#look I know the doylist reason for this obviously

[ectoimp]

Ya know what I find interesting. There are almost no "Lewis lives/is resurrected" fics. Fics where he doesnt die, just swap him dying for someone else dying.

If you go to the "lewis lives" tag on ao3 there are 11 works. All except 2 are actually precave, lewis hasnt died yet or the kind where someone else died instead.

and there are 2 resurrection fics and of those one still involves someone else dying (arthur killing himself specifically)

And yeah, Lewis' death is the inciting incident to the series, but I certainly dont think there are no stories to tell there. I think there could be very interesting character drama there. Especially when you dont have the amnesia thing to make it so no one has to deal with the aftermath

With no ghost induced amnesia, Vivi has to deal with the fact that being the leader, Arthur getting hurt was on her. Lewis getting hurt/almost getting hurt is on her. They went cave exploring with no safety gear. In street clothes (chucks for hiking in a wet cave??). They didnt even have a flashlight. And its seems that no one knew they were going into this cave (since it seems like Lewis' corpse is still there) So they broke every basic rule of caving safety https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-before-you-go/cave-safety

Like even if you dont blame her, I think she would blame herself. And its another thing I dont think I saw explored much. I'd see it get mentioned but usually it would immediately get brushed aside, usually by one of the boys.

But with how unsafe there were being....Lewis could have just died from slipping. No possession required. (obviously the doylist reason is because it would be a pain to design whole new outfits for one scene that was added last minute. They would look super cute in little themed caving outfits tho.)

This started out with just me thinking about "Lewis lives" But now its more about how I kinda want more Vivi angst......

Imagine if Lewis knew Arthur was possessed. If Arthur hadnt been clear he didnt want to go in the cave. Imagine if Lewis blamed Vivi.

[snarky-wallflower]

me, a preteen, devouring the PJO series super fast: heck yeah! slay those monsters! fight Luke, snark at the gods! Percy and Annabeth are so cool!

me now, watching the new trailer: …babies. babies, oh my god they’re babies, they’re so SMALL! Who thought it was a good idea to give these children swords!!

[see-arcane]

I know it's a day late, but I'm thinking about the possible Watsonian reasons for Renfield simply not addressing Jonathan at all, even to say he does not know him, whether it'd be a truth or lie. We know the Doylist reason is that Stoker flubbed the meeting in the initial version and Jonathan only got tucked into the visiting group after the fact and so he didn't get a blurb where Renfield does his 'ooh look how much I know about you~' bit.

But hey, Jonathan's there, technically. Renfield obviously sees him. Yet he goes unmentioned. Let's examine the possibilities:

A) Even reduced and dehumanized as he is in his cell, it's a slight flex of class. Mina he did not know when she arrived. He outright guessed that she might be the girl Jack proposed to--therefore assuming she was someone of good background. Jonathan is a surprise to him, a blank space among these well-known higher class gentlemen. Being a blank space, it could be assumed he is the lesser/nobody among the group. (Which, in terms of the social and societal ladders, he is.) So, in the most uncharitable light, the silent treatment for Jonathan is a little bit of leftover toff peeking through as Renfield puts on the former-upper class peacock routine. I personally don't buy it, but the possibility is there.

B) Renfield simply does not have a PowerPoint presentation locked and loaded about the guy who Jack and his asylum have known for barely three days. Doesn't have so much as a gossip flashcard on him. Embarrassing. Move on, don't make eye contact.

C) Renfield is shown to have some kind of heightened Sense when it comes to Dracula's presence. Whether that's the Count himself or things saturated with his essence (ala the dirt boxes), somehow Renfield is extremely aware of all things Dracula, perhaps as his own wisp of psychic talent. And that means when Jonathan Harker walked into the asylum, he got a strong twitch. When he walks into the cell, it's like a mallet to the brain.

Because here is someone who spent two solid months having Dracula's presence inflicted on him every single night. Even with a few months behind him, there's no scrubbing that out. Renfield Knows this young man was in Dracula's jaws, literally and metaphorically, for most of a season. And he's wearing a wedding ring. Like Mina's. Dots connect.

Confronted with this, and with the betrayal trapped under his usurped tongue, and with the full knowledge of what a monster he's sold himself to and what that monster must have inflicted on this earnest and haunted man just shy of being a boy, what can he say? What must he want to say to this member of the group more than any other, even dear Dr. Seward?

("He has been here! He can enter this building because I invited him! He has come to her, he will come again, he knows what she has done against him, what you have done in slipping him, what you are to each other! You know his teeth, you know what is coming! Both of you must run before it is too late!")

I imagine all this and more came sprinting up his throat the instant he recognized Jonathan Harker for who he was, even if he had no name for him. He sensed it. And with that urge, that impulse to address Jonathan directly in a deluge--Dracula slams his mouth shut and turns him firmly away from Mr. Harker entirely.

