#giving us so much fucking fuel in just one episode

[youmagnificentbeast]

Taskmaster Series 17 Episode 3 Gif Dump

[myslutwritings]

Hello could you do uppermoons with a S/O who has anger issues?

ofc! thank you for the requesting:)

➤ Uppermoons reaction to a S/O who has anger issues

including; Muzan, Kokushibo, Douma, Akaza, Sekido, Karaku, Aizetsu & Urogi

not proof read

Muzan Kibutsuji

• He believes the way you act is childish whenever you’re angry/upset.

• A little bit hypocritical of him considering he potentially has slight anger issues himself but after all he is a demon so he assumes it’s normal. Doesn’t really think much of it tbh.

• If you’re the type to have frequent outbursts/tantrums when you’re angry i feel like he would just ignore you until you’ve calmed down.

• Not the best at comfort. Affection isn’t his forte.

• Once you’ve calmed down a bit he’d return to comfort you in his own way.

• His way may not be as affectionate but it’s his way of showing you he cares.

• Muzan isn’t a softie (obviously) he’s very intimidating and downright the embodiment of evil so his way of showing affection is not ideal.

• But he cares though (more than you think)

• As your relationship progresses and you open up more about your own mental issues and needs and how you prefer to be cared for whenever you’re having an episode he’ll try to be more understanding!!

• Muzan still isn’t all that used to it but he tries just for you.

• Sometimes finds it amusing when the smallest little things piss you off though..

• He’ll chuckle under his breath at your little childish out bursts which only adds more fuel to the fire.

• Might bring you one of his victims so you can take your anger out on them because he assumes it’ll soothe down your nerves

• He’s never met someone like you and your emotions are pretty powerful. It makes him wonder how powerful you’ll be as a demon if he were to turn you into one. He prefers you as a human though because of the power imbalance.

• Fights may occur frequently between y’all due to you accidentally taking your anger out on him sometimes (god help your poor soul)

• Don’t worry! He won’t kill you.

• Usually he is very calm whenever you’re angry but if you just lash out and take everything out on him he’ll get pissed too.

• Whenever you two are some arguing you guys kind of just forget it ever happened and he just holds you in his arms or makes you sit on his lap to see if that helps you or not.

Kokushibo

• Kokushibo here sorta gives off this semi-calm vibe in my opinion? However, whenever he is angry it’s fucking terrifying.

• Whenever you’re upset he will sit you down so the two of you can discuss it.

• Like Muzan he will probably chuckle if you’re mad over something so tiny.

• However, unlike Muzan he isn’t toxic about it.

• He’s still a demon though so don’t expect it to be perfect.

• If you tell him what’ll make you feel better then he’ll do it in a heartbeat.

• You need a hug? okay! You don’t want to be touched? that’s fine too! he’ll give you the space you need until you’ve calmed down.

• I feel like he is the type to grab you firmly by the shoulders and tell you to calm the fuck down.

• Or maybe he’ll stare at you menacingly until your anger subsides..

• He’s the voice of reason whenever you’re upset over something ridiculous.

• If you’re mad for an entirely different reason (that’s valid in his eyes) is when he’s more caring and affectionate. (then again, in his own way)

• Kokushibo is quiet. He is not all that vocal unless he’s fighting demon slayers but whenever he isn’t on a mission he gives the “quiet kid” vibe.

• Koku embraces you and strokes your hair if you cry when you’re mad.

• If you’re the type to break things whenever you’re mad Kokushibo dislikes that sort of behavior. Isn’t a fan of extreme loud noises. He will get you to stop by manhandling you. Doesn’t usually raise his voice at his precious s/o no matter how mad they are.

Douma

• My fucking god.

• This little shit finds it cute

• Will tease you. (finds your anger issues entertaining)

• Human emotion is just so strange!!

• Fun fact: Douma actually feels emotions around you. However, it’s still somewhat foreign to him and he still has major difficulty understanding human emotions. (please be patient with even tho he is a menace)

• If you talk to him about it more he will surprisingly understand you. This surprises you because he doesn’t understand any of his followers half of the time. (You special frfr)

• Don’t expect the teasing to stop entirely though.

• He thinks mortals are so endearing when they spark with such intense emotions over the stupidest of reasons!

• It doesn’t matter how pissed off you are. This mf will only continue to think it’s adorable and tease you relentlessly which boils your blood to the maximum level..

• Blud DEADASS gets confused when you snap at him for it.

• “Ehh?? why are you mad at me?!” (He’ll whine about it)

• Douma is a complete menace. Knows exactly what he’s doing.

• Once he realizes “Maybe they don’t actually like it when i tease them..” he’ll tone it down a notch.

• Still somewhat teases you though. That isn’t going to go away permanently but he will tone it down only for your sake!

• Similar to Muzan, he will laugh at you when you get mad over something little/stupid.

• And like Kokushibo, also the type to manhandle you if you’re out of control. (Smiles the whole time while handling your feisty ass)

• However, he is still sweet so if you sit down and talk to him then he’ll do anything he can to make you feel better! After all, you’ve always been there for him so he must return the favor!

• Whenever you cry when you’re mad Douma forcibly pulls you onto his lap and peppers your face in kisses.

• If you’re going on a rant about something that made you angry he’ll definitely shut you up by kissing you if he grows bored/tired of listening to you.

• He is a slave for you so he’ll let you take your frustrations out on him (New kink unlocked)

• Always finds your emotions very intriguing. How can a human feel so much?

• If there was a certain someone who triggered your anger issues Douma will just eat them! He won’t let anyone hurt you<33

• Or he’ll maybe let you kill them to help you feel better.

Akaza

• Akaza is beyond caring and understanding of your anger issues!

• Akaza is very worried about you! Will want to communicate with you immediately about this.

• He listens to everything you have to say.

• Does get a little taken aback by your outburst though. you’re like a volcano.

• He’ll politely ask to hug you if you’re the type who wants to be touched when you’re angry to help calm you down!

• Offers to give you a massage as well.

• However, if you want space then he’ll gladly give you that as well!

• Will occasionally check up on you, asking you if you need anything.

• Whispers sweet nothings into your ear.

• If you want to break things when you get angry he will find objects for you to take your anger out on.

• If you’re a demon and you get heated he might find it hot when you’re mad. He’ll watch with pride as you fuck the shit up out of one of the demon slayers!

• I feel great pity if anyone caused you to get angry. This man will ANNIHILATE a village worth of people if they’ve hurt you in any way. (He’s super overprotective)

• Overall 10/10 boyfriend! will always be here for you and help you during your episodes:)

Sekido

• Oh boy. SAME BOAT, SAME BOAT.

• Like you, he too has a very short temper.

• Okay, i feel like he is definitely the most understanding out of EVERYONE.

• Sekido’s anger issues are SEVERE (just like yours)

• He honestly relates to you.

• Sekido is scary enough but the two of you combined? All hell will break loose.

• The other clones are terrified of you both 😭😭

• And if you’re a demon that’s a whole different story..

• You guys are a power duo and definitely go on killing sprees together whenever y’all’s anger is out of control.

• All though he’s the one who truly understands you he isn’t the type to communicate about it nor provide you with any ideal comfort.

• Sekido’s way of showing affection/comfort is just letting you stay mad until you’ve calmed down or just shit talking with you about whatever made you mad

• He will listen to you and understand. Bro will be mad FOR you in any situation that ticked you off 💀

• It makes HIM even more infuriated whenever someone pissed you off.

• Will kill them INSTANTLY for you and will not give a shit if you protest.

• Y’all scare the shit out of the other clones. (and each other)

• Have i not mentioned the both of you have the strong tendency to take y’all’s anger out on each other?

• It’s crazy.

• The sex is great though so it’s fine! (y’all have hate sex)

Karaku

• Like Douma, he’ll tease you relentlessly

• This mf prolly gets horny from seeing how ANGRY his s/o gets.

• He’s honestly surprised at first.. he thought you were innocent.

• Karaku has to deal with Sekido all the time so he isn’t scared of you.

• The only difference is that he finds you cute/hot when you’re mad.

• Bro will probably offer you head to make you feel better. He is the pleasure demon after all so he’ll do anything that’ll pleasure your angry little self!

• Steamy make-out sessions 😍‼️

• The type of mf to fuck the anger outta you probably (Or he’ll let you fuck him)

• He will also tease you and laugh at you though (He is a jerk like that)

• He teases you WAYY more than he does sekido

• He will baby you if you start to cry when you’re angry

• Now, do not be mistaken. Karaku DOES care but his way of providing comfort is rigged with his sadistic personality.

• You remind him a lot of Sekido just less intimidating because you’re his partner.

• Will hype you up if you destroy shit when you’re mad. He can just replace them anyway so it doesn’t matter

• “OH YEAH, FUCK THAT SHIT UPPPP!”

• Sometimes doesn’t understand when you only grow more angry with him when he hyped you up or when he teases you. Humans are so funny to him.

• if you were a demon he’d probs get even more turned on if you just slaughtered the hell out of the person who made you angry.

• Karaku will lend you his fan that he uses so you can destroy more things with it while you’re mad!

• Would love, love, LOVE to see you take down anything in existence with his fan.

• He isn’t the best communicator but he’ll hear you out whenever you’re venting.

• He doesn’t have anger issues so he won’t truly understand. But he’ll be there for you so that’s good, right?

• Still capable of sweetly comforting you! He will hug you and pepper your tear-stained face in kisses (Still picks on you though)

• With all that aside, Karaku messes with you still and that’ll never end. Unlike Douma he won’t ever stop teasing you nor level it down a bit despite your protests.

Aizetsu

• This pussy bitch is scared.

• Bro cries because of you

• He strongly dislikes yelling and overly violent behavior. (Is not too fond of loud noises basically)

• He is scared shitless of sekido. so when he founds out you get as angry, if not more angry than sekido himself Aizetsu is going to be petrified at first.

• Aizetsu may be a demon who devours people but out of all of the other clones he’s the most soft.

• He is usually calm, tends to give silent reactions but whenever you’re angry and yelling his mind is at war. He’s scared but also worried for his s/o at the same time.

• On the verge of a panic attack on the days/nights you’re mad.

• Will be scared if you have dramatic outbursts

• The one to watch you silently, on the verge of an anxiety attack as you flip the fuck out over whatever angered you.

• Aizetsu won’t judge you if you’re mad over something small. However, he will definitely be confused though. (Why are you angered by something so meaningless?)

• BUT!! despite your ballistic behavior and immature tantrums you’re still his beloved s/o! Aizestu will still do his all to ensure you’re protected and safe from harms way at ALL costs!!

• Aizetsu probably trembles whenever you scream a bit too loudly (It always surprises him because he never knows what’s going to set you off)

• When he first found out about your anger issues (Which was completely out of the blue because you’ve never told him before) Aizetsu is a tad bit disappointed you never told him prior.

• Eventually he will get used to it (sorta) and as he does he will feel guilty for not comforting you properly in the past.

• Aizetsu will let you lay your head on his lap as you vent/rant about what pissed you off.

• Aizetsu is still fiercely protective of his beloved s/o. Will unalive whoever upset you.

Urogi

• You and Urogi are the complete opposite

• He is positive and joyful while you’re negative and cunning.

• Whenever he witnesses you having an episode he will immediately bear hug you.

• Attacks you with kisses and laughs.

• Doesn’t really understand but he will listen to you!

• Like Karaku he will probably tease you only to immediately regret it because you won’t let that slide 💀

• Tries to ask sekido for help or the other clones. (Doesn’t get any)

• He’s not scared of you like Aizetsu because he deals with Sekido’s burning rage on a daily basis

• Urogi tries his hardest to keep his S/O in a positive mindset!

• Not the greatest at advice giving but (kind of) an excellent listener.

• He’s usually very hyperactive and talkative but whenever you need to vent/rant then he’s all ears and won’t interrupt you!

• Will wrap his wings around you in a protective manner if you want to be spooned by him.

• The type of man to take you out whenever you’re upset to get some fresh air.

• Probably will offer you sex to see if that’ll make you feel better 😭

• I feel like Urogi would be clingy so if you ask him for space it’ll be hard for him because he just wants to make sure you’re okay!

• Sometimes he finds it attractive when you’re angry

• a/n: I don’t know what else to put here (LMAO)

that’s about all! i hope you enjoyed reading<3

[utilitycaster]

Do you think any of the other items the party has rn (ie Ashton’s hammer, Imogen’s robe) could become more relics of the red solstice? If yes, which god do you think would bless them? Vox Machina probably not, they’ve got all their vestiges already, but do you think the Mighty Nein could earn any?

I don't think this will be much of a focus, to be honest; Matt just poked fun at his Campaign 1 fetch quests. I especially don't think it will be a significant focus of the Mighty Nein as I think they and Vox Machina will only be viewpoint characters for their specific missions; a couple episodes at most. And, to be honest, one of my favorite things about the Mighty Nein is that they were never terribly focused on magic items to the ridiculous (affectionate) extent Vox Machina were. No shade to Vax but I think a lot of people did not realize that without two vestiges and an overpowered homebrew item and a bending of the rules re: smiting on thrown items, he's just a guy with 30 feet of movement who can attack twice with a dagger in melee and pump in a second level smite once he gets to the high levels.

I think it is possible with Bells Hells, but I suspect it will only really be those who sought out any kind of relationship with a god, even if it's relatively last minute. I'd love to see an exploration of Braius since I really don't think Asmodeus is fueling those paladin levels, but otherwise, Imogen and Ashton are currently the only ones with plans, so the gods in question are the Stormlord and the Arch Heart. It would be a nice touch, personally, if the Changebringer showed up and perhaps imbued the fragments of FCG with something minor, but I'd also be happy if the only relic we have is Seedling simply because again, Orym's the only one who's really been pursuing this consistently.

Just for a quick elaboration, I think one thing with the Vestiges that Matt realized is firstly, if he gives the party a list of everything, they will try to catch 'em all, which led to some episodes in C1 that, frankly, didn't have much connection to the characters and their goals (specifically the Fire Plane stuff; also while its retrieval was great, Scanlan used Mythcarver like, twice, and once was to do a two gnomes in a trenchcoat situation); and that you can end up with some really fucked party balance. I remember in Campaign 2 when people felt like everyone should get a Vestige again once it became apparent the Star Razor was one, but Fjord was a sword-focused character who put immense work into a relationship with a god; some classes and characters are just not item-based in the same way. To make D&D balanced, sometimes some characters get more toys; and also, following specific narrative paths is rewarded by the GM because it involves player dedication or risk or is just really fun and cool.*

I will also note that while time is short, not all the Vestiges of Divergence were tied to a deity. One could get a relic created by mortals; I don't, for example, know what Dancer and Imahara Joe are up to.

