#i don't believe the theory in the context of canon but i make eyes at it and chew on the idea you know?

[denizenhardwick]

look i don't really think loki was the result of akechi being experimented on but the theory is super fucking compelling. like obviously it comes from the featherman game - grey pigeon, who represents akechi, was himself an experiment - and while i interpreted that aspect as more fantastical or metaphorical than literally relating to akechi's backstory, there was cognitive psience research going on around the time akechi approached shido, and loki is an extremely unusual persona, notably glowing red instead of blue like every other persona, coming with an entire second outfit and painful transformation, and giving akechi an ability that is useful to shido.

[maxdibert]

Little warning before hand, this is a bit dark. I mentioned child rape snd murder, and feel like I should warn before. Even if the description is not graphic, and highly theoretical. Moving on.

I actually remembered a very interesting theory, not to long ago, that the reason that Severus learned all these curses from his mother was because, at the time of his early childhood to late teenage years, some prolific child rapists and murderes made their way around London (especially... Less fortunate?�� I am German my English goes only as far, my apologies— neighbourhood's) in real life. Based on that they suggested that something similar might have happened at the time in the Harry Potter universe as well.

Now I am not saying the murder theory is canon or that I even overly believe in it, but I am saying: I can absolutely see Eileen teaching her son curses to protect himself against bad actors, considering the neighbourhood they lived in wasn't the nicest place. Spinner's End, even if it had the nices people in human history living there, was a neighbourhood with terrace house as far as the eyes could go, small dark alleyways everywhere, and a convenient dumping ground (a lake not to far off). It would have made for a perfect hunting ground for people with very bad intentions, regardless of where they where from or if that was a planned attack or one of opportunity. The police, last time I checked, tended to be less interested in pursuing cases in which marginalized groups were victimized, and I can not believe that was any better in the 60s to 70s. All that taken into consideration, if I where a mother I would absolutely shown my child every trick in the book to get free, away, and maim whoever tried to hurt them as much as possible in the process.

I, don't know it just came to mind recently, and now I want to talk about it. Love your blog, and character analysis, they always give me a new perspective to look at and I love that!

Honestly, I don’t think it’s necessary to go to the extreme of having a child abductor or pedophile in the area. Living in a terrible place (which is basically what’s described in the book), and considering these are typical areas of impoverished industrial cities of that era, coinciding with marginalized zones, Eileen would have had more than enough reasons. Just the fact of living in a violent neighborhood or seeing shady people and violence in the streets already makes it coherent that, as a mother, she would have taught her son a few tricks to defend himself. In the end, it’s like Sirius tries to say that Severus knew a lot of curses to paint him as creepy and dark to justify his bullying, but if you look at the context in which Severus grew up, it makes sense.

Btw, thanks for your words, I’m glad you like this rant-filled hole hahaha ☺️

[aspergirl-2006]

This is now the fifth time I'm appearing in your ask box but I promise I won't leave y'all alone.

Alright, so this is how I personally imagine how Slim Shady became a person.

Marshall had a lot of problems and he couldn't heal any of it with the help of medicine and doctors. He was desperate to finally get rid of Slim Shady, the addiction and all other bad aspects of his life. Desperate enough to believe that maybe a separation would help.

He read about it in an old book and decided to try it out. "If it works if works, if not then not."

So he tried it.

The problem came right afterwards.

He did not finish the text. He did not reach the part where it was said that all the things you will try to separate will become a person on it's own. So he was not prepared for a blonde man with icy blue eyes to be there.

But Slim Shady was there and Slim Shady would not leave.

Now Marshall got rid of his problems but now they're a person on their own. So basically in the end, they were still there.

But somehow, it was easier to deal with now. He understands Slim, after all he created Slim. So it was easier to help Slim get sober and understand the world than to do it on his own.

In the end he was kind of grateful for not finishing the text about the ritual.

Because who knows if he would've done it if he knew what would happen.

I read the first two sentences and you caught my attention. This is actually sweet and would make a really good fanfic. It also fits with those crazy conspiranoid theories about Em being a satanist or just being into rituals and stuff like that 😆

Honestly when it comes to these things I don't focus too much in the logistics and just go with any silly explanation I can think of. For example, I like to go with the "cloning theory" and picture all of Em variants just living together in the same place with him so he doesn't feel lonely, since his kids don't live with him anymore. They also help him when he has writer's block.

Other times I go with the interdimensional/time portals Em likes to use in his MV's, I think it's canon in the Emverse that his variants are able to go to other realities. At least Shady does it all the time, he even tried to battle-rap B-Rabbit once. I don't know, I think it's funny.

I like that you wanted to give an actual context as to why Shady became his own person. It's really interesting.

It takes what is said in The Monster, and makes it literal.

“I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed, get along with the voices inside of my head”

I love that song, and I think it's funny how we see Shady and Marshall facing each other in that music video as well (I will definitely be mentioning this again in the future).

Thanks for sharing, feel free to keep sending me your thoughts :)

[endermagpie]

Welcome Home Thoughts

This is mostly just for me to get my thoughts down somewhere, sorry if it's not coherent! Also spoilers below obviously!!

Okay, all 14 of the "answer" links in order seem to be a whole day (episode?) in the neighborhood. And they seem to be from Wally's point of view because you can see his hands in some of the clips and how he's mentioned at the end of every single one. This paired with Barnaby's reaction to Wally not talking/responding in the last clip makes me think Wally isn't in control or aware when these were "recorded", (at least not fully, seeing how he does seem to move in some of them). I can only assume he snaps out of it each time one of his friends says his name, thus cutting off the video, and he continues about his day until the next clip; otherwise I don't think it would have taken the whole day for the others to notice.

As for the "Doodle" audios, there's definitely a set order to them, but I'm not 100% sure if I found them all or not. I feel like I'm missing one. So far I think the order is as follows:

"i" "will" "help" "find" "a" "neighbor" "i-2" "will-2" "understand" "soon"

I'm not certain this is where "neighbor" goes in this order, because it feels so out of place in the middle of the conversation. It seems more fitting coming after "soon", but that would mean I'm missing an audio link in order for all of them to complete a full message. It's also possible the last 4 go first, seeing how Wally tells us how to draw an eye in "i-2" but then mentions how we know how to draw eyes in "a". But "i" sounds like the beginning of Wally talking to us, not to mention it would be really weird to have it follow right after "soon".

Spooky lore aside, It's so cool to learn more about how the characters act in "canon"! Some key points that stuck with me:

Frank is so autistic he got a whole song for it. Good for him

I completely forgot Julie can talk to flowers!

Eddie seems strangely distant from the rest of the neighbors? Like backtracking when he used Frank's first name to Mr. Frankly. Then everyone else calls him Mr. Darling or the mailman.

On the topic of Eddie, he's apparently super accident-prone and seems forgetful? In his toy phone audio, he says he forgot if the phone even rang and wonders if he was going to call someone instead.

Wally not understanding how anything works makes sense in the context of the show, he's basically how they get away with explaining things to the child viewers without actually breaking the fourth wall. That said I truly do believe he's this clueless, this little guy doesn't have a thought in his head. (at least while the show was still airing...)

I have a whole theory about what I think Wally truly is, but that's a whole different post. What I am fairly certain of though; I don't think Wally is Malevolent in any way. Whatever it is he's doing I don't think he has any negative intent towards us. At least not yet anyways.

[branmuffins22]

for the toh ask game- 2, 8, 12?

from this ask game:

2. Ramble about your favorite character of all time as much as you want. We're listening

Ohhhh boy. Oh man. Oh geez. You play a dangerous game, starting out with the kicker.

The obvious choice would be Luz, right? because she's like, the perfect main character. Lovable, relatable, flawed, believable (mostly; those fireworks were a bit much), clever, emotional, funny, the list goes on.

But.

However.

I have to go with Vee.