Only the others can get your song and dance, pet lunatic. Not a word to the solicitor. Do not even look at him.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I know the Doylist reason why the dark saber has the most uncomfortable hilt a sword could have is that it was designed in TCW (already a fairly blocky styled show) to be visibly and clearly Mandalorian (who are heavily influenced by cubism), but when it comes to Watsonian reasons, I’ve come up with two explanations, both of which amuse me.

1) The hilt is meant to be wrapped, which would fit its chokuto inspiration and make for some interesting symbolism, because of course the Mandalorians who stole it are literally as well figuratively using the sword wrong. Of course they didn’t do the most basic research or have failed to upkeep it, because that’s what they did for the sword’s entire legacy, strip it of its meaning to make it into a cheap power play.

2) Tarre deliberately made it that way to make it the most clearly, obviously, obnoxiously Mandalorian lightsaber in existence so no one could look at it without seeing clearly what is is and what it represents. Doesn’t matter if it’s inefficient, in this house we commit to the bit and that’s just very Mandalorian of him.

[liesmyth]

did john decide which of his friends would be the necromancer and which would be the cavs when he brought them back from the dead, or was that random?

I wish we knew for sure! John's friends ending up 50/50 adepts vs. non-necromancers is obviously one of TM's premises and was done for doylistic reasons first and foremost, but I don't think we have enough elements to conclusively interpret it as intentional in-universe.

Putting aside any kind of authorial intentions, this is what we know:

» The rate of necromancers as part of the population hovers around 30%. John's core group being 50% adepts is way off from that, and could point to manipulation, but also we're working with a very small sample size. Think about how it's very possible to get head five times in a row when flipping coins; probabilities are much less accurate on a smaller scale. I don't believe it's out of the realm of possibilities that a group of 10 people had exactly 5 necromancers in it.

» Harrow's birth. The Reverend Parents made sure she would be a necromancer by manipulating the embryo with thanergy. It's clearly not a known practice among the Houses at large, and John calls it "a sort of Resurrection" — implying that he could be able to do the same with thalergy. However, this doesn't confirm that he actually DID.

In the same conversation, John says, "This was all different before we discovered the scientific principles," which I think is also worth noting. The fact that he understands NOW how you could get an embryo to grow into a necromancer doesn't mean that he had that knowledge at the time of the Resurrection. It also doesn't mean that the same identical process would apply to making formerly-dead-people into necromancers as they got brought back to life.

It could very well be that necromancy was a generalised side-effect of the Resurrection that affected some people more than others; or it could be that John DID do something different when bringing back some people that conferred them necromantic aptitude. Even if it's the latter, I don't think we can take for granted that 1) it was intentional and 2) he fully knew what the side effects would be.

» Ulysses and Titania. Counterpoint! It's also worth noting that John's "test cases" turned out to be one (1) adept and one (1) non-adept. Like I said above, this could still be a random bi-product of the Resurrection... but given Ulysses and Titania's whole everything, their dichotomy reeks of control group. They are a big point in favour of the "John did it on purpose" column.

Still: I still don't think we can tell for sure that John knew from the moment of Resurrection that he was giving some people death powers, and how that'd turn out in the long run. Like I said above, he could have done something different when resurrecting Ulysses vs. Titania, but it doesn't mean that he knew what would happen.

(Obviously, this argument only makes sense if we assume that Ulysses and Titania were among the very first batch of resurrected. I personally think they were, but obviously it's not confirmed)

» The inner circle. From NtN

I could only trust the inner circle. My scientists, my engineer, my detective, my lawyer, my artist, my nun, my hedge fund manager. My diehards. The ones keeping the lights on.

Putting aside the fact that Lyctors exist the way they are because Tamsyn needed them to exist, and looking at the Canaan House necro/cav pairings from John's point of view: why not give ALL his friends magical powers? That's something I struggle to wrap my head around, for about half a dozen different reasons.

Mind, I don't think John picking and choosing who gets to be a necromancer is that far-fetched, but from a #character point I find it less likely than the alternative (he didn't do it on purpose but turned it to his own advantage). IF it turns out to be canon, I'd be really curious about what the watsonian reasoning for it, beyond "this needed to happen."

Most meta posts I've seen that take for granted John picked and chose his future necromancers ascribe him a level of foresight, knowledge, and long-term planning that I simply don't think he'd have had at the time (not to mention the mental lucidity). To quote HtN John again, "[he] had never been God" before. I truly think he was winging it at least 60% of the time.

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

Obviously it's mainly for Doylist reasons that there's a disconnect between how Claudia looks (like she's in her late teens/early 20s) and how she's treated by the characters who don't know she's a vampire (like a child): it would be a really tough role for an actual 14-year-old to play, not to mention casting a real teenager would make it very obvious that the immortal, un-aging vampires are, in fact, aging. The fact that other characters call her "little girl" and ask where her parents are might partly be a holdover from the books, when she was turned into a vampire at a much younger age, but it also lets the audience know that in-universe, she's supposed to be a fairly young-looking 14.