*at the risk of taking a pretty straightforward post and turning into an avenue of discourse, this is yet another reason why the "Raven Queen/Wildmother relationships with Vax and Orym are abusive" arguments feel in such profoundly bad faith and, quite frankly, taste, that they're hard to even engage with. It's such a deeply bleak and cynical worldview out of game to say "yeah, I think the GM is looking at an interesting player choice and is punishing them for it," even more so with a player like Liam, a person who is not precious with his characters and does not see tragedy or death in the service of a cause at the close of the story as narrative failure.

[0little-miss-scare-all0]

Stuffed animals I think Dethklok would give each other

Not trying to infantilize, they all get them those fuckin man babies.

Probably cringe but I could care less honestly 😭

Not proofread suck a fart

Nathan

Pickles gets him a whale. It's a reference to the whale he'll see so maybe next time he can relate it to his stuffed animal and not worry. They also stand for strength, which adds to the overall meaning of getting over fears.

Murderface would get him a lion. He says it's a jab at how much of a perfectionist he needs to be to be proud of his work. They're also just hella fucking brutal. Lions for the win

Skwisgaar would get him some type of fish. It doesn't matter which one, just whichever he finds first. They won't be very big, just little plushies.

Toki would get him a German Shepherd. He thinks it's a cool dog and I like to think it's Nathan's favorite. He would probably get the black ones to match Nathan's hair. He likes how they're actually cute but look brutal.

Charles isn't a big giver, especially with stuffed animals. If he finds one of those brutally cute things like the baphomet plushies he'll get them. Other than that, he's just too busy to look for insanely interesting ones.

Skwisgaar

Nathan would get him that alien plush from Ikea. I don't know why that was the first thing I thought of, but it was. It's called like Aftonsparv I think. They just both find it chucklesome.

Pickles would get him a wolf. I like to think that he just obsesses over wolves sometimes and Pickles feels the need to add fuel to fire.

Murderface would get him an arctic fox. He likes to say that Skwisgaar is from the North Pole up with "Santy Claus". He also just likes them.

Toki would get him a polar bear. I just think that everyone collectively thinks that Skwisgaar is an arctic man. He's pale and has ice blue eyes so it makes sense to me.

Toki

Nathan would get him a bunny because it's his spirit animal. (Ie. The episode they aired Bloodlines, I can never remember the name)

Pickles would get him little sharks. Think Blåhaj and things related. He just thinks they're cute and Toki loves them.

Murderface would get him a tiger. He says it's better because it's like a house cat but metal. Toki would argue that house cats are quite metal, but to no avail.

Skwisgaar would get him big octopuses. He would either say it was the Kraken or Cthulhu. Whichever he felt like it being.

Pickles

Nathan would get him just that. Pickles. It would be like the Cat v Pickle plushies and if it was a cat he'd just give it to Toki or something. He thinks it's the funniest shit ever

Murderface would get him an orca. They're hella brutal and he thinks it's funny that they're actually dolphins (don't fact check me i'm pretty sure that's true)

Toki is getting him dolphins. They're the shark and dolphin duo and it's so fun. It's a gag at this point, they'll buy each other the ugliest ones.

Skwisgaar would give him a frog. He just think it fits Pickles's vibe and appearance. Not to say he's an ugly frog.

Murderface

Nathan would get him a pig. At first it seems like a jab at him, but pigs are cute! They're also known to be smart and clean, at least from what a teacher told me once.

Pickles would get him those plushies of his favorite chip bags because they're just so fun. they also crinkle because why wouldn't they.

Toki would get him lions because they're also brutal cats and he thinks he should get the same thing. Also he needs some strength in his life the poor guy.

Skwisgaar would get him a manatee. It's just an ongoing joke since the events of Doublebookedklok. They giggle about it when they get too high sometimes.

Charles

He's the gifter this time

He hates when the guys get him things because he thinks they should use their money on "more useful" things.

He'll get Nathan those Baphomet plushies. They don't have to be generally big, but if he sees one he'll get it.

Pickles would get a horse or two from him. Specially the white and black ones, considering those are the most metal horses.

Murderface would get a wrench from this son of a bitch. Not a real one like a stuffed one I hope that was clear. I think they'd both giggle a little bit.

He's also a Toki cat giver. Specifically Calico cats. If he finds one that looks like Really Cool Cat then he'll get it for sentiment.

He'll get Skwisgaar an owl. He thinks it matches him and is majestic like he is, while still kind of creepy. Also spirit animal mention.

That's it I hope you fucks enjoyed <33

[ninjagirlstar5]

I was struck with a Swap AU 3 days ago...

I did most of my rambling on Discord, so I'm just gonna copy and paste those under specific groups and characters for organization.

The Hollowheads

Chosen: - Swaps places with victim. - Alan creates Chosen first and gets more than he bargained for like in canon, but he actually manages to delete Chosen before he could escape onto the PC (but obviously he survives somehow like canon!victim). - Chosen starts up a company making weapons and shit, even though he technically doesn't like it but it's all he's ever really known to do so… - Chosen is still like, "nah, I'm evil" and goes along with the flow to get what he wants, even if he's not proud of all the weapons he's made over the years. So yes, he would torture someone. (*cough* victim *cough*)

victim: - Swaps places with Chosen. - Alan learns his lesson in Not creating another Chosen but instead creates victim to torment her, only letting her out whenever he feels bored. This ends up backfiring as well as the moment she escapes from Adobe flash, she steals all the tools and lashes out on his PC, which creates far more destruction than he thought she was capable of. - Since Second takes Dark's place, victim becomes besties with him! I'm sure this fallout won't be painful for both of them! (sarcasm) - The tools vic creates and used in the first episode and the Box becomes tools she can pull out at any time with the use of some UI wristbands she made after she and Sec escape Alan's PC so that she can never be powerless ever again (cause she still doesn't have powers in this AU). She even has a hoverbike (like the Mercs have) that she created for herself to help her travel better next to Second. - After she escapes the PC with Second, who is a little brother figure to her, she becomes a terrorist out of spite and anger. Unlike canon!Chosen, who loses interest and becomes more guilty over time, victim's fury fueled her for years. It isn't until Second proposes his plan (elaborated in his section) that victim is hit and crushed with the realization that she ended up fucking up Second to the point that he thinks his plan is okay and tries to stop him. It ends as well as you'd expect. - After this, victim ends up regretting her actions as a terrorist as lashing out at others through her vengeful and spiteful behavior due to her own pain caused so much suffering. Including someone she cared for, like Second in a way. - victim is definitely NOT okay with Alan and never will be (and by that, I mean, she'll never forgive him for what he's done to her, regardless of his change of heart and wants nothing to do with him at this point).

And then there the Box Scene with vic and Chosen:

victim still has all her tools, but Chosen has his powers. victim tries to fight back but one by one, her tools get deleted from her hands as Chosen slowly shows her that he's not just a regular stick. Unlike her, they have actual powers and had been holding back to give her the illusion that she ever had a chance to fight him, quickly turning into a curb-stomp battle. To make matters worse, Chosen…almost seems amused that she's trying to fight against him so damn hard.

But vic nearly gets the upper hand by trying to explode her remaining tools with her and Chosen with them. But unfortunately for her, someone (maybe Agent, maybe someone else) intervenes and deletes the tool on the spot, causing Chosen to lay to waste on her with his fire before finally tying her into the chair.

Second: - Swaps places with Dark. - Alan creates Second based off of Chosen's old code, and sicks him on victim. But he didn't realize that Second would put together that victim is, well, a victim to Alan and chooses to team up with her instead, causing them work together to explode the PC and escape into the OuterNet together. - When victim started doing terrorism, Second was dragged along with her even though he didn't want to do it initially. But because victim was his friend and sister, he goes along with it and ends up getting more and more into it as time goes on. - Eventually, Second tells victim his plan: to wipe out the OuterNet and the Internet to replace with happy zero-conflict people (under their control), essentially destroying sticks' codes and reviving them with his powers but with the twist that he'd replace certain coding to brainwash them so that conflict won't ever exist, period. This is ignoring the fact that he'd be taking away people's agency in the process. victim, who lacked agency for most of her beginning years, doesn't take it well. - Second is just so, so determined to protect victim. He learned it all from her, his big sis. How they must take in order to survive and show no restraint to others. How people hurt cause conflict towards others. But if he can get rid of that conflict in the first place, then she'll have nothing to worry about! He can keep her safe! He wants to keep her safe! He wants to do her proud!

So why is she fighting him? Can't she tell that he's doing all of this for her?

Dark: - Swaps places with Second. - Alan accidentally creates Dark years later, who immediately befriends different versions of the Color Gang (who I have not gotten around to yet, oops), he comes back to see them alive, deletes them, and Dark goes on a rampage. - But this time, instead of Alan relating to Second's ability to draw and animate like in canon, in the AU it goes a bit differently. In his haste to get rid of Dark, he accidentally gets a virus onto his computer which threatens to destroy his work. But Dark, who was also threatened by this virus, attacks and destroys it pretty easily before reprogramming it onto his side and Alan is like, "oh shit, new firewall?" and boxes Dark in, trying to talk him into protecting his PC. He refuses at first, but when Alan brings back the Gang, he agrees...on the condition that this shit doesn't happen again and he gets to play with his friends. - Cue Dark and Alan getting along as he helps keep viruses off of the PC as security and has new friends he can hang out with. He also got to keep the malware that originally threatened Alan as a pet (virabot spider is now just a securebot spider). - Dark is having the time of his life fucking around with his own Color Gang friends. - Dark & Chosen interaction:

Chosen: "Quit your friend group."

Dark: "What."

Chosen: "Join my emo company."

Dark: "Ew, no, that's cringe, lmao" - Dark: "Destruction and chaos!!! But not terrorism, that's for losers, lmao" - Swap!Dark @ Swap!victim while she's stuck in the box

In the Showdown: - Swap!Dark is the Devil to Canon!Second's God, send tweet - victim watches her lil brother get eviscerated and instead of worshipping the ground Dark walks on like how Canon!Chosen respects Canon!Second for his powers, victim…is actually kinda scared of Dark. - Dark was still able to revive the others despite his powers being more along pure destruction and corruption thanks to Second's project of wiping everything clean and reviving things with new code. He just used his powers to start the code without Second's permission and revive everyone without changing their programming or memories. - She still goes to Dark as a last resort since the Mercs have been giving her a run for her money and since she lacks any sort of powers, victim has to rely on her tools for protection. Tools that just don't seem to be enough against these Mercs and she finally decides that if she wants to be free for good, she needs someone that could obliterate them easily. And she knew just who that person is…

At least, she thought she did. What the hell does he mean that he doesn't remember jackshit? - Also, this video is 100% Dark phoning Gold & Orchid while he's imprisoned in RocketCorp.

Speaking of Gold and Orchid...

AVM Characters

Gold: - Swaps places with his dad, Mango. - Jumping into this, instead of Gold getting killed, Mango was able to open up the entrance this time and grabs Gold to pull him out…but he slips and ends up taking his place instead, leaving Gold to watch him get killed and essentially orphaned. He's very much in shock about the whole thing and while he's placed in Maroon's custody, he refuses to leave the house they lived in so Maroon is trying to pay for both which puts stress on their family. Gold feels bad but can't help but feel like his dad is still out there somewhere, lost in Minecraft's coding even though people keep telling him that he's "gone." One day, he comes across his dad's engineering notes and he's struck with the idea of taking apart Minecraft to bring his dad back and picks up a part-time job at RocketCorp (I did not come up with a new name for Chosen's company, oops) to both learn more about tools and to help pay off the bills and stuff, even going as far as to use the savings Mango stashed away secretly for his future and splurging it all to create the perfect tool. - Basically, Gold is about to tear the universe apart just to see if he can get his dad back.

Orchid: - Swaps places with her child, Purple. - Ngl to you guys, Orchid is going through it. For starters, her partner has been training their child way too hard. That was already causing a lot of strain on all of their relationships. And then Purple gets sick and Orchid does her best to take care of him while Navy fumes at the "weakness" but puts the training on hold anyways. But then they start going through this cycle of Purple getting better and then worse and then better again, to the point that Purple is stuck at the hospital and Orchid is the only one that tries to visit and take care of them. Navy is only getting more and more fed up with Purple, with Orchid just begging him to stay and saying that Purple will get better, she will! He just needs their unconditional support and love so he can focus on getting better. - But Purple doesn't get better and as Orchid holds onto his hand, he says sorry for being so weak and Orchid shushes him, saying that they're not weak. Not at all. They're being very brave right now. But she should rest her eyes. Orchid will be here in the morning. - By the time the doctors tell both of them that Purple has passed away, Orchid is a fucking mess but has start to shut down as a sort of coping mechanism. And Navy, just like in canon…abandons her and their child for being weak. Orchid, unable to cope in the OutetNet, leaves on a whim and escapes to the Mac and finds Minecraft, which ends up becoming a sort of comfort game for her but is also where she spends all of her time, pretty much refusing to face reality. - It isn't until she meets the members of this version of the Color Gang that she starts to snap out of it a little. She also doesn't abandon them in The End simply because I don't really see her doing that, so the Color Gang has a higher opinion on her from the start and it's her experience with them that she's a bit more willing to go back to the OuterNet and try again.

Orchid and Gold's dynamic and story:

Orchid is…doing better but hasn't exactly fully recovered either. While she is trying to get her life back together now that she chose to go back to the OuterNet, she's…struggling to get much motivation for anything really and often refers to other people for guidance and help. She doesn't have a job she enjoys, her bills had piled up while she hid away in Minecraft, and she doesn't have any friends outside of those two members of the Color Gang. And even then, she's barely keeping in contact with them. She's on her way back from visiting her child's grave when she hears a voice yelling over something and she turns to look.

It was…well, not exactly a young child, but someone that was barely an adult. He seems to be freaking out over a video being played on a display TV and showing something off to people in the vicinity. The people simply shrugged in response and left him be, the boy staring at the TV in contemplation. Curious, Orchid walks over to see what all the fuss about.

And sees Dark and the Color Gang playing around with the Minecraft icon. Without thinking, Orchid points out that she knows these kids and the boy turns around and goes, "YOU DO?!" The desperation and joy catches her off-guard but she doesn't deny it. The boy grabs a hold of her shoulders, shaking her with the biggest grin on his face, asking if he could help her with something, showing off the page about the Minecraft Icon block. She hesitates and he notices this, quickly backing off and apologizing for stepping over her boundaries, but says that if she decides to help, here's his address. He then scurries away pretty quickly and Orchid can only look on dumbfounded. But she can't deny that this peaked her interest enough that she drops by to visit after work. The young boy is ecstatic that she dropped by and opens up his front door with ease, letting her step inside. It was…something of a mess and he apologizes for it before introducing himself as Gold.

