#metaphor forgiven btw

[draculasintern]

Odds and Additions..

Im gonna be SO fr rn.. Im getting merked by finals and classes. It was a miracle I could even think of writing this. This one my might be shorter than the others because Im burning out..Btw Im not doing anything special in this like blocking off where scenes end cause woop de doo Im TIRED.

Pt. 6

The morning after felt like waking up mid-sentence.

No clean slate. No reset. Just the weight of unsaid things settling heavier on your shoulders than your coat.

You didn’t speak to Viktor. He didn’t speak to you. But the silence had changed again—no longer just cold, no longer just sharp. It was suspicious. Like you’d both left something open on the operating table the night before and now neither of you wanted to look too closely at it in the light.

He arrived earlier than usual. You arrived later.

Whether that was intentional or not, neither of you said. Though you really didn’t feel like coming in today.

The machines had barely warmed up before the lab door opened again.

Councilor Mel. Golden, measured, and smiling like someone who never lost sleep over blueprints. But she wasn’t alone.

The Dean was with her this time, sleeves rolled to his forearms, eyes scanning the room not for people—but for purpose. His presence was different now. More restless. As if the clock ticking over your heads was no longer metaphorical.

“I’ve seen the numbers,” he said without preamble, voice even but heavy with expectation. “And I’ve seen the competition. What I haven’t seen yet... is vision. Or collaboration.”

His gaze flicked between you and Viktor, sharp enough to make the floor feel uneven.

“I asked for something that would help the people. Not a game of academic one-upmanship. Do you two think Piltover runs on pride?” Which it kind of did..

He didn’t wait for an answer.

Mel gave a slight shake of her head, as if to say be careful now—but didn’t interrupt.

“You’ll be presenting something viable in two weeks. One design. One solution. I don’t care whose name is on it.”

His eyes lingered on both of you, jaw tight.

“Either figure out how to work together, or don’t bother submitting anything at all.”

Then he turned and left.

And just like that, the countdown had begun again.

But this time, it wasn’t about who broke first.

It was about whether either of you could stand to build something... together.

You didn’t sit down right away.

The Dean’s words were still suspended in the air like smoke—smothering, clinging to everything. You stood there a moment too long, jaw tight, eyes fixed on the blueprint Viktor had abandoned halfway through last night. The same one you’d memorized without meaning to. The same one you’d rewritten in your head a dozen different ways while telling yourself it didn’t matter. That he didn’t matter.

Across the room, Viktor didn’t look up. His posture hadn’t changed, but something in the way he held his pen said he wasn’t drawing—he was waiting. Listening. Just like always.

You sat.

Not because it was an olive branch. But because the Dean had thrown down a gauntlet, and neither of you would let it go untouched.

The quiet stretched again, taut as wire. It wasn’t collaboration. Not yet. It was detente. An agreement not to set the place on fire while the council still had matches in hand.

Eventually, Viktor spoke. A single word, quiet, without any real shape to it.

“Fine.”

You didn’t look at him.

“Fine,” you echoed, the word tasting more like defeat than agreement.

Neither of you said what you really meant: Let’s do this, but don’t think for a second I’ve forgiven you for your selfish ways.

Let’s build this thing, but not with trust.

Not with hope.

Just teeth. Just nails. Just the slow, grinding pressure of two minds refusing to back down.

You reached for a clean sheet of paper, not even bothering to hide the tremor in your fingers. If he noticed, he didn’t comment.

He just pulled his own notes closer.

And together—almost— you began. The hours passed like sand through cracked glass. Slow. Uneven. Inevitable.

You spoke only when necessary. Pointed questions. Sharpened answers. No softness. No detours. The kind of conversation built from stone and splinters—functional, but jagged. Viktor didn’t look at you unless he had to, and you returned the favor like it was law.

Still, something shifted.

It wasn’t trust. Barely even respect.

It was acknowledgment. A quiet, begrudging recognition that two sharp edges could cut cleaner if aligned.

You handed him a draft, wordlessly. He didn’t comment on the linework, though you knew he saw the improvement. Saw the part you’d borrowed from his design—and the part you’d fixed. He only nodded, barely, and adjusted a single angle before passing it back.

That was the rhythm of it: offer, accept, revise. Like passing a blade between you, testing who would flinch first. Neither of you did.

By nightfall, the shared blueprint was more real than it had ever been. No longer his. No longer yours.

Just something alive between you.

You didn’t know whether to be proud or afraid.

Then Viktor spoke again—quiet, like the dark had dulled the edge of his voice.

“This might actually work.”

You didn’t look up.

“I know.”

And that was it.

No praise. No warmth.

But the silence that followed didn’t feel quite so weaponized.

It was still cold.

But not...cruel.

OKay all done. Ik this was rushed and not the best work but its still something. Eat up or starve. /j

[opalharkness]

The Prequel Trilogy

I know I'm a RWBY page, but can I talk about Star Wars for a moment. I feel like so many Star Wars fans are so blinded by their nostalgia they refuse to critically engage with it as a piece of art. Like man how did y'all misunderstand the prequel trilogy?

Okay so as y'all know I'm watching this video by a channel called We Are Not Alive.

However, in the last post I complained about the subject of the video Just A Robot but I'm complaining about We Are Not Alive themselves. (BTW it seems to be a group channel, and I don't know the name of the person doing this video specifically)

This person complained about Just A Robot using Darth Vader as an example of a good villain while making an off handed remark on the Cruella De Vil movie and shitting on the Maleficent movie. We Are Not Alive then goes on to call the Prequel Trilogy the worst movies ever made and mischaracterize Anakin Skywalker's entire arc. Like he complained about Just A Robot doing with the female villains within his video.

Like this is what they say about Anakin Skywalker within those movies "Anakin Skywalker acts like an insufferable little shit for five agonizing hours before flipping and committing some religious genocide with a little bit of light child murder on the side all because some Tusken Raiders killed his mom and he was scared about his wife dying all of which is forgiven because he doesn't want his crusty old boss to tase his son to death if we're talking about origin stories that strip the magic away from a once intimidating villain the Star Wars prequel trilogy is the gold fucking standard"

Which is crazy. How the fuck do you miss the point of Star Wars! The point of Anakin acting like a brat in Attack of The Clone was to show that while yes. Anakin is a kind, talented, young man he is also incredibly arrogant.

He complains over and over again about Obi-Wan but shows little to no self-awareness about his own flaws or take the time to understand where Obi-Wan is coming from. He is a bratty child being manipulated by Palpatine and is reckless and impulsive and has an authoritative mindset that does not go well with Jedi principles.

This line from We Are Not Alive's weird ass rant in particular grinds my gears "before flipping and committing some religious genocide with a little bit of light child murder on the side all because some Tusken Raiders killed his mom and he was scared about his wife dying" Because

Anakin Skywalker is a person who is deeply afraid of losing those he loves. That was set up in Phantom Menace reestablished in Attack of The Clones which then paid off in Revenge of The Sith. Like he is a person who is so afraid of losing those he cares for he would do the unspeakable in their name. Like murder or genocide. How did that go over their head? What the fuck?