That being said, I think the dissonance of seeing other characters treat a clearly grown woman like she's much younger helps to convey what that experience is like for Claudia. Her brain development is frozen at 14, but she sees herself as an adult and in a lot of ways she has the life experience to back that up, and so being treated like a kid feels wrong to her the same way seeing people react to Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles like they're 10 years old feels weird to the audience.

It also makes some sense in-universe: we never actually see Claudia the way we actually see Louis and Armand; we just see the version of her that lives in Louis and Armand's memories and that Daniel reconstructs from her diaries. All of them know that she wasn't really a child, so it makes sense that the version of her that they picture would look a little older.

[red-velvet-0w0]

rereading the most recent page and can we talk for a second about this comment from falst

(also keeping falst and dainix in the same pannel again i see you red)

How does falst know this about the sun being lower? like obviously he is clearly one of the most intelegent members of the squad, second to erin, but his knowledge mostly comes through in the form of street smarts, logical deduction, strong reasoning, and knowledge of magic and lacrimas. hes not implied to be a very well traveled person, as though he did have to flee from town to town for a while, i find it hard to believe that he really went very far on his own, probably staying in or around towns for long periods of time, looking for a way to cure himself (and his mother, if the "find a way if you are truly my son" is any indication), so its unlikely he would have learned this from experience.

there is the obvious answer that he read this at some point, but I would doubt that too, because while its implied that him going through Erins book has become more of a comon occurance, he seems to mostly be focusing again on lacrimas and magic, so i dont really see where he would have learned about the location of the sun in the sky from them.

theres the doylist explanation that red just needed somebody to say it, so she used falst, but that doesnt make much sense to me either because 1) kendal or even dainix knowing this would make more sense, seeing as both of them have been more formaly taught (and kendal has the entirety of the knowledge of a god) and 2) the position of the sun in the sky seems like such an... unimportant detail that it feels weird to mention it without some purpose to the comment

maybe i am overthinking this but FALST BABY HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?

[horizon-verizon]

https://www.tumblr.com/evebestthinker/751366825102770176/the-way-he-looks-at-her-as-if-no-one-else?source=share

It's funny that their relationship is so romanticized. Whether by showrunners or even people in general.

Corlys and Rhaenys in the original material have a bigger age difference than Daemyra, yet no one talks about grooming.

Rhaenys, from what I remember, certainly chose Corlys, but Rhaenyra also chose Daemon and everyone prefers to say that she was groomed to want her sexy old uncle... 🙄

The fact is that, apart from this age difference, Corlys only wanted Rhaenys to be queen for her own person and the name of her house, let's be realistic. And in Fire and Blood, it was actually Laenor and not Rhaenys who was actually proposed to the throne with Viserys.

Unlike Daemon, Corlys has also always shown a genuine interest in the throne, whether in HOTD or Fire and Blood. This guy fights for power and always goes against his wife's wishes in general.

Yet they are supposedly a great relationship ? A great marriage of love ? A couple goal ? People's double standards are astounding to me.

I will add that Corlys, aged 60 in Fire and Blood, is having sex, from what I remember, with a girl under 16 or in that age range it seems to me. In any case, a close age that Rhaenys was when he married her at the time, showing that he has a type of age range for women, unlike Daemon who in Fire and Blood was with women of varying ages.

So basically the directors of HOTD said to themselves that Corlys and Rhaenys would make a superb love story ? WTF seriously ? They keep talking about Daemyra's age difference but obviously it's only a problem when it's them and not the others.

Actually, what I'm trying to say is that... most of the criticisms leveled at Daemon : Bad father, bad husbands, way too old for his ultimate wife, power-hungry, throne-seeking, loving the girls are rather young... Well it's actually Corlys who ticks all the boxes. Show and or Book.

Disclaimer: This is to note the discrepancy that fandom does when it tries to bring up age differences, how biased people are towards Daemon. You can look to la-pheacienne's notes about GRRM and age differences HERE, where we talk abt Doylist vs Watsonian readings of GRRM's storytelling and over age diff creepiness vs what story the dude is telling in-world.

It mimics how people will say "Targs are colonizers" and then they ignore what the Westerosi did to the giants and twstsote/children of the forest. There's a clear bias and lack of reading being done, because yeah I agree. Like, Corlys is an impressive man, but that has little to do with this conversation topic. (For all who don't know, Corlys was 37 when 16-yr old Rhaenys chose him as her husband; Rhaenyra was born in 97, Daemon in 81; RhaneysxCorlys has a 21 diff, Daemyra has a 16 diff)

In the show, it makes way less sense as to why Rhaenys & Corlys are together. I did a TikTok abt it, but here it is:

