#i liked this episode a lot more than i remember!

[jedda-martele]

There was an episode of the original series where it was mentioned that all crew had a mental power rating in their file (don’t remember the official name for it - it was being mentioned because a crew member was developing powers he shouldn’t have been able to). That seems to be a recurring thing in sci-fi from the 60s and 70s - this idea that, any day now, we’ll figure out how telepathy and other mental powers work and be able to categorize them like any other personal stat. Anne McCaffrey’s To Ride Pegasus plays with this in a way that really stuck with me (yes, she’s better known for dragons but technically Pern was settled by space farers who lost their tech to Thread so that’s still more sci-fi than a lot of people think). Anyway, I kind of miss that Star Trek moved away from the idea that humans had a capacity for developing mental powers even if it’s totally understandable that they did.

One must respect Star Trek for its firm commitment to rationalism in consistently depicting "magic" as the product of high-tech grifters and sufficiently advanced aliens playing god, except for that one random mid-season episode which establishes that magic is totally real in a way that's never mentioned again.

[mylittleredgirl]

i have a theory about why deep space nine feels different than other star treks. i mean, of course there are lots of big obvious differences: the initial premise ("we're not going anywhere, people are coming to us"), to the big recurring cast, and the eventual sprawling war arc ("mods are asleep, post serial storytelling"). you can come at this from a lot of angles.

but to me, on a week by week basis, what makes it feel so different is that they don't have a bridge.

ops is initially the bridge set equivalent, but in practice, it functions more like an open office plan than a unified command and control center. sisko doesn't even have a designated place to stand, let alone a command chair. bashir visits to gossip. odo, quark, and jake rarely have a reason to be there. they have even less reason to be on the defiant, so gaining a bridge set doesn't fully resolve the absence of bridge scenes.

(for comparison, there is only one episode of tng with no scenes on the bridge!)

the lack of weekly bridge scenes means the main cast are essentially never all in the same room at the same time working together toward a common goal. in fact, the only time i can remember right now where all of those things are true is the baseball episode in season seven. (even if you don’t include jake, how often does this happen? i can think of the briefing room scene in “facets”… and???)

this changes the structure of the show on a weekly basis, because they have to rely more heavily on a/b/c stories to get everyone on camera.

voyager had a similar problem to solve in the early seasons, using sickbay b-plots to give the doctor and kes some airtime, but it's not as consistently notable to me as it is in deep space nine, because sickbay is often a natural part of the main plot.

neelix and kes are civilians, but they are still working members of the crew. and while both tng and voyager have plenty of recreational activities, the characters put down their violins and holodeck programs and go to work when the a-plot happens.

i think this is why deep space nine feels so lived-in. the famous tonal whiplash of the a/b plots and the "now for a single scene at the bar to see quark and odo" is this constant evidence that people are still gambling and dating and growing up and sometimes not even noticing the big story of the week.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Because of their past, MC developed huge pain tolerance. If everything suddenly felt colder than usual, MC didn't feel it. If their stomach kinda hurt, MC just ignored it. Then it stunned MC when they suddenly couldn't move their body or fainted. Harvard and Lexia had to schedule the medical check-up more often.

Hmm, you feel a bit odd. There is this odd twisty thing happening in your stomach. Why is the world so foggy? Why is it spinning?

Oh well. You dash off, there is a cookie jar to raid.

Reaching the kitchens you reach out to open the door. Why is your hand shaking so much? It's even harder to open the door than usual. You still manage it, you have lots of practice with your bad hands.

Soon you are inside the kitchen, and head for your goal. The cookie jar is just there. So close.

So close, yet so far. Why is it getting farther? Why are you seeing the floor? Did your legs fail again? Why is it so foggy?

"Kid?"

Is that Lexia. Darn, you are caught... again. Maybe she will let you have a cookie. Why is she up there? Was she waiting for you clinging to the roof? That's not fair...

"Kid?!"

------------------------------

Lexia dashed forwards to catch MC as they went down. The kid was burning up.

"Kid?" She asked, and got no real reaction "Kid?!" She asked again.

Instead of answering, MC's eyes closed and the child went limp. "Fuck". Lexia grabbed MC and went running towards the healing baths, grasping her communication pin.

------------------------------

"Havard, the kid's out cold and burning hot. Meet you in the baths." Lexia's voice ran through Havard's head and the Head Custodian stood from his desk.

Soon he was running towards the healing baths.

"What happened?" He thought into the pin.