To me, Vee is all those things and more. She's still relatable, but for completely different (some unaddressed by canon, some completely made up by me) reasons. She's the cutest sweetest little shapeshifter we actually got the chance to get to know (sorry Stringbean). She's flawed, she'd completely given up on Luz's return and was ready to throw away whatever parts of her life she didn't jive with, and then even after most of a day of hanging out with her, she was STILL kinda mad at her! She's got confusing emotions and she was able to admit it! She's a tortured and traumatized kid who's trying maybe a bit too hard to put it all behind her, and even her more fantastical struggles are made to make perfect sense in that context. She's clever and observant enough to blend in with humans (and even convince Camila she was Luz for a while), and she was instrumental in solving the rebus. She's funny not just in her sense of humor (which is anywhere from awkward to earnest to dry, all hilarious), but also in the dichotomy of being one of the more "normal" "human" characters in the show, despite not really being either of those things (part of a thought-extinct species, and unique even among others of that species. said species is a kind of magic-eating shape-shifting demon from another realm, and here she is in suburban connecticut, idly learning spanish with her friends).

She's my precious baby blorbo and I love her. She's chubby (I'm chubby), she's awkward around her crush (I'm awkward around my crush (and also in general)), she likes to wear warm colors and big boots (I like to wear warm colors and big boots (not that I have any that fit well enough for daily wear)), she's got a bit of an overbite (I had one when I was young), she is (or, I guess, was?) kinda sorta something like a twin (I'm a twin), her hair is poofy and long (at least in her epilogue design) (my hair is poofy and long), augh, she feels basically tailor-made for me. I'm not exaggerating when I say I learned to love certain parts of myself by loving them first in her.

She's perfect.

also. im gonna rant about her even more in the next bit, sorrynotsorry.

8. Any headcanons? If so, which are your favorite?

Soooo many. Like, enough that I'm writing a whole ass barely-even-canon-divergent AU just to give myself the excuse to explore them. Actually, kinda writing two if you count MatVNN, but it's more of a post-canon affair.

Probably my favorite, though, is Vee being trans (and a bunch of other flavors of queer). I'll admit, a lot of the things that make me like Vee so much are just Sorta Plausible Shit I Came Up With, and chief among them is my trans Vee theory.

So, I'll start with the canon stuff:

Vee is rather unique, even among basilisks. Her tail has 3 fins rather than the other basilisks' 1 or 2 fins, her eyes have a different structure (and more individual colors) than the others', and she has a distinct head and neck that the other basilisks don't have. She's also a lot smaller than the other basilisks: about half the size of III and IV, and even smaller compared to the "greater basilisk" which attacked Hexside (we'll call her the Inspector). In the epilogue, Vee's size doesn't appear to have changed much, if at all (hell, even in her human form, she doesn't look much taller), nor have the sizes of III and IV. The only change any of them appear to have gone through is that Vee has more/longer hair, some of which is a lighter cyan than the previous navy blue, which still remains at her roots and on her ears.

Those are the facts. Now, there could be any number of reasons for her unique traits.

The doylist reason is the easiest: she was designed to look smaller and more humanoid to appear to the audience as more sympathetic. Her strange eyes could just be a bit of fun character design, something to make her stand out on screen. No biggie.

The watsonian reasons are a lot more compelling to me though.

She could very well be quite young for a basilisk. Perhaps their eyes change shape and lose some of their color as they grow up. Perhaps the neck becomes less distinct as they get older. Perhaps even after the 3+ year timeskip before the epilogue, Vee was still prepubescent for a basilisk.

Perhaps the various basilisks are representative of different species within the same family (ex. the Inspector is called a "greater basilisk", but the others are just referred to as "basilisks"), and Vee's unique traits are staples of whatever specific species she is (I first came across this theory in A Blight on Bonesborough, by GeminiAlchemist, and they proposed "fat-tailed basilisk" as the name of Vee's species, mostly for the sake of a gag)

One of the more interesting theories is that she's only half basilisk. I wasn't the one to come up with it, but I don't remember who was, so for that I apologize, but basically, there was a theory going around for a little while after her introduction, that Vee was actually the bastard child of one of the other basilisks and Warden Wrath. The biggest point of evidence was the yellow pupils, a trait only shared between Vee and Wrath, as well as the fact that Wrath was clearly involved in the basilisk project, as shown in Vee's flashbacks in Yesterday's Lie. It's not my favorite theory by any means, but it's a super interesting one, very angsty.

My personal theory, however, and the theory on which I base a few of my other Vee headcanons, is that all the myriad differences between Vee and the other basilisks can be explained away by a simple case of sexual dimorphism in the basilisk species. "Number 5" was simply the only "male" basilisk shown on screen.

Now, what's the evidence for this theory? There is none! As with all the best headcanons, there's no real reason it should be true, but there's ALSO no definitive evidence it isn't true.

So, Number 5 escaped the labs, wandered into the Human Realm, took the form of the only human he'd seen, and spent 3 months at summer camp incidentally trying out being a girl. Turns out, she liked it! So when the time came to give Luz back her identity, Vee made her own new form a girl too.

Now, this headcanon comes with some... caveats? Complications? Sprinkles of realism? I like to imagine some extraneous silly little plot points surrounding this.

Gonna mention 'nads & stuff in purple, so skip past it if you're squeamish about people having body parts or whatever.

When Vee took on Luz's form, she didn't really know what was going on under all those clothes, so she improvised, and kept things as close to her basilisk form as possible. It was partly to conserve magic during the shift, and partly just because she couldn't imagine what to put there. This meant she had a dick, and probably a pretty funny-looking one, too, until she came across a human health textbook and got a better picture of what that whole situation is supposed to look like.

Eventually, during an accident with someone in the Cabin 7 crew (probably standard "woops, didnt realize you were changing in here" shenanigans), someone catches her with her pants down, and she accidentally makes them think Luz is trans. A silly little mixup, definitely no consequences in the future, for sure.

After this, Vee ends up learning about pride flags and their meanings, and starts collecting those things like trading cards. She is staggeringly queer. I tend to think of her as bi/pan/demi-rose, genderqueer, genderfluid (usually on a sliding scale between fem and neutral, but outside that range often enough to be noteworthy), and polyam (in theory, anyways, but even by the epilogue she's still only had one partner, Masha. Granted, she's only maybe 18 by then, so she's got a LOT of time left to try things out), but because that's So Many Labels, she tends to simplify down to Queer. Am I projecting? Yeah, a little. Maybe a lot. So what?

Anyways, when Luz comes back and Vee picks out her own human form, she mostly performs a 1-1 translation from her basilisk form to her human form (matching her standing height, size, approximate face shape, etc), and in so doing, takes on a few typically-masculine characteristics (like a mostly-flat, somewhat-wide chest, bodyfat mostly at her belly, and of course, a (normal, human) dick (most of the time, anyways; she is a shapeshifter, and can do whatever she wants forever)), resulting in her rather androgynous appearance. If her human form is gonna be her, it's gonna reflect her truth: she wasn't always a girl, but she is now. In the epilogue, her human form looks a bit more feminine/less androgynous than before (most notably with wider hips), as if she'd been on HRT for long enough to see some changes.

