#but my mom is way behind on the show and there’s too much context here to involve a non fan

[theamazingannie]

Tbf that HR interview pissed me off; Nancy, Judd and Matteo were so unprofessional not to mention fatphobic and mean.

If I talked like that at work I would have been pulled into a disciplinary so fast.

It actually put me off the characters, and how they defend Owens actions and speak about people is awful.

Like, I’m sure Carlos has done bad stuff and y’know ACAB but at least he has called out Owens and the others bullshit.

You’re so right and that was definitely something that bothered me while watching but I didn’t make a separate post about it because there was literally so much to talk about in this episode and I’m afraid of spamming the tag because I’ve gotten death threats about that before lol but I DO want to talk about this.

This episode really icked me out tbh because the A plot was very anti-PC culture and they do about it very carefully by choosing the specific topic they did. If they had someone nonblack use the n-word or a straight person use the f-word, then it would have been a lot more serious. But because they instead had the word be “crazy”, a word that most people (including a lot of neurodivergent people) don’t really consider that bad, they were able to create this environment of “anyone who doesn’t use perfect language all the time is bad except they’re actually not because who cares?” and not properly addressing it, in my opinion. By making this event cause Marjan, a fan favorite character, leave the show, they’ve changed it from “we should really address the harmful words we use without thinking and how that could affect people but also acknowledge that these are words we’ve all used for a long time and has only recently come into question and not everyone is going to instantly be able to adapt, especially in the moment” to “look at this terrible PC culture that made a brown Muslim woman the victim!”

And, as to your point, they also do this with the comments by the 126 in their interviews, making light of their harmful behaviors and words they have said on the job because those behaviors were “justified” and because they were done by characters we like, that means they aren’t bad, right? And this is what people mean when they say that media has real life consequences because now we have these hero firefighters that we like going genuinely bad things but that is swept under the rug because if they’re doing it, it can’t be bad. And this reinforces that mindset in the minds of viewers who feel validated in their beliefs because if the good friendly firefighters do it, they can, too.

There’s also much to be said about having their main police character be a gay man of color, but this is already too long. Hopefully I worded everything the way I meant to in my mind, but I just really took issue with a lot of the behaviors of the 126 this episode and how the plot went down. I’m a leftist with very conservative parents who studied persuasion techniques in college, so I’m always putting myself into the shoes of various types of viewers and how they might interpret it, and this one just rubbed me the wrong way. I encourage others to provide other opinions if I missed anything or if you don’t agree and see it another way! Just please stop sending me death threats over my opinions on a tv show😅

[maidenvault]

During my last rewatch of the prequels I was actually shocked by how much I've misremembered or decontextualized certain moments in my mind because of how they're often talked about in fandom as showing the Jedi as too arrogant, too bureaucratic, generally just burying their heads in the sand while everything goes bad etc. So I'm gonna try to address every individual scene that typically gets brought up to argue that this is an actual theme in Lucas's portrayal of the Order.

The Council doesn't take Qui-Gon's account of meeting a Sith seriously.

Mace and Ki Adi Mundi do both express doubt this guy could be a Sith. (Understandably! Historically they've never known Sith to be able to hide their existence, and for them to have survived totally in secret for a thousand years is a pretty wild thing for Qui-Gon to be so sure of.)

BUT Yoda admits that the dark side is hard to see, and Mace assures Qui-Gon they'll do everything to find out the identity of the attacker. Later he's ordered to go back to Naboo and try to draw out Maul to discover more. Qui-Gon accepts this and doesn't ask for backup. Why should he? He held his own against Maul before, and Maul's probably not gonna show himself again to face a ton of Jedi. They end up missing the chance to learn who trained Maul because of how things go down, but Qui-Gon's death isn't the result of the Council mishandling the situation.

At the funeral, Yoda says the presence of one Sith means there's another out there. They know they've got to be on guard now and will be, but they've got no more leads for now.

2. Qui-Gon's not here to free slaves.

There's this idea that slavery existing on Tatooine shows the Order is apparently too tied up doing shady things for self-interested politicians (footage not found) to help the people who really need it. But Padme's shocked to know the Skywalkers are slaves for a reason. The truth is there isn't a lot of slavery in the galaxy at this time because the Jedi have helped keep it that way for centuries only by working with the Republic. In TCW we see that Zygerrian slavers have a particular hatred of Jedi because they're literally The Anti Slavery People and did so much of the work to crack down on their trade. But Tatooine is controlled by the Hutts and they simply don't have the resources to start a war with them.

(And honestly, it's crazy how people talk like Qui-Gon's a monster for honestly and apologetically telling Anakin no, that's not why he's here. This is a child he's already indebted to and who has a hero-worshipping idea of Jedi, it would be fucked up for him not to be clear about how he can't help him and his mom.)

3. They doubt Dooku could be behind the assassination attempt.

This I understand shows the Jedi to be a little naive. But they knew Dooku as a good man, and at this point he and his followers are still putting on a show of wanting to secede for idealistic reasons (and a few of them, manipulated by Dooku, actually do have good intentions). Only later do the Jedi learn they're illegally building an army before they've even officially left the Republic and clearly have no interest in the peaceful resolution Padme's been advocating for. And they only find this out because they have Obi-Wan investigate the assassin and this very quickly leads him to Dooku.

4. "Arrogance, yes. A trait more and more common among Jedi. Even the older, more experienced ones."

In context, this line from Yoda is clearly not meant to be taken so seriously. Obi-Wan says he fears Anakin is too arrogant, and this is Yoda's light-hearted way of telling him not to be so hard on him. Part of training a Padawan is learning to trust them so they can grow, and Obi-Wan perhaps needs the reminder that he isn't done learning himself.

Of course Yoda saying this could be partly motivated by them having been caught off guard before by the existence of Darth Maul and the dark side clouding their awareness, as we're told repeatedly throughout the PT they know is a problem. But it's kind of contradictory to take this as confirmation that this is a serious fatal flaw of theirs. If someone acknowledges their own arrogance then they're aware of their ability to be wrong, which means they can't actually be that arrogant. If truly meant in a general sense and not just as a gentle reproof of Obi-Wan, it's a pretty self-deprecating comment coming from Yoda.

5. "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist."

Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu gives this haughty response to Obi-Wan looking for Kamino, a system that's not in the Jedi Archives. So being so overly confident in the infallible knowledge of the Jedi, he takes her word for it and totally drops this lead.

Except no, he goes to someone older and wiser to figure out what this actually means. And he and Yoda are forced to conclude that the unthinkable - a trusted person among them somehow had reason to erase information from the archive - must nonetheless be what happened. This is honestly an exception that proves the rule: Kamino, and we can assume only Kamino, is missing from the archive only because it was removed, which is so suspicious it just shows he must be on the right track to discovering something. Jocasta is kind of snooty about it but theirs obviously is supposed to be one of the most accurate and complete databases in the galaxy.

6. Obi-Wan doesn't believe what Dooku tells him about the Senate.

For one thing, in this conversation Dooku's lying about basically everything but this. And I can't ever stress enough that Palpatine is a threat unlike anything the Jedi have ever dealt with before, who's already taken control of so much before they even know they're fighting anything, so the idea that a Sith is controlling the Senate would be really hard for anyone to believe.

Still, we know Obi-Wan reports this to the Council anyway. But it's a vague statement and they still don't have any information to act on. Palpatine soon has them very busy putting out fires in the war, and naturally fighting the Separatists who are led by Sith seems the best way for them to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on with the dark side. And they do finally turn their attention to how power-hungry Palpatine is getting once the war is nearly over and they've got the bandwidth for it, and think about what they might have to do if he's the threat to their democracy they fear, but of course he's too many steps ahead of them all the time.

---

So basically, what we see the Jedi being so guilty of in these examples are thought crimes. When confronted with the crazy explanation that happens to be true, their instinctive reaction is "No, I don't think that's possible." And then they do their due diligence to uncover as much of the truth as they can anyway. And Yoda, the Grand Master of them all, is often the first to admit that their first assumptions could be wrong. But Palpatine wouldn't be a good villain if his moves were predictable and he couldn't get an advantage over the good guys - that's just how storytelling works sometimes and it's not that deep.

It honestly felt stupid typing so much of this out because it's 90% just describing what actually happens in these scenes. But I guess it's a lot to ask that people actually carefully watch the films they discuss. 😒

[general-cyno]

wano has become a favorite arc of mine for different reasons and it also gave me a lot of zolu brainworms to mull over, so here I go (again). spoilers for some of the big reveals in the arc so beware

despite getting separated shortly after reuniting, yasuie's execution once again highlighted how similarly minded zoro and luffy are - like zoro, luffy gets pissed at the sight of ppl laughing at yasuie after he's killed, though they both learn it's due to the effects of the smile fruits. and despite the fact that doing so could put their plan in jeopardy (hence why sanji yells at zoro to cool his head), luffy actively cheers zoro on (from the distance) when he goes after orochi in retaliation

a nice tiny moment is also back when they're together. luffy was worried since big mom appeared in wano yet jimbei (who had stayed in whole cake island to fend her off along his former crew so the straw hats could escape) hadn't arrived. albeit zoro wasn't even part of the WCI arc events, he's quick to reassure luffy:

although I'm not certain whether law was referring to them specifically or not, there's a part during the discussion of the raid where he says there's two idiots who, no matter how much planning goes into it, are likely to charge straight in regardless. then, of course, this happens:

(so yeah. I think they're probably the idiots)

and funnily enough, zoro doesn't get lost for once. not only does he find luffy, any intention zoro had of (ironically, considering he was causing a ruckus himself) chastising luffy for messing up the infiltration goes out the window when he tells zoro about the spilled oshiruko

this is a direct callback to their interactions with tama when they first reunited in wano. it's cute how attached they got to her and yeah, they're both stupidly reckless at times but this is one occasion in which it isn't just for the sake of chaotic shenanigans - it's them getting angry at how these ppl are disrespecting what tama and the oshiruko stand for. to those present, it seems foolish/weird since they don't understand the context behind it, but it's the kind of understanding that goes on between luffy and zoro precisely bc of the moments they share together.