"Passed out while trying to steal cookies." Lexia's thoughts came quickly.

Havard pursed his lips. Of course MC told no one, or perhaps did not notice, when something hurt or something was wrong. Still, sickness again? So soon. It was not that long ago when MC had had that whole rabies episode.

He was worried, so he made a decision. He focused on the his communicator pin and thought. "This is Head Custodian Havard. I would like a healer from the spire to visit the orphanage."

----------------------

It's wet when you open your eyes. Ah... you are in the baths again, floating. Why do you spend so much time here? It is so odd.

"Stay still, tiny human." Says a voice you have never heard before.

You blearily look about but only feel something hold your head steady, gently but firmly.

"Stay still." The voice repeated... and you stayed still. It was not that you did not try to move, just that some force did not let you to. It made you panic, as you remember hands holding you down, knives carving into you.

You already dreaded the first cut, tensing as you waited for it. How? Why? How are you back here?.... It took you a good while to notice there was no pain. It was a gentle force, like a heavy blanket on top of you.

"Do not panic, adjusting for that will be annoying with those hands being so sensitive." The voice said.

"MC, please stay still."

Havard. That second voice was Havard, and this was the orphanage.

"I am done." The voice said and only now you noticed something retreating from you. A slight warm feeling that was all over you, except your hands. "The tiny human is fine but regular visits into the bath will help."

You hear a splash and try to turn to look but Havard is suddenly there, covering your vision and picking you up from the bath.

"Thank you, Lo...." Havard starts, but is cut off.

"Leaving now. Try to teach the tiny human to tell you if they feel pain."

You look up at Havard and notice that he is not looking at the person either. Looking around around, you note Lexia is standing outside the bath and pointedly staring at the wall instead of the the figure walking out of the bath.

All you see is the steam off their clothes as they suddenly dry outside of the bath, and the long luxurious black hair reaching down to their waist.

The figure walks out and you never see their face. As soon as the figure is out of the room, both Lexia and Havard exhale in relief.

Lexia smiles at you and glares at Havard. "What did you say when you contacted the spire?"

"That we needed a healer." Havard says, looking a bit shaken.

"Then why did the fu..." She glances at you. "Freaking Archmage of the Ancients show up?"

Archmage? Who's that? You peer at the two... and in a rather Lexia like display of nonchalance, Havard shrugs.

"Maybe he was bored?" He offers.

[carasspice]

"Hey boss, do you have a few minutes?" I asked at almost 6.30p.m. and some time after every else had left for the day, my eyes blinked a number of times as I realised how she was dressed. "Oh hell, I'm sorry for intruding."

"Stop shaking Andy, I should be the one to apologise, I don't normally wander around half undressed but I can't get the air-con to work in here. Anyhow, as long as you can put up with me like this come in and take a seat. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I have no idea, my mind has just left me somewhere. This may be out of order but I can put up with you in lingerie any time. You look fabulous and that bottom ... "

"I should thank you for the compliment but my bottom is what exactly?"

I'd backed myself into a corner, I knew it and so did she. I knew what I was thinking and what I'd love to do with her bottom as well as the rest of her body but considered it safer to keep quiet.

"So what were you going to say about my bottom Andy? Out with it."

Oh hell and that was something else on my mind, my trousers were getting tighter with every word and every second passing by.

"Nothing boss."

"Nothing? I think not." she replied, placed that folder on her desk, turned, stepped towards me and sat on my legs facing me with her arms curled around my neck leaving me to stare directly at her breasts. "I am well aware that many men have fantasies about what they would love to do with a woman's bottom Andy and I assume you are no different. Yes I know what you would love to do with my bottom as well as my pussy. I'm not deaf you know and do hear various comments from you lot and if any of you so much as touch either mine or my secretary's derriere you will be out of here in ten minutes flat. You might like to know that my bottom has been fucked by my boyfriend on occasions as well as the more regular sex life activities and I rather enjoy each and every episode. Oh and my name is either Miss Davenport or the bitch upstairs I gather."

"Yes boss and I apologise."

"You apologise to which one?"

"Oh sorry Miss Davenport, shall I take a look at the air-con now?" My face must have been bright red as I tinkered with the control, cancelled everything and reprogrammed it, it took me maybe five or six minutes but it was working.