Now, I've also got all manner of general Basilisk Biology Headcanons, such as how shapeshifting works (magic is used to perform transformations, and reverting to their natural form doesn't use any; holding a transformation only burns calories, not magic; transformations are holistic, inside-and-out, with the two exceptions being the brain and whatever organ stores collected magic), how magical hunger works (it doesn't quite exist, they're not vampires, eating/draining magic is just a thing they Can do in order to transform, not a thing they Have to do to live; however, when a basilisk is hungry, it begins burning through its magic to stave off malnutrition, causing them to seek out magically dense food (really just magic in general, kinda maladaptive like humans' sugar cravings)), how mass distribution works when they transform (they retain their weight when they take on new forms, which limits their transformed size by how far they can compress/decompress their mass. this is part of why the Inspector was so hungry; they were near the limits of how far they could compress, and burning through calories like crazy to stay that way), their natural habitat (fins on their tails suggest they're at least semi-aquatic, but the fact that they stayed on the Boiling Isles as they fled from Belos suggests that they're not immune to (and thus not native to) the Boiling Sea, therefore I propose that they were native to lakes, the only bodies of water shown not to be boiling all the time. also they use their shapeshifting to change their bouyancy as they dive for mollusks or whatever), reproduction (internal fertilization, followed by egg laying; they can change their physical sex pretty much at will, because they're shapeshifters, but if it's not their "natural" form, it still consumes magic to get into that form and burns extra calories to hold the form; fertilization and pregnancy tends to go quite poorly if a basilisk changes/reverts to a form that doesn't have the proper equipment for whatever child they're currently bearing), and so on (basilisk eyes are adapted for underwater, leaving them relatively nearsighted unless transformed to be otherwise, and they have a short-term photographic memory to make assembling accurate disguises on the fly easier/possible), but I don't really feel the need to go tooooo into detail with all that >.>

12. What do you consider the most memorable scene? Why?

That's a very tough choice, between the graveyard fight in Thanks to Them (Very intense. Very beautiful, very powerful) and the Lumity dance in Enchanting Grom Fright (Very romantic. Very beautiful, very powerful). They both basically defined the fandom brainrot after their respective releases, and unlike the various season finales, there was little else cutting in to interrupt and distract from them. Just tasty, tasty action, one at the breathtaking height of fluff, and the other in the soul-crushing depths of angst.

A close third, to whichever one of those is only second-best, would be the duel for the portal key in Eclipse Lake (Very dramatic. Very beautiful, very powerful). Another big action scene, who'd'a thunk it, and another angsty one, too.

[satsuha]

you are SO RIGHT!! agnene is sooo cute and you’ve really opened my eyes to the extent of how much it works. the parallels you drew between them and temehika also make a lot of sense.

similarly, now that you mention it, i definitely understand what you mean about the crossed path story.. i haven’t played since the game released (i plan on replaying when the anniversary arrives) so i my memory wasn’t the clearest. i’d completely forgotten about yomi ooops.. and you’re right that they really should have touched more on agnea’s past, especially since both she and hikari have lost their mothers. it could have been so sweet to see them exchanging stories about them. i do wish that had happened :(

this is somewhat unrelated but i’m vehemently against the temenos/throné ship because i kind of see them as siblings? (SPOILERS BTW) idk i saw a really good theory about temenos also being one of Mr “So i inpregnated countless women” Guy’s children (was his name claude? i’m blanking suddenly) and while i’m not usually one to go all in on believing fan theories, the theory was so compelling that every time i see them shipped it makes me just a bit uncomfortable lmao. that’s just how my brain works i guess

argh in conclusion there were so many links that could have been drawn between certain characters that the game didn’t want to touch on and it’s such a shame. i get that they didn’t want to make any protags More Prominent than the others and that’s hard to pull off but my imagination definitely runs wild with all the possibilities (i will never see that end-game “why was temenos doing all the heavy lifting” scene the same way after what you did with it hehe)

hehe my agnene agenda... i unfortunately don't have enough hands to draw them as much as i'd like to but yeah they're so cute to me 😭 and yeah i understand! i'm also going through my second playthrough (albeit slowly lol i started in may and am still on it) but i do check videos online pretty often when i want to talk about something so i'm more or less refreshed on the events of the game

and ooogh... that theory... okay well for some context i only came across it when someone told me it was canon that temenos was claude's son and i was so horrified that i'd missed something but it turns out people had just misinterpreted arcanette's line directed at throne o<-< i think the theory is... fine but it doesn't really affect any part of temenos' character for me since the only real thing claude's children have in common is that they were forced into the blacksnakes' bloodbath but temenos wasn't a part of that so... i also think it suits him better that he's just some ordinary guy because his story seems to push the fact that he's in a role he was never destined for (in an "ideal" world, it would've been roi who was the chosen cleric for the story but temenos was forced to take up the mantle)

UHHH but yeah regardless of temenos' parentage i got pretty strong sibling/platonic vibes from his and throne's interactions anyway... i like their dynamic the most amongst the crossed paths pairs because temenos is just constantly telling throne off for her bad behaviour like a child and i find it amusing lol

i'm always stuck between wanting more of a certain kind of interaction (because i think some banters were lacklustre) and being fine with it because it means i can be delusional and just fill in the gaps myself lmao... THAT scene still boggles my mind i can't think of a single reason why temenos would be the one carrying the water JKFGHJKA but temehika going off as a pair regardless of what they are doing will always make me happy.... 🥰

[thecaseforspacecases]

S01E01 We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

First off, apologies to the 12 people who followed this account back when I was camping on a SpiderDevil themed Marvel account name. This is now a Space Cases tumblr, feel free to unfollow if you're still around.

I decided to start writing here because I am, to this day, still in love with the 1996 Nickelodeon kids' show Space Cases. I'm a.) starving for content and b.) desperate to put my thoughts down somewhere and so here we are.

I'm going to use this space to do an episode-by-episode rewatch, go though the official website and show bible, find and curate other content I stumble across on the internet, post some old magazine scans I have that haven't seen the light of day since Livejournal, etc etc.

Today, I'm starting at the start and watching S01E01 "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place." I have the old VHS rips saved to my computer, HOWEVER, for this I'll be watching the uploads on the youtube channel "thespacecases" (link below) which has them in much better quality. My thoughts under the cut!

I'm going to be scribbling down my thoughts as I watch:

(For trivia and behind the scenes info, check out the episode guide on spacecasestv.com)

I'm trying desperately to read the Starcademy motto but I can't make out the first word. So something Sine Fronteras - ...Without Borders? I took a quick look around the wiki and spacecasestv.com but couldn't find it. Darn!

The opening intro to the characters is ICONIC. I can still quote it to this day.

Davenport: I believe in regulations and procedure, Mr. Band. If you added those two words to your vocabulary you could...

Catalina: Double it?

Hello, police? I'd like to report a murder.

Here we learn that Radu is the first Andromedan at Starcademy and it seems via context that he is the only one. Probably hasn't been there too very long. What a difficult thing to do, and then to end up in the remedial class at least partly because the students are prejudiced against Andromedans because their parents fought against them in Spung-Andromedan War. I believe I also read somewhere (maybe in the show bible??) that he was chosen to go by the other Andromedans because he didn't fit in with them. Maybe I made that up.

Anyway, fair warning, Radu has always been my favorite and I'm endlessly fascinated by the potential I saw in developing the Andromedan people.

I've also developed a soft spot for Harlan and his character development/potential for growth, and the development of his relationship with Radu, who he initially hated due to his prejudices against Andromedans. And I also ship it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(@shmeiliarockie posted their thoughts after a season 1 rewatch awhile back and has a head-canon that Andromedans don't have gender which I LOVE and have not stopped thinking about. Click this for the post.)

Ok, I have got to be more brief I think, I'm only a minute and a half into this episode. BUT THIS EP IS SO GOOD.

Davenport: The vacuum of space isn't fair either, Mr. Band. It can destroy anyone who doesn't have what it takes to survive. And...none of you has what it takes.

Devastating.

I want breakdowns of all the different symbols on their uniforms and what they mean. Maybe the prominent shoulder ones symbolize the planet they come from? Harlan has three polyhedral like pillars which I've only just now thought may stand for Earth and the Lunar and Mars colonies.

Catalina is the eye roll champion.

Radu's "What is your problem?!" to Harlan. Yes, bby, don't take his shit.

Yes, why IS the Christa named after an Earth teacher, why IS Thelma a Techno-HUMAN emulating machine?? I do wonder if the creators knew or if they were just planning to figure it out if they ever got that far.

Personally, I subscribe to the time loop theory wherein the crew in the future sends Thelma and the Christa back in time to pick up their younger selves.

Thelma has the best gags.

Goddard: Band, Helm. Catalina, Engineering. Rosie, Bova, Scanning and Tactical. Radu, take Navigation.

I love this scene, chills.

