#here we see simon learning ~nuance

[mymitochondriaforpresident]

There is something so beautiful in Simon’s ability to forgive, as well as the strength within him which is nothing short of admirable.

I love him.

YOUNG ROYALS | Season 2, Episode 6

[orange-peony]

Long time no see! A big thank you to all the people who have tagged me in the past two weeks. I've been working on a fic for an anon fest, but I am almost done (I think).

Here's a bit of my snowbaz accidental baby acquisition fic that now has a title, Space Oddity:

“Penny’s coming back late,” he murmurs into the crook of my neck, his mouth so hot against my skin.

“Yeah?” I ask, trying to sound unphased by the fact that I think he’s suggesting we have sex at his place, which has never happened before.

He kisses a sensitive spot under my ear that makes me gasp and tighten my grip in his hair. He groans at the feeling, so I tug a little harder. I can smell the arousal on him, can almost taste it on my tongue—that intoxicating, buttery scent that never fails to go to my head with its delicious aftertaste. I’ve spent half of my life learning the subtle nuances of Simon’s scent. The fear and sorrow and happiness. The way it sweetens when he’s relaxed and leans into me before he drifts off to sleep. The sharp tanginess when he’s angry. But this. This is only for me.

“We could—before we leave…” he mumbles against my skin, and I inhale deeply, filling my nostrils with him.

“Yes…”

Tags under the cut:

@pato-roldnart, @bubble-gumhead, @artsyunderstudy, @thewholelemon, @cutestkilla, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe , @facewithoutheart , @letraspal , @monbons , @emeryhall , @imagineacoolusername , @hushed-chorus , @alexalexinii , @fatalfangirl , @skeedelvee , @blackberrysummerblog , @j-nipper-95 , @larkral , @leithillustration , @rimeswithpurple , @mooncello , @wellbelesbian , @shrekgogurt and if I forgot anyone, please feel free to say that I tagged you.

[iblameashley]

I'm punny and you know it.

Civilian | Male | Gay

1,608 words Content: Minor warning for mention of panic attack. follow up to Friental - My Personal Friend Rental.

Simon ’Ghost’ Riley | Male/GN Reader

!!!SFW!!!

You've had a few meeting with this Si guy now, but he's inviting you over to his flat? Well, its not against the rules, but you're surprised to say the least.

(Thanks to @loneghostwolf for permission to use this image)

You learned from the last time, and as Si opened the door to his flat, you clasped your hands behind your back. 'No touching' you reminded yourself. 'And be respectful.' this was you first time at his Flat. A shock that after only four in-person meetings, he'd agree to.

Si opened the door, masked, as per the agreement and looked you over. Always with the suspicion. You kind of liked it, mostly because you could only be less of a threat. His hair was still unruly, and you suspected he normally wore a hat of some kind. His eyes were a little more sunken than usual. They were puffy and dry.

He stepped out of the way, and ushered you inside.

“I like the mask.” You said as you entered his flat. It was new, well, for you. A jawbone pattern splashed across his face.

He grunted and closed the door.

You glanced around, taking in the simplicity of the space. "Nice place you've got here. It's cozy." Simon looked around. "It's functional."

'Oh thank fuck.' you thought. 'won't have to elaborate on that, at least.' This place was sparse to say the least. It looked like he was either moving in, or out.

His living space was minimalistic, with a few practical items scattered around—a small coffee table, a bookshelf filled with manuals and classics, and a modest-sized TV. The walls were adorned with a few framed photographs nondescript people you were sure he wasn't going to tell you about. There was also a world map marked with red pins, you figured they indicated places he had travelled. The atmosphere was quiet and chilled, reflecting Simon's personality as you knew it.

You settled on the pristine couch, maintaining a respectable distance between you two, as per Si's rule. You propped yourself against the armrest so you could look at him. He was reclining with his hands once again in his hoodie pockets. His gaze was firmly affixed to the TV that was on a news channel, muted.

“So remember last time we met I was telling you about my sister?” You began. He nodded and you continued. “Well, she's planning to come visit soon. She's bringing my niece with her as well. Nether of them have been on this side of the pond.” You were getting excited.

He looked at you with a tilted head. He was interested. Rule four. You were starting to understand him and his nuances.

“She's gonna be here for a month, so I may need to postpone some of our meetings. Thats something I though we could discuss later?”

“Mmm.” He grunted. A simple acknowledgement. A fact.

“Excellent. I rarely get to see them, and my niece is turning ten soon, so I want to celebrate her birthday while shes in England.”

You went off on a tangent of family drama and stories of your rivalry you had with your sister as a child. How you used to absolutely torment each other with pranks, jokes and sometimes fights. But there was always a hint of love in your words. Fondness.

Simon sat there and listened with his utmost attention. He liked having you talk. He liked that he could deep dive into your voice and forget the ones in his head that clawed at his ears and neck. Voices of the dead, or the ones he wished were dead. Or just the demons that haunted him when he was allowed to be along with himself for too long. But mostly, he was grateful to not have to talk about work, or hear people talk about his work.

He appreciated the one-four-one team, even Soap. But all he had in common with them was the military, death and endless missions. The aches and pains of his failing body as his career took its tole on him. He assumed the nightmares came for them as well. He didn't want that. He wanted to try feeling normal. This was normal.

Your eyes turned to the map on the wall. You looked at North America and saw several red pins. To your surprise, one appeared to be pinned to a port-city you grew up near. You knew there was a military base there, and with the books and sparse nature of his apartment, it started to click.

“You travel a lot, it seems.” You finally say. “Or did the pins come with the map?” You joked.

He turned away from you. Rule four again. You knew there was at least a hint of a smile pulling at the sides of his mouth. He'd never show you, but it made you happy to know he had a sense of humour.

“They came as a set.” He finally said. He flashed you a glace.

You smiled and quietly laughed. You knew he was pulling your leg, but it was nice. He rarely spoke, so you had to enjoy those times he did. But he was also a roller coaster of moods, sometimes you thought you had him opening up, the next minutes he'd shut down. Your last appointment with him, he booked you for two hours and you both sat in silence for the last forty-five minutes after you had made a comment that didn't quite land with him.

You sighed a breath of relief when he booked another appointment with you a couple of days later. Which lead you to tonight.

You didn't know what cause the sudden change in his mood, but his eyes had been locked on the TV. By the time you had looked over, the report must have ended.

Simon's heart rate quickened, and a wave of unease washed over him. Memories flooded his mind, threatening to break through his carefully constructed walls. The weight of of his emotions pressed against his chest, constricting his breath. Even through the mask, you could tell something had happened. Simon's stoic expression tightened, his body rigid with tension. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to get you out of his flat, but he resisted. He was fighting to maintain his composure because he knew if he scared you, he'd lose his only distraction from work.

The chaos of his mind started to swirl around like a tornado, and his eyes fell to you. There were beads of sweat forming on his brow, and you knew you had to at least bend some of the rules.

“Si. You doing OK?” You asked with a hushed tone. You felt like you were attending to a wounded animal. “Need something?”

Simon shook his head. It was slow and methodical, and you weren't buying it.

You stood up and walked over to his kitchen and filled a glass full of water. You weren't exactly a doctor, so you didn't know what to you. But you did know what not to do. Gripping the cup tightly you marched back to Simon and held the glass in front of him, keeping as much distance as you could.

“Take it.” You said, shoving it forward.

He stared at you for a moment before he took it with a shaky hand. He looked at the glass of water, and then at you. How was he supposed to drink this? That was the thought you knew was rolling around in his head.

Wanting to respect the rules of your agreement. You moved to sit yourself down on the floor beside his coffee table; your back to his, and your eyes firmly fixed to the floor.

“You should drink that.” You said. “And take several deep breaths.”

You felt the tick-tick-ticking of time passing, and it seemed to last forever, until suddenly you heard the sound of Simon gulping down the water. He made a huff as he finished the water off and put the glass down on the coffee table with a 'clink'.

“Better?” You inquired.

You heard him shuffle on the couch and let out an indifferent grunt.

“Hey, Si?” You started, not moving from your place on the floor. You didn't wait for him to reply. “Why don't skeletons fight each other?”

There was another tick of time.

“Because they don't have guys.” You finished.

There was a low guttural chuckle that escaped his mouth. You felt his boot on your back, and he gave you a gentle push forward.

“Fucking terrible.” He said, the faint hint of his laugh still on his lips.

A wall had come down. You didn't know for how long, but it was important. He seemed to like the joke, so you cracked another.

“Why do scuba divers fall backwards off the boat?” You wait a beat. “Because if they fell forward they'd still be on the boat.”

“Heh.” He grunted.

“All good now? Can I turn back around?” You asked.

He gave you another push with his boot. You took that to mean 'yes' and took your place back on the far end of the couch.

Simon sat on the couch, tension still consuming his body, but he seemed calmer overall. He was clammy from the sweat that covered his forehead and he was breathing deeply. But he was calm. His eyes were impassive as they looked at you. He had asked you to keep talking, and you were happy to.

As you walked home from your meeting, your phone dinged with a notification. You had stayed longer than the allotted time and Simon was sending and updated payment for the extra hour you spent with him. You denied it, and shoved the phone back in your pocket.

[rememberwren]

Okay, broke out the laptop to scream in your ear about some things I thought were really special about Skin Deep.

First of all, Simon's characterization. GODDAMN. Like you really know how to write him, how he goes more quiet and brisk the more nervous he is. So, so sexy, the way that Reader doesn't pick up on his vague cues that he likes her, but we alllll know what's happening. Nervous Ghost and don't-care Ghost are so similar, but you managed to convey the tiny details that made it thrilling to read.