"Thank you Andy." she said as I clambered down from the desk only to watch her turn around, bend forward and smack her right cheek. "There you go Andy, fantasise as much as you like but never touch a lady's bottom without an invitation and none other than my boyfriend gets one of those. Please try to remember what you wanted to ask me and I'll be here by 8.15 as always. Goodnight.

xxx

[kingmakerpod]

Might be an uncouth subject, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to share some insight on what kind of money goes into producing audio dramas (specifically when it comes to reaching out to/compensating vocal talent.) I know a lot depends on what tools and connections you already have; I'm just looking for a flexible baseline to start from and make sure I'm not cheating or insulting folks by asking them to work for peanuts. Having a target to save up for would be a huge help. Thanks so much!

(And yeah, I'll totally admit this is partly just me wondering how you fine WANA folks managed to nab Jonny Sims and Tiana Camacho for Killjam XXX; let me know if this is a question better posed via email and I'll get out of your hair, sorry for bothering!)

This isn't an uncouth question at all. It's actually a great question and we'll be happy to answer it!

It's hard to give a definitive baseline for budget beyond the cost of web hosting and audio equipment, which in itself can vary quite a bit. The yeti mic and arm set we (Meg and Henry) bought for Less is Morgue (and still record a lot of Killjam and TKH on) cost about 200 dollars. If I remember correctly the hosting costs for Less is Morgue were about 30 a month, and for Kingmaker it's 14 dollars a month. Those are the only two things you absolutely need to spend money on, so it's definitely possible to make a good quality audio drama for under a grand. In fact, we would absolutely not recommend going over a grand at this point. You definitely don't want to shoot too high with the budget for your first project. Spoken from experience, you will end up spending it on things you'll later realise weren't worth it.

The most important thing is just to put something out there first so the actors can tell that the project is real and you're not just stringing them along. The few episodes of Less is Morgue were pretty much all done in-house with a cast that was mostly people we were already friends with, and we didn't do any open auditions until midway through the season. Another way to do it is to start off as a single narrator podcast then gradually introduce a full cast as the show goes on. Other shows have released a pilot episode to the public that then serves as an advertisement for what the rest of the show will sound like. Once you have a sample of your work out there, you can start reaching out to actors.

When it comes to how you compensate your talent- just be upfront about how much money you're working with. The best way to not cheat or insult folks is by giving them realistic expectations. Don't promise money you don't have, and don't ask them to do work for something that you won't be able to finish. If you're honest and easy to work with, a lot of voice actors will be willing to adjust their rates or work for free. Speaking from a voice actor's perspective, Addison said she would be willing to work for free on a first time indie project if it seemed fun and interesting and she could tell that it was something the creator was really passionate about.

As for how we got some of our big names- it really is all about cultivating a reputation for being cool to work with. Maybe not the most useful advice for a first project, but it will be useful later, and it is true. At this point the WANA core four have been involved in The NoSleep Podcast, Congeria, Less is Morgue, The Kingmaker Histories and Mayfair Watcher's Society, and that's only counting the stuff that more than one of us have been involved with. Every project we try to make loads of friends. Eventually you will have enough mutual friends with enough people that you can just hit up Jonny Sims and Tiana Camancho, because someone you know worked with them on some other thing and they're willing to vouch for you.

[violasghost]

At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, Rachel coming into the picture at this point in time is likely a good thing for Chenford. Discussion of the Rookie S7, Episode 3

Confession, Not going to get into real-world stuff or politics here, but just wanted to say how thankful I am for The Rookie to have as a much needed distraction on Tuesday nights and also glad to know the actors and everyone involved in the show is safe and will hopefully continue to remain safe from the LA wildfires. #SendinglovetoCalifornia

So despite it being a few seasons since we have seen or heard from Rachel, lets face it Lucy Chen has gone through some serious hardships in the last season and a half and with very little support. After she lost Jackson, she pretty much lost her one and only close platonic friend. When Tim broke up with her, the first reaction we got after seeing raw and emotionally hurt Lucy was Smitty joking about other cops betting on the reason for their breakup. (Pretty insensitive, especially to Chenford nation who was mostly in shock at that point.) Then you get Nolan and Celena pretending to care but not really, Celena mostly concerned that Lucy wouldn’t be too much of an emotional basket-case because she wanted to move out of her place and into Lucy’s apartment. And when Nolan asked Lucy about how she was doing when helping Celena to move in at a later date, he clearly regretted asking her such a loaded question. Not to mention the person Lucy thought of as a little sister, Tamara moves out. So no Tamara, no Detective, no Tim, and no explanation for the breakup. So yeah Rachel couldn’t have come at a better time. Lucy needs a real true grown up friend, someone who isn't a colleague or a subordinate. And its great that they have a history and Rachel has known Lucy for longer than anyone else has known her.

