#discovered a better angle! yay

[dallonwrites]

wrote 437 words and whilst i'm glad i have an outline for this chapter i forgot briefly about the beauty of discovery writer swag because none of what i wrote was planned and all stemmed from one description line like i got carried away but i had fun. i was free

[yogurtlid10000]

Recently I read Transformers: Skybound FINALLy!!! it was fantastic, cant wait for the next issue

Highly recommend reading it tho, its a greattt comic and has super awesome art

Spoilers incoming ofc

Everyone's already talked about this but wow Optimus is portrayed so well!!! I love the dialogue when he describes Cybertron. Also love the pink backgrounds i some panels!! Anyway the interaction with him and Spike feels good and authentic. nice

The fight scenes. SO good to me, I think the art is super dynamic and the way the sound effects are written give great impact. The artist knew what they were doing for sure. I love how they use the comic media to its fullest. With those different shaped slanted box panels, and the smear lines when somethings moving fast idk

I also looove the shading in these comics!! and the linework like on their faces really helps the atmosphere. once again i love the sound effects (especially that big TONG) when starscream gets hit lol it just looks like all the fonts were designed or drawn by the artists yk?? and the variety of camera angles throughout is cool too.

Also love the relationship between optimus and the humans. It feels... better than how other transformers media has handled it (imo). I think its sweet

again great comic art the lighting.. the EVERYTHING idk i just admire this artist a lot (i think his name is daniel warren johnson, although it switches to Jorge Corona later) one thing i love in particular is how the lines are like... a little messy and sometimes a little all over the place-to depict their wear and grime. cool!

Next. Cant talk about skybound without talkingabout THE DECEPTICONS. oh my god. starscream is a spawn of hell. what a bitch. like actually he might be at his worst here hes so diabolical. Anyway even though hes very evil hes still enjoyable to watch because its just idk pure villain. Soundwaves care for his cassettes is sweet as usual. PUNTING Ravage is crazy. cannibalizing Skywarp is crazy. FGELP IDEK WHAT TO SAY except i like the art a lot here as usual its great very comic-y again. SOundwave stays a favorite character.

THIS is an iconic and great moment of skybound, i love it, i lvoe that optimus is willing to use this cannon to further the battle yk also looks badass

Gotta say these are two of my favorite pages throughout the whole series. Love the color and camera angles.

I know starscreams the big bad villain or whatever (for now) but he still makes me laugh

These panels... THE YELLOW BACKGROUND. THE LOUD SOUND EFFECTS. THE POSE. THE "YOU KNOW THE SONG" perfect. 10/10 for me. the artist has got the touch. (theyre referencing The Touch right?)

These three phenomenal moments with devastator. the art.... its just too cool. very dynamic. i like starscream getting squished. Once again the fight scene art DELIVERS.

This too. I love how soundwaves punches feel really weighted. also YAY starscreams getting the beating he deserved

....remember that PUNT to ravage earlier? welp. bye starscream. Things only get worse for the autobots here tho.... because with soundwave as leader the decepticons can actually function and be more deadly....

...when i saw this i knew we were fucked. we are fucked. wave and wave partnership? optimus is screwed. AND MEGATRON HASNT EVEN BEEN ADDED TO THE MIX YET. oh god.

The newest chapter has some gorgeous panels. plus beachcomber!

Local deadly robot scientist discovers whales and the beauty of earth. Big fan of transformers discovering earth stuff.

GUYS. ultra magnus!! hes one of my favorite transformers im so glad hes in this series.....i wish he was in better shape because-WE ARE SUPER FUCKED RATCHETS DEAD. no medic-HOW IS ANYONE GONNA GET REPAIRED.

ok fr what are we gonna do

poor wheeljack.

anyway the issue ends with shockwaves insane evil plan to bring cybertron to earth working so idk whats gonna happen next but im excited to see more.

also jazz this whole comic has been really cool, hes always helpful btu then he like gets beat up or captured but HES ALWAYS POSITIVE and he only speaks in music puns too. ONLY.

ultra magnus save us... idk bro we need a miracle... maybe jetfire will be useful again soon, maybe beachcomber will come in clutch. maybe new autobots will join. if yes, i hope we see springer again hes cool

anyway yes ik i barely talked about any faults of the comic, im trying to be super open and see it with like no bias or comparing it to other comics and stuff. personally i like it a lot. the humans arent even dislikable imo. the characters are nice. one thing is that MAN a lot of characters are dying. kinda sad. no ratchet is crazy. also when will megatron awaken? and how?

[desultory-novice]

Artist ask game time :)) How about questions 20 and 23?

More! Yay! Thank you!!

20 / A Piece I'm Proud Of

I remember a while ago bemoaning that nothing I could draw would ever get more popular than my Forgotten Land "moon's haunted" meme or my Kumzaki Trio stained glass piece, even though both of those make me cringe horribly now. (I like the concept behind the stained glass piece but BOY did I not know what I was doing.)

Then, one day, I sketched out this little concept piece of Adeleine telling Dedede about her "missing older brother" based on a silly idea I had about Dark Matter...

"Apologies" (originally titled "...For Your Loss...") is now my most popular post (?) according to some random Tumblr statistic thing I happened to discover! I STILL remember working on it - that every panel I sketched, every line I inked, I was certain I was going to ruin it. "I can't draw hands!" "How do I convey Dedede's thoughts here?! "

But the further along I got, the more I got to thinking "Uh, um... holy cats, I think this looks... good??" It's to the point that I over-stress myself about drawing the rest of the AU because I want it to live up to the impact of that first comic!

...I received a comment on Reddit of all places along the lines of "Hire this person to draw/write an official Kirby comic now!" or something. Obviously, that's never going to happen (despite it being my dream...! ) but it was one of the nicest compliments I'd ever gotten.

And I actually felt like maybe I deserved it! >w<

-

23 / Something I Hope People Notice

Oh gosh, I have so many things I hope people DON'T notice (like how I struggle to draw characters consistently, even in the same piece!)

I suppose... I like to always try something new, if I can. Whether it's a new camera angle, more background elements, more visible actions, better shapes, firmer character details... testing out lighting or cloth or the position of objects in space. I'd be honored as an artist-in-training if people can see my pushing for growth with everything I do!

Another thing though is that I actually work really hard on coming up with effective titles and those little bits of accompanying character dialogue you'll sometimes see at the bottom? To the point that I consider those "the other half" of my art.

So when people read and like those bits, I'm really happy!

[annaisu]

Err, sorry about the formatting of my first reply. >_< I was in the middle of something when I first saw your post, and had to jot down all my thoughts as fast as possible... and then tumblr was weird about the reblog visibility, as far as I can tell? >_< So, I'm sorry about that, and thank you for the reply!

(...and then upon looking back at this completed reply, I'm sorry about this one as well. I'm really not very good at it - the replying, that is, as well as just communicating in general-)

I'd like to respond to your further thoughts! Admittedly, this includes offering you a lot of... well, silly thoughts and headcanons that I am playing with, that I hope might spark within you new ideas or points of insights! Just, new perspectives that aren't necessarily correct - nor assuming that they are correct - but new angles to (re)examine, all the same!

I thought so! I wasn't completely sure that YQY facing down TLJ while still being a head disciple was canon, So I'm glad to hear I wasn't wrong there!

And yay for more support for not-old!Peak Lords! And for this IAC being one of the first their generation is facing! I always found that interesting - how, one of the first thing Yue Qingyuan says, is that Shen Jiu!Qingqiu needn't worry about presenting himself well for the Immortal Alliance Conference - especially since I'd also noticed the every-four-year event taking place three-years post-transmigration, meaning the last one should have already passed a year ago, and the next one shouldn't be for another three! Why would that be the first thing on Shen Jiu's mind/what Yue Qingyuan assumed to be foremost on Shen Jiu's mind as a source of stress?

I've got a few ideas in mind for that, though no proof for any of them, so: A)They're thinking of terrible the IAC were they met each other went, with SJ killing the other disciples and then his master, and then discovering that Yue Qi had presumably forgotten him or set him aside, which... yeah, would leave some pretty negative connotations attached to the event. B)The last conference went badly - either as a whole, or for 9!SQQ in particular. SJ is constantly in fear about his position and place in society, or similar, so any form of weakness might echo loudly even between occurrences...

or, my pet idea, C) Cang Qiong Mountain, still newly ascended to their position, did not all attend the previous IAC, either as a whole or in parts. They were still settling in, and taking in all-new inner disciples; they'll be prepared to give a much better showing after a few more years, and want to come out showing themselves as strong.

asdfhkasl a silly idea just occurred to me: D) According to the rules of the tournament, contestants found fighting can be banned for 12 years. What if SJ was banned from the conference after his misconduct at the earlier IAC, and the ban only just ran out? XD

(Or the boring option E) That they just recently went over a bunch of paperwork connected to the IAC - either individually or at a Peak Lord's Meeting - and thus it was fresh on their minds.)

...like I said - I have no proof for any of these, that's just some of the possible reasons I could come up with that SJ would be worrying himself so terribly with 3 years to go before the IAC.

(Skippable rant incoming)

BUT RELATEDLY. THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY. THE THREE-YEAR SECLUSION IN THE DONGHUA IS A BESERK BUTTON FOR ME. (skip to [rant over] if you want to skip the SY levels of indignant ranting on a nitpicky subject-)

WE ACTUALLY. FOR ONCE. HAVE PRECISE DATES AND YEARS AND TIMES AND EVENTS!!! It's not like MDZS, where you're constantly wondering how long the Sunshot Campaign lasted! Or wondering for how long they were at the Burial Mounds! THERE'S NO HANDWAVEY-TIMELINES - WE HAVE DATES CLEARLY AND REPEATEDLY CALLED OUT!!!

Binghe is 14, and has already suffered under SJ for some time!!! Upon returning from the Skinner mission, SQQ spends 3. MONTHS. In seclusion, which immediately dovetails into the Sha Hualing's Invasion - in which LMY has no sword and is defeated, and Binghe barely manages to outlast and defeat his demon! 2 YEARS LATER, giving them plenty of time to train (and for Bingqiu to bond <3), these two will then go from faring poorly to RANKING THIRD AND FIRST IN THE ENTIRE IAC.

THE! IAC! TAKES PLACE! WHEN LUO BINGHE! IS! 17!!!

If SQQ spends 3 YEARS in secluded meditation, then Binghe and LMY have to go from "ehhhhhh" to fantastic practically overnight!!! WTF?????

Unless! You want!!! To destroy the timeline further!! And explicitly go against every single age and time frame mentioned after!!!

AFDHAKJLDHAKJSD

WHY WOULD YOU INTENTIONALLY THROW CANON OUT THE WINDOW WHEN IT'S BEEN TIED UP WITH A NEAT LITTLE BOW FOR YOU????????????????

Watching SQQ in the first episodes was painful enough - they make him look like an idiot clown with the whole drinking the medicine, as well as ruining one of the first touching scenes and the go----amn turning point in Luo Binghe's life -

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

...Alright. I'll stop now. It just... hurts, to think about, and I feel better after imagining I'm like SY raging at some of PIDW's plot holes and inconsistencies.

[...okay. rant over.]

asdfh- I almost went and quoted the "spent twenty days binging from start to finish" line before I remembered you had just debunked that when picking through the literal Chinese translation. So, I guess I have nothing on that point -

-just to say that we probably can't really trust what SQQ claims as his memory. Sure, I totally believe that you forgot all about the IAC. It's probably also a complete coincidence that Luo Binghe was out on an assignment that took him away for weeks, and even trying to return as quickly as possible, he only managed to make it back three days before the IAC. Definitely not a completely plausibly deniable way to get Luo Binghe out of the IAC, nope. (another wild pet theory to play with)

..

Oh! I completely forgot about the existence of extras as a standard occurrence, until your other post mentioned it!!! YEAH, that would totally make sense!!!

(and yeah, a 4 year total-3 year productive streak makes sense with a slower start, absolutely!! I feel like after he lost his outline, upon being expected to still update consistently, he just threw as many words out as he could in frustration (and grief - ouch >_<) .)

🥺 But what about the Airplane and Shen Yuan left behind? I feel like Shen Yuan's life will be emptier without ever having a Luo Binghe, or even an Airplane... ouch! Airplane, though... just continues on his sad, probably unfulfilling life alone :(

...

I think that was it, plus a bunch of uninvited extra? ^^; Thank you again for your reply!

...actually you know what*, I'll check the canon myself tomorrow, but: do we actually know for sure that SY died immediately after finishing PIDW? because i remember he died cursing it with his last words, but not whether it was indicated that he died the same day as he finished reading.

