#but DIALOGUE abound! >:D

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Now that Bridgerton has been released for over a week and I've had it on repeat since then it's time to process through some thoughts.

Overall this is my favorite season of Bridgerton. It's not surprising because Polin has always been my favorite pairing since season 1 and friends to lovers is one of my all time favorite romance tropes.

While I am loving the season there are still a few beefs I had while watching it that still irk me, but don't bother me as much as they did in the beginning which will be discussed at the end of the post.

Prepare for a long post and if you read it all thank you! Also SPOILERS ABOUND! Let's start with everything I have loved so far:

Mirrors. There are mirrors freaking everywhere in the season and we all know why. A lot of the side characters have mirrors in their scenes. We see Kate has a bunch of mirrors in her study, the Mondriches have mirrors. Mirrors everywhere to be found. Not only is a mirror going to play a major part in the second part, but it's so symbolic of Colin and Pen's journey of really finding themselves and subsequently each other. But Bridgerton is not subtle this season. There's mirrors everywhere you look.

Colin Bridgerton is a cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs. My previous post already addressed a lot of the Colin hate floating around out there and I won't hear it. Our man is out there fully falling harder for Pen and not realizing how much he's affected by her. Until he does and then he's properly torturing himself.

The main characters this season are so relatable. Being a mid/plus size late bloomer female who has never received any romantic attention I relate to Penelope so much. I nearly cried in the second episode because I've had the same feelings she was having in that moment of believing you'll never have that in your life. At least she had Colin. But besides my personal connection to Pen compared to the previous two couples I think Colin and Pen are the most realistic and relatable characters.

The book references. I was a little nervous about changing the storyline to Colin having lessons with Penelope and helping her find a husband and Pen having another suitor, but I enjoyed it. It allowed them to bring a lot of humor to the show where we haven't really seen that in this show before. But they also incorporated very key aspects of the Polin relationship. The first kiss was nearly verbatim from the book and the very end of the carriage scene was also straight from the book just some dialogue switched characters. More on the carriage later.

Colin realizes he loves Pen much earlier than in the book. So glad for this change since we already knew Colin was the biggest dummy for not realizing what was right in front of his face. I'm glad we saw sparks of it from him before the first kiss. The garden confession? Please. It was practically a love confession as he was talking about all of the things he likes about her. The boy just couldn't put two and two together. And I'm really glad Pen tried to move on from her feelings it really put Colin into a place where he had to imagine his life without her and the man couldn't handle it.

Here are some beefs I have with the season but again they're pretty minimal and honestly I'm somewhat okay with it now except for one of them:

Lady Danbury not being involved with Polin whatsoever. They name their first born Agatha for heaven's sake. I really anticipated Lady D to be involved with Pen being a wallflower and practically just like her, but .... whatever. They gave Lady D other things to do this season instead.

Pen never asked Colin to help her find a husband. Okay this one still actually bothers me still. In episode 4 Penelope mentions to Colin when they're finished dancing that it was a mistake asking for his help and then in the carriage she says again that when she asked him for his help in finding a husband she didn't know he'd also deny her one (I told you guys I have watched this literally nonstop for a week). But she literally NEVER asked him to help her. In episode 1 he says, "if a husband is what you seek let me help you." At no point was she like "Please Colin will you help me?" I couldn't stand this. The only thing Pen asked of Colin was if he'd kiss her and I stand by this. That's sloppy continuity in the writing.

The brothels. Both scenes were completely unnecessary to me. The first one I've come around on slightly, but I will never get over the second brothel scene. I get what they were trying to do, but with the awkward flirting with all the ladies in the ton that was already accomplished for me that Colin was trying to act like someone he definitely wasn't. I didn't need to see Slut Colin for that. And I get it for the first brothel scene they made sure to hit that home, but the second one? The second one comes after he realizes he's fallen in love with Penelope and I don't fully understand his motivation for going there. I also am just sick of the rake storyline and since we know that's not how Colin is I was upset they tried to turn him into that. But characters must grow. To me it could've been done differently or even better yet not at all.

No flashback to baby Polin. I really was hoping for a flashback. There was a flashback episode for season 1 and 2 but none for 3. I really thought they would have done a flashback of some kind. At least Colin remembers and talks about how they met. "Do you remember when we first met?" Bro please. You don't need to ask Penelope if she remembers it's the moment she fell in love with you, bro. I'm hoping for a callback to this in the second part when she hopefully tells Colin she's loved him for years.

Last beef. That the carriage scene and love realization happened with no LW reveal. I get it. They're pushing this off to the second part. Makes sense for the drama of it all, but it fundamentally goes against season 1 Pen when she was trying to convince Marina to tell Colin that she was pregnant. Like hello. Now she's just doing what Marina did by keeping this from him. And I'm sure that's what part 2 will be about, but I don't like it. In the book he proposed to her fully knowing who she was and now in the show there's this huge chunk of who she is now missing and I DON'T LIKE IT!

This is way too long. Stay tuned for thoughts on the carriage scene, other favorite Polin moments and all my hopes and dreams for part 2.

[sand-through-glass]

Thoughts on Janthir Wilds!

Finally played through the story and done enough in the new maps to give my thoughts on JW, now that I've had time to chew it! Of course,

naturally, SPOILERS ABOUND, TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT.

Okay so,

I really dig this slower pace! I like that we've had time to get to know the characters and the past of Janthir, these maps feel RICH with history that the Commander and friends are just stepping into to learn. I love Poised Arrow and his sass, he's a really enjoyable character that I felt for when shit started hitting the fan with Waiting Sorrow and the Titans. Waiting Sorrow is such an interesting character to me and I love that her and Isgarren's relationship has pulled the story back to the morally gray area I wanted the Wizard's to be in. I love the bearkin in the village, and did I mention I love the maps? Because I LOOOOVE the maps, EXPERTLY done - vertical but not at all hard to navigate, engaging events, fun achievments, interactive villages! It's AWESOME! I didn't really like the plot point of the bearkin not liking magic. It was weak - they have no reaction to the outsiders using magic, they don't hold it so close that it comes up...really at all. I think it was used as a plot point to make it harder to hide Waiting Sorrow once the Commander and friends knew about her. But I feel it could have been handled better, as I never really got the sense that disliking magic was a STRONG belief of theirs. I think it should have been leaned into more - more hesitance from the outsiders using it, some chittering of resentment of teaching the outsiders how to use spears and we immediately weave magic into the art or something, just something more, like ambient dialogue, to really SELL me on that cultural taboo. This expac does REALLY well with pacing, I think they have found their footing with that - SotO was scrambled, but this one feels consistent with well established plot, I LOVE this expac for that! The homesteads are fun, but are expensive, I don't have a ton to say about them yet as I haven't opened up a lot of the decorations and such, so more to come on that! Overall, highly recommend, I've really been enjoying it. :D

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: “Droids In Distress”

Wacky droid hijinks and nostalgia abound, let’s get into it.

Now, this is an episode that for a different show would have been used as the pilot.  It’s got all the earmarks of a weekly serial testing out its tone and character dynamics, while acting with confidence like those are already established.

Note that this isn’t a bad thing.  It reminds me most of Teen Titans’s early Season One, there’s a certain kind of charm and innocence and an earnest attempt at convincing you, “Don’t worry, this will be a FUN show! :D”

Frankly starting off lighter eases you better into the world and characters so when things do get more serious and dramatic later you’re more invested because you’ve had more time to get endeared to the characters.

See also, Star Trek: Lower Decks, which had the audacity to end its Season Two on a cliffhanger, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY SILLY COMFORT SHOW, YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE STAKES!

Anyway we open rather appropriately In Media Res with the notes of the TIE Fighter Attack track from A New Hope, which auditorily puts us right into that OT headspace. :)

Once again the tight writing very quickly establishes the situation: The Ghost is on the run from the Empire, in need of cash flow and supplies, they have to occasionally run weapons for someone shady, Ezra is Force Sensitive, and--perhaps most importantly for the later story arc--Kanan has been avoiding training him.

Boy I miss concise exposition like this.  So much story is already set up in some densely-worded dialogue.  (Not just Kanan’s reluctance to teach Ezra but also Zeb’s misgivings with working for Vizago given the uncertain nature of the weapons he deals in.)

Also don’t think I missed Ezra being most concerned with the fact that they are running out of food.

RIGHT SO I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW GIDDY I WAS THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED THIS BECAUSE ICKLE MINI TARI LOVED THE STAR TOURS RIDE AT DISNEYWORLD.  Seriously it was one of my top favorites.  Never rode the updated version (haven’t been back to DW in years) but the classic version was iconic for me.

And this is a cameo/Easter Egg that actually works in context because you don’t need to know anything about this droid pilot, he works organically in the story as he is without any background knowledge required.

Unlike many of the other cameos we could name in certain other Star Wars shows *COUGH*.

Threepio and Artoo on the flipside... Okay, I’m not quite sure how to articulate that it still works better than in aforementioned other shows but it does.  Again Imma chalk it up to, they just fit more organically into the plot and around these characters and also advance the bigger plot by introducing a thread that suggests the crew is going to be connected to the larger Rebellion, which pays off this Season Finale... instead of being a sideshow diversion disconnected from the main characters that may or may not make another appearance down the line sometime.  Maybe.

Side note of appreciation for Chopper gleefully taking right to his role of Public Nuisance Annoying Everyone (But Especially Ezra).  I don’t think there was much acting involved for either of them lol.

XD

Still love how bouncy and dynamic the character animation was these early episodes.

Has that fun kid-friendly feel that lures you into a false sense of security lol.

Our first hint at Sabine’s backstory, cleverly hidden as part of her cover story.

I kinda like that Garel is close enough to Lothal that a very small shuttle is able to just ferry people back and forth in like twenty minutes.

Lol Zeb whapping Sabine because she’s laying it on too much.

One of the nice things about having low-stakes plots in the beginning is it allows room for lovely little breathing scenes like this one with Ezra leaping across the rooftops.  It’s not plot necessary, we could have easily just cut to him arriving at the other hanger, but it’s just... pleasant.

There’s some nice mood music (a very slowed down mellow Main Titles theme), some very mild action, and we feel a satisfied little thrill along with Ezra seeing just what he’s capable of already just knowing that he’s Force Sensitive.  This is the first time he’s consciously tapped into the Force and it’s just a little bit exciting.

Just look at his face gkjhgkjh I’m so proud of him and all he did was some parkour.

Subtle animation detail appreciation: Zeb visibly shudders backing away from the crates.

I love Threepio throwing some indignant shade Sabine’s way with his “[...] if she is an amateur.” line.

We know Zeb is the muscle  of the group, that’s already established, but it’s still obvious in the voice acting and Zeb’s intense tossing of the Stormtroopers that he’s more agitated than normal.

Threepio being oblivious and fussy as per usual.

Please enjoy the Fridge Horror of knowing that the Empire was planning to mass-produce T7 ion disruptors and probably not for their starship-crippling properties. :)

Ezra immediately backing off the hostility once he knows why Zeb’s upset. <333  He’s such an empath I love him.

See this is why I don’t understand people who hate Ezra.  Was he a little bratty this episode?  Sure, but also see how he lets that drop out of compassion once he understands the situation.

Also Ahsoka came onto the stage waaaaaaaaay brattier and a smug know-it-all to boot, just admit y’all hate the kid-appeal characters and refuse to let them be stupid and dumb in order to have some character growth.

Hera’s frustration when she hears that Kanan hasn’t been training Ezra. <333

Lol and love how there’s an immediate follow-up in the next scene.  I want to see the beginning of that conversation.

Pryce gets name-dropped here for the first time.  Predictably Threepio is making a muck of things.  See, this is why no one tells you anything or trusts you with the mission Threepio.

Ezra has clearly dealt with underworld figures like Vizago before lol.

I do wonder if all of this is just a massive Batman Gambit by Artoo, because he seems to be completely unfazed by anything that’s happening.

The AT-DPs get quite a bit of focus in this series and I think their ubiquitous presence in the first season preps us mentally for the heavy upgrade that is the AT-ATs.

Love this shot tracking Hera as she shoots at the AT-DP, very frenetic with the blocking and the camera movements.

The duel between Kallus and Zeb is honestly better than some of the lightsaber fights don’t @ me you know it’s true.

This music cue when they launch the disruptors is a unique one, particular to only this moment I think, but I like it.

Aaaaaaand the first of many times Kallus gets yeeted with the Force.  Lol.

See Sequel Trilogy, this is the general powerset of someone who only just learned they were Force Sensitive and hasn’t had any training. /salt

Kanan seems very surprised and amazed by what Ezra can already do without any formal guidance.  This’ll play into his insecurities later, his whole thing about how Ezra’s powers are growing faster than he can teach.

I think it’s safe to assume Ezra had a lot of latent natural talent that he’d been unconsciously using this whole time that just needed a tiny push to begin manifesting in earnest.

Again, though, Sequel Trilogy, all we unlock is basic shit like Force Sense, Force Jump, and Force Push.

Not surprising Kanan went to fetch Zeb, he’s about the only one even close to Zeb’s height lol.