This line is where I get my opening sentiment from "if we're talking about origin stories that strip the magic away from a once intimidating villain the Star Wars prequel trilogy is the gold fucking standard."

Because Darth Vader is only intimidating in the first two movies by the last one Return of The Jedi his mask is both literally and metaphorically removed. He is no longer that intimidating villain we once knew but a sad old man who deeply regrets all he has done but feels it is too late to turn back. He saves his son and is therefore redeemed in the eyes of Luke and the Force.

The only way someone could still see Darth Vader as an intimidating villain who we are meant to fear and not a tragic figure to mourn by the end of that movie is if they watched it with their eyes closed. Or if they watched it as a kid and never unpacked what it was trying to say. The prequels didn't strip the magic of intimidating Darth Vader away Return of The Jedi did.

Anyway, thank for tuning in to my TedTalk! I will never let slander against Anakin Skywalker prevail! he is one of the best characters in fiction and I will not be told otherwise! Have a wonderful day!

[ageless-aislynn]

Friends. I have learned something VERY important. My computer... hates Google. No, seriously. I realized that the entire last bunch of blue screens that happened after the BIOS, Nvidia and Intel driver patches were occurring either as soon as I loaded up Chrome or was taking it down. If Chrome did manage to load, then my Nvidia graphics card would literally GROWL the entire time it was on. I am not speaking metaphorically. It sounded like it wanted to bite my ankle but now I know, it was just Google it wanted to bite.

The final piece of the puzzle was yesterday, when I tried to use Google docs (via Firefox). My computer HATED Google docs. My computer sees anything Google and it WILL do this:

Apologies for the crudeness. It was what my computer insisted on in exchange for letting me type, you know, G👀gl3.

Trigger warning: flashing lights

Halo 2 Honor Guards Google: "Hey, Ais' computer, would you like to see what amazing products we have for you today--ERK!" *essplodey*

Ais' computer: *Needler sounds and maniacal laughing*

(I removed Chrome, btw. Firefox has always been my main browser but sometimes it would act weird on certain sites and they'd load fine on Chrome so I'd split my browsing like that. If FF has issues with any site, I'll either try Opera for a secondary browser or *shudders* Edge - edit: no disrespect meant if you love Edge. I just had Some Problems with it back when it was Internet Explorer and I've never forgiven it. 🤷‍♀️ Either way, Chrome has gotten the boot and my computer is much happier about it.)

My frens, it is a weird new computer world I've found myself in but, if I can keep the computer from crashing, then I'll try to thrive in it. So far, at least it doesn't seem to mind me transcribing my ch7 "15 Minutes" draft into my email. It's an awkward way to edit but it's better than nothing.

Now I just have to make sure I don't mail the dang thing to somebody. Like, say, Noble Team!

Hey, guys, what did you think of my rough draft? Did you like it? What did you think about that part with the huge... Hey, WAIT A MINUTE, COME BACK HERE!

Um, yeah. They loved it. I'm pretty sure they're rushing off to blog about it right now! 😇

Seriously, though, I hope to have it ready to post in a couple more days. We'll see. Ch8 will be (emailing) right behind it and ch9 is still being hand written. It's... something, at least. 🤷‍♀️

I may see if the computer is stable enough for me to put my ol' faithful version of Word 2003 (my beloved) back on there. But for now, we email like a Spartan in the AU Party 'hog!

Anyway, I share because I care. Hope you all are doing well. Love you, frens. 💖💖💖

[minnwaa]

what i think of mu kusunoki

tldr: she's unforgivable in my eyes. hella fucking unforgivable.

but the long story is, i think i know what happened in mu's storyline, though bear in mind this is purely conjecture, so it might be wrong. credit for drama translation to onigiriico who is so fast in translating the drama holy heck.

tw// bullying, bugs

read more below:

i find it super interesting that the two mvs have wildly different vibe to it. after pain was more rooted in reality, the background was mostly at school, the people involved in the story are humanoid, everything is pristine, beautiful and tragic. while on the other hand, not my fault is bold, vibrant, surreal, so out of touch of reality it's actually crazy. there are two ways to read this:

that after pain was closer to what happened, that's why the memory is more clear, or

not my fault is closer to what happened, and the reason why it's surreal is that bc mu herself does not consider it the "reality".

i think it's closer to the second point than the first. Why? Because there are contradictions in after pain. first one is the message exchanged between mu and the supposed bullies.

i can't read a lotta kanji, but as i understand it, mu and the "bullies" had a group chat together where mu bought the "bullies" new make ups, and basically wanted to hang out more bc mu had money. and the last sticker that she sent has "ureshii" written on it, means that she's "happy." (feel free to correct me!)

the other contradiction is the reason why she killed her victim. because well, her bully is not her victim. literally, the only time we see the victim was when she walked away when mu is being bullied, so what was the motive? wouldn't it be more obvious if mu killed her bullies and not this one random girl who presumably killed bc she didn't care abt mu? what's up with that?

but then we get it's not my fault. (banger btw)

it starts off immediately with mu being the veritable queen bee of the hive, wanting everyone to please her. and if she's unhappy with you, you get "destroyed". the first line of the song is literally "yappa, hora, watashi no kachi" which means "i knew it, see, i'm the winner." and she continued with "it won't ever change." (which genuinely made me laugh now bc she got unforgivable-leaning vote rn lmfao)

what i would like to point out regarding the person who made her displeased is destroyed is this: once you get pushed away from her favor, it means that you are gone. sure, you still exist, but you are no longer useful to her. you broke into pieces. and i would like to point you guys to these:

so in this frame, we see that she has 8 followers, right? one of them get pushed away and she broke. but then we see this frame:

only three of them left. only three. at the very least, there are FIVE PEOPLE who are now broken because of mu.

we do actually see some uh... people that we know from the mv.

the victim one is pure conjecture, but I'm fairly sure about the three. because well, those three who have the most pictures? are the supposed bullies and the one who survived from getting stomped on mu.

we see the victim looking at the quartet with disgust in her eyes, and when the quartet saw her, she became her next target. which brings me to my next point.

from the way this is framed, her friend, which we will dub as acchan because that was her contact name, notified mu of something and everyone looked back. mu herself looked at the camera like whoever is meddling rn is being a big annoyance.

then immediately after that, the next picture is of the murder and mu mcfuckin' losing it. then the very last scene was the bodies of her "victim" powered up to allow her to escape from her little pod once again, reborn. i think the bugs were actually a metaphor for acceptance (but green, so probably a toxic kind? so perhaps kind of like kissing her ass?) and that after we say that she was forgiven of her sin, she became the queen bee that she was before, escaping the prison as her true self.

and then the real kicker of this whole mv?

THIS PART IN AFTER PAIN. TURNS OUT, SHE WASN'T THE ONE WHO WAS GRIEVING FOR THE GIRL. SHE WAS PROBABLY THE ONE WHO PUT THE FLOWER THERE AND SHE WAS ENJOYING THE SIGHT.