Couldn't it happen at a later date? Because, like, just basing it on myself, there are some things that I finished 2 years ago and hated so much that I still have a rant pretty much lock'd and loaded, and I will start recounting it at the slightest provocation.** Couldn't it be the same case?

*inspired by a couple posts i saw before, about the discrepancy between SY following the novel for years (i didnt see this on my reread yet so idk source) and finishing it in 20 days (chap.1)

**yes, yes, the probability of transmigrating into woh/shl if i meet an unfortunate accident is something I have a healthy fear of

[heretherebedork]

It's really amazing how Yai went from snarky and in charge to apologizing to staring up at Mangkorn like he was his entire world as he lowered himself to his knees in front of him and closed his eyes at his orders without hesitation. And then when he see him with Da and that reaction is not there even though she expects it, he's not submitting to her. Instead he's question if men can love men and if he can love a man and she's bemused and amused and tender but in a detached way and it was so good to see Yai discovering himself and a new angle to his life and affections.

Honestly, this little show about two assholes blackmailing and drugging themselves into a love story is also about marriage equality, the problem with arranged marriages, love in unexpected places, growth from experience, learning to control your own life, discovering that you can be a better person, falling in love, realizing your queer side, falling to your knees at a single order and so much more.

[veronika-tserber]

🔥 PLUTO Appreciation Post

Disclaimer: We are exploring potentials and pure archetypes here. Please, don't take things too literally. I am not a fan of generalizations, either.

I believe that all planets are facets of the experience we call "Love". Venus relates to the most easily comprehensible and widely accepted type - the love that is beautiful, harmonious, and pleasing. It's romantic and sensual, which is what most of us long to experience in a relationship with another.

Venus, the charming Aphrodite - she is a bit of a coquette, isn't she? The moment you burp in front of her, she’s already begun packing her bags. You dirty Schwein! 🐷

All silly jokes aside, I definitely don't mean that Venusian people don't love deeply - they absolutely can.

But if you think about it, what is their Love based upon? They have a strong desire for balance, equality, and beauty which they long to achieve and maintain within their relationships. In situations of conflict, when shadows begin to rear their heads in, Venusians tend to look away.

It's as if Venus is saying: "I will love you and be loyal to you as long as you don't bring me into this sh#t!"

But sometimes, there is sh#t. And a lot of it. There is only one planet that is not just aware of this fact, but also quite interested in digging into it, and that's Mr. Pluto, the subject of today's post.

He is the one and only, FULL-TIME BOSS (He'll sleep when he's dead!) of the Underworld who spends the majority of his time hidden away from the light of day, surrounded by both the pure and the rotten souls of the deceased! He loves to listen to the screeching sounds of screams for redemption. He also likes Baroque.

I've read that when the other Olympians invite him to their celebrations, he doesn't even like to attend. I mean, what's better than sipping blood-colored wine and petting your three-headed Cerberus, right? Right?!

I am having too much fun with this. But it's safe to say that Pluto is more than familiar with the darker, uglier aspects of humanity - he's seen it all!

He is THE Alchemist who knows that Darkness is nothing more than the Absence of Light.  This isn't to say that Plutonian people are unconditionally loving, either. On the contrary, in a lower vibration, they can be so guarded & paranoid, you would think their hearts are made of stone.

There lies the potential, though. I touched upon this "contradiction" in my Sun/Pluto post the other day. However, unconditional Love is such a lofty goal, it can take a lifetime (or a few) of shadow work & healing to reach it.

Astronomically, Pluto is a teeny-tiny dwarf planet. Yet, it carries so much power that people who know a bit of Astrology generally fear him. This isn't entirely superfluous. You will find Pluto's twisted manifestation among some of the most power-hungry, controlling, and ruthless people. The fact that World War II took place only 9 years after Pluto was discovered, isn't a coincidence, either.

But he is as scary as we are stubborn and resistant to change. When we ALIGN with Pluto's intention to purify and raise our consciousness, things become way easier. Pluto transits, as well as your natal Pluto aspects, can show you exactly what is going to be put to the test and when. Astrology does a great job of giving you the advantage of preparing for that test. Yay, Astrology!

I believe that Pluto is God’s way of showing us tough love, and tough love is highly misunderstood. No one likes pain (kind of) and suffering. But what we need to understand is that the pain doesn't come from Pluto, per se. The pain comes from the straightening of our twisted perception of reality. It's like having your hand at a twisted angle, and someone grabs it, and snaps it back into place! Ouch! Is that even possible?! But you get my point - it hurts like HELL. *no pun intended*

At its most extreme, Pluto is God's RAGE, the powerful destructive force that shows us how far we've strayed off our authentic path and true selves.

My belief is that, as we continue to mature individually and collectively, our perception of Love will expand, and we'll be more able to tap into Pluto's loving vibration more frequently.

I mean, look at it! Have you noticed that the planet literally has a HEART on its surface? How fascinating!

- Foxbörn

ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ 1

ᴄʜᴀʀᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢꜱ

ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴜʏ ᴍᴇ ᴀ ᴄᴏꜰꜰᴇᴇ?

[tvickiesims]

More Seasonal Trees

So, here’s another batch of seasonal trees. I love making them 😊

And have some more badly cropped GIFs, yay! 😅

First are two trees discovered by Numenor in game files and shared on MTS:

These are a pine tree and an oak tree. I replaced pine’s bark texture and edited its colors a bit. The oak tree has almost no changes, I used its original green color for a spring state and a modified version for a summer state. Despite technically being Maxis trees, they are somewhat high poly.

I also fixed their placement thanks to the Milkshape tip wonderful @kayleigh-83​ shared with me 💕

If you are insterested, other lost and found trees from Numenor on that page were already made seasonal by Gwenke and shared here.

Next are my own conversions from the Sims 4 - the willow tree from Cottage Living and two debug Tartosa world trees from My Wedding Stories:

These trees are somewhat high poly too as I added thickness to the leaves part so it didn’t disappear under certain angles. But the willow tree is an absolute high poly MONSTER, use it sparingly on your lots (if someone would like to make it less high poly - you are most welcome to do so as I lack knowledge to do it properly)! Also, in winter state its branches become invisible when zoomed far out, it’s not a bug, they are just too thin. It’s also easier to grab the two Tartosa trees by leaves and not by trunk, I don’t know why. These trees have all their bark replaced. The big Tartosa tree actually seems to be a stone pine? But at the same time it had a red recolor in game... So I made it drop leaves entirely.

The snow overlay on bark used on all of these trees is by @an-elegant-simblr​ and comes from this set.

These trees, as well as the first set, were created using the template and tutorial by TheNinthWave.

Everything is compressed and clearly labelled. No pictures included this time as they add a lot to the final archive.

And now...

Download at SFS

EDIT:

A better (remade) version of the three Sims 4 trees is available here, I recommend using the new one.

[ssaalexblake]

I've been wondering how you would define the arcs of the companions in modern who. Curious because what you said about Donna only having a person being kind to her doesn't change *that* much in terms of self-worth or how Martha realizing she can just leave isn't exactly built as an huge change for her.

I uh. I've sat here for a few days trying to work out what i think and discovered i am not entirely enamored with companion arcs in dw but also this is Heinously long... Sorry.

Rose

I think Rose is a classic bored with life, life gets less boring yay! arc, but it's also trying and failing to be class commentary, imo, because it just doesn't do or say anything about class. A lot of RTD's era seems to Want to talk about class but falls on its face because the guy also has a very strange outlook On upper classes which is that... He possesses that strange quality i don’t get where outwards ppl critique the system but can’t or won’t think outside the box of it Either and occasionally accidentally Lauds it.

RTD era tries class commentary and fails, not in its portrayal of the working class but it’s failure to slam the upper class (that stupid lady christina episode is my supervillain origin story!!! the poor stealing from oppressors and some rich rat losing their money and stealing instead of getting a fucking job are Not the same thing ffs)... and where he chooses to illustrate class issues through companion stories, it can... Mess up the companion stories.

Rose is stuck on an estate, is poor, not well educated and works retail and doesn't even have That anymore in the first episode and she Hates her life, but has no escape because she's poor, lives on the estate and is poorly educated.

Like... Rose being called chav (derogative acronym meaning 'council housed and violent') actually explicitly kind of makes this class angle canon text and turns her beginning from 'bored teenager' to 'teenager with dreams trapped in place because of her socio economic level' and okay... if you Only view Rose's start as her just being bored then how she ends is a satisfying ending, she's got her family, her man (kinda), is well off financially (to the point we could call her rich) And she's helping save the world from aliens and mentally interested in that.

If you view her beginning as class commentary then Rose just finding a long lost father with money whom allows her to live in comfort then it’s a somewhat crap and hollow ending, imo? It's a rich relative fantasy. How is that Rose? Rose always talks to the working class people, she goes out of her way to stick up for servants and plumbers and relates to all of them first and foremost and tries to help them, too? This is why so many people love her to this day, she knows her and others' worth even if the rich bastards don't... but that's just not In her ending??? She just gets a class bump, basically which uh... Doesn’t solve the issue.

I mean, i don't find her story unsatisfying to watch and it's okay, but they lost her there at the end if you ask me. Sure, she's badass with alternate reality torchwood but the whole Point is Rose, poor Rose from the estate, was that she was badass and cool and worth it from the very start when she Wasn't valued by society in which case... the badass is a bit hollow, imo. It's fine but i don't get the fawning over the arc because i Also love Rose but I neither ship her with Ten Or think she needs to be saving the world well funded to be her best self. In that, the end of her arc falls a lot flat. I wanted there to be a bigger point, you know? But I don't think RTD really has the most astute grip on class politics... Always thought they did better with this in s1 and that it may have been Eccleston’s influence flavouring the story.

Martha

Martha is the outlier in rtd dw in that she’s portrayed as having a middle class background, she has her own flat in london and is a doctor/medical student (it’s a Bit vague on that one but i kind of tend to see her as a junior doctor to make sense of her saying she wants/hopes to be a doctor but also saying she Is one???) so she has money, a career, a family that is annoying but whom she loves. Martha is not acting out of a sense of urgency from lack of choice... Martha just wants some fun with the cute alien she met. Like, there is nothing wrong with this as motivation. She wants some fun, is up for that and goes with the guy she thinks is hot, turns out the travelling is crap and He’s on the rebound and does some crap stuff so she leaves. That’s a perfectly okay arc for a character... She loves this guy but no, she’s better than this and has better things than this. It's not explosive or That huge of a decision for her to leave at all because there are no stakes. She can support herself easily, has a good life to go back to. It's a more 'i am better than this shit' arc than anything else.

I... Don’t have any issues with the content of this arc, but the execution always gives me pause. Martha just wanted fun and never got it, she’s constantly pulled into dangerous situations, is kidnapped, stuck in the past more than once and one of those times she’s stuck as the help for the doctor and faces racist abuse while she does work like scrubbing floors when she’s a legit doctor, all the while as the doctor (not an actual doctor) lives it up with all these perks even tho he has no actual qualifications and by all rights should be scrubbing floors himself, not her. Like, He could literally have taken them Anywhere to hide but took them there and this is as much a 10 issues as the writers wanting to what?? Portray Martha suffering racist abuse? Why? Why was that necessary? He’s also in general a dick. And the whole master thing is... Yikes. They’re out there having him make jokes about the master race while he forces martha’s family into servitude under extreme threat of violence? I mean. Yikes. And then Ten forgives him and Martha ditches him.

I guess sometimes i feel like they went Kiiiind of misery porn on this ‘martha realises he’s kinda trash and leaves’ thing when they didn’t actually need to go that far. Her realising he’d never get the hell over Rose, realising she wants her okay not bad life to move on with would have been fine. Martha had, quantifiably, the least fun of a companion lbr, she gets One fun adventure with Shakespeare and the rest sucks. They went too hard.... Martha had little stakes if she wanted to leave, she has a loving family and good job and a good money situation??? Too far in context with all this.

It’s woman meets alien falls for them and realises they’re trash and leaves ‘em. A tale as old as time, did not need to make her suffer nearly as much as they did. It's not a bad arc in general though? I don't need fireworks, i just wish they'd be more sensitive to what they're portraying.

Donna

And yeah. Donna’s arc... I can’t on good conscience really call it an arc as much as a Line. Donna’s my fave, this comes from a place of love but she didn’t get to grow at all.