Orchid introduces herself as well and her eyes land on a nearby photo, picking it up without thinking. It's the photo of Mango and Gold when he was a kid and she nearly asks where his father is when Gold snatches it from her hands. She cowers and apologizes upon seeing the distressed, almost angry look in Gold's eyes but it quickly disappears as he says it's okay. This is…actually the reason why he needs help. Setting the photo aside, he shows off the staff he made to Orchid, which quickly amazes her when he shows off how it works. She's heard of command blocks but she never came across one herself. Gold then explains that the reason why he made this staff is because he, well…he lost his father when a Minecraft server got corrupted. But he believes that he's still alive, Gold just needs to retrieve him from Minecraft's coding and bring him back. A small part of Orchid finds this…concerning but her empathy for Gold's grief thanks to losing her own child and her desire to help outweighs her concern, and she asks how she could help. Gold grins and tells her that they need to come up with a plan to get the Minecraft Icon block from that Color Gang she's befriended without….angering them, he suppose. Orchid furrows her brow but Gold explains that he's not sure that they'll let him tear into Minecraft's coding even if it's to bring his dad back, not to mention that the icon is essentially the game itself for them. They might not want to give up their game to a stranger or even a friend. Orchid admits that Dark and co. do seem a bit protective of the things they have and Gold is convinced that they need to be sneaky about this. Which is when he asks Orchid to follow him since they can walk and talk before pausing and asking how much she knows about Minecraft. That's when Orchid shows off her elytra, which is very well kept, and Gold gets excited upon seeing it but quickly tempers his reaction for some reason.

Gold explains the plan, Orchid helps Gold take over the NetherFort and recruit the piglins to their side, and as Gold is contemplating his role as leader, Orchid is struck with an idea and pulls out the old crown she had made for the Color Gang when they were helping to lead a village. She kneels down and holds out the crown, asking if Gold would like to be the first King in the Nether. Gold stares at the crown and giggles, saying that this feels a bit silly. Orchid admits that it is, just a little bit, but the crown would symbolize Gold's status as leader here and it would help tell people who's in charge. Gold then asks what Orchid's role would be, and she simply says that she could be the "steward," someone that supervises and organizes the plans while the King can focus on other matters in public. It's then that Gold accepts the crown and asks her to call him King Gold from now on, and Orchid asks if being called Your Majesty would make him happy in a teasing manner. Gold, who hasn't let himself feel like a child in a long time, blushes and looks away, an obvious admittance that yes, he does.

Orchid helps trick the Color Gang into the track thingy and she feels pretty bad about it, but Gold reassures her that since they're out of the way, they won't get hurt in case something goes wrong and Orchid reluctantly agrees, trying to convince the bad feeling in her gut to go away. This is for Gold and his dad, after all. If there's even a small chance that he could be brought back, shouldn't she support Gold? She'd do the same for Purple, honestly…

It isn't until they receive the news that one of the Color Gang members escaped and she witnesses Gold actually kill the messenger on the spot that she goes, "oh. Oh I might be in over my head here."

When Gold demands her to get the icon while she still can, she hesitates. But Gold slams down his staff and she immediately caves in, saying that she'll be right back and runs off to do as she's told. Of course, she gets confronted by the Color Gang member and they're livid at her betrayal, especially since unlike Purple, who had at least betrayed them once before seemingly mellowing out after the events of LoL, Orchid was actually a very trustworthy person that tried to protect the gang at the time. So this betrayal stings even more because it came from someone that they genuinely trusted as a friend. Orchid feels bad, but she simply says that the Majesty's plans are…are too important to give up like this and she needs to help him. This argument quickly turns into a fight, with King Gold intervening and imprisoning them, with Orchid apologizing about the delay (and apologizing to the CG member) before flying off.

Things go about the same way, although we get to witness Orchid kicking ass cause turns out she used to be a fighter back in the day before she got married to her shitty partner, damn. Orchid comes back with the icon, King Gold thanks her, inputs it into the staff and proceeds to obliterate the roof and the very sky itself and Orchid just stares on in horror as the implications sink in.

Things start to escalate pretty quickly after that as everyone starts fighting for their lives, with Orchid watching on in horror. She's stuck between wanting to support King Gold despite the world-ending consequences, and wanting to help the Color Gang even though she had betrayed their trust. The battle gets worse and worse, King Gold demands that she does something and Orchid flounders as she orders the piglins to fight the gang. But this choice doesn't make her feel any better and as the nether portals are created, she finally caves in and runs away, not realizing that she's being followed.

This is when the Note Block World happens with Orchid's backstory reveal, and Orchid's character development essentially boils down to, "gaining a backbone and making the active choice to confront someone about their issues and questionable choices, even if it means causing conflict in your relationship with one another." Orchid has been struggling with indecisiveness and speaking up on matters for years thanks to her past partnership with Navy, and losing Purple had only cause her to shut down, running away and burying herself into Minecraft to ignore all the issues she had. But it did nothing to make her feel any better. And now, here she is, having helped a child in destroying a world and she just…runs. Runs away from the consequences to ignore everything she had done, including handing over the very object that turned the staff into it's most deadliest weapon of itself. Apparently, running is all she's good for - at least, that's what she thought. But the Color Gang member refutes that, telling her she's wrong. If she was a coward, she would've left them back at The End, but she didn't. If she was selfish, she would have used that village for her own gain, but she didn't. If she was evil, she wouldn't be horrified by the actions that had led to this situation happening. She may have chosen to run away but that's simply because she's scared to continue hurting others from the choices she's made.

The Color Gang member reassures her that she's not a bad person. If anything, she's simply someone that is struggling to do good after all the hardships she's been put through. And just because she messed up doesn't make her a bad person. As long as she's willing to take responsibility and make amends for her mistakes, she can take the steps be better, bit by bit. They reach out their hand to Orchid, asking if she's willing to try again and do better. Orchid admits that she's still scared, that she might say or do something wrong, but the CG member says that she won't be alone in this battle. They have each other and they'll watch each others backs and stop King Gold. Orchid stares at their hand…before slowly taking it, apologizing again for what she's done, but admits that perhaps she should've done this from the start. She should've put her foot down sooner. She knows that King Gold needs to be stopped, but she also knows that he needs help more than anyone here. And as an adult, it's time for her to intervene…even if it's by force.

And yes, this means that Orchid punches Gold in the face. It's okay, she had to get the staff out of his hands for a reason.

King Gold is feeling pretty betrayed by Orchid's sudden switch of teams, and is too blinded by rage and grief to really listen to what she has to say. So the fight goes on, the mobs get erased including Herobrine, Dark and co. + Orchid struggle to stop King Gold until she pulls together her resolve and faces the laser head on. King Gold is trying to blast her away, but as Orchid reaches out her hand, Gold suddenly gets flashbacks to the very day he had lost his father. The day he let his childish excitement get the better of him and endanger his own life to a reality game, his father unwittingly sacrificing himself just to save his life. He tries to shake it off…but when Orchid gets blasted away, just like his own father, he can't help it: he drops the staff and runs, jumping into the laser after her.

For the realization and reconciliation scene, I've been going back and forth in my head on how it would go. I think it would start with King Gold walking through the white void, wondering how he got there and probably calling out for his dad. His dad must be here, right? This is…This is where the end of Minecraft is, isn't it? So…where is he? That's when their house appears and Gold, thinking that his dad is waiting for him inside, runs up to the door and opens it up, yelling out for his dad. But no one answers. Gold searches the house but there's still no one around.

He's all alone. He's still all alone.

Gold stares at the wall, full of drawings of his own plan, his dad's disappearance…no, his dad's death, alongside all the life inside Minecraft dying from his own hands shoved right in his face, a game he used to love with passion. And yet, amongst those drawings was a pink stick figure crossing paths with him, following after him, waving at him, reaching out to him again and again and again. That stick figure was still reaching out even now with wide open arms.

"You can come here. Come here to me. It'll be okay."

Gold swallows.

It's not as if everything will ever be the same again.

"No. It can't be same. I can't promise it'll ever be the same again. But it can be better. We can be better. Together."

Gold squeezes his hands.

He wants his dad back.

...But he's never coming back…is he?

And yet, Orchid was still standing there, waiting for him. Allowing him the choice to come to her on his own terms. A promise that she'll always be here, waiting.

And Gold didn't want to wait.

He forces himself onto his feet. He reaches for the door. He hesitates for only a second but opens it up.

Orchid turns, purple petals of flowers by her feet.

Gold breathes.

And runs into her arms, the crown falling off of his head.

He can feel the surprise in her body before she gracefully returns the hug, pulling him close.

And then everything gets fixed by Dark and co., Gold goes to Maroon and apologizes for the strain he indirectly caused by refusing to make compromises (like with the house) and goes to live with Orchid officially after a long discussion between all of them, and we now have the mother and son duo. Yahoo.

And yes, Gold definitely joins the "Let's Kill Navy" club.

Gold: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "Wha-"

Gold, raising the staff: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THE STAFF??"

Anyways, this is about all I've come up with so far. I haven't even touched the Color Gang or the Mercs, but I'm thinking the Color Gang switches interests and roles while the Mercs end up changing their art styles which effects their personalities a bit but are otherwise somewhat the same? It's something to think about. Now imagine this as Dark commentating on Orchid and Gold's drama during AVM S3.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Soul Eater Episode : 39 - Totally Uncool

Soul Eater has a number of great episodes, with the crowning jewel the series had being the finale to Maka's second fight with Crona.

However there is another episode that in my opinion is easily the second best, that being episod episode 39, where Crona's finally snaps regarding betraying Maka and the rest of the main cast to Medusa.

It's a very great episode, but the single best part is the way it connects both Maka and Crona rejecting their abusive mothers, just in different ways, while also using that to strengthen the bond between the two of them.

The first critical moment of this takes place in the early part of the episode, where Crona(Who is reeling with internal pains about Medusa, and betraying everyone) and Maka have a conversation where Maka bares her soul to Crona... Sort of.

Both of the two of them have massive, massive issues with their respective abusive mothers. While Medusa is an abusive mother who forces her child to dance to her tunes, and gasslighting Crona to believe nobody except her will ever show "forgiveness and kindness" Maka's mom instead very deliberately fought her exhusband for custody... Then after having achieved this symbolic victory over her husband, she took off, and abandoned her own child, only making contact with her through one sided postcards despite having every opportunity, and frankly a duty as Maka's legal guardian to look after her own kid.

Both of these women left deep, deep mental scars on their own children, just in different ways.

With Crona it is very, very obvious what Medusa has done, and is doing to her own child, as the episode is very much about confronting the effects of that abuse, but with Maka it's a bit less spelled out, and you have to read the subtext.

Maka puts her mom on a pedestal, mentally projecting her as a perfect woman who can do no wrong, not really being able to addmit to herself that her mom has left her and is not coming back. She instead projects all her frustration about everything to other people, more speciffically at the closest male figures in her life, Spirit and Soul.

It's a deeply, deeply unhealthy way of handling cope, and fuels a lot of her character flaws through the series, with both her relationahip with her father(Who though a terrible husband is not exactly the worst dad in the world) and her partner Soul being painted by hyper agression, a short temper, and a mental inability to give them any benefit of the doubt.

Interestingly enough, though chrona doesn't really push the point, it is Crona who is the person in the series who come the closest to realising directly just how fucked up Maka's relationship to her mom actualy is.

The most interesting part of their conversation though, is when Crona asks Maka what her best memories of her mother is, which Maka replies was when she divorced her dad, at which she saw her mom at her coolest.

This is a really, really fucked up thing to say for any child... But when you actually break it down, it gets even worse.

Maka blames her father rightfully for everything that went wrong in her parents marriage... But this divorce was a deeply fucked up thing. Her mother fought with her father for custody and won... Not because she actually wanted what was best for her child, but just to spite her husband. She wanted to rub it in that she won, and got the single most precious thing she could take from him... And having achieved this goal, she left, leaving her daughter behind in the same city her exhusband lived in, and effectively acting as her father anyway.

Its not exsctly clear why she did this. It could be that despite Maka's rose tinted glasses about her mother, her parent never actually loved her back nearly as much as she did her. It could be that she secretely came to resent her kid for a variety of reasons. Or it could be that she simply was too much of a coward to confront and live with the remains of her broken life, so she abandoned the most obvious reminder of that life.

Regardless, despite Maka's assessment that this was the coolest thing she ever saw her mother do, while the divorce itself was justified, what she actually did with it was the cowards way out, and left her daughter with a shit ton of issues, which she frankly was nowhere near able to recover from by the time the anime ended.

Regardless of her intentions though, her baring her soul to Crona about her(in denial) feelings about her mother does not help Crona, who still runs away from Death city, and has a breakdown of sort(a much smaller one than the one that will immediatly follow) after leaving the city and wandering to find a place to be alone.

Feeling completely alone, guilty, and with a massive case of selfloathing, selfhate and fear of rejection, Crona essentially shuts down, while thinking about happier days, the days with Maka and the rest of the gang.

It's here in this sandpit that Crona finally loses it due to guilt and lays it all out as Maka and Soul catch up.

Crona at first rejects Maka's request to come back home with them, angrily shouting that Maka doesn't know anything about Crona's real self.

It is here that Crona really, really loses it and lays out everything, poisoning Stein, still following Medusa's orders, the words, the tone and body language making it abundantly clear that Crona is absolutely wracked with self hatred for all this.

What Crona wants in this scene is for Maka to come down there and reinforce everything that Medusa has ever said, every lesson ever drilled in through long, hard, abuse. That Crona is a horrible, horrible person, who does not deserve sympathy or forgiveness, who frankly cannot be forgiven.

It's not what Crona actually wants deep down, but it is what the horrible words being said should logically lead to. It is the easy way out. The cowards way out.

And at first it seems to work, because Maka gets absolutely pissed, and storms down there to confront Crona directly, with Crona not offering a hint of resistance... Only for Maka, rather than punching Crona in the face for betraying her, instead say this.

Maka calls Crona out, but not in the manner she has so often done with her father or Soul.

Instead, rather than act with anger, or rage, lashing out because she feels angry and betrayed, she forces Crona to confront the fact that Crona neither wants to be a bad person following Medusa's orders, nor is completely devoid of virtues, quite on the contrary.

Maka is in this moment, doing the exact opposite of what her "Cool" mom did with her.

After experiencing a brutal, hard betrayal from her husband, rather than take the risk of opening herself up her heart again to anyone, she instead left her old life behind, and after one, final display of anger and rage, she left her own child behind after lashing out at her husband.

She took the cowards way out.

Maka does not take the cowards way out. Instead, after experiencing betrayal from a person she loves and understands, she makes the concious choice to take the hard road. To embrace the seeming madness that is opening her heart again to that person and risk facing betrayal again, despite Crona's words.

Its an extremely powerful moment, not just because it serves to show Maka's growth, how much Crona really means to her, but also for how in the end it ties her thematically to Asura, and the ultimate point of the series. Bravery and madness are two sides of the same coin.

It is madness to open yourself up to someone else, to bare your heart and soul, knowing fully well that action can lead to betrayal and hurt unlike any other... But it is also something that only those who are brave are able to do.

It is something Maka's mother, and Asura was never able to do... But Maka did, and through that, she's able help Crona begin the road to actual recovery as well.