Does the fact that Rachel dated Tim bother me? Not really. Mostly because both of them said everything they needed to say to one another (plus it was Lucy who originally fixed them up) and it looks like Rachel was pretty much rooting for Tim and Lucy before she blew into town, so yeah don’t think she will be competition for Chenford.

Another angle that hasn’t been explored and I’m curious if ‘The Rookie’ showrunners will go there is the fact that Rachel in essence is a counselor/social services. Remember, she worked with abused kids? Even if they don’t decide to use Rachel’s professional expertise, she’s staying on Lucy’s couch. She’s not just passing through for one episode. They have already hedged at this with the brief discussion about Lucy and Tim's relationship by the couch, and you know there will be more. Maybe just maybe, Rachel will be able to get Lucy to open up a little bit about her feelings and what happened with Tim. Which would be really good for Lucy.

And it would be really good for Chenford because in order for both Lucy and Tim to be able to move past the 'lets just be friends' cover, they have to get under the surface and dig deep and figure out what it is they both really want, and then work up the courage to go for it. Kinda like when they both decided to start dating in S5. Lots of parallels here since they really did a re-set with their relationship, but they have to work up to that point of realization first, that 1. the feelings are still there (which they are), and 2. its worth the risk (which it is).

Side note, I thought it was really cute when Lucy prepped Seth with all the Tim test answers and Tim cracking Nolan’s fancy safe house lock system, haha.

I also thought it was funny when Bailey returned and the locks were not working. Although still could care less about Jason. The guy who got out of the handcuffs seemed more interesting.

What did you think?

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

thoughts while rewatching triangle:

mulder is straight bonkers for just sailing the bermuda triangle looking for a ghost ship.

scully's queen anne counterpart is dancing with an older man, no surprise there lol.

scully running around the fbi unhinged, trying to save mulder's ass, is my favorite thing ever. the people in the hallways and elevators all look like they've seen this many times before.

never thought scully had sexual tension with skinner or spender, but i kinda felt it in this ep! (weird to say)

the continuous takes are just so cool.

"because you're the only one who can save this ship" - yeah she is!

mulder and scully running through the hallways holding hands, my beloved.

scully waited a long time before hitting mulder during that kiss. don't blame her though!

skinner just throwing the flowers on the side table lmao.

"but you believed me" -- love the parallel to folie a deux. i feel like i could write an essay on this - scully is the skeptic, but she believes in mulder in any timeline.

and of course, hearing mulder say "i love you" to scully still makes me so happy.

[cowboyinternist]

okay i’ve seen a couple people misinterpret this as me saying that there aren’t any small things in wtnv that become important later.

there’s definitely things that come back!! but it isn’t in a way that will throw you off or confuse you if you forgot about or didn’t notice it. in fact MOST of the time when something from awhile ago comes back, cecil will say, nearly verbatim, “remember X from X situation that did X thing? yeah it’s back and it’s doing X”. it reminds you of what happened because it’s built much more for casual listening than some other shows are.

there’s also a lot less intention in the writing of welcome to night vale than there is in (for example) the magnus archives. sure, a lot of things that become more important later, but it’s less because the writers always intended for it to be important later on and more because in retrospect they wanted to explore it further. i can guarantee you that they did not write the episode about the university of what it is in year three with the intention that they would base an entire years plot around it 7 years later. so it’s like,,, even IF you think something might be important later it’s super likely that it wasn’t originally written to be that important.

it’s fun to try to make predictions and guess what’s going to be important though! it’s just funny to me to see people approach the text in the same way they’d approach tma when the process and intentions behind their writing are so vastly different.

funniest thing about people liveblogging their first wtnv listen is when treat it like it’s the magnus archives. like holding on to any Vague And Ominous Thing because they think it’ll be important later. like no bro sorry it’s nothing. yeah this is the Vague And Ominous Thing Podcast sorry. that particular Vague And Ominous Thing is never brought up again.

[harvestmoth]

mind crab but. again

[cauldron-burn-and-fire-bubble]

control (2019) + king of pain by the police

[halucygeno]

Regardless of the strange formatting of the bullet points (for which you already apologized in the tags, I noticed), this is a very good justification!

I'm especially convinced by the "convoluted plan is a trial" part. It's embarrassing that I didn't notice it myself, because when I first watched episode 15, I remember thinking that following the beggars was very risky for Grabowski. But somehow, I never considered that this was the whole point — a filter meant to scare away anyone without the right conviction.