If you’re gonna structure an arc the way they did here, with the lead having a revelation on what the other character is feeling at the end then that means said character has been feeling that way The Whole Time. This means Donna felt small and unimportant the whole time she was with 10. By nature of structure, it is literally Impossible for her to grow and develop or for her to Have grown and developed during the course of the season because they wipe her memory and she is back to step one. Which is apparently were we’ve been the whole time. Because she never gained self esteem throughout the season.

It grinds my gears with Donna because she’s like Rose, she’s not from a well off family and while they probably have more money than Rose and Jackie, Donna’s in an emotionally abusive environment, i will spit fire about how awful rtd’s dw is towards any woman over the age of 30 but the fact of the matter is, no matter how much i hate they did it, Donna’s mum is cruel and degrading to her daughter, she belittles her, is mean... Donna’s trying to do Anything she can to escape but she lacks the financial resources to do so. She’s after a well paid job (it's not like Donna's lazy, she works hard and well!!!), she’s after a well off husband who is nice to her. She’s trying to escape, desperately. Like Rose. When this doesn’t work she decides she actually Can happily spend the rest of her life with the guy who casually committed a genocide when they first met. She would literally rather Die than go back to the situation she was in before. Hello red flag. Rose’s reaction was anger and boredom at the monotony of life when she found herself back home... Donna’s was significantly more troubling.

None of this is okay. This is intensely fucked up. It kills me!!! Because we learn near the end she Never had any sense of self worth, she didn’t gain it by going round with the doctor and even if she had she was just gonna lose it anyway. When we see her alive and well as ten explains to her family after he wipes her mind we know how she views herself and views the life she lives. It’s grim.

And so. Donna gets a nice husband, she gets a lottery ticket, she escapes the toxic environment that degraded her constantly. Yay? Does this help her self worth issues? Is escaping from a toxic environment enough? Well. No. We know it doesn’t because she wasn’t in a toxic environment or relationship with Ten and her self worth, despite all the incredible and wonderful things she achieved, still did not improve.

They made her sense of self worth a linchpin in her arc, not to solve it, but to make Us, the audience, hurt for her. There is tragedy and then there is ruining an entire arc to hurt the viewers. If Donna’s arc had nothing to do with self worth then it wouldn’t have been a mess because in the end, even through the tragedy, she gets what she wants in escaping the toxicity of an environment she’d rather die than be in, getting a husband and money to live well allows her what she wants.

But no, rtd and co Had to mess with the audience to her detriment. literally, all they had to say was 'don't make me feel worthless AGAIN' and it says she Grew out of it and then we had confirmation that out of a toxic environment she heals but No.

I mean, Donna escaping a toxic living environment Is a victory and a good thing for ending her arc on But they also proved just escaping will not help her sense of self worth, So. Not fab.

Amy and Rory

Surprise entry in this list of complaints. I enjoy their arc and think it was well done. The plots Around it are questionable either for being wildly stupid (Hello weeping angel statue of liberty) or just... Messed up. But I actually really appreciated their arc during a proper rewatch from start to finish? The biggest evil in their arc is, unfortunately the River thing. It’s not the worst sci-fi pregnancy bs i’ve seen, not even close but... Yikes still. River’s story is also yikes but i’ve elected to not consider river a companion and instead a wife to avoid this being even Longer. They itro’d amy as a child to emphasize that this was her growing up story, imo, and it worked. Amy grows up when she’s on the show and the progression is natural and nice to watch.

The Amy and Rory we meet in 11′s first episode also grow together beautifully over the course of their time on the show, at the start Amy is far less mature than Rory (which i Also buy with how they showed their careers, people that young in jobs like Rory’s Do mature faster) and while at the beginning they kind of miss each other due to their different maturity levels despite the fact that they do love each other, Amy Grows a hell of a lot over the course of her travels and they stop missing each other and are perfectly on the level. Also, kind of s/o to Eleven for Not enabling Amy’s immaturity and trying to help her life out by going to pick up Rory as well? Not normally a thing the doctor is great about and i appreciate that 11 tries.

I am not always a fan of the stories they choose to form their arc around, but the stories don’t interfere with their arc, either, for the most part. Or at least, nothing egregious sticks out to me at the moment.

I honestly feel these two best embody a coming of age story. I feel like what the writers wanted to achieve with them was what played out on screen, it’s satisfying to watch in a way the previous three are not to me because it feels complete without being ott. Amy went from wanting to run away from what she had, to somebody who wanted to stay so she could appreciate those things she ran from.

Rory specifically i think is just a decent person, and i think that’s His superpower. He thinks small, he values the little things, the people everyone overlooks, he will save the world but won’t view somebody’s personal achievements as less than that. I kind of get hissy at the centurion thing because like... They did it to make him Awesome(tm) and he already was. It was a masculine add on and usually comes across to me that the writers didn’t realise they’d created somebody amazing if they didn’t have him wait around for thousands of years in a centurion outfit as a guard. I mean, it doesn’t detract from why i love him but... It adds nothing imo. The writers were showing some colours i think tbh.

Clara

Ah, Clara. I love Clara. I... am not sure the show loves her as much as i do. I always find it kind of ironic such a large part of her arc ends up being her demand for autonomy from the doctor when the narrative offers her so little.

When the doctor needs a nanny she’s a nanny, when the doctor needs a teacher, she’s a teacher. When the narrative doesn’t need conflict stemming from her personality she doesn’t have some glaringly massive character flaws but the second the mystery fades from ‘what/who the hell is clara’ they invent a few for her out of the blue to mix up with the new regeneration's personality. I always get stuck on Clara discourse because I don’t have a problem with the flaws Clara was given like some and don't mind they portrayed her being not so great to kinda terrible sometimes, it makes it interesting and it’s different to what we’ve been given before, but i Do actually take issue with the shoddy writing in how she Got to this place because it honestly paints a Bad picture of what was going on bts???

With Amy and Rory i got the impression the writers knew what they wanted for them the whole time. With Clara it’s obvious they had to make an abrupt swerve somewhere in the middle. At first she’s pleasant and the tension around her is that she’s unexplainable... This arc concludes with her Basically committing suicide to save the doctor and declaring it the reason for her living.  The only reason i say basically and not literally is because after the lead up to how Bad it’d be to jump into the doctor’s time stream... they forget it happened and start the next ep in a totally different place. Was i supposed to take 11 doing it also and picking her up as a resolution??? because that just made it More inexplicable and bad. jeez.

Once this is done she... Yeah she teaches/babysits a Group of doctors into not doing a genocide. Then after this she gets some sudden character flaws because her previous purpose was fulfilled. On to teacher Clara teaching 12 to be a functioning person. Thennnnn Danny dies and she has her vacation in master logic land. This was fun, i enjoyed this. The bare bones of all these arcs are Fine even if the execution was awful due to casting, but i can’t claim Clara from s7 and clara from s8 makes a Natural progression from a to b because she just doesn’t.

I love her. The writing... oof.

Gonna stop here till i’ve actually watched all of s9 instead of the highlight reel, but the writing had problems. I’m not sure what i’d call Clara’s arc because??? I just don’t know, overall. I could name half a dozen things but it lacks linear progression if you ask me.

Bill omitted till, again, i’ve seen more of her than just the highlight reel.

Ryan and Graham

Gonna start with Graham here because Graham Wanted to keep travelling with 13 but chose Not to to stay with Ryan as to not abandon him. Ryan’s lost pretty much everybody, people leave him, he was okay with graham going on without him but Graham wouldn���t do it and i think in an ep dealing with abandonment as a theme that meant something. So Graham didn’t Want to go but did anyway and I feel like this ties into the theme in this era, it Is unfinished business for him. Graham didn’t want to just mope around the house and grieve, he wanted to travel and see things. He didn’t go with 13 to run away, he went to move on? Compare this to Rose and Donna who Were running from something and it’s Totally different.

I find his arc quite refreshing, actually. He’s a Very put together and mentally healthy person, he’s here because it’s helping him mentally and it also means he’s with his grandson. He wants to live, he’s almost died before, he leaves to live, not to run. Is this high stakes drama? No. Frankly his motivation doesn’t Need to be. These two remind me of Martha, in this respect. They got involved in doctor shenanigans accidentally and got hooked on the fun of it and decided to stick around.

Graham over the course of the two seasons earns Ryan’s trust and love, despite the scorn and reluctance shown to him Graham will Not leave Ryan. Everybody leaves Ryan and as the show progresses you see Ryan notice he’s not doing so and let graham in. As this happens Ryan also starts actually picking up some of graham’s traits and emotional intelligence, he learns how to deal with people from graham.

I feel like there are a Lot of themes so far in chibbs era dw but i honestly think they’re going kinda hard on the mental health angle, and graham serves as an example of somebody being on top of their shit, being mentally healthy, and it juxtaposes nicely with a couple of dumpster fires in this era. By that i mean 13 and Yaz. Ryan learns by example, is honest about his feelings and talks about it and doesn’t lash out and in general learns from graham and... Ryan’s in a really good place when he leaves! He suffered the mortifying ideal of being known and he grew up and is happier and healthier and that was graham’s example. Ryan’s had a hard life and grew into a good man and Graham’s love and example has a lot to do with that.

Is that a huge explosive and exciting arc? No. But i don’t have a problem with that, tbh. The all flash no bang doesn’t always play well, he has solid motivation and consistent characterization and grows from somebody not willing to take risks and just wearily conceding to his new sense of adventure to somebody able to optimistically tackle terrifying situations with curiosity and gusto. We know why he's there, we see him get bolder, we see his love for Ryan never ever falter, did he reach some peak of achievement? No. But he also didn't want to leave yet. Oh, unfinished business.

As for Ryan, the coming of age story. As i said, he learnt so much, he learnt to deal maturely with his own trauma and issues to the point where, when 13 accidentally abandons him he is able to intelligently and fairly allow his own feelings on the matter to show but also engage her in an intelligent manner.

He always imo approached this with the air of a kid just after school going travelling? He’s 19, that’s good enough as a reason! He grows up, sees wonders and horrors and learns, and then he realises that he’s left things behind he cares about too. He got caught up in it all and who wouldn’t, but Ryan realises Tebo was suffering and he wasn’t There and he related that to the people who left him and realised, probably his talk with his father factoring in here, that Abandonment doesn’t Have to mean a lack of caring. Sometimes people get caught up in their life or run away because it hurts, and he sees he’s neglected responsibilities and pretty much from There he’s realised he wants to leave, lbr. His talk with Yaz in cyhm? illustrates Ryan was finished by this point and that Yaz wasn’t.

His worst fear wasn’t just that earth could like, die, a la orphan 55, it was that he abandoned the planet to it and wasn’t there! Ryan takes all his abandonment issues and channels them into deciding that he won’t do that and will be responsible! Be it to his friends on earth or to the planet itself. He went from being weighed upon by his issues to acknowledging the complexity and deciding to Not be like that himself! Like, he’s an incredible dude, and he’s gonna save the world, all because he’s a good person who cares. He took his problems and turned them into his strengths and uses them to be better.

As i said... He grows up. And a fine coming of age story it was.

I am not gonna do Yaz. I will be here 8 years and also she’s not done yet and how her story concludes will contextualize the whole thing. Also this is. Long. To the point nobody will read it.

[thedistrictsleepsalonetonight]

This is why we can’t have nice things (or Jamie’s lucky Dani is a patient woman)

So @the-idea-of-stars submitted a hurt-comfort fic prompt and here’s my best attempt at it :)

*****************************************************************************************

The three rules to getting hurt at Bly Manor, or so Jamie’s heard are these: One, no climbing up on the ledge that hangs midway off the parapet, not even to clear that pesky ivy that hangs all over the walls, very un-aesthetically; two, no putting yourself in precarious situations when Miles was around because the boy had a tendency of fainting around blood; and three, the one that was crucial, no screaming for Dani in case of blood. Especially not when Jamie was the one shedding aforementioned blood.

Saturday made the entire household break rule one, two and three in spectacular fashion.

And it’s such a pity, because the day had started off so well. Jamie had woken up, Dani still snoozing in her arms and had gotten to witness one of nature’s greatest miracles so far: Dani Clayton, prim and proper au pair, drooling on her pillow. An embarrassed facepalm and about five adoring kisses later, they’d found themselves eating Owen’s patented pancakes in the kitchen with the rest of the family. The weekend had found them all lazing around, Flora practically falling into her plate, Miles taking embarrassing photos of her from all angles while being only halfway deterred by Hanna’s warning tsks. After breakfast, Dani had gone to the other side of the house to supervise the kids, and Jamie had walked outside to do a bit of trimming.