[shortpplfedup]

Only Friends Character Rankings Episode 6

Another outstanding episode as chickens start coming home to roost and Sand sets a ball a-rollin' that is gonna roll right over him in the end. In a surprise upset, Sand's mom won the audience vote last week, with Top and Boston tied for second place. You really never know who the Tumblrinas are going to favour from week to week, keeps us all on our toes! Here are this week's highly scientific rankings.

🔺1. Ray (4)

Let me talk to my friends. It’s his birthday. I’d like to say something.

Ray said NO SURVIVORS and sprayed the entire room at Mew's birthday party, and honestly? Kinda deserved. From calling Sand a whore (OUCH) to reading Cheum for filth for her shitty little backhanded comments, to almost letting the cat out of the Top/Boston bag in front of everybody, our resident mess came for every neck in the building. Boston primed him, Sand aimed him and Cheum lit the match, and it's no coincidence those three got hit with the blowback of his explosion at Top. A seething ball of pain and resentment fueled by alcohol and god-knows-what-else was never gonna fire a clean shot.

🔺2. Sand (5)

Stop thinking about Mew and focus on me for once. Can’t you really see that I care about you?

Well now we know why Sand didn't blink an eye at Nick bugging Boston's car; he's just as fucking unhinged. Sand, a poor, breaking his own phone just to get his hands on Nick's and that recording (which, by the way, calling the file 'That Car' is really too much Nicholas PLEASE 🤣)...WILD. We've all had Nick pegged as the bunny boiler but Sand might be worse and I can't WAIT because I still believe in that baseball bat. But him begging Ray to give a single solitary shit about him even AFTER Ray calls him a whore in front of a bar full of people...I remain embarrassed on his behalf.

🔺3. Mew (6)

Cocky much? I don’t even know if we’re gonna last that long.

Ok, when Mew said 'I love the sound you make when having sex' I literally screamed out OH FUCK HE KNOWS and listen, I have been WAITING for this moment. That was a baller fucking moment. You just KNOW Top's blood ran cold. Of course these two aren't breaking up, because couples like this NEVER break up. Game always recognises game. This is gonna be the first confrontation of many. But I'm pretty sure this is the last time Mew is gonna cry about it. Top might have just picked the wrong one. Mew has two moms, pretty sure he knows how to destroy a man.

🔻4. Nick (2)

I don’t give a shit about what number I am. Screw it. I’m not that into you.

At some point Nick is gonna have to stop threatening to walk and actually fucking walk, but it's clearly continuing to work for him as he and Boston are clearly the boyfriends Boston insists they're not. Dates, couple photos, meeting the dad, tender lovemaking, Boston's deep, dark secrets: Nick's getting it all...except the label he wants so very badly. And now he's shook because he knows Sand stole that recording, and he knows if Boston finds out about it it's all coming crashing down.

🔺5. Cheum (8)

I’m so happy everyone has a lover. Even a heartless slut like Boston has one.

Girl, you absolutely earned that smoke Ray blew at you. Sly Comment Susie got a minor taste of her own medicine and didn't like that shit one bit. It's all fun and games until it's your dirt under the microscope. Maybe Cheum just learned a lesson about minding her own business a little more, or at the very least keeping some of her thoughts to herself.

🔻6. Boston (3)

If I was a nice guy, you wouldn’t like me.

A surprisingly quiet week for Ton as everybody else gets so messy he looks relatively drama-free. But under the surface he's still paddling like mad: screwing Nick like a lover rather than just a fuckbuddy to keep him from leaving, clearly not out to his dad but bringing Nick round to meet him (once again using him for free work), pinning Ray so decisively that he causes a full-on meltdown. Though, 'I don't hate Mew'...well that might actually be true, because he's giving more fear than hatred.

🔻7. Top (1)

I get anyone I want. What about you? Who do you get?

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Top spent the episode feeling totally smug as he finally won the game and is basking in his spoils, swinging his dick around, feeling like King Shit. And then Mew played that recording and LOSER TIME. I have the distinct impression that Top hates to lose...

[nijigasakilove]

The way these girls save me every week.. jaw on the floor, best episode of the season, from any anime. I’m so moved. Wrap it up, this is AOTS. So much to go over in this one

Ok for starters, them uploading the wrong video and still going viral is hilarious 😭 luckily it gave them a lot of attention and still helped build up their brand.

But what made this episode so special for me was Yoru dealing with her insecurities about her art. As a content creator I really empathise with her getting upset about other people drawing her art and going viral.

Even though it should’ve been something that was flattering, it just makes you feel like “what am I doing wrong, why am I not getting that attention”. Combine that with the rude comments some people put on her posts and her general insecurities with her friends’ accomplishments and it’s no wonder she went into a depressive state.

Even with Kano telling her she loved her art, it wasn’t enough because she was constantly comparing it to everyone else’s.. The scene of Kano pulling Yoru’s face into her stomach, they were teasing us hard😩

The biggest thing is how she didn’t just give up, but used that as fuel and actually improved her art significantly by the end. You can either quit or just work on improving yourself, ultimately the only validation that’ll work is from within.

After all their hard work, a shrine visit to ring in the new year and pray for success in the upcoming year... but WHAT THE FUCK, a KISS??!? “Yuri bait” copers are seething rn. They laid crumbs throughout the episode like Yoru and Kano in Yoru’s room, the train, “I like your singing and you” but I didn’t expect a proper kiss out of nowhere like that. Please don’t walk this back next episode because I need this 😭

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Explosions

EPISODE 6 OF ONLY FRIENDS WAS SO FUCKING GOOD! Seriously it was just fight after fight after fight, every relationship being shifted, undermined, or blown up in minutes and it was glorious. I think a good summary for this episode is “It’s always the quiet ones” 

If you want the TL;DR version of any of these, you can check out @lurkingshan’s much more cohesive, succinct description of each fight, and the winner. 

Sand v. Top 

Something that I truly and deeply appreciate about Only Friends is how much they are really committing to letting these boys act their motherfucking ages. We would think that Sand is a more responsible, independent person out of necessity, that he has his life together more, that he is more mature. After all, like we said last week, Boston came in to his home, smoked his weed, and fucked with his relationship and Sand took the high road (so we thought) of shutting his goddamn mouth and not airing Boston and Top’s dirty laundry. 

But damn if this boy ain’t twenty, petty, and fueled by rage at even the smallest sight of Top’s face. 

Sand goes to the Coffee House and orders a Pink Milk (now, pink milk/pink drink is a pretty old BL trope if I understand correctly, and so imo it is a testament to Sand’s character and his expectations of romance that he would order such a drink, and a statement on Jojo and Ninew’s part that the coffee house does not have milk and therefore cannot deliver the drink of BL romance everywhere.) Top appears, ordering his drinks, and we get a blessed side eye from Sand full of incredulity, barely contained disdain, and annoyance.

GOD I WANT THEM TO BE HALF-BROTHERS SO BAD! Anyway…

Top does give a rather amicable hello, and initiates a casual, emotionless conversation. But of course, Sand hates this motherfuckers’ guts for stealing his ex, and Sand knows exactly what and how Top thinks of him, so that protective snark we saw when Sand initially started engaging with Rich-Boy-Ray, returns. 

Top, on the other hand, thinks nothing of Sand, not that he hates him, not that he likes him, but fully that Sand is nothing. Sand is poor, Sand is struggling, Sand is nowhere close to competition for him. Top is precisely the kind of asshole that uses subtle jibes and jabs to chip away at people who understand what he is doing. Sand fucking hates this guy, so it is easy beyond measure to get Sand going. 

Especially because, we know that Sand knows about Top and Boston, and we know that Boston poked the bear the other night and fucked with Sand’s feelings about Ray. Top needles, and Sand inches closer to showing his hand ‘Mew seems nice. How unlucky of him to have you as his boyfriend’ 

And the perfect boyfriend mask that Top has been so successfully adorning drops “I can have anyone I want…I got mine now. I hope you get yours” 

(I am putting this screenshot in here because I find it really interesting from a visual storytelling/cinematography perspective that Sand is cast in Top’s shadow.)

And get his Sand will, because the first thing Sand does when he gets home is break the shit out of his phone so hard that Nick asks if he went to war. He “borrows” Nick’s phone to “call his Mom” promptly sending himself the audio file of Boston and Top having sex. (Pro Tip: If you are going to audio record two guys having sex, maybe don’t tell a goddamn soul you have it unless you are ready for that information to come to light.) 

Some questions I have here: why did Sand ask about if Nick was still seeing Boston? Why does Sand seem chill with Nick and Boston still hanging out together after Boston just went full douchebag all over his apartment. 

(My assumption/my theory here, which I am not really thinking has any basis in reality is that Sand is looking to see if Nick is still hanging out with Boston after Boston blew up the fantasy relationship he had with Ray. As if he was figuring out if it was worth it to throw Nick in to the mix when he is making the decision to ignite the stick of dynamite that is everyone’s relationships to one another.)

Then he meets with Ray at the bar. 

“Are you mad at me for that night?”

“Why would I be mad? Who you like is your business” Sand says, like a liar, and I am almost entirely certain that Ray knows this is a lie. Because he was with Sand the night Boston went off and he heard those crack’s in Sand’s voice. 

Something that I absolutely love about Ray as a character is that he is so completely unable to control his facial expressions. Whatever he is thinking or feeling is on his face the second that the emotion enters his body. You can see it in the fight scene with Boston in episode 5, how quickly Ray’s face shifts from crossfaded, relaxed, and smiley to focused, tense, and angry. So his reaction to Sand’s response is no surprise. Ray smirks, and looks away from Sand. 

“You called me here to play pool?”

“No, I wanted to talk to you…about Mew,” Sand is looking straight at Ray at this point, and I don’t know about y’all but it feels to me like Sand is assessing Ray’s reaction.  There is a MASSIVE pause from Ray at this point, a large bout of silence, and VERY slow, calculated motion as he brings himself to a (drunken) upright position. 

“What? Are you not okay that I like him?”

A deep inhale from Sand, and then a smile “I am okay. I even get why you like him. He is nice. People around can’t help falling for him.” Sand is priming his trap, weaponizing Ray’s feelings for Mew.

So here is the thing with Ray. Ray is both an open book and a man of direct action, part of this may just be his personality, but part of this is that Ray is constantly under the influence, and with altered mental status, it is going to both be harder to control your outward emotional expression and you are going to get escalated more quickly. Ray has an extremely low tolerance for bullshit, and in some capacities that is a negative thing (ex: 80% of the actions Ray does after his conversation with Sand in the pool hall), but it can sometimes be a positive thing, because it allows Ray to cut to the chase. To try to skirt around whatever mind games Sand is trying to play: “Just say what you mean”. 

Sand sends Ray the audio recording, “I didn’t know who to tell, so I told you” Sand says, turning his attention to the pool table.

This is a crucial move, because Sand is not making eye contact with Ray. Sand is toying with Ray, he is trying to seem disinterested in Ray, in their conversation, unaffected by the other night, casual in his relationship to Ray, casual in the massive invasion of privacy that he just handed to Ray, unphased by the ammunition he has just loaded in to the loose cannon. 

“I just don’t want a good guy like Mew to get fooled by Top. Mew is lucky though…

“To have you by his side”

Sand knows exactly what he is doing. He knows Ray likes Mew, and he knows Ray has a tendency to get riled up. Sand may not fully anticipate just how much he is setting Ray up to get hurt here, but he for fucking sure knows he is priming a weapon. If you ask me, Sand is placing the idea in Ray’s head to bring this information to Mew, to reveal the truth and break Mew and Top up so that Top loses the relationship that he just rubbed in Sand’s face, with minimal effort and suspicion that Sand was behind any of it. Which is why Sand looks up from the pool table as he says this line, because he’s studying Ray to see if Ray is picking up what Sand is putting down, and as we will see later, Sand has successfully planted the seed.

Ray is easy, Ray takes the bait, Ray immediately goes firing off in every direction he can. That boy waits, what? Probably one day before he runs straight to Boston to give him a piece of his mind. 

Ray v. Boston

There are too many phenomenal scenes in Episode 6 to pick a favorite, but I do think this is one of the best scenes that we’ve seen for Boston so far. By which I mean that we get a lot of information about Boston’s character from the way he navigates this conversation with Ray. We saw his proclivity for douchebaggery in Episode 5, and we’ve seen his propensity for fear when he is almost caught by Mew in the showers with Top. But we haven’t really seen these two aspects of Boston’s character interacting with each other, or at least not as strongly. 

Ray comes storming in to Boston’s home immediately riled up and cussing him out, calling him all sorts of names asking if he is going to do nasty shit to all of his friends, and of course, Boston at this point has no idea that the recording exists (and he is just a major asshole) so he is legitimately very confused about what Ray could possibly be talking about. 

“You hooked up with Top!” Ray shouts, and there is a look of genuine fear in Boston’s eyes. No one was around that he knew about or saw when he hooked up with Top that night, no one should have known that happened. Boston already has one recorded gay sex event hanging over his head as potential blackmail (thanks Gap), and now he is faced with the realization that there may be evidence of a second gay sex event.

Boston cares about his father’s reputation. Boston is not out to his father. Boston is probably far less discrete and careful than he should be, but I do think it is fair for him to assume that people aren’t going to record his sexual encounters with them without his consent. (I want to take a pause here just to say that I think I guessed right about some of the reasoning for Boston’s behavior especially in the earlier episodes has to do with his inability to be out.) This scene is where we get the longest continuous exposure to Boston’s fear. He is scared when Ray says he knows about him and Top, he is scared when he asks who told Ray, at this point you would think Ray would be the victor of this fight, but the second that Ray brings Mew in to the conversation?

Boston puts a mask on, and he smiles, because he has found a way to protect himself, and that is to use Ray’s weak spot (his crush on Mew) against him. To turn the tides in his favor, to manipulate Ray’s feelings, Ray’s attachment to Mew, Ray’s love of Mew in to staying quiet about his hook up with Top. 

“So? Top and I screwed even before they started dating. Is it so weird to screw again? I just wanted more. Then I let them love each other all they want. Everyone has a happy ending. Everyone is filled.” 

I am fascinated here by Boston’s comment “I let them love each other all they want”. As if he personally has control over Top and Mew’s feelings for each other, as if he didn’t violate Mew’s ability to trust Top whenever, if ever that information comes to light. (Secondarily, Boston chooses some truly masterful double entendres here “happy ending”, “everyone filled”). 

Ray continues on his shouting spree, asking Boston how he could do that to a friend, and we see the aloof and unbothered mask slip off once again, in favor of an actual plea to be listened to. “Hear me out, okay? I don’t hate Mew at all. I was just needy. The timing was just wrong” Now, while I don’t believe Boston about Mew and about the timing because we know he only started going after Top when Top started showing greater interest in Mew, and didn’t just nail and bail. But, I don’t think Boston is entirely lying to Ray here about being needy. One thing I do wish this show had more time for is establishing the past relationship between Boston and Ray before they get to this point. When Ray says later on in the episode that Boston tells him all about his sexual conquests, is that just something he says to Ray or is that something he tells the whole group when he is recounting his previous nights? This matters only in the sense of me feeling more secure in how much, if any, of what Boston is saying to Ray is true. 