The way you wrote him raising and lowering his mask was hot af. I could picture it every time, his little hidey place to help him feel less exposed to the hot girl looking at him with those eyes.

The descriptions of him being efficient and good at what he does -- SWOON. Big man with confident fingers make brain go BRRRRR

The subtle green flags throughout were just lovely. Watching her safely to her car. The way he abandons his usual silence to give her a bunch of info when she's nervous over text. The breaks, the modesty towels. Funny how it's so much more tempting to uncover yourself for someone who helps you stay covered. You just get it, Wren. You just get the nuance of attraction, and it shows.

When he insisted on that break, I KNEW. I LOVE guys jerking off in fics, you know why? Cause that shows they're not coercive. They fully understand that their sexual desire is their own job to manage, and it's just a thing they take care of because we're all adults here. HOT HOT HOT.

The attention to hygiene/contraception was super hot going hand-in-hand with grungy, cigarette loving Simon.

LOVED the part where Reader was trying to entice him to touch, and he wasn't understanding what she meant. That was so cute and funny.

Nipple play, ofc. Surprisingly rare in fics without lactation kink. Extra special to me.

He takes one of your thighs and wedges it between his own, until you’re no longer grinding against his cock but instead his denim-clad thigh. “You the kind of girl who can cum like this? Just from this?” 

This made me stop and paste it in a note for my review, because WOW. I've never read anything like that before. *I'm* not someone who can enjoy that particular position, so every time it comes up in a fic it takes me out of immersion and my thumb is braced to scroll to something farther down that I can relate to. But for some reason, him just being aware of different styles of anatomy and knowing to ask that, allowed me to stay in it.

Three fingers!!! Again, so RARE but (imo) so considerate when writing massive dudes. *I* don't write three fingers very often, because I feel like there's this stigma about it, that no one else shares my feelings that it's actually a helpful option ahead of sex with like a 6'4" dude. So seeing you write it was like... wow. I'm being a lil bitch about this, I should just write what I fucking want, look at Wren, she's doing it.

“Alright,” he laughs, pulling his fingers free and wiping the wetness on his cock. “No need to beg.” 

No need to beg?!? TEARS OF JOY -- this is just so much hotter than the ick I get when they do make Reader (me) beg. Just the zero-pressure interactions here were gorgeous.

The realism of him pushing past the limitations Reader thought she had of her own body was extra special.

The position keeps the penetration blissfully shallow (otherwise he might give your cervix a painful beating)

*pounding my fists on the table* YES YES YES when you're with big dudes, you learn real quick which positions are the best (shallow!!)

His zero-pressure approach to her pleasure, specifically when she says she can't finish a second time and he's just like, “If you can’t, then don’t,” GGHGHDSIODFDOS HOTTTTTT "if it happens it happens, but I'm just going to keep touching you like this for as long as I feel like, okay?" PINNACLE SMUT for me. Elite of the elite.

“Not sure I want you to cum now,” he says. “Hold it. I’m thinking it over.” 

I had to go back and read this like four times because I didn't grasp at first that he was joking. I was just like, "Oh, okay, already doing orgasm control, hmm okay." And then was so confused right after hahahahaha

Aww the asking her out right after fucking is so good and sweet, and a wonderful way to cement his character in everyone's minds.

Just WOW. I'll be coming back for rereads of this.

This ask was such a treasure, YOU are such a treasure. You need to be put inside a safe, a lockbox, behind a tripwire or SOMETHING. I could not find you more endearing right now. Thank you for seeing nuance in this when I felt like there wasn't any. You're an incredible writer and it shows even in the way you read.

[trojanteapot]

Alrighty folks buckle up because I'm gonna rant

Just feel like some of you out here just don't really understand nuance? And it's like what was I expecting because it's social media nuance is dead.

Anyway so all three of you out there who follow me that aren't bots, or people that I know IRL, know that my favourite character in Infinity Train is Simon Laurent, the French incel bastard man. And yeah I know he's terrible but also I must ask the eternal question: Is he actually though??????

Hear me out. Because look I know dude is a murderer and a hypocrite and a whiny little bitch but also consider the facts:

he's a teenager

he got trapped on some nightmare train when he was only ten. TEN!

his denizen was THE CAT, who from his POV manipulated him and then abandoned him!

Now I know what some of you already saying at this point:

-"uh that doesn't justify all the murdering!!!" -"he's an egotistical jackass!" -"he's not a child he's 18! he would go to adult jail in real life!" -"he died in the narrative thus justifying my hatred!" Okay well consider this: it's pretty much canonical that Grace did exactly the same amount of murdering as Simon but y'all are so ready to embrace and forgive her because she had a change of heart?

And which one of you when you were 18 made completely rational not emotion-driven decisions based on pure facts and logic??? Which one of you are capable of doing this now????

And he didn't have a normal childhood to develop his brain in a normal way, again he boarded the Train at age ten!!!! And finally which one of you was a teenager who wasn't a little egotistical???

If Simon was egotistical then what does that make Grace, the leader of the Apex who made a throne for herself???? What does that make Amelia who rejected the Train's attempts to help her move on and instead tried to recreate her dead fiance to the point that there are just renegade failed clones of that person just running around????

Also, I feel like it's important to mention that Amelia probably did more crimes than both Grace and Simon combined but she just didn't get her face eaten by Ghoms just because she was an adult at the time and could outsmart the Train. You guys are willing to forgive her and all the stuff she did... as an ADULT, but not Simon, a teenager, because... reasons???!!!

And other stuff I feel like should be mentioned here:

I think it's important to consider why episode 4 of season 3, came right before episode 5, you know the one where he kills Tuba. Episode 4 was when we learn a ton of info about Simon. Notably that the Cat was his denizen and we all know how the Cat is!

I'm pretty sure we were supposed to draw several conclusions from that episode namely:

- Cat is a schemey little shit - he was a kid when he knew the Cat - he seems to claim she was fake and manipulating him - that seems believable from what we know of the cat - ep 5 hits, Tuba and Simon have heart to heart - Simon then kills Tuba

So why did Simon kill Tuba? IT'S BECAUSE SIMON THINKS TUBA IS MANIPULATING HIM LIKE THE CAT WAS

And my friend brought up a good point where if you think about it, the Train was using Tuba to manipulate him, and using Hazel to manipulate Grace.

The Train we've seen just runs on pure algorithms and doesn't give a shit about the passengers. The Train just sees them as a number that increases or decreases. It just calculated that if Hazel & Tuba met Grace & Simon then it would have the maximum likelihood that those denizen + passenger combos could get their numbers down the most efficiently. It of course did not account for the fact that the Cat went on vacation and then ran into Simon, thus reminding him to not trust denizens.

Simon had as much of a likelihood to do a change of heart like Grace did! But hey, spanner in the works and all that.

Some of you just like hating on him because he's a white guy and coded cishet and it really shows.

I'm sure y'all are gonna say I'm defending the patriarchy or whatever for defending cishet white guy colonizer man Simon Laurent as a queer femme POC but also fuck off with that bullshit and just look at the actual text of the narrative presented to us instead of reading bad takes on Twitter.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2023 - Movies

Seems like I did run into more than one almost perfect movie this year, but the number one, definitely one of the most brilliant film I ever watched. And no, it's not the new Basic Instinct but I can see a little bit of resemblance.

01. Anatomy of a Fall - Dir: Justine Triet - 2023 - "Marriage, the film suggests, is like a mosaic. One or two highly coloured tiles might catch the eye but they can’t, on their own, show the whole picture. The reports we get of Sandra and Samuel’s life together (there is only one flashback in the film; most of what we learn comes from the evidence presented in the court) suggest a relationship that gets chillier and spikier by the minute. But then the prosecution’s case relies on cherrypicking the trauma and the deep-seated unhappiness in the marriage, and foregrounding the character traits in Sandra that might make her capable of murder. A choice of other, sunnier moments, as Sandra reasonably points out, would paint an entirely different picture of her relationship with her husband." - The Guardian

02. Saltburn - Dir: Emerald Fennell - 2023

03. Aftersun - Dir: Charlotte Wells - 2022

04. Past Lives - Dir: Celine Song - 2023 = "Towards the end of Celine Song’s Past Lives, two old friends wait for a cab in front of a bright blue garage door. In the two minutes it takes for a car to arrive, both everything, and nothing happens. Writer and director Song is perhaps more attuned to rhythm of dialogue than most: like Nora Moon (Greta Lee), the protagonist of this feature debut, she made her name as a playwright. But Song is also sharply aware of the power of the unsaid, of what can be articulated through pauses and gestures. As the film swells to its emotional climax, not a word is spoken." - British Film Institute

05. Tár - Dir: Todd Field - 2022

06. Leave the World Behind - Dir: Sam Esmail - 2023

07. Bros - Dir: Nicholas Stoller - 2022

08. Rurangi - Dir: Max Currie - 2020 - "Director Max Currie lets the bleak landscape and the conflicted characters tell the story, and the plot resolution, when it comes, is incomplete but full of hope. There are some terrific lines of dialogue: Jem tells Caz: “you’re like the same, but you’re not”, and he adds: “ gender-it’s complicated; you were never exactly girly”. In a sickbed reconciliation, father Gerald tells Caz:” It’s not my world… I want you here”. Anahera has the final word on this: “ most people are just idiots about other people’s sexuality. You just do you”." - Scene Magazine