THIS? THIS WAS THE REAL SCENE.

the victim was being bullied by presumably mu and her clique and has to deal with all of her shit being destroyed and probably thrown a bucket of water as well. this is the true scene. none of that beautiful, clean bullshit that mu painted in after pain. no, this is (i believe the real thing)

which then brought me to my next point now, the voice drama. the voice drama confirmed these:

that mu still views herself as the victim

that mu did not think what she did was wrong, it was merely a revenge. if she killed her bullies, it should be okay. if she bullied people, it's because she was bullied before so now it's justified.

that she will be forgiven anyway.

that mu is REALLY good at gaslighting people. she even affected es.

that mu thinks that because her position is so enviable, that's probably the reason why she was being bullied,

that she's not above using threats of other's death for her survival,

that she is a massive bitch who actually doesn't know how friendship work

that the mv could be manipulated by the prisoners, they just have to have strong feeling about the event and it will be painted as such, though MILGRAM can go deeper than that

mkdr, the song chosen for mu, interestingly enough tells a story about a pair who is in a toxic relationship, one who is very dependent on the other, the other one kind of doesn't know the impact of their words. i think this in a way described mu and haruka's relationship.

so i think this is her story. i believe that first when she entered school, she wasn't exactly discriminated or being bullied, it's just that according to her, it must be bullying. for revenge, she decided to be the queen bee of the school. she has everything, looks, money, probably also connection, ofc ppl flocked to her. but she wasn't happy with some of them, so once she's done w/ them, she cuts them off and then bullied those people.

the victim was once upon a time also part of this friendship. she might even be the one who became mu's first friend. but then she saw all the atrocities that mu did, and became disgusted by her.

then i have two ways this could go:

first, the girl became the target of mu's cliques and was bullied by them. decided enough was enough (the final frame of it's not my fault), she decided to fight back and reported mu. mu, knowing that her time is running out, decided to chase after the girl and asked her to delete the evidence. the girl rejected that, ofc, and then mu in panic killed her.

or second, the girl still became the target of mu's cliques, but she was still trying to hold on and not do anything abt it. but when she saw that she wasn't the only target, she was angry at mu and immediately berated her. mu who thrived under attention ofc couldn't take this, esp from someone who she cared about. so she decided to ask for forgiveness, and ofc rejected. mu, in rage, killed the girl.

either way the story goes, the girl died and mu lose it. she lose everyone, her "friends" are now scared of her, she's now in milgram, her status is back to as someone who has nothing.

but then after pain happened. our acceptance of her fault happened. haruka happened. and she was reborn as the queen bee that she was, that she is, and she was so happy that milgram existed.

the worst part abt all of this is that someone like mu exist in this world. someone who, for her benefits, will steps on everyone and gaslight the absolute hell out of you if you don't fit her ideal. we as viewers had been absolutely lied to. after it's not my fault? i can't even see after pain in the same light. holy shit.

anyway that's my thought, i'm definitely voting unforgivable bc this shit won't fly with me. just. ew.

edit: this just make the whole thing worse but rochisama did a translation of things written on the board and the text, and it proved that:

the first scene of after pain (mu waking up) was her being bullied for killing the other girl

the text proves that her and her """bullies"""" was on good term (went out to get tapioca and borrowed lipstick and it was a spare apparently??)

the black board at the end wasn't meant for mu, it was meant for THE VICTIM.

when i thought this couldnt get any worse. it did. what the fuck mu kusunoki

[authorofemotion]

OK BESTIE IM HERE WITH A THEORY!!!! this is gonna be really long!! sorry! so! to give you a short summary of The Narnia Code (the book i keep bugging you to read), the author (Michael Ward) describes how each of the Chronicles of Narnia correspond to one of the seven pre-Copernican planets!! in case you dont know, the pre-Copernican planets are Jupiter, Mars, the Sun (or Sol), the Moon (or Luna), Mercury, Venus, and Saturn and they are what people believed were the planets when they believed that the universe was Geocentric (planets revolve around Earth). This reasoning, contrary to popular belief, was NOT due to people being selfish and self-absorbed (although that still definitely probably existed). they actually believed so because they believed that outer space was the "seven spheres of Heaven". each planet had its own sphere and outside the last sphere was where people believed that God dwelt. so Earth, being at the center, was actually believed to be there (in part) because it was physically and metaphorically the farthest from God (this concept is also in Lewis' Space Trilogy, so it'll make more sense if/when you read those!). anyways! Ward brings up a particular poem by Lewis called "The Planets" (i have a pdf and can send if you want to read it!). he says how he figured it out was when he was reading it and one of the lines about Jupiter was "Winter passed, and guilt forgiven" (sorry if thats a little off; im saying this all from memory) and Ward was immediately like "wait. ive read about that before in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?!" SO THEN he goes through each book and how each one correlates to a planet (he also talks about the silent music through the stories, which Lewis touches on a bit in his essay "On Stories" which i just read last night!!) so Jupiter correlates to Lion, Witch, Wardrobe/Mars +Caspian/Sol + Dawn Treader/Luna + Silver Chair/Mercury + Horse and His Boy/Venus + Magician's Nephew/Saturn + Last Battle (at this point i'm very, very glad that tumblr doesnt have a limit to ask length anymore)!! the one that convinced me the most is Luna, so ill summarize that one as best as possible: Luna was associated with madness (that's where we get the word Lunatic) because it was changing constantly. It was also associated with water (for a reason i cant remember right now). if you've read The Silver Chair, you know there's a lot of emphasis put on madness, like when Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum are put under a spell in a way so that they dont remember that the Sun exists. also the Lady of the Green Kirtle is just kinda crazy. Michael Ward also has a longer book thats the more in-depth version of the Narnia Code (called Planet Narnia) and my teacher said that in that book, he lists every single reference to water/being wet in the Silver Chair and it takes him like two or three pages. theres more stuff that i cant remember atm but ITS CRAZY.

ANYWAYS my theory comes in when Ward was talking about the Seven Heavens and how "the heavens declare the glory of God" (psalm 19 is Lewis' favorite, btw!) and i thought "well the planets aren't the only things in the Heavens. what about stars?" and then i thought of the seven churches in Revelation that correlate to the seven stars that Christ is holding in Revelation and i started going through the letters to each church,,, AND THEY ACTUALLY EACH HAVE PARTS THAT RELATE TO THE BOOKS TOO?!!! so say the Lion, Witch, Wardrobe with Ephesus!! "toil and patient endurance" (Revelation 2:2) is similar to what the inhabitants of Narnia had to go through when waiting for Aslan. to cross-reference, Paul tells the church in Ephesus in Acts 20:29-31 that "fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" and this correlates to Lion, Witch, Wardrobe both figuratively and literally, as actual wolves are sent after the Pevensies, Peter kills a wolf in his first battle, AND mr. Tumnus is taken away by the Police (which happens to also be wolves)! so a great importance is placed on the evil of Wolves in the book. in the letter to Ephesus, the church is condemned for "abandoning the love you had at first" (Rev. 2:4) and is told to "repent, and do the works you did at first" (Rev. 2:5). both of these correlate to Edmund's development and flaws (i have quotes to support this, i just dont wanna type them out rn). Christ also tells Ephesus "yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate". so i researched a bit on the Nicolaitans and the word means literally "to conquer the people" which is what the White Witch and her followers were doing. i also found a quote somewhere that says that the Nicolaitans claimed "not that they were destroying Christianity, but that they were presenting an improved and modernized version of it" which is what the Witch was doing when she paraded herself as the Queen of Narnia in place of Aslan's rightful place as the King.

