#even if I may not end up posting ep 1 part 6

[whump-queen]

We ever gonna see more Kane and Raiza?

yes!! there is a lot more kane and raiza @whumpsday and I have written I just need to transcribe and edit it— this is just smth I will have to do when I have the bandwidth — but it def helps motivate me to know people are interested so I appreciate you!!!

I don’t have my laptop atm but when I get it back it’ll be easier to edit!!

[wolfscarr]

Helluva Broken Narrative 3. Wasted Romance.

So here I am for a 3rd time on this...I guess Broken Narrative...series? Because honestly this just came to my mind, that's also a big point

^ Links to the other 2 parts that I've written out.

DISCLAIMER: Not saying you can't enjoy the show. Enjoy it all you want, this again is just a rant about a lack of cohesive narrative.

Alright so this may be because of the Season 2 trailer that I'm writing this, but I really just...need to throw this out there because it again, has everything to do with the Narrative that has been told to us thus far for 2 and a half Seasons.

So we as the audience are suppose to believe that Blitz and Stolas are going to end up together, but here's the thing. There's no reason for them Narratively to be together. Putting aside the fact that thanks to Season 2, Blitz and Stolas has ZERO reason to interact at all as I labeled out in my previous posts above.

The two have zero chemistry, they have nothing in common as far as personal hobbies and for all of S1 and it seems in S2, Stolas has treated him like complete shit. From what I've gathered in S2, Stolas is apparently going to throw Blitz out and is pissed at him because.....reasons.

Yet I'm suppose to want these two together because....why? There is no narrative reason for them to be together, people wanna say "you need to wait, you need to wait, you need to wait!"

WAIT FOR WHAT?! It's been 2 and a half Seasons worth of content. What we're suppose to wait all the way to Season 3? If that's the case, then this is laughable and shows how terrible the writing is, it also shows that the two should never be together if we're having to wait this long.

You're suppose to gradually put building blocks if you want a relationship to pan out in a series. The writing for 2 whole Seasons involving Blitz and Stolas, haven't done that and in fact Season 2 made things even worse for Season 1 and from where I'm sitting....it doesn't get any better.

Why should Blitz want to be with Stolas, after the way he's been treated? No one in their right mind would want to be with someone who's talked down to him, who's hung their livelihoods over their heads and who thinks so very little of his own species.

Oh but here's the kicker folks, here's something that will be quite a shocker! As I've explained in my posts above, you can write Stolas completely out of the show now thanks to Season 2, he's a pointless character. But you wanna know who you can't write out of the show? Wanna know who is an important character for Blitz?

VEROSIKA MAYDAY!

Wanna know why? Well first we have to turn back the clock to Season 1. See while Season 2 retroactively and continues to make things worse for the Blitz and Stolas dynamic and Season 1 just in general showed that they need to be so far away from one another, they should be in separate dimensions.

Let's see....we have had basically...what 9 episodes showing Blitz and Stolas' dynamic across 2 whole Seasons and I've gotten nothing other than they are terrible to eachother and have nothing in common/no chemistry.

But within a single Season and within....3 EPISODES! I have more of a Narrative reason to want Blitz and Verosika to reconcile and get back together. But let's explore those 3 episodes, shall we?

S1 EP 3, Spring Broken= Introduced to Verosika, Blitz stated that they had a lengthy relationship/dated for awhile, he took her car and credit cards.

^ This episode gives us an introduction to who they were to one another, showcases that the pair had a genuine relationship and it was Blitz who ended it. It also shows that Verosika has a tattoo of his name on her arm, signifying that he was very important to her.

S1 EP 6, Truth Seekers= In Blitz' hallucination, he comes across Verosika who is crying, crawling towards him, stating that "you just push away anyone who tries to get close to you!"

^ This brief sequence tells us that Verosika really did care/loved him, in that she was just wanting to help him, to understand him, to be there for him.

S1 EP 7, Ozzie's= Verosika again appears, saying that he was selfish in bed and calls him a heartbreaking freak, leaning into him, with Blitz looking guilty. Later on after, Blitz is scrolling through his phone and there's a picture of him and Verosika, clearly in a public area and she wearing a dress with the word NO over the crotch. This implying that she only wanted Blitz and no one else.

^ This sequence shows basically...everything that the prior 2 episodes told us and even moreso, that Verosika truly did love and care for him before he pushed her away. Blitz clearly looking guilty about what he had done to her.

So 3 episodes, 2 of which weren't even a focus on them, gives me much more of a reason to support them because the Narrative....didn't try to hamfist it. It was far more natural in building up than whatever they are trying to do with Blitz and Stolas, which in turn ends up breaking the Narrative entirely and making Stolas a pointless character for the show.

Now I'm sure Season 2 is going to no doubt, turn Verosika on her head as a character...just to support Stolas and to show Blitz that he is the one for him, but sorry...they really can't write their way out of it. Not that the writing has been able to do so anyway.

Yet the funny thing is? Verosika will be far more important to Blitz than Stolas ever will be and why? Because the Narrative tells and shows us this, she is an important part of Blitz' past, not just relationship wise either.

Verosika Mayday connects with Blitz that connects him to every single other part of his past due to his insecurities within himself and how he should be a better person to others. She actually can help him with that, if the writing allowed for it, she could actually help him mend his past relationships, since Verosika not only knows Fizzarolli, but also knows Barbie(due to rehab), though I know Blitz already reconciled with Fizz, I'm just saying this as more of a Narrative hook.

People wanna say this show has such 'complex and deep characters/writing' yet I really have a hard time seeing that, when S1 is basically broken. Oh but they also wanna say that "it's just a cartoon" or "It's not that serious!"

No...no folks, you can't say one thing and then say another that completely contradicts the other thing.

A show is like a house, S1 is the foundation and if that foundation is broken....then the whole show is. Characters and plot points have been made useless thanks to S2.

Yet Verosika, will always be important for Blitz as a character and to see this get wasted? Is a real shame.

The real waste though is that Season 1 had set it up, to where....they could have written it as Blitz and Stolas realizing that they need to confront those that they've hurt. That Blitz needs to confront those and reconcile with those of his past, to become a better person.

On Stolas' end, he has to confront both his wife and daughter before he loses them forever...before he loses his whole family. Something which mind you, is REALLY RELATABLE for many in the world, because many don't want their Families to split up. But of course as I've outlined in posts above, they just completely wasted Stolas' Family.

They had a great S1 story hook for both of them...and they fumbled the ball.

Anyway folks, this is the 3rd and probably last bit of Broken Narrative I make...so enjoy!

[botlabyrinth]

OKAY PERCY JACKSON EPISODE 6 THOUGHTS (long post)

i was definitely a bit weary of the big changes: the fact that the summer solstice deadline passed and that percy gets 4 pearls. but after thinking about it for a while i think im actually okay with it!! first of all, its making the show interesting for book readers bc they caught me off guard and now we don’t 100% know how it’s going to play out lol

but also, i like that the deadline passing raises the stakes a bit more. the fact that percy still wants to go get the bolt from the underworld, just shows how committed he’s become to the actual goal of the quest and starting to embrace his demigod side. and it’s going to make his trip to olympus at the end so much riskier & dangerous considering a whole war is literally about to start. so im okay with this

and then the 4 pearls: i still don’t think they’re going to be able to take sally with them out of the underworld. something is definitely going to happen to 1 of the pearls, it’s going to get lost in the chaos of them making it to hades’ palace or SOMETHING because a big part of the prophecy is “fail to save what matters most in the end”. they have to leave sally behind and i think it’s going to be so much more heartbreaking that percy HAD 4 pearls and HAD the chance to save his mom but they lost 1 along the way so then they’ll have to make the tough decision and TRULY fail to save what matters most… bc in the book it’s not even really an option since he only gets 3 pearls

obviously i could be wrong about that lol but i don’t think there’s any way they don’t leave sally behind because she’s not there on the beach when they’re about to fight ares, which is where they are directly after the underworld (unless they’ve switched the order around but idk how that would work)

other than that I LOVED EVERYTHING with the trio, the bestieism continues and i love it. you can really see the shift in percy and annabeth’s dynamic after the last episode it’s so cute. the little grover and percy moments were so sweet too, their convos felt RIGHT out of the books to me. also MORE SEAWEED BRAIN AND WISE GIRL!!!

LOVE the dream sequence bc it felt so book accurate, we do get a lot of percy witnessing other people’s convos through his dreams and this is the first time we’ve seen it in the show, it was great

luke immediately jumping at the chance to blame clarisse for stealing the bolt in the iris message lol im laughing

more luke/annabeth sibling set up AND hermes and may and luke backstory set up??? i was NOT expecting that so early on but im deeply obsessed

the whole hermes situation was also great… i can’t believe it but i liked LMM’s performance?? i think he sold it really well. again im so excited to be getting these convos about hermes and luke so early on because it is such a key part to the end of the series.

the conversation with percy and the nereid and the way percy reacts to thinking the quest failed??? the way he refuses to give up?? the nereid saying they all see so much of poseidon in him??? i’m unwell

crying at annabeth pick pocketing hermes, the literal god of thieves, that’s my girl fr

the entire cab driving sequence was just so funny. peak comedy, and brought some lightheartedness to the episode that i think was very needed. the new yorker in percy really came out in that scene lmao

there was just SO MANY hilarious moments of dialogue and jokes between the trio i feel like this episode captured the essence of their dynamic from the books so well

overall LOVED it, wish it was longer, and i’m curious to see how they finish it off in the next 2 episodes. i’m trying my best to hold back the criticism for any changes until we’ve seen the whole season, because i think most complaints people have from this ep will probably just be fixed or addressed in the next 2 lol

[motherfactorin-pi-face]

In which I describe the maths of how to attack and dethrone God (per Minamimoto)

So in my evergrowing post thread (which I know I'm already gonna have to add to that essay fml) I did make ref to...well, a thing that literally has made my jaw drop since when I played TWEWY the first time (and keeping in mind this was a game friends forcefully insisted I play because "there's a char Sho Minamimoto who's just like you fr", and after I'd nodded "yup" re the SI unit obsessions and the compsci refs to Heaps and Crunching (and later, as I found out, "crashing" in JP), and the aesthetic, and, and...)

Namely: Sho Minamimoto literally uses (or tries to use) a very famous maths formula called Euler's Identity to take out the Composer as an example of Forcefully Applied Mathematics. :D (This may have also been the moment when I was like "Yup, he just like me FR")

So. First off. Euler's Identity.

It's kind of difficult to explain why this particular equation is considered one of the true Chef's Kisses of Mathematics to non-mathematicians, but part of it is elegance, and part of it is that it includes five of the foundational variables that show up in mathematics all the time (and really even more functions if you break it apart): a) the natural logarithm e or Euler's number which is roughly 2.71828182845... and which is zetta important in a lot of fields including finance, biology, medicine, and calculus functions, and (as we'll get into) antennas and field strength measurements and pretty much a Shitload of functions related to growth b) the imaginary unit i or the square root of -1 (which turns out to be extremely useful in a lot of contexts, including electronics (seriously; AC electricity and functions relating to that are *heavily* dependent on the imaginary unit) and graphing and arguably how Cartesian graphs work especially once you get into calculus c) Pi (π), everyone's favourite circle ratio of 3.141592653589793238462643393279 (is pulled away from keyboard before I can draw a Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil in Paint) and which is Important in many, many contexts d) 1 (yes, 1 is considered a constant! Specifically "A quantity exists") , and

e) 0 (yes, 0 is considered a constant too, specifically "a quantity does not exist", and reducing Euler's Identity results in e^(i*pi)+1=0) To make it even more Minamimoto-esque, you can technically also express Euler's Identity as a reduction of "e^(i*x) = cos(pi) + (i * (sin(pi)) (aka Euler's Formula), and cos(pi) =-1 and sin(pi)=0.

And really it's kind of a beautiful way of how things all fit together in a lovely function that is almost a kiss from the Math Gods and if plotted traces a lovely circle.

So after that little tangent, here's how this all relates to W2D7 of TWEWY, and Minamimoto's forcefully applied mathematics. * * * So, first we end up at Pork City (Mark City if you're watching the anime; Tokyu Group liked the TWEWY tourism and by the time the anime and NEO came around decided to take advantage of the advertising), and...Joshua and Neku start having a very interesting conversation on why there's So Much Damn Noise at Pork City anyways:

Neku asks if this is the work of Pi-Face, Joshua notes "Probably" and then goes on to note that it might not all be JUST Minamimoto:

In other words: Pork City is effectively acting as an amplifier or at least an antenna for Noise. (I am not the only one to have noticed it and not even the only one on Tunglr, for that matter; Voice From The Corner also picked up on this as well though I'll freely admit I'm diving a bit more into the STEM portions of this.) TWEWY:tA is even more blatant about this imagery in ep 6, where Joshua explicitly notes that all the emotion in Shibuya collects at Mark City (remember, the animation uses the RL name) and then "crashes into Mark City and shoots up into the sky. That emotion flows back down and keeps building up here." (Shortly afterwards, Joshua also mentions the Imaginary Noise Plane as the inside of Mark City warps, similarly to a sine wave flow--or the flow of energy into, or out of, an antenna. (You do not know how loudly I screamed seeing this, as an aside) So, this is where we get into piece one, e (and where a healthy interest in radio and electronics hobbies helps!)

