#i'm just so.......... about all these theories about the ending

[yukidragon]

I just stumbled across a song that reminded me of that old theory that Sunny Day Jack never actually cared about MC at all. It even fits the vibe that he was only trying to be everything they wanted and win their love in order to take over their life so he can live again.

I mean just listen to those lyrics. There's even a line about the villain being a jester! It's so evil Jack coded.

Yes I know clowns and jesters aren't the same thing, but the vibes man, the vibes.

Just imagine this song being sung after the big reveal, likely after the classic villainous monologue that no one will ever be able to reach MC again. This time he is gloating to MC for foolishly believing in his "love." He captured MC's heart and now they can never be free.

Man, I can imagine learning Jack's love is all a lie would absolutely destroy so many MCs, especially after Ian already broke their heart and betrayed them so badly.

Of course this doesn't apply even remotely to Sunshine in Hell, not even in the Bad End AU, since Jack is so, so down bad for Alice that he would never even think of manipulating her heart or hurting her.

I might not want to write about Jack being so heartless, but I'm sure this song might offer some motivation for someone who wants to explore a darker "love" story with a truly evil version of Sunny Day Jack. Have fun~!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[lunarriviera]

What are your thoughts on the last ep of under the skin...that cant be shen yi right...im seeing a lot of twin theories but thats a weird plot twist honestly 😅

to answer this question i guess i have to get up off the floor first, where i have been lying facedown and motionless since uts2 ended over a week ago. two weeks ago? yesterday? today? i don't know anymore i've lost all track of time, who are you? where are we?

oh right—the s2 ending. you must mean this scene, right? what a great way to end things! du cheng, happy, walking to meet a group of friends at his birthday party! truly wrapped up the whole drama, and left us in such a heartwarming place with our favorite characters!

...oh you didn't mean that ending? you mean there's another one?

[mindless screaming behind the cut AS WELL AS SPOILERS]

[and this winds up being about all of s2 as well as the final tag, OOPS]

so okay listen before i can even address this without the mindless screaming, i have to level with y'all here: s2 was rough on me. there are only like three du cheng stans in all of anglophone cdrama fandom and i'm probably two of them ( @wannings-wontons is the other one, thank god for her). i've written eleventyleven fics from his pov so i am ferally protective of my big stupid hot cop son. this season put him through the goddamn wringer and for my taste there were just a few too many scenes of du cheng looking like he was about to burst into tears while shen yi was smiling winsomely, for all the world as if he were not the one personally causing his captain to experience devastating mortal agony. allow me to demonstrate.

in the driver's seat: unspeakable anguish. literally can't talk.

in the passenger seat: hey nice air conditioner! guess what i have a new friend! i spent the night at his place, talking about infinity and human potential! in a few more episodes he'll be a murder suspect!

(i'm getting to the cliffhanger, believe me i'm getting there, no really i am, we just have to spend a minute dealing with the divorce arc first)

because, while i absolutely adore angst bambi (as @whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst has immortalized him), and thanks to @elenothar have firmly adopted him as a most beloved emotional support twink (not least because i suspect tan jianci is himself kind of a genius; no triple threat should be this good of an actor), i also honestly not infrequently this season wanted to drag shen yi into the men's room by his pretty hair and flush his pretty little head down the [redacted] until he came to his pretty little senses. because while later in the arc he clearly is, you know, attempting that deep-cover thing, and has to reject du cheng to his face, right in front of Evil Eugenicist Art Critic Weasel Man, in order to gain Weasel Moriarty's trust, etc.—

there are also a bunch of times when du cheng is visibly upset and miserable and in genuine pain, and shen yi just laughs. literally laughs at him. like tan jianci what are you doing, do you want the audience to dislike you? how are you trying to play this?? are we supposed to think, wow shen yi sure knows what he's doing? are we supposed to think he suddenly has the world's worst taste in men? because long before Weasel Man smashes a vase and snaps at his lab assistant and possibly kills someone and has assorted tantrums which start to tip off shen yi that maybe his new bestie is kind of a bag of dicks—long before that starts happening? shen yi just likes that guy. he LIKES him. enough to quote whitman to him (fang kaiyi you take his queer name out your mouth); enough to stay up all night painting the stars with him and we don't know what all else. enough to hang out in his lab for days on end, listening to junk science and pretending to understand the human genome and just what. shen yi. WHAT. he's literally a Bond villain styled like an asymmetric reptile—all this, just because he's tall? and he's gone to the symphony a few times? what, because he negged your painting, and that turned you on? i shouldn't have said any of that, but i did; and now i refuse to take it back. because inside me are two wolves, and they sound like this:

one wolf has been extremely online for many years, and thinks she's very hip and chill and jaded. this wolf talks in memes and laughs at herself, and she's like: “haha fun drama! Solving Crimes Through Art! lol i can't believe this turgid love song playing over a romantic montage, wow it's so stupid.” and also: “lmao divorce arc so hilarious, WELCOME HOME CHEATER lol get it, good joke right?” and: “oh my god why is there another pointless cliffhanger, they will NEVER GET a s3 what are they thinking. this scene is therefore not canon and can be safely ignored, just like the s1 tag turned out to be a ~~~dream."

but the other wolf is lying motionless in her barrow in the darkness flat on her stomach in mouldering leaves and mud head resting on crossed paws staring into the night with her old yellow eyes and she says they stabbed my son and left him alone in his blood and the last thing he saw was a cruel face worn by the boy he has come to love a boy standing at the end of the alley looking down at his phone who then moves past him and keeps on walking

and then, you know. then i lie on the floor for a week! which is fine, i'm an extremely psychologically healthy person who has certainly not at all outsourced her entire emotional well-being to an imaginary public safety bureau criminal investigator on the coast of southeast china.

so what do i think about the cliffhanger? here is what i think about it; and again, sorry for the hatchet job on shen yi but it was relevant:

1. i do think it's a dream, yes. they've already played that game with us—we waited two years to find out who was carving up shen yi's creepy murder-red self-portrait and whomst should it be but…nobody! just shen yi having nightmares about his future fling, apparently. (notice, too, how fang kaiyi GRABBED that craft knife, which shen yi had deliberately left on the easel, and didn't even ask why it was there. he might be tall and elegant and have good taste but he's nowhere near as smart as you are, shen yi. do better.)

2. whose nightmare is it, though: shen yi's, or du cheng's? remember that the first time du cheng meets fang kaiyi, he tells shen yi, "he reminds me of someone: the old you." (and shen yi laughs merrily, even though nothing about that is funny, either the observation or du cheng's immediate mistrust and jealousy. TAN JIANCI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING). then, later, on the precinct rooftop, after the case is all over, shen yi confesses yet again that there's something in him that's not altogether good, that he has quote "demons," and that if he hadn't met du cheng, he might have gone down some vague unspecified dark path. not quite sure how a portrait artist was gonna become a mass murderer or whatever, but okay i guess. there was something off about shen yi 1.0, and du cheng could see it even a decade ago and he didn't like it then any more than he does now.

given all that, then, the nightmare is probably shen yi's. he's prone to them anyway, and he knows now how badly he's hurt du cheng, and that he came dangerously close to, well, getting into bed with the enemy. i don't think it's even until fang kaiyi is so limpidly nonchalant about zhou shanshan's death that shen yi's inner moral compass comes shrieking back into play (and then it really does; shen yi who never raises his voice out there just shouting that man down).

there's one argument to be made for the case that it's du cheng's nightmare, though, which is the way that he looks up at the camera at the very end of the shot, and laughs. shen yi 1.0 is standing too far away for that to be his point-of-view. so who's standing over du cheng? and who would he laugh at, in recognition, like that? shen yi 2.0, presumably (or 3.5? not sure what version we're on anymore).

either way here's my final observation, and then i swear to god i'll shut up, before the shen yi stans come for me like maenads. i was chatting with @wannings-wontons and she said something that absolutely blindsided me, which is that the cliffhanger literalizes the arc of the series: shen yi did, in fact, metaphorically stab du cheng in s2. why else would either of them dream that? du cheng being badly, even fatally wounded by arrogant young artist shen yi is precisely what happened during the divorce arc. and their reconciliation was so heavily censored as to be, to some of us anyway, unpersuasive. (two cops, talking on a rooftop all night! five feet apart cause they're not gay!) as @wannings-wontons said: "the last scene just reflects how badly hurt he was. and we're left to decide whether he'll recover."

so which is worse, dreaming that your lover stabs you? or dreaming that something twisted inside you stabs the man you love?

tldr, shen yi doesn't need a soap opera evil twin: he's his own evil twin, and he knows this. and what is more, du cheng knows it now too. if there's ever a third season, which seems completely impossible to me, the writers have to know that they have NOT fixed this.

fortunately, we have something censored production companies don't have, and it's called fanfiction. so bring on the episode codas, my friends. bring on the long painful conversations and the shouted arguments (du cheng never even got to yell, except once in a parking lot because he was frantic). bring on the tender reconciliations that can only come after those blowout knock-down-drag-out fights, and are therefore real and grounded, not stilted, wooden, woefully inadequate mockeries of reunion. let people throw furniture and cry and try to explain and plead and confess and even, sure, why not, grab the other person and kiss him breathless, and say I don't want to do this without you, say don't put me through that ever again, say but this isn't enough and I need something different, say okay then let's figure that out together, say i'm sorry i hurt you, you're the most important person to me and that's the last thing i ever want to do.

it's up to us, not to leave them there in the alley like that. but the good news is if it's work, it's only work. and it's our work to do.