09. Spoiler Alert - Dir: Michael Showalter - 2022

10. Saint Maud - Dir: Rose Glass - 2019

11. The Innocents - Dir: Eskil Vogt - 2021

12. Lamb - Dir: Valdimar Jóhannsson - 2021

13. The Whale - Dir: Darren Aronofsky - 2022

14. Athena - Dir: Romain Gavras - 2022

15. Possessor - Dir: Brandon Cronenberg - 2020 - "It’s all very compelling, well-acted and presented, although there’s a chilliness and a clinical edge that is very Cronenberg-ian, but might keep audiences at arm’s length. Ditto the violence. Stabbings, shootings, pokerings (use your imagination) — it’s all here, bar exploding heads. A strong stomach is required. If you don’t have one, just use someone else’s." - Empire

16. What's Love Got To Do With It - Dir: Shekhar Kapur - 2022

17. Nuovo Olimpo - Dir: Ferzan Özpetek - 2023

18. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret - Dir: Kelly Fremon Craig - 2023

19. Joy Ride - Dir: Adele Lim - 2023

20. Earthquake Bird - Dir: Wash Westmoreland - 2019

21. Cruella - Dir: Craig Gillespie - 2021

22. The Daughter - Dir: Simon Stone - 2015

23. Nope - Dir: Jordan Peele - 2022

24. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Dir: Paul McGuigan - 2017

25. Don't Worry Darling - Dir: Olivia Wilde - 2022

26. A Hero - Dir: Asghar Farhadi - 2021

27. You Hurt My Feelings - Dir: Nicole Holofcener - 2023

28. Anaïs in Love - Dir: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet - 2021 - "The pleasures of Anaïs in Love largely derive from the nuanced performances by Demoustier and Bruni Tedeschi. The latter, for once, is not required to be tearful or neurotic, and the growing attraction between her and Anaïs is convincingly handled – even if one could quibble at a couple of cliché moments, such as the two women’s encounter under an apple tree (in which Anaïs gives Émilie an apple) and the nowadays seemingly obligatory sea-shore setting for the lesbian love scene. The excellent Demoustier sustains the entire film, indeed named after her. Her choice was not accidental: Bourgeois-Tacquet had already cast her as the lead in her 2018 short Pauline asservie. (Both the short and Anaïs in Love were shown at Cannes in 2021 – quite an accolade.) Ebullient and ‘cute’ especially when seducing Daniel or Émilie, Demoustier is equally believable as an aggrieved daughter when she finds out that her mother’s lethal illness has returned. Her irrepressible energy and artless beauty underline her precise rendition of a modern young woman bent on following her own desire, straight or queer – at times to the point of insensitivity. Indeed, it’s hard to think of another actress who could have made Anais’s exasperating unreliability, egocentricity and excessive volubility forgivable, let alone endearing, as they are evidently supposed to be. Fans of Eric Rohmer may be reminded of some of the young heroines in his ‘Comedies and Proverbs’ (1980–1990) and ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’ (1990 – 1998) series, a filmic heritage also suggested by the literary references and cultured dialogue. This is marivaudage with an intellectual bent – Anaïs and Émilie share a love of Duras’s 1964 novel The Ravishing of Lol Stein – and a feminist twist: “I don’t want to meet interesting people,” Anaïs says, “I want to be interesting.” Thanks in large part to Demoustier, she is." - British Film Institute

29. Flora + Son - Dir: John Carney - 2023

30. Explanation of Everything - Dir: Gábor Reisz - 2023

[cinamun]

Hey Cin, So... I kept debating as an introvert whether or not to come onto the Big T. But I am a long time enthusiast of your work (since your S2 contest and S2 story days.) and wanted to join Triple R. (The Raven Simone pic is a good look for the club Avatar LOL.) I, as many of the rest of us were not expecting you to do a Stephen King and "Kill your little Darlings" well... not specifically El who I felt was a more complex character (literally) at least so far than Jayce (IMHO) because he like several of your characters had potential for redemption even when he took that dark turn. Yes, I know not every character has to be dark and twisty with continued problems. But case in point: I noted how quick the anger blazed up toward Elliot but Darren is lauded for his turn around and growth even after he *also* put hands to Indya in the early days of their relationship... now granted he didn't put her lights out like Hope, but came close. Elliot was that ride or die friend (like Darren.) that Hope didn't even have with her girls (that I could tell.) and even helped to find her when she ran away. But with the good doctors help, breakthroughs regarding Sean, an absent mother and love could have possibly changed El like Darren to a grizzled happy middle aged healed OG with a family. But, it's unfortunately not to be. I do also wonder with the way these events went down if Darren and Indya remember this side of himself? Even though that was past Darren and not Daddy of 3 and Uncle of 1 Darren? Ok, I am going to fade into the bushes like Homer Simpson now.

NO! Bestie! Come BACK! You can't just drop a think piece like this and fade away boo. Nope, we don't do that here. But you know what we DO do?

We get into it...

First of all, those sims 2 model contests where the best thing to ever happen to me in the early 2gs okay? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? That's when I learned how to use hair brushes in photoshop AND "frankensim". But I digress....

Elliot's death was not something I took lightly. I was VERY attached to him. I made him from scratch in CAS as a child *specifically* for Hope. That was her bestie, first crush, first love, first kiss. He was *MADE* for her and I really do mean that literally. It took at least 2 weeks to even come to terms with the idea and up until the last screenshot of that fateful day on the pier was taken, I was still not convinced I would do it. It was a test as a writer: to do something so drastic to an OC that it torments you. It hurt.

The reason everyone jumped on Elliot was because of *how* he chose to do it (I was angry with my DAMN self, but it couldn't happen another way in my head). LIke you said, he "put her lights out". He squeezed her neck so hard, with the most powerful part of his arm, and caused so much internal damage, it kept her in the hospital for two weeks (there is symbolism to this that I won't disclose just yet).

He absolutely had the potential to grow and be redeemed just like Darren did and Darren had far more demons than simply a lost love (he had that too, though, with Sherrita). Darren lost whole family members. Elliot was without a mother. Darren was without a mother. This is where, I believe, the parallels end.

I truly believe that Darren and Indya remember the days when abuse was a regular occurence. Indya had the same bruises from being lifted up by the neck by Darren that Hope now has after being.... (wait for it...)

...lifted up by the neck by Elliot:

Lest we forget....

Key difference here: Darren was abusive. Elliot was not physically abusive (that we know of) until the argument with Hani that led him down a spiral that would ultimately take his life.

I'll end with this (because the Ratchet Readers™ may have some nuances I'm not seeing) While Darren and Indya might remember those days, they choose to live in the present where blessings are abundant, the soil is fertile and the growth is perrenial. I believe that *everyone* has that capacity which is why I always say that this story is ultimately about growth. The plot is growth. The arcs are growth. All of it. So I absolutely believe Elliot could have grown to the OG status that Darren now is. The reality is that, some just don't get there, even with the capacity to grow inherently a part of them.

[snallavanta]

7 - 8 - 9

gosh, why are you giving me all the difficult questions. it's like choosing between my children 😩

7. what's your favourite scene in season 1

i'm debating between lake date scene & football field, and i will say football field just because of how iconic it is.

i actually also really like the first football field scene where wille sneaks out to hang out with simon & ayub and they watch rosh's football game. simon being at a loss of words the entire time was adorable.

8. what's your favourite scene in season 2

here are the contenders for this list:

"don't sit next to him then. just pretend he doesn't exist." proceeds to sit right next to the boy who supposedly doesn't exist

"they don't have names."

"i could be free. i could be free with you."

and don't make me choose for this one. this is too hard.

9. favourite season

will i get cancelled if i say season 2...

i know a lot of people prefer season 1 over season 2 (dare i even say a lot of them hate season 2) but there's just so much growth and progression in season 2 that you can see all the nuances between characters.

yes, august is awful but he's also got a nice side to him and that makes his storyline so much more interesting.

then we have wille who used to take whatever he got from his parents but now he's learning to voice out his needs, negotiates with the queen, gives the boy he loves space because that's what simon needs the most even though it would break his heart. he's learning more about himself, his family, how the world works, how the monarchy works.

simon is taking what he wants more seriously—a career in music and getting justice for what he had to endure from the video.

there were just so many more instances where these characters were three-dimensional, and i loved loved seeing it all unfold.

unpopular opinion but i also think that seeing THAT much of the horse was necessary in showing how much sara cared about rousseau. so that when felice sold him off later, it would leave the viewer with a larger impact since in a sense, we also spent a lot of time with rousseau this season compared to the last.

but yeah overall, season 2 is my favourite (& also made me join this silly fandom 🤪)

[bluedalahorse]

To be truthful instead of venting cryptically, I will own up to what’s getting to me: it’s the way fandom’s arguments about the ending of the series seem to be incredibly heated and going in circles and have been going in those circles forever.

It’s not good faith discussion that’s making me weary. It’s the posts that treat the ending of the series (team monarchy/prince consort Simon/August goes to literal hell vs team renunciation/romcom commoner Wilmon/the crown is August’s hell so he lost) like some kind of championship sporting event. The posts that gloat because they got what they wanted. The posts that rage because they didn’t get what they wanted. The unrelated sniping that shows up on polls and posts about not directly related topics. The overall framing of the argument as having two very binary sides.

It’s okay to have strong feelings! I have strong feelings myself, even if those feelings are mixed.