Rhaenys has constantly said that she considers a "good" leader AND [good] person to be one who goes out of their way to avoid violence, war, or great conflicts. Someone who takes measures to make sure their own actions do not lead to conflicts that may hurt even more than themselves. Even at the cost of one's own political advantages. She values what HotD has implied is "self-restraint" & defends Rhaenyra from Corlys' saying everything is her fault [specifically by reasoning that out of all the men who are there, Rhaenyra is the one who is trying to not go to war or any battle]. She is also supposed to care very much for her daughter, Laena, and her own grandchildren through her. Supposedly above Corlys' interests (episodes 6-7). Compare this to Corlys' self-interest evidenced by his pushing for a Velaryon-marriage through his 12 year old daughter & keeping Lucerys as his heir DESPITE the would-have-been-clear discontent from Vaemond abt the Driftmark succession PLUS how the Velaryon boys wete not his grandkids biologically AND Rhaenys advis[ing] him to name [their] granddaughters instead. With every value and action these two take for & against their family and against the other's desires….For what the HotD writers & whoever responsible wrote for these two…. Why do we believe that this ship is one of the best ones --or even makes logical sense-- to earn the reputation of being one of the best during this part of ASoIaF history?! The [show]relationship doesn't stand up on its own without the looks & performances of its actors. It also gets away with the nonsensical dynamic in two other things:

the constant defense of "two canons"

the many time jumps that remove any possibility for us or the writers to show us how these two actually like each other & continue to like each other

Once again, Daemon was never a good person, but he is also not what is depicted in HotD and grooming does not = DV. they are not the same, thus you do not have to include DV with grooming by saying it "eventually" happens with groomers. Espe when GRRM has a track record for just stating abuse when it happens (Jaehaerys with Alysanne, her pushed to keep giving birth; Robert Baratheon with Cersei):

[chocochipbiscuit]

Hey, Choco,

So, um,

Behemoths?

Like, if you are inclined to write fo4?

This has been sitting in my inbox, shamefully languishing, because I just haven't had time to do it the justice I felt it deserved (and am still juggling multiple other WIPs) but I just decided: justice be damned! The only way to exorcise this yelling is to actually yell about it!

FIRST OF ALL. What makes a behemoth vs a regular mutant? Considering that we only see behemoths on the East Coast, we can take the Watsonian approach (we only see behemoths on the East Coast because they come from a different strain of FEV) or the Doylist approach (Bethesda just wanted us to have huge enemies for fun boss fights).

Obviously, I write fanfic, so I'm gonna run with the Watsonian approach. :P

Per official Fallout 3 game guide:

Another unique trait of the super mutants is that they grow larger as they grow older, and can range from eight (2.44 m) to at least twenty feet (6 m) in height; the largest are known as "behemoths." These behemoths seem to be even less intelligent than their smaller brethren, communicating only in echoing roars and blindly destroying everything in their path, acting more like an unfettered beast than a warrior.

Which seems pretty fucking depressing if you're a mutant who actually values your reason and ability to keep a handle on your rage! (Ex: Fawkes, Virgil.)

In fact, per this possible dialogue with Virgil:

The Sole Survivor: "Do you remember Edgar Swann?" Brian Virgil: "Swann? ...Yes, I saw his file. He was one of our first test subjects, years ago. His mutations destabilized. Started turning into a Behemoth. You think that could happen to me? Maybe I'm fine for a few months, a few years, but... god. I couldn't live like that."

Except...again, we have multiple in-universe exceptions to the 'always hostile, always stupid' mutants. We also can also read against the canon as presented to us and consider that since super mutants are capable of forming their own societies, including shared resources and responsibilities for caring for disabled members (such as the fact that Dead Eye gets back up from other mutants if attacked).

I think there is some argument to be made for whether it's socialization vs the type of FEV each mutant is infected with; Fawkes mentions that it took him years of isolation with his computer before he could speak and reason more intelligently, and Strong can grow (through friendship with the SoSu) from literally believing in the milk of human kindness to using idioms like 'got your back' when switching out between companions. Virgil is one of the 'newest' mutants we get to see, freshly turned, so he might be unique due to the FEV strain used or because he's so new to being a mutant.

Swan and Grun are the only named behemoths of FO4, IIRC, so let's take a look at Swan!

Swan was a former Institute employee turned into an experimental test subject as 'probation' for stealing cigarettes. (I can gnash my teeth about the Institute, criminal justice, and their incredibly shaky ethics later.) We can read journal entries and notes about his fear of what the FEV is doing to him, as well as his fears of being discarded as another failed subject. The fact that he devolves to the point where he can only shout his own name and still wears the swan paddleboats as memories of his former self is incredibly depressing and make him more sympathetic to me!

That said...I'm also thinking about one of Magnolia's songs. Specifically, from "Good Neighbor:"

Took a dive with the swans Out in the Commons with nothing on The mutants stopped to savor All my bad behavior It's all in a day's work When you're a good, good neighbor

HEY. HEY. MAGNOLIA. DID YOU FUCK SWAN? DID YOU FUCK SWAN??? I NEED TO FUCKING KNOW, MAGNOLIA!!!!

Especially because of her line: "It's all in the songs. Everything I am."