there's some good panels of both worrying about each other after getting hurt and zoro carrying an injured luffy to safety. they're soooo.

this was pretty good too:

their plan to jump to the roof to face kaido ultimately fails here but it's still cute that zoro's so willing now to just cling to and let luffy carry him around like this (arlong park zoro has come a long way lol). it also says a lot abt luffy's trust in both the crew and zoro that he was fine letting them in charge below while he and zoro went to face kaido together.

the x drake ordeal was kind of funny but it served to show exactly why zoro complements luffy so well. luffy tends to be very trusting toward others, even those who might've started out as enemies which usually works out fine but still. zoro's quick to remind luffy that the guy's a traitor and unreliable, and (along with some of the other straw hats) refuses to blindly accept the impromptu alliance. it's interesting though, that zoro doesn't entirely disregard luffy's opinion nor x drake's help per se - he's just understandably wary of drake's true intentions (pointing out that he's still hiding where he stands in the whole conflict) and eventually agrees to team up. love the balance of it ngl.

that said, the actual fight on the roof has to be one of my favorite parts! it's probably one of the most obvious occasions in which zoro's role as luffy's first mate/right hand man and how much luffy relies on him too shines through. there's zoro slashing big mom and kaido's fire attacks so they wouldn't hurt luffy, taking the lead in attempting to stave off kaido and big mom's joint attack (and succeeding for a bit) despite the fact that he's got three powerful captains beside him, and several panels of him protecting luffy. this one was particularly crazy

this is pretty much zoro's equivalent to "if you wanna kill him you'll have to kill ME first". insane. I love them so much. zoro may be the one to have more instances in which he gets to demonstrate his loyalty and protectiveness towards luffy rather than the opposite - but knowing luffy's the one who usually risks himself for others in grandiose ways, I find it very compelling that zoro gets to be the one to protect him in these important moments, that luffy trusts him to do it and even thanks him for it here in this arc. to me, there's a reason why, out of the whole crew, zoro was the only one to take part in this particular confrontation. mutual trust/understanding/respect etc are at the core of their relationship. it's a two way thing.

fast forward to zoro vs king and OF COURSE this mf thought of luffy when facing the guy.

I posted about this the other day, but something similar happened during zoro's duel against mihawk. when the latter asks what drives zoro to fight despite being so weak, it's this exact part of his meeting with luffy at the marine base that he recalls. zoro has certainly driven himself to get stronger for the crew's sake and for his dream, but it's clear that luffy (and his own promise to kuina) is one of zoro's biggest motivators. he's also the one person zoro has cast aside that very dream of his for so... (thriller bark zoro you live in my heart always).

when zoro wins against king, too, it's his promise to never lose that he recalls. the promise he made to luffy. regardless of how you interpret their relationship, it's obvious luffy means a lot to zoro and moments like these don't let the readers forget it.

that said, this was perhaps the most insane part to me:

just when you think zolu can't get more trope-y than it already is, the manga says: wait a fucking second. canon sun/moon, heaven/hell, god/demon zolu.

I was already spoiled about these bits, though they were exciting to read through anyway. I think it's very curious that both zoro's ancestry and his conqueror's haki reveal happened during the arc where the true nature of luffy's devil fruit comes to light and his awakening into joyboy/nika takes place. can't say for sure what oda's planning for them in the future, but wano is probably the biggest glimpse so far as to the kind of figures luffy and zoro are bound to become (or are already becoming) in one piece's universe.

joyboy luffy being considered a hero to wano only rivaled by shimotsuki ryuma is also so... oof, knowing that ryuma (also called god of the blade) is zoro's ancestor, whose zombie he faced back in thriller bark and whose sword shusui he wielded for a while after that, and that he resembles physically too (both being one-eyed samurai/swordsmen). there's a lot more parallels to be drawn between them, and zoro's conqueror's haki adds a whole new layer to their relationship, but a detail that's fascinating to me is that both zoro's presence and joyboy's awakening in wano are hailed as the work of fate at different points, by kawamatsu and zunesha respectively.

overall there seems to be a thread of "fate" that's tying the story together from the void century to roger's era to the present but choice is also an important aspect imo. zoro and luffy are an example, bc in spite of how their stories have turned out to be somewhat intertwined... it was luffy's choice to seek out the demon pirate hunter and rope him into his crew. it was zoro's choice to join him, to make a promise that'd tie his own dream to luffy's. there's a potential that neither of them could've reached if they hadn't come together to sail in that dinghy and formed an entire crew (a family!) that have all of them journeying towards their dreams, always relying on and striving to become better for one another. all of these little choices for luffy and zoro led them up to this point and onwards, which tbh is just really fucking good.

[crowsmischief]

happy birthday James Potter, you will always be my favorite and most beloved sunshine boy ☀️🫶🏼

one of the things i love most in the marauders fandom is that all of us perceive them in a unique way so, in honor of his birthday, here's a couple details about how i perceive James with a little context of my own in no specific order:

sunsets and the beach. since he was little his parents would take him every summer to the beach and monty would enroll him for surf lessons. he remembers the sea breeze and his parents slow dancing with the most beautiful orange sky behind them.

tattoos. got his first one matching with sirius, remus and peter when he turned 17. a year later sirius learned to tattoo and ever since, he would get little significant ones all over his arms. he has the words "mamá/papá" (mom/dad) one in each arm inside little hearts.

legos. he specifically likes the star wars sets, one of his favorite hobbies that helps him clear his overthinking mind and calm his anxiety. this is one of the rare activities he actually prefers to do by himself.

mexican culture. he's half mexican, so of course he loves to talk about the culture and traditions he grew up with, one of his favorites is "día de muertos", so every year he makes an "ofrenda" and never waste an opportunity to educate his friends about the history of the ritual. he introduced traditional food, games and music in spanish to his friends and he loves to speak spanglish.

formula 1. never misses a race, no matter what he needs to do to make it happen. he's a ferrari victim. his favorite drivers are sebastian vettel, michael schumacher and lewis hamilton. his favorite circuits are silverstone and monaco.

books. big fan of a good mystery novel, he really enjoys agatha christie. ever since he saw remus' annotations on one of his oscar wilde novels, he wanted to do it too. while remus' were more critical and analytical, james' most of the time looked like a wattpad comment section. he loves it.

baking. he'd do it with effie all the time when he was little and it's one of his most precious memories. she used to say you do it for the people you love the most in this world. so he does. he often shows up with dinosaur shaped cookies, cars movie themed cupcakes or spiderman decorated brownies for his friends and family on random days, because he loves them always.

memory box. he has this box full of little things like souvenirs, gifts and letters from people that have been part of his life. he has the wrapper of the first chocolate frog sirius gifted him, a postcard remus sent from his trip to argentina, a rock peter painted for him and so much more. he is made of memories.

[coochellati]

I wonder how young Bruno was when he got his Stand. I'm betting on 15. He needed time to earn a reputation and attach Polpo's attention to himself.

Hi! Oooh, this is a great thought to chew on. I haven’t really given too much thought on this before, so thank you for bringing this to my attention! Today I’m going to do my best to answer the question…

To determine what age Bruno first manifested his stand, we must figure out how Bruno acquired his stand. A quick disclaimer: all I’m about to present is speculation, as Golden Wind does not provide any evidence as to how or when Bruno got his stand. So how did he get his stand? Was he was pierced by Black Sabbath's arrow during Polpo's initiation test? Or could it be that he was a natural-born stand user? I believe the latter—here’s why.

First, I want to discuss fate within the context of JJBA. According to the JJBA wiki, "Fate or Destiny is the concept of a predetermined course of events. [...] It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or that of an individual." Fate is a major theme within JoJo's, especially in Bruno's story. In chapter 78, page 5 in the manga, or episode 20 of the anime, it states, "...and the wheels of fate continued to turn," which points us to believe that everything that occurred within Bruno's life was fated to happen. Applying this logic, he was fated to join Passione.

The concept of gravity within JJBA also ties into fate. It's a universal law within the JJBA universe that stand users are naturally drawn toward each other as if they're fated to meet. Passione is a syndicate comprised of stand users, which is one of the reasons why it is so large and powerful. If Bruno was fated to join Passione, this could indicate that he was born a stand user.

Giorno and (potentially) Bruno aren't the only natural-born stand users in the gang. In Purple Haze Feedback, it's revealed that Narancia is also a natural-born stand user. (This evidence only works if you believe Purple Haze Feedback is canon. I do.) We know that to join Passione, Narancia went to see Polpo behind Bruno's back. In PHF, this event is expanded upon, showing us that Fugo is the one who led Narancia to Polpo. Before doing so, Fugo shows Narancia his stand, and Narancia can see it.

I bring this up because I originally assumed that everyone in the gang (aside from Giorno) was pierced by Polpo's arrow, given that there aren't that many natural-born stand users who aren't Joestars by blood. (This goes for parts 1-6 of JJBA.) If Narancia, a natural-born stand user, was drawn to Passione by gravity/fate, then it isn't out of the realm of possibility that Bruno also became a member of Passione in the same way.

Now that I have established why I believe Bruno is a natural-born stand user, we can speculate on when he became a stand user. Stand manifestation usually accompanies a significant changing point within someone's life, whether it be when Jolyne was sent to prison or when Jotaro's mom became gravely ill. The crucial turning point in Bruno's life occurred when he first committed murder, successfully defending his father from those who wished to kill him. I headcanon that Bruno's stand awakened on that night.

I also like to believe that Bruno's stand wasn't fully developed when it awakened, not becoming the Sticky Fingers we know and love until later in his life. So when exactly was that? That's up to you to decide--as you said, it could have been when he was fifteen. Stands, like your identity, take time to develop, and Bruno was in a particularly tumultuous time in his life when his stand (potentially) first manifested. Another time I could see his stand becoming fully developed was during Polpo's initiation test. Of course, that depends on how Bruno passed. If his test went as Giorno's did, he may have had to use Sticky Fingers to defend himself from Black Sabbath. Do-or-die situations also cause your stand to evolve, as shown by Koichi's Echoes. 

