#guys I could not resist

[writing-on-the-wahl]

Look Alike Part 5

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4 

Sooo, are you going to show me what you do here?” 

Civilian stared up at Villain. Was he serious? But as he stood before her, rocking back and forth on his heels as he took in the room for what felt like the first time, that Civilian realized he was serious. 

“I uh…” 

Before she could come up with a response, Villain’s gaze caught on the mound of wet clay she’d abandoned on the pottery wheel, and his shoulders and his hopeful expression dropped as he took a step back. “I’m sorry- I interrupted…”

Suddenly the thought of being alone while she yet again attempted to throw the perfect pot sounded intolerably lonely. “It’s fine!” she blurted. “I was just going to practice for my ceramics class. I can just clean it up and show you around.” 

Villain shook his head. “It’s fine; you have work to do and I …” He hesitated, all of the suave confidence from early disappearing as he tucked his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath. “Maybe I could stay while you worked? See what you do?” 

Oh that was much worse than giving him a tour of the kilns. Civilian’s insides twisted at the thought of having an audience for what would mostly likely be an unsuccessful evening, if the last two weeks were anything to judge by. 

She should definitely say no. She’d never performed well under pressure. It always made her chest tighten and her hands tremble. 

Not the greatest conditions for delicate ceramic work. 

But the beautiful apology bouquet on the table reminded her why he’d come here, and all he’d done trying to make it up to her. Maybe she could just show him around a little and he’d forget about watching her work. 

So Civilian smiled. “That’s ok, I can work on it later. Let me show you around.” She held her breath until Villain smiled back. 

“If you’re sure.” 

Normally she would have started with the pottery wheels, explaining how the clay was shaped into the pots and bowls and all manner of things. But she didn’t want to remind him he was keeping her from work, so she instead led him to the tables and chairs where customers could glaze their chosen items. 

“So did you make any of these?” 

“No!” Civilian snorted as Villain wandered towards the shelves that carried a variety of pre-made ceramics for customers to glaze. “Those are all made in molds. Most of our business comes from people who just want to glaze something that’s already made. Making your own pottery can be difficult.” 

Villain nodded as he stepped up to a shelf containing a variety of ceramic animals and picked up a palm-sized statue of a goat. “That makes sense. The real question is who would pick something like this.” He gestured to the shelf of various bowls and mugs. “Those at least have a function.” 

She shrugged. “We stock the animals for the kids. Although the adults choose them just as often. Especially the college students.” 

Villain grimaced as he eyed the goat. “That’s ridiculous.” 

Civilian stepped closer, plucking the goat from his hand and holding it up to eye level. “Awwww but it’s so cute!!” 

A tiny smile cracked through Villain’s critical veneer, and Civilian wanted to cheer. 

“Can you imagine this on my desk?” 

Civilian mentally placed a brightly colored goat like the one that four year old had glazed last week on a desk of dark mahogany, the statue comical against neatly organized files and papers. 

“What do you do for work?” The question was out of her mouth before she realized what she’d said. She clapped a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t—”  

The imaginary desk was replaced with the visceral memory of a blacked out van, a dark room. 

When her mind returned to the pottery shop, the guilt on Villain’s face told her he knew exactly where her thoughts had gone. Before he could apologize, again, she looked around for something to distract him. The solution was so simple, yet not easy at all. 

Steeling herself, Civilian gestured to the row of pottery wheels. “We also offer weekly classes for those who want to try their hand at making their own pottery. I can show you how it works, if you’d like?” 

It seemed like an eternity of waiting, and she wondered if he was still going to try apologizing. 

But then Villain nodded, and soon enough he had pulled a stool up near her wheel and was watching intently as she began to center her clay. 

“So what are you doing now?” 

Civilian began explaining about the process: the throwing, the centering, the shaping. Villain’s arms rested on his knees as he leaned forward, nodding at each step of her explanation. When her pot went careering off center, Civilian flushed, ready to be embarrassed until Villain’s eager expression made her heart settle. She managed an only slightly forced laugh as she scraped the ruined clay off the wheel. “It actually happens more often than you’d think, I’ll have to get fresh clay- this is too wet to use again.” 

