#i have a lot of Thoughts

[madmaxxing]

I have very little faith that Rare's actually gonna do anything interesting with the cool ass premise they have been building but I'd love to see smth like this fr.

I wouldn't say Jr is an idiot so much as he's incredibly naive. He's lived in the estate his entire time, he knows several languages, art, math, philosophy, but also he's a good swimmer, he can navigate and he's a decent swordsman. Perhaps if he had more of a life outside the estate and his father's stories, he would've had the sense to do things differently.

From the SOT TTRPG Jr's traits are Self-Reliant and Treacherous, which could set a cool precedent of him seeing that Flameheart's plans for the sea of thieves no longer match what he wants, and the potential to break the Reapers from the Ashen crews. I don't see him siding with Athena's either

On the topic of a betrayal, Jr's also got the tools very very close. The corrupted sword of souls is there, so is the orb, and the painting pendragon is in. It's basically a dash to free pendragon and get rid of flameheart, if he doesn't do it himself

There's also the front of the Dark Bretheren and Cap'n still at large and we have no idea what he looks like

You know... I can't help but feel that Orb is talking about Junior and his father here. (also possibly referring to the royal family from their own era but anyway) Time to get my brain worms out.

When Junior's animations changed a few months ago, I've been pondering the meaning of it ever since.

I may be fairly new to the game and not particularly active but it's the story, and more specifically Junior that caught my eye and made me want to play, even if sporadically.

When I first saw him, he was a lot more confident, standing tall and proud, flourishing his cutlass as if he didn't have a care in the world.

These days, however, his animations seem a lot more guarded, he's hunched, hiding his face, turning away... He's even putting his cutlass between himself and us. Now to me, that tells me there's something wrong with him or something is going on, and I've always wondered if everything he's done in the name of his father is starting to catch up to him.

In the book where he describes himself, he gives no hint of having any evil nature. Ambitious, overconfident and a bit of an idiot? Absolutely, but not evil... But back then he didn't have any street smarts either, so to speak. Now I know being a skeleton changes things and messes with the mind, but it wasn't until he met Wanda that he fixated on Serving his Father, obsessively so, desperate to prove himself like so many others. That adoration and idealisation he had of Flameheart as a child still persists even though his mental image was reshaped by her.

Flameheart was never a good man, he was a bully and a tyrant and still is, but even though he was an absent father, he still gave Junior the best childhood he could, perhaps reliving his own ideal childhood fantasies through his newly adopted son. (that could be another reason why he adopted the child in the first place because it seems so out of character but anyway) That left Junior with a deep level of affection for him, which of course we know about... (but perhaps some melancholy too)

But the Flameheart we have now isn't the one he knew growing up. He in fact never was, only telling him an idealised version of events and keeping secrets. Junior himself says his father told him he didn't need to know what he saved the boy from. (Flameheart attacked and sank the ship Junior was on as a baby so there's that)

That brings me to my theory...

I can't help but wonder if actually working 'with' his Father has begun to create cracks in that blazing ideal image of his, that those rose-tinted glasses are beginning to slip, no matter which shape they take. He had one idea of his father in his mind as a child, that of a hero, which set him on his journey in the first place. No doubt the Cap'n gave him one too, telling him of the betrayal and the horrors he committed... Then so did Wanda, praising him, lording him, and elevating him to the kingly status Flameheart craves now. (though part of that was obviously her own ambition speaking)

But with them all out of the picture, Junior gets to see his father for who he truly is now, for the bloodthirsty, blazing pit of vicious sadistic hatred that he actually is.

For a while, I could see him obsessively working to serve his father as he said he would, in fact, we've seen this with him creating and being the face of the Reapers we know today, resurrecting his father and being his right-hand man. I'm sure for a while he would have been over the moon to be working alongside his father, the man he adored growing up, his idol, his role model... Well, you know what they say about meeting your idols...

Here we are now, with Flameheart back near his full power and seeking more and yet... You would think Junior would be elated, even with his reserved and tempered mannerisms. Yet to my eyes... He looks the complete opposite, small, retreating... in pain even....