Kanan looks so proud of Ezra, aww.

More lovely work with the subtle expressions; Kanan’s smile fades and his eyes drop a bit.  Like he realizes, “Oh boy, now I gotta face all my inadequacies and problems.”  Love it.  Love that it’s episode two and we’ve already established so many of the upcoming character arcs.

Hi Bail!

Luke’s theme closing us out once again, apropos given where we are and who we’re with.

For our first “official” non-pilot episode, this is a solid entry.  As I said, establishes a whole bunch about the characters and their relationship dynamics and upcoming arcs and plot points.  It’s also very fun, sets the general early tone of “Adventure and excitement but not too much... yet.” and the animation continues to impress in small ways, mostly the dynamic shot choices, camera angles and movements and the subtlety of emotion displayed on faces.

Coming back to this one always just leaves me with a warm feeling like, “Aahhh yes, back when everything was innocent.”  It definitely plays up the nostalgic feeling of the OT, which was always one of Rebels’ strengths as a show.

Next time, one of the many “filler” episodes that come back in an important and unexpected way in the finale.  You’d think, given the number of Avatar: The Last Airbender alums on the project, fandom would know better than to discount the seemingly light-hearted low-stakes disconnected episodes. XD

[possessingtheproperspirit]

Thanks for the tag @mppmaraudergirl!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

33!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

614,012, which includes a few co-written fics.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just HP!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A. The Price We Pay - 274k, canon WIP, starts in sixth year

B. Forget-Me-Not - 55k, super brutal and angsty (SA content warning), muggle AU, 10 chapters

C. the way you left me - 10k, canon divergent one-shot, also super brutal and angsty, what is my problem?, grief

D. Vibrations - 5k, muggle AU one-shot, smut-town, riding the revenge rail, not at ALL brutal and angsty

E. A Lesson in Communication - 12k, muggle AU one-shot, miscommunications abound, but in a fun way

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do, although sometimes it takes me a while, because I think I've already done it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

99% of my angst has a happy ending. One that doesn't is A Fate Resigned, so I guess that is my angstiest ending.

OR! I forgot about this one. My first HP fic was Not Waving But Drowning, following Remus in the lead-up to Oct '81. So that surely has the angstiest ending.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, 99% of them end happily. I think the end of Forget-Me-Not felt like some well-earned happiness after a long and difficult road, so maybe that one?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I've had one or two arsey comments about not updating enough on TPWP, but that's about it.

9. Do you write smut. If so, what kind?

Yes although not that often. It's Jily all the way.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, I don't see the appeal personally.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I've co-written two fics, one with @corinnesamuels and one with @mppmaraudergirl, and thoroughly enjoyed both experiences.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Jily through and through. Although there are many (Will/Alicia, Josh/Donna...) in second place.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I don't think there's anything I've started that I won't finish. Whether people will still care about them by the time I've finished them is another story...

16. What are your writing strengths?

Sad stuff. And dialogue, I think.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Often under-planned. Rambling. Sometimes plotless. I could go on.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Speaking as someone who tried to get through French A Level by using Google Translate (spoiler: it did not work), I think this is something I'm better off avoiding.

19. First Fandom you wrote for?

ER, baby! I was a HUGE carby fan (Carter/Abby) and was dismayed when the writers fucked it up so spectacularly.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

It's probably between The Price You Pay, because I love writing the different characters, or the way you left me, because it hurt so bad.

Tagging @kay-elle-cee @sunshinemarauder @thequibblah @emeralddoeadeer if you fancy it!

[crabs-with-sticks]

Fic Wrap-Up Meme: 2024

(repurposing an old tag game to yap about fics, and i encourage anyone else who wants to do the same!)

FANDOMS - Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate 3

3 FANFICS WITH THE MOST KUDOS IN 2024 -

I'm almost certainly known for my Dragon Age stuff here- but my BG3 stuff is my most popular stuff in terms of like hits n kudos actually!

The Annual Blackstaff Academy Ball (Gale/Tav, BG3)

Since recovering from the orb and the parasites, Gale has put back on some of his weight, no longer having his life force and magic consumed. Ever the perfectionist though, he worries that it will be seen as a sign of his flaws, rather than as recovery. The Annual Blackstaff Academy Ball has arrived. It will be the first time that Gale and his partner Slate will be out in society together, so the fear of judgement from his old peers and life abounds.

Crude Imitations of Barriers (Gale/Tav, BG3)

Having heard what has been asked of Gale by his goddess, Slate goes to check on him, and they both have to cross the barriers they have constructed to face the difficult questions. What are they? And what can they allow themselves do next?

An Unwilling Apotheosis (Solas/Lavellan, Dragon Age Inquisition)

“Everybody around me just looks at me like I’m some kind of saviour. The Great and Mighty Herald of Andraste, here to save us all.” “The weight of duty is heavy indeed. Those weaker than you would have bowed under its pressure already.” She bit her lip, keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling, “I just wish I didn’t have to.”

FAVOURITE OPENING LINE FROM A FIC IN 2024 -

Follow My Voice

Ghilara Lavellan stared blankly out from the camp which was filled mostly with the desperate and only partially of the dying.

FAVOURITE CLOSING LINE FROM A FIC IN 2024 -

Giant Spiders and Pastries

“Fuck that pastry was good,” exclaimed the warden, to nobody in particular.

Idk why but this one just brings me a lot of joy. Morrigan baring her heart out while Mara is just like 'well, theres at least 5 weirder things I've experienced in the last day, just let me enjoy my croissant that I'm pretending isn't slightly mouldy"

FAVOURITE QUOTE FROM A FIC IN 2024

Follow My Voice (Chap. 12) Dragon Age Inquisition

His whole body shuddered, and if either felt the other’s tears on their skin they would simply have said it was just the river water drying.

The whole chapter this is from was very challenging to write, as there are just so many emotions (it was the emotional climax of the whole thing), but they had to be conveyed in as little dialogue as possible. In the end I think there was like... 6? dialogue lines in the chapter??

FIC I’M MOST PROUD OF IN 2024 -

Follow My Voice for SURE- I even wrote a really sappy and emotional authors note (you can find it here) at the end ahaha (which I don't actually know if anybody got to lol). But basically, the gist was, I've had a lot of untreated mental health problems for over a decade, and I cam out of postgrad even worse. Even just a year ago I would have laughed if you told me I was going to write a 50k story!

The lil dragon age writing community here has been so amazing and sweet and welcoming, and y'all have done wonders for my mental health xx

NEW THINGS I HAVE TRIED IN 2024 -

Ummm, to be honest fic writing in general is still pretty new to me! I restarted writing in 2023 after not having done anything since I was a cringy 13 year old haha. But this year I've moved beyond just doing oneshots and into some much longer projects- plus baby's first fandom events! Follow My Voice is one I've finished (47k!!) and I'm working on two ongoing longfics- The End and The Beginning (solavellan fix it fic) and Small Tyrannies (Felassan/Lavellan/Solas ancient AU) :D

GOALS FOR 2025 -

Going to keep chugging along on my two ongoing longfics, and hopefully maybe finish them??

I also want to do some work on some of my non fanfic book ideas, now that I've been proving to myself for a year that actually I can still write (still got it baby!)

[kampon-ni-maam-kate]

I. Formalistic Approach: This approach focuses on form. The analysis stresses items like symbols, images, and structure and how one part of the work relates to other parts and to the whole.

A. How is the work's structure unified?

The work's structure is unified through Alice's journey, which follows a dream-like logic where events are connected more by themes and motifs than by a traditional narrative arc.

(Written by: Dave Abendaño)

B. How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?

Various elements such as the use of wordplay, absurd situations, and fantastical characters reinforce the theme of the absurdity and unpredictability of life.

(Written by: Dave Abendaño)

C. What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you find? What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?

Some recurring patterns include changes in size, the theme of playing cards, and the idea of madness or irrationality. These motifs create a sense of disorientation and emphasize the dream-like quality of the story.

(Written by: Dave Abendaño)

D. How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?

Repetition, such as the repeated references to time and the recurring characters, reinforces the theme of the passage of time and the cyclical nature of life.

(Written by: Blesiely Grace Magabilin)

E. How does the writer's diction reveal or reflect the work's meaning?

The writer's diction, characterized by playful language, puns, and nonsensical dialogue, reflects the whimsical and surreal nature of Wonderland.

(Written by: Blesiely Grace Magabilin)

F. What is the effect of the plot, and what parts specifically produce that effect?

The plot, which lacks a conventional story arc, contributes to the overall sense of confusion and absurdity, highlighting the theme of the unpredictable nature of life.

(Written by: Blesiely Grace Magabilin)

G. What figures of speech are used? (metaphors, similes, etc.)

In "Alice in Wonderland", various figures of speech are employed to enhance the narrative. Metaphors play a significant role, such as Alice's journey symbolizing self-discovery and growth, the Red Queen representing tyranny, and the White Rabbit embodying urgency and the passage of time.Similes are also used, such as saying that the Cheshire Cat's smile is "like a Cheshire cat," which gives the persona an air of mystery and playfulness. Personification is also visible in the anthropomorphized traits of different species, which gives Wonderland's fanciful universe more depth.

(Written by: Mary Grace Gabutan)

H. Note the writer's use of paradox, irony, symbol, plot, characterization, and style of narration.

1. Paradox: Throughout the story, paradoxes abound, such as the nonsensical logic of Wonderland itself, where things often appear contradictory or illogical. This adds to the whimsical and surreal atmosphere of the tale, highlighting the theme of questioning reality and embracing the absurd.

2.  Irony : is woven into the fabric of the story, particularly in the contrast between Wonderland's absurdity and Alice's rationality. The Queen of Hearts' obsession with justice despite her unjust actions adds a layer of irony to the narrative.

3. Symbolism: Symbols are woven throughout the story, from the White Rabbit symbolizing the passage of time and the call to adventure, to Alice represents curiosity, innocence, and the journey of self-discovery,The White Rabbit symbolizes time and the passage of time, The Mad Hatter can be seen as a symbol of madness and irrationality. The Queen of Hearts represents tyranny and the abuse of power, The Cheshire Cat embodies ambiguity and the fluid nature of reality, The Caterpillar can be interpreted as a symbol of transformation and metamorphosis and The March Hare symbolizes the passage of time and the changing of the seasons. These symbols deepen the thematic exploration of identity, growth, and the search for meaning.

4. Plot : The plot of "Alice in Wonderland" is intricately woven with twists and turns, reflecting the unpredictable nature of Alice's journey through Wonderland. This unconventional narrative structure reinforces the theme of embracing uncertainty and navigating the unknown.

5. Characterization: Characters in "Alice in Wonderland" are vividly characterized, each embodying distinct traits and quirks. From the eccentric Mad Hatter to the enigmatic Cheshire Cat, these characters contribute to the surreal and fantastical atmosphere of Wonderland, while also serving as mirrors to different aspects of Alice's personality and psyche.

(Written by: Mary Grace Gabutan)

I. Is there a relationship between the beginning and the end of the story?

• The begining part of the story reveals a clue about what will happen in the whole story, the scene where she had a dream about weird and creepy things. At the end of the story, she finally figures out that what is happening to her is all from her imagination and she solved everything on her own by remembering the dream she had at the beginning of the story

(Written by: Erica Concepcion)

J. What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?

• The tone and mood in the story "Alice in Wonderland" feels enchanted and magical, making a sense of wonder and interest as Alice experiences fantastical characters. Other times, it gets to be overwhelming and confusing, bringing out sensations of confusion as Alice navigates through the world of Wonderland.

(Written by: Erica Concepcion)

K. How does the author create tone and mood? What relationship is there between tone and mood and the effect of the story?

• In "Alice in Wonderland," the author uses words and settings to make the story feel imaginative and playful. This creates a tone that makes the audience feel like they're in a world of wonder and magic. The mood of the movie is like being in a dream; it feels curious and unpredictable. The author achieves this by using surprising twists, strange characters, and magical events. The tone and mood work together to make the audience feel captivated and immersed in a special and enchanting world.

(Written by: Francine Guillermo)

L. How do the various elements interact to create a unified whole?

• In "Alice in Wonderland," all the different parts work together to make a complete and enjoyable story. The story is told well, with all the different parts fitting together nicely. The visuals, like the sets and costumes, look great and make the magical world of Wonderland feel real. The characters are interesting and add to the story, with each one having their own personality and motivations. The dialogue is clever and funny, fitting with the playful and imaginative tone of the movie. The music helps to set the mood and makes the experience even better. All these elements work together to make "Alice in Wonderland" a fun and exciting movie.

(Written by: Francine Guillermo)

[3thurs]

Third Thursday events and exhibitions for May 18

The next Third Thursday — the monthly evening of art in Athens, Georgia — is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. This schedule and each venue’s location and hours of operation are available at 3thurs.org.

Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

Yoga in the Galleries, 6 p.m. — Join us for a free yoga class surrounded by works of art in the galleries. Led by instructors from Five Points Yoga, this program is free and open to both beginner and experienced yogis. Sanitized mats are provided. Space is limited and spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis; tickets are available at the front desk starting at 5:15 p.m.