Alright, I think this sums up my thoughts. And thank you again for the ask--I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed thinking about this question!!

[startrekprodigyfan]

Okay yeah… I binged the whole season in one day.

It was actually surprisingly easy to do so. And while that means my planned slower recaps and speculation are basically out the window, I also now just don’t have to worry about spoilers for weeks on end.

I’m still going to keep spoilers under a cut though. Even if you block key hashtags, stuff can get through, and just making the spoilers further down a text post you have to scroll past to continue browsing tumblr doesn’t help either. Hide that content behind a cut, please!

Non-spoiler thoughts:

It was so good. It was honestly more Trek than I could’ve possibly expected. And to all those early naysayers who were confused by the Protostar and where it was supposed to be in the timeline after the first episode of season 1, all of that gets answered and put into context by the end of season 2. Thank GOD! Every single plot point people brought up and thought was a “plot hole” gets filled and explained.

It’s not as emotional as the first season, but the situations and events definitely still have a lot of weight and the stakes are so high for so long too! There’s a surprising number of dark events that happen throughout the series. Way darker than even I’m used to watching the animated shows that I do. Kudos for not skimping on the peril and stakes of the mission for the sake of kids being traumatized lol

And while there is the potential for more, if we never get a season 3 this would still be an extremely satisfying ending all the same. I am very happy there aren’t any loose ends here.

Prodigy is without a doubt the most reliably consistent Star Trek show that’s ever existed. Not a single episode feels like filler. Not a single episode wastes time or characters. Even the goofy episodes have character development and callbacks later, and I genuinely don’t think there’s a single episode that I would skip or not watch again. That’s an amazing feat in and of itself, but as a Trek fan that’s just unheard of! Kudos all around!

Now for my longer spoiler thoughts under the cut:

Okay…

How the HELL did you guys make Wesley Crusher’s time traveling arc sooo good? As a TNG fan I was always annoyed with the “traveler” storylines and with Wesley’s character in general. Even as a kid I never really liked him. But this storyline makes him interesting and gives a lot of weight to his powers. He’s almost like The Doctor from Doctor Who, someone who has so much going on in his head that he’s sort of lost it.

That honestly was the biggest surprise to me. I was convinced that Hologram Janeway (and the construct) were somehow manipulating time and events because of the wormhole. Janeway would be trying to help them, while the construct was trying to stop them. That was my working theory for the start of the series. Imagine my surprise when it turns out it’s Wesley Crusher! wtf!?

I do like that he gets to reunite with his mom finally. And that he learns he has a brother.

Incidentally that’s something else I was not expecting. How MUCH of this series was going to be timeline connected to the events of Picard and Lower Decks respectively. Like, wow… they connected the Mars Shipyard explosion and the Romulan evacuation plot points that made sense for the story. Like holy crap, then FINALLY getting into Starfleet only for the shipyards to explode and Starfleet is severely crippled. I did not expect that to happen, and it’s sadly realistic too.

I still hate the Romulan evacuation storyline from Picard, but as a matter of keeping things consistent it makes sense for it here. And while I don’t like it being a canon event, it’s overall good for the consistency of “prime” trek.

I do like that Dal became a second in command. I’ve always felt like Dal was never really destined to be the captain and that he’s always been better at helping others be their best selves. So it makes sense for his character arc that he learns he doesn’t need to be in charge to make a difference and that there’s no shame in being second.

Overall I am still reeling from how much Trek happened in this season. There’s never a dull moment. Unfortunately I am not optimistic about a 3rd season. Netflix picking up a mostly completed series to broadcast on their streaming service is far FAR cheaper than paying for an entire season to be created outright. And sadly, as much as I want more Prodigy, I have a feeling it’s just not on people’s radars enough for it to do gangbuster numbers enough to convince Netflix to pick them up for a 3rd season. I hope I am proven wrong, but I will not get my desire for more season unrealistically hyped up.

I do want to rewatch the entire show now, because there were clues left in the first season that only get answered at the end of season 2. And I love closed loop time travel storylines like that! I can’t wait to go back and connect the dots knowing what I know now.

An excellent series. Probably one of Trek’s best in decades. A true love for the material and the characters and the legacy of Trek lore all rolled into an amazingly animated package.

[bonjas]

season 2 predictions:

I feel like I saw way more behind the scenes stuff that I never saw in the actual show, leading me to believe that either A. they already knew they would get a season 2 and filmed it at the same time or B. what was originally filmed was split up, hence why it feels so choppy. BUT probably neither of these things are true I'm just projecting 😩 cuz I still can't wrap my head around this season

I predict season 2 will bring us back to the original plot of Armando and Betty dating on the down-low and sneaking around behind everyone's back and that's how they reignite their relationship, and it's gonna end in another wedding for them.

there's sooooo much to talk about from the last two episodes but I'm too tired to really dive in, I can only think in bullet points lmao:

did I miss something? why did all of a sudden Hugo end the union/strike? that made no sense 😩

how did Mila and them even know about the papero and how to get there.....again did I miss something lol (edit: I forgot they're the original Ecomoda bodegas, but still they were acting like they knew exactly who he was, how lol)

the timeline was so fucked up. so you're telling me they ended the strike, Mila finds out that night about her mom and dads past, the next day Betty goes on the trip to cartagena and they're doing the fashion show at the same time? how did it get done so fast?! no one bothered to ask their president if they could do it, had the funds for it, bothered to ask her to come? HUH????? 💀 showing random shots of sewing and fabric doesn't do shit to show the passage of time 😭😭

the ADR by the beach sucked so bad it looked AI generated lmao. I'd rather have shitty ocean wave audio like in the original lol

Armando's lawyer continues to make no fucking sense as to why she even wants to be with him, it's a useless storyline with no context other than "of course she'd want to be with Armando Mendoza" and just serves as a "see, he's changed he's not hitting on other women" plot device

Betty's lawyer at least got to be cute and have actual interactions with her that help us make sense as to why she'd wanna make out with him 🤪 do yo thang girl

mila and nacho practically living together - huh?????? this novela is HORRIBLE at timelines, sense of time moving, days passing, literally without them saying that we would assume that was their second time sleeping together. bad bad bad.

mila going through the same betrayal as her mom - sorry I rolled my eyes at that one 😭 trying to wrap everything up in a bow having Mila discover the truth by somehow magically guessing his password, finding everything, spilling the beans during the meeting, all in one episode trying to have us connect to her heartbreak, girl we never fucking liked him lmao!!!!!!!! he was always ick as fuck u have horrible judgement 😭

glad her and Betty have essentially mended things but lmfao still have no idea why she was sent off for 5 years like that's not an insignificant time frame, 15 to 20ish is a HUGE stage of life and to have missed that??? like what?? but they depicted Mila so terribly I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop every time there was a "sweet" moment between them because they didn't give me any reason to think she was being genuine, I think that's a huge failing on their part cuz they never showed the love between them only Mila hating her, right to shopping and hanging out, there was a huge disconnect for me.

Mario you were fired, armando "rejected" your firing but what are you even doing here bro

Jeff and his relationship and their drama with Mila is so blah why is it even in this. Mila you suck for kissing him knowing he has a gf wtf? Also her hairstyle at the fashion show was giving Troll doll what did they do to you girl!!!

not letting Betty have a moment with her dad to actually talk about the diary is such a cop out, it could have been a beautiful moment in him confessing that he still failed her after trying so hard to protect her and she married the man that caused her the most pain and she couldve been like yeah it's pretty fucked up it's why I'm getting a divorce, after all that I feel like he still didn't accept us as his family~ or SOMETHING. crumbs, it's all I'm asking.

Ignacio being a sibling instead of a nephew is sooooooooo duuuuuuuumb lmfao literally serves no other purpose than to make people go GASP!!!! no purpose.

I FORGOT TO BRING IT UP BEFORE, WHY DID THEY MAKE BETTY FALL DOWN THE FUCKING STAIRS AT ECOMODA LIKE THAT A WHILE AGO LMFAOOAAO WE ALREADY KNOW SHE'S CLUMSY YOU MAKE HER DROP OR CRASH INTO SHIT EVERY EPISODE

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Find the word

Thanks @aziz-reads for the tag!

Rules: find the words given in your WIPs, then tag people with more words!

My words: frame, vain, stake, fix

Your words: refuse, beam, own, product

Softly tagging with no pressure @mk-writes-stuff @sleepywriter00 @nailamoonsi @somethingclevermahogony @eccaiia @bread-roses-and-chrome @gottestod-writes + anyone else

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

Keep reading for:

Rose's home life (CW: neglectful parent)

Akash is happy Gwen pissed Carmen off

Robbie and Lexi meet

Debate about screen brightness

Frame - The Secret Portal Part One (Rose POV)

I let out a high-pitched grunt of annoyance before stomping off to my room. A part of me knew she was right. I should’ve brought my keys as a backup plan. She wasn't reliable anyway. As I opened the door to my room, I glanced back at my mother as she sat back on the couch, watching the telenovela that was playing. I turned away, slamming the door to my room behind me, hoping my mother would tell me I wasn't allowed to do that. But there was no correction. I tossed my backpack to the side harshly. It slammed into the wall and knocked a picture frame down to the floor. I bent down and picked quickly hung it back up so I wouldn’t have to look at my three-month-old self in my mom’s smiling arms as my smiling dad had his arm wrapped around her. My room was the only splash of color in this house—the only part of my house that deserved to be called home. My art supplies got their own shelf and were organized the way I want. My projects I kept in my sketchbook, which I never showed my mom. She didn’t like the way I decorated my room or any of my designs. She loved to tell me I needed to apply myself to school as much as my art. But even if I did apply myself more in school, she wouldn’t notice. I collapsed onto my bed and screamed into the pillow, then lay there for a couple of minutes, taking in the scent.