Let's not forget he's a Skeleton Lord, even though he's nowhere near the power level of Flameheart, he's not just a regular old skeleton... So like Duke, like Wanda... He still retains the majority of his mind. And to my knowledge... He is not bound to Flameheart by magic... only by word. Junior is an intelligent man, one who has gained the use of dark magic, and knows a great deal of disciplines from the outside world. He's a studious, patient and learned man who was trained to be very observant.

So is he having second thoughts? Is that why they changed his animations? Is he beginning to see the truth of his actions and having regrets? Has he realised that the man he's working for, isn't the matching up to the ideal image in his head? (whatever that looks like now)

It could also be he's being prepared to be sacrificed in some ritual, I could see Flameheart doing something like that to maintain his status and power... after all, his biggest fear is being beaten... and currently the biggest potential threat to him... is his right-hand man... as always. After all, it wouldn't be out of fashion for a King's closest advisor and Servant to inevitably betray them.

It would be poetic and fitting for Flameheart (should he need to be defeated at some point for plot resolution) to be beaten by his hubris again, at the hand of his second-in-command. After all, Junior had always dreamed of surpassing his father's legend... And betrayal is a founding principle of the Reaper's Bones... A founding act that Flameheart himself initiated three decades ago.

And we all know, Junior is not safe... but then, now that Flameheart is back, with a thirst for vengeance and army at his fingertips... nobody is.

Anyway, this is my long-ass theoretical ramble that I desperately needed to get out of my brain (god there is so much more i could add but this is plenty long enough so props to you if you read this marathon of prattling). I could be completely off the mark, but fair enough, but this is what I do, latch onto a character, learn the lore and theorise. :)

Anyway, let's see where the story goes, as always me and Raven will be watching from the sidelines with popcorn in hand.

[thejudeduarte]

A load of people sort of view Jude as being kind of mean and grumpy a lot of the time and I do agree she doesn't have that natural humour Cardan has and can be overly sarcastic (which I absolutely LOVE about her, she has the best roasts 😭) I feel like these consumptions are wrong.

Jude is actually so nice. She is kind and a nice person especially towards humans because she's mortal herself. There's a bunch of examples of this throughout the series including when she saved Sophie in tcp, chose to help Taryn and her hanging out with the court of shadows when we get to see her friendly side shine through. I feel like we make her "meaner" side a bit too dramatic sometimes as a fandom 😭

[bonewraith]

btw harrow made gideon promise to outlive her and return to the locked tomb if anything were to happen to her

btw gideon couldn't keep that promise because she instead kept the promise of "one flesh, one end"

btw harrow was so certain she would die before gideon but gideon just had to put a damper on those plans, like she does with all of harrow's plans

btw gideon was the first (living) person harrow bared her entire soul to, so after gideon died, harrow felt she had Nothing left

[chironshorseass]

the thing is, we were never meant to sympathize with luke when he betrays percy. we aren’t meant to see his inner turmoil. we aren’t meant to see hesitancy, or regret. it’s meant to be a slap in the face. luke takes percy to the woods knowing full well what he’s about to do. in tlt kronos orders him to kill percy because he’s too volatile; kronos said so himself when percy hijacked luke’s dreams and began to figure out there were bigger things at play. the thing is, when kronos orders luke to kill percy, he doesn’t hesitate. that’s the point!!! it is essential that luke is so blinded by rage and vengeance for the gods that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants (the god’s destruction). percy accuses luke that kronos is using him, but he just retaliates that the gods do the same, and they do!!! but see, the thing is, luke’s whole point is that he’s so focused on the god’s injustices that he forgets what’s important. he goes for the “greater good” but he destroys his family, his life, in the process. by attempting to dismantle a system, he turns to another system that follows the same oppressive logic. THAT is why luke fails. THAT is why it’s so important he be blinded by rage, because it’s his inevitable, tragic end. he’s doomed by the narrative from the start. yes, we’re meant to be surprised by his betrayal because of how cold and calculating it is, but also it’s important to set the grounds for luke’s character to be this angry, vengeful boy because later on we come to understand why it is that he made those choices. we see annabeth’s side of things and percy’s side. we see luke’s side. we see many sides. we see a man who is too far gone yet comes to understand, in the end, that he’s been doing more harm than good to those he was supposed to protect (annabeth is the most obvious example). we get a complex character who won’t hesitate to kill but who also won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself so that he can save the family he has left.