anyways im gonna write about this for my thesis in my tolkien/lewis class next semester and IM SO EXCITED WISH ME LUCK

THIS IS THE COOLEST THING IVE EVER READ

IM DOING MY BEST TO GET A COPY OF THE BOOK BUT NOW I REALLY REALLY WANT TO READ YOUR THESIS WHEN YOU WRITE IT

[itsclydebitches]

Not sure how I feel about anon bringing Yang not showing Salem empathy in that moment as a bad thing. Like if an immortal witch was trying to murder/kill all of my friends my reaction probably wouldn't be "how do you feel though"

That's been my response too, anon, though I understand where the previous anon is coming from. Though Salem started out as a generic Big Bad with no redeemable qualities, Volume 6 showed us a captive woman who was later tortured by the gods and sought death, only to find herself changed instead, thereby raising the question for the audience, "How much of the Big Bad's action is Salem and how much of it is the evil grimm magic acting upon her?" Just as important, Volume 8 gave us Cinder's backstory and a scene of her crying on the rooftop, alongside the forgiveness of Emerald and Hazel. I could go on another rant about how this sympathy didn't extent to Ironwood and, in a different way, didn't extend to Ozpin either, but outside of that there's been a very strong message of, "Abuse victims and people who have just generally suffered - lost a sister, lived on the streets - should be shown compassion and given a second chance," which becomes a problem when we consider that the most prominent villain with an abusive backstory since Volume 6 has not been extended that compassion. Gender dynamics aside, it's the same problem fans have with Adam's ending considering that his brand was revealed right before he died. The go-to explanations of, "But Adam was his own abuser who stalked Blake" and "Salem is literally trying to destroy the world" fall a little flat when pit against "But it's okay for Emerald to manipulate Pyrrha into killing Penny?" and "Hazel has also knowingly helped Salem try to take over the world. And also murdered countless huntsmen. And also was torturing a kid." It's not so easy to go, "The story shouldn't show them compassion because they're The Worst" when the story is already showing compassion to people who... are also The Worst. I say all this not as a way to excuse any one character's actions - I'm not in the business of going, "[insert horrific choice here] is fine actually!" - but rather to acknowledge that RWBY lacks a clear divide between what actions are forgivable and what actions are not. Fans aren't wrong to go, "If you expect me to feel for Cinder after everything she's done since Episode 1 and you expect me to laugh along with the cast after everything Emerald has done, why isn't Salem Adam Ironwood Ozpin getting that same sort of work?" Given the "trust love" message and the strong push to sympathize with/outright redeem heinous characters, a lot of fans are wondering why our cast hasn't even mentioned all the shit Salem went through. It's been months now since they watched Jinn's vision and they're accepting former villains into their ranks now because Life is Hard and they deserve that chance, but no one cares to even mention everything Salem went through and debate her own responsibility. Surely if they can forgive Emerald for willingly working with her, there's at least some room to discuss the question of Salem's morality in the context of two Gods' manipulations and a magical pool having some kind of impact on her. There's a disconnect here. The story can't go, "These heinous people are Good deep down, actually" without extending that to all our villains, Salem included.

(All of which, btw, is tied up in the frustration that the group hasn't discussed the vision at all. The question of Salem's morality is tied up in the question of her defeat. For example, if they decide they're not comfortable with killing her, that might lead to theories on how to contain her instead...)

So ALL OF THAT is churning in the back of fans' minds. I agree 100% that the group's capture was not the time to extend any sympathy for Salem and I've got posts out there saying the exact same as you, anon: "You really expect Yang to be compassionate after Salem was torturing Oscar, captured them, was planning to kill them, is attacking the city, and just reminded her of her dead mom? C'mon." The problem lies in the fact that we haven't gotten this kind of work anywhere else, the cast has barely mentioned Salem anywhere else - outside of freaking out over her arrival - so when a member of our main group is suddenly right next to her and they're discussing the concept of loss, some fans are like, "AHHHH TALK ABOUT WHAT SALEM HAS LOST TOO GODDAMMIT." It's putting an unfair expectation on Yang and the scene because, again, I don't think that was the time or place for discussing the nuances of morality in a fantasy setting, but because everything else around Salem has been so badly written, and Yang's scene was the closest we've ever gotten to scratching that itch... fans get frustrated that it didn't happen, no matter how unfair or ridiculous that frustration might seem. Really, I don't think fans, in a general sense, actually want Yang to sympathize with Salem then and there. That would be a whole other, messy can of worms given the context. But they want something and at this point "something" has become accepting even really bad versions of what they're looking for. Since no one discussed the vision at the farm, or at Argus, or any time in Atlas, fans are metaphorically throwing up their hands with a, "Well, if we have to delve into Salem's character only when she's doing the most damage in the entire series then fine! You didn't do it earlier when you should have, so this is just what we're left with! Better then nothing! I'm sick of watching Cinder cry and Emerald make quips and Hazel go out in a blaze of heroics and we still haven't even mentioned that our primary antagonist went through more shit than the three of them combined. Am I supposed to be compassionate towards the bad guys or not? Make up your mind, RWBY."

RWBY is a hot mess and the mistakes the story has made, sadly, are not easily separated from one another. Frustration over Yang's scene is prioritizing one problem over another. Namely, the problem of Salem's characterization over the problem of having your hero go "How do you feel though?" while the bad guy is about to kill her. RWBY has backed itself into a corner, both problems exist, but we can only easily discuss one at a time. Similarly, if someone goes, "Ugh they really need to work on Emerald's redemption in Volume 9" people are correct to go, "But if they do that then Volume 8 will look even worse since they've already forgiven her" or "But that's going to be so messy if they're flip-flopping between Vacuo and the island world. Should they even redeem her without the main girls around?" And it's like yes! Exactly! None of these are good options. RWBY has written a situation where ANY choice is going to be a problem on some level because none of this story has been well thought out. So it comes down to which problem an individual fan considers to be, well, more of a problem. In Yang's case it's going, "I will gladly sacrifice the integrity of this scene to get some acknowledgement of a theme that has existed for Salem since early Volume 6 and is now being heavily pushed on other characters in Volume 8. If a stupid moment where Yang is kind to Salem while she's captured is what it takes to start this conversation then fine. I'll take it. Especially when Oscar was kind to Hazel while captured and tortured. You already gave us the stupid scene - just do it again and actually get something out of it this time!"

It is, as said, a twisting, turning mess.

[reverseblackholeofwords]

So I made a thing? Compiled a thing? Curated a thing?

It's a playlist for Legion. Songs for evil, neutral, and good. All of them chaotic.

(Here they are for people without Spotify and explainations 'cause I like the sound of my own typing)

The Judge- 21 Pilots; Trapped in a room alone with our thoughts and guilt, Ollie and Phantom check up on us after. It's up to everyone else is they forgive us, and we're sad.

