#dead beat spoilers

[owlbear33]

I've Started Dead Beat, I love Butters

and like, sure, I've said I generally like a good medical examinery type in my (usually Supernatural) Mystery Fiction. I think it's the general attempt to throw bioscience at the problem

But also

"I'm a five-foot-three, thirty-seven-year-old, single, Jewish medical examiner who needs to pick up his lederhosen from the dry cleaners so that he can play in a one-man polka band at Octoberfest tomorrow"... "Do Your Worst"

I love Butters

[greenreadsdresdenfiles]

Dead Beat

Except not actually Dead Beat because it's just a recap of what Green has read so far. Dead Beat pt 0?

Green: god at first I was joking but I just started reading more Dresden Files and Butters is like "Harry I didn't know you were living with a male lover" and Harry just says he's not gay a couple times and makes zero effort to explain that Thomas is his brother?

Orange: well it'd be hell to admit that when the white council freakin hates the vamp

Orange: hate the vamp, slay the vamp

Orange: do not befriend the vamp

Orange: do not hAVE KIDS WITH THE VAMP

Green: oh yeah I guess

Orange: but like

Orange: only half siblings sooooOOoo

Orange: it'd still be verboten due to one of them being a VAMP

Green: mhm

Green: in his defense, white is like the least-evil type of VAMP

Orange:i mean

Orange: you- you do know what goes down in traditional white vamp society right

Green: fucked up shit, yeah

Orange: they have white vamp privilege for sure, what with all the slaves and the eating

Green: but, red vamps are like, automatically evil, right?

Green: and same with black?

Orange: i mean there might be like, one good one

Green: and white ones are just tempted to do evil things

Orange: there are also daywalkers for red vamp society?

Green: daywalkers?

Orange: i think?

Orange: they might be called something else, but they have the same vibe

Green: do you mean the almost-vamps like susan?

Orange: they're like good red vamps who don't fully turn because they refuse to kill

Green: yeah!

Orange: wait

Orange: where are you at

Orange: you know about suzie

Green: the book after he finds out Thomas is his borther, I think

Green: or maybe 2 books after

Orange: but how do y

Orange: d

Orange: did the reveal of her being a failed red vamp come much earlier than i thought....

Orange: hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Green: wayyy earlier, I think

Orange: hmMMmMMmmMMMm

Orange: man i can't say anything can i

Orange: shoot

Orange: gosh darn it

Orange: AND THERE'S SOME OF THE BEST STUFF

Orange: HUAERGH

Orange: like there's this whole thing

Orange: earlier

Green: so, here's what I know about susan

Orange: that was post-harry-and-susan i think

Orange: oh let me know what you know yes

Green: she used to be an investigative reporty for whom harry was really horny, and also perpetually aggravated by

Orange: absolutely

Green: bc she kept showing up to do interview or w/e

Green: and they had a couple dates, I think? Which harry sometimes skipped

Green: due to wizard shit

Orange: gotta love wizard shit

Orange: some magical stuff that

Green: anyways, Susan invited herself along as harry's +1 to a big vamparty

Green: during which a lot of shit went down

Orange: wait he INVITED SUSAN TO THAT

Green: harry got a grave, some wizards who I've just found out are on the white council gave the vamps a sword

Orange: oh she invited herself

Green: or, wait

Green: he invited his paladin friend, and susan SNUCK IN

Orange: MICHAEL

Orange: IS MY FAVORITE BOY

Green: michael is such a good boy

Green: I love his whole "constantly in the right place at the right time" bit

Orange: if only he was gay with harry, like, this harry guy needs to get laid somehow right

Green: lol right

Orange: but michael is way too good for him so idk

Green: which brings us back to the party

Orange: and so the Celibacy Saga continues

Green: the vamps tried to destroy the magic sword, making harry and michael try and stop them, and one thing led to another, and he started a war and killed a bunch of civilians (but only probably) and susan got envampired

Orange: ehehehahaha

Green: a book or two later, susan turns up and she's like "I'm only a half-vampire because I haven't killed anyone; I've been doing investigative reporting on some vamps in south america trying to stop them" and he's like "cool, let's bone" and they have really kinky vampire sex and solve some mysteries together, and then she's like "I can't be around you because I get really horny" or something like that so she leaves forever

Orange: ohhhh

Green: it might've been a slavic country and not south american?

