#like they put the whole scene in. literally for that parallel alone

[imminent-danger-came]

I'm sorry not Captain Barbosa's curse monologue only being here in Kh2 because it's a nobody parallel

[love-byers]

i had the misfortune of ending up on mileven tiktok by accident and found some gold

dude. how many times do we have to say its not the fact that they're standing next to each other. its the fact that they're standing next to each other when all the other characters are paired off with their significant other with significant space between them. they are SANDWICHED between two couples that they have numerous other parallels with. like you have to be playing dumb if you think we're just saying byler is endgame because they're in the same proximity. and WDYMMMM MIKE ISN'T EVEN LOOKING AT HIM why does that matter?? the whole point is that they're all looking forward at the fucking apocalypse beginning. nancy and jonathan weren't looking at each other, joyce and hopper weren't looking at each other. why does that matter?? and holy shit watching them try to analyze media is hilarious. the byler commenter was very concise an respectful and ofc the mlvn has to be backhanded. no, the 2 minute scene of mike saying i love you is not random, it's actually meticulously crafted so that we're able to tell mike is lying...

uhh because WILL IS THE MAIN FUCKING CHARACTER OF SEASON 5 AND THE WUOLE POINT OF AN ENDING SHOT OF A SEASON IS TO FORESHADOW THE NEXT SEASON???

do they think we're making this up???

he is the center and lead of season 5 and his arc is going to tie the whole series together. but nah they just paired him with mike and left him in the background on the hill just because el needed to be in front. they could've done a million other set ups where it actually comes off that mike and el are a team and in love and want to work together. they could've had those couples together and then had will alone or behind them and done a close up like they did with el in the actual scene, but no, he had to be with mike. and not only is he with mike, he and mike are paired off together and CENTERED. the CENTER of season 5 is CENTERED in the final shot of the season and he is standing with his long time best friend who he is desperately in love with. and all of this is foreshadowing for season 5, which if you've forgotten, is all about connection and finding belonging with others.

"People talk about mythology and The Upside Down, and all that is huge, but the magic of S5 are the characters who find a sense of belonging with other and through that connection, become heroes."

"[Season 5] It's about a group of people who question their value, who find each other, and who find superpowers in connection."

remember when mike beat himself up and questioned his value as a person because he feels weak and powerless and stupid next to el and then will gave him a painting where mike is a literal knight in shining armor and and confessed his own feelings about how mike holds everything together and makes him feel like he's better for being different and gives him the courage to keep fighting and how he'll always need mike and that finally made mike feel reassured

yeah...

alright you guys have to be lying. you can't think of a single reason why people would ship byler?? not a one??? you know what actually, you're right. why on earth would people ship two characters where one is canonically in love with the other, they've been best friends since the first day of kindergarten, they are always a duo, they have a special friendship compared to the others, one said asking the other to be his friend is the best thing he's ever done, one thinks home isn't the same without the other, they hold hands, put their arms around each other, always look out for each other, etc etc ETC. no yeah i don't see it

was the person who confirmed this named mike wheeler...

no yeah we just say random things. those of us using the knowledge we gained in film school/creative writing school to analyze a form of media are just saying random things. i just love making shit up!

mlvns are so silly lol like they really think they know more about film/writing than people who STUDY IT AND DO IT FOR A LIVING

[king-crawler]

HEY HI HELLO

Sorry for the random message here In the asks, it's ok if you don't see this or answer it since you probably got a lot already and I understand if you don't see this!/gen

But first of all, I just wanna say

I CANT BELIEVE I HAVENT WATCHED YOUR ANALYSIS VIDEO SOONER IM SO FUCKING LATE MAN

It's so well done and so fucking funny, I was literally smiling and cackling through the whole thing, it's shocking how similar our humor is

NOT TO MENTION THE END SCENE AREE YOU KIDDING HOW DID YOU MATCH THE LYRICS SO PERFECTLY TO THE FUCKING LORE ITS INCREDIBLE 😭💜/GEN, POS

It's insane how much dedication is put into it, let alone singlehandedly feeding turbo fans as myself

Genuinely thought it's so nice seeing more content for a hyperfixation I've had since 2012, and the fandom coming back along with this video Genuinely brings me so much joy as someone who's loved this movie since I was a kid

Sorry for the ramble but genuinely thank you for making that video, I can't wait to see what other stuff you do, wreck it ralph or not I WILL be tuning in/gen, pos

Okay second of all

The main reason why I'm sending this is because of sometning I noticed while rewatching a scene in the movie

Now, this might be me over analyzing as I usually do but it feels TOO. OBVIOUS.

SO

IN the kart bakery scene where vanellope and ralph go to bake a kart, they obviously make their way into the building and into the main room

You see all the Karts of course, and It pans to the one vanellope chooses

Which, at first glance you wouldn't really pay too much attention, especially when watching it for the first time, she's just picking the model she likes

..but looking back at the scene

Vanellope's kart model, how it was supposed to look, looks very

Familiar

Because the kart she chose..

...is a red and white kart

With stripes down the middle, with a very similar shape to a..certain persons kart. Now this might just be nothing, it's probably just like I said, and over analysis on my part

But the kart the chose looks WAY too similar to turbo's, not to mention the stripe is down the middle, just like turbo's car on the cabinet art of him

And vanellope could've chosen ANY kart

But it was that specific kart she chose, out of any of the karts

Not to mention in some of vanellope's concept art...

(Art made by Lorelay Bove)

..Vanellope's concept design and turbos designs strike SCARILY uncanny resemblances to each others designs

From the helmet and colors

All the way down to her GOGGLES having the SAME. YELLOW. TINT. that candy's have in the movie, which have the same effect here. There's no way that this didn't have the intent to mirror turbo purposefully

So with that in mind, the kart vanellope chose in the kart bakery scene being turbo foreshadowing, wouldn't be too out of place, nor would it be too far off

Turbo's foreshadowing was always prominent, even in the smallest details you wouldn't focus on, just like he's infecting this world as a virus, little by little, everywhere. You. Turn.

Aaaand that's basically all I have to really say

Sorry for the long ramble, I've been thinking of submitting this for awhile now, especially after I told a friend about this and they mentioned that this should be submitted to you

So I decided to go ahead and just do it, no matter how wild my comparisons might sound-

Anyways, I hope you have a good day, night, or what time it may be, and keep being awesome! I can't wait to hear back if you see this! Bye-bye! ❤️🏎🏆

P.s

I've been quoting these since I watched the video and haven't stopped

Thanks for destroying my humor even more-/pos

Okay bye bye now-

-skitters away-

NO YOU'RE SO FUCKING RIGHT OH MY GOD VANELLOPE WAS ALWAYS A TURBO PARALLEL??? CHAT IS THIS TRUE. IVE NEVER SEEN THAT CONCEPT ART OF HER TEEHEE THANKS FOR SHARING

also God. This is 99% just a coincidence with zero merit because its such a common gesture- but Ralph and Vanellope doing their thumbs up.. maybe Turbo parallels ?? and like the EXACT same poses too:

Vanellope having one hand on the steering wheel and the other doing a thumbs up while facing the camera.

Ralph hunched over doing the double thumbs up with the visor tinting his face yellow. EXCUSE ME HMMM?? WHAT THE FUCK??

NOW COULD I BE CHERRY PICKING? PERHAPS. but when Turbo has barely a minute of screentime, there's not a lot i can pick from, and things SURE ARE LINING UP... (I'm cherry picking)

SO SHHHHHH... ❤️❤️❤️❤️ LET ME HAVE MY LITTLE CONSPIRASCY

[lordofmelancholy]

Arcane Silent Frontiers: Isha and Jinx's Relationship

Alright! Time for something new! The (tragic) Relationship between Isha and Jinx in Silent Frontiers

Now for those who read This (if you haven't go read it), you might have notice that I put down one of the inspirations for Isha's character in SF as not only just Ellie from The Last of Us but also Joel as well.

This is because, both Isha and Jinx take the "Joel" role in this AU; which is basically a fancy way of stating that both of them have major attachment issues stemming from trauma and apparent abandonment. Because of this, both Isha and Jinx actually don't get along to each other as quickly as they do in the show. The need to Bond is there, but Isha often finds it hard to gain attachments towards people following immense heartbreak in her life, and is in many ways similar to Jinx in this notion. However what should bring them together, instead makes it hard for them to do so. There's a pull of course that neither can understand, but it's a pull that tends to lead them both at the current time to face first into a wall. They have to break that wall and it's a process. Its literally has to build up. But with every build up, there can be an explosion which with Isha and Jinx happens.

Thus then comes the Isha (ellie) and Jinx (Joel) parallel Remember This Scene, in the first TLOU

Well. . .Jinx and Isha basically go through the same thing Despite the attachment issues, throughout the story of SF, Isha does end up getting close to Jinx much like she does in the show. This however is where it gets complicated for JINX because Jinx's whole thing IS the fear of getting close to someone in a world that tends to take them away too easy.

The only one she's EVER close to is Ekko. He's been her rock since they were kids. But anyone else doesn't get as close easily and it's just how she's been for years.

She's been so stuck in her ways that it honestly scared her how quickly and how attached to Isha she got and as a result her first instinct was to push away.

To not only protect others, but herself.

Jinx's biggest breaker in this whole thing was the fact that Isha once accidentally called her mama by mistake and Jinx's first instinct was to fear the word because she never expected it to make her feel good. It was what started the OG argument (similar to the one Joel and Ellie got into in the first game) and what had caused a small rift to form between the two of them, because Isha tried to get close but Jinx pushed back and thus Isha basically "gave up"

which she was actually starting to NOT DO because of Jinx.

Jinx ends up of course beating herself up over it later on down the line because she realizes how stupid she's actually been about all this. Realizing that Ekko was right, that everyone was right and even Isha was right about a lot of stuff. But her stupidity this time caused her to go and "Jinx" it cause it's obvious that Isha is distancing herself from JINX now and it's not the other way around

When what happens with Isha happens (basically what caused the events of the fic: Alone in this Platinum Field which can be found there in the link), Jinx is distraught over it because not only could she possibly loose Isha, but she'll also loose Isha at a point in time where there's a big chance that Isha hates her.

But the issue is, is even now Isha doesn't hate Jinx. And that's the sad part. Made even more sad by the fact that she never did, nor does she think she ever could

It's just that Isha's hurt

She's hurt because in the process of pushing her away, Jinx had also said things that just got Isha the wrong way

Because as we all know when Jinx is scared, Jinx can't shut up for shit and has to put her foot in her mouth.