On view:

“Art is a form of freedom” — This exhibition results from a collaborative project that brought works of art from the museum’s collection into classrooms at Whitworth Women’s Facility, a prison in north Georgia. The incarcerated women there selected the works in this exhibition and wrote prose and poetry in response to them.

“Sky Hopinka: Lore” — Images of friends and landscapes are cut, fragmented and reassembled on an overhead projector as hands guide their shape and construction in this video work stemming from Hollis Frampton’s 1971 experimental film “Nostalgia.”

“In Dialogue: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Mentor and Muse” — This focused exhibition highlights Black artist Henry Ossawa Tanner’s impact on several younger artists: Palmer C. Hayden, William H. Johnson, William Edouard Scott and Hale Woodruff.

“Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection” — Selections from Larry and Brenda Thompson’s gift of works by African American artists.

“Power and Piety in 17th-Century Spanish Art” — Works by premiere Spanish baroque painters such as Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Murillo, Pedro Orrente and others, on loan from Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery.

The museum’s days of operation are Tuesday – Sunday. Reserve a free ticket and see our policies at https://georgiamuseum.org/visit/.

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art

ATHICA@675 Pulaski St., Suite 1200

Closed until June, when Artist-in-ATHICA Mux Blank will be in residence.

ATHICA@CINÉ Gallery

“Inner Forms” — Oil paintings by Athens-based artist and musician Joseph Leone.

Lyndon House Arts Center

6 – 7:30 p.m. — Reception for the artists of “Breathing Room”

On view:

“Breathing Room: artist employees of r wood studio” —This exhibition features paintings and ceramics by Rebecca Wood alongside works by “employee artists” past and present.

“The Green Life Art Exhibition” — The Green Life Art Contest is an annual art contest geared toward K - 12 students that falls under the larger umbrella of the Athens-Clarke County Green Life Awards. Organized by several ACCGov divisions focused on environmental education and sustainability, the Green Life Awards recognize environmental leaders in our community, and the art contest has been a piece of this program for over 10 years.

“Collections from Our Community: Typewriters from the Collections of Mike Kilpatrick, Tatiana Veneruso, Mike Landers and Lauren Fancher”

The Athenaeum

Closed for the summer.

The Classic Center

“FLOURISH” — Featuring artists inspired by our botanical world. Petals abound in painter Dallis Foshee’s vibrant compositions. Mary Mason Sams steps out into her garden, clipping bouquets to inspire her expressive compositions. Marisa Mustard takes a more graphic approach in her flower-power, spray-painted paintings. And Zahria Cook's vine-like abstraction undulates and twists like kudzu taking over.  

 “Paintings by Bess Carter” — Bess investigates and delights in interior spaces and the meaningful items we use to decorate and activate our homes. A charming collection of paintings with beautiful, thoughtful details. On view in Classic Gallery II on the second floor.

tiny ATH gallery

6 – 9 p.m. — Closing event of “Walking Through a Radiant World” with live music by John Kiran Fernandes.

On view: 

“Walking Through a Radiant World” — Acrylic paintings of  Susie Criswell's interpretation of nature. Criswell says, “I enjoy using bright colors and a sense of pattern in both the shapes and the lines I see in gardens, forests and from my imagination. My work is both representational and symbolic of the natural world. You might notice a person in some of the paintings, often reading. The paintings that include people send a message that reading can take you anywhere; just as a painting can transport you to different places in the natural world, both real and imaginary.”

—

Third Thursday was established in 2012 to encourage attendance at Athens’ established art venues through coordination and co-promotion by the organizing entities. 

Contact: Michael Lachowski, Georgia Museum of Art, mlachow@uga.edu.

[hirazuki]

I AM LATE BUT BACK, sorry work ate my life |D but yes! camelot movies are a bit different; mostly in order of events and dialogue and how certain events happen, not the big stuff, but some stuff is shuffled around and altered for time purposes. i'm pretty sure they also added mordred vs sanzang in the second one, that wasn't in the game. but it's still good! it's very very good, it's just a bit edited down etc because they crammed a whole chapter into 2 ovas rather than a whole 24 ep anime.

the extra anime does sound fun! i absolutely fucking adore Robin and Drake, so om nom nom more content for them is always wonderful, and i like nero's route in the game best so i'm glad it's her starring-- i should definitely check it out at some point once i finish apocrypha.

(i...am very early on into apocrypha. i need to finish that. i love everyone in it, they're all delightful. especially astolfo and achilles, though honorary mentions for karna and vlad.)

kojiro BALLS honestly he's really cool and i hope he gets more stuff in future events, we do get a 'gudaguda' historical japan event every year and i think they finally ran out of sengoku shenanigans, so maybe he'll get to star in a future one? here's hoping he deserves it (or maybe he'll be in that new koei tecmo game, since musashi is in it!)

you have excellent taste tbh, everyone on that list is amazing, and i stan shishigou SO HARD you have no idea he's So Cool. waver too, i love him as small and dorky but also older and...still dorky. but hotter. Gil, Cu, Emiya, Robin, Merlin, and Dantes are some of my favs but honestly i can't name a servant i HATE 100% (okay yes i can, but that's just one of them XD)

No worries!! UGH I hate when that happens, I wish work was just. not a thing XD

Oh, yeah, that makes sense, with Babylonia they did a full anime season; I wish they had done the same for this, but I'll take what I can get! I don't really have the time/interest to explore the game chapter for myself, but I wonder if I could maybe find a let's play or something to watch, I'd be interested in seeing the content in full.

Haha, Apocrypha is also very differently structured in terms of Holy Grail War dynamics (14 servants on the field....... it's so many....) but I really, really liked it. Lots of pain, of course, but it's so well written and executed. Enjoy!! Astolfo is a gem <3 (Achilles I'm not a fan of, but I've never liked him in any form/media and idk why; I like to pretend we don't share heritage XD BUT that's just my personal taste and, as a Greek, the Apocrypha team did an absolutely excellent job with his portrayal! I honestly have zero complaints about how they've handled any of my culture's mythological/historical figures, they consistently produce some of the most intuitive and nuanced interpretations I've ever seen).

It's just my curse, always falling for the side characters with the least amount of screen time lmao. I hope so!! Fingers crossed! (though Musashi favoritism kind of abounds in sword/historical circles, so it that might not mean anything -- but I'll be very pleasantly surprised if he does turn out to be in it!!).

Lmao THANK YOU! You have excellent taste too, Gil is one of the best boys and Cu is amazing as well <3 Shishigou is just so badass (and a necromancer, so instant bonus points for me) and his attitude is so relatable, he'd be my number one pick for a Fate mentor figure, you know? YES I love both young Waver and older Waver, and can I say how much I adore that he's so completely and utterly out of shape? Wheezing when he runs? I love that about him XD

I haven't spent too much time with Robin and Dantes so I can't really say anything worthwhile other than they are awesome and I love their designs, but MERLIN is also a top choice, 10/10, he's absolutely irritating but also a delight and his relationship with Fou is one of the best things ever.

Same! There are definitely characters that I don't like, as in, they don't vibe with me, but no one who I dislike as a character in terms of their role/purpose in the story, everyone is extremely well written.

[emerald-amidst-gold]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tag @dreadfutures! I really appreciate it! <3

Still working on the never-ending snippet (they’re chapters, really XD)! To be fair, this is a great exercise because it’s helping me utilize dialogue more! So, without further ado...

...The Anchor being a buzz kill. :3

---

“Fane..”, Solas said, slightly breathless as Fane explored and showed the warmth of a balm.

“Hm,”, Fane hummed as he finally found Solas’ pulse, fluttering and skipping. He pulled away a bit, eyes hooded as he watched the beating patch. “You’re getting excited already. Dangerous, my sky. Very, very dangerous.”

Solas let out an airy laugh, turning in his embrace a bit to rest his side against Fane’s front. He had to adjust his hold a bit and take his hand holding the mage’s jaw away, but he kept his eyes on the butterfly before him. It was tempting to...well, snatch it from the air, but Fane kept himself in control, even as he felt the sky begin to lay kisses along his neck. They were as light as air and near reverent, but no less hot with their underlying heat. It was making his mind haze with a different kind of smoke this time.  

“Ma’isenatha,” Solas murmured against where he was kissing, tender and sweet, but there was a note of...concern in its cadence? “...May I see your hand?”

What?

Fane blinked, the smoke clearing a bit. “Huh?”, he uttered in question, shifting his gaze away from the steadying butterfly to glistening orbs--lavender branching out from where the pupil was. Oh, he loved that hue. That hue, that very few saw…

Solas offered him a tiny smile. “Your hand.”, he repeated, a tentative touch appearing against an...oddly warm, blazingly warm, palm. Why was his hand so damn hot? It almost burned.

Fane drew his brows together, confused. “...My hand? Why do you--?”

Suddenly and before he could get the words out, the Anchor cracked within his palm--ancient magic still very much volatile from his earlier outburst. Fane hissed sharply. Damn it all! He forgot all about the Void-taken thing! Fuck! Just when he had been sure everything was as it should be again! Foolish! Foolish!

“Easy, vhenan,”, Solas soothed, one hand appearing upon his cheek and the other within his spasming hand. Within an instant, their fingers wound together, interlocking like a masterwork latch. “Breathe, and let us move from the floor. I can examine your hand better that way.” Blue orbs connected with his own, questioning and full of tender concern, even if they were a bit hard to make out from the suddenness of sharp daggers under his skin. “...Can you do that for me?”

Fane gritted his teeth at another pulse, growling deep in his chest, but he managed to jerkily nod. He could move, but by anything that was holy, he didn’t want to. The damned Anchor tended to skyrocket in its anger every time he jolted it, but...he could endure it. He could endure it if it meant it would just stop.

Solas gave him another reassuring smile, gingerly lifting himself off of where he was leaning against Fane’s front to stand. Fane nearly dragged the elf back down when another deep pulse of magic shot up his arm, but thankfully, not his head. It fucking burned like acid, however. The magic was less than it had been earlier, but it was still managing to seep from the slit and snake up his arm like ethereal vines.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,”, Fane cursed over and over, growling and snarling in the interim. “Fuuuck!”

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out shakily, trying to fight through the pain and nausea as he, none too gracefully, pushed himself off the floor with his free hand. To Fane’s surprise, the Anchor didn’t protest too awfully, only snapping against his wrist like a hand slapped another in reprimand. Still, it ached, burned, and screamed.

Solas’ hands appeared on him the moment he stood at full height, using both to lift the acid spewing hand up to his line of vision. Fane swallowed hard around pooling saliva and took in deep breaths through his nose as he let the mage work his magic. 

He watched as a slender finger glided along the brightly glowing opening, testing, teasing the familiar magic out with a gentle blue glow. The tendrils came outwards, but then abated minimally, cowing at calming blue, but they still carried fury underneath--pulsing and crawling. Fane grimaced at the sensation, stifling a pained growl. It would never end unless he chopped his arm off, would it? Or, well, if Solas took it away. Sadly, his sky didn’t have the capability or power to do that yet. Fane would be both relieved and not relieved the day that he did. For various reasons. Reasons they also needed to discuss sometime, but not right now. Not when his fucking arm was feeling like it was getting pulled through a rift!

Solas gave him a tiny smile, glancing up from his work. “You are doing well, my dragon.”, he praised before concentration hardened features that held the shadows and dual glow of magic, eyes going back down to focus. “What do you feel right now? Describe the sensations for me.”

Fane took in another deep breath. “Uh, c-crawling. F-Feels like there’s worms under my skin. Worms that are--are on fire.”, he tried to explain as best he could, but those blazing worms were wriggling, writhing as Solas gingerly ushered more of his magic into the mark. “I-It keeps knocking against that f-fucking ward, too.”

Solas glanced up again, but didn’t halt his ministrations. “It has not pierced through, correct?”

Fane shook his head with a shaky sigh. “No, but that’s because I’m…” He gasped a bit, a hard pound slamming into the walls of his mind like a drum. “...fighting it.”

That seemed to be all Solas needed him to say, going back to his task with a furrowed brow and a determined look in his sky-line eyes.

Slowly but surely, the Anchor began to die down as the more Solas guided his magic to make the more volatile counterpart heel. The tendrils of sickly, but sparkling green abated, the ever present glow dimmed, and best of all, the pain ebbed away like a lazy wave. Fane sucked in a deep, deep breath as that reprieved was granted to him. He still felt nauseous as all got out, but the worms were dying down, the knock upon a locked door floating away as chaotic magic slithered back down his arm. He could honestly sob from relief. Truly, he could. 

Solas let out a quiet sigh of his own, tired and relieved all in one, as his eyes met Fane’s own again and for good this time. They were speaking to him, asking a typical question and it filled Fane’s heart with tender affection.

Fane smiled tiredly. “Better. Thank you.”, he said. He was utterly exhausted, stomach tender and head aching duly, but the pain had stopped, the magic driven back to the hole it crawled out of.

