#but you know me you can't be surprised

[terrainofheartfelt]

OH, OH, LIZ!!! any alison and dan hcs? both before and after she left?

stars I think you just get a kick out of putting me in my FEELINGS

(before we get too far along might I direct everyone to S's alison fic because it is IMPORTANT to me <333)

I think dan was a complete mama's boy in the beginning. rufus was still with the band when he was born so during his first few years alison was the parent who was always around. there's that throwaway line in one of the early season where rufus says he had to walk dan to school every day when he was seven -- I think two things happened then: 1) rufus had quit touring because he realized he was missing his kids growing up and 2) that age would have also been when jenny was going to school for an entire day, so that is when alison decided to go back to school, and so she was not around as much as she used to be, and dan was adjusting to that.

that big, oversized brown armchair in the loft living room? that was mom's chair, that's where she would curl up and sketch and listen to records in the evenings, and tiny dan would sit on her lap. she taught him how to read in that chair.

before rufus bought the gallery (with its attached studio space), alison did a lot of painting on the roof. it was a good place for the kids to paint too because making a mess didn't matter.

when the humphreys did buy the gallery and she moved into the studio upstairs, she still had the kids over there to make messes. that one scene in the princess diaries where they throw darts at water balloons that are full of paint? the humphreys soooooooo did that.

nads has put this in a fic and got me thinking about it, but I love the idea of bby dan being his mom's assistant, and taking pride in that, he loved helping her out with stuff.

both alison and rufus were big on letting their kids find their art and feeding it. alison was the first to clock that dan loved storytelling, so when he gravitated to writing she wasn't surprised. In middle school when he told his highschool/college prep counselor he wanted to be a writer, and she told him he should get an education degree instead. dan vented to his mom about it and she got so pissed she started researching prep schools that would make him more competitive in getting into college. and that's how the transfer to st jude's began.

after she left dan was cold for a WHILE. I rewatched the ep where she comes back just the other day and it always kills me how he tears into her because jenny needs her and dad needs her, but he never says what he needs (the eldest daughter jumped out), he tries for a long time not to need her, and finds out he doesn't really. (but, as I've said, the realization that he doesn't need her is one of the things that fuels her leaving. her baby is grown and who is she if she isn't a mom? she runs away to try and find that out)

so the show says dan actually spent his spring break in s1 hanging out with his mom, and jenny is taken to aspen with one of minions so it really is JUST them. so...I have to imagine that there was some sort of detente happening there.

And, canon says she stays the summer looking after the kids while rufus is touring, and I imagine that's the first prolonged time that they have to spend together, and dan is reeling from his breakup and so much has happened since she left that he doesn't really know how to be around her, and nothing is completely fixed by the end of the summer, but it's not as broken as it felt before. (it'll be a while before they find their footing, but this time is what really saves their relationship when things get tough later).

and then he and jenny go to hudson for christmas after jenny has been THROUGH it so she needs Mom more than he does and so dan the eldest daughter sort of just...lets that happen (even though he's broken up with serena like. two more times since he last saw his mom)

and then rufus and lily become a couple and that's AWKWARD bc the kids both really like lily but they know alison doesn't and once again dan doesn't know how to just talk to his mom. he used to have the easiest relationship with her and now he doesn't know what he can or can't say.

dan graduates from high school, and alison's ex-husband is dating his ex rock and roll sweetheart and her ex nemesis, but it's her son's graduation so she still goes, but sits in the back and leaves shortly after the ceremony.

the humphreys kick it in the hamptons at cece's house, but they spend a few days with their mom in hudson, and that's when she properly celebrates dan's graduation. but her kids have an impending rich stepmom, and like how vanessa reacts to the cash and the designer wallet and the hamptons summer plans alison feels WEIRD about it, but unlike vanessa she is not compelled to speak up because what could she even say?