[supacutiepie]

SPEAKING ABOUT THE RANDOM TOP GUN PHASE I JUST GOT OUT OF: My on going theory about Rooster and Hangman's beef is that there is no secret third party involved it is entirely personal. Hangman, trying to make a tease at what happened that day-- falls flat on his ass because uh oh, Rooster is still red hot about it--

Rooster claps back with full vitriol, Hangman still trying to defuse the moment, everyone around them who knows what happened is looking hella uncomfortable: Coyote and Phoenix especially cringing back because "Seriously? One minute into seeing each other again and their at it AGAIN--" I think, full send: Hangman shot Rooster out of the sky LMAO. Whatever happened on that hop? Whatever scuffle they got into, it ended up with Rooster hesitating, and Hangman going in too hot. He takes out the enemy and gets that "first air kill" of his generation...and promptly shoots Rooster out of the gods damn air. OBVIOUSLY Rooster would be pissed?? I wonder if that's where the scars come from, him having to GTFO of his jet after his best friend fucking shot him down-- Hangman feels like shit for it, and it gets him his callsign which sucks ass to constantly be reminded of the time he almost killed his best friend. Rooster feels like shit because he's grateful Hangman saved his ass at all, but he shot Rooster out of the sky !! So his pride is so damn bruised. He knows he fucked up by hesitating, he got into his head and missed his chance and it ended up with him getting in the way of Hangman's shot. His own dman fault he got shot down right but.. But then he's free falling. He's become his Dad, he's terrified of the canopy opening and he's terrified because Mav was right and it's terrifying-- But he makes it out, scarred up for it, and he's so damn angry and traumatized by it he can't tolerate Hangman's attempts to apologize. And pride begets pride, so Hangman, so literally hung up on his guilt for almost killing his best friend, shoots off the hip with his own anger and bruised pride and trauma (watching Rooster go down, jet smoking from HIS bullets and he already knows he killed one man today don't make it two don't make it HIM--) Two damn prideful to apologize, or accept one. No matter how fucking bad they both want one. So Hangman picks a song he knows will tease Rooster the moment he walks into the bar, and Rooster says he's "You look good, Hangman" because he knows exactly what nerve that's gonna hit (guilt guilt guilt) and Hangman instinctively lashes back with that snarky ass "I am good, Rooster. I'm very good." and its just downhill from there... But it's Hangman himself who backs down. It doesn't come off that way, but what he says isn't as scathing as Rooster calling him by that damn name: he just calls him out for being to slow, but implies he could still be better. And dammit, Rooster clocks that shit?? Like we know by now Hangman goes for the throat when he wants to, but he let that shit slide and joked about the song - (he has songs picked out for Rooster, he still has songs for them what the fuck) So, Rooster backs down and annoys him back by playing the piano instead, which for Hangman isn't?? A fucking loss?? He gets to hear Rooster playing and singing how is he losing LMAO. (And even while literally toe to toe, the first thing Bradley does it glance down at this man's lips???) (( Hangman literally pulling pigtails because he can't be brave enough to just fucking apologize because he feels bad enough he almost killed the guy he's in fucking love with LMAOOOO))

[shadamypositivity]

Here are my thoughts on this (warning for long post and my opinions)

Amy was made to be Sonic's female protagonist in the way that Mickey has Minnie, Mario has Peach- but Sonic subverts this expectation because of the nature of his character. Too cool, too fast, too wild to be "tied down" by romance, a hero on a breakneck paced hero's journey- this was also reflective of the culture at the time, so not just some throwaway decision. Reversing this dynamic doesn't actually mean Amy's character will change much, because Amy's definitive character has not been "Sonic's girlfriend" for a long, long time. She's a fangirl, she's obsessive, she's temperamental, she's kind, she's compassionate, she's honest, she's tough, she's optimistic, none of that would or SHOULD change in the case of "Reverse Sonamy". If Sonic is the one swooning and chasing Amy Rose then it's him who has to give up some of his definitive characteristics.

I'm not adverse to reverse sonamy because I don't think Sonic likes Amy -- if I can digress, I actually do think Sonic does have feelings for Amy, but I think Sonic has feelings for a lot of characters, but would never pursue romance for all the reasons I stated with Amy -- I'm adverse because I'm scared for what that means for Amy's character in the movie.

I don't want them to 'tame' Amy or Corporate Girlbossify her. I don't want her rolling her eyes at Sonic's attention or being the Only Smart One, or the straight man in a group of boys. I want Amy to be silly and tough and temperamental and sweet. Like the video's op stated, when people say they want reverse Sonamy I fear what they actually mean is that they want Amy to be toned down.

I saw a tweet not too long ago that slightly relates to this - that hypersexual women are one of the most oppressed people - I'm not classifying Amy has hypersexual BUT she is hyperromantic haha and I feel like relates to the gist of that theory. Is it really a crime that Amy does prioritize romance and love over heroism and adventure at times? Is it actually so terrible that she does have a crush on Sonic and follows him because of how much she admires him? As a girl, I related so much to Amy, not because I specifically crushed on Sonic (I was always a Shadow girl haha) but because I felt a lot how she acted. I was repressed myself, but admired Amy for how open and honest she was about her feelings and how confident she was when it came to Sonic returning her feelings. But she was also super tough and caring, but wore pink and loved girly things, but she also got angry and carried a huge weapon, but she also cooked and baked -- as a little girl who loved video games and action figures and super heros (mind you, this was well in the early 2000s when binary toys and interests were still very much a thing, I was ridiculed and denied in a lot of spaces) but also loved fairies and makeup and pink, Amy was the first girl character that wasn't either just cute and sweet (i.e Peach (who i adore DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND)) or tough and no nonsense but felt like how I felt. Amy had so many different layers to her character, I loved that she was girly and silly and in love but also super tough and strong and didn't seem to have to sacrifice one side for the other.

I ended up waxing poetic about Amy Rose for more than I meant haha, but I wanted to put my feelings out there. Irregardless of what reverse Sonamy means to people, or what anyone ships, I just want them to be true to Amy's character. I don't want them compromising who she's always been just because people find her annoying. JUSTICE FOR ANNOYING GIRLS!!!

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

Oh! I dont usually see Grim dislike/hate. Can I ask why you don't like him? I think there's def room for improvement for him, but I cant find it in me to truely hate him since he reminds me of a character I really like. (Puppycat from Bee and Puppycat)

He's just such wasted potential.

Look I'm into flawed characters, but I don't like stagnant asshole characters that are in the majority of a media. Grim has barely improved since the start of the game.

He's rude, obnoxious, continues to actively cause you problems and throws you under the bus quite often (I mean look at the most recent Crewels SSR card– he tries to blame you for his mistakes and yet still gets you in trouble).

In every event he's the same. Be annoying, make a few dumb/rude remarks abt the culture, "I'm hungrryyy". I think in one event I've counted him talking abt food abt 35 times? Like I don't mind the trope of "monster creature loves food" but that's all he is and doesn't have half the endearing traits. He never shuts up about himself. He's so boring/generic. How is Morgana better than him

He still seldom shows affection for you. Like you barely get to semi bond when talking about his past. This was the only main scene we had to get attached to him before book 6. Seriously throughout every book he's just been overly cocky, rude, annoying, and suddenly you care only about him and not the fact that several people were kidnapped and the school was trashed and that the world is ending.

I thought he would have a huge change of heart after book 6 and his moment of him crying— which honestly didn't move me cause he didn't do anything for us to get attached to in canon. You really have to make up your own headcanons and theories to really make him "good". He's also your buddy but it seems he aknowedges as much as the rest of the cast

He didn't even have a change of heart as he immediately went back to being him. Sure there was that scene in book 7 where he says he's gonna protect you and calls out for you but it's like... cool you had several years to develop and we have maybe 4 scenes of you being an actual character and not some plot device/instigator.

