#liveblogging something that's for sure

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

....okay the ebook i'm reading on libby is seriously starting to piss me off. why are there so many typos??? why is the sentence structure so weird??? what the HELL is with the commas???

like seriously. did they upload a draft without the final edits??? this is a professionally published book, and, more than that, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES WASN'T LIKE THIS. hello, imprint of harper fucking collins, you have two hours to fix your ebook before i go into a frothing rage

[mihotose]

anyway probably the best way to play disco elysium is to not zone out when its talking politics at you. its the talking politics at you game

[yb-cringe]

the way qjaiden shows love is so subtle you would barely even see it unless you watched her vods. legit. like i think she and roier are very similar in that they’re not great with being outwardly caring or good with their words so everything is so Minuscule.

like qjaiden is there for Any dodgy conversations that qroier has. she was watching any convos he had go down in case he needed her. she immediately started looking into who ruined the venue. she spots anyone who looks shifty to scope them out. she immediately jumps to his side if he asks and picks him up the second he goes down.

its all just small really quiet things that she doesnt do for others that say So much because she they just dont do compassion and care the way like cellbit does. its not words, it’s action for them.

[djevelbl]

Guess what tf I'm watching nowwww

[completeoveranalysis]

[5]

I kind of love the difference between them here. Watanuki finally gets a little moment of joy and immediately wishes that someone else he doesn’t even know that well could also be as happy as him. 

And Doumeki admits that she probably would if she actually ate it. The bold black background to the bottom frame really emphasises the judgement Doumeki is making here. The way he says it really hones in on the fact that she is the only one that’s holding herself back from accepting such an easy joy. 

It’s an interesting parallel to the little personal journey Watanuki just went through - being afraid of something, initially saying no, but then pushing himself and doing it anyway to get a great result. The customer could have the same exact journey if she can find the same drive that Watanuki did. If she never eats it, the only one she can blame is herself. 

Especially with Watanuki trying SO HARD to provide her with opportunities.

... Actually if you think about it that way, maybe Watanuki has the right strategy. If he had to be annoyed at Doumeki to the point that he'd rather eat the cookie than admit his fears, if Watanuki annoys the customer enough it might have the same result!

[sparring-spirals]

So. I think its worth noting that Laudna works to match the energy of other people in conversations, and I think its most evident here, with Ashton, but i feel like it is something she generally does. And she's, honestly, very good at.

Despite the cheery demeanor and the *waves hands around black goo* Laudna, especially in one on one conversations, will- be a little more hopeful, comforting, with a rattled Imogen. Gleeful and enthused with Fearne and fire, appreciative of fine art and craftsmanship with Chetney. And like, not within absurd extents, people do this all time.

But with Ashton, it becomes VERY apparent, because Ashton's vulnerability and Ashton's talks with Laudna especially are laid on foundations of. Harsh honesty. Pressing into bruises to see where the other person is hurt (to let them know you see them, that you're there for them). And Laudna matches it! Its something that's very- lots of teeth, but not quite a threat. They trade harsh questions and dismissive statements and painful honesty, a barter of vulnerability and discomfort. It is a sign of- respect.

And this conversation, I think, shows the extent to which Laudna has figured out how to navigate this, with Ashton, specifically. The barbed questions, the tit-for-tat of statements that press into recent bruises and offer up your own. It is not perfected yet, there are still statements that brush too far, moments where they bite back reflexively, where they mean it- i know loneliness. i literally pledged myself to one of the worst people Ive ever met, to work for them for years, for a bunch of people I haven't seen since.

But at the end of it all, Laudna cuts the hovering, the layers of back and forth, and sinks in a little deeper- "I've never known such kindness. And maybe, Ashton, you should cut yourself some slack, and let yourself feel the same."

At the end of it all- Ashton answers her questions, in their own way- about his past, about their losses, about the love for this new group and the fear with that.

"You know, I love you all, just a little bit."

"And you hate us just a little bit too."