Solas let out another relieved sigh at his words, a tired smile of his own appearing, cracking the mask of concentration, and giving his marked hand a gentle squeeze with the two still holding it.

“It’s nothing.”, the mage downplayed, shifting tender eyes down to gaze upon the Anchor forlornly. “I simply wish I could rid you of this burden, to wipe away this pain. If I had known it would be you who would somehow pick the orb up, I would have been--”

Fane sighed softly as he tapped the underneath of Solas’ chin with a few fingers of the hand he was holding. The elf blinked, steely orbs snapping up to him instantly and that only made Fane smirk more. How the sky heeded a dragon’s call. It should be the reverse, but this world continued to show how much it defied itself.

“Stop. Observe and accept. Observe what happened, and accept that it was beyond your control to predict. You will fix things, Solas. We will fix things.”, Fane assured as he leaned in to lay a light kiss against the mage’s lips. It was reciprocated with ease, a tiny hum escaping from his sky and it made him reluctant to pull back, but he did to murmur, “All of it will come in time, ma tarasyl. You know that. I know that. Be patient.”

Solas let out a chuckle. “Using my own words against me? Wisdom is a concept in you, I see.”, he teased.

Fane sneered a bit. “Cute.”, he replied dryly before shrugging. “I only used them because you used my own earlier, and I figured you’d be more amenable listening to yourself when in concern to what happened at the Conclave and whatnot. You do like to hear yourself talk, after all.”, he teased with a growing smirk. They were coming full circle now, and hopefully, his jokes would land more gently this time.

“Insufferable.”, Solas quipped with an exasperated sigh, but it was fond underneath, he knew. “Why do I--?”

Fane blinked as Solas suddenly froze up, face going blank and glittering eyes staring at him, but not registering. He furrowed his brow at that, pulling his head back a bit to get a better look at blue and grey. Now, that wasn’t normal. The hues were still bright, aware, blue with lavender branching from the middle, but Solas’ face and posture screamed, ‘disconnected’. Fane felt himself grow more worried at that. Had he fucked up again?

“Solas? Are you--?”

He went to ask after the man, thinking his joke had hit a nerve yet again, but a slender finger suddenly darted up to his lips, stilling them. It was telling him to wait, to be silent. Fane blinked. Well, at least the mage was responsive? Yes...a corner of a mouth was moving a bit, eyes were blinking slowly, and a…

...nose was twitching?

Before any more questions could be voiced or even thought up, Fane saw Solas’ face pinch a bit, nose screwing up before sucking in a slow, deep breath, and then…

“Achoo!”

We have it all in this story! Pain, sadness, Solas tears, Fane rage, fluff, cockblocking magic, and sniffles~ >:3 Watch this turn into a sick fic now. XD

Tagging forth (with love and potions to ward against sniffles!)

@oxygenforthewicked @noire-pandora @the-dreadful-canine @little-lightning-lavellan @aymayzing @dungeons-and-dragon-age @hoochieblues @whataboutbugs @1000generations @blueheaded @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold and anyone else who’d like to share! It’s Wednesday~! X3 (no pressure, of course! <3)

[fanfics2747]

Friday Night Funkin’: BlinDee

Basically, what I’m doing here is taking the songs from FNF: D Sides and rewriting the lore and designs to match - sort of like Minus, but with how the songs sound instead of the HP icons. Effectively, I’m creating a whole new cast of characters equivalent to the current D-Sides cast, but based only on the OST.

CHARACTER: Parasim Parasim is an AI created by Danny Disco to participate in duets. He processes the opponents’ singing into MIDI patterns, which he recreates and mutates on his artificial whims.

Parasim doesn’t have any songs of his own, but as the player character he shows up in everyone else’s songs unless noted.

--

CHARACTER: Daniel “Danny Disco” Crisis Danny Disco is a guy whose attire makes it seem like he never recovered from the seventies, but once you take a look at the futuristic freaks he’s forged, you’ll quickly find that he’s already further than the rest of us. His styles may be eccentric, but that’s no incentive to believe he isn’t inventive.

WEEK 1: Voice Calibration Parasim is in Danny Disco’s house and wired into his computer. Parasim’s neural structure is being displayed on the computer screen.

Bopeebo Dialogue: DD: Alright, all these neural nets should be set up properly. Voice copying is enabled, creativity is at an acceptable level, pitch is adjusted by an octave... Alright, let’s rock! PS: be-eEP! DD: Prepare to disc out in five, four…

--

CHARACTER: ??? (THE DIRECTIONS ONE) ANALYSIS OF NEW TUTORIAL IN PROGRESS possibly still all star funky planet? possibly lemini’s space spouse?

CHARACTER: ??? (THE BEEPING ONE) ANALYSIS OF NEW TUTORIAL IN PROGRESS possibly Danny Disco’s sticky assistant/partner? possibly another parasim set to a different parameter?

[images here]

TUTORIAL:

--

CHARACTER: Sirilux Sirilux is a strange spirit who loves to creep around, get spooky, and create all sorts of scary mischief. This is, of course, second to his love of all things outer space. He loves space so much that he refuses to obey the law of gravity unless he really needs to, and even then he opts for a more moon-like descension.

WEEK 2: Starry Night Sinkin’ Danny Disco goes to meet up with Lemini at her favorite planetarium, and he brings Parasim to show her his progress. Before they meet Lemini, Sirilux appears in order to strike fear into the new experiment’s heart... and sing about cool space facts, too.

Spookeez Dialogue: SL: Hey Dan, what’s that TV thing following you around? DD: Oh, that’s my new musical robot, Parasim! He’ll try to repeat whatever you sing back to you. SL: Seems pretty spooky. Let’s try it! DD: He has enough battery, and I’ve got the time, so sure, why not?

CHARACTER: VINCENT VICTOR VALENTINO Vincent Victor Valentino, also known as V3, is a killer that’s been pestering Danny Disco for a while. He’s a cannibal, but after he was the willing subject of various dubious experiments, he’s started not to consider himself one on the grounds that he’s “ascended past your species”.

[IMAGE GOES HERE]

WEEK 2: Starry Night Sinkin’ (Plot Twist!) By the time Sirilux is done with all three of his spooky space songs, the planetarium’s ceiling dome switches to the image of Vincent Victor Valentino. He requests that Danny Disco join him in a song about his imminent demise, but Disco refuses, sending Parasim out to do it for him. V3 finds this to be an acceptable substitute for now...

--

CHARACTER: Lemini What’s better than a hot mom who’s also the emodiment of Electro Swing? Absolutely nothing! Lemini is the creator of Groobert and All-Star Funky Planet, as well as the mother of Sirilux.

WEEK 4: Real Cartoon Pal This week takes place inside Lemini’s laboratory, wherein flashing lights are abound and strange inventions from “dog magnet” to “full-color hologram of dog magnet” scatter the table.

--

CHARACTER: Groobert the Rapping Robot Lemini was inspired by Parasim to create her own musical machine named Groobert. She took a bit of a different approach, though - he has an on-board speech synthesizer with a classically robotic sound to it, and he generates his own lyrics in real time using LSTM technology. One problem, though - he isn’t exactly finished. His endoskeleton isn’t quite calibrated, the other half of his shell is still printing, and his vocals have a tendency to skip around like a dirty disk.

WEEK 3: Half-N-Half Danny Disco took Parasim to an old abandoned factory for his next test run (apparently it has great acoustics). As it turns out, Lemini also took her creation to be tested in the same factory. They ended up deciding that they should probably set the bots up against each other, just to see how chaotic it gets - and boy, does it get chaotic.

In this week, there’s a unique bolt-dodging mechanic where Groobert will start exploding, sending bolts to hit you, and his joints will click against each other to signal an upcoming explosion. Because of all of the parts that are rapidly being ejected from him, he’s in worse condition after each song and has to be brought back to the workshop after he gets blammed in the end.

Pico Copycode Dialogue: LM: Oh hey, I didn’t expect to see you here! DD: I guess strange minds think alike when it comes to which abandoned factories to test their stuff in. DD: Speaking of stuff, I can see you’ve made a lot of progress on Groobert since I heard him last. LM: I’m pretty proud of it, yeah. There are a few quirks I haven’t been able to iron out, but I’m sure he’ll be able to survive this one test. LM: Groobert, roll out! DD: Parasim, believe! GB: Hey, copycode! Let’s rock! PS: beep skoop bom bept

--

WEEK 5: Head Hacked Danny Disco and Lemini were going to the mall(?) together when, for some reason, Parasim started acting odd. He was lashing out at random people walking by, trying to kick their dogs, and even becoming hostile to his own creator. Danny Disco tries to take him down nonviolently by activating some sort of failsafe, but eventually Lemini convinces him that they’ll have to cut some wires to get Parasim back in working order. Parasim still doesn’t make that easy, though, as once they approach, he runs away at high speeds.

WEEK 5: Head Hacked (PLOT TWIST) As it turns out, Parasim wasn’t just running away - he was running towards the skilled hacker who had been behind his change of attitude all long. That skilled hacker’s name? Vincent Victor Valentino.

CHARACTER: Binglo its just a scringlo binglo. a boinky spunge. a plondgey spongy.

--

weeks 6 and 7 go here because their opponents show up in hurray array but i have insufficient data about them so i’m not going to elaborate until d sides itself does

--

WEEK 0: Hurray, Array! It’s Open Mic Night at Club Zer0, and for some reason they let Parasim on the mic. This week is one big congrats to Parasim and the player after everything they went through together. All the previous main-story opponents are there to chime in.

All the beatboxing sounds are Danny Disco, just like they were in Week 1.

Test Dialogue: ??: Hey Dan, it’s Open Mic Night next Friday. DD: Hm. Maybe I could use that to test Parasim’s capabilities. DD: He can’t do full improvization with how he’s coded, and I can’t rework his code that drastically by next Friday, so I’d have to run two copies of his AI at the same time. ??: Wouldn’t the song quality suffer from having so much of a load on the CPU? DD: He has a hyperthreaded processor, so I’m pretty sure it’ll be alright. {4 days later} Club Zer0 Master of Ceremonies: Alright, Danny Disco, it’s your turn on the mic! DD: Excuse me, I have a... rather odd request. DD: Am I allowed to bring a singing robot on stage? CZMC: No. DD: I’ll give you this copy of Parappa The Rapper with a ghost in it if you let me do it. CZMC: ...fine.

too slow: it’s me boy i’m the ps5 endless: parasim dove too deep into someone’s evil lair and met up with a security droid who thinks he’s trying to scar the cat. after declaring that isn’t going to happen, its mouth gets covered in some kind of sticky fiberglass webbing (explaining the muffled sound) and they get into a chase sequence. the owner is probably 90s themed. cycles: ??? milk: ???????

klaskii: a high-speed car chase where a fully completed Groobert is riding on top of the car and singing against the “huehuehue” guy (probably looks like majin sonic)

breakfast: a zephyrus-like menu where you talk to a noir detective

gettin freaky: ??? game over: same guy as gettin freaky

[crackinglamb]

AAAAA I WANNA ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS ON THE LIST...but alas

13) rate ur worldbuilding skills 1-10 👀 (u know me, am big sucker for such)

23) dialogues or description? And WHY?

40) write a 9 word fic 😂

I mean, I don't mind. If you want to ask more stuff, I'll answer it. I like getting asks. 😁

13 - Um...6? I mean, I write fic. The world is kinda already there. Now, that said, I take canon and briefly glance at it like I'm reading microwave instructions for something I'm going to bake in a toaster oven, so...

I've been told by readers that they can clearly visualize the parts of my stories that take place away from canon locations, so I think I must do pretty good there. And I'm talking some Fade stuff, some Fen'Hideaways and parts of Skyhold that could potentially exist. I've also written a lot of post-canon stuff, which tends to involve coming up with fresh plot and fallout from other plots. Currently I'm working on a whole bunch of dwarven lore for Lark. That's been a blast.

But I think there are a ton of writers (yourself included) that do it a lot more creatively and expansively than I do.

23 - DIALOGUE! Ahem...right. Inside voice. I can cheat with dialogue, since so much of it exists and can be tracked down easily. And once I get a speech pattern down internally, writing more of it comes pretty naturally. I definitely have some favorites (Solas, Dorian and Bull come to mind), and some that I struggle with (Cullen, Sera and Viv). Keeping my OC's 'in character' has been a recent challenge since I was actively writing three of them for a while, and they're quite different from each other and bring out different aspects from the companions while they're at it.

But for the sake of fairness, I've gotten better with descriptions. I discovered that if I make a playthrough for an OC, I'm much more able to create a 3-D picture in my head of them. Backstory and headcannons abound once I have a face to go with a name.

40 - (sidenote, this is the third time I've been asked this today and it's making me laugh)

We're all mad here. Come, join us for tea.

Thanks for the ask! 💕 From this list.