The other thing too is how he is in school. He wants so badly to be a good mage and be the best in NRC but doesn't actively do anything to achieve that. He continues to never study and slack off (which fucks Yuu over cause they're 1/2 a student).

By all means, I'm not saying he can't be annoyed at what being a mage entails or a hypocrite (flaws are important). But he's been one for years and hasn't changed a bit. He still has shown very little improvement for someone who claims to sorta care about his "henchhuman" he certainly continues to impact their grades and school life. (Plus consider yuu not being from this world and all the extra effort they have to put in for a -C, its implied in the book). I wouldn't be surprised if he hurt Yuus pockets a lot too with his selfish appetite.

The main issue I have with him overall is the lack of consequences for him. He almost set everyone on fire? OK. He apparently scratched yuu very bad and that's that. No scene where you confront him about it or the rocks that he eats that you continuously warn him about. You can argue book 6 was the punishment but it didn't seem like it. He'll cause so many issues and get a slap on the wrist for it.

I think the best thing to do right now is to have Yuu snap at him so he improves. Fuck up their friendship. Make him realize he has been bad and actually have him change. A dramatic friend breakup. It would be the only way for Grim to change quickly rn with how long it's been

Have Yuu become a full student and watch him fall apart as Yuu doesn't need to rely on him and they're able to get their As in peace as Grim gets his Fs. Let them get angry. Seriously I'm so mentally ill over the concept of Yuu in general esp in game Yuu and all the ways to make them foils to characters or have them be angst fuel.

I want to like Grim. I love found family. But he just doesn't deserve that currently. He just sucks.

Do do understand why people like him. But I'm not one of them with the state he's in. I'm sorry I don't feel bad at all.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 802: Leadership!!

Pag 1

1: The back you show is “life-sized”!! That's why people follow it

Pag 2

1: At the end of the mountain line, the course goes along the mountain ridge gently, then keeps going for a short while with ups and downs

2: It passes through a narrow tunnel

3: it reaches a three-way intersection at the “Notoge Pass”, at 700m of altitude

4: The course turns to the right and enters a serious downhill, with zigzags

Here, it enters the Oita Prefecture

Pag 5

1: Ngh...

Closing the gap on the downhill, he said....!!

Huh!?

2: Can we really do something like that!?

3: Are you stupid, Iwatani-kun?

Do you really believe Sugimoto-san!?

4: Hyaaaa

5: Kobayashi-san

This speed is scary

6: Waaaa

Pag 6

1: What!?

The guys from the selected team passed us while shrieking!!

On the downhill!?

2: “Selected team”....

3: The selected teams is the one they make every year with the guys from prominent schools who couldn't enter the race...

That's right. A ragtag team made up of cyclists with potential

4: It's an impromptu team. It's like a commemorative race

I have the idea that they end up retiring, getting cut off, or finish alone at the very end

5: But they're all in order!?

6: Maybe they have someone, senpai

Among them....

They have someone with strong leadership skills...

Pag 7

1: who could bring together such a scattered team!!

2: Sugimoto-san!!

We're going so fast it's scary!!

Pag 8

2: Fast is scary?

3: Well,...

4: This is just the right speed...

5: to catch up with the lead ahead of us!!

Pag 9

1: I told you earlier too, the lead is running on the downhill “without taking risks”

We'll do better than them. If we don't descend at a high speed, we won't make it

3: But, running while being afraid also means we're taking risks

I'll teach you, now

4: Huh!?

5: The way to ride downhill without being afraid!!

7: Is-is something like that possible?

Scary thing are just scary, aren't they?

Pag 10

1: I understand the feeling of wanting to raise your upper body and your face, but while you're on a downhill

2: Your body

3: lower it!!

4: Ugh... for the air resistance, right

Rationally, I know that, but I end up raising my face out of fear

5: The scary thing about downhills isn't the “speed”

6: Huh!?

7: I think you did it on your usual practices, too

When there are no cars or anything, going down on a wide downhill at 60km/h isn't scary

8: Ah

9: The scary things about downhills

Pag 11

1: is the fear that “we might not be able to control our bike”

2: It's like Iwatani-kun said: we also have to lower our body to resist the wind

He called my name

But, at the same time, “lowering your body”

4: also means “lowering your center of gravity”

Place of your center of gravity when your body is lowered: around 1m

Place of your center of gravity when your body is raised: around 1.5m

Pag 12

1: Center of gravity!!

2: The weight balance of a bike is 60~70kg for the person on top, while the bike is 7~8kg!! So the bike is much lighter

3: So you're saying that the weight balance of a bike changes with your own body?

4: That's right. It's the same theory of why a racing car with its low center of gravity can move faster than a truck!!

5: If you lower your center of gravity it becomes easier to move your bike as you imagine!!

6: And the control greatly increases!!

Pag 13

1: And that control is critical!! Like right now... on the downhill's zigzags, when you keep pulling the brakes over and over and accelerating in the curves

2: He's so fast!

Sugimoto-san took the curve like he was slipping!!

Pag 14

1: And once your body learns to run the the line you imagined, then your fears will naturally be erased!! Naturally!!

3: Yessir!!

Hyee!!

Our fears

4: will naturally be erased!!

Pag 15

2: I'm.... I'm taking this curve stability!!

3: It feels like I can take the curve without pulling the brakes too much!!

Pag 16

2: I can go downhill fast like this!!

3: Hyeee!!

4: It's true... if I keep my head low it's not scary anymore

5: Amazing...

Pag 17

1: You really are amazing!! Sugimoto-san!!

3: Well... I was able to realize this....

4: because I fought seriously against Danchiku for many days during the training camp!!

5: Thank you!! Danchiku!!

6: Woah, the selected team passed us!?

Huh!?

Why are they so coordinated!?

But this situation...

Pag 18

1: It's just too hard. Too hard

2: I said our goal for the first day was to be among the first ten, but to do that there are still a lot of hurdles

3: Let's switch, Sugimoto-san!!

I've gotten the hang of it!!

4: Iwatani!!

5: I'll take a turn too!!

Kobayashi-kun!?

6: But still

I'm still pulling though!

I said leave it to me!!

7: Just pull without arguing

Yessir

Yessir

I think it's not impossible

8: They say the selected team is a ragtag team

But it's also a team...

Pag 19

1: that gathere people with potential from each school!!

Hyeee

Kobayashu-saan

Come on, I said leave it to me

Ah, he moved in the front again

2: Let's go!! Let's put our strengths together!!

Pag 20

4: Slow down!!

The car for technical troubles!!

We have to brake!!

5: The support car goes to cyclists who have technical troubles

6: Technical troubles are a matter of luck

It's unfortunate... he fell back in the ranks

7: That jersey!?

8: Huh!?

He's....

Pag 21

1: The Kyofushi's.... second year!!

Kishigami Komari!!

2: Mi.... Midosuji's second in command!! The ace assistant!!

3: Huh?

It's Sohoku's... small fry meat

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Compromising Positions: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.7k

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Summary: An unsub is targeting and killing married couples, and you and Spencer go undercover in hopes of drawing out the unsub. Not only does it not work, but it opens a can of worms you don't think Spencer is ready to open.

Season Six Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

You walk back into the apartment and take a seat across from Maryann. You don't want to confront her right out so you decide to ease her into the conversation and target your inner Spencer.

"So, I read this pretty fascinating theory recently. It said that humans weren't designed to be monogamous and that in our hunter-gatherer phase, women took several mates. The idea was that if the men in the tribe didn't know who the father was, they'd all be more invested in the child. Interesting, right?"

"I guess," she shrugs.

"While I would never judge you or the way you live your life, I do think the only reason you got into it was to make James happy. Just like how you only got pregnant after his surgery to make him happy, only, I don't think that it's working."

"That's not true. James is overjoyed to be a father."

"Look, I'm only going to say this because I know it's true. You can deny it all you want but I know you know the truth. I know James is hurting you. Maybe not physically but he is hurting you. I also know you love him and you want to make him happy because how can the man you love be such a monster, right?"

"No, you're wrong," she says, her voice cracking at the end.

"You got pregnant after his surgery because you thought that would make him happy. For a while, it worked. Then, I'm assuming when you started showing, he got angry because he knew this child was not his. It's someone else's which only reminds him that he can't provide for his family. For an alpha male, that must be soul-crushing. I think that your pregnancy drove your husband to try to recreate those parties so he could feel in control again. Only, instead of swinging, he's killing people."

"Why won't you people listen to me? He's not capable of doing that!"

"How about killing the man who got you pregnant? Do you think he's capable of that?"

"No, because you'd be lying. This is his baby."

You take out the files of the unsolved murders that the detective brought over and lay them out in front of her.