the thing is, luke was supposed to be angrier in the show. percy was supposed to be angrier in the show. they’re both foils. luke is what percy could become, if percy lets his anger win. so, to change—even if it’s only slightly altering—their characters, is to change the point of the story. because luke tries to kill percy in his betrayal and later percy tries to kill luke but then percy starts to understand luke…until luke is gone and kronos is gone yet the gods don’t change but percy does. and percy’s initial anger is supposed to transform and he’s supposed to see what luke saw and the cycle continues. the thing is, it’s not even one of the worst changes the show made, yet it’s still so, so telling that they failed to see why it’s important to let your characters do bad things, to make mistakes, because that’s how a story can carry on. that’s how you give a story depth.

[6blackfilin9]

PAIN - My misery

Megaherz - An Deinem Grab

———

He might have the body and face of a man in his prime, but the eyes of his reveal his true age and experience of the hell he went through

[ofwordsandcoffee]

“What if the unsub sees a freedom in his victims he wishes he had himself”— JJ 3x17

I can’t stop thinking about JJ’s character being such a poignant example of comphet. I know in canon she is “straight”—though the above example happens to be directly from canon— and for those of us who ship Jemily she is generally portrayed as bisexual, however, to me she’s such a subtle but extremely accurate portrayal of a closet lesbian.

Will is a good husband and a great dad, I don’t want to discount that, but JJ being with him doesn’t discount her being gay, it might actually reaffirm it. For me the little clues like this scene above, her wearing Emily’s watch starting when Emily “dies”, her reaction to the conversion camp in “Broken” (8x15), her hallucinating Emily, all the way to the absolutely stunning and slightly heartbreaking delivery of the line “It gives me you” in 17x6 paint a totally different picture. It feels like a trail of bread crumbs for us to follow.

So let’s talk about how a woman who was married to a man for over a decade never loved him—not as she should have. She may have even thought she was bisexual for a long, long time, trying to reconcile her attraction to women with the life she ended up in—these might have even been feelings she recognized very early on but tried to push down because they were confusing. Maybe she even had strong feelings for a close female friend, but felt rejected and in that rejection bottled those feelings, that realization that she wasn’t quite ready to deal with, back up and rushed into the arms of a guy who was right in all the ways she had grown up thinking a partner should be. Because sometimes, especially when we feel vulnerable and rejected, it’s easy to confuse the desire to feel wanted, and liking male attention with attraction. And even though she recoiled from his touch, shrunk away at the idea of being with him all the time, didn’t want her friends to know, spent years terrified of actually committing to him she cared deeply for him and it was easy to ignore those signs. Something inside her was telling her that it wasn’t right, that part of herself, that fear was trying to speak to her—yelling stop. But they had a child she never planned, but loved with everything she had and she couldn’t imagine parenting that child alone. So life kept going on around her, feeling out of her control. And her relationship was hard—work— but that’s what it’s supposed to be right? When you grow up without real examples of what a loving relationship is supposed to look like it’s easy to think that actually desiring your partner, feeling giddy when they are around, wanting to kiss them or tell them about what’s going on in your day that’s a fairytale, that only happens in the movies. And living in parallel to someone you have developed a comfort with through years and years of togetherness is fine, until it’s not. Until you realize that it’s killing you inside and you need more.

[waytooobsessedwithmcyt]

Thinking about only the winners being able to remember past seasons

Do you guys think that when Scott offered to sacrifice himself to Martyn he was trying to tell him he forgave him for limited life? A sentiment only another winner could give as they would be the only one to remember?

