for?” he asks then, moving on from her shoddy explanation.

“I… I don’t know,” she admits, rubbing the nape of her neck. “It was a little bit of spontaneous decision making.” She elects to withhold the fact that instead of waiting until the next day for the next direct ride to Detroit, she’d taken three trains. That it was hardly impulsive when she had three train rides to think about it, and going home just didn’t sit right with her.

“Well you let me know when you find out. I’d hug you but…” He gestures to the state of him — dirt stains on the front of his white singlet, sweat from the August heat shining on his skin. Inez laughs, a little breathlessly and nods in agreement.

“Didn’t know you were a gardener.”

“I’m not. My mama says the front of the house looks too plain so she bought me a bunch of flowers to put in the front.” He lets her walk in front of him until they reach the door, and then he’s getting the door for her to let her into the small living room, bleeding into a kitchen. A couple dishes laid out on a towel on the counter, a blanket tossed over a moss-colored couch. The windows are open, letting in a breeze. She assumes the hallway leads to his bedroom.

“I can help with that,” Inez offers as he sets her bag by the door. “The flowers.”

He smiles at that, something wide and warm and familiar in a way that doesn’t hurt — and Inez finds herself smiling back.

[wildpeachfarm]

okay buckle up because this will probably end up pretty long but:

While there are similarities in both situations there are some major differences in many aspects:

1

First Caitis claim was originally that she got touched under her shirt which got interpreted as in on the waist and that’s what George confirmed, later she changed it/clarified? it was her boobs?

Beaus claim is she got kissed and then the guy proceeded to start making out with her which she described as basically more kissing

2

Caiti in her first stream says she was “freshly eighteen” which got quickly disproven based on her birthday and when vidcon happened and she is very firm on letting people know that the guy was 8 years older than her and that he definitely knew her age. Which later George addressed and said that no he didn’t know her age and he assumed she was over 21 based on the information he had. Caiti is clearly trying to make people come to conclusions that it was predatory

Beau never tries to paint the guy as predatory, they were I think both 17 or similar age. The guys response is “omg she is trying to paint me as predatory”

3

George is very empathetic in his response, while he shows his perspective he is still mindful of Caitis perspective and feelings and asks people tobe supportive to her

The guy Beau confronts starts going around telling their mutual friends “she lied” and when she posted about it on twitter denied everything, didn’t think about her feelings at all and again claims she is trying to paint him as predatory and destroy his career.

4

Beaus main problem isn’t that the guy is bad for making her uncomfortable, it’s the way he and their friends reacted after she talked to them how it made her uncomfortable to the point of having a panic attack in his bathroom

In Georges situation bo one seems to care about his response from the beginning and immediately write him off as a terrible person that can never learn and change

5

obviously the brightons bastards different reactions:

- not hearing out the victim vs not hearing out the guy who got accused

- different response when the guy who is accused is their friend vs someone they disliked for a long time

- jumping to tweeting about it vs the only response publicly is maxggs priv tweet yesterday qrting a dream stan that he stopped being friends with beau for different reason obviously not further explanation and that he only laughed about her on stream few times and later let her know about it???

6

Caitis story having many inconsistencies, things being corrected by George with evidence

Beau telling her story and being called a liar by the guy who she accused with no evidence she is and her friends just immediately believing the guy

idk if there’s more but here are things I immediately noticed

similarities is both stories are girls getting uncomfortable but not sa. different reactions from all sides in both stories to them?

yeah I'd say this is a decently fair assessment of it all but a few quick notes for those who want to be picky with details:

george confirmed "under the shirt touching", people originally took that to mean the waist (because that was how most people interpreted her initial claim) however he never specified beyond that iirc so I just wanna make it clear in case people wanna be picky about wording lol

I will say, as soon as Beau called it sexual assault, she is accusing this guy of SA. So to say her main problem is with how her ex-friends reacted is a bit inaccurate considering she is also essentially accusing this guy of a crime. Now, how much of her friends behavior rather than the guy's behavior contributed to her trying to commit multiple times? we don't really know. So i get what you were trying to say in making that point

but overall yes there are many differences which I think is why people have been saying not to compare them (on twitter) because the details are quite nuanced in each of them for different reasons and if you don't acknowledge that, then you're not representing each situation fairly or accurately I suppose.

[theamazingannie]

Oh I fucking hated that Manifest ending it made absolutely no sense. Rant and spoilers under cut.

Why in hell would they go back to 2013 and undo everything that happened over the last 11 years??? Sure the passengers are forever changed, but what about Olive’s journey? Jared and Drea? All of the other nonpassengers who grew and learned and became something better because of this story? And why them? Zeke survived his death date and he didn’t go back (at least, not until he died the second time). Zeke got to have cool powers and it kinda sucks cuz he was the only one we know who survived his death date so he’s the only one we got to see be affected by it. It would’ve been cool to see what the passengers could do and also how the rest of the world would have reacted. The world HATED the 828ers and instead of getting some resolution with them finding out that the 828ers saved the world, they just all never actually experienced it?

Also, wasn’t something that was a hidden gift in the whole thing that Saanvi’s research had time to develop during those 5 1/2 years? If they go back, then Cal would still be sick and without the research this time. That undos all of that and the connection that that made between Saanvi and the Stones and how fate connected them in so many ways. And they specifically said that they needed time to finish her research and start the trials. He would’ve been dead if he waited. That was a specific point.

Because of the time pause, Olive is now significantly younger than TJ, which the show addresses by making him look at her sadly and then sets him up with Violet. Not only did they steal Olive’s story and growth, they also just completely ruined their relationship that I loved. Plus, they never really gave them a satisfying ending pre-apocalypse. All they did was have Olive say she wanted to fix things so they could have a future together, only for that to now be impossible (unless they meet again in like 10 years when it’s a less weird age gap). This is kind of a smaller reason, but it still bugs me cuz they had such potential to be a great ship and were constantly pushed under a rug, especially there at the end.

And what are they supposed to do now? This is a problem in a lot of time travel/day repeating stories where someone changes seemingly overnight with no explanation except instead of just one person, it’s almost 200. 200 people who know things about the next 11 years, who have been changed beyond recognition, who are now going to change so much stuff in the future that didn’t need to be changed. Yeah, they’re all better people now and will work to do good (allegedly) yadda yadda. What about all the passengers who fell in love with nonpassengers that they now may never meet? Or, like TJ and Olive, can’t be together because of the time jump. Yeah Mick found Zeke and now they can be happily ever after, but what about the nonpassengers who were changed in the years between and now aren’t the same person that the passenger fell in love with? So many of us are shaped by our experiences. What happened to all the other passengers, to their stories? What if the person that they fall in love with’s life is altered because of the choices another passenger makes? What if they move to another state, fall in love with someone else, die??? Another issue tule travel causes is that even the smallest action can domino into something completely different, even just one person let alone TWO HUNDRED. I know that this is probably not something most people think about and they just pay attention to Grace and Zeke being alive and all the happy moments, but it’s not that simple for me and it BUGS ME when writers don’t consider this.

Lastly, on a similar note, how is this any different than it ending with “it was all a dream”??? Like nothing actually changes, none of their callings are set in stone and they’ll have to remember every single thing they did during those 5 1/2 years, things that won’t happen until YEARS later. Ugh I just so hated the way they ended things and it sucks cuz I love this show a lot.