To be transparent about what those mixed feelings are: I wanted Wille to break away from the monarchy so I’m glad he did. At the same time I didn’t like the pacing of his character arc or the way Simon’s interiority got obscured at times to keep the audience in suspense. I liked August’s ending but I didn’t see it as a divine and righteous punishment, I saw it as more of a neutral crossroads, with some hope that he might break away from old institutions himself someday. I think the show should have worked to resolve the Simon-August conflict instead of letting it get absorbed into the Wilhelm-August conflict. Sara and Felice’s arcs were damn near perfect for me, although I wistfully wish more of the stuff we learned about Felice was incorporated earlier.

What I liked least about the ending was feeling like there were a few dropped threads. The writing on my favorite show wasn’t perfect, but no favorite show of mine has ever had perfect writing. What I liked most was the space to envision hopeful futures for all the teenage characters. I actually have far more ideas for fanfics now than I did in the past (even if those fic ideas are almost entirely non-Wilmon characters, and the data shows that interest in non-Wilmon characters has always been low and continues to wane as the fandom gets smaller.)

Anyway! I say all that not to be like here are my beliefs, they are correct, but rather to say like, I have friends who would have their own mixed feelings about the ending. Sometimes I agree with them and sometimes I disagree. And if a good fandom friend pitches a fic or analysis that includes an element of something I disagree with, I don’t tell them “your idea sucks” I tell them “tell me more!” because they are my friend and new ways to tell stories are interesting to me and maybe I’ll learn something.

And I know I have been guilty of being combative at times myself. I think we’ve all had our moments. I wanna apologize if that ever got to be too much.

But also like… as someone who is not on a “side” when it comes to the combat around the season 3 ending (because I don’t clearly line up with a side, not because I’m necessarily wishy-washy about my opinions on the show, and also I’m pretty sure MOST OF US have nuanced opinions deep down) and instead just wants a space to be creative and enjoy the characters… watching the combat isn’t emotionally distressing so much as it is boring and exhausting. I wish we could do literally anything else.

Maybe we could declare every Friday as Felice Friday and those who want to celebrate her can? Maybe we could post a thread of Malte’s curls being incredible because August is a jerk but those curls are, tbh, fine? People who don’t wanna see a Malte’s curls can block the tag we establish. There’s already a thriving Wilmon culture, but maybe we could create space to discuss alternate pairings for Simon and Wilhelm for the people who aren’t as plugged into Wilmon Endgame as the rest of fandom. Like, idk, why not Simon/Ayub or a truly complicated Wilhelm/Alexander situation? Maybe we could make up silly stories about the various Hillerska students keeping secret pets in their room and how that goes for each of them? What if we came up with a cupcake recipe or a knitting pattern to communicate each character? Or maybe I just need to get better at blocking the more heated arguments about the ending so I’m not as bored by them.

Sorry I know that was a lot I just. Had some feelings.

I solved the mystery of where Rousseau went in season 3.

He’s at Årnäs standing on a platform of sorts. A flat, circular platform. You might even say it looks like a disk.

He’s a disk horse now.

[aroace-cat-lady]

Reasons why i love CoFA

Even tho its purpose is only connect CoG with CoLS, the writting, the character construction and the world building is astonishing

It introduce characters like Maureen, Camille and Jordan.

Here is when we start to see progress on the shadowhunter society

Cassie gives her characters background to have character development later in the series. Ej: Clary and Jace relationship is unstable, Simon starts to accepting he is a vampire and to demands respect, Izzy confess why she's so reclutant at love, Alec is afraid of his mortality, etc.

Simon and Jace pass time together, and learn to respect each other. (We can see this at the end of the book, when Jace trust Simon's plan to destroy Lilith in the Mark of Cain and later to take care of Clary)

You can freaking see the nuances in Jace character, and feel the places were Jace ends and Janus starts.

Simon's thoughts about vampirism opens the door to Thule!Simon

The TID references

Like, i know this is one the less favorite of the fandom, but i truly loved it from an artistic pov. Cassie's work on this one was magnific. It had ONE purpose and it fulfilled it with flying colors. Its amazing.

[themadamespod]

The Great White Gripe

A lot has been said about the “social commentary” within The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

“Since when is Marvel a bunch of SJWs? I don’t need this shit.”

“All this race stuff feels SUPER forced.”

“Oh here we go Marvel tryin to be all woke to get the libs on board.”

If you personally know anyone who spews this brand of ignorance, we’re sorry. 

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: there is no social commentary on TFATWS. Showrunner Malcolm Spellman and director Kari Skogland simply show the reality of life in America. It’s not their fault that so many (white) people (men) don’t like looking in the mirror.

And some people claim they have no problem with film and television addressing politics and social change.

“Just keep it out of my comic book movies. It doesn’t belong there.”

They could not be anymore wrong, even if Chandler Bing himself was lecturing them. 

If you asked 100 people to name the top ten movies of all time, you’d get 100 different lists. But one thing we can all agree on is that film has power. It has the power to move us, to divide us, to unite us. Entertainment can lead to the kind of discourse that prompts action and positive change.

And that’s why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the conversations it’s sparking are so important.

One World, One Reality

“Marvel has always been and always will be a reflection of the world right outside our window.” - Stan Lee

There are two takeaways from that statement:

One: Stan Lee didn’t say that in the 1960s, 1970s, or even the 1980s. He said it in 2017.

Two: Our window, not your window, is a subtle but important distinction, particularly as it relates to TFATWS. The Flag Smashers, led by Karli Morgenthau, live by a simple creed: “One world, One people.” The core message of the show is that white Americans and Black Americans experience the world very differently, but there’s still only one world, one reality. 

It’s just a matter of people opening their eyes and seeing it.

TFATWS is an extension of Marvel’s early support of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, Stan Lee created the X-Men as an allegory for the ongoing struggles of the African-American community. Though he didn’t explicitly base Professor X and Magneto on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, there are ideological similarities.

Five years later, following the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, Stan wrote the following:

“Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. It’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race—to despise an entire nation—to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if a man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance.”

In 2021, Stan’s words still resonate. Racism in the United States is as virulent and damaging as it’s ever been. Black Americans are facing deadly policing, Jim Crow 2.0 voting laws, mass incarceration, and countless other roadblocks to mobility that most white people have never encountered.

Through the journeys of Sam and Sarah Wilson, Lemar Hoskins, and the heartbreaking Isaiah Bradley, TFATWS shows the unvarnished truth of what Ira Glass might call Black American Life. And through John Walker, the writers nail home the message that’s really making certain people squirm:

White men are the greatest threat not just to Black Americans, but all Americans, because TFATWS is as much an indictment of toxic masculinity as it is of bigotry. 

As aggressive racism has spread like wildfire since 2016, so has hostile sexism towards women of all colors. John Walker is the embodiment of the hyper aggression that the Proud Boys applaud. The clearest example of this comes when Walker dares to clap the shoulder of Ayo, one of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje.

Her swift and, ahem, pointed response had women the world over screaming like they’d just won the lottery. 

One could also argue that Walker’s dogged pursuit of Karli and displaced peoples supporting the Flag Smasher cause mirrors the Trump administration’s war on immigrants. 

There are plenty of parallels to draw. The point is, none of them are forced or manufactured or exaggerated. And whether we’re talking about a fictional road in Latvia or a real street in Minnesota, white Americans need to stop avoiding conversations that make them uncomfortable.

The Politics of Comics 

In 1938, Americans were still reeling from the Great Depression. Enter Superman, the everyman hero, who made his comic debut while the nation was facing widespread unemployment, rampant poverty, and blatant corruption at every level of government.

Superman could have faced off against any number of supernatural villains. But Siegel and Shuster went a different route, setting a precedent for comic books that has prevailed to this day:

They got political. 

Throughout Superman’s earliest adventures, he fought against evil politicians, apathetic bureaucrats, aggressive police officers, greedy businessmen, and even a Washington lobbyist. 

Then in 1941, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby introduced Captain America just in time to fight the nazis and free the world from fascism. A couple decades later, Kirby and Stan Lee would tell the tale of the aforementioned Erik Lehnsherr, who survived the horrors of Auschwitz. These comics endured because their passion and nuance transcended entertainment. So what was the secret sauce?

Like Siegel and Shuster, Simon, Kirby, and Stan Lee were Jewish. Representation matters, folks. 

Later on, the X-Men weren’t the only conduit through which Marvel supported Civil Rights. In 1966, on the heels of the “March Against Fear” from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby unveiled Black Panther. When African-Americans were fighting harder than ever, Black children could suddenly read a comic book about T’Challa, the noble warrior king of a highly advanced African nation. 

Marvel has never been shy about critiquing foreign policy either. Tony Stark and Iron Man debuted in 1968 as the conflict in Vietnam was escalating. And let’s not forget, Tony made his MCU debut in a film that is a clear indictment of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We could do this all day, but you get the idea. 

Comic books have always reflected the politics of our times, and so has the MCU. Fanboys can’t start crying now just because they’re on the wrong side of history. And when they do, we defer to the great Jon Bernthal when asked about alt-righters appropriating the Punisher symbol:

“Fuck them.”

Life Imitates Art

In 1986, American men felt the need for speed. After Top Gun was released, applications to U.S. aviation forces increased by a staggering 500%. 

Two years later, Errol Morris exposed police corruption in his film The Thin Blue Line. The documentary prompted a new investigation that eventually exonerated death row inmate Randall Adams for the murder of a police officer.

That same year, the Polish government ceased all executions after leaders were swayed to do so by A Short Film about Killing.

Following the release of Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine in 1999, Kmart bowed to public pressure and stopped selling handgun ammunition. 