THERE IT IS, FOLKS. SHE FUCKED THE BEHEMOTH.

(/tongue in cheek)

Or rather, it's all fair game for fanfic. :P

All of that said, it's fucking ripe for fanfic. Does Virgil try to make amends for his past by developing other cures for FEV, including for Swan? Does Magnolia actually have an odd friendship with the behemoth at the bottom of the pond? Do we simply need a few more behemoths smashing around until some brave human or ghoul attempts the first overture of friendship?

YES. YES TO ALL OF THIS.

[sylvanas-girlkisser]

Anyone remember how in Mass Effect 2 it's revealed that Miranda hooks up with random men from dating apps, with the explicit purpose of getting pregnant and never seeing them again?

The Doylist explanation for this is obviously that this is Mass Effect and the writers either didn't know, or didn't think about artificial insermination. Like Miri babe, you can entirely skip paying for tinder gold and just use your exorbitant salary as an unethical scientist/assassin working for the proud boys, to have a licensed professional get you pregnant in the sort of strictly business relationship you're looking for.

However, for a Watsonian explanation, I think it's much more funny to imagine Miranda just has a huge breeding kink she refuses to acknowledge as such; and the reason you never see her drink is because she knows she will start rambling about how every woman secretly desires to spend her whole life pregnant and make everyone uncomfortable.

[pigtailedgirl]

Ray Vecchio Undercover My HeadCanon on WHY???

Ray leaving. That thing that hurts my heart. You get why the show in Doylist ran with this idea. It seems so fun and perfect on surface. With replacement a nightmare of the character linchpin to Fraser in Chicago. Reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture was Ray Vecchio! There is no logical or emotional way Ray would leave, unless had to. Killing would tone shift and be devastating. Straight actor switch has no story to build. But man, the never explaining the why in canon or really dealing with the weight of it hangs around. Nothing makes sense. A lot of guess work for a Watsonian fit.

@quasilogical put out their idea. Very interesting.

I wanna ramble bout mine or where I go most times.

AND it's I pretend Ray was pegged by the Feds for this even pre-Fraser. This is why he's on the Feds like Ford's radar, and the whole going down double entrapment angle and IA continuing interest.

Much like Ray K, who I think was only selected for name similarity last minute, hence his confusion. and because he was easy sell at low point and a easy place-holder if people are looking for the name to stay consistent and all that, Ray V starts the series in the same loner boat and is easy mark to sign up an operation for.

I think the Feds were building this project for a long time.

But the question is not of Due South having people who look alike, cause it recurs, getting to be someone else. Maybe Armando was like the thug, cop, cab driver extras. Maybe he was Ray's long lost family mob connected bro. Maybe he never existed before Ray. It doesn't matter that Ray has a look alike.

Questions important is... When and why was this Armando alike was a sure out and Ray in? Which canon gives absolutely nothing for because seasons 1 and 2 had no build for this obviously and seasons 3 and 4 never bothered to backfill.

But the question of why or how post-Fraser you could get Ray to go? How Fraser would let it happen and stay and not run to get him or leave? There is your meat of continuity.

What I think happens is in steps. That for me always hinges on three layers.

The Victoria incident. The shooting and the unresolved issue being do Fraser and Ray giving conflicting accounts of who had the gun in the final chase? If Fraser said he took it off Victoria, and Ray says he saw it in her hands. UH-OH

Wiggle room for a wedge against Ray. Does Fraser think Ray is lying and his dealing with why.

Then Juliet is Bleeding happens. It's another bad shoot-out for Ray. It's also a power vacuum in the Mob set up in the area as up and comer Sorrento goes down, and so does Zuko likely from the business. Ray and Fraser have deaths like Louis, Irene, and guilts to live with.

Finally there is the Rankin Incident. Where Rankin claimed police brutality on Ray and less extent Huey and they got forced to cut him loose rather than Ray revealing to anyone he'd beaten him earlier and was tailing him for almost raping Frannie. So Ray takes the rap but not revealing the reason.

If we can infer from the show talk that it's been sometime between season 2 and 3, as there is cases like Greta Garbo that says time passage, there was sometime between JIB and the end of season 2, and approx. 90 days between Ray's undercover and the body of Rankin getting discovered; We can think long-term planning and short windows to implement again for Feds/

I think too it's important that A Likely Story references the family Langoustini having connection with Tucci and Chicago, not only Vegas.

My theory goes they tried to rope Ray in post VS. Had a mobster in Armando working/watched to do family building and maybe on the Feds inside the whole time.

Ray said no but wasn't able to confront or turn it down completely because of Fraser. Both not talking about their issues with justice/duty versus personal and the gun thing. But Fraser didn't know. And Ray is both guilty and angry at it all.