Dropping the old clay into the bucket of water beside the wheel, she reached for another piece of clay. “Oh, and before you even start, you have to make sure that you wedge the clay—like kneading—to get the air bubbles out, otherwise the clay can explode in the kiln. I prepped a bunch before setting up at the wheel so I don’t constantly have to get up every time I…” 

Sheesh, Civilian, do you ever stop to breathe? 

The dismissive voice was only an echo in her mind, but it was enough that she cut off the stream of facts she’d been about to share and lifted her hands from the clay and her foot from the pedal. “I’m sorry, I got too excited and—”

Villain scooted his stool closer, close enough to reach out and touch, and the rest of her apology faded into the air between them. His voice was low as he asked, “Is that what that miserable cow would tell you?” 

“What?” 

“Is that what your ex would tell you?” The muscles in his jaw clenched, and he all but spat out his next words. “That you got ‘too excited?’” She would have been afraid, had it not been so clear his anger was not at her, but for her. 

Ex’s actual words had been ‘like an excitable little puppy,’ but she was going to tell Villain that. 

Apparently her face was easy enough to read though, because Villain’s expression turned violent. 

“He’s not a bad guy,” she rushed to say. 

She’d loved him, after all. 

Villain shook his head before he stilled, staring at her with those piercing eyes that seemed to see every disdainful remark Ex had ever thrown at her. “You really believe that.” 

Civilian shifted under Villain’s scrutiny, trying to remember the good days, the reasons she’d let him put a ring on her finger. He hadn’t been a bad egg. But. He just maybe wasn’t a good one either.

Villain leaned closer, extending his hand to her, palm up, an invitation. Despite the clay on her hands, she found herself sliding her fingers into his. Then she wondered why, after what he’d done, the motion felt more natural than it ever had with Ex. 

After the cool clay, his hand felt like holding a warm mug of cocoa. His eyes blazed, and his intensity sparked a fluttering of attraction in her chest. 

“Your passion is not a burden to be borne.” 

The words landed on her heart and slowly sank in, washing away every critical remark, every doubtful judgement. 

Why don’t you choose a more steady career path?

Your doodles are sweet, Civilian, but…

Your father and I won’t waste our money on an education that will only leave you begging on the street.

Let us know when you’ve come to your senses.

Are you sure you don’t want to switch now? Our life together will be much more stable if we have two steady incomes.

Civilian blinked, letting Villain’s words heal something inside her, until he abruptly dropped his hand and scooted away. 

All her life, she’d been told her art was nothing more than a pointless detour. Now Villain sat before her, entirely captivated by the process. 

His genuine interest made her eyes suspiciously blurry, but she wet her hands and started the wheel turning. Her hands slipped on the clay as she glanced at Villain out of the corner of her eye, but his gentle smile brought a warm fluttering to her chest that made it easier to continue her explanation as her hands began to center the soft clay.

Civilian was busy explaining the purpose of waiting to trim until a pot was leather dry when she slowed the wheel and finally paid attention to the clay beneath her fingers. 

It was a decent looking pot, at first glance. Instantly her mind went searching for flaws. Was the lip too thin, the curve of the base too wide? 

“It’s incredible.” Villain’s awed voice broke through the deluge of self-doubts. 

“It’s not perfect, but--” 

“Ok, you can stop right there.” 

Villain’s easy smile was gone. “You are about to critique each and every last aspect of what you just made--MADE--with your own hands, and you haven’t even stopped to realize that you. made. that.” 

Civilian didn’t realize she was gaping until Villain’s eyes moved to her lips. She snapped her mouth closed, then cleared her throat as she licked her lips. 

“Yes, well…” Her hands fluttered, wet drops of clay-water splattering her clothes. 

“Just look at it like you’re seeing it through museum glass.” His voice was soft again, coaxing. 

Looking back at the pot, she tried to imagine it like Villain said, an ancient work set on display. The fat base curved upwards into a narrow neck before widening into the lip. And he was right. 

It was incredible. 

“You made that.” 

Civilian let out a little laugh. “I did.” 

“You know,” Villain mused, “the proportions are almost identical to this Chinese vase I stole last year.” 