It was then that she fucked up first. The ivy just looked so wild and overgrown and she knew she could trim most of it if she could just get up on the ledge. All she had to do was climb up, and then grab onto something and she’d be al—

*****

The adrenaline kept the pain at bay for thirty seconds. It was after those thirty seconds of falling, crashing and her heartbeat pounding in her ears, so loud that it seemed it had set up a new home in her head, the first wave arrived, and before she could control it, the cry escaped her lips.

Jamie gritted her teeth, took stock of the situation. There could be something broken; she could guess from the fact that she absolutely couldn’t move her right arm that was still trapped under her body.

Alright, she could do this. Just had to get up and get inside without making any more noise to alert anyone.

There were just a couple of things that could be a hindrance. The first being the extreme pain that was ringing like static in her ear, a precursor to her previous fainting spells. The second being the fact that she could hear running footsteps from the corridor. Jamie closed her eyes, hoped that it was, by some miracle, Owen or Hannah.

She opened it to the sight of Flora and Miles staring at her. Of course, what Miles was doing was only half-close to that statement. His face was turned away, eyes shielded from the sight by his raised hand.

“Flora, don’t—”

“Dani! Dani! Jamie’s hurt! Come quick!”

Well, that was that, then.

The pain had grown so much that she could feel every part of her arm throbbing. Jamie closed her eyes, heard, very slowly, through static, as though it was coming from very far away, Dani’s sweet voice asking if Jamie could hear her. And then, nothing.

*****

She woke up to the sight of Miles lying on the floor next to her.

Consciousness was the annoying poke of a finger on her arm, a probing finger that somehow knew exactly where it hurt. Jamie groaned, opened her eyes to see the doctor peering at her, turned her head, saw Miles passed out next to her, and closed it again.

(Definitely not heaven, then)

She could also feel Dani’s soft fingers over her other, uninjured hand, and this was perhaps a strange moment to notice it, but there truly was no better peace than the feeling of Dani’s hand on hers. Jamie had had a lot of time to self-evaluate, back when she was locked up, and one of the things that she’d discovered, that she ached for human touch in a way that terrified her. Growing up in a turbulent household hadn’t really given her a lot of chances to receive affection, so she’d become an adult with intense space issues and an inherent craving to be touched, felt and held. It just wasn’t this tangible a need before she’d fallen in love with Dani.  

Now it just seemed like whenever Dani was within reach, Jamie’s hands were always reaching out for her. Playing with her hair, tapping out morse code I love yous on her shoulder, tangling their fingers together. Dani grounded her, in a way that even her plants couldn’t. Nature gave her contentment; Dani was sheer joy.

She squeezed Dani’s hand, felt an answering squeeze in return, and the pain abated for that one millisecond.

*****

“So, good news,” Jamie announced, dryly, even though her arm was protesting. “Turns out my arm isn’t broken. Yay!”

Dani glared at her so hard she could almost hear the words written all over her face: You. Idiot. Big Trouble.  

Jamie turned to Owen, begged for help.

“In other good news,” he cut in, hastily, “Miles also faints at the sight of awkwardly angled bones!”

Miles sputtered for words.

“I didn’t,” he started, floundered, “faint! It was a momentary nap!”

Flora giggled.

“I — Hannah!”

“Of course you didn’t faint, poppet,” she reassured him, though her lips were twitching. “Flora, could you help Owen out with dinner?”

“But what if Miles faints again?” she asked, and the last either Jamie or Dani saw of them was Hannah chasing an irate Miles who was running after his sister.

Jamie looked at the ceiling, the door, the nightstand, and finally, at Dani’s inscrutable face.

“Blimey,” she tried. “Children, eh?”

Dani blinked at her. “I’m gonna help them,” she said, blankly, and then walked away.

So much for a perfect Saturday.

*****

Dani next came in during dinnertime. Placed the tray on the nightstand, and then just stood there, looking a little lost. Jamie hated it.

“Darling?” she asked, softly, hand reaching out to loosely grab at Dani’s wrist. “You wanna sit down?”

Dani jerked a little, blinked.  

“I,” she said, bit down on her lip, and the action wasn’t lost on her. Dani would usually bite her lip when she was anxious about something.

“I can’t — I can’t think.”

“Okay,” Jamie said, leaned up a little, pulled softly, and this time Dani let herself be pulled onto the bed. “That’s okay. Take your time.”

Dani was breathing heavily, and Jamie waited. Kept her hand very, very still on Dani’s, and waited for the panic to pass.

“You can’t do that again,” she said, when her breathing was even again.

“Dani, I know, I—”

“No, hear me out, okay? You were lying on the ground, blacking out and you couldn’t fucking hear me or say anything other than my name, and you — you were in so much pain, Jamie. I couldn’t—”

“—Dani,”

“I couldn’t do anything! You said my name, and I couldn’t help! I was just. I was so useless—”

“Dani,” Jamie kissed her cheek, her shirt clad shoulder, gently rubbed at her arm with her uninjured hand. Dani’s breath was speeding up again. “Baby, baby, stop. I’m okay. You got me inside okay—”

“—I’m just sick of watching the people around me getting hurt, okay? Feel like we’ve had quite enough of that already.”

Jamie closed her eyes. Kissed Dani’s cheek again, and buried her face in her neck.

“I’m sorry,” Jamie said, finally.  

Dani took a shuddering breath, turned to face her and kissed her for the first time after the accident. Jamie felt the tears sticking to her cheeks, felt the careful, restrained way Dani’s lips moved over hers, and felt the sudden, embarrassing urge to cry herself. She wanted to bury her head in Dani’s chest and cry until she fell asleep, wanted to be touched, felt, held. She heard Dani murmur You’re okay, You’re okay between kisses, felt her hands trembling as they moved over her face, and, not for the first time, thanked whatever higher power was up there for creating the miracle that was Dani Clayton.

*****

“You’re an idiot.”

There she was. Jamie grinned at her, tilted her chin a little so Dani could get better access to the tiny scratches that had somehow bled, unnoticed, near her neck.

“But I’m your idiot, am I not?”

Dani looked at her in that half-exasperated, half-fond way of hers, carefully kept dabbing at the cut with disinfectant, and stuck out her tongues.

“Ouch,” Jamie muttered, just because she could.

“Where?” Dani was immediately on alert. “Where does it hurt?”

“Sorry, sorry,” she apologized, contrite. “I was kidding. Doesn’t actually hurt.”

Dani glared at her. “Oh, it doesn’t? What about now?”

(The subsequent cry of pain was closer to accurate. Also completely deserved)

“You giant baby.”

“Eh,” Jamie shrugged. “You love me.”

Dani finished putting the band-aid on it, then bent to give the spot a quick kiss.

“I do, unfortunately,” Dani said. “I really, really do.”

Jamie tapped out another morse code I love you on her back.

*****

“You bullied Owen into baking a strawberry cake for dinner? Dani, you know he hates the flavor.”

Dani giggled, and the sound felt like a warm blanket settling over her. “But you love it.”

“I do, but I could’ve eaten anything else, you know that. I’m easy, me.”

“I know that,” Dani said, looking right at her, very seriously. But I don’t want you to just have to eat anything, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she looked away, searching for words, “that I know you can eat almost anything, and that includes the things you hate, but I want — I want to give you the things you like, okay? I know that technically, you can eat eggplant, and that you can eat pineapple and you can eat mushrooms, but I’d rather you didn’t have to. That’s not the kind of relationship you deserve, alright? I guess I just — I just want you to eat the things you like, that’s all. No adjustments.”

There was the stupid impulse again. Jamie closed her eyes, tried, very, very hard to stop the tears, the burning in her throat. It took a moment.

“Have I ever told you,” she said, when she was sure her voice wouldn’t crack, “how much I love you?”

Dani’s smile was tremulous, and bright and the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “Not in so many words, no.”

Jamie smiled back.

*****

The next day, Jamie woke up and stared at the ivy hanging over the wall. Watched Miles and Flora running around on the parapet, heard Owen and Hannah yelling terms of endearments at each other through the house, and wrapped an arm around Dani’s shoulder.

“You sure I can’t—”

“—absolutely not.”

“The things you do for love,” she said, and kissed Dani instead.

The things you do for love, indeed.

[agentrouka-blog]

Jon and Ygritte - rotten moral code? Nah, just setting up Jonsa.

If there is one thing that had me uncertain if Jon is good enough for my Darling Angel Sansa, it’s this:

He could feel the throb of pain where her arrow had gone through the meat and muscle of his thigh. He remembered the old man's eyes too, and the black blood rushing from his throat as the storm cracked overhead. But he remembered the grotto best of all, the look of her naked in the torchlight, the taste of her mouth when it opened under his. Ygritte, stay away. Go south and raid, go hide in one of those roundtowers you liked so well. You'll find nothing here but death. (ASOS, Jon VII)

Gosh, it was sure bad when she murdered that innocent, unarmed old man. But wow, what a hottie. “Go south and raid”? Raid?? Seriously, you want her to kill even MORE innocent people because it’s such swell fun for her? What the hell is wrong with you??

Ygritte was much in his thoughts as well. He remembered the smell of her hair, the warmth of her body . . . and the look on her face as she slit the old man's throat. You were wrong to love her, a voice whispered. You were wrong to leave her, a different voice insisted. He wondered if his father had been torn the same way, when he'd left Jon's mother to return to Lady Catelyn. He was pledged to Lady Stark, and I am pledged to the Night's Watch. (ASOS, Jon VI)

Wrong to leave her. Hm. Yeah. If that’s your preferred lifestyle, Jon. By all means. 

And, dude, I get that your relationship with Catelyn was very painful and that you never even met your mother, but that comparison is just insulting to BOTH women. And Ned. By all the Seven, get a grip, Jon.

"Who is Ygritte?" Donal Noye asked pointedly.

"A woman of the free folk." How could he explain Ygritte to them? She's warm and smart and funny and she can kiss a man or slit his throat. "She's with Styr, but she's not . . . she's young, only a girl, in truth, wild, but she . . ." She killed an old man for building a fire. His tongue felt thick and clumsy. The milk of the poppy was clouding his wits. "I broke my vows with her. I never meant to, but . . ." It was wrong. Wrong to love her, wrong to leave her . . . "I wasn't strong enough. The Halfhand commanded me, ride with them, watch, I must not balk, I . . ." His head felt as if it were packed with wet wool. (ASOS, Jon VI)

This is one of the few things I find deeply, deeply disconcerting about Jon. This willingness to overlook the murder of an innocent man, to let it be overshadowed by the memory of, essentially, her naked chest. 

Jon Boy, I get that you were a love-starved little bastard weasel and you miss the intimacy of a relationship, but she is literally a cold-blooded killer. And she treated you like a possession. How are you justifying this. 

Seriously, the only saving grace here is that Jon is maybe 15 or 16 and emotionally starved and has zero experience with what a good relationship would be like. Ygritte was neither particularly warm, nor smart (AT ALL!) and I cannot judge the funny. But she most certainly was a violent, murdering invader. And Jon really really really wants to be in denial about that. 

At the worst, this tells us Jon is extremely superficial in his core values. A sham of a character. But that doesn’t gel with what we’ve seen of him elsewhere.

At best, however, this underlines how very very very much Jon longs to be loved, how much it will mean to him when he experiences it. This is the only interpretation that ameliorates his moral failure here just a little bit. This angle also gives us a glimpse into the future.

We already saw Jon mature a lot over the course of AFFC and ADWD. He does still refer to Ygritte in his head as a mentor. But the romantic relationship fades far into the background. He has better priorities, but that longing for love is likely not dead. 

GRRM is obviously setting up something to do with Dany, here. Violent invader open to romance… It’s Dany. GRRM either means to create plausible doubt about Jon’s true feelings if he wants to toy with the reader about political!Jon, OR to set up another bout of actual denial if Jon is bound to Dany on an honest, emotional level.

But. 

The first option will be tricky to pull off, without erasing Jon’s POV for far too long, so why bother for just one short-term surprise? It’d be as bad as the show. GRRM is better than that.

If it was the second option played straight, I would lose all my respect for Jon. And I would find it boring. It would mean that Jon has literally not grown, at all. It would mean that whatever relationship he develops with whatever Stark he encounters before Dany - Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon, Benjen, I don’t even care - would not have enough depth to outweigh whatever an emotionally stunted child woman (fascinating character arc, but really, she’s not that interesting on an interpersonal level) can offer him. He would be as ignorant about a proper relationship as he had been with Ygritte. As willing to compromise basic moral standards for emotional comfort and a good time between the sheets.

Or GRRM is simply setting up a contrast.