Fist Bump- Natewantstobattle; Hey, we're all in this together. When you share a mind with people all trying to do at least similar things as you, you're as strong as a Legion. Fist bump guys!

Bones- Natewantstobattle I; I saw a few comparisons to Paultin's Ring of Winter stint in the discord. Our reasoning was logical like it was all in our dreams, and we really were our own worst enemy. Bonus points for mirror imagery and the smashing glass sound effect.

Emperor's New Clothes- Natewantstobattle; There's something fun about being evil. Legion is powerful and does whatever they want until... Whoops hey there Phantom fancy seeing you here.

Wild I Am - Vocal Few; If any being jumps from universe to universe to interact with incredible beings of great power, they have to have a wild adventurous streak. No time to settle down with a happy ending in the retroverse, there's only the next adventure.

Don't Hold Back-Paden; A few people have forgiven us, and that's a great start. We've learned we can affect the world and now we can do amazing things.

Wolves of the Revolution- The Arcadian Wild; Stay strong. It was rough going dark, but don't let that break you. Keep hope. It's powerful, hard to see sometimes, but hope is worth every effort. Also, Actor Mark sucks and is shooting metaphorical arrows at us.

Breathe- CircusP; Legion transforms and we have tricks up our sleeves no one expected, including ourselves. Bonus points for a reprisal when we hopefully face off against Actor.

Indestructible- Weshly Arms; We are powerful, if chaotic evil taught us anything is that we have power to affect the world around us, and that's terrifying. Also see: "standing in the cold, it's more than physical." Yeah ouch. (Great submitted fic btw, it hurt)

King- Lauren Aquilina; This past adventure has been a little rough. A lot of emotions are running around here, but you are still great. You can be king again. The evil of the mask is gone and we can recover. Also here in case you needed to hear this today irl.

ADHD- Truslow; "You're a little bit, a little bit just like me" another part of Legion. Hey there friend, we're all different, but a little the same. Legion is a strange being, but we're all here together. And it's great.

Fractions- Juniper Vale; We are fractures of a being, with a fractured mask, and broken into pieces. But we can grow back and be beautiful. Oh, and we broke a mirror.

Stay (Female Version)- Tryhardninja; Ollie really is too good for the world, isn't he? See also: "Refuse to let it take you." We still have people rooting for us.

Unaligned- Natewantstobattle; Guilt for the past and fear for the future, we're unaligned now. It's confusing having so much power and control, but after everything we're still us so maybe we can make it back. I hope we're not too undecided.

I'm Just a Shadow- SHEL; We can bounce around the world with little thought, hear conversations about deep fears and greatest treasures. We act like we're not even there sometimes. And here's the kicker, we're Chaotic Neutral right now.

Ship in a Bottle- Steffan Argus; We're going to have build back some trust, while feeling a lot of things. It might seem like we're trapped at sea. On top of that, we are a being with many fractures and voices that has to work together to agree.

ECHO- CIRCRUSH; Changing alignments so many times in a such a short period is confusing and wild. How do you fight your own mind? And how do you heal afterwords?

Submitted by: @youllnevertaketheskyfromme

This is so cool! I don't think anyone has ever made a whole playlist for a story before!

[breealtair]

I don't understand why people interpret the powers as bad? There are so many metaphors attached to the gift/miracle in this movie (which is a sign of really fucking good writing btw), and one of theist apparent metaphors is the fact that the magic represents their family bond. The miracle was gifted to them when Alma just lost her husband and had the intense wish to protect her children. The Casita is a physical representation of her wish to protect her family, and their powers are an extention of the protection and what binds them as a family. When their familial bond weakens, so does their powers. That's why the ostracization of Bruno and Maribel as well as the stresses that Alma was putting on her family was unintentionally weakening the magic. It's also why Maribel and Izabelle making up with each other had the magic flair up and grow stronger.

Yes, the powers are the result of Alma's trauma, but that's because her intense need to protect her family is a result of her trauma. The powers are connected to generational trauma because their familial bond is based on Alma's trauma.

The whole point of the last song was changing the foundation of their family bond. That does not translate to completely doing away with magic. To Alma, they relied on their connection to the house and magic to make them a family, and in the last song of the movie, they change the foundation of their family to rely on each other in order to make their home. The source of their powers is not the house anymore after it is remade. It is each other. The candle no longer exists, but their magic is back and the house is reanimated. That doesn't mean that everything they learned is undone. It's reiterating the idea that their bond as a family has healed and reformed.

This is also why Alma's redemption, recognition of the roll she played, and forgiveness is crucial. She is part of the family. A crucial part. If they hadn't forgiven her, the bond would not have been healed. It's also why the scene where maribel sees the site of Alma's trauma is important because it allows her to understand the driving force of her abuela's actions and allows them both to move forward. They cannot forget what happened to them, but they can grow from it. Also, I think it's important to notice that Maribel did not get powers after everyone else got their powers back. Because her lack of powers is an outward representation of the hardships and insecurities that she faced throughout the film.

I know this is rushed. I just really like what OP had to say about the movie and wanted to add to it. They did a fantastic job of explaining why the madrigals leaving their powers behind would be an injustice to the overall message(s) of the film, so I tried not to just restate what they had already pointed out.

So, I made this post the other day, and thought I’d make another one, and try to explain it in different words, because a lot of you say I’m misunderstanding- which I’m not. I understand your points completely, and I still think you guys don’t understand the point of the movie, so here we go.

The issue is so many of you are used to seeing trauma from a singular lens, which is why there are so many discussions over whether or not Alma deserves forgiveness, or if Alma is a villain. Because trauma is a nuanced discussion and most discussions you engage with concerning trauma lacks nuance. Not to mention you guys also have a very white perspective when it comes to trauma.

All these things combined, so many of you don’t understand why someone would be able to offer forgiveness to someone when they do wrong.

Another side of this perspective is that so many of you seem to be missing is that the powers were metaphors for real life issues. Luisa’s physical strength is a metaphor for pressure. Isabela’s flowers were metaphors for the expectation to not mess up. Mirabel’s lack of a gift represents her feeling like a family disappointment.

If you actually break down the lesson each of these sisters is there to teach it’s;

It’s okay to take breaks and not overdo yourself.

It’s okay to do things for yourself, even if it’s not perfect.

You are perfect the way you are.

Overall, the lesson in this movie is great, because it’s actually complex, but if I were to break down the lesson in a few words, it would be that it is important to break generational trauma. The issue is a lot of people seem to misunderstand the metaphor, and think that the powers represent the generational trauma, when they don’t. The powers aren’t inherently bad. The expectations with these powers are bad.

The thing is, in real life, even when you learn to deal with your trauma in real life, the circumstances don’t go away. You don’t get lose your strength, you learn that you need to take breaks to maintain it. You don’t lose your talents or abilities, you learn that your worth doesn’t surround them. You don’t learn your worth by everyone becoming like you, you learn that you have worth either way.

I see a lot of people say I missed the point and say that the point is they didn’t need their powers, and the thing is, it’s not about their powers. If the lesson you took away from that movie has anything to do with their powers, you missed the point entirely.