They ask "Did you just what The Fuck Is Up With That me?" and that's the crux of it, right? Learning languages, prickly as they are.

[ying-doodles]

// webtoon spoilers (ep 158)

... amazing how the manhwa can give us such a good episode and then immediately do a 180 right into the dirt.. (ᄑ_ᄑ )

I don't know what I was expecting for javier's explanation but it certainly wasn't whatever the fck he said-

'I don't intend to forget our gratefulness for that. but... we're inevitably worried about our real son.' ough,, OTL

I do enjoy watching javier have an internal crisis over whether to tell them the truth or not fuhuhu.. tbh it was sorely needed since they got rid of his questioning lloyd's identity so early!

what will it be? :)

... hold on. wait a second. I'm sorry, WHAT?? BRAIN DAMAGE?? THAT'S YOUR ANGLE??

also javier with the steel face looks. so wrong-

arcos and marbella being like (⊙_⊙) is so real of them cause no actually though, what the fck are you on about javier??

augh, arcos apologizing for og lloyd's behaviour-

aughfkdk gangster javier?? hello?? 🤨🤨🤨

'isn't it natural that I'd grow up a little misguided?' bro what are you saying,, 'we didn't even notice that...!' because he didn't!! he's lying to you!! don't you realize how out of character all of this is?? 😭

tarnishing his own reputation to cover lloyd..

honestly og lloyd yelling at javier to go die out on the streets sounds about right. he would do that. but javier losing his temper and smacking him in the back of his head though? insane-

(I mean he did punch him in the stomach in the novel but that was only after he was blackout drunk so he wouldn't remember.. and he didn't cause fcking brain damage?? though this is a fake flashback anyway so... I don't know what point I'm making nevermind thought cancelled-)

so let me get this straight: javier's excuse for lloyd being so different was that he hit him in the back of the head so hard that it. fixed him?? what the absolute fuck,, literally beating some sense into him...

also side note, return of lloyd with bangs tho omg I missed himb!! he's so cute- ❤️❤️❤️

not him causally trying to commit seppuku?? 😭 also them thanking javier for beating up their son is fcked up man,, I can't imagine how they'll feel once they find out the actual truth- OTL

they're the worst omg,, partners in crime (derogatory)-

'we just heard something way more surprising' yeah, that javier, who you've always known to be calm and stoic, fcking beat lloyd so hard he got brain damage?? yeah no that IS surprising!

although.. lloyd having multiple clairvoyant dreams about people dying should at least worry them to some extent I think,,

'as long as you stay healthy, that's enough!' d'aww okay, that got me,, qwq

after this is lloyd getting the compliment linked effect and them starting construction but I'm nearing the photo limit so uh cut to heaven which is literally a castle in the sky oml-

andddd they made gabriel a middle-aged man.. what the hell.. him calling verkis a cursed lizard tho ahdjdjsk-

... aph germany, is that you?? huh?? uh anyways, an angel is about to descend to earth woo-

[heartcircus]

its funny that everyone dislikes the pacifism on the server when like . half of them are actively planning on breaking their pacifist streak eventually

[demento-mori]

oh shit oh fuck theyre onto us

[q-starhalo]

Honestly, I love how Tubbo instantly wanted to show Bad his potato farm and stuff <33

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 11 thoughts

dare i say it… new favorite episode?

whatever expectations i had, they were blown away. usually the episode after a two episode arc feels weird and stiff, but this? this hit every box on a checklist i didn’t even know i had.

i’m bouncing off the walls right now. i'm pacing my room and mumbling to myself while gesticulating wildly. i am filled with an energy that caffeine has not ONCE given me. and it's called "your character, that is so near and dear to you, got an episode dedicated just to exploring their inner life and workings and belief system and faith in God and the world". try it if you get a chance.

so let us begin. let me give you my verbatim notes, so you can watch the excitement grow.

oh boy! oh boy oh boy! i am excited! and i know by now to not expect any real continuation from the last episode, but i’m still excited because the last two were so good! and this one is like… good omens? with a kid that can start the end of the world?

wow. never have i thought to myself, how would mulder and scully handle biblical revelations? but here i am. wondering it.

hope the kid is chill. hope he has good vibes. mulder will like him anyway because he’s actually a huge softie but still better if he’s got good vibes.

we open on a sermon. the priest or pastor- depending on the denomination- whatever his title is, he is talking about faith. saying that miracles are real. and now he’s shaking and moaning. is this one of those churches?