Jinx never really leaves her side shortly after what happened. The issue with the field was something she couldn't avoid, it sucked but she couldn't. But after that she never strays too far. She's always close by. Always within reach. But while part of it is her just being observant, there's also another reason as to why.

She keeps trying to apologize

Every once in a while, sometimes in the dead of night, while everyone is asleep or at least trying to sleep. You could often hear whispers. Hushed sounds. And it's Jinx trying to talk to her. Trying to apologize. Shes trying to apologize because the thought that Isha is going to die with the thought of Jinx not caring in her head absolutely terrifies Jinx to no end now.

So every once in a while you'd hear a hushed apology. "'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it".

And sometimes when Isha's awake, at least long enough to actually hear those words somewhat, it would often seem like she would jump at the opportunity to accept it. To put it all behind them and forget about it all. But then she would get a look in her eye, as if she was remembering what exactly got said to her.

Playing it all back in her head.

and then Jinx would notice the sullen look. As if even now Isha couldn't bring herself even to forget. Or to forgive

But Jinx keeps trying to apologize.

And that's the sad part really in all this.

But what somehow makes it even worse. If that was even possible to begin with. Is the fact, that that's not the only thing Jinx tries to do. What she always seems to try despite it never working in the end.

She thinks the others don't hear her when she say's it. But they do. They always do. And it breaks their hearts to hear how desperate she sounds when she asks Isha to call her Mama once more.

Because they know the odds are slim now that she ever will. Not after everything.

But Jinx need's to hear her say it. She wants Isha to say it. Mouth it. Sign it. Garble Anything. Now more then anything

She doesn't care how Isha says it because at least if she does. At least if this is does turn out to be the end, Jinx can at least know and hold on to the warm feeling that Isha calling her Mama made her. Can hold on to that warmth at least for a while, just a little. Just long enough to help her cope with the fact that she may never get to hear it again if this truly is the end.

She hopes its not.

God she hopes its not

Because she still needs to make up for what she did.

So she's keep trying. As long as it takes. However long both her and Isha have left.

She knows she sounds selfish. Wanting Isha to say it now when there's a chance this might all be it. To say it now after pushing her away the way that she did. She knows it sounds selfish. Sounds cruel

She knows it probably is in some way. But its not. Really its not She's not being selfish nor is she trying to be cruel. Not really anyways. She just finally has come to accept something. Just a little too late. Just a little too much at the wrong time

But

"Just once. That's all. Call me mama again. Please just say it. Just once, that's all. You can say it. I wont be mad I promise…I won't just…-"

"Please?"

____

(Also as a added bonus in pain. Imagine Isha referring to Ekko as Papa by mistake when they make it back to the compound. They get her all fixed up for the time being and her being slightly drugged up for the pain, accidentally refers to Ekko as papa when he shows up to see them. Imagine being worried that she "did it again" and that she's going to be rejected by Ekko just like she was by Jinx. Imagine her being terrified of the potential rejection. Jinx did it, what's really stopping Ekko from doing it as well)

[a-fluffer-nutter]

The Mechanist's Quest: Chapter 2

A/N - I see Chapter 1 went well! Thank you all for giving it the love I had hoped for. This chapter is longer than the previous and will feature another one of our favorite support mercs: Spy. I based this chapter on a few headcanons and some art I have seen in the community. While I don't ship any of the mercs together (sans RedOktoberfest, that shit is canon let's be honest) I do love the parallels between Demo and Spy and would happily write a whole ass fic just exploring them with a similar dynamic I have here. Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 2,709

Days passed by and Pyro was starting to think this idea might be a bust. The two people they were trailing were the least sociable of the entire nine-man team, and for Pyro’s idea to work, they needed at least one other person to be around either Sniper or Spy. The two men were usually the first to hide away after a loss, not only because they wanted to be alone to sulk, but also to get away from Soldier.

Soldier always had critiques for those two, for everyone really, but he always seemed to really drill into those two whenever he could catch one of them. Sniper would just roll his eyes and walk off, hoping Soldier wouldn’t follow him like a dog begging for attention; while Spy would also try to ignore him, but when the losses stacked up, Spy would comment on how poor Soldier had been doing, which always ended up in an argument that would either be split up by someone else or Soldier suddenly appearing in the Respawn Room after Spy put a bullet between the American’s eyes.

Today was a good day, the midst of a winning streak for the team; the last three days they have been on fire, both figuratively and literally: Scout being the sacrifice to the BLU Pyro for each match. With the mood uplifted just a bit, the base buzzed with activity.

Whilst still not having luck with Sniper, Pyro lucked out with Spy being social that evening. After an hour in the smoking room, which Spy had just started expecting to see Pyro follow him in there at this point, Spy left to eat dinner with some of the others. Heavy made beef stroganoff, a favorite dish of Zhanna apparently, and a general favorite amongst the team, which could be shown by Engie being out of his workshop for more than two seconds to eat.

Pyro kept glancing at Engie, hoping to catch his eyes. Horrendous at distinguishing different forms of body language, Engie just smiled at the younger mercenary while trying to follow along with whatever Scout and Heavy were discussing. Acknowledging their loss, Pyro frowned and began to stare at Spy once again, as was the theme of the last week.

Once Pyro helped Soldier with the dishes, they quickly found Spy sitting on the couch, tired eyes attentively watching the movie he had just put on for himself. Despite being a man with refined tastes in film and drink, Soldier’s and Engie’s influences had rubbed off on Spy; thus, the man now had an interest and fondness for westerns. John Wayne would unironically grace the screen in front of the Frenchman more often than not anymore and nobody questioned it. Some of the films were inherently good and Spy did find amusement in the accent all the actors had. Having been exposed to Engie’s own southern drawl for as long as he had, Spy found that he could go through an entire film without mocking their ways of speech. If in a specific mood, Spy would go into the workshop after watching one of the movies and mimic the accent until Engie kicked him out; though the Texan had to admit that it was usually hilarious.

Plopping down into one of the armchairs next to the couch, Pyro tucked their legs up underneath them and watched along, occasionally glancing over at Spy to see his general reactions of the film. As John Wayne and James Stewart walked around on screen and monologued about sheriffs and Liberty Valance, Pyro imagined Sniper and Engie in all the scenes which made the movie much more enjoyable.

As John Wayne/Sniper rode his horse through town with a pistol in hand, the door into the room swung open and Demo stumbled into the room, bottle of Macallan in hand.

“There ye are,” Demo beamed, holding up the bottle as he closed the door, now no longer silhouetted by the outside light. Glancing up, Pyro could see Spy rolling his eyes but not give Demo the satisfaction of looking away from the screen. “Now c’mon, mate. Whatcha watchin’ one of these movies fer?”

Frown deepening, Spy bit the inside of his cheek to prevent him from saying something as Demo practically waltzed over to the couch and staggered onto the cushion next to Spy. Smile wide enough to brighten the room, Demo wrapped his arm around Spy’s shoulder and pulled him into a side hug, resting his head on the older man’s shoulder as he looked up at him; eyes wide with a playful curiosity that Spy was all too familiar with.

“No,” is all Spy said, feeling Demo’s tousled hair against his cheek, the black beanie he typically wore discarded long ago.

“I’ve nay said a single thing, mate. What’re ye saying nay to?” the man teased, sliding the hand from Spy’s shoulder down his back, eliciting a small shiver.

Amusement filled Pyro as they watched from their perch, with all interest on the film switching to the two men in front of them. They knew that Demo had a keen fascination with Spy, something to do with his stoicism or his ability to hold his liquor better than most of the men in the team. Pyro didn’t know what it was, but they sure enjoyed it whenever the two were together; the duo acting more like siblings than coworkers.

“We’re not watching it again,” huffed Spy, resenting his body as it slightly twitched beneath Demo’s touch, the offending hand finally meeting the hem of Spy’s jacket to find sanctuary between it and the white dress shirt.

“And why’s that?” Demo’s voice was sickeningly sweet, a cocktail with too much syrup and not enough gin.

“You know why,” hissed Spy, his tone darkening once he glanced back and noticed Pyro was still sitting there. Having made eye contact with him, Pyro quickly moved their head, so it looked like they had drawn their attention back to the movie, though through the mask, Pyro stared directly at the two men.

“I know yer just afraid,” Demo scoffed, his fingers gently scratching between Spy’s shoulder blades. “Aye. Ye know, I never took ye as one to be scared of a wee movie, mate. Ye acting like a wee laddie.”

“Am not,” Spy snapped, glad it was only Pyro in the room to watch this madness. Spy’s entire identity was professionalism, and he despised when he let others see that wall slip, even if it was just meaningless jesting from other merc. One on one, he was fine, but with Pyro here, Spy was glad he had the mask on, even in the darkness of the room.

“T’en why don’tcha wanna watch the movie with me?”

Spy knew this game well; a metaphorical standoff where they talk in circles until one of them give up. Just as a toddler would say “but why,” Demo was going to provoke Spy until he either left the room or replied with the desired answer. While Spy had avoided this phase with his own son as a toddler, he was cursed to endure it from the adult men he resided and worked with every day.

“I already told you,” Spy sighed, then let out a sharp gasp as Demo shifted around so he was wrapped around Spy. One leg hooked around his lower back and one around his waist, Demo leaned in, staring directly at the man with a devilish smile.

“An’ why’s that?” Demo emphasized the last ‘t,’ left hand sliding down Spy’s spine with a specific gentleness he reserved for only a few people, most of which he worked with.

“You know why,” the sternness of Spy’s voice was wavering, and in most other situations he would hate it.

“Do I now?”

Hand tugging at the tucked in dress shirt, Spy bit his lip to hold back the anticipatory anxiety from affecting his expression. Eyes staring at the screen, the character’s reflections shone off his blue-grey irises; though his ears were completely deaf to the words John Wayne was saying as he climbed his horse to ride off from one town to the next, just as Spy wished he could do in that very moment. Mind trying to focus on the movie, though the narrative lost at this point, all attempts to shift his concentration away from Demo’s calloused fingers grazing up his spine were being made.

“Mhm,” keeping his mouth closed, Spy nodded as his heart pounded.

“Use yer words.”

“Va te faire foutre.”

Pyro couldn’t help but laugh, absolutely loving the dialogue between the two.

            Demo looked up at Pyro with an eyebrow cocked up, then dropped his eyes back down to Spy.

            “Our wee firebug here seems to think yer funny,” Demo mused, his other hand dropping the bottle onto the floor with a thunk, both Pyro and Spy thankful that it had been empty this entire time. Hand now free, Demo used it to jab at Spy’s sternum in an accusatory fashion while the other hand drifted upward to finally still between the two shoulder blades, this time without anything blocking the skin-on-skin contact. “I have nae an idea what ye said, though I’m sure ye were being a proper prick. An’ ye know what that means?”

