#in the behind the scenes commentary he mentions that he asked someone if it would be problematic for him to canonize blubs and durland

[godsfavoritescientist]

Billford isnt canon in a literal Sincere Authorial Intent sense, y'all 😭😭😭 please get better standards for how much creators need to include in order for something to be considered officially canon. I've jokingly said "I cant believe billford is canon" too, but I thought we were saying that lightheartedly. I thought we all recognized that it was "canonized" in a wink-wink nudge-nudge way where they fully leave room for people to interpret it as "haha isn't it so funny and clever that they're framing being betrayed by a demon as if it's a romantic breakup!" Please. I'm begging you, do you understand what I'm saying here

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future Part II, The Novel by Craig Shaw Gardner: Thoughts, commentary, and general ramblings

Part 6: A weird-looking old man and a little guy in a leather jacket.

Previous posts here

• Instead of describing Doc as a “crazy, wild-eyed old man,” Old Biff says, “a weird-looking old man,” which is just so personal, lol

• There’s an interesting scene where Marty is almost caught in Biff’s garage. The shouting between Biff and his grandmother isn’t there to alert Marty, and instead, Biff just walks straight out to the garage. Marty thinks it’s Doc who has come to rescue him and calls out, which Biff hears. Marty then hides in the car, and waits as Biff looks around a bit before getting distracted.

• I really want the full scene of Doc scrambling to get that new hat and bike so he can head over to Biff’s house. The book mentions that he’d bought the bike a few hours prior (then had to wait for it to get dark enough) but I’d love to see how that played out. I also want Marty doing his shopping for his Inconspicuous outfit.

• Marty has a very funny response to Doc reminding him to be careful at the dance since his other self is there with Lorraine. “Yeah, that’s right! Hey, that’s cool, Doc. Maybe I’ll say hello to myself.”

This is followed immediately by, “’No!’ Doc felt like he might have a heart attack.”

And what I want to know is: is Marty just being a wisenheimer, or is he genuinely considering stopping to chit-chat with his other self? I could honestly see it going either way with Marty.

• This chapter is giving me a few good chuckles so far. Marty enters the dance and it says, “He stepped through, and found himself in the same alcove where he’d had that heart-to-heart with his future parents—the one about being nice when your son sets fire to the rug.”

Why don’t we have any definitive information on The Rug Incident? That story should’ve been included in the comics. I need to know what unfolded that day. Why did Marty set the rug on fire? Was it purely accidental? Did little Marty go through an arsonist phase?

I demand answers.

• When we return to Doc, who is still riding his bike all over the place, he ends up at the Peabody farm. There’s a cop there talking to Mr. Peabody, who’s recounting the alien encounter he had. Which…doesn’t make much sense to me since this is a week now since the “flying saucer” originally crashed into his barn. But I guess this has been an ongoing ordeal, and Otis has been trying to get someone to take him seriously.

Anyway, Doc is worried that they might actually stumble upon where he’s hidden the DeLorean behind the billboard, so he goes over and announces that he saw the spacecraft take off wayyy in the other direction. The police officer and Otis immediately take off in search of it.

• I wish I got a dollar for every time in this novel that Marty has said, “Yo, Doc!” because I would have many dollars.

• Lester (Wallet Guy) describes Marty to Biff as, “A little guy in a leather jacket.” So true, Lester. He IS just a little guy in a leather jacket.

• Ok, OK!! So! Two things to mention about the scene after the dance where Marty runs into Biff outside the door. After Biff calls him chicken, Marty once again recalls that, per his mother’s repeated suggestions, he’s supposed to count to 10 when he’s upset. And as he wrestles with his feelings, he thinks, “Maybe he always felt he needed to do this because he was so short.” !!!!! May I direct you to this ask and poll? There you have it, folks. Marty (book Marty, at least) is quite aware of his height and ALSO aware that it might be the reason he wants to fight at the slightest provocation.

• I already always feel bad for the Western Union guy when I watch the movie, and this makes me feel even more sorry for him. He gets no closure!!! He will NEVER know what the 70-year-old mystery letter was all about. The most disappointed voice Marty has ever heard!!

• We close with the scene of Marty running back to the clock tower. However, his revealing his presence to Doc is pretty different in the book than it is in the movie. We’re told, “Marty stepped out of the shadow of the courthouse. He tapped Doc on the shoulder.”

I mean. It definitely doesn’t have The Flair of Marty running full speed and dramatically spinning Doc to face him, but it is funny. He just. Steps out from the shadows and gives him a little tap. A gentle, “Um, hi, hello, I’m back.” Amuses me to think about.

This is how I imagine it, btw.

• The book ends with Doc passing out and Marty legitimately fearing that Doc may have just DIED before his very eyes, and how will he ever get home now?

I guess we’ll find out in the part III novel! Stay tuned.

[naokiscoffee]

What makes Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo so special?

This is probably my twelfth thousand re-watch of this drama, but this is not like all the other rewatches. I have decided to make this one special by using it to analyse the drama in more depth, and attempt to uncover why I love it as much as I do, despite all it’s flaws. I am writing this as I watch the episodes, so it might be considered somewhat of a commentary.

Season 01 Episode 01

Starting off with the first episode, the opening scene is fantastic in my opinion. I love how we are getting introduced to Kotoko in the comfort of her own room, and getting a peek into her hearts deepest wish. I honestly think that this might be what made me like this version of Kotoko from the get go.

However, technically, the actual first scene of the story is the iconic confession scene (if you would even call it that). I am going to go on a tangent here and just say that I am an absolute fan of her letter, but I will get back to that in a later episode.

The way she is nervous and excited before confessing and the way he flat out rejects her before she even has the chance to confess always makes me feel crushed for her, and is the reason why I initially disliked him. But now that I am actually analysing it, it is less harsh than how I’ve always perceived it (or this might just be me trying to explain it away).

Hear me out, consider the implication that he has a whole queue of girls that like him, drool over him and confess to him in school, his reaction/rejection is really not that surprising. Imagine receiving confessions from a bunch of girls, when you just want to live your life in peace … that must get old and tiresome fairly quickly. Additionally, the fact that the whole entire school is talking about the rejection might explain why he didn't accept her letter; had he accepted it (even if he rejected her afterwards), the whole school would probably assume that they were dating. On the other hand it makes me think, why would the whole school be interested in someone confessing? are we back in kindergarten?

We see later on that she still has that card with her. I think that for her, getting rid of it would feel like getting rid of her feelings for him, which is why she holds on to it.

Anyways, I find it quite ironic when Kotoko’s friends tell her “you and Irie are from different worlds” . Their worlds are literally going to forcibly merge under one roof very very soon.

Another random thought I got, like a lot of my thoughts are, was why did Kotoko like Naoki, and not like Kinnouske? I mean he might not be handsome, he might not be smart, he might not be rich, but he is hardworking, talented and most importantly, he liked Kotoko, and was always nice towards her. This version’s Kinnouske has always been my favourite one. I think this version does a good job at portraying him as a three dimensional person, rather than a comic relief kind of personality *cough* Itazura Na Kiss 1996 *cough*.

When I started to pay more attention, I realised that although I do love Kinnouske, I do find him to often do things based on his own feelings, and does not consider what Kotoko wants. For example, I cant help but feel that he is a bit insensitive for being happy when Kotoko is sad after deciding to ‘give up’ on Naoki. This is a small detail, and perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I do feel that Itazura Na Kiss is all about the details. He sort of redeems himself for it by asking his friends to come and help her move, but soon it goes to shit again, which I will come to later on.

I really like — at this point, everything really, but anyways — the reoccurring mentioning of “less possible than getting hit by a shooting star”, which is a kind of teaser to what is to come later on in the show. Although I’ve always thought that the reason for their house being destroyed in this version to be a bit dumb, I admit, I do like the thought and metaphor behind it, so I will turn I blind eye to it. I also find it hilarious how it ended up all over the news.

Kotoko’s extremely optimistic outlook despite everything that happened is perhaps her most charming personality trait. It makes me feel that her optimism is somehow what everything work out for her in the end.

Now, to one of the scenes I dislike most in this story. I am always tempted to skip the first episode altogether to avoid it. And that’s the scene where Kinnouske is collecting donations for Kotoko. Here we see Kin-chan’s good intentions having not so good results. I get the feeling that he does what he thinks is helpful for her, and never once stops to consider her feelings or ask her opinion on it, and the way she gets annoyed with him tells me that she’s not that fond of this either, despite what his intentions were.

Back to Naoki. Looking at the size of that entrance, he could have 100% just walked around Kotoko and Kinnouske and gone in. Heck, following the little pattern we have so far, wouldn’t he purposefully avoid them to maintain a quiet and peaceful life? Now, he did just the contrary and approached them. Considering the fact that by the end of the episode he already knows about the arrangement (of her going to his home to stay there with her father), it would be safe to assume that at this moment in time, he already knows that she would stay in his house. This is supported by his response to her “preferring to die over taking his money”; “are you sure you want to tell me that?”. Therefore I assume that he approaches her out of curiosity.

If you pay close attention to this interaction, you will notice that Naoki did not say one thing that was wrong or out of line. Naoki giving Kotoko the money was not very nice. But more than anything, it was quite confusing. He told her “If I donate this money, you won’t argue with me anymore”. Now, Kinnouske was the one arguing with Naoki, so why would Naoki tell Kotoko that? Is it because he sees her as the most reasonable one, or rather, is it because they’re ‘her’ friends (thus making her responsible for them)?

Kotoko was the one with an explosive reaction in this situation [although she was in the wrong, I like how she stood by her friend eventhough they were fighting a few moments ago (if she realised the previously mentioned point that is).], and was more than a bit mean when saying “do you even have friends?”. Here we see just how much of an opposite to her he is. Instead of having an explosive reaction like Kotoko had, Naoki just finds her reaction amusing and leaves calmly.

Now to when she goes with her father to the Irie household. Naoki’s mother’s (Noriko’s) comment of “you and I seem like we were meant to meet” and the fact that she knows that she’s in the same school as Naoki tells me that he told her about Kotoko; which in turn makes me think that she left a memorable impression on him. Kotoko’s reaction to seeing Naoki is Hilarious, especially te part where she’s too shocked, and is not shy to say “I’m just do surprised … because Iri-chan-san and Irie-kun don’t look alike at all” (I really am starting to realise and understand why Naoki finds her amusing).

Another one of those small details; the way her father scoots away right off the bat when he saw Yuki asking her a question about a kanji character, and pretending to look at a random décor piece kills me (It’s nice to keep in mind; despite how similar Kotoko might sometimes be to her dad, he still has more awareness of his own ‘stupidness’ than her).

I recently watched one of @Machitsuki2 ‘s analysis videos, and like she pointed out, I did in fact notice how Kotoko was going straight to the food and cakes, while Naoki was mainly only sipping coffee (even during breakfast). This will become really important later on.

Lastly, I love the interaction between Noriko and Kotoko when she takes her up to show her her room; Kotoko found a mother she never had, and Noriko found the daughter she never had. They are the first puzzle pieces that fit into each other perfectly.

When Naoki comes in and tells Kotoko that she took Yuki’s room, I get the feeling that rather than an insult it served to make Kotoko understand why Yuki disliked her so much. I might be a bit delulu, but I kind of feel that Naoki did this on purpose? anyone?

When Noriko asks Kotoko “do you like(suki) Sukiyaki?” and Kotoko looks at her (in Naoki’s direction) and confidently answers “I like it! (suki-desu!)” almost feels directed at Naoki. It is in fact the first time he hears her say it. This next part I had to go back and watch once more; Naoki only starts being mean to her when she pulled the bag from him (not wanting his help) and he saw the letter she wrote him drop out of it. I do wonder if he is mean to her because of that letter, or maybe because he thought she was rude towards him?

To be continued…(maybe)

[melishade]

Number 7? Also, I love the commentaries you've posted. My favorite part of DVDs is the behind the scenes options. Listening to creators' gushing over their work and explaining little details is awesome!

This ask game

Weill I'm glad that someone likes them. Anyway, let’s have Elita and Optimus argue over Megatron in the Beloved Timeline after Elita kicks Megatron’s ass earlier. For more context: Part 4: Megatron getting his shit wrecked

"I cannot fragging believe you, Optimus!" Elita shouted as she was trying to storm away from him, but the Prime was insistent and continued to follow her.

"Elita, wait!" Optimus pleaded with her, "Let me explain!"