OH HE’S BLEEDING from between his knuckles like some sort of blood wolverine. people are looking at him, thinking, what is going on? and this is something i am also wondering. maybe it was fake though…. little capsules in his hands, maybe???

he’s dabbing off his makeup now. as a man enters his dressing room. saying that some people really do believe. but he’s being weird.

and then this guy escalates to murder. and when he touches this pastor he’s burning up??? huh??? a firebender?? in pennsylvania??

THE INTRO WAS DIFFERENT AGAIN THIS TIME. WHY DOES IT CHANGE. i have come to know these beats VERY well!! they are like a heartbeat to me. you cannot simply alter them as you see fit!

scully looking at the body of the dead pastor/priest, talking about how it looks like rope burns around his neck. mulder crouching VERY close by.

HEHEHEHEHE mulder is like “he was bleeding from his hands like the crucifixion” and scully goes “stigmata?” heheheheheeeee i’m blushing

(talking about belief systems is apparently a way to my heart? like c'mon, tell me how you understand the universe and which elements you surrender to knowing that you will never comprehend. you look cute while doing it)

no wounds on the hands, though… so mulder licks the blood. and i froze JUST as scully makes this horrified face... i’m CRYING. yes, it is fake blood, and yes, he has some on his lips and teeth, and yes, its adorable. but what a risky move!

ohhh he was wearing a sugar pump sort of thing! yum yum. couldn't be me, i'd be slurping that.

so mulder has been tracking religious murders related to stigmatics (excellent word!)

scully’s talking about how certain people believe at any given time there are 12 stigmatics in the world. and they represent the 12 apostles. and i’m blushing terribly.

nods solemnly. i am learning a lot about myself through this show.

scully you are so preeeeetty. 

okay, cut to elementary school in ohio. kevin is blowing spitballs. his teacher is bullying him into doing math on the board. when all of a sudden, his hands start bleeding!! and we see that he has the holes!!!

he’s in the nurse’s office still when mulder and scully show up. damn how did they get to ohio that fast… OHHH they had put out an FBI alert and maybe this happened more than once.  yes, this is exactly what is explained mere moments after i made the initial comment.

so it happened BEFORE, and they assumed it was an incident of abuse, but it wasn’t proven. still, his dad was institutionalized after saying Kevin was chosen by God. okay! things escalated. 

scully is talking to the boy. she feels his forehead and says he feels feverish. okay doctor!! and she says he is very brave. queen. smart and kind.

mulder is meeting kevin’s mom. explaining that he might be in danger from a religious fanatic.

oh! the thermometer in his mouth broke. straight up exploded. hope that was fake mercury in there.

they’re going to put kevin back “into the shelter” which i feel like would make him an easier target for a serial killer?? but on the off chance it WAS his mom, it would make him safer. so mixed feelings here.

mom yells at the teacher, teacher says she loves her job, and mulder has this excellent smile. then waves scully out to leave. it was kinda funny to me for some reason, the waving her out. quite domestic. 

mulder thinks the kid did the cuts to himself to get his father back. hmm. not buying it. so they go to talk to kevin's dad. 

dad claims the forces of darkness have been watching kevin. in the great war between good and evil. he’s really talking to scully and he says they just “come full circle to find the truth”. she says dude idk what that means?? and he says “you will” okay... i’m creeped out a bit!!!

kevin is back at the children’s home. telling a bunch of other kids scary stories. and he seems to be explaining a scary guy who is walking into the building as the storytelling goes on. just as the scary guy enters, all the kids leave. scary guy is looking at the wounds on kevin’s hands!