[leejenowrld]

and kind of as an addendum — if you’re so scared of being unloved/unworthy and in essence determined to see the worst of things, the only person who can really decide to fix things is you — you have to want to change, and no amount of reassurance from other people will fix that unless you’re willing to take those steps. mc clearly isn’t there yet — she avoids things and spirals pretty damn far, and even if mark was the most perfect person ever, unless she’s genuinely willing to go the distance, there’s only so much he can do. it sucks. like it sucks ass. but if she decides to ghost him instead of communicating w him, it just goes to show that she’s not ready — and she has work to do on her own if she wants to actually be in a healthy relationship w mark

mc ghosting isn’t a thing i’ve said that will fully happen though!!! like it could but you’ll just have to wait and see how part 5 will be written. i was just trying to mess with you guys lol sorry (it’s a bad trait😭) but i wanted to respond to your ask as i find it interesting and there’s a few things i want to point out and address!! <33

i get what you’re saying, and yeah, there’s truth in the idea that if someone is stuck in a mindset of unworthiness, the only person who can truly pull them out of it is themselves. but i think it’s also worth noting that change—especially when it’s tied to deeply rooted insecurities and fears—isn’t linear, and it’s not something you can flip a switch on overnight. mc is flawed, no doubt about that, but her actions aren’t coming from a place of malicious intent; they’re coming from fear, from the weight of years of feeling like she’s not enough. does she make mistakes? absolutely. but i think just because she may be ghosting or shutting down entirely doesn’t mean she’s ‘not ready’ to be in a healthy relationship or to find love.

the thing is, being in a relationship doesn’t mean you have to be completely fixed or free of all your issues. relationships aren’t about perfection; they’re about growth, learning, and having someone who helps you see beyond the worst parts of yourself. mark isn’t just some perfect savior who’s there to fix her—he’s her partner. someone who, yes, deserves communication and effort, but also someone who understands that healing isn’t always straightforward. if she were to shut him, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be with him; it means she’s overwhelmed, scared of hurting him, and probably scared of being hurt herself.

if anything, if mc were to ghost or spiral it’s a sign of how much she cares. it’s not the right way to handle things, and she absolutely has work to do—both in how she sees herself and in how she navigates her relationships—but that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of being in one. people don’t come into relationships fully formed. growth often happens alongside love, not outside of it. i’m such a strong believer in that due to personal experiences.

so while i do agree that reassurance alone can’t fix everything, i think it’s reductive that hypothetically mc has to fully ‘fix herself’ before she can be in a relationship with mark. part of the beauty of their connection is that mark sees her, flaws and all, and still chooses to stand by her, encouraging her to face those fears instead of running from them. the real question isn’t whether she’s ‘ready’ for a relationship but whether she’s willing to let herself be vulnerable enough to grow into it—and that’s something that takes time, missteps, and, honestly, a lot of love.

also i do believe that yn is someone who tries :( even if her way, which might not look obvious but that doesn’t mean the effort isn’t there. she really did try to make him happy at the end of chapter 4, remember, she was the one who made the first move to making their relationship official

[driftward]

Title: FFXIV Write 2023 - 22. Fulsome Characters: Zoissette Vauban Rating: Teen Summary: Sometimes you just need another perspective Notes: None

Zoissette wandered the streets of Ul'dah as the Rising remembrance ceremonies occurred around her, as lost as ever. It had been over a moon since she had returned from her unfortunate voyage through the rift, and it was only now that she felt up for travel alone. She wanted to visit the merchants, browse the shops, and remind herself of where she had once been.

The Rising seemed an oddly apt time to do so. The time when the realm came together, to remember. Now a time for her to pull herself together and try to do the same.

Everything seemed so distant, now. She was no longer certain she had a place to belong.

Everyone had been helpful since she had come back. More than she deserved.

And these days it seemed she could not help but be open with them, emotions spilling out of the cracks of her soul, free flowing and beyond her control. It scared her, a bit. She did not know how to be like that. But everyone had been kind and understanding of their newly awkward friend. Letting her stumble over her words and stammer her apologies and they were all pretending to be understanding.

How could they though. She did not understand herself.

She stared up into the sky as the fireworks went off loud overhead, showing spectacular shapes in the sky, their light flickering along the walls. She watched, transfixed for a while, before she wandered to someplace away from the noise.

The place she found herself had been decorated in a most unusual way. Strings zig zagged back and forth from pillar to fountain, along the walls, from every high point. And on those strings dangled envelopes like leaves, each marked in a unique manner.

Zoissette frowned and was studying the envelopes intently when a Miqo'te dressed in a manner that suggested they were one of the attendants of the celebration came up to her.

"Can I help you?" asked Zoissette, and the Miqo'te smiled up at them, and Zoissette could look straight into her purple eyes and see the cataracts there. An older woman, then.

Something tugged at her memory but did not quite come forward.

"Why, I think that's what I'm supposed to ask you. Are you lost, adventurer?"

"I think I am. I mean. Uhm. Sorry. I am sure I meant to say, I am lost in thought."

It seemed she could not keep herself from blurting the dumbest things these days.

The Miqo'te turned slightly, and gestured all around.

"This is the letter forest. Letters from around the realm. Gratitude. Encouragement. Sympathy. I think you should read a few. They'll help you find your way."

Zoissette looked at her curiously, but after a moment, she looked up at one of the letters, and reached up, and gently removed it from its line, and flipped it over in her hands.

It was just an envelope. Nothing remarkable. None of the usual stamps or addresses on it, just a single picture, drawn by an experienced hand, of lamp posts of all things.

She opened it. A message, from someone unknown, as they had not signed it. But they were apparently someone who had a hand in the design and placement of lighting posts throughout the realm. A job they found joy in, knowing they were helping light the way for their fellow citizens. In the letter, they hoped that in particular, that adventurers might see the lights that would help guide them home.

Zoissette smiled. It was a sweet sentiment, clearly felt, honestly expressed. She tucked the letter back into the envelope and put it back where it came from, and looked around to ask the attendant a question, but they had vanished.

Odd. She was usually more observant than that.

She looked around to try to seek them out, but it seemed they had well and truly left the area. There was another attendant not so far away, standing more central to the area, but they were talking to others, and anyroad, Zoissette did not wish to be a nuisance.

She was curious, though. And apparently the purpose of the letter forest was that anyone could read any letter they liked. Reading them all would take too long, but curiosity compelled her to at least read one more.

This one had a picture of a chocobo. Judging from its contents, it was a porter, pleased to take care of their birds, and pleased to be a help to the realm. A lower cost alternative to aetherytes, and an imminently more accessible one as well, for those who could not well dip into deep anima wells. In particular, the porter expressed joy at meeting adventurers just starting their journeys, knowing that by providing them with such an easy start, they would have the opportunity to do great things.

She stared at the letter for a bit, and read it again before putting it back. Almost without thinking, she reached for another one, with a picture of a bill board. They spoke of how the first ones had been placed out almost on a whim, but the locals took to them with vim, as adventurers stopped to read them. They recounted how they had become a lodestone of sorts, a way for people to find and speak with one another, to reach out, connections made and carried forward. Connections made between strangers. And now the practice had spread through the realm, and they tended their most diligently, seeing what good had come of the practice.

Connections. Just like the letters in this letter forest. Connections between strangers. Well wishes sent out into a seeming uncaring void, but found by those who did and could care.

Eagerly now, Zoissette found others, and she found the story always much the same. Fulsome praise and joy and just plain hope were full on display. She had always treated praise with light suspicion, always felt that anyone expressing gratitude to her was just being polite. After all, that was what one was supposed to do. If someone did something nice, and you benefitted from it, you thanked them. Even if it was their job, even if it was expected due to a difference in station.

It was a lesson her mother had instilled in her. Always be polite. Even if she had always felt genuine when she did the same, it was difficult for her to read it in others when she received it. After all, why would they be? She was a noble woman, then an officer, then an assessor, then an adventurer. She was just doing what was expected of her, nothing more, nothing less, and kind words given to her were as empty expectations, even as her care for the star always compelled her to act.

But here.

None of these people knew her, but they all knew her. Here, these were all strangers, but they were so full of love and care for their fellow, that they sat and wrote and drew and delivered a message they would never see received. Messages spun out, leaves in a tree, adrift in the serendipitous wheel, certain to be lost to history.

Every message sent in the hope it would be read, and nothing more.

Every message sent, meaning to deliver hope to those who read it.

Every message said what Zoissette had always felt, I love you, I love you, I love you.

Zoissette had always believed in her heart of hearts that the inherent state of person was good. That each strove for it, in their own way. Peaceful lives, tomorrow to be much like today, but maybe just a little brighter if they had a say. And that was what the letter forest was trying to say, in every picture, in every pen whorl.

She hung one last letter up delicately, and became aware that her breathing had become shaky and unsteady. She put her hand in her mouth to stop from making noise, and wiped her face with the back of her other hand, and it came away wet, with tears.