"Explain?!" Elita snapped her helm towards him, "Explain why Megatron is here and the two of you are working together?! I could understand if this was Megatron before the war, but he killed our world and so many of our friends with his war! He tampered with the blood of Unicron! Optimus, he devolved into a madmech!"

"Elita, the war is over and the island barely has enough resources as it is!" Optimus reminded, "The humans need allies-!"

"And your choice is Megatron?!" Elita demanded, "He hates anyone that is weak, so I assume that he hates the humans! And I doubt that he is well liked among them, because that human Captain was drinking fluid and practically enabling me to attack Megatron!"

Optimus' month formed a thin line as he looked away from her.

"Optimus, I am begging you that you do not tempt fate," Elita punctuated, "Do not go down this path! You have no idea if Megatron is even trustworthy! Not to mention, he has always rejected your hand in the past and you will get hurt for it again! Why are you even bother to try again with this?!"

"...Elita...Megatron saved Eren's life," Optimus confessed.

"Eren? The human that can turn into that monstrous beast?" Elita asked for clarification. "The one who I had fought?"

"Yes, he..." Optimus trailed off, "Eren had tried to take his own life, and Megatron was the one who stop him and saved his life. I wasn't there for Eren. I didn't see the signs and he nearly took his life because I was not there. But Megatron was...and he saved him."

Elita was stunned. Megatron saved the life of a lesser being? A weaker being? With no apparent incentive? Why would he?

"Do you intend to leave because of our current arrangement?" Optimus asked in defeat. Elita's anger was reignited as she walked up to Optimus and grabbed his faceplates, forcing him to look her in the optics.

"I am not leaving you," Elita declared, "Not after I had just found you."

"But, you despise Megatron," Optimus retorted, "Which is understandable-!"

"I love you more than I hate Megatron," Elita cut him off, "And I will be by your side so long as I still function."

Optimus was touched at Elita's words, but she continued. "But I will not be kind to Megatron. I will not forgive him. And you need to respect that. If Megatron acts out of line and harms you or any of your comrades, I will personally end his spark myself. Do you understand?"

Optimus couldn't argue with her. Her anger towards Megatron was understandable, and he himself was still questioning Megatron's motivation. "I understand. I apologize for putting you in this predicament."

Elita rested her helm against his own. "I accept your apology. Thank you for understanding how I feel."

"Of course," Optimus replied to her.

(Well, I have a few asks in my inbox, some artwork I'm glazing and commentary I hope I can write. Anything on that ask list above is free game though.)

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "The Holocrons of Fate"

In which things get Force Weird and Maul is the actual worst.

Full disclaimer in the name of honesty, I still think Maul's "resurrection" in TCW was stupid. It will never not be stupid.

That being said, I'm glad they decided, "Well, let's actually do something interesting with him." once they had him.

Making him into a Sisyphean/Tantalus-figure--always reaching, never grasping--adds a layer of depth and tragedy to him. No matter how hard he tries, Maul will never gain what he seeks. When it's within his grasp, he will inevitably self-sabotage or have it slip away from him.

We meet him at a time in his life when he's just lost everything, again. He finds new purpose and motivation in the form of Ezra Bridger figuratively falling into his lap--here's someone to carry on his legacy, that he can mold and teach--but in his eagerness to have him, he irreparably damages any chance the boy would have had to learn from him willingly.

But like Sisyphus pushing at that rock, like Tantalus reaching for the grapes above him, he cannot stop trying.

Probably fitting that his question to the holocrons is an answer to the inevitable existential dread of his own existence.

But I'm getting waaaaaay ahead of myself, he hasn't even shown his ugly face yet.

Instead we drop in on Kanan and Ezra, on a CR90, presumably coming back from a mission they headed up. Ezra's asking after the holocron again, still not quite over his obsessive addiction to it, still hyper-focusing on it as the only good thing that could have possibly come out of the mess at Malachor.

"But if not to get the Sith holocron, why did Master Yoda send us to Malachor?" That's a good question. *stares at writers*

Kanan offers up the idea that is was for "a chance to destroy the Sith." Sure we'll go with that.

Their conversation is interrupted by them coming to their destination, a rendezvous point with another Rebel ship.

Thaaaaaaaaaat Maul has almost completely murderized. This scene is one of the ones that does a really good job subtly showing off Kanan's blindness. Ezra offers commentary for Kanan's benefit throughout, Kanan has a hand out to feel, he mentions the carbon scoring smell and inclines his ear towards the sounds coming from behind a door.

The only survivor can only gasp out about a "red blade... after you." ("you" being very specifically Ezra) and that the Ghost was in danger.

Right so I'd just like to emphasize, for the fandom's sake, Maul murdered an entire Rebel ship looking for Ezra.

Kanan and Ezra assume, naturally, that "red blade" means there's a new Inquisitor after them and rush to contact the Ghost. Whereupon they discover that it's Maul who's threatening them now.

And ooooooh Ezra's piiiiiiiiissed.

"No... I betrayed your friends, but I would have remained loyal to you." *rubs eyes* That's... There's not a significant emotional distinction there for Ezra, you know that right, Maul? Of course you don't.

Back when fandom was Absolutely Certain that Maul was going to successfully abduct Ezra in "Twilight of the Apprentice" there were theories flying around that Sabine would have to ply her Mandalorian connections in order to get information about where he might be hiding, since we knew by then her family had ties to Death Watch. Things didn't happen that way, obviously, but it was still nice to get a nod towards that connection.

Maul proceeds to be the world's worst houseguest, forcing Hera to take him on a "tour" of the ship while he comments snarkily about each room.

Like you have room to talk mister Lived In Literal Garbage For Years.

Anyway this tour seems to be mostly a ruse to look for Kanan's holocron, and Maul very creepily and uncomfortably pulls the information out of Hera's head. (Possibly along with Kanan's real name??? It was never actually elaborated on how Maul knows "Caleb Dume", but it would make the most sense he skimmed it from Hera, to throw her defenses off guard for his stronger mind probe.)

You leave mom alone you cockroach.

I know this is serious but boy I would have LOVED to hear the conversation Kanan and Ezra must have had with Sato when they got back.

"Hey we need to borrow a speeder to go out into the desert past the sensor beacon fence where all the spiders are to visit a giant weird Force Moose and retrieve a Sith Soul Jar because a creepy spike-horned Dark Side nutcase kidnapped everyone else on our crew."

I'm just picturing Sato throwing up his hands all, "Just take whatever you need."

Also amusing: the idea of Ezra trying to describe the Bendu to Kanan later.

I absolutely dig this idea of holocrons creating a Force Convergence powerful enough to grant visions. I'm always in favor of Jedi artifacts being just a little bit weird with the Force. I mean, kyber crystals sing and hum to Jedi, lightsabers are a living extension of the Force moving through them, their temples carry thousands of years of emotions and feelings sticking to the walls, why shouldn't their holocrons be able to join with Sith holocrons to make an oracle?

The Bendu says he's neutral but he's also clearly set up this little test in order to help heal the rift between Kanan and Ezra (and he gives a fond little smile when he can sense their reconciliation).

"Why take his weapon?" "He's got to learn to solve problems without it." *WEEPS IN FINALE FEELINGS REMEMBERING THAT EZRA LEFT HIS LIGHTSABER BEHIND AND RELIED ONLY ON HIS UNIQUE FORCE ABILITY TO CONNECT IN ORDER TO SAVE EVERYONE*

Lol @ Maul trying to blunt force the Jedi holocron open. My dude. My guy. You were the one to point out that Sith holocrons can only be opened by a Sith or one who thinks like them. Follows that Jedi holocrons might operate on the same principle? Maybe?

Not sure what the point is of getting to the engine room quietly given the racket y'all made literally a second ago.

This is actually a new part of the ship we haven't seen before now. It's accessed both by a grate in the floor under the main central ladder and the door at the very back of the cargo hold.

And this is a really clever idea with magnetizing the hold, remembering that Maul's legs are metal. They almost pull off their own rescue here.

Bastard.

Sans his lightsaber, Ezra reaches for his blaster holster instead. Except I think that's empty too, I looked but I didn't see it equipped.

Kanan senses his panic and distress from outside and follows in. This scene reminds me a little bit of when Vision!Kanan showed up in "Path of the Jedi". Not sure why, just kind of does.

Ezra instinctively moves to shield Kanan from the krykna, aww.

Ugh this return to that timid, self-protective pose. :( We haven't seen Ezra shield himself like that in ages and it makes him look so much smaller.

Kanan tells Ezra everything Ezra's been desperate to hear for six months:

It wasn't your fault.

I never blamed you.

Forgive yourself.

<333333333

Haven't talked about the music much but this is a nice rendition of Ezra's theme here for this heartwarming moment.

Ah noooooope I like the krykna EVEN LESS now, wtf is this it's creepy.

Ezra nervous little glances as the krykna uncurl. <3

Ezra passing Kanan's mask into his hand. <3

Bendu's "Once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown." was a lot more ominous in the trailers, ngl.

Kanan showing a remarkable amount of trust in Ezra, leaving the decision on whether to open up the Sith holocron or not up to him. Ezra looks trepidaciously at it a moment and then decides not to, passing it back to Kanan.

(And then he never touched the Dark Side again lol.)

I can't even be mad that Ezra got the first blind joke in. At least he beat Maul to the punch.

Hhggngnghhh I hate him so much this rat bastard trash man. He immediately takes advantage of Kanan's blindness to lead him to an airlock and tries to space him.

EZRA WASN'T EVEN OUT OF SIGHT LONGER THAN A MINUTE OR TWO, MAUL, CAN YOU NOT?!

You actually can survive the void of space very briefly. You have about 15 seconds before you pass out, possibly more if you exhale first.

Uggggggggghhhh this scene makes my skin crawl, Maul is literally fresh off his second attempt to murder Kanan and orders the droids to kill the rest and Ezra is standing there completely unaware of the danger he's in or what Maul's done.

Maul bald-face lies to him and tells him his friends are fine. Just imagining the horror of what would have happened if Kanan hadn't made it back inside, how Ezra would have emerged from the holocron vision only to learn the awful truth that Maul had killed everyone he loved, that he was alone, alone with a deranged murderer who had decided he was his apprentice...

*shudder*

As they prepare to join the holocrons, it's interesting to note that Ezra's wish is a bit Dark Side tinted--he wants the answer on how to destroy the Sith--while Maul's is Light--the vaguely described "hope". Hope for what it's not clear at first. Hope for meaning? Hope for purpose? Hope for another chance to fix what he considers the point at which things went wrong? Commentary from behind the scenes has said that Maul's motivation for revenge against Obi-Wan is primarily rooted in his fixation on his failure at Naboo. "If I can just kill this guy, the person who was there when everything went wrong, it will make it all better."

I think, given that Maul had become self-consciously legacy-minded, thinking about the future he planned to create with Ezra at his side, he turned his mind backwards to unfinished business from the past, messes he still had to clean up, in order to move forward.

And that's why he manipulates the holocron vision to show him Obi-Wan's fate.

This sequence is really pretty.

The music cue that accompanies this moment is not overly bombastic, but rather sly, mysterious, and eerie, high vocals mingling with strings to create an odd balance.

The resignation on Sabine, Hera, and Zeb's faces when the droids point their weapons. :(

Hera's elation when she hears Kanan there. :D The very worried Spacefamily books it to Ezra of course.

Maul doesn't see anything from the vision at first, "Only oblivion!" he says, because the path he's on can only lead him there and urges Ezra to "Go deeper!" It just occurred to me that he's basically doing what his old master Palpatine would try to do in Season Four--piggybacking off Ezra's connection and using him as a conduit to achieve what he wants. He pushes Ezra to look harder because he can't see anything himself.

The brighter burst of blinding light could have just been an effect of Maul and Ezra sinking deeper into the vision but also I like to think Maul manipulated the convergence to try to keep the others away because it swells up right when we hear Hera calling for Ezra.

This bit is so cool, the Force is so loud and present in the room that Kanan's blindness doesn't matter, he can physically see through it even with his ruined eyes. Hera's voice distorts and fades as if it's coming across a large distance even though Kanan only goes a couple steps away. The orchestra rouses with full strings and chorus. The negative film effect makes Kanan, Ezra, and Maul look like celestial figures of pure energy.