Then Juliet is Bleeding sinks Ray and makes the offer start to realize as inevitable. The Feds make it plain to everyone, even Fraser, we have means now to make this project a go. The Langoustini's can affect Chicago. The Feds move to install Armando as a bigger player in the chaos. Ray moves to an apartment as seen in Red, White, and Blue. Fraser and Ray are having major undercurrent vibes of picking understanding and loving someone, versus projection and ignoring feelings for your duties. Personal loves and morals or the profession. It's make your choices.

And that makes me feel so bad for Fraser but makes him clearer to me. Ray, who is going through old relationships closing up wounds and wants, wants Fraser to express feeling for him. Or someone! To let it out at least, even if it's with or to Thatcher or someone else. Fraser is caught between hard places of Ray should do this for justice in the abstract but really Fraser doesn't want him to personally or to lose him friend or otherwise.

So Fraser retreats to Mountie persona. Season 3 opens to runs to a vacation in Canada to pretend just like old times, I'm okay. While Ray's emotions undo him with the Frannie incident and the Feds strike, before Fraser and Ray can even come to terms.

Hence the season 3/4 weird brothers betrayals and unknowns of people coming through and the hatred of corrupt cop leadership, personal vengeance and mob activity on everyone's plate.

Essentially Fraser knew Ray was going but got blind-sided in the moment and in how to cope and how to justify it. Ray too on how Fraser sees him or feels in light of. Ray couldn't say no and betray that sense of having to do right that Fraser installed over personal, even if this is the worst fucking way and timing. Even if it's not justice and a lot of personal fail guilt like JIB mixed in, he can't come out and emotionally admit that failure to Fraser thinking Fraser doesn't put that above the job. So he got to go do the job. Fraser can't pursue the why cause fear of bad answers so stays protection mode Chicago, driving himself mad wondering, and trying to get over it, get over his issues, and getting to know new Ray with new issues and be helpful and bond.

So when Fraser does see Ray again; OMG chase, reunite, but all this tension and drama is still on the table for them. Of I don't know who you are or I am anymore and I know what we don't want, the wacky hurtful adventures of emotional and physical danger and mistrust, but they no longer have a read on trusting themselves, knowing what the other wants from each other and are scared to let out those feelings lest hurt each other. Why Ray went undercover? Cause I loved you dummy and thought you wouldn't like me if I did the wrong thing. Why Fraser can't trust Ray isn't the bad guy who didn't do the wrong things? Cause you love him dummy, and that feeling and belief you have to put it out there and above the image to not be your dad and to get it back and not lose it.

Then of course, more shootings, F/V staples, and Fraser learns the exact wrong thing and trauma retreats. Runs part 2. Ray retreats to Florida too, cause pretending to be not Ray sounds like it works better. Damn.

Until they work it out in the next episode of head canon addition lol.

[letteredlettered]

when Spike fell for Buffy

From the first moment you see him in S5, Spike comes across as being in love with Buffy. Marsters plays him that way and even the script begins to hint at it. Obviously, Spike does not realize he is in love with Buffy, but consider the episode Crush, wherein Drusilla claims that Spike had become interested in Buffy even in S2. The idea in S5 is that Spike has always had a romantic interest in Buffy, and you can see that from episode 5.01.

However, despite the many, many people who shipped it, I don't read Spike being in love with Buffy in any part of S4. Let's face it, Marsters has chemistry with literally everyone, but he just doesn't appear more attuned or attracted to Buffy than Giles or Xander or even Anya. Spike gets that interested look he gets whenever someone does unexpected, but he gets that way at Anya probably more than any other character in S4.

So why the sudden change between the end of S4 and beginning of S5? Why does Spike suddenly fall for Buffy?

The Doylist explanation is easy: the writers didn't intend for Spike to fall for Buffy when they wrote S4. They did intend it by the time they started writing S5. By 5.01, the writers were writing Spike with this in mind and Marsters was playing the part with this in mind. But what is the watsonian explanation?

From a watsonian standpoint, the difference between S4 and S5 is Dawn. Every single character we know has been altered, because of Dawn.

And what if Dawn is the reason Spike falls in love with Buffy? What if implanted memories of watching Buffy protect Dawn, watching Buffy care for Dawn, watching Buffy be a big sister allow Spike to see what he loves most in Buffy?

Spike is a caretaker--he cares for Dru when she's not well; he tries to care for Buffy. But he also has it bad for his proverbial familial elders. Dru is a mother/big sister figure as well as a lover; Angel is a father/big brother figure as well as a (at least that one time) lover. What if seeing the way that Buffy cares for her family, family who is younger and weaker and more helpless, family for whom she feels entirely responsible--opens up those kinds of feelings that Spike had for Dru? And what if the Season 2 that Dru remembers is a time in which Dawn existed, and Buffy sacrificed everything she was to protect Dawn from Angelus, and Spike saw that and it made him have more feelings for Buffy at that time than we ever see on screen, and that's why Dru knew what we didn't?

Tl;dr, everyone's probably already thought of this before: Dawn is the reason Spike loves Buffy.