So antennas, interestingly, have how well they pick up a frequency measured in a logarithmic scale, and basic field strength measurements (and a lot of other "wavey" things, including earthquakes, including, well, literal background noise) get measured on logarithmic scales too. It's rather more common with antennas and earthquakes for this to be measured on log-10 scales (hence the Richter scale for quakes, or decibels for antennas and sound). There's a particular group of measurements (physical field and power measurements), however, that actually uses log-e, aka the natural logarithm, and especially for voltage or current and "root power quantities"--the neper. And, in Euler's Identity, e is taken to powers...and Pork City is basically acting as a huge antenna. Also in info engineering aspects, there's another aspect--the nat, which is considered a unit of information or info entropy...also based on e. (I told you Euler's number comes up a lot of places!)

Let's continue... So now we come to i, the imaginary unit, and that's called out blatantly by Joshua:

This, too, is based on math--from Final Fantasy II, specifically, and how the Flare spell worked. Flare is an area-effect spell and it hit based on (Enemy's HP/Flare level), i.e. enemies that had HP divisible by 2 could be hit by a Flare level 2 spell and could deliver damage based on that spell's level, etc. So a level i Flare, based on how complex numbers work, could hit just about anything (assuming, of course, that the Composer is not a Fractal Bastard and promptly yeets himself into a PokeYugiBeyBladeVerse). But...that's not the ONLY part where things imaginary come into play. So, one of the interesting bits of lore that came out in (of all things) the NEO:TWEWY Field Walk RPG (alas, JP only, but a delightful source of lore, and thankfully the fan community preserved almost all of it) is actual canon on how Tin Pins and Psychs work including the actual formula on how they work in a convo between Minamimoto and Fret:

Fret: Soooo, these psychs and pins and stuff… how does it all work? Minamimoto: The pin is charged by the Imagination of the user. Fret: Uh huuuh. Minamimoto: The pin itself is just a medium. Fret: Mm-hmm. Minamimoto: “Power” is calculated from the numerical limit of the pin, using your will as a coefficient. Fret: Yeah. Minamimoto: But that formula alone means nothing to me!

(Emphasis mine: props to Pavaal on the Dead Bird App for initial translation, and to multiple others for confirmation from the FWRPG script.) So basically how Psychs work is functionally as an athame, using formula Psych=Limit^Imaginatio. (Secret Report 1 in TWEWY also confirms Imagination is important in making a Psych work to begin with; the formula) Of note, Minamimoto also has a canonically high Imagination, as detailed in the Secret Reports. To even become a Reaper to begin with (as noted in SR7) those who survive the week who have enough Imagination become Reapers, and even among Reapers Minamimoto tends to stand out (he is canonically the youngest Reaper Officer ever, and apparently had quite the rapid rise to power). SR15 in TWEWY notes (even keeping in mind that in this instance Hanekoma is being a bit of an Unreliable Narrator in covering his own butt regarding the Taboo Thing):

The sigil Minamimoto drew was one of the undecodable types. Was that a mistake on the Fallen Angel's part? Or was it a transcription error by Minamimoto? Either way, with that design, he stands little chance of reviving himself. However, Minamimoto is driven, and his Imagination strong. Perhaps strong enough to make a Taboo sigil work, even in the Underground... If so, the specific result would be impossible to predict.

And in SR19 (again, covering up just a bit for his own helping hand):

I've detected an energy spike here. It would seem Minamimoto has returned. I judged his revival unlikely after spotting his Taboo refinery sigil on the first day, but it appears Minamimoto's Imagination is much stronger than I'd anticipated. The Fallen Angel must have completed the array for him. A troubling thought. Who can say what impact this will have on the Composer and Conductor's Game?

And even in the NEO Secret Reports it's noted his second trip through Coco's version of the Sigil actually ramped up his Imagination even more (in NEO SR 7):

Minamimoto, on the other hand has all but vanished from the proxy’s side. His Noise refinery sigil drastically heightens his Imagination, which may be why he can clearly recognize the proxy’s abilities. I have an idea of what he’s planning. It’s dangerous, but I have no way of stopping him.

And again, TWEWY:tA also makes it more blunt that Minamimoto was selected explicitly because of his Imagination and his connections to Shibuya as Hanekoma's Plan B. So there's imaginary units (in the sense of literal level i flare), and imaginary units (in a Reaper whose Imagination is already in the stratosphere). And in regards to pi? Well, Pi-Face, he has very much a rep of being....numbers- and math-obsessed even BEFORE he throws 156 digits of pi in the Composer's face:

But pi (as a number) is actually meaningful as HELL to Minamimoto, he engages in saying pi to himself drawing the Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil (goroawase in Japanese which relates to literally an obstetrician going to a foreign country and a woman giving birth at night as insects make a lot of noise which can almost be seen as a minor ritual to Make It Work, a little happy pi rhythmic thing in English in the game, actual spoopy sounding pimetry in the anime that sounds very sorcery-y). Looking (for far too long) at the Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil, pi is encoded in it in at least four or five places (multiple times as functionally a magic binding circle, at least once where he draws the symbol for pi in such a way that when it's turned upside down it literally spells "pi"). It's important. It's meaningful. It's His Number and transcedential and irrational and beautiful and unrestrained :D So now y'all are wondering, "OK, smartass, where's the -1 at?" As I noted, another way you can write Euler's Identity is specifically as "e^(i*pi)+1=0", so that can be expressed as a way to null the Composer (who is probably the 1 in question). Euler's Identity would be used to subtract 1 from the equation, in other words (as Minamimoto was intending to come back from Erasure by literally integrating himself via Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil). There's one other interesting bit of symbolism, one that's deep enough that I'm not even sure the writers of TWEWY intended, but if so...it's such a chef's kiss that I have deepest admiration.

So Euler's Identity can be expressed in terms of a formula, and as a reduction of sine and cosines involving pi and i, but it can also be mapped as motion--specifically as how a function evolves. (I tend to be a pretty visual thinker, and there's an extremely good discussion on Euler's Identity here that goes into the whole "mapping the function" aspect to show how Euler's Identity works in practice.)

So typically when you're doing a non-negative function or a zero function, generally there's an assumption of "right-hand" rotation or movement. Complex functions, you get into fun things like circles, and curves, and even some very beautiful fractals (like with the Mandelbrot set) with the right iterative formulas. Euler's Identity...is literally a left-hand-path function:

(And those of you who were writing about the Cyclic Nature of Minamimoto are probably all screaming right now) Anyways, wanted to share in full one of the things that was a jawdropper for me in TWEWY back when I found the game at a glorified skateshop that sold games in 2011. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, zeptograms :3

[shimmeringweeds]

Link Click Episode 10 part 2 (part 1)

On the Twin Question

Alright, so I still cannot get away from the verifiably insane theory that both twins visited Lu Guang the night Chen Bin died. And since we have points for both Li Tianxi and Li Tianchen being THE twin, I want to put this down as a third option to cover all bases. I hope this can guide people towards their own, individual, answers as to who did what that night.

Starting with the security footage. This is damning. There's only one twin..... Xiao Li never mentioned more than one person. But did he have to? Xiao Li was sent this image and it's not even live footage. Since Lu Guang is obviously okay, he may have thought it was good enough to just show the one photo and ask him about it. Why would Lu Guang lie? He's the victim here. (and Lu Guang doesn't lie. He thinks very carefully before giving a truth.)

Also, this twin in the surveillance image is standing right in the doorway. We can't see Lu Guang. The same applies to anyone else who might be standing inside the room. And you know what, if Episode 10 can reveal a hidden Li Tianxi in the back of the car, then episode 11 can reveal a hidden twin in this room.

The Incident, in Pictures

The first time we are shown a scene of a twin visiting Lu Guang is at the end of episode 2. I'm going to post screenshots in the order that they appear: This gets image heavy, so under the cut it goes.

The scene keeps getting cut. And the angle of perspective changes each time.

---

In episode three, there are two separate times where Lu Guang thinks back on the encounter.

The first time is right after a phone call with CXS/QL. It appears they had to go to the police station, and were not able to check back in with Lu Guang that night (they're telling him about the fight, and CXS notes that LG is acting strange). - pin that for later.

The memory goes like this:

Here, there's an overlap. Not a smooth transition.

Okay, that's just called reusing animation, yeah, yeah.... How convenient for the animators. Bet they breathed a sigh of relief to not have to reanimate this sequence for fluidity. There are multiple "animation inconsistencies" in this show that I'm not convinced are just so. That's another post.

At the end of episode three, we finally get a full scene (or at least, we get one scene.) Cheng Xiaoshi is presumably still inside Chen Bin's photo and Lu Guang gets lost in thought. (He is so stressed by this incident, save him) It follows like this:

We neither see hide nor hair of the "red eyes", and the point of view is consistent.

So what happened? Which twin is this?

We see Li Tianxi run away in a uniform. She shows up later in the same uniform. Similar problem with Li Tianchen, he still has the same hoodie jacket combo In ep 10. (and it could just be character design, but in this particular case I find it unlikely.) The twins run away and then someone, wearing Li Tianchen's coat, shows up at the hospital.

Huge shout out to mimicha-arts (I'm in awe) who noticed that Xiao Ma might have gone back to kill Chen Bin, thereby giving the twins time to move. There's still the matter of Li Tianxi "seeing" Chen Bin apologizing, but I'll accept this small blessing for now because I was ripping my hair out.

So either twin had time to make it up the elevator and retrieve the phone from Xiao Ma. From there, the visit to Lu Guang can be taken at a leisurely pace. In the meantime, they have a multitude of empty rooms to hide in, and the "security" is otherwise occupied.

(For reference, I think the top room is LG. Floor 5 or 6? We don't know about the other occupant, the nurse maybe.)

This part is all untold, a dark space with no light. We do not know what happened that night. We can only guess. So let's weave a story. (there's a huge chance this is wrong, okay, don't take it seriously.)

(EDIT: you can even swap the roles out if you like. I just picked LTC as default. There are no rules.)

Li Tianxi runs to the hospital. Maybe she wants to stop what is happening, maybe she wants to turn herself in. She's distressed and guilty. Li Tianchen catches up before the elevator doors close. He apologizes to Tianxi and quickly hides her in one of the empty rooms, let's say on floor 6 where the elevator stops. He never lets her reach the roof.

Li Tianchen doesn't make it to save Chen Bin. He never planned to. He stays in a blind spot on floor 7, where he collects the phone from Xiao Ma. Xiao Ma walks down the stairs, and takes the elevator on floor 6 down. Li Tianchen returns to Li Tianxi.

Side note about security cams. Xiao Ma wasn't wearing a mask. He doesn't care if his identity is spotted and Qian Jin doesn't care to enforce it, even though he very much cares later. So I don't think anyone was too concered about the surveillance footage.

---

Li Tianchen knows that Lu Guang is alive thanks to possessing Chen Bin. He was privy to that entire conversation. They can use that.

When did the twins possess Lu Guang? (assuming LTX's drawing here is accurate and she isn't just choosing to not to draw a possessed QL in front of QL.) That night is the only window of opportunity the twins would have to play this out.

When they block the door, Lu Guang's hand is right there. Possession easy-peasy if this is Li Tianchen alone. But that's not what's shown in Li Tianxi's drawing.

I haven't yet figured out how a potential coat swap works in this. There wasn't anything else besides the plushy left in Chen Bin's bag, right?

I don't want to suspect him anymore, unless Li Tianchen specifically requested the help. Li Tianxi doesn't have the coat later. So it is a one coat operation, in my opinion. And if this is a two twin operation, then one twin is always being hidden out of sight. Tricky, tricky.

Lu Guang is very occupied throughout this scene. He's tracking a whole hospital (but not everyone in it) He stops moving towards the door in order to focus solely on directions. By the end of the fight, his stab wound is bleeding but he's barely moved (it is a serious injury). He doesn't seem to have lost awareness at any point, but how easy would it have been for a twin to slip in at this time?

When Chen Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling speak with Lu Guang (on face call after the fight) Lu Guang hangs up right after Cheng Xiaoshi suggests he handcuff himself to the bed in case of possession. Cheng Xiaoshi notes that Lu Guang was acting weird. We joke and say Lu Guang just wasn't in the mood for teasing, but maybe he's worried those words are the truth.

When did either twin escape?

Remember, Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling don't return that night, though the police would have checked in on Lu Guang promptly. How much time passed before Xiao Li was conscious and giving orders?

