#imagine Meg in the background having the time of her life

[freakypumpkin]

Modern AU with Zag studying abroad.

He has to be physically held back from throwing every exam that semester and fly home immediately.

[sadbenedict]

common questions about Au

received a lot of questions from @chokehoe /thank you very much :D/ to make it more interesting, I've made it into a topic, and I've made some sketches! hope you enjoy!

So for your au where gojo locks geto in his basement, dose geto hate gojo now? Like I can imagine and understand why because he locked him away in basement, but I need to know.

This is a question I've answered before /You can search the hashtag, I could write more about it there/

He takes offence to it, of course, I don't think anyone would like someone locking you up. He still has love, Satoru is not a stranger to him after all, but there will be resentment. I think by the time Yuji shows up, their relationship will be very strained

Also does suguru use Yuji to get himself out? I feel bad for Yuji if so because then he’s gonna be stuck in the middle of that whole fiasco

I think he might take advantage of Yuji's kindness /oh yeah, manipulative Geto/ I think he'll want to get Yuji to take something from Satoru's room / and Yuji will have doubts about Gojo's mental stability/ If Satoru spots him, it's gonna be really creepy….

Was gojo just going to keep suguru locked in his basement forever, or did he have some other plan like suguru becoming a teacher?

I don't think he has any plan since he did it all on emotion. And I don't think Satoru will let him go anywhere now. Maybe he'll try to re-educate him /or maybe he's just calming himself down with these thoughts of re-educating/

Dose suguru have a plan for what he’s going to do if he does get out. Are nanako and mimiko ok in this one?

I think Suguru is just thinking about escaping right now. But even if he does, Satoru can easily find him by scent, will he have enough time to go somewhere before Satoru realises he's escaped? And if he is caught, will Satoru become even more insane? Suguru could also end his life if he realises that he has no other choice /I don't miss that thought/.

Nanako and Mimiko gone and are doing the same things they do in canon

Does anyone else know he’s down there, either by gojo telling them or by finding out by accident?

So far, only Shoko and Yuji know. I'll mention that the action takes place after the alley when Satoru "ki-lled" Suguru. Shoko knows because she healed Suguru /yeah, glued his arm on, that's just how I want it to be/. I think Shoko accepted since Satoru probably scared her, and she doesn't want to lose Suguru. But she probably wasn't surprised by Satoru's decision. To put it shortly

Maybe Megumi and Nobara will start to suspect something if Yuji !accidentally! says something XD like

Yuji: ...haha, yeah, like that strange guy in sensei's basement. Meg/Nob: what

Yuji: what

Also, I can’t stop imagining if the basement was the laundry and gojo & suguru are having some deep conversation and all you hear is the washing machine going in the background.

omg it's interesting! I pictured this place as where Gojo dragged Yuji to. Because, in theory, it could have held Suguru. But maybe then he moved it to another location, as you suggested, or converted this basement into a more habitable space. That's how I imagine this

/the room is quite small, I drew it like this for easy reference/

Has megumi or tsumuki walked into the basement because they needed something and just found suguru there and just didn’t know what to do so they just walked out, or do they not know? I feel like it would be funny but also creepy if they found suguru there because like the laundry used to be down there or something

Oh, this is gonna be really creepy XD I actually like this idea!

I think they'll get very scared and Megumi will probably encourage Nobaru not to ask Gojo since he heard from him about his ex-friend /understood from Gojo's description/ Since it's very strange and creepy, so better not to trigger Satoru

Why was gojos first thought to lock suguru in a basement in the first place?

I think he just realised that Suguru wouldn't be around him normally. And yeah, and he was determined to kill him.

Again, he did everything on emotion and from a selfish point of view. Also, I think he was just tired and just wanted to be around him all the time

@tug-tries-to-draw @morgraythedark @ediblespider @dreamhusbando @myssteriouss-wanderrerr you had similar questions, so I hope you find the answers here! If there are any more, I'll be happy to answer them! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

[anonymooose]

==== Spoilers for Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi! ====

Ok, so, I randomly saw a post by @corvidonia about Falin!Hypnos.

So, I thought to myself, y'know I just started watching too and this seems like a fun mini-project so I started it. Then I subsequently got way too into it and accidently made a whole rendered scene and au concept... welp! It's here now!

For this little crossover Au whatever you wanna call it I did this main drawing but also came up with a bit of background stuff.

In this Meg would be a tall-man paladin in a sort of Chilchuck situation where she's mostly here because it's her job (and bonus, Dusa's here) and she'd be a paladin. Paladin might be an odd choice (?) but I felt it made sense due to her dedication and none of the other martial classes really stuck out to me like paladin.

Zagreus would be the party's Laios of sorts and a fighter tall-man, I imagine that the reason why they went through all the trouble for Hypnos is 50% Zagreus being friends with him and 49% Than not wanting his brother dead and 1% pity. I don't know if there would still be the culinary focus in this Au, probably not, so maybe instead it'd be more about just general monster knowledge. Like Zag and the gang filling out the codex?

Dusa would be a Half-foot, probably the farthest from their Dungeon Meshi inspo character, Senshi, only really sharing the fact that they came into the party late. I imagine that she's kind of in an "I'm the only monster around that has any sentience or emotion??" type situation though I don't really have a worked out reason why. She's also friends with Meg prior to joining and comes because of her.

I translated Thanatos and Hypnos' godhood into having a particular magical ability as elves, so they're elf twins. Than being a sorcerer rouge mostly for the vibes but also because sorcerer powers are innate to their being. Instead of a wand/staff I think he'd just use his scythe as a casting focus. I figure he'd be sort of like a mix of Chilchuck and Marcille, not bound to the party by a job but still kind of obligated to help Hypnos since they're family and all. I don't think he'd be thrilled about having to risk his life to save Hypnos from another screw up though, but he would and I do think he'd be relieved to have him back after the ordeal. (does Falin ever actually 100% come back? I've only watched the anime so idk actually, I like to think Hypnos would here though because I like my happy endings)

Hypnos is obviously the sort of Falin stand-in, but in a very different way I think. I do think he'd be a sort of magic prodigy like Falin but in more of an intuitive way compared to Than/Marcille's book smarts. I definitely think that the connection to the strange would remain but instead of ghosts it'd be personified dreams in the form of something like the Oneiroi. In this Au the starting incident with the monster would be the same but it'd probably be some sort of big bird/sheep to explain the bird/sheep design I went with for the Chimera design and it'd be Than in place of Laios. I also think that he'd be a cleric type situation like Falin sort of is, I like to think he'd excel at healing magic. I do kind of like the idea of Hypnos not being really encouraged to partake in adventuring due to his lack of physical ability but he'd go against that to spend time with Than and try to look out for him. As for Chimeros (As I've been calling it) I think it'd be accompanied by fog from Lethe rather than the harpies in the original and it'd have a similarly blank personality like Faligon (which'd be especially off-putting from him). Added angst potential, I figure his powerset would be very different from Faligon's and revolve around putting everyone to sleep (go figure) and memory erasure, so maybe the main party wouldn't even remember their first encounter with them?

I do actually have ideas for the remaining party, I'll keep it to one bullet though. I think Achille's would be a paladin/fighter or something like that and would be similar to Namari as a weapons expert, probably leaving for a different reason though maybe to join Pat's party? I don't have a particular idea for Shuro's stand-in, maybe switch the Shuro Falin romance thing to Charon Hypnos brotherhood thing and it could work? Idk though.

I did also make a full design for Hypnos as an elf/not Chimeros and here that is. The staff is inspired by actual myth where Hypnos sometimes has a wand dipped in Lethe to induce sleep.

Ramble over!! Congrats if you were able to push through my incessant yapping to actually get here. First Tumblr post btw, who would've thunk it'd be for this. If anyone is interested in using these designs or ideas for art/writing feel free, I'm probably not going to do anything else with this idea but if you want to I'd be very interested in seeing/hearing it! Also, really sorry if this isn't properly spoilered?? I'm not exactly sure what the proper spoiler etiquette is so I tried.