"These files are recent unsolved murders, men who have been killed since you conceived. Now, if I'm right about your husband, I think that the father of your child is somewhere in here." You open the first one and lay it open in front of her so she can see the victim's picture and crime scene. "Bob Atkins? Is it him?"

"I can't believe this," she scoffs.

You open another one and show her. "James Boyd?"

"You don't give up, do you? You just can't accept the fact that my husband and I love each other." You open another folder and present it to her. She keeps talking. "Yes, we have an unconventional marriage, but that's not a crime. We have a strong relationship." you open another one and lay it in front of her. "James respects me. He would never do anything--"

She stops talking when she sees the one you just laid down. She lets out a strangled cry and you know you have your man. She finally believes you which means you can move on to the real questioning. You take the files away from her so she doesn't have to look at them and give her five minutes to compose herself. She picks up the landline phone and calls her husband but it goes straight to voicemail.

"It went straight to voice mail. He must have turned it off."

"Maryann, we need you to tell us what you and your husband used to do before you got married. What were your habits?"

"Do you mean like where we went on dates?"

"No, your sexual habits. Think about it. You don't just jump into swinging. Most people have games building up to it. What were they?"

"He'd sometimes pretend to pick me up. We'd meet at a bar. I'd arrive and he wouldn't be there. He was in the back watching me."

"What were the names of the bars you went to?" you ask and take out your notepad.

"Just one. Dunley's. It's at the town mall."

You nod and write the name down. "How did the game end?"

"He'd make me dress provocatively. He wanted guys to hit on me, and then when I'd show some interest, James would step in and seduce me back to him."

She's been through enough trauma for one night so you leave local police with her while your team heads to Dunley's. You don't want to go storming in because then he might shoot a bunch of people so you have to play this safe. Derek walks in without his FBI vest to see if he's in there and returns moments later.

"He's in the middle of the bar. There's no way to take him down without risking collateral damage. If we go in there, he'll start shooting up the place."

"He'll do that anyway. This guy's looking for a spark," Emily says.

"Hotch, let me go in there. I'll be your distraction. He's gone back to his old patterns. He wants to play the game he played with his wife."

"Debra Wilson played that game and it got her killed, Y/N," Derek says.

"Hotch, do you trust me?"

"Yes." You begin stripping yourself of anything that would suggest you're in the FBI including your weapons. "Keep his focus off the crowd long enough for us to take him down."

"I can do you one better. I can bring him out here. Just wait for us to leave."

"You're confident enough to separate himself from the crowd?"

"Yes but knowing you, you'd stand by and enter the bar anyway. Just wait for my signal. If I touch my nose, then you know to come in."

"Okay."

Once you look presentable, you head inside the club. You fluff your hair up, pull your shirt down to expose more of your breasts, and pinch your cheeks to give yourself a rosy look without using makeup. You pass by a couple who are making out at a booth, and the woman's purse is lying on the seat next to her. You hate doing this but it's for the greater good. You swipe the purse without her knowing and walk over to the bar where James is. He has his hand inside his jacket pocket ready to pull out his gun when you step right next to him.

"James!" You grin and put the purse on the bar. "I thought that was you." He looks surprised someone knows him here. "How's Maryann?" He still doesn't say anything. "Oh, you don't remember me? We met at a party."

"We did?"

"Yeah. I walked in with Brian one night. He'd been part of the scene more than me, and I got a little curious if I'm honest. You were with Maryann and I immediately took a liking to you. You sent Maryann over to Brian just to get the ball rolling when I walked up to you. They got into it, we got into it, and we all did. Brian didn't stop talking about that for weeks," you laugh.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really don't remember you," he stutters.

"It's okay. I'm Y/N. Maybe that will refresh your memory." It doesn't. "So, do you still hit the scene?"

"No, I don't."

"Yeah, me either. I came here tonight hoping to find a real man. Lucky for me, I found you," you smile sexily.

You pull your hair to the side and expose your neck, and his eyes drift down your neck and over your breasts before returning to your eyes.

"You sure we've met?"

"It's hard to forget a face like yours."

"So, where's Brian?"

"He's not around anymore."

"Yeah. Well, that happens... Lose your boyfriend. The scene will definitely do that."

He's testing you. He said the word boyfriend. Alpha males look to other alpha males, and they are always married. He's waiting for you to sip up, but you don't.

"No, not boyfriend. Husband. Come on, boyfriend?" you scoff. "You know this. We look for someone stable and secure. You know, someone who poses a real threat. It's how the fantasy works."

James smirks, having fallen for your act. He removes his hand from his jacket and presents his elbow for you to take.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"Of course."

You hook your hand in the crook of his elbow and walk to the exit where you know your team is waiting. It doesn't take James more than five seconds to realize what is going on, and he turns to you angrily. He whips out his gun to shoot you but is shot by Derek instead. No one had any time to remove the weapon from him.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asks.

"Yeah, he didn't touch me."

The worst thing Maryann will have to go through is the loss of her husband but at least he's not out hurting people anymore. You're safe and sound back in your bed to which you decided to go to bed early. Spencer and Derek are going to hang out for a few hours so he's waiting for his friend to come over.

"Hey, I called the restaurant and they have an opening they can fit us in. They're pretty busy."

Spencer opens the bedroom door to make sure you're sleeping, which you are. He can hear your soft snores coming from the bed. He closes the door as quietly as he can before walking over to Derek.

"I need your help."

"With what?"

"Picking out a ring because I want to ask Y/N to marry me."

Derek is ecstatic that he's taking this step to further your relationship with you, but Frank isn't. In fact, Frank is pissed. His first thought is to go over there and slit Spencer's throat for having the idea. Then, a lightbulb goes off in Frank's mind, and he leans back in his chair with a wicked grin on his face.

How amazing would it be for you to bask in the happiness that is Spencer Reid only for it to be taken from you at a moment's notice? It's going to take a lot of work on Frank's part but there is only one person you belong with and that's him, and he's going to make sure you never get the chance to marry Spencer.

"We all wear masks and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing our own skin." - André Berthiaume

x

Want to be tagged? Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[oli-ribbun-ver]

EP 4 RAMBLE PART 3 FINAL!!

(ft the other episodes! but mainly ep 4!)

okay actually i think this is more of a gangle ramble now but thats fine

part 1

part 2

CONTINUATION OF THE GANGLE PEOPLE-PLEASER PART OF THE RAMBLE FROM PART 2!

lets see... where did i leave off... RIGHT!!

There are a lot of parts in ALL episodes where she doesn't want to cause problems for people. Which is typically normal for everyone, HOWEVER. Her idea of 'causing problems' is her opening up to people about how she truly feels, or even voicing her feelings in general if they're about someone.

I've already gone over the Pomni conversation and the bit where she has a mini breakdown, and I said I'd include even more of the other episodes in this, so! Let's begin at Ep 1!

Let's talk about what I've observed in episode one.

YES THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Notice how it's emphasized she says it quietly? (I know it's for comedic effect, but EVERYTHING seems to be important for every character, like how the darkness from the bucket on Kinger's head in Ep 2 helped him remember something about Ragatha before immediately forgetting it and then the reason he only remembers things in the darkness is explained! Seems like a minor detail that means nothing, turns out to be HUGE.

She doesn't want to cause a problem. In this case, the 'problem' would be her fully interrupting the conversation because she's worried about her friend. In the mind of a people pleaser, even if it helps someone out, you feel a sense of pressure on you when mentioning someone needs help to others, because "What if I cause a problem or make them mad? I don't wanna do that!", those thoughts are pretty normal, ESPECIALLY for people-pleasers.

"Wait, what about Zooble?" Is said so quietly, you can barely hear it. She either doesn't want her voice to be heard, or she DOES but is too scared to say it more loudly because of some version of the thoughts I described.

not as important but I'd like to note how she literally says NOTHING. like. nothing. i just think its kinda funny but also she just. doesnt give her opinion at all? she wasnt even asked if she wanted to go with them to check on kaufmo they just dgaf about her 😭

ANYWAY

This is the only time she gives her opinion and its not even an opinion HELP

Also I'm trying to save space so I don't have to make a part 4 so shortly into this, since I know I'll have to make one anyway, but I wanna mention how she hides behind her broken mask to protect herself after he screams which kinda hits different now that we know more about her mask.

But anyway, I'll make a seperate little portion of this ramble for that!

I'd like to mention too, anytime she is shoved, has something mean said to her, or has her comedy mask broken, she doesn't complain or say anything about it except for maybe an "ow". I find that interesting, because I think the reason for this is that she doesn't want anyone worrying about her. AKA, she doesn't want to cause a 'problem'.

She wants to please. One does not please by being a 'problem', right? That's probably how she thinks, anyway.