Vain Cocky (closest synonym) - from The Secret Portal Part One (Gwen POV)

I’d overheard Dr. Moon say something about “powers,” so maybe that’s what he meant. It sounded strange, but Akash was floating. Dr. Moon said that I could be showing “several” abilities, so that was weird, too. Did I have a power? Context alone indicated that. They didn’t see me…. My mind spun, so I looked back at Akash as I followed him down the next hall. At first, I thought he was being cocky and showing off his strange, supernatural ability, but that demeanor seemed only a façade—nothing more. Maybe flying was simply that fun. Or maybe I was distracted because he was cute, but I didn’t think I was that shallow. “So, Gwen,” Akash said, turning around to fly backward. “Where’re you from?” “Clear Lake City,” I said. “Texas.” Akash smiled. “Southlake. Up near Dallas. How cool is it we’re both from Texas?” I stared at him. ���You’re not from here?” I didn’t exactly know where here was, but all the same, I could figure I wasn’t in Texas anymore. Akash stopped mid-flight, causing me to abruptly halt. “No. Dr. Moon and Dr. Asghar only take Alii from our side. Ceteri. That’s what they call it.” He raised his eyebrow. “Didn’t they tell you?” “No. They kidnapped us and locked us in this purple-glowing-thing. The dampener? Is that what you said?” Akash nodded. “What did they do?” Akash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s how they got me and my buddy, Robbie. They’re actually okay once you get to know them. Questionable methods, but their hearts, I know how it sounds, are in the right place. Hey, what powers do you have?” “Powers?” I repeated. My thought was right. “Yeah,” said Akash. “You’re Alii, aren’t you?” “I have no idea what you’re saying,” I admitted. “What does Alii mean? One of the doctors mentioned that. Is it Latin?” Akash scrunched his eyebrows. “You don’t know? Dr. Asghar never releases anyone unless they’ve been briefed.” “Oh, I, uh, sorta escaped,” I stuttered. Akash stared at me. “You got away from them?” I nodded, and to my surprise, Akash laughed, clapping his hands together. “I knew someone would do it one day! Dr. Asghar must be pissed!”

(Mi)Stake - from The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

I grunted as a sudden force ran into me, knocking me to the ground. I yelped and scrambled out from underneath the person and clambered to my feet, trembling from the unexpected touch. “Am I that repulsive to you?” a teasing voice said. I turned to look at the person who ran into me: a teenage boy a year or so older than me. It took me a second to collect myself. “No,” I said as he stood. “It just… freaked me out.” The boy was about average height for his age and had a slim, but fit, frame. He had thick dark hair framing his face and big, dark eyes framed by wire-thin glasses. His hair was cut relatively short, but his bangs were somewhat long—parted on the right. He laughed. “Freaked me out, too.” He crossed his arms. “So… are you one of Gwen’s friends?” “You know Gwen?” I asked, standing in surprise. “What is she doing here?” “Sorta, I met her an hour… and maybe a half ago, I dunno what time it is—-passed out due to,” he gestured to the charred walls, “the explosion.” “Wait, are you Robert Stafford?” “No, actually, I’m Stobert Rafford—common mistake.” I blinked. The boy kept eye contact with a straight face. His mouth twitched. The delay stopped as I cachinnated—that was a fun word. The boy joined in. “Sorry, that was stupid.” “No, no, it wasn't,” I said as I tried to compose myself. “Yeah, it was, I’m laughing at my own joke.” “Okay, fine, it was stupid, but that’s why it was funny.” He smiled, dark eyes shining. “Finally, someone gets it!”

Fix - from The Secret Portal Part One (Akash POV)

SORARA’s voice announced the Recruits entering the door, and I instinctively fixed my cap to make sure it was on correctly. “—way too bright,” Lexi was saying as she turned the corner into the living room. “You’ll melt your retinas.” “I need to be blinded by the screen,” Gwen was saying. “If I’m not, it’s too dark.” “I’m starting to see why you needed glasses.” Gwen laughed, and her eyes landed on mine, now slightly obscured by new rectangular black glasses. I instinctively raised my hand to rub it through my hair but it ended up hitting the hat instead, pushing it slightly back. I tried to fix it again. Of course, Gwen’s new fashion statement looks cute while I look like the biggest dork on the planet. She smiled at me. I raised my hand in greeting. “Robbie!” Lexi said, snapping me back. “Let me see your phone!” “Huh? Okay.” Robbie shifted to reach into his pocket to pull out his phone. He handed it to her but she shook her head. “Just turn it on and show me the screen.” Robbie did as told, causing Lexi to laugh triumphantly. “Ha! That’s not that bright, and he wears glasses.” Gwen shrugged.

[heyheymarrymearchie]

now that i've had the chance to rewatch sunflowers, here we go:

my s3e6 commentary

(aka my thoughts about the new episode, in chronological order, with no other context)

keeley’s pink fur coat is a MAJOR slay (the whole outfit is, really)

higgins had me SHRIEKING the way he just walks away after saying he's going to the red light district with no explanation

KEELEY! HOT DATE ALERT! I LOVE YOU

live laugh love :) so true sam :)

dani suggesting naps I LOVE HIM

HIGGINS AGAIN

ok but the fact that the intro isn’t until 7 minutes into the episode—

JAMIE’S CARTWHEEL

bald guy kinda hot tbh

DETECTIVE BUMBERCATCH

dani and his tulip!!!!

trent sitting in the fruitiest way possible

him suggesting a museum tour is so me

the little girl’s room is so cute

THE MOOVEH

the whole don’t do drugs speech, immediately cut to beard saying lets do drugs

BUMBERCATCH CHECKING THE VOTES BECAUSE ISAAC CAN’T COUNT

himbo dani writing in spanish

sam being so real

TRENT’S LEOPARD PRINT SHOE CATCHING THE DOOR KILLED ME ON THE SPOT

when bald guy said rebecca was bleeding and then pointed downward, WHY was my first thought that she had gotten her period

i’m truly a sucker for characters that don’t have names

jamie joking about how much of a prick he used to be! growth!

colin being so nervous when he gets there I WANT TO GIVE HIM A HUG

please trent, as much as i love your flair for the dramatic, in what world did it seem like a good idea to sneak up behind colin at a gay bar?? i love you but WHAT

REBECCA WITH HER HAIR DOWN LOOKS SO PRETTY! AND THAT DRESS!

rebecca being so cute

i love that not one but TWO adult characters on the show canonically couldn’t ride a bike

the scene where jamie is teaching roy how to ride a bike might be the greatest thing to ever grace my tv screen, i cannot stop smiling

this higgins/will friendship is so cute

trent gay confirmed had me SCREAMING

trent’s little nose scrunch when they cheers!!!!!! ugh!!!! i love him!!!!

colin’s monologue has me feeling too many emotions

“i don’t want to be a spokesperson” what if i cried and sobbed.

ted looking at the sunflowers, and showing all the van gogh paintings, oh god oh i’m feeling things

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINGGGG

my poor jamie i’m so sorry, don’t worry i’ll go beat your dad with a rope at 4 am <3

high but-not-actually-high ted is so funny

BACK TO PRETTY REBECCA WITH HER HAIR DOWN YESSSS she’s gotta wear her hair down more often

gezellig :,)

ted learning about triangles I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING, IT FELT LIKE A VIDEO I WOULD’VE WATCHED IN MATH CLASS AS A KID (what’s that disney one?)

THE WHOLE MONTAGE WHILE HIGGINS IS PLAYING— i cannot even begin to express how much i love it

trent you can’t dance but it’s ok i love you so much

(and i love seeing him casual and just wearing a t shirt AAAAH)

himbos in crop tops himbos in crop tops himbos in crop tops himbos in-

THE VANILLA VODKA

ew not the foot massage

will talking to his mom on the phone hehehehehe

ROY AND JAMIE ROLLING UP ON THE BIKE TOGETHER AAAAAAHAHAAAAAA

rebecca singing again :,) nature is healing

colin squeezing trent’s shoulder while singing everything is gonna be alright, and then trent’s adorable smile????? i’m crying

all in all, this is definitely my new favorite episode. i laughed, i cried, i saw jamie do a cartwheel. it was perfect. so much love. <3

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Flowers and a hug - Adrien AUGreste Day 3

So wasn't orignally planning on doing the event but I needed something to break up this fic I'm redoing. If I spend too long staring at it, it was going to drive me up a wall, so, here we are. Since I've done most of the @adrienaugust prompts for my Wish series, I'm just going to do the ones I haven't done. Who knows, maybe I'll finally do 'Switched', the one prompt I skipped in the first Wish story.

If you don't know what I mean, the Wish series is a fic series I did exploring the idea of Lila winning and wishing for Adrien's life and Adrien's new life as the kid of an Italian diplomat who has the freedom to be completely himself. These fics are going to be part of that series and the timeline will bounce around.

This fic is based after the events of the last chapter of the second story. Enjoy

Flowers

Piano, he learned from his dad. English and French, his mom taught him that. Sewing was learned at the feet of his nonna. But plants, specifically flowers, his hardened, silent nonno taught him that. Whenever Adrien was with his grandparents, he’d always spend at least 15 minutes in their garden, helping his nonno with whatever task he was doing. The man was always in the garden, even on days were his body made it hard to move, he’d sit on the swinging chair he’d put together after Adrien begged for one, with his espresso or tea and just take his work in. He didn’t speak much, preferring to show his words in actions but he’d tell Adrien about the stories behind the meaning of flowers. He would have him help make bouquets that he’d silently pass to his wife, the only reaction of her thanks being the blush that came to his face like clockwork when she’d press a kiss to her husband’s cheek.

The bouquets had no rhyme or reason behind them, but Adrien did notice whenever his nonna was upset, flowers would end up in her kitchen. They weren’t an immediate fix, but it always brought a smile to her face.