How had she not seen it, all of these years?

They were not strangers. They were her friends. They were her family. They had always been right there, all around.

Weakly, she stumbled her way back out, to sit heavily on the stairs. High in the sky above, the fireworks continued, exploding, leaving their mark in the heavens and spreading their light to whoever could see.

Zoissette looked up and watched them, a smile on her face, as her tears continued to flow, free.

[thecrankiestofgremlins]

Aight imma go on a rant about employment law because that's what I'm studying and planning to put my career into. I should note this is UK law, however *some* of this shit is pretty universal. Also, obvious disclaimer, this isn't legal advice.

1. EMPLOYMENT LAW IS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF EMPLOYERS. THIS CAN MAKE THEM ARROGANT. UK employment law gives them a huge amount of leeway and is largely written in their favour, and they STILL regularly manage to go over the line to the point of absolute absurdity, to the point of accidentally creating beautifully complete evidence trails for employees to use in tribunal. Why do they do this? Because UK employment law is entirely enforced by individual employees and between the costs of a lawyer and the implied threat that if you take your employer to tribunal you'll never work in your field again (not universally true BTW), they assume they will never be taken to task for it. Employees are generally reluctant to take their employers to tribunal because of the above. What this means though, is if an employee *does* take them to tribunal, the evidence trail is usually extensive AS LONG AS the employee has taken steps to preserve it.

2. SAVE YOUR EMAILS. Any email sent to you by an employer regarding your employment in any way belongs to you. Send that shit to your personal email address, whether or not you think it's sketchy. For every employer. Keep your paper trail. You don't know when you might need it. This goes extra for things like performance reviews/flexible working/reasonable adjustment requests/etc.

3. NOT EVERYTHING IN YOUR CONTRACT IS ENFORCEABLE BY THE EMPLOYER. Employers *love* to stick exclusion clauses in or try to say that handbooks don't form part of your employment contract. They also like to do things like try to classify you as a self employed contractor when really, if you apply the relevant law, you are an employee and have the rights of an employee. Just because your contract says a thing doesn't mean it is the be all and end all. Think of it this way: if you only did what your employer required in writing in the contract, would they be pissed? If so, your contract is probably shit.

4. READ THE DAMN CONTRACT. Make sure you know the ins and outs of your job description, what's expected of you, your pay, overtime policy, where you're expected to work, etc. Just because you might not be able to negotiate it doesn't mean you shouldn't know what it says. This also goes for any employment handbooks. Know what the limits are, know what your hours are, know what your benefits are. Chances are good the employer will ask you to go above and beyond them, or try to pretend you don't have a contractual right to something when you absolutely do. Also, you *can* negotiate on more than you think. For example: employers are not allowed to make deductions from your pay beyond PAYE and National Insurance, UNLESS they have been contractually agreed beforehand. Check to see if they're trying to add a bunch of extra permitted deductions and *challenge* that shit if you feel able to. (My favourite is requiring supposed independent contractors to pay for a uniform. Highly unlikely that you're actually an independent contractor at that point plus fuck you if you want to control what I wear pay for it your damn self).

5. DO NOT OPT OUT OF NATIONAL WORKING TIME REGULATIONS. This is a pretty standard extra inclusion in most people's employment contracts in the UK. It shows up as an extra page of the contract with a separate signing line because they're not allowed to include that requirement as a contractual obligation (in most cases: the big exception is emergency workers) National Working Time Regs limit the amount of hours an employer can require from an adult (over 18) employee to 48 hrs on average, that average being taken over a period of 17 weeks. However, employees can opt out of this, hence the extra piece of paper. The employer cannot dock your salary/terminate your employment/treat you in any negative way if you do not sign this piece of paper. They include it with the contract so that people *assume* they have to sign it. If you're employed and have already signed it, you can opt back in by notifying your employer in writing. Generally this will mean a 3 month period before the regs apply to you again. But *do it*.

6. IF YOUR HOURS ARE VARIABLE, KEEP TRACK OF THEM INDEPENDENTLY. If you don't have a 9-5 contract, this applies to you. This is to make sure that if there's a dispute, you have a record that *you* made of those hours. Ya know, in case the employer decides to conveniently forget about them. I watched OXFORD UNIVERSITY try this shit in a tribunal and they got absolutely wasted because a) it was so obvious (they'd deleted hours spent on marking) and b) the employees had kept an independent record.

7. IF YOUR EMPLOYER DOES SOMETHING SHITTY, YOU HAVE 3 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THAT SHITTY THING TO SUE THEM FOR IT. It's one of the shortest time limits in UK law (remember when I said the law is written in employers' favour?), and that time is *only* paused when you involve ACAS (I'll explain ACAS in a sec) and the timer starts again once ACAS issues their certificate. It does NOT stop if you're trying to resolve the issue through internal grievance processes, and attempting to resolve the issue internally is not an acceptable argument if you're trying to extend that time (which you can, under specific circumstances, but try not to rely on that bc it's iffy at best) (yes you can also argue that there have been continuing acts but at that point you need to talk to a lawyer because there are specific rules around that too). There are. So many cases. That I've come across personally. That would be an absolute slam dunk EXCEPT they're out of time.

8. IF YOU WANT TO SUE YOUR EMPLOYER YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ACAS FIRST. Employment law is the only area of law where you are legally required to try to do mediation first. How much you engage with the mediation is up to you, however the more you do, the better it looks. Mediation does not mean you have to agree with the employer! It just means you get to ask them the questions you want to ask them in official channels. That said, if they roll over and give you what you want during these negotiations, you kind of have to take it: English law says that civil courts can only give you money as a remedy. As much as you might want to have your day in court, civil courts are legally only for getting money out of people, not primarily for the public administration of justice. Yes I hate this too. If you don't take it, the court won't like it and there is a potential that the court *could* award your employer their costs. ACAS can also give you help explaining how the process works etc. Make sure you contact them and start the process ASAP as soon as you decide the thing is worth suing over.

9. READ THE EQUALITY ACT 2010. There are 9 protected characteristics under UK law: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Broadly speaking, your employer cannot treat you negatively because of any of these characteristics. There are qualifications and limits to how far this goes, obviously, but broadly speaking, this is the case. I'll do another post later going into some of this in more detail because the topic is huge but taking a look at the sections that may apply to you is a good start.

10. NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD A LAWYER OUTRIGHT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN YOURE OUT OF OPTIONS. First, you *can* represent yourself. It's not an option I'd suggest before you've exhausted all your other options but it is possible. The issue is that you probably don't speak legalese or have access to legal databases, but there is still research you can do on Google. Don't trust everything you read though. Law firm websites are a good place to start, as they tend to write decent articles on the basics of a given issue and they can point you towards some case law. You can also call Citizens Advice for a jumping off point. If you're representing yourself though, the only things you can really reference in court are a) legislation, b) case law, and c) practitioners texts. Remember, case law explains how legislation actually works: it doesn't apply to every situation you might think is covered by it.

Second, most solicitors firms offer free 15-30 minute consultations, where you go in, give them the basics of the situation, and they give you some advice and can signpost you to somewhere you can get more information. This can be really, really helpful and I'd suggest it even if you're planning on repping yourself.

Third, a lot of firms also offer something called a no-win-no-fee agreement, which is about what it says on the tin: if you don't win, you don't pay. Each firm will have different stipulations regarding these, so you should ask what these are. The problem though, is if the firm doesn't think you have a winnable case, they are unlikely take it on that basis (because that means they don't get paid and that's a lot of work not to get paid for). If you do win, they generally take a piece of your winnings as payment (so sometimes they won't do it because you're not claiming enough). It's not a guarantee, but IMHO it's a good option if you have a good case.

Last, there are the pro bono organisations. A lot of places will have a regional pro bono law clinic. These may or may not be able to take your case all the way to tribunal, but if not they should be able to refer you to an org that can. London and its immediate surrounding area has the Free Representation Unit, for example (your case has to be referred to them by another org, usually one of the clinics) but if they can take up your case, they can take it all the way to tribunal and even appeals. Since Legal Aid isn't a thing in employment law (except for discrimination), a lot of these organisations have an absolutely fucking massive caseload though, so there isn't a guarantee that they'll be able to take your case.