[lgbtmi]

addison-post more icon🙏

[ sweats profusely!!! ] i have many things to say about her but also i don't want to overwhelm dashboards with random shit about my vampire: the requiem-nosferatu!! but because i appreciate your ask!! i will spend the next 28 minutes watching grey's anatomy and writing a bunch about addie under the cut <3

apologies if it's unhinged or unclear, there's probably content warnings regarding suicide or depression in there (because freshly embraced addie is on my mind) but any more questions or dm's about this creacher are more than acceptable!! ty for endulging me :3

Okay. Imagine. You're at the top of your game. You're at the start of your adult life, fresh off your first big Broadway gig and on the verge of your next one. Hell, you're barely twenty-two and now in the brief Broadway revival of Phantom of the Opera. You got to go on as Meg Giry, reviews are raving.

During Wednesday's performance, understudy Addison Fletcher stepped into the role of Meg Giry. Fletcher, whose background in classical dance shines through in every movement, brings exceptional grace to the role. Her fouettés during the "Hannibal" ballet sequence drew spontaneous applause, while her bright, pure voice in "Angel of Music" blends beautifully with Hayes, their duet suggesting years of friendship through pure musical chemistry. Fletcher brings surprising depth to what could be a simple supporting role, crafting a mother-daughter relationship with Rossi that feels lived-in and complex.

And just like that, everything you've worked your ass off for is taken away from you.

In a Brooklyn (sad excuse for an) apartment lies Addison Fletcher. Curled up into a fetal position, arms wrapped around her knees, on a mattress in what was once her closet. Clothes she may or may not have stolen from productions hang on hangers above her head. The floor is filled with playbills, scripts. If you didn't know any better, you might've thought this was once the house of a hoarder.

It's been five days since her world drastically changed. She's gone off the radar, has not left her apartment for anything other than trying to fill the void that the monster she has become longs for. Sly has been by and has forced her to go out, but mostly it's been just Addison and these few walls.

Her phone beeps. The sound indicating a new text message from the stage manager. It takes a while for her to reach out and grab the phone. Niamh, the lead Meg Giry, is down with a sickness. It's up to Addison to take over the part. But she leaves the message, unopened, another unread message to add to the pile. A different beep follows a few hours later. An email this time. She's to contact stage management.

I could curl up and hide in my room / there in my bed still sobbing tomorrow

Days turn into weeks. The walls of her closet creep ever closer. She misses the stage, the applause, the one thing she was made for taken away by violence. A literal phantom, snatching her right off the stage of the theatre that means so much to her.

Sly has been by. She asked him for clarity, for more information, for the why when she wasn't sure whether she truly wanted to know the answer. Apparently he was sent to kill her. It took mere fragments of seconds before the words had left her mouth, her voice unfamiliar to herself. You should have just let me died. It'd be better than this. The words came from a corner, settled in her throat, accompanied by a crumpled up playbill for an off-Broadway production she saw months ago. It flew across the room, right at her Phantom. One of many.

He doesn't believe her. Does not think she's serious when she says death would be preferable. But he doesn't get it. Part of her already died. Addison can't hit the stage anymore, her voice has been taken away from her, and not even for the promise of love. If anything, it's what keeps her lonely. People keep messaging her, the pile of messages growing and growing and growing. She's been terminated from Phantom of the Opera, a fellow actor texts her about how her things have been cleared out - I've saved your lucky pointe shoes in case you want them. Miss you. Hope you're okay. Of course she wants the pointe shoes back, but they're a fleeting reminder of what - and where - she should have been. Maybe watching one more sunrise would not be too bad. One last dance. One last performance.

She's made her way out, she hides in the shadows and watches people go on with their lives while hers has been brutally halted. This is it. Her final bow. But before she gets the chance, she's once again swept away by Sly Bailey, Phantom of her opera. He pulls her aside, drags her into an alleyway. Face bleeding just slightly more than the last time she saw her. It still manages to make her nauseous.

"You don't think I'd let you die that easy, right princess?"

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Project III - Life of the Party

- Ursula’s video description has some interesting info. She’s practicing filming a long scene in one shot, so building off what she’s learned in prior videos, and I’m proud of her! Go Urs! Future filmmaker/cinematographer of the universe!

- She also says, “I got a bit of background to the big argument Bea and Ben had” which proves that the scene we get here is not the whole fight. A bunch of the fight went un-filmed and we have to rely on Ben’s videos to know what went down. We also know that Ursula knows it was Ben under the cowl, so would she have told Bea? Maybe. I’m still not sure when Bea finds out that was Ben, but I do lean to it being after the fight was over or possibly Ben taking off his mask mid-fight to confront her. Interesting.

- Ursula enjoys making friends with the cat. This is Pedro’s house. That means Pedro (and John), Ben, and Bea all come from Cat Families. Just an interesting detail to note. Many adorable headcanons to draw from this: Bea liking to come to Ben’s after the Hero’s Birthday thing to be with Ben but also to visit with his cat because her own is in Australia with her parents; John potentially getting along with the Donaldson family cat and considering her his favorite family member; etc.

- Finally, Ursula tells us that Meg requested for her fight with Robbie to be put in the video to “show everyone what a dick that guy is”- setting up MegRobbie as a toxic on again/off again thing and Robbie as a cheating ass. Important for later when he shows us more bad behavior.

- This show and the international friends/acquaintances I made through it really helped show me how universal US American culture is in the world, against the world’s will. I’m reminded of that by the girl at the party dressed as the Statue of Liberty. In NZ/Aotearoa.

- Note that Claudio dressed as a cowboy because he saw Hero say in a video that she wanted someone to dress as a cowboy. Note also that his face is covered by a handkerchief- he’s hiding something. His jealousy and insecurity.

- Verges and Dogberry as a mouse and an elephant is funny since elephants are allegedly scared of mice.

- Pedro the Robot comes over to Hero and Bea and gestures in a way that tells us he’s saying “can we talk?” He’s about to tell Hero that Claudio likes her. But as he opens the chest compartment to show a red heart in his costume, Beatrice walks away. Visual foreshadowing of Pedro opening his heart to Beatrice and getting rejected. (Also a symbol of Pedro showing Claudio’s heart to Hero, and possibly of Claudio thinking the heart Pedro is giving Hero is Pedro’s.)

- I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that Bea and Hero end up hanging out together again at this party, and Pedro sticks to them like glue because of his crush on Bea. Therefore, John is able to point Claudio at the tableau of Pedro in Flirt Mode talking to both Dukes, and convince him that the one Pedro’s trying to flirt with is Hero. It’s actually Beatrice the whole time.

- We get a couple glimpses of Ben moving through the party, and he is always alone. Telling. He’s uncomfortable at parties even when not getting yelled at by Beatrice.

- We see Meg and Robbie kissing. This means he made out with her BEFORE openly trying to pick up another girl at the SAME PARTY. What an ass.

- Bea is socializing with non-named characters. Proud of her for putting herself out there as the new kid!

- We see John lurking in the hallway holding a skull. Is the skull supposed to mean he’s dressed as Hamlet? It seems like he wants to join in the party but feels uncomfortable. He’s also looking for Claudio, though.

- Ben and Bea effectively dancing together! Okay, they’re dancing next to each other, just let me have this, lol.

- Is there a significance to Balth dressing as a gorilla? Is he one of the apes Beatrice will lead down to hell before the Devil tells her “Get thee to Heaven”? (A line from the masquerade scene in Much Ado)

- Aww Balthazar talking to Claudio and trying to cheer him up is sweet

- Beatrice and Hero dancing together is also lovely (and Pedro hovering ineffectually next to them)

- Benedick dancing like a dork while the “he is just an arrogant guy” song plays in the background xD

- AND THEN on the line “he’s just lonely inside” it cuts to Pedro! Who is lonely inside because he has an unrequited crush AND because he’s in the closet. Look at him trying to fit snack foods through his robot mouth aww

- It cuts back to Claudio on “he really needs to swallow his pride”. Interesting. Then immediately pans over to Ben again, who’s mugging for the camera under his Batman mask.