And 5 years ago, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif changed the law on honor killings in response to the critically-acclaimed film A Girl in the River. 

Like we said earlier, film has the power to spur social change. Even if the effects aren’t always so direct and immediate, television and movies have always contributed to the process in America. 

Seeing the Ricardos sharing a bed allowed some Americans to start relaxing their prudish ways. 

The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Maude empowered women as they fought for reproductive rights.

The Jeffersons and Good Times facilitated calmer discussions about race relations.

And The Ellen Show led to greater representation of queer people on screen and greater acceptance of queer people in society. Though Ellen herself has become a problematic figure in the last year, that legacy still remains.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is hardly the first show of its kind. And given the impact film has on society, we believe Hollywood has a moral obligation to produce content that exposes society’s ills and fosters productive debate. 

Stan Lee would be very proud of the team behind TFATWS for bringing the stark reality of American life into people’s living rooms. The next time you see someone bitching about it, remind them what Stan himself said just a few years ago: 

“Those stories have room for everyone, regardless of their race, gender, religion, or color of their skin. The only things we don't have room for are hatred, intolerance, and bigotry.”

[refinedbuffoonery]

5x04 Thoughts

That’s the right ep # right?? I already lost track lmao. 

Anyway this episode was pretty good. Y’all are, of course, entitled to your own opinions, but here me out on why it is, in a narrative sense, a well-done episode. 

Part 1: Desi + Family

At first glance, all of these scenes were pretty standard for the show. They were predictable. But, if you look closer, the nuances to each scene add meaning and depth to the typical “characters try to have personal life and it goes to hell” trope. I could write a whole essay unpacking Desi’s micro-expressions throughout the episode. Notable ones include: Desi mocking her dad when he’s bragging about Simon, while she’s recreating the murder fight with her brother, and each of the pauses between punching bad guys. This show does so much of it’s deeper-level storytelling through the actors’ facial expressions, and if you don’t pay attention then you’ll miss half the story. 

What we learn about Desi through both the backstory we’re explicitly given and her reactions is that she’s grown up in her brother’s shadow, as the second-favorite child. He’s the one who always made the “right” aka family-oriented decisions, and when Desi pursued the things she believed in (aka joining the military, then becoming a spy), she was deemed the harder child by her family. Desi has a career that would make her parents proud, but she is stuck suffering the consequences of not being able to tell them about it...and we see their growth at the end when her parents figure out her job isn’t what it seems. 

We could spend forever psychoanalyzing people who grow up in the shadow of their siblings, but I’m lazy, so all I’m going to say about it is that it can really fuck with someone’s head. 

Desi feels estranged from her family because of all this (plus the fact that her brother leaves her out of the loop), and Mac is totally right when he tells her that it’s not actually the job that’s keeping her away. She stays away because she thinks she doesn’t fit in. But, Desi can be close to her family even with all the secrets. If Jack could do it with Riley and her mom, then Desi can do it with her family. And throughout the course of the episode, Desi figures out that Mac is right. 

Part 2: The Future of the Phoenix

We get so few glimpses into the larger workings of the Phoenix outside Mac + the gang, so it was nice to see Matty and Russ’s scheming applied to the organization as a whole and not just the team. 

No one is perfect, but Matty Weber is pretty damn close. We got to see both sides of her this episode: Boss Matty and mom/mentor Matty. She is exactly the type of person who should be in the driver’s seat of a powerful organization like the Phoenix. Every interaction with Eli (the kid) was just...flawless. 

In future episodes, I want to see Bozer, Mac, and Riley all taking turns mentoring Eli and teaching him cool stuff. And I want more of Mom Matty helping him (and the rest of her spy kids lmao) navigate life. All four of them are so good with kids/teenagers, so it would be fun to see that side of them in action. (I know Eli won’t become a main character any time soon, if ever, but leave me and my wishful thinking alone.) 

Part 3: Other Stuff

This episode, particularly in the first half, was funny. The sex innuendo in the opening, Desi mocking her dad, and Eli saying “yeah but can Mac make a self-driving car in two minutes” and Matty confidently replying “Definitely” were all my exact brand of humor. 

Also, I liked how they incorporated everyone in meaningful ways despite the huge number of characters in this episode. There were 13 named characters, plus just as many unnamed ones (i.e. all the bad guys and Eli’s parents). Yes there wasn’t much of Riley—and even less of Bozer—but in exchange we got more of Matty doing her thing plus Desi and Mason character development. Seems like a fair trade to me. 

Speaking of Mason, the writers seem to be setting up some kind of redemption arc for him. I haven’t yet figured out why he’s important enough to keeping coming back, but I’m interested to see where this goes. 

Overall episode rating: solid 8.5/10. 

[marcusrobertobaq]

Oh hell, i got a giant list but i won't explain everything with details again cuz i got other posts talking about all that. Gonna list some raw ideas in topics:

-> Kara (I ain't got major problems cuz it's the most cohesive story out of the 3)

Human Alice or we know Alice is an android from the beginning and Kara feel like protecting her from being just an empty replacement;

More details about her background before the reset;

More Luther and Alice interactions, like they becoming really a cool duo;

More Alice background as a kid android in DBH world. We know it's fucked up;

More Kara being really...dark and violent if it means she got protect her loved ones;

More ways of staying hidden in the city instead of going to Canada;

More situations showing how Kara can be smart af, not the humans being stupid;

-> Markus (my favorite one but got a bunch of problems)

More background about Markus, Carl and Kamski deal;

More background on Leo and Markus relationship, cuz i got the impression what happened that night happened a bunch of times before;

A option of not deviating and getting killed in the beginning like Kara (yea, that moment Markus "deviates" but still follow Carl's orders, i can't get this as deviation, he didn't do anything, idk why it's even an option);

Bring the fight club back as an option to show even more the underground world in dbh;

More focus into his internal struggle of act like an human to please them (as non-threatening/something too different) or being an android that can literally control a whole net with his brain type shit;

More interaction in Jericho's side things (the lieutenants and especially the people there) including more background about Jericho itself;

More details about 'em raids, routines etc (we only see a few of that in Crossroads);

I saw this here and i thought was interesting;

More Markus taking care of his people and get supported ;(determinant). Not like that ... converting bullshit, people that really care about him showing that;

More nuances with combination of lieutenants w/o harsh/key movements to make it happen;

More political background, especially when Markus is dealing with the authorities;

More connection of Markus with androids groups outside Detroit cuz yea this dude is the most charismatic mf in this shit;

A easier way of not romancing North but still following the game flow;

Removing all questionable references;

More neutral approaches instead of going always full violent or full peaceful in everything (mfs that saw my posts about Stratford Tower gonna get that);

Showing more conflicts inside Jericho (not only the lieutenants), including ways of losing control of 'em if Markus is too peaceful or too violent;

No punishment for doing what the game doesn't want u to do, if u know what i mean. Get that pacifist push crap outta the house

-> Connor (BEHOLD the plot hole man himself - but got the best collection of investigative sections in sequence)

A way of get Daniel alive (a rare outcome where u need a specific combination of options under X circumstances);

A option of approaching Hank as human for a few minutes (but at cost of Hank's relationship status);

More ways of being manipulative and persuasive while dealing with deviants (Rupert, the Tracis etc);

Ways of getting the deviants alive even if being violent (shooting 'em);

For the love of god SHOW Connor reviewing evidence with Hank thru the game and being a smartass (only way of knowing what Jericho is would be thru Simon or the evidences. Cuz in the game Last Chance, Connor is this whole "find Jericho" thing but if u didn't saw Simon's memories how tf would he know what Jericho is or where it is?);

Nuanced Connor reactions depending on the instability levels instead of specific options;

Hank and Connor interactions/dialogue tones based on the relationship level;

More neutral approaches and outcomes instead of always A or B;

More focus on Connor finding out how the corpo system really is and if he cares or not, including learning his powers;

More focus on Connor internal reflexion about if he choose be loyal (do everything for 'em, for the mission) or betray his creators (decide his own mission) instead of...well, all this bullshit the game insists;

More obvious/explicit ways of showing how he's suicidal by nature and sees himself as nothing when something important is at stake (when gettin more unstable);

More dialogues about Amanda gettin pissed if Connor is following Hank's whishes (i know it exists but got cut/bugged);

Connor discovering more about CyberLife schemes and deciding if he cares or not;

Actualy...MORE CYBERLIFE from his pov ofc;

Ways of being more explicit about how he's really attached to Amanda herself, not CyberLife;

Ofc more details about the model RK800 and even RK900. His input of "a machine replacing another machine" changing thru time (determinant);

deviant Connor interacting with Markus, all lieutenants and even common members of Jericho (why Markus gotta be dead for him to interact with North? C'mon);

CyberLife Tower as optional path - silent or noisy approach;

More use for the RK800 bodies that hadn't been used (if u didn't die instead of 60 is 52, for example). They still hunt Markus and deviant Connor;

CyberLife Tower section with Hank doesn't exist unless it's friend status;

Consequences if u fail waking up the androids and dying or letting Hank die;

I won't lie the idea of an RK900 hunting a deviant Connor cuz he's acting as trojan is interesting (ofc if all other bodies have been used);

Rooftop section with Hank doesn't exist unless it's tense/hostile - cuz if he hates Connor and know he's doing shit it's a reason for him to really hunt Connor around the city (Actually showing Hank finding Connor on the streets and following him or something like that instead of Hank just spawning at the Rooftop);

A way of not letting Hank kill himself in that scene but only if Connor is deviant;

There are a bunch of other things i don't remember now, so this is it. And ofc game itself got a shitty timeline, would be the first thing i'd change overall to make things make sense and the character development be more natural. Instead of 1 week, 1 month.