[fannishlyyours]

suits fics

been reading quite a bit of marvey/suits fics, so here, have a list of stuff i’ve thoroughly enjoyed:

my brother’s keeper by closer, in which Donna and Harvey are siblings and this is the canon we all deserved but didn’t get. 28,235 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/300812?view_full_work=true

5U175 by closer, in which Harvey is a Star Trek BNF and Mike is also in fandom, and secret identities abound! this was DE-LIGHT-FUL. really, truly. laughed a ton. excellent dialogue. 26,411 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/328742?view_full_work=true

pizza and a movie by closer, au, mike’s the pizza delivery guy. slow burn, excellent characterization, tender and sweet. thoroughly enjoyed this one. 30,117 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/250373?view_full_work=true

the secret life of lawyers by closer, au side-quel to pizza and a movie, donna POV, excellent characterization, funny. 11,627 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/251707?view_full_work=true

A Series of Covert Disasters by closer, au, sequel to pizza and a movie, harvey pov, this just gave me warm fuzzy feelings and was so happy making. 23,869 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/254239

the go to guy by closer. detective au. 27,009 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/266935?view_full_work=true

needs must by thatotherperv, au, prostitution, dom/sub, mike is a paid submissive. 98,695 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/330890/chapters/533978

sweet thang by majali, sugardaddy!harvey, mike hates spending money on himself. 13,657 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/223134/chapters/336973

grande soy triple dirty chai by friskaz. coffeeshop au. kind of slow. ensamble cast. 38,301 word. https://archiveofourown.org/works/265877

limited partnership by pookaseraph. fake marriage, the one where one of them thinks the other one is straight yet they are married to each other. plenty of domesticity. adorable. 30,909 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/454762

not the worst step-dad in the history of everything by pookaseraph. kidfic. cute! 15,153 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/439396

a day too early (still a couple dollars short) by thatotherperv. au-canon, good dialogue, explicit. 11,424 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/290464?view_full_work=true

untitled tennis star mike ficlet by thatotherperv. short and sweet, au, d/s undertones, 796 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/6141448

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continental drift by townpariah. i love, love, LOVE the we’re totally dating but we don’t know it, especially when you throw in casually sleeping with each other and STILL denying it. this fic executed the trope brilliantly. 12,419 words. https://archiveofourown.org/works/231217

[megamanxfanfics]

S.VI-Ep.19: The Nightmare Father

Written by Metal-Man-X Original Dialogue written by Capcom & re-arranged by Metal-Man-X

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INT. MHHQ BUNKER – R & D Lab – DAY

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

Caption: 1/7/20XX – 1 week after the defeat of the Investigators…

X and Zero stand behind Alia as she pulls up data from the Nightmare Souls on her computer.

ALIA: Hey guys, check it out!  You’re not gonna believe this-

Suddenly their Main Monitor blips as they receive an unexpected Vid-link from Gate.

They all gasp at the site of him , while he just grins at them.

GATE: Well done, Maverick Hunter, X. Splendid, Zero! You’ve both defeated my star creations...

X: So you’re Gate!

ZERO: What do you want??

GATE: Yeees, yes. I’m the new leader of the Reploids. I aim for an ideal nation of Elite Reploids only. Therefore, I’ve been eliminating all low-form Reploids in order to achieve that. Hee hee hee.

X: You!! Don’t you realize what you're doing? The Earth can't be fixed without Every Reploid working together!

GATE: I know... Isn’t it great? I think it's a golden opportunity! Thanks to the Space Colony incident, a lot of Reploids were lost. Now I can easily control those remaining... It's the ideal time to build my world! I won't let anybody interfere. Finally, I can realize my "dream"! I will build the strongest nation!

ZERO: Your ridiculous obsession is a waste of our time. An ideal world made from a virus? It won't last with a corrupt foundation!

ALIA: Is this all just a grudge…? Don't you realize what's going on? In the worst-case scenario, you might die as well.

GATE: So be it... I can't forget what you did, Alia... You and that insipid Inner Circle!! They murdered my works instead of appreciating them, and you helped! It took me a long time to recover from that, but now it appears that it was all for naught. Once we resurfaced, now you Maverick Hunters have eliminated them as well!!

X: You left us no other choice!!!

GATE: There is ALWAYS a choice!!!! …But you couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you??  You always have to be in Control!  Well, no more.  

X: Excuse me.  Your Investigators manipulated the masses with the Nightmare.  They weren’t trying to help anyone!!!

GATE: …They were such excellent Reploids... Why? /This Maverick Hunter can't be analyzed and may carry great risks... but you don’t dispose of him…

He /points to Zero from the vid-screen.

ZERO: Hmph…

X: Zero has proven himself enough!!  He is not the Nightmare and wouldn’t do half of what your “Elite Reploids” have done.

GATE: Alright, well let me ask you this, then.  Even though you have Maverick Hunters and Low Reploids in that little Settlement... you still can’t manage to maintain peace, can you?

X: No thanks to you!

GATE: No… I’m not the problem.  It’s just nature.  Hate, Jealousy, Greed and Tyranny will always abound.  Even in the purest of Communities.  Believe me, I’ve seen it my whole life.  …You may taut yourself as a Peacekeeping Organization, but really you’re all just a bunch of Hypocrites who want one thing – Control.

They all look at each other, given pause.

X: …How DARE You!!??

GATE: Don't accuse me of being corrupt when you use force too!

ALIA: Stop quarreling! The Earth needs Us now, Gate. You should know better.

GATE: What the Earth needs… is me! This is my dream. I've been waiting for this... I won't let anybody get in the way. Which is why, X & Zero, I've decided to give you a special treat. Since you proved your worth and ability in defeating my investigators, I'm going to invite you both to my Laboratory. Fu fu fu. No more hiding. It’s time to settle this once and for all. I'm sure you'll come even if you know you'll die.

X: (irritated) You cocky little shit…

ZERO: (dismissive) It’s your Funeral…

GATE: I'm looking forward to seeing... The mysterious heroes at my laboratory... Fu fu fu. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

[INSERT TITLE CARD – The Nightmare Father]

-cut to-

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INT. MHHQ BUNKER – Control Area - DAY

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

The monitor blips back to the World Map, where a new signal is suddenly pinpointed at an eerily familiar area.

SIGNAS: Hm..?  Gate!?

DOUGLAS: How did he get access to our comms??

SIGNAS: Through Dynamo, no doubt.

He zooms into the location and narrows his eyes.

DOUGLAS: Aghh, and to think – he was hiding there this whole time.

SIGNAS: He chose to hide where we’d never look…. He’s in Antarctica…!

-cut to-

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INT. MHHQ BUNKER – R & D Lab - DAY

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

After the room’s Main Monitor reverts to Alia’s original data files, X and Zero are left to process what just happened with Alia.

ALIA: (shaken up) What…the Hell, was that!?

ZERO: He’s got a death-wish, that’s what.

X puts his hands on her shoulders and gives her arms a gentle, loving rub.

X: It’s okay, Babe.  We’ll get him….

She frowns as she looks at the screen.

ALIA: That’s exactly what I’m afraid of…

X & ZERO: Hm?

ALIA: I just… it’s a long story.  He’s been through a lot.  And he’s really changed.  It’s not that he doesn’t deserve it, it’s just…. I have a really long, deep history with him.  So, it’s kind of hard to process.

X frowns as he looks at her inquisitively.

ZERO: Never mind that.  What was it that you wanted to show us?

ALIA: Oh, well… Here.  Take a look…

She zooms in on a Nightmare Soul from her screen.

ALIA: I found out what the Nightmare is... It’s an artificial virus. It infects Reploids and rewrites their DNA and AI programs, immobilizing them. At worst, even their appearance changes. We don't know why exactly as our analysis is not yet complete... But it is very similar to the Mavericks.  This is why Lifesaver and I were worried last week.

ZERO: Right...

X: (regretful) Yeah... It's almost the same.

She continues as she pulls up more data.

ALIA: But the real threat of this Virus is what we call Nightmare Phenomena... An infected Reploid will become disorderly... by a certain code input into the system. It freely manipulates the Reploid, bending the host to it’s will. The real purpose of the Nightmare is... not to ruin Reploids, but to control them... Ultimately, when the virus rewrites a system, the Reploid inside dies, never to be the same again.

ZERO: Oh God…. What have I done?

ALIA: This wasn’t you, Zero…. Gate made it this way.

ZERO: That maniacal piece of shit.

She nods and frowns as she continues with her report.

ALIA: A normal virus dies with its host, but in this case it’s the reverse. The Nightmare is so strong that it survives after the Reploid dies. On the other hand, based on this fact, we don't need a special vaccine to destroy it. Since their energy output is so strong, they become autonomous reploids, themselves. Eradicating them all may be easier than erasing what’s left of the Sigma Virus...

X shakes his head at the horrid thought.

X: …Why is he doing this...!?

ZERO: And what about Isoc? Is he really pulling the strings...?

She looks at them with regret and shakes her head.

ALIA:

To create such an advanced virus... Only he is capable of this... My old colleague, Gate... Those Investigators meant Everything to him... even Scaravich, who was remade to look different; but those Eight Reploids were his! They should have been in utilized differently!!  They were such able Reploids...

She loses herself in thought. Growing impatient, X narrows his eyes at her.

X: ...You’re stalling. Why is Gate doing this?

She looks at him a little shocked and takes a breath.

ALIA: When he and I worked for the Reploid Research Team... All of his Creations were superior. Their programing was too advanced to analyze. They made remarkable progress, but that started to become dangerous. Then some of them began to take needless risks. Gate's reputation started to falter, but he kept creating more advanced Reploids so that he would get recognition for his ability. Of course, it was against our boss’ wishes. One day, she had enough. Deciding to make it look like an accident, she secretly plotted to dispose of his Reploids, one by one. It was our boss' orders. But I participated...

She looks away and sobs, ashamed.

X: Hey, it’s okay!

He tries to console her, but she pushes his arm away.

ALIA: No it’s not!!

ZERO: It’s over…

X: …Were they really so dangerous?

ALIA: (torn, guilty) Ohhh, I don’t know… No, not really. But his programs were just too advanced. My boss threatened my entire career! There was too much that couldn’t be analyzed by us.  I loved him, but he was a danger to himself and my reputation was on the line.  I didn’t know what else to do!!!  So I just Listened…!!!!

She breaks out into a crying fit as X immediately kneels and holds her.  Her muffled cries seep into X’s shoulder.

ZERO: …It was inevitable...

She pulls away and sniffles, slightly getting her bearings.

ALIA: (calming down) We could have taken steps to adjust the program. But it was just too advanced. There was nothing else I could do…

X stands upright and looks down at her.

X: Is that all? ...It's the same as me.

ALIA: Hm?

ZERO: They couldn't be analyzed... just like us.

He puts a hand on X’s shoulder, who offers a contemplative smile.

ALIA: I hesitate to say this... but he aimed to make his Reploids the strongest, to match your abilities. X and Zero... He wanted you.

They both look at her, surprised.

ALIA: He believed that the ultimate Reploid could never be analyzed... so he strived. Until his program advanced to a point where he achieved that – no one could analyze it! He was so much smarter than me... but I got ahead because I followed orders. Nobody gave him the proper recognition. Then, he grew isolated.  He eventually left saying… “I'll get revenge on all low Reploids who couldn't appreciate my ability!” Building an ideal nation with High-end Reploids only... That became his ambition... The Nightmare is that very revenge on those who didn't appreciate him! It is the embodiment of his "hatred"!

ZERO: Well, the time for dreaming is over! We're gonna crush that ambition, Gate!

ALIA: Yes. We have to stop Gate's plan at once!

X: I'll stop such an ambition. I won't accept any more sacrifices of my People! He must know the current situation. Mankind, Reploids and the Earth are in danger.

ZERO: All right. Let's find Gate!

ALIA: Yes. We must delete the Nightmare, once and for all!!

-cut to-

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

INT. MHHQ BUNKER – Control Area – DAY

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

X, Zero and Alia walk into the Control Area. Signas and Douglas greet them as the new location marker hones in on Antarctica.

ALIA: Commander Signas, have you heard???

SIGNAS: (nodding) Gate is behind everything! Stop his evil!!

ALIA: (gasping) That’s it! We've located his secret laboratory!! Let's stop the Nightmares now!!

X: Wait. Get my Team in here. We’ll need everything we’ve got.

ZERO: ..Are you sure??

X nods.

X: They’re ready.

Alia nods and punches in coordinates for an inner-teleport at her console.

A green, orange, blue and white beam suddenly peer in from the ceiling.

X: /Harpuia, /Fefnir, /Leviathan & /Phantom…. My New Guard…

As they /form, he /acknowledges /each of /them.

X: Are you ready to end this Nightmare??

They all look at each other, shocked and excited.

NEW GUARD: YEAH!

Zero smiles at the team’s zest for battle. He slightly blushes at the sight of Levy, who gives him a wink.

X: Good.  We have no way of knowing exactly what’s in store for us, so I want all hands on deck.  Alia, brief the B Team and prep them for Standby.  

ALIA: Roger.

FEFNIR: Aw, come on boss…. We can handle this ourselves…

X shakes his head.

X: Don’t be so sure yet, Fef. We’ve all had enough time to rest and regroup, which means so have they. And we definitely know what Gate’s capable of.