[tinkdw]

Idk if you've already been asked this, sorry if you have you don't have to answer again, but how do you think Cas' depression arc would be addressed and/or given closure (if it is to be addressed). Love your metas btw.

Hi! 

Sorry this is short as I’m on holiday so I’m super sporadic and up a mountain!

In short...it’s DEFINITELY going to be addressed. They didn't work 2 years worth of intense Cas story into s11/12 in order to not address it.

( The latest crackiest hilarious notion I’ve seen from certain people is that Cas is dead because he has had no story for 2 years and they don't know what to do with him, just kept him around for no reason, as that’s what you do with a series regular, of course. Misha is only going to come back because he sucked up to Singer and only as Jimmy, cos you know, let’s extract Jimmy from his resting place in Heaven with his soulmate just to get in the way of Destiel, and he will hook up with Jody and go live in Wayward Sisters... LMAO. I have no idea what show they think they’re watching as Cas’ story is so important to the themes of SPN overall (family, belonging, finding yourself, humanity, friendship, love) and the boys, even aside from Destiel, he has had a huge arc in s11/12 all around these themes so... it’s not going to just go away ).

This is what I hope and what I feel more than a meta but...

Cas’ depression arc, because it’s TV, is not going to be solved with medication and time. It has to be ‘solved’ by him looking at himself and releasing himself from his inner demons. 

IMO he will face himself metaphorically (and I hope literally) in death and return with a different outlook. That was the whole point of his mental instability leading to terrible choices and death in s11 and s12, both times he put his faith in Lucifer and Jack to solve things and put himself down as a tool for them to do it. 

The story with Jack was just an exaggerated version of what he did with Lucifer. It’s the climax of this story for him ever since he made terrible decisions since season 6, hence all the mirroring with season 6 in season 12, to remind us that this is CAS, he has to face his past too, just as Sam and Dean are. He is living the same story as they are re: facing his past and having a terrible climax point in death and a rebirth, just as they both did in s8/9.

He needs to learn that he is NOT a tool, that he deserves to be his own person and to have nice things, that he has made good and bad decisions. He needs to do this for himself and separately from Dean and Sam, though with their help of course, but it has to be an internal thing in the end, just as Dean’s is and Sam’s is, it’s all internal but with the help of exterior forces, but they have to do the final push themselves.

I also think that he will get a hero arc through Jack and also address his desire to be human through him, reconciling his angelic and human sides of himself and family and making a choice.

A part of me really HOPES (though this is WILD WILD WILD speculation and wishing, not meta based really), that we will see Cas really memory!less or just really different and ‘wrong’ for a couple of episodes. I would love it if he is memory!less and we see a more carefree Cas, I want a mix of Emmanuel and Crazy!Cas - where he is himself, just as Dean was in 12x11 - I feel like this could be such foreshadowing. It is such a good way of showing WHO CAS IS, a huge theme of season 12 and I feel we didn't see this with Cas, it would be amazing. 

Cas smiling and it not being a wry smile because he’s hiding his true feelings of feeling like crap or whatever. An actual real to goodness SMILE.

Cas being looked after by the boys, smiling, Dean smiling back because he can't help it, Cas is irresistibly adorable and kind and good, touching him in passing as he gives him a sandwich and Cas leaning into it, smiling at him as he does, small gestures of kindness and caring, because this is Cas without the baggage, just CAS and Dean can't help it, it exposes more of Dean’s feelings, even though he says at first that it isn’t Cas, he realises (probably Sam points it out after we know Dean knows but he won't admit it, that he is himself, that this IS Cas without the baggage). 

Then Cas gets his memories back and he retains some of this, because he’s forgiven himself or on the path to it, it actually helps him move forwards whilst showing the AUDIENCE who Cas really is beneath all his crap, just like 12x11 did for Dean, but make it so obvious and at the same time show us some great Dean/Cas.... I just... I want this so much. I doubt we will get it but I imagine something like it at least as an exposition.

I was also just talking to @bluestar86 about how I/we would love it if not only Chuck but hopefully Claire could give him closure and forgiveness, textually, about Jimmy. To really close this off once he does face all this himself. It feels to me like they’ve kept Claire and Cas apart as they try to emphasises that Cas is no longer using Jimmy’s vessel but it is his ow body, but now Cas needs to be validated, he needs to be forgiven with words and clearly. I think once he gets back, once he starts to forgive himself is the point where this could happen. Perhaps 13x10 but I would personally expect it a little later, IDK when Claire will be back or if she will but I would love it if it was either in 13x10 (though that seems a bit early for me), but if we hear Claire is going to be in episode 13x15-22 I would love this and hope for it...).

Anyway this got long and I have to go but yeah, I have FEELINGS about this :D

[thebluelemontree]

What do you think about valientned's theory that Sansa invented the Unkiss to explain the situation in her recollections, versus the prevailing SanSan theory that she invented it because she wanted it (later)? One puts stock in the Unkiss as proof of Sansa's fear, and the other as proof of her desire or love. Not that those are mutually exclusive. +They both make sense and have evidence. IMO, the fact that Sansa makes it up after she starts having erotic dreams indicates desire for him, not fear

**Edit** I do follow valientned’s tumblr and I enjoy their posts.  I was not aware of their position on the unkiss or read anything about it from them personally, so I’m taking your word for it.  But I will answer from the position that some people have about the unkiss being about processing trauma or fear.***

It’s sooooo not about fear or trauma.  Just, no.  That makes no sense and here’s why.

I think to understand the unkiss, we have to look at it first in a literary way and why the Blackwater scene was written the way it was. What is GRRM (not Sansa) trying to say to the reader with not just the unkiss, but everything connected to it?  He obviously can’t write a literal romance between them in the early books for so many horrifically unconscionable and logic-defying reasons.  George is really following a literary tradition using sexual and romantic symbolism to speak directly to the reader without the characters being aware.  It’s a classic Gothic literature theme of exploring sexual desire that is fraught with fear for it being taboo or somehow non-prescribed by society.  Or in Sansa’s case, that it is not the ideal.  (See the Bear and the Maiden Fair).   

The Blackwater scene itself is not actually sexual, though it is terrifying, to say the least.  It is however very sexually and romantically symbolic in its wording.  The dagger as a phallic symbol, the “wetness that was not blood,” the blood-stained cloak evocative of loss of virginity, etc.  BTW, we were already pre-exposed to Sandor holding a blade against Sansa’s neck and she was not scared (kind of unimpressed actually).  Swords and daggers are dicks and they are everywhere.    

What we’re really talking about here at the Blackwater is metaphoric wife-stealing and it’s important to understand what wife-stealing actually is.  It’s a ritual among Free Folk to demonstrate to the woman a man’s prowess and worth to be considered as a suitor.  They value traits of being brave, clever, and quick.  Ygritte has no fear or trauma from Jon unwittingly stealing her at knife point because she is interpreting the events through her cultural lens.  She enthusiastically accepts “his suit” because he passed the test.  It is not an assault on the woman or an actual kidnapping.  The man might get the shit beat out of him, but the woman is never supposed to be hurt.  In the end, the woman has the final say if she will have him, as Tormund’s daughter Munda did with Longspear Ryk after he stole her.  This custom is set apart from the already existing sexual freedom for both sexes to hook up.  Wife-stealing is a public declaration of a serious romantic relationship.  It’s a marriage proposal.  Sandor fails the wife-stealing test metaphorically at the Blackwater.  He’s drunk, scared, barely holding on mentally and he is refused.   