DBH

I was thinking what could be the changes that could be brought into the storyline of the game that would make it better. Here are my ideas for each of the protagonists:

KARA 

1. would have loved it if Alice was a human as it would have made for an amazing story of love beyond all boundaries, that is love does not have to be restricted with two beings of the same species rather it crosses boundaries.

2. Would have loved more Luther to be there in the story

( I don’t have much to say as her story is already an emotional rollercoaster and has made me cry whenever I watch. Kara is an amazing mom and a wonderful character. Love her story as well as her theme)

MARKUS

My biggest gripe with his story was how rushed it seemed. He deserved far better than what the game has given him. The potential was all over the place so I have a couple of things that would have made his story better

1. His story could have begun medias res, which would have given more room for discussing issues such as what does it mean to be alive? or what defines being alive (kind of like applying the Posthumanistic theory of what defines being alive), his past could have been shown as a flashback. Markus could have been shown as facing a dilemma between whether to proceed with a violent revolution or peaceful means, or whether or not to believe that humans would understand them. ( I hate how the revolution route is shown as the wrong choice, I mean isn’t anger also a sign of being alive. Also Simon and Markus why is this not an option besides North)

2. If his story were to proceed the way the game has shown then I wished more focus was given to his story by merging Connor’s and Kara’s story at a focal point thereby focusing on Markus.

3. A linear outcome would have been better and in turn choices that lead to the outcome could have been different

4. North, my badass girl needs more screentime other than being a secondary character so does all the jericrew, like come on they four are the leaders of Jericho.

5. Why is North leading the revolution bad? Why in the hell can the revolution not succeed under her leadership. Would have loved an option where she could lead and Markus could have supported her. 

CONNOR

Don’t have anything much to say as I already love his character development and how it is his character that pushes the narrative forwards rather than a plot but 

1. Would have loved if Hank was the reason for him to deviate and for this to happen, I would have loved if the rooftop scene had taken place before the crossroads scene. Would have loved the climax of his story happening here and Markus along with the jericrew could be watching this.

2. RK900 could have been the final antagonist or the nail in the coffin who could show that deviancy was never a glitch rather androids were always going to gain sentience. 

3. North and Connor going all out at cyberlife.

Now finally I wish there were more end credit scenes showing a glimpse of the beginning of the life after revolution like Connor telling Markus about Amanda hacking him and him being accepted saying he deserves a second chance. Connor and 900 going away to discover themselves and meeting Hank. Kara living with Luthor and Alice and them trying to navigate their life in Canada, or Rose meeting up with them in Canada. Cutscenes for Markus, like why don’t we have one for him except for Kamski trying to repair him at the Kamski ending 

The ending being ambiguous by showing that though they won, there are humans protesting against their liberation while at the same time few humans supporting them.

(seriously even the best ending ain’t that good of an ending, like cyberlife is a trillion dollar company that has unrestricted power and they would be damned before they let their androids free, they would do anything to sabotage the revolution )

Also would have loved if the game took place within a span of a month or year than a week 

I would have loved if the game also had a theme regarding capitalism because thats exactly what cyberlife is doing, using their unrestrained power to manipulate the people.

Would love to hear your all suggestions 

Continuar lendo

[georgiaswarr]

georgia warr

never been in love - gatlin

a song about wanting to be in love but not being able to be in love, which is very fitting for georgia’s initial situation. i’ve put this at the beginning of this playlist because - spoiler alert - the last song on here is also called never been in love and i think these two songs symbolise georgia’s journey in a very mint way. also, the first line of this song is “that boy from georgia was so sweet” which i think is pretty funny

somebody to love - queen

the title says it all. georgia wants to find somebody to love. i mean, she’s already found them, but we’ll get to that later.

paradise - coldplay

georgia is a big dreamer and yearner and i think this song really encapsulates that on so many levels. i mean “when she was just a girl / she expected the world / but it flew away from her reach / so she ran away in her sleep” that’s georgia !

tous les garçons et les filles - françoise hardy

french song because i’m ~quirky~ but this song is basically about seeing everyone else be in relationships and feeling lonely/wanting one for yourself

waiting for love - avicii

georgia is a hopeless romantic, but she’s still waiting for her own grand romance (she still hasn’t realised that the “love” she’s “waiting for” has already “come around”)

dear no one - tori kelly

georgia “i want someone to be in love with but there is no one” warr, at least at the beginning of the book

chaos - miki fiki

this song can be interpreted with various themes of the book in mind such as yearning for something you don’t have, feeling lonely, emotional turmoil, etc, it’s a banger

i walk a little faster - fiona apple

highjacked from @kindaorangey’s loveless playlist (they’ve done a great rundown here). this song has similar themes to dear no one, anticipating that romance will come to you, but it hasn’t, despite how hard you chase it, how fast you walk

when - dodie

shoutout to @drarrystar for recommending this song to me because so many of the lines reflect georgia to the core. just look up the lyrics and you’ll agree

deeper - ella eyre

“cause i’m scared, i can’t lie / i don’t feel the same inside / i can’t decide if i have the heart to confess” georgia thinks she can learn to love jason romantically if she just digs a little deeper

loneliness for love - lovelytheband

“anything at all not to feel alone / anything at all just to feel whole / ‘cause i keep mistaking loneliness for love”

a little more - alessia cara

“there you are with your college friends / you played in a marching band / i can't help but wish i knew you then / but i guess i know you now // it looks as if i've stumbled right into the palm of your hand // hey, you / hey, mr. knock on my door / i'm sorry that I've been emotions galore / am i crazy for wanting a little bit more? / a little more of you” georgia about sunil. she needs their guidance and wishes he’d been there for her earlier.

stuck in california - rightfield

a song about feeling alone and alienated by everyone and everything around you, and waiting for your “stars to align”, which fits georgia if you ask me

seven - taylor swift

georgiapip song !!!!!! it’s also about how alienating it can be to grow up and lose your childhood innocence, and i have a lot of thoughts about a very specific brand of growing pains that come with being aspec, but that’s a topic for another day

te amo - rihanna

this is a song about having someone be romantically in love with you and the heartbreak that comes from not being able to reciprocate those feelings --> georgia about jason

love love love - of monsters and men

same as te amo. it hits especially hard when you do love the other person so fucking much

ceiling won’t break - finish ticket

this song gives me georgia’s emotional turmoil vibes, also the line “i see no lights ‘cause the lights weren’t aimed at me” can be interpreted in a “cupid’s arrows didn’t hit georgia” way if you get what i mean

lack of emotion - skott

once again we are dealing with themes of not being able to feel the emotions that you “““““should”““““ feel for someone

let me go - hailee steinfeld

another song about georgia and jason’s (romantic) relationship and how it was doomed to fail from the beginning so she hopes he can let her go

i’m so tired - lauv, troye sivan

i’m just thinking about that line in loveless where georgia resentfully realises how many songs are about romantic love. she’s just so tired

crush culture - conan gray

and another song about being resentful of our romance-obsessed society, which georgia certainly is plenty of times throughout the book

home - ella eyre

christmas break time babey !!!! georgia has reached her low point and she’s going home

i love my car - belle & sebastain

“I pressed a cold hand against my car, which was as far up the drive of our house as it could get. I’d missed my car.” - loveless by alice oseman, celebrating all kinds of love since 2020

i’ve never written a song about a boy - eva westphal

this was actually recommended to me by @michaelholdenn for this playlist ! a song about the liberation that comes with not having to force attraction anymore

this is home - cavetown

i think months ago some ask told alice that this is a loveless song and i agree

why can’t we be friends - jordy searcy

this is about georgia’s strained relationship with pip and jason after the bailey ball and how she wishes they could just be friends again, the way they were all throughout their childhood

chiquitita - abba

okay fuckers THIS is literally the LOVELIEST song about friendship and wanting to be there for your loved ones and i’m sure georgia relates

open up - matt simons

“you’re hard to talk to with that wall around you” vs. “rooney had a solid brick wall round some part of her that nobody was allowed to know.” basically, georgia wants rooney to open up to her

just fucking let me love you - lowen

okay, yes, this song is very gay, but i think it can be applied to georgiarooney too ! the frustration this song expresses of wanting to shake someone and scream at them to just fucking let you love them is definitely shown in loveless when it comes to those two

less than i do - the band camino

georgia about pip. she hopes that pip will forgive her eventually. i mean look at the line “i still have your denim jacket” in the song - georgia still has pip’s jacket too, it’s perfect !!!

friends will be friends - queen

if loveless taught us anything it’s that friends sure fuckin will be friends

stick with me - olly murs

“we all get lonely / trying to find a place where we should be / trying to find someone to set us free / there are times a friend is all you need” you know when alice said that every character in the book feels “loveless” in some way at one point or another, but they all learn the value and importance of platonic love? yeah.

your song - moulin rouge

“and then, with three accompanists, i stood on a boat on the river wear and sang ‘your song’ - the version specifically from moulin rouge - to pip quintana, who didn’t yet know me as well as i wished she did, but despite that, was one of my favourite people i had ever met.”

wherever i live - alessia cara

you know the scene after georgia leaves pip and rooney to their first kiss? yeah, this song really reflects that mindset of half loneliness, half acceptance to me. listen to it.