dan we know goes to his mom's for christmas that year, and he's mopey about vanessa and jenny's further from him than ever and his dad just peaced out to telluride with the band? without lily? there was a time when he could talk through ANYTHING with his mom but he has no idea how to get back to that, and alison is too careful around dan now, so she never pushes anymore, but he keeps waiting for her to push :/

and then...the second half of s3 happens, and dan probably says something off hand about visiting jen after she settles in, but the whole summer passes and ~radio silence~ alison worries, but jenny needs her more right now, and she's focused on her.

this is the thing I WONDER about. how does alison hear the milo story? how does jenny? who tells them? certainly not dan. I would bet rufus gives her a call after it's all over, it happens to rufus so fast he probably hadn't worked out what alison did or didn't know until after georgina takes milo away, and then Dan is going through something COMPLETELY different.

interestingly enough, s4 is the first time dan doesn't see his mom at christmas. he decides to stay in new york. alone. maybe he's giving jenny space again? I like to think that alison takes jenny on a trip to florida to visit dan & jen's grandmother, so dan declines because, florida. but maybe also to avoid an interrogation about his summer as a teenage dad? all of 4a is basically about dan denying his grief, and if he had to tell his mom about it, he wouldn't be able to deny it anymore.

in the gap between s4 & s5, dan goes back to hudson mainly to help jenny pack to move to london. and once again, he can hide behind his sister pulling the attention, and mask all he's going through.

he sends her a copy of Inside, and she understands his work well enough not to take the off-handed, one-dimensional portrayal of Amy Hunter personally.

and since we all know canon ends 5 minutes into season 5 episode 22...let's go from there.

Jenny meets Dair the Couple before alison, they stop in in london on their way back from rome. when dan tells alison about his gf, alison calls jenny for the real scoop. jenny doesn't lie, but she tells alison that she should make up her own mind.

but, alison and blair are into like, many similar things. alison loves hitchcock, and art history, and debating the merits of the academy awards, so she starts to like blair almost in spite herself.

and it's that, combined with dan feeling settled in his life for the first time since she left, that lets them really connect again. it's gradual, at first, and never the same as it was, but he's comfortable telling her things now, and she's comfortable asking.

(the only thing they don't talk about is Dan's brother Scott, because that would just be rude. not that alison's the type to hate a kid for existing - she likes serena and eric as people after all, but it's just toooo awkward for all parties involved)

i waffle back and forth on this idea: alison goes back to her maiden name, because she doesn't want to share the same last name as lily. OR, on the other hand, she stubbornly holds on to humphrey even after lily marries rufus, because that's her kids' name damnit, and if it makes lily mad, that's just a bonus.

I don't think alison ever remarries. i think getting married sooo young and losing herself in that keeps her from ever wanting to do it again. (like this alex dude, i think he proposes and she says no). she gives jenny a speech once while she's living in hudson about not getting married too soon and staying in charge of her destiny (which jenny was already gonna but), but she knows that in this respect dan is too like his father to listen. her boy was destined to be a WIFE yk?

thanksgivings belong to the van der humphreys, but alison gets some event around the winter & summer holidays, usually planned around whenever jenny and her partner are in town.

alison makes all sorts of things for dan's babies when they're born (pettily she thinks she can't top lily's resources), but she makes print illustrations to hand and knits blankets and does those sorts of things.

she doesn't go to every book launch, but she's always at her local indie shop on dan's release days to buy a copy, even though he always sends her one anyway.

alison and harold and roman are besties. eleanor is team lily always and forever. but harold and roman find daniel's mother adorable, and she's a treat to talk to about art, even if her taste is, unfortunately, a lot like her son's. too modernist.

[invinciblerodent]

"I'll make a save here and try breaking up with Astarion, just to see the dialogue- I could see him get kinda nasty about it, but I honestly don't know what to expect so---"

...............

.......

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[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.

[emmavakarian-theirin]

nvm i can't find it in a single post but THIS i was so proud of myself, i wish that nerf gun still existed i'd recreate this in a heartbeat

[erinwantstowrite]

personally i think the trope of "said something i wasn't supposed to while high on pain meds at the hospital" only works if it's smth actually incomprehensible. down with this trope. that and the whole "speaking out loud but the narrator doesn't know they are" trope. you should legally have to tag that i think. i know this usually happens for characters that would never admit something otherwise but actually there are a billion reasons someone would admit something they wouldn't otherwise. for example: someone else has a bomb-

[angelicdonuts]

Guys I'm so sorry (I'm not) I love fnf soooo much dude

Anyway!! There's one more after this! It's gonna be oc focused :3 !