HARPUIA: Who is Gate, exactly?

X: The brains behind this entire Nightmare Operation…

PHANTOM: And don’t forget Isoc! He’ll be waiting for us as well.

LEVIATHAN: That old punk duped all of us into working for the Investigators and nearly got us all killed!

ZERO: (smirking) He’ll get what’s coming to him. Don’t worry…

HARPUIA: So what’s the plan?

X: We go in together and split up as needed.

Harpuia narrows his eyes.

HARPUIA: So we’re improvising…

X: It’s the best we can do for now.  Like I said, we won’t really know what we’re in for, until we have eyes on the situation.  That’s why I’m sending in the best of the best.

They all look at each other in awe and smile, knowing that their Leader has faith in them.

HARPUIA: Fair enough.

ZERO: Alriiiight, don’t let it go to your head, newbies. As long as you all stay out of my way, then we’ll be okay.

PHANTOM: Hmph!

LEVIATHAN: Excuse you?

X: (smirking) Heh. Don’t mind him. That’s Zero’s weird way of saying ‘Good Luck’.

FEFNIR: Try that, next time!!!

LEVIATHAN: Yeah, Bro. Use your words!

X: Hahahaha.  Let’s go, Gang…

Suddenly the whole group teleports away in colorful streams of Navy Blue, Black, Green, Light Blue, Orange and White.

DOUGLAS: I like these guys!

Signas nods and smiles at his cohort.

SIGNAS: (v.o, thinking) …but can they act like a Team?

-cut to-

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EXT. ANTARCTICA – Fallen Colony Ruins – NIGHT

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

X, Zero and the New Guard teleport amongst the salvaged wreckage of the Colony, which Gate calls his Lab.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) The secret laboratory of Gate exists in a place like this? Let's move in!

MAVERICK HUNTERS: Right!

All 6 of them charge in amongst the snowy plains.  X and Zero dash-hop over to a hill of machinery while the rest follow suit.  They jump and air-dash towards a higher piece of machinery, then pass by more heaps of broken wreckage. The 6 make their way uphill towards a lengthy, ominous pit.

Once they get to the edge, Alia barely manages to com-link to the group.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, grainy) Our ra-dar condition se-ems t- be ..vry bad…fzzt I can't get a clear visua...fzzzzzzt Can you f-nd anything?

ZERO: There's a large hole… wide enough for a big oaf to fit through...

X: Heh... It's like it's inviting us... I assume the laboratory is below this.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, noisy) Right... There’s so m… noise int..fer-nce…  I think we'll- fzzzzzt transmi…fzzzzt -nce you fzzter...

X: What!??

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, loud static) Just be careful, okay?

ZERO: Don't worry.

Suddenly loud, demonic screeches can be heard from below.

FEFNIR: What the Hell?

A giant, muscular demon mechaniloid with wired metal wings, suddenly peers out from the hole.

LEVIATHAN: Whoooaaaa!!!

PHANTOM: Ohhh!

It is followed by another robotic winged creature with a generic, oval-shaped head and no face.

ZERO: What are these things!??

X: We have to stop them!!

HARPUIA: GO!  We’ll take care of them!!

X looks at the Green warrior, surprised.

X: Are you sure?

2 more Cybernetic Demon Mechaniloids erupt from the large hole, as The New Guard breaks into action.

Fefnir dash-hops back and pulls out two large flame cannons.

FEFNIR: Come Onnn!  

He shoots two fire-blasts at a Demon.

LEVIATHAN: Looks like we’ve got company!!!

She dash-jumps away and pulls out her ice-trident.

PHANTOM: Godspeed, X.

He high jumps and glides away on a large shuriken and immediately throws his daggers at a Seraphim Mechaniloid.

Zero looks at his partner. ZERO: Let’s go while the gettin’s good, X!

He jumps into the large pit below.

X: (nodding) Alia! Keep an eye on the others for me.  I have to stop Gate and his evil.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Roger fzzt.  You ttt, b- c…ful d-wn th-fzzzzt!!

X frowns and shakes his head at the awful interference, before jumping down into the hole after his partner.

The two fall far down and land in a dark room.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT.  GATE’S LABORATORY – Dark Room Entrance – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

X: It's dark, but I can see some light... Can you see anything, Alia...?

ZERO: I can vaguely see something.

X: Alia, Alia? We've already lost the transmission... We’re alone.

Zero narrows his eyes at his partner with a smirk.

ZERO: Not yet, we’re not…

He puts out his fist for a friendly pound.

ZERO:   Come on, X. Let's see what we’ve got here.

The two walk amidst the darkness as they veer closer towards the light at the end of the room.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Planning Room – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gate and Isoc look at each other, while X and Zero appear on the monitor.

GATE: (grinning) Heheheh…. There they are.  All the traps are set and all of the Beasts will be unleashed.

ISOC: Excellent. I’m looking forward to seeing how this unfolds.

GATE: (nodding) You’d better be right about the brothers.  Once they unite, I’m counting on them to turn this whole thing around.

ISOC: Oh, don’t worry about that.  Regardless of the outcome, I’ll take care of him.

GATE: Good…

The two chuckle as they watch X and Zero come to a stand-still at their first trap.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Trap 1 – Spike Walls - NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two are stopped at a high wall of spikes as they stand next to a proto-type model of one of the Demon Mechaniloids.  X looks at Zero and scratches his head.

X: Hm… High wall!

ZERO: I know what to do…

He high-jumps with Hydroga and latches to the ceiling, hanging upside down.  From there, he dashes to get to the top of the tricky platform and takes out a nearby wolfoid.

X: (gasping) Good idea!

He transforms into his Shadow Armor and performs the same high-jump to latch upside down and dash to the top of the spike wall.

From there, Zero & X repeat the sequence together four more times as they take turns taking out the Wolfoids with their busters.

Once at the top of the room, they make their way to Gate’s next trap.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Trap 2 – Icy Slopes – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two stop short at a laser turret, which almost takes them down with a long beam. They back up and look ahead to see a series of laser turrets waiting for them.

X: We’ve gotta be careful.

ZERO: No such thing!

X: Hm?

Zero bravely dashes into the slope and gets shot at by the next two lasers, before pulling up a guard shell to protect himself.

X takes advantage of the moment, by following and dodging around the already activated lasers.

Zero continues to jettison ahead, getting pummeled by more Lasers, and bashed by Batton Bone mechiloids, which carry missiles.

ZERO: Agh!

X: Oh no you don’t!

X makes short work of the Batton Bones they slide into with his shuriken buster.

Zero gets struck by a final laser before making it to the last icy platform.  Then, they are both able to dash onto the next strip of land – a cybernetic blue and gold tile-carpet.

Zero stands upright before X, slightly smoking as he pats himself down and dusts himself off.

ZERO: Looks like we made it.

X: You put yourself in harm’s way for no reason.  That was really foolish.

ZERO: (shrugs) You got out unscathed… I think it was a pretty good idea.

X tilts his head, slightly annoyed, although flattered.

X: You don’t have to keep protecting me, ya know.

ZERO: I know.  You’re a big boy now.  Come on.

-cut to-

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

EXT. ANTARCTICA – Angel & Demon Battle – NIGHT

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

Harpuia, Leviathan, Fefnir and Phantom all pursue their struggles against 2 Angel and 2 Demon Mechaniloids.

Harpuia flies high in the sky and cuts away at a large Demon with three stylish strikes, but gets clawed down immediately.

HARPUIA: (grunting) Guaah..

He retaliates with an X-shaped slice-blast, which catches it in the chest, knocking it back with a small explosion.

PHANTOM: Nice one!

Phantom passes Harpuia by with a fantastic glide from his large shuriken, while throwing infinite daggers at the side of an Angel-type Mechaniloid.  The affected creature wavers downward, but catches Phantom with five thin finger lasers

PHANTOM: Aughh.

He falls down towards the ground.

From below, Leviathan sees this.

LEVIATHAN: Phantom!!!

She scowls her brow and uses her trident to freeze the Angel’s legs.  With two waves of the trident, she creates large sharp snowflakes, which capture the Mechaniloid’s wings and serve to bring it down.

Phantom flips to land on his feet, while he notices her impressive feat.

PHANTOM: Thank you!

LEVIATHAN: Of course!!

FEFNIR: LOOK OUUT!!!

A demon bashes into her from the side as Fefnir chases it down with his raging fiery blasts.

LEVIATHAN: -Kaaaw….

Fefnir charges his cannons, joins them together and creates a large combined Charge Shot, which blows up the entire beast.

FEFNIR: AW YEEEAH!

As Fefnir celebrates his win, the group can hear more monstrous screams emitting from the Lab below.

Harpuia lands amongst his teammates.

HARPUIA: Oh no…

-cut to-

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

INT. GATE’S LABOARATORY – Trap 3 – Ascending Lasers - NIGHT

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

X and Zero jump up to a nearby ladder.  After the two make their climb, two laser turrets go off in an X formation from both corners of the room.  As they look up, they spot batton bones and blast rasters attached to the walls.  

There is a split in the middle of the room, with two pathways up.

ZERO: You go right, I’ll go left!

X: Got it!!

-cut to a far away image of X and Zero taking on the mechaniloids in the room as the corner turrets blast an X in their path.-

X switches to Blade Armor and charges his Buster.

Zero pulls out a thick, metal blade and cuts down a Batton Bone immediately.

We see the two of them handle their respective mechaniloids from both sides of the wall in the split-room, while another set of laser turrets fire in an X formation.

Zero performs large ascending uppercuts with the metal blade, while X Mach-dashes upwards with Charged shots to the blast rasters.  A 3rd X laser formation strikes both of them before they get to the top.

They both shake it off and nod to each other.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Trap 4 – Mechaniloid Wave – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

X: Hey man, why’d you bring that thing?

Zero swings around the large blade that bears a Sigma logo.

ZERO: This blade once belonged to Tau. I’ve been training with it to learn how to use Rakukojin.  

Zero runs on and strikes down a Wolfoid in their path. X follows.

X: What’s that??

The two drop down while X charges up and takes out a blast raster and Batton Bone in one shot.

ZERO: Falling Steel. Tau’s blade is the most capable of utilizing Metal Shark’s power.  Besides, I really didn’t like using a Saber given to me by Isoc.

The two stand before a Giga Death mechaniloid, where Zero displays an impressive 3-hit combo with the metal blade.

X: Fair enough.  But this one’s been tainted by Sigma.

X moves ahead, takes out a Batton Bone, then blasts away the next Giga Death with a Charged Z-Saber strike.

ZERO: So was I… Let’s not forget.

A laser turret almost catches them both from above.

X: No need to dig up old dirt.

X leads the way and clears the next corridor of Wolfoids with a Blade Buster.

ZERO: I’m not. I’m just saying I can handle it.  I’m probably the only one that could.  So, I’ll take my chances.

X continues to clear the path of blast rasters and batton bones as turrets fire at them,

X: Alriiiight. So long as you know what you’re doing.

Zero nods at him with a smirk.

ZERO: We’ll keep each other in check. Whaddya say, Mr. Shadow-work?

X’s eyes widen at the thought.

X: Hah. Touche…

Zero smirks and dashes ahead, taking out the next Giga Death with his Sigma blade. Then, they both run on to a gate at the end of the hallway.

BOTH: Yes!!

-pan to-

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

INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Gateway Trap 5 – NIGHT

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

The two walk through and see three small platforms amongst the floor tiling before the next gate.

X: Come on out, Gate!  

ZERO: Isoc!!?

After a short moment, suddenly the room fills up with deadly fire, which rises up towards them.

ZERO: Oh Shit!!

X: (scared) Haaaah!

The two quickly dash-hop and air-dash from both platforms to get to the next gate.  It opens up and closes just as the fire climbs up to a dangerous level.

-pan to-

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

INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Trap 6 – Fire Room - NIGHT

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

GATE: (o.s, loudspeaker) I think not. Hehehehehe!  Do you like my latest Nightmare Hallucination?  It must be getting hot in there.

ZERO: Shut up!

GATE: Oooh, someone must be feeling the Buuurn.  Fufufufu! Sorry, I can’t help myself.  Welcome, X and Zero.  Don’t let the flames touch you..!  Otherwise you’ll be burnt to a crisp.  And we wouldn’t want that, would we?  Hehehehehe!!

X: Hmph…. I should’ve known you’d play games.

GATE: (impish, playful) Ohh, and I know you won’t disappoint me. Now Go! Prove your worth to me!!

The two of them run on as fire fills the room again.  They are forced to high-jump, mach-dash and scale the walls as best as possible, before the scorching fire can reach them. A blast raster and wolfoid get in their way, but X handles the first and Zero takes out the latter with a Z-Buster.

They run on, taking out another blast raster and wolfoid in the process, while the fire climbs up to their feet.

BOTH: AH!

They jump up, only to see the scorching sea of flame, sink down below them.  They see a ladder opening before them, leading downward, only it’s hot to the touch.

ZERO: Damn!  He’s toying with us, but it’s the only way.

