#i fucking love hark

[sidesteppostinghours]

The Puppets

(picrew used to make this)

this is a masterpost on my main steps puppets and their relationships with them! all of their info under the cut.

Hark - Caine Lynzal

hark is caines refuge. hes the one they turn to when they need to take a break from their telepathy for a while, or when they need to feel real again. harks snarky, flirty, and sharp. for all his bravado, he gets the job done well. whether or not that makes him more frustrating or less is up to you. he has an eerie sense of intuition, so its difficult to catch him off guard with anything. he has a cordial working relationship with dr mortum, but jake has his eye on him. as for ranger relationships, ortega flirts with him regularly, though chen is never quite so pleased to see him. he truly doesnt know why– a bruise at the back of the head is a much more agreeable outcome than a bullet in the gut, no? its strange to watch him, really. hark and caine are almost(?) different people; where caine prefers to stick to the shadows, hark revels in attention. caine rarely shows emotions, but hark uses them like a weapon. ortega doesnt have a clue that theyre connected. high puppet individuality, high puppet comfort. practices aikido.

Argentine - Cyrus Becker

argentine is a tool. nothing more, nothing less. shes a useful asset to help cyrus gather information anonymously, but hes not going to sit here and pretend he cares for her any more than what she can do for him. she goes to meet with hollow ground instead of cyrus, and was stuck being treated in the hospital before dr mortum went to break her out (cyrus had no idea she was getting kidnapped, he was busy regene revealing to ortega while it was happening). she started out flirting with the good doctor in an attempt to manipulate him, but quickly came to realize she enjoyed his company more as a friend. the guilt of lying to him chewed on cyrus until he finally revealed who was behind the mask. dr mortum requested some time, but hasnt cut the chord completely yet. she flirts with jake, and spies on ortega under the guise of being his close friend. low puppet individuality, low puppet comfort. practices jogging.

Ace- Cecilia Rider

ace lives lavishly. shes an excuse for cecilia to flaunt her wealth and have her own fun. it allows her to let loose in ways she cant normally indulge in. cecilia also hates being ace. every second she can avoid it, she does. it isnt her, even though they may think and act the same way. the prospect of hiding under the mask ace provides gives her hives. shes no coward, shes willing to face the consequences of her own actions, and she refuses to live her life in somebody elses body. ace is friends with dr mortum and ortega, though shes revealed to mortum. however, she has a strong tension with jake because of her tendency to get into fights whenever hes around. oops. high puppet individuality, low puppet comfort. practices boxing.

Eden - Cynthia Garcia

eden is not cynthia. shes soft spoken and mostly reserved, but professional and polite. Technically speaking, the game registers her as a mirror image puppet, but thats not completely true– eden doesnt look like what cynthia does currently, she looks like how cynthia looked back when she was sidestep. sometimes, looking in the mirror gives her vertigo as she tries to remember who (when?) she is. eden avoids mirrors as a result, but she cant deny that this body feels better than her usual one. like shes turned back time. the fact shes dating ortega only exacerbates this (ortega also called eden 'cynthia' which. Ortega. could you please stop dating both at once and giving both(?????) your gfs an identity crisis). mortum considers her a friend, but theyre not very close, and jake couldnt care less about her. low puppet individuality, high puppet comfort. practices aikido.

[the-ominous-owl]

so this bit is way funnier now

[driedlasagna]

the doctor: no seriously it’s not me i can prove it

the psychic paper:

[jubshead]

I saw some people pissed by Agatha not getting a redemption arc at the end of the series, but the real reason is: she shouldn't get one.

She killed so many witches and did terrible things and nothing is going to change that at the end of the day.

I think what they gave us is so much stronger, you see how she’s filled with trauma and can't make herself trust anyone besides herself and her son.

She doesn’t kill witches, because she feels like. She’s a succumbs, she needs the energy in order to survive and that’s something her mother could never understand.

After she figured out how to control her powers I’m sure she could have joined a coven and she’d receive help from them.

But who would trust a kind of witch who has a defense as an attack? And how could Agatha trust anyone after her own coven and mother tried to kill her?

Redemption arcs are more times than not extremely forced, people’s actions shouldn’t be forgiven by a single action. They made us understand Agatha as a whole character, with flaws, traumas and depth and know that, ultimately, her life lead her into doing terrible things, that have no excuse.