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[fisheito]

i told myself that yakuei only had one position then i proved myself (sorta) wrong

my fave face here:

[itsnobodysproblem]

Most Sherlock Holmes adaptations I've seen tend to place their Final Problem towards the mid point of the series (or even a bit earlier) - it's also in my opinion the best way of going about it, so you have time enough for the characters to adjust after the reunion but they know each other well enough for the events of Fina to be devastating.

Sherlock & Co is done with 20 of the adventures. How many are there? Fifty-something? Almost sixty? Let's say we'll be entering mid-point territory after the 25th story.

So let's pretend for a moment that we have 5 more stories until The Final Problem. Ok.

Estimating an adventure at 3 episodes each, that would mean little over 3 months - maybe 3 and a half? Starting, of course, from the end of Sign of Four, which will be somewhere in December.

So let's say 3, maybe 4 months into 2025. That would be, what? Late march, early april?

Early april?

John having to tell the listeners that Sherlock is dead, in early april?

Quick calendar search reveals what I was praying it would - the 1st of april will be on a Tuesday next year.

So what I'm saying

What I'm saying is Sherlock &Co has the opportunity to do the funniest fucking thing

[egophiliac]

you know, for about five minutes there, Ace was having a pretty good day.

[yuseirra]

@insertname099

Hello~ you probably NEVER expected this out of me but I really wanted to respond to these tags!! I really love reading them~

I just went on and on with it...thinking about this subject was fun, in short though, you made me want to step out of my comfort zone. I'm so used to holding back and wrapping things up in a softer way (for more reasons than one) but one day maybe I can go "ape shit" with things (would ANYONE like seeing something like that though, with my artstyle??? can it actually look..;; that powerful? I wonder)

in regards to the original tag, I was thinking about what the character went through when he was really young. How he would have felt when he was ten or maybe younger than that even, when things first started happening... It's...probably something that will never be discussed in depth and I wonder if they should go there but... I thought about it a bit, jotted and sketched a little, but I came back out. Whatever I'd come up with wouldn't be canon anyway (all my works are but yeah) I felt like crying a little. It's horrible. Although what I feel would be nowhere near to what people would actually feel you know? It's rude to think I'd understand. I should really make a donation to a childcare foundation or something sometime~

Again, to you and for all... I'm grateful for you seeing my works :) I'm glad I can share them here, I do get shy and embarrassed but I don't feel so lonely when I have people who enjoy them. I actually never get used to posting even after all these years I've been drawing, at this rate, I feel like it'd be impossible for me to get full of myself...

[saphflare]

I know Mizisua is like the main doomed yuri thing here, but like can I talk about MIzihyuna because like I feel normal about them, so much.

Just Mizi, and her loving her saviors. That we have Sua who was in the dark and Mizi had showed kindness to, shining a light for them. But return they were someone human that understood them and stayed by her side enduring and reciprocating of her affection. That in the end saved Mizi by sacrificing her own life, whether fully planned or not so that she may advance the round and live on.

Then there is Hyuna who saved Mizi from the stage where she was supposed to die. That despite the tragedy and the loss of her world, she is given another one by the grace that is the rebellion and shown something that could be hope. That perhaps it isn't the same kind that she once had before, but it is another chance from Hyuna that guides her to loving life again.

And another point in that Mizihyuna is its own flavor of tragedy because oough I can't see this ending well.

That Mizi still grieves Sua and even if she was with Hyuna, she likely hasn't moved on from her old universe, after all how could she when it had defined her for so long. How could she ever do so without it hurting and perhaps making it feel like a betrayal to the person that died so she could life. Moving on from the one she devoted herself to for so long in loving. That despite everything that Hyuna has become to her and might ever be, it will never replace the empty half that was taken from her. And that even Hyuna might not be long either when there is a darkness in them, something seeking the destruction of not only a system greater than either than them but Hyuna's old shadow of her past. Because the narrative has its pattern and the world it is rooted in is one that is uncaring for any kind of love between those trying to survive and live again.