THE WAY THIS IS BOTH (LITERALLY) ABOUT THE TWIN SUNS OF TATOOINE AND (FIGURATIVELY) ABOUT LUKE AND LEIA, THE CHILDREN OF THE CHOSEN ONE AND THE TWO MOST KEY PLAYERS IN THE ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF THE SITH.

THE WAY ALL THREE OF THEM--LUKE, LEIA, AND EZRA--ARE NARRATIVE "CHOSEN ONES" WITHOUT BEING THE IN-TEXT CHOSEN ONE, HOW THE FORCE STILL PUTS THEM IN KEY PLACES IN ORDER TO BRING ABOUT THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY.

THE PATH TO LIRA SAN WILL BE DECIDED BY THE FATE OF THE THREE.

Ezra ultimately trusts Kanan and looks away just before Maul can discern where, exactly, Obi-Wan is. The severed connection explodes outwards, throwing them all across the room, and the holocrons are shattered.

Maul's cackling and crazed body language as he stumbles out to escape make it seem like the knowledge that Obi-Wan's alive has actually driven him insane. It's quite disconcerting.

The Spacefamily surrounding Ezra worriedly. <3 You have to wonder if Kanan is fearing a repeat of Ezra's collapse back in "Gathering Forces", if perhaps for a moment he's a bit too still here.

Oh look the two Most Important People in Ezra's life and narrative journey!

The way Kanan keeps his hand on Ezra's shoulder until the very end. <333333

With a few minor nitpicks (mostly that a few of the mysteries aren't well explained or answered, see Maul's knowledge of Kanan's real name) this is a pretty solid episode, a worthy follow-up to the premiere. We continue to settle Ezra's Dark Side temptations, burying them mostly for good in this episode, though the lingering effects it had on him emotionally will continue well into his characterization, motives, and arc down the line.

Maul is an awful bastard in this and such a good villain. :) He's so much more confident and assured of himself, clear-headed and calculating. 0 for 2 on successfully kidnapping Ezra but his menace will still pervade and influence a lot of Ezra's decisions this season.

I'll talk more about the overall effects and purpose of the holocron arc when we come to its end in "Twin Suns" but for now I'll just enjoy this episode once again, it's great.

[relapsinghetalian]

Ok finished rewatching aph season 1 for the first time since like 2015 . Some thoughts.

The bit with Austria and the piano, as well as England's weird ass fire song genuinely made me laugh still. Lol random humor still gets me

Had to restrain myself from thinking about the historical accuracy of food and outfits in America's flashbacks with England or I would throw up

There are many more references to the Holocaust than I remember (absolute yikes) - like it's REALLY bad. Germany is so far guilty for every single one (but I know more are coming) - we really have to acknowledge how deep it's in there. It's so bad guys.

I said it already but the scene of them coming up with the name axis is just bad.

Weirdly though Germany doesn't seem to be wearing the iron cross which he has in season 5?? Good call, but huh???

England is really fatphobic :/

TW ED: America's relationship with food and weight loss is so weirdly representative of our shitty diet culture irl that it's honestly really concerning. This country has a societal eating disorder. I can explain this way better if someone wants but I'll leave it at that.

Lithuania mentioning to America that him holding on to things just means he's turning into an adult really really hit me. I don't know why. Was a throwaway line to me when I was 14. That line is repeating in my head now.

CANADA INTRODUCTION OMG HI CANADA HI THIS SHOW SUCKS BUT ON GOD IM GOING TO SUCK YOU OFF SO HARD

who said that

Just like my first watch through in 2015, if I have to see that allies vs axis beach fight one more fucking time I'm going to lose it. But it was only twice? Could've sworn there was more... Hm

The heaven/hell songs from Rome are still funny to me mostly because they come out of nowhere

Busby's chair was genuinely funny too actually. Why is England just standing there like that lmao

I don't know why I was so annoyed by Liechtenstein the first time I watched the show. I'm not a big fan of that style of voice acting, but it's kind of sweet. As long as you ignore that Hima has a tendency to make weird nudges towards slight maybe implied inc*st :( ... Moving on.

Speaking of, the scene with Italy and Romano calling Germany because of the hair tangling... I remember that one but still. Wtf actually.

Romano choking Italy, asking him to say he is through with Germany and Japan is an interesting tidbit. To me. I think I know what that's referring to but I'm not checking rn. I like the idea of him wanting Italy to move away from the axis shit

If this is just season 1, unfortunately I can see how USUK got so popular so fast. The season definitely focuses a bit more on them than it does England and France.

(That being said I still feel like it's way more of a brotherly relationship. Or parental. To me. I'm not trying to start a fight. )

Speaking of, the commentary France says the first time America and England are fighting each other is unwanted. (Saying that as someone who is uncomfortable with USUK)

America says Japan looks like a girl from behind. Gay and racist. Defines this whole season really. L.

No thoughts on the marriage proposal between England and France. It's just a solid scene.

Now that I'm paying attention more than I used to, I can see why Switzerland and Austria is a big ship. Every scene making jokes about that made me honestly laugh. That was actually a good bit.

Holy Roman empire L

"boyfriend or girlfriend or gender neutral chibi thing" is STILL a good line

Overall I for sure see the weird yassification of the axis powers. It's bad.

Also they had these little potato shaped children share an emotional kiss huh

England is so unbearable in so many scenes. Might have to do with my hatred for this VA and the constant fatphobia actually.

France tells America he can lose weight by being sexually active. This is treated like it's some perverted thing but honestly he's right?? It's not like he was initiating anything?? Or did I interpret that wrong??

Came across a weird bonus episode I don't remember being there. Looks like it was supposed to come after episode 23? Definitely very normal.

[ficnoire2]

Legendborn/Bloodmarked Character Spotlight: Valechaz

Legendborn/Bloodmarked Character Spotlight: 

Valechaz

I love this character.  It could be because he reminds me of a slick talking uncle always working an angle, not sure, but Valec makes me chuckle to myself.  Here are some of those instances and commentary about my favorite fast-talking, crossroads child.

Empathy

I find it remarkable that Velec is so empathetic given his background and history (someone has mentioned this before but the OP escapes me, apologies).  In chapter 46 Mariah says, “Valec was born on a plantation to a mother who practiced.  His mother’s people cast him out, but he ended up enslaved elsewhere…”  “You and I may feel the dead, see them, but we don’t carry the memories of what these places were really like.  He does.  He lived it.  Survived it.”  I thought this was a powerful statement considering how understanding Valec is of Sel in particular (which is one of the reasons I think Erebus is his father as well as Sel’s, but I’ll touch on that later).  Going through and surviving chattel slavery is something I cannot fathom.  I can only think of the generational scars and trauma carried in the bodies that lived it.  Despite this Valec is able to see people for who they are without excusing less than desirable behavior, but offering understanding and perspective.  At 205 years old he is able to impart all the knowledge he has gained through pain and loss.  I am amazed that he sees fit to do this.  Why he isn’t angry all the time is beyond me (the most balanced Cambion in the region).  Even after whooping Sel’s ass and exposing his true face at the bar, he still gave him aether vials to sustain him.  The level of understanding and care there is off the charts if you ask me.  Much like William, Valec knows his power but so far we have only seen him use what he can do minimally. I think in book three, he will be unleashed.  As Bree says “The words are jovial, but the tone has a note of dark warning.  Everything about the newcomer is balanced on a razor’s edge between charm and threat.”

A Special Thing

When I say Tracy Deonn did her research, boy did she ever.  The fact that the demon Valac is described as an angelic boy that rides a two-headed dragon and finds treasures, and our baby-faced Valec has found the ultimate treasure (Bree) is a nice little Easter egg.  There is so much to unpack regarding Valec and such a big chunk of his life missing for readers to do so.  The self described “special thing” found many treasures in Bloodmarked.  He felt Bree’s root and discovered her Bloodmark which later helped Bree reveal who Erebus really was.  He revealed the treasure that is Volition helping Bree understand a bit more about her power.  I wonder what led Valechaz to be so well-balanced?  That would indeed make him a special thing in this world.  

History with the Order?  

The scene where Bree and Sel blow Erebus halfway through the forest and Valec shows up was a bit curious to me.  When the Shadowborn appear and it is stated that “Without speaking, Valec and Sel separate, circling behind the pack faster than the lesser demons can change course, slicing and striking as they move.  It’s a technique I’ve seen Nick do before…”  I am curious as to how Valec knows this type of battle tactic.  Also, that he and Sel just instinctively do it, much like Bree and Sel combining power, knowingly without verbally stating anything.  Not that Valec would not know how to defend himself, but the way in which this scene was described made my ears perk up.  Bree even seemed surprised with the weapons he was able to forge. What history does Valec have with the Order?  He seems to know about the inner workings and terminology which are not usually known to outsiders.  “Onceborn? Oh they have gotten you good, haven’t they?  The Legendborn with all of their honorifics and hierarchies, who gets power and who doesn’t, who is worthy and who isn’t.  I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s all several layers of assholery.”  He seems well acquainted with the “Good ol’ boys club” that is the order and how they abuse their scions as a means to their own ends.  Before Bree stalks into the woods after Sel holds her together, Valec tells her “You can’t belong to an idea” in reference to her saying Sel belongs to the Order.  Fitting words for someone who was in bondage.  I have so many questions regarding Valec’s backstory which leads me to…

Erebus

I feel like Erebus fathered Valec.  In chapter 26 of Legendborn when Louisa takes Bree to see Valec’s birth (it was stated that she needed to see it) Louisa says “A crossroads child born of a crossroads man.  The father walked among us and shared our form, but in truth he was a demon born of the shadows.  The child is half human.”  Much like Sel, we get minimal information about their fathers (Valec, a bit more than Sel).  It is briefly mentioned that Sel’s father crawled into a liquor bottle and never came out, BUT, it was also said that his mother was killed by a Goruchel and five minutes later he found out she was alive.  I think Erebus fathered both boys.  He is ancient and has connections to both of them.  I would love to know under what circumstances Erebus met Valec. Hell, how did he meet Valec’s mother?! Why her?  Valec describes him as an “old goat” that he’d hoped was dead.  Why?  What history do they have?  Erebus is also constantly trying to get in Bree’s head about Sel, desperately trying to keep him away from her.  I think he knows the two of them can bring him to his knees (it is alluded to at Volition that Bree can defeat The Hunter).  Valec and Sel have a sort of brotherly connection as well.  Valec is the more balanced version of Sel in my opinion.  I think he recognizes this much like he recognized all the things that drew people to Nick.  He is enraged when Valec proudly proclaims that he wouldn’t mind keeping Bree for himself and exposes him for wanting the same thing.  Valec understands more than most what it is like to be Sel, to be cast out and to want to hide himself from the world.  Valec has the potential for great violence, but uses his wit and wisdom more readily.

Curious to hear thoughts on our witty, well-dressed cambion!

[sawcondeez]

what are two of your favorite movies from the Saw Franchise?

what are three of your favorite traps ?

thank you!!

Fav Saw Movies!

my fav Saw movie will always be Saw (2004)! there’s just a charm to it, the grungy-ness, the fleshed out characters, the colour grading is unmatched, the premise of it is simple yet so interesting. I love a contained story! AND I LOVE ADAM !!! and most importantly you can tell through and through that it is a passion project for Leigh Whannell and James Wan. listening to the commentary and behind the scenes gives me so much joy. I love that Cary Elwes signed onto the project because he had so much faith in them and their work and I love just how much fun they had making it despite being on such a tight schedule and budget and it ended up making such an impact in the horror industry! I could go on but I’m gonna stop there lol

my second favourite would have to be either Saw III or Saw VI. for Saw III, I love that it’s kind of like a character study/character building I guess? I love having more of an insight to Amanda, I think she’s such an interesting and complex character, the whole father-daughter dynamic between her and John as well, I find very compelling. the themes about forgiveness, revenge, family, grief as well wheeeew. It’s Leigh’s last Saw film as a writer and even though they keep the franchise going after III, I think he ties everything up very well as his last entry in the franchise.

Saw VI ouuuuuu I really like how it’s a commentary on the American health system, I think it’s done pretty well. the traps allegorically worked better than I think a lot of the other traps in the franchise do. William Easton was also an interesting focus as the main test subject, and I liked watching him going through the various traps and having the whole inner battle about morality and mortality. I also love the scene when Hoffman gets put in the Reverse Bear Trap!!

Fav Saw Traps!