            “Enculé,” Spy replied, looking Demo right in the eyes as he did whilst wearing a wide, unamused smile.

            Biting down on their bottom lip, Pyro watched as Spy sealed his fate; throwing away the metaphorical key the moment Demo’s brows rose, lips twitching upward.

            “That one, I do know,” Demo leaned forward, lips nearly grazing the fabric of the balaclava.

            Biting back a strangled noise attempting to lurch out of his throat, Spy growled as he curled into himself; Demo’s frozen fingers now dethawed and gently scratching against the rarely touched skin. Breathing only out of his nose, Spy’s nostrils flared as he measured each inhale and exhale. Every neuron in his brain switched focus to just keeping his breathing even and his body under complete control, a statuesque stillness.

            Excited by the prospect of a challenge, Demo’s free hand that was unconsciously gripping Spy’s shoulder made the move that Spy had hoped it wouldn’t. Slipping beneath the mask, each fingertip grazed Spy’s neck delicately, as if petting a small animal. Thumb on one side of the neck and the other four fingers on the other, Demo felt Spy swallow, his palm resting against the older man’s throat. Every micro-quiver of the vocal cords could be felt and Demo relished in the power he now held.

            Knowing that Spy was an expert in resisting interrogation - his level of pain regulation and abilities to escape into his mind were exceptional - Demo also knew that Spy was allowing this engagement to occur as it was. If he had the slightest inclination to get away from Demo, Spy would have turned the tables faster than Demo could say “haggis,” with the younger man being pinned to the couch with a knife blade menacingly pressed against his throat. All actions here were calculated; all actions about to happen had full consent, and with it, Demo made his move.

            Giddily, Spy felt the dam inside him cracking. With most anyone else to have ever graced his presence, Spy would have sealed it back up with super glue and duct tape, but Demo was not just anyone, nor were any of the others on the team, really. But Demo; Spy liked Demo a lot. He never really knew what it was; perhaps it was the level of control Demo had over his craft, in and out of the field, or it was a form of pity, that whilst Spy and Demo did not lead lives too dissimilar, Spy sees what he could have been if he let the bottle take over his life like it did the younger Scotsman. Perhaps it was the good that Demo saw in everyone he met despite living through hell in his childhood and having to experience the horrors of a capitalist war over and over again every day because he feels that he has to. Either or, Spy had a certain indescribable fondness for Demo which allowed him to experience playful moments he rarely remembered having as a child.

            The second Demo’s dull nails arrived at their destination right behind Spy’s ear, the drawbridge lifted, and Spy’s laugh bubbled out from beneath.

            Hands around the only one of Demo’s wrists he could reach, Spy tipped his head back; his laugh low at first before switching to a higher register as Demo’s fingers quickened in both places. Smile wide, Spy still tried to hold his laughter back just a smidge. He knew what Demo wanted, and he wasn’t too keen on giving it to him. As his laugh switched between two pitches, Spy scrunched his eyes shut and forgot that Pyro was in the room, and to Pyro’s credit, they had been entirely silent for a while, awestruck by the adorable noises seeping from Spy, a melody that they had never heard before. 

            “Someone’s bein’ stubborn, now aren’t ye?” Demo teased, radiating pure delight. Spy simply replied with a shake of the head, arching his back as those five fingers were giving him the most trouble.

            Suddenly, as if bored of the positioning, Demo twisted them both around. Now on his back, Spy’s head laid against the arm of the couch as Demo’s larger body straddled his thighs. Devious grin adorned Demo’s face as he looked down at Spy, a cat satisfyingly looking down at its prey before delivering the killing bite.

            “Adorable,” Demo thought before unbuttoning the front of dress shirt, playfully pretending to struggle with one of them which earned him a soft chuckle. The moment the final button was undone, Demo attacked.

            “Merde!” Spy yelped, now fully laughing.

            Demo had slunk forward so his arms were tucked beneath Spy’s body, snaking their way back up the shirt to drag his nails all along Spy’s shoulder blades and upper spine. Once in position, Demo pressed his face into Spy’s belly, nuzzling and blowing short raspberries all over his abdomen.

            On top of Spy’s back being stupidly ticklish if caught off guard or permission is granted to touch the area, Demo’s facial hair was a straight up war crime, and the bastard knew it. As one of the resident hyperactive dumbasses, Demo used this knowledge for evil with a few of the mercs he was closest too. Soldier knew that getting into an argument with Demo could lead to a different kind of fight if the Scotsman was not in the mood or couldn’t use his words.

            Heels digging into the couch the best they could, Spy frantically grabbed Demo’s broad shoulders and pushed; his laughter now hysterical and between every other peal of laughter was a snort, much to Demo’s and Pyro’s delight and Spy’s own chagrin. It was adorable and Pyro could not wait to write down every little detail they were seeing.

            This activity may have been unusual to Pyro, but it was not too atypical for the duo. The movie he had been referring to earlier was Psycho and watching that movie with Spy was how he learned Spy was ticklish.

            While the two watched the movie, Scout having left early on because he hated movies “without color because they suck,” Demo was hyping up the infamous shower scene. Both men had seen the film before, so knew when it was going to happen, but Spy had not anticipated Demo pretending to backstab him, just as Spy would do in the field, while the scene played out. The startled yelp and faint smile were enough of a catalyst for Demo to explore further. Now, if Demo was ever lucky enough to catch Spy watching something, jokingly begging Spy to watch Psycho became his running joke and way of hinting to Spy that he wanted attention.

            Laughter clouded Spy’s thoughts and filled Demo’s ears as Pyro quietly got up, having got all the evidence they needed that their plan might work. Slinking out of the room, Pyro then scurried toward the offense wing to jot down all the notes they needed for their conversation with Engie tomorrow.

[gachagon]

I don't think Kaiser and Ness would be good together

Which is why i think about their relationship constantly despite that, i love these freaky little soccer dudes and their obsessive codependency

If there's one ship in bllk that I absolutely adore the content for and think about constantly besides Kunigiri, it's Kainess. And it's not because I think "Oh they'd be such a wonderful couple" or "They look good together", this is one of those ships where if they ever got together I feel like they'd actively make each other worse because they have so much internal stuff to work on alone first, you know? And just thinking about that potential train wreck of a relationship is enough to keep me entertained for weeks on end.

I've said before that Kaiser and Ness are a Bachira and Isagi parallel in that they show the toxic bad sides of a codependent relationship, but I think there's more to it than that. Like Kaiser and Ness are reliant on each other for both ego and attention, but they're also both deeply lonely people at the end of the day. Even in the scenes where it's just the two of them, they never let up the act of trying to surpass everyone and be at the top.

They have no silly banter or back and forth, even in this panel Ness looks more like Kaiser's personal servant than his friend or partner.

Where as everyone else in the Blue Lock compound has some healthy way of destressing after a match, these two weirdos (affectionate) sit in dark rooms and watch the same matches over and over again while plotting like saturday morning cartoon villains on what to do next game. I mean, even Itoshi Rin has a destress activity he does that's NOT soccer related that helps him not morph into some soccer obsessed monolouging freak, so to see these guys just constantly always planning and thinking and practicing it really puts into perspective how much of the time that they spend together is them not having a fun time casually. And if you compare what they do on their down time with what the other "partners" in Blue Lock do, this difference becomes even more apparent.

And I don't know, I find that to be a really interesting aspect of their relationship just because even though they are so clearly missing all of the key elements meant to make a healthy partnership, it still works on the field anyways because they're both equally obsessed with the same thing. Kaiser loves football and wants to be the best. Ness want's to see Kaiser become the best because he loves football. Their devotion to the game drives them closer to one another, but it's clear only one side holds any real "affection" for the other directly outside of the game.

Now, I do NOT think Kaiser hates Ness which I think people assume if you say "Kaiser doesn't hold a lot of empathy for Ness, or cares for him" that it translates to "Kaiser hates him".

I think Kaiser keeps Ness around because deep down he knows that at the end of the day the only person who would be willing to follow him even if he couldn't become the worlds best is Ness. And I think that's because Ness loves soccer in a different way than Kaiser does. To Ness, soccer is a really magical sport and one where amazing things can happen. And Kaiser is the only character who has done the most insane feats in the manga so far. Kaiser does things on the field that seem impossible until he pulls it off, which is the whole crux of his ego anyways: Making the impossible, Possible.

So as long as Kaiser plays that way and does all of the amazing things he's been doing, Ness would follow him literally anywhere because that's what drives him.

But Kaiser is different, it's clear that to him soccer/football is not something that is grounded in the fantastical, but something that's tangible and real to him. He takes it seriously even if he goes about it in the most dramatic and campy way possible. Looking at old chapters of Blue Lock when Kaiser was first introduced is so interesting to me because I forgot about Kaiser's whole "king" attitude where he pretty much talks and acts like some nobleman with a crown and scepter.

He even makes Ness "bow" to others or makes Ness physically lower than him like a king does with some peasant. You could chalk it up to him making Ness "apologize" in the Japanese way by also bowing, but I don't think that's why he does it just because his entire character is just so "king" coded.

It's worth noting that he also makes Ness "bow" whenever Ness seems to lose any kind of faith in them winning. Which is why I don't think the above two times was him making Ness apologize, but that its something he does to ground himself or make Ness fall more in line with how he's thinking at the moment. Notice how he seems to only do it when Ness isn't sticking to the right "script" or seems to show the wrong reaction openly etc.

But anyways, Kaiser and Ness love soccer but they don't love it for the same reasons and that is what ultimately conflicts with their relationship in the end. That, and they've both got their own issues to work out.

I feel like if they did ever get together, it just wouldn't work because in order for it to work, Kaiser has to first realize that he can still be an amazing player and have people regard him as the best without obsessing over where he sits in the rankings. That he can perform things nobody else can and never will and that is the thing that will separate him from the rest of the crop, not a trophy saying "Number 1" on it.

Maybe before when they first met things could've worked out well, but even still I think Kaiser was dead set on his goals of becoming number 1 long before he ever met Ness. We will definitely get to see the extent of that next week for sure I hope, when we learn more about Kaiser's past.

[katsu-curry835]

Why Bisexual Jon Snow Could Work /srs

Jon Snow is bisexual and here's why.

Aight, I'm aware the queer rep in asoiaf is pretty eh for the most part. Sweets is cool, and Loras and Renly have a nice implied relationship but Dany and Cersei having gay sex scenes felt way more fetishized than actually meaningful representation, especially since neither character considers a romance with a woman. Because of this, I'm gonna say that while I think this could be a valid direction to take the story, I'm like 50% sure that GRRM won't write it. Then again, it's been so long between books that times have literally changed and FnB seemed to have a ton of queer relationships so who knows.