Do you think that Scott sacrificed himself to Gem because he's trying to atone for ESMP? Which he never feels will be complete because she doesn't remember?

Do you think Scott ever got so used to the idea of soulmates that he expected to die when Cleo did?

Did Scott and Cleo ever get imposter syndrome for not being "real" soulmates?

How happy did Scott feel when he realized Cleo was a winner and could therefore remember him, only to have that replaced with worry that an April fools joke wouldn't carry over?

Did Scar not understand why Grian kept pushing him away in Double life?

When Pearl said "we're not going to gaslight gatekeep girlboss?" Did Scott realize that minute that she was going to win?

Did Martyn name him and Jimmy the big dogs because he knew about the canary curse and wanted Jimmy to be associated with any other animal?

Are the winners ever jealous of the losers since they don't remember their trauma?

Is Cleo's hatred for Bigb buried so far under the Watcher's memory erasure that all they know is that he is a traitor?

When Cleo watched Bigb leave Gem because he was red, did she remember the is betrayal, and did she know when the memory slipped through that she would win?

[kiloxy]

“Omission is the easiest way to lie.” Neil said. “You could have corrected me.”

“Could have, didn’t.” Andrew said. “Figure it out for yourself.”

(The Foxhole Court, p. 28)

^ Neil about to internalize it and tell no one about a certain countdown two books later.

[movietimegirl]

And when I heard Jod talking about letting go attachments, I was like, "Hmm, was he raised in the Jedi Order? Is he another Order 66 survivor?" Because guess who said that exact same words? I'm guessing Jod became a pirate to survive in the Galaxy after the events of Order 66. It's just a theory. Makes me wonder who his master may be because it looks like he can use the force real well. Someone had to train him. And it looks like he knows how to use a lighsbaer.

What he did at the end there was dark side, greed. The treasure is what he's after. Greed is seen as a destructive emotion that fuels the dark side, encouraging individuals to prioritize their own needs above others. I'm sure his time as a pirite, he may have dipped in the dark side a bit. I'm hopinging he comes back around.

[birdiegray01]

I love complex mother Talia.

She’s helped and took care of Jason when she didn’t have to. She molded him into something to spite Bruce. She embraces and supports Damian’s way of life. She shows up to sow internal conflict and make himself question himself.

She loves them but can’t be near them. they’re her babies yet the moment she got her hands on them they became weapons.

She protects them but harms them wither she means to or not. She’s their mom but their tormentor. She’s their savior yet has violence thrust upon them.

She’s better than Ra’s but she raised and healed them in an abusive environment. She knows this all too, it’s why she stays away afraid of causing harm. She can’t stay away loving her children more than anything.

Talia Al Ghul is a complex mother and i think that’s beautiful.

[nasty-bog-boy]

it's just one of those days when it's raining and I really have to talk about Anne Elliot in Persuasion and how much i love this woman with every single fibre of my being.

i just want us to have heroines like Anne Elliot. in my opinion she's one of the best heroines of English literature, especially for when you're a bit older and wiser and you have experienced the unfairness and heartbreak of life.

Anne is miserable in many ways. she's stuck in a life she doesn't want, lacks agency in her life and was persuaded to not only turn down the love of her life but also a good man that could've taken her away from this. Charles Musgrove may not be captain Wentworth but he's a decent man with a family who cares for her and had she married him Anne would at least have a home and independence.

yet despite this she doesn't resent Lady Russell and continues to count her as a close friend. she understands that Lady Russell was genuinely acting out of concern for Anne but is also a flawed person who carried her own predjucides into her judgements of that men.

instead of being witty or confident or optimistic Anne's virtues are patience, kindness and forgiveness. she isn't a doormat but she is a person and does get worn down by the circumstances of her life. she keeps her head in a crisis and looks out for the wellbeing of her friends. she actively listens to people and cares for others. her virtues are all things we can cultivate within ourselves if we try.