I think it’s harder for me to pick my favourite traps though. like I love the Reverse Bear Trap because it’s so iconic, the concept is not too complex yet it’s so horrifying and ingenious, but I don’t like the aspect of having to kill a defenceless person in order to “win”(many such cases tho). and it irks me in the tape when John says “it’s in the stomach of your DEAD cell mate…. know that I’m not lying” BUT HE IS LYING ‼️

visually I really liked the Angel Trap, it’s just so gnarly yet beautiful. something about the Venus Fly Trap visually I liked a lot too.

The Ice Block Trap in Saw IV, I feel, needed more screen time/care. I feel like the concept of it could’ve made for a very captivating watch - I think someone mentioned it paralleled Saw (2004) in the way that there was the real Jigsaw in the room (Hoffman) which the other victims were unaware of, there was the victim who was acting like a perpetrator (Art Blank) but was actually doing so as part of his own test. and the pathetic whimpering blonde guy (hehe). could’ve also used more of Donnie Wahlberg’s acting skills, I think he’s great!

*edit: omg I forgot about shotgun carousel, thought I wrote about it when talking about Saw VI but I guess not oops. the allegory of the dogpit having to deny 2/3 of all applicants thus sentencing them to death, and William Easton having to do the same with the dogpit. he’s forced to use his algorithm on his own team, the symbolism about the blood on his hands, wheeew.

anyway thank you for asking!! excuse the rambling but it was nice to get this out

:D

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 050 - Archer Captured and T'Pol Down Bad

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 2 Episode 25 - Bounty

Getting close to the end of Season 2, meaning I'm more or less halfway through Enterprise.

The episode begins with a visitor desperate to talk to Archer. Specifically, someone who belongs to a new species called the Tellarites. He seems pleasant enough, but that's soon revealed to be a ruse, even still in the cold open, as a stuns Trip and then kidnaps Archer.

This episode is a follow up to Judgement! The Tellarite has been hired to return Archer after his prison break. Unfortunately it doesn't follow up on the Kolos stuff, but it does touch on a few of the issues of the Klingon justice system. Archer does a good job trying to play on the Tellarite's emotions to let him go, but it doesn't work. The action in Archer's half of the episode is good, especially his escape from the Klingon ship, and I like that Archer found a solution that works for both him and the Tellarite.

Trip is left in command of Enterprise as T'Pol is stuck in Decon with Phlox. We've had a few of these weird scenes in Decon, and they've all been really awkward, but this one is a new level. Weird leg shots aside, T'Pol is starting to show signs of paranoia, aggression and later horniness. At first I thought it might have been symptom of whatever pathogen is infecting her and phlox, but apparently it's part of the Vulcan mating cycle, and if she doesn't mate, she'll die. If you asked me to pick which members of the crew would be the first two to end up sleeping together, T'Pol and Phlox would not have been my first guess at any point in the series. The Vulcan 7 year mating cycle had been mentioned a few times before, I really wasn't expecting this. T'Pol is an attractive woman, and she does make my bisexual brain do things, but I really do have to question the motives behind the writer's choice to have an episode that is essentially dedicated Sweaty T'Pol running around Enterprise in her underwear while Horny out of her mind.

I feel like this one could have done with a couple redrafts particularly around it's B-Plot, but it was well put together. It just felt bizarre to watch.

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Doctor Who - Tales From the TARDIS Volume 2 - Bounty

It's an audio story without it's own cover art, I don't have an image to put here, so I'm just throwing in a random image of the Eighth Doctor

So, Bounty exists in a weird place it's a short audio original story, that's the only original story on a release that mostly consists of adaptations of other Doctor Who works.

It's set early on in the Sam era of the Eighth Doctor Adventure novels, specifically immediately after the first book in that range. The thing with narrated audio books like this is, you've only got one actor to sell the whole story, and Paul McGann, who is normally a brilliant Actor, really doesn't sound enthusiastic about this one. Whether or not it was that or the absolute lack of plot in the short story, getting through this one felt like a chore. Basically, an Alien steals the TARDIS Key, and a not very interesting chase across a beach happens. Not much to chew on, really. No interesting character work, because a random side audio story can't really do anything with the EDA characters, those books were still being written at the time. Not much world building, not much insightful commentary. This one was definitely a dud, and I think Paul McGann Narrating it agrees.

As weird as Enterprise's Bounty was, it at least made me feel something, it at least was entertaining. I can't say the same about Tales from the TARDIS's Bounty.

Some day, I'll get a Star Trek episode that shares a title with a good Doctor Who story.

[mareastrorum]

The Fool and the Soldier: Chapter Commentary

Chapter 8: Spark & Blaze

On off weeks, I’ll be posting some commentary on the prior week’s chapter. Since this is a longfic, I expect that it will be helpful for keeping track of stuff, plus I might mention something you missed. Of course, this will include spoilers, so continue with that in mind.

These aren’t meant to be comprehensive! There is so much more going on that I’m not saying. Feel free to ask questions too, either in replies or asks. If it’s too spoilery, I’ll let you know. I’ll add them to the body at the bottom as I receive them.

See the directory for other meta posts.

Spark & Blaze

This was one of Jester’s cards. In the CR deck from the shop, this is “the card of Fire” and the description of Spark is, “Someone is responsible for this. Maybe you, maybe some asshole.” Blaze is “Sometimes there are consequences. Sometimes they hurt.” Thus, this chapter focuses on responsibility, blame, and consequence.

The Warden

I wrestled with this scene quite a bit because simply retelling the fight with Molly added didn’t seem like enough of a reason to include the battle. However, I wanted to demonstrate another reason Molly would be interested in the rite of flame, and I figured Molly would have absolutely eaten a bunch of the fruit in the grove. Adding that facet was a little flavor without changing too much and made for a more interesting introductory scene.

I added the flashback because the Nein took a short rest in the stream before going down into the grove and I wanted to include some exposition without spending too much time on it. Caleb did some identify rituals then, so I had him also identify the necklace Molly looted last chapter, which is an Amulet of Health. That bumped Molly’s constitution from 14 to 19, which adds 2 health per level, giving him 12 more hit points (17.3% increase). Notably, his hemocraft die is a d6, so that covers the average damage he would take from 2 rites and 2 amplified blood curses. His new max is 81. For perspective, he was already the highest HP over Yasha in 2nd place at 68. Now he’s more than double Caleb’s at 37 (the lowest). Of course, that meant Molly had a higher chance of not getting high from the drug fruit, but since it’s Molly, clearly that just meant he needed to eat more fruit. Which he did.

I debated whether Molly would keep the periapt. It saved him in this AU, but only because Lorenzo chose not to make a killing blow, and Molly is savvy enough to recognize that. After the fight against the marid, I figured he would give it to one of the support. The ruthless strategy aspect is that, assuming 2 people were making death saves and either could have had the periapt, it would be better to actively heal up a damage-dealer that didn’t rely on spell slots because they can keep doing damage. Being able to rely on an item to stabilize someone who is reliant on spell slots makes that easier. Plus that makes it less harrowing if the support goes down behind cover, where the healers might not be able to easily see/reach them for a heal. However, Molly offers it to Caleb first, which made sense because he is a wet paper towel. And because Molly thinks the dirt wizard is cute, but he’s not examining that too closely.

I don’t think Molly would have been a fan of fluffernutter in this context. He didn’t want to throw dynamite at the troll in Labenda swamp because he wanted to rob the troll first. Similarly here, the Nein didn’t know what they needed in the final room, so just throwing in an explosive might ruin whatever they were doing. While Molly might have been fine with thwarting Avantika, if there was loot, he wanted that too. But since that would have been a general repeat of Labenda, I figured I’d have him be thoroughly distracted by being high as a kite and lacking the attention span to sort out what was going on.

I actually went through the fight for a few reasons. First, Molly hasn’t had a POV for a fight he actually won yet. I didn’t want to give the wrong impression that perhaps that meant something on a meta level—it doesn’t, it just hadn’t been suitable for an earlier fight scene. Second, it’s fun to examine how some fights would have gone differently if Molly had also been there. Third, I hadn’t had much opportunity to show off Molly’s blood hunter skills.

Thus, the whole fight is shown from Molly’s perspective. Of course, he runs in ahead of the rest, which ends up separating him from everyone else once the hydra shows up. Molly has a rare moment of honest self-criticism, mostly because he’s not going to keep his facade of “I meant to do that” as well when he’s high and in the middle of a fight.

Molly running in also let me show off the yuan-ti’s abomination’s constrict and bite abilities, which would be a nasty combo back to back. If Caleb hadn’t slowed the abomination twice, the abomination would have been able to do 3 attacks each turn. Molly would have been fucked. That said, Molly occupying its attention meant that the ranged didn’t have to worry about rushing out of line of sight as desperately.

The Nein’s choices were mostly unaffected, but even small ones changed the balance of the fight. While the hydra was clearly the bigger threat, I felt confident that Yasha would help Molly out first, especially since it went after Avantika right away. With Yasha out of line of sight and focusing on a smaller threat, Caduceus didn’t use path to the grave until the very last hit on the hydra from Yasha, so the hydra didn’t lose as much health so quickly, which also meant that a different number of heads were lopped off and regrown. Other than that, the Nein’s actions generally remained the same.

That said, Molly’s curses helped a lot. Bloated Agony was the level 6 choice, and that did a bunch of necrotic damage to the hydra over 3 rounds. Even though it’s not an optimal spell to use on monsters with high constitution, I thought Molly would rather gamble it anyway, and it paid off. Even with a +5, it rolled like shit. Molly’s hemocraft save is only 14, but I rolled a 2, 8, and 7. (I used the same d20 for the hydra and Molly, so interpret that as you will.) The eyeless curse also prevented a ton of damage to Beau, who was knocked out in the stream.

Overall, I’m happy with how the fight turned out. Building suspense in this type of encounter is easier when we don’t see a hit point counter and just go off vibes, and Molly got all sorts of bad vibes from getting grappled/bit and being unable to see if Beau was alright.

The Lock

This scene is mostly set up for ongoing issues. In the stream, the Nein didn’t really understand what they were doing in the temple. They only knew it related to Avantika’s plan to release Uk’otoa somehow, but not that the orbs were keys and the temple had a lock. They figured it out eventually. (Too late.)

Why did Yasha look at Molly when he said he didn’t have any eyes on his head? Hmm…

I sure kept some boring exposition about schools of spellcasting. I sure did.

:)

The Curse of Undeath

In Exandria, the Curse of Undeath has not had consistent rules applied to every character. Vax was a Revenant in campaign 1, Matt then posted a Lingering Soul class in 2018, and now we have Laudna as a Hollow One. Each describes a different physical experience with unique circumstances, abilities, and limits. That’s in addition to all of the various undead in D&D. Since Matt’s gone in so many different directions, while I am confident he would have made Lucien undead specifically to give Taliesin an adversary suitable for his Ghostslayer subclass, I genuinely have no clue how much the classic version of the curse would have come into play.

Thus, I added this scene to give the reader an idea of what would be expected of a ghost in this AU, as well as what Zoran has noticed. He is the only Tombtaker that would have an objective perspective on the Curse of Undeath in this context and the expertise to recognize signs of it. I wanted to include at least one scene of him breaking down his observations, and by now, there’s been about two weeks for him to do that. The audience also got an idea that Lucien can tap into class abilities—which ghosts cannot do. But there are limits.

There’s quite a few things that don’t match up. Something to keep in mind.

Jobs & Hooch

Another check-in with Caduceus, who is slowly settling. He’s not navel-gazing as much and is going with the flow much more easily.

With Fjord stepping more into a leadership position, Molly definitely would have given him a lot of sass. But Fjord’s also pretty good at manipulating people, and he’s sorted some of Molly’s hangups, so it doesn’t take too much to get that under control.

I came up with the idea for drug fruit wine forever ago. It was in the earliest outline, and I don’t recall why it came to mind. I kept it the whole time though, it was too good to pass up.

Rite of Flame

The Nein reached level 7 before arriving at Darktow, so I wanted to include some signal to the reader of that. I also wanted to explore how Molly tries to sort out his blood hunter abilities on his own at some point, so it was good timing here.

Molly has Caleb on the brain. Is he going to examine why? Absolutely not. He’s distracting himself with a fire sword.

Preparation

Another Cree scene! Hooray.