They end up going through the White Circle anyway: 7 years, 4 months, and 22 days from home. Definite Star Trek: Voyager vibes, which had begun the year before in 1995.

Davenport is complaining that she had theater tickets for tonight. Where, ma'am?? The wiki says that Starcademy orbits Pluto.

Harlan is yelling at Radu and Radu looks INDIGNANT. I love him.

Goddard: I was three weeks shy. Three more weeks and my career as a teacher would have been over. I'd have been back out in space with a crew. Instead I'm...

Catalina: Back out in space.

Radu: With a crew.

Interestingly, a similar line was used against me in a DnD campaign when my ship captain then-Warlock was bemoaning his fate. :)

This episodes rules. What a great start to a series. The creators wanted Space Cases to be a "Star Trek for kids" and as someone who is also obsessed with Star Trek, well, well done, you hooked me as a child.

If you've made it this far, thank you very much for reading. And if you want to talk Space Cases, feel free to reblog/reply to this post or send me an ask. I'd love to chat about SC!

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Nah don't worry, it didn't come off as a disagreement, I always enjoy your inputs! I merely used it to explain why this analysis, while interesting, doesn't reflect my opinion but is still a valid interpretation.

Shiguang is really is a peculiar case, both because they indeed work well as friends/partners/queerplatonics/lovers and because the cultural context makes the storytelling different from what we're used to as an occidental audience.

Fans of american shows have been cursing over queerbaiting for decades while I personally was fed nicely with subtil japanese bromance since middle school. Imagine my surprise when I discovered chinese male friendships through 19DAYS and later Link Click. The no-gays-allowed policy really made me giggle because of course people would get ingenious in their writing to go around it.

The fact they thought that if Link Click was about two dudes it would be enough to make this story 100% aromantic is ludicrous, though. While the genre of Link Click is far from romance, it still started as a family show, character centric, and then turned into something of a thriller.

The story was always about two guys uncovering mysteries and helping people.

I personally would break space and time for friends and family, no questions asked, but isn't it natural to think only true love deserves the honor after all? I personally think the idea of time travel has been romanticized too many times to be free of the concept of the Ultimate Form of Love™. I mean, in the name of saving a dead wife AND a man's ego of course lmao.

So yeah, even chinese censorship or homophobic chads can't do much against, like, a century's worth of literature and cinema about going back in time for love. People can believe what they want, shiguang being gay or not is absolutely not the point: if the genders were different, they would also ship it, because that's just how the story goes and went in all previous media in the history of Time Travel. Regret might be the reason but you usually only want to go back so you can have happiness with someone again.

That's my take as far as canon goes: let it be, the story writes itself 😂

Now, about Lu Guang and his role in Cheng Xiaoshi's death, I have many, M A N Y theories actually.

The possession route is very plausible. Actually there are several threads about it on twitter supporting it. I cannot find the one where OP removes the red filter and Lu Guang still has red eyes but it's out there. Hard to say if dream sequence or memory, if original timeline or repeat.

A part of me is convinced that Lu Guang wasn't even part of Cheng Xiaoshi's life in the original timeline. Maybe there actually is a Time Agency and Lu Guang was part of it and he kinda grew fond of CXS while investigating his missing parents. Or maybe he was Vein's pupil until he realized how much of a psychopath he was and tried to bail, meeting CXS on a turn of fate.

Liu Xiao himself is a shady character who seems to have an interesting and tragic backstory. I wouldn't rule out the theory of him being an alternative version of Cheng Xiaoshi. Betrayed and left in a failed repeat.

There is still a tiny possibility that they pull a Kaishin on us and Lu Guang reveals himself as CXS's father. And if Lu Guang is actually Cheng Xiaoshi's friend since the beginning, could he be the one who gave CXS his powers one way or another? If so, wouldn't it save him to just... Keep them both from using their powers? Or did they gain their powers while on this post graduation trip after Cheng Xiaoshi's death? Are these powers only acquired after nearing death?

The darkest theory I have is that Cheng Xiaoshi has to die first for Lu Guang to reset the timeline... And there might have been times when Lu Guang killed him with his own hands in order to get a new chance at a better outcome.

Many secrets in Lu Guang's head and I'm pretty sure Yingdu Chapter won't give us the answers we seek. My take on all this is that if Lu Guang really wanted to save Cheng Xiaoshi's life, he wouldn't be in his life. But, you know: Man's ego, as I said. One of my theories is that he actually tried that one but failed (and the flash backs we saw of their meeting is actually Lu Guang failing at staying away).

But mostly: people tend to forget Qiao Ling's involvement too often. Her being in danger would be enough to make Cheng Xiaoshi risk it all, losing her would be enough to strip him from hope, sacrificing everything to save her is way too in character not to consider.

Why I think Shiguang can be canonically read as romantic

(I will only be using the donghua for reference, so no Studio Lan retweeting those fanarts (lmao) nor those especially gay manhwa panels (lmao x2) nor even the songs ("chase you to the end of the world, just to say your name once more" my beloved).

It's important to start off by saying that I'm aware Director Li said they ended up not making Lu Guang a girl because they didn't want romance to be seen as a must in Shiguang's relationship by the audience (and because he feels that "bros can have a good heart-to-heart connection with each other"). In my opinion that was a great move since it allows more freedom with how they write them than they'd have otherwise. I also think viewing Shiguang as queerplatonic is a great read too and it doesn't diminish their love for each other nor the importance of their relationship at all.

With that said, despite Director Li's words, there's been things that had me going 🤨 as someone who likes to adhere to canon relationships and read into the writer's intentions, so I wanted to share why I personally see them as romantic.

EPISODE 2

We've all seen this coming, right? Most obvious parallel ever, and in the second episode no less. We all know the similarities between both relationships, so I will just touch on those I consider the most important ones.

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia have gone to college together, and since then decided to start a business of their own - named after a mix of their names. They've been shown as being really close and having no romantic relationships. Lin Zhen also says that Yu Xia's happiness is her own, and then it's shown to us that she's gone through years of unhappiness just for Yu Xia. I believe you can replace their names with Lu Guang's and Cheng Xiaoshi's in your head without me writing all this again. And I'm not even going to get into the most obvious parallels like the special noodle recipe for each pair.

I think it's safe to say that Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are implied to be romantic. From that "one noodle" scene, to the close shot of Lin Zhen grabbing her hand, etc.

Now, I want to get into a writer's point of view and pose two questions:

1. What's the purpose of this episode, when even those which seem episodic connect to the overarching plot of season 1 (even the missing kid's case, as it leads to the involvement with the police)?

2. If we answer the previous question with the conclusion that it's meant to show us the nature/development of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's relationship, what does that say about it?

"Partner" in Link Click

Continuing with episode 2, what really got me thinking about the romantic intentions in their writing was the constant mention of marriage and anything in relation to it.

(may I remind everyone that the driver's comment was said when Cheng Xiaoshi was complaining about Lu Guang lmao)

They're telling us through "show don't tell" (for example, when Lin Zhen kept on eating the noodle despite knowing they'd kiss) and, also, connotations. They are presented to us as business partners, but then the entire episode goes on to tell us that there's more to them by tying their relationship to things percived as romantic. So what they want to really tell us is that beyond simple business partners, they're life-long partners.

And then, after establishing this kind of connotation to the word partner, Cheng Xiaoshi says this to Lu Guang in the next episode:

This doesn't stop at them. While it's the most obvious example, I think partnership in Link Click is intended to be seen as romantic, or at the very least dancing somewhere close to it. Let's go even further and take a look at our fully canon, heterosexual relationships and see briefly how their story is written:

1. Dong Yi and Xu Shanshan: both of them chose the comfort of each other's presence over moving on with their respective futures. Dong Yi had so much faith in their relationship and their love that he couldn't choose a life/future that didn't have Xu Shanshan - choosing to not go back to his family home nor go to that interview, and instead waiting for Xu Shanshan to define their relationship.

2. Liu Siwen and Ouyang: Siwen spent his entire life training with the purpose of getting his father-in-law's respect and marry Ouyang, going every year over and over to fight him. His perseverance and his undying love for her allowed Siwen to do the (seemingly) impossible.