The fact THAT Jon was having these extremely questionable impulses of bargaining when it comes to Ygritte’s character back when he was a wee little stupid baby, actually makes me fairly confident that he won’t struggle so hard do the same with Dany when he encounters her as a “man grown”. 

Because there would be absolutely nothing interesting about Ygritte 2.0. with dragons. Murdering invader who looks good naked, yay! My family disapproves: what surprising, heart-rending tension. She kills people but she is so pretty: what inner turmoil. She is miraculously pregnant with the fruit of our incest, but I love her, it’s all good. Go south and raid, Dany Darling! I am aghast by your killings but, gosh, so torn because you are so full of.. um.. yeah. No.

But it would be very interesting to see Jon understand the difference between a good and a bad relationship. To track his actual growth by seeing him reevaluate what he thought he knew with what he learns. To see him struggle not with melodramatic denial but with guilt for an emotionally vulnerable monster, and with horror when he discovers she is possibly much cleverer and even more dangerous than he even thought. 

Basically, what would be much more interesting, would be Jon underestimating her, rather than being in denial. Being in denial about Dany’s nature, or bargaining over it, makes Jon a boring, repetitive fool. Underestimating how far she will go, while being fully aware of her nature, that’s the stuff of horrifying surprises.

But in order for Jon to mature emotionally to such a degree, he will first have to experience a relationship that is not abusive but nourishing, and feel loved and accepted. Not even necessarily romantic, but simply close, positive, trusting. And in order to do it in an interesting, non-redundant way that shows us something we have not seen before, it almost HAS to be Sansa. Which brings us back to how very very very much Jon craves just such a thing. So much he was willing to downplay the vile horror that is murdering innocent people because the person who did it had “loved” him and he wasn’t ready to let go of that.

Arya, Bran, Benjen, Rickon, all the Starks already love him. It’s Sansa who’s a mystery box in terms of interaction. Basically, their relationship, in order to set Jon up on a trajectory to stay interesting, has to be a very positive one. It doesn’t have to be perfect, obviously, but overall very positive. Warm, funny, smart. Life-affirming. Embracing.

And unless Jaime-Cersei-Brienne is supposed to be the apex of romantic tension in the books (Love Arianne, but she is not “big” enough to carry the books on her amazing shoulders.) then Jonsa is basically inevitable. 

There is simply not enough emotional tension in a platonic Stark family v. Targ family feud. Certainly not between the Starklings. Why have two Stark sisters unless Jon’s relationship with them is going to be markedly different? Especially with the level of importance weddings and babies have carried up to now. It is literally inevitable that romance will be central. Even if GRRM means to end it tragically, which I don’t think he will, Jonsa will have to be a thing, a BIG THING in order to provide emotional growth for Jon, a contrast to his relationships with Ygritte and Dany, a pay-off for all of Sansa’s romantic disasters and - obviously - for RLJ. Because only Jonsa is unlocked by the reveal of that secret. Because Jon’s main arc is not the road to Targaryen kingship. It’s the road to home and family. There is only one thing in that direction that RLJ makes possible: marry a Stark. And there is nothing to be gained by Jonrya, their love was already perfect. And he probably can’t continue the Stark line by marrying Bran. Just saying. 

In order for Jon’s questionable, immature thoughts about Ygritte’s murdering actions to lead anywhere at all, he will have to overcome them. The most interesting way for him to do that would be by experiencing an actual, positive love story, where he doesn’t have to be in denial about his lover’s vicious nature, and experience actual acceptance and tenderness. You know, that exotic stuff where you’re not threatened with violence, called stupid, angrily yelled at for disagreeing, being shown zero interest in the things you care about… You know, the kind where you don’t have to commit or condone murder in order to be loved. Where someone might actually, I don't know, try and pull you away from the murderous brink. 

So, out of the darkness of those horrifying Jon thoughts about Ygritte, I kind of draw a lot of hope for Jon’s future. 

[hollerace]

The Hockey Fan--February 12, 2021

The bar was low. Dark, smoky, smudged, on the border of the North End. Thacher Street. I discovered it, via a Connecticut guy who had moved nawth. I avoided the fern-laden, brassy, high-end watering holes filled with people who spoke in chilled whispers, getting louder only to feign laughter.

That's how I found this place. It was faintly Irish—this was Boston, after all—but no shamrocks or leprechauns danced on its walls. A sooty Guinness sign blinked forlornly through the smoke. When I first saw her, she sat, or perched, on a bar stool. She was slight, almost petite, and, except for her porcelain skin, very black. Clothes, stockings, shoes, hair, purse.

The hair, I noticed first. Done up in a longish page boy. Luxuriantly raven, falling in even cascades, framing the bone face, landing perfectly. When she swung her head, I saw harpstrings moving in great sheets, in planned arpeggios. The luster was palpable; it mesmerized me. I wanted to smell her.

The second time I saw her, she approached me. It was a Thursday, I was off the road. The Bruins were on TV, with no sound, as always. There was no juke box. Clinkety glass, jangling silverware and strums of conversation were the backdrop.

“Do you like the hockey?” she said.

Her fragrance washed: icy and clean. Not like an applied scent, it was something she carried. She took the seat next to me and sat on its edge. Her hands fluttered.

“I do,” I said. Hawkey. The accent, richly Bawstin, the ah's, the aw's for short o's.

“I've never been,” she said. “I should like to go sometime.”

I mulled her way of speaking. It was halting, as if tethered, yet old-timey sounding, like that of a fussy maiden aunt. I wondered if she wore powder or had a hanky in her sleeve.

Her black boots gleamed as I stooped to pick up a fallen napkin. I fought speaking further; she was staring at the TV.

“May I buy you a drink?” I said.

“No,” she said. “Certainly not. But that doesn't mean we can't speak. Mercy me. You seem nice.”

“I like the Black Bush, rocks,” she said, naming the upscale brand of Bushmills Irish whiskey.

I grinned and opened my mouth.

“No,” she said. “Don't make light. Yes, I see the double meaning. But I don't think you are a man who'd make such a joke. Would you?”

“No,” I said. “I wasn’t going there. But it is good whiskey. It's aged in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks and bourbon barrels. Seven years old.” She said, “So, you are knowledgeable.” After coaxing one out of a black leather case, she lit a Virginia Slim.

I grinned. “Not really. You see, I have a buddy who works for the importer. I can even get you some product or glasses.”

She finally allowed me her first soft smile. Her mouse-mouth moved slightly. A hint of small, even, white teeth. The parentheses at the corners sidled slightly.

“And you are honest,” she said. “But I drink it only here. Never elsewhere. Allow me to buy you one, however.”

And she did. Should I tell her I was a drummer, having moved here for a gig that might take me elsewhere? I avoided this path.

We sipped quietly. Her eyebrows, perfect arcs, hunched over her glass. Dark eyes; perhaps the smallest of wrinkles dancing around them. She may have been older than I, early thirties. She wore many black layers. When she shifted, ever so slightly, hints of black, not-sheer-not-opaque stockings peeked between boots and skirt. I tried to imagine her legs.

I drank with her. Without touching me, she pulled me in, her gravity extending toward me, grasping, holding on. I think our stools moved closer.

A new period commenced; the screen snapped her head back. “Oh,” she would say every once in a while. An almost-goal. A breakaway. A skirmish.

“Oh,” she said, again. A quiet, mouse-oh, barely escaping her thin, reddened lips.

I turned at an oblique angle, seeing her in a little compartment from my eye-corner, pretending to watch the game mere blocks away, played by ant-men on ivory ice.

“The Bruins are going to lose,” she said during the third period. “Yes,” I said. “They are. Would you like to go to a game?”

“Very much. With you?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Even better,” she said. “I come here on Thursdays.”

Her departure was also small and tidy. She shrugged on her coat (black leather) and said a hint of good-bye.

And was out the door.

Iggy, my friend the barkeep, rolled his eyes at me. “Not for you, boyo,” he said.

“Why?”

“Not for you.”

<><><>

I went on the road for a while. In New York, I leaned on a record-company guy I knew. He was crazily connected, especially for sports seats. I traded him a ringside table at Max’s KC for a pair of Bruins ducats, which he mailed me.

When that Thursday came, I had been away for a few weeks and knew I was taking a crazy chance. I made sure to stop in Rozzie Square for a few nips of Black Bush, which I stashed into the pocket of my pea coat.

I waited at the bar, hoping, nursing a Rolling Rock.

She came in, a wave of black. I smelled her first. A dress this time, suitably short, with black pumps. Leather gloves. Her legs were sturdier than her remainder, gleaming through the hose. I liked them. It was a different leather coat, a larger bag.

Her Black Bush was ready before she sat down next to me. That small smile, perhaps a hair wider, again. She carried the cold in with her; it added to her scent.

“We have time for just one,” I said.

“Before what?” said the eyebrows.

I slid the tickets onto the scarred walnut next to her coaster.

“Is it the hockey? Tonight?” she said. The hawkey. I loved it.

“It is.”

“And you would like me to accompany you?”

“I certainly would.” Now I was mimicking her without thinking. She didn't seem to notice.

She looked at me, almost schoolgirl-shy. “Then we shall go. I’ll leave my bag with Iggy. I was hoping to see you.” A bigger smile; the only part of her face that moved was her pinched mouth.

We walked the few blocks up North Washington Street to the Garden. The NY-connected seats were quite good. Near one corner, only a few rows back from the glass.

“We just made face-off,” I said.

“What's that?”

“That's how they start the game.” I tried not to sound expert or exasperated.

She looked at me, icy and stern. “I don't claim to know about the hockey. I just like it.” From thereon in, I explained only when she asked a question.

“Oh,” she would say from time to time, lightly tapping my wrist. She did this as she spoke--digital punctuation. “They move so quickly.”

“They hit the white barriers hard. Do they mean to hurt each other?”

“It's faster, louder and better,” she proclaimed.

During the first break, I asked her if she wanted Bushmills.

“You surprise me,” she said.

I showed her the airplane nips. “I can get some cups and ice,” I said.

“No matter. This way is fine.”

She took bird sips, her pinksilver tongue darting to lick her lips after each sampling. I found this alluring, sensual.

When the Bruins scored, she stood regally and emitted a small, “Yay.”

What affected her most was a fight. In the third period, Terry O'Reilly squared off against the oddly named Larry Playfair of the Sabres. Very close to our seats.

She stood with the rest of us and jerked left and right, as if a player had jumped into the stands and was pummeling her. I heard her grunt, just a bit. When the referees finally separated the combatants, she sat back down, seemingly exhausted, wrapped into herself.

“Have you ever seen such a thing?” she said. “Heavens. They were really fighting.”

“In a hockey way,” I said.

She said, “I abhor violence, but nonetheless, that excited me.”

She took my right hand and placed it between her breasts. “See?”

See? I think my pulse was outracing her gallop.

She then daintily situated my hand in her lap, where she held me gently. Her fingers were long and cool, her manicure seamless and perfect. We sat that way for a while.

“Have you any more Bushmills?” she asked, returning my hand.

She caught me staring at her once. A full profile. A puckish nose, the proper chin that extended just short of proud. Limned by the confetti, raucous crowd, she glimmered softly—with seemingly no edges. I felt succor. I lost track of the game.

We finished drinking just as the game did. Without discussing it, we walked back to the bar. She removed her right glove and took my left hand.

As I was about to walk into the bar, my hand on her upper arm, she delicately twirled away. She said, “I truly like you.” She gave me the smallest possible kiss on the cheek. Almost a child's kiss, innocent and wan.

Indoors, she said, “Come back by the coatroom with me. I need to fetch my bag.”

I followed blindly.

“I want to kiss you,” she said. And did so. Quickly. On the lips.

Outside, she flagged down a cab. And dragged me into it.

She told the driver, “19 Cornwall St., Jamaica Plain.”

Then she looked at me, “I can come over. If you want.”

I squinted. How did she know where I lived? This was not a time for rumination.

“Yes,” I said. “That would be nice.”

As I dug in my pockets, she paid for the cab.

I was thankful that my second-floor flat was somewhat presentable. I asked her if she would like a drink as I threw mail from the sofa and socks from the coffee table.

Then I turned to look for her.

“In here,” she said.

My bedroom.

“Join me,” she said. “Love me, please.”

It was angular and concise. It was fencing, thrusting, parrying, folding. It was quick motion, dekes and backpedals. It was gently primal. It was violent, then prim, wordless, tender, gruff, almost emotionless, yet simmering. It was engulfing, releasing, joining, separating. It was familiar, yet foreign. We moved in concert, then wildly out-of-tune. Finally a daub of a sigh floated from her. In the end, the music subsided, with no coda.