So GRRM has given us extensive literary set-up to place the Blackwater in a symbolically romantic context.  Why?  So he can make the unkiss just about Sansa processing fear and trauma?  That makes no sense.  Now that we have the proper literary context, we can look at Sansa’s progression of thought toward the unkiss logically.   

This is before the first incarnation of the unkiss:  

1)  It’s implied she’s already forgiven Sandor after he leaves her room wrapping herself in his cloak.  She was cold, but she was already in her own bed.  She has cloaks of her own.  That does not speak of fear and trauma after the fact to seek out his cloak and remain under it for some time.  It speaks of subconscious emotional attachment.  

2)  Still so hint that she was traumatized.  This passage takes place approximately one month later according to the ASOIAF timeline.    

I wish the Hound were here. The night of the battle, Sandor Clegane had come to her chambers to take her from the city, but Sansa had refused. Sometimes she lay awake at night, wondering if she’d been wise. She had his stained white cloak hidden in a cedar chest beneath her summer silks. She could not say why she’d kept it. The Hound had turned craven, she heard it said; at the height of the battle, he got so drunk the Imp had to take his men. But Sansa understood. She knew the secret of his burned face. It was only the fire he feared. That night, the wildfire had set the river itself ablaze, and filled the very air with green flame. Even in the castle, Sansa had been afraid. Outside … she could scarcely imagine it.                 

 She wishes the Hound were there for his advice.  She’s has spent more than one night considering the events of the Blackwater, so she’s already processed it.  She secretly kept his cloak with her future wardrobe, though she can’t give a reason she is consciously aware of.  She understands why things happened the way they did from a non-emotionally charged place and with critical thinking.  The only fear she emphasizes is the fear of the wildfire, both inside and outside the castle.  By “wondering if she’d been wise” (that slight pause over her choice but without overwhelming regret) says she might have chosen differently if he had approached her the right way.

Now we get to the first incarnation of the unkiss.  Compared to what actually happened, let’s look at what’s stayed the same, what’s changed or added, what’s been removed:

Sansa wondered what Megga would think about kissing the Hound, as she had. He’d come to her the night of the battle stinking of wine and blood. He kissed me and threatened to kill me, and made me sing him a song.

He did not not come to her.  He was already in the room.  It’s been changed so he’s coming through the door where she can see him instead of startling her in the dark.  The first thing she says is that she kissed him.  The whole tone of the passage is matter-of-fact.  Not emotionally charged either positively or negatively.  No mention of the knife at her throat.  Then he kisses her.  Then he threatens her and makes her sing him a song.  So the kiss comes before any threat and is tied to the song instead.  The kiss didn’t come under duress, the song did.   

We know from Sansa’s fantasies of Loras Tyrell, she imagines herself being an actor, not just acted upon.  All while the Bear and the Maiden Fair is sang LOUDLY in the background (pointing to the subconscious) by Butterbumps just to drive the point home it’s the bear that satisfied the maiden.  Loras is still very much her conscious ideal at this point.  It’s the type that she is supposed to be with.  He’s what the songs are made of and she wants her life to be just like a song.  Sandor doesn’t fit in that superficial equation at all.  That’s the struggle.  The unkiss is not about coming to terms with trauma.  It’s coming to terms that deep down her erotic desires are the stuff of Gothic literature.  She’s not scared of Sandor, she’s scared of what wanting him says about her.  Miss dutiful, oh so proper lady that she is.  Ha!  

Her first erotic dream that replaces Tyrion with the Hound in the marriage bed is definitely not a nightmare at the end.  It comes the night of Lysa and Petyr’s very loud bedding after their marriage and after Lothor Brune (who she initially mistakes for Sandor) saved Sansa from Marillion’s unwanted advances.  So if the dream is coming after she’s being reminded of sex by the wedding night and Sandor is replacing and protecting her from the unwanted, doesn’t that make his presence wanted? Desired?  The context in how we interpret these things is key.

Finally, let’s get to the second and last (so far) incarnation of the unkiss:

Before she could summon the servants, however, Sweetrobin threw his skinny arms around her and kissed her. It was a little boy’s kiss, and clumsy. Everything Robert Arryn did was clumsy.  If I close my eyes I can pretend he is the Knight of Flowers. Ser Loras had given Sansa Stark a red rose once, but he had never kissed her … and no Tyrell would ever kiss Alayne Stone. Pretty as she was, she had been born on the wrong side of the blanket.

As the boy’s lips touched her own she found herself thinking of another kiss. She could still remember how it felt, when his cruel mouth pressed down on her own. He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak.

It made no matter. That day was done, and so was Sansa. 

Once again, we must look at the context of what sparked this final version: Robert’s clumsy kiss.  Clumsy and cruel are now tied together.  Although Sansa has no desire to reciprocate Robert’s crush, she does want to be kissed again.  Her first inclination is to pretend he’s Loras, but that doesn’t work. She’s accepted the reality that courtship among the noble class is first and foremost about pedigree and politics.  The rose given was an empty gesture.  She can’t make him the focus of her desires any longer while accepting the truth.  Then her thoughts pivot to her “memory” of the unkiss. 

This version is far more poetic in tone than the first.  The wildfire outside is now turned into a vivid backdrop to the scene, not a horrific apocalypse.  There’s no knife, no threat, no vomit, no wine, no startling her in the dark, no fear.  She’s removed all unwanted elements and kept only the intensity of the moment.  Remember that Sansa wants to be an actor, not just acted upon.  As far as she knows the unkiss is her first real, mature, and erotic kiss.  And it was impulsively done (clumsy) under circumstances where she wasn’t prepared to meet it like an equal participant.  And he left!  The cruelty is making her desire him and leaving her nothing but a bloody cloak.  While the addition of the cloak is factual, it speaks to what she was given, what she was left with, was ultimately unsatisfying though she kept it all the same.  “That day is done,” there’s no going back.  He upended her usual fantasies and rocked her world view.  No other erotic fantasy will measure up now and it’s over before it can be satisfied.  We know from the preceding passage about Loras that her conscious desires now hinge upon accepting the truth.  This isn’t fear or trauma, it’s disappointment.  Like “I kissed the Hound and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”  She’s consciously accepted her desire and must put it behind her immediately because he’s gone.

But not to worry because literarily speaking, GRRM has set us up for a do-over and she’s due to see him again really soon. ;)                

[elenaferrante]

Kiwi Analysis

So, on Friday, me & @captiveharts read the lyrics of this song almost at the same time, and then when we started discussing them, we realized we both had thought the same thing. Yes, we do think it’s a song about stunting, and we do think it’s about a stunt in particular. Not b*bygate, though, but H*ylor (that is probably the stunt lol). And Harry saying this song started as a joke at the Breakfast Show with Nick, made us think this probably started as a “you know, i really need to get this off my chest” thing: it started as a joke meaning that he probably wanted to make fun of her and of her habit of writing about her exes. It was probably just “a bit of a banter,” & then at some point, they must have gone like “you know, this could be good,” & turned into a proper song. But with no further delay, let’s start our analysis.