I'm sure I'll think of more to add to this later, but this is just the bare bones basic shit that *everyone* should know. A lot of cases don't get brought because people don't know that they a) have rights, b) they don't hold onto documents, c) they don't start the claim in time, or d) all of the above. Given that employment law is only enforceable by the individual, the only way to get employers to play by the rules more often is if people start enforcing it. It's a shit way to do it, but it's what we've got at the moment.

If people find this useful and would like this to be a regular thing, lmk.

[emblazons]

hi marie, its me again <3 the anon with byler doubt haha ... you made such great points! and tysm for such a thorough response.

I am SO CURIOUS how do you think they'll get Mike and Will together? I think that's the aspect that has me doubting the most because it feels so so MESSY and they can very easily mess it all up if they aren't careful.

Explaining Mike's internalized homophobia etc might be something too difficult to unpack in just one season, on top of everything else going on as well with the world literally ending. I also don't know what the point was of having Mike say he loved Eleven if it wasn't true, what do you think they were trying to achieve with that?

Do we truly think she'd be okay with breaking up with Mike? And if the answer is yes, how will that affect Mike and El's dynamic going forward, you think? Will they really not only break up milkvan, but leave elmike underdeveloped in favor of Byler?

I look at the Steve/Nancy/Jonathan love triangle and that has been a mess for seasons now and still no resolution, so I don't know how they'll do it for Mike and Will. I fear they'll go for the "easy route" (aka milkvan endgame) to focus on the supernatural and other characters more. Because if Byler is endgame I feel like they'd need to devote a great chunk of the season to them in order to explain wth is going on with Mike specifically + giving him closure with El.

I suppose something else that gives me doubt is how Mike and Will have been sidelined in these last few seasons to give more screentime/protagonism to other characters and dynamics, so I don't know if I can fully believe the Duffers care THAT much about romantic!Byler if that makes sense.

Hopefully this all doesn't sound overly pessimistic or something, I am genuinely curious about your thoughts in some of these more like looking for reassurance tbh! Especially after reading your response to my first ask <3 TYSM once again!!

hello again!

To be honest, you've got a lot of questions that require separate (and equally detailed) responses, but...let me see if I can briefly explain each, and maybe link to other analyses I've done that might help make sense of why I say.

note: some of these are just my frankest opinions unfiltered, but I do have analytical reasons for all of them. Your questions are also asking things it's taken several rewatches and a year to sort through so...apologies if you just get the simplest version of the idea delineated here haha. also, a cut, because this got really long.

1: How do you think they'll get Mike and Will together? Transparently? I'm not really all that into specifics, because expecting specific things means I'm going to fall into the trap of thinking I'm the one writing it when I'm not and then say The Duffers "lied" or "messed up" because I expected something they never put in there. That said—in terms of plain setup, they will need to address the painting because that was a critical plot point from damn near minute one of S4, and now it's become fully integrated with not only Will's feelings for Mike, but Mike's own sense of El's feelings for him.

Beyond that...I think El will need to be the one to initiate the "complete" breakup, because she's the one who wanted space in the first place, the one who is repeatedly having her romantic partner paralleled to parental and tragic figures, the one refuses to be vulnerable & who built lies into their relationship...and the one whose general arc centers around reclaiming autonomy and choice from the men in her life. I also think Mike will be the one to initiate the romantic aspect, if its not a bit mutual.

2: Mike's internalized homophobia etc might be something too difficult to unpack in just one season - I disagree. We managed to sort through introducing Will's romantic feelings and sense of his queerness in a single season just fine...and Mike has had queer-coding show up throughout every season if you know what you're looking for.

The fact that this boy already has a one way sign into his closet, has repeatedly yelled about "boys only" every season AND shows clear signs of male attraction already has most people (even the supposed 'GA') suspicious of his sexuality, and combined with his devotion to will + the wider context, there are plenty of ways to introduce the idea of him liking boys explicitly that don't require any intense delineation...unless you expect them to say "he's gay" out loud, which they didn't do when Robin came out, and still haven't done for Will either...despite everyone knowing damn well they're gay.

3: I also don't know what the point was of having Mike say he loved Eleven if it wasn't true - I think that most of the breakdowns I've done of parentified!mike make clear that the love he has for her is somewhat genuine...though its being written as misplaced familial love, because he spent so much time believing he needed "a girl" to assuage his insecurities.

While I absolutely lean toward a gay!Mike reading myself, it's still clear even without a label that Mike's love mirrors Hopper's more than it resembles any of the love given by potential romantic partners to other women across the show—and Mike, given that he was being told by Will that El needed him to say he loved her for her to win, did what he thought was necessary to help her.

I do not think his love for her is a lie—I simply think it isn't romantic, and has now been so conflated with something negative in El's mind that it wouldn't matter if he mean't it romantically anyway. That said: narratively, Mike had to say he loved El because unless the fullness of what was expected (an I love you) was accomplished, it would hang over the story and any relationship Byler might have. El needed to hear it...so she could reject it, which she did.

4: Do we truly think she'd be okay with breaking up with Mike? yes. I think El will be absolutely 300000% just fine being broken up with Mike lmao. She has Hopper back now (who she was mourning the loss of, and therefore looking to fill with Mike emotionally), on top of having Max's "there's more to life than stupid boys" at the fore of her mind saving her.

Mike is also paralleled to parental and abusive figures in El's mind, on top of the fact that she has been keeping him at an emotional distance for the entirety of S4. Given that she and Lucas will probably also get closer in the search for Max...I'm quite sure she's not going to take it as hard as people imagine, especially given the fact that we already know she was happiest in S3 when they were broken up.

I also don't have any expectation of ElMike being super close friends (beyond party bonds + civility) either, which...I mean if you are I apologize but. I don't see that happening in canon, so them being developed deeply as friends before the show ends is not important to me as a plot point, and doesn't really have any canonical backing considering their ongoing lack of platonic connection outside of the necessary + lack of common interest. That's even a note thematically in the show...which means its makes sense for them not to be that close by the end of the narrative.

5: Steve/Nancy/Jonathan love triangle and that has been a mess for seasons now and still no resolution, so I don't know how they'll do it for Mike and Will. Truth be told, that love triangle has a resolution—Nancy has chosen Jonathan, and continues to, even though she flirted with Steve when she felt lonely. Nancy's arc has always centered around choosing something different than her parents and has from S1—her brief flirtation with Steve aside, her loyalty to Jonathan hasn't changed, though they are absolutely not a perfect couple.

If anything, the end of S4 set up Jonathan and Steve learning to be friends less so than anything implying Nancy might choose Steve instead—Jonathan is finally in a narrative position to choose something for himself now which frees him up to be honest with Nancy, and even outside of that, Nancy is far more likely to end up with single than she is with Steve—which is the exact opposite of how they've set up Mike to be with Will rather than El over the course of the season.

6: I fear they'll go for the "easy route" (aka milkvan endgame) to focus on the supernatural and other characters more. I don't agree. The supernatual plot has always been well-integrated with the romantic elements in every couple across the board, from Mike's "first love lost" energy happening when El disappeared in S1, Lumax bonding in S2 in a fight with demodogs, Jancy's bonding across S2-3 happening in the lab seeing the gate, while Will was un-possessed, and while they fought the thing monster in the hospital....and Jopper in Russia fighting a demogorgon in S4.

The Duffers have never slacked in setting up their romances in conjunction with the supernatual plots, and there's no reason to think they're gonna start with Byler, especially given Will's mirroring of Vecna/Henry, the way the day his disappeared is the day the UD is frozen, and how he's the one who can sense him...while now having Mike glued to his side.

7: if Byler is endgame I feel like they'd need to devote a great chunk of the season to them in order to explain wth is going on with Mike specifically + giving him closure with El. The 5th season is going to bring all of the characters together again, and they've already said Will is central to that. I've written before about the reason why they had to sideline Will in their plot to make a narrative point, but regardless...like I said before, if you know how to read subtext, Mike being queer won't come as all that much of a surprise.