And you make fair point with how the homeless were probably much more socially marginalized and ignored back in those days. I'm not too educated on history, but at least from the way they're depicted in Orb, the beggars seem like pariahs.

I did wonder whether Badeni was hoping that the tattoo's would survive a long time and be discovered much later, but I think that's too much of a long shot. Like I already mentioned, shorter life-spans and higher mortality. But then again, it was always a far-fetched plan, so maybe Badeni really was counting on a miracle.

The only thing that still irks me, I guess, is why rely solely on the beggars? I feel like if a plan has such low chances of working, why not enact multiple plans just to be safe? He could have hidden a paper copy as a backup, hoping that somebody other than Grabowski finds it accidentally. It would be even less likely than Grabowski following the beggars, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Hubert (or Rafał - actually, it was probably Rafał) did something pretty similar when he carved the constellation into the rocks. He hoped that a discerning astronomer would coincidentally find his writing - and it worked. That's how the information passed from Rafał to Oczy and Gras.

I guess the lack of paper copies is less an issue with Badeni's plan, and more a fundamental problem in the premise of the show itself.

In theory, if the concept + evidence for heliocentrism were boiled down to their barest essentials, they could probably be summarized in a short pamphlet of less than 10 pages, which could then be copied by hand dozens of times. Those pamphlets could then be hidden in all sorts of places: ones where they're likely to be discovered (inside houses, studies, libraries, etc.) and ones where they're not so likely to be discovered (in stone chests out in the wilderness). Hopefully, this would help the idea spread in the short-term, while keeping it safe from extermination in the long-term.

Even the inquisition (at least the way it's depicted in Orb) would be tricked by this strategy. If you're captured, you can just lead them to one of the copies and destroy it, while pretending it was the only one.

I feel that this simple idea - "simplify the theory into a short text, then make lots and lots of copies" - is so inherently overpowered, that the mangaka had no choice but to ignore it, and draw as little attention to it as possible. Though, I guess they have to address it now with Draka, as she gears up to make Oczy's book available to the masses. She even points out how copying the manuscript by hand would be too laborious — which is fair for a 60 page book meant to be read by thousands, but would be much less convincing if it was a 4 page pamphlet that only needs to be copied, say, 20 times.

Anyway, I'm not gonna harp on about this. It's not worth losing sleep over, even if it's a slight contrivance in an otherwise great show. And it's not like other aspects of Orb aren't contrived - I just thought this contrivance was particularly damaging as it makes these otherwise smart characters look slightly incompetent.

Thanks for your exhaustive and detailed reply!

Ok, maybe a controversial opinion, but I don't understand how Badeni's tattoo plan was in any way clever or practical.

Functionally, how is it any different from simply making a paper copy of Oczy's diary and hiding it in a safe place, then leaving behind directions to find it? If he trusted Grabowski enough to lead him to the beggars (making the assumption that he wouldn't report the blasphemous tattoos to the church), then I'd say he could equally well have left the entirety of Oczy's diary with him directly.

Worse, tattooing the pages on 60 different people causes a bunch of unique problems that a paper copy doesn't have.

Firstly, life expectancy wasn't exactly fantastic in those times, especially for a beggar. By the time Grabowski discovered them, half the pages could be missing from them dying — or hell, just moving to a different slum. I'd say it's very lucky that all of the people Badeni tattooed both survived and stuck together long enough for the plan to work.

Secondly, that's at least 60 people who have witnessed/experienced Badeni tattooing something weird on their heads. They may not know how to read, but they should have at least some idea of what writing is. So, again, it's an immense stroke of luck that none of them, at any point, got curious or suspicious enough to go to a clergyman and ask "hey, what the hell did this guy write on my head"?

And remember, that's 60 people we're talking about. Whatever chance one of them has to accidentally or deliberately reveal the plan — multiply it by 60. Plus, if even one of them was discovered, catching all the others would have likely been fairly easy for the church.

So... what exactly was the point of the whole plan? If you think about it, it's an immense amount of work for seemingly no reward. I'm genuinely curious what Badeni thought the advantage was in doing things this way.

[2025-01-15 EDIT:]

On further reflection, the only two possible reasons I can think of are:

Badeni was hoping that his sheer audaciousness would create an emotional effect on whoever finds the writing. The plan was proof of his devotion to the cause, and a plea for the next person not to squander all this effort. Though I seriously doubt this would be enough to sway anyone devout to the church, so it's a bit of a stretch.