The only exits known to us on are on the ground floor, and that was swarmed.

The twin's timeline stays tricky. Li Tianxi runs away at some point that night, not wearing her brother's coat. A few days later, she is found in the grocery story and taken into custody as an unidentified person.

Li Tianchen has some convenient timing showing up at the police station while Cheng Xiaoshi is still in their photograph. We don't know how many days have passed. What we do know: when a man hunt is declared for Li Tianxi later that evening, she's already been in police custody for two days. Meaning she isn't in contact with her brother.

Is anyone else getting the feeling there's more to Li Tianxi's powers than we know? Or am I just crazy (I feel crazy.)

I do feel that Li Tianchen is walking on a tightrope around Qian Jin. He wasn't asked if he wanted to kill Chen Bin, just told to do it. This play only works if Li Tianxi understands that, and still trusts her brother despite the horrors.

[ladyandherbooks]

So this week I got a sudden urge to rewatch some of Voltron (only the Lotor scenes and episodes minus the Lotura break up, Romelle's Lotor backstory and Lotor's break down, I'll never be in the mood to rewatch them) and here are some of my thoughts since its been 5 years since this shows cataclysmic end.

The Lotor vs Zarkon fight is still great 5 years on. The best fight in the show by far.

Lotor's escape from Zarkon in season 4 is also great and one of the best examples of his skills as a pilot.

Lotor really was one of the most powerful characters on this show. He went up against so many foes who had a huge advantage against him and still managed to come out on top.

The Galra civil war with Lotor and Sendak as the leaders on either side with Honerva/Haggar plotting and manipulating from the shadows should have been of the main storyline post Lotor's ascension to the throne. They could have done so much with it.

For example, the reasons why certain Galran controlled planets and Galrans would choose either Lotor or Sendak. Perhaps some half or part Galra choose to follow Sendak and the paladins try to find out why. And some Galrans may only choose Lotor because they want to be on the winning side and believe that they will be rewarded for doing so. You could see a range of reasons as why certain Galrans chose a specific side and why.

There needed to be more focus on the prejudices faced by half and part Galra and what Lotor and his generals being in power would mean for the future of the empire.

Speaking of the generals, there really should have been 2 episodes dedicated to Team Sincline's backstory. We should have seen how they all met and how they became so close. And only 1 break up between them, when they reunited in season 6 they should have stayed together.

Speaking of staying I'm now imagining a better version of Lotor's break down. Allura defeats Lotor in space, not in the quintessence field. But when they (Voltron) approach Lotor to retrieve him Lotor, injured and still in the midst of a breakdown gets one more burst of energy and he tries to take them down only to be stopped at the last second by his generals who, knowing that Lotor wasn't truly himself quickly snuck back into the Sincline mech. They subdue him, take control of Sincline and flee before the paladins can react. They then take Lotor somewhere safe to hide out and help him. You could even include the 2 year timeskip and have Lotor be in such a bad way physically, emotionally and mentally that it takes him 2 years to heal and recover. Can you imagine how great that would have been? The angst, the emotions, the friendship, the fact that Axca, Ezor and Zethrid refuse to give up on him no matter how bad he gets in those 2 years. Add in Dayak at some point and it would be great.

Also Axca, Zethrid and Ezor should have learnt about what Haggar did to Narti in season 4 and Lotor should have also provided them with an explanation as well.

We should have also have seen Team Sincline fight in their mech at least once per season.

The show really did suffer from the split seasons from seasons 3 - 5. I know that LM and JDS had a set number of episodes but these seasons would have been better if they had all been 13 eps each. That way they could have explored all their storylines without the rush.

Too many cool and interesting concepts introduced but never explained or explored e.g. Lotor using the black bayard and being able to create 2 different weapons with it.

The moment that Honerva/Haggar remembered that Lotor is her son is still a great emotional moment.

The colony was a good idea that was executed with very little planning or care. It could have been a really good plot point to create a temporary rift between Lotor and the paladins e.g. have the reveal happen at the beginning of season 6, have a season or possibly 2 of angst and then have them work together again after Lotor has atoned in some way. Lotor could provide his actual explanation of what happened to the other Altaeans, the alliance would have remained intact just with the added rift between the paladins and Lotor where the paladins would still help Lotor stop the civil war but they would keep their distance and would only meet with him in public. Then once they had all truly reunited Allura and Lotor finally become a couple.

Also have their relationship be used against them by Sendak and his supporters who believe that this is evidence that they will soon be ruled by non-Galra and the hypocrisy in this belief considering how many planets and people the Galra rule.

[shinelikethunder]

Hellooo i was intrigued by your "fucked up supernatural shit" posts so i binged the fucked up episodes you suggested and now I'm a supernatural fan, sadly. I still refuse to watch all of it so i would very much appreciate if you could recommend some more fucked up episodes, especially focused on sam-dean-john dynamics. Also I like your taste in fucked up stuff so if you have any other fandoms to recommend I'd also appreciate that

idk if you caught the reblog with the Sicko Cut Bonus Episodes but every suggestion in there is also a doozy; for a broader range of "sick shit and fucked-up family dynamics" episodes i'd expand it to (previously recced eps in parentheses):

season one: 1, (6), 9/10/11, 14/15/16, (18), and (20/21/22)

season two: (1)/2/3/4/5, (8), 10, 11, (14), and 20/21/22

season three: this is where my ability to pick favorites starts breaking down; s3 is kinda my fave of all the seasons, but for the overall vibe rather than particular standouts. it's only 16 episodes long, so watching it in full is more doable. but the fucky family shit is strongest in episodes 1, 2, 8, (10), 11, and 14/15/16.

season four: i regret to admit that just about every episode in this season is a straight fucking banger. like, the only two i'd be tempted to skip aren't even bad. but extra-special sicko shoutouts to episodes 1, (3), 9/10/11, 14, 16, 19, and 20.

on to the slimmer pickings...

season five: the first five are a fun time and the last two or three SLAP, but man, the handful of salvageable eps in the middle are buried in a minefield of ones i WANT to slap.

season six: look, i may not respect s6 or think it's good, but by GOD do i enjoy it. the WHOLE THING is the new showrunner's grody id-fic, but episodes 5 and 10 are on a special level of sick.

season seven: .....no.

ok, ok, MAYBE 1, 2, 11, 15, and 17. but this is where SPN starts getting truly wretched.

after that... 8x03 i guess, 9x07, 9x19, 10x03, 10x09, 11x04...

s11 i actually found pretty enjoyable, and everything from 11x09 through 11x14 starts serving GREAT grody id-fic vibes again. but bail out after 11x19 at latest, because the end of the season is. bad.

s12-15 have a couple of arc plots with sicko potential i guess? but in my head most of the episodes are an undifferentiated blob of Does Not Fuck.

there are also a handful of early-seasons eps that are softer and sadder that i love a lot: 1x03, 1x12, 2x13, 2x16... plus for "mixed bag but the fun parts are a total blast," 2x17, 3x06, and 3x12.

[buffyfan145]

Fellowship of Fans didn't have any scoops today but instead they posted 6 of the actors their sources are telling them are the standouts so far for season 2 of "Rings of Power" and excitement for their storylines!!! :D Posting behind a cut since it includes previous spoilers. FOF's tweets are in quotes while my thoughts are right below it but making me even more excited for s2.

"Adar (Recast) Sam Hazeldine We have been hearing particularly great things about Sam who despite the recast has made the role his own now with even more threat. Adar is a big part of this second season."

This fits with a lot of spoilers and from what we've seen about why Joseph left as they've expanded Adar's role far beyond the few episodes Joseph originally signed up for in season 1. Really excited to see what's going to happen as Adar seems to be a major character in season 2 and now that Halbrand/Sauron is back.

2. "Celeborn - Calam Lynch Just like we said in a similar thread we did for S1 where we stated internally that people thought Ismael had star potential and could be the face of the show, for season 2 we have heard the same things but this time for Calam Lynch."

Now this one I'm not so sure about since Calam actually wasn't able to film for most of season 2 due to a play he did in England. I don't think he'll actually have that much screen time as he only filmed for a bit last fall, took months off for his play, and then came back in late May/early June when filming wrapped. They could spread his scenes out but he's also still only recurring for s2 and not a regular yet. But could be this source means that the screen time he does have will be memorable and setting up for s3.

3. "Sauron (Charlie Vickers) Charlie Vickers foremost loves the lore and the books and we have heard that he has been particularly good in transitioning his performance from a more comedic/rogue- like performance in season 1 to a more serious and threatening character style."

Then this one I expected. We knew already season 2 was going to be Halbrand/Sauron centric from the post-finale interviews with the showrunners and Charlie. So many of us are really excited to see Charlie fully play Sauron and go full villain so that's going to be great to watch.

4. "Nia Towle (Heyla codename) Not much has been revealed about Nia Towle’s performance at except the leaked picture but we have heard that she is a terrific actor and delivered with her role this season."

Nia's character doesn't have a name yet but since she's been pictured with Maxim's Isildur and as a human woman there's already speculation she might be his future wife that was never given a name in the books. So I'm curious to see how this plays out.

5. "Markella Kavenagh (Nori) Markella was great in season 1 and we have heard this has translated to season 2, but we have heard that she particularly cares about the quality of the dialogue and has been vocal about it."

I also expected Markella to be here too with Nori's storyline of leaving her family and exploring the world for the first time with The Stanger. There's a lot of mystery surrounding this storyline and she was part of the filming in Spain that likely will be for scenes in Rhûn.

6. "Robert Aramayo (Elrond) The reason we have included Robert Aramayo on this list is because he loves the books to death and was particularly upset with the reaction to season 1 (as a whole) and is now very serious when on set and in character (before shooting) so he can deliver the best performance when the cameras roll. Though it’s been clarified it’s not at the level of a method actor but he wants the best for the show and is very passionate which translates to his acting technique."

Then finally Robert made the list but unlike what FOF wrote I had a feeling Elrond's going to get more storyline too especially with the confirmed 2 episode battle that supposedly is happening to end the season in eps 2.7 and 2.8. Elrond's never really faced battle and war now but will with this and that likely will change him as he struggles with it.

[kdramalands]

year-end drama recommendation

Welcome, come on in. A whole year has passed, and it's finally time for me to emerge from my review cave again to show you my shiniest picks for this year. I'm glad to be back!

I hope 2022 was kind to you.

For me it was mostly uneventful, slightly challenging, and a bit turbulent at the end, but I emerge victorious. Maybe I'm wiser now, maybe I'm weaker, maybe more emotional than I was last year, or maybe I'm just different. But I'm here with another year-end recommendations to show you what entertained my days and allowed me to enter my escapism bubble even just for a moment.

I will present top 4 j-dramas from all Japanese series I watched this year. Starting from today, 28th of December, all the way up till 31st of December, New Year's Eve, I will post one recommendation a day. As always, I hope my list for 2022 will be well received and maybe it will convince you to check something out. I proudly present

1. Kanojo wa kirei datta/She Was Pretty (2021)

10 eps, 60min each

If you recognise this title and concept, you may have seen the original, Korean, version of this drama, She Was Pretty from 2015, or any of the remakes that's been made of this story: Chinese Pretty Li Hui Zhen (2017) or Thai Me Always You (2021).

Kanojo wa kirei datta tells a story of two childhood friends who, after a long time apart, decide to meet again. Hasebe Sosuke is a confident handsome man who's successful in his career, while Sato Ai struggles not only with her self-esteem but also with finding a job, which left her self-conscious about her abilities as well. Ai decides to lie about her identity to Sosuke, which causes a lot of misunderstandings and damage.

This story may seem superficial with how the romance plotline proceeds, but Ai's journey of rebuilding herself found a special place in my heart. I loved watching Ai starting to care more, accept more people into her life, and feel confident in her work. Koshiba Fuka's character is very lovable and relatable to many people who feel lost.

For those of you who watched Korean version, Japanese She Was Pretty offers a 6-hour-shorter experience that will feel lighter because setting and office drama don't take over the main romantic storyline as much. However, compared to k-drama, this version is more fast paced and more straightforward, so it may seem rushed at times.

Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

[borathae]

Chapter 5 thoughts:

1. Oh I would like YNs morning routine of being eaten out, doggy, brunch and shopping too.

2. I missed Tae's chivalrous darling hand kissing sweetest doting affection too.

3. Him kissing jungkook flustering him. Flirting with him. Turning that cute romantic bunny into a mess aghhh

4. Istg I laughed so much at the height joke myself that portion is so cute and feel good.

5. Hoseok is such a Bro I love him??????!!!!!

6. Lmfao that whole she's a cunt versus I'm excited to meet her and then getting pissy af like that mood swing.. Sir.. Tone it down 🤡

7. But seeing all these old vampires and their lack of inhibition to just get down and slurpy with just about about anybody needs to be studied.. You could be married or mated to someone but *BOOM* a flame from 16th century shows up and your panties drop and tongues mingle first 🤡

8. I'm lowkey glad the whole polyamory confusión is starting to get addressed like yeah, tae is now banging kook, kook was being banged by yoongi and occasionally the OC. OC is being banged in the regular by yoongi. OC was and is being banged by tae. So there's a lot of square banging happening and I'm glad they're talking about it without feeling like this is wrong. I love the - but I crave him too vibe going on bcz girl same. I feel you.