Note: I've done several (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) analyses on Mike and his arc, which might help.

Beyond that...again, I honestly don't think The Duffers care much to make ElMike besties like fanon seems to think they should be (they haven't done it with any of the other romantic couples they've broken up) so...closure can include civility and acceptance for them the way it did S2 Steve with Jancy, imo. What Mike needs most is to gain the courage to accept himself and realize he doesn't need a girl to assuage his insecurities—and him being casual friends with El the same way he is casually supportive canonically with Max makes more sense than trying to skirt over all the mess of their relationship for the sake of an attached fandom ☠️

—that was a lot to cover, but hopefully that cleared up my position on a lot of your questions? I would also encourage you to take a look at my ST commentary tag & analyses highlights list (soon to be updated again) and even my asks for more context, on top of maybe giving the show a rewatch in its entirety if you can.

Sidebar: I also encourage you to dig into my Duffer Brothers tag and commentary (see bottom of the page), because knowing who made the show is just as helpful as understanding the show itself.

Its really easy to get caught in other people's wants and headcanons for the show if you don't keep going back to it yourself, so—as lovingly as possible, I really do encourage you to just sit and watch it with the "byler knowledge" you have from users like me, your other fave analysts, and maybe some of the "old guard" like @kaypeace21, who was integral in my own development of opinions before I dug in for myself. If you're ever doubting, that's always your best bet.

That said: It's literally impossible to summarize a framework crossing nearly 37 hours of TV in a single ask (or even 20)...which is why I've got almost a year worth of posts about it (and have evolved my depth of understanding dramatically over time).

The same way you can't spark notes your way through a degree without missing a lot of context, even me saying this with evidence won't help a lot if you haven't dug into it yourself—and doubt will repeatedly creep in if you're trusting me over the show itself, even though the show is where I've pulled all this from lmao.

—this got really long, but....I hope it helped. And again, sorry if I seemed short anywhere lmao. This was a lot to cover. Still, as always, thanks for the ask!

[likebreadandwine]

Glad it was worded respectfully enough to warrant such an informative response, lol. It's just one of those cases where another person's experience is so different from my own that I honestly can't help but inquire about it and compare notes, so to speak

The way you described flirting is particularly interesting because, on the one hand, I feel like that's an approach that a lot of us take on the internet. There's a general, mutual understanding that we're all going to be more openly flirty and teasing with each other in kink spaces than we otherwise may be in other contexts, with the added footnote that it probably won't go anywhere beyond that most of the time unless there's mutual interest and actual effort involved (some of us understanding/respecting that more/less than others). And, I think a lot of us do tend to enjoy 'performing' to varying degrees, enjoying "the audience's reaction", as you put it. It's fun to feel a little thrill yourself, but it's just as fun to know you've pushed someone else's buttons too

On the other hand, flirting is often understood as the lead-in to more intimate activities, be they sexual or sensual. Though, in my book, it's hard to find satisfaction in one without the other. Sexual intimacy works for me when there's an understanding that it's supported by sensual and emotional intimacy, otherwise it feels...cheap? Not that sex is cheap or that people who just wanna fuck are lesser creatures in any way, it's just rarely something that I crave on its own because it's not the only thing I crave (even when I'm browsing kinks, I almost always gravitate towards things where two people/characters are really into each other). Likewise, while sensual/emotional intimacy is incredibly important to me, I'm wired in such a way that having no sexual intimacy behind it would be like biting into a burger and finding out that it's only buns with nothing in between. Those buns could be some 10/10 bread, but it's just not a burger without everything in between

So, hearing that a lot of this sort of stays 'surface level' for you is certainly interesting. I'm sorry that the one situation you mentioned ended so poorly (especially since feelings are definitely a lot harder to understand and communicate at that age), but that example does beg the question, have you ever looked into what demisexuality entails and do you think you relate to it in any way?

you're totally spot on re: online kink talk/flirting. we're all a bit more open and teasing here than we might be in other contexts. the confidence I've built here has also translated to my encounters offline—I've become kind of a bold flirt lol.

it sounds like sexual, sensual, and emotional intimacy are all tied together for you, which makes sense! (excellent burger analogy.) they're not linked like that for me.

to address your question: I don't identify with demisexuality, because on those rare occasions I've felt some kind of physical attraction to someone, it was immediate. I felt it the day we met, not after developing an emotional bond.

I used to identify as grey-ace, and I think that label makes a lot of sense for me: I experience some kind of physical attraction, albeit rarely, and I'm clearly pretty involved in this sexual kink space, including actively teasing and encouraging folks. I would say I'm sex-neutral: I'm not really interested but I'm not repulsed either.

so why don't I use it anymore? well, that person I mentioned—that was the most I'd ever been attracted to someone. if we were in the same room, I wanted them to be touching me (and when they did touch me, it was like warmth spreading across my whole body and sparking fireworks under my skin). plus, I was totally in love. we shared hobbies and friends and interests, we had deep conversations, we had good banter. and I still had no interest in having sex with them. not even in fantasy did I want it.

which, to me, suggests I straightforwardly do not experience sexual attraction, and the fastest way to communicate that is just to say that I'm ace. are my feelings nuanced and complicated? totally. but a more specific label isn't going to capture those nuances.

[scoobydoozies]

the racism was uncomforable in the headless horror my other problem with it was how the guy just took his wife putting him in the hositpal as no big dea.... it just felt so unbelievable..

relationships in this show are very..strange to me... we got velma abusing shaggy/ velma the smart one being jealous of scooby/ fred showing zero interest in daphne until the plot demands it/ daphne/velma alone come off too pushy that it gets uncomfortable/ and thats just season 1

season 2 i wont spoil much cause im not sure how far ya are. im only about 5-6 eps in but i ididnt want to see a jealous fred act like a crazed ex but they decided woo its comedy to kidnap your ex girlfriend/ and again we have a women being weird to shaggy but an old women so its 100 times worse and just played off as a joke.. this show is just mean to shaggy

so how this show was recommended after velma is beyond me.. at best the background animation is good and we got the voice of kronk/ and frank welker is having fun i think tis amazing he can still do him so well at 70 / but they can only do so much to make it bearable with all the romance drama/ plot twists it reminds me of a cw show but animated

yeah like that's what i mean when i say this show really just isn't written well. there are some really cool concepts, but rarely are they executed to their fullest potential. characters make choices not based on their own personality and goals, but for the convenience of the plot and creation of conflict, which often leads to some really unfortunate side effects when you actually think about what's happening. as an example i wanna break down the fred and daphne thing, but this kind of writing is present throughout the whole first season (which is all i've seen so far, though i've heard a decent amount of things about season 2, but i'll try to stick to what i've personally watched for the most part)

like, at first fred shows no interest in daphne beyond friendship, but is a pretty good friend to her, while daphne is head over heels for fred to the point that she has basically no personality outside of that. yet, there isn't anything about fred that she actually likes. in the first episode she says that he's like one of those geniuses that's isn't appreciated in their time, but it's clear from later episodes that her and the rest of the gang think that he's stupid. beyond that, everything he says is annoying or boring to her unless it's him showing her romantic affection, and even then, only in certain ways.

later in season 1, fred suddenly switches from having no romantic interest in daphne to being in love with her, for no discernible reason. we know he didn't just secretly have a crush on her before, because we know that when he shows interest in someone he becomes incredibly jealous and possessive, and in episode 3 (before he liked her) he was totally supportive of her going on the date with rung. she ends gets so upset about him not reciprocating her feelings in the way she wants (as if she's owed that or something) and for having the audacity to like things that aren't her, that she writes a diss track about him and rejects him when he actually DOES reciprocate her feelings.

then there's that whole thing where he asks her on a date to the trap museum, and she gets really mad about it… for some reason? it's apparently because he makes everything about traps instead of her? she then gets all googly-eyed over a teacher, fred gets jealous, and then daphne says that she has the teacher's phone number and that they're planning on going on a date… at the trap museum. which either means: 1. she doesn't actually mind learning about traps and she's just annoyed that he's continuing to have an interest in the thing he's interested in for no reason, or 2. she's lying about having a date with the teacher, and is just saying that to hurt him. also, side note, the show never addresses or even implies that there's anything wrong with the teacher/student relationship aspect of all this. like, at all. the issue being presented here is that daphne's making fred jealous, because they liiiike each other~. at the end of the episode he calls her his girlfriend, and suddenly she's totally not mad at him anymore and is like "oh i would LOVE to go to the trap museum with you"… even though he was LITERALLY asking her out on a date at the beginning of the episode! which means he thinks of her as his girlfriend! nothing changed! she just changed her mind because it was time for that conflict to be over.