Ok, ok, so I've laundered my argument; we all know why we're really here. Jon Snow could be bisexual and that could be really important for the story. Why?

First and most obvious is that it's another parallel with Dany. Jon and Dany have had storylines that directly mirror each other, especially in books 3 and 5. Dany is confirmed bisexual by the narrative, since she has regular sex with her handmaiden Irri, although because of her position of power over her, she tries to limit them. And, as already mentioned, she never gets to be romantically attracted to a woman. Maybe that's coming in future novels, who knows, but all that to say Dany and Jon mirroring each other on the bi front is not inconceivable, especially when you consider that there is already evidence for Jon being bi.

I'm sure most of you deep into this discourse(?) have probably predicted that I'm going to talk about Satin. And if this story does go in the 'Irri' direction, Satin is definitely the candidate for Jon's male love interest. He's a former prostitute from Oldtown, which mirrors another of Dany's handmaids (Doreah I think) and he's Jon's steward, like Irri is to Dany. Other characters also seem to think that Satin has kinda slept his way up the ranks to being Jon's steward, confirming at least that this idea is in GRRM's head. I wanna take a look at a few scenes and see how they could imply a future relationship between Jon and Satin. Take a look at this fight scene between Jaime and Brienne (I promise this is relevant.)

"'Give me the sword, Kingslayer.'

'Oh I will.' He sprang to his feet and drove at her, the longsword alive in his hands. Brienne jumped back, parrying, but he followed, pressing the attack. No sooner did she turn one cut than the next was upon her. The swords kissed and sprang apart and kissed again. Jaime's blood was singing...

...The dance went on. He pinned her against an oak, cursed as she slipped away, followed her through a shallow brook half choked with fallen leaves. Steel rang, steel sang, steel screamed and sparked and scraped, and the woman was grunting like a sow at every crash, yet somehow he could not reach her."

To me this scene has always read as implicitly foreshadowing Brienne and Jaime's future romance. Words like "kissed" or "grunted" or "pinned her against a tree" feel implicitly romantic/sexual, even the way the scene is described as a "dance." Jaime even says at a later point "Might I have this dance my lady" to mock her. Of course there is plenty more in the story as a whole that foreshadows Brienne and Jaime having a relationship, but I use this as an example because I want to point out how GRRM sometimes writes a fight scene as romantic and sexual foreshadowing, or at least that can be how some scenes are interpreted. Now I want to look at the scene where Jon trains Satin.

"It's too heavy," the Oldtown boy complained.

"It's as heavy as it needs to be to stop a sword," Jon said. "Now get it up." He stepped forward, slashing. Satin jerked the shield up in time to catch the sword on its rim, and swung his own blade at Jon's ribs. "Good," Jon said, when he felt the impact on his own shield. "That was good. But you need to put your body into it. Get your weight behind the steel and you'll do more damage than with arm strength alone. Come, try it again, drive at me, but keep the shield up or I'll ring your head like a bell . . ."

This scene reads similarly to me. Words like "jerked," "rim," "get it up," even the one word sentence "Come," can read as sexual foreshadowing in a similar way to Jaime and Brienne if you are given context that Jon and Satin do end up together. In particular, "ring your head like a bell" reminds me of a scene where Gendry gets approached by a girl but rejects her advances.

"I'm named Bella," the girl told Gendry. "For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?"

I would be remised if I didn't mention that Jon calls Satin pretty three times in the chapter where he's supposed to be engaged in a battle with the wildlings. Like yeah, that's a bit weird, why are you thinking about that now Jon. Or I could mention the fact that he described Satin’s voice swearing his words as being like song and that he could smell the fresh sweet oils Satin rubbed into his beard. Jon… buddy you got something you wanna say? I’m joking of course: you don't have to be queer to recognize another man's beauty. What I think puts this into perspective is if you compare this to how he describes Val, someone who it's generally agreed upon that he takes an interest in.

Here's a quote where Jon describes Satin:

"The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but he was green as summer grass for all that. Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night's Watch; the name he'd gotten in the brothel where he'd been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets. Half a year at Castle Black had toughened up his hands, however, and Noye said he was passable with a crossbow."

Now here's Val:

"Val stood on the tower roof, gazing up at the Wall. Stannis kept her closely penned in rooms above his own, but he did allow her to walk the battlements for exercise. She looks lonely, Jon thought. Lonely, and lovely. Ygritte had been pretty in her own way, with her red hair kissed by fire, but it was her smile that made her face come alive. Val did not need to smile; she would have turned men's heads in any court in the wide world."

I mean, the fact that "pretty" is a word used to describe both Ygritte and Satin is a connection that I shouldn't need to point out the significance of, but I digress. If you actually compare these quotes, both look like neutral descriptions of someone's appearance in isolation, however in context, you have to ask why the author shows you this stuff. Why does Jon comment on how good looking both of these characters are so often? It doesn't seem like there would be any other purpose to these, again, repeated descriptions of both Val and Satin other than to highlight that the fact that Jon finds both of them attractive is important.

Again, none of this proves anything outright. I mention this because this is the sort of thing where if you reread the books with this lens, suddenly more things start to jump out at you, and it can read like obvious foreshadowing you missed. Like when Catelyn sees her reflection in some armor and comments on how "drowned" she looks. It doesn't mean too much on a first read, but when you know what happens to her, it's some clever foreshadowing.

Another big reason I think Jon getting with Satin might be important is that you can see it as a pivotal part of Jon's character arc, specifically Jon's sexual awakening storyline. When Jon first has sex with Ygritte, she's the one who initiates the interaction. In fact she has been doing that the whole time he's had her hostage, teasing him with advances and mocking him for his inexperience. In the famous cave scene, Jon's thoughts are how he wants to bang her, but also about how it would be in conflict with his vows. That's the main reason he never has sex with her until she incites it on her own; it's not because he doesn't want to. It's because he thinks it would violate the words he swore at the weirwood.

So Ygritte begins this part of his arc, and Jon discovers that he likes having sex, how original. But he still feels reservations about it, during the act and afterwards. After all, his people resent him for being able to openly take a woman to bed with him, while they have to go to Mole's Town to dig if they want to get any action at all.

My view on this is that the story is heading in a sex-positive direction with respect to Jon. There’s plenty of theming about this “why is it a sin if it feels so good” etc etc. The books are full to the brim of people feeling needlessly guilty about having casual sex, Jon especially. Where I think this is headed, therefore, is probably something like a wildling understanding of sex; Jon has to view sex as Ygritte did, because that was always the healthiest way for him to go about it. Except this time, to complete his arc, he is going to need to take the initiative himself and embrace his desires like Ygritte did. Her teasing him for not doing this was trying to get him to come out of his shell. It would feel strange to me if this went nowhere. Jon needs a future romantic/sexual partner so that he can feel no qualms with taking the initiative with them. How he learns to do that is up to George but suffice it to say, however uncertain I maybe that this partner will be Satin, a future romance is in the cards for Lord Snow.

So Jon's in a bit of a bind here from a meta perspective. If we want him to complete his sexual awakening storyline, he's going to have to take the initiative himself with a partner without feeling any inhibitions. But he can't do that if he's still a brother of the Night's Watch because of the aforementioned conflict with his vows. But he's not going to stop being a crow, his vows are important to him. So how do we reconcile the fact that Jon's character arc about his sexuality needs to be resolved, but he also needs to keep to his words? Simple: make his next partner male so it doesn't violate anything.

I've actually thought this could work as a plot point for anyone either in the Night's Watch or the Kingsguard. One of these men surely has to consider at some point the obvious loophole of "so I can't bed a woman, but what about a man?" and how that affects their honor or whatever. It just slots kinda nicely into Jon's storyline here. Another reason it really works is that Jon is looking to socially progress the Night’s Watch: unity with the wildlings, defending Satin from homophobia etc. Him realising the obvious flaw of the vows for not considering that men can be romantically involved through his own experiences as a bi guy can help him begin to dismantle the outdated nature of the customs. He’s framed as this sort of reformer, and being a queer bastard (who is also probably the lost heir to the Targaryen dynasty) makes this thematically poignant. He’s an outcast, but also a king.

Of course, he’s always been an outcast, being queer would just help add to that. And this is just one way of writing this arc; I’m not married to this take on this basis alone.

I can so imagine a scene where Jon is having sex with Satin and the lit hearth is positioned behind Satin's head from Jon's POV and it looks like Satin's been 'kissed by fire.' Also, Jon considering how Ygritte would feel about him doing this and coming to that conclusion that she would be proud seems like a great way to end a chapter about the two hooking up because Jon's arc would be basically resolved.

This final part is something that I feel should not be left merely implied: Jon being canonically bisexual would be great representation. This is one of the most beloved and famous heroes in all of fantasy, hell, in all of modern fiction. Making him queer would be a really important step forward for queer rep that should not be underestimated. Verity Ritchie (VerilyBitchie on yt) did an excellent video essay on bisexuality in reality tv, a point from which I'm going to paraphrase: it's really hard to effectively depict bisexuals because any confirmed relationship with another character would look like they 'picked a side.' But in order to continually show someone's openness to sexual attraction to two or more genders, you risk going to far the other way, falling into the bisexual sex demon stereotype. This is a really difficult needle to thread, and is why we have characters like Nick Nelson constantly having to remind us that they're bi, rather than having us just assume they could be. Put simply, we need better bi representation, especially with men and Jon Snow is excellent casting for the role. His relationship to Ygritte is constantly referenced throughout the narration as something he treasures and misses, so there would be no doubt that he was not 'gay the whole time.' But, if the Satin story goes ahead, there can be no doubt he's not queer either. Literature is a great place to put bi characters, I think, since an internal monologue can remind you of past relationships with other characters of different genders and how they mean something to the character in question, but never undermining the integrity of the current relationship.

Me personally, I'd be buzzing for Jon Snow to be confirmed as bi. Really interested to see people's thoughts on this.

[i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end]

I was reading the first part of "The Blanched Soldier" and helllllllp! I'm really tired and I doubt I can make a coherent analysis out of my thoughts - BUT it is so tempting to try and see if the story can be read as a Holmes/Watson analogy!

Holmes dropping not only the "The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association" bomb which could be read as an ironic/humorous remark, but also the devastatingly plain and honest "I was alone" right afterwards.

Holmes then telling the story of a client moving heaven and earth looking for his soldier friend who disappeared, constantly stressing how close their friendship was.