We drowsed. She broached the soft stillness. “I must go,” she said.

As I rose to protest, she was already wearing a black silk something.

She said, “I used your phone.”

I said, “Please. Stay the night. It's almost three. How will I get you home?”

“That has been arranged.”

She moved toward a window, parting the curtains, looking out over Flaherty Park.

She said, “Please kiss me good-bye.”

Then she gathered me in and kissed me for real. For the first time, it seemed. A whole, coiling, languorous, steamingly wonderful kiss. It lasted a minute or an hour.

Dressed, she moved toward the door. Half-turning, she said, “Janet.”

“What?”

She said, “My name is Janet.”

And was gone.

After throwing on my robe, I went to the window. I could see a large Lincoln Continental heading away. It was black.

<><><>

On April 1st, I called all over town, trying to score for the game that night. Just before lunch, my phone ...

“It's Janet,” said the voice.

“Janet,” I said. How did she get my number? “I've been trying to get tickets for tonight. It's the last home game and the playoffs will be impossible for me to handle.”

She said, “This doesn't matter. I cannot go, anyway.”

I said, “Then could we meet another Thursday?”

“Season's over,” she said. I heard a voice in the background.

“Thank you for loving me,” she said, and she hung up abruptly. I felt a chill.

<><><>

Like a religious zealot, I made the pilgrimage back to Iggy's place for a few Thursdays. There was no sign of Janet. I kept at it, wanting to worship at the altar again, wanting to celebrate the rite. Wanting to smell her, hear the tinkling voice, see the miniscule smile. The parentheses. Everything.

<><><>

That summer, another phone call changed my life. It was from Sammy McGuane, an old bandmate. He had managed a record deal and wanted me to bang some tubs. Along with some other projects. 

In LA. The timing beckoned.

Before I left Boston, I went back to Iggy's and left him a forwarding address.

I said, “If she ever-”

Iggy cut me off. “Awright, awright. But I doubt it.”

<><><>

The letter didn't come until over a year later, in August. Iggy's name and the bar's address were scrawled, almost indecipherably, on the crinkled envelope.

It wasn't actually a letter, but a newspaper clipping. It was from the Globe, dated about three weeks prior. A brief story followed the photo. I read first.

REPUTED MOBSTER SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

Johnny “Gigs” Giambalvo, seen leaving the Suffolk County courthouse, has been found guilty of seven counts of racketeering, and money laundering after a short trial. He was given a fifteen-year sentence by Judge Felix Herrera. Giambalvo, who will be serving his time in Walpole Penitentiary, is also due to be tried on two counts of aggravated assault, which could lengthen his sentence. He is alleged to have assaulted members of the Boston Bruins hockey club after he found his wife in attendance at a team party.

His wife of seven years, Janet Cutrone Giambalvo [pictured on left], had no comment. Despite rumors of the couple's estrangement, she sat with her husband every day in court.

It would be none other than The Hockey Fan in the photo, trailing a stout, grim, dark man out of the courthouse.

She wore black.

[cocopubpotato]

a thor movie summary notes whatever

heya so nobody asked for this but here goes my entire notes of a summarry of the first thor movie

this was for a class work okay

saved you from having to scroll through this

New Mexico ; a person tries to register an anomaly an astrophysicist okay this movie starts differently than I thought thunder storms coming someone up there appears from the vortex and they run over him explanation of Norse mythology and they tell us about the war between Odin and the frost Giants. Orient took their power sources back to Asgard. Because it's a movie it has a chance to show us how radiant and perfect in comparison to New Mexico the reason the story is being told is to show thor and loki that war isn't good the next thing we see is thor being crowned Crown Prince in the event of a frost giant snake into the Asgardian vault to recover their power source and end up interrupting the ceremony. They failed their mission because security at the vault Teresa beat of a Maniac doesn't think properly of his actions this is a bunch of friends that don't matter.

I'm here thor decides to break the rules and still go to Jotunheim even though his brother Loki, who is a chaotic neutral at best, not to and also his friends advised he shouldn't do it but he doesn't care and does it anyway.

Thor's friends are going through Jotunheim to cause a big mess, Thor demands some answers from the ruler of jotunheim, he mentions theres a traitor(ps it's loki) it odins house and ignores that the frodt giant is actually nice and let's them leave but thor starts a fight anyway.

*insert action scene cause this is an action movie* (we also discover as does he that loki is actually a frost giant that was taken by odin during the war)

we can also see thors magnificent strength, odin come to save thors gang cause thors stupid and almost started a war then they have a fight and odin has to punish thor for his arrogance and stupidity by sending him to earth. While taking his powers away and giving the power to anyone worthy of holding mjiolnir thor's hammer.

now we retur to the start of the movie, thor being run over by a pair of scientists and getting tasered by an intern. thor goes a bit crazy on earth because who are these people doing something to the allmighty thor. we also get astrophyiscist science explained. then he gets runovered again. his friends over on asgard are talking about how horrible thors banishment is and loki reveals that he is the one that alerted odin, one of them suggests that loki might be a traitor ; loki goes for the frost giants powersource to learn more about what he is and finds odin. Now we go back to earth and see that thor doesn't know human etiquette.

talking about the hammer, here people find it and since noone is able to lift it a lot of people go near and try to take it; like the sword in the stone. until a certain organization comes and puts the whole area on lockdown to investigate.

the main scientist is called jane and honestly she makes very bad decisions(love interest) gets recommended not to keep on checking thor out; government takes away all her stuff and she gets pretty mad since they take her research. Shield James science equipment and research since discover for some reason she was there in the day the the aka the hammerfell I have some research basically no illegal wait but it's not illegal because they are the law. at Asgard well now remember at the Berkeley Loki is Apple Dutch angles oh yeah look at those odin link has fallen asleep and can't wake up loki is King in the meantime and denies the request to bring out door of his banishment.

back on Earth it's more about Norse mythology because he's curious about thor and everything. Jane takes by thor to the Hammer because she has nothing else to lose so might as well should we get some bad scenes of them flirting cringly that remind me so much of Star Wars Episode 2 which I hate. I really hate how back and forth to the plug go between now we are not now we are on earth we get a little bit of clear statement that I've actually loved Loki as her son as well no door is going to search for the hammer he's like right there I'll decide he only has two Frankie's weighing to hammer sentence on lockdown with hydrogen's hey I know that now PS he doesn't manage to lift the hammer heme Ethan Ward outfit because a crazy psycho that hasn't learned his lesson listen action scene action movie the good thing is that we get to see more dad even though you're lost his Godly Powers he is still very strong and at least holds his experience since most of what he did was close quarter combat combat that's it's an skis and able to live there he gets really mad barroso kinda sad to Luce these thoughts right now so it depends on the script on the right Bluetooth I submit my book like press that he can't do what he used to what's taken away government police.

Loki appears in front of thor and tells him the biggest lie the golden age that because because the war on coming to banish him kills me from the inside he also told him that because your character Golden Tones that I am the one on the throne home Barbie supplies. yeah I'm going to go to war as long as stars exiled and apparently agrees that he shouldn't come back and he has come to say goodbye the end. also Loki isn't worthy of the hammer.

now we give some bonding time foreign doctor Selvig because we need to to care about humans. but also thor takes note of how horrible person he has been. now we see the Loki is truly Daughtry tour and brought some of the soldiers into Asgard there is a key doesn't kill all them himself is because of the weekend that's suspicious if the new king kill the previous one. Heimdall doesn't believe any of lokis s*** price Val doesn't follow the rules he only believes in what's right it's like the most normal character in this thing

Now we get to see Torrid Jean because dorbrook dr. Selby after he drank passed out. Now we get to see more torrin James bonding okay but Jason is actually Exposition because store tells her about the 9 Realms of Asgard which is Earth and the others he apologizes for being a dick she apologizes for running him over oh and give her her research notebook because he grabbed it from the lockdown no to research more because she's actually right about her research on interpreting they have the look in their eyes pierdas relationship lasts yeah like two movies break up off screen. I want to sleep now. yay we get to see the sidekick Arjun game about going back to Rescue I'm bringing back to Asgard I have a lease on board because he doesn't believe inloki's reign yay now the sidekicks are not aired and they're going to search for tour but loki noticed that they left I never remember the name of this enemy but he reminds me so much of the one from X-Men Days of Future Past

Thor's friends found him yay I hear third Lair devil oketokun was a big lie because all his friends are like to know he's in there he's just asleep and then the enemy that guy Air Jordan wrecks havoc and beats Sidekicks up because they suck now they're evacuating the CD so that the Scythe cakes can keep the evil guy's he doesn't kill anyone going because killing is bad okay so because the bad guy is beating everyone really wants to kill tour Thor goes to find friends and he says some inspiring words to save so that she doesn't die kids and now he is worthy because he risked everything to save the others and has become a better person in the span of 10 minutes. thor tells Jane that he will come by he promises her that he will come back but we all know that he doesn't come back until like two years later because the bifrost is broken at the end of this movie because loki overcharge the bifrost it is going to destroy asgard and he can't let that happen but because of that he won't be able to see Jane ever again and he and Loki are almost falling to the universe and Loki let's go and disappears into the universe.

As a very merry and all the people in osgard are celebrating and everything Contender stories their mother and Thor are sad because Loki has gone and they love him like a son and brother and he also misses jane

[stillebesat]

(2/2) what are the two kingdoms like besides the glimpse we get of janus’? why were logan & janus willing to end the war if remus went with logan? did remus invent glasses or had he heard of them from somewhere? how did he know logan needed them? thats all i can think of off the top of my head. i might be back with more if i think of them lol

And the rest of your questions!! ^^;; Hope these satisfy as well! <3 

1. What are the two kingdoms like besides the glimpse we get of janus’? 

Janus’s kingdom is a wealthy well balanced one. He learned well from his father on how to ensure that the kingdom could be self-reliant should any of the neighboring kingdoms decide to cut trade with them (like Logan’s did) While there is a clear separate of “Noble, Upper Class, Lower Class, Poor” Janus is careful to not tax the people too much as he’s learned (from traveling to other kingdoms himself before he became High King) that putting too much of a burden on the lower classes can cause resentment. 

It’s not a perfect kingdom though. As they do allow slaves and slavery to happen within the borders, and discriminate quite heavily against those born with silver in their hair. (And the nobles are always angling to try and get more money from the lower classes) But his kingdom is quite skilled in woodworking and metal forging (and yes glassblowing) and their people are considered the most fashionable and best dressed out of all the kingdoms (especially the nobles with their silks -a trade that Janus himself brought back to his people) 

Janus himself, with his golden eyes (a rare trait, seen as a sign of royalty since gold never tarnishes) has made quite the name for himself as most believe he has some sort of arcane power that allows him to see through any sort of deception as he’s managed to foil and turn the tables on many assassination attempts, and manages to always get the better end of any treaties/deals he strikes with other kingdoms despite their efforts to trade him the worst land, or the useless goods. Janus has a ‘golden touch’ so it’s believed. That whatever he does he can do no wrong and the kingdom is safe in his hands. 

Logan’s kingdom...is a bit more relaxed in comparison. There is less of a clear definition between the various classes as they’ve learned to rely more on each other. It’s less about the money (though you do get those greedy people who try and make more money...they don’t last long) and have more of a reliance upon each other. (They also tend to care less about looks and more about ability/intelligence so while the Evil Twin thing is known, it’s not seen as Evil in their kingdom. The person is just gifted in a different way and they find a way to include the silver streaked twins in their society so that they can be overall productive and helpful to the community at large) They also tend to frown on Slavery since everyone is expected to ‘pull their share’ This ‘work together’ mentality is influenced a lot by the fact that much of the kingdom has bad vision and so one often has to rely on others to help them out. They also tend to focus on trades that are good for near sighted people. They’re known for their complex textiles/weavings, animal handling (horses and dogs mostly -they are often used as...guides/guards to warn their owners of impending danger) and paper/book making skills (and once more people obtain glasses their map making skills) 

They also tend to rely more on close quarters combat (since most can’t see far enough away to shoot an arrow) Logan is quite skilled with hand to hand combat and can flip you on your back quicker than you can blink. That hand to hand combat is a closely guarded secret and something that is rarely taught outside of the kingdom. The Royal family has taken it a step further and knows a more specialized form. So while Janus’s kingdom can excel in distance fighting with arrows, Logan’s kingdom excels in surprise attacks and close quarter fighting. Both do well with sword fighting (and the land in dispute does have good ore on it for making weapons hence why both want it) but while Janus sees the short term benefit of gaining the sought after land (yay more ore!) Logan sees the long term benefit of being able to see. (archery and other long distance forms of fighting can become possible, astronomy also becomes quite popular and with that desire to see the skills his kingdom eventually figures out how to fly as well)  

2. Why were logan & janus willing to end the war if remus went with logan?

A lot of the peace talks have dealt with each side maneuvering to gain control of the resources in the land that’s being fought over. Neither side really wants to give it up...unless the other side can offer something that they find more valuable and useful to the kingdom. Glassmaking is a talent/craft that is seen as merely decorative in Janus’s kingdom. Usually relegated to fancy decor within houses or the occasional stained glass window for the rich. It’s basically considered a ‘cool trick’ and a ‘status symbol’ for the rich. However. Most of Logan’s people are near-sighted. (The Royal family especially so) and with Remus’ gift of sight. Logan was...basically in awe at how far he could now see. How clearly he could see people’s faces and their expressions. How much easier it was to judge a person’s actions/words by more than just tone and movement but also by the micro expressions that are lost when one’s vision is rather fuzzy. Basically Logan argued to be given the secrets of glassmaking in exchange for resources found in the strip of land that was being fought over. And with those secrets, he especially wanted Remus as well so he could obtain more glasses for his people. 