I did consider sending the Tombtakers after the Nein on a ship contracted with the Myriad. Assuming the canon timeline, they would have caught up at a very dramatic point. However, Lucien’s goal is to recover a body. Doing that at sea, in naval combat, while also keeping Cree alive (since she is the only one who would resurrect him) and somehow escaping any survivors? Probably not good odds compared to waiting to ambush in Nicodranas.

Odd, considering that Lucien was fine with running the Tombtakers and Nein out into a blizzard to try to make progress toward Aeor—twice. Hmmm.

While Zoran noted issues specific to the curse of undeath, Cree noticed that Lucien is not acting like himself. In the stream, she was very careful to completely back Lucien up whenever the Tombtakers encountered the Nein until the Immensus Gate, after they’d lost the rest of their group and Lucien still refused to kill them. Like, if Lucien had set off the intuit charges right then, Cree could have died too—she was willing to risk it to kill the Nein. It took that much for her to express disagreement in front of outsiders. So I figured Cree wouldn’t bring up these types of concerns in front of the other Tombtakers either, but she would in private.

So by this scene, the audience has a better idea of what Lucien has told the Tombtakers collectively. More pertinently, what he hasn’t told them, not even Cree.

Dream: Regret

I got a wonderful commission from @runmienn for this scene.

The rhyme at the beginning of the scene is “The Two Cats of Kilkenny” which is an anonymously composed limmerick about a cruel practice of tying two cats’ tails together and letting them fight to the death. Kilkenny is a town in Ireland, so it presumably originated there or around there. There isn’t a Kilkenny in Exandria, so I changed the first line to better match the story.

There is a character trait that I felt was very important to establish in the dreams: ruthlessness. A lot of people mix that up with cruelty, but they are not the same. Ruthlessness is deciding on a goal and moving there in a straight line. Obstacles either move or will be moved.

During the entire Aeor arc, Lucien never started a fight with the Nein until the final battle. That’s strange considering how ruthless Matt painted him. He slaughtered the drow that tried to stop him from taking the first threshold crest. He chased the Nein through the night and demanded everyone continue through the next day. He pushed the group through two blizzards. Lucien had his sights on a goal, and no one was going to get in his way or slow him down. So why not just kill them?

Yes, there’s the bit about liking the Nein. Lucien had those twitches and strange reactions when they tried to call out to Molly. But, again, I’m not using anything from TNEOL. Lucien never acted like he heard voices, let alone Molly, and if Molly had been speaking directly to Lucien, I doubt his reaction would have been confusion as much as anger if he truly understood that Molly could interfere with his control over his own body. I don’t find that to be a compelling explanation when Lucien’s personality was otherwise consistent.

But I grew up in dangerous places stricken by poverty. I’ve seen many iterations of people who act in similar ways. I was that kid for a while. The dialogue I used in the dream is a set of rehashed conversations I had with people in those places. Thus, in this version, Lucien didn't start a fight with the Nein because he doesn't usually start fights; he retaliates.

Would this have happened if Lucien wasn’t alone? Maybe; it depends on where he’d be and who was with them. Unfortunately for him, he got jumped by people that knew him, so they knew his habits. The goliath, the dwarf, and the black-haired boy were all the same kids from the earlier dreams. They were the ones that were recruited in the previous chapter.

That said, as with most bullies, there is a point where they decide a victim is too much trouble compared to other targets. Lucien would not have won if they all ganged up on him, but he’d have gone down swinging a knife, and even if he wasn’t experienced with it, it only takes one cut to lose a knife fight.

No one wants to lose a knife fight.

Of course, I figured that was also a good spot to introduce his willingness to use two weapons. He absolutely has to practice that though, and a pitchfork isn’t a good choice.

As a final note, Matt very clearly established racism against tieflings as part of his lore and that it was a thing in Shadycreek Run. There were very few things that Lucien told the Nein about himself (personally, not the Nonagon or the Somnovem), and that people weren’t kind to him because of his race was one of them. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about the pressures of publishing and selling something for profit, so the fact that racism and graphic violence against children are not easily marketable features doesn’t affect my decision to include it in my story.

For the Empire

I couldn’t use this card to title the chapter and then not include this type of scene for Caleb. I felt this was an appropriate chapter to do it because of the holiday and it was a good point in his arc to address his backstory in a brutally honest lens.

I understand why a lot of fanon about Caleb focuses on forgiveness, and I am on the side that Caleb knows he can never be forgiven by the people that matter: the people he killed and everyone who hurt because of what he did. The Volstrucker were very clearly and intentionally based on the German Schutzstaffel. I respect Liam O’Brien a lot for choosing that sort of backstory and wrestling with how that sort of person can be a protagonist in this sort of game and what end they will meet.

This scene lays bare what Caleb did when he was a child. He was manipulated and abused by someone he respected. He felt that he was doing the right thing because his concept of “good” was intentionally molded into something useful for Trent Ikithon. But Caleb chose to kill. Being respected, powerful, and successful was more important to him than other people’s lives. He made that choice over and over and over.

I felt that was a far more compelling commonality that Caleb had with Lucien than any of the other similarities. That’s why I put these scenes back to back.

An overarching theme is going to come up again and again: Anyone would do this. Anyone would if they were desperate enough. If they were cold enough, hungry enough, scared enough, lonely enough. Anyone would do horrible things with enough pressure. It’s just a matter of finding out what kind and how much. It’s just being a person.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a good Caleb scene if a monkey wrench didn’t get thrown in, so here comes Molly to flirt. That said, Caleb is absolutely not far enough in his arc for this to lead to anything, so he takes a turn for more sincere and deep emotions, which Molly was not prepared for. That said, Molly didn’t seem like the type to pine, especially since he’s been remaining intentionally ignorant of why Caleb’s on his mind a lot, so it doesn’t sour anything between them. They are singing entirely different tunes right now, they can’t make a melody.

Darktow

Ashley wasn’t there for this scene, so I wanted to fill in Yasha’s perspective since we didn’t really get any for that episode. Considering that the Dynasty hosts some of the more “monstrous” races, I figured she could know a little to give exposition, though she didn’t realize Wyatt was wearing a wig.

In addition, right now, Yasha is my only useful tool for getting Molly to address his dreams, so she is doing some heavy work. She’s got some of her stuff for her arc coming up, though, so she’ll get to have some spotlight in time.

Con Men

In the stream, the Nein did realize that they probably shouldn’t be the ones to turn in Avantika’s journal—after they stole it. They had quite a few leads to get help, but since they’d taken the journal in the middle of the night, they didn’t have any time to investigate those before the confrontation in the morning.

I thought that would be a fun thing to explore without derailing too bad. :)

I figured it would be reasonable for Molly to instigate that issue coming up earlier in the same evening after his experiences with Gustav. Thus, the Nein modified their plan a little bit to match, and now there’s a chance to see another way this all could have played out.

[midnightstargazer]

Commentary from the following section of To Have Loved and Lost?

In a hazy blur of memory and dream mingled together, two women walked through Diagon Alley, one carrying a cauldron and potion ingredients in her arms, the other with her nose in a book.

A young twenty-something dressed like a Muggle sat at the Longbottoms’ bedside and sobbed, and the Healer trainee on duty watched with sympathetic eyes.

Two glasses of firewhiskey clinked together over a table in the Three Broomsticks.

An old, well-worn Quick Quotes Quill sat in the trash bin, and Emmeline leaned forward, very seriously, asking Hestia to take a leap of faith with her.

“Dumbledore is worth listening to,” she said. “I was in the Order of the Phoenix. Have I ever told you that?”

She hadn’t, but Hestia had guessed.

“He wouldn’t be saying You-Know-Who’s back if he wasn’t. He’s putting the Order together again. We could use a Healer on our side.”

Hestia didn’t remember what she had said. In the dream, she leaned forward and kissed Emmeline, soft and slow, savoring every moment. But in reality, she had probably just nodded and murmured a few words of agreement.

She woke up clinging to the memory of Emmeline’s lips on hers. The other woman’s ghostly kiss lingered long after the fragments of memory and dream had faded.

send me an excerpt of one of my fics, and I'll write you a commentary about it

thanks, @celestemagnoliathewriter!

There's a lot going on here. This is shortly after Emmeline Vance's death, from the POV of Hestia Jones, who she was in a long-term relationship with. Hestia is dreaming here, but the dreams are also memories, flashbacks to when Emmeline was alive.

The fic mainly centers around Hestia's grief, and I feel like the heartbreak wouldn't come across as strongly without a sense of what she lost. Since they're not a canon couple, and both are such minor background characters, that's not something I could lean on canon for. So I used this scene and a few others to show glimpses of their life together. Both the mundane everyday moments and the major turning points.

I have a lot of headcanons for these characters that are hinted at here. This is very much the same Emmeline from Midnight Rain, where her first love was the future Alice Longbottom, so there's a subtle nod to that as well as to her career as a Daily Prophet reporter - which is cut short in 1995 when she refuses to write propaganda discrediting Harry and Dumbledore. Hestia being a Healer is also a headcanon I've used repeatedly. It makes sense to me that some people in the Order would have specialties outside of combat, and the mythological reference in her name - the Greek goddess of the hearth - feels right for someone who works mainly behind the scenes/when the fighting is over.

One aspect of their relationship that I found really interesting to explore is that Emmeline was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix, but as far as we know, Hestia was not. Or at least she's never mentioned to be. I'm imagining that, going through Healer training at the end of the first war, she would definitely have witnessed the effects of it but didn't actively participate in it herself. That's hinted at here with the flashback to Emmeline asking her to join the Order, and also discussed elsewhere in the fic. She's doing what she believes is right, but this is all new for her. So not only is she grieving for Emmeline the way she would even if her death had been accidental or due to natural causes, she's also overwhelmed by the war suddenly becoming very personal in a way that it hadn't been before.

[zannolin]

⭐

the way i am digging around in my ao3 right now trying to remember things i was hoping people would comment about. well i've mentioned it before but something i put effort and thought into and hope came across at all in objects in motion is that johnny is absolutely in love with daniel the whole time, and pretty well aware of it. but the entire fic is from daniel's pov, so we're locked out of johnny's innermost thoughts and daniel canonically is so shit at reading johnny and understanding what he's trying to do all the time. johnny is very bad with words, and everyone says actions speak louder than words, but they have 30 years of bad blood between them to foul that up, so daniel's just missing the point at every turn.

i have no idea if it actually translated very well to readers (i know at least two people have caught onto it in one way or another though, and mentioned how johnny is very opaque to daniel's pov which was a hard thing to pull off but i think that means it worked? thank god?) but this scene in particular was written with that in mind:

It must be some kind of dramatic irony at work, then, when Johnny—lingering after the kids have left and helping with some of the cleanup—comes to stand beside Daniel at the edge of the pond, and the words slip out before he can stop himself. “Want to try the wheel technique with me?” Johnny looks at the platform floating serenely in the pond, then at Daniel, then up at the sky for a long couple seconds. He sighs. “What the hell. Yeah, sure. I’ll do the fuckin’ wheel technique with you.” In retrospect, that was a lot easier than Daniel expected it to be.

(gosh daniel, i wonder why)

also this scene but i think that one was pretty obvious:

“Amanda’s mom unfriended me on Facebook, you know,” he tells Johnny one night, as they sit on the back deck with their feet in the grass. He doesn’t know why he says it. Maybe he just wanted someone to know. In the light glowing through the paper paneling of the door behind them, it’s hard to make out Johnny’s expression. Not that Daniel’s looking, or anything. “That blows,” Johnny finally says. He takes a swig of beer. “You should unfriend her back.” Daniel can’t help the laugh that bubbles up at that. He feels oddly light. Better. “That’s not how Facebook works, Johnny.” A huff, rendered softer by the darkness. “It should be.” “Yeah, everything’s a fight with you, isn’t it?” There’s a pause before Johnny says, “Not everything, LaRusso.” They don’t say anything else for a while after that.

it was something i had a lot of fun with while writing though sometimes i was staring at my word doc and going "am i just being aro? am i being too aro??? does this make ANY sense???!!"

ask for director's commentary game!