Green: or maybe central american?

Green: who knows

Green: not me

Orange: and that ends the first celibacy saga, but one probably should consider the rule of threes...

Orange: maybe there will be three celibacy sagas

Green: in the book I'm reading now he has a date

Orange: i hope so, harry needs to be perpetually scuffed and frustrated

Orange: gosh darnit

Orange: haarrryyy, stop being around girls for like 10 books for me

Green: but yeah I'm betting his date is a necromancer, or possibly someone who will die before they can bang

Orange: ohohohoho

Orange: who is this man's date

...To be continued!

[trashbell]

everyone's reactions to mimzy LMAOO

[densewentz]

same

[aseuki]

Sleep power coming in clutch

[sea-buns]

[Aabria retching]

[raayllum]

No. I won't do it.

[mettywiththenotes]

Hear me out. These two becoming friends

The boy on the left who was abused and wandered aimlessly afterwards just like Tomura did and Dai is "weak" and loves heroes just like Izuku. Except the boy on the left is like the version of Tomura who got saved on the street and is now training to be a hero, and Dai is like Izuku if he had a quirk back then and was told straight away that he could be a hero

The babies

[arthursfuckinghat]

"I got it.. beatin' a man.. to death.. for a few bucks"

[faceofpoe]

Let's talk about that scene in the brig after they go back for Omega in the pilot. Crosshair's been getting more and more worked up - he's just finished blaming Hunter for ignoring orders and getting them locked up when Omega comes to sit with him.

To this point he's criticized Hunter's leadership but hasn't yet broken with the squad. He's not happy but there's still a general "in it together" vibe he's grudgingly following along for.

And then his "you can't help it" conversation with Omega is cut off by the guards ordering him out of the cell. He doesn't move - Hunter puts himself in the middle and, "We stay together." Once they show they're willing to use force, he gets up and cooperates.

Is he demonstrating that he's still a good soldier, unlike the rest of them?

Or is he falling on something of a proverbial sword (what ends up being his own sort of protracted torture version of Plan 99?) to stop this moment from escalating, and counting on the whole 'they'll come back for me' thing when he gets up and walks out?

Faced with only the few blasters left in the room vs when they're first intercepted in the hangar, would they have normally taken their chances fighting their way out this time once the barrier is dropped?

Except now Hunter has thrown this curveball priority in with this damned kid?

If Bracca "aim at the kid" ruthless weaponizing of what he's seen is Hunter's first priority/ 'fire the engine they're hiding in' Crosshair is peak 'hyperactive inhibitor chip' Crosshair, then this post-chip (??) Crosshair is a reversion to his baseline attitude of Omega - which is simply that she has no business being in this fight/in this squad at all.

Part of what makes the whole "you weren't loyal to me" thing so delightful is how sticky it is. You've got a skilled sniper willing to kill gunning for you, what are you going to do?

But what would they have risked for him upon grasping the full implications of the inhibitor chip, upon seeing what it does to Wrecker, if Omega weren't adding this whole new dimension and dynamic to their decisions?

Anyway, my musing is that this scene in the brig is when Crosshair actually went along with Hunter in prioritizing Omega over leaping into action that would put her at risk, and this is at the root of all of his episode 1.15 bitterness/1.16 sticking with the Empire/having stuck with the Empire after having the chip removed(after Bracca??) more so than just a vague 'you should have found a way to save me from the chip/from myself/reunite us once more.'

Making the progression in season 3 from "there is no we" to "did they teach you Plan 72?" the key to unlocking Crosshair's side of reconciliation. When Crosshair opted to stay behind on Kamino, he was still in full "just because you're a clone doesn't make you one of them," mode with Omega in their second side-by-side scene that mirrors the brig.

They chose her, who isn't even one of them, over him, after he fleetingly chose her too for Hunter's sake.