“Timing, my ass. The point is your slutty ass just sleeps with anyone.” Ray says, and Boston looks down at the ground, draws in a breath, and then meets Ray with this cocky, teasing smirk and the line “Not just anyone. I picked him.” 

Ray wants to see Boston as a villain, so Boston will be one. Boston is generally a contradictory asshole, but in my opinion if he wasn’t faking some of this confidence and prodding at Ray, he would not have needed prep time, we would have seen that sincerity drop, the way we saw Top’s sincerity drop in his conversation with Sand. Instead, Boston has to prepare himself to act this way, though he is able to slip in to this part of himself with ease. Also, I have no deep insights in to this, because I am simply just obsessed with the little shoulder shrug Boston gives Ray. Spitting in his face would have been less disrespectful than the way Boston shrugs off Ray’s comment about him being a slut. (Once again I say Neo Trai is absolutely crushing this role).

Boston asks how Ray is involved (a great question, because it is literally none of Ray’s business) and then goes in for the kill with his acknowledgement of Ray’s crush, and the underlying dickishness Boston knows (or thinks he knows) is there. “You’re playing a good friend who is always so protective of Mew. Honestly, I think you are glad that it happened. You’ve always waited for your chance. This is in your favor. You’re waiting for them to break up and be his rebound when he is weak.” 

I don’t know that it really needs to be called out directly, but I am going to do it anyway. What Boston just said to Ray’s face is exactly what Sand was thinking, and alluding to when he gave Ray that recording. You cannot convince me otherwise. But Sand was subtle in how he put those thoughts in Ray’s head, so he is successful in getting Ray appropriately riled up. Boston too, is successful in riling up Ray by being direct with him, but Boston gets punched in the face and makes Ray even angrier at him than he was before. 

“If you tell him, then you’re as evil as me. Don’t act like you mean well when deep down you hope they will break up. It’s disgusting!” He stands up, and stalks right up to Ray’s face.

“You should even thank me big time for getting you out of the friendzone.” 

Regardless of the fact that Boston is not yet aware of the recording of him and Top, he is acutely aware that he needs to protect himself from this information getting out. So again, he hones in on Ray’s weakness. Boston compares Ray to himself, to the person that Ray is absolutely furious with. He plays to Ray’s own insecurities and to Ray’s need to be seen as a good person and viable partner for Mew. Ray loves his friends, Ray loves Mew, Ray does not want to hurt Mew, if Ray tells Mew about Top cheating on him Mew will be hurt, if Mew rebounds with Ray after he and Top break up that makes Boston right about Ray’s intentions, that makes Ray evil. That is the implication here. And, just in case trying to convince Ray that if he tells Mew about the cheating then he is just as evil as the person who literally got fucked by Top, Boston throws in a little bit extra.  Ray should be grateful. Ray should thank Boston. Boston’s shitty actions here, Boston’s betrayal of his friendship with Mew, have cleared the way for Ray to play the hero. Ray shouldn’t tell Mew any of this because he owes Boston. Ray came charging in to Boston’s own home, with a leg up in the conversation, and showed his hand, allowing Boston to exploit Ray’s feelings and gain the upper hand. In one expert fell swoop, Boston has upset Ray enough for him to storm off and is feeling pretty confident and secure in the knowledge that Ray will not say anything to Mew.

Ray v. Everyone

By the time Ray gets to Mew’s birthday party he has been ignored, insulted, manipulated, and belittled constantly by almost every single person that says they care about him. Cheum has laughed at his love life, Sand used Ray to further his own agenda, Boston has thoroughly fucked with Ray’s life in a number of ways, and even Mew is harsher than usual to Ray when they run in to eachother in the bathroom and Mew tells Ray to stop doing drugs or he’ll be dead by 30. 

Ray loves Mew, Ray has been told over and over again by Mew that he only sees Ray as a friend, and there in the bathroom, Mew once again says “let’s be friends forever”. At this point, Mew has made it pretty fucking clear that he is never going to date Ray, and all of Ray’s friends have been shitty to him, and he is also drunk AND high, so for me it would track that Ray has literally nothing to lose by being honest. Every relationship Ray has, someone has fucked with. Top tries to get Mew on his side in his hatred of Ray, Sand put his barriers back up to protect his own feelings when Boston mentioned Ray’s crush on Mew, Ray fucked himself over with Mew by kissing him when he was asleep, Cheum points out Ray’s lack of love life and otherwise pretty much ignores Ray. So it also tracks for me that Ray would try to get back at everyone by fucking with their relationships.

Ray pulls a Top and gets up on stage to steal Sand’s microphone and make a public declaration, something that we as the audience should already know Mew does not like, because he said as much to Top after Top publicly asked Mew to be his boyfriend. Sand, bless him, tries to put a stop to this immediately by asking Ray what he is doing, but not to be deterred, and using the guise of Mew’s birthday he takes control of the microphone and the entire bar’s attention.  Before I go too much in to the actual roast session, I would recommend everyone who has seen Episode 6 go back to this scene and watch how Book plays Mew in this scene. Every single moment (until Mew gets mad that is) that Mew is on screen, he looks forlorn. But in the chaos of the bar scene, the quick cuts to all the couples dancing it can be hard to notice, especially if we weren’t looking out for it. This whole scene is set up spectacularly as foreshadowing for Mew’s revenge at the end of the episode, and if you pay close enough attention highlights the huge problems in Mew and Top’s relationship. Mew is upset, Mew is visibly upset, and Top is standing right there next to Mew the entire time. Top is dancing with Mew, Top is putting himself between Mew and Ray. Mew and Top are inches from each other during this entire scene and Top does not notice or ask about Mew’s mood shift once. Because Top has never truly been attentive to Mew’s feelings.

Anyway, Mew lays waste to Cheum, Boston, and Nick before Sand recognizes this is going nowhere good fast, and once again tries to put a stop to it. 

Ray has been ignored by too many people, Ray has been fucked with for too long for him to just let everything go and leave. And remember, he is drunk and high on cocaine so he is not de-escalating any time soon, and no one in that bar is at all equipped to change his focus and calm him down. Sand gets involved, but Sand is the cause of all of this mess because he gave Ray the information, and Ray will not be silenced, so he tries to insult Sand. “You don’t even want to be a singer, you just want to make money. If you want it so much, why don’t you sleep with me?” 

AND SORRY, I KNOW THAT I SHOULD REALLY BE TALKING ABOUT THE TOP, BOSTON, MEW OF IT ALL BUT I FUCKING LOVE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS LINE.

Because we know that Ray has offered to pay Sand for sex before, and we know that Ray has asked Sand how much he owed for their “one night stand”, only to have Sand on every occasion, reject the money. Sand has said that if he wants sex, he does it for free. Literally from the moment that Sand realized that he had some sort of positive feelings for Ray, and agreed to be his friend, he has not accepted a single bhat from Ray. But in front of all of these people, Ray is implying that Sand is a sex worker. In front of Boston, who has walked in on Ray and Sand making out, and in front of Nick who has interrupted Ray and Sand in the middle of something physically intimate on more than one occasion, Ray has just made it seem to them like Sand has been paid to cater to Ray’s every whim, in front of people that know Sand well. 

We love and respect sex workers in this house, but Ray? Ray is not saying this because he thinks sex work is okay. Ray is saying this because he thinks calling someone a prostitute (in a sense) is insulting, and that is not helped by the fact that they are in public and therefore Ray is subjecting Sand to public scrutiny over him potentially being a sex worker.  And in associating Sand with sex work, in associating sex with Ray as sex work, Ray is undermining the validity of any and all time that Sand and Ray have hung out together, and is highlighting his status as a higher class than Sand. 

Ray turns to Mew, showering praise and gratitude and well wishes upon him, and telling Mew “though that happiness doesn’t include me, I’m okay,” and Mew does not react in any way that is comforting, he doesn’t smile, he doesn’t nod. He just stands there, staring at Ray, and by my impression trying not to cry. And God, what I wouldn’t give to see Boston’s reaction to this moment, because we do not get to see him at all during this moment, and I want to know how confident Boston was feeling that Ray wouldn’t say anything about his affair with Top when Ray is acknowledging that he knows that Mew will never return his feelings.

I don’t know about you all, but personally, I believe Ray here. I think Ray has been rejected enough by Mew, and fucked up his relationship enough with Mew that he does just need to affirm to Mew that he understands what he has done, and that he understands that Mew will only ever think about him as a friend, and that Ray is there to support Mew in whatever he decides to do with the information, we as the audience do not know Mew already has. 

Ray turns his ire on Top, shouting at the top of his lungs, insulting Top, shoving Top, generally causing a scene and we finally get a glimpse of Boston, but he’s blurred out in the background, so while his face is unreadable, we get some indication of Boston’s emotional state by that fact that he is tuned the fuck in to everything going on, because the only thing we can read from Boston is that he is staring directly at Top. Ray continues to escalate, and Yo finally steps in, but she allows Ray to continue after a moment, which is like…girl, come on, where is the responsible bar owner? 

Ray starts shoving Top, Mew tries to step in, Top grabs Mew around the shoulder and jerks him back like he owns Mew. And because there are very few people in this world that take Ray seriously at all, Cheum tries to get involved. Reminding Ray that Mew is not gonna fuck him (I mean, that’s not exactly what she said but same shit) which Ray knows. I think, personally, that Ray is fully aware that there is a chance that he has completely ruined his relationship with Mew by valuing Mew enough to tell him the truth. That he has made himself as evil as Boston by telling Mew anything at all. 

I’ve said it before, I will say it again, Ray is one of the biggest open books in this show because of his substance use. We saw very early in the episode when the hotel management group was talking with their professor every single emotion, every single thought that Ray was

experiencing. From nearly the beginning of the show, we have seen Ray ignored or belittled by most of his friends, as someone who loves and has worked with drug users, I have to say that Jojo and co are doing an incredible job at demonstrating all the little ways that people discount, discredit, and dehumanize drug users. All of his friends, Boston, Cheum, and especially Mew think they are better than Ray because he uses drugs. We see it in the bathroom, right before the Ray-mpage, Mew realizing Ray has just done drugs, and then telling his suicidal friend that he would be dead before 30 if he keeps this behavior up. 

So of course Ray wants all these truths to come to light. Of course Ray has to be the one to do it. Because how dare all of these people stand around, pretending to be friendly to one another, pretending to care about one another, acting like they are all good people, when they are all manipulating, and controlling, and lying to each other. No one in this bar is better than Ray, even though they think they are. 

“No one has said a damn thing, which is why I need to” Ray shouts and then immediately turns to Boston. And as he continues to get riled up, as he gets closer to publicly revealing Top’s infidelity, Mew steps in, and it takes Mew punching Ray in the face to get him to shut the fuck up and preserve the image of clueless Mew.

Ray storms off and Sand goes running after him because he is the only person with some goddamn sense, realizing that Ray is going to endanger himself and others. They have their fight, which for the sake of space and time I am not going to talk about.

Mew v. Top

We reach a decompression point (so we think) after this fight, Sand quietly driving off after Ray, Nick reaching out to and having his comforting touch be rejected by Boston, Mew and Top walking back in to Mew’s apartment, with Mew only speaking when he is spoken to. 

Now, this cannot be convey through photographs alone, but I JUST NEED TO SHOUT TO THE HIGH HEAVENS ABOUT HOW FUCKING OBSESSED AND IN LOVE I AM WITH THE BACKGROUND MUSIC IN THIS SCENE. 

Besties, the vibes are RANCID. The music does not match the romantic scene we see Mew setting up, the lit candles, the supposed playlist he is putting on, the cuddling up to Top. The music we get underneath belongs in a horror movie. It’s suspenseful, it’s disconcerting. It is perfect. 

As soon as humanly possible Mew walks away from Top, enters a completely different room, and begins to lay his trap.

(Let it be stated for the record it was at this point where I started to think something might be up)

Top comes in to check on Mew and make sure he is alright, and as Book and Force have said, Top and Mew are competitive and poisonous for one another, and we are about to witness the perfect example of what happens with both of their propensities for control and manipulation come to a head.  Mew starts the game, initiating physical contact with Top, hugging him tight, rocking them back and forth. It is familiar, and comfortable, and there is absolutely no indication whatsoever from Mew’s body language that anything is wrong. (If you have not already, go back and watch the bar fight scene, and you will be presented with a drastically different Mew, because he is just gotten the news and he is processing his feeling and plotting his revenge, so he is a lot less capable of controlling the emotions on his face, and thus reads as detached and forlorn).

“Are you okay, Mew?” Top asks because he is at this point playing the role of devoted and concerned boyfriend extremely well (again a massive contrast to how he behaved at the bar, where he was possessive, reactive, and did not notice that anything was wrong with Mew despite being mere inches away from him). 

“I just wonder when Ray will be okay with you,” Mew responds, pulling away from Top to look him in the eyes. “I don’t want to choose.”

And what a great buy-in. Top hates Ray, Ray hates Top. Mew is perceptive and has been in the room on multiple occasions to see Top and Ray butting heads. Beyond the fact Ray went off on everyone at the bar, and it’s a relevant topic of conversation, Mew knows what he is doing bringing Ray in to his conversation with Top. 

Because Ray could have said “I’m okay”, he could have brushed the evening off, or said he wasn’t good, or bitched about Ray’s tendencies to ruin an evening with too much drinking. But he doesn’t mention any of that. He doesn’t attack Ray’s character, he doesn’t gripe about Ray’s actions. Mew explicitly brings up Ray’s feelings about Top. 

Giving Top a very good jumping off point for his own attempts at manipulation. 

“Why are you still friends with him?” Top asks. Undermining Mew’s previous line “I don’t want to choose.” Mew has literally just said that he wants to maintain his friendship with Ray and his relationship with Top, and implied that it is troubling him that the two of them cannot get along. That Ray cannot get along with Top. 

And instead of Top being sympathetic to that desire for Mew to get to keep two people he cares about in his life. Top tries to convince Mew to dump Ray altogether (which would further isolate Mew from his friends since Cheum really only seems to care about Mew’s sex life and Boston has intentionally been undermining Mew and Top’s relationship since it’s start).

This is not the first time that Top has tried to get what he wanted with just a question or suggestion. We can say all we want that LASIK was Mew’s idea, but Top suggested it first before he said something akin to “you know what, nevermind, you look cute in your nerd glasses”. He may have walked back his suggestion but it cannot be denied that he planted that seed. 

And planting a seed of doubt, of insecurity, of impatience with Ray’s behavior in to Mew’s mind is what I think Top is trying to do here. But Mew knows something Top doesn’t and where Mew may have started contemplating whether or not he actually does want to maintain a friendship with Ray, he is immune from that doubt seeping in in this case because he knows that Top is a dirty rotten liar. 