So that’s why Adrien left his apartment early in the morning, met up with Marinette outside the bakery and took the train to the flower market near the Notre-Dame. Luka had told him he loved him and also that because of his grandfather, he’d be busy with something he couldn’t talk about. He and Juleka were feeling the affects of whatever it was, looking exhausted, but Luka seemed to be having a harder time with whatever it was. Adrien was dying to poke and ask more questions but with a ring on his finger and a new constant hitchhiker, Adrien knew it would be wrong to ask for answers Luka wasn’t ready to give. It could see it was bothering him, whenever Luka couldn’t give him a clear answer. Luka’s brow would furrow, he’d tug at his earrings and he’d apologise like it was no one’s business. Adrien just wanted him to be reminded that even though they had to keep a few secrets, that wasn’t going to break them up. Marinette, after hearing his idea in class, offered to show him the best stalls at the flower market.

“Thanks again for doing this.” Adrien thanked.

“Of course. Luka’s been looking so exhausted. I think he was actually going to fall asleep standing up at rehearsal. I’m surprised he didn’t cancel.”

“Not Luka. If he can’t play music, he feels like there’s no point.” It had been that sometimes it was the only time he’d see Luka relax, unburdened by whatever was bothering him.

He just hoped this was another way to make him relaxed.

The market was huge. Thanks to Marinette’s suggestion, it wasn’t quite as packed as it could have been and the blonde Italian followed the baker’s daughter to the different stalls. He didn’t buy from every one, but he pulled some with meanings he hoped to convey. Roses in colours that meant happiness, worthy of them, salvias in blue to let Luka know he was always on Adrien’s mind and hydrangeas to tell Luka thank you for at least trying to give some context, little as it was, along with dahlias to remind him of how kind he was. Cellophane and tissue paper in hand, Adrien tightened his grip on his spoils. His nonno made smiles appear out of thin air with his nonna and her moods. Luka wasn’t in so much of a mood, but Adrien still wanted to make Luka smile.

Here went seeing what stuck from the lessons.

__________________

Sleeping sounded good. Great even, but he had a whole understanding of a Kwami Box to understand first. Said Kwami had tons of energy, but the slightest glimpse of being overstimulated and they thankfully calmed down and went back in the box. They were a help in helping his mother find her missing things. They were like genies. Who didn’t know their own history. The monks behind the Temple did tell their students much, so the little Fu did write down for him left a lot of gaps. Not even the translated Grimoire gave much help in understanding it. with his classes, patrol and trying to be a present person with the people he cared about, Luka felt like he was going to explode. He had Juleka, but she was approaching finals before she graduated collége and headed to lycée. He still needed to take his university exams, if he was even going to do in person university. Another decision he needed to make.

Fu fucking owed him for throwing this responsibility onto a teenager. And the monks, for choosing a kid who didn’t want to do said job which caused all of this in the first place. Also, where the fuck where they? Fu swore they were close but he had yet to have some old person come and demand the Miraculous back. He’d like to have the chance to convince them to help, like Jessica managed to do. He wished he could talk to her more, but he knew her parents were still trying to find them and they wanted answers about the American Miraculous that Jess couldn’t give. He was in a better position than her, having a whole team instead of just his sister, but it wasn’t going to do much now. He couldn’t tell his team what was going on, not until they had more information. Not even his own boyfriend.

Which was another thing. he missed Adrien. Any time they hung out turned into a mess of him being exhausted and distant. Adrien was the best thing ever, not looking upset, just asking if everything was ok. How was it he had the pair the more powerful Miraculous and he wasn’t allowed to tell him anything?

God, he needed a fucking nap.

He shoved the box into the chest they’d chosen for the hiding spot, the Kwami taking a hint and ducking into the mini figure collection Rose had been growing on Juleka’s side of the room. He flopped onto his bed, trying to get his body to relax.

“Luka?” Tikki questioned, letting out a sad hum when he turned to face the wall and away from her.

“Just five minutes please Tikki. I just want five minutes.”

He heard footsteps, but assumed it was his mother. Juleka was spending the night with Rose. The tiny blonde had taken a look at her exhausted looking girlfriend and dragged her home, according to Juleka’s text. But…his mom wasn’t in town. She was charting a yacht across the water for the week. So, who…?

A knock on the post leading to his room made him open his eyes and look towards the doorway.

“Adrien?”

“Hi. I thought Juleka was here but I didn’t see her and I didn’t see your mom either. I didn’t want come in without permission. I know how much your mom loves that.”

He stared at Adrien, dressed rather like a punk for a change, like he wasn’t real. Luka got up and started to walk over to him, ready to grab him into a hug when he was stopped by a face full of flowers. Adrien looked embarrassed.

“I had them behind my back and you were gonna hug me. I wanted to surprise you with them first.”

Luka felt a small smile grow. “You got me flowers?” he asked, taking them from Adrien.

“I made you flowers. A bouquet of flowers I mean.” Adrien stuttered a little, the smile on Luka’s face getting bigger. “My nonno would give my nonna flowers whenever she was upset or just because and I know you’ve have to keep secrets and I can see it’s been upsetting you so I wanted to give you something that reminded you I was here, for whatever you need. Even if it’s just a hug.” Adrien spread his arms out, letting out a small noise when Luka wrapped his arms around him. “Do you like them?”

“I love them. thank you. I like the hug too.”

Adrien laughed, adjusting his grip so he could hug him tighter.

“Of course, you know how to make bouquets. Is there anything you don’t know how to do?” Luka asked, rocking the two of them back and forth. Finally, just for a little bit, he felt calm.

“A number of things, I just learn to fake a lot of it.”

“So, you know the meanings? Is that post on making a ‘fuck you’ bouquet true then?”

Adrien giggled. “Yes, it is. I can tell you what these flowers mean.”

“In a bit.” Luka said, looking at the blossoms he held. He wanted to tell Adrien everything, but for now, these were proof that while things were stressful and insane, he had a person he could go to, even if it was for a hug and a smile. the minute he got permission, Adrien would know. but for right now, he could take a hug. And the flowers, definitely, the flowers.

[moononmyfloor]

In the 2nd Quarter of 2024 Cdramaland...

1st Quarter, 3rd Quarter, 4th Quarter

.

9. Drama set that I want to visit

The Altay Steppes

Introduced from the wonderful, wonderful drama To the Wonder/My Altay, (which EVERYONE should watch and especially if you haven't seen much of the incredibly vast and varied geographical and cultural landscape of China), I am now in love with this place. The show captured the glimmering waters, the freshness and evergreen-ness of.....everything and I can only imagine how it must be like to experience it first hand. For now I'll have to be satisfied with the digital footage like professional travel vloggers here:

.

10. Most memorable scene

The wedding scene from Regeneration

The groom is dashing and the bride is delicate and that's the most beautiful bridal getup I've ever seen and the entire hall screams RICH and elegant and it looks like an absolute dream and,

Enter the context and you have a haunting prelude to the most miserable chain reaction of a story full of deception and despair. Now I look at this scene and all I see in those sombre blacks and whites is dreary funeral vibes.

.

11. Most Favorite Actor of 2024

Jiang Long

Saw him this year on A Soldier's Story and Link Click, and he was an absolute delight. He's like the most unassuming person in the room who turns out to be the most cheerful, genuine, heartfelt guy with the best comedic timing ever.

.

12, 13. Favorite Supporting Roles AND Actors of 2024

Yu Shi and Alima Mayutian (as Batay and Tokan from To the Wonder)

In a way you can argue Batay was the male lead of the show but also, To the Wonder didn't really fit the usual parameters of a romcom drama and if anything, the FL and her mom were the main leads.

The roles of brother-in-law and sister-in-law pair of Batay and Tokan followed close behind as the new generation Kazakh ethnic youth who are equal parts fond of their simple, slow life in the grassland but are also tied down by it.

Batay and his beloved horse Snowshoe and Tokan and the Washboard she never got were highlights of the show. And these two actors gave a MAGNIFICENT performance in these two roles.

.

14. Favorite Villains

Shen Yurong (Liang Yongqi) and Grand Princess Wanning (Li Meng) from The Double were a great example of toxic and problematic done right. From start to end they were both very fascinating, full-fledged characters, their backstories were sound even though that didn't excuse that they were truly horrible people. At some point I found out I even felt sympathy for them. The show didn't try to put them forth like the next hot thing ever, instead presenting them as they are and letting the audience make their judgement; hence resulting in them stealing the screen from the main couple without even trying lol. 👏👏👏

.

15. Favorite Couple of the Year

Ling Jiushi (Huang Junjie) and Ruan Lanzhu (Xia Zhiguang) from The Spirealm

I adored their chemistry full of playful banter, protectiveness and indulgence, but also just look at them!

I mean

(Watch the show, it's good. Even if it wasn't that good I'd still support it for being a BL that got shelved during the ban anw. BUT it's actually good too!)

.

More Posts by Me

[yolowritter]

Volpibug Au Part 4: Mom help, there's a fox girl on my floor!

Hello there everyone, and welcome back to Lilanette Hell! Finally, after three rants longer than my entire attention span, I've returned with the good shit! Also yes, I cackled at the title. You'll see, it makes sense later. Part 3 of the Au is right here for anyone who needs a reminder, and today's rant focuses on the Glaciator episode and the immediate aftermath! This is where the Lilanette really begins! Also, this post is going to be really long, because I've got two whole snippets for you guys!

To give a bit more context, the Au currently has a pretty linear timeline. Begins with Volpina because obviously that's when Lila shows up for the first time, continues into Collector where Lila decides that Adrien is the least annoying person in class and she will get him back, hence teaming up with Marinette to go confront Gabriel about it. Yes, she gleefully reminds Monsieur Mothballs that CPS exists and is only one phone call away. Then the show moves on as normal, with Lila happily staying out of everyone's business and just kinda figuring out how friendships are supposed to work.