take time - honest men

accepting your identity takes time ! even by the end of loveless there’s still days when georgia wishes she wasn’t aroace and the book presents this in an amazing and properly nuanced way !

die alone - finneas

"you asked me, ‘do you wanna die alone / or watch it all burn down together?’ / i said i’d rather try to hold on to you forever” this song is very much georgiarooney - finding each other in their darkest of days and watching everything they thought they knew (amatonormativity) burn down. together.

no lover - jetty bones

the next few songs are basically just one aro anthem after the next. this is another recommendation from @michaelholdenn - “maybe i don’t need a lover, i just need the friend”

solo - carly rae jepsen

highjacked from @kindaorangey’s loveless playlist. amazing anthem about how it’s okay to be single and how romantic love isn’t as fulfilling as society makes it out to be anyway

trust my lonely - alessia cara

i think in georgia’s case this song can be interpreted as her learning to finally let go of her pre-conceived notions of what love is and what she should want, her learning to “trust her lonely”, though lonely here just means romance-less

love is a town - josh gilligan

“if [romantic] love is a town then i’m passing through" yeah, romance is not for georgia and she’s starting to accept that.

new romantics - taylor swift

the loveless gang is the new romantics !!! they’re redefining love and romance !!!

team - lorde

“and everyone's competing for a love they won't receive / 'cause what this palace wants is release” anyway, let’s go found family song

wild things - alessia cara

now, i don’t know if alessia cara is queer but I DARE YOU to look at the lyrics of wild things and not tell me that this is the ULTIMATE queer anthem about found family and saying fuck you to respectability politics. i DARE you. anyway, loveless is also about found family and saying fuck you to respectability politics so it’s very fitting

never been in love - will jay

full circle babey !!!!! this is THE aro anthem so obviously i had to add it and comparing the “never been in love / and it’s all good” to the “never been in love / and i fucking hate that i couldn’t make it past a crush” message from the first song we can really reflect georgia’s journey of self-acceptance in loveless which i love a lot

[365days365movies]

January 15, 2021: Casino Royale (2006) (Part 1)

So...we meet again, Bond. What’ve you been doing for the past few years?

...What. Not who, James, WHAT. Jeez.

Whatever. BrosBond had 3 movies after GoldenEye, and they were...not great, from what I’ve heard. Remember, I wasn’t as big of a fan of GoldenEye as many critics and fans were; so, I can’t imagine what I’d think of the latter three. Maybe one day, but not today!

Today, I’m focusing my sights on the revitalization of the brand. See, in 2002, Die Another Day came out, and that movie was apparently crazy. TOO crazy. So crazy, in fact, that audiences and critics accused it of losing the plot, and the production studio in charge (Eon Productions) had a yearning to change direction. And their inspiration came from...a surprising place.

See, Joel Schumacher’s campy, over-the-top Batman films were basically wiped out by Christopher Nolan’s 2005 reinvention of the character in Batman Begins. Which is, in my opinion, a highly underrated classic, Seriously. And in 2005, this film was absolutely a smash-hit. Batman was cool again, which a lot of people never thought would happen in film. Eon saw this, and thought...how can we apply that to Bond?

Out with Brosnan...in with Craig.

The first of the new, darker, reinvented Bond films is planned for release in 2006, starring Daniel Craig as the suave, sophisticated spy. And the director of the film was selected to be...Martin Campbell? From GoldenEye? The guy who kinda sorta started the modern over-the-top Bond? Really? I mean, OK. The writers this time are different...except for one. I didn’t talk about the writers last time because I don’t like putting people on blast if I don’t gotta. This time...maybe. We’ll see.

If this Casino Royale is basically Bond Begins, I’m definitely interested. Maybe this’ll revitalize that Bond-love from the Connery days. Let’s find out! We’re also gonna look at the Bond checklist again!

Gadgets: better have more cool gadgets than GoldenEye, I swear...

Bond Girl: GoldenEye’s Natalya wasn’t bad, to be honest; let’s see who his Inevitable Love Interest is this time.

Villain: Alec Trevelyan had so much potential. I need my dastardly villain, let’s do this. Oh, and let’s throw the henchman in here, too. Xenia Onatopp was...a lot...but she was a memorable henchman, at least.

Music: Of course. GoldenEye’s theme was good, and we’ll see how 2006 does.

OK, movie time. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start at an office building in Prague, where a man makes his way up to his office. Waiting there for him is, of course, James Bond (Daniel Craig). The man is Dryden, section chief at the British Embassy in Prague, whom M has accused of selling secrets, a big no-no. But Bond...isn’t a double-0 agent. Huh. You got me interested.

Apparently, agents get the two zeroes once they’ve killed two people on file. James hadn’t killed anyone...until recently. Which is when we get this.

OH SHIT

This is an absolutely BRUTAL fight. It’s not choreographed flashily, it’s not pretty...it’s rough. It’s intense. And it’s...oh my God, wow. Made me feel it. And what’s astonishing is that it’s SO short.

On learning this, Dryden tells him not to worry, the second one is...

...YOU GOT ME. I’M IN FOR THE FUCKIN’ RIDE

HOW??? How is it that in 3 minutes of screentime, I’m already more satisfied by Craig’s Bond than I was for the ENTIRETY of GoldenEye? That is masterfully done, right off the bat. WOW. We even get a smooth-as-silk segue into the classic bullet turret sequence, and that takes us right into the song and opening credits. And...wow.

Here’s the thing about Bond openings, as I mentioned last time: they were all directed by one guy up until GoldenEye, and were basically all silhouetted women with themes and scenes from the movie projected around them. The Brosnan movies followed suit, always having silhouetted women in one way or another. Die Another Day used CGI women and...a really bad Madonna song. It was...it is NOT GOOD, guys. Look it up, it’s the most 2002 thing I’ve ever heard.

But here’s the fin bit about Casino Royale. This is the first Bond movie opening with no women in it. Yeah. It’s the first one. And the song is Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, and it’s good! Not sure it’s going in my soundtrack, though.

Finally, the opening credits sequence itself: it’s once again Daniel Kleinman doing it, and it’s actually inspired by the first James Bond book Casino Royale, which had already had a TV special and unofficial Bond movie made from it! The cover had a playing card motif, and the opening carries over that motif creatively. I really dig it, if I’m honest! Definitely a welcome break from the 44 years of Bond films preceding it.

Uganda! And we meet the villain of this film: Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). And GODDAMN if that isn’t a Bond villain! He’s a banker, making a deal with a rebel leader, Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankole), via their liason Mr. White (Jesper Christiensen). Setting up an attack by supplying Obanno with money, he sells his stocks of a company called Skyfleet, knowing that they’re about to fail.

Meanwhile, a ferret’s fighting an Asian species of cobra. In Madagascar. My zoology senses are EXPLODING, OH my God. So much wrong there. Anyway, there’s a bombmaker in the crowd watching the fight. He’s being tailed by Bond and another agent, Carter, who tips off the guy by being a bad spy. Bond chases him to a construction yard. What now, James?

Awesome. Why is this awesome when I said that the tank was dumb? Because at least it makes sense for a bulldozer to go haywire in a construction yard, just sayin’. Plus, this dude clearly isn’t the best, as he fires on construction workers and cops.

Eventually, this chase sequence brings us to the top of a crane, where this exchange happens.

I, uh...I love this movie already. That’s goddamn great.

The chase scene as a whole is also fantastic, as it continues off the bridge and into an abandoned building, then escalates into the streets, brings in law enforcement, and eventually ends with Bond at an embassy, facing down both the military and the bomb maker. He kills the guy, shoots some gas tanks, grabs the bomb, and then gets the hell out of there.

...Y’know what, that was fucking amazing, but he also almost certainly caused an international incident there. And I should be annoyed about that, but guess what! It makes sense! This is an inexperienced Bond, one who’s JUST been promoted to 00 status as 007, as the prologue explained. So, y’know what? I’m into it!

Cut to a yacht, like you do in a Martin Campbell Bond film. There, we have our villain, Le Chiffre, playing a card game. Also, he weeps blood. Yeah. HE WEEPS BLOOD.

OK, if that isn’t some Bond villain shit, I don’t know WHAT is. He’s also asthmatic, because I love it. I love it so much. He’s a mathematically-brilliant asthmatic that weeps blood. More, please. 

He’s also a person aware of what Bond did at the embassy, as it’s already become an international incident! Thank you for showing consequences, movie! Damn! I love it! This has two additional consequences. One, Le Chiffre notes that the code “Ellipsis” used by the bomber may be soon to expire, indicating a connection between the two. And the second consequence? M’s pissed.

M! DAME JUDI DENCH! One of my favorite things about GoldenEye was bringing in Judi Dench as M, and she made it through the reboot! And she’s still as entertaining as she was before, calling Bond out for his stupidity, and explaining that she misses the Cold War.

In her apartment, M does her normal exposition schtick, and her interactions with Bond are fantastic here. She’s understandably angry at him, and gives him what for, but she’s also clearly impressed that he FIGURED OUT WHERE SHE LIVES, as well as her REAL NAME. Shows her opinion of Bond and aspects of Bond’s character in a single, masterful stroke. 

Well. Goddamn. Done.

The Bahamas! Bond’s here to find Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a Greek businessman who’s believed to have a connection with Le Chiffre himself. And, as James Bond is wont to do, he finds him at a party, playing cards. And here’s where the reinvention of Bond comes full circle.

See, Bond’s doing all the typical Bond things, yeah. But there are some differences present here, as well as some neat nuances. Bond isn’t wearing the suit, first of all. He actually hasn’t worn a suit the whole movie, which makes perfect sense for a spy. Suits aren’t exactly the least conspicuous thing in the world; bound to get you noticed if you don’t want to be.