[allyriadayne]

something that i just noticed is how aegon is dressed like alicent in the teaser? the green with the gold and the bulky chain of order. even the dragon embrodery on his chest with the two dragons facing away from one another is something we saw on alicent's targaryen dresses last season.

i know you didn't ask for an essay anon, but this is one of my favorite topics ksjdkasd 😭. YES I NOTICED TOO! aegon dresses (and will dress) a lot like alicent. i have this little fantasy that she picks out all of his outfits because he will not bother at all......

but anywayyyy. aegon's outfit in the s2 trailer do have callbacks to alicent, solidifying his position as the "green king". as you say he looks a lot like her with the bulky chain and the color palette esp with the alicent of ep 9 in her coronation outfit: the huge seven-pointed star vs the big ass chain and all the gold-green details.

(big chains around their necks hmm.......might mean something i don't know what.....)

i actually thought aegon's chain was the same one as the one he used in the coronation but it's not! the one from ep 9 is a lot smaller and looks a lot like the ones otto usually wears (alicent picked up from her father's rooms because it might make aegon look better, the eyebags bloodshot eyes are not a look!).

(looking just like his papa grandfather!)

and you are right! i didn't remember this dress of alicent's but they do have the gold dragon embroidered (sunfyre my beloved). i like that they signify different and the same things to both of them. for aegon it might mean a sort of coming of age, coming to the self he was always meant to be whether he liked it or not, and even then honoring (possibly?!?) his only friend in the process. while for alicent it means the same, to fit in what she's supposed to be, the targaryen queen, but obviously never completely fitting in....there's a reason her dragon dresses look so awkward on her. it's only when she starts wearing green that she can dress how she actually likes.

(dragons meeting in the middle, dragons looking in opposite directions. WE GET IT CONDAL)

i like that in aegon wearing green with the dragons in full display is a sort of culmination of alicent's role and "victory". here is her son, the goal her father impressed upon her, wearing her colors (because green is her color now, not the hightower's) and showing with pride he's the legitimate targaryen king (that aegon is a tyrant and a drunk is another issue).

i'm obsessed with the doylist decision of making aegon wear a bigger crown and chain the same way alicent's huge star is saying how much she relies on faith, and also that he is the only one of her children who STILL wears green when the rest have outgrown the color when they are shown as adults. i'm super excited to see the rest of the costumes!

[thatgirlonstage]

What if Twilight and Thorn Princess met each other but due to a combination of disguises/not actually being able to see each other for whatever reason, Loid and Yor don’t, you know, realize That’s Their Spouse. But because they are used to each other and are kind of subconsciously comfortable with each other (and perhaps with a bit of competence kink & That’s My Archnemesis thrill) there’s some… chemistry… there.

Shenanigans ensue where there’s some sort of allies-of-necessity situation that involves a lot of ridiculous happenstances that prevent them from actually seeing each other, so it’s just Twilight and Thorn Princess on a mission constantly going sideways and Definitely Not Flirting over the short range walkies they’re using to communicate. And they stop whatever guy decided to blow up a hospital or something that made them work together, and they do a whole “I’ll let you walk away this once” thing where they finally have the chance to see each other’s faces and choose not to look out of respect for the help they gave each other. They both go home, Loid and Yor are obliviously surprised to meet each other in the hallway on the way back to their apartment, and life continues.

Except, yknow, of course it happens again.

It’s rarely the two of them actually work together in the same place at the same time — if only bc, from the Doylist perspective, it would start to stretch suspension of disbelief to the breaking point for them to never catch a glimpse of each other, and Yor doesn’t habitually bother to hide her face — but there start being these overlaps in their goals that mean one of them might pick up a mission where the other leaves off, they start occasionally trading information, they both start seeing cracks in their own country’s methods and goals and start cooperating to save more lives overall.

And even though their conversations are always short, even though they haven’t even seen each other, oh boy does the chemistry keep racking up.

Until you have both Loid and Yor having a crisis because they’re emotionally cheating on their fake spouse with their spy/assassin arch enemy and it’s not like they can tell anyone that, but also they’re starting to feel dishonest in an icky way rather than a “this is my job and it’s necessary” way

There’s any number of wacky breakup/get together avenues you could take from there, obviously concluding in a reveal where they both see each other’s faces and immediately feel monumentally stupid and then save the world or something, I just think it would be both hot and very, very funny if they flirted in their Twilight and Thorn Princess personas

[thevalleyisjolly]

So I was rewatching the Ninth Doctor a while ago, and it occurred to me just how much the future regenerations were shaped by Nine’s decisions in Season 1.

(From a Watsonian perspective, of course.  From a Doylist perspective, there have been so many different writers and showrunners that it’s a wonder there’s any consistent characterization in this show at all)

Because Nine was a Doctor fresh out of the Time War, believing himself to be the last Time Lord, and even as he ran from what he did, in many ways, he ran back towards how things used to be.  Travelling the universe with their companions- but trying not to interfere, trying (and mostly failing) to just observe, repeating again and again that they’re just here to observe, not to break the laws of time.