When Jax tells her to do something she doesn't want to do, whether he pressured her like that or not, it wouldn't have made a difference, because she can't bring herself to say 'no.'

In my opinion, from what it sounds like when she says "I don't think we—" she probably would've ended up saying yes regardless. Hell, if he'd just followed it up with "do it," I don't see a world in which she wouldn't, although she'd probably be more hesitant.

also why does his back bend like that he looks like hes gonna become an old man any second now HELP 😭

Also, when Jax threatens her by saying "Do it, or I'll tell Ragatha about the figurine thing," I think that really does something to her.

Every time she's either built up the confidence to say no, or someone has tried to help her say no, she's kicked down in one way or another INSTANTLY.

Episode 4 did not help with that. I believe in the next few episodes, she will not be better about saying no. She might even be worse off, knowing Ragatha thinks her being happy is annoying.

People-pleasers are in different worlds. Being the type of people-pleaser Gangle is, it's an entirely different world from others. It carries a lot of what I can only describe as delusion to it.

If Pomni had not stepped up when Gangle thought she was alone after work hours, Gangle would have abstracted. I am a firm believer in that. She was breaking. Losing her mind.

Gangle tells herself to stop trying to achieve her dream while breaking down over the fact her efforts to achieve her dream might not be enough.

So let's go there, and get a

Closer look at Gangle's mental state.

(and why she's most likely the least unwell character)

Gangle is mentally ill. Everyone knows that already, but to what extent?

I'm not sure if we'll ever know.

But what we do know is this.

More likely than not, Gangle almost abstracted in Ep 4. And out of everyone who has EVER vented so far, Gangle has shared relatively nothing. Even after the Spudsy's adventure, what we've seen so far is her never mentioning her feelings except that she feels like she messed everything up.

Gangle doesn't know how to help herself. Zooble can make her feel better, but not for long, because Gangle doesn't think she can get better.

When she was about to vent to Pomni, she stopped as soon as she felt like her feelings were REALLY about to come loose, put her new happy mask back on, said she had no time to talk about her feelings, and fled.

What I think is that Gangle thinks everyone is more important than her, so when she FINALLY got to be important she was happy. Really, truly happy.

The worst thing you can do is make someone think they're not wanted or loved.

Something that makes me sad is that Gangle does not feel wanted or loved.

Gangle was almost gone in Episode 4.

We almost lost Gangle. Had Gangle abstracted, she'd die without ever feeling like people cared about her.

For all we know, she could be the first person to abstract after Kaufmo.

I personally believe that.

The end of Episode 4 was a su¡cide attempt. (is that word allowed? im not sure..l ill censor it anyway)

I saw someone say this in the comment section of either the episode itself or a reaction video, and I completely agree.

They say before people commit su¡cide, they have a sudden boost of joy. Everything will be over soon. Why not enjoy that fact?

I think it was a subconscious su¡cide, at the very least.

She was happy. For the first time without a happy mask to hide how she feels deep down, she was happy.

She had a sudden boost of happiness, and then stepped backwards into oncoming traffic. When someone experiences a near-death situation by their own hand, there's a moment of regret before they are gone. I've experienced it myself, and it is horrid. That feeling is one I will never be able to forget. Even if I never so much as blacked out, I felt faint, and I will NEVER forget that fear, that horror, dread, regret.

The shock. Wondering if it was truly me who did it.

And I think. That is what Gangle experienced.

And then, that feeling was brushed off by Caine, whether she knew he doesn't understand the feeling of wanting to disappear or not, she was quick to blame herself for it all. Both about her performance to Caine, and alone, to nobody but herself.

"I guess I just... cracked under the pressure I suppose."

And maybe, just maybe.

That crack will never heal.

Thank you for listening and reading my ramble, everyone!! I appreciate it more than you know!

Bye bye for now, friends! Have a lovely day!

[temporary-joyride]

Thinking about a line from Link Click season 1 (looking for opinions) [spoilers]

Okay so. First of all, this is coming from a very casual enjoyer of media, who just finished watching Link Click (in its entirety) from Jan 7-11th 2025 so I am FRESH out of the gate and not intimately familiar with the popular theories and headcanons. HOWEVER. I'm very caught up on this one line from season 1 and would like to know what you guys think, help me out into the deep end here.

I, at least until like an hour ago, was HEAVILY under the impression that the events that take place in season 1 and 2, everything from the company fraud case to the fight in the subway, has all only happened *once.*

Why do I think this? Here's my selling point: I'm thinking of when Cheng Xiaoshi goes to the bridge to save Emma, right? He's there, he's like "hey you gotta live" and she's like "damn yeah maybe you're right" and Lu Guang in the present, HE says "How is this possible? Death is a node that can't be changed.."

Not shouldn't, like, based on moral principle, he says CAN'T. It is physically unavoidable. If Lu Guang still thought this, why would he go back to the past and try to save his friend? He must have had something change his mind to make him think otherwise, and it would have had to happen after Emma's death. Because even IF Lu Guang had been in that particular moment in time more than once, it doesn't make any sense for him to say "how is this possible?" because avoiding the death node is literally exactly what he's trying to do.

So I felt pretty confident that everything from s1&2 has only happened once, and Cheng Xiaoshi's death and subsequently Lu Guang's dive happened sometime after they had both healed from the subway fight and twins incident.

The problem: the dive that Lu Guang takes at the end of s2ep12 and the one he takes at the beginning of s3ep1 are definitely not the same dive, I agree. Continuity error? Screw you. No way. I also saw theories about the sound glitches when Lu Guang gets stabbed and Cheng Xiaoshi gets shot signifying a deviance in the timeline, and it makes total sense!!! But unfortunately I cannot explain this. I don't know how both of these things could be true at once. I'm not sure how s1&2 could only happen once if he took the dive at his desk at least twice.

There's also the fact that Lu Guang knew to take the photo from his hospital bed, which COULD support him diving multiple times but also he's a smart guy! Maybe you should give him a little credit, and he figured out to take the photo in real time.

Only other thing I can think of is Bridon Arc just kind of pretending to be a prequel but is actually just Lu Guang starting over in an alternate timeline, but I don't buy that because in that case they could have just... not killed Cheng Xiaoshi in the first place.

What do you guys think?? There's a lot to support Lu Guang having dived back multiple times but if that's true why would he say that line? It just doesn't make ANY sense to me. "How is this possible? Death is a node that can't be changed." Why would he say that if that's what he was trying to do in that very moment with Cheng Xiaoshi?

And to the only person I know who might enjoy this post, I tag thee, @miyamiwu

[humbledragon669]

S2E3 - I Know Where I'm Going Write Up P3 - Aziraphale’s road trip and Crowley’s (friendly) conversation with Jim

This may well be another short(er) instalment, for similar reasons to the last one - ultimately this episode just breaks down into nicer chunks if I tackle this “present day” section on its own. That said, we should all be familiar with my tendency to ramble by now so let’s see how I get on.

The very first thing I wanted to comment on is the cut between the past of Edinburgh into the present of the Bentley. It’s entirely visual/audio so describing it is likely not to come out too well, but I’ll give it a go. At the end of the previous scene, the camera pans up and then appears to move, extremely quickly, towards the sky. At the same time there is a noise in the soundtrack, a “whoosh” that suggests rapid movement. On the opposite side of the cut there’s a tiny movement that suggests the end of the movement which ends on a close up of Aziraphale’s face. I hope that didn’t come off as too laborious. Not much I can do about it if it did anyway. Anyway, all of that to say that this cut between scenes suggests to me that, just like with the previous episode, the scenes that we see of Edinburgh are actually Aziraphale’s memories, his flashbacks. Which in and of itself, doesn’t really seem important. It does however lend credence to the theory I raised in the last section (that the minisodes show us epiphany-inducing moments specific to the angel, rather than being simple retellings of events that have occurred in his history).