Her head shot up. He knew pottery? 

Villain grinned, voice heavy with exaggerated arrogance. “It was from the Han Dynasty.” 

A laugh sputtered from her lips. “Riiiiight. You almost had me for a minute there.”

Villain just kept smiling, though now it was a little smug. 

She cocked her head to the side as she stared him down. “No.” 

He shrugged nonchalantly, and she barely resisted the urge to flick clay-water at him. “You did not just make me word vomit pottery 101 at you only to reveal that you are an expert!” 

That blasted grin was still on those wicked lips. “It was quite fascinating to hear your explanations.” 

Villain blinked as the gray water splattered his face, catching on his eyelashes and dripping down his chin.

Civilian froze, waiting for his reaction. Then Villain tipped back his head and laughed. It was deep and full of genuine amusement. 

When he straightened, laughter still creased his eyes. “I’m sorry, Civilian, but I couldn’t resist.” 

Before she could sink into the mortification of explaining basic ceramics to an expert, Villain spoke again. “If it makes you feel any better, I truly knew little of how they were made; I just happen to know what makes a good one.” 

“So you’re an art expert?” 

This time his shrug was more genuine. “I deal mostly with jewels, but I know enough about the various art forms to know what makes them valuable.” 

“Valuable enough to steal?” Civilian ventured. 

He tipped his head in acknowledgement. 

This time, she was the one who leaned forward. “Would you tell me about it?

Shoutout to @im-a-wonderling for both bribing me to write this and staying up late to beta-read. Y’all can thank her that it’s more than 500 words of a hot mess :) 

Taglist: 

@im-a-wonderling @shieldmaiden-of-gondor @watercolorfreckles @distance-does-not-matter @onestopheroxvillain @lolafaiy @chaoticgoodandi @1becky1 @tobeornottobeateacher @himynameisorla @superherosweet @brekker-by-brekkerr @crazytwentythrees @great-day-today @sunflower1000@selectivegeekwithstandards @chibicelloking @trantolette @sapphiques @jinpanman @genesissane @wish1bone1 @amongtheonedaisy @distractedlydistracted @kitsunesakii @glitterythief @jinx1365 @cherrychewingbrat @in-patient-princess @thepenultimateword @sorrow-and-bliss @technikerin23 @deflated-bouncingball 

@world-of-fire-and-flight @imsotiredcanipleasegetabreak 

lmk if you want to be added or taken off:) 

[daily-haunted-tv]

Sparkle on, it's Wednesday

[aunmenosheteroenespanol]

2.12 Chimney Begins - 2.09 Hen Begins - 2.16 Bobby Begins Again - 7.04 Buck, Bothered and Bewildered

Tommy's family arc

[firenbreniel]

In every timeline, in every possibility,

Only you can show me this.

[vaultnewt]

go. do a crime.

[vaguely-concerned]

how much have the crows actually been sanitized outside of the very narrow view you get of them both in place and in time in veilguard, and how much is caterina deliberately putting her most presentable and pr friendly foot forward because she needs HELP with both the grandson and the antaam situations and is already playing from a weakened overwhelmed position. is she going to show off all the dirty laundry the crows undeniably have in front of the people she's courting for an alliance? is rook going to be looking a gift crow in the beak too closely when help is offered, go digging through that laundry basket on their own initiative on principle, knowing what you might find further down in it isn't pretty and might still be sharp, while the world is burning? is it entirely coincidental that the people caterina picks to interact with you most is teia -- the youngest, most charismatic and notably most weirdly idealistic of the talons -- and viago -- who is perhaps none of these things naturally but is dependable and logical and sharp and also down so cataclysmically bad for teia that when she runs in shouting 'TEIA YES!!! >:D' he sighs with longsuffering resignation and goes '...viago also yes. I suppose. under duress, let the record note' and follows.