When they cross paths for the first time on Tantiss, "there is no we/I'm not them" - he's still viewing her as this foolish sidekick his one-time brothers saddled themselves with. But he's also trying to optimize what he views as her chances for success, at the cost of his own hope for freedom. Her safety matters to him, Plan 88 - for her own sake, or perhaps more likely, for Hunter & co's sake (hearkening back to their first stuck-in-prison/averting the fight theory).

But then we get their third side-by-side scene once her plan has dead-ended.

Acknowledging "we," neither of them could have done this alone; acknowledging her finally as one of them; perhaps even acknowledging that he still could be, too (see: their flawless execution of Plan 72; the continued cooperation in the next ep; continuing to prioritize getting her to safety over what he views as their best shot after she tosses the credits at him).

(We don't leave our own behind, even when your squad is now a dog you didn't want and a girl you've been noisy-sighing at for the past several hours).

Anyway all of that to say BOY am I looking forward to episode 5 and the messy messy situation they're all in now and the messy messy conversations they need to have.

[scootkiddo]

corporate wants you to find the difference between this picture and this picture

[greenreadsdresdenfiles]

Interlude

Right now she's barely started Proven Guilty

Green: Dead Beat was about fairies and black magic

Green: the next one, Proven Guilty? fairies and black magic

Green: I mean I guess in the Dresdenverse, there's 3 types of shit - fairies, black magic, and vampires

Green: oh I guess there's demons

Green: and Outsiders, which are like demons but organized and more evil, apparently

Green: but harry will probably never encounter any of those

Green: oh wait I maybe remember Harry saying, many books ago, that red vampires are actually a type of fairy?

Green: or, at least, that they're from the Nevernever originally

Green: which, I'm still unclear on whether that means fairy or not

Green: so I guess maybe those three types of things are represented in the three types of vampires - white/demon, red/fairy (maybe?), black/black magic (probably)

Green: or maybe it was just that they had an affinity for the Nevernever

Orange: hmmm

Orange: i'd be sad if cowl was gatekeeper, but cowl is such a great curveball to throw

Orange: so not all of the residents of the nevernever are fae, I think?

Orange: I think they're like, hm

Orange: hmmmm

Orange: because most red vamps are, for lack of a better term, turned humans

Orange: so if they originated from the fae, then the primogenitor vamp may be fae but the rest certainly can't be

Orange: unless there are tribes of humans just freakin' surviving it out hardcore in the nevernever

Orange: i don't know for now

Orange: you might learn about them more in later books, in which case i do expect you to fill me in on the detail

Orange: 😉 no pressure

Orange: i don't think the main bad boss vamp is like, straight up dracula

Orange: i think vlad tepes is like a black courter

Green: lol yeah l can fill you in

Green: and god harry is so stupid

Green: he's like "l don't want to see michael ever again because he might kill me for having a demon in my brain

Orange: HARRY YOU IDIOT

Orange: YOU IDIOT

Orange: MICHAEL IS THE GOOD TYPE OF PALADIN

Green: like, no, actually, Michael did offer to spare all the Denarius men!

Orange: not only did he offer to spare

Orange: he legit refuses to attack an unarmed denarian doesn't he

Green: yeah

Green: something like that

Green: like

Orange: like if a denarian freaking walks up to him arms outstretched, no murderous intent

Orange: michael wouldn't embrace but certainly wouldn't attack

Orange: he is the goodest of freaking boys goffiogreofgjergre

Green: not only would he be not kill harry, he would probably help out???