I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that the scene that follows in the Bentley is something of a fandom favourite for the Clues it gives to the state of the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, and for a couple of neat media references that can be found in it. I won’t be going over well-trodden ground too much in this write-up, and I’ll try and keep it as brief as possible. With that said, I want to touch briefly on the changes we see on the Bentley. I’ll start with the music, which, as is explicitly stated, is classical (Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens to be exact. I looked for a potential Easter egg here but couldn’t see anything obvious) and “stays classical”. This last point is pretty obviously a reference to the fact that all music in the Bentley inevitably eventually changes to Queen, not dissimilar to the music in the jukebox Aziraphale is seeking out (artist and song differences aside). There is something here I find interesting though:

So, we can see that the radio has been tuned to BBC Radio 3. For those of you outside the UK, this particular radio station does play whole programmes of classical music, though they do play other genres. He would probably have been better of choosing Classic FM if he had wanted an uninterrupted schedule of classical music. Perhaps there was a rights issue. Anyway, that’s not what I find interesting. If I understand correctly, the fact that Aziraphale is using the radio is what facilitates the conversation that is about to take place with Crowley. I think I actually recall that communicating using existing radio waves was something that Crowley had suggested to Hell as a precursor to the mobile phone. So, radio in use = possible communication. So far, so good. Here’s the “but”. It’s typically static sources of music that are prone to changing when left in the Bentley - in the book it was cassette tapes, in the show it’s updated to CDs. I have a feeling it may even be possible to use the cassette/CD player in an attempt to stop communications coming through (no radio waves = no communication) - I think this may even be why Crowley inserts a CD when trying to get through the wall of fire in the first season. So we have a bit of an inconsistency with the lore here. In all likelihood, I think it’s probably another instance of scriptual convenience - we need to have the conversation; we also need to be told how the Bentley has adapted to Aziraphale’s preferences. You can’t have both things whilst maintaining the previously established elements of Omens legend. There might be some other things to be said about whether the angel chooses to use the radio in order to ensure communication with Crowley was possible, or whether he’s actually not aware of how the music tends to change, but I think it might be overkill in this particular instance.

Looking at some of the other changes we see to the Bentley itself - there’s the horn (now delightfully camp) and of course, the colour. Looking first at the former, I was trying to recall a time when we hear the horn when it’s not Aziraphale driving but I’ve come up empty (even after watching some of the scenes where it might most likely be used), so if anyone has an example I’d be grateful - that way I can make a direct comparison. As it is, we only have Crowley’s word that the Bentley’s horn doesn’t sound like that all the time, though I will agree that it’s hardly the mean sound you might associate with a demon’s car. The colour though, we can be in no disagreement as to the huge change that has been made there. And it would be remiss of me not to highlight the commonly accepted fandom trope that Aziraphale has chosen yellow because it matches the colour of Crowley’s eyes.

(Image shamelessly lifted from a Reddit post by r/goodomensprime - if you’re here on Tumblr, let me know and I’ll credit you properly)

It’s quite a sweet little tribute really, and gives us a huge insight into Aziraphale’s feelings. It’s no wonder he looks so put out when Crowley tells him it’s unacceptable.

There’s something else about this exchange though, and (combined with the demon’s comments about driving at the speed limit) should tell us a lot about Crowley’s link to the Bentley, which is that this vehicle really is like an extension of his own being. The horn he could hear, maybe even the travel sweets (that’s quite a distinctive noise it makes when Aziraphale removes it from the tray), but the colour? And he doesn’t just know that the colour has changed - he knows what colour it’s been changed to. At this point I feel like it’s worth noting the phrase that Crowley uses about the changes to the Bentley:

CROWLEY: What are you doing to it?

So here’s the insinuation that the changes to the Bentley are being intentionally caused by Aziraphale. The fact that it “doesn’t seem to want to” drive above 30 miles an hour would further suggest that the changes are not being resisted by the Bentley, if there is to be an element of sentience applied to the car. I feel like there is something to be said here about Aziraphale presuming tangible changes to something that isn’t strictly within his (moral) power to do - we’ll see that presumption raise a very ugly head in the Final 15. And just as with the Final 15, status quo with the Bentley is returned by force and threat, albeit in a slightly less devastating way.

When I was first writing my notes for this episode (which seems like a very long time ago now), I made a comment about the presence of tartan and the loch ness monster in this shot. Now that some time has passed, I have been made aware that this is a direct reference to a Powell and Pressburger film that this episode shares its name with. I also now understand that this is one of many references to the work of the British duo. @captainfantasticalright made a beautiful post about it here and rather than rehashing the lovely work they’ve already done, I’ll direct you there. It's really beautifully put together. The only thing I now find odd about this tableau is that it’s a really “breaking-the-fourth-wall” sort of reference. As much as I can remember, the Easter eggs I’ve seen up to now are subtle - they blend into the background, and look absolutely natural. This one, sweet and comedic as it is, sort of screams that there’s something to be found. I think the tartan is supposed to look almost like sedentary rock, and I feel like it almost does. The Loch Ness monster is somewhat harder to argue about on that point, though you gotta love the addition of the bagpipes to that awesome rock treatment of the theme tune as this scene plays out.

I don’t think I have an awful lot to say about the next scene with Beelzebub, other than perhaps we should have realised there was something more going on with her than he run-of-the-mill Hellish responsibilities. It’s pretty clear she’s very worried about Gabriel’s absence, especially as we actually haven’t had any indication that she’s been issued with any instructions to find him from higher-up. I do quite like the throwback to the conversation she had with Crowley earlier on in the season when she asks the crony if they ever wish they were told they were doing a good job, and it makes me suspect that part of her mental crisis isn’t just about finding Gabriel, but that she has started to sympathise with Crowley’s point of view when it comes to doubting those that exert power over you.

That book that Gabriel is using to try and understand the concept of gravity is another Powell and Pressburger reference. Again, I’d encourage to look over that blog post if you want to find out more about this particular Easter egg (or the whole set of them).

Those two GIFs are there for no other reason than so that everyone can watch Crowley showing his fully domesticated self, stalking around the bookshop, looking sassy whilst he does it. Do I need any other reason that that? I mean, those bicycle clips around the arms are a slightly strange choice, but I can understand the logic for them being there. And I know I’m nowhere near the first person to want to know exactly what it is that the demon is doing here. Tidying? That seems like a sensible solution.

Ah. Not tidying then. Or perhaps intending to tidy and getting bored. I can only assume he’s trying to keep himself busy here, as opposed to being bored without Aziraphale or stressing about the state of the Bentley. I have seen a lovely little catch somewhere that there are an awful lot of fire extinguishers on the second floor of the book shop (which we’ll see in episode five), and that this is likely to do with the fire that consumes the store in the first season. With that in mind, it would be nice to think that Crowley is at this point covertly making space for those extinguishers by moving books. That said, if the fire deterrents were in response to the previous fire, you’d think they would have been installed long before now. And then there’s that sneaky little suggestion that the people involved in the aversion of the Apocalypse in the years prior don’t actually have any memory of the events as they took place. Whatever Crowley’s reason for his “tidying”, there’s another suggestion about the demon’s behaviour that I really love, which is that he brings an organised chaos to Aziraphale’s disorganised chaos, and with that in mind I think it’s a real shame we don’t get to see what books it is that he’s carrying. I guess we maybe shouldn’t be surprised at his actions here; according to the book has sorted his CD collection meticulously, so it stands to reason that he might want to bring order to another collection (especially if, like me, you believe he’s actually living in the bookshop with Aziraphale at this point).

Leading on from that bracketed point in the last paragraph, I think it’s probably worth noting that Crowley is sans sunglasses at this point. On the one hand, I can absolutely see that this is likely because he’s comfortable in his environment and feels physically and emotionally safe there. On the other hand, we know that his feelings towards Gabriel are, and will continue to be, very guarded. He still doesn’t trust this ex-archangel, not one little bit. Nor is he particularly comfortable with Muriel, who may or may not be in the book shop at this point. And yet, these are the only beings with which he can interact with during this scene. It just strikes me as a little odd that he would go without them, particularly in Aziraphale’s absence, but it does at least really highlight how comfortable he is when he’s at home in the book shop. And if you don’t think that relaxed attitude is evident from the lack of eyewear, it’s blatantly obvious in the way he speaks with Jim about his plan.

I mean, it’s so conspiratorial. Again, remember how much Crowley hates and distrusts Gabriel at this point. Even Aziraphale hasn’t gotten comfortable enough with Jim to speak to him with that level of comfort, so I find this friendly tone from the demon very peculiar.

And on that bombshell (not really a bombshell at all, it’s just something that Brits say when we get to the end of something thanks to a popular television show), that’s the end of this section. Again, not exactly short, particularly as it was less than 5 minutes of film, but shorter as far as these write ups go. More of the same for the next one I think, but I guess we’ll see when I get there. As for now, and as always, questions, comments, discussion, always welcome. See you for the next one!

[nicolekart]

Jentry Chau vs the Underworld – Kit theory 

Okay, so I recently finished watching “Jentry Chau vs the Underworld” and got a little hyperfixation about it, but I see that not many people are talking about this cartoon.

And since I don't have a chance to do any fan art for the time being, I'll at least do a little bit of writing.

A small disclaimer: This is not a super specific theory, but more of a loose thinking and musing about additional storylines, because I think these characters and the story had much more potential than was tapped, or they were given to tap. I know I'm probably reading too much into things, but let's just be delusional for 5 minutes. You know… for fun.