soon after, mulder is with the group of children who saw the guy. we learn here that mulder is 6 foot 1. which is very funny. 

kevin was abducted by the fellow it seems he was describing before his arrival!!! and his mom seems to blame scully. she looks really upset.

they see the drawing that they think does not look like a real person, and kevin’s mom is like it’s owen, who did the yard work. 

so it’s owen time. he’s carved noah’s ark and he has kevin. but he says he can’t let him go home. because it isn’t safe. he refers to himself as kevin’s guardian angel. hmm. that makes me suspicious.

owen grabs a shotgun when a car pulls up. but the agents get him to put it down and scully is on a quest to find the little dude. and he was there… but now he isn’t?

so owen says God asked him to protect kevin. 

OH ANGRY MULDER IS GONNA QUOTE SCRIPTURE AT YOU!!!!! now give him some DAMN ANSWERS!

owen is like, well YOU believe, don’t you scully, because you have that necklace on. he’s calling her a BAD CHRISTIAN??? the audacity….

then owen gets up and JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW??? and runs away??? somehow??

(mulder jumped down from the porch to chase owen, and his big coat floated around him like a cape... i giggled)

now where did this dude go...?

kevin made it home!!! he’s yelling for his mom. she doesn’t seem to be there, but someone rang the doorbell. and we only see a quick glance but it LOOKS like the killer!!! 

who burns off the doorknob with his firebending!!! so yes, it is the og killer from the start of the episode! he comes in and asks for kevin. saying he knows he’s here.

mom, now would be a good time to roll up with a gun. 

he picks up a family photo and sees kevin in a picture then checks the closet to see if he’s in there but kevin is in the hamper. and the hamper is bleeding!!! dead giveaway. 

but owen rolls up just as the firebender guy opens the hamper, and starts fighting for him!! so kevin is making a break for it!!!

he runs and runs and RUNS INTO MULDER!!!! scully is telling him that he will be okay.

they only find dead owen. no firebender.

and kevin asks scully if she was sent to protect him… she does not seem to know what to say because. do you mean like by the government... or jesus?

autopsy time!!!! she’s talking into the voice recorder like always. it always gives vlog energy. anyway, his body looks very much alive. despite the very much dead thing. 

mulder interrupts this. and scully asks him to SMELL the dude. he obliges. with only a smirk!

scully says he smells a bit… floral.

OMG!! OMG I RECOGNIZE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. they talk about it in the brothers karamazov, how a holy body is said to stay intact and even smell good when it ought to be decomposing. so the real question is: is she imagining it?

i mean, she is the body expert. so i’d want to say no. but also, this dude was playing with her head. so it’s hard to say. i'd think she would identify the body correctly no matter what, but a little smell hallucination thanks to the power of suggestion cannot be ruled out in any situation.

AND SHE TALKS ABOUT IT!! apparently it is something you learn in catechism. okay, well i just picked it up from that summer i got through that book, but we all learn somewhere. mulder is like “you’re serious?” and i feel he should be encouraging this open discussion rather than ridiculing it. AND SHE STARTS NAMING SAINTS IT HAPPENED TO!

mulder is saying that those things didn’t really happen, and i’m not taking this from alien man.

mulder has transitioned into listening mode now. OH! SCULLY! she says:

“isn’t a saint or a holy person just another term for someone who’s abnormal?”

“do you really believe that?”

“i… believe in the idea that God’s hand can be witnessed. i believe he can create miracles, yes”

“even if science can’t explain them?”