Add a few flashbacks to her altered backstory, maybe some nice Trixx pov to sweeten the deal, and suddenly we're at the Sapotis episode! As I mentioned in Part 2, Lila doesn't like Chloe, so she and Marinette kinda put their differences aside for the sake of Adrien having more friends and keeping the Queen B in check. Still, Lila does not like Marinette at this point. She thinks that while having moments of brilliance, the bluenette is erratic, overly emotional and also kinda creepy with her stalking of Adrien. This isn't bashing, just Lila being a bit too blunt. Anyway, they aren't clawing each other's eyes out and that's what matters. Cue Alya inviting them both to sleepover, the Sapotis incident, and then the rest of Part 2 where Volpina (with her fake civilian name starting with "Cer-" as a nod to Cerise) joins the hero team. If you need a reminder, don't worry I'll rant about it again sometime soon. Lila comes and goes during Akuma fights, occasionally showing up to laugh at Chat Noir when he gets yeeted halfway across the cityscape, and usually just sniding at that day's Akuma. She needs to get it out of her system to be able to hold her tongue in school, so it's a good outlet!

But anyway, one day the Glaciator Incident happens, mostly like normal. Lila gets invited to go out with the rest of the group, and actually does her whole innocent act to basically force Marinette to show up...but Adrien doesn't. Lila is less than pleased with this decision, because if you remember she told Marinette off for memorizing Adrien's wiki page and kinda stalking him instead of...oh, talking to the guy! It annoys her a bit too much, so she endeavors to put an end to this crap by making it so Marinette has to interact with Adrien in the context of friendship, and hopefully figures out that stealing phones is Lila's thing, and no, she doesn't allow copycats! Evidently...Marinette ends up having the same interaction with Andre, causing him to be upset, but Lila steps in to save the day by exclaiming that his ice cream is awesome and she really wants to try! Akuma averted...or not, because once she thinks she's out of earshot, Lila mutters about how a grown adult shouldn't get so hung up on teenagers' love lives + a whole bunch of "doesn't he have anything better to do?" Again, not bashing anyone, just Lila being Lila. Cue Glaciator, canon edition!

Volpina does show up for the fight and distracts him while Ladybug and Chat have their little "faking feelings is wrong!" argument, but Lila quickly gets tired of their shit and urges Adrien to just get it over with! Then, she hides behind a chimney to keep watch and they defeat the villain. As Volpina makes her way back down, Ladybug and Chat have a little conversation where he asks her to at least let him talk to her, and then they leave Lila behind to have the rooftop scene with the rose. As Ladybug leaves, Volpina jumps over (yes, she obviously spied on them, she does this a lot) to talk with Chat Noir.

Now...Lila does not do feelings of any kind. Empathy isn't in her dictonary, even if she is slowly learning how to practice it despite that. And here...she actually does have one of those mature moments. Lila's been forced to grow up too quick after her grandma's death with only Trixx for company (see part 1 here for the backstory), so that sobered her up a bit. Half the reason she treats everyone like an idiot is because they're all incredibly immature in her eyes. Anyway, she sits on the railing and Chat exclaims he's not in the mood for jokes tonight. Alarm bells start ringing in Lila's head, because she actually really vibes with their team's other pun enthusiast. She wouldn't call him a friend, but who else can help her drive Ladybug insane if not for the mangy stay? So she decides to talk to him about it, and we get the following snippet! Bet you weren't expecting that!

[...]

Volpina raises her hands in a surrender, giving Chat a toothy grin that shows her fangs. Her tail swishes around the metal railing, but after his frown doesn't go away, she clears her throat and scoots over to him. "Listen...I really don't do feelings. And I'm going to regret this...but do you want to talk about it?" she asks, trying to smooth her voice into something soft instead of the usual teasing tone.

The blonde's surprise is only betrayed by the sudden twitch of his ears, and Lila lazily stretches her arm to at least keep up the pretense of not caring. Give the boy an out if he doesn't want to share, and hope it all works out. Instead, Chat levels her with a suspicious stare. "Why do you even care? Sure, you're on our side..." he makes a wild gesture with his arms, as if physically grasping for the right words.

Lila cuts him off by snapping her claws together, meeting his eyes. "Because if you and the watermelon don't get your shit together, that's more work for me. And I've already fought enough of his kids' cartoon rejects as it is." she tells him in a rare moment of honesty. Not that Volpina doesn't care, it's just that the list of people she's willing to fight over currently extends to maybe five or six, and begrudgingly at that.

Chat's face falls, as if he'd half expected it. For a moment he almost looks like he's going to try and scold her...but he only gives a deep sigh. "It's complicated. I don't expect you to understand." the blonde mutters, ears drooping like someone's doused him with ice-cold water.

"It's either me or your Kwami. Take your pick, I won't sit here all night." Volpina argues in a dismissive tone. When Chat looks away from her, Lila thinks she maybe should have picked her words more carefully. Resisting the urge to leave him be, Volpina reaches out to gently grasp his shoulder with her claws. She levels him a serious look, to say she means it. "Just...start talking, would you?" Lila prods him, and Chat's eyes glint with poorly-disguised surprise. What an idiot...it's not like she'd actually grown attached. That would just be ridiculous.

Nevertheless, he tells her everything. How he'd invited Ladybug on a date and carefully prepared everything in advance, even if she told him it was a maybe. Well, that was much more headway than he'd ever made, so Chat Noir still went on with trying to make the perfect spot. But...she hadn't shown up. Dissapointed, he'd headed over to Marinette, having seen the bluentte on her balcony. Lila carefully files away their prior friendship, as well as the fact that she might have judged the girl a bit too quickly. If one of Paris' heroes has taken such an interest to her...could there be a side to her beyond the exasparating annoyance she's been friends with for so long? Chat goes on to describe the impromtu date between them, and then the conversation with Ladybug that Volpina definately hadn't listened in on. Spying on her teammates during a momet of emotional vulnerability? Her? Never!

Still, a certain detail does stick out to her, but she politely waits until the blonde is done moping. "You...do know she told you there were other plans for tonight, right?" Volpina asks, leaning her face towards him to look into Chat Noir's eyes. Her catty green peers through a dissapointed emerald, and he gives a nod. "Okay...I can't believe I'm going to ask this, but you know that Ladybug wasn't obligated to show up just because you expected her to, right? Everyone is allowed to say no." Lila tells him, trying to keep her tone from turning to an accusation. She'd never gotten the impression that Chat believed himself entitled to the other girl's affections, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

Silence slowly envelops them as he mulls her words over, as if struggling to understand the concept. She straightens up, arching her back across the railing for a stretch as Chat falls deep in thought. "We...we can say no?" he asks dumbly, almost as if he hadn't heard her. Oh. Oh...shit. She knew that innocent gaze from a mile away, having spent so much time glued to Adrien's side. Lila's heart sings with pity, and she takes a deep breath.

"Yes, of course we can." Volpina insists, grabbing onto his shoulder for emphasis. She clicks her claws together, hopping off the railing and standing next to Chat Noir. "Listen to me. Other people's desires only matter if you decide they do. And it goes both ways. Ladybug wasn't obligated to show up today, and you aren't forced to go on patrol if you don't feel like it." Lila tells him seriously, looking the blonde in the eye.

Then, as abruptly as the advice came, she steps back and promptly twirls herself around, playfully hitting his arm with her tail. Chat doesn't say a word, and Volpina takes a cursory glance at the sky. "I gotta run. Try not to get caught out in the rain, would you?" she snips at him before climbing on the railing. Before he's even gathered his bearings, she's disappeared over the skyline, with only the familiar high-pitched titter grazing his ears. Chat Noir unhooks his baton, and quickly jumps away into the night.

[...]

And scene! I figured this specific conversation was important, because Lila's advice really resonates with Adrien here. Also, I'll take any excuse to have Volpina on screen, but it's mostly for the plot. I'm trying to prevent Ladynoir without any fights, so Lila has her work cut out for her if she wants to accidentally rizz up Marinette. Believe me, if you thought the Agrestes were oblivious, they've got nothing on the fox girl who subconsiously doesn't think there's anything about her to love. Never to a point of self-hate, Lila is fairly comfortable with who she is as a person, but just...hasn't ever recieved affection aside from her grandmother. Sure, she's dated a few boys before, but that was only because she was using them for one reason or the other, and the "relationships" lasted only barely a month each, being more uninteresting than the one before. So...you can guess why Lila has never considered it after coming to Paris.

Also, just to be perfectly clear, despite Volpina and Chat Noir having their moments together and even a psuedo-date later on, things are strictly platonic here. Lila doesn't like him that way, and Adrien sees her as the cool friend who's teaching him what freedom actually looks like. His eyes are squarely on Ladybug, and later on Kagami. And after that, Luka. But that's for way later in the timeline. Feel free to ask about it though, I'm happy to yap some more about this Au's Lukadrien! Anyway! Lila is very much gay for Marinette, and Volpina does end up as Ladybug's bi awakening...so there's that! Alright, back to the plot!

The next morning passes by quickly, and Lila decides to join the nightly patrol with Ladybug and Chat, which she almost never does aside from when Volpina is in a mood to jumpspace their brave leader. She does it constantly, and Ladybug can never manage to find her before Lila suddenly appears behind her to say hello. This time however, she decides to spy on them again as they have a conversation, and Chat apologizes to Ladybug, explaining that he got his hopes up and it wasn't her fault. She then says it's okay, they hug, happy ending! But that's not what Lila is here for at all! See, Chat's words about Marinette have been stuck in her head all day now. In fact, Lila even tried being nice to the bluenette at school today (severely weirding her out) just to see if there's a difference to how she acts with her actual friends.

The results were...inconclusive, so she's come up another brilliant plan! After making sure this whole feelings crap was done with, she would just...show up at Marinette's house. As Volpina. Without any prior warning. And then promptly proclaim their friendship! That seems like a great idea! With only the best of intentions! What could possibly go wrong? ...as it turns out, absolutely everything.

Unfortunately this post is getting a bit too long, so I'll save the snippet for next time. I am writing these on the spot you know, it ain't easy. Hopefully a good way to get rid of Writer's Block, but still a challenge. Anyway, I do hope you all enjoed today's rant! Wasn't as unhinged as when I talk about canon, but then again my Aus have a lot less to complain about and a lot more to enjoy! If any of you want to talk about Volpibug feel free to shoot me an ask, I'm more than happy to tell you everything you want to know!