ALSO during the flashback scene the client is, in the logic of the narrative, literally in the position of the detective, trying to find out what happened to his friend!

His search being hindered by an oppressive and stern father figure - something something about authority and control and societal norms (and perhaps Watson's marriage as a necessity because two bachelors living together for so long might be a bit suspicious in the eyes of the public)

"'You must put it down, sir, to my real love for your son.’" Whaaaaaat?? Putting aside the question whether or not one wants to read this story in a romantic way, this is a story about friendship and devotion and loss and oh my god just kill me, just give Holmes his friend back please

Client then has to have dinner with the parents which must be incredibly awkward, but instead of trying to make conversation he claims that he "was so bored by the whole proceeding that I made an excuse as soon as I decently could and retired to my bedroom". Bored?? Now I'm reading too much into it, but this also reminds me of Holmes who is NOT a fan of smalltalk and would rather sneak off to his bedroom to meditate over the clues than to make polite conversation with people he dislikes (although the mother seems to be okay)

On top of that a nice His Friendship and Courage Saved My Life *cough* Devil's Foot *cough* parallel: "There was no braver man in the regiment. He pulled me out once from under the rifles of the Boers, or maybe I should not be here." (Yes. Now I'm hopelessly overthinkink and overanalysing.)

Aaaand as a bonus, Holmes in the beginning practically admits that it was necessary for Watson to write his stories in a way Holmes often criticised, AND behind the whole charade of "I don't have a companion because I LIKE him" he literally says that "Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances", indicating that Watson downplayed his own role in the cases he wrote up.

I hope Watson returns soon, because his absence CLEARLY puts Holmes into an overly dramatic mood.

(I'm joking about this, but I actually feel very sorry for him. I can feel the "I was alone" keenly, because haven't we all been the best friend who was abandoned for a romantic partner at some point? Please tell me it wasn't just me. )

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️ Ranking Richonne

#20: I Don't Have A Problem (S3E12)

Clear. 🤩 One of The Walking Dead's best episodes for many reasons, but especially for the beautiful seeds it planted between Rick and Michonne. The fence is where their lives became interlocked, and Clear is the start of where their hearts became interlocked. And in this scene right here, Richonne became absolutely inevitable...

This whole episode is something special, and I love Rick and Michonne's every interaction, with an honorable mention to their “the mat said welcome” scene. 😋 From the moment they met, these two had some romantic tension brewing, and it nearly boils over in this scene that just had to make the top 20.

Rick has brought Carl on his first run and decided to bring Michonne along to help and to see what she’s about. It'll forever be telling to me that Rick felt comfortable enough to have Michonne on this run alone with him and his kid.

Despite some arguing that Rick was strictly skeptical of Michonne during this era of their relationship, I think the fact that he brought her out here to his former neighborhood and then, even more, let Michonne go out unsupervised on a crib run with Carl showed that there was some level of trust here that I don't think Rick would give to just anybody. Like while Rick initially tried to fight how drawn he was to Michonne in season 3, his behavior with her still painted a clear picture that to him...

And Michonne shows both Rick and Carl just how special she is and proves that she’s the real deal in all aspects throughout the episode. Especially in this scene here. 

So what I love about this scene is that in a moment where Rick is feeling visibly frustrated and disappointed, Michonne’s regal calm spirit practically tames his defensive energy. He asks if she has a problem with the new approach they have to take, despite her showing no signs of having an issue. And Rick asking this will just always make me amused because no one got him hot and bothered quite like Michonne just existing.

Like she was silent for a literal second, but that was enough to evoke a reaction from him. And Andy, to me, found the perfect way to ask where it was defensive without sounding overtly challenging or particularly offputting.

And then Danai just makes all the right choices in this scene cuz Michonne knows that she doesn’t need to match that testy energy. Instead, she turns slowly and looks right at Rick and sets the tone by gently saying, “No Rick, I don’t have a problem.” 👏🏽👑

Something about even just her saying his name has some weight to it. And I love that this is the approach she takes. This is genuinely me every time I hear Michonne perfectly deliver that line...

Michonne had been a bit quieter and apart from the group prior, and this line is her elegant offering to let Rick know she isn’t his opponent and wants to help - that she isn’t a problem and doesn’t have a problem, not with his approach, or just doesn’t have a problem in general that he has to worry about.

And then to make that verbal offering of her alliance even more physical, Michonne hands Rick the lone bullet she picked up. Rick takes it and the way they focus on their hands again feels like it’s an important exchange. It’s like their first peace offering. And it’s one of the first of many things Michonne and Rick will hand each other, including a very special pack of mints that parallels this scene a bit. 😊

I love that Carl is visible in this scene and noting this exchange between his dad and the woman who will become his mom and his best friend. Carl knew something was up here and that something was different about this. He was still skeptical of Michonne at this point, but I think it was at this moment he began to tell that Michonne has some sort of unique impact on his dad. 

This scene is also special because this is Rick in the freshest stage of being a single dad. He has to raise his son, who went through the trauma of having to put down his mom, and he also has a newborn to take care of, who he knows is actually Lori and Shane’s baby. And he has to deal with all this madness with the Governor. The weight of the world was on Rick's shoulders, and you see him really frustrated that the lack of guns at the station is yet another L. But Michonne is just so calm about it which is the energy he truly needs in his life. 

She just asked if there’s a new solution cuz she only envisions winning. Even just when hearing Rick earlier explain how he was the police in this small town and there are other places to check and all that you can tell that he’s used to being second-guessed and challenged by people, and having to prove himself...But Michonne isn’t other people. She gets him, and she’s not rattled by their situation, so he doesn’t have to prove himself.

I also love how, even as they speak, it’s tense but not harsh. There’s just always this passion pulsating between them, even as strangers.

There’s so much power in the fact that Michonne wasn’t hostile back, but rather calm, collected, and compassionate. The way she looks at him here just says she sees Rick in a deeper way than most. Even that early in their relationship, she understood him.

So even with Rick bugging out, it doesn’t intimidate her or put her off, Michonne gets it and she handles it beautifully. If Rick and Carl didn’t know they were rocking with a queen before then, they knew now.

And y’all, I know Rick knew they were with someone special because of his reaction after this exchange.

Rick’s reaction to Michonne after she hands him the bullet and looks right in his eyes with that soft knowing expression before walking away is the cherry on top of this golden scene because homeboy looks like he’s been fully enchanted. Like Rick's whole energy is giving...

Rick pockets the bullet and takes a whole moment to collect himself after the way Michonne looked at him. His look up to the sky was a 'dang, can Lori see me falling for another woman in just a few short days?' look. #DirectMindQuote 😂

Rick and Michonne felt a spark right then and there. I know it. And no characters would have an exchange like this unless it was a seed toward something romantic growing. 

Even deeper than that, I love that this moment was an insight into so much of what makes Rick and Michonne's relationship special. They can speak to each other and reach each other in any state. They can be a calming presence. They can enchant each other. They are so clearly the exact type of person the other needs in their life. They have such a unique and positive influence on each other, and this was the beginning of many moments that show that. 

I love that it was this moment that had even Danai wondering if Rick and Michonne were endgame and that it was then confirmed that for Gimple, Richonne really was in the works during this episode. I mean after an exchange like this, the road to Rick and Michonne falling in love was pretty much guaranteed. 

So I love seeing Rick and Michonne in this early stage, especially knowing they will go on to become beloved family to each other in the fullest sense. #Husband&Wife 😌

[pikapitou]

hi murk! would love to hear the director's commentary on baby birch (or whichever fic you wanna talk about) :)

thank you al!! I will discuss. a baby birch theme... this is so long i will put half of it in a read more... my bad

maybe it's not a theme. through-line? motif? anyways. first, to set the scene, a parallel I did not consciously intend but that someone in the comments pointed out to me is, at the start of chapter 1 after the inciting-sex-scene, there's this,

Eddie sleeps through the alarm, which means Buck sleeps through the alarm—he's convinced Buck takes waking up to Eddie still in bed as a sign they're staying there forever.

and the opening line of chapter 3 before eddie leaves for the cemetery is,

The next morning, Eddie sneaks out of bed. He doesn’t want to think of it that way but, well—that’s what he does.

waking up together means they'll be together forever, and in chapter 3 when eddie is beginning to withdraw from their relationship out of fear and panic and guilt, buck wakes up alone. jesus christ... then of course the moment he does, buck realises what the fuck is up, calls eddie and is like I know something's wrong, no more lying to me, you have to tell me right fucking now.

sleep was a conscious motif though. I have joked that I am a sleepy-head... a snoozer... but I think literally sleeping together is like, super intimate. and for buck and eddie who have always had this buck sleeps in the same house, but out on the couch, sort of arrangement, I think it matters a lot to them, in the early stages of being together, as a sign of their relationship having changed. couples sleep in the same bed, they're a couple now, so you can follow the progression of their relationship in baby birch based on that.

they wake up together in chapter 1, they nap together in chapter 2 after buck asks to help with money and eddie turns him down,

Once he’s done Buck pulls him into bed for a nap and literally sticks his head under the sweatshirt Eddie changes into, like he wants to get as close as possible, or maybe like he needs to hide—with Eddie, not from him.

^ I thought this was really cute lol. but it's also buck trying to reassure himself. he pulls eddie into bed to play out this routine/ritual of theirs to tell himself that if eddie is hiding, then buck is hiding with him, you know? buck's not out in the cold (though he is). then, after their argument, eddie sleeps on the couch, and it's 1. bc he can't stand sleeping in the bed without buck, but it's also, 2. him subconsciously stepping into buck's side of things; he's sleeping on the couch and waiting up and understanding what buck was experiencing this whole time that eddie was shutting him out...

and, finally, in chapter 4 when eddie reiterates that he won't change his mind and can't have another kid with buck, and he's waiting to see what buck says, what he thinks about is,

Eddie makes himself nod, careful to keep his expression clear. He’s thinking—not much of anything. Maybe about the last time he and Buck woke up together—actually woke up together, not Eddie sneaking out or leaving him in bed before a shift—and the way Eddie had laughed when Buck pinned him to the bed with his whole body and begged, five more minutes, please.

so it's something very very very important to them, and when eddie thinks abt what he might be abt to lose, he thinks abt those mornings with buck... and of course everything works out :) in my heart baby birch buck and eddie are bundled up in bed like a pile of kittens right now, forever and ever and ever <3. thank you for joining murk's director's commentary.

[jotun-philosopher]

Brother Aziraphale: some interesting parallels

I got a bit into the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters and their mid-90s TV adaptation a couple of months ago, and my GO-saturated brain being what it is, I started picking out some fun coincidental parallels :D

On with the rambling!