- HERSULA!!!! Hero and Ursula dancing together and holding hands, my heart! They look so happy!

- Aw shit, we actually SEE Robbie cozying up with the girl in the nun costume, how did they not notice the camera?

- “I want respect, I want to feel like I’m the only one” “well there’s plenty of others out there” brutal. Robbie deserves that drink to the face.

- It’s Beatrice’s voice in the background saying “oh, sexy, nice, nice” and cheering Meg on for splashing Robbie with her drink. (I think she meant to say “sick, nice, nice” but it sounded like “sexy”, so.) We also see her looking on with the crowd at the beginning of this moment before the camera pans to Meg and Robbie. She’s very pro-revenge on shitty guys.

- Meg looks and sounds very satisfied to have publicly told Robbie off. I’m sad that she goes back to him so soon after this.

- Now that I think of it: does anybody know what Meg’s costume is supposed to be? The white shirt and tie and suspenders make me think it’s supposed to be “sexy private-school uniform girl”, which, Ew. Please respect yourself and other girls, Meg. I know you’ll get there.

- We now cut to the start of the Beadick argument scene. Beatrice starts by asking the girl next to her if she knows where Ben is, not realizing that Ben is sitting right next to them.

- Incidentally, that extra is a Candle Waster. Hi, Minnie Grace! Thanks for doing this cool NMTDaily thing for us! (The other Candle Wasters can also be seen as extras at the party.)

- Ben cuts in and asks, “Who’s Benedick?” He sees his chance to find out what Beatrice really thinks of him, and he takes it.

- In the play, you can technically play it as either Beatrice knowing she’s talking to Benedick the whole time, or Beatrice having no idea the person she’s talking to is Benedick. The comment section seems unsure of which tack the Candle Wasters and actors are taking here.

- It’s worth noting that Beatrice doesn’t even really look at Ben before launching into her tirade. She doesn’t seem to notice or care who she’s talking to at all. She just wants anyone who will listen to her talk about how she wishes Ben was here in an embarrassing costume she can make fun of.

- It’s interesting that she considers her own princess costume embarrassing (“there’s evidence online”). She assumes he’s going to see it online and make fun of her for it, and she’s mad that she can’t make fun of his costume right back, because he isn’t here.

- As the comment section says, Bea misses Ben. It’s fun for her to spar with him. She was looking forward to it.

- “What do you mean you don’t know Benedick, he’s the biggest dick in the world” Yes, she’s being mean. But she also can’t conceive of anyone NOT being hyperaware of the existence of Benedick Hobbes at literally all times. Because she is. Which is very cute.

- “He’d go as Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up.” Savage, Bea.

- “That was quite hurtful” in a tiny version of the Batman voice. Awww Ben my poor baby :(

- Lol, why is Meg just dancing alone in the corner in the background? The dance floor is in the other room!

- “I heard he’s made some pretty good vlogs… I heard his bird one was quite insightful and poignant!” Oh Ben.

- Beatrice goes on her tirade about how she doesn’t watch his videos specifically because of that video, and the scene cuts off.

- I posit that after Bea rants awhile about “who talks about bird killing?” and how bad the video is, Ben gets mad and takes off his cowl and says something like “no, really, what is your problem with me? Everyone else seems to like me just fine, so what did I ever do to you?” And that’s when Bea drops all that stuff we hear about in Ben’s videos about no one really liking him and the whole school laughing at him. And he fires back before storming off to sulk.

- I just find the scene more palatable if she doesn’t know it’s him she’s talking to for most of it, and then the meanest stuff she says is because she feels put on the spot, on the defensive. That’s my take.

- We see more shots of Hero and Pedro hanging out and dancing together, and we see Ben slipping into the bathroom and closing the door.

- Then, we actually SEE John and Claudio in the doorway, looking in the direction of Pedro and Hero, as John whispers in Claudio’s ear. Claudio pushes John out of his way and stalks off to join Ben at the sulking-in-the-bathroom party.

- Pedro unmasks himself as the robot for the camera. Then someone else takes the camera and we end on a shot of a sleepy Ursula and the Donaldson family cat. Awww!

- The last words on the costume party episode are the lyrics to the song playing in the background: “I know you.”

Comment section boogaloo:

- People pointing out that Bea misses Ben, and feeling sorry for Ben.

- Mention that a piece of Kiwiana, a soft drink called L&P, can be seen on the beverage and snack table. I wouldn’t have caught that, being American, so thank you commenter for teaching me a thing! (And for calling John being dressed as Hamlet!)

- Praise for the music, which I agree with. It’s fun, dancey, AND thematically relevant!

- Apparently the nun costume is from American Horror Story, and also a potential reference to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

- Is the cat Tibbles?!?!

- “why do I get extreme Taika Waititi vibes from this” …it is possible that Taika Waititi is just the only other kiwi this person knows. But I haven’t seen all of Waititi’s projects, so I can’t say for sure he’s never done a party scene like this or a teen drama in general. Sorry if he has, commenter! (It is of course too bad there aren’t any Māori actors in an Aotearoa-based webseries like this, although I think there are some in Lolilo and later TCW projects.)

- Comment awards: The person who wrote “poetic cinema” with a time stamp link to the shot of Ben dancing near some of the girl extras while the song in the background goes “he is just an arrogant guy, thinks he can catch any girl’s eye”

- And there we have it! One masquerade, in the books!

💖🥭🦩

[saetoru]

hi tee how are you love?? just wanted to share my thoughts on megumi in the rb!universe 😁 i feel like megumi is richboy!gojo’s neighbor. they run in the same circle so gojo saw him all the time at those rich events when megumi was just a wee lad. i imagine gojo used to run off and sneak around with the kids (even tho he was supposed to stay by his fathers side) and megumi secretly enjoyed it. but as megumi grew up he showed up less and less cuz he really hates the stuffiness of that society, as neighbors tho he still sees gojo around

love all your writing and the rb!universe lots!!

hello beloved !! i’m good <333 i hope you are too and tysm for reading and enjoying and bringing this lil au to life with me !!

BUT see ok so i had 3 ideas !! i will list them and then u all can tell me which one we like best

so first we have megumi who’s dad is toji (duh) but they’re part of the zenin family business but they’re like the black sheep’s of the family if you will, so megumi does an internship with gojo’s family out of pure spite (bc he’s a lil firecracker) and gojo’s in charge of showing him the ropes and at first he’s just interested in megumi for the sake of getting tje juicy zenin drama details out of him but later he rly feels for the kid and how he’s stuck in so much craziness bc of his snobby rich family (and he relates a bit too) so he kinda grows fond of him in like an older brother type of way bc rich boy gojo is in college so he’s like early twenties and megumi’s like a 15/16 year old so it’s more a brother dynamic

NEXT we have neighbor one like you said !! i rly kind of like the idea of gojo like growing up with suguru and teasing the small grumpy kid next door but secretly they all rly care for each other and megumi always got into fights at school (and usually won) but sometimes gojo and geto got onto the older kids cases and scared them off and warned them not to bug lil gumi or else >:( omg and lil tsumiki had the hots for one (or both) of them even tho they’re older and rly only see her as a kid but yeah they know each other as lil rich neighbors who attend the same parties sometimes and megumi acts like gojo is so annoying and insufferable but rly he’s rly fond of the guy and looks up to him and trusts him in case he needs someone

LASTLY BUT NOT LEASTLY @autumnalsteahouse suggested the barista idea AND I RLY LOVE IT and it kindaaaa ties the first one in with the intern / mentor idea but megs background is different. so basically megumi is a young teen barista after school trying to make ends meet with his broke ass dad toji (jdjsfjf broke toji prevails) but anyway they’re related to the zenin family but toji knocked up this “lower class” girl who’s not rich enough but also has another child from a previous relationship (tsumiki) so the zenins hate her but anyway after he gets her pregnant by accident, he’s still rly in love with her but his family offered her good money to take the baby and leave OR get an abortion but she declined both bc her and toji agreed to raise the lil baby together whos eventually megumi. anyway toji basically gets cut off and loses his trust funds and etc and he’s a guy who’s tryna raise his two kids he loves with all his heart and his darling wife he’d die for but also they’re barely getting by so megumi takes up a barista job to help out. cue an obnoxious gojo that comes right before closing and orders the most painful drink to make and always pays with a black card and megumi is ANNOYED™️ but gojo takes a liking to the kid and megs off handedly mentions he wants to get a second job over the summer so gojo offers an internship—and then it’s like a slap in the zenin fams face that their (cut off) relative is working with the gojo’s (their mortal enemy !!) and toji could not be more proud LOL

[danjaley]

Jo's school, the war, those Germans and how to write a good character purely by accident.