And I don't see it ending well. That in some way, when we finally see Hyuna and Lukas get their own little number together, it won't end well for whoever is going to be involved. And all I can think about is the fact that the hope in Mizi's life is going to be taken from her again and I fucking can't do this T-T

[flowercrowngods]

The grass is warm and soft beneath him as Steve gazes up at the stars shining down on him in those constellations he knows so well. It’s a crisp and clear night, a light breeze chasing away the last remnants of the midsummer heat, and Steve is smiling up at the moonless sky. Beside him, Eddie has his eyes closed and Steve is pretty sure he’s asleep, but Steve has never minded being alone with the stars.

They know him. They know all his secrets. 

They know how he longs to reach for Eddie’s hand where it’s lying between them, palm up and so very inviting. They know of his yearning heartbeat and how it is reduced to flutters when Eddie is around with that beaming smile of his. 

The stars know Steve Harrington better than he knows even himself, but they keep it a secret among the universe, shared only on moonless, cloudless nights. Like this one, with Eddie here beside him. 

“Did you know you always smile when you see the stars?” 

Eddie’s voice is too soft to really startle him, but Steve's heartbeat picks up anyway. He couldn’t fight the smile even if he tried. 

“Do I?” 

Eddie nods, the grass rustling beneath his head, and Steve looks over to see Eddie’s eyes still closed. It’s what makes him keep looking. The stars won’t tell.

“Yeah,” he breathes and Steve’s eyes fall down to his lips. “Makes me think like you’re in on some cosmic secret sometimes, Stevie. You one of them?” 

“One of what?” Steve whispers back, his hand inching closer to Eddie’s. Not to touch. Just to make sure that in another universe, another Steve will take that hand. 

Eddie smiles as if he knows, as if he feels that other universe inside his chest, but he doesn’t reach out. “The stars. A fallen one, maybe.”

Steve huffs out a breath and tears his eyes away from Eddie to look back up again. “I’m not a fallen star, Eddie.” 

“Hmm,” he hums, and Steve wants to wrap himself up in it. Curl on his side and rest his head on Eddie’s chest, ask him to hum for the rest of their lives, or so long as the stars will cover them. “Tell me about the stars, then? And why they make you smile.” 

Steve swallows and searches the sky for answers. He could. He shouldn’t, maybe. But he wants to. Right now, with Eddie’s eyes closed, their hands almost touching, their smiles refusing to leave, and the stars above them glowing and twinkling so kindly, Steve wants to tell him. 

This is it.

But if he closes his eyes, this can be just like any other night Steve has spent telling the stars about him. Only this time, Eddie is here to listen. 

“It’s because they know,” he whispers, heart beating in his throat now, choking off the words.

“They know?” Eddie prompts after a while, just as quiet, just as trembling. 

And now Steve reaches out with his pinkie and hooks it over Eddie’s pointer and middle fingers. “They know,” he repeats. “About you.” 

Slowly, achingly slowly, Steve caresses Eddie’s fingers with his own until their hands lie on top of each other, slotting together perfectly. He hears a hitched breath and wonders, fears, aches, for all but a moment. Until Eddie’s thumb comes up to draw tentative patterns on Steve’s palm. Until Eddie is moving closer to rest his head against Steve’s, never once letting go of his hand.

“What about me?” he whispers, and Steve finally opens his eyes, shifting until their foreheads are touching, and looking down at their joined hands. 

“Just that… I really, really like you.” 

Another hum, and this time Steve can feel it making its way through his body. It makes him shiver even on a warm night like this. Makes him yearn for more.

“And that’s making you smile?” 

He’s helpless. Now that he started talking, now that he took Eddie’s hand, now that they’re sharing the same breath, Steve is so, so helpless. But he’s not scared anymore.

“Yes.”