The 60 tattooed beggars were essentially hostages. Badeni was expecting that if the church found them, they would be accused of heresy and executed. So he put 60 human lives on the shoulders of whoever finds the writing. Reporting the tattoos would mean condemning 60 people to death, which I bet even devout believers would hesitate to do.

But these are just guesses based on imperfect information. If the beggars explained how they were unwittingly roped into the plan, maybe they wouldn't be executed. So it's unclear if they'd even work as hostages.

[astralhope]

This is a little project that I worked on in the last weeks, and I finally finished it.

The Japanese dub is my favorite, but the Italian one was the one that made me discover Zexal, and I used to watch the show in Italian until the third arc.

I watched the episodes from the first two arcs in this dub many times and I'm still very attached to most of the characters' Italian voices.

This dub is very dear and nostalgic to me, so I wanted to share some Astral's clips from it on my blog.

But I didn't want to put a bunch of Italian clips here without any kind of subtitles, so I decided to do the subtitles myself. But what should have been just a few clips became all Astral's scenes in the first two episodes, and it took me more time than I anticipated.

Just a few things before you watch the video:

- I tried to do this translation more literally possible (so I apologize if some lines sound weird), but with some phrases and expressions I had to translate them in a not literal way to keep their meaning.

- The edit of the video is a little rough because I favored the audio over the video and I tried not to cut the lines too much. And since I only used Astral's clips, some transactions between scenes are not very smooth, I apologize about that.

- I hope that the subtitles are easy to read, I never did something like this and I did my best to make them readable and not too fast.

- I rewatched it several times to check it, but it's very possible that there's still some errors or/and weird phrasing, so I apologize in advance for any errors.

After all those premises, here is the finished work:

Astral's clips from episodes 1 and 2 of Zexal in Italian dub (with English subs):

(I'm sorry for the bad quality, but not only the original videos were in a low quality, but I also had to lower it even more to upload it)

[tiredgeekgirl]

fellas it has been three months since the beach episode and thinking about neil and eva in any capacity still makes me ILL

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/762934616351031296/theres-something-ive-struggled-to-understand

I always wondered about what the anon asked as well. Care to share your reading?

I more or less agree with the OP's answer that it's about Louis not wanting to be connected to Madeleine, but I think the motivation is probably different?

My read is that episode is really about Louis trying to let Claudia go, and that he's acknowledging the complete dissolution of the family unit. After all, if Lestat and Louis' turning was a wedding, and Lestat turning Claudia was Lestat giving Louis a daughter, Louis knowing that Madeleine and Claudia are a love match in a lot of ways turns him into the father giving his daughter away on her wedding day. Turning Madeleine isn't about love for him, nor about having a child, it's about seeing his daughter as a grown woman ready to start her own family without him.

The acknowledgement of Claudia as an adult is not one he's ever genuinely made before - something s2 makes very clear with Claudia having to pose as his daughter again in wartorn Europe, Baby Lulu being the female diminutive of Louis, and then, even more tellingly, with Dreamstat explicitly referring to her as such - and while she's been pulling away all season and trying to force Louis into independence, it's been something he's pretty clearly very resentful of.

Madeleine though forces his hand, because Claudia finally choosing a companion splinters the last leg of their family unit for good. Madeleine is a stranger to him in the way many children's spouses are strangers to their in-laws, and Louis doesn't have Lestat to share the weight of that with anymore (and he doesn't have Lestat because of Claudia, which deepens the resentment). All he knows - which he discovers through turning her - is that she loves his daughter, and I take Louis trying to get the blood out of himself as a bitter and wounded sort of wedding gift.

He wants to give them their freedom, but at the same time the depression he experienced as an empty nester in New Orleans has already set in, he has to live with the fact that his attempt at a family has ended, and Armand's never been as satisfying to take things out on as Lestat was, to say nothing of the fact that he - as Assad put it - doesn't give a fuck about Claudia. At least Lestat gave a fuck, even if he usually gave the wrong sort of fucks, haha.

So yeah, I think it's a sort of attempt at a resentful wedding present, in a lot of ways, to try and give her this thing without being a part of it, and a real attempt to let Claudia go as his daughter.

Little does Louis know though, Claudia's the gothic heroine of this story, and she's not ever going to get out of her father's (or step-father's) house.

[baggebythesea]

Guys… I.. I just want to tell you that to have two of my fics - no, scratch that, chapters and snippets - so casually remembered and referenced is really heartwarming. Thanks for making my day! I love this fandom.