“maybe that’s just what faith is”

YES! YES I AM CHEERING AND JUMPING UP AND DOWN. we were owed a scully-centric episode, and never did i even THINK we would get something so aligned with my interests that we’d start exploring her religious beliefs and how that intertwines with her faith in science and her work. that sounds like something i’d write a fic for because it’s hyper specific to my interests. but no. this is CANON!

mulder is saying that she shouldn’t get swept up in these things (and how ironic that the roles are reversed! it’s exquisite. we’ve found his weak point, he’ll believe in anything but a Christian God)

scully is lost in thought. taking a deep breath. steeling herself.

pause. it’s a scene change. but mulder has a pencil in his teeth. it’s adorable, really. he takes it out to write something.

they pulled prints from owen’s neck!! burned right onto the skin. and they found who did it!! the man i was previously calling the firebender, his real name is simon gates, one of the south’s wealthiest men, arrested 3 years ago on a DUI. 

so then he went to israel, and this is how i learned of something called “jerusalem syndrome”, where people come back from the holy land with religious delusions. i have not heard of this before. but it could be a motive. except for the whole burning fingerprints into necks thing. i'm unfamiliar with any sort of place turning you into prince zuko.

okay, so someone saw kevin with his mom the same time he was seen with a social worker??? doubles?? twins??? ghosts??

kevin and his mom are on the side of the road with a broken down car, when who pulls up but SIMON!!

she asks what he wants and he says “i think you know”, then kevin makes a break for it.

now. can an old man outrun a child? children have small legs, but boundless energy.

BUT HE’S RUNNING?? AND ANOTHER KEVIN GETS OUT OF THE CAR??? to talk to his injured mom. then running kevin DISAPPEARED!!! AND MOM HITS THE DUDE WITH A CAR!!!

sadly, it wasn’t out of excellent aim that she hit him, but rather because she had her face smacked into the ground by simon and was concussed or something similar. she drove into a ditch. 

NO!!! KEVIN IS SAYING SHE DIED BECAUSE OF HIM. DEATH??? I JUST THOUGHT WE WERE DEALING WITH CONCUSSION HERE?

i guess it can be a quick trip from one to the next. but i'm sad for poor kevin.

scully is near him, telling him she promises she won’t let simon hurt kevin. OH LORD, YOU GOT HER PROMISING THINGS, SMALL CHILD.

he doesn’t want to go back to the shelter. and she says he doesn’t have to. are they going to take this small child for a bit….?

she avoids mulder’s gaze when telling him she wants kevin to come with them, saying she is not getting personally involved, but like mulder is gonna complain having a kid around. 

(he actually didn't seem to have his typical instincts kick in today. how curious...)

and turns out simon rented the car under the name of one of the devil’s disciples. yikes!

so creepy simon is watching this go down despite being hit by a car. 

back to the motel. scully is running kevin a bath and sees he has a big scratch on his side. from the crash… or?

mulder is fake pouting. “you never draw my bath” JCHDJSBJSND

she’s freaked out because she knows that cut was NOT there before. OH? is it the jesus spear thing??

she is busting out her theological training- he could be in two places at once, like st. ignatius! and mulder is talking about how it was all a metaphor, that bible. mulder, if you are dismissive ONE more time...

OH, I GASPED AT THIS NEXT PART. HOLD ON I NEED TO WRITE THIS DOWN:

“how is it that you’re able to go out on a limb whenever you see a light in the sky, but you’re unwilling to accept the possibility of a miracle, even when it’s right in front of you?”

“i wait for a miracle every day, but what i’ve seen here has only tested my patience, not my faith”

“well, what about what i’ve seen?” 

UGH. how PERFECT is that dialogue!!! how brilliant is that exchange!!! why is what she has seen less believable than his x files and aliens and beasts? he spends so long looking to his own stars that he’s forgotten others can form constellations as well. and how often does the narrative favor him, his thoughts running like a prey animal, chasing and chasing any sort of lead. why can’t she have something that cuts her to the quick just as deeply?

sure, science is great, science is the building block of her reality. but you can’t change the way you grew up, either, the pattern recognition, the fear of the divine. and she’s never had trouble balancing the two, we just haven’t had a reason to see them interact before, because she generally compartmentalizes the day to day world and the spiritual- and how many of us can say we do the same? probably most, if we believe in anything at all. but then it comes straight to a head- and after she has been through so much as well, losing her dad, her kidnapping, her coma, losing mulder and her job (which luckily came back), losing her sister forever- is it selfish to want there to be a caring force out in the universe?

but on the flip side, that means that there is real and genuine evil, forces of the devil and hell- unless you think it’s poetry, like mulder does. but wouldn’t that explain all the suffering she’s been through? the horrific things this job has showed her? and wouldn’t it be worth it in the end to go through that all if you know it was to be defeated?

okay i just spend so long typing that up the screen went dark. SORRY SORRY I’M COMING BACK I PROMISE!!! I JUST GET EMOTIONAL.