Anne doesn't carry her heartbreak with melodramatic, teenage angst like Marianne Dashwood. she mourns what she's lost but understands that it was the result of her own actions and she must accept that. i think this is a feeling readers can understand when we get older. Anne has loved and lost in a way that can related to but she doesn't allow it to corrupt her character.

having romantic heroines that perhaps don't light up a room with their beauty or win heart with their charisma but instead become endeared to both other characters and the reader through their patience and kindness just warms my heart. i think we should try to be more like Anne in our lives. despite the sadness she's living in at the start of the novel her life ends happily, because her kindness and care for others eventually becomes noticed, not just by a man but also by herself as she finally understands her value.

idk i just have a lot of feelings about Persuasion and i could talk about it for days

[modelsof-color]

not saying to throw shade at the model ( I won't credit them for this exact reason) it's a simple question : is this wig helping the model to tell a story? NO ! it's just there

( this editorial don't even have a concept plus look terrible)

the only reason the wig is there it's cause they consider the afro textured hair a fashion element just like clothes ,bags and shoes . it is what it is

many black models , facing this tremendous amount of concern and apprehension about it... ( wearing wigs or box braids bc hairstylists dont do black hair at fashion shows )

it's fucking 2024 , you got countless black models out there willing to empower others by proudly showing their natural hair

so what is the excuse???

I don't even like when people say " it's a magazine no one cares about magazine nowadays" no baby , it's on internet, Once you post a picture online it is public forever.

[aka-indulgence]

Man of the Hour

Decided to make a lil snippet of that J&H idea…

Dr. Sans Aster has been gone for a concerning amount of time, so you decide to pay him a visit (only because you’re a good neighbour.) Instead, you see a face you hadn’t hoped to meet.

——————

It was a miserable night. You tuck your coat tighter around you as you approach the Aster Manor. It looks so welcoming during the day, but at night… it looks haunted, almost. You wonder how Sans likes living here.

It’s been a while since you’ve seen the good doctor. Usually you take a detour to or from the morning market, passing by his residence, and calling up to him in his room on the 2nd floor. After a few times, usually you’d be greeted by the window opening and the skeleton leaning out. Sometimes he’d appear from his labroom window, after an overnight bout of unknown experiments. (The monster kept much to himself, and in a roundabout way instead made him more popular.) For the past few days, however, the window has remained shut, and you haven’t heard any sound of activity from the upper floors.

You would’ve asked others but after a conversation with a friend,

“You talk about Sans a lot. Do you have a thing for him?”

You’ve decided against making your infatuation with the doctor too obvious.

Nevertheless, your morning conversations with him has been a comforting consistency that you miss severely. You’ve tried ignoring it, but today you caved. After another morning of no response, you decided to visit the abode after sundown- if the doctor was busy during the day, surely he’d be resting by now?

You walk up to the dimly lit door and reach for the knocker.

Thunk

Thunk

Thunk

 … You didn’t have to wait long before you hear what sounds like smart shoes approaching the door on the other side. You get excited, gripping your coat.

But when the door opens, it isn’t Sans that answers the door.

A deer monster looks at you, his outfit that of a formal servant’s.

“Yes?”

You try not to show your disappointment. But surely… this didn’t mean Sans was absent.

“Good evening, sir… I’m sorry to have bothered you this late at night, but, is Dr. Sans home?”

“Dr. Aster?”

You mentally smack your face- you can’t seem too intimate with him. Your friends would tease you while other people would think you’re being disrespectful.

“I’m sorry, miss. The doctor has been away from home for three days now.”

“Th… three?” Concern floods your voice. “Did- did he tell you where he went?”

“I’m afraid not. The doctor goes on many excursions, often without telling his servants. Just last month he traveled for a week before returning.”

“A week…?”

“He returned every morning. But he informed us only to look for him if he’s been gone for more than a month.”

A month?! That’s even worse than you thought!

He could disappear for a whole month…?

“What is he doing?”

“He does not tell us, miss.”

You frown. “So I assume he isn’t here tonight?”