●     “She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes Hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect.”

○     The first line can be a metaphor of how TS started from the bottom as a Miss Nothing & then turned into a pop princess/America’s sweetheart™,

○     The second line can be about how business-woman-alike she always acts. Everyone always says – even if she enjoys acting like a naive little girl – she’s actually really smart (& she knows it).

●     “And all the boys, they were saying they were into it,”

○     where “all the boys” are obviously all the men TS stunted with

    ■     many of whom are surrounded by gay rumours,

    ■     reenacting every single rom-com cliché (no, Tom Hiddleston, I haven’t forgiven you yet for going around with that hideous I <3 TS tank top)

    ■     “Into it” can also be interpreted as a way of accepting a deal, & getting along with it.

●     “Such a pretty face, on a pretty neck.”

○     Does this one really need an explanation?

●     “It’s New York, baby, always jacked up, Whole tunnels, foreign noises always backed up.”

○     Well, NYC plays a big role both in TS’ personal life, and for the whole length of that mess that was H*ylor.

○     The lines Harry & his co-authors wrote seem in fact to mock a bit TS’s Welcome to New York (Walkin’ through a crowd, the village is aglow / Kaleidoscope of a loud, heartbeats under coats)

○     Harry and Taylor are papped several times together in NYC:

   ■     The first time they were spotted together was in Central Park

   ■     Taylor went to 1D’s after party after their concert at the MSG,

   ■     They were both papped again in NYC while leaving their hotels

   ■     They were seen together at the Jingle Ball’s backstage

   ■     And of course there’s the whole super yikes NYE ball drop thing.

●     “When she’s alone, she goes home to a cactus,”

○     This is probably the most “obscure” line in the whole song, but we thought it could mean that she’s basically going home alone, finding nothing but a plant in her empty house. TS likes surrounding herself with people – her “squad”, her countless boyfriends – but at the end of the day, these are mostly stunts. We don’t know which relationships she has are actually real (*cough* Karlie i know you’re real *cough*), but most of them are probably just for the sake of the press and the media.

●     “In a black dress, she’s such an actress,”

○     TS is actually known for wearing a lot of black dresses/outfits 

○     She referred to herself as “the girl in the dress” in Dear John (The girl in the dress cried the whole way home and The girl in the dress wrote you a song).

○     About the actress thing, well:

   ■     TS is literally an actress as well since she played a couple of roles in some movies (Valentine’s Day, The Giver, etc),

   ■     she’s an actress metaphorically because of all of her stunts & the girl next door image she’s built for herself.

○     But with this line, Harry also seems to mock an old TS’s song, Better Than Revenge, where on her turn, she was mocking a girl who had “stolen her boyfriend from her” (She’s not a saint & she’s not what you think / she’s an actress, oh oh / she’s better known for the things that she does / on the mattress, oh oh).

●     “Driving me crazy, but I’m into it, but I’m into it, I’m kinda into it, It’s getting crazy, I think I’m losing it, I think I’m losing it.”

○     Okay, first of all, crazy. Harry repeats it twice in each chorus, & he stresses it when he sings it.

○     Crazy is definitely a word that comes up to everybody’s mind when they think of TS:

   ■     because of the psycho girlfriend image that has been build up around her public persona (there are loads of parodies on Youtube, media have often talked about it)

   ■     and eventually, she has – very smartly – referenced it herself in Shake It Off and especially Blank Space (and in fact she acts like a psychopath in the Blank Space music video, mocking the idea that the GP & the media have of her).

○     But “crazy” is a term she often uses in her own songs as well,

   ■     Picture To Burn (Tell you friends I’m obsessive & crazy, that’s fine, I’ll tell mine that you’re gay),

   ■     I’m Only Me When I’m With You (You drive me crazy half of the time), etc

   ■     She uses it in the initial monologue in the I Knew You Were Trouble music video,

   ■     and she has a whole song called Crazier.

○     The whole “into it” escalation, on the other hand, seems like a young Harry trying to convince himself that this stunt won’t be this bad:

   ■     his managers were probably telling him how a good idea this would be, how his popularity would increase, he must have told himself that he would have survived this, that he’d have managed to appear into her,

   ■     only to realize that no, he wouldnt have been able to do this cause the whole stunt was getting insane, and that H*ylor was the worst thing ever (for both him & Louis), and that’s why he then proceeds to sing “I think I’m losing it”.

●     “I think she said ‘I’m having your baby, it’s not of your business’”.

○     Of course, this is a metaphor. this girl mentioned in this song sounds extremely bossy, and lowkey psycho, and that’s a great description for TS (her public persona, at least).

○     This is TS saying: “I want all the promo I can get, and I don’t care if you hate it. We signed a deal, so now shut your mouth cause I’m getting what I want.” She’s stubborn, she doesn’t think about him anymore, she just wants to help herself and, indeed, she has done that even way after the end of H*ylor, publicly shading Harry, and implying that great part of 1989 (& not only) was written about Harry (and by the way, there have also been rumours, back during H*ylor, that TS was indeed pregnant of Harry).

○    Harry might have also take inspiration from another stunt (*cough cough* b*abygate *cough cough*) for this particular line

●     “She sits beside me like a silhouette, Hard candy dripping on me till my feet are wet.”

○     These are the infamous lines that made people accusing Harry of encouraging pedophily (yikes). First of all, we definitely don’t think Harry was aware of the metaphorical meaning of “hard candy” (I had no idea either), and we actually think that “hard candy” is just the name of a drink, a very girly one btw, that for sure would fit TS’s sweetheart image, and of course it’d make sense since Harry sings that “it’s dripping on him till his feet are wet.” (And btw, there’s also a scene in the Blank Space mv where Taylor eats a hard candy & the camera focuses on her face).

●     “And now she’s all over me,”

○     Well, she was quite literally all over him during H*ylor

○     and she made sure to stay all over him with all the songs she implied were about him.

●     “It’s like I paid for it, it’s like I paid for it, I’m gonna pay for it.”

○     Harry here might refer initially to the whole stunt thing: their relationship is nothing but a fauxmance, it’s literally hiring someone to play his beard.

○     And then, he refers to when the realization of what was going on sank in: he was gonna pay the consequences for this stunt for a long, long time (in fact, he still is since media still ask him about her).

In conclusion, this song seems to us Harry’s reply at all the songs she implied were about him, at all the very obvious attempts of shading him she’s done through the years. But this song, this is not a Style 2.0, it’s not even another Perfect. This is extremely subtle, and one can get the reference only reading carefully into the lyrics. It’s Harry’s way to get back at her, but in a classy way (unlike hers), and by mocking Better Than Revenge, he’s basically saying: “Take this, Taylor. There is nothing I do better than revenge.”