surely parts of how each house functions would be left largely up to the individual talons, right? as long as they produce crows capable of doing the job and keeping up with the competition, I doubt the first talon micromanages how they get there (...for good or ill. lots of dead fledglings buried under that laissez faire policy, probably). they're very far away from a monolithic structure, they're constantly competing merchant houses/families striving to gain the upper hand held in check by little except 'if enough of the other houses shake hands and gang up on us for pushing our luck we're fucked, so don't push it too far'. like I believe lucanis says at one point, even calling them an organization is stretching the definition to a breaking point in some ways lol this is fully herding cats territory. all this to say that in this game we spend most of our time in teia's house. andarateia cantori, of the firm genuine conviction recognized as mildly unhinged by all the other talons that the crows truly are her family, who loves them with her whole unstoppable foolhardy thinks-she-will-die-young-and-live-eternally-in-song-and-story heart for it. teia, who won't leave the cantori diamond even to go home to sleep because she doesn't want the fledglings to have to see the place empty. do I think the way teia cantori would run her house is indicative of the average experience of being trained as and living as a crow? no. obviously. why are people seeming to assume that so immediately? sometimes I do wonder if I'm going insane.

between that and the antaam situation -- which turns the romanticized image antiva already is eager to reach for with the crows (the same way european literary tradition through the ages sure LOVES a knight, no matter what knights were actually like when you had one kicking around in real life) into an effective and recognizable symbol of resistance from an outside force (at least these awful little guys are home grown in a way we're kind of proud of despite it all and also they are deeply inescapably cool)... perhaps indeed a symbol of resistance and freedom that momentarily covers for a multitude of sins. I don't think we need to draw definitive conclusions about what the crows are like universially, historically or in different contexts from what we see in veilguard. sort of like the british in the pop cultural understanding being 'the good guys' when we think about WW2, and the sheer ludicrousness of that characterization of the british empire seen in any other context or angle lmao. I DO think there are some genuine writerly '*handwaves established ugliness aside aggressively* just uuuuuh don't worry about it! not important right now! you can feel at least ok hanging out with the cool theater kids but with murder they're like. comparatively chill in this context it's fine and they're fun' going on too. and you know what. they are fun. invenci is unfortunately objectively right, but the crows are sooo much more fun. and in fiction land that trumps all. absolutely baffling writing choice when you read through to the political/ideological conclusion that's reached from it of course (sort of accidentally? I think???), but would it really be a bioware game without a few of those. it's how you know you're home (derogatory and affectionate)

in short there are writing problems by god are there real problems here. obviously. and it'd take smarter and more knowledgeable people than me to properly untangle all of that. glorifying organized crime is a time honoured tradition in fiction that perhaps... shouldn't be quite so much and is uh risky, you're always playing with fire there. but I frankly don't think the 'de-edgeifying' for lack of a better term is that much of an inescapable one or that it erases what we knew of the crows before, we're just getting the angle on them in one very specific time and place in history and with specific individuals involved setting the tone. eight little talons killing off most of the established leadership beforehand so it's mostly only teia and viago who get to keep their full power base (even caterina and the dellamortes takes some losses in the apparent death of lucanis before the start of the game) probably figures into that somewhere too lol

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 11: Firebreak

A strip of land that has been cleared, plowed, or planted with fire-resistant vegetation to prevent a fire from spreading.

[momentomori24]

[This has been sitting in my draft for a while lol]

When it comes to Curly's failings, I always see people bring up his obvious failure to protect Anya and him prioritising Jimmy, who was the rapist in that situation. Which is completely valid btw and we should rake him through the coals for that alone even more. But I also see too many people saying that Curly "didn't enable Jimmy" or playing softball for his actions. And I could maybe see where that comes from if that incident was the only thing we had to point to-- but that wasn't all he did, is it? Curly being indifferent or not taking Jimmy's mistreatment and belittlement of Anya seriously was hinted at so much earlier than that.