3. Chen Bin and his wife: they're a tragedy. His wife understood Chen Bin the best, enduring feeling lonely because she loved him and wanted a future with him. But their relationship was cut short, so they promised each other to be together in a future life to make up for the time they wouldn't be in this one.

With this + the pictures I attached, it seems like Link Click has set this theme of "love is a life with you" for its romantic relationships, a partner that will fight to stay because they can't see a future that doesn't have their beloved. Going back to episode two, this applies even to the noodle ladies. When Yu Xia remembered what actually matters to her, she went back home - to the start, to her hometown. And, most importantly, to Lin Zhen.

So why is Shiguang romantic? Why aren't they queerplatonic, or just best friends, or bros or whatever else? Because besides what I said at the start of the previous paragraph, Shiguang's relationship mirrors a lot of the romantic ones. Each story and author writes romance and other kinds of relationships differently, portraying them in the way they perceive "this is what this kind of love is like". And beyond life-long partners, I think that the key elements of romantic relationships in Link Click are the ones I highlighted in bold above in the 3 canon relationships part - which Shiguang shares, too.

(I didn't mention this before with the het couples, but I find it a little amusing that season 2 happened because a man wanted to go to the past and get his wife back (still fuck you Qian Jin) and then we find out Lu Guang did go back to the past and got his boyfriend partner back lmao).

"Friend" vs "Partner"

So where is the boundary between platonic and romantic? What marks the difference between a (best) friend and a partner?

There is, for example, Liu Xiao and Li Tianchen's relationship. They aren't shown to have any kind of romantic undertones and there's even the very real possibility of manipulation on Liu Xiao's side. They're also never labeled as nor call each other partners, but instead Li Tianchen says he "met a new friend" and Liu Xiao says he's "going to meet an old friend" years later. So we could say for now that they have a somewhat close relationship (we see Li Tianchen go against Qian Jin to give the phone to Liu Xiao), but never cross that "friend" label.

We can even bring Qiao Ling and the boys' relationship. She's never labeled as a partner despite taking part in the side job and, more importantly, being super close to both of them. She is very important and a cherished friend to Shiguang, so why not call her partner too? I think it's intentional. Since she's been given a familial role already (calling Cheng Xiaoshi her brother when talking to Li Tianxi), she can't fill a partner role. I wonder why? because it's supposed to be a synonym for a romantic relationship. who said that.

So even best friends (Qiao Ling, arguably what Liu Xiao is to Li Tianchen) don't enter this close space that is being a partner. It's different, it's beyond platonic. Or at least that's what they've been showing us for the past two seasons.

I could go soo much more into this honestly, because I do think the little hints thrown here (the music videos) and there (tiny seemingly inconsequential details) are worth to be looked at too, but I wanted to get into the core reason that makes me go "woah so they're In Love fr". I hope I expressed myself well ^^

tldr; the series shows us a divide between having a (best) friend and a partner, giving "partners" romantic connotations.

[craetor]

L analysis / theory-ish

in the year of our lord 2022 because things don't make the bittest of logic & I'm here to serve autism conversation meme aka INTJ-to-INTJ bluetooth connection, telling tumblr, once more, of Him. But fr yes here's another analysis of canon content hear me out

.

Recently I've come across the Death Note Short Stories books and with it, these panels.

It seems odd how often L would state, just as bluntly: "I am justice", "L is justice", as if taking pride in some kind of double standard.

One could argue that this was his main goal during his early years (considering he might have felt somewhat high and mighty after preventing WW3), but that would mean L let go of the fact he initially wanted to use his intellect to benifit a larger good later on. Except... As recent as the beginning of the Death Note timeline, during the case of the LABB, a certain lightheartedness about his all-around approach was rather apparent, i.e. whenever he asked Misora if B "was cool", which anyhow quickly plummeted as his ideology came into question. It's inexplicitly stated that his motive for spending time on his work at all, especially on an extremely uncomfortable case as the one of a vengeful successor, or, you know, the ones involving crying survivors that reportedly haunt him daily, is following a code of "kindness", or perhaps even 'goodness' or 'justice'.

Was L forging the truth in the panels above to arise a response that would've been harder to get through full transparency? Giving the kids of Wammy's House a motif of casualness for what it means to step into L's footsteps is nothing but a making sure his successor is capable enough to have fun with it (be enough like him to use their anonymity in 'unfair', yet sufficient ways, enabling them to reach their goal with all the brattiness their smarts will grant them) and quelling the work towards a too high goal if they're not on board with doing well for themselves in face of The Burden (because, wouldn't you know, that was basically all this meeting was anyway. See end of this post for context).

I really thought it was odd for L to undermine the work he takes pride in.

In L Change The World (book one), L's literal dying duty is to save the world. It can't be ignored that it's s spin-off, but it can't be ignored that it'd be silly if the main goal of the book would be out of character. If it was his hobby, as he said, and his goals were selfish, he could've just set up in a comfy place somewhere, get his bearings, uncaring for the future of his successors (literally what he did care for in the panels shown above. This gathering is from the time he knew he might be killed by Kira soon) and watch the world crumble, but instead he went to, yes do what he loved, but fulfill a duty he felt he had. The unnecessary pain throughout the plot really can't be described as anything but passion and a sense of destiny. His ways aren't morally white, but they're well-meaning and genuine. Often arguably self-sacraficing.

It's more believable that L is splaying a facet he sees in his work & mentality. Being a detective is always bound to some sort of irony, to choose to call it 'righteous', and the measures necessary to reach a goal in such field. L recognizes this well and has no need to hide it, especially towards a room of potential proteges that will soon have to deal with that same irony by literally becoming him in the eye of the public. This actually arises the question if Near truly understands L's ways at this point. Short Stories could have served as Near's arc to understanding L's emotional side that, in the end, brought about his downfall and, for the lack of it, Near's victory. The announcement Near makes, addressing Cheap-Kira (which I adore btw) doesn't befit L at all. Yes, the new Kira has killed many (enough to warrant L's attention at the very least) and it's an honor thing for Near to go after them as L, but it's too experimental. It serves as a provocation and lure, but nothing deeply authentic. At this point the new Kira hadn't challanged L whatsoever, so the 'disinterest' thing just seems like Near shooting into the dark, less quiet & undercover than L really loved to go about things, mostly to evaluate how to go after certain cases in the first place & already semi solve them before even going public with it, at most prepping a provocation like this if something can't be clearly deduced by observing present events alone. (Read tags for fix-it-type criticism of this specifically)

Structure edit: 10.7.2023

[callmearcturus]

can you talk more about aquadromantic karkat and what that means to you/ for him? :0

I mean

I think Karkat being aquadromantic is the intended read on Karkat canonically. I'm not really interested in going up to people who believe otherwise and arguing with them about it, but Karkat Vs Quadrants is like a constant conflict from him in the story.

Karkat is, essentially, Troll Queer. And if you, like me, think Karkat inadvertently created humanity in his image, it's especially interesting how the machinations of Skaia continually face Karkat off against his greatest fears. His planet in the game was filled with his blood, the humans and carapacians had his blood color, and the humans eschew troll romance completely for... something that looks a lot like what Karkat's ideal of romance is.

Now, there's an extra step you can choose to take, and say that the entire idea of quadromanticism was cooked up to better control the species, but I'm not sure how that theory hashes out when you consider that the Beforus trolls had quadrants as well. SHRUG.

But with Karkat specifically, he does the classic blunder of learning a lot about the topic he weirdly can't understand. (What queer person is not guilty of this lmao.) He is genuinely and truly really fucking insightful and good at talking to people about their romantic issues, but his own are an unnavigable terrain to him.

More specifically, in the second Act 6 intermission I think is the longass Karkat vs Karkat log when he drags himself through the fucking mud and makes a comparison to a stock comedy archetype in troll media, about the guy who can't figure out his quadrants and tries to shove people into each one. There's that direct line, "You want [Terezi] in every quadrant like a damn fool," I believe.