Janus sees this as a win for his kingdom because glassmaking isn’t profitable for his kingdom, he gets access to the ore/land he wants, and he is willing to have one less Evil Twin in his kingdom. If Remus ends up causing chaos in Logan’s kingdom then hey. It’s not his fault the Prince was disillusioned enough to think that arguing for an Evil Twin to be the glassmaker he would take back with him would be a good thing. 

3. Did remus invent glasses or had he heard of them from somewhere? 

He accidentally discovered it one day after his Master had tossed him outside with the shards of the projects he’d destroyed. Stuck in the sun with just the fragments he was messing with them out of boredom and noticed that some shards made objects appear closer while other shards made objects appear further away. (He also discovered that glass is really good at lighting things on fire --hence why it’s used as decoration (vases, paperweights, fancy bowls) and not often used as much more than that because it’s known if stained glass windows are improperly installed they’ve been known to set their home on fire.) But further experimentation -when his Master wasn’t in the forge- allowed him to fine-tune them so he could see things from far away much clearer (hello binoculars) and he could make tiny objects like ants (when he doesn’t accidentally set them on fire) appear ginormous when the glass is formed a certain way.

4. How did he know Logan needed them? 

As a way to clear his frustration with the never ending peace talks (as Janus is wily with his tongue and Logan has to constantly be on his guard against accidentally agreeing to something because of tricky phrasing) Logan’s taken to touring the city every few days -hoping to see something that he can use for his advantage for his kingdom- However, Logan’s vision is quite nearsighted, so in order to see things he has to constantly squint.  Remus happened to be outside when Logan rode by -he was careful to stay out of sight because again Evil Twin- he noticed how much the Prince squinted compared to his guards and wondered if he had trouble seeing things far away...and if Remus could make some sort of device the Prince could wear to help him.

[shirtlesssammy]

15x02: Raising Hell

Then:

Cousin Oliver’s Cousin Oliver makes his grand entrance, and we love him

Now:

The ghosts of Harlan, Kansas are contained, and most of the townsfolk are corralled in the high school 5 miles away. One daring resident, Nan, decides to check out things herself, and armed with nothing but her pashmina scarf, she scouts the town. Her neighbor, Rob, is there and, let me say, if he was that much of a weirdo in life, I would have moved across the country to get away from him. EEEk. 

*Gratuitous Buckleming Bullshit Alert*

Nan is stabbed repeatedly by the ghost possessing Rob. And then the ghost makes a spelling bee funny. 

And we laughed and laughed. 

At the high school, Cas worries that they’re benzine cover story isn’t going to last much longer. One woman already disappeared. Chief!Sam steps up and makes an inspiring speech to the frustrated townspeople.

It’s kinda awkward? I think Sam is nervous about leading (and it breaks me a little to think about the trauma that he’s processing when he made this decision to lead again.)  

FBI!Dean and Belphegor are patrolling the perimeter of the ghost circle. We learn that the ghost in the opening is Francis Tumblety, a.k.a. Jack the Ripper (*Boris puts on Sam Winchester nerd glasses*: No one actually knows who Jack the Ripper was, and he’s not “cool” Dean. Anyway, go read The Five, y’all.) 

Some vigilante townspeople decide to take matters in their own hands and make a plan to go back to their houses. 

*First Quarterly Meeting of the Harlan Ghosts Alert*

Francis Tumblety, President, opens the meeting with an announcement that they were all kicked out of Hell by God himself. Is it just me or did Hell make all these former people WAY dramatic, like they’re all taking part in a small town theater production? 

Two of the vigilantes sneak past the quarantine zone barrier and are almost immediately greeted by two ghosts. Wherps. 

Our favorite witch, Rowena, interrupts Sam and Cas arguing about how to handle the restless townsfolk. Rowena throws her usual love towards Castiel. I think Cas is getting used to it. (And way to deflect your real desire to just chit chat with Sam, Rowena.) Sam asks Rowena about building another soul bomb. They need something to collect the ghosts in.

Before too much flirting can happen, they’re interrupted. There’s a situation. 

Sam rushes to Dean and Belphegor. They’ve found the two possessed townspeople. Sam starts talking to them like they were just totes normal staring at them. Their eyes start bleeding black goo and our intrepid heroes realize they’re possessed. Francis Tumblety pops up and demands to be released. The people possessed are tortured from the inside --and Sam and Dean just stand there. Shoot the ghost, dudes! Make him go away! Ah, that’s for HERO Ketch to do instead! Yay, Ketch! (I feel dirty just writing those words as a joke, and will now burn both my computer and my fingers for typing them.) 

Back at the high school, the brothers discuss the AMAZING and COMPLETELY HELPFUL appearance of Ketch. Ugh. Rowena asks Sam for a Scotch (I mean, she says “Dear”, that’s Sam, right?) Ketch tries to set things right with the witch, but she “hasn’t forgotten” their past. (KILL HIM, QUEEN). 

Ketch learns that Jack is dead and now we’re Team Belphegor. It seems that Ketch has been tasked with assassinating Belphegor. Awkward. 

Meanwhile, in Reno, Amara’s living her best life. She’s getting a massage, when her derpy asshole brother makes an appearance. (Sidenote: I’m supposed to hate Chuck, but wtf? I can’t hate Rob! It’s physically impossible to not be charmed. Aagh. Oh, wait, he liked the ending to Game of Thrones. BURN HIM. But seriously, that’s some lovely shade, and it renews my faith that they’re going to stick the landing with Supernatural.) 

Cas has to handle customer service for a bit, and quite frankly, he’s a fucking saint. 

Rowena and Dean talk ingredients for her soul bomb spell, and Dean plays matchmaker for her and Sam! Specifically, he tells her to “find another boy toy” when she asks about Ketch, but she was just asking to learn what’s the best angle for killing him. Dean doesn’t know that though. Dean might be going through a messy break-up but he’s still making sure his brother is happy. 

*DEANCAS ALERT*

Cas finds Dean in a room. Cas makes an awkward sports reference (HE’S JUST TRYING TO FIT IN, DAMNIT --also, I like to think he’s trying to throw a little levity into their awkward exchanges.) Dean’s pretty mad, and I’m pretty sure I read a few dozen coda fics with this exact dialog last week, lol. Dean’s mad about everything --his whole life has been a lie. Cas bites back, angry about Chuck killing Jack, but he makes it clear to Dean that what they’ve done over the years isn’t a lie. 

Dean can’t believe they’ve ever had a choice in anything. Brb, crying in the corner. I’ll just leave this here for now:

Cas: Dean, you asked, “What about all of this is real?” We are.

(I can’t find it now but someone on sm compared this to “You idiot. You asshole..” and I am compromised.)

Later, Dean and Ketch walk the perimeter. Dean gives Ketch an iron chain to wear to keep ghosts away. They head to a Meat Packing warehouse, where the F in Dean’s FBI jacket disappears. Wherps. Ketch gets tossed around a bit, AND I’M HERE FOR THIS. Dean gets tossed a bit too so, no thank you. A voice tells the ghost to back off. KEVIN!

Dean tries to wrap his brain around Kevin, who was unfortunately sent to Hell instead of Heaven by good ol’ Chuck. Kevin reports that the barrier is fading, so they’re running out of time. He also boasts that he has a “bad boy rep” in Hell. You do you, I guess? 

Chuck continues to be THAT GUY, hanging out in Amara’s hotel room and channel surfing. She tries to do yoga. 

When he tries to convince her to jet off to another dimension, she refuses. “I am running a hot streak in craps. I like Reno. Everyone here is so not…you.” Amara senses that Chuck is…off. When she discovers his injured shoulder, she tells him that he’s weak and afraid. 

Sam and Dean (and bonus Belphegor) assess the state of the barrier. Belphegor insists that the Winchesters can’t just shuttle Kevin off to Heaven. Once he’s been in Hell, he’s destined to stay there. (Can I just say, we’re basing this all off the word of a hinky demon? So IS this really canon truth, is what I wanna know?) (Boris: That wasn’t true for Bobby?)

In Reno, Chuck touches his bullet wound and hisses in pain. Sam cries out at the same time. Oof, TIED TOGETHER. Sam lies to Dean and tells him that he’s feeling better. Dean does his best inquisitive face.

The ghosts, meanwhile, are still hanging out in their weirdly vanilla home base. I can’t believe nobody’s painted viscera on the walls yet! Other Colonel Sanders stalks around, grandstanding about the failing warding and their plan to attack the weak points. Kevin flashes in. Our dear Kevin tries to act tough, but gets bullied by a bigger…ghost. (Suggestion: a ghost’s power isn’t inherently proportional to their size in life, but to their intelligence and mastery of their ghosty powers.) But WHATEVER the big, bully ghost puts a halt to Kevin’s plan to infiltrate the group pretty much immediately. 

Rowena flirts (apparently, ugh) with Ketch while mixing potions in a science classroom. 

As much as I love and support Rowena and want her to GET SOME whenever she damn well pleases, I find Ketch to be a tool through and through. It’d be different if she wanted something from him but…alas. There they are. They flirt with awkward magic versus science innuendo. Ketch strips a plug and jolts her potion. (Boris and I wander off, our hands shielding our eyes in second-hand embarrassment.) 

 Rowena races through the neighborhood with her soul trapping bespelled crystal. Other Colonel Sanders zaps in. He once had a relationship (ReALly?) with her and is appalled that she’s working for the Winchesters now. Ketch pops up and shoots the ghost while Rowena runs off. As Ketch stares off in the distance feeling very smug, the ghost zaps in behind him and knocks him out.

The Winchesters head in to the very beige suburban home to talk to the ghosts. Other Colonel Sanders threatens to kill Kevin, then sticks his hand in Kevin and starts to suck away his soul. Um. Okay, is this a ghost power now? Or is that how demons are made? Rowena uses that moment to suck several ghosts into her crystal, but it’s not enough. She’ll have to catch them one by one, practically. Kevin tells them about the barrier-busting plan, and they head out to survey it. 

The ghosts manifest as little red balls of flame as they hit the barrier. Dean shoots at them like he’s playing a carnival game and is DESPERATE for the red cowboy hat at the top of the booth. Shooting them one by one is pretty fruitless, so Rowena’s called to the plate. Ketch escorts her to the front and I kinda want to punch him as he gestures for her to go ahead. Like, go eat a lemon and die, Ketch. 

Rowena lets loose her ghostbuster ray and starts sucking in ghosts (through…the barrier?) but Ketch knocks her out. It turns out, he’s ghost-possessed! Sweet Dean Bean’s out of salt rounds and Ketch has the crystal now. He boasts about its power and how it’ll be the most perfect thing to break the wall. Dean shoots Ketch, knocking the ghost out of him, and Rowena sucks ‘em in.

Later, Ketch is getting loaded up into an ambulance (glad to see these random first responders are helping out right at the border of this freak gas leak). Cas tells Sam quickly that he tried to heal Ketch, but failed. Ruh roh, Cas! 

Dean holds a conciliatory conversation with Ketch (to sad music) while Ketch gets hauled away. Ketch exchanges mournful glances with (EXHAUSTED SIGH) Rowena. Dodged a bullet there, Rowena. 

Dean and Sam bid farewell to Kevin, who believes Belphegor’s line about Heaven’s no admittance policy. Kevin’s going to wander the world as a restless spirit, rather than head back to Hell. Belphegor zaps the warding, opening up a door-sized hole for him to go through. See you soon, we hope! 