I guess I don't need to say there are spoilers?

So, what if the plan for Kit's character was a bit different beforehand, or if we have some hint of what will happen to him next?

It's just that, I admit, I feel that his plot could have been handled better, more deeply (like many things in general), and I can't shake the feeling that there is a certain inconsistency that scratches at the back of my head - which is the bird motif.

1. The theme of a bird with 1 wing from another post

Link to the post.

When I saw this post, some way into the early episodes, I began to pay more attention.

It is about a mythical Chinese creature in the form of a bird with one eye and one wing, which has to unite with another bird in order to fly. The author of the post draws attention to this sense of incompleteness, of lacking something, which Kit has in regard to the lack of a soul.

The creature's other name is Jian, and it is also described as a good omen, a symbol of protection, a messenger between the divine and mortal realms.

2. His design

Link to the post on IG

 One of the character designers shared concept art of Kit, in which he has a medallion signed as using this very creature's theme. In the end, Kit appears to have a plain pink necklace.

However, the wing motif remains on his shirt.

In the shirtless art, we see a scar (which didn't make it into the series either), but it's on the same side as the missing wing would have been. Also, the design on the shirt. 

Maybe the plan was to rewrite the Jian myth, where he didn't just have one wing, but lost it?

2 Kit's character in the intro

And while the design thing can be explained by the fact that it was an old concept that didn't make it into the final version, why were some of the wing motifs left, like his shirt (but about that in a moment).

The main question is, why was it left in the intro in such a literal way? Just for aesthetic reasons? Didn't they want to show what kind of demon he is right away? Why are his eyes purple when he has white ones in the show? On the other hand, Michael's eyes when he has visions are identical to those in the episodes?

In the post, the artist mentions that the theme of the one-winged bird is a tragic story, and yet Kit is a tragic character in a way, and that he looks so dramatic in the intro... But doesn't it seem a little off to you? I mean, as much as possible... it might have been the only reason to use such a motif, but all in all, why would one demon have the attributes of another demon/mythical creature?

4. The feather theme of the woman in the vision

 As I mentioned, there are still the feather/wing motifs.

In episode 6, in the visions that Cheng haunts Kit with, there is a woman who first turns into dark feathers, and then has a medallion that might resemble a stylized wing. 

They say everything in animation is intentional, so why?

5. Torn pages from the bestiary

This is probably the least solid guess, nevertheless....

It seems that most demons in the bestiary have 2 pages dedicated to them. (Even probably Ed considering that the one on the page next to him is his picture).

However, the Painted skin demon only has one page, and the next pages are torn out. I know that this could just be a hint as to the further plot of the episode, and the whole scene was just to show Jentry the missing pages. But if I remember correctly, they weren't addressed anymore in the plot (like a lot of things in general but well).

The point is that why would the pages torn out of BESTIARIUS contain anything about Jentry's powers if they originated from the Yellow Emperor and, as Gugu suggested, are worthy of a god. I would assume that the power that some mythical emperor might have possessed would rather have come from the Gods, which is why the demons fear it so much, or the Mogui who crave it so deeply, since such power is not available to Diju beings.

So what if these pages are a continuation of the Painted Skin Demon chapter. What if he wasn't always like this? Maybe there is a further (earlier) part of the legend? What if they combined two of the myths together? Like the Fallen Good Omen, for example, that's why he loves people so much and wants to be among them again.

Although in the scene at the end of the episode his chapter is already on another page, not next to the torn out pages....

6. Potential rebirth/return to the former form/getting his soul back from Diju

What if Jentry was right and the soul is not a uniquely human thing. I'm not saying that all demons have a typical soul, because they would probably have already figured it out. But maybe they can develop/ grow one? Or something similar to it. Gugu says they'll give them a funeral... all of them. That means Kit, as well. What if, thanks to this ritual, his soul could pass to the afterlife, or to Diju given that he did however kill some people and generally has things to repent for?

Maybe in a later storyline they could get his soul back, he could be reborn. Or, theorizing about bird motifs, he could return to favor as a good omen.

From other stories, like Journey to the West, we know how often Heaven liked to punish celestial beings (and that's how the one-winged bird is described – a celestial being, not a demon) by turning them into demons, or how often animal-like creatures escaped into the human world and took the forms of demons.

That's pretty much it. I just wanted to point out a few things that I found interesting.

What do you guys think? I haven't written anything like this for years and I feel a bit weird 😅

And please, if you haven't already, watch JCVTU. We need season 2. 💗

[kuschelkissen]

Ok first of all, I'm sorry for planting it in your head 😅

To me, his PV and the ending scenes are kinda giving me bad vibes. He looks like he has a lot of baggage he's carrying around and everything around him seems like he's just A Guy™️ and he's hanging out with Vein and Lu Xiao, and that alone is reason for me to believe that he will be thrown under the bus somewhere along the lines by someone. Not even necessarily Vein, but we know that lx is the master manipulator and we're told not to trust him.

I also don't think that all 3 of these new characters will make it to the end of this arc. We know lx will survive and with Vein being the one killing cxs in the future, he also will make it. Xf? Eh. Press x to doubt.

That cooperation line. I said right when i heard it the first time, i hope that he'll say it to lg or cxs, after them helping him doing something heinous (unknowingly in cxs case, knowingly? In the case of the popular theory of lg originally being one of the house), but with xf's pv coming out and veifei poisoning my brain... yeah well.

So. About your post.

In Greek mythology, the story goes that a nymph named Clytie was in love with Apollo, the God of Sun. In the beginning, he loved her too, but then his head was turned toward another nymph. In a fit of jealous rage, Clytie told the other nymphs’ father, who then buried his daughter alive as punishment. Apollo was so angry that he then turned Clytie into a sunflower. But, as her love for him was so strong, she watched him move across the sky every day, just how sunflowers follow the sun. (src)

Vein is like you said Apollo and xf is Clytie.

Someone turned Vein's head. And Xia Fei with his temper did something that resulted in that someone's death.

Xf may or may not be responsible for the dorm fire.

We don't know yet who was involved there. Who died. We do know though that Cheng Weimin was somehow involved. Cwm who may or may not have (had) powers involving seeing the future? Or a son who is able to change time. Or a wife who according to cxs also had powers.

Turning head doesn't necessarily mean that he fell in love with someone else, but maybe he gave a bit too much of his attention away to someone else?

And we don't know what Vein's ability is, we don't know what's his deal in all of this, why he's so keen on killing (?) Cxs.

(Killing or kidnapping? Read a nice analysis the other day of how in their fight in ep 1 he tried to separate the two of them, didn't shoot once at cxs, and seemed genuinely frustrated when they locked themselves in the dark room. Maybe because he knew cxs would be dead by the time he managed to break down that door? And in Yingdu we've already seen 1 attempt of getting him in a car with lx and Vein, and now that very obviously orchestrated rescue mission... hmm)

Then we have next episode's title. "And then there were none", a rhyme from a song that starts with 10 people who all die one by one, which is also the title for an Agatha Christie book where

- people get lured to an island under a pretence (like say... finding out something about your parents?)

- these people then get killed for causing the death of someone

Idk sounds familiar? And with the emphasis on the fire and the code talking about "there's only one survivor", idk, i feel like this will be relevant 🤔

So... uh. Excuse my rambling, i just got up and I'm still a bit tired lol.

What I'm saying is. We don't know what Vein's deal is. We don't know why he keeps Xia Fei (a seemingly normal guy) around and while I would love it to be genuine affection, I just don't clock Vein like that, idk.

What do you mean Xia Fei is full of death flags? His character flower is a sunflower!

Though not native to China, the sunflower is increasingly popular and carries symbolic meanings in Chinese culture. It signifies vitality, loyalty, and warm-heartedness. The sunflower's ability to turn towards the sun conveys admiration, respect, and a yearning for knowledge. (src)

Seems pretty positive. It also tells a lot about what Xia Fei thinks about Vein.

But wait, what’s this...

In Greek mythology, the story goes that a nymph named Clytie was in love with Apollo, the God of Sun. In the beginning, he loved her too, but then his head was turned toward another nymph. In a fit of jealous rage, Clytie told the other nymphs’ father, who then buried his daughter alive as punishment. Apollo was so angry that he then turned Clytie into a sunflower. But, as her love for him was so strong, she watched him move across the sky every day, just how sunflowers follow the sun. (src)

okay, it got a little dangerous… But! this still aligns with my yandere!XF headcanon. And aside from Vein being obviously Apollo, I can’t map the other characters to anyone else in the linkclick cast, so I think we’re safe—

Within Chinese culture, the sunflower has come to represent good luck, and receiving one as a gift or simply walking by one is seen as an auspicious sign. The yellow color is thought to denote intelligence as well as a vital spirit. In ancient China, royalty would eat the sunflower as a way to gain immortality, and it has continued to be associated with long life and prosperity. Most of China considers it a symbol of happiness as well. (src)

Vein.