A literary essay that came to my mind yesterday, through the conversation with @nocturnalazure

Originally I wanted to include this in the favourite characters tag, but it required so much background information: It's easy to find good characters in well-written books. One of my favourite characters in a badly written book is Frieda Mensch from the Chalet school series (the blonde girl, in the back on both images)

I discovered the Chalet School series at a jumble sale a few years ago, and I enjoy reading it because I like to imagine what could have been done with some good plotting skills. Also it's full of motifs that only made sense in the mid 20th century (the chain-smoking lung specialist) and the German spoken by the characters is simply hilarious. (Onkel Reise - a very tall man.)

Interestingly, the series is heavily inspired by Little Women and its sequels, especially Jo's school. It's about the English sisters Josephine (Joey) and Madge (not Meg!) Bettany who set up an international school in Austria around 1930. There's also an unrelated little Amy around.

Frieda Mensch is an Austrian girl who goes to that school and becomes a friend of Joey's. So far that's nothing special, the series is literally about Joey being everyone's supportive friend. In volume two the sisters spend Christmas with Frieda's family in Innsbruck, which makes her stand out a little. Then, because her first name means "peace" and her surname means "human", the author assigned her the role of the peacemaker in her class. She's portrayed as a serious, law-abiding girl, but of course schoolgirls must also be good sports and know when to break the rules. Even if it's possibly an accidental contradiction, this gives her an implicit conflict. Gradually she becomes the main loyal friend who supports Joey if needs be (like on nightly ice-skating-rescue-missions ^).

When the girls in the books are around 19 and just left school, in real life the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany hit. By the time the school could be fictionally evacuated, war had begun too. Suddenly this Austrian girl whose name means "peace" and "human" becomes hugely symbolic. Frieda has to flee to England, one of her friends' father is tortured to death, her fiancée is also shortly imprisoned and suddenly she's a girl with a fate. She also helps Joey, who is married by then and has recently given birth, to cross the Channel. At the end of that volume Frieda gives a speech to what's left of the school, about peace and acting humanely despite political conflicts. Wars change many lives and reveal unknown strength in some people - sometimes this is even true for fictional characters.

(If I were set the task to write a novel in which an international school defies the Nazis, my first thought would be that they might have some Jewish students they must protect. Interestingly, this thought never crossed the author's mind. The Nazis turn their full force on this English school because the girls privately vowed to always keep up their girl guide ideals, even the Germans and Austrians from whom they're about to be separated. While violence against Jews is mentioned in the story, it shows how little the threat to them was taken seriously abroad. It also shows the hope that the decent-minded Germans might get the upper hand again after a while. It's strongly biased in its own way, but it's a perspective one doesn't find in books that were written with the whole history in mind. That's why I enjoy historic fiction so much.)

If I ever get so far with the McCarrics, I'm going to steal a lot from Highland Twins go to Chalet School. In fact I've already named Shiena after a character from that book.

[angel-of-hunky-doryness]

How Disney's Hercules resolves the myth of Megara

To everyone who has ever stumbled upon the Star Wars side of the force - I mean tumblr, I'm gonna bet my 5 pound chihuahua that you've heard of this famous line by George Lucas:

Well why am I going on about ol' Georgie on a post about Disney's Hercules? I will get to that eventually, but for now bare with me as I spin you a familiar tale.

Long ago in a far away land of ancient Greece, a god fully embraced and welcomed by their family up on Mount Olympus decides to give up their immortality, their comfort, and their powers to live out a mortal life with their mortal spouse.

We've all heard that story before, but funnily enough, Meg had known that story since she was a tyke (at least Myth!Meg did).

Now bare with me, in the original myth of Herakles it is very upfront that Meg is a princess of Thebes, daughter of Creon and Eurydice(no not that one). Mind you, Meg becoming a princess is a bit complicated, but long story short, Meg's father was the brother of queen Jocasta, the mother/wife of Oedipus.

Yes, that Oedipus.

When everything went to hell, Meg's father sort of became regent, and by extent Meg became a princess. It was at this time in myth Hercules showed up in Thebes and he helped Creon commit some war crimes and as thanks, Creon let Meg and Hercules marry.

Years pass, they got busy, had tons of kids, but it's not a happily ever after. To those who are familiar with the greek myths, you all know what happens next. Hera sends Hercules into a fit of madness and does a Purple guy and slaughters his entire family.

At this point, Meg's story is over. She isn't brought up again, but a couple thousand years later, a little studio going through a Renaissance period decides to add a bit of polish and gallons of bleach to reinvent the story where Meg finally gets her happy ending.

In fact, she receives the same beginning as the patriarch of her family: Cadmus.

You see, Cadmus was a regular mortal from Phoenicia and the true founder of the Royal House of Thebes. His adventures started after Zeus had kidnapped his sister, Europa. And in his travels he manages to tick off a god of war. Sorry, Kratos not you.

Cadmus had slayed a giant dragon/serpent/drakon creature that was guarding a freshwater spring, that was unfortunately sacred to Ares.

So Cadmus was forced to serve penance and become a servant of Ares for 8 years. Hmm, this sounds awfully familiar huh?

But after that period was done, as a sort of peace treaty, Ares' daughter- AND the daughter of Aphrodite, Harmonia gave up her godhood to marry Cadmus.

And thus, the story of Meg ends the same way her family's began. With a god giving up their life on Olympus to be with their loved one.

Now that dear readers is poetry in it's truest form.

While Cadmus and Harmonia's love story ends a bit tragically- the pair end up turned into snakes after a curse thanks to Hephaestus giving Harmonia a cursed necklace (more on that in a future post).

However, when they died, the couple ended up skipping Elysium and going straight to the Isles of the Blessed. A place that heroes who had managed to live good and honorable lives after three or so reincarnations were able to achieve.

And I think that when Disney's Meg and Hercules did end up shirking off their mortal coils, they too achieved the same honor as Cadmus and Harmonia. Living at last a well deserved happily ever after.

While there is no evidence whatsoever of Meg being a princess by blood in the Disney movie at all, for the sake of this post, and for what Meg's mythological background brings to the table, I will continue to see her as at least a member of this famous lineage. And I hope you will consider this perspective as well.

So, can y'all imagine how she felt after watching Oedipus Rex??? Home girl just had about five years of gossip dropped on her lap during date night. Dear Lord, I wish I could have my family drama dramatized and summarized that quickly.

[fauxserenity]

"Dressed up in Gold” - ItaFushi Halloween Party AU

It's Halloween night and Megumi is at home, doing absolutely nothing with his life, scrolling through social media and seeing everyone he knows being at some party. Even Tsumiki went to her own party about two hours ago.

It's close to midnight when someone knocks outside, he gets up and grabs the bowl full of candy he has for the little kids asking for trick or treat. The banging is insistent, annoying him further.

“Fucking finally!” Nobara enters his house as if it was her own, closing the door behind her before shoving a bag full of clothes into Megumi's arms and taking some of the candy to eat.

“Wha-”

“You're coming to Panda's party with us, just change,” she shoves him into his room without another word.

Well, now he has something to do.