[luveline]

hi jade baby!! i’m a bit late to the june baby lovetrain but i needed some time to gather my favourite parts and long commentaries about that work of art – because that’s what it is, a masterpiece, honestly.

first of all: junie!! she’s the loveliest baby in the world and i would die for her. and the way eddie is always calling her “little lady” or “trouble” <\\\3

“There's not nearly as much clutter or decoration as his own home but it's twice as clean and every surface brags a clear affection – you fucking love your daughter. There's a framed photo of her as she looks now at the mantle without a single fingerprint on the glass, baby photos in smaller frames hang on the wall.”

i’m obsessed with the little details you add to your descriptions that end up meaning so much!! like mentioning that junie’s photo doesn’t have a single fingerprint, how her mom loves junie so much that it’s quite literally crystal clear!!

"The oatmeal needs to soften. Is there anything you want with it? I've got lots of options," you tell him, pouring milk into your own mug. When you're done you and Eddie swap. […] Eddie shovels half of the smile into your bowl. You clutch your spoon in your hand like you want to protest, but no way is he gonna watch you miss out on nice things in your own home.

her selflessness and how eddie very quickly realizes it, sharing his own blueberries with her!! 😭😭 also the way you write them having breakfast together, the familiarity of each using something and then swapping right after they’re done with it 😭😭 there’s so many other scenes where you write their domesticity so beautifully – when eddie mentions the luxury that is having someone washing his hair in juxtaposition of everything being so small, when she starts humming while cutting it and he says that doubts she realises what she’s doing. another personal favourites are “She also points at the red cat and says blue. It's a learning curve.” and "Ooh, she's so smart. First blue, then red. Next you'll be saying indigo, and vermillion, and-"

“Jammies," he repeats. You hate how happy he looks.

and

"Nobody ever asks about work," you say. 

and also

“He thinks if Junie could understand how often her mom prioritises her and misses out for her she'd want to fix that. Eddie doesn't know you half as well as she does and it breaks his heart sometimes to watch you insist on a smaller portion, to watch you put things back at the grocery store because she wants a box of milk duds, even to watch you wear yourself out ironing baby clothes in the only pair of pajamas you own.”

the way eddie picks up how everything in her life seems to be a little junie-centered and actually makes an effort to ask about her!! how his features always soften when she casually slips these details 🥺🥺

“You’d die for Junie. You’d do worse. But to eat, to know she’s fed — gorged — to know you can sit here and eat this whole bowl of fruit all to yourself and you won’t have to put it down, that’s heaven. It’s better, because you never let yourself have anything nice if you can help it. The fruit turns to a lump in your throat and you swallow it, sniffling. Your lashes grow heavy with unshed tears and you keep your gaze resolutely on your dessert. When was the last time you had something this nice all to yourself? When was the last time somebody ever went out of their way to be this nice?”

she’s since the beginning saying how nice eddie is and how she’s always looking after her and junie until this moment where his affection overcomes her 😭😭😭

there’s so many other scenes and lines i could talk about, honestly. the “Eddie Munson is an expert at pushing his luck” and “You do, but it's not really what he'd meant.” are also personal favourites. but my absolute favourite scene must be this one:

You tuck his hair behind his ear and grin at him. "Now what are you sorry for?" Your hand lingers near his cheek. Slowly, you turn it, pressing the knuckle of your index finger into the skin under his eye and rubbing a small line. He worries he’s in love with you right then and there. […] Your beaming smile hits him straight in the chest. He thinks about how beautiful you look and can't stop, hiding his face in your stomach to stop from saying something stupid, laughing loud. You laugh in tandem, hugging the back of his head until your giggles peter out. 

their closeness!! their affection!! their familiarity!! jade, your writing is genius, i don’t think i have enough words to talk about it. honestly, thank you for sharing your amazing talent with us – and for free! you’re insane. you’re spectacular, really.

i’m sure this is the longest ask i’ve ever sent you, (sorry 😅😅) so I’ll shut up for now! can’t wait to read the next part of june baby, but please take your sweet time to write it and please please take care of yourself, baby. super super proud of you and your writing, sweetheart!! ily!! 💌 - lu

oh my god oh my god this is such a treat, i still can't believe you noticed the fingerprints thing im <3

thank you so much for taking the time to collect your fave parts and share them with me I promise it means EVERYTHING to me, I love love love seeing what you liked and what you thought

you're more than kind, thank you for this 😥 it feels like such a gift, I must've read this ask five times over now with a smile. to think something that I see myself as a silly story and know you like it idk it's just insane

and thank you for always making me feel so special, you're always saying i should be proud and that you're proud of me and you're just so sweet, i know i don't deserve it but im selfishly so happy that you expend the time and effort to be this lovely to me

[astranva]

Golden

Word Count: 1.4k

Category: Fluff! Nothing but fluff!

Warning: JUST THAT IT MENTIONS THE GOLDEN MV AND THAT SHOULD BE A WARNING

Summary: You watch Golden for the first time with Harry.

UM FIRST OF ALL, I’M NOT OK, OK

..

Harry loved love. He loved emotions.

While heartbreak was nasty, he was a firm believer that “a heart that's broke is a heart that's been loved.”

While his love life history had many well-known people, to fall in love with someone who worked a job so different from his world, who also happened to be a fan of his, was something Harry was continuously in awe of.

You were a happy accident, as Harry would like to call your encounter. A wrong turn taken while he ran in the morning ended up with him harshly bumping shoulders with you as you walked down the pavement, making you drop your tote back and for the Harry’s self-titled album vinyl record to make an appearance.

You were excited, in awe, and completely enamoured by the man you have been supporting for years and listening to, telling him about how his debut album was ���more than amazing” and having a heartfelt conversation that had made Harry’s entire week.

Before either of you knew it, you had been talking for well over 30 minutes; a conversation that was deeper than the ones Harry, and yourself, had with the closest people around you that it was bewildering that out of all people, you would have that conversation with someone you looked up to and for Harry, a fan he hadn’t seen nor heard of until that day years ago.

If you were to ask him how it happened, he wouldn’t give you any direct answer; not because he was a private person, but because he was unsure.

Sure, it might be cliché to say that “fate wanted the both of you to happen” but it was a cliché for a reason – it happened before, and it keeps happening, and it was exactly what happened with you and Harry.

Being a fan meant many things; sure, you get to show off his merch anywhere you go, and sure you get to enjoy his talent and presence live in more ways than others, but it also meant genuine, hyper excitement over his new work.

His second album was a blast, and you were glad that you were a part of the journey of the making, having had cried a little when Harry sat you down one night and told you that you were the inspiration and muse behind his love songs on Fine Line, to the point where he even briefly included you in his Watermelon Sugar music video.

“You sure you don’t want to join? Will miss you.” Harry mumbled one day against your hair as you had your arms wrapped around one another in a hug while he stood by the door of his (well technically, your shared) private Italian house.

He was leaving for the sole purpose of your trip; film Golden, and while he wanted you to join the filming, your decision was set.

“Stop pouting,” you chuckled at him, “I don’t want to see anything before it’s premiered.”

He couldn’t hide the smile on his face at the reminder, fully knowing that you wanted to embrace the fan part in you and if it meant sitting at the house for hours while he goes to film, then so be it.

“You’re stubborn.”

“I’m loyal.” You corrected him with a teasing tone before pulling your face away to look at him, “You’re going to be late.”

He hummed, leaning to kiss your lips. After one kiss and 3 pecks, Harry let out a sigh of contentment. “You’re right.” Another peck before he let you go, grabbing his bag, “I marinated the chicken last night while you were sleeping, just pop it in the oven when you’re hungry.”

“You’re an angel, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

Now, September was over, you were in LA accompanying Harry while he started filming Don’t Worry Darling for a few days, and out of all days, you happened to be with him on the day when Golden’s music video was getting released.

You had known when the fans did, having had told Harry that you didn’t want to know beforehand as well and that made him itch for a while.

So there you were, sitting outside in the backyard with Harry’s pink MacBook on the table in front of you, the screen showing you the countdown.

To mask his worry and nerves, Harry had you seated on his lap, arms around your stomach while you had your hands clutched together in eagerness underneath your chin.

“Baby, j-”

“Hush! It’s starting!” You instantly cut him off, causing Harry to laugh.

Harry had his phone perched against the metal vase on the table, camera opened and showing the both of you to catch your reaction – a keepsake for Harry for when he was away for too long and just because he enjoyed watching you supporting him, all eager.

With the first scene and music sounding, you let out a tiny squeal, covering your mouth as your wide eyes were set on the laptop.

Harry knew the video well, he didn’t need to watch himself again and besides, he had a better view anyway.

You were seated on his lap slightly sideways, making him catch sight of your face as you smiled genuinely while watching, eyes twinkling before you cupped your own face.

“You look so happy,” you cooed softly, your heart fluttering at the sight of your boyfriend looking so carefree, “I’m so proud of you.”

He refrained from replying, knowing that your commentary didn’t need any comments from him and that you’d scold him if he talked, so he pressed his cheek against your back for a second before looking up at you and beaming.

“Oh my God, you look so good!” You gasped as you exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?! How can this be so hot and cute at the same time?!” You pointed at the screen after the shot of him crouching in shorts while on a rock, arms up as he shook his head while singing “I’m out of my head and I know that you’re scared because hearts get broken.”

He giggled, watching you place a hand to your heart as you watched him dance, being so…himself.

“All that running,” you shook your head, “No wonder your thighs almost crush me when we’re sleeping.”

“I don’t crush you.”

“Hush! I don’t want to miss- I don’t wanna be alone. You’re so golden! You’re so golden,” you sang loudly, swaying as you did and throwing your arms up, “You’re so goldeeen. I’m out of my head, and I know that you’re scared because hearts get broken! Awwwwwh, you know I love it when you have your hand on your cheek like that,” you feigned crying, “That nail polish, too. Kill me!”

No matter how many times Harry has watched you react to his work, he knew that there was no way he’d ever get bored of it.

The video came to an end, your eyes not leaving the screen for a moment.

“Am I allowed to talk now?” He teased, tilting his body slightly to the side to look at you better.

“Yes,” you breathed out, “You’re allowed to do whatever that you want because this,” you pointed at the laptop, “Was the best thing I have seen all damn year.”

“You like it?”

“Like?” Your eyes widened as you looked at him, looking offended, “Like?! How dare y- I love it! I love it so much, H! You, looking all happy, prancing and doing goofy dance moves like that, with a tan and your hair, don’t get me started on your hair. I’m still mad you had to cut it. You look beautiful anyway but your hair in that video? You know what that is?”

Harry, amusingly, grinned at you, “What?”

“Art! Your hair is art! I’d watch you dance and going wild in swimming shorts any day, any time. Just say the word and I’m free.”

He laughed, face heating up and veins making an appearance as he did. “But was it worth the wait?”

“Oh, hell yes.” You nodded slowly, “I don’t feel bad about deciding not to join the filming.”

Harry smiled, “Come here.”

Knowing what he meant, you wrapped an arm around his shoulders before capturing his puckered lips in a kiss.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

“You’ve just killed millions of people with that video.”

“Are you dead?”

“Just about right.”

[demonslayedher]

Buri-senpai~ it’s me again! It seems like the Kamado family was respected in town. How do you think the townsfolk would’ve reacted once they realized that Tanjirou hadn’t been visiting with charcoal, only to check up on the family where they see the wreckage. Perhaps Tanjirou had left a rushed note, noting how his family was attacked, how only he and Nezuko were alive, and how they won’t be able to visit for a very long time. If that’s the case, I don’t think Tanjirou will explain the cause 1/3

2/3 of the attack, but there’s a chance that Saburo would’ve eventually realized that a demon had attacked them. Also, side notes: if Kaigaku was still a demon slayer during the events of the red light district, do you think he would've heard about Zenitsu's contributions to the defeat of upper 6? I had read your amazing Ukogi fic and enjoyed the characterization of Kaigaku's crow embellishing his achievements as a slayer. I also enjoyed Matsuemon's fondness of Nezuko and it seems like

3/3 he was ‘conspiring’ (for lack of a better word) with Oyakata-sama behind the scenes, with how the events at Asakusa with Tamayo played out. I'm sure Tamayo's existence was pardoned by the Oyakata-sama of Yoriichi's time. Also, sorry for the length! I enjoy your input on everything!

Going to reply to this in a couple parts, but allow me to first borrow one of my LINE stickers to express:

I'll reply to the fic stuff under the cut, but I'm really honored by your close reading and consideration of one of my favorite fics, "The Legend of Ukogi." But first for your question about Tanjiro!