“No. I’m sorry I could not be of more help to you,”

You sigh. “That’s alright. At least I know a bit more about what he’s doing. Thank you for the information.”

The deer monster bows and closes the door as you walk out of the yard.

You have a bad feeling about this. Not to mention the nasty rumors around town…

There was a new face in town. One unwelcomed by everyone. A man named Horruer just… appeared one day. You’ve never met the man, but you’ve heard nothing good about him. There were rumors of him having ties to Sans, though the story varied from person to person. Your friend believed in the rumor of him blackmailing the doctor.

“He has servants and a house, and I think Dr. Aster funds him..? That sounds highly suspicious to me.”

She said he had a frightening appearance, but hard to describe. Just that he was also a skeleton monster. Some people thought he might be an estranged family member. You don’t know what Sans has to say about it all, though. You hoped Sans was safe, that he didn’t owe the man any favors.

You were deep in your thoughts. Missing his smile, how his soft eyelights would glow when he laughed during the few times you met the doctor out of home, drinking tea together. He was such a smart man… a conversationist, liked by all. His topics were engaging, and he was surprisingly humorful.

Would it be too hopeful to imagine him liking you back..?

Distracted, you don’t register the large body in front of you, and crash into a wall of a man, and stumble forwards.

Before you could mutter apologies, the man starts snarling, a primal sound.

“idiot- don’t you use your eyes when you-?!”

You startle, standing at attention after you turn around. What you see isn’t a face, but a chest. You swallow before you bring your eyes up to see… a new, but known face.

A big red eye is looking down at you. You watch the pupil in its center shrink into a pinprick, edges sharpening. You’re frozen under his stare- despite never having seen him, it’s obvious who this stranger was.

Mr. Horruer.

He was maybe twice your size, in height and width. Almost as big as the large front doors of Sans’ manor. His shoulders were broad, and so was his chest. He was built like a fortress of bones. Though he wore proper clothing, he didn’t look the part. His outer coat was unbuttoned and lopsided. His waistcoat covered more, but the top and middle were unbuttoned. His tie was undone, draped under his collar. His coat didn’t seem old, but it was crinkled.

His teeth was jagged- you aren’t sure if they were sharp canines or if they were simply messy. His eyesockets were mismatched, unlike Sans’. One socket housed the large red orb that peered down at you, while the other was dead, devoid of light. Your eyes trailed up to his head, seeing something peek out of his hat…

The monster gasped, teeth becoming set as he holds it down, covering whatever it was. You flinched- you weren’t thinking. You’ve heard that Mr. Horruer was neurotic about never being seen without his hat. You heard of Mr. Enfield having a rough bump with the skeleton and almost knocking his hat off- the altercation almost turned violent.

You felt your fingers grow cold. The man was more terrifying than what you’ve heard the townsfolk have said. You’ve met many monsters in this town but Horruer was truly monstrous. Just looking at him made your spine tingle unpleasantly, like there was instinctual in you that told you this man was dangerous.

You hear a crack, and see his bony hands turned to fists beside him, and his breathing grow louder, every breath causing his upper body to rise and fall. His teeth was still set, and his eye hadn’t moved.

Your body screamed- you were in danger.

“I-I’m so sorry. I di-didn’t see anything. So sorry, Mr. Horruer,” you stuttered, taking a few frightful paces back before you turned on your heel and ran home.

It was crass, clumsy, impolite, and frankly, unladylike. But you didn’t want to know what Horruer could do with his hands, and you didn’t want to find out if the rumors of his aberrant ‘hobbies’ were true or not.

He looked like he was itching to kill me.

You felt something red burning a hole into your back as you fled.

…

…

…….

“... (y/n).”

[ohlexa]

#ma'am please

[fluffylord]

PETER CAPALDI as CARDINAL RICHELIEU The Musketeers - 1.10 “Musketeers Don't Die Easily”

[lizard-zombie]

I don’t condone smoking but the idea of Snape with a cigarette as a last resort when he is super stressed is irritatingly attractive to me