Also if you've relistened to Act 4 and 5 recently, Karkat just cannot fucking nail down his own romantic inclinations. He doesn't know what he wants to be with Terezi, he blows off Vriska's teasing about what he's looking for in a pitch partner, and even admits to Kanaya that he thinks he got looped into treating his future self as a pitch flirtation because what he wants from a kismesis is unattainable. And if you take moirail to me someone who is concerned about you emotionally and will pacify your anger, then Karkat was pretty fucking pale for his entire team, as that's a core of his leadership style. His rule was not of intimidation but of compassion and a LOT of talking about feelings.

It's such a fucking mess.

Then: humans. And its definitely not a mistake that the story ends softly around the idea of Dave, Karkat, and quadrants. I think it's Vriska who even notes that no one knows what quadrant they settled on.

Reminder that Dave's idea of quadromanticism is that he does not want to play ball with it, like, at all. And his relationship with Karkat has the fingerprints of multiple quadrants.

I think the principle reason Dave and Karkat are 'quiet' about their relationship even though its very obviously a thing going on is that Dave is trying to figure out how to come out as bi/gay and Karkat is trying to figure out how to come out as aquadromantic. I don't think either of them, together, have many hangups about the relationship itself, only how the people around them would react and what it means in context of the worlds they came from. Just like Dave grew up in fucking Texas and was fuckdeep in heteronormativity and has been actively before our eyes unlearning toxic masculinity, so has Karkat grown up with the Alternian equivalent and is working through that. And don't undersell the magnitude of how they are each uniquely equipped to help each other through this exact baggage.

So. All that said. When I personally write Karkat, he will always be written as aquadromantic. Because I think its core to what makes Karkat an interesting character to me.

your honor i love him

[horizon-verizon]

Why Aemond has become such a popular character? When he is not even an interesting second son like Stannis/tyrion/Oberyn etc... And i don't buy the whole thing about him being dutiful and honourable man "tis i who studied the blade and philosophy...." Got to admit this is one of the cringiest and corniest lines I've ever heard in any show/movie . And no i don't believe he is a worthy man of becoming a king because the first serious mission he has given he fucked up badly by killing unarmed Luke And condal explanation of this doesn't add any "nuance" or "complexity" to Aemond's character. Killing Luke by mistake just show how Aemond is a shitty dragon's rider who couldn't even control his dragon after years of riding it not how "complex" or "tragic" he is.

Why I find the line of "blade and philosophy" strange, bad, and unnecessary is because there is no indication in Aemond's actual canon characterizations that he'd bother because he is a very action-oriented, physical person.

He'd be all "blade" and have no time or will for reading or analyzing things the way we modern person would expect out of a "philosophizing" person.

In the medieval context (which HotD is supposed to come from or be modeled from since its story is a part of the ASoIaF story...or tries to be), a philosopher is understood as a person who studies, reads, and organizes already-taken-as-fact-or-credible-and-religious-principles. People did not make or groundbreaking, "fashionable" new principles and had their writings "published" to help people learn something so much as to maintain their faith in God and other Christian/Church doctrines. Many times, even then things the ideas contradicted each other. 

An example is Thomas Aquinas and several other writers writing about lycanthropy and how it could never exist because only God has the power to change or create real shapes human can shift into, since humans are told be in his "likeness" and we can't fuck with that (again, because we as humans do not have that ability).

If Aemond were to ever read any “philosophies”, it would be things like this. Or just treatises on how the Seven do exist and influence the world. Basically, these would be heavily religious.

Aemond knows/feels his place as a man, as a trueborn, as a "true" Targ, and all of that derives from Alicent and the Faith's teachings about female chastity, bastardry, etc. Plus, the show itself does not show Aemond reading, thinking deeply, or taking the time to pick and choose his battles (Lucerys) so nothing supports this idea of his "philosophizing". Any "philosophizing" he would have done is to repeat the already existing Faith tenets and male privilege of the patriarchal values that give him personal license to usurp Rhaenyra.

Anon is also talking about what Seth Abramson calls Ryan's "theory of accidents". How Ryan believes he is adding complexity by making characters reactive instead of proactive and asking unnecessary and motive-dismissing "what ifs".

Some hate Daemon and see how the show makes parallels between him and Daemon. As Daemon's thematic and political "match" or rival, they glom on to Aemond.

HotD's Aemond also has an actor that many find very attractive and his wig is in much better condition than most of the wigs on that show.

Many also think that the greens are the ones on the political defense or in the moral right, especially after Aemond loses his eye (thinking that he was a poor victim in that struggle and not caring or noticing his prejudices). People love to think that if you are a victim, you have zero culpability and are exempt from being "judged" (or fairly analyzed) for your actions forevermore. Aemond and Alicent received their cloaks of innocence from their looks and Alicent's obedience to conservative, feudal values. And since Aemond is the green's ace, Aemond is God.

[idrellegames]

Obviously you don't have to reveal Why or Aeran spoilers, I just wanted to theorize in here bc I know creators love when you engage with the work. But I find it interesting how when Aeran is warm towards you, he doesn't do anything about his romantic feelings. But if he's cold, he confesses. And when he's warm, he hits you with an arrow, but if he's cold, he's a deadshot.

This leads me to believe that for the first bit, it's because if he confesses while there's a warm relationship, what if he loses something special with you because of his feelings or something goes wrong but if he's cold, what does he have to lose if you're Acting Like This.

For the second, I think it's because if he's warm towards you, he's so focused on not hurting you with his arrow that he's not focused on shooting the count and therefore hits you with an arrow while if he's neutral or cold/hostile, he's able to actually Focus on the shot.

Idk, I just found it interesting bc a lot of times, it's the opposite, if they like you they confess, if they don't, they don't. If they like you, they Don't shoot you, if they don't, they do. But this is actually a brilliant portrayal of Aeran's character, amazing work if that's how you intended on writing it.

Anon, this ask has literally made my day. 😭 I don't get a lot of engagement about my characters or the game outside of walkthrough requests, so to hear theories is always heartwarming. 💗

With the first one, you're almost there.

The trigger for the confession isn't approval-based, it's dialogue-based (this is because flagging his romance sets his approval to 80 and it's really hard for the player to get this scene while dropping his approval all the way down to cold or hostile... you basically have to hit every minor disapproval ping and kill Marea in Flotsam Grove).

An MC with the romance flag has to get mad at him and essentially tell him the equivalent of "fuck you and fuck off".

If you want this scene in your game's continuity, you cannot compromise on being mad.

Anger flares in the pit of your stomach. “Fuck you, Aeran,” you hiss. He blinks, a hurt expression flickering across his face. “$firstname?” “Fuck you!” you shout. “Handing us over to a Guild mage? And an Imperial one at that? What the hell were you thinking?” He rises to his feet. “I was thinking I didn’t want the person I’m in love with to die!” he shouts. You pause, his words echoing in your head. Pain flares in your body, your injuries throbbing to the beat of your heart. You feel disoriented, confused… Your head is pounding as you fight a flurry of muddled emotions. …what? Aeran closes his eyes and passes a hand over his face. “Fuck.” “No,” you breathe. “No no no no—what did you just say?”

His confession is a slip of the tongue, something he never intended to say until the MC's goading puts him into the right situation. And once it's out, he can't take it back... which will make certain sections of Chapter 2 very awkward.

Also, canonically Aeran isn't in love with the MC until they get injured in Chapter 1. He may have feelings, but they go mostly unacknowledged outside of a bit of fun flirting and banter. He doesn't realize their full extent until the MC almost dies right in front of him. If you have his romance flagged and you get knocked out, you will always get +60 to his romance stat (even if you haven't unlocked the romance bar in his profile yet).

Whether you get the +60 or not and whether you get the confession or not will significantly change some of your interactions with him in Chapter 2 (as of right now, I have different states for Confession!Aeran, no confession but +60 to romance, regular romance from Chapter 1, high friendship/approval, and low friendship/approval with occasional separation between Neutral, Cold, and Hostile for flavour text when the context requires it).