X: Fuck this guy…

Zero leads the way, carefully as the ladder burns his hands. They both dash to the next short ladder and slowly trail the descending flames.

When they make it to the ground, they look at each other and nod.

X: Quickly!!

Viewing the goal ahead, the two make a mad dash for a large icy ascending slope.

ZERO: We’ve got to make it!

-cut to-  

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

EXT. ANTARCTICA – Angel & Demon Battle – NIGHT

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

Harpuia receives his first com-link and answers it.

HARPUIA: Hello?

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) This is Alia. What’s going on??

He watches Phantom and Leviathan team up against the other Angel Mechaniloid, while Fefnir dodges the fire breath of a Demon.

HARPUIA: We’re tangled with 2 Giant Mechaniloids; More incoming.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Approximately how many?

He hears the ominous roars from afar, then he spots them – two Demons and an Angel.

HARPUIA: Aghh, three more.  These things are tough!

He spots the three completely overtake Fefnir, Leviathan and Phantom as they fly away.  The injured beasts get up and resume their attack.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Alright. I’m sending in Reinforcements.

HARPUIA: Wait a minute. Hold off on that.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Why!?  This is no time to be proud.

Harpuia shakes his head and points up.

HARPUIA: No. Look at them!  They’re leaving…

The three fresh monsters fly high in the sky away from the battle.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Hm??

-cut to-

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

INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Trap 7 – Fire & Ice Room – NIGHT

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

X and Zero make it to the icy slope, while X analyzes the long stretch of spike wall behind them.  He decides to be bold and mach-dash up to it.

ZERO: (horrified) What are you doing!?

X quickly transforms to his Shadow Armor and sticks to the spike wall with ease.

X: Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan,

Zero narrows his eyes at X while he scales the icy slope with dash-hops.

ZERO: Show off…

He makes it to a short ladder as the fire slowly climbs up towards him.

X dash-hops from his position over to another spiked wall, where he kick-jumps up to Zero’s new position.

Zero has scaled a short icy slope to meet with X, and now they do-so again together for the next ascending slope while the fire ominously follows their trail.

They both climb up another short ladder and spot a wolfoid in their path standing by on a platform.

When they dash to the platform, they take it down and spot another gateway ahead of them.  The fire below catches up, but not to a frightening degree.

They both dash-hop towards the gateway and enter.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Gateway 1 - NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Momentarily safe, the two prepare for what lies ahead.

X: Good. I’m glad that’s over!

ZERO: Yeah, but what’s next?

The heroes in black walk over to the next shutter as it opens up.

-pan to-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. GATE’S LABORATORY – Nightmare Mother Room – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the Gateway shutter opens, X and Zero drop down into a very large room, where a Demon Prototype is displayed on one side the wall and a headless Angel Prototype is displayed on the other side.

Amongst the orange and blue tiled carpet, they look around the mechanical walls, anticipating their next foe.

Before long, two circular drones peer into the room from the ceiling above.

X: Hm??

Slits open up at the top and the bottom from both drones, revealing a foreboding crimson eye underneath.

Electricity surrounds the two eye drones as a large heartbeat sound emits from them.  With each pump, layers of cellular DNA Data surround the drones.  Circular blobs of purple, orange and red circle around the drones until they lock themselves in place as a giant Square around each eye. This serves as a protective wall for the collective unit.

ZERO: What the Hell…?

The two look at this mysterious being before them.  Two vertical blocks of gruesome Cell Data glare at them with their mechanical drone eyes.

They brace themselves for battle as the unit lunges after them.

-Freezeframe. Grainy Effect- -Fade to Black-

[timetravelbypen]

HELLO I’M GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PROM MUSICAL

Spoilers will abound, beware!! So, I did see this on Broadway, in the nosebleed seats, with two queer friends of mine and behind two entire rows of teens from Indiana who were a theatre group?? GSA?? Something?? Who were VERY VERY EXCITED the whole time so the Netflix movie was NEVER going to top THAT but anyway. -James Corden was... why?? Not my place to speak to but I saw a gay male friend on twitter say his whole performance was homophobic so I will go with what he said. -Okay why WAS Emma so smiley through it all?? I understand the awkward reflexive smile when you don’t know what else to do in the moment, but I read an interview that Ryan Murphy told her to play the part with an underlying optimism and maybe that just went... too far?? -Jo Ellen Pellman’s voice was INCREDIBLE though!!! SO lovely! So was Ariana DeBose’s! -However, EXCUSE ME, WHYYYY did they cut the bridge in Dance With You, the rest of the girls’ verse in You Happened, and adjust the bridge to give it to someone else before she sang it herself in Unruly Heart? WHY. I DEMAND ANSWERS. -If the answer is to make room for that scene with Barry and his mother I will RIOT. That was NOT necessary and the fact that DeeDee called her FOR HIM was presented as something nice for her to do and was actually REALLY MEAN, SHE CAN’T DECIDE THAT FOR HIM, THAT’S NOT OKAY. -Also if they added that whole bit with Barry and his mom, what was the point of it if they were just going to cut the piece where Barry tells Alyssa’s mom that if she doesn’t accept her daughter, she’ll lose her? I LOVED that piece in the show, because Barry said he would maybe call his mom but he doesn’t do it in the show (whether he does or not, we just don’t know and it’s fine because it’s not about him, we know this) because HE HASN’T TALKED TO HIS MOTHER IN 30 YEARS (also I see you making Barry younger, Netflix) and the pause in that moment when Alyssa’s mom considered it in the show was just so good, so if they were going to add Barry’s mom in but NOT keep that piece what was the point?!?!?!?!?! -Meryl Streep. Is there anything that woman cannot do?! Also I want her yellow cape coat thing. -I did not know Keegan Michael-Key could sing he was so good??? I LOOOOVE We Look To You, it’s so lovely. -Thank god they cut half of Acceptance Song, I cannot relisten to that whole thing, the secondhand embarrassment is TOO STRONG. -They added a little more dialogue/depth to all the adults (which, my problem with the stage show was that there was too much of the adults and not enough of the kids, which, same here, but you cast Meryl Streep and you’re not gonna SHRINK her role) but the one I liked the best was Nicole Kidman, whose character became genuinely supportive and lovely?? -That being said what was the cinematography doing?? Why were some of those shots framed the way they were?? I did see a review that made fun of the lighting, which I genuinely liked, though!! -Also A++ job changing “let’s go help that d*ke” to “let’s go start a fight” very good change from musical to movie, yes. -The prom scene at the end was LOVELY, although I wish there had been some more Bonkers Queer Fashion from some of these kids. I did love how they staged Unruly Heart as well, even if I’m annoyed they trimmed it. Overall a very fun evening, I quite enjoyed it, I may watch it again (fastforwarding James Corden), and my parents still suspect nothing, so all in all time well spent.

[bonesandthebees]

ok sd anon officially back

school hasn’t even been kicking my ass i am simply vibrating with anxious energy because i Don’t have things to do and i feel as if i should. and cause i don’t understand chemical engineering <3 also like. two of my roommates are dating each other so that’s a Moment. uni life ig?

i am also watching a tommy stream about 30 min before my discussion section and i could spend that time doing the reading but why would i. least favorite thing abt class is how it interrupts me watching streams!

anyways!!! i meant to say this When clinic ended but it was excellent i’m such a fan and i’m excited for your new project! love the way you write dialogue

also upsetting i didn’t get to go to rakiraki when i was back home :( did go to gong cha though! passionfruit green tea good but a little sweet

thank you for the literary compliment! i’m starting a new contemporary poetry class and i’m excited for that one

also i miss artifact! i went exploring where i am and found such a cool comic book store (vibes excellent) and i miss little bookstores with personality. i’m coming back down in like two weeks or something so maybe i’ll drive to encinitas or something if covid isn’t that bad cause encinitas is not as concerned with covid as i am. swamis… literally mid pandemic they encouraged no mask policies…

i swear i’m going to swing by hmart and grab some black sesame i just didn’t get to recently. not having a car where i am leads to great difficulty or expensive lyfts so i haven’t gone in a while. but i think sd weather has evened out some? so hopefully it stays that way! i miss my balcony terribly (miss the sun).

sd anon my beloved!!!

okay that's a huge mood school isn't kicking my ass because it's online but that doesn't mean I'm doing well because haha I literally don't have enough to do to keep me focused so i'm just out here like :) this is fine :)) also oof uhh hopefully you don't become a perma-third wheel?? and uh, maybe use the sock on the doorknob policy in case you don't wanna walk in on... things...

bestie i haven't done a reading for a class since my first quarter of uni in my freshman year and i'm a senior. it works out surprisingly well depending on how good you are at bullshitting LFKJDKLSF

and aaaa thank you that's so sweet!! dialogue is my favorite thing to write so I have a lot of fun with it :D and I'm super excited for you all to see what I have planned for my new project

the tragedy of missing rakiraki :( also I actually haven't tried gong cha before I'll have to look into it!

swamis... your food is so good but cmon...

OOF yeah not having a car can be really difficult, I have a car but when I'm down at college I still rely more on the bus system because campus parking is ughhhh and atm I think SD weather is a lot warmer so! sunshine is abound! meanwhile I miss the rain lol it's my favorite thing

[twdmusicboxmystery]

10x22: Here’s Negan - Details

All right. Here are a LOT of details. 

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x22. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

We start with Maggie and Hershel walking around Alexandria early in the morning. She calls him “a little rat” affectionately, which I’m side eying. Because of Carol’s rat last episode and because we already established parallels between Hershel and Beth from ep 17 in that he went missing and Maggie and Daryl searched for him.

Then they sing “you are my sunshine” together, which is the same song Carl sang Negan. Because the sun is a Beth symbol, we’ve always seen her in that song. I also wonder if it foreshadows Maggie losing Hershel in some way. I don’t mean him dying, but rather being kidnapped. A lot of us have thought about one or some of the kids being taken at some point, and their parents having to search for them.  

Carol looks out a broken window (Broken Glass Theory) and sees the exchange. So, she leaves Alexandria and takes Negan with her.

Actually, the next thing we see is a dead rabbit she pulls from a snare. The rabbit is SUPER interesting. I answered an Ask HERE about the moon rabbit, and I really love this explanation of the symbol. It makes perfect sense for Beth because the moon rabbit sacrificed itself, which is exactly what Father Gabriel said cryptically in 5x16. “How you sacrificed one of your own….”

Plus the Moon rabbit is resurrected and combines the moon symbol and the rabbit symbol.

So what does it mean in this context? 

Well, I still don’t want to go into too much detail, though I will soon. (I promise.) But if rabbit = Beth, I think this is yet another example of symbolism that points to Negan and Beth having a big arc together later. (And Carol will probably be thrown into the mix.)

That evening, Negan drinks by the fire. What he’s drinking is clearly moonshine. It’s from one of those big glass moonshine bottles. I don’t know where he got it. I looked a second time at the stuff they left for him, and it might be in there, but if so, it isn’t visible. It would certainly be interesting if Daryl left him moonshine, but I don’t see any super-obvious hint at that. If it’s already there in the cabin, well, that’s Leah’s cabin, so….

This is where he sees his old self from the trailer. Some of the dialogue jumps out at me as things Daryl might say about himself. Evil Negan says to his good self, “You are nothing without her.” That sort of thing.

The next day he goes back to the tree with the stained-glass windows where Rick cut his throat. One of the plate glass windows has a hole in it and the other one is lying on the ground. 

My go-to explanation of course is that the one with the hole represents the bullet hole in Beth’s head. (We actually said this of the stained-glass window in Father Gabriel’s church that Sasha shoots a hole in in 5x16 as well.) And I always see someone falling down as a serious injury. So, when Beth belly-flopped in the elevator shaft with Noah, that was a foreshadow of her getting shot. So I’m kind of seeing the window lying flat on the ground in the same way.

Of course, Negan digs up Lucille, and then it goes into the flashbacks.

It starts of course with him being a prisoner of the biker gang. We do think this gang is a parallel of the Claimers from S4. Remember that I said, overall, Negan = Daryl, right? So, this guy (Craven) even kind of looks like Joe Claimer. They dress in a similar fashion, are rough-and-tumble kind of dudes. But also, Negan runs into them after he loses Lucille. He doesn’t realize she’s died at that point, but she has. Just like Daryl ran into the Claimers after being separated from Beth in Alone.

And we immediately see a blue cooler with IV bags inside. They’re Lucille’s chemo treatments. So blue cooler/Frosty Cola symbolism. Plus this can parallel to 6x06 when Daryl accidentally took off with Tina’s medicine when he met Dwight. Basically, these are both pointing to the same thing: a future arc involving Daryl and Beth. There are also 22s on the IV bags. So, 22 theory.

I will say that the format of this episode is a lot like 10x18 because so much of it is flashback. They even use the same font to show the time jumps. The main difference is that with Daryl, they started 5 years ago and then jumped forward, toward the present. Here, they actually move backward first and then forward again.