Green: he would probably be like "yeah let's get this thing out of your brain, harry"

Orange: i stg if butcher hurts michael there will be a reckoning

Orange: you'll tell me if he hurts michael

Orange: i do not spoil

Green: yeah

Orange: but he will have hell to pay

Orange: we will cry out into the night as wolves

Orange: and go on the Hunt

Green: hahahaha

Orange: watch your ass, butcher

Green: oh I guess werewolves was a thing in one book

Orange: yes they are 🙂

Green: so I guess there is more than those 3 types of thing

Orange: they will not go away

Orange: you will see them again

Green: I mean, the kids have been a constant presence

Orange: they're just like, their thing is they're all freaking hot dreamboat types

Green: l was thinking of the big ones and the cop ones

Orange: everyone is hot

Orange: butcher likes describing hot people

Orange: and he doesn't skimp on the dudes too

Green: l noticed

Orange: which i appreciate

Orange: well he skimps a little

Green: yeah, last book had like 2 paragraphs describing thomas

Orange: but the fact that he tries is the good thing

Orange: YEAH

Green: it wasn't even his introduction in the series!

Orange: thomas is "one of the good ones"

Orange: oh of course

Orange: jim has to describe thomas every book

Green: l mean, l usually skip descriptions tbh U_U

Orange: and also have characters noticing how harry is shacking up with the hottest dude ever

Orange: well if you know what they look like

Orange: i mean it's understandable

Green: not really, tbh?

Orange: also you can probably just imagine it yourself your own way

Green: l don't really care what they look like

Orange: that's fair

Orange: i mean i feel like he toes the line between too much detail and too little, and i have room to express my preference

Green: l remember that when Harry met Thomas and his beau, he was like "damn fuck they're both so hot???"

Green: and that's really all l need to know

Orange: ahahaha

Orange: yes

Orange: that is all

Green: like l don't think the color of Thomas' eyes is ever going to be relevant

Orange: oh uhh

Orange: so white court vamp eyes change color depending on how hungry they are i think

Green: hahaha really?

Orange: so that sorta thing is a little relevant i think

Orange: i'm not sure

Orange: don't quote me

Green: haha ok fair

Green: so they're basically exactly twilight vampires

Orange: but i think they also do a thing when they use their stored sexual energy to go on the offensive

Green: oh yeah l remember that

Orange: like if a white court just goes ballistic then they'll have an eye thing

Orange: they're proto twilight vampires

Orange: twilight before twilight

Orange: if you do a primogenitor curse on the white court vamps, somewhere down the line you'll eliminate the Cullens

Orange: this is my take

Green: hahaha

Orange: i really hope

Orange: as you read these books

Orange: there's at least a twilight reference somewhere

Orange: i'll be disappointed

Orange: if there isn't

Green: oh yeah

Orange: and i'll add that to whatever grudges i'll hold against butcher for his crimes against the good boys

Orange: whatever those crimes may be

Green: l don't think l was looking out for any, so there might've been one many books ago?

Orange: i like to see harry suffer though, harry must suffer

Green: yeah

Green: me too

Orange: i don't think twilight was out at the time of book 7? am I way off on the timeline

Green: that's exactly right, actually

Green: or maybe 8

Green: ah, twilight was published in october, but dead beat was published in may

Green: so proven guilty was the first dresden files book published in the post-twilight era

Orange: i look forward to it

Orange: i actually don't know if twilight was ever written in the dresden files universe

Orange: or if it hit too close to home and the white court did some shenanigans to stephanie meyer to keep the book from publishing

Green: lol l bet it was

Orange: sure hope so

Orange: sureee hope so

Green: Bob is 1000000% more relatable since l was last reading these books, since l, too, now have an insatiable hunger for romance novels

Orange: oh absolutely

Orange: gosh

Orange: i can't wait for the next book

Orange: the developments that have occurred in the recent series of books is like, insane

Green: me before: heh a skull that's really horny all the time. That's funny, l guess

Green: me now: l wish my job would pay me in romance novels T_T

Orange: i mean he's horny, but i feel like his choice of romance novels is telling

Green: oh?

Orange: yeah

Orange: it's a very, hm, non-masculine thing

Green: ohh l see what you mean

Orange: so it makes his horniness less.. whatever it is i feel is offputting about the more traditionally masculine forms of sexual expression

Green: l thought you meant the specific novels he reads and l'm like "is it ever mentioned, other than that they're the horny kind?"

Orange: where it isn't even expression it's just like, focused on visual stuff instead of exercising the imagination?