Don’t. Think. About. It.

DON’T FUCKING THINK ABOUT IT, VEIN!

I WILL BE IN YOUR WALLS, VEIN!!!

[clockwork-windmills]

something I've noticed from theory posts going around is that people seem to think that Aziraphale's actions at the end of the season are very out of character. I, to put it lightly, entirely disagree. Aziraphale's character arc in season 2 was beautifully and subtly written and the season HAD to end the way it did to let both Aziraphale and Crowley develop.

The flashbacks this season served narrative purpose beyond "haha let's see what AC got up to all that time ago". The way I interpreted the show was that these were specific memories Aziraphale was recalling throughout the season as a result of all the shit going on with heaven and hell and gabrie- i mean Jim and vinylatte and everything. Aziraphale went through a character arc known as a Fall Arc (coincidence? who knows):

Character believes lie

Character clings to lie

Character rejects truth

Character clings to worse lie (in this case, a more extreme version of the original)

This is shown not only through Aziraphale's present-day actions, but through the flashbacks.

All through the series we see how Aziraphale wants to do good. He likes doing the right thing and he - though he has moments of doubt - ultimately believes in the goodness of heaven and the evilness of hell. He hasn't had that same rejection of it as Crowley has had. That isn't a sign his mind has been tampered with or anything. That's just how he is as a result of all of heaven's manipulation and his genuine desire to do the right thing.

The apparently stark change in attitude after his conversation with the metatron isn't really as stark as people think. Aziraphale loves the idea of what heaven could be. His initial image of heaven has been shattered through millenia of being failed by them (especially recently with Armageddn't), but I think that he genuinely believes that with himself in charge, he could make that image real again. What he thinks he wants is what we saw at the beginning: him and Crowley side by side doing good. His arc in season 3 is going to be him joining Crowley in the recognition that the whole system is fucked up, and finally choosing Humanity (and Crowley of course) over heaven.

ALSO REMEMBER THAT HE ACCEPTED THE OFFER WITH THE IDEA THAT CROWLEY WOULD COME WITH HIM. Heaven are SO manipulative.

The fact that his actions are so in character for him at this point in the story is what makes "fix-it" fics so hard. It doesn't need fixing. This is literally how it has to go before they can converge their paths again and be happy. It's sad, and I love happy endings, but we need this sad ending first to give both Aziraphale and Crowley the opportunity to grow.

I may add to this some other time because this is a rambly mess but I just had to say this. thank you neil gaiman for writing such a well thought out transition season that stands on its own wonderfully. fingers are crossed for season 3 :)

[emdotcom]

Yeah, so while I was on my "I'm going to read into Vanny/Vanessa as much as possible" journey, I noticed an odd quirk in her animations in how she moves. At first, I thought it reminded me of a ballerina, 'cause she's kinda tip-toeing, & she has this way of keeping her head & chest in one place as she moves, but I looked again & realized --

That's not ballet! She's doing a tight-rope act. Like, look at this one:

This is like standing up on the wooden boards before you do the actual tight-rope walking, & the ring leader is hyping you up as you do some fun movement for the crowds. &, then, these:

These are all instances where she walks with one foot directly in front of the other. In that third, she's doing the "woaaah" wiggly-ass balance movements & everything, as if she's swaying up at the top of the tent, even though she's down on solid ground.

Idk, I feel like the way her feet are placed isn't accurate (pretty sure they should be pointed left & right, not both forwards...) doesn't make this 100% correct, but I like it. It also connects back with her first SB teaser, wherein she's up in the rafters.

[mrs-gauche]

I beat Veilguard.

It's 4am. I'm a mess. I'm in tears.

[chocolatepot]

#To that last point I do sometimes wonder if fic is evolving a new genre story-wise @epersonae

Oh yeah! That's actually part of my complicated feelings about romantasy, because I feel like there are two "domains" of books marketed as romantasy that are actually different.

One side of romantasy (mostly but not 100% het) seems to encompass both what would be a pretty standard fantasy novel but with more heat to the romance and more marketing based on identifying the relevant romance tropes, and what would be a pretty standard romance novel but with a fantasy setting and some kind of macguffin to chase.

The other side, mostly but not entirely queer romantasy, on the other hand, feels to me like an outgrowth of fic, writers used to slash writing something very similar but with original characters. The romance in A Marvellous Light, for instance, or A Strange and Sudden Endurance is so integral to the characters and their development, but at the same time the non-romance plot would stand alone if it had to.

I get why they all end up marketed under "romantasy" - because they in theory appeal to the same group of people, who want ROMANCE and FANTASY - but IMO the first group is not that much of a shift while the second represents slashy ficwriters coming into the original fiction world and not cutting off their roots to fit into the accepted pattern (as has historically been necessary) but changing what's allowable in the genre, which is so interesting to me.

I might just be going "well I like X books and I dislike Y books so I'm going to imagine a structural difference between them to explain why my preference is objective," but I don't think so. Certain books feel like they have fic in their veins and others don't.

Saw a post about how you need to read original fiction and not just fic to write books, and I had some thoughts but they're not so much a direct response so I figured I'd make my own post ...

You do need to be conversant with original fiction to write it, but also - that doesn't mean that your fiction diet as you write needs to be primarily original fiction. If you want to write a book, you've probably spent a lot of your life reading original fiction even if you're in fandom now. That all counts. (Assuming what you want to write bears at least some resemblance to what you've read.)

Fanfiction really doesn't teach you to develop characters and settings on your own, it's true. It particularly lets you be lazy about not describing them physically, and not having to do any work for walk-on characters who exist in canon. You also can get used to writing romantic short stories that would be completely unmarketable if they were not fic.

However, fanfiction still can teach you a lot of transferable skills, if you want it to. You can write novels to stretch your ability to plot a longform story and follow through on 60k+ words. You can consciously work to improve your prose, your pacing, and/or your physical/emotional descriptions no matter what your subject matter. You can write a story that focuses on how a character changes and develops, and you can focus on a minor character from canon and do the work to make them three-dimensional. If you're into AUs, you can also work on worldbuilding or writing a believable historical setting. Literally the only thing you don't really have the opportunity to do is create your own main characters from scratch.

And I feel like that's actually the easiest part of writing. Sitting down and writing a story that lasts over 80k words or so, is compelling all the way through, has defined character arcs, etc. is way harder than making up the initial concept. If you're in fandom, you clearly Do Stories whether they're on the paper or onscreen, and so you probably have a lot of character types in your head already to start messing around with.

There was also a point in the post about how if you don't read you're not going to understand where your story fits genre-wise, and you're probably going to think that it's new and genre-breaking when it isn't - and that leads me to two thoughts. One is that not feeling able to place your own story if it crosses genres might be more common to writers than you think: it just came up in a Bestseller Experiment podcast ep I listened to the other day as a normal thing due to the writer being too close to their story. I have good comps for my novel (there's a T. Kingfisher that is incredibly similar in concept and key characters) and I still feel like "oooh ... is it more fantasy or more historical ..."

The other is that fic makes it so you're more likely to actually write something that genuinely doesn't quite fit in the boxes. That's something I've been thinking about since Winter's Orbit. That book, if you don't know, was originally written on fail_fandomanon's spinoff writing meme and posted on AO3. It was always original fiction, but it has a fic-like sensibility: there's a strong political intrigue plot alongside a strong queer romance plot between a playboy who's not really a playboy and a smol bean with trauma. If you read the GoodReads reviews from when it was published, you can find many sf fans complaining that the romance takes up too much space and romance fans complaining that there's too much plot outside the romance. I think now with the rise of "romantasy" there's more tolerance for that, but that label feels like it's getting less useful as it broadens to mean "fiction written by a woman that includes a romance" (and it feels very m/f to me but we don't have time for that now). Because so much of ficwriting fandom focuses on stories that heavily foreground romance but don't hit the traditional romance beats and also writing the characters figuring out who's committing industrial espionage or whatever. In a romance novel, the romance is absolutely the A plot and the whatever is very much B plot (if not somehow C). In sf/f and thrillers, the whatever is the A plot and the romance is around the edges. Fic teaches us to do them both equally, because the point of the story is to see the characters getting together (often not like canon, when it comes to m/m and f/f) while having a plot to deal with (like they have in canon). Also, in a lot of cases of genre-mixing, determining which one it "counts as" is really determining which one it will sell better under, and that's not something a person outside of the industry can generally tell, regardless of what they're reading on their own.