#montag: thread

[aidenwaites]

You know I wouldve watched a whole series just about Ekko

[rawliverandgoronspice]

ohhh I managed to convince my potato laptop that it was indeed capable of running clip studio paint let's fucking goooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[psqqa]

truly ted lasso gave us the best gift a show could ever give a fandom: complete lack of confirmation or denial either way

[strywoven]

♡’d for a starter ( ft. mari + spyro ) . // @rathalascendant

Perched on one of the many pedestals in the Elders’ library-chamber , Spyro sits in MEDITATIVE REPOSE .  Though this really isn’t his style ; no , not at all !  His tail twitches frustratedly , his maw pulling into a f r o w n .  The greater dragons had told him , earlier in the day , that the secrets to unlocking his other elemental capabilities ‘ lie within ’ , so to find his answers he must ‘ look inward ’ .

Inevitably , the young dragon slumps forward , deflating against the chilly marble , smoke twisting irritably out of his snout as he grumbles , ❝ Ughhh , it’s no USE !  I just can’t seem to find anything that’ll give me what I need ! ❞  Perhaps he is not looking in r i g h t places ?  Is it not courage ?  Is it not his heart he needs be consulting on the matter ?  He presses his paws over his eyes and GROANS DRAMATICALLY , ❝ I don’t know why they’ve gotta’ be so cryptic about it , anyways.  I’ve been meditating for h o u r s and I still don’t know how to channel anything other than my fire ! ❞  He peeks through his claws , glancing over at Mari nearby , sorting through various tomes.  A small , cheeky smile comes onto his face , ❝ I don’t suppose there’d be a book over there about how I can learn new breath techniques , huh ? ❞

[milehighmechanic]

@feralego moved from here

          It’s not really what he wants to hear, but he’s too old now, he thinks–and too involved in superhero matters; in the plays of life and death games on a cosmic scale–to be talked down to like a child. To be pacified with false hopes. With lies.

         He’s always respected Stark, but the feeling grows more personal now. Even if the honesty feels draining. Painful.

         His shoulders slump, and he lets his head droop forward before clasping his hands together at the back of his neck. Peter can barely remember the last time he felt this tired. Even as a small, sickly, often hospitalized kid, this level of fatigue had been a rarity.

         Stark rouses his attention when he slides it in his direction, and Peter gazes down at the iconic piece of armor, fixating on the eye slits as his breath catches in his throat. And he has to wonder if gazing into those cold, soulless eyes would make it any easier to record anything to have sent to May. If she’s even still alive.

         Part of him thinks it might be. Part of him thinks that distinctly mechanical visage might help him control the emotions in his delivery more, making it easier to say what he needs to say, and quickly.

         He lifts the helmet gingerly and moves to stand, tucking it under his arm.

         "Thanks…“ He tries to smile, or to look anything but glum, but he can’t manage. "I’ll– I’ll do that. I’ll be in the back for a bit if you need me.”

     Tony watches him---- the way Spidey droops, the look of defeat in his eyes. Probably a good reflection of Tony himself, ten minutes ago. It only steels his resolve. Tony knows he has a tendency to wallow in his own guilt---- his therapist has told him so. 

     He watches, silently, as the guy disappears through the doorway, and he’s just a KID, a teenager who shouldn’t have to be contemplating leaving a goodbye for his aunt. 

     Maybe losing to Thanos had been Tony’s fate, inescapable. The end of Iron Man. His last failure.But it shouldn't be Peter’s fate to die on this spaceship. To starve to death so far from home. Yinsen had lost EVERYTHING, but he’d never given up in that cave, he’d never let Tony give up. Maybe it’s Tony’s turn. ( Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? )

     It hurts when he stands, worn down muscles aching, pulling, weak. But pain is an old friend. It’s second nature to grit his teeth and ignore it, to control his breathing and keep on going. He’s not going far. The engine is one of their problems; the console at the front of the ship is the other. Nebula said that they couldn’t fix it----- but Tony will rebuild this whole damn ship from scratch if he has to. ( With a box of scraps. ) 

     Ideas spark across his mind, settling into one cohesive thought. He’ll have to discuss it with Nebula, with Peter even, because the kid is smarter than him, somedays---- but it’s a plan. 

     Maybe he’ll manage to not fuck this one up.

[lgcbk]

⌜ LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM / @lgcyeonwoo ⌟

"You already know how to set everything up?" 

When Byeongkwan gave a nonchalant "yeah," it wasn't technically a lie. He'd seen the coaches set up studio equipment plenty of times. He even assisted with the recording of a demo recently ( i.e. handed the vocalist a water bottle ). So how hard could it be? Push a few buttons and toggle a few dials. Besides, the staff would only leave him alone with thousand-dollar equipment if they thought he knew what he was doing. Even if this particular studio was a bit outdated… 

The first hour consisted of frantic Naver searches, scouring music production forums, and figuring out which button kept triggering an endless loop of some random city pop sample. After mastering Garageband on steroids, the second hour was a bit more productive. Getting the hang of things, he flew through mixing an original instrumental and freestyling a few rough bars. His first professional ( ish ) demo. He revels in the sense of accomplishment, replaying it a few times. There was just one teeny, tiny, small detail he hadn't considered. How to export the track. After reading through conflicting answers online, he gives up and decides to wing it. He got this far, didn't he?

He clicks around for a moment, stumbling on a familiar term: Render. "Okay, okay," he nods, giving the dropdown a click. A loading bar pops up for a moment, glitches, then the screen goes black. "What. What?! No! No, no, no, no -!" Gone. It was gone. All of his hard work for the day. Gone.

"Ah…" Byeongkwan leans back in his chair and stares up at the ceiling, defeated. A few minutes pass before he rises from his seat and steps into the foam-lined booth on the other side of the soundboard. He tugs the door closed and inhales. "FU - " 

[francaoliveira]

🦜ꜰʀᴀɴᴄᴀ ᴏʟɪᴠᴇɪʀᴀ & ᴀʟᴇᴄ ꜰʟʏɴɴ

Franca, admittedly, wasn't much of a drinker. But, after getting into it with Beatriz earlier at the sanctuary in front of the employees and volunteers (and even a few guests), she needed to get away. Texting Phoebe to see if she could meet up with her, she tried to figure out which bar could be the best option. Aurora's was great, but more for when she's in a better mood; The Labyrinth was too flashy and she didn't understand the references too much, nor was she really into fantasy and mythology; Mic Drop!, well, she hates her singing voice (despite being told that it was good), so that's not an option; She will keep avoiding O'Shea's, the place of an awkward blind date that ended horribly a year ago, like the plague; Static