For Kevin Looks FINE Science:

Back with the gods, Amara heads out on her own. “I am willing to coexist with you, brother. …In the universe! Just not anywhere near you.” She tells him that he has little power against her now. Furthermore, he can’t leave the world without her help. “I’ve become the better me. And you are still the same. Petulant, narcissistic…” Amara is pleased that she’s been able to trap Chuck on the very world he’s trying to escape right now. 

At the barrier, souls continue to whir towards the weak point. Dun dun DUN!

______________________________

These Quotes are Real:

A town full of ghosts? Messy even by Winchester standards.

Can you boys do nothing on your own.

We ran our own race. We made our own moves. And mostly we did well with that.

Dean, you asked, “What about all of this is real?” We are.

Turns out, God’s a dick.

I like soul catcher.

______________________________

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[somefinelipstickonthatpig]

rated: t

fandom: Tales of Symphonia

prompt: “Go Through Me” + Zelos/Colette/Lloyd

requested by: @greecllings

more modern-day!AU shenanigans because I got this idea in my head after a particularly great line in another, diff-fandom fanfic i was reading. now this is here.

i’m sorry. 

thanks Josie for the request, though i’m 95% certain this scenario wasn’t what you had in mind when you first requested “get through me” with these three, so...sorry (again)

o - o - o

Schlemiel [Read on AO3]

o - o - o

Zelos frowns. “You’re sure he said to wait here?”

At Colette’s shrug, his frown deepens. Her thumbs fly across the screen of her cell. Zelos doesn’t know how she can see anything on that thing under the glaring light of the courtyard lamppost. “Yeah. Said he was on his way? He should be here in just a—”

“—hey, Colette!” 

The voice that rings out is too loud for not being that far away.

Zelos turns and takes a good look at his theater classmate’s childhood friend. Colette talks about him a lot: the boisterous bundle of energy named Lloyd Irving who is apparently not her boyfriend. (Zelos is of the opinion that there’s a yet in those words somewhere.) Her stories she spins as they sit knee-to-knee doing warm-ups on stage are always wild, extremely silly, and very funny. To see the subject of those 4-wheeler wheelies and the self-proclaimed corn-husk king, who’s apparently a plain guy with spiky brown hair and a bright red university sweater, was almost a disappointment. Zelos had expected someone more…something.

“You must be Zelos,” Lloyd gives a breathless greeting and thrusts a hand out towards his chest. “Nice to meetcha.”

Zelos takes the proffered hand because he, unlike some of the people in front of him, was not raised in a barn. He makes a good show of flicking a long strand of red hair over his shoulder, sliding on a slow grin. “I see our sweet little Colette here has told you about me.”

Is that a smattering of pink dusting the guy’s cheeks? Geez, already? How are these two not dating yet if the mere mention of the other’s name makes them go all gooey-eyed and soft? “Yeah. I guess she has mentioned a thing or two about the funny redhead from her theater class before.” 

Sharply, Zelos chokes. “Funny—?!”

Lloyd chuckles and is quick to release his hand and wrap it around one of his two ratty backpack straps. He swallows and looks over his shoulder. “Right. Well, uh, shall we head back?”

And then and all of a sudden, Colette’s head snaps up from her phone. 

She stares at Lloyd with almost comically ginormous eyes. Zelos doesn’t get quite why until Colette waves for his attention and turns her phone screen to face him. Beaming in the night, surrounded by a green text message box from one heart-emoji-surrounded Lloyd (seriously?) are the white words: jhey, I think i mite be being follow.ed. just os you kno. sry. 

Ah.

“Yes!” Colette says as soon as she pockets her phone. “C’mon! Yeah! Let’s, uh, let’s go to our dorms!”

The funny thing about being in a theater class with country bumpkin Colette Brunel is that the golden-headed tenderheart has the hardest time telling a convincing lie, so she’s actually very, very bad on stage—which is exactly why Zelos likes her. She is earnest and sincere and would never stab him in the back one day probably because she didn’t know which way to hold the damn knife. 

Completely unlike him in every way.

Which is why when Colette says “our dorms,” Zelos immediately realizes two things: one, that Lloyd must not have the same scholarship he and Colette do because he isn’t bunking in Chosen Hall, and two, when Lloyd is asking if he can walk with them, it’s because he doesn’t feel safe heading back to his own dorms.

And all in the span of two seconds, Zelos knows what to do.

His grin widens.

“W-whoa, hey, what are you—”

“—shhh, play along,” Zelos purrs, arm snug around Lloyd’s waist as he flicks a glance over the guy’s shoulder. It was on his right Lloyd had looked earlier; there’s a figure leaning against a tree on their phone. Super casual, not anything unusual after nine on a college campus after night classes have just let out. 

But Zelos remembers very well his own personal near-experiences.

With his arm around Lloyd, he turns him and guides him down the sidewalk towards his and Colette’s dorm. He sneaks another glance behind them in the form of a chaste kiss to Lloyd’s very, very red cheek. 

After a beat, the stranger begins to follow. 

Huh.

Colette is making strange, choked-off noises at his side and when he glances at her, he can see her face is as red as Lloyd’s sweater. Hell, she’s practically as red as Lloyd’s face. Zelos really is surrounded by the two most rural, suppressed idiots this side of the Tethe’alla-Sylverant continent divide, huh.

They aren’t even halfway to the dorms yet and the stranger tailing them still hasn’t taken a hint, so Zelos decides to do something fun.

“You trust me?” he whispers, leaning in close to Lloyd’s side. The guy’s been quiet as a mouse the entire walk, which is funny as hell because he’s known him for all of three minutes (if you don’t count Colette’s oddball stories) and he has a very good hunch his unusual silence is because he’s so far out of his element, he’s probably somewhere on Mars.

“N-no…?” 

“Fair enough.”

Zelos spins him and pins him to the outer wall of the old university library. Colette squeaks. There’s an odd bump and arc to Lloyd’s figure with his backpack in the way. With one hand pressed to the brick at the level of Lloyd’s bewildered face and the other digging into the pocket of his white sweatpants, Zelos leans in.

“If you really want to ward ‘em off, you know what we should do.”

“Ex-fuckin’-scuse me?”

“Yes or no. Be quick.”

And then, Zelos has about two seconds to recognize the flash of determination set in Lloyd’s eyes for what it is before Lloyd clumsily grabs his face with both hands and pulls him in. At that moment, Zelos discovers another thing:

Lloyd’s never kissed before.

The guy’s real bad at it. Has no finesse whatsoever. Really messy with his lips and bumps his nose against Zelos’ as he tries to tilt his head at a better angle. Stinky breath; what, did he just stuff his mouth full of sour cream and onion chips during his late class or something? Disgusting. Salty. Actually, kinda addicting?

Weird.

Zelos tilts into it when Lloyd gives a tiny, hitched gasp. His nerves light up. Belatedly, he realizes that was his own fault—his fingers have curled into the skin of Lloyd’s hip, pushing up his sweatshirt until it bunches over the back of his hand. 

When finally they break apart, breath hot against one another’s faces, Zelos turns his face to the side.

Whoever it was that was following Lloyd is gone.

Good. Didn’t want them to even reach our dorms, anyway.

“Zelos! Lloyd! Th-that was—” 

Oh.

Zelos turns to his other side. He almost forgot Colette was there, but when he sees her, there are stars in her eyes. Like, near-legitimate stars. He’s never known blue could turn so cosmic at night, like spinning nebulas are spanning the length of her mind. 

“What?” Zelos asks innocently, straightening up and pushing both hands in his sweatpants pockets, now. “You’ve seen me do that in class all the time, Colette.”

“Y-yeah, but—” Colette stutters and her face steams up again. She squeaks out, hands fisted in front of her collar, “—not with my best friend!”

Oh.

Yeah.

There was that.

“That was…” She tries again, but seems to be at a loss for words. When Colette looks to Lloyd, Lloyd looks back at her, dazed and still so, so red.

Actually, to hell with it. Red looks great on him.

“Well, it worked, so you’re welcome.” Zelos shrugs. “Successfully delivered the age-old, ‘you’ll have to go through me,’ and ‘this one’s taken,’ message across to that creep, for what it’s worth. They shouldn’t bother you again, but if they do…well, you know who to reach out to.”

“Thanks,” Lloyd murmurs. 

Zelos takes a step back and bows extravagantly. 

“We should, uh…” Lloyd looks around at this side of campus—probably unfamiliar to him—and scratches the back of his head. “We should keep going, right? Your guys’ dorm is further on. Colette, are you sure you’re fine if I…?”

“What? Yeah—yes. That’s fine! I still have your toothbrush from last time.”

Oh, to be young and in love and so dumb as to not even realize it.

“Do you, um—” Colette breaks off and if possible, her face is even redder. “Zelos, would you want to come with us?”

“Uh, I have to.” Zelos gives Colette a funny, patient look. “We’re in the same dorm hall, honey.”

“Oh—no—yes—of course—but I mean—”

And then it dawns on Zelos in that funny, crawling kind of way. Slowly, like the first rays of the sun as it peeks over the horizon. And then it warms him, starting from some point in the center of the top of his head and spreading down across his skin and low to his feet and he hedges out a laugh that’s as bewildered as it is—admittedly—just a bit flustered.

“You want me to crash your little slumber party?” he asks with a lifted brow. She can’t be serious.

Colette says, “You wouldn’t be crashing it!” at the same time as Lloyd finally catches on and bursts, “Hey, yeah! That’s a great idea! Colette’s got a corner room to herself and the bottom bunk’s a futon that can fold out and it’s really comfy. C’mon, Zelos. You’ll love it!”

Zelos has every idea that these two oblivious fools are going to be the death of him. 

But then he finds himself somehow—incredibly—nodding—and he supposes he must be the biggest fool of all. Is he actually agreeing to this?

“Yay!” Colette cheers and claps her hands and Zelos supposes he is.

How did he get here?

[amarits]

I love Common People so uch I have to ask: how did you come up with such an wonderful idea?

Thank you! Like all my fic ideas, it started as a conversation with @kyrianne. I’d just read a bunch of fics where one or more of the kids hadn’t been adopted, and joked that I was going to go the opposite direction and make them all Bruce’s bio kids. Then we spent awhile playing around with how they would be related, how their lives would be different, etc, which led to the opening scene of Common People, with Catherine dropping Jason off at Bruce’s office. 

We actually made up a number of versions, including one where they’re all metas. In that version, Jason was murdered while homeless and when investigating his death, Bruce/Batman did a DNA analysis to try to find out who this John Doe was and discovered that Jason was his kid. He’s devastated, of course, and they have a little funeral for him. And then Jason comes back to life. At the funeral. I still kind of love that one. 

I’m also just really interested in the idea of social class and how it doesn’t really align with how much money you have. Someone can be rich and still working class, and they can be gentry class and bankrupt. Social class is about the values that you learned growing up and how people perceive you because of them. The traditionally wealthier classes always think that the traditionally poorer classes are trying to be them and failing, while the traditionally poorer classes think that the things that the traditionally richer classes care about are silly and unimportant. Like how my ex-roommate’s family chased someone’s boyfriend away because he didn’t know the right order to put silverware and was therefore uncouth, and how I can’t possibly convince myself to care what the right order of silverware is. This goes all the way up and down the line of different social classes. 

And it’s not necessarily that some classes have “right” values and others have “wrong” values. They’re just different and it’s really hard to understand them if you didn’t grow up with them. It’s actually really difficult for people to successfully transition between social classes past a certain age. 

Which I find really fascinating for Jason in particular. Not just Jason in Common People but Jason in any universe. I think a lot of times Jason being adopted by Bruce is written as thoroughly good with barely any culture clash. It’s just, yay, now I have money and this is better. Which is totally fine. Not every story needs to thoroughly explore the cultural ramifications of a billionaire adopting someone out of abject poverty. But it’s something I think is really interesting to explore. Because Jason’s never really going to be able to thoroughly fit in with the Waynes and their ilk without giving up something essential about himself. 

And meanwhile, Bruce might be better than a lot of billionaires, but he’s still a product of his social class. There are things about his life and culture and values that he just thinks are better than what Jason’s grown up with and that embracing them will improve Jason's life, and he doesn’t understand why Jason refuses to. Jason’s life is clearly better now. Why is he fighting it?

So these two things kind of combined into one story. I focus a lot of Jason and Tim's relationship because they're both in that transition time period where you're going from child to adult and really finding who you're going to be for the rest of your life, while also coming at the culture clash from opposite angles. Also I just think their relationship is fun.

That's probably way more information than you were asking for, but I hope you found it interesting!