then fred and daphne are together and it's pretty much fine for a while, but then fred starts acting really controlling about her, almost verging on stalker territory. he starts making a list of all her habits and whereabouts, keeping track of her schedule and trying to control her and their relationship. she becomes (rightfully) uncomfortable with this, and says to velma it's giving her trust issues. she doesn't really talk about it to him directly, instead she asks a spirit board about the issue in front of him and he notices. later they actually DO talk about it, he apologizes for his behavior and it's chalked up to him being overprotective because of his issues over his absent mom. the one that scooby said was hot. that part's not relevant but i think it bears mentioning. anyway i actually felt like the way this conflict between them was handled fairly decently for this show. fred has an obsessive personality so this being a character flaw makes sense, daphne not talking to him about it right away and being a little immature about addressing it makes sense fits because she's a teenager, and they did talk about it and work it out. the problem doesn't come from this specific episode but the fact that fred… doesn't actually stop being controlling about daphne in later episodes (like i know about the kidnapping thing and doll with her real hair and the getting mad at/bullying marcie for not being daphne… ugh. don't even get me started on the way the gang treats marcie.)

then fred ends up proposing to daphne out of nowhere (they're still in high school btw), saying he wants her to solve mysteries with her forever, and she's over the moon about it. she gets really into it and starts planning right away, wanting to one-up her sisters and all that. when she tries to talk to fred about wedding stuff though, he's totally disinterested, and she continues to be disinterested in anything about him that doesn't revolve around her. great basis for a future marriage /s. they end up telling their parents who don't approve, velma and shaggy get mad at them for not telling them about the engagement, yada yada, whatever. at the end of season finale when the truth comes out about fred's past, he calls the engagement off completely because he wants to find his real parents, alone. the guy who is supposedly all about the team and wanted them to all move in together after high school and to solve mysteries together with daphne forever… wants to solve the mystery of locating his parents on his own. why??? well obviously because the writers want to separate them all for the dramatic ending, of course! and they didn't bother to set up any real justification for that beforehand that would actually make sense.

what's worse though is if you think about that ending from a totally in-universe perspective, it makes fred look REALLY bad. like, he proposed to daphne to keep her bound to him forever, but the second it felt more convenient to not have her around, he throws her in the garbage? AND continues to be obsessive and controlling about her later?

i think fred being controlling can be a good character flaw to have, in fact be cool scooby-doo did that really well in my opinion, but when you apply that character flaw to a romantic relationship, i think you have to be REALLY careful about how you portray that, and the show doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to condemning toxic behavior like that. plus, the level of control can only go up to a certain point severity and persist for a certain amount of time before it stops being an innocent mistake.

and this is just. how the show is written. in general. characters do nonsensical things for the convenience of the writers, which often paints them as being petty, fickle, and shallow. they often do mean or selfish things purely for the purpose of creating conflict and nothing else, which makes them come off as being bad people. im not opposed to shows where the characters are deeply flawed or even the villains, but it really doesn't feel like it's on purpose with the main 5. their bad behavior is often justified or left uncriticized or unpunished

when velma's hitting shaggy (and doing so hard enough to hurt him) for talking the way he talks, fred and daphne completely ignore it. the only one who cares about it is shaggy, who's later villainized for breaking up with the girl who abused him, demeaned him, and tried control him, after she gave him an ultimatum to get rid of his best friend! a member of their team! do fred or daphne ever tell her, "hey, scooby's our pal, and asking shaggy to get rid of him is really selfish of you"? nope! she continues to go on and on about how "he left her for a dog" for the whole rest of the season, and plenty of other characters throughout the show sympathize with her or mock shaggy for his (correct) choice. nobody ever stands up for him or defends him at all.

there's not even any discernible reason why any of them are interested in each other romantically. hell, there's no discernible reason why any of them are friends at all! well, besides velma and daphne bonding over their shared entitlement to the boys they're into, and similar shallow romance drama and other stereotypical ~girl things~. i wouldn't even say they all share a love for mystery solving-- shaggy and daphne don't seem like they could care less about that, and even fred and velma don't feel like they like it as much as every other iteration of those characters i've come across. fred mostly just cares about setting traps and nine times out of ten velma would rather angst over shaggy or get a pedicure with daphne than focus on the mystery. they solve mysteries together because that's what's dictated by the show they're in. that's it. they're not even very good at it! in the first half of season 1 mr. e is holding their hands, guiding them through some of the most obvious and clear-cut mysteries i've seen from this franchise. the writers try to make them look smarter by deliberately not showing key clues to the audience (who can probably figure it out anyway by ruling out the obvious red herrings and paying attention to the basic structure, even if they're given 0 clues or motives that actually incriminate the character), and this just makes the reveals feel cheap, and further highlights how ridiculous some of the explanations are.

and i could just keep going, really, but i won't because this is already getting really long.

like i said, there's some cool concepts and ideas here, and every once in a while there will be an episode or scene or line that's pretty good. the backgrounds are nice, same with the designs of a lot of the monsters. i liked the episode with the orc biker gang, i thought the frighthound was really creepy, i like there being an overarching plot and getting to see the gang's school and home lives, i like there being an old mystery incorporated, i like fred being autistic (even if the representation there is flawed), i love fred jones sr (i guess since they make all the characters selfish assholes, it turns out that when that's what they're supposed to do, they do a pretty good job), etc. if this show had different writers, ones that think things through, can write women, that don't perpetuate toxic relationship dynamics or sexualize teenagers, that know how to craft mysteries with proper pacing and intrigue, that have a grasp on humor beyond cynical mean-spiritedness (which sometimes bleeds into outright bigotry), it probably WOULD be the best scooby-doo show.

and yeah, it's really ironic that this was the show everyone was recommending as an alternative to hbo's velma, because it seems like they share a lot of the same problems, velma's just a lot less subtle about it.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Dead City Ep 2 - Analysis

 Morning Everyone! I have so much to post! I'm really behind on posting about Dead City as well as our speculation about the sneak peek of the Daryl spinoff. I'm going to try and get caught up over the next few days. I've just been very busy at work and haven't had tons of time to finish the posts. Bear with me. This is mostly stuff about Dead City, episode 2. I'll get to more stuff from ep 3 tomorrow!

@galadrieljones:

Hey guys so I’m really loving catching up on all your thoughts. After watching the first two episodes of DC, beyond being just super stoked by the writing/acting/everything about it (it really feels like a very gritty, adult show, i love it), I have some stuff to add to your thoughts and tbh I still have some digging I want to do pertaining to certain of my observations, pertaining to DC and to the DD spin-off

@galadrieljones:

First, I want to directly just address my thoughts on a couple of the notes above. First, the question about where New Hill Top is. I have zero proof, but there are aesthetic and architectural qualities of New Hill Top that remind me of Meridian. I wonder if they migrated there? It would make a lot of sense, and also, Meridian, which is near Bethesda, MD and north of DC, is not as from from NYC as the original Hill Top, which is in like, Western Virginia.

@galadrieljones:

This is New Hill Top

Here are some screen shots of Meridian:

Like I said I have no proof, this is just my current speculation

I also observed Maggie's new fear of heights as something that I think they'll explore further. Surprisingly, Maggie has turned out to be a most mysterious character. The writers have done a great job of capitalizing on her mysterious hiatus and disappearance from TF

It's a rich opportunity to fill in the blanks with really interesting information that, I think, will tie together some of the seemingly disparate lore between the flagship, Fear, and World Beyond, as well as the current spin-offs.

I am also very interested in Hershel's coldness toward Maggie. I see it as a continuation of his brief but telling characterization in season 11, like when he tells the other kids about how he's eating weird animals before, like horse, to stay alive.