NOOO! a weird noise was heard, so mulder kicks down the now locked door where kevin was supposed to be taking a bath. AND THE WINDOW WAS MELTED OPEN!! so scully basically comes face to face with the evil that must be real if miracles are as well. oh! i’m eating this up.

but she promised him he would be safe! so this is not looking good!

she wants to go talk to his father again. and mulder doesn’t want to, but she is NOT taking no for an answer. 

kevin’s father is not coming up with an answer. the doctors have increased his meds and he’s very foggy. 

she asks again about the full circle to find the truth thing. and she runs out, in a daze.

mulder gets a call that there has been a simon spotting, but she doesn’t hear; she’s pointing at a recycling bin, saying that it’s arrows that form a circle. she thinks he’s at a recycling plant; he thinks he’s at the airport.

mulder asks if she thinks she’s the one that was chosen to protect him. and she says she doesn’t know; her voice cracks as she says that if she’s wrong, she’ll meet him at the airport. OH! religious burdens, the divine pressure of fate. he watches her leave, looking troubled.

at the recycling plant- and simon IS there, saying kevin has to die, for everyone, so the new age will come. and his hands are bleeding again. all the others were false.

SCULLY AMBUSH!!! but simon is taking him into a recycling chopper. AND HE DROPS HIM IN!!! we see chopping occur!!! but it was SIMON AND NOT KEVIN THAT WAS CHOPPED!!! kevin caught himself on the ledge!!!! she pulls him up.

he says he knew she’d come, and they hug so so so tight, and she places a kiss on his head when she’s holding him, and i’m gonna cry like a baby

when they’re getting him around to leave, she says that maybe she’ll see him again sometime, and he says that she will.

and scully looks like she’s crying- i don’t think she is, but she puts her head in her hand- mulder comes in and asks if she’s okay. she says she thinks so, and he holds out her jacket to put on. it might have been the most tender thing i have ever seen. he says they need to go make a statement; she asks him to do it alone, she has to go run an errand.

again, she mostly avoids his eyes. but he agrees, and goes to make the statement alone. he doesn't press.

AND SHE GOES TO CONFESSION???? FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 6 YEARS??? she starts talking about not being able to discuss something with mulder. she asks about miracles; if she was seeing things when it comes to saving kevin, or if she was imagining them. 

she doubts herself because mulder didn’t believe them!!!!!!!!!!! and usually he believes without question!!!

maybe they weren’t meant for him, maybe they were meant for YOU, he says. and she asks if this was to bring her back; he says “sometimes we must come full circle to find the truth”

and it makes her afraid!!!! that god is speaking but no one is listening!!!!

WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS EPISODE. NO. NO, HOLD ON I’M GONNA LOOK THIS UP. 

KIM NEWTON. KIM. YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO GETS ME ON THIS PLANET. NO ONE ELSE DOES.

wow okay. i’m going to be pacing my room about this for 100 years. there are going to be think pieces about this, from me, for the foreseeable future. i’m losing my MIND.

i don’t think i could have cooked up a more perfect episode if i had tried. something centered on scully entirely (mulder has had his fair share of attention), something about faith, something where she questions what she holds close and why she holds it close and what it means that she does so at all. what it means for there to be human good and human evil and divine good and divine evil. how god speaks to people and how we listen. or hear things that he didn’t say, like simon did. 