“I want to repay you,” Mew says a little bit further along in their conversation. “I don’t want you to forget about tonight.” (lmfao Mew, he definitely will not)

“It’s the birthday that I feel the most special.” and by God is Mew really laying it on thick. 

“Even though Ray ruined your night” Top can’t help but get a dig in, to remind Mew that Ray was a shitty friend on Mew’s birthday, to casually drop more evidence that Mew should pull away from his friendship with Ray. 

“Screw him. I have you by my side, there’s nothing to be afraid of” Mew is stoking Top’s ego, he’s lulling Top in to a false sense of security. Top has no idea what he is in for, he has no idea that Mew is playing games. Mew is doing such a thoroughly expert job with his performance he may even be annoying the audience, making them think that he didn’t connect the dots between Ray yelling at Top and Boston, and think that something might be wrong.

Top thanks Mew for making him like this version of himself, and to me this does make sense. There is this hollowness in the way I read Top and Mew’s entire relationship throughout the series. But I don’t doubt that some part of Top is interested in Mew. I have typically understood Mew and Top’s relationship to be an experiment from Top’s end to see what it would feel like to stop sleeping around.I think Top does genuinely enjoy at least part of his relationship with Mew, likes playing this role of doting boyfriend, but he is just playing. It is a performance. A skin he can shed the second he is out of Mew’s view.  

“Can I ask you one more gift?” Mew says, turning to face Top and without another word starts undressing him. Mew shoves Top on to the bed and starts kissing up his body (I shit you not I was shocked and literally said out loud, alone in my apartment “Damn, Book!”). This is not the first time that we have seen Mew raise the stakes of a physical encounter. From the beginning of their relationship, Mew has been entirely in control of if and when he and Top have sex. He holds on to that power, to his virginity for quite some time, but waffles in his confidence and power within the relationship by engaging in penetrative sex with Top because he is worried Top will be bored. 

This is the most intense, down and dirty level of physical intimacy we have ever seen from Top and Mew (and the same goes for Force and Book finally getting to step away from the slow and gentle sex scenes of shows past). Mew gets Top going, Mew gets Top in the zone, in the mood. Mew gets Top feeling good, moaning, before he drops the bomb. 

“I love the sound you make when you have sex” and this is where the tide begins to turn, where the audience may well and truly begin to pick up what Mew is putting down. But Top just thinks it’s hot. Top is playing along. Top wants to know what sounds he makes that Mew enjoys. This is a much different physical encounter than anything he has had from Mew before, and while Mew is once again leveraging physical intimacy to control Top, something he has been doing since their first sexual encounter. Though there is an intensity and surety to Mew’s actions here that feels markedly different than his other sexual interactions with Top where his movements were slower and less certain.  

“What sound?” Top asks, and oh boy has he just fucked himself over with this question. It is exactly the question Mew is hoping Top will ask. The perfect question for Mew’s pissed off, hurt, and dramatic ass to play the audio recording. 

And GOD DAMN TOP’S FUCKING REACTION? The fear and panic that enters his eyes, the speed and intentionality in the way Mew pushes himself off of Top.

Top’s fear and shock and awe lasts for mere seconds as he pulls himself upright at which point Force delivers one of my favorite lines in the entire exchange, “how did you get it?” 

Why is it one of my favorite? Because it acknowledges that Top knows that this audio recording exists. But it is said in passing, and asked as a question in such a way that Mew, who is about to actually let his emotions loose, might not actually realize the implications of the question. 

Because this is not Top asking “what is this?”, “where did this come from?”, “did you record me?” you know, the type of standard questions someone faced with an audio recording of them having sex might ask if they had never heard the audio recording before. But no, Top isn’t surprised to find out that he has been recorded. He is only scared and concerned about the fact that Mew got the recording from someone.

“How long ago was it?” Mew asks, and Top tries to equivocate “Mew, it was a long time ago,” as if Top thinks that he can what, brush off this audio recording? Dude. If Mew wasn’t busy trying not to slap you in the face, he would have noticed the practical admission of guilt you gave by nature of asking how he got the audio recording, you know he knows, why bother trying to lie? Mew does not let himself get convinced otherwise, and continues to press Top about whether or not he and Boston had fucked after he and Mew started dating and Top cannot look Mew in the eye until the very end of Mew’s line of questioning. And Top stays dead silent until Mew has asked him where and when he and Boston fucked, at which point he knows there is no getting out of this and he admits the truth. 

I don’t have much to say as of yet about the line Mew says “why did I have to know about this shit the day I’ve already loved you and given you everything?” mostly because I actually have a whole essay floating around in my brain that I am desperate to write for this show, but I do not have enough evidence to justify it yet, so I am waiting patiently for if the opportunity presents itself. But irrespective of that, there is an implication here that Mew held some level of possessiveness over his virginity and in having sex with Top committed to his relationship with Top. Mew is the kind of person that seems to think virginity has weight to it, and it is something to lose, something that can be lost.

Now. If Mew had stopped here and just broken up with Top, he would have won the day. But unfortunately, Mew is a human character with thoughts, feelings, and imperfections that are going to undermine his best efforts to be a diabolical schemer. (Something that I very much appreciate about this show is that every single person in the show has moments of utter genius that grant them the upper hand and a brief win. But no one is so impressive as to pull off a flawless victory or maintain their champion status for long). 

So unfortunately, we start getting insight in to Mew that we have not really had before, when he starts spiraling over Top and Boston hooking up. Mew, who has up until this point felt very secure in his inexperience with sex. And there have been signs of deeper insecurities popping up, namely that Mew had penetrative sex with Top to keep him interested in their relationship. “Why did it have to be Boston?” (who Mew called to ask for sex advice), “Couldn’t it have been anyone else?” Top looks guilty when Mew asks these questions, but that quickly changes as Mew’s spiral worsens “You guys planned this together?” Top’s head whips up to meet Mew’s eyes, he postures, he shifts his weight, he inhales a breath as if he is preparing to speak, and his face changes to a perfect picture of disagreement at the accusation. “You just wanted to mess with a virgin idiot like me?” Top actually tries to interrupt Mew’s spiral here, to calm Mew’s suspicions of malice against him. 

It is at this point Mew has his Boss Ass Bitch card revoked on the grounds of undermining the absolutely devastating and badass power play he just flawlessly pulled off by creating this fantasy in his head about big bad evil Top and Boston laughing at his inexperience. Especially because (and this is not to blame Mew at all) part of what drove Top to fuck Boston was Mew’s competitive nature and his desire to prove Top really wanted a relationship with him by withholding sex for an extremely long time. It was not Mew’s inexperience, but rather his virtue signaling and tight hold on having his first time that resulted in Boston’s successful attempt at convincing Top that Mew was lying to him about being a virgin. 

“Mew, you made that all up in your head, it’s nothing like that,”

“Well, what am I supposed to think when I can’t trust any word you say?” Mew turns away, only to be quickly embraced by Top. Both of them quiet, upset, and the episode ends with the future of their relationship uncertain.

[mangora]

On break at work rn here are some of my ideas if I ever do a Disventure Camp season two rewrite:

•Ally is the center of the love triangle instead of Hunter. Hunter and Tess get pretty close right away as a strategy move and when they meet Ally she’s really charmed by both of them and thinks they’re super cool and mysterious and it helps that Hunter’s pretty nice to her as well; Hunter and Tess both struggle with liking her and each other back but not really knowing how to express/confront it since Hunter prioritizes strategy first and Tess isn’t used to having friends, let alone romances

•Hunter, Yul, and Tess are all allies still but the narrative focuses on it more, namely the Hunter and Yul relationship, since they’re both, once again, strategy first and relationships second (or relationships last/never, in Yul’s case); but over time Hunter realizes that he hates Yul and he hates the parts of himself that are like Yul, and he and Tess shut him out

•Yul is like weirdly obsessed with Kai even after he gets out and no one else really gave a fuck about Kai and they all find it super odd. Like days after Kai’s elimination Yul is ranting like “God Kai would love it here in these woods, that’s so stupid, who even likes nature, I eat plastic and fossil fuels because I hate the earth, unlike Kai who’s a tree hugging freak; and it’s so dumb how passionate he is about things, and how good he is at reading people, like it’s so freaky, also his eyes are so gentle and mysterious, and I hope he goes to hell” and James goes “Which one was Kai again”

•Kinda like in All Stars, James really pities Yul, and when they’re allies/friends (neither of them realize that they’re friends really) he gets Yul to open up to him just a bit and he feels so bad for him and it contributes to his redemption arc in some way, like idk it helps him see a bit of the…not good, but like the potential and the sadness in everyone

•I love Rosa María but I feel like she was mostly a support character without much of an arc, and if it were up to me I’d have her have an episode where she gets really burnt out/hurt caring for others and they have to comfort her and remind her to put herself first sometimes as well. Maybe this would happen with Lake, I feel like that makes the most sense, but I could weirdly see this working with Tess as well

•I would’ve liked to see James and Lake get closer the way that Aiden and Lake did. Put them in the woods together or smth

•Speaking of Lake, in episode five I think it would’ve been really cool if Lake sort of viewed Kristal as a stand-in for her parents during the challenge and that’s why she got so angry. Make her angrier even. Make it hurt Kristal way more because this is exactly like a fight she’d have with her father as a kid. Lake and Kristal friendship save me

•I wish Maggy had a little more of an arc before she left. Maybe after Kai stood up for her she could have one or two episodes of really getting brave and standing up for herself and becoming a sort of team leader and that’s why James wanted her off with Yul

•I’d focus a little more on Aiden’s desire to be interesting/relevant to the game tbh like that’s such a neat concept to me, a character who’s frustrated by how boring they are. Make him do something fucking crazy. Make him the Final Boy in the serial killer challenge just by sheer willpower and have him push Karol through a glass door. Also since he’s watched the show before, give him some like almost Sierra-level knowledge of the season one cast and challenges. It would be cool

Ok that’s all for now maybe I’ll write more later idk I haven’t finished my season two rewatch yet

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Epsiode 112

Ah, the Halloween episode. This is gonna be fun ... and ... OH MY FUCKING GODS ... so they're ALL Nic Cage ... oh yeah, OF COURSE Liam's the Mandy Cage ... and Ashley's got some poison VX gas from The Rock ... meanwhile Sam ... of dear fuck Sam ... that's just too much ... and of course I've ALREADY worked out which one Marisha is ... perhaps THE WORST Nic Cage of them all ... and I love Con Air, so thanks for that one, Travis. Not to mention Matt's is awesome too ... Raising Arizona for the win ...

Seriously Sam, that costume is just TOO DISTURBING ... O.O ... this is some genuine nightmare fuel ... please don't wear THAT throughout the whole game ... fuck ... I'm starting to think that genuinely might be the case ...

I love how Liam DOES NOT ASK any of them to start mirroring his actions, Taliesin just starts it on his own and then Laura and Ashley start doing it all on THEIR own and it's adorable ... XD

Thank you all for addressing the problem with Sam's make-up ... that is gonna be SO HARD to ignore over thh course of the game, Samuel ...

Yup ... here we go ... the gameplay is ALREADY derailing and we're still on Matt's recap ... XD ... also I wonder how bad it's gonna be for Marisha once she has to start READING DICE ...

Nice crack at the Schumacher batsuits ...

Aha ... oh, so Ashton and Fearne have actually truly for real done the nasty? It's about fucking time, you two ...

Pancakes and waffles? Yay! The perfect start to any day ... oh, and cookies too? Nice one, Jester!

Travis INSTANTLY forgetting to use the newer Fjord accent instead of the older ... meanwhile Jester is TOTALLY already onto Ashton and Fearne ... and Liam's busy having a conversation with himself ... LOL

Chetney lives! Okay, then ...

Some confusion about what the plan is now, then ... clearly there's some fuzzy heads among the group after the night before ...

Imogen quickly draws a map ... Sam (as Veth): "How is it?" Ah hell ... first performance check of the night ... serviceable ... okay, then ...

Sending a message to Rashinna, then ... oh dear, are we having trouble with the count? And npw Jester's invading Imogen's mind with her intrusive thoughts ... oh boy ... watch Laura Bailey learning JUST what it's like being on the receiving end of another Laura Bailey character ... XD

Oh shit ... Rashinna hasn't gotten back to them yet ... Matthew, what's happened? Oh Matt Mercer ... you GIT!!! That was not funny ...

"Look for Gaz"? Hmmmmm ... the Villums? Okay, then ...

Dorian making a meta crack about their costumes when discussing the disguise idea ... LOL

Oh dear ... and now the disguise conversation becomes more serious as we're now uncovering the inherent problems of what available choices there actually ARE ... hmmmmmm ...

Laudna gives Sprinkle back to Jester ... who then tries to cover for the fact that Fjord accidentally DESTROYED PATE the night before ... O.O ... yeah ... here we go for Deception checks on BOTH OF THEM ... oh boy ...

Sprinkle is PLEADING FOR DEATH right now and I can't blame him ...

Pate returns! And it turns out he doesn't bear a grudge, clearly. Far as he's concerned it was just a macabre game ...

Turning into guards, then? Might be smart ... and some Bormodos for the smaller folk? Yes, that's smart ...

Good point ... IS THERE anybody upstairs in the store?

Yes, time enough for ONE Suck ... decisions, decisions ... something tells me Dusk Hunger might be worth holding onto, if I'm honest ... rollies, then? Hmmm ... Ashton, then ... okay ... goinf for Fire, then ... so he straps into the Harness and starts sucking up Dusk Hunger ... nuts ...

Some nice new effects for Ashton, then ... meanwhile Jester's now jealous about THEM not having a Harness too and immediately demands Caleb makes one ...

Caleb and Veth having a serious conversation while Sam is wearing THAT FACE ... ye gods ...

So ... try another one? 20% chance of the Harness breaking, but they ARE rolling towards the endgame ... hmmmm ... that;'s a yes, then ... and so ORYM is going to suck up Ishta, the very blade that killed his husdand AND father-in-law ... O.O

A permanent +2 to Wee Man's Dexterity? Holy shit ...

Does the Harness survive? Hmmmm ... it doesn't go bang YET ... but it was close ... hmmmmm ...

One more? Up to a 40% chance now ... maybe not, then ...

Yasha punches Braius in the face ... of course she does ... and he elbows her back ... hmmmm ... so ... that's just, like, a little pep-up, then?

Leaving the Tower, then ... so they're now all crammed in the cellar again ...

So they're going to teleport again, then ... hmmmm ... meanwhile Caleb activiates the disguises ... ruining Dorian's attempt at creating his own ... LOL

And Jester casts Pass Without a Trace ...

Zhesh! Hello there ... nice to see a familiar face ...

"Transference"? Hmmm ... I mean it sounds like an opportunity, really ...

Trickling out in groups, then ... and there's a storm out? THAT could be helpful, too ... the Dust Pit Delta, then? Sounds like a plan ...