9. The whole depressive drinking ep- 🥺 baby koo baby nini. I really feel the whole Emma thing May end up like Katherine from tvd where she dgaf. And about koo I get the feeling tae is gonna get iced😅🤣 that would be hilarious 😭

10. Yoongi is such an adorable strong character in this series I love how he's written. The firefly dancing sequence was so romantic so now I want YNs evening routine too😭🤣🤣🤣

I read this chapter at 2 am last night and finished at 2 30. I wanted to write a whole ass ask but I realised it would take until 3 am at the very least🤣 so here I am at 12 noon💞 have a nice day sibuuuuuuu

I am EATING UP your thoughts yes send me all of them I fucking love them 🥺💜💜

no but I feel you so fucking much 😩 especially when it's Kim fucking Taehyung 😩

me too!!! I miss him so much!!!

I honestly fucking want them!! Please they are so fuckign cute!!

jfadjf I am happy you appreciated it. I both cringed and laughed whilst working on that part HAHAH

he IS such a bro and I want him to always be happy :(

jfdasjf honestly they were both fucking idiots in that scene like please my bois it's not that deep

WHY AM I SO INTO THIS CONCEPT THOUGH?? LIKE I'M FUCKING DEMISEXUAL I SHOULDN'T BE SO INTO THIS BUT I AM FANDSNF

I'm happy that you feel that way! I want to include conversations about that topic without making it all about the "i jealous bby" trope cause this trope suck ass lmao. I do want to show the struggles a poly cluster might go through though, so I'm happy you liked the conversation she had with Hobi

Nini has to be the cutest fucking nickname for jinnie ever :( our little nini :( also interesting theory about Emma mmmhmh and kookie our baby :( honestly I think I wouldn't even be mad at him if he kicked Tae in the nuts jfajds

THANK YOU!! OMFG YOONGI BOONGIE IS MY BBYBOY AND THAT FIREFLIE DANCE SCENE IS BURNED INTO MY MIND ETERNALLY!!

I love your long messages so much!! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me, it makes writing and posting so fucking worthwhile 🥺💜💜💜

[chainedupgirlsblog]

Fic Masterlist | 2023-2024

⚡Currently working on: ⚡

It wasn't over for me ~ Multi Chapters Story | 36,613 current words | 9/? | Link to AO3

main tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Break Up | Post-Break Up | Years Later | Aged-Up Character(s) | Mutual Pining | Doctor Tinn | Singer Gun

summary:

Gun and Tinn’s relationship was the topic everyone talked about by the end of their senior year and the years that followed too. It seemed like the young couple always was a great topic to gossip about for those surrounding them. Always commenting about every new step they took, either praising them or criticizing them, with no in-between. With all this much attention upon them, it was kinda expected from the couple to at some point break apart. People were even betting on when this was going to happen. They were too young, too naive, too in love to last, everyone was sure they were going to break up at some point. But it didn’t happen, or at least not when it was expected. They did break up, but it took more time than people bet on. Or, Where they break up after years of relationship and are unable to move on.

➥ Writer Studio - FREE Notion Template

TinnGun ~ My School President Fics (5) :

Descent into chaos ~ Short-Story | 4,170 current words | 1/8

main tags: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse | Crushes | Secret Crush | Teen Crush | Idiots in Love | Focused on TinnGun | any other couple is just slightly mentioned | Major Character Injury | Not Really Character Death

summary:

“What is going on?” Tinn is the one who asks this time. Both Tinn and Gun are extremely confused and scared. The sound of the alarm is now a background sound not as terrifying as the next thing the instructor says. “There’s a high possibility that the damn zombies are back…” Right after that, their entire school descent into full chaos. Or, The TinnGun version of All of Us Are Dead where all the 'bromance' becomes romance, as it should've been! lol

Five Study Sessions Plus One Photoshoot ~ Short-Story | 11,134 current words | 3/6

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Leaving Together | Singer Gun | Med Student Tinn | 5 + 1 thing type of fic | Domestic Fluff | Established Relationships | Jealous Gun | Protective Gun

Part 1 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

Gun doesn’t understand how accepting to help his med-student boyfriend has bound him to lie flat on their shared bed with just his underwear on. Or, Five times Gun wants to help Tinn study for his med classes plus one time Tinn helps Gun.

May I have this dance? ~ One-Shot | 4,503 words | ☑️

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Leaving Together | learning how to dance | Singer Gun | Med Student Tinn | dancing together

Part 2 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

A silly little fic about Tinn learning how to dance bachata and Gun going pretty much crazy about it. Works the other way around too, they’re equally crazy for each other lol

Keep flirting with me, I’ll keep falling ~ One-Shot | 2,838 words | ☑️

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Established Relationship | Going out to a bar with friends | Hand Job in a public space (nothing explicit) | Rated Mature

Part 3 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

Tinn uses his cheesy pick-up lines again. And Gun hates to admit they’re working on him, again... but they are. Things might escalate a little along the night, they might even get heated, watch out!

MorkDay ~ Last Twilight Fics (1) :

No more loneliness, Little Day ~ One-Shot | 1,337 words | ☑️

main tags: Canon Compliant | Mork’s POV | last scene from ep 2 | fluff

summary:

Mork takes Day back to his house with a new friend in hand. There he realizes of some new things. That one last scene from episode 2 but told by Mork's POV. That's it. That's the fic.

SandRay ~ Only Friends Fics (2) :

priceless night (smoke rings, smokey kisses) ~ One-Shot | 3,675 words | ☑️

main tags: Canon Compliant | Sand's POV of episode 02 | First kiss and first night together (is a combo) | canon tattoo kissing

Part 1 of Do you dare to be mine? Series

summary:

“Some friendships can start with sex…” says Ray. Making it clear that what they have won’t go further than ‘friendship’. Good, Sand thinks. This just makes things easier, right? RIGHT? It has to. “Sure…” says Sand accepting the rules of Ray’s game. “But when you want more there won’t be more. We’re just friends, no matter what” he adds, setting his own rules of the game. Or, A much-needed Sand's POV of episode 2 (SandRay last scene).

nothing feels better than this ~ One-Shot | 4,714 words | ☑️

main tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Ray's POV of that first scene of episode 8 | jealous Ray

Part 2 of Do you dare to be mine? Series

summary:

“Let him undress you and pick a new style for you…” Sand whispers as a hand starts wandering over Ray’s shirt. “Mine doesn’t fit you anymore, does it?” Sand asks in another low whisper, his gaze fixed on Ray’s expression through the mirror, while the hand now wanders over Ray’s chest unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt. Or, Ray's POV of that first scene of episode 8. Plus a missing scene that occurs after that one. Missing, as just happened in my imagination.

VegasPete ~ Kinnporsche Fic (1) :

I'm All Yours ~ One-Shot | 13,355 words | ☑️

main tags: Post-Canon | Canon Compliant | Light Bondage | blindfolding | Light BDSM | Spanking | Masochist Vegas | Dominant Pete | Switchers

summary:

After the confrontation between the two families, Vegas finds peace and comfort only in his boyfriend's arms, Pete is there to support Vegas in all ways possible. Or, Where they fuck and they're switchers, so be aware of bottom Vegas! and top Pete!

[feuqueerfire]

Unforgotten Night Live Blogging

lol I’m expecting entertainment because people watching it seem to be having a lot of fun despite the show being bad mostly.

Episode 1 (Sep 4)

1-1

2.8 million views, damn. Although not surprising considering all the episodes were getting 1.x mill views per episode when i previously checked

there’s no eng sub? using my extension to translate spanish to eng sub, seems accurate thus far

random korean but i understood it a bit 

damn they’re kicking out a distressed and hurt sub

1-2

something about the editing... very hindi serial or soap opera esque

1-3

skipped through the rest of the part after they got to the room. the nsfw scene didn’t seem at all appealing

1-4

looks like shitty english breakfast 

Episode 2 (Sep 5)

2-1

The piano music while Kamol’s chasing Kim through his apartment

Wild to see Kamol actually working and not in the way Kinn “worked” occasionally where he just blew people’s heads off but like... actually making plans and deals and stuff. idc much about the actual work yet though

Linguistics and Pronouns: Kamol uses chan as the I pronoun and coincidentally, absolutebl did a post on it today

He uses chan to refer to himself under most circumstances regardless of power dynamic in terms of subordinates or age or intimacy levels.

This is a formal/business use of the pronoun. It has very little to do with femininity and more to do with status. Almost like he is so powerful and confident in his masculinity that any association with chan that others may have are irrelevant under the context of a corporate or criminal environment. He uses nai as you with all his male counterparts, including his friends, subordinates, and lover.

I didn’t realize he used ‘nai’ as the you pronoun, I’ll keep my ears peeled for it

Episode 3 (Sep 5)

Kamol was like get to know me by moving in with me instead of the other way around and also lemme take a little break to wash my face with this advertised product

Day’s letting someone who’s hung up on him come to his home? Here I was thinking the random Day/Itt moments are kinda cute but will this lead to drama?

Episode 4 (Sep 6)

At least Day has Itt here too, so it won’t be like “oh you met him without my knowledge” drama

I heard some murmurs about Khom/Baiboon and as a lover of big ass age gaps, I’m curious but also, how old is Baiboon exactly? 

lmfaoo the ending with Kim coming down the stairs to meet cherry and the editing of that is hilarious. 

This episode was kinda fun actually

Episode 5 (Sep 6)

every moment of this is dramatic as hell, the cherry confrontation -> the wild editing of them sleeping together -> the tigers -> Kamol’s anger about the tigers

Parts 3 and 4 are kinda cute though, like them working beside each other. i think i’ll reblog some gifs of them from this episode. 

no day/itt and no sight of baiboon this ep

Episode 6 (Sep 6)

lol cheek kisses in front of baiboon

damn outsmarting Danai and getting the officials on his side even though it’s stupid way to do it but I don’t expect more from the writers, I’m impressed they managed even this tbh

damn hope they were careful interacting with the tigers (they’re real right?)

Kom and Baiboon are cute, Baiboon making Kom food heh

Kim “worrying about Kamol’s bussiness” is endearing too, only to be followed by petty jealousy lol

Episode 7 (Sep 7)

nonsensical, illogical episode but I’ve come to expect that

“Kim’s smart, isn’t he?” Actually he’s dumb as hell, so it’s embarrassing for you that he caught onto your act

got a lot of Day/Itt with the child nephew Salmon and got a little bit of Kom/Baiboon as well.

“Don’t open the door for anyone” and guess what Kim does 2 seconds later

Episode 8 (Sep 7)

Nothing to say bc idc, I’m watching it on 2x speed and also using the >> button a few times

Episode 9 (Sep 7)

I think if I cared enough, I would’ve been more impressed with how transparent Kamol is and him wanting to tell Kim things like his ex(? or smth) and also his willingness to retire. Unfortunately, I’m skipping through this shit and so idc

Cherry is very beautiful though, curious to see her play someone nice

Some Kom and Baiboon 

Episode 10 (Sep 7)

why is Kom being jealous or whatever, freaking checking Baiboon’s chat and telling Baiboon to not get too close to one of his friends, both of which Baiboon easily complies to agh. I really like big age gaps but not this dynamic

oh yeah people were going wild for the shower threesome but idc

anyway, speeding through this. I was originally gonna just watch up till ep 9 or 10 today and finish it tmrw but maybe i’ll just finish it off rn 

Episode 11 (Sep 7)

Nothing to say bc idc, I’m watching it on 2x speed and also using the >> button pretty much through the whole thing. The ex Danil is extremely irritating lmao

Episode 12 (Sep 7)

Bruh bye so I’ve been skipping through the kidnapping and action but Kamol being super duper mad and threatening toward Day for having dated Kim before and making him saw is so cringe and annoying, ew

skipped through the happy ending too. live happily or whatever ig

Overall Thoughts:

I’ve gotten so good at pruning my To Watch list, I pretty much only have stuff I think I’ll genuinely like on there or for a specific purpose (like kBLs I think will be mid but gotta learn korean). This one though I thought could be fun, esp the relationship between Kamol and Kim and it apparently having an actual mafia plot, but yeah all of it was boring/bad. Still, couldn’t make myself mark it as Lost Interest or drop it halfway through, so I’m glad that at least it’s over and it won’t sit around on my MDL To Watch anymore. 

also, saw the Yoon being harassed video, followed by the perpetrator’s angry rant about it, then him apologizing to her and gifting the fruit basket aghhhhh absolutely terrible