Namely, the very first time we play from Curly's point of view. Let's just skip the fact that Curly was putting everyone in danger by not taking his psych evals seriously and simply giving the same answers to pass them even tho he was shown literal minutes after this scene being clearly not-sane, and go straight to the point I actually wanna get into. Which is this:

These scenes in isolation wouldn't be that bad. From his pov, it's played off as comical and it is. Jimmy being a brony (not really lmao) and getting playfully dragged over it is funny. But unfortunately this is the first example out of many for Curly's complacency. Anya is complaining about Jimmy not taking his psych evals or her seriously, which is easy to believe considering how much he rags on her for "not being a good nurse" (she kept Curly alive on hopes and dreams how dare you). So he keeps making her do silly and inappropriate reports she clearly doesn't wanna do, which is kinda shitty (also borders on harassment). But rather than actually saying something about Jimmy's behaviour or even acknowledging how it sucks he says this:

Mate, that's not a good thing 💀 He's clearly aware that the problem is Jimmy's lack of respect for Anya specifically. He knows that if he, his friend and a man in power, were the one doing the evals Jimmy wouldn't try that disrespect. But it's Anya, a meek woman who ranks lower than him so he thinks he can get away with it (which he DOES), and Curly's shown as comfortable in knowing that. He doesn't chew Jimmy out for making Anya uncomfortable nor does he reassure her that he will do something about it. All he does is take it off her hands this once and helps Jimmy power through it to get a good diagnosis (even tho we know he's DEFINITELY not sane either). He doesn't even mention Anya's discomfort or confront him on his inappropriate behaviour, just teases Jimmy in good fun instead because he doesn't think of it as anything serious. It's subtle and pretty minor in comparison to everything else, but I think it's worth pointing out. Especially because this convo takes place after Jimmy had assaulted her, which makes this so much worse.

If you need any more evidence of Curly being an enabler you need not look further than Anya herself. And I'm not just talking about the way he failed her here-- I'm talking about Anya's own view of Curly and the way said view influences her actions.

Just look at her choice of wording. "What would you have done". This is in response to him saying that she could've come to him if she were feeling stressed, which she-- in his eyes-- didn't. The question itself implies that she had no faith in Curly to actually help despite his insistence that he would've, which I think is significant because it shows that she's very much aware of Curly's shortcomings when it comes to her situation AND it's one of the first (or the first time) she actually verbalised her lack of trust towards him or anyone directly. Prior to this scene she had told him about her rape and the rapist, presumably because she trusted him to handle it. And he dismissed her because the rapist was his best friend, and that evidently deeply scarred her. Enough so that she secretly took the gun and hid it someplace else and didn't even tell Curly were that was, because she knows that if Curly has access to it there's a so much greater chance Jimmy will have too, insinuated by the line "the least I can do is make sure he never gets it either". Speaking about the gun:

It sucks so bad that this perception of him isn't even inaccurate nor unjustified. That despite everything Jimmy had done to her and everything he could still do to her, he'd very likely still not allow her access to the gun for protection. Because that's exactly what he didn't do anyway. He didn't attempt to keep her safe from Jimmy, instead he just pretended that nothing was wrong and still let Jimmy's belittlement of her pass. He didn't give her the gun after the incident, because she wouldn't have hid the case if he had. Despite his desperate reassurance that he'd do anything, he did nothing but make it worse for her and she KNOWS that. It's so frustrating knowing he entrusted the axe to Swansea when he needed it but not the gun to Anya when she needed it too. Also this:

The fact that his knee-jerk reaction to her admitting that she's pregnant was "Who would you--" is so fucked, especially considering she's already told him what happened. "Who would you" what? Who would you fuck? Who would you have sex with? That choice of wording drives me up a wall-- SHE wouldn't and didn't do anything or anyone. That was JIMMY. The potential sentence implies that she had any choice or agency in her pregnancy. She didn't. And the fact that Curly had to ask "who" insinuates that he's been putting Jimmy's action out of sight and out of mind the whole time, choosing to not think about them or what happened to Anya at all. And considering he still made her do Jimmy's evaluations despite being able to do them himself and literally didn't even think of making sure she gets psych evals done too--especially AFTER getting sexually assaulted--that might actually be the case (I haven't seen anyone make a stink about that piece of info so I'm going to because what kinda colossal fuck up IS that??).