For the shooting the MC situation, you're spot on. From a behind-the-scenes standpoint, that was me wanting to trip the player up.

Low or high approval, how much do you really trust Aeran? How much can you?

The fight inside the villa is an extremely tense situation. At this point, Aeran has been awake for almost 24 hours, has crossed Rona multiple times, has potentially scaled a bunch of cliffs and traipsed through a rainforest, and been in a couple fights. The Count is actively trying to kill him, Rhodarth is either dying or dead (possibly by Aeran's own hand)... He's exhausted and under an incredible amount of stress.

With low approval, his relationship with the MC is tenuous. Because he cares less about them, he's able to think straight and make the shot.

With high approval, he's so worried about the MC that he gets in his own head--and ultimately and causes himself to do the exact thing he was worried he would do.

[bi-demon-ium]

ok but now bc of my tags on this post i cant stop thinking about the kids somehow telling him in person that the headmaster ld curtain is identical to him like. forget the context of how this happens there are just so many layers of potential and implications here. like.

i mean it starts with him as cheerful as ever, hands waving and like clapping them together like ah!! ah hello children!! your first check-in!! and they just exchange looks because they know what they have to say and he doesn't. and then like more specifically.

the kids doubted him: theories like cloning or multiple personalities/some jekyll and hyde thing, or suggesting they're the same person, that he's tricked them, or even the implication afterwards that sticky (understandably, but without full context) wonders how brothers could possibly have not stuck together, etc., so like. reynie earnestly is clearly like believing in him and waiting for an explanation with faithful eyes, kate's eyeing him suspiciously, sticky seems extremely uneasy, constance is unreadable and just crossing her arms and like. mr benedict's heart hurts a little because he completely understands why they might not trust him, and he doesn't blame them a bit, but it hurts a little still

and then like. of course. he just gets this fucking. mind blowing revelation that it's nathaniel, of course it's nathaniel, and like. he was already trying to hold himself back in the canon scene with the adults and still lost it a little (raising his voice, generally looking like he was about to have a breakdown, being all tight/tense and talking about how one can never escape the past, etc) can you fucking imagine how hard he'd be repressing everything if there are actual children there? he's just like. tightly slamming that shit down trying not to vibrate with how tense he is because it hurts, god, this revelation hurts, but what else can he do?

(he might even literally be like. okay. i. i. have to go. process this for a second. i apologize. and go excuse himself to just sort of try not to cry and scream into a pillow for a sec. and like the kids--they're not stupid. they're brilliant kids. they can tell they've given this grown man news that's got him on the verge of a breakdown, and they're just like "hmmm". on the bright side it does make him immediately less suspicious because the genuine distraught expression/general distress does not seem like something easily faked.)

and then like. i mean. this couldn't exactly be explained over morse code but does he then have to explain? how much does he tell them? is he more likely to give them the full story--thinking they deserve the truth and trusting they can handle it, sticky or one of the others pushing on the idea they got separated/asking why--or less likely, in an attempt not to burden them with his problems?

the latter might be more realistic but also the idea of him telling them does hurt me. especially because like. a) how would he tell it? can he stop himself from crying? b) what would they think? would sticky still be wondering was that enough, would kate think about how her dad promised to come back and never did (not knowing he was right there across the campsite watching with sad eyes, or right at mr benedict's back with a hand on his shoulder, a silent comfort), would constance--who can feel his anguish and guilt--react outwardly at all? and reynie. dear reynie. this sweet, empathetic child. would he say what i'm still deeply mad no one else said and tell him that it wasn't his fault? is it really his place to have to say that, or is it wisdom from the mouths of babes? like. fuck.

and mr benedict just trying not to show how incredibly upset and distraught he is, trying to hold himself together until they leave, and once they do all but collapsing like a puppet with cut strings, hands shaking and like. just a moment of weakness before he tries to force himself together again, for the others' sake--they don't need as much protection as the kids, but he still doesn't want to burden them, doesn't want to start weeping like a child--but like. also because i desperately want him to be able to cry in someone's arms so like also. bc it's kind of much worse and he knows his brother is just on the island not even far away (OH GOD SOMETHING ELSE JUST OCCURRED TO ME HANG ON) and he had to relive that whole story much sooner while also being even more tightly controlling his emotions about it so like they leave and he just. nearly immediately crumples. like. just. he's shaking, trying to keep it in but he just can't he's on the verge of an actual panic attack and by the time they get him to calm down even marginally he just. can't stop himself from weeping anymore. god fuck im in so much pain

but also hey okay it occurs to me that if they are literally on the island because shenanigans reasons he doesn't need to demand a boat he might literally try and just walk off to curtain's office ldkgjfghh WHICH i mean. they'd probably stop him, and it would still be dangerous to just walk onto campus willy nilly but like also. the image of mr benedict, distraught, eyes red-rimmed, clearly on the verge of a panic attack, just marching onto campus literally minutes after finding out the truth and kicking in curtain's door like WE NEED TO TALK NATHANIEL is both deeply distressing and also very very funny.

curtain realizing his brother was hiding in the woods and literally just now like two minutes ago found he was the sender: hm. you know. this dramatically undercuts the monologue i had planned. there there? listen, please calm down so i can monologue at you. look, i'm patting your back, that fixes "feelings" right? mr benedict sobbing into his hands: ive told you like a million times that isn't how feelings work nathaniel

but also just like. not to undercut the comedy but the genuine like. amount of distress this image causes me. like. he's just distraught, literally about to have a panic attack, on the verge of tears and not thinking straight and just bursting into his office (on one hand the others in tow trying to stop him on the other hand if that's what happened they could probably simply put him over milligan's shoulder (or number two's for that matter) and carry him away + emotional impact of it being just them) like you. it's been you this whole time. you tried to kidnap me, you started the emergency, you hurt my friends and invaded my home, you stole milligan's memories, you hurt children. it's been you the whole time. you never tried to find me, you never tried to reach out, and you've been hurting people. not to mention like how does curtain even respond to this shit he's just minding his own business doing evil headmaster shit when his twin bursts in disheveled on the verge of a mental breakdown guards on his heels

anyway my point is the kids telling mr benedict about the sender's identity in person is. mmmmmmmm ouch<3

[meirimerens]

I hear ur gartemy thoughts and I wanna ask: thoughts on daniil gay subtext next? I haven't even come close to finishing p1 yet (taking it literally one day at a time) so I still have little to no context other than the quotes I've heard around Twitter

tungl crashed and i had to rewrite this so i'll be quick

i'm not the best person to ask for "subtext" because well. i see him as gay. i've never seen him as anything other than gay (unlike artemy where i've gone back and forth between seeing him as gay and bi before settling on the fact that it makes more sense to me for him to be gay). asking me for gay subtext is like trying to ask a geologist for a rock. like Yeah brother i'll find you one.

IF i needed to be convinced (which i don't) and without bad faith i'd say it'd go

1. his dandyism and everyone's (both P1 and P2) obsession with his perceived elegance. while dandyism was historically not a gay thing and more of a class thing (dressing well to give you social status that you may had not have), it has become to modern eyes with the rediscovered works of Leyendecker, for example. the modern tumblr/twitter user sees dandyism through gay male art even tho dandyism itself may not have been. while it is... really easy to go the homophobic stereotype route vibe of He dresses well -> Must be gay, i personally think his dandyism comes from 1. he's a cityguy 2. he's an academic 3. he does the class dandy thing of trying to present himself as good and well put-together to climb ranks (which makes sense with his current situation) 4. you know what maybe he does dress like that for gay reasons, and i say that with the utmost amounts of love and the knowledge that i'm somewhat of a lezzie stereotype myself (we live it well)

2. P1 haruspex route the first thing he tells you when you meet him is a hair's width away from being a declaration of love, you'll see when you get there

3. not canon anything but if you know about the connotations of Bachelor

yeah

4. at first i thought it was just me but one of my closest friend told me the same, but the times women attempt to flirt with him, he is stiff, stunted, unnatural and barely even reciprocate (fun fact that's one of the piece of data i have for my MGS Gay Snake Theory. lol! bunch of snakes!)

there's probably other things but as i said i already see him as a homosexual so i don't need to look for subtext. i just believe it in my heart.

edit to add: ALSOOOO universities where historically very male-dominated (or women where banned from studying period), and the ongoing joke was that with no girls present, the boys kept pursuing each other.