Eddie’s free hand comes up to rest on his cheek. Not to pull him in for a kiss like Steve thinks for a second, but just to hold him. Maybe in another universe they’re kissing. In this one, Eddie is cradling him like he’s something precious. It feels even more intimate.

“You’re doing nothing to convince me that you’re not a fallen fucking star, though, Stevie.” 

Steve laughs softly, sounding almost giddy to his own ears, and lifts his hand into Eddie’s hair. 

His tone shifts when he continues. “I’m not even entirely sure you’re real right now.” 

Along with Eddie's tone there was a shift in the very fabric of the universe that leaves Steve breathless. He swallows and angles his face closer to Eddie’s, feeling brave because Eddie is still here, still talking like that, and maybe, maybe… 

“I’m real, Eds,” he breathes. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” And it feels like he’s saying more than that. So much more. “Are you?” 

Eddie nods again, bringing his face even closer until their noses are touching and he breathes a tiny, “Very,” against Steve’s lips. 

And then, covered by the kindest glow of the stars above them, Steve claims Eddie’s lips in the softest, slowest, most genuine kiss. 

for @withacapitalp in the hopes that you'll have a kind and gentle day, or something to come to that could feel like a hug 🤍

[collieii]

i'm sure it's been said but i do love how trimax handles wolfwoods death. i've seen so many stories that have characters die and they just go away after. i'm really used to stories where the other characters aren't allowed to grieve, the story keeps going and it feels like the other characters aren't really affected or get over it really easily. but in trimax wolfwoods death is so important. we see other characters grieving him. vash protecting the orphanage, expanding his power when he really shouldn't, because it was wolfwood's home, even though wolfwood is already gone. he gets an actual burial. vash and livio eating their way through the grief, which is more comedic but still shows us how important he was to the two of them, sets up how in many ways they're fighting in his memory.

even after he's gone he's still present in the story in such a strong way. we can see how he's affected the other characters, even when they don't explicitly mention him it's obvious that they're thinking about him. what he did when he was alive, and his death itself, are so important to the story even after he's not there. not just in a really abstract "this is someone we lost" way (though there are a lot of times his death and sacrifice motivate vash and livio to fight harder!) he's present in the finale in a material way to livio, who uses his serums to help fight against elendira, which ofc also ties into the way wolfwoods choice to ally with vash and fight against knives gave livio strength to do the same. wolfwood showed him that there are things worth fighting for, things worth protecting. that your body is a weapon, but you can choose what to do with it, use it for something meaningful.

and the way vash kills legato in order to save livio? vash outright says that he did it to protect what wolfwood fought for, sacrificed his life for. it's tied to the ongoing arc between vash and wolfwood, their conflict over the necessity of killing others. wolfwood pushed vash into having an understanding of his views when he was alive, demonstrating the necessity of that violence. simultaneously, vash inspired wolfwood to follow his path, a kinder one. vash remembers what wolfwood said to him, and his death gives those words added poignancy. wolfwood well and truly sacrificed everything to protect what he loved and fight for what he believed in. how can vash let that go to waste? he sacrifices something just as meaningful to himself, and he pulls the trigger. it brings him closer to wolfwood in a way he never was before. he understands now, fundamentally, what motivates people, motivated wolfwood, to act as he did when he took lives. there are so many other ways wolfwood is present in the story after his death i can't talk about all of them but it makes me so crazy

[kittyprincessofcats]

When you're listening to the very first Bibi Blocksberg Hörspiel ever made ("Hexen gibt es doch" from 1980), and there's this exchange:

Narrator: "And only women can become witches. It's always been that way." Barbara Blocksberg: "And it's always going to stay that way, Boris." Boris Blocksberg: "But mom, if you magic me into a girl, then I could become a witch, right?" Barbara: "No Boris, then you'd only look like a girl. But your soul would be a boy, and you still couldn't do magic."

So here we have the very first Bibi Blocksberg episode ever, from 1980(!!!), explicitly making a difference between physical sex and "what gender your soul is", and clarifying that the latter is what matters for their "only women can do magic" rule.

WE STAN.