holy FUCK i literally could not think of anything better. and i have SO much to say. i already SAID SO MUCH, too. like i’m seriously bouncing off the walls right now. whatever love i had for scully before just quadrupled- and who knew this was even possible??

for things to be reversed, for mulder to try and talk her out of a belief, how bizarre that must have felt to him, and how cold it felt. how he just couldn’t see it, how his not being able to see it drove her to doubt herself, how she must doubt herself already, but that sprung everything to the surface. how she doubts that god would use her. and use her for good. 

but still, despite his lack of understanding, despite his trying to get her to think rationally- he is there for her, even if he doesn't get it, even if he could have done better. the way he held her jacket while she processed everything, the way he didn't question her needing time for herself. somethings are best left unspoken.

lord, i’m gonna have to stop there because if i don’t. i just might never shut up ever ever ever. and i still need to proofread all my raw notes, and i’m sure i’ll think of something else to say.

i started this episode AN HOUR AND A HALF AGO LMAOOOO i just had SO much to pause and observe and say which is NOT a complaint in the slightest. 

wow. new fave episode i think. i’ll have to add it to the list. 

please let me know what you thought- are there any other scully truthers out there who lost their minds over this? did you like the episode? is it disliked and i'm strange for going on such a ramble? did you have trouble reconciling faith scully and science scully? personally i don't, but i could see how some people might. did you find mulder too dismissive? or did you think he was trying his best? some combination of both? did scully protecting that kid make you emotional? please, spill EVERYTHING. i always want you to spill everything, but now so even more than usual.

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

THE SUNSHINE COURT???

i swear, i thought when y'all were talking about tsc you were on about some kind of new shadowhunter chronicles shit that i completely missed

[blu-wingz]

THE FUCK U MEAN THEY TRADED TASSELS/RIBBONS!??!!! HUH! OH THEY FUCKING

[gooperts-gunk]

watching bagi's vod instead of live to keep up um. um. at 5:08:10 q!bbh says "i guess you should put i DID like beach vacations, and then there was that one time... i went to naples and that didn't end well..."

UM. UM. CASUAL GOOGLE SEARCH OF "disasters that started in naples italy" AND I FIND.

Q!BAD????? Q!BADBOYHALO?????? just a normal day in 1343 AD for him. nothing we didn't know he could do. just an instance we didn't know of. his disaster count only grows, im excited for his next one. sitting politely, twiddling my thumbs all shy

[agnesandhilda]

I wish all of cobra kai's younger cast a very congrats on no longer having to play a high schooler after this year

[completeoveranalysis]

[11]

Oh! Oh ok! We’re right back into the customer of the week and secretly I was a little right after all? She IS, sort of, psychically poisoning the food with her resentment, but the resentment is for herself. 

I didn’t see that one coming, but very on theme with the earlier notes of this chapter.

And perhaps it’s not even directly at herself, but more about the process of knowing? She hates the burden of knowledge? She finds knowing the finer details of anything completely repulsive, and so she hates everything she herself does, because by default she knows every little step she’s taken? 

In which we find she isn’t so much a parallel to Watanuki but the polar opposite - she hates knowing everything, and Watanuki doesn’t know anything, especially about himself. 

Or… will this be about the past Watanuki? Who ALSO despaired with what he knew about himself, and so traded away that knowledge and eventually became happier? Will she be prompted to do the same? I guess we’ll see!

Ohoho, in the space of one conversation Watanuki has cut right to the core of it all! 

The customer’s position is essentially Ignorance Is Bliss. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her. Anything she doesn’t know, she can pretend doesn’t exist at all. 

And present day Watanuki knows all too well that that isn’t the case. Both in terms of what he knows about Body Memory, but also in the way that he doesn’t know anything about his past, but he knows that it happened, and he knows NOW that he was still loved even if he can’t remember it. 

So the customer’s facade is flawed and would lead to disaster if she invested in it too heavily, once she realised how flimsy it was, so Watanuki’s going to get to the real problem for her instead. 

Which we will see… NEXT TIME! Probably?