[novelconcepts]

Obviously next week could prove this all dead-wrong, but I don’t think the trial’s quite over. I don’t believe the end of that episode actually took place, because I’m pretty sure we’re still firmly in the “punish Agatha” phase. Rio’s suddenly gone. Alice seems to be dead by Agatha’s hand, and no one—including Teen, who has always been on her side—seems primed to believe she was out of control. The others have been sucked beneath the power of the surrogate son who not only just told Agatha to fuck off, but went full-Wanda to do it. It just all seems too tailored to cut up any of the character progress Agatha’s made on the Road thus far. Getting harassed by her ghost mother and hearing her son’s voice don’t feel like a complete tear-down. This does. It feels like more trial.

[gnawing-suspicion]

that was one of the best-written episodes of TV I’ve ever seen

all hail Jac Schaeffer and her team and god damn mother fucking Patti LuPone

waiting another 7 days is MY personal trial

[holyblanchett]

Just thinking about Death's flower being an orchid and Orchids representing eternal love for the deceased. Rio was holding one when she appeared in Salem for Nicky the first time and during ep8 when she was straddling Agatha's house. I will never recover from the pain this ship has brought onto me.

[child-of-the-danube]

Can I be a lesbian for a quick moment here?

The Agatha x Rio kiss was so fucking beautiful, not only because it was desperate and passionate and heartbreaking, but because it had RHYTHM!!

Yes, passion and desperation in a kiss can often be "sloppy", but like damn, these bitches kissed in a way that's so profoundly telling of their connection, of knowing the others' rhythm and breaths and tendencies. It looked like the most natural thing to ever happen. Truly some gourmet life long lovers shit 👌🏻👌🏻

[trickarrows-bishop]

something about death herself's only scar being the woman she loved being hurt by her actions is REALLY getting to me today gang

[cairhienin]

the tragedy of it is that it doesn’t matter what rio chose because she would have lost agatha anyway. it didn’t matter if she took nicholas at birth or at six years old. it didn’t matter that death loved agatha enough to delay her own inevitability. it was always going to lead to agatha becoming the one thing death hates and cannot reach.

[nightmare-of-homophobes]

Can't stop thinking about how Agatha tries so hard to be closed and mysterious about her past/feelings but then Rio comes throwing all that shit in the fan by saying things like "she's my scar" in front of a whole fucking coven of fruity misfits

[raventrigonsdaughter]

Me: ok, Teen is definitely Billy aka wanda's son

Me after episode 4: yeah that's him but that's Agatha's kid now, someone bring the adoption papers

[timethehobo]

Scribbled my take on Boomie. Just a mishmash of his various versions. 😛

[jubshead]

As a matter of fact, I CANNOT take them, but I will die trying 🫡

[captainfairygodmother]

Okay, Children of Earth is singlehandedly the most traumatising piece of media ever produced

[evendimmer]

Thinking about Rio and hurting bad.

Thinking about the love she had for Agatha, a mortal, a love so strong that Rio was willing to bend her own rules—the sacred balance—just because Agatha said one thing.

“I will hate you forever.”

Rio knew that there was nothing to stop what was coming. She did not want to do it, she had no choice. It was the way of life and so was the way of death. It was the way of Rio’s very own being.

And yet Agatha still rejected her. Everything that Rio stood for and everything that Rio ever was, over something that she had absolutely no control over.

Can you imagine how painful that would be?

Still she stood there and took everything Agatha threw at her.

And Rio did try to find a way to work around, she offered time. For Agatha, for Nicky. And for herself.

She bought time for both of them to delay the most unthinkable. For Agatha, it was the death of her (their) son; and for Rio, nothing was more unimaginable than the loss of Agatha’s love and affection.

It was the greatest gift and blessing Death could ever offer to anyone.

Agatha would get what she wanted, at least for a while. She would welcome their son to the world and live out possibly the happiest moments of her life. But for Rio, it was a countdown to the darkest and most sorrowful time ever known to her.

And Agatha would never know any of that.

Rio Vidal, the most powerful yet most tragic character of the show. Who gave her all but at the end, got nothing back.