Some background: the Cadfael stories are historical mysteries set during the Anarchy, a civil war waged between 1138 and 1153 by King Stephen and his cousin Empress Maud (aka Matilda), King Henry I's only legitimate son having died in the White Ship disaster of 1120. It's a fascinating period in English history that's criminally under-represented in popular culture. The books are extremely well-researched in their historical detail and are worth reading for that alone even if mysteries aren't quite your thing; the TV series is a tad variable in its level of faithfulness to the books, but it's good solid television with some excellent performances (see below for my favourite).

Cadfael himself, a Welshman by birth, is a former soldier and sea captain, having taken part in the First Crusade and travelled extensively in the Middle East and other places, learning medicine and generally gaining a great deal of worldly experience, before returning to England in his forties and taking the cowl, becoming the apothecary at the Abbey of St Peter and St Paul. His greater experience of the world and particular views on justice and fair play (which seem anachronistic but are actually neo-Aristotelian; perfectly accurate for the time period and character backstory) tend to clash with the other monks, who took their Benedictine vows much earlier in life and so tend to be less wordly and more doctrinaire. Cadfael is fiercely intelligent and compassionate, and if presented with a choice will always go for doing the good thing as opposed to the lawful thing, as he understands them. Luckily for him, though, he doesn't have to contend with Metatron-esque arseholes overmuch; the two abbots he serves under in the stories, Heribert and Radulfus, are very firmly reasonable authorities.

So now to those parallels I mentioned!

Cadfael:

Former soldier, still fully capable of defending himself or others in a fight

Considerable worldly experience and very well-travelled; consequently well-acquainted with human nature in all its facets and frailty

Has much to do with a literal garden, used for medicinal plants

Part of a religious order/organisation that is, all things considered, fairly healthy

Intelligent, compassionate and open-minded, which sometimes puts him mildly at odds with the other monks

Prefers to do what is good rather than simply following the rules

Welshman, played on TV by an English actor

Aziraphale:

Likewise a former soldier and fully capable of physically defending himself or others should it become necessary (see here for some of my analysis/speculation on this)

Considerable experience of the world through having been living there since the literal start, and is accordingly well-travelled; very familiar with humans and human nature

Is connected to both a literal garden and more metaphorical ones; the 'medicinal herbs' he grows in the latter are likewise metaphorical ( @vidavalor has a great deal of very good meta on gardens in GO; this post is a good recent example)

Teeeeeeeeeeeeeechnically part of a religious organisation, but one that's so ghastly that 'unhealthy' barely scratches the surface

Intelligent, compassionate and open-minded; the ways this puts Azzy at odds with Heaven are literally the whole dang plot! XD

Prefers doing true and genuine good, and [bleep] Heavenly Rules -- though Az seems fairly law-abiding wrt human laws that aren't complete [excrement]

Technically English, portrayed on TV by a Welsh actor

And one final thing -- the scene in 'One Corpse Too Many' (the first episode of the Cadfael TV show) that establishes Cadfael's character for the audience is one that I particularly like because it's awesome in its own right, and also because the first time I saw it, my whole brain went, "Yep, that's what Aziraphale would do!" In the scene in question, Cadfael intervenes to protect a vagrant who's being hassled by a jerkass soldier of King Stephen, then calmly, politely, wordlessly, and with great economy of action disarms said soldier with his bare hands -- see the gifs below:

And if you're thinking, "Hang on a mo'! That guy looks familiar!", then yes, you are absolutely correct! The first time I saw the cover of my grandmother's Cadfael DVD boxset, I actually had a bit of a knee-jerk fear reaction -- as in, reflexively yeeted myself halfway across the living room backwards -- simply because Derek Jacobi's performance in The Final Fifteen was just that effective! (Nothing was bruised except my dignity, and the only witnesses were a cat or two, who've so far kept quiet about it) He is just as skilled at playing good/heroic characters as he is at portraying terrifyingly evil villains :D

It's impossible to say, now, whether or not Terry Pratchett was consciously influenced by the Cadfael Chronicles when working up Aziraphale's character, but given that he was a voracious reader and Brother Cadfael made his print debut in 1977, it's reasonable to assume that he was at the very least aware of them. Certainly, they were a part of the referential sea in which he was swimming while writing Good Omens -- and I bet you anything the Ineffable Husbands like the books as well! (I'm less certain about whether they'd watch the TV series, though, given the lead actor's uncomfortable resemblance to the Metatron)

Thanks for reading!

[badgalsasuke]

Honestly when you read the current plotline in boruto it became so annoying how they steal sns plots for their lil ships while not giving those two some more room independent of the kids' story. Especially when something major happened to them a few chapters ago like naruto losing kurama and sasuke losing his rinnegan. What's going on rn in their arc is that boruto and kawaki's like, switched places where everyone in the village now has an altered memory of the two where boruto is seen as some kind of enemy of the state and is a suspect for naruto's "murder" which leads him to become a rogue missing nin (hence all the sasuke wardrobe lol). While Kawaki is the one who is the hokage's son and loved and protected by everyone. This is done because kawaki believes boruto needs to be killed to ensure naruto's safety (something about some alien powers possessing boruto and how it's a threat to naruto) so he put naruhina in a coma so that naruto can't stop him and made a deal with ada to make everyone in the village believe that boruto killed naruto so that its easier to kill him when he's hated by everyone (stupid plot i tell you). So now everyone in the village believe in this spell and loathes boruto except sarada, who is immune to the spell and believes in his innocence. They even have a scene where sarada pleads to shikamaru as the acting hokage to spare boruto or something. Literally stealing from five kage arc where naruto pleads to the raikage. There's also the whole sun and moon monologue about mitsuki and boruto, once again paralleling sns. Sns itself in this arc is mildly touched upon, more than the other ships for sure but they're also there to amplify borusara more I think. There is a focus on sasuke's headband but it's mainly used to prop boruto's character development in fighting kawaki. Also, when the spell first broke out, Sasuke also believes in them and loathes boruto for a while because he believes he killed naruto before it was Sarada who convinced him that everyone's memory has been altered. Sarada awakens her Mangekyou while pleading with Sasuke so that's also what convinced him to help Boruto and went rogue with him (again lol, and there is also absolutely no mention of sakura at all throughout all of this, which pleases me deeply). When Sasuke sees boruto again he sees the headband he gave and that's also another thing that convince him that his memory's altered. Somewhere during their rogue time Sasuke was defeated by a tree god which made him stuck there, just a mere plot to make boruto be "alone" without his parental figures and mentor I think. We're gonna have to wait for the plot point where sasuke and naruto are back from the coma to see if the writer might actually develop more to these two but i doubt it tbh. Ikemoto might grasp the significance of their bond but nothing will ever hit like the stuff Kishimoto where writing about them. The best we can get is probably some more acknowledgement of their bond while borusara will be endgame.

Hi anon!

The whole thing sound very dumb and stupid ngl LMAOO

Idk but I never liked the inclusion of alien shit in the Naruto universe, to me is one of the worst things Kishimoto ever did.

Anyway, it's not a Sasuke clone but the actual Sasuke that did the whole thing w/ the headband and that weird comment of "I'm gonna gave to show my resolve too" or something like that? lol and the whole thing about the tree happened after that conversation with Boruto... hmmmm.

Isn't Kishimoto now writing the story? he's given interviews that it was Ikemoto writing it based on the outline he wrote before the series started but he has to approve everything Ikemoto writes. The cover of the manga doesn't really specify who is writing the story. Usually you have "written by" and "art by", but here they dropped that. Ikemoto does the art but the creator (of what? the franchise or the story?) is Kishimoto and he supervises Ikemoto but to what extent?

Boruto is too confusing to me, idk what is going on, I just wait for other blogs to point out whatever is happening between Naruto and Sasuke.

[lyca-universal]

Retrospective on Kappa and Siren's first meeting (2/2)

This post will be a continuation of that one :

Now Let's Continue!

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

5. Caring for someone

Just after this lighthearted interaction, Siren reveals to Kappa that he was not what he expected. It's a sensitive subject for him, causing him to act very vulnerable again (my poor baby).

And what happens next is something that I didn't notice so much when I first read it, but now it feels really precious and powerful.

Kappa gets upset and we see him and we see him turn his back on Siren.

AAAAH the gentle touch on the cell bars I’m melting-hum, sorry-

So we see Siren trying to comfort Kappa, realizing how upset he made him.

Everything about this moment feels great and so SO right, so let me expand on why that is ^^

On one hand, Siren is just so caring and gentle. When he tilts his head slightly when he says "hey", it melts my heart. But most importantly, it puts him in the position of being the one to comfort someone. It's something he feels he hasn't been able to do his whole life, with everyone doting on him and worrying about his welfare and HIS only.

Interestingly, Siren's "thank you" here feels like a parallel to Kappa's thanking people for complimenting his scales when he doesn't like it but feels bad saying it out loud 🤔

But anyway, going back on track !

Siren has always been the one taken care of, but has rarely had the opportunity to take care of everyone. Not to mention the guilt he feels for being the one to stop the curse from happening while his people suffer, yet he feels unable to do what he "needs" to do to stop it. A very complicated and difficult situation.

Kudos to the author for showing such complex emotions and dynamics. Because on the surface it would be like "Siren is loved by everyone and treated like a hero, how could that be hard to deal with?" when in fact it is and the story illustrates it. This makes Siren feel even more isolated in his feelings, with really no one who seems to be able to understand or relate to him and his struggles, let alone see them (but more on that in a post about their second meeting, now GOING BACK ON TRACK)

The thing is, Siren has SUCH a caring, protective side to him. And here he's able to show care for someone and be in the position of being the one who comforts the other for what really seems to be the first time in his life. And it all feels really natural, spontaneous. Without any sense of guilt between them. Siren really needed to have someone to comfort, to showcase, maybe even realize that part of him.

°

On the other hand, we have Kappa showing how upset he is and how angry he is with Siren. But don't get me wrong :

That's such SUCH a good thing for me !

Let's put some context back here : Kappa is the Beacon, he's used to people seeing him for their own benefit, hardly like a person, more like a figure/object to be used. The first hours of his life he was literally yelled at for not doing things the way they were expected while he was a literal TODDLER.

Imagine the effect it must have had on such a young child. How messed up it was. But more importantly, how it forged him into not valuing his own feelings at all.

Back to the current scene. He's actually LOCKED UP in a dungeon. He's facing the prince of a cursed kingdom who has to kill him to end the suffering of his people. The guy is much stronger and bigger than him. He has a deadly weapon, but he can do whatever he wants to him without much effort. Considering his prophecy, he doesn't seem to have any reason to go easy on him.