Honestly, I was surprised by the village's upkeep of their home, including nice new tatami and shelves which Nezuko noticed in the extended epilogue included the Volume 23 version of Chapter 204. I would had assumed they'd have a mess of a home to come back to (and wrote my canon diverent/continuation fic that way, for the first draft was written after Chapter 204's magazine publication but before Volume 23's publication). At least nowadays in Japan, uninhabited homes are often left as-is and fall to shambles, even in cities, causing problems for the neighbors as they become home to pests. Upkeep is an issue, and it seems unlikely the townspeople would had gone out of their way to keep the site of a tragedy so nice.

However, Gotouge seems to stress that the Kamado family, simply for being good people, were often humbled by being on the receiving end of such kindnesses. Even Sumiyoshi and Suyako were on the receiving end of this, as mentioned in a Taisho Secret in Volume 22, for having helped a local lord's wife and son while they were in peril without knowing who they were. Even though they tried to refuse reward, they made sure they had a nicely fixed up house anyway (side note, they moved in to Yoriichi's and Uta's abandoned house).

A sturdy house as returns for their kindness seems to be as much of a running theme in Kamado history as is Hinokami Kagura and making charcoal. We do see that Tanjiro is pretty popular among the townspeople and everyone knows they can rely on him, and if Tanjiro's highly biased word is to be trusted, Nezuko had a reputation as a local beauty. In good whether the little kids must had gone into town a bunch, and Tanjiro (and Inosuke's) continued charcoal business (despite the increasing reliance on electricity) in the Fanbook #2 extended epilogue shows that the Kamado family has always had a reputation for high quality charcoal. Certainly, they've been well-loved long enough that their tragedy would not go unnoticed.

As further evidence of this, in the Giyuu Gaiden, a hunter even notices that on a different mountain nearby there was a family of charcoal farmers slaughtered and a suspicious person in a half-and-half haori was seen around there. Clearly, the villagers were quick to notice the incident and start looking around for the man who might had done it!

But we're still left with the question of how quickly they'd have noticed the absence, how word got around, and just how much they knew. My initial thought in response to your Ask was "there's no way Tanjiro had time for that, he had bury his family and get Nezuko dressed and hurry and go!" but then again, this is Tanjiro we're talking about. Tanjiro who faithfully keeps a diary for Nezuko no matter how tired he is, and who faithfully keeps in touch with all his penpals even with all his demon slaying work to keep him busy. If anyone would had written a letter, it would had been him.

It's possible that his reasoning would had been for Nezuko's sake. Should word get around about the incident, and about Nezuko being a demon, people might suspect she was the one who did it. Even Tanjiro had to consider that possibility when he was first shocked by her transformation, though he had the evidence to clearly determine that she was innocent. So maybe if he did leave something, it might simply had been to inform people that Nezuko still needs help, and he's left to take care of her.

To the townspeople, Tanjiro's word is trustworthy. As soon as someone discovered the incident (and perhaps a letter), word would probably get around pretty fast, and if Tanjiro had circumstances that forced him to leave for Nezuko's sake, that implies that they might make a return once she was alright. That might be what inspired the townspeople, who cared for generations about their local charcoal farmers, to have their hearts wrenched with sympathy for the tragedy these two surviving children have been through, and to try to do what they can by taking care of the house while they're gone.

As for knowing if it was demons or not, it's possible only Saburo knew that. There's so much we don't know about Saburo, but my personal headcanon is that he lost his family to demons and was rescued by the Demon Slayers. While others might have been quick to blame the suspicious man in the half-and-half haori, anything said by Saburo, a man perhaps known for keeping to himself with a sullen personality, was dismissed or taken for mere superstition. Saburo, having told Tanjiro to stay with him that night, might had already felt something was off, and when the feeling kept bothering him, he might had gone to check on the Kamado family and been the first one to discover the massacre. Letter or not, he'd have known Tanjiro survived, and might had gotten there soon enough to trace the footprints to deduce to that one of the other older children must had survived too.

Now because of fic spoilers, Bird Fic commentary below!

As I was doing my best to make that fic fit alongside canon, I tried to consider where the birds might and might not been able to influence the events of canon, and that made Denroku (Kaigaku's crow) one of my favorite small bits to work with. Even though he never makes an appearance in the story (only mentioned as a slightly antagonistic bird), he struck me as having the most potential for influencing events.

Since we see a general pattern of the birds being very invested in the Slayer they work with, I imagined that Denroku would pick up on Kaigaku's ambitions. When he got in trouble for embellishing Kaigaku's achievements, that's when he tries the reverse, taking assignments into his own talons and leading to Kaigaku fighting an enemy out of his league. While most of the Kasugai-garasu would had immediately reported Upper Moon 1 so that a Pillar could be summoned, Denroku's underhanded drive to see Kaigaku promoted is what leads to a situation the Corp would had preferred to avoid.

And that brings us back to Matsuemon, who does his best to promote his underlings' achievements to get Tanjiro recognized as a Pillar. He is protective of Nezuko, having picked up on that from Tanjiro, but honestly, I had not considered Matsuemon leading to Tanjiro's encounter with Tamayo. Letting Oyakata-sama know about it, though, that does seem in character for Matsuemon, which we'll get to!

As for why Tanjiro encountered Tamayo so early on, I posited in this Ask that Oyakata-sama probably was hoping Tanjiro would make a connection with her. Gotouge has stated that the demon Tanjiro was sent to investigate in Asakusa was Tamayo. Like you, I assume that Kagaya's forefathers must had chosen to pardon her existence out of Yoriichi's good word for her, and we know from his later mention of her to Tanjiro and efforts to reach out to her later that he's probably always been curious about a way to gain her trust.

What probably gave him the idea to use Tanjiro, a kid with a demon sister, was Urokodaki's letter. We didn't hear the full letter read allowed at the Pillar meeting, but my thought is that Urokodaki wrote highly enough of Tanjiro that Kagaya was like, "aha! This is it! This might be the person who helps me gain Tamayo's trust!" and that was why he sent Tanjiro to Asakusa on his second mission. As for whether Matsuemon knew that or not, I suspect not initially, but he might had gotten aware of it overtime and been in on the loop of birds who know this but help keep it on the downlow, as per Oyakata-sama's request. Matsuemon might had also been given special instructions to report details to the Kasugai-garasu who initiated the personal correspondence between Oyakata-sama and Tamayo. Knowing this egotistical bird he probably would had loved to brag about it, but he's smart enough and respects the Corp mission enough to know when to keep silent about his achievements.

EDIT: Ack! I forgot to respibd to your Kaigaku question. I do assume Kaigaku was still a Corp member at that time and he probably heard and that it ticked him the hell off. Even if he didn't know the details, the fact that Zenitsu would had been credited with fighting an Upper Moon would tick him off with jealousy. Not to worry, Kaigaku, Upper Moon 6 is only the bottom rung of the Upper Moons. ; P

[sideblog-666-thousand]

A long bitch of an interview with Euronymous, from Orcustus zine in early ‘92.

What is Orcustus? Orcustus was an early 90’s black metal ‘zine run by none other than Bård “Faust*” Eithun— murderous pretty-boy, and o.g Euronymous simp. I think he might have also played drums in a band called Emperor... but I’m not sure! Its full name is actually “Orcustus— The Shadow of The Golden Fire”, and no, I’m not making this up.

This particular issue here opens up with a quote from a short story called ‘The Doom That Came To Thomas Parkes*’.

Assuming the reader hasn’t read the story, Faust explains that the quote is in reference to what happened to the titular ‘Thomas Parkes’ when he tried to raise spirits. Faust then admits that he’s unsure of his own ability to ‘raise spirits’, but says he hopes that he’ll raise some fists in agreement that there’s something wrong with the underground scene. Ironically (you’ll see why this is ironic very soon), he doesn’t like that certain bands, namely Entombed, are selling so many copies of their LPs.

After a brief diatribe on just that, he goes on to explain that he was in a rush to get this mag out because of problems with the printer. Then, he tells anyone who doesn’t like the fact that this ‘zine only features black metal that they can fuck off, with three exclamation points.

Finally, we get to the end of the opening page, where Faust pulls what can only be called an early form of the Twitter exposed thread. It reads as follows, with absolutely no changes to the text:

“I would suggest you to not do any business with that sucker Evil Ludo from France. He have riped me and several others off, by not return what we ordered. I suppose he’s a medical sensation, as I didn’t know it was physical or psychical possible to live without a brain”

Why am I telling you all of this, when this is only meant to be a transcript of an interview with Euronymous, you may be asking? Because I find it funny, that’s why.

Anyhow, the Euronymous here acts and feels very differently from the Euronymous of the last interview I posted. However, I hope you’ll still enjoy it, and I hope you’re able to appreciate the tiny glimpses of humanity talking to a close friend allowed him, even though they both behave like complete asses. Even though it’s hard to sympathize with him at points.

Like last time, any (sparse) commentary will be between (parenthesis) and in bold. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

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F: Well, how in hell shall one be able to come up with an intro worthy enough for this band? The words I wanna describe Mayhem’s music with, is not yet created, and it won’t be created either, because no one has really experienced the real darkness and pure brutality with lays behind Mayhem’s hellish sound, but I suppose you all are familiar with this band anyway. Well, in the first place, I hadn’t really thought to enclose this band in this issue, because if we look away from rereleases of old demos (“Pure Fucking Armageddon”) and live tapes, it’s a pretty long time since their last release (in ‘87 that was). I thought I rather should interview them when they released their forthcoming album “Dee Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, but due to the circumstances, I realised the time was right for an interview now. I won’t bother you with any history shit, but I could tell a bit about what has happened last year. You all know that their vocalist Dead comited suicude in April ‘91, that was a bigg loss for the underground, and I suppose I don’t need to say that this mag is dedicated to the memory of that infernal man. Anyway, Dead was replaced by Cultòcùlus (back then called Occultus), but due to different problems within the band, he left the band in January ‘92, but let’s not say more about that, as Euronymous didn’t want me to say anything about it at all (but Euronymous, you must admit that it has sounded pretty artificial if I hadn’t mentioned it at all). So now, the band consists of Hellhammer (drums) and Euronymous (guitar (and probably bass too)). I know the singer of Tormentor (rip) from Hungary (Esihar Attila) is interested in singing on the album, and also even moving to Norway, so it seems like Mayhem got some sort of predilection to foreign vocalists, but this Hungarian guy happend to be a good one as well, so never mind that. But I don’t think this is official, so don’t tell anyone you read it here, ok? Well then, it’s an honour for me to dedicate the next following pages to one of today’s most legendary and infamous bands......... THE TRUE MAYHEM!!!!!!!

F: First of all Euronymous, I know you and Dead live/lived totally for the old black metal attitude. Is your hate now total to young and trendy bands after Dead’s suicide?

Euro: YES, we have declared WAR. Dead died because the trend people have destroyed everything from the old black metal/death metal scene, today “death” metal is something normal, accepted and FUNNY (argh) and we HATE it. It used to be spikes, nites, chains, leather and black clothes, and this was the only thing Dead lived for as he hated this world and everything which lives on it. If we had the economic possibility to do it, we should meet up at concerts and beat up ALL trend people ALL the time untill they would be too scared to go to concerts at all, now we need to suck their money instead. It’s impossible to stop the trend no matter how much we want, we have to do the best out of it and sell lots of trend shit to them. (I don’t need to tell you that that’s totally not why Dead killed himself, right?)

F: In the spring of ‘91 you started up a shop in Oslo which sells all sorts of music within metal. Is there anything you can tell us about the shop (ideas? plans?)?

Euro: Well, the original idea was to make a specialist shop for metal in general, but that’s a long time ago. Normal metal isn’t very popular anymore, all the children are listening to “death” metal now, I’d rather be selling Judas Priest than Napalm Death, but at least now we can be specialized within “death” metal and make a shop where all the trend people know that they will find all the trend music, this will help us earning money so that we can order more EVIL records to the evil people. But no matter how shitty music we have to sell, we’ll make a BLACK METAL look on the shop, we’ve had a couple of “actions” in churches lately, and the shop is going to look like a black church in the future. We’ve also thought about having total darkness inside, so that would would have to carry torches to be able to see the records.

F: Well, how is the situation all in all in the Mayhem camp right now?

Euro: Difficult as usual, but we’re closer than ever to record the Mayhem lp. Almost all the material is completed, then I and Hellhammer will record the whole thing with 3 guitars, 2 basses and so on. It will be very massive. Who’s to sing on the lp is not yet decided, we’ll wait and see what happens. We have several people who can do the job very well.