Green:

"Yes," I said. "They're rated 'Burning Hot' by some kind of romance society." "Lots of sex and kink!" Bob caroled. "Gimme!"

Orange: I feel like even crappy dime romance novels have more in them than just porn, though i may be corrected

Orange: like i almost read bob's fascination with romance novels as being a weirdly asexual curiosity

Orange: which, to me, makes way more sense but only because that's my thing

Green: l think you're probably pretty right about that

Green: l mean, he has been known to be really into porn, and also to be into terrorizing women's bathrooms

Orange: shOOT

Green: l mean l don't think Dresden ever gave him porn, but he heard the name of one of the guys Dresden was investigating and was like "oh he's a porn director"

Orange: well like, his particular type of spirit is known for the desire to learn everything he can, and i imagine one of the last things you'd want to learn after learning all the useful stuff is sexuality

Green: yeah totally

Orange: and sexuality is very interesting to me, and i have that insatiable curiosity thing where i'll just insist people teach me things if it's a practical skill i think i could acquire in a sitting

Orange: not sexually

Orange: gosh darnit

Orange: gosh darnit why didn't i type that sentence differently

Orange: that looks awful

Green: lol

Green: so, yeah l think l might buy that

Green: yeah l would definitely buy that Bob got fixated on human sexuality

Green: but l looked it up and l was wrong about the women's bathrooms thing

Orange: oh??

Green: as far as l am, he's gone to a "wild party", and visited strip clubs instead of looking for info

Orange: ahhh

Orange: yeee

Orange: bob is definitely more willing to go the extra mile

Orange: i can't do any of the pro-social experiences of sexuality, i'd rather just observe through a screen and make gay jokes

Green: mmm

Orange: i'm not even attracted to men! sad!

Green: also he's constantly talking about Harry's sex life

Orange: well like yeah

Orange: dude is like perpetually sexually frustrated

Orange: i wonder if that's the secret to his power

Green: btw l really like the scene in Summer Knight when a hot fairy gal is hitting on him and he just freaking dumps a glass of ice water on his unmentionables

Orange: wait

Green: like "sorry, not in the mood anymore"

Orange: is that the one where

Orange: she's like

Orange: "gimme ur firstborn"

Green: yeah lol

Orange: HA

Orange: I think of that scene a lot

Orange: friggin maeve

Orange: the one name i remember

Green: ',:) l bet you do

Orange: and it's maeve

Orange: oh you'll hear my thoughts on that scene

Orange: maybe after you finish the round of books

Green: up to changes you mean?

Green: or up to where you are?

Orange: yeah i feel like i'll have to talk about it after you finish changes

Orange: or at least when you're partway through

Green: mhm

Orange: actually

Orange: maybe even later

Green: that was such a fucking chad move

Orange: but maeve is interesting and things get more interesting later

Orange: and harry is, at the least, a freaking boss babe

Orange: harry sometimes is a girlboss

Orange: i think at one point he freaking

Orange: lips off to queen mab right at her introduction

Orange: what a chad

Orange: what a dumb idiot himbo chad

Green: he's like "yeah true that your whole 'seduction' thing is definitely working, but you failed to consider that ice water on my cock is a real turn-off!!!"

Green: it's like a scene straight out of jojo's bizarre adventure

Green: btw

Green: he told billy you shouldn't eat or drink anything there

Orange: this is true

Green: and so, just following that rule, it makes sense that dumping a glass of water on your crotch is fine

Orange: yeah

Orange: totally fine

Orange: fae food can be problematic for people iirc

Orange: just a bad idea to accept gifts from faries

Green: but, like, as l find out more about how fairy bs works, it seems like the principle behind not eating or drinking anything there is that you don't want to take anything as a gift

Green: yeah!

Green: which, it seems like using the water as an arousal dampener is also kind of accepting the water as a gift?