Rating: 4/10 (too harsh? I gave stuff that I had to mostly skip through like LBC/Wish You/My Engineer or with little to no redeeming qualities like Ocean Likes Me)

Tiktoks:

Cheek kiss in front of Baiboon

[shijiujun]

山河令 | Word of Honor - Mega Masterpost

Hey guys, here’s a FULL masterpost of the following for all Shan He Ling | Word of Honor items, basically a where-to-find-what:

General - Where to Find What

Episodes - Where to Watch What

Merchandise - Stores to Look Out For

GJ & ZZH - Variety Shows, Magazines & Endorsements

♣ Updates as of 19 May 2021, updates for the GJ/ZZH sections will stop hahaha this is THE END ;-; of SHL-related promotions for em. Will only add on if more SHL merch or BTS footage comes up! ♣

(1) Novel ➩ JJWXC | Translations (Full) | No New Edition Print (For Now) - Because the first edition was printed a few years ago, the novel is 11 years old haha

(2) Drama Rec ➩ Here (I did this on the first day it aired so it’s based on the first four eps so yeah some info like where to watch is not updated but ignore that) (3) Audio Drama ➩ Here (Seasons 1 & 2, with 2 recently released)

(4) 山河令 Manhua ➩ Here (Up for two weeks and then taken down for some reason)

(5) Official Accounts to Follow ➩ 山河令 Weibo | Youku Official Twitter

(6) Wrap-Up for SHL Filming ➩ Here 

(1) Official Episodes (36 + 1 Special Ep)

➩ 山河令 on Youku (Original Simplified Chinese) - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Word of Honor on Youku (Subtitles) - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Word of Honor on Youku YouTube (Subtitles)

➩ 山河令 on Line TV TW (Traditional Chinese)

➩ Word of Honor on Viki (Subtitles)

➩ Word of Honor on Amazon Prime 

➩ Word of Honor on Netflix 

(2) Behind the Scenes ➩ 山河令江湖番外篇 on Youku - Partially (70%~) behind a paywall, each episode costs about 1 yuan (or if you’re in Singapore $1.50 SGD which is fucking expensive, in Indonesia it’s apparently $0.30 and in Malaysia $0.20 LMAO) - But you get about 4-8 minute long BTS cuts with original scenes released with original voices + green screens

➩ Word of Honor on Youku YouTube (Subtitles) - Definitely not full release of BTS and even if they did release everything, it’d take a while, but there are already some subbed ones on the channel, just have to do a search

(3) Noteworthy Extras

➩ Special Ep (Youku): 7 minutes long with the first 4 minutes an FMV and the actual alternate or extended ending (depending on how you see it) in the last 3 minutes - You have to pay for it on Youku (both on the CN and EN/multi-language versions), we’ll have to check this week if YouTube will have it available for free. 

In any case it’s a happy ending I suppose, do all of you know it’s a happy ending? I’m seeing people reblogging my posts with so much angst in the tags about how the ending is devastating (which I suppose it is by my interpretation anyway for Ep 36 but Ep 37′s healing properties have been spread far and wide)

➩ Ep 6 (YouTube)

➩ Ep 7 (Youku, BTS)

➩ Ep 12 (YouTube - BTS in Youku, Original Voices in Youku)

➩ Ep 17 (LINE TV TW & YouTube)

➩ Ep 20-21 (YouTube)

➩ Ep 27 (Youku) - Part 1 | Part 2

➩ Ep 35 (Youku)

➩ Official Interview with Cast

(4) 山河令 Concert - May 3 & 4 2021

➩ Livestream on Youku - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Livestream on Youku YouTube - For international fans, think this is a cheaper option overall hahahaha

➩ Concert Trailer - Highlight 1 | Highlight 2 (I AM LOSING MY MIND)

➩➩➩ Footage now available subbed on Youku YouTube and unsubbed on Youku

➩ SHL Concert Merch - RWB Hair Accessories

(5) 山河令 Official OST

➩ Spotify

➩ YouTube Playlist

Official Stores for SHL Merch

➩ 歪瓜出品 - First store to come up with SHL merch, has shikishi boards, standees, keychains, cushions, fan, badges, puzzles and ZZS’ hairtie most recently. Also officially bought the rights to two popular WenZhou fanarts for merch, the other stores don’t have the same design. Ran by Boss Hu, a young dude who’s hilarious af on Weibo and has been trying to get permission to produce more merch and also struggling real hard to get us WKX outfit-inspired sweaters!

➩ Rua哇吧 - First to come up with WenZhou dolls. Currently they have a 10cm version and also a 20cm version. 

➩ Omodoki [Via Rua哇吧] - Hairpin, cushions, glazed armour keychain, enamel pins and other cute things like bookmarks too

➩ 阿里鱼 [Via 咕噜文化] - SHL OST. Enough said. PO is over so there is no link but once they produce it the listing might go up again.

➩ 娱影文创 - SHL-themed jewellery based on ZZS’ alcohol gourd and sword Bai Yi, or WKX’s fan, also has tote bags and the glazed armour

➩ 一直娱 - Another app, items cannot be bought directly from Taobao. They’ve got mugs, hair ties, scrunchies, mouse pads, coasters and a lot of cute other things that the other stores don’t have, including customizable phone covers etc. and best part is they sell WenZhou posters from scenes from the book. They’ve also got an official photobook, but IMO the one from 吾流文化 is more worth it.

➩ 啦啦酱JK - Wen Kexing outfit-inspired kimono outerwear, and also WenZhou inspired ties and ribbons

➩ 吾流文化 - SHL Photobook (the full version with costume, set and character designs etc.) and also matches another box set of items that include a fan and standee and some other things 

➩ 月心引力 MOONLY - Perfumes in liquid and solid form. They’ve also bought the rights to a set of WenZhou fanarts, and they’re making white-haired WKX for standees and freebies etc.

➩ 优酷模玩 x TOFU - CUTEST WENZHOU FIGURINES

➩ 地澈天清 - HANFU AND DRESSES!!!! Inspired by WenZhou I WEEEEEP they look real good and are also in the affordable range - A summary of what you’ll see

➩ CanCan x Youku - Cutest WenZhou fam items!!!! With WKX white-hair

➩ Prismland - New accessories!

(1) About ZZH/GJ

➩ ZZH Weibo | ZZH Studio Weibo | ZZH Instagram

➩ GJ Weibo | GJ Studio Weibo | GJ Instagram | Wuhu-Famous

➩ Ship Name: Lang Lang Ding (LLD) or JunZhe - Although there’s no really strong RPS to be honest, most people I know use JunZhe and LLD as a mix of platonic friends + the WenZhou drama ship, or use JunZhe just to shorten their names because they appear at a lot of shows/shoots/interviews together, faster to type as well. The word Lang Lang Ding comes from 浪 (lang) which means to wander, and then 钉 (ding) as in nails, the nails that ZZS inflicted on himself.

(2) Noteworthy Interviews

➩ Goodbyes to SHL - ZZH | GJ

➩ About their Characters (Youku)

➩ Interview with ELLE TW

(3) Fansites (Check out their Photobooks - Mostly for WenZhou and also individual events and they will add on the upcoming concert footage and shots as well)

➩ 越界 (Both)

➩ 起意 (Both)

➩ 怦然心动 (ZZH) *Special mention they’ve been around for the longest so far, about 3 years, way before SHL and they’re REALLY generous

➩ 春秋荒梦 (Both)

➩ 同谋 (Both)

➩ Percent511 (ZZH)

➩ 105度 (ZZH)

➩ Plenilune (GJ)

➩ From May (ZZH)

➩ 月下思凡 (ZZH)

➩ 初霁 (ZZH)

➩ 未央 (Both)

(4) Variety Shows (Since SHL aired - Mar 21 to Apr 21)

➩ Happy Camp (Youku or YouTube) - 3 April 2020 | 24 April 2020 (GJ only)

➩ Ace vs. Ace (Youku or YouTube)

➩ Ace Actress (Youku or YouTube) - Ep 1 | Ep 2

➩ CHUANG 2021 (WeTV) - Part 1 | Part 2

(5) Magazine Shoots (Since SHL aired - Mar 21 to Apr 21)

➩ 精彩!OK (Both)

➩ Madame Figaro 

➩ ELLE/ELLEMEN - ZZH/GJ

➩ SE 南都娱乐 - GJ

➩ CHIC - ZZH

➩ Wonderland - For ZZH’s Birthday

➩ Glitz - GJ

➩ VOGUE/VOGUEME - GJ (Not cover)/ZZH (cover)

(6) Endorsements (Since SHL aired - Feb 21 to Apr 21)

➩ Both

Tom Ford - 03 Lark and other shades

Armani Giorgio - Foundation

Wahaha Yogurt

➩ ZZH

Pandora - Jewellery

NIVEA - Sunscreen

Oneleaf - Skincare

Elizabeth Arden - Skincare

Sensodyne - Toothpaste

OPPO - Phone

Joyoung - Blender

Maybelline - Superstay Foundation, Loose Powder

Ariel - Laundry detergent XD

Baidu Maps - Don’t ask this is damn weird

Clinique - SKincare

Costa Coffee - Coffee mugs

Longines - Luxury watch 

水星家纺 - Bedsheets (He’s clearing the entire household)

Ahava - Hand cream

JBL - Earphones + Speakers

Killian - Perfume

Glico - Pretz

梦幻新诛仙 - Game

➩ GJ

KFC

Bearkoko - Dietary sweets

Wolong Nuts !!!

Sisley - Skincare

Vita - Drinks brand

Centrum - Supplements

Fresh - Skincare

Tangle Teezer China - Haircare

Loreal - Sunscreen

TT语音 - Some gaming social network thing

Revelation - E-gaming

Beast - Candles, aromatherapy

Ya-Man - Men’s skincare

ROEWE - Car brand

Braun - Shavers

Plant Selected - Oat Milk

YSL - Rose perfume

Tiffany & Co.

Louis Vuitton

Nescafe

[sortasirius]

What the Fuck Happened to the SPN Finale?

Okay so here it is, my Charlie Kelly style manifesto.

Before I get into it, I recognize that I will look like this to many of you, and that’s okay, I understand:

Secondly, your personal Takes about the writers don’t interest me, I don’t need to hear them. This, as I’ll explain, is going to remain a writer positive blog, and that’s the end of it.

Third, and most importantly: some of what I’m going to talk about is fact, and some is highly educated speculation. I will notate what is speculation, just so there’s no confusion or hot takes in my inbox that I’m a conspiracy theorist or stirring shit up for no reason.

A list of what I’ll be discussing

The episode in regards to the rest of the season

The episode issues: length, editing

Scene placement and speculation of scenes cut

The scrubbing of Jack, Cas, Eileen

Network involvement and general timeline of when things were cut

Misha: theories on where he was, official company line, why we can’t expect to hear anything directly

The silence of the cast post episode (in Misha’s case, mid episode) and what this might mean

Jensen speaking with Kripke about the ending: why it doesn’t mean what you might think (also why kripke remained positive on the ending)

Walker, and why this episode had a major shift

Why the network would do this or get involved

Why the writers of the show simply aren’t the bad guys here, and what I “want” out of this post, since I know it’ll get asked

This is very long and under a cut, but I hope you’ll give it a read.

The Episode In Regards to the Rest of the Season

So, I’ve discussed this already here, but it’s the most obvious thing to me, and that’s the way this episode simply doesn’t fit with the rest of the season.

These people in this room have, truly, been nothing but consistent when it comes to their arcs, especially this season, and the marked dropoff in quality for the finale episode is just too sus to discount to me.  Dabb’s whole focus has been character-based.  In his seasons, we’ve moved far away from MOTW and bro-codependency, the found family taking it’s place.  Does it really sit right to anyone that that was all thrown away in literally the last episode of the entire show?

This is speculation on my part, but as a writer myself, there is no way I would be happy or willing to stamp my name on something that I didn’t think would, at the very least, wrap up the season+ character arcs that I and my team had been crafting.

And before anyone comes in here saying, “well GOT did that!”  Bruh.  The writing was on the wall for GOT long before the final episode.  You could tell that the showrunners just wanted to be done (not only from the plot, but from the fact that they lobbied for a shorter season).  Miss me with that, it doesn’t apply here.  Andrew has, besides Singer and J2, been with the show longer than anyone.  He cares, he is meticulous and detailed, and this ending feels worse than anything Bucklemming has ever written, let alone Dabb.

Additionally, I’ve seen a lot of people say that Dabb was never behind Destiel, that it was all Bobo and Meredith and no one else.  That is reductive to the point of insult of the work Dabb has done to get this greenlit.  This man did not write the s13 Dean grief arc to be slandered like this.  That being said, YES, Bobo and Meredith were the leads on the DeanCas arc this season, but ANDREW IS THE SHOWRUNNER, TO GET EVEN THE CONFESSION APPROVED BY THE NETWORK HE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THEIR BACKS.  AND HE DID.