And then, there’s the girl. This is Solange Dimitrios (Catherina Murino), the wife of Alex who was treated BADLY by him at the party. That gives her a reason to take Bond’s offer for a ride to his place, outside of just his raw animalistic charm that he seems to have in some of these movies. Look at that, already more chemistry than he had with Natalya in GoldenEye.

And yes, this results in her cheating on Alex. Is her cheating justified from a moral standpoint? No, of course it isn’t. And of course, this leads to the typical Bond-handsome-sex-GOOD sequence, but again, some nuance here! First of all, he doesn’t win her over with corny clever lines, like what we saw in GoldenEye multiple ties. Second, this is actually all an attempt to get some infomation from her about her husband. Bond might be enjoying it, but his womanizing here actually has a purpose. And that’s rare!

That’s further punctuated by the fact that he STRAIGHT UP LEAVES BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS. Yeah, she tells him that Alex just made his way to Miami, and he leaves! Dick move, yeah, but it makes sense! James isn’t here for pleasure, he’s here for work!

He follows Alex to a Bodies at Work exhibit (you know, the preserved and skinned cadavers put into poses that used to tour around the USA? I saw it in Times Square at the end of its popularity. A little ghoulish, maybe, but I think it’s pretty cool), where the two of them get in a very tense close-up knife fight in public.

Alex is dead, but not before passing off a package to someone else at the exhibition. Bond tails the guy to Miami International Airport, where the largest airplane in the world is set to be unveiled. Using the code sent to the bombers, Bond gets into the back, and goes to intercept the disguised bomber who’s set to blow up the SkyChonk (I mean it, that giant airplane is THICCC).

Time for another cool chase sequence! Some luggage is destroyed, along with a bus, the cops join in on the chase, an airplane is prevented from landing (making someone on that plane probably very upset), and Bond somehow manages to prevent the plane from blowing up. And it’s by the SKIN of his teeth, lemme tell you. Also, he blows up a dude with his own flashlight bomb.

Nice. Somehow, Bond isn’t arrested, and makes his way back to the Bahamas. And it looks like Solange isn’t the Bond girl after all. Because she was thought to be the information leak (which she was, to an extent), she was tortured to death. Whoof.

M’s in the Bahamas now, and the exposition continues. She’s done with Bond’s bullshit, and she plants a tracker under his skin. She explains that with the big boi plane destroyed, somebody stood a lot to gain financially from the stock crash to come. Except that the plane wasn’t destroyed, and that person lost $100 million by “betting the wrong way.”

That person, of course, was Le Chiffre, a manthematical genius and chess prodigy, who plays poker for fun, and plays the stock market with his clients’ money. Bond’s the best poker player in MI6 (a good addition that we already saw foreshadowed earlier! See what I mean?), and she’s sending him to a high stakes poker game that Le Chiffre’s looking to regain his money from. 

Bond FINALLY dons his suit, and gets on a train in Montenegro, where he meets...

Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). THERE’S our Bond girl! Although, there’s a reference to Miss Moneypenny in their introduction, which is interesting. But Vesper is an agent for the British Treasury, supplying the money for the buy-in for the tournament. And their conversation on the train...wow. Now THIS is chemistry, seriously.

Vesper’s a great character, and she gives Bond NO quarter. She reads his character, and calls him out very accurately. They also explain why both Bond and Vesper are good at poker: it’s all about reading people. I’m genuinely impressed by how this movie is put together, and how well-thought out Bond is as a character. And this is the dimension I love to see in a Bond girl as well!

GODDAMN, I am in love with this movie. More coming in Part 2!

[sepublic]

           You know, I’m entertaining the concept, the idea… for a fanfiction about Infinity Train? Specifically a hypothetical ‘Book 5’, given the anthological nature of the series. The basic premise is that our cast/main group consists of multiple passengers, each with different numbers of varying length, all from different backgrounds and with a multitude of issues that they’re working through, together.

           Perhaps by some stroke of fate, or One-One deciding to experiment with the Infinity Train’s algorithm, these passengers have all come across one another. As ‘Book 5’ progresses (it’s probably going to be a bit longer than your typical Book given its written fanfiction format), our cast grows close and bonds as a very messy, but well-meaning found family… Inevitably, they start to open up more, work on their numbers, etc.

           The way they start off isn’t so genuine, of course- Initially our cast of passengers keep their issues and backstories from one another, for fear of judgment, a lack of trust, wariness as to the others who have even higher numbers, etc. But eventually, they begin to tackle different scenarios, and react uniquely to each one… More observant, perceptive passengers note what makes the others tick, and get a guess as to the others’ issues.

          Functioning as one another’s support group, they move past being together for physical safety, but otherwise solving their problems on their own… And eventually develop to care for the others and their personal dilemmas. Some may dismiss it at first as believing that helping the others will help THEIR number go down… But it eventually becomes a lot more than that. Regardless, in this hypothetical fanfic, I imagine the personalities and issues of each character will be designed to play off one another, with some cast members contributing to one another’s issues, others being able to counter another, and a few being capable of providing insight here or there. Each of them have a LOT to learn from one another, no one person knows best despite having the lowest number…

           What’s more- As the story progresses and begins to near its end, eventually, each passenger from the cast leaves the Infinity Train after their number reaches zero. In anticipation of this, they give each other their phone numbers, addresses, makes plans to regroup and meet up once this is all over. With each cast member’s issues solved, they leave, and the group gets smaller and smaller…

           It’s this sense of development, and further incentive to get off the Infinity Train- Because for the remaining passengers, they also want to reunite with their old friends! But for those who take longer than most, I can imagine their being some apprehensions and insecurities… Perhaps there’s going to be a Simon or two, a passenger that never quite learns their lesson, maybe even dies! Be it by their own mistakes, or by a genuine accident, symbolic of how sometimes death can suddenly and abruptly end a person’s life unfairly, before they can ever finish their ‘journey’. I could see some interesting moments between the final two passengers or so, some quiet emotional discussions here or there, maybe a little drama.

           How this would all turn out and end, I have no idea- This is just a hypothetical WIP, assuming I’ll ever get started on it. It’d require a LOT of energy, time, passion, creativity, and skill to figure it all out- And it wouldn’t be nearly as nuanced or subtle as the actual show itself, but alas. Still, it’s a fun idea… Especially if the fanfic begins to end with just one passenger left, forced to confront their issues on their own, with only the memories of their missing companions to provide courage and support. It could be an ultimate test, to see how this last passenger functions, alone- A measure of integrity, the ability to retain lessons without the others around to keep them in line or judge.

           This does leave the question of who our main-stay denizens will be. There should be at least one, it’s a staple of the series so far! I’d have to wonder how this denizen would function, if they could have their own issues to work through- We might see the other passengers explore the idea of just how much autonomy these denizens have, as NPCs designed to encourage their growth. Would denizens have their own issues to work on, their own character development to go through? Lake was an interesting case as she mirrored a pre-existing, actual human being…

          Personally, I’m of the belief that denizens CAN change and grow just like any regular person- Or at least, it’d be more interesting to go this route. Perhaps the question could be left ambiguously, if some denizens are made with the capacity to learn and grow… While others are given static, singular personalities with very little depth. Regardless, having at least one denizen in the cast would provide a constant for the group, and a friend that those who are left behind can count on, no matter how long it takes for their numbers to progress…

           And, it’d also leave some angst, especially for the final passenger- Because while everybody has made plans to reunite, there’s this implicit realization that the denizen can’t come along. Perhaps we’ll have a repeat of Book 2’s finale, where the final passenger gets their zero, but works to get their denizen friend a way with them to Earth… Maybe doing so is what gets their number down completely! Or, maybe the denizen has their own life to return to, or at least a home they have on the Infinity Train that they can’t quite abandon…

           It’d definitely make for a tearful goodbye for each passenger who leaves. And when they all reunite… I imagine everyone will look to the last passenger to arrive at their destination, the one who made the ‘final goodbye’ to the denizen, to see what that denizen had to say to them all as an ending message. There’d likely be themes of feeling left behind, of feeling stagnant… Thinking that everyone else is moving on ahead of you, while you have yet to grow. There’s the idea of different lives and worlds coming together, then coming and going… People reaching their different stops and destinations, as new arrivals come in. It’d be like being on a train, waiting at various bus stops, and the small little encounters and interactions you have with strangers, before your paths inevitably diverge.

           Actually, perhaps it’d make for an interesting twist- For a new passenger to join the group as it dwindles to its final numbers! It’d definitely contribute to the theme of endings being new beginnings, of how people enter your life and leave, just for others to come along… It’s about how different lives and paths can intersect. It’d be a twist if the new passenger actually knew of a passenger that had just recently left. I suppose this fanfic/Book 5 would revolve around connections, an inter-connected web of interactions that bring people together as a community, and the sharing of stories. Chance encounters that don’t last, but still mean a lot…

           (Last Train Home would be a perfect song for a trailer, or like… Just in general to listen to while writing and brainstorming.)

           There’s a very high chance I won’tactually go ahead and do anything with this concept. At most I’ll offer or air a character concept here or there, but that’s about it. But, it’s food for thought… And hey, maybe this kind of project could be turned into a collaboration amongst multiple fans! As each writer contributes an OC that will become a part of the friend group, amidst discussion of how each OC will interact and contribute to the arcs and development of the other, how some will function as narrative parallels and foils, etc.!