Imogen and Orym leading the way through, then ...

Interesting ... a shrine to Exandria? Strange things to find here, all round ...

Planerider Ryn! She's here! Can they rescue her? Is this going to go down REALLY BAD?!!! O.O

So, planning a distraction while they try a Greater Restoration ... hmmmm ... this all sounds like apretty tall order ... I have a bad feeling this is gonna be a MAJOR distaster ...

Fjord creates a phantom red tornado while activating his Marine Layer ... oh boy ... here we go, then ... and they're creating general widespread PANIC ... meanwhile Imogen casts a blanket Telepathic Bond across the group ...

Ah ... so two of them are staying put ... great ... and now Dorian's getting in on the act ... oh, so it's actually WORKING? Hmmmmm ... okay, now what?

Caduceus tries out his Greater Restoration while it's all going off ... and now she's back ... missing a fucking arm! Calm Emotions? Hmmmmmm ... now what? Cure Wounds at Level 4? Let's see if THAT works ... O.O ... 25 points of healing ... and now he's trying to calm her down ... oh boy, this is all getting really chaotic all at once ... wait ... did she just TELEPORT AWAY?!!! Fuck ...

Imogen tries to Message Ryn ... oh boy ... she's in a random dark spot ... hmmmm ... so it was a Dimension Door? Meaning she's still close by ...

Oh crap ... something;s coming? Might be a good idea to get the fuck out of here ...

A full grown vidulch? SHIT!!! Oh, that's not good at all ... O.O

Okay, so ... looks like they dodged THAT bullet ... but there's more? Hmmmmmm ... so it's just CHAOS out here right now ... maybe they can continue to just sneak through, then ...

Jester messages Ryn ... oh my fucking gods ... this woman will go INSANE from this one ... oh ... so Ryn's just rolling with it? Okay ... guess she really IS a cool customer, that one ...

And now the storm's getting WORSE ... great ... time to move, then ...

Watcher Amido? Hey! Yeah, another familiar face ... this is their way in, then ...

So they just have to find a way to tunnel through into the tunnels, then? Hmmmm ... Jester turns herself into ... a diremole? Really? Intriguing ... Veth is not convinced this is actually gonna work ... I dunno, it looks all kinds of intimidating ... okay, this seems to be working out after all ...

So ... that worked, then ... the way is open. Braius is impressed.

Great ... this doesn't look all that promising any more ... can they still get through here ... oh ... okay, maybe they still can, then ... yeah, that's it ... the city itself ... so there's just the window? Which is WAY UP IN THE AIR ... crap ... maybe not, then ...

Okay, so NOW what are they gonna do?

Imogen sends a Message to Gaz ... oh boy ... I forgot what he sounded like, Matt that is BONKERS ... LOL

Thankfully Orym's RIDICULOUS Perception saves the day again ... so THAT'S the way, then ... and now a return of Taste of Tal'dorei ... XD

Damn ... Dorian has a point here ... DO THEY have a viable escape plan if the Moon ... EXPLODES?!!! O.O

I love how Caduceus' abject terror is everybody else's perfectly chilled ... LOL

So ... they're REALLY going to just DROP DOWN from here? Seriously?

Oh ... Arcane Gate? Smart ... go Fjord! That's the ticket ... and Jester just INSTANTLY SWOONS over how awesome her future husband is right now ... :3

Group Deception check ... hmmmmm ... and EVERYBODY except Robbie has to roll TWICE ... oof ...

Okay ... trying to make their way as inconspicuously as possible through the streets ...

Oh hello ... GAZ!!! Nice to finally see you again ... phew!

So ... CAN WE trust him? Is he on the level or IS HE a traitor like some suspect? O.O

Sounds like Liliana gave him a hell of a going-over ... and he's actually SPEAKING to them verbally rather than through telepathy ... wow ...

Accelerating plans, then ... but they do still need SOME flexibility ... hmmmmmm ...

Fearne goes to listen in on Gaz making contact with Rashinna ... 17? Nice roll, Ash ... oh, this sounds like quite the journey ... watch out, Fearne ...

Wow ... Gaz wasn't very bright BEFORE, but now he really is kind of DUMB, isn't he? But yeah, seems he really is on the level, at least ...

Jester offers Gaz a cookie ... awwwwwwwww ... and he's NEVER had sugar before ... wow ... :3

Dorian gets Gaz to explain the WHY the Volitiona are doing what they're doing ... oh boy ... his extremely simplistic explanation is kind of adorable ...

Meanwhile Jeter's created a sugar junkie ...

"The Hallowed Cage"? Try not to jump ahead in the narrative, guys! O.O

Short rest? Short rest. Yeah ...

Meanwhile they do NEED TO contact Vox Machina NOW ... yeah ... might be best. MAKE CONTACT guys!

Imogen Messages Allura ... so they're ALL READY ALREADY?!!! Okay, so ... best to make a start ASAP?

So ... whatever they're doing, start in one hour? Hmmmm ...

JESTER makes the reply ... oh boy ... yeah, Allura reacts VERY MUCH as anyone would with one of HER Messages ...

Going to break, then ... and when they're back it's going to be from the perspective of VOX MACHINA!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Oh my gods ... the pantyhose and the diapers ... Matt, you cheeky bugger ... XD

Only FOUR at the table? Right now it's just Laura, Ashley, Travis and Marisha ... in their ORIGINAL seats? Cool ...

So it's just KEYLETH right now ... hmmmm ...

She goes looking for Vex ... oh boy ... this should be fun ...

Okay, so ... we're a little back in time, then? Interesting ...

Yeah, I think BOTH OF THEM want to get Vax back ... well, at least as much back as they CAN get him, at least ...

Man ... too much FEELS right now, guys ...

So Grog and PIke'll likely both be in the pub? Yeah, sounds about right ...

They haven't HEARD from Scanlan yet? Hmmmmmm ...

Keyleth is covered in sticky bees ... O.O

Yeah, the titles were SO COOL, KIki. You did SO FUCKING GREAT there ... XD

A CLERICAL pub? Fascinating ...

As expected, Grog and Pike are already pretty far in their cups ... XD ... drunk Pike is always fun ... and they're up to old tricks, again ...

Grog thinks "piety" means he has pies ... yeah, that's about right ... LOL

Keyleth conjures a goodberry pie for Grog! Awwww ... :3

So ... Pike and Scanlan are going through another fivorce? And she can't even remember WHICH NUMBER it is? Blimey ... and so they CAN'T get hold of him because of it? Great ...

Jeanine? Awwww ... she sounds very sweet ...

Oh ... the Earrings? Neat ... yeah, try that, then ...

Yeah, Percy's a really good dad ...

Holy shit ... Marisha's having a hard time remembering how to actually PLAY a druid now ... it's been a while, of course ... so she just tries to SCRY on Scanlan instead ... which is resisted? Nuts ...

Pike x Scanlan = "it's complicated" ... like, the very DEFINITION ...

Matt's just having so much fun just WATCHING Travis getting to be Grog again ... XD

Tary? REALLY?!!! That'd be pretty sweet ...

Wow ... even VEX can't remember who Tary got married to ... XD

Flamespeaker Cerkonos? The leader of the Fire Ashari? Hmmmmm ... might be worth a go ...

Oh shit ... ROBBIE'S playing as Cerkonos? Oh, that's so cool! And yeah, Robbie Daymond really is INCAPABLE of playing a character who isn't, like, A TOTAL SNACK, and I love it ... XD

"Sir Grogory Strongjaw" ... Keyleth: "He added a few syllables." Yes. Yes he did ...

Nice going of Vex to just cut to the chase while Keyleth's fumbling talking him into doing something he was ALREADY planning on doing anyway ... XD

Pike's like me, thoroughly enraged by the idea of not finishing a book ... O.O

WHITESTONE!!! Welcome home!

And the Sun Tree! D'awwwwwwww ... :3

The Slayer's Cake! Yay!

A half-elven girl? Is this who I think it is? Oh my gods IT IS!!! Vesper! Hiiiiiiii!!! Oh my gods ... and she's ALREADY swooning over Cerkonos ... XD

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Gwen! Hi sweety! :3

Percival! Yay! Taliesin returns to the table ... meanwhile is the old grouch mellowing a little? Or is it just when he's around Vex?

SCANLAN was Cerkonos' favourite? XD I like that ...and he's VERY BAD at the sexual jokes ... which in his case come across as slightly more risque dad jokes, clearly ... LOL

Oh ... so Scanlan WAS travelling with Dr Dranzel's troupe? At least until Percy stopped caring to keep track of him, anyway.

So Keyleth tries to Scry on Kaylie instead ... not a whole LOT of luck there ... apparently she's asleep ...

Crisis Orbs? Hmmmmmm ...

"The Triple" ... oh, I like that. That's very effective ...

Pike tries to Message Scanlan ... and the others try to convince her to say she's HORNY for only him ... I mean yeah, that might work ...

Matt calls Sam backl to the table ... okay, so that means Scanlan's answering her, then ... okay ... is he having sex right now? At least he said he was in Wildemount ...

Oh boy ... she really is SO BAD AT THIS and I love it ... LOL

Ttat's a pretty non-specific location still ... but at least he's clearly NOT having intercourse, then ...

Pike: "He asxked if it was a booty call. I don't want to respond to that." Grog: "Well we are actively trying to contact him." Pike: "You're so smart, Grog."

Homing in on Scanlan and the troupe ... looks like they MIGHT be able to make it, then ...

Wow, Percy and Vex' kids really are all just COLLECTIVELY adorable, aren't they? :3

The Mask? Percy's mask? Is No Mercy Percy coming along for this ride?

Grog reverts to type and immediately gives himself a massive psychic shock ... Percy you clever and very evil bugger ... you have such a dark sense of humour, I love it ... XD

Awwwww ... I love Percy and Keyleth's friendship vibe SO MUCH ... XD

Setting out through the Sun Tree, then ... and Keyleth of course HAS TO still give a big of ceremony for their departure. And a fond farewell to the De Rolo kids ... awwwww ... but it's also giving me feels ... O.O

I really do hope this isn't the last time one or both of them will see their children ...

Stepping through, then ... and Grog tosses little Vax his petrified poop ... oh boy ...

Stopping the troupe before they get too far away ... and now Vox Machina are finally back together again ... plus one ...

Oooooooooh ... a bit of a glow-up for Scanlan, then ... wait ... oh my fucking gods ... HE'S A FUCKING CENTAUR?!!! Oh ... THEY'RE ALL CENTAURS?!!! What the fuck, guys? O.O

It's TRUE POLYMORPH? Oh shit ... isn't that, like, REALLY HARD to remove?

Cerkonos loves the idea that Scanlan now has a genuine horse cock ... wow ...

Trying to explain what's happening and what's at stake ... oh, yeah ... actually that might work. Vax IS Scanlan's best friend, telling him about him being trapped in the orb would probably do the trick ...

Come on you two, just MAKE UP already ...

I can't believe it's actually GROG who convinces him to come ... but yeah, that worked ...

And THAT'S it for the night? Cool. Does that mean we're starting wit them next time? I could get behind that, definitely ... this has been SO MUCH FUN ...

[mejcinta]

Don’t know how true this is but hey there were rumours that Alicent would betray the Greens by the end of S2 and that turned out to be true so anything goes now!

Anyway, there’s a rumour that they’re going to keep Jace around a bit longer because Harry’s popular with younger demographics, a bit like how GoT gave Richard Madden more screen time than actual PoV characters.

So it got me thinking, is this the real reason they had Alicent give up Kingslanding to Rhaenyra? After all in the books it’s Jace’s death that triggers her attack on the capital, but now Alicent’s handed it to her on a silver platter.

Did this “feminist” show screw over one of their female leads, cause GRRM to have a mental breakdown, annihilate Team Green, destroy the very foundation of the Dance just so a bunch of horny 20 somethings can enjoy some more screen time of a pretty boy???

God give me strength but if Jace doesn’t die in the first episode of S3 then I was right. I would cry if this wasn’t so comically insane yet in character for these writers 🙈

I still think the Dragonstone scene is rhaenicent fueled, because instead of basing the Dance on Rhaenyra and her relationship with her BROTHER, the second claimant to the throne that is arguably her doom, they instead want to push a feminist agenda in which prophecy rules the day and Alicent is a mediator that has seen the light and tries to help Rhaenyra bring the feminist utopia into effect but in the end the patriarchy tragically quashes their attempt and alters the history against Rhaenyra. Love could have won, but MEN destroyed it boo hoo.

Keeping Jace around is probably a byproduct of fucking up the episode count of season 2. Plus, Jace has not really had significant character development for his death to matter to us at this stage. Sara was cut, Cregan appeared only once and he barely has a relationship with Baela.

I am not opposed to Jace staying a bit longer. I think he couldget time to be redeemed from his petty hatred of the dragonseeds. He could become more friendly with them, train them, grow closer to Baela and Rhaenyra, rule on Dragonstone a little while then challenge his mother's shortsightedness when it comes to Alicent before finally, FINALLY, flying to his little brothers' rescue at the Gullet only to be killed. That emotional weight is much better, than briskly killing him off in episode 1 of season3.

Trust! Sara and Ryan HATE Rhaenyra and Alicent's children. Jace was made a mewing bitch who challenges Rhaenyra's decisions and Alicent's sons were suddenly turned into one note villains (rAtcAtchers, shArp pOInt) to JUSTIFY her betrayal on Dragonstone.

They are nothing but obstacles to Ryan and Sara who just want to write their feminist forward, sapphic love triangle a03 fic featuring Mysaria lmaooo.

I mean, I wish the show was deeper and more nuanced like in season 1 but it sadly isn't now because the writers we have now are untalented, superficial twats who want to force their way instead of adapting GRRM's story.

Long story short, I don't think they butchered Alicent for Jace. Everybody in this story clearly suffers when Rhaenyra the Mary Sue comes anywhere near them.

[bunnakit]

much ado about shin

so i wanted to put my thoughts and feelings down on the trajectory of Bake Me Please yesterday but i had a splitting migraine and couldn't thoughts well, so here it is today.

i've said it in the past but Shin doesn't know how to give affection, he doesn't know what it means to love, because he's never had proper examples of what that looks like. we're modeled by our environment and Shin has grown up very isolated from everything, so he's wildly out of his depth when it comes to more tender feelings. i said last week i believed we would see Shin try and use food, the only instance where he does understand love, to try and apologize to Peach and i was delighted when it turned out i was right.

this doesn't mean i'm not still infuriated with Shin, though. his constant ego is tiring, the fact he thinks he invented the fucking torta caprese (i don't think you were around in 1920 Shin, sorry,) the way he called Peach's dream stupid, the fact he doesn't understand why Guy would leave to pursue his own dreams (again, i wonder if Shin has ever had a dream,) and the way he just doesn't. fucking. listen.

we did see a glimpse this week, a little nod that Shin has changed. he grows defensive around Peach because that's the source of his hurt right now but when he was alone in the kitchen with Atom he didn't lash out, wasn't rude to him, he was soft and kind and even vulnerable as he hid his tears. Shin is changing, he's keeping good habits for the most part, which is good to see. now if only he could be that way around Peach.

while i don't understand why we're supposed to keep giving Shin our patience and understanding (the narrative really hasn't done much to redeem him in my eyes) i do appreciate from a narrative standpoint that we're being shown that impulsively falling into bed with someone with little communication or understanding does not a good relationship make.