I think that Maggie left with Hershel thinking it's what was best for him, but really, it's what was best for her. She instilled in her a kind of PADRE-esque numbness and disposition toward family, friends, and living. He is aloof toward his training and seems to be rebelling against the idea that "living" is possible in this world. This is probably because of the really bad things he was exposed to while on the road with Maggie.

He is artistic, which seems to reflect some sensibility related to Beth, who writes songs and writes in her journal and likes aesthetic beauty.

Only he hides it because even as it is an instinct that lives deep inside of his DNA, he is ashamed, because it communicates that he is human with any sort of emotional vulnerability, which is something he has learned, via Maggie, to suppress at all costs.

I will say I am saddened by Maggie's disposition and how she still seems not to have settled up with Glenn's death. She still has trauma dreams about what happened the night he died. It's been what, like 11-12 years? I really can't tell how old Hershel is supposed to be or how long the time jump is. He seems to be about 12 years old.

This communicates to me though that the writers are acknowledging how one single moment can change a person's entire personality, their entire life and outlook and even their DNA. It's what happened to Daryl after Beth, without a question.

In terms of the scene with Marshal Armstrong in the apartment, I also felt WHAWGO throwbacks. The picture of the two men especially triggered that for me, and how he finds the body. I figured they were brothers, and that the Marshal had been meaning to check on him for a long time but had not had the courage nor the opportunity to do it before.

When he went looking for the gun, I thought it wasn't so much about the gun, but about what the absence of the gun would signal. This was before he found his brother's body. A missing gun would entail that his brother either escaped alive, or that he turned it on himself.

Mostly this scene communicated to me that Marshal is not a villain. They want us to sympathize with him in some way. I think he is doing things he doesn't want to do but thinks he has to in order to maintain order and survive. I think he will come around and help Maggie and Negan at some point, because he will learn what true cruelty is in the Croat.

(or else he'll fall pray to hubris and die in an unfortunate way, a la Wes in Fear, when he aligns with Strand)

I did see the spoon(s), @wdway, and they reminded me of Negan's pointed reference to "Lady Liberty" in the first episode. He talks about how his dad brought him back a souvenir, and that made me think of the D.C. spoon that Beth finds in Still, which is also a souvenir. Also I'm sure we've discussed how "Lady Liberty" is herself a symbol of France.

I also see coffee and pancake mix.

Pancakes are a return ultimately to Lori and the idea of living vs. survival, re: Rick's story about her in Indifference. They're also a callback to Grady. There also seems to be a crack vial on the stove here.

Something i want to point out that I am not sure whether or not it means something is the weird inverse references to fire. Remember in "No Other Way," during Maggie's fight with Carver, Negan rings that fire bell and throws sand in his face?

In the first episode, I noticed, in the hotel room where Negan is staying, the smoke detector is ripped off the wall. Then, in the second episode, when they're in the city, they pass by a cabinet with a missing fire extinguisher.

This is interesting to me, though I really don't know why. It seems to be some sort of reference to Consumed. This whole premise feels like a riff on Consumed, in which two people with a complicated history track and go searching for a missing loved one in a big, apocalyptic metropolis.

Only in Dead City, it's not fire. It's insects, it's guts, it's wetness. It seems like everything is dank and soaked with blood and like it's just moldy and rotten. The lighting is dark and it's perpetually night. In Atlanta, meanwhile, the episode mainly takes place during the day in the hot Georgia sun, beating down on them, and they're all sweaty, on the concrete, everything dry and dusty and there is fire.

The cockroaches felt like the fire in this episode. It's weird, too, because there are so many references to being "unclean." There's a protracted scene in a laundromat right after they're swarmed by roaches. Felt Biblical, then like this modern day reference to cleanliness, but ofc it's all corrupted.

The cockroaches also reminded me o 6.8 "Start to Finish," in which we see the ants marching in the window and swarming the cookie. It's a metaphor for walkers, but also just this idea of hidden dangers, and back to Morgan's instruction about how the dead aren't too dangerous one at a time, but when they all get together, they become very hard to escape.

The pigeon woman was interesting as pigeons are like corrupted doves. She is speaking Hebrew, which is very odd. Was she a Hasidic Jew? Her name is Esther, which is a common Hebrew name. She could also simply be Israeli. Either way, she was Jewish. I don't know that we have any other Jewish characters aside from the Rabbi in Fear named Jacob, who has mysteriously just disappeared.

(I mean, i don't think there's anything to the rabbi disappearing, like he just wasn't very interesting and they just left him in the dust which is fine lol)

But the rabbi shows up with his name, Jacob, and shows Charlie the Ner Tamid, then in the following season, Rachel shows up and has Mo. Within the context of TWDU of shows, Rachel dies right around the same time that Leah is introduced. I think that Rachel's appearance especially is formative of Leah's and meant to highlight the Jacob/Leah reference in TWD as being actually Biblical.

References to Hebrew and Judaism should be looked at closely because Gimple is a practicing Jew and he uses the Old Testament in meaningful ways. Basically I'm saying like, the Jewish references are important, especially when we think about Daryl's story, because clearly the Jacob/Leah/Rachel thing is in play for him. I really can't see any doubt to that at this point.

So I don't really know the point of Esther. She is a little bit like a good luck charm. She leads them to allies, and then she dies. Sort of like the man in the red poncho at the end of season 5.

I do not know what kind of animal is shown around the traps in NYC. It looks like some sort of wolf or fox, but its head reminds me of a Beaver or Otter

Ginny is a lot like Enid, right? Enid also didn't talk for a long time after arriving at ASZ.

We learn Enid's story in JSS, the episode in which the Wolves attack Alexandria. She eats a turtle. She uses the egg timer. There are a million ways in which Enid's story pans out to influence the world of TWD.

I wondered if maybe the story about Oceanside was a lie, though. Like, they just needed something to tell the Hilltop people that didn't sound so mysterious and suspicious.

I am super intrigued by who she might be.

I am also obviously wondering wtf happened to Annie and the baby. I wonder if they're dead or were taken by PADRE people.

I get the feeling we'll learn what happened to them at the end of this first season. It will open into season 2, in which Maggie "owes" Negan and the two go in search of Annie together.

They wouldn't astroturf his relationship with Annie and her pregnancy in season 11 if they didn't have a long term plan.

If it's been a couple of years, and Annie was taken when the baby was small or even when she was still pregnant, that would line up with the PADRE timeline; however, we know now that PADRE has been dismantled, so Annie and her kid might be separated or lost. We may meet them as a function of Madison's storyline or whatever comes after Fear.

Something I also plan to ruminate on a bit is the "Peter Lombardi" poster in the Marshal's brother's apartment. Peter Lombardi isn't a real basketball player. That's an invention. So like, wtf does that reference, i have no idea.

the tagline at the bottom of the poster seems to say "Once a player, always a player." He's #24.

The last name Lombardi is very recognizable as the same last name of the famous football coach Vince Lombardi. Like I said, I'm looking into it lol.

This was another "dead fire" reference, ie: the discarded mini blow torch on the table. I would assume it was used for smoking crack.

(re: the crack pipe on the stove)

@wdway:

I'm really enjoying reading your reviews of DC. There are a couple of comments that I want to make. On the stove in the apartment I noticed the spoon and the coffee can, but totally missed the pancake mix. Great catch. I want to add another pancake reference to the other two that you mentioned.

In Knotts Untie,, when everyone was in the RV headed back to Alexandra after their first visit to Hilltop Abraham made a comment to Glenn about, I can't remember if it was about Bisquick mixing or making the pancakes, same thing though. It was a typical strange comment from Abraham about Glenn impregnating Maggie. It was also where the sonogram picture of baby Herschel was passed around the group for everyone to see.

Daryl's reaction to the sonogram was so bittersweet. Happiness for Glenn and Maggie and heartbreak at how Beth had wanted Maggie and Glenn to have a child.

The other thing I want to say is that I also totally missed the missing fire extinguisher. Wow! I can't believe I didn't notice that. Fire extinguishersand and fire hydrants has always been a Beth symbol. We see them around her especially and also Daryl in Still. Beth is the one who lit the match and started the fire at the Still shack. She also used a mirror at the beginning of that episode to create fire, she is fire and water. The way I interpret the missing fire extinguisher is an obvious nod to Beth being missing.