YET, in the span of a few words exchanged, he's in a situation where he's upset, and this guy crouches down and apologizes to him for scaring him.

He’s not even apologizing because he must kill him. But he apologizes for scaring him, for hurting his feelings. For something as “trivial”.

We went from a guy who was like "you have to kill me? okay, fine, I don't want to resist because I don't want to upset you" to "you scared me and were insensitive, I'm angry >:(" xDDD

But not only Kappa was able to express his feelings, Siren valued them and responded to it. 

Despite the situation he's in, we see him feel safe enough to express his feelings and be angry at the guy who was supposed to KILL HIM. We see him feel WAY safer and more comfortable than he felt around people in castles who didn't have to kill him, all while he was swimming free.

Poor baby's bar is under the ground about the care and attention he deserves from people, especially people he's bound to by a prophecy. Yet, not only did our amazing Siren set no expectations for him, not only did he not blame him for anything, he even APOLOGIZED for upsetting HIM. Thus showing him consideration he likely barely had in his life. 

They need to get to know each other better, they haven't bonded yet. But these few interactions convey how comfortable they are with each other and how their interactions bring so much to each other, something they barely had and brings them positive emotions.

Last note to conclude that part, I find it cute how Kappa's tendency to cross his arms whenever he’s upset at Siren remains 150 episodes or so later. It’s really cute xD

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

6. The right thing

Afterwards, Siren mentions that he's going to free him. This seems to take him by surprise.

I guess he knew that Siren wouldn't kill him, sure, but there was still a prophecy, and he had nothing to gain by freeing him. Listening to him, Kappa goes back to his vulnerable expression, which expresses how he feels like acting for himself isn't even something to consider.

I find it very telling that the first thing that comes to his mind is "don't the other sharks want this?" as if what HE wanted was off the table. Which was true most of the time, unfortunately TwT

But for the first time in his life, someone is talking about acting for HIM and HIM alone, with nothing to gain. Not even that, choosing him DESPITE supposedly having more to gain by killing him now.

But he doesn't seem to be fully aware of it, doesn't trust it yet. I think at this point it's really hard for him to believe that anyone would ever do that for him, let alone a prince from a cursed kingdom who supposedly needs him DEAD. "Even if you're serious" is really telling in this part.

It might sound like something Siren said without thinking, and then he would immediately retract his words, realizing that he's still the Beacon and he can't possibly do that.

But that doesn't happen, on the contrary, Siren even doubles down on his statements with genuine confidence :

First, their physical proximity in this scene. Siren casually puts his face close to Kappa's. And the way Kappa reacts, he seems surprised, but not as uncomfortable as when people casually make physical contact with him and drag him around.

He seems surprised, but not bothered. It was probably unintentional on Siren's part, he tends to get close when he is caught up in his emotions. But it just feels right, again because their interactions feel respectful, on a similar scale, like two equals. Kappa isn't looked down on or tossed around and stuff like that.And it's so funny that the time he got that respectful treatment was in a FREAKING CELL xD

(Lil anecdote : when I first came across CS's image, it was from scenes in the dungeon in Season 1. So I had no idea what CS was about at that point. I knew that one of the characters was imprisoned, but I really didn't know which one. Because from the picture I came across, they both seemed so cool, and the prison always felt more like a hanging place than a literal, you know… dungeon xD Again, I think it was really telling.)

But now let's focus on what Siren actually says and how important it is. Not only does he express his confidence that he will be able to escape, he also expresses his commitment to doing the "right thing".

People who rely on the beacon usually put their burden on one person and expect the beacon to be a miracle solution, they wouldn't consider another option most of the time. Siren comes across as someone who is deeply guided by his morals and would rather find the way to make the "morally good" decision, even if it ends up being difficult. This is not common, not at all.

It's clearly not something Kappa is used to seeing in someone, and Siren deserves a lot of credit for that, imo.

They both bring something that the other deeply needs. Kappa needed someone to bring him this kindness without expecting anything in return, as everyone in his life does. But it also works the other way around. Siren needed motivation to act on his own, to realize what he was capable of. By acting for someone else, he's also acting for himself. He's not burdened by his bad self-image, by what his people expect of him, by his guilt, he's really thinking about standing up for what he thinks is right.

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

7. The name reveal

And then we get to the scene where Kappa tells Siren his name. Again, I love this moment.

Kappa is first addressed as "the Beacon". When he asks to be called Kappa, his request also implies that he wants to be considered a normal being, not a divine being.

His name is very symbolic to him, it often feels like a big deal when he reveals his name and wants to be addressed by it. In other words, he's asserting himself as a person and going against what he feels he's supposed to be, aka a tool to fulfill prophecies. But sometimes he just doesn't share it because it's clear that with the way people treat him, it's not even worth considering.

But with Siren, it felt really cute

It was a heartfelt moment. The way I interpreted it is that Kappa didn't have to ask to be treated like a person: he already was. And it was one of the really REALLY rare occasions where he was treated as a person without having to ask. So I feel like the fact that he was able to share it so confidently and easily is really a testament to how trusting and comfortable Siren makes him feel. And I think it also shows that he is starting to have positive feelings about him despite the whole situation. And Siren, being the absolute sweetheart that he is, immediately went through with it.

Not only that, but it makes him blush once again. Because that's what's really important to him, getting to know the name of the person he’s developing a crush on. And gosh that’s so sweet, I’m so soft for them.

.

.

To expand on the whole "name reveal talk" before moving on, because I find it interesting: In other cases, some people who used to call him "Beacon" will evolve and use his actual name, like the amazing queens Nee and Krilli. But there are also cases where characters, similar to Siren, have already considered Kappa to be his own person, and the name reveal also felt like a way to make it "official", and they immediately went along with it. It's those two sweethearts :

And then there is Neth xDDDDDD

But she's a QUEEN so it's ok for her. (Nethimir is a freaking goat I love her so freaking much).

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

8. Last thoughts

THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE AAAAAAAAAAAH

Kappa blushing for the first time, he probably realised Siren actually was attractive without the giant deadly spear on his hands xD Meanwhile Siren being a cute mess xD

Something we can notice in retrospect, I think, is how smiling Kappa is overall in this chapter. Yes, he was really scared and his current situation sucks. But the way he was all soft and smiling at the end is way more than he used to be. (Because our poor boy's life SUCKS)

I also really like this moment :

The fact that Siren actually THANKS HIM for handing him the spear. And look how happy our boi is 🥺

Again, it may not seem like much at first. But we're talking about the guy who got yelled at as a baby for getting a prophecy wrong. Yeah, I know I've said it countless times, but it's just a little reminder of how fucked up our little boy really is xDD

Bringing back this scene. Kappa felt as a BABY that if things got bad, it’s because HE did something wrong and was responsible. 

Here, he might have expected to be considered responsible for not dying. And not only this guy spared him despite his prophecy, he's thanking him for something as trivial and handing him his spear back.

Then Siren leave the dungeon

I think it was implied that Kappa didn't immediately have a crush on Siren. Which makes sense, the situation didn't leave him too much mental space to see the guy who was supposed to kill him as a love interest. HOWEVER, he does seem to be smitten, smiling already. And we know that no one has ever been this nice to him before.

(Well, except for that damn golden woman I want to talk about sometime, don't worry, I won't forget that wonderful being with a V-name who will be immortalized in my heart).

I would like to end the retrospective with this moment, which for me is a good summary :

Mucku is the best and asks the right questions.💞

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

That's all for now! I had so much fun revisiting all those moments, I really like how well their relationship is built from the beginning. Needless to say, I really love them xD

Thanks for reading ! 🩵🧡

[ananke-xiii]

"The Born-Again Identity" is one of those SPN ep that I like despite the fact that there are so many things in it that drive me a little bit insane (truth be told, in part it's only my fault cause I can never completely turn up the "suspension of disbelief" volume and I go to a default "but why?" mindset everytime I see something on screen, so okay it's a *just me* problem). However, I do think that S7 was not that bad and it had some quite intriguing and original ideas while the execution was... well, let's say clunky. So, all in all, I think this episode is kinda cool.

the things that drive me a little bit insane:

the imagery of sam desperately running alone in the night along some tracks in a supposedly dangerous part of town. The "derailing" and "going off the tracks" symbolism was a bit on the nose; him buying drugs from the "tweaker" and sleeping with the guy in his car: mmm I feel like that was, like. a lot. to be just thrown away like that.

sam being admitted to the hospital with no mention of said drugs use and the whole scene with the doctor telling dean that they had to put sam in the locked psychiatric floor. I don't know, it also feels like.a lot. and.all of a sudden. they could ease into that way better, it's too ham-fisted as in: we have to find a way to put sam in an horror asylum-like facility in less than 5 minutes for the ep to make sense. so that what feels like to me.

daphne. everything about her drives me insane. I have a whole story where she has to clean up the mess dean has made and hide the body of the demon or something. she'll later start her own private hero's journey to find emmanuel and bring him back to their white picket fence life so perfect and so based on manipulation and stockholm syndrome.

the demons showing up at the grocery store. like what? it was established just a few scenes before when dean told the demon that he was "hands-off" or something and that the demon was actually looking for emmanuel. so why oh why would the other demons look for dean when there's emmanuel.alone.in.the.car. nonsense.

that one demon torturing sam with the electroshock. what was the point? why were demons there anyway? weren't the brothers hands off? maybe i missed something here but to me just felt like "asylum ep= electroshock scene is a must" and meh.

sam leaving the hospital.just.like.that and "swapping place" with cas. i'm sorry, what? i won't even comment on meg being suddenly hired as a nurse cause okay i want to give the writers that, but wtf? oh okay, this guy that has just showed up here (and has definitely possibly murdered 4 or 5 people at the entrance) is maybe not okay, let's not call his wife or someone, let's just lock him up. whaaaaat?

the quite intriguing and original ideas:

the cas/sam parallel: they are both evidently mentally unstable for very different reasons. cas has, in a way, "left the life" and dean, of all people!!!, is not 100% cool with him regaining his memories because what if he leaves???? sam is quite literally very close to leave life in general because the trauma is affecting his body in an irreversible way. they are both "born" again identities at the beginning and at the end of the episode. Very cooooool.

sam and lucifer interactions: the actors really did their job well in this ep cause everytime I watch it I'm exhausted, like I can't bear to hear Lucifer talk and talk and taunt and I definitely feel worn out like sam. I think Jared works very well with Mark Pellegrino, too bad that the whole Lucifer storyline was a mess in later seasons cause the actors had great chemistry.

meg. every scene with meg is just joy for me. and her storyline? left alone looking for "friends"? sure, she totally plans to use cas as her ally but what's new? (jokes aside, there's a whole pattern of women manipulating and using cas, am i the only one seeing it???).

marin. first of all, hello abigail????? (hannibal memories flooding in). second of all, cool MoTW-Not-So-Much-MoTW story. ofc she's a sam's mirror used to basically explain what happened to sam but the ghost who's tormenting her is also her brother and he must die-die-die because he won't let her go. hello??? paralleling sam's hallucinations with sam's issues with dean was super intriguing and too bad that the MoTW was Not-So-Much-MoTW cause marin's story was maybe not even 8 minute long.

bonus: "Peace of Mind" from S14 echoes this ep brillianty, they even cast one of the same actors (the doctor/the mayor) and they used the same surname for sam (sam smith/justin smith). cool cool cool (although unrelated to s7).