Finale Issues

So, now that we’ve gotten the fact that this episode doesn’t hit on any of the major themes the show was barrelling towards all season, let’s discuss the fact that the episode is just...weird.

Not only is it shorter than any other episode (I think with the intro and the credits/crew thing at the end, it was around 38 mins), but it was also...idk, 90% filler?

One of the lovely humans in the POLOL server did the legwork here, and broke it down:

This is weird, y’all.  Most series finales are LONGER than normal (Lost, SOA, Longmire are the ones I can think of off the top of my head), and for the final episode to be this?  I saw more than one person point out that we only really needed 19 episodes, what was the point of 20?  AND THAT’S EXACTLY IT?  WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS FINAL EPISODE IF THIS WAS ALL WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET?

It simply doesn’t make any sense, the first half of the episode was rushed, a final monster hunt gone wrong, but in the second half?  Nothing really happened?  Sam lived his entire life and Dean just drove around.  It doesn’t make sense to have all the emotional arcs left unaddressed in an episode that definitely needed some kind of spark.

Here’s the speculation I have: the episode seemingly went through a lot of changes between the initial inception of the final season and when we actually got it, but I think it would have been passable (as in, we wouldn’t be sitting here asking each other why each arc feels incomplete) until the editing room got ahold of it.  The only think that makes this episode make sense is network fuckery.  Truly, that is the only thing.  It explains the weird, cuts, the rushed pacing of the first half followed by nothing in the second half, the double montages of “Wayward Son” back to back, and Dean just...driving around for the last half of the episode.

Scene Placement and Speculation of Scenes Cut

Before I get into this section, the info of the shots in the episode I have come from a source that @occamshipper​ got a week or so before the finale.  She’s talked about this here.

So here’s what Min was given:

1-5: 1 INT MEN OF LETTERS – DEAN’S ROOM Dean is greeted by Miracle

6-10: 6 INT MEN OF LETTERS – HALLWAY/SAM’S ROOM Sam has his routine

D1 1 11-15: 15 EXT FARM HOUSE Establishing

N1 1/8 16-20: 19 Dad’s journal, marker, drawing of masked man in journal.

21-25: 23 INT IMPALA – PMP Driver picks the music

N2 1 3/8 1,2 26-30: 28pt2 INT BARN: A face from the past

28pt3 Sam and Dean say goodbye

28pt4 Shot early for technical reasons, presumably the overhead shot

N2 31-45: 41 INT MEN OF LETTERS – SAM’S ROOM Sam’s alarm goes off D4 1/8 1 46-60: 56 INT N7glasses for Sam, laptop.

So...it all fits right?  It all tracks with the actual episode, where it lands, etc.  The issue is between shots 29-40 which were apparently “too big to spoil.”  Uh.  Where are they?  And where’s 28 pt4?

After Dean dies, the next scene is Sam burning him, then shot 31, the shot of his alarm going off.

So.  Where are those 11ish shots?

PLUS we have the boards, which are scenes we KNOW were actually shot:

As well as scenes for 20 that were shot in 19.

It’s just...weird, it’s weird and again hits on the fact that the episode is so short and like 80% montage.

The Scrubbing of Jack, Cas, and Eileen

So now we have to reckon with the fact that Eileen was last mentioned by Sam after she got snapped by Chuck, Jack’s last mention is that he’s off being God somewhere, and Cas’ last mention is a ~knowing look~ between Dean and Bobby.

I’m sorry, make it make sense:

????????  That’s the end if it?  They don’t need to be discussed after this???  It’s just simply not something a writer would do, they would not introduce these characters, these arcs, without thinking there’s going to be some kind of follow through here.

So not only were three major characters (including two leads and both of the original characters’ love interests) completely wiped from the finale episode, it was as though Sam and Dean never even needed them, which just...ain’t it.

So why Eileen and Jack too?  Why not just take Cas out of it if they were afraid of the gay?  Because, ultimately, the episode went back to Kripke’s original story: just the bros, they only need each other and no one else.  They don’t want anyone else, they don’t need anyone else.  Easier to go back to something they knew was successful than trust the writers and their audience and take a big leap.

Alex even said he shot for 20 with “some of the guys” here.  What happened to that footage?

The complete 180 of it all still shocks me, I still cannot believe that we were essentially at the finish line, and the network just stopped short, and decided to go run another race, at the expense of the arc of this fifteen year legacy show.

Network Involvement and When Things Were Cut

Okay, now into the juicy stuff.

So I’ve pretty well established that network fuckery is clear, but how much did they get involved, what was the original intent?

Well again, we may never actually know what Andrew’s original script was, but I think, at the least, it would involve Dean speaking his truth to Cas and Sam living a life with Eileen.

Now, it seems today, that Misha said that Jimmy Novak was supposed to be in the finale in one iteration of the script, and while initially my brain was like “that truly makes no sense and he’s either straight up lying or telling a half truth,” I think what may be happening is Misha talking about as much as he can right now.

So Jimmy right.  Weird as fuck.  Why would he been in the Roadhouse and not Cas?  My current thought (this is about as reachy as I’ll get) is that Jimmy had no lines, could he have been in the Roadhouse as a red herring, like it said “Jimmy” in the script but it was just Cas in human clothes, a way to get around the network saying Cas couldn’t be in the final scene.  Also, you’ll notice that Misha didn’t say that Cas wasn’t supposed to be in the ep at all, just Jimmy in the last scene.

All this to say, there have clearly been multiple versions of the script, getting lighter and lighter with Cas and Eileen as the network pulled further and further back.  Remember, Dabb has to get things approved before they get shot, and if the network kept asking and asking and asking to cut Cas and Eileen, he had to find a way to work around it.  Granted, I still think that if we had been able to get a Dabb script that wasn’t torn to shreds in editing, it wouldn’t be so bad.  It may not be what a lot of us wanted (Dean speaking his truth to Cas and a reciprocation), but doing everything he could to give it to us in subtext or visual clues.

Plus, in all honesty, my man can’t keep his story straight anyway.  He said twice in his panel that the Empty and offscreen Heaven ending weren’t his original ending either.

In addition, remember that Jensen did ADR post episode 18, AND said in a meet and greet last weekend that Dean’s reaction to Cas’ confession was “cut down.” (Source here).  Many of us clowns got excited when we first heard about ADR, because we thought it would be upping the ante on Dean’s reaction, but I remember being a little sus when it was just crying.  My speculation on that is that they cut out Dean actually SAYING something, @winchestersingerautorepair​ spoke about that here.

The biggest sins were, in my opinion, committed during editing, where the network got too gun shy and sliced the episode until it was nothing but a heartless bro-fest of a finale, not mentioning anything about the other major characters that we all love, and letting the boys just suffer in separation until Sam died and finally joined Dean in Heaven.  The editing came by cutting all the major emotional beats between anyone other than Dean and Sam, leaving the skeleton of the story intact, just shorter and less...poignant than it was ever supposed to be.

Misha

We know Misha was in Vancouver, we know he quarantined, but we also know he wasn’t in the final scene, when he spoke about being in the last moment of the show months ago.  We were not crazy, he was there, he quarantined, and, in all likelihood (speculation but fitting with the timeline), he actually may have shot something (not much, but something).

I have sources here, here, here, and here showing where Misha was at that time.

Remember, the man was completely open about coming back until they finished shooting (look at this thread).  The switch happened, just like everything else, halfway through them shooting.

Please also remember Jake Abel posting his “Where’s Misha” video here.  Jake isn’t malicious, he isn’t being nasty here.  Misha was there, and everyone that’s trying to convince people he’s wasn’t just...isn’t telling the truth about it.

This is one of the things that makes me really mad, because they’re literally attempting to gaslight people into thinking, “oh we were totally wrong he was never supposed to be there” WHEN HE WAS THERE, WE KNOW HE WAS THERE.

So we’ve already heard from several people (Meghan Fitzmartin, Jay, a PA on the set of 19 (WHO WAS NOT WORKING FOR 20), Misha himself) that this was all down to Covid restrictions.  Ultimately, as this post says, we’ve heard FIVE versions of where Misha was.  None of it makes sense, but the Covid protocol seems to be the company line that others are repeating.

You may ask: why?  Why lie to all of us when we have questions?  Why, in Jay’s case, say that we’re all spreading false lies to stir up trouble, when we just have questions and things that do not make sense.  Simply?  Warner Brothers is absolutely massive.  These people have their careers to protect and are likely all under NDAs.  They want to work for WB again and don’t want to burn bridges, including Misha.  It sucks, but that’s why it’s unlikely that we’ll hear someone come out and say, “yeah we’re lying to you.”

Silence of the Cast Post Episode

So this is...probably the worst part of all this, at least in my opinion.

The guys had all been pretty excited about the end of the show (especially Jared, but Jensen’s panel last week was Jensen as happy and jokey and positive as I’ve ever seen him.  He was so excited about episode 18, about what it meant for Dean and for Cas, and I just cannot buy that he would have been that excited unless he thought there was something more in the episode.

Misha live-tweeted the episode, and was watching it with his kids.  It’s well known that Misha and the kids don’t watch the show because it’s too scary, and let’s ask ourselves, why would he have them watch an episode that he’s barely even mentioned in?

He also stopped live-tweeting at a very specific point in the episode (Dean’s death) and has not mentioned Supernatural since then. 

None of them, not Jared, Jensen, Misha, or even Alex, said anything about the episode for nearly 36 hours, when Jensen posted a salty photo on instagram.  It’s just...not what you’d expect for the end of a 15 year show, when the cast and crew are so close to the fans, so close to each other. 

My theory?  They didn’t know.  They thought Misha was, at least, going to be in the episode in some way, and when he wasn’t, they decided not to say anything.

You really think that Jensen “Heller” Ackles would have been so excited about the end of the show last week if he thought Cas wasn’t going to be in it at all?  Nah son, doesn’t make any sense.

Even today, in Jared and Misha’s panels, they seemed sad and...more than a little careful, both saying that there were things they couldn’t say, both talking around things that we all have questions on.

Jensen Speaking with Kripke

So this is where a lot of people are getting fodder to take shots at the writers, saying that Jensen hated it from the beginning, but I don’t think so.  I actually think I know what Jensen went to him about, and it wasn’t the lack of Cas or the weird pacing or the montages (which I don’t think were there when Jensen got the script); I think it was the manner of Dean’s death.

I know a lot of people were upset about that, upset with how...normal it was, coming off an episode where they literally beat God.  I actually didn’t mind it, I thought it was an interesting thematic take to be like: you can be a hero all your life, but sometimes shit happens, and you just die.

But imagine how hard that was for Jensen to read.  He would run to Kripke for that, because for him, Dean dying by being impaled by a piece of rebar had to be tough to swallow.

So, why didn’t Kripke say that?  Why didn’t he say, “oh well he had a problem with Dean’s death, none of that other stuff was in the script.”

Guys.  Why would he get involved?  He’s not going to burn bridges any more than anyone else is.  He said the ending was good because it’s the easy thing to do, it’s simple, will cause him no problems in his career, and he can just ignore the people trying to engage with him on it.

Walker

Something else to talk about is the major shift this episode had from the rest of the season: the shift from Dean to Sam.  I am NOT saying that Sam isn’t important, he definitely, absolutely is, but it was DEAN who really needed to wrap up his arc, Sam just needed to move on, get married to Eileen, become the leader he was always meant to.  So what changed?  What was with the shirtless scene, the Austin number and random case there, most of the episode being heavily Sam focused, going through his entire life in a montage?

Anyone else notice the 375 Walker promos, or Jared’s little spiel about Walker and how he hoped SPN fans would “come along for the ride.”

It’s...kinda obvious?  CW wanted to appeal to who they think the key demographic of SPN and Walker is: rural areas in the South.  It would explain a lot, why so much editing, why so Sam focused, the Austin number, the number of Walker promos, all of it.

I’m not saying this is fact, I don’t know that it is, but it is a little suspicious that even in Jared’s panel today, he talked A LOT about Walker and how he hopes SPN fans will watch it.

Why Would the Network Get Involved?

Simply put: $$$

If they think Walker can be the new SPN, and that those crazy SPN fans liked it originally, it’s a lot safer to go with the “original intent” of the show than do something risky (like making one of your two original leads queer).

And?  They don’t care.  They don’t care that the episode didn’t make sense, they don’t care that all the emotional arcs were left hanging, they don’t care by (potentially) smashing together two of Dean’s monologues (one to Sam, one to Cas) that it came of as...gross. ( @curioussubjects​ wrote a beautiful post showing how part of that death speech was likely meant for Dean here).  They don’t care, they never have, they just want to make their money and move on from the too-loud fandom that fought for representation too hard for too long.