Anyway, I'll see you all next time, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[bauresurrected]

If you were going to recommend one episode as THE Emily episode, what would it be? why?

i have an 104 page document about this that doesn't even go past season six I think.

this is hard.

it's an easy answer to say demonology. you get a real sense for who she is, and who she was before the series. you learn about her efforts to fit in and what it resulted in. you learn why she is the way she is, and it's the start of her and Rossi being close.

but that's an easy answer. because it IS the Emily episode.

the lauren episode, where we learn about her time as a spy and what she had to do to keep herself and another child safe really ... just sets you up to understand her entire life. why she did what she did. WHY she's so good at adapting, compartmentalizing. you can contextualize how her past as a diplomat's daughter turned her into someone adaptable for a life as a spy. you learn the depths to which she'd go to protect a child.

but it's a hard episode to recommend because, a lot like demonology, it IS a hard watch. and you lose her at the end of it. there's a real life best friend out there who can attest to the fact that when we watched this live I sat behind him on my bed, sobbing. we'll call this friend thorin. sorry, thorin. thank you for dealing with teenage gay me.

i go anywhere without recommending minimal loss. she and Reid are held hostage and Emily outs herself as an FBI agent to protect him. it's the first time we see her in major danger. she keeps passing the team secret codes. you get a real sense of her strength as an agent. you also get what I call the three stooges - Reid, Morgan, Emily - out in fool force. I meant full force. I mistyped. but it's staying. it's one of my favorite episodes of the ENTIRE show.

children of darkness, where she interacts a lot with a teen who lost her entire family, and at the end of it, asks hotch if she could try to adopt the girl. hotch tells her she needs to know she can still be objective, and she tells him she needs to know she can still be human. at the end of it, JJ tells her she can see it. her and kids. it's such a good episode. in the context of her and all the other interactions with kids too.

WHEELS UP. the entire team are in a car accident right after Reid returns from prison, but Emily gets kidnapped by one of the most terrifying unsub they've ever had - and she's held captive and drugged, making her believe she's in a hospital with him and can't move. you see her go into old spy training to withstand torture. you see how much she relies on the team. and she's doing all of this to save hotch and Jack, who aren't even on the show anymore. she is so full of love, and strength, and you see her break a little. and honestly she's just - haha!! hehe! it's fine it's fine.

other honorable mentions - the one where her mom is there. it's not a necessary watch but it is fun. 200. I didn't put it here because it's more about JJ than it is about Emily, but it's SUCH a fantastic representation of her. It is however a BRUTAL fucking watch. 7 seconds you get to see her go absolutely feral to, again, protect a kid - and it's one of the most haunting cases in the entire show. the one where the guy is taking people's hearts and using his kid to lure them is also a fantastic show of who Emily is as a person, and there's a case later where that kid comes back.

end of the day - minimal loss, demonology, wheels up, children of darkness are the ones i'd say top the list.

[accirax]

📚💛https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpvZr_SJ6QE💛📚

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Fiore and still have my gripes about how Alec treated his son (despite me liking him a lot more & having some sympathy for his situation before and after the divorce), I won't lie, all of their little moments together in this finale were incredibly sweet and fun to watch~ ^_^ Each one of those scenes (especially Alec piggybacking her on the way to the airport) put a smile on my face because they were just *so* (unfairly) adorable/wholesome! <3

That being said, the feeling is pretty conflicting tho... I mean, I am happy the two were able to make up and find solace in each other, but at the same time this just makes me feel even worse for Daniel. 😟

I mean sure, Cheryl might've recovered after the divorce and is already getting over Alec, but that wouldn't mean he would. We already know how badly a divorce can mess children up mentally/emotionally, and I don't doubt that he's probably still missing the guy. So imagine being in the place he is and then seeing all of *that* on your tv. Your dad showing more care & concern for, and actually looking happier with some other kid he only had only known for 2 years (the same kid your dad said he wished you'd be more like). That's gotta do some deep damage to someone's self esteem/worth, especially at a young age.

(Hopefully he'll find a good therapist in the future, and that his mom will do a better job than Alec ever could (though it probably won't fill the void completely).)

OK getting back on topic- this one image raises a LOT of questions in my head, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

One of two things is possible here: Either Alec has made the dreams of a million fans come true and has actually canonically adopted Fiore (and is likely homeschooling her), OR, he somehow managed to pull some strings behind the scenes and became her personal tutor (that way she wouldn't have to spend as much time around the nuns at the boarding school, which would give her just a little bit of peace, even if only temporarily). It really could go either way (Ik a lot of fans are already claiming it to be the former); it could be that the Jared & co wanted to leave it up to personal interpretation, but I'm hoping maybe we'll get some solid confirmation in a future cast & crew Q&A stream. Or maybe, if the TomJake spinoff does well enough, they might consider making spinoffs for the rest of the cast, and then we'll know. I'm hoping they will~ ^_^

Alright I'm done rambling, have a good night/day!

i know, the two of them were so sweet in the finale! as i said when i first watched the finale, i know that they were probably over-amplifying the extent to which Alec and Fiore would realistically get along/be happy in the context of the series so far to bribe fans of their dynamic into liking the finale and/or really make sting for Riya seeing everyone else be so happy... but as i also said, i am not immune to that bribery.

but it is definitely a bittersweet "victory" whenever you think about how Daniel feels (or will feel, when he's a bit older) about the whole shebang. the whole thing is easier to swallow-- intentionally so, i imagine-- because Daniel isn't really a real person. We don't know anything about him other than a name, an age range, and a couple of anecdotes. he's just a plot device meant to illustrate how terrible of a father Alec is with a normal child. however, if you ever do start thinking about him as a real-life figure, then yeah, pretty much everything regarding Alec's actions becomes really fucked up and tragic.

i was also puzzled by that picture too! specifically the geography of it all. Fiore is listed as Italian/American, and Alec as British/Turkish. their home countries don't line up at all, so where was this image taken? given that Fiore appears to be doing schoolwork, i imagine it must be close to wherever she's attending school. did Alec come to visit her in Italy/the US? if so, why is he using that short visit to help her with her homework?

that's why i sort of took it as a low-key confirmation that maybe Alec and Fiore are now living together, just because I don't know why they would be in the same place taking the time to do Fiore's homework if they weren't pretty committed to each other. it's certainly not confirmed, though, and i wouldn't take it as such until we get an official confirmation. i also hope there's another livestream to answer this and other questions. but mostly just so that there is another livestream, because i greatly enjoyed listening to the last one!

[prettysymbiosis]

risk e. rat’s pizza and amusement center

the awkwardly long name (read: it’s always sunny in philadelphia) - both character and show meta incoming and I feel like that’s the first hint of the latter

am I the only one who keeps thinking risk e. rat’s pizza is the pizza for you and me…

“they make kids feel like they’re the ones in charge” - so interesting coming from mac mcdonald. soon followed up by “they were the first set of boobs I ever saw since my mom’s” which ties right into the burgeoning mommy issue thread

at the end of the day it’s all part of the fun!

just the gang singin’ in the car :)

dennis “that’s not my name” reynolds

how have I just NEVER noticed that dee is left-handed???

the broken water fountain - does it mean anything? I’m too tired to figure it out I need my tumblr brain trust

maybe mac being clean-shaven this season is to make him seem more boyish? I have a new theory for this every episode

I think I saw someone else say this but I do think it’s fitting that charlie and dennis are together on the titties storyline because of their shared baggage around childhood sexuality, like no one else in the gang would really be able to relate to dennis here and if charlie is figuring his shit out with that then he'll definitely serve as a parallel for dennis having to figure it out too

I like how they represent three different eras of risk e.’s (frank, gang, present day) to really explore changing values and how things getting softer can be bad in some ways but good in others. this episode definitely feels in keeping with lethal weapon 7 as a very sunny way of critiquing sunny that feels satisfyingly self-aware but also fairly true to form which is a pretty fine line to walk, to give credit to rcg and the rest of the creators

also if you haven’t seen the john oliver piece on chuck e. cheese go watch it because it provides so much context and crazy true history of these types of places that was definitely in my mind while watching this episode

dee and frank paired up again, and in a childhood place, probably ties into the dee parent-issues thing I hope they’re building up to

each character really tells on themself about what fucked up stuff they’ve come to believe is acceptable or even enjoyable but should be questioned:

frank - violence and verbal abuse toward children and everyone; sexually harassing women with impunity; calling people the r-slur

dee - ethnic humor, not racist humor; making her explain how it’s funny and realizing it’s not; ecologically irresponsible plastic cheese that gets immediately thrown away; dimwit duck or whatever his name was; not understanding what satire really is!!! ← they really took one of their biggest critiques head on

here’s a question I have about dee’s character - she tries to justify her problematic sense of humor and every time frank points out the truth behind it, illustrating what’s really awful about it without really meaning to, and dee seems to genuinely recoil like she doesn’t like that. does she feel bad and react that way because she doesn’t want to do harmful things, or just because she doesn’t want to be perceived as being un-pc because that’s what’s uncool now? like remember when charlie said “I think I might’ve called an old lady a cunt this morning” and looked kind of aghast at himself? could dee be developing more of a conscience too and if so, what does that say about her? or is she just a vehicle for rcg to navel-gaze about the show? also remember in lw7 how mac was like “if you don’t praise me for being a good person then why am I doing it?” I lie awake at night wondering how much rcg want to be better people vs. how much they don’t want to be kicked even further down the hollywood totem pole for being yucky. please share thoughts if you have any

mac - simulating real-world violence to get it out of his system; shame - “if you got no shame, you’re never gonna hate yourself enough to stop being bad”

dennis and charlie - being unprotected growing up; that’s what the bone’s for! (there’s nothing like a glenn and charlie riff btw); is it wrong because she’s underage?

sunny is really amping up the inner child work for the gang, I mean arguably the gang have always been childish but this season I feel like they’re exploring it in a more comprehensive way like via the setting of this episode. and it ALSO works as a perfect commentary on the show and we love the layers

there’s no adults around…

“cause we need monster representation” we need some representation for those who are freaky and fucked up okay??