So it’s like a swinging pendulum. They go back 12 years to where he’s a prisoner of the bikers. Then it goes back 6 weeks to when he’s with Lucille in their home , and then it jumps back again to before the apocalypse when she first found out she had cancer, which was right about the time the turn happened. And then it moves forward to the two of them together in the house, and then back to him with the bikers.

Okay, so, “12 Years Ago” he’s telling his story to the bikers.

Then it actually says “Two or Three Days Ago” and it’s odd to me that they don’t specify which one it is. Negan says he found the mobile medical clinic 2 or 3 days ago, but there’s got to be a reason they don’t just go with one or the other. Anyway, this is when he found an RV with supplies. He tries to hold the doctor up and Laura (Savior) comes up behind him with a bat and hits him.

We also get a bit of a hallucination theme. When Negan looks at the RV and the dummy guards on the roof, his sight sort of warps in and out like he can’t tell for sure. When he wakes up, he’s also hooked to an IV. (Parallel to Beth at Grady.) The doctor says he was dehydrated, malnourished, and exhausted. So maybe, in addition to all the mental break stuff we’ve already said about Daryl in 10x18, we should add these to the list.

“Six Weeks Earlier” and it shows him and Lucille. The first thing we see is that she tells him he’ll have to kill the walker but he doesn’t want to. He just turns off the generator, hoping it will go.

So, she makes him read Pride and Prejudice to her. The Pride and Prejudice thing is really interesting. He only reads a line or two, but anyone familiar with the story will be able to pick out the scene. Basically, in the story, a man asks Lizzie to marry him and she rejects him. He doesn’t love her or anything. He’s just looking for a “suitable” wife, and she can’t stand him. After she rejects him, her best friend marries him instead. And this friend doesn’t care that it’s not a love match. She just wants to be settled in life.

So the scene Negan reads part of is where the friend, Charlotte, is coming to tell Lizzie that she’s marrying him instead. This is the part Negan reads:

"I see what you are feeling," replied Charlotte. "You must be surprised, very much surprised--so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it over…”

Here’s the thing. No way they’re putting dialogue from such a well-known book like this into the show without reason. And I know they said on TTD that it’s supposed to be an Easter Egg for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Fair enough, but it’s not enough of an explanation for me. In the past, there have been things Nicotero has labelled as homages to various horror films, and I’m sure that’s true, but they’re also clearly Beth symbolism.

So, you could say that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies applies to Negan and Lucille. It’s a true love story, but zombies are thrown in. That works. But why this particular passage? It’s about NOT marrying for love, or the passing of a man’s offer of marriage from one woman to another. None of that applies to Negan and Lucille. It would have made more sense to have him read a different passage between Lizzie and Darcy, you know?

So, what does this mean? We’re not entirely sure, yet. For me, I tend to think it foreshadows a future arc (I’m sure you’re shocked) and I’ll get more into that in the next few days.

@wdway​ suggested perhaps we could apply it to the Leah situation. Daryl is in love with one woman, but hallucinating a relationship with another. I think that works, too. For now, let’s just keep it in mind, shall we? ;D

Dialogue parallels include Lucille saying, “we’ll have to kill it,” which parallels Beth saying the same thing about the walker at the moonshine shack.

And of course then we get that all important scene with the green wig, “serious” mention, IV stand and bag, and walker in the eye.

We see Negan going out to look for more gas for the generator, siphoning it out of cars.

We also see them having fun together. Obviously them playing darts is a callback to Still. The part where they play darts is actually just like half a second in the show, which just goes to show that they did the promo shot because they wanted us to see the symbols in the scene. I want to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that the British flag is printed on the darts. This is part of the template I’ll talk about in a day or two as well. For now, I just want you to notice it. It’s important.

When they do the candlelight dinner (*coughs alone*) they eat DOG food. Sirius reference. She suddenly says “happy anniversary” and pulls out a present for him. He says, “You know what day it is?” and she says, “no, I just wanted you to have this.” So I think the idea is that it’s not really their anniversary. She just said that as an excuse to give him a present. It reminded me a little of the “New Years Eve” theme we saw around the Claimers. Not exactly the same, but a similar vibe. It’s not REALLY New Year’s Eve. They’re just saying it as an excuse to do something else (in that case, kill Rick). Here, it’s not really their anniversary, but Lucille is saying that as an excuse to give him the jacket.

When Negan says she doesn’t owe him anything Lucille says, “I stuck with you because I could always see the man you are right now, even when you weren’t.” So again, kind of a Beth theme of seeing the best in him even when he doesn’t see it in himself. That’s a huge theme throughout this episode.

There’s more refrigerator/cooler symbolism when the fridge defrosts, ruining the last of Lucille’s treatments.

Then it jumps back to before the apocalypse. There were some symbols here as well. The main ones I noticed were specifically around Lucille. After her diagnosis, she gets in the car and hears the broadcast about the virus victims eating human flesh. Kind of a callback to hearing the Terminus broadcast in 4a.

Then she gets mad and says, just play some g**d*** music. (Music reference.) When the car pulls out, you have to check out this license plate!

XVD-1144. The 1-1 you should recognize from @frangipanilove’s 1-1 posts. The 44 references the comic book issue where Andrea was shot in the head, and survived. And of course there’s the X. So then @wdway had the ingenious idea to ask what roman numerals X and D stood for. X=5 and D=500. So we basically have “X, 550, 1-1, 44.” Yeah, series number 55 was Slabtown. Beth was on the 5th floor. And all the rooms around them in the hallway at Grady were in the 550s. If that’s not proof that Lucille is a Beth proxy, I don’t know what is.

Plus, notice the type of car: mustang. We’ve talked about this before, but horse symbolism, and the type of car is always important.

Another thing @wdway​ with her eagle eyes picked up. Lucille is scrolling back and forth between Negan and Janine’s numbers, right? Notice the date:

November 12. Recognize that:

Yeah, not kidding. It’s a reference to the headstone in Alone. 👀

Back in the future again, Lucille asks Negan to stay with her. You don’t realize this the first time watching it, but clearly she’s ready to die, and just wants him to be with her, but he’s bound and determined to save her, an goes anyway.

A couple of things to point out. Negan looking for meds parallels to Daryl looking for meds at the veterinary college in 4a. Also, on TTD they pointed out that Negan is constantly putting Lucille in a position to be alone. Before the apocalypse, he left her alone to fool around with another woman, who was her best friend. He made her go to the doctor alone. (Lucille alone at the hospital could = Beth at Grady.) We see him constantly leaving her here to get supplies. And he leaves for like 6 six weeks to track the mobile clinic.

I think that’s mostly an anti-parallel to Daryl. Daryl never left Beth intentionally. But I also think it could be a future theme, not in the sense that Daryl will leave her, but I’ve always thought he would feel super guilty because they left her behind and now she’s been “alone” for 8 years. And again, not physically alone as we know she’ll be part of other groups and such, but without him and her family.

Back with the medical people again, Laura gives Negan her bat, the one she first beaned him with, since he doesn’t have any other weapons.

All they said about Laura on TTD was that they wanted to use her—someone the audience would recognize—but also someone who had a relatively minor role. So they talked about how they could have brought Austin Amelio on and had Dwight give it to him, but because Dwight is a bigger character, and because his onscreen relationship with Negan was much bigger, it would have made it a Negan/Dwight moment and they wanted to keep this episode focused solely on Negan and Lucille. So they used Laura.

And sure, that’s fine. But they could have used any Savior they wanted. And why did they even WANT a familiar face? Why the return of the Savior with the blond hair, you know? I’m just saying. ;D

Of course Negan tells the biker gang where the medical RV is and then goes back to Lucille, but she’s already dead. This really was a very tragic episode.

We obviously have a suicide theme here, and the fact that Negan never actually shoots or stabs Lucille in the head, both of which parallel Beth. 

On TTD, YNB even pointed out that she’s wearing the same clothes as she was the day he left, which means she committed suicide the day he left. Most of the 6 weeks he’s been out looking for medical supplies, she was already dead. Super tragic, no?

We also see keys, matches, the blue cooler again, and Negan wrapping the barbed wire around his bat. 

So, a couple of preliminary thoughts here. The 6 weeks was bugging me because they said it 2 or 3 times, really emphasizing it. I’m kind of wanting to equate it to 6 seasons. Because if Beth doesn’t show until S11 (and clearly now she can’t, unless she shows in Fear or something, but I’m not holding my breath for that) then it will be 6 seasons since Beth left the show.

And again, it’s more anti-parallel than parallel. For 6 weeks, Negan thought Lucille was alive, but she was dead the entire time. For 6 seasons, Daryl thought Beth was dead, when really she’s been alive the whole time.

And, of course, Negan burns the house down, much like Beth and Daryl did in Still.

But here’s the other thing @wdway noticed. Check out the similarities here:

Similar colors and structures, and both seem to be on fire at some point. And I don’t think the cabin in 5x09 was pointing toward Negan and Lucille. Rather, I think the symbolism in both instances point toward something we haven’t seen, yet. But the parallels and repeated symbolism are there.

When Negan leaves, he gets on his bike with Lucille (the bat) and drives away from the burning house. And interestingly, we see him smack his mailbox with it and knock it off it’s post. 

Couple of things here:

The name “Smith” is written on the mailbox, so apparently that was their last name. And they mentioned it on TTD. Smith is such an everyman sort of name. It might be one of the most common surnames on the planet, so there’s definitely some interesting symbolism there having to do with Negan.

But I’m side-eyeing the actual mailbox, as part of the Communication Theme. And, on a very basic level, I’m thinking that the mailbox was intact when Lucille was still alive. He destroyed it after he lost her. So maybe it represents something along those lines, or even represents the person they lost. So mailbox = Beth.

The scene that keeps flashing in my head is from 6x03 when Daryl is riding around on his bike, searching for Rick, and he’s passing all these mailboxes in the background. 

Then in 10x21, we see him walking toward the military walker on the train tracks (*coughs CRM, *coughs Rick*) and he passes the blond, Beth walker, but doesn’t actually look at her or see her. Do you kind of see the similar theme there?

Negan brutally killing the biker gang can parallel Rick doing the same to Joe Claimer in 4x16.

Negan tells Craven a story about how he lost his job. He got in a bar fight. It was their favorite because it had a JUKE BOX. And they loved the juke box because it played their favorite song (You are So Beautiful to Me.) He even talks about “seeing red” and how he now realizes he can do anything he wants (read: kill anyone he wants) so we kind of see his evolution into S6 Negan here.

And honestly, they leave a lot of loose threads here. We never learn what happens to Franklin (he’s still alive at this point) and obviously Laura stays with Negan long term, but they really could do more flashbacks about how he started gathering people and found the Sanctuary.

So then we come back to the present where he’s just dug Lucille up under the stained glass window tree. In the first scene at the beginning, we see a walker making its way toward him. Yes, it’s a blond, female walker, and I’m pretty sure she’s wearing Daryl’s shirt from when he was at the Sanctuary. Here at the end, Negan has been lost in his own thoughts so long, the walker comes up behind him and he turns around and kills it with Lucille. 

When he does, the bat splits down the middle. Yet another symbol of Lucille’s death.

He goes back to the cabin and sits in front of the fire and talks to Lucille (both the bat and his actual wife). He says, “I’m sorry I left you…I made myself not feel anything…I miss you.” See how we could apply that to Daryl?

He also says, “I’m going to do your fighting for you,” which I take to mean he’ll honor her memory better, now, rather than go back to the old, evil Negan he was. Which was really just years of him avoiding his feelings about her death. (Kind of like Daryl has with Beth, hence the Leah situation.)

Then he covers the bat in a white cloth (clearly meant to be a shroud) and puts the bat in the fireplace, burning it. On TTD, they do say this is meant to be the funeral she never got. 👀

Oh, and at the end of the “in memoriam” on TTD, it actually says, “Negan is burning down his past.”

So, at the very end, he actually goes back to Alexandria. Maggie, Carol, and Daryl are near the entrance and he asks where the “A” team is going. Carol warns Negan that if he lives at Alexandria, Maggie will kill him at some point. I actually really liked this ending. It was a good way to kick us into S11.

That’s the end of the episode. So, I’ll say this again and it will be a good segue into my next post about what I think Beth’s arc will be in S11, and how she’ll appear. I’ll post it either tomorrow or Thursday.

Without getting too much into the weeds, I think Negan and Beth will have some major, future interaction. And I really think the symbolism here backs it up, for various reasons. The symbolism itself wouldn’t prove anything, as we’ve seen this stuff repeated with lots of different characters and especially true love couples, which Negan and Lucille clearly were, despite his cheating.

But on TTD, Hilarie Burton talked about how strong Lucille was. She said she liked the character because so often when cancer victims or victims of other prolonged diseases are portrayed on film, they’re seen as angelic, ethereal beings. And while that’s fine if that’s truly who they are, you don’t lose your personality just because you become sick. So she liked it that Lucille was a little rough around the edges. She says that even before the apocalypse, Negan was just fussy enough that he would need a strong woman to rein him in, and he would also be attracted to exactly this kind of strong woman. 

Strong woman = Beth.

So, I’ll just leave it there.

Anyone find any symbols I missed?