It can’t help but feel insidious, which, honestly, it might be, but it really all comes down to the next cash cow, which, they think, is Walker, even at the cost of the fifteen year legacy show.

The Writers and What I Want

So here it is, all this weird, sus shit laid out on the line.  And you know what?  To me, there is no way to blame the writers, because they didn’t want this.

I don’t think Dabb and Bobo would have gone ahead with the confession in 18 without thinking that there would be some closure to that arc, they wouldn’t have done that not only to the fans, but for the sake of their own story as well: no writer wants to start something that they can’t finish. (And this applies to both Cas and Eileen).

Here’s a basic rundown of what I think happened: they had a clear arc from 18-20, ending in reciprocation at some level from Dean, Sam marrying Eileen, Hunter Sam as the new Bobby, Dean in heaven with Cas and big roadhouse reunion at the end. Covid prevented a good amount of that. Network had to stare at big gay 18 for six months, got cold feet. Thought about Walker, target audience and alienation of the rural areas if it went full gay. Misha quarantined and likely shot something (not much), he was then cut by execs and went home. They likely added in lines referencing Eileen and Cas to make it clear but more subtextual. They wrap, editing gets it and hacks it to pieces, so we get a shorter episode that’s mostly montages and jarringly bro-centric with nothing else. Arcs are left hanging. Dabb gets episode but it’s too late, there’s nothing he can do. Actors aren’t told so they can continue to do positive PR for the ending, they all found out at the same time we did: hence almost complete silence about the finale.

And you know what?  They warned us.  I talked about it here, but they’ve been telling us all season that Chuck wasn’t the writer, he’s the network.  I don’t think, still, that they thought it would be cut up like this, into something so unsalvageable that it’s been panned by almost everyone, even people who didn’t care much about Dean and Cas.

Finally, a masterpiece can be ruined by editing, and while I’m not sure even the script they ended up shooting on was a masterpiece (due to the network meddling already), but to me it’s blatantly obvious that it’s no one but the network that caused this, that took away closure for Dean, Cas, and even Sam.

So what do I want?  Nothing really, there’s nothing we can do, but I wrote this mostly to show people that the writers are not your enemy.   In fact, to the people trashing them?  You’re doing exactly what the CW wants you to: blame the obvious targets, blame Misha, blame Jensen and Jared, blame Dabb.  Scream and yell at them on Twitter and about how the show is ruined because of them.  The network keeps their engagement levels high, they don’t get as targeted for their behavior, and just keep moving along.

Just, please, think about who did this,  Mourn the show, be angry, but not at the people who fought tooth and nail for this for literal years, not the people who wanted it more than we did, not the people who cannot say anything because of their careers and the NDAs they’re bound by.

Someone is going to spill eventually, but until then, we just have to wait, and continue to be loud.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

April 2021 Part 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Love Poison 2 Ep 3 - incomprehensible plot, confusing characters, terrible audio, I’m dropping this one. 

Second Chance Ep 2 - they are my adorable babies and I LOVE THEM. Must protect Jeno at all cost. Chris, come on, boy needs you. (They’re the jock/nerd pair.) Then there’s the friend-to-lovers (Paper & Fah) and cafe cute boys (M & Near). We got artful injury tending (finger & lip) and some jealousy or something. Is the script good? Hell no. Is anything happening? Nope. But I’m INVESTED in the nothingness. 

Lovely Writer Ep 7 - mostly set in the past, but the child actors they got were decent. I actually liked how they explained Sib’s behavior (I mean losing your BFF + figuring out you’re gay at the same time gotta mess with your head). We got touch my lip, carry baby to bed, let’s sleep facing, face touch, hair touch, and a hand kiss as well as The Kiss. With so many intimacy and caring tropes, I’m well pleased.  BONUS: NO SOUND EFFECTS. Please make then have fired the sound tech. OHPLEAESEOHPLEASEOHPLEASE. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 1 - I like it. Might as well break the 4th wall if you’re gonna do a voice over. Some super cringy moments but I think that’ll improve post makeover. Yet again we have a BL poking fun at its own tropes. 2021 is definitely the year of meta. Oh and Phuwin’s English is really good. 

Call It What You Want Ep 1-2 - it’s slow and more arty than I expected. The actor playing the main character looks eerily like Up (Gene in Lovely Writer) + an ex of mine - it’s disconcerting. 

Brothers Ep 10 - my two got together and ARE ADORABLE. I actually really like how they dealt with Khun’s seme ownership freak out. That’s some sexy communicating, boys! So many couples (and triads) I’m well confused, but I only love KhunKaow so no one else matters.  

Y-Destiny Ep 2 - cute, bit raunchy, kinda fun, about a million tropes in one tiny ep. I’m getting So Much in Love meets something from Strongberry. No bad thing... no real good thing either. But I was expecting a lot worse. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai 

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 4 (AKA Ep 7-8) - I don’t wanna blog about it. I can’t even think about it. I’m still gonna keep watching it. Conclusion? I’m trash. 

Word of Honor (China) Ep 22-24 - Wen is as much as a drama queen as Gene (in his own special way). Most of his past is now revealed plus obligatory bathing scene. (Is Gong Jun contractually obliged to be topless in all his dramas or is it just for the good of the planet? Asking for a friend.) A good 60% of the time I have no idea what is going on (so many names! who is this Lovelace putz allasudden?) but I don’t care cause they so pretty. 

Most Peaceful Place (Vietnam) Ep 3 - didn’t drop this week, or was it only 2 episodes? I’m so confused. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - It’s GREAT, they’re great, everyone’s great, the world is great. So pleased to get Shu Yi and his dad talking Japanese. I love it when Taiwan makes use of bilingual actors (see Because of You) almost as much as them flexing their marriage equality muscles. The full circle pool kiss was adorable and this series is officially a favorite. (@heretherebedork your boys don’t end unhappily but they don’t get an HEA either, everyone else does. I think you’d be okay with this one.) 

Stand Alones 

Tell the World I Love You (Thai BL movie) released into theaters? Or not? Haven’t heard anything about it. 

Breaking News 

Bite Me got a full trailer and it looks GOOD. Mark Siwat seems to be carrying this one, which is fine, we all know he can (especially if you’ve seen his non-LBC stuff). Quality controls seem relatively high, although this may only be a fund-raising trailer. No eng subs at last check but I’m disposed to be hopeful. It feels like we are in Oxygen territory and that was one of my favorites last year. 

You’re My Sky dropped what they’re calling an “official pilot.” No eng subs. I think this is a tester trailer to raise funds. MDL listing makes this sound like a standard college BL, but trailer portrays a sports romance. Stars almost-familiar new faces from Y-Destiny. It’s like we have a new crop of BL actors chomping at the bit to take over from MaxTul or MewGulf, and with the 91 line aging out*, maybe they aren’t wrong? 

* Don’t crawl into my craw, they’ve most of ‘em said they don’t wanna keep doing BL after turning 30 and frankly, why should they? 

Gossip 

Nitiman dropped BTS from their publicity shoot. No eng subs. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons. 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Spring Line Up:

Close Friend the series (Thai trailer) April 22.

2gether the movie (Thai trailer) April 22 to Thai theaters.

Nitiman (Thai) May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 (Thai) May 27 on LineTV

Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong) June to Viu

I joined MDL under this handle AbsoluteBL. Find me there if you like, currently it’s just ratings, tracking, & three lists: 

Japanese BL & Live Action Yaoi Manga

Korean BL

Taiwanese BL

[mostlywritersblock]

Arcane FF

Author’s note. This is not a Silco/Powder but more of a trauma induced father-daughter relationship. That being said feel free to read it however you like. Hoping to post on AO3 here soon.

Takes place at the end of Ep3.

( as of writing this I have yet to watch ep 4-6 fully, so please if anything is incorrect let me know!)

Trigger warning, there is description of several panic attacks (though Powder doesn’t know that’s what’s happening) also slight mention of suicide and self harm.  

Part 2.

Part 1. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8.

======================================

Silco didn’t stop walking until he reached the ‘common’ area. Glancing about he moved towards the couch and in one smooth swoop laid himself down upon it. He let out a deep sigh.

His body was aching; not just from the fight, or from the explosion, but carrying a child who was far too old to be carried was a feat in itself. He closed his eyes and let himself relax momentarily for the first time that day. 

Slowly, almost cautiously, he let his thoughts play out. Unguarded he let his emotions roam free. 

The first thing he was aware of, other than the physical ailments, was the deep hollowness he was experiencing whenever his mind would stray towards Vander. That alone was concerning, but he underlined it with red and shoved it aside as the next thought took it’s place. The explosion. What the hell had happened? Things weren’t going exceptionally well, but there had been no way Vander and his spawn were going to stand against his monstrosity. Then he’d seen a brief flash of blue and a force unlike any he’d experienced before tossed him backwards - about the same time  Sevika shoved him aside. 

He shook his head. It didn’t add up, where had it come from? Who had caused it? 

…A brief idea of who it could be crossed his mind, but it was quickly tossed into the bin. It was highly improbable - and yet. 

Where had the child -Jinx, come from? She was clearly Vander’s other daughter. But why hadn’t she joined the fight early on like the other three had? Was she hidden? She was certainly small, perhaps not yet ready to fight? 

And yet, she’d come so willingly. 

Silco pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a noise of frustration. Somehow he felt as though he were missing only a few pieces to this puzzle, but they were unfortunately the most important. The picture not quite clear.  

He’d be sure to ask in the morning though. 

The sounds of footsteps approaching stirred him out of his thoughts. Begrudgingly he sat up, just as the door leading back out to the armory opened. 

Sevika shuffled in. Which if he’s being honest to himself was quite the surprise, though he hid it from his face. Instead he raised an eyebrow in question. 

“The lads are calling it quits for the night, I told them we’d regroup as soon as I’d gotten word.” Her voice was hoarse, her good arm holding the poorly covered stump of her other arm-er shoulder. Blood was slowly dripping onto the floor. It was clear she wasn’t well, the paleness of her skin alone making her look like one of the dead as she leaned heavily up against the door frame. 

He studied her closely, somewhat impressed she had felt the need to report to him herself. Let alone the energy. 

“Good. You can tell them to meet here tomorrow evening. What happened tonight was only a minor set back in our grander mission.” He looked from her to the quickly accumulating blood on the floor. “You may go, take care of yourself, get some rest, and tomorrow we shall begin anew.” It was a polite dismissal, but a dismissal all the same. 

Sevika nodded slowly to his words and then, as if the effort alone was too much, let out a little grunt as she pushed her self away from the entry. She shuffled painfully towards another door. 

Silco watched her struggle half way across the floor before he called out. 

“Bye the way. Thank you…I know you were only doing what I pay you for, but-“ he looked once more at where her arm should be, “thank you.” 

She stopped long enough to glance at him under her disheveled hair, letting out a small noise of acknowledgment before smirking. “If you’re really so grateful, you’d get the damn door, like a true gentleman.” 

Silco stared back, his own grin forming darkly on his face. Slowly he stood up and made his way across to her. 

“Of course, where are my manners.” He said gently as we moved passed her and to the door, quickly pulling it open. 

Sevika stood frozen, surprised that he actually listened to her, something akin to fear crossing her features as she looked between him and the door. Hesitantly she made her way to them. A stray thought came to her suddenly. 

“Where’s the girl?”

His smirking face quickly morphed into a scowl, “she’s sleeping.”

“Here?” Sevika questioned as she neared the door. 

“In the old break room.”  

Sevika found herself frowning. For once some part of her dark heart ached. She hadn’t really known the children, but she knew Vander and how much he had sacrificed for them, only for things to end the way they had. She didn’t feel guilty, but the kids…they shouldn’t have gotten mixed up in this. 

“She’s just a child, Silco.” She murmured, not meeting his eyes. “Don’t you think she deserves something a little better than a broom closet?”  

“The break room is better than a broom closet.” 

Despite his words, Sevika felt herself snorting in amusement. This entire situation screamed bad idea, as well as bizarre. 

He looked at her in confusion.

“Sorry,” she held his gaze, “I guess I just find this entire situation royally fucked.” She paused. “We’re royally fucked, if the enforcers -“

“They aren’t going to do anything, I made sure of that.” 

She raised a brow at him, “Fine. Then what about the girl, what do you thinks going to happen when she wakes up tomorrow and finally realizes you’re the one who kidnapped her dad? It’s not going to be good.” 

“I’ll deal with that when it happens.” He stated, stepping closer to her. “Besides, I think the child has her own share of secrets.” 

She shook her head. “This is a bad idea Silco-“ She paused as his words registered with her. “What do you mean?” 

He searched her face for a moment, “I mean, I think perhaps she might be the cause of our misfortune tonight, of your misfortune.” He motioned towards her wound. 

She looked down at her shoulder as she considered his words, “You think she caused the explosion?” She looked at him incredulously. “How?” 