I vaguely had a post like this in mind but seeing so many people be like "well Anya did some wrong stuff too like leaving Curly alone with Jimmy but you don't get mad at HER for that so why is Curly not doing anything about Jimmy being alone with Anya so different??" actually makes me want to blow some people up. Jimmy's an abuser, sure, but Anya has no real reason to believe that he'd actually harm Curly. From her perspective, they were close, close enough that Curly would not only let Jimmy continuously disrespect her but also get away with assaulting her too. That, and she knows that Jimmy was closer to Curly than anyone and more likely to be civil around him than he ever was to her. She has barely any reasons to suspect Jimmy would harm Curly when they're alone. Curly, on the other hand, has every fucking reason on the planet to think Jimmy would harm her when they're alone. He knows he raped her (likely in her room at night too). He knows that he sexually harasses her. He knows that he doesn't respect her at all. And that was BEFORE the crash. Anya tried insisting on giving Curly his medicine, only for Jimmy to keep aggressively insisting that he'll take care of it despite her protests. Curly didn't try to keep them separate at all even though he was the Captain and had the power to do so. And this should go without saying, but leaving your rapist alone with his best friend that he was close to and enabled/protected him and leaving your friend alone with the woman he raped (and might have repeatedly assaulted given his free access to her) is NOT THE SAME and I'm going to start chucking some people down a waterfall because what the fuck is that argument 💀 Actually leave it to the fandom of the game where the rape of a woman is the catalyst for the events that unfold to use her trauma to defend the guy that enabled it in the first place. Bloody hell.

The reason why this whole Curly discourse pisses me off is because it-- from what I can see-- ONLY brings up his failures 1-0 days before the crash and the Dead Pixel scene (or all the discussion around other points are drowned out by those two). Those scenes, while important to talk about, are not the only things he's done, and focussing on those as the only things is a mistake that comes short of understanding the issue. When it comes to Curly the main defences I see for him are "he was trying not to escalate the situation" and "he was trying to keep things under control the best he can" and "he was waiting for the right time to help Anya", but those don't work when you look at the bigger picture of everything he's done.

He half-assed through his psych eval despite clearly not being sane (and KNOWING he's barely sane, he literally admits it to Jimmy's face). He still continued to task her with Jimmy's psych evals. He brushed over Jimmy's sexual harassment of her as a joke. He didn't think about making sure she got psych evals done herself after being raped. He gave Swansea the axe but didn't give Anya the gun despite it being for "unrest amongst the crew" (whatever the hell THAT means). He let her assault slip his mind that she had to remind him. He's literally a blond man. He took no action to hold Jimmy responsible for anything, and prioritised how his violation of Anya would affect him rather than her. He ignored her demands for him to get rid of Jimmy. He still allowed Jimmy free reign of the ship as co-pilot even after he was openly fantasising about killing everyone and had a major motive and the means to do just that. He was potentially thinking of making her miscarry to cover up what happened. He was so accustomed to her sucking up being disrespected and disturbed that he didn't even notice a difference in her behaviour until she hid the fucking gun. There's so much other shit he's done and hasn't done, and not talking about them or glossing over them makes it so easy for people to argue that he isn't actually an enabler or just minimise the severity of his neglect.

And while I'm already dragging Curly through the mud, I might as well just drag Swansea too. I've seen too many people being like "Anya should've told Swansea instead" and "Swansea was the one that actually took responsibility". Like, y'all realise he's not that much better than Curly, right? He already knew about what happened to Anya-- he admits it to Jimmy's face-- but he didn't do shit. He knew, but he still got completely shitfaced for months despite her earlier protestation to that (for very understandable reasons). He knew, but he still let Jimmy have the axe AND be alone with Anya while having it. He knew, but when Anya locked herself in the Medical and Daisuke and Jimmy asked for his help he didn't budge nor really showed any care. He knew, but the reason he finally decided to do something about Jimmy wasn't Anya, it was Daisuke. Her suffering and her eventual death weren't enough for him to take action either.

This game, on top of everything else, is a great depiction of rape culture. It doesn't just include the rapists, but the people (mostly men) that stay silent, do nothing, make excuses for and protect the perpetrator for whatever reason, and Swansea and Curly (Curly way more so than Swansea) are both active contributors to the environment that allowed for evil to flourish and continue unhindered until it destroyed them all. And while that arguably doesn't make them evil themselves or as bad as Jimmy, they are so much more a part of the bigger problem than the fandom likes to admit.