I love your ideas and I'd love for you to expand on them (and I'm delighted that you use Glimmer dates everyone and Friendship Wrench as a part of it), but as for me - I'm honestly pretty happy with what we got, because from where I stand we got a wonderful, heartfelt mutual apology between Glimmer and Entrapta.

My take on their relationships is that despite they both hurting each other a lot, it's not personal. It's about their own relationship to the world.

Glimmer has very strong feelings about Entrapta, but she doesn't know her all that well. The problem is that - just as Glimmer rubs against Entrapta's insecurities (it's in her princess alliance Entrapta feels left out), Entrapta does the same to Glimmer.

Entrapta seemingly died trying to rescue Glimmer, which directly lead to the princess alliance dissolving, thereby demonstrating Glimmer's inability to keep her allies safe. This lead to Glimmer's and Bow's ill fated rescue attempt of Entrapta, that led to both the humiliation when they kidnapped Catra, and the devastating reveal that Entrapta didn't want to be saved, striking a blow both against Glimmer's ego and the fundament of the new princess alliance. Scorpia could be explained away as indoctrinated, but if Entrapta switched sides is not the princesses against the Horde any longer.

Entrapta froze the whispering woods. Entrapta built the portal. Glimmer realizes that there is no malice behind those acts, but since Glimmers worldview is so shaped by the war, she doesn't get WHY Entrapta did it.

When the tension between Glimmer and Adora reaches its peak Scorpia puts fuel on the flames by telling them about Entrapta on Beast Island. Yet again Glimmer gets what she wants in the worst way possible. She desperately wanted to save Entrapta - and now she has the chance. But if she does, she risks to lose Brightmoon. And after that, after all betrayal and desperation and isolation, and after finding it in herself to make peace with Catra, and even be forced to look at Hordak more emphatically than before, Entrapta was instrumental in saving her. With no reproach, no "I told you so", just happily doing her part. While Glimmer's stomach churns with guilt, Entrapta just happily moves on (or rather, has already processed her feelings towards the princesses).

This puts Glimmer in a similar position as Catra, emotionally. And if we had seen an onscreen apology from Glimmer, it would have been just the same. Perhaps Entrapta would need some more prompting to figure out just what 'the pink one' was apologizing for, but she would accept it just as casually.

The thing is, that Glimmer's big problem with Entrapta is not really what Entrapta has done - not even the truly damaging stuff like the whispering woods or the portal. It's that Entrapta's choices put Glimmer's own choices in question. It threatened Glimmer's idea of herself. And by the time they reunite, Glimmer has already been thoroughly humbled. She KNOWS she was wrong to trust Light Hope, know that she should have gone to Beast Island with Bow and Adora (please note that this isn't about what would have been objectively right in that situation - this is what Glimmer herself believes), she should have remembered that no princess is left behind.

And Glimmer rebuilt from that. She apologized to Bow and Adora. She was immediately on board with rescuing Catra. In short, she worked really hard to be the person she SHOULD have been when Entrapta needed her to be.

And if that's not an apology in a language Entrapta understands, I don't know what is. I truly love Glimmer during those episodes in the middle of S5 when she works so hard to be the BEST at friendship to make up for her little boo-boo in s4.

Glimmer didn't say a single word to question Entrapta during this entire time at Darla. She's completely onboard with refueling on the crystal planet. She has no issue with the name of the space ship or steering into an asteroid field. She follows Entrapta's directions on Krytis without questions. The closest she came to disagreeing with Entrapta was asking if dying was a possibility during the infiltration of Horde Prime's ship, and wrecking Prime's computer while Entrapta was working on it. And most importantly, Glimmer jumped to accept Wrong Hordak. Entrapta brought a stray clone? Sure, absolutely. It's not like Glimmer just beat up a room full of them or anything. This is Entrapta's clone, that mean he is OK. He's Glimmer's baking buddy now. Glimmer's every action after Catra rescues her speaks of trust in Entrapta.

Glimmer and Entrapta both hurt each other during the run of the show, but they both grow into a version of themselves that can do better. They demonstrate this to each other in a way they fully understand - and I think that's beautiful.

Bonus: Glimmer clinging to Entrapta during atmospheric reentry

Wow, that was a bit of a ramble.

TLDR: Glimmer and Entrapta's conflict was not personal, but they both hurt each other. Their apology consisted of working hard to be the person the other needed.