F: As Metalion of Slayer mag* said: “it seems like you at certain times lives on the edge of starvation”. Have you ever been on the thought to just give up the whole band and become a normal 9 to 5 person, or is this a completely stupid question to ask?

Euro: It has been very hard at times, but I am not a normal person anyway so it would just not be possible to do that. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why things are as they are (this answer will be long) (that’s okay for me/Ed). The reason why we don’t have any money, is because of hardcore. We have for too long been following the “underground” rules, which say that you must hate money, you must not think you are anything, you must be open-minded, you might have a lot of attitudes and so on. Extremely stupid. But the situation has been that if you don’t follow these rules which are made by hardcore pigs, you are not accepted as a death metal or black metal band! Then you MUST be signed by some big label to be able to make some money, and we’ve never wanted to do that. Then you would anyway be labelled as “commercial” by the HC pigs. This has caused that after 8 years, we are still as broke as ever, while the HC pigs themselves are controlling all labels, and they sign only the bands which fit into their own idiotic world, that means “death” metal bands with society lyrics and jogging suits, and this is what the people see when they grow up. They don’t see any EVIL bands with spikes, as we did. Well, I’m tired about being broke, just to be “underground”. I’m tired of not having money to eat for just because tons of people will call you a “rip-off” if you don’t write 20 letters each day. It’s time to say fuck off to the whole system, which is built to strangle the evil bands in the birth. We must start taking inspirations from the ancient ones, from Venom and their likes. They did their thing BIG, and they never had to think about any idiotic underground rules. They did it big and so must we, but it must never become a trend, it must become a CULT. This is why we have started on a brand new policy with the band and the record label. It’s about time that someone makes a label for black metal and other grim music, and STRIKE BACK. There is NO reason why DSP shouldn’t be as big as Peaceville or Nuclear Blast, if we can just get the business on its feet again and get good distribution. That’s the only way to compete with the HC labels. It’s about time we start taking control over our own scene. We must spread the EVIL bands and pervert people’s souls.

F: What about the Norwegian scene then? Don’t you think that something is terribly wrong when it have gone so far that we have a christian “death metal” band here (Crush Evil)? Advices on how we should kill them?

Euro: First of all— the Norwegian scene is the BEST. There are a lot of GREAT bands (yet with no album out) and of course some shitty trend bands, but nothing as in Sweden. There you have 2-3 good bands out of 100, while here we have a few shit bands who hardly have made even a demo, while all the great bands will make records in the near future. Such as Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Thorns (I’m flattered/ED*), Arcturus, Enslaved and newer bands like Malfeitor and others which I have not yet heard. BUT— when it comes to bands like Crush Evil, we must take serious action. It’s bad enough to have a couple of society bands, but a CHRISTIAN band is too much. But don’t worry, we have plans. They will not continue for a very long time.

F: And now over to something more humouristic....yes.... snuff movies. Who had been the perfect actor for a snuff movie, and why the hell aren’t they legalized? Don’t you think that every video-store should have its own section with snuff-movies?

Euro: Actually I think it’s great that movies like that are forbidden. If they were legal and easily accessible, all the small trend children would be watching them, and then it would not be something extreme anymore (I’m not sure if I agree with you here Euronymous. Snuff movies are usually too raw and brutal for the people with their “peace and life” infected minds. Remember the HC rules/ED) (shut the fuck up, Faust*) It’s just the same what happened to death metal— it became something everyone could buy in every store, something normal and accessible for everyone. All the mystic and evil atmosphere is GONE. I do not think snuff-movies are funny, I think they are DARK. I’ve seen people laugh at them, but that’s probably because they will not be mentally able to take the PAIN and EVIL on over themselves. That is the best way to watch such a movie, to try to FEEL the actual pain of the victims. It becomes much more gruesome then, and that’s great. One must be alone in the darkness and suffer with the victims, if you watch it with other people, they will often talk, laugh and so on, and then you get more distanced from it, it’s not supposed to be funny (death to fun), it’s much better when it’s depressive.

F: Through the years you have been talking about releasing bands like Samael, Rotting Christ, Master’s Hammer, Tormentor, Matricide, Imperator, Massacre etc. on Deathlike Silence Prod., but now some of these bands have released lp’s on labels which only have money in their eyes and know that black metal sells. Doesn’t that frustrate you, and don’t you feel it like the time is running out for you?

Euro: It’s a bit frustrating, but it is also a result of trying to be “underground” which is a suicide policy. Anyway, the main thing is that these evil records get released at all, and not who’s releasing them. We will probably release a record with Tormentor, they’re split up, but they still want to make their Anno Domini demo on vinyl, and we’ll try to fix it within the summer. The time is not running out, because there are a lot of really evil bands around. — most of the Norwegian bands which other labels haven’t heard about. Burzum is ten times better than all the bands on Earache together, and so are Thorns and Arcturus. So there is no problem, really. As for bands like Rotting Christ and Master’s Hammer, we might do something in the future instead. I’ve never been talking with Samael about any deal, but I wish I had as their album is FUCKING GREAT.

F: Almost all bands in the underground today says that they think they got their own style and originality, but the fact is that 95% of the bands sounds totally the same. What is an original death metal band today?

Euro: There exists no death metal bands today. There are only a handful of (mostly great) bands (in case someone hadn’t got it right— black metal has nothing to do with the music itself, both Blasphemy and Mercyful Fate are black metal. It’s the LYRICS, and they must be SATANIC. If not, it is NOT black metal) and what we choose to call LIFE METAL bands. Take a band like Therion. Their music is quite ok, it’s actually one of the best Swedish bands (even though that doesn’t say much) but their lyrics STINK. They are about society and pollution, what the fuck has that got to do with DEATH? If a band cultivates and worships death, then it’s death metal, no matter what KIND of metal it is. If a band cultivates and worships Satan, it’s black metal. And by saying “cultivates death”, I don’t think about thinking it’s funny, or being into gore, I’m thinking about being able to KILL just because they HATE LIFE. it’s people who enjoy to see wars because a lot of people get killed. How many bands think that way? Not many. I can’t think of one.

F: You’re maybe not the most active band when it comes to gigs, but at least you’ve managed to tour Germany and Turkey. What can you tell us from the tour, and is there any new gigs planed?

Euro: That tour was a big mess, we’ll NEVER take the train again! We lost quite some money, but still it was great to get to East-Germany and Turkey. The memories of the tour consist mostly of the starvation and idiotic custom officers, but still I wouldn’t like to have missed the opportunity. We don’t have any concrete plans, we’ll see happens in the future. We don’t like to play for a lot of trendies in jogging suits, so we prefer to leave it be.

F: What do you think of the fact that death metal has been on MTV?

Euro: It sucks. But it isn’t death metal anyway, so....

F: I know that you will soon release the debut album of Abruptum on DSP, so, what can you tell us about it?

Euro: It’s EVIL. It’s PURE EVIL, they were torturing each other in studio DURING the recording and you can HEAR on the music how they SUFFER. It will be the most demented record EVER, and it’s NOT for normal people. This is music which NEVER can become trendy, because normal people won’t be able to understand it. And that’s great. The price for the album it’ll be the same as for the BURZUM lp, which should be somewhere else in this ‘zine*. It’s called “Obscuriratem Advoco Amplèctere Me”, and stay away from it if you don’t like pure DARKNESS.

F: Don’t you think that people in the underground should respect others ideas and views more? I mean, it’s not accepted to spread unpopular thoughts. It seems like there is some sort of guardians of morality and most people keep in mind not to say or do anything which is not accepted by the public.

Euro: I don’t think people should respect each other. I don’t want to see trend people respecting me, I want them to HATE and FEAR. If people don’t accept our ideas as their own, they can fuck off because then they belong to a musical scene which has NOTHING to do with ours. They could just as well be Madonna fans. There is an ABYSS between us and the rest. Remember— one of the HC rules is that you must be open-minded (except for themselves), so we must be careful and avoid being open-minded ourselves. The HC pigs have correctly made themselves guardians of morality, but we must kick them in the face and become guardians of anti-morality.

F: You say you want your riffs to have a dark mood and really sound evil, but what if you came up with a riff which just sounded good, but not evil. Would you use it then?

Euro: Well, if a riff sounds good to me, it mostly means that it sounds evil too. At least when I make the music myself. Haven’t really thought about this about this before.

F: Do you think you’ve been playing this sort of music today if it weren’t for those old bands like Mercyful Fate, Venom and Hellhammer?

Euro: It’s impossible to say. Venom and the other ancient ones have been fundamental influences on Mayhem, and also the direct reason of the band’s existence. We like to think that if they hadn’t started up this, we would have, but who knows? Doesn’t really matter anyway, we hail ancient Venom as the CREATORS.

F: Ok, no more questions at the moment. End the interview in what way you want......

Euro: Perhaps it should be mentioned that well re-release the MAYHEM mini-lp “Deathcrush” VERY soon. We also have t-shirts available now. People should write for prices on things. Be EVIL, not open-minded.

Ok, I suppose some of you already know that Euronymous started up a shop in Oslo in the spring of ‘91. The shop is called “HELVETE” (which is Norwegian and means “HELL”) and are specialized within underground stuff and death metal in general (though he also have some other styles of music there). As he said in the MAYHEM interview, the shop really have a black metal look, so if you ever visit Oslo, I really recommend you to visit “HELVETE” as well. I think it’s good that people take the initiative to start up with such things, because if everyone were just passive, we would all get ruined by poser-shops like Hot Records where they take 140 NKR for the Earache albums (which you in “HELVETE” can get a CD for the same price). Euronymous also sells though mail, so write and ask for a list or something: HELVETE, Schweigaardsgt. 56, 0656 Oslo. NORWAY.”

That’s all! :)

And now for the things I put in asterisks, in order of their appearances.

*If for some reason you actually don’t know who Faust is, he was the drummer on the Emperor LP and “In The Nightside Eclipse” but you might also know him from other great hits such as “threatening to kill Mortiis from prison whilst simultaneously attempting to plead murder of the secondth degree”, “I’m glad the people Euronymous ripped off won’t get their money back because he’s dead hA hA!”, “I got fourteen years for murder because I’m a socially inept virgin— oops” and “bad... bad lyrics who’s quality somehow don’t improve with the passing of time”. All jokes are done in good humour— if it seems like I dislike him, it’s not that at all. I just find him easy to make fun of.

Here is another short bio, this one less sarcastic: he was born in Trondheim, lived around Kvikne, and Lillehammer, worked at Helvete, was a close friend of Euro’s, and has his sun in Taurus.

He also beefed with Glen Benton for dissing the Party City cape (Note: of course I’m being extremely reductive) he and Euronymous seemed to share. Here are a few pictures of Faust:

Here is the infamous Party City cape:

*This was surprisingly hard to find. I think he read it in a mag or something. Here’s a link to where you can find it: https://issuu.com/davidgamble/docs/paranormal37/3 page 64-65.

*Slayer mag was another zine, this one by a bloke named Metalion, who was Euro’s best friend.

*Faust (who felt the strange need to make a distinction between himself, the editor, and himself, the interviewer) also played in Thorns (well, Stigma Diabolicum), under the hilarious moniker: Fetophagia✨

*He’s being a fucking idiot, what was I supposed to say? It should be noted that Faust actually went down for the snuff films too.....

*In case you’re interested, for whatever reason, the prices for the Burzum LP were as follows:

Norge— 130 NKR

Norden— 100 K

Finland— 60 FN

Island— 1000 IK

Europe— 15$

Outside Europe,

Overseas— 15 $

Air— 22$

East Europe— 10$

By ‘norden’ he presumably meant ‘northern Norway’, and “Island” is the Norwegian word for Iceland. Notice the way he doesn’t include Sweden! (Edit: Originally I thought he didn’t include Finland because there was a black metal war with them as well, but it seems as though that feud came a bit later or had already passed)

That’s all, for real this time!

Legal disclaimer: I am absolutely, in no way shape or form, claiming that the stupid cape you see them wearing is literally from Party City. From my limited research, I’ve gathered that the Party City chain hasn’t yet opened its doors in the beautiful and glorious country we know as Norway— Norge. However, I am saying that the cheap, dinky piece of cloth covering their backs and shoulders are of the same kind of shitty quality you’d expect from a Party City Count Dracula costume and that maybe Glen had a point about how stupid Euronymous (and Faust) must’ve looked.......