[parachutingkitten]

Okay, this has been bothering me, and I'm gonna go into it, cuz I feel like being mad that the fandom didn't get better is friggin valid, so imma get negative here at some serious missed potential, if that's not your jam, 100% get it, please scroll past.

We have a season with 20 episodes, each of which are 20 minutes long. That is an unprecedented amount of time for a ninjago season- I would argue maybe too much time, but that's not what we're getting into here. Even just the first half is the length of your standard ninjago season back in the day. There is no excuse for not taking your time with ideas that deserve time. You've got time. You've got too much time.

If you're gonna do a mystical mind prison that traps you in your worst fears, you gotta do it! You can't do this wimpy half commit thing you're doing here. What is this cop out that's like three minutes long? This is a top tier trope! Loads of stories do this- for a good reason, it's a great way to get lots of new insight into your characters, not to mention have fun with environments, hypotheticals, bend logic, and do some creative filmmaking. And here you are, inventing a whole weird fictional animal to facilitate your nightmare state, and it legitimately takes up so little screen time that it hurts! What? Did you not have enough to say about your characters to fill out a full subplot? You thinking that surface level about things? Or was the basketball tournament fake out with the dragons so important to the story that you couldn't cut it out for some character introspection?

It's so short and pointless, it doesn't functionally do anything except tell us very directly "Here's what this character fears, and will have to get past this season!" No looking into why or making some progress/losing progress on the issue in the dream state. We don't even get to see everyone's visions, let alone see any interconnectivity between them. It's just such a waste of a classically exciting set up. And why on earth would you place this concept at the beginning of the season? Put it at the turning point man! That's what this scenario is made for! Literalizing characters overcoming mental challenges so that it's interesting to watch! Using the nightmare dream sphere for exposition in the most boring possible version of the trope is just dumbfounding.

I mean seriously? The black void? That's all you've got? You gonna go the Cars 2 route and set our supposedly deep nightmare sequence in a black void? No symbolism to the void even? No distorting of visuals within the void? Nothing? Can you get any more basic? Did you really put that little creativity into this? Like, the whole point of the nightmare dreamscape is to get creative! So much symbolism and messaging that you can easily tie into things! the possibilities are literally endless! But yeah, I guess Arin running in place is pretty meaningful too, I'm sure it took you a while to come up with something so profound.

There's a reason this story beat usually makes up at least half the plot of any given episode it's in! There's so much room to explore. The potential for crosscutting between nightmares is so high, drawing parallels between characters. Maybe they're all interconnected, and the mentally strongest of the team breaks free to help the others in their nightmares. Maybe it's a revelation point for the rest of the team as they see a dark past of another character they didn't know about. Or maybe it's just the audience who gets new insight into a sheltered corner of a character's mind, or a way to reveal to them a dark secret someone is hiding. You can also have fun subverting expectations, maybe one of the nightmares is just objectively pretty funny. And, the best thing about any dream environment you're creating, you can have the characters get involved in insanely creative fights and action scenes where they literally beat up their mental roadblocks with cool looking and symbolically important powers or tools.

Like, I know the fandom is losing their mind over this scene because 'omg Nya's gonna be so sad cuz of the memory loss(that hasn't even been revealed in narrative yet, so the irony doesn't even really work)' but I just need you to understand that the full fledged angst, character growth, and introspection y'all are speculating could have theoretically happened in Kai's plot is what we could have had for everyone. For a full episode. Like it deserved to be. And it would have been really cool, and really satisfying, and beautifully and symbolically stunning, because countless other people have done it, it's honestly not too difficult. Stop freaking out like they did a good job with this- they didn't do a good job with this. They couldn't even bother to give everyone a vision, they just gave up on the concept halfway through.

Not to mention how accessible and valuable this type of storytelling is to kids! Literalizing some of the big abstract issues these characters are supposedly battling this season would be a great way to get kids to grasp these ideas, but instead it's literally like two and a half minutes of slightly ominous stuff to bate us before we move on.

Stop teasing us with interesting stuff and then not actually following through! This is not how you do storytelling!

[professionallydeadinside]

Hey babe what the fuck are you talking about <3 you can’t give us all the context and NOT go into more specifically

OKAY BUCKLE UP I AM READY TO TALK WKSKSKDK

So the manga is called "Ookumo-chan Flashback" and the basic premise is that the main character Minoru occasionally has flashbacks that show him memories his father had when he was Minoru’s age. The memories are of his father falling in love with his mother (Ookumo chan). So Minoru struggles with his feelings towards his mother because he’s literally experiencing his father falling in love with her. (Oh I forgot to say but the father is dead he passed away when Minoru was like 5ish? Somewhere in that area)

BUT while he’s getting these flashbacks he started to realize that his classmate Ninomae starts to be a “trigger” for memories (the memories happen when Minoru does something similar like for example if his father had a memory of eating food with Ookumo then that memory would trigger in Minoru if he was eating with his mother.)

Now the whole thing is that some people only see the fact that Minoru gets flustered thinking about his mom and take it as fucking gospel but you have to remember that Minoru is a 16 year old boy and all of the flashbacks are from his 16ish year old father as he literally falls in love with Ookumo!! Of course that is going to affect Minoru and how he sees his mother!!!

But also a huge thing is that he is literally the man of the house. He takes care of meals when he has to and he makes sure his mother stays on track with things like work. A lot of his affection for his mother is just him feeling an extra responsbility to take care of her.

(Context of the scene is that it's Ookumo's birthday and she says how Minoru will probably stop celebrating her birthday with her because he'll have a girlfriend to spend time with so Minoru makes the excuse that he's not popular with girls.)

Before this scene, Minoru has a memory of when his mother and father celebrated her birthday when they were teenagers and Ookumo says how she can't wait for them to celebrate many more birthdays together and grow old with each other. Minoru then reveals that his father died being only 27. MINORU CLEARLY FEELS LIKE ITS HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO BE THERE FOR HER BECAUSE HIS FATHER CANT!! He feels like he can't leave his mother because he doesn't want her to feel alone!! He cares about his mother and with his father not there combined with Minoru experiencing his memories, that's enough to explain why Minoru gets so flustered sometimes thinking of his mom/Ookumo chan

BUT..... NINOMAE... SHE CHANGES ALL OF THAT....Minoru uses what his father’s memories are showing him and also seeing how his own mother reacted to his father and he begins to get closer and closer to Ninomae until he stops feeling conflicted about what his feelings towards his mother are because he feels more deeply for Ninomae. It stops going from "oh I should do this because that's what my father would've done for my mother' and more "I did this thing and it turns out that its what my father did for my mother". The things Minoru starts doing for Ninomae is because it just seems obvious for him to do for her. BECAUSE HE LIKES HER THE WAY HIS FATHER LIKED OOKUMO!! THE WHOLE THING IS THAT THEY ARE PARALLELS TO EACH OTHER!!

AND THEN THIS!!! THIS WAS A TURNING POINT TO ME!!! Because Minoru begins to see that his love life is differing from his parents' and he'll need to make his own moves! His parents were in the same class their second year but him and Ninomae are in different ones, so he asks her to hang out because he still wants to be close to her!! And this is the first time he puts Ninomae above his mother (his mother asks him if he and Ninomae want to do something in celebration of the first day and he turns her down) AND THATS WHEN HE STARTS TO REALIZE HE LIKES NINOMAE MORE!!!

THAT'S THE TIPPING POINT!! That's when Minoru starts to understand what his fathers memories were doing for him! They were showing him how to act with Ninomae and when Minoru finally goes out on his own to fully pursue Ninomae, he starts to act like how his father did with Ookumo

AND!!!! AFTER HE CONFESSES HE REALIZES HE DIDN'T GET A MEMORY OF HIS PARENTS BECAUSE HE CONFESSED IN A DIFFERENT WAY!!!

HE'S GOING TO STOP SEEING FLASHBACKS BECAUSE HE DOESNT NEED THEM! BECAUSE HE HAS NINOMAE!!! It's truly a more serious look at the Oedipus complex because Minoru very much falls in love with someone that resembles his mother but its not BECAUSE Ninomae acts like his mom. It's because Minoru sees that he can love Ninomae in the same way his father loved his mother.

AND THEN THE ENDING WHEN WE SEE OOKUMO CUT HER HAIR SHORT!!! AND IT TURNS OUT IT WAS SHORT WHEN SHE WAS IN HIGHSCHOOL!!!!! IT ALL LEADING TO THIS PAGE (Minoru has that amulet on his bag and inside is a photo of Ookumo in highschool with short hair, she looks a lot like Ninomae)

BECAUSE THATS ALL IT WAS!!!!! IT WAS JUST MINORU'S FATHER TRYING TO GUIDE HIS SON INTO FINDING A GOOD WOMAN TO FALL IN LOVE WITH BECAUSE MINORU'S FATHER LOVED OOKUMO SO MUCH HE WANTED HIS SON TO BE AS HAPPY AS HE WAS!!!!!! IT WAS NEVER ABOUT HOW MINORU FELT ABOUT HIS MOTHER. IT WAS ABOUT HOW HIM SEEING HIS PARENTS RELATIONSHIP HELPED HIM DEVELOP HIS OWN. The very end reflects this too because the final panels are Minoru calling his mother pretty, when previously we see him struggle to say a lot of things to his mother because he's afraid of his own subconscious. (There's a scene where Minoru gets invited by his mom and his mom's editor (Ookumo works as a mangaka) to go to the pool and even though Minoru wants to, he declines because he thinks it'll be weird if he says that he wants to go to the pool with them because of the implication his mother would be in a bikini.) But because he has Ninomae now, he doesn't fluster or get embarrassed. He's able to be more open and genuine with his mother because he's no longer worried about the possibility of his father's feelings intertwining with his.

Anyway. I'm Normal :]