I’ve been trying to come up with my own head canons for this and I felt like I made a break through with Bagge’s Fic: “Glimmer dates everyone” but how would you have imagined her and Entrapta’s reunion after rescuing her in space?

Considering Glimmer’s earlier decision to abandon Entrapta on Beast Island and after everything how do you think she’d go about apologizing and trying to make up for that?

Sorry if this ask is kind of incoherent. I’d just like to hear an interpretation from someone who understands Entrapta better than I feel I ever could.

Ah, well; I don’t know how well I understand Entrapta, but I do have something of an opinion on what you ask!

Personally, I would have enjoyed Glimmer and Entrapta’s reunion to have involved an acknowledgement of Hordak. Given how Glimmer was very... let’s say “less enthusiastic” about rescuing Entrapta, while Entrapta was very much instrumental in rescuing her, I feel like a good way to deepen their relationship and actually cement a friendship between them would be Glimmer making an effort to help Entrapta regain what she’s lost (AKA Hordak).

And I know this might seem difficult, given that Glimmer is Bright Moon’s queen and has a less-than-positive stance on Hordak, but! She saw what happened to him on Prime’s ship. She saw what he actually was, what his life was actually like. And having a front-row seat to that... I think it would be meaningful for her to offer Entrapta comfort, and to have some level of conflict in her views on the situation. Especially given how she embraces Wrong Hordak. 

Obviously not something that happened in the show, but I would have enjoyed it!

[bumblingbabooshka]

I know I'm like decades late to the party and SNW is out and all but I think the events of "The Menagerie" would be even more interesting if Pike and Spock DIDN'T have a particularly close interpersonal relationship because I remember watching that episode and being a bit curious about why Spock would risk SO much for this man who, in-episode, I don't recall ever having any special bond portrayed with Spock. Spock, in that episode, is more the eager ensign than anyone of special importance and the episode doesn't set any scene aside to show that Pike has especially warm feelings towards him.

Of course, Spock served with Pike for eleven years and their relationship could have grown in that time and I expect the audience is supposed to assume that. (Or make the assumption that any crewman would do the same for their captain but Spock being Vulcan and not shown as particularly close to Pike DOES make you wonder! Especially since this is something Spock elected to do on his own and obviously planned in extreme detail and was willing to DIE over) In-universe, the events of the Menagerie are shown to justify why Spock wants Pike to go to that banned planet specifically - not to justify why He feels He has to do this for Pike but I just find it curious that there isn't even one scene where Pike and young Spock speak in depth to one another. Instead, Pike has that sort of scene with the Doctor. There's only moment I can recall that approaches that and it itself is interesting to me! There's a trilling, musical noise in the air and both Pike and Spock follow it to discover that some plant is emitting the noise. Pike stills one bunch of leaves and Spock stills the other, granting silence. Spock then turns to Pike with a smile and Pike looks back at him for a moment, face blank, before turning away. I like that TOS' Pike has a colder edge to him than Kirk and I can't help but think of his relationship to Spock from Spock's perspective where he's just abandoned his family and was effectively disowned and here, with Pike on Pike's Enterprise, is perhaps the first time he's ever felt like he might belong somewhere and be an asset to someone. Those feelings (whether or not Spock acknowledges them) might be strong enough that it doesn't quite matter how Pike feels about Spock as long as it isn't negative. In fact, maybe the experience of being praised and liked to any extent by a cold, commanding man ties into issues Spock canonically has with Sarek. Here is a man cold and distant enough to feel familiar but with that Human warmth and willingness to show emotion and give praise which Vulcan as a whole and more specifically his father has not been willing to grant Spock. I also can't help thinking of this from the perspective of Spock as a gay man either. Pike's clear longing for domestic bliss, a home with a wife and his beloved horse, can be juxtaposed with Kirk fairly easily to me: Kirk is shown throughout the series to be lonely and to fall in love with women but there's never really the possibility of him leaving the captaincy to be with them. He belongs to the Enterprise, with Spock. Pike's happy ending is being with a woman and Spock sees him there. Meanwhile, I think we all know that Kirk's happy ending does not entail this. It entails being on the Enterprise, a captain, and being with Spock as an extension of that. (Spock, revealed in this episode to have been part of the existing Enterprise staff, is almost an extension of the beloved starship) Perhaps the reason there's no explanation for why Spock is willing to go so far for Pike, to risk his life for a man we don't see as being particularly close to the Vulcan, is the same reason for the inexplicable curing of Spock's fever after 'killing' Kirk, is what I'm saying