As travelling time and space goes, it’s a pretty Time Lord way to do it.  No interference (or, as much non-interference as can be reasonably expected around the Doctor).  And entirely understandable - the Doctor has just made the decision to commit two genocides after a horrific war full of multiple genocides on both sides.  Taking up that mantle of authority again, of control over people’s lives, is a raw, open wound after The Moment.

Except then the S1 finale happens.  And Nine himself says it, horrified, “I did this.”  He went around, dipping in and out of events, trying to be just a tourist, never staying long enough to think about the consequences of his actions.  Meanwhile, the Dalek Emperor was able to take over the Earth for centuries, harvest humans, mutate them into Daleks, and eventually almost destroy the planet.  The irony in The Long Game (1x07) of the Doctor scolding the journalist and telling her to do her job and ask questions- later, do you think he asked himself what he might have found out, what he might have prevented if he’d done what he said?  Dug deeper, asked questions, didn’t take things at face value and just accept that things would sort themselves out?

The subsequent incarnations have often featured arrogance as a character flaw.  Most obviously with Ten and Eleven but Twelve and Thirteen have also had their moments.  They meddle, they assume authority, they shape events and manipulate people.  Think of that recurring theme in S2, characters such as Harriet Jones and Queen Victoria and Yvonne Hartman repeatedly challenging the Doctor for “assuming alien authority over the rights of man.”  They aren’t wrong!  The Doctor may have more head knowledge about the current emergency or about aliens in general, and they may be right about what to do in the situation at hand, but they are assuming an authority on behalf of (and often over) humans.

And for better or for worse, this is a character element that (at least from a Watsonian perspective) I think really emerged from Nine’s experiences.  The Ninth Doctor tried very hard to be just a traveller (oh, but what a very human, heartfelt traveller) and look what happened.  After that S1 finale, whether their decisions and actions have positive or negative consequences, whether it’s the right or wrong thing to do, the Doctor has to get involved.  Has to solve the mystery, has to take control of the situation, has to find the answers and satisfy their curiosity because the last time they left things alone, Earth and its people paid the price.

It is arrogance to assume this authority, this responsibility, to appoint themselves humanity’s guardian, the defender of Earth.  It does often lead to positive outcomes because the Doctor does know what they're doing a lot of the time, but it also has negative impacts as well, especially on the people around the Doctor.  And to be sure, Gallifreyan culture very much cultivated arrogance as a valued trait, the Doctor’s guilt isn’t the only place it comes from, but they sure as hell have a heavy conscience on their mind.

TL;DR Watch the Ninth Doctor.  Not only is Christopher Eccleston fantastic, but it lays the foundation for a lot of the Doctor’s subsequent character journey.

[bonefall]

while obviously the doylist answer to “why, after only two previous smitings with cats that seemingly did a lot more shit that starclan disliked before getting smited, did mudclaw get smited so comparatively quickly, when there are other cats who have done things comparable to mudclaw that did Not get smited” is “mudclaw got smited in the books + rule of cool”, i am curious to know if there is a watsonian explanation for why starclan looked at mudclaw and said “fuck that guy in particular [smites you]”

not because i think it Doesn’t make sense, it just seems like a huge escalation in comparison to ripplestar & darkstar, who did it feels like did *way* more stuff before starclan stepped in to get rid of them

Tensions were super high after, like, the forest got bulldozed and the Clan cats had to journey for a month!

But in StarClan's eyes, here's the list of what Mudclaw did;

Defied Tallstar’s will in appointing a deputy. They do not care that he had reasonable doubt, THEY know the truth and judge accordingly.

Defied THEIR judgement in this situation. He had the audacity to believe they would have given 9 lives to a liar. How dare he mock them by even suggesting Onewhisker would become leader if he were not Tallstar’s choice?!

He also committed the high crime of annoying them, by throwing a tantrum about not helping out if he isn't leader (as seen in winds of change) StarClan is an emotional entity and they are more unfair if they don't like you for an arbitrary reason

Worked with outsider Clan rebels for his goals, inviting insurgents into his Plan and plotting murder on someone who had done nothing wrong. This is one thing if it's to dethrone Brokenstar, but this??

ATTEMPTED MURDER, several deaths in his attack. Rainwhisker, Nightwing, and Vixenleap are 3 of the named ones so far who die in this skirmish. He is blamed for each death.

CHANGE FROM CANON: Mudclaw sabotaged a Muirburn. That is a neccesary technique for maintaining moorland and something WindClan was doing to manicure their new home. He let loose an uncontrolled wildfire on overgrown gorse and tinder, endangering innocents

(Though even if it was like canon where he was only attacking the night before Onewhisker's sacred ceremony, they would have been pissed at him for blasphemy)

They were so furious that the rain rolled in to extinguish the fire, and sending down a bolt of lightning was a bonus.

And he doesn't get to go to StarClan. A smite-death is a guaranteed ticket to cat hell