I wish I could remember who said it but someone suggested that the de-breastifying of justine has to do with dennis’ heteroness disappearing and that is a very fun take - I do think it says something that they’re fixated on a very abstracted version of sexuality via these almost disembodied tits that aren’t even human… like are we overcompensating for something gentlemen? can the characters and the show itself have any relationship to women that doesn’t objectify or otherwise dehumanize them?

I for one think sam is supposed to look like a young mac, I saw some people questioning why they cast that kid and this is my theory. this is important for both the inner child and possible child-rearing stuff they’re bringing in

“hey man, I’m a licensed psychotherapist–” “you’re a talking dog”

“guys I hate to admit it but this place sucks now”; “that’s crazy, this was like one of the best bars in town, man”; “they could redeem themselves in the show” all very meta

“you cannot call a place a website” hahaha

“so that these kids can have the same experience that we had when we were younger” fucked up childhoods, the cycle of trauma, but also the show being how it used to be

and of course, an attempted revival of all that leading to immediate disaster. let’s move forward, not backward :)

[offsidekineticist]

For Theoven: ☮ for a scene about behaving well

Thank you for the ask! Struggled a little with this one because I wanted to cover some time before he left Garund, but it was tricky figuring out what "behaving well" in that context would mean. Finally settled on repurposing/revising a little thing I wrote about his backstory (why did I originally write it in the 3rd person when all my Theoven stuff is 2nd person?).

CW: references to degenerative mental disease/dementia; a child taking on way too much responsibility; death of a parent; references to poverty; and Theoven tossing a lit firecracker into his mom's room to tell her breakfast is ready.

You know today is going to be one of the good days, because Mama is reading. Most days she can't do that anymore. Most days, when you wake her for breakfast, she is still asleep, or on really bad days she's sitting up and just staring at the wall. But today when you go to wake her for breakfast, Mama is already awake, sitting up in bed with one of her books.

"Holy fuck!" She shouts when the firecracker goes off next to her bed, and you grin because 'fuck' is a naughty word, and also she only swears on good days. On bad days your pranks just made her scream and cry. That doesn't stop you of course–as long as she doesn't react with silence, that means the pranks are helping, and if you do enough of them she might have a good day. 

That's your job: to give Mama lots of good days, enough to last forever. You aren't usually very good at your job–Mama doesn't have many good days anymore–but today is a good day. Giggling, you open the door and carry a tray with breakfast into the bedroom.

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Mama asks from her bed, and you nod, trying to hide your smile behind a glass of not quite spoiled milk on the tray. "Oh, Theo," she sighs with a smile. "Never a dull moment with you, is there?"

You smile wide before offering her the tray. "Oh, thank you!" she says with a look of pleased surprise, and for a moment you feel a little glow of pride because this is a good day and you are doing a good job. Then she frowns suddenly at the breakfast: an over-easy egg (You scrounged the egg from a bird nest in a tree you had to climb) and a piece of toast. "You cooked this?" she asks. You nod, wondering frantically what was wrong - maybe that kind of egg was poisonous? Or maybe it's a very smart species of bird and you just murdered a baby? Or–

"You didn't break the yolk," she says slowly, and you relax, because this is not the first time she has had to think this through. "Have you been making me breakfast every morning?" she finally asks, and you nod. She looks sad and a little scared for a moment before smiling with her mouth while her eyes stay sad and watery. "Well, you've gotten very good at it! I've probably said that to you before, haven't I? I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I like it when you say I'm good at things," you say, and that makes her smile for real. She ruffles your bright orange hair with a pale hand–most of her is pale, except a little strand of green in her hair. You're the opposite: mostly orange and tan-brown, except for the pale patch on your elbow from when you gave Mama some of your color when you were a baby. Back when Mama had more good days than bad days, she used to check every day to make sure the patch hadn't gotten bigger, because if it got too big you would start having bad days, too, and then you wouldn't be able to do your job and give Mama good days.

"Well then, you should know you've gotten very good at making breakfast," Mama says before starting to eat breakfast. "Here–wanna see what Mama's reading?" She patted the space on the mattress next to her, and you grin because it's been so long since Mama read to you and it must be a very good day and you are doing a very good job. You scramble up onto the bed and snuggle under her left arm. She closes the book and shows you the front cover. "Can you read the title?"

"One thousand and one gods of the Vuh-drann - drawn - dra–"

"Vudrani."

" - Vudrani," you read out.

"Very good!" she says, and you practically preen with pride before realizing what you just read.

"There are a thousand and one gods?" you ask, eyes wide, because that's a lot of gods.

"Oh, there are a lot more than that. These are just some of the gods they worship in Vudra."

Your forehead wrinkles in thought. "But I thought gods were special. How can there be so many?"

"Well, there are still a lot more of us than there are of them."

"There's not a thousand people!" you exclaim indignantly. One thousand is a very big number. You know because you once tried seeing how high you could count, and you only made it to 150 or so before you lost count because you were distracted by a beetle as big as your hand flying in through an open window. You tried to get the beetle to stay and be your friend, but it couldn't understand you because beetles aren't very smart, so it flew away.

"You wanna hear something crazy?" Your mother asks, leaning in like she's about to tell you a secret, and you lean in too because you are very good at keeping secrets. "We live in a town with two thousand people. Just in our town." 

Your jaw drops, and you try to remember all the people you saw yesterday when you went to the market to borrow some stale bread when the baker wasn't looking, but you quickly realize there were too many to count. 

"And this isn't the biggest town we've lived in, is it?" Mama continues, and you shake your head.

"No. Katapesh was much bigger." Your face scrunches up as you try to figure out how much bigger itbwas. "They had…three thousand people?"

"More than two hundred thousand." 

Two hundred thousand? That's more than you can count times a thousand! That's a lot of people, and just in one city? You realize there must be a lot of people in Golarion. Eyes wide, you look back at the cover of the book that had started the conversation.

"I guess one thousand gods is still special," you finally pronounce. "Are they better than the Avistan gods?"

Mama taught you a lot about the gods in Avistan because that's where your dad lives, and someday she says you will visit and stay with him. You didn't like most of them–being a kid is hard, and you don't think anybody who has never been a kid had any business telling you how to be a kid (and people who don't remember what it's like being a kid aren't much better). But Irori and Iomedae and Norgorber and Caiden Calean had all been kids once, so you think they might be alright.

"Hmmm…no, I think they're just different. But there are some gods they worship in Avistan and Vudra. Like Irori. Before he was a god, he lived in Vudra." She opens the book. "His nephew became a god, too. Gruhastha. He was always one of my favorites because he's a book and a god."

"He's a book?" You repeat, because how can a person be a book?

"Yes, the Azvadeva Pujila. He wrote it when he was still mortal. The book was perfect, and perfect things must be divine, but a book by itself has no soul, so it can't be a god. So Gruhastha went into the book and became part of it, and it became part of him, and now the book had a soul and could ascend and be divine. But Gruhastha believes that knowledge should be shared, so he made copies of the Azvadeva Pujila and put a little of himself in each one. So anytime you hold a copy of the Azvadeva Pujila in your hands, you hold Gruhastha in your hands as well."

"Do we have a copy of it?" you ask eagerly, because you've been able to do many things traveling with Mama, but you have never held a god before.

"I think so–yes, in the Biggenlill Bag."

(The Biggenlill Bag is little on the outside but big on the inside. It is supposed to be called a bag of holding, but that's stupid because all bags hold things because that's what bags are for. You used to call it the Big-and-Little bag, but over time it got shortened to the Biggenlill Bag, which is so much more fun to say than Big-and-Little and definitely a better name than "bag of holding.")

You slide off the bed and scamper into the next room. The biggenlill bag is on one of the chairs at the kitchen table that hasn't been used since Mama's bad days made you stop in Finderplain. You grab the bag as you slide to a stop and then rapidly run back the other way, practically leaping onto the bed and almost knocking over Mama's glass of milk as you open the bag and reach inside. You have to stick your hand in all the way up to your shoulder, but your fingers eventually close around a book, and you yank it out of the bag. 

It doesn't look like you'd expect a god to look–you imagined it would be more sparkly–but Mama always says not to judge a book by its cover. It does feel special, though. You feel a thrill the second you touch it, and you feel…not quite afraid to open the book, but you can tell that opening the book will release something great and wonderful, something that will refuse to confine itself to the book once it is released.

"Do you want me to read it to you?" Mama asks, interrupting your reverie, and you nod and hand the book to her. She sets it on top of the book on her lap, opens it to the first page, and reads.

It is a wonderful day. The best day. Mama reads, and she reads, and she reads, until the desert sun sets, and her voice is hoarse, and you snuggle into her side and for once you aren't worried about doing your job, because this is a good day, and good days mean you're doing a good job. You listen to stories about monkeys and tigers and cobras and gods and children and ratfolk and humans, and you wonder if maybe, when Mama is better, you could go to Vudra and see the Cave of a Thousand Stars.

"I think that's enough for today," Mama finally says tiredly, and you nod before hugging her.

"Thank you, Mama," you say, and Mama hugs you close to her.

"Oh, you're so very welcome. I'm happy to do it for such a wonderful son."

You feel very warm at that, and despite the desert heat it's a good warm. Yes, you are doing a good job. "Love you, Mama."

"I love you too, Theo. Now." She kisses the top of your head. "Go get some rest. We can read more in the morning."

You nod vigorously, smiling wide so she won't see that you don't believe her. You may be doing a good job, but there haven't been two good days in a row for a very long time. Reminding her of that would just make her sad, though, so you pretend to believe her and kiss her on the cheek before taking the tray and the dirty dishes and sliding off the bed. You leave the books–you are very tired, and someone needs to stand watch, but Mama is holding a book that is also a god, so surely you can sleep for a little bit and let Gruhastha watch over her, can't you?

(You can't. Her last green hair disappears in the night. Her skin is already cold when the sun rises.)