When opening the bag, he’s found with a lot of fabric that seems to have no end, that does nothing to ease his increasing nerves. Nonetheless, he tries on the costume. 

The costume looks really good on him, he's left speechless when he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, white robe hugging his body alongside the fake plants attached to it, there's also a small trail at the end that moves with him, there are specs of gold on the robe and a teal sash that’s attached to the shoulder, pinned in a way that seems to fall naturally on him.

“I'm ready,” he calls after getting out of the room.

Nobara is now in the living room with her own costume, some sort of pirate, he thinks.

“It looks so good on you,” she nods vigorously before walking up to him, “time for make-up.”

She doesn't let him see what he looks like until she’s completely done, he's seen green eye shadow and some gray and blue colors here and there and he can only fear how he looks.

“You're overreacting,” Kugisaki teases, rolling her eyes at him with a mirror in hand.

The makeup, he decides, brings out his sharp features, cheekbones more defined than ever, he does look good. Nobara must have done something to his hair, if the few small braids are something to go off from.

A few last minute touches and the pair is outside of the house.

Panda's place is a few blocks down the road, music can be heard even from afar and there's many people outside, Megumi can already imagine how it must be inside. The door opens and Inumaki greets them, letting the pair inside after a quick exchange.

“Guys, over here!” a voice calls them from a corner, pink hairs coming into view.

Yuuji appears fully in front of them and Megumi feels like someone took his breath away.

Yuuji is standing in front of them, wearing a soft lilac robe that's tight around his torso and flows loosely, reaching his ankles. There's a big slit in the tunic that reaches just below the hip bone and is barely hanging into the definition of ‘decent’, Megumi is trying his best to keep his focus somewhere else.

“Fushiguro! I didn't think you'd come,” the boy admits as he walks them towards the rest of their friend group.

“I didn't think so either.”

“That costume really suits you, you're Medusa, right?” Yuuji asks, he's standing closer now that they stopped walking.

“Yeah... What did you dress as?” he asks in return, taking a seat on the small sofa that’s vacant.

“I'm Meg from Hercules,” the boy explains happily.

The chatting continued for some time until he felt someone pulling at his hand, looking up he met excited eyes and a big smile.

“Dance with me, Fushiguro,” is not a question but Megumi nods anyway.

They get to the middle of the improvised dance floor, Yuuji's hands grabbing him by the shoulders. Megumi guides his hands to the boy's waist and they begin dancing.

It's mostly them swaying to the fast beat but Megumi doesn't care, not when he looks at the other boy laughing, having fun and looking so relaxed. He's lost in his beauty, his heart feels like it’s going to burst at any moment.

Everyone else becomes background noise, they blur around them as Megumi can only focus on one person and one person only.

Yuuji is looking at him with such love, up close Megumi can make out the light makeup he's wearing, the subtle shine of his lips and the blush dusted on his cheeks.

It's all too much, yet at the same time he feels like he needs more.

So he goes for more.

Megumi's hold tightens as he drags Itadori closer, they're chest to chest now, nothing able to get between their bodies. One of his hands has gone to cradle the boy's cheek, brushing it slightly with a smile appearing on his face.

He's not sure who ends up breaking the distance but he's now surrounded by Yuuji, by his strong arms around his body and soft lips on top of his own.

He'll have to thank Nobara later for taking him out of the house, but for now, he'll continue kissing the boy in front of him.

[marblestaircases]

Twenty years ago, a young girl walks into her public library. It’s her safe haven; she’s here every week and she knows the librarians by name. When she wanders into the Young Adult section she sees a pink book called The Princess Diaries, she’ll check it out and read it quickly, then each book after. She would go to the author’s website, a beautiful pink and purple riot of color and she’d find a small community, and in that community she would find friendship, new perspectives, and the joy of girlhood.

Long before the summer of Barbie, or before Taylor Swift was a household name, girlhood was defined in narrow terms. But in the world of my favorite authors Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen, Lynne Ewing, Ann Brashares, girlhood wasn’t one thing. With their raw, comical, romantic, rebellious story telling I found myself. Reading was my greatest joy in this part of young adulthood and I connected with Meg Cabot the most. I saw myself in the chronic anxiety of Mia, the people pleaser in Jenny, the fierce Suze and I became an avid reader of anything and everything she released.

When I found her online book club, aptly named The Meg Cabot Book Club (or MCBC for the OG’s) I created a user name (bookgirl25) and got to browsing. There were sections for everything: Ask Meg, Threads for every single one of her series and books where users could post about anything they thought about in regards to the book and people could respond, Threads for writing and “General Threads” which included anything and everything. I was an OG of the “Banana Thread” I am not sure why it was named as such, but there was a cooky bunch of young girls from all over the world connecting together.

I shared some of my deepest secrets in that group, in fact the summer of 2005 when I joined is a highlight summer when I consider my youth, and a large reason was because of that community. I met close friends there who became my confidants in a world when I didn’t have many. We were all different in our own way, different from our peers, different from our families, but we had in common together a love for Meg Cabot and her stories. Together we talked about hard topics like abortion, war, healthcare and other political matters. We talked about family, teen pregnancy, sexual identity, trauma. We laughed and played and used our imaginations together, exposing our inner selves to each other with a background of beautiful pinks.

Nostalgia is a funny thing, I wrote a poem recently of missing certain stages in life, and this is a stage of life I miss. I miss the community and girlhood, the reliance that there was always someone online and always someone ready to listen. I’m still a lover of Meg Cabot and she’s permanently on my re-read list. I’m grateful for the community which I continued to visit until I was halfway through high school. Those girls became my lifeline, probably in more of way then they realized. I don’t know if any one on tumblr even remembers, but this walk down nostalgia lane was really for me to revisit a beautiful time in my life anyways. I’m glad I did.

[haroldgross]

New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on http://literaryends.com/hgblog/rebootquels/

Rebootquels

If it feels like you’re getting a lot of the same these days in broadcast and streamed entertainment, you are. Studios are consciously digging into their licensed properties and rebooting them to various degrees of success. But a few have really surprised and proven that while there are a limited number of plots, good writers can make their stories sing.

Quantum Leap

This has been the most surprising of the reboots. It manages to embrace the social Pollyanna of the original show, but layers in today’s TV sensibilities. It even has multiple plots and a great arc to the first season that both fully resolves and leaves it open for going forward on its own terms.

Raymond Lee (Top Gun: Maverick) takes on the lead of our lost and forgetful leaper. But unlike the original series, we have a complete view of the control room and a collection of other characters and stories to follow in addition to him. Caitlin Bassett brings her real-life military background to bear on the series, while Mason Alexander Park (The Sandman, Cowboy Bebop), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), and Nanrisa Lee fill out the rest of the homebased crew. If you enjoyed the original series, you’ll love this one. It takes the same ideas and expands on them in very unexpected ways, building a more complete world and self-perpetuating adventure.

Winchesters

A solid and clever hand-off from Supernatural. And it even resolves some of my frustrations with the end of that long-running series. It is distinctly aimed at a younger audience and has much more of a Scooby gang vibe than the earlier series, but the cast work well together and the snarky dialogue keeps it all rolling nicely. Drake Rodger (The In Between) and Meg Donnelly are the core story we know (Sam and Dean’s parents as young adults). They aren’t exactly what you might have imagined from the original show, but they are close enough and work well together. Backed up by Nida Khurshid and Jojo Fleites, the foursome are an entertaining group of monster hunters…all with demons of their own. Demetria McKinney (Motherland: Fort Salem) and Bianca Kajlich add a little returning adult perspective throughout the series, but the focus is really on the core of younger players.

There are, of course, many cameos and nods to the original series, but never too heavy and, in the case of this first season, just enough to give it legs. It isn’t brilliant, but neither was Supernatural at the start. This prequel has enough gas to find its own way and travel forward. It has even learned the most important lesson and added humor from the start.