+ he speaks latin, and you know what that means

edit to add 2 because i need to re-read but also:

2.a.: his letters to Burakh in the Haruspex route reek of "🥺🥺🥺" and i'll leave at that. he also has tons of sentences that are like... genuinely loving and caring, in a very low-key and restrained way. he's like a tsundere (you are allowed to beat my ass for this one, but you will not succeed)

edit to add 3:

🤨

[marshmallowprotection]

That discussion 'bout whether it's Suit or Unknown during V's route is very interesting. I'm pretty sure Cheritz wanted it to be Unknown at first, since this was before any talk about Ray's route, but it certainly does not make sense in the context of the story now lol

It basically comes back to the whole problem with: 'are Another Story and Casual/Deep stories connected?', which, honestly, is just another issue with continuity in mysmes universe... Either way, you have to fill in the blanks yourself, since the canon does not do that for us. Before the existence of Ray's route, it was definitely Unknown. You can look up old fanarts and fics before the release of Ray's route, and people absolutely perceived him as Unknown. He had the same manner of speech as him, he uses the same chatroom username and his voice acting is different from the way Suit talks. But with the release of Ray's route, it created this inconsistency we have now. It does not make sense for it to be Unknown, cause now Suit came into the picture, but it is also quite confusing since (at least in my eyes) he acts way different from Suit. So you have to fill in the blanks yourself. I believe that's partially why some people came to believe that Suit and Unknown are the same person... It's confusing when details like that are changing so drastically. This is not the first time that happened as well: if you try to write up a list of continuity inconsistencies in the overall story, it's going to be long one.

In my opinion, you can go both ways with this. Whatever fits your story better. It is an inconsistency in the writing and you can shape it whatever way you want! Whenever I write something about V's route, I use Unknown, but I certainly have to change up a few things in canon for it to work. Considering what we have now, it makes much more sense for it to be Suit, that's for sure. And I REALLY love how you explained his motivations during those events! But it definitely wasn't like that from the beginning... Being an oldy in the fandom is fun, cause you can remember those things changing quite clearly xD

I think the twins and Rika/V suffered from those inconsistencies the most for sure

Honestly, I don't know, either. That's why I said that it's really up to the player to decide if they feel like it's Unknown or Suit Saeran. I've just got in my head that it won't make sense to me otherwise if I'm not able to piece together everything in a way that makes sense to me personally. I'm a stickler for universe details, and we know that Cheritz can forget things and erase things very easily without any regard to past information. I've been here so long that I've seen so much change in regards to every character, especially Saeran as he grew from a mysterious person into something much much more layered and complex.

I always imagined the bits with “Unknown” in V were meant to be a big part of foreshadowing, and that's because I started thinking about that so much harder after Ray Route came out and I started to note similarities. Well, I felt like they were similarities. With Cheritz record on facts, you're right, it could very well be the implication of Unknown. I like to make things make sense in my head and Cheritz really makes us work for the information that we want to flesh out in the stories we create.

With no context for Suit, you’ll never know it’s him. See, I explain away the difference by saying that because Suit Saeran emerges differently due to the events in V Route, it changes how he reacts to things somewhat. That makes more sense to me! But, that’s because I write connect AS and CS/DP routes and if I don’t do that, I’ll lose my mind over here. Even though, it’s more likely that we should view them as alternate universes to each other and they’re not meant to be something that interlock. 

inconsistencies are everywhere. We, the fans, have to cry to make our own theories and assumptions with the information we have on hand, and then we have to change that and adapt after they say “hehe, actually, this is what really happened.”

[zolusbian]

okay but a penny for your thoughts! do you think lalo could leave nacho alive after what he did?

i have been thinking about this, and though i want to say yes because i want lalo and nacho to not kill each other and team up together, or mutually kill each other, or any other configuration where they both die or both live, i don't know if lalo could leave nacho alive.

putting it under a cut because this ended up super long!!!

nacho stooped low; nacho let lalo's family die. i know he refers to his staff as his "people" and not his family, and i think that is true of everybody but yolanda. he likes the others well enough, sure, to keep them around and sing their praises (cecilio's tomatos, you're all so pretty, etc) but he loved yolanda.* yolanda is his mother. like, not literally, but with context, the way they react to each other, the hug, etc -- yolanda is lalo's mother figure. most likely, she has been employed by the lalo branch of the salamanca family since lalo's childhood. lalo has no wife, children, mother or father on the estate. he has yolanda, who calls him her beautiful boy, whose cooking he praises, who he fucking BEAR HUGS when he gets out of the car, before anything else. that's how a man greets his mama!

and nacho let her die.

now, okay, nacho is going to say, i tried to make it clean. lalo is going to say, you should have told me. so nobody wins favor there.

here, lalo could make it even by killing nacho's father, which is a pretty popular theory. i could see it happening. lalo is beyond capable of that cruelty, and he would see it as an eye for an eye. however, we also have not seen how lalo views vengeance yet, because nobody wronged him until nacho. the closest we get is that lalo laughs at gus for trying to get even with hector for killing max, but we can't take that as indicative of lalo's philosophy on revenge generally since this is a specific context unrelated to lalo personally. lalo does not give us an example or an opportunity in canon to see how he approaches revenge. and that's for season 6!

but how could lalo leave him alive? nacho would have to talk his ass off, and whatever subtext of lalo genuinely growing fond/trustful of nacho would have to be made very explicit and nacho would have to know to use that to his advantage. nacho needs to victimize himself and show lalo the shit position he was put in, and he needs to pledge total loyalty. he would possibly have to show that, too. killing or otherwise neutralizing gus could give him that opportunity, but we know gus survives into breaking bad. now, say nacho is able to get lalo to spare him and they go after gus together.

a few different scenarios based on all of the above:

1. gus kills both nacho and lalo.

2. nacho and lalo escape.

2a. they escape together, tied together by a shared history/distrust/knowledge that they would both kill each other if they didn't need/rely on/love each other.

2b. they go their separate ways. unlikely.

3. lalo kills nacho - justifiable, but boring, and nebulous because we don't know how lalo is going to approach his revenge other than that he is pissed. i believe the bcs writers will give us more nuance than this. i will say that if this ends up being the result, i do hope we get the trope where lalo dies soon afterwards but spends the whole time between nacho's death and his own sad and realizing how lonely he is and how many mistakes he's made etc. etc. etc. pain! angst! tragedy!

4. lalo kills nacho's dad, makes nacho watch, then kills him - a more interesting variant on the above. i can't see lalo killing nacho's dad and leaving nacho alone afterwards; that will just create a cycle of revenge, a loose end, a liability, etc. a particularly dark version of this scenario could involve lalo still trying to keep nacho on as his righthand man, which could lead to:

a. nacho killing lalo;

b. nacho somehow escaping. unlikely.

5. nacho kills lalo when lalo finds him. possible! nacho finally succeeds at killing a salamanca. lord knows he's had practice.

6. mutual death in their confrontation.

of these, i think 3, 4a, 5 and 6 are the most likely to happen. but my favorite is 2a <3

now i will shamelessly promote myself: i have been working my ass off on a post season 5 finale novel-length fic (with a planned canon divergence sequel) to make 2a happen. it's at about 50k words right now and i'm trying to at least get it ready to post before christmas. so i will be trying to write them there myself! it does, however, depend on them having had, like, an obscene amount of sex, though.

* lalo is capable of love. like he's insane and crazy but he feels empathy and love. he has just been raised in utter privilege and violence. his love is not safe. but he feels love!