A small nonchalant shrug as he crossed his arms. “I’ve no idea. But I’m going to find out. Whether it be the child or not, a power such as what we saw tonight could be very useful to us.” 

“Useful and dangerous.” Sevika said eyeing him closely. “I’ve only got so many limbs to spare.” 

It was meant as a joke but the fact that they both flinched at her words said different. 

Speaking of limbs, the numbness was starting to wear away. 

Her comment must have pissed him off, because she could see the anger rising in his eye. But instead of lashing out he took a deep, shaky breath. A hand raking through his hair. 

“Listen.” His voice was strangely soft as he took another step closer. “We’ve both had a tremendously long day. You’re tired, I’m tired. Let’s both just get some rest and then we can continue this conversation tomorrow with the boys.” 

She looked at him closely, only now realizing just how exhausted the man appeared. She could feel her adrenaline slowly fading as well, meaning pretty soon her body was going to be actively aware it had lost a limb, and she didn’t want to be sober when that happened. 

“Fine.” She agreed, just as softly. He didn’t step back however, instead he took another step forward. Almost nose to nose. 

He eyes drifted from her, down her neck and over to her shoulder. An emotion she couldn’t quite pin down crossed his features before it was carefully schooled back into neutrality. 

Then he took three small steps back, allowing her access to the open door once more. She nodded in thanks as she made her way past him. 

“Sevika.” 

She paused as she reached the doorway, looking back. He was facing away from her though. 

“I meant what I said.” A glance over his shoulder as his good eye met hers. “Thank you.”

She held his gaze for a long moment. Nodded and kept on walking. The door closing behind her with a soft click. 

Silco stared at the space where she’d just been, alone once more he felt the strange urge to go after her. Shaking off the feeling he walked backwards until his legs bumped into the couch. He laid back down with another deep sigh. 

A quick rest, then he’d be back up and on his way to a proper bed. 

But his body had a different plan, eye closed; he was asleep within minutes. 

==============================================

Powder awoke to the sound of an explosion ringing through her ears. Her body felt as though it was falling yet she could see herself laying in the small cot. Disoriented she moved to sit up, glancing down at her hands, she was shaking. Her breaths coming out in short little burst. Why, what was happening? 

All at once her memories caught up with her, Vander, her family, Vi leaving - she was already crying but it suddenly felt like that wasn’t enough. That there was just too much emotion inside her. 

She wanted to scream. 

Grasping at the sheets as she sobbed, Powder became aggressively louder until once again she found that it was becoming hard to breath. Panicking she stumbled off the cot and quickly made it to the door. 

Her tears and the dim hallway made it hard for her to see as she cried out for anyone. 

She tripped, on nothing but her own clumsiness, and like a falling tree, she came crashing down to her knees. 

She let out a broken scream. 

=============================================

Silco shot straight up as a high pitched wail startled him. For a moment he thought perhaps the enforcers had found them, that someone was being murdered just a few doors away. As he stared around the empty room he listened closely. 

For a minute there was nothing but silence, then he heard it, more little wails, not as loud as before but it definitely sounded like someone was in pain. Frowning he stood up. 

Cautiously he made his way towards the far door, the one he’d come through just hours earlier-

The girl. 

Eyes growing wide, Silco quickly tossed the door open and ran. 

===================================================

Powder lay in the middle of the hall, knees tucked tightly to her chest as she tried to make herself as small as possible. She wanted to disappear, wanted to cease existing if only the pain would stop. It felt as though her heart were breaking into a billion pieces all over again. Foolishly she’d believed that when she woke up it would all have been a nightmare. But that wasn’t the case. This was real, she’d murdered her brothers and father, she’d driven Vi to abandoning her. She was nothing but trouble from the first day, she was the problem, she was the -

“Jinx!”

Powder thought her heart might stop. She felt cold, ice cold. She was hearing voices now. 

“Jinx?”

Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard footsteps approaching. 

She curled up tighter, bracing for a kick or another slap to the face. 

It’s what she deserved. 

There was a presence near her, then a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“Jinx.”

She continued to sob, her hands covering her face dug in painfully. It felt like relief. 

The hand on her shoulder reached for her wrist, tugging just as gently. 

“Jinx, let go.” 

She dug in harder. The grip on her wrist did the same and slowly pulled her hands away. 

She felt another hand slide under her arm and drag her away from the floor. She began to lash out. 

“No!”

“Jinx-“

“No! Just leave me! It’s what I deserve! It’s not fair!” She struggled to get out of the strong grasp encircling her, the person slowly pulling her to them. 

“No!” She hit and clawed but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Eventually she was pinned between arms and a solid chest that vaguely felt familiar. 

She flailed for a few more moments before finally giving into the hold, body deflating like a balloon. She sagged against the figure holding her as her crying continued. 

“It’s not fair.” She mumbled against the chest. 

“…What isn’t.”

Not expecting a response to her statement, Powder paused to open her eyes since she fell to the floor earlier. 

“It should have been me.” She said to familiar clothing, familiar arms. 

A hand rubbed down her back. 

“…Explain.”

She looked up, meeting a familiar gaze. 

Silco. 

Instantly she began to hold onto him, her panic leaving her in waves as a new comfort replaced it. 

He came back. 

He’d kept his promise. 

Realizing he was still waiting for her answer, Powder pressed her check against him, hiding her face. 

“It should have been me, I shouldn’t have been there, but I was, and I - I jinxed everything. They’d still be here if it wasn’t for me.” Her voice was shaking again and she took a deep breath to help steady it. “It should have been me, not them.” 

She felt the arms holding her tighten at this admission. 

“You blame yourself for what happened.” He whispered to her, she nodded. 

“You shouldn’t.” 

His words felt like a slap to the face, they were too loud and too strong and said with such an inflection of truth, that for a moment, Powder believed him. She pulled back quickly to look up at him. Shock on her face. 

He stared back. “You were trying to help.” She gave a small nod. “Then it wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but I did it, I caused -“

“The explosion.” It wasn’t a question. Again she nodded. “I thought so.” 

She looked down at her hands. “…I killed them.” 

Large hands came up and gripped hers. “It was an accident.”

Furious she looked back up at him. “I killed them!”

Silco didn’t seemed phased by her anger, he just held her stare. After a moment she looked back down. Their hands were still joined. 

“And what about your sister.” 

Powder frowned. “What?”

“She was there, your brothers too, they were all trying their best to help but it wasn’t working.” 

She kept her gaze down. “What do you mean.”

“I’m trying to tell you that it would have made no difference had you been there or not, Jinx.”

Without thinking she began squeezing their hands. 

“Whether you caused that explosion or not, their fates were already sealed.”

“How-“

“Your sister made sure of it.”

Powder looked up, new tears brimming her eyes. “She couldn’t-“ 

“She thought she could save them, but it only prolonged the inevitable, she changed the outcome, disrupted the plan. She thought she was ready but your father knew better and in trying to save her, condemned himself.” 

Powder stared at him in shock. 

“Of course, it had all been an accident, she didn’t mean for any of it to happen.” 

“But my brothers-“

“Caught in the cross fire, unfortunately.”

She let out a small wail. She didn’t know what to think, was he telling her the truth?

He’d given her no reason to not trust him thus far. Other than the glaring elephant in the room. 

Oh yes, she knew who he was, what he’d done. 

Yet some how none of that had mattered when she was screaming and crying out when Vi had left. When he held her and whispered promises about the future. When he’d brought her with him, given her a bed and then promised to come back.

And then did. 

It was more than she could say for her family in the past few months. Of course they weren’t mean to her, they gave her a bed and food, but if she had really needed them, would they have come for her?

Powder wasn’t so sure. And now she’d never know - 

No. No they would have. Shaking her head violently she sat back.

Silco was saying something again, she tried to focus on his voice, but there were too many thoughts swirling inside her. 

“If you blame yourself then you must also blame your sister, after all she was the one leading them, wasn’t she?”

Powder nodded, only half listening. 

“Then tell me Jinx, why weren’t you there with them?” 

What? 

Oh.

“Vi told me to stay. She said I wasn’t ready…and I wasn’t”

“I disagree.” 

Powder frowned. “But, but I’m not.”

“You blew up my entire operation there, several of my employees and -“

“Killed my family.”

“Indirectly.” Silco put a finger under her chin, directing up to him. “That’s more than I can say for your sister. You were ready Jinx and she held you back.”  

Powder searched his gaze before suddenly flinging her self onto him, her arms wrapping around his neck, her cheek pressed to his. 

His arms came up around her after a moments hesitation but he held her securely against him. 

“If you want someone to blame Jinx, blame her, you could have avoided this whole mess had you been by her side from the beginning.” He whispered into her hair. “But all that’s going to change now, because you’ll be by my side. We’ll prove everyone wrong.” He felt her grip on him tighten. 

“We’ll show them. Just like you said.” She whispered back. 

“Just like I promised.” He brought a hand up to the back of her head, his other gently rubbing her back. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes, neither saying anything and just taking in comfort from the other.

Eventually though Silco’s body was starting to protest, his knees especially. 

“Jinx…” He prodded gently, “might we go back to bed.” Unfortunately the child clung to him harder at his words. “I need to sleep Jinx and so do you, we can talk more in the morning but -“

“I’m scared.” She glanced at him from the side. “I don’t like that room and I don’t want to be alone.” 

Silco felt a headache coming on. On one hand he could tell her to toughen up, send her back to the room and let that be it. Though there stood a good chance that it would put some strain on - on whatever this was - and he didn’t exactly want to cause anymore friction. There was also the possibility she would have another melt down and come find him again. On the other hand he could give in and find some place they’d both be equally comfortable and the child wouldn’t have to be alone, it might actually have the added benefit of strengthening -whatever this was - and make her trust him more easily. But. He’d lose some privacy, crossing this line would set the precedent for their future interactions and he wasn’t so keen on losing that-

“Please.” She looked at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes. Surprisingly, it worked. 

Oh what the hell. What’s one night anyway? 

 “Fine.” He let out a long sigh, looped his arms under her and stood up. It took a little more effort this time but he managed, again she clung on like some kind of ape. 

He headed them back in the direction of the common area. There was no way he was making it to his private quarters tonight. 

A few minutes later and they were back inside the room with the comfy looking couch. Silco set them both down. 

“Here.” He said moving to giver her room to lay down. “You can sleep right here and I’ll be right over there.” He nodded towards one of the chairs. It looked less comfy than the couch but it would have to do. 

She laid down, watching him as he dug out another wool blanket from one of the boxes and came back over. He placed it across her and she burrowed herself in. Then he went and sat in one of the opposite chairs. He slouched down, trying to lay as vertically as possible in the chair. I certainly wasn’t very gentleman-like but if he was being honest he really didn’t give a shit at the moment, he doubted Jinx did either. He closed his eye.

She stared at him from under the blanket. 

“Sleep Jinx.” He said not bothering to look at her. 

===================================================

She watched him for a few more minutes as his breathing got deeper, he had fallen asleep. 

He was… different than what she imagined, not that she’d really ever given him any thought prior to tonight. But if someone had told her she’d be sleeping in the same room as the man who’d harmed her family she would have tossed her monkey bomb at them. 

He looked peaceful sleeping. So far when awake the man seemed to have a constant scowl upon his face, that or as if he were about to die of boredom. Powder could relate. She often found herself bored at home, especially when Vi, Mylo and Clagger were out without her. 

She wondered if she’d get bored here. Something in her gut told her that wasn’t likely to happen. Not for a while at least. She was so far out of her element she wondered if she was made for this kind of life, if perhaps she should have gone out with her family. If that would have been easier. 

It sure felt like it would have. 

Her mind was racing despite the exhaustion she felt. It was easier, being in the room with him. She was less afraid. But she didn’t like the distance. So far every sliver of peace she’d felt since Vi’s words, had come from the man holding her. 

Slowly she pulled back the blanket and sat up. She wrapped it around her small frame and slid off the couch. Tiptoeing towards the man she stopped by his side looking him over. He didn’t appear to be injured other than the dark bruise that was forming around his neck. She wondered what had happened, the idea unnerved her and so she quickly moved on to his face. She was curious, the skin was darker, marred a bit but nothing too horrible to look at. The eye was a different matter, it had scared her initially but not enough to turn her away, now however she already started to associate it with the man as a signature quirk, like her blue hair. Gently she touched the mans shoulder, when he didn’t stir, she slowly climbed into his lap. He was cold as she settled in, suddenly very glad she brought the blanket with her and placed it delicately on top of them. She rested her head on his chest. Just as she was getting comfy she felt the man stir above her. Stiffening she waited for him to scold her, or worse, shove her off. But neither came, instead the man shifted into a more comfortable position and wrapped his arms securely around her, resting his head on top of hers. 

Jinx felt warm, and for a night full of first, a piece of her shattered heart started melding back together. They didn’t fit perfectly, but that was okay. It was something. It was healing.