Fantasy Island

Now in its Sophomore year, this show is proving it can change and shift to keep it vibrant. It is still light fare, but it remains fun and with complicated relationships and rules. And, to its credit, it got me to come back, which I didn’t think was going to happen. Is it overly simple at times, sure…but it is Fantasy Island after all, not Reality Island. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel absurd at times, but the quick resolutions are built into the idea. Much like Quantum Leap, the shift of the show to “behind the scenes” of the main action is an interesting and compelling change. For generally light fare at the end of an evening, it does just fine.

Night Court

This is the least interesting of the reboots. It does less with the material and veers less from its progenitor. It doesn’t make it unentertaining. Heck, a 22 min bit of fluff, especially with John Larroquette (The Librarians) returning as a nicely evolved Dan Fielding in the mix, can certainly fill a bit of an evening. But Melissa Rauch is no Harry Anderson, and the crew as a whole isn’t quite the ensemble it needs to be yet. It may still get there, but it isn’t much different from the the first series, and even with some of the good bones to work from, it still doesn’t know quite how to land the humor the way the old show always could. I’ll still give it some time, but it isn’t top on my list on any night yet.

[penig]

I miss those scenes, too! I get that things have to be chopped for length when making a movie, but - the book is called Little Women/Good Wives, not Writer’s Alter Ego Grows Up. All the girls (who remember were based on Alcott’s own family) were equally important to the author, and Jo is usually the viewpoint character primarily because she and the narrator overlap, not because her sisters aren’t equally vital to the story.

In Little Women, which is explicitly structured as a maturation tale around the conceit of the Pilgrim’s Progress, each girl gets an equal amount of time in the spotlight, with discrete chapters dedicated to their particular challenges. When games are described it’s made clear who plays what role and how Jo, the ringleader, tries to ensure that every one of them has something interesting and fun to do that suits them particularly.  Every girl has a triumph and every girl has a serious screwup. Even Beth, so often perceived by modern readers as too perfect to be believable, gets distracted and forgets to feed her pet canary so it starves! For my money I’ve always regarded that as the worst screwup any of them makes. I’m positive Beth was haunted by it and that’s one reason she became so superreliable about the Hummels, which conscientiousness eventually led to her death.

The sisters continue to get the same evenhanded treatment in Good Wives, and even if the reader remains primarily interested in Jo, the stories of the other sisters are very much structured to interweave with each other and for the alert reader to see them all comment on each other, a feature which all adaptations I am familiar with lack. Beth’s long decline and traumatizing death affects her sisters’ life paths not just emotionally but literally - their comings and goings, choices and challenges all happen in the context of what they can and cannot do for Beth as she dies, and how they learn to live happily again afterward. Amy and Jo, the ambitious sisters, compete with and mirror each other. And getting back to the point of the original post, Meg’s romance and courtship provide a background and commentary on Jo’s; Jo’s wisdom in rejecting Laurie is made plain for all who don’t refuse to see it (imagine Jo and Laurie on the night she can’t make anything work and he brings someone home to supper without warning; yeah, she knew what she was doing when she said no!), and is rewarded by paving the way for Amy and Laurie, who are actually suited, to come together in the aftermath of Beth’s death. There has never been any shortage of obstinate Jo/Laurie shippers, even before adaptations; but it is much easier to ignore the rightness of Jo’s decision in an adaptation which leaves out Meg’s experience.

A not insignificant point is also that, the marriage Meg has is the marriage that children see first hand, with all its messiness. I first read Alcott when I was seven. Romance did not mean much to me, but domestic quarrels and toddler wrangling did! Children’s literature has plenty of domestic disorder from the POV of children, but to see both the courtship and the disorder in a single book and character arc is far less common, and extremely valuable. when i t happens.

Also, those chapters are funny as hell, so there’s that.

The chapter in the book Little Women/Good Wives, and the scene in the movies of Jo's proposal and married life are So Important. They show the heroine living a happy and unconventional lifestyle: It says that this life she leads with work, marriage, and very little money is a good, wholesome life. That is so important.

But - I think an overlooked chapter in the books (not depicted in the films that I have seen) is the one in which Meg tries to cook and preserve currant jam. She has a miserable day, turned even worse when her husband John brings home a friend for dinner. For once, Meg snaps at him and he snaps back when provoked.

Eventually, Meg takes some good advhice from Marmee, and she brings peace. The chapter ends with a line about married life foe these two not being perfect - it will always have its difficulties, but peace has been preserved and quarrels will be managed.

In another chapter, after Meg has had twins, she understandable becomes so wrapped up in them that she neglects both herself and her husband. Neither the book nor I are saying that one partner should be a servant to the other. But in marriage, we have promised something of ourselves to them*. Meg has isolated herself from the world and grown irritable while she rarely sees John who spends time at his friend's house instead of being nagged at home.

Again, Meg takes initiative and fixes it. This is a bit of a pattern that we see the world over today, in which women usually take the emotional burden in the home. I have no comment to make on that, it's not the point of this post.

The point is: The book has made a few excellent points through everyday, domestic scenes about marriage which are not (or only rarely) shown on film. The glamour, unpredictability and excitement of Jo's publishing, marriage to the Professor, work and, from a plot-based POV, the fact that she is the main character, mean that her storyline is in the spotlight. I love her storyline. But I also think that Meg's has something important to teach us: If you choose the more traditional path, your life is just as full of adventure and growth, difficulties, pain and pleasures.

*talking about non-toxic nd non-abusive relationships.

[xxiamtiebrousxx]

"Prologue" (The Phantom's Rose | The Phantom of the Opera x Reader)

A/n: Originally on Quotev.

My name is Y/n L/n and I have always been Christine Daae's friend from birth. My role in her story changed my very own life.

After her father, Gustave Daae, the violinist, died, Madame Giry took her in and raised her. My family and I would visit the opera house to check on the young girl. Christine and I would dance on the stage until it was time to go home. Two years later my parents perished in a fire, leaving me orphaned. Madame Giry, once again, took in another child. I was quick to become friends with her daughter, Meg Giry. Together, Christine, Meg and I trained and became dancers. 

I learned how to stitch dresses and how to create props for the set. I was skilled in drawing, so most backgrounds were designed by me. I helped the customer with ideas on costumes for the actors and dancers.  For most of our productions, I helped move things around or into place. I was one of the best stage hands if I do say so myself. If a ballerina or dancer was out sick, I would take their place. Madame Giry had taught me well. I grew older. Christine's voice had begun to get stronger. A stranger was secretly teaching her and I wanted to know.

Every day I would ask, “Who’s teaching you?”

And every day Christine would reply, “The Angel of Music.” After a while, I stopped asking.

Today was no different than the past couple of years. I had finished up Christine’s slave costume for Hannibal. Proud of myself, I stood up from my seat in the audience and made my way to the dorms.

"Hello Madame Giry," I greeted the teacher.  I passed her as I was on my way to Christine's room. 

“Y/n,” Giry replied. I quickly arrived at Christine’s door. I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. Still no answer.

 Then that's when I heard him. There was this muffled voice singing. It belonged to a man. His voice was so beautiful. I could hear Christine's voice. I assumed it was hers since it sounded feminine. Her soprano’s voice was just as beautiful as the male’s. The singing stopped. I heard some muffled talking, followed by some shuffling. Someone thanked someone for the lesson, then there was a loud bam! As Christine was opening her door,  it slammed against my nose. I felt it crack a little as blood gushed out. I stumbled backwards.

"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry Y/n,” she said, picking me up. I could hear the concern in her soft voice.

"No, it's my fault,” I said, rubbing my nose. My nose was quickly filling up with blood. “Do you have a first aid kit?" I asked.

“No, I’ll go get you one,” Christine said. She placed her hand on my shoulder, led me to her bed, and made me sit down. “I will return,” she said, running off. I looked around her room and noticed that her mirror was open, just a little bit. I wondered if it was a two way mirror. I walked up to the mirror, examining it.

"Huh, that's strange," I muttered to myself.  Grasping the frame, I opened it up even more.