[Ok since this is kinda gaining a bit of traction please consider helping these guys out here, here and here. Thanks!]

[feroluce]

Made a FANTASTIC discovery today regarding the meaning behind Boothill's fourth eidolon, I'm so happy!!! Most of it is just cowboy references, like

Eidolon 1: Dusty Trail's Lone Star- cowboy lingo, the Lone Star of Texas

Eidolon 2: Milestonemonger- more cowboy lingo, someone who roams and wanders

Eidolon 3: Marble Orchard's Guard- yet more cowboy lingo, a term for a graveyard (a fave of mine, because for me it evokes the image of a Church Grim <333)

Eidolon 4: Cold Cuts Chef- ????

Google didn't really provide much on Eidolon 4 like for the first three. Before today I had assumed it was just another movie reference of some sort, since Boothill is like entirely based on/inspired by old Western films.

"Cold cuts" are basically lunch meat/deli meat. It's precooked meat that doesn't need any kind of preparation- you can literally just eat it cold. Since it didn't seem to be a movie reference, I thought oh, maybe it's a nod to his lifestyle? Boothill is unhoused and lives on the run from the IPC with little rest, he doesn't really have the means to cook. Precooked, easy food like that would be a godsend for someone in his circumstances.

Anyway the original Chinese text gives it an entirely different, MUCH wilder meaning fjadskljfkld

love how they chose "celebrity chef" to show his expertise and/or fame in this fjkdlsja

Because no, "cold cuts" isn't cowboy lingo for anything, but cold meat specifically is.

It's how you refer to a corpse.

"Cold Cuts Chef" is not a title talking about his cooking ability, or his life's circumstances, or anything as mundane as that, IT'S ABOUT THE FACT THAT BOOTHILL SPECIALIZES IN DEALING DEATH, THIS MAN IS EXTREMELY SKILLED, AND GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES, AND WHAT HE DOES IS MURDER!!!!!

[disappearenceofsomeone]

back at it again with the boy of all time !!!!!! can someone get him out of my brain he's stuck in the crevices....

[smalltimidbean]

Some little Pep for the soul~

Also, Peppino is here, with his emotional support ferret-cat-stress toy clone

[95enthusiast]

“Alright, let’s do this one last time…”

“My name is Lightning McQueen, I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the past couple weeks, I’ve been the one and only Spider-Man”

“I’m pretty sure you know the rest.”

…Anyway everyone say thank you to the AU that singlehandedly brought me out of art block 🕺

[mariluvvs]

"we need more baddie female characters who also has a love interest and ends up with them-" be fr you guys couldn't even handle mai

[starflungwaddledee]

I'm just sayin', Starstruck and Kirby would be adorable. But also Starstruck and Meta-Knight might be the funniest thing you could possibly do. :)

hear me out: peter pan (2003) window scene

been staunchly avoiding typing too much on most of these but i have some thoughts about this one!

you know... i had actually never even considered kirby for the shipaganza. mostly because i think of him as holding such a strong and unique position in the hearts of everyone who knows him, in a way that is devout but also seems fairly romance-free. and i'm actually very interested in the complex relationships that he has with his friends! but i wonder if not considering him was maybe a disservice, because if anyone has an abundance of the capacity for love, it's him, right?

i think that kirby could eventually occupy a similar heart-space for starstruck as bandee, though it would take longer. i strongly suspect that bandee's love of kirby would rub off on her, if nothing else.

i'm not sure either of them... really understand the premise of romance or dating, so it might not be a typical sort of thing. but i think they could giggle and laugh together and shoot each other slightly smitten looks when the other one isn't paying attention, and be very invested in each others happiness.

he adds a pass by her window to his early morning flight, on the off chance she might be up to join him. she's always thinking of him when he's off saving the world, and distinguishes his star from all the others in the sky with ease. the irresistible allure of adventure vs someone who has never seen any of the wonders of your planet before. someone who finds as much unrestrained joy and delight in the mundane as you do. eating paper cups you find on the ground.

you know i could see it.

[answermywearyquery]

...is this anything?

[dykealloy]

supernova idiots supercut