@galadrieljones:

Good call on the Bisquick! I think he says something like, “When you poured the batter, were you hoping to make pancakes?” or something like that.

Yeah, and the fact they are searching for the source of the smoke. It’s like, the whole thing is this absence of light, absence of fire.

Negan lights the match at one point and the pigeon lady blows it out.

In “Consumed,” I also remember that it begins with Carol seeing the pillar of smoke, which leads her to the girls and Tyreese.

I have a couple other screenshots I want to share as well.

Here's the missing fire extinguisher

A "Dawn" reference. It says "Dawn Lincoln C Come Kill With Us."

Also a Lincoln reference in the same exact sentence

You can see "Macon, GA" clearly in this directory. A reference back to season 4 and Terminus.

It's on p. 270. Does that number ring a bell to anyone?

This shot is extremely dark, so sorry about that. It's the first shot we see of a mannequin at the laundromat. We will see several more after this. Maggie seems to run into mannequins a lot.

Maggie and Negan scale an elevator shaft. Always a fun callback.

One More reference

These are all from the credits.

In the first one, I find it ironic that the city looks like it's on fire, despite what it feels like in the show.

The second one features red gas canisters, and some sort of shopping cart reference.

There's then a rooftop garden, and a small plane.

I found a couple hidden things in the last two, I Spy style

If you look closely you can see that in the circled section it says, "Say Yes." ?

Here in the barb wire at first I just noticed the "A"; however, it could also be a clearly "USA"

These deer interested me

The credits sequence was awesome. I think there's probably more hidden stuff.

@twdmusicboxmystery:

I’m really loving this discussion! Just got all caught up. The idea that DC is just one big replay of Consumed (sort of) is really striking a cord for me. I loved everything you’ve said, and it’s got me thinking in a bunch of directions. It makes me wonder how this will turn out where Hershel is concerned.

As you said, it’s the opposite of Consumed in details—dark, wet vs dry, etc—so does that mean they WON’T find Hershel, because they actually did find Beth? Or will they find him, and he’ll remain alive and make it out in the audience’s minds, where Beth didn’t? I don’t know. But that smoking building is really intriguing when seen through the lens of Carol following various columns of smoke.

And I’ll have to think about this more because this is something they made a point about clear back in S4. Not only did Carol follow it to Tyreese and the girls (which suggests following the smoke leads to finding the people you’re looking for) but they did that whole thing where Mica taught Carol that black smoke meant it was still burning and white/gray smoke meant the fire was out.

And of course Daryl and Beth set that fire in S4, so Bethyl is ground zero for the pillar of smoke. Does that mean Maggie will literally find Beth in the smoking building? Or is Hershel just a stand-in/proxy for her? I also loved the insight that the cockroaches were like the ants on the cookie, representing walkers that will swarm them in the city. I hadn’t thought of that, though I should have.

I had to laugh at how Negan was just like, “Nope.” And they both noped right outta there. (Not that I wouldn’t have done the same. ;D) Anyway, great details about the Daryl clip as well. Great catch on the windows. I totally agree that this might not even be a chronological set of scenes. These may be taken from different parts and patched together. Nothing says a sneak peek has to be chronological. The other option is that they used different buildings for the interior and exterior shots, and they just don’t line up super well. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Really great finds and insights, though. Loving it!

@wdway:

In reading your comments about the smoke, it reminded me of something I wanted to say earlier today and forgot. Talking of smoke, in Home Sweet Home, when Maggie, Daryl and company were initially going out to look for Maggie's group that had Herschel with them they saw smoke from the burning building going up into the sky through the trees. It immediately reminded me of Carol and the girls in, The Grove, seeing the smoke from the Still shack still burning. By the way Gimple verify that the smoke that Carol and the girls saw was from the Still shack. It was to show how very close all the survivors really were to each other and didn't know it.

Just read this and thought it was a bit of a coincidence since you were just talking about this earlier today. The location of hilltop.

@galadrieljones:

This is pretty interesting. They speculate it’s somewhere in NY or New Jersey. The thing is we know that territories can be huge, and just because they touch a territory adjacent to NYC (New Babylon), that doesn’t mean it has to be right next to it. That said, Bethesda/DC (Meridian) is quite far from Manhattan, over 200 miles.

It’s not a lot considering how far the CW was from like, Alexandria, but idk, again that’s just speculation. Philadelphia IS squarely in the middle between DC and NYC. Maggie is really not far from Rick. But, the time jump is a bit confusing. Idk where Rick might be at this point. And idk what Philadelphia has to do with this. Lots of ppl have speculated the CR is in Philly but I’m not so sure I believe that yet.

Maggie is pretty distracted but you’d think if Rick were back, she’d mention it, or Negan would have maybe heard. They still seem really in the dark about the CRM. Maggie is also separate from the CW and ASZ. And yet, I also have to wonder why Maggie is alone. Why isn’t she with Daryl? Or Carol? Or both? I know Daryl doesn’t like Negan but he’d do anything to help Maggie find Hershel, and so would Carol. She knows this too.

I could see her in seasons past calling on them to help her with something like this. If she has the time to track down Negan then she has the time to call them on the radio and they’d be there in two seconds. That said, are Carol and Daryl in France in this moment? Are they missing? Will we get some mention of them and wtf is going on?

[the5thelement]

pots is fucking crazy.

yesterday I felt like a zombie, today I felt amazing- the best I have in months, tonight I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. 😩

on another note, I truly love my coworkers so much. I love my students but my job is fucking hard, like really fucking hard sometimes especially when you’re dealing with a chronic illness. I am really just so lucky to have such incredibly supportive coworker/friends at work that just warm my icy little heart. Like last weekend my coworker got into an accident after we were leaving our students birthday party, so I stayed with her until her husband could come. The next Monday, she and my other coworker both got my thank you cards saying how incredibly kind I am, and gift cards and a pretty dunkin cup. Totally unnecessary, I didn’t really do anything. Today after lunchtime work was chaos, idk why all the kids decided to go off at the same exact time for the rest of the afternoon. So I got the last student on the buss and walked back into my classroom and was like WHAT THE FUCK WAS THATS!? and the staff in my room and the room next door and across the hall all started laughing 😂 I had to sit down because my heart rate was way high after the rush of the end of the day. Then I hear the girls from the joining room laugh and say we said the same thing! They came over and asked me how I was doing and how much they appreciated my help yesterday afternoon. I was down students and they were down a staff so I just walked over when my kids were packed and helped them get their kids ready to go too. They were my students when they were younger so I’m familiar with their routines. Most days I’m really really really fucking struggling to make it through the days. Physically my body feels like it’s shutting down completely, mentally the brain fog is out of control sometimes. So it’s been extremely challenging to accept that I can’t do as much as I used to right now, so on days when I’m feeling good I really try to do as much as I possibly can. I know sometimes that can also set me back but my guilty conscience won’t let me rest, but my coworkers are always the first to remind me that they appreciate everything that I can do, and that they would rather me focus on maintaining my own health and healing again before going out of my way to do the extra work there. It actually makes me want to cry because I am so hard on myself a lot of the time, I often don’t show myself the kindness I show to others so I am beyond grateful to have people who love and support me in ways I never knew I needed. I honestly do feel like they’re part of why I’ve been feeling a lot better this week, while it hasn’t been easy by any means, even when I’ve had some challenging symptoms my heart has felt light which really makes a difference when dealing with the symptoms. I generally try to always be positive and optimistic but it’s really fucking hard when dealing with chronic illness. Even when I’m not I never really express it so people don’t see when I’m having a hard time, I’m working on being more open and addressing things as they come rather than just forcing that positivity on myself. I just really love that the people I work with are so genuinely kind that they show their gratitude and they show their generosity not because they think you need a pick me up, but because they just want you to know you’re important to them always. They really make the bat shit crazy days like today easily bearable. Literally nobody can ever understand what we go through at my job other than someone else who has worked in our school, I really love them 🥹