There was a passageway that led to who knows where. The smell of the sewer hit my broken nose. I shuddered at the awful scent. I covered my nose as I went in. I passed many candelabras that looked like golden arms. I thought that they had moved as I passed them. It could’ve been my imagination. As I made my way through the passageway, I noticed a black horse.

"Neigh,” the horse said.

"Oh, well hello there!" I said, petting his back. His snout nuzzled into me. I could tell that this beautiful stallion was hungry. I found a carrot in a crate filled with the vegetable and gave it to him. The horse neighed. “You’re very welcome,” I said, grabbing my skirt and curtising. The horse bowed his head. I giggled.

 I followed the dimly lit passageway until I came across a glistening lake. I was fortunate enough to know how to swim,  but luckily that would not be required because there was a boat that I could take. I grabbed the paddle and began to row. My arms grew sore as the journey across the water grew long and tiresome. How long until I came across land? That’s when I realized I could be heading right for the opera ghost’s lair.

Everyone in the opera house feared the phantom. Some called him a ghost, others, a monster. Either way, everyone obeyed what he had to say. Box five was kept to always be empty and the manager paid the ghost. I always asked myself why would the ghost require money? Perhaps to keep this place in shape.

I continued to row the boat forward. I knew that there was no going back now. As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. It really did!

I wasn't ready for what was coming for me. I wasn't expecting the unexpected. This was the point in my life that would change.

[be-gay-do-heists]

(this is just a random thought i had but i wanted to send it to you since meg is yours) 5 times quinn and parker do a heist and 1 time meg joins them. the heists get increasingly complicated and nonsensical. (parker: i want this one. quinn: how are you picking these? parker: i like pantone 19-4052. quinn: excellent point.) the meg heist ends up famous in the art world, it’s like the gardner heist 2.0. except. people may have legitimate theories about the gardner heist. the meg heist? most people will say it was the perfect heist, it will never be solved, it’s a waste of time to even speculate. in certain circles, however, the leading theory is that a dog did it. but no one is willing to really claim that theory, they would be the laughing stalk of the thief world. (of course meg would never leave a footprint by accident. parker asked her to do it because she thought it would be funny.)

i'd like to thank you for this ask and my life as i have not been able to think about anything else since reading it

imagine. you are a night guard in one of the most esteemed art museums in the world. despite the high profile, it's surprising a very laid back job (your cousin helped you get it. he said nothing actually ever happened, it was good pay, and you got to look at art. you love art and hate talking to people. win win). and for the most part nothing does ever happen. you haven't even had an alarm go off until now, in the impressionist gallery. on your run there you almost miss the empty case where a chihuly had been, and where you're pretty sure there should be an alarm going off too. you leave it aside for the moment, only to have the exact same experience in the next room

to your horror, the first night where something actually happens, it's not one piece stolen, but seven, with no connections between them by period, artist, medium, or country of origin. (you think. in the background of the painting, flecks in the metal, in the glass. they all, in some capacity, contained that one shade of blue-- you dismiss the thought. it seems silly). an open door, which should also have set off the alarms in the control room but didn't, is found on the east staircase, and all the way across the museum you find two other guards who were choked unconscious with a brutal kind of efficiency. you can't even say for certain how many people were in your museum

there's one thing you don't put in your report, when the directors and the insurance investigators are grilling you for all you're worth. it still makes it out, somehow; you see it on the news forums that you despondently scroll in your bathrobe, once more out of a job. on the floor, in front of the only stolen piece whose wall alarm had gone off, was a single print left in the same tone of blue. a very large pawprint, to be exact. it wasn't painted; you saw the marks from the grooves of the pads. you're pretty sure that somehow, in some way, a dog was involved in the middle of biggest art heist of the last three decades

[rpsocsandcanonohmy]

Odd numbers for the Sam ask? Please?

1. Best sam-centric episode?

Answered here

3. Worst season of Sam?

Off the top of my head I wanna say season 8 because they bungled up the first half so badly with the “love story” between him and Amelia. I think season 9 edged it out though because the way they handled the Gadreel storyline is an absolute travesty. Sam was gaslighted by the person he trusted most and was violated in the worst way, yet he’s supposed to just be okay with it because Dean feels so sad he can’t even properly apologize -_-

5. Best and worst hair?

Answered here

7. Your take on blurry wife?

I hope she knows how lucky she is.

I’m also completely willing to believe she’s some kind of undercover agent who’s supposed to be keeping an eye on him

9. powers/boyking!Sam or witch!Sam?

Boyking!Sam all the way. I love a murdery boy

11. Meg!Sam, Lucifer!Sam or Gadreel!Sam?

Lucifer!Sam. There’s just something so...chilling about him. He’s the most obviously different version of Sam and I love all the dark implications that go along with the “consensual” possession

13. Sam & Mary or Sam & John?

Answered here

15. Dynamic that should have been explored more?

Answered here

17. Sam headcanon about the stanford era?

Sam kept an eye out for anything that looked like a hunt in the news so he could feel closer to Dean and John. Sometimes he even found time to do research for the case.

19. Favorite of Sam's canon love interests?

I’m gonna go with Jess here. I think she was good for him and I like to think he would’ve ended up telling her the truth anyway

21. What thing Sam antis say about him makes you most mad?

Any time the idea of Sam being selfish comes up in any context, especially when it’s a time that makes Dean look bad. No, Sam was not a bad person for wanting to escape the hunting life and have something resembling normalcy. No, Sam is not a bad person for being mad about being gaslighted by the person he trusted most. We can debate about what happened when Dean was in purgatory but based on literally every other selfless thing Sam has done over the course of the series, I imagine he only abandoned hunting under dire circumstances.

23. Scene/episode that makes you want to chew glass

I already talked about the Gadreel thing so I’m gonna say that one scene where Cas told Sam that Lucifer was “our” responsibility even though Sam had nothing to do with him being let out of the Cage.

Like. Cas. My dude. YOU said yes to Lucifer. YOU believed his lies. YOU let him walk around inside you while you watched netflix in the bunker. YOU were perfectly fine with everything. You don’t get to pretend to be traumatized and spread your blame to the one that actually had the balls to stare down the Devil, his worst tormentor, and tell him to fuck off.

25. Which villain obsessed with Sam is your favorite?

Answered here

27. Your take on Bobby's treatment of Sam?

I think his favoritism towards Dean was obvious even before he stated it. Even when he wasn’t being possessed by a demon he was often condescending to Sam and a lot of his gendered insults were directed toward him.

Of course, my biggest issue is with Dean doing nothing to stop this but yeah Bobby was a dick and it taints his character a bit for me.

29. Your thoughts on Sam and demon blood?

I wish his addiction had been addressed more in the later seasons. It seems like he just wasn’t affected by it at all after the apocalypse where it should’ve come up at least as a background detail. The fact that demon!Dean didn’t even attempt to feed Sam his blood is a crime.

[the-shared-brain-in-retrograde]

Knives Out

(Or What If…? Steve Rogers Wore Cable Knit)

A joint review...

Firstly, aren't you glad to have us back? We know you missed us, deep down, very deep down. So you're welcome.

Secondly the tag line for this What If?... was a bit of a debacle. Cass suddenly lost her mind about spoilers, so where as What if Steve Rogers did crime? would have made possibly more sense, she insisted we didn't reveal who the villain was on the poster. The cable knits though are honestly a very big part of the film for some of us, who lost their minds in other ways.

This takes us to our third point, which is that the notes made for this review varied wildly between the Shared Brain. Cass made proper film notes, and Becks thirsted. In Becks' defence, when discussing it after she was a bit more articulate about the storytelling, the sets and the all that film stuff. But those jumpers are really good.

Enough of the introduction and on to the film...

This film hits the ground running. We both commented on the excellent dramatic music, and the fact that the house is just dreamy. It’s like, yes the film has started, pay attention and come take it all in. Becks has just had an explosion of words and waving arms, declaring this film to be the most perfect film that has ever been made.

The introduction to all of the characters is just so clever. We go into the most perfect library for interrogation that has ever existed, which is also perfect as it is in this library that the most perfect interrogations occur. And the lies begin here as the audience is told story upon story, mixing and replaying shots as the Thrombeys' show us just what sort of family they are...awful.