Green: so, idk, that seemed weird

Orange: well you accept it but you twist it to your ends

Orange: that's what the fae do, so you played their own trick on them

Green: l feel like that would still put him in their debt, though

Orange: the fae give gifts to try to twist you to their ends, usually they take transactions or they pretend it isn't a transaction when it is

Orange: jeez i can't wait for you to read the next few books

[trashbell]

when lucifer started playing the violin i thought for SURE alastor would do the same thing and we'd get a Camp Camp style duet

[cauldronlakefiles]

Honestly, I know everyone is obsessing over Alex and Saga and Alex and Alan and that's totally valid but. Saga and Alan have such an underappreciated dynamic. She's a hypercompetent FBI agent and he's a deeply pathetic man and they've become inextricably intertwined like two seriously uncomfortable shoelaces. She just barely tolerates him half the time and the other half he's like the cat she lured out of the storm drain and had to pay $1,000 for his various medical issues. And she swears she's going to adopt this damn cat out but every time you go over to her house the cat is still there and there's 50 pill bottles on the counter to treat every parasite he's infected with. I wanna see this explored. Where are the fanworks. Where are the posts.

[devotion-that-corrupts]

Some rambles on the ending and the codependent nature of Constantin and De Sardet's relationships. Spoilers for the whole game under the cut.

When I played Greedfall for the first time, I couldn’t stop thinking about Constantin’s corruption arc. It didn’t really make sense to me. Why would he want absolute power over the island? He has plenty of power and probably lives quite a luxurious life already. He also says he finds politics boring if De Sardet asks him, so the desire to rule over the whole island full of people seemed to me very out of character.

I do understand that he went mad and everything, but my brain deemed it a boring explanation and kept searching for something more logical.

So here: I think his actions make more sense if they're driven not by greed but by jealousy, less hunger for power and more hunger for absolute love (either platonic or romantic).

Let me explain.

His family is all kinds of messed up. He thinks his father doesn’t care about him, and although we don’t know if he’s actually abusive, I can’t think of any good reason why Constantin would lie about this. His mother, if DLC is to be believed, is responsible for the death of his brother Laurent — Constantin being an heir is clearly more important to her than his wellbeing & mental health after the literal murder of his brother. We don’t know much about Laurent and Constantin’s relationship (although he doesn’t ever mention him & he says nobody cared for him but De Sardet, so maybe it wasn’t good? Maybe Laurent was better suited for politics? That would explain Prince d’Orsay’s disappointment. That’s just my theory though).

Anyway, what I’m saying is that a child needs unconditional love, and judging by this family and Constantin’s line “You've always been the only one to care for me. Our friendship is the only thing that matters to me”, he has only ever received love from De Sardet, which sounds like quite a fertile ground for unhealthy overly attached relationship.

Then the game starts, and the thing is… Well, they are not each other’s everything anymore. De Sardet goes to various cities & talks to every person imaginable & makes new friends, maybe even falls in love. Constantin meanwhile is chained to a palace, especially after his sickness is revealed. De Sardet's world grows beyond him, and he can’t follow them there.

So what do you do when the only person who matters to you grows apart from you? What do you do when you are driven mad with pain and may die alone, and they have to leave you?

Naturally, you find a way to bind them to you for all eternity, and in doing so alienate them from everyone but you. Constantin's smart enough to realize that if De Sardet's friends and allies fought against him, they would turn away if De Sardet joined him. But even if they wouldn't, they're mortal. Their death is inevitable. The only one who can keep De Sardet company for eternity is Constantin. Everyone but him will eventually leave.

That’s why “For you, for us”, that’s why “together, forever”. Not power over the island or some people, but power to keep the only person who loves him unconditionally close to him.

(Again, I acknowledge that this is extremely, extremely unhealthy. That’s exactly what makes their relationship so interesting.)

Anyway, as I said, it feels very in character for him to basically give up on humanity in favor of De Sardet. I can't look at him in the beginning or in the middle and say, “This character would do anything for power”. But I can look at him at any point of the game, any cutscene, and say, “This character would do anything for his loved one”.

[wizardpink]

The only reason we didn't see what happened after Louis left is because they couldn't secure the rights to show us Armand face down in a puddle of blood tears while Fleetwood Mac's Silver Springs blasts through the penthouse.