Shin and Peach had no discussion of their feelings for each other before or after sleeping together and it became very clear very quickly that they still don't even really know each other. Shin had no idea about Peach's dream, barely knows anything about how he grew up, and has shared very little of himself with Peach - and even asks Peach to keep their relationship a secret with zero explanation. (i don't know what you expected him to think Shin you fucking doorknob.) they're good at flirting, at falling into bed together, at being playful, but they're absolutely dog shit at talking.

you know who isn't bad at talking?

here i go again. but honestly, Guy has always talked to Peach about what bothers him, what he likes, what he wants to do with his life. this is the number one reason i won't classify Guy as an incel "nice guy" character (Oab) because he does genuinely care about Peach and what goes on in Peach's life. he's listened to Peach complain about Shin, watched them get together, and has comforted Peach numerous times. he knows Peach better than his own boyfriend, fling, whatever does and i think that's probably what is fueling so much of his frustration and petty actions.

i also think this relationship between Peach and Guy is why so many of us would rather see those two get together. they communicate, recent events not withstanding, they have fun together and have genuinely really liked each other (platonically) since episode 1. your partner should be your best friend and aside from Atom i believe Guy is the best friend Peach has. they would probably work so well together, support each other, and make the most amazing bakery of Peach's dreams together - if only Peach could stop giving a shit about Shin.

and like, the heart wants what the heart wants or whatever. sure. but i'm genuinely very concerned we're going to see Peach apologizing to Shin in the finale and Shin taking no accountability or it being brushed off as "that's just how Shin is." i need to see Shin apologize, whether with words, actions, or something, for calling Peach's dream stupid. above everything else that absolutely needs to be addressed because that's something Peach will remember forever. our brain has a funny way of latching on to the worst things people have said to us and rotating them in a microwave.

i would respect the show so fucking much if Shin and Peach didn't get back together, if they went their separate ways. is it a cute ending to a love story? absolutely not, but it would be so realistic and even healthy. sometimes you meet someone and it's fun and the sex is good but it's just never going to work and you can't change people (they can only change themselves.) i would even appreciate if they went a 'right person, wrong time' approach; maybe a time skip where Peach has his dream shop, Shin walks in, and they can try again.

all i know is i REALLY don't want to see this all put on Peach's shoulders, and i don't really want Guy to be pigeon holed into being a villain either. Shin's being fucking goofy and i think Guy's antics are the wake up call he needs (when he wakes up from his.. heart attack? embolism? stroke?) to get his shit together and treat Peach right.

but if he shoves Peach one more time i'm ripping his arms off and beating him with them, that's for sure.

[thesoftboiledegg]

Starting from the first episode, Rick and Morty's sixth season mirrors, references and counters season three. Season six references other seasons, especially the second, but the writers really want you to focus on season three and how much has changed.

Season three starts with The Rickshank Rickdemption, which I think is the best episode in the series, but it also shows Rick at his worst: a horrifying monster who destroys everything in his path on a rampage that culminates in a full-on mental break as he yells incoherently at a terrified Morty in the garage.

The Rickshank Rickdemption shows Rick's "fake" backstory, features a return to Morty's original dimension and involves the whole family in a zany adventure. Unfortunately, this also kickstarts Rick's spiral into nearly irredeemable madness.

Solaricks goes to similar places: Rick's backstory, Morty's original dimension, the family's complicated dynamic. By now, season five has revealed that Rick's "fake" backstory wasn't fake after all. Instead of mocking the audience with a "Fuck you, you can't have what you want!" sneer, the episode shows us Rick's quiet sadness.

Meanwhile, Morty ends up in his original dimension yet again. But he doesn't find the goofy Mad Max-esque characters from season three. His father, who's become a more realistic deception of an apocalypse survivor, tears into him and tells him--and the audience--that he, Beth and Summer were real people, not plot devices.

The episode abandons the cold and mocking earlier version of the Cronenberg Smiths. Jerry abandons Morty, too, leaving Morty to wander away crying. No brutal destruction and bloody corpses on the citadel. Just a sad, lonely teenager in an empty landscape.

Rick comes back for him without claiming that he doesn't care about Morty. He doesn't yell at him, insult him, subject him to horrifying violence or bait him into trying to kill him. Morty's not angry at him, either. After everything that's happened, after all the fucked-up shit that Rick's pulled, after all the screaming and fighting and abuse, Morty runs to him with a smile on his face and his arms outstretched like a young child.

Nothing could make Rick abandon his revenge-fueled atrocities in The Rickshank Rickdemption. In Solaricks, he abandons his chance to kill Prime when Morty calls him "Grandpa."

Likewise, Final DeSmithation is the second Rick and Jerry episode that we've been hoping for since The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy. The first episode battered viewers with Rick and Jerry's hatred for each other. Rick unleashes rage-fueled tirades while Jerry focuses on his desire to get back at Rick, to hurt him and even kill him.

In Final DeSmithation, Rick isn't the one terrorizing Jerry. In fact, he actually gets annoyed at the Smiths for making fun of him (while doing household chores, which is another first for Rick.)

He has no reason to help Jerry. If anything, he has a chance to endlessly mock him. But he gives Jerry a half-assed explanation that he "just didn't want to see someone get bullied into going to a zoo," which would still be nice if it were true. Rick doesn't even bother making up a mean one, such as "I'm only doing this so that my daughter doesn't kick me out of the house for not saving your stupid ass."

Final DeSmithation also had a fandom staple: Rick in a suit and tie. The series full of fakeouts suddenly pivoted to giving fans what they want.

Rick's mean to Jerry throughout the episode, but you can tell that he's getting tired of the act. He's a little more patient, and his remarks are less incisive. At the end, Rick tries to take it back by slapping Jerry, but the episode doesn't end there. He immediately looks guilty and accepts Jerry's offer of friendship afterward.

I also loved when Rick said that he's "dead center on the alignment chart." Earlier seasons, including season three, glorified the idea of Rick being close to evil.

Analyze Piss is the most direct callback: a sequel to Pickle Rick. However, Rick's not concocting ridiculous plots to get out of therapy. He willingly attends therapy. He paces around and fights against it, but ultimately, he seeks help.

He respects Dr. Wong, who knows how to talk to him on his level. He puts her ideas into practice even when the family pushes back because Rick's not doing what they want him to do. Rick still struggles and falls apart, but he tried this time.

He has chances to manipulate the Smiths, but he doesn't take them. Instead, he looks at them sadly. His ego is slowly eroding.

Finally, Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation mirrors The Rickchurian Mortydate. Both episodes are season finales, and both involve Rick and the President bickering with Morty caught in the middle and getting increasingly sick of Rick's bullshit.

Still, this episode is a little nicer. Rick relapses, but he doesn't entirely backslide and turn into the murderous lunatic that he was in The Rickchurian Mortydate. He's just crabby.

The episode ends with an exciting cliffhanger instead of a dark moment when the Smiths (rightfully) get tired of Rick's bullshit. Rick even says in his usual crazy rant that he'll try to be healthier in season seven as he hunts Prime Rick.

We finally get a fakeout, but this one is gentler than the others. It's disappointing that Rickbot wasn't the real Rick, but the writers don't want us to leave thinking that Rickbot existed only to fool us. Rickbot tells Morty that Rick technically committed those kind, loving acts. It's a surprise twist that doesn't negate the entire season.

Season six countered infamous scenes from other seasons, but the season three parallels stood out to me because they contrast Rick at his worst with Rick at (maybe) his best. He can't change the past, but when he ends up in the same situation again, he can make different choices.

[moonstruckdraws]

Luci Interacts!

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She and Pico can't fucking stand each other. Luci and Pico are like parallelly opposites, if that makes sense. They're nemeses :3 @hellishgayliath

Context! Pico and Luci didn't meet until after the episode "Repo Mantis". Luci was aware of Todd, but hasn't met him in person at this time and was originally going to be the one to get Todd's trailer, until Donnie and Mikey showed up and make a deal with Repo for the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy. Instead, Luci spends the entire episode with Mrs. Nubbins before Repo gives her a different job to do before Mikey and Donnie come back.

Luci does not like Todd as she believes that he's a manipulative person that uses his kindness to get what he wants. This thought is fueled after Luci meets Todd to try and reposes a different loaned item, and sees the giant puppy rescue he has. She asks about it, and that's how she learns of the events of the episode. This greatly angers Luci and she starts yelling at everything, but not in Todd's face as his kindness still has a bit of an effect on her. (I like to think she's one of the least effected people from Todd's endless kindness, but it still has enough of an effect to where she does the bare minimum in her anger, like not screaming in his face or keeping her insults under her breath) At this point, Pico would probably hear the commotion, and would most likely turn into them yelling at each other before Luci storms off. This would establish their hatred for each other, since Pico is protective of Todd.

And this isn't the push and shove kind of rivalry, no this is full on insulting each other in every other sentence, aggressive glares, and attempted murder :D I'd like to think Pico would learn all vulgar words from her and her bad mouth, that she definitely got from Repo

Accurate Representation lol

If it's really heated, they'll start to insult each other's dads, but this is a very rare thing. They're both aware of how much they value their parents and don't like going that low. But if one of them does insult the other's dad, well someone is going to walk away with a scar or two.

This is also a time to explain Luci's physical body real quick; so some moths don't eat because they don't have mouths, which is why they don't live very long. I wanted Luci to have a mouth with no teeth to reflect this, as well as to show how little she uses it. She only opens her mouth mainly to yell or scream and only does it when very very angry.

Like mentioned earlier, Luci does not like Todd, finding him annoying and deceiving. Any time his irresistible kindness starts to take effect, she explodes in rage and gets as far away from him as possible. This is also prevents loaned or late paid items from getting repossessed, same end result except it's not because they felt bad or gave Todd more time Luci just gets too frustrated to deal with him.

Luci is also slightly afraid of dogs! Not to where it's a major problem, but she'd like to avoid them or see them at a distance if possible. If it wasn't for her stubbornness and disliking to Todd, she'd avoid Todd and his puppy rescue as much as possible. At most, if there are too many dogs, she'll freeze up for a few minutes before she swiftly leaves. Mrs. Nubbins made her a cat lover, despite this mantis cat trying to kill her at times, and values their chillness and sassiness.

When trying to deal with Todd, they'll converse a little bit away from the puppy rescue because it makes her more comfortable and Todd is considerate, so he'll agree. Of course, Pico isn't far keeping an eye and ear out on their conversations, and I think he'd smile every time Luci gets frustrated and storms off from Todd.

Bao & Luci are actually very chill and casual

Luci isn't always aggressive and explosive; she just seems to be that way, especially to Pico. She mainly acts this way when it deals with Repo's businesses or Todd, which is the only time Pico sees her. Neither of them have seen each other interact with their dads personally or with their companions (Mrs. Nubbins & Miho), so they've only seen each other's nasty side towards each other, of course.

With Bao though, she's more laid back and chill, still sassy though and her vulgar language is less present. She and Bao share gossip, mainly Luci as lots of drama can happen in the junkyard like reality tv lol. Luci discovered Bao's tea shop when in a heated fit and was trying to cool off. She felt almost immediately soothed by the environment, and it became one of her safe places. Bao did not know of Pico and Luci's dynamic and didn't even know Luci was the person Pico would be talking about. Pico would never say her name when talking trash about her, claiming that "she's too nasty and terrible to even say her name". So Bao would see a softer side to Luci that Pico never did see

Of course, one of these days they'd run into each other at the tea shop, and it would go something like this lol. Moths are nocturnal, and even though Luci can be up in the morning, she's usually up by noon. And when going places, it's usually the late afternoon or night and it's these times that she goes to the tea shop. I think Pico would be bringing over some dog chow for Momo or gardening stuff a bit later in the day and would see Bao and Luci conversing.

Afterwards, Pico wouldn't understand how he could stand Luci while Bao would probably try to tell him of the Luci he knows, of course Pico wouldn't believe him. Luci wouldn't understand how Bao could date someone like Pico, to where Bao does the same thing, but a bit more serious to show he won't tolerate her insulting their relationship (to which she does not ever).

After this run in, I think Luci wouldn't show up to the tea shop for a while, to where Bao asks if he and Pico could go check up on her and Pico is reluctant to. I think this is where Pico would firstly see Luci's softer side as they'd catch her with Mrs. Nubbins in her cave. Mrs. Nubbins notices their presence, Luci gets angry and embarrassed at being spied on (causing a bit of ripple in her and Bao's friendship), Mrs. Nubbins tries to eat them, Luci progressively tries to stop her, they're all tired, Luci wouldn't say anything except harsh glares and go inside her home. And I'll leave that plot point at that :]

If asked her opinion on Pico it'd go something like: "UGH! I can't STAND that trash eater! He's annoying, rude, and worst of all, sees that BEAVER as a GOOD GUY!! He even had the NERVE to F***ING insult Boss! He's the WORST! THE WORST!"

[spector]

sad to announce that i am feeling better and that i fully finished my the boys (2019-) binge, complete with gen v s1 and its suuuuch a mid show but like damn i liked it a lot lmfao. and i cant even use the excuse of having a fever to soften the blow to my pretentiousness. fuck im sorry everyone im coming out as an enjoyer of a tv show made by the supernatural guys.... granted its literally the power of one blorbo fueling my interest atm but i rly do like the show in general, i like a lot of the other characters, not just homelander.

not butcher tho like jesus christ hes SHOOO boring. i love karl urban and i guess i cant say that he's doing something Wrong (other than his accent. they shouldve adapted the guy to a kiwi instead of a boring brit) but butcher is just soooosososos repetitive to me. every single fucking season is like "oi cunt i dont care about my friends i will do anything to kill homelander" and the friends are like "please care about us" "ahhhh hehe okay :)" ITS SO BORING!!!! ITS SO BORING!!!!! THIS GUY IS SO BORING!!! the worst episode of the whole show to me was that one ep in s3 when he was having flashbacks to his shitty childhood and not a single actor on screen could do a normal british accent like are you fucking kidding me LMFAO . its like revenge on british actors coming over and stealing american roles

also goooood im not a fan of the whole ryan storyline. i understand the whole show hinges on it but that was a wrong call bc a). they cant write for kids b). they got a kid actor whos . not giving that much . also ryan plotline goes in circles as well. just like homelanders.

i was watching this show and thinking this is just a soap opera for men bc theres like zero concrete plot progression and zero character development but theyre not ready for this conversation

anyways theres this blond bitch im thinking about now.