As well as the suspects we are also introduced to the world's best detective team, a man who has had enough of all their shit, another man who is just so excited to be a part of it, and James Bond trying out a new accent. Jokes aside Daniel Craig in this film is excellent. It’s easy to forget what a great actor he is, when all you can bring to mind is James Bond. Cass has just told Becks that he revolutionised the role of Bond, but Becks won't hear a good world said about that franchise - so we are at an impasse.

Anyway, we love Benoit’s introduction. Becks’ notes said, ah James Bond being a tit in the background, whilst Cass lost her mind and started gushing about ‘the presence that man has!’

Needless to say the way the full story is introduced is brilliant. Such great storytelling. The way the same scene is edited and cut slightly differently each time, showing the audience the curated and untrustworthy points of view of each character. The switches and the camera angles telling us as much about the characters as the words they use to tell their own story. It’s just the peak of what good cinema should be. Perfectly encapsulated we think, in this bit of dialogue about Walt’s creep of a son:

Walt: He’s very politically active

Richard: The boy is literally a Nazi

Meg: Alt-right troll dipshit

Walt: Kids these days, the internet

It is also here that Becks begins demanding to see her favourite snuggly murder boy. Cass admits that her interest is peaked when he is introduced as the black sheep of the family, got to have a type, I suppose. The slight difference here is that one of us has kept a grip on their finances for once, and one of us has not.

Quick question, is the vomiting after lying a real life issue? Answers on a stamped address envelope please, because we posed the question and haven’t bothered to investigate further.

We love Marta and Harlen's relationship, the only two half sane people in that god forsake house. Marta is obviously a godsend, a proper caring friend to Harlen. Imagine caring about someone so much that you would protect them even in death? It’s the only bit of true warmth and love felt between two characters in this film, and really sets them apart from the rest of the assholes on the floors below.

Again we want to show appreciation to the house, a character in its own right. Full to the brim with beautiful tat, and secrets that we just adore. We want a secret trick window, long corridors, rooms full to bursting. We want a home that is just stuffed full of every little thing that makes up us.

Cass would also like to take a moment to sympathise with Linda. She too knows the struggles of people clomping about upstairs while she is trying to sleep, but unlike Linda she knows exactly who it is. 🙄

Also we really enjoy Toni Collette playing the shit out of Gwyneth Paltrow. 10/10

Also, is there anything more relatable than storming out in a fit of rage after being told to get a job? Poor Ransom. Becks has suggested she would be his sugar mummy, but Cass has helpfully pointed out Becks couldn’t be as she has no money to keep this man child in cars and knitwear. Spoil sport.

The film at its core is a traditional country house murder mystery, that has been brought shining into the twenty first century. We are still given the joy of watching the sleuths try and pick their way through clues and motives, but with the addition of Marta evading them just a moment before. We love them roaming the grounds, with her managing to cover her tracks just before they get there. Although there is ever the glimpse of bright blue eyes constantly watching in the background, as Benoit Blanc quietly takes in more than he lets on.

The dogs' barking signal the arrival of hotness.

The will reading scene is end to end fantastic. Biscoff, delicious biscoff. The audacity of the entire family to hide their own failings and to unite as one in a vicious little coup. The slap fight. Ransom's face. Eat shit, eat shit, eat shit, definitely eat shit. I'm not eating one iota of shit! The panic and disorientation the audience feels as Marta tries to leave the house, the noise the crowding. Fleeing into the open door of Ransom's Beemer. And finally the darkness creeping in as the family begin to plot. We love that Alan is so desperate to go home that he is happy to be called useless.

Becks would love nothing more than to jump into a sports car and then be menaced in a country pub. So rustic. Cass might be on board too, depending on who's driving the sporty number.

The pub scene shows us Ransom in his full glory. We get fed on cable knit, intelligence, menace, plotting, lying, sleeves over his long fingers caressing his fucking mouth. Cass wishes she could take the keyboard off Becks, taking it up to a third intervention of the week. [I don't think we're laughing about that yet, but at least we're not crying any more. The low blood sugar is making it impossible to pump out any more tears I think. What a fucking mess.] Trying to bring it back a little, it's just another really good bit of storytelling as both the characters and the audience is manipulated down another web of lies.

Another bit of sinister action that we enjoyed is Walt Thrombey visiting Marta's house. The sinister thump of the cane as it impacts the ground, moving ever closer, demanding to overpower the woman in front of him. And we love how she turns it around on him, changes the dynamic so perfectly, leaving him small and bitter and alone.

Then we are treated most wonderfully to the car chase. What a time, it was both ridiculous and thrilling. Ransom calling Marta 'baby driver' nearly had Becks done for but she kept it together, out of professionalism and that... Oh we do love a good car chase, it’s fun and it builds the tension perfectly.

Now, does it seem a sensible thing to blackmail a murderer? We would say no, and are also proven correct. The repeated scene of Fran in the abandoned dry cleaners is great. The first time we see it with Marta and the body it's creepy, dark and so unsettling. The second time with Ransom, the power shifts and we feel it as he takes her life and light out of the room, just to get hold of that report.

It also gives us the little treat of Blanc happily singing to himself in the car. What a fucking delight this man is.

It then leads us on to the finale, the big reveal, better than anything Poirot has ever done. Never has Agatha Christy treated us to lines such as, 'What were the words overheard by the Nazi child masturbating in the bathroom?'.

Not to be a broken record, but honestly the whole ending was just perfect. B Blanc finally telling the tale how it truthfully happened, joining all of the little dots and crumbs we had been fed throughout the film, finally filling the donut hole. The whole donut analogy makes Cass feel hysterical, wave upon wave of joy and shrieks that’s she tries to hold in as it goes on and on. She has likened it to Becks' reaction to Ransom, but we have discussed the subtle differences in that.

The ending also gives Ransom his perfect villain ending. That monologue. We shouldn't use the word perfect anymore in this cursed review but that's what it is, and Becks will fight anyone who says differently.

RANSOM: I want to say this just to you, not to a courtroom of cameras, just to you because you know it's the truth: we allowed you into our home. We allowed you to take care of granddad, to be part of our family and now you think you can steal it from us? You think I'm not going to fight for our birthright, our home, our ancestral family home?

BLANC: *laughing hard* Harlan bought this house in the eighties. From a Pakistani real estate baron.

RANSOM: Oh shut up Blanc, shut up! Shut up with that Kentucky fried fog horn rag-horn drawl. Yeah I killed Fran but I guess I didn't, so what do you have on me. Nothing. What, attempted murder? I get arson for the building, maybe a few other charges, with a good lawyer, which I have, I'll be out in no time. And then you'll see just how much hell I can wreak on your life, you vicious little bitch.

And then he takes the vomit like a real champ. Marta goes off like that little frilly dinosaur in Jurassic Park, and we love to see it.

We then get what our old film-tutors oft referred to as a trippy Jaws shot, and then so much slo-mo drama with that incredible chair in the background. It just looks amazing, as we follow everyone's terrified faces as the knife cuts through the air and down into Marta's chest. And then bounces a few times.

We should also discuss how Becks' notes just end with the line, 'I wish he'd stab me.'

@becksxoxo: I stand by it. He's so angry, with his face, and then he flies through the air and is just there, on her, plunging the blade in, and then back out, and in again, and out and...

@cassandrafey: Oh for god's sake. Do you think you're clever?

@becksxoxo: Alright Cass, no need to be such a vicious little bitch about it.

In conclusion, crime bad, but if done in a nice sweater, crime good.

We've had a lovely time. It’s such a comfort movie (weird considering it’s very murder based but we won't delve any deeper into that, we’re weird women, fuck you), something so brilliantly written, designed and acted, and just a joy to watch.

Bet you’re excited to see what our next convoluted What If…? tagline will be next week ey folks? Stay tuned for more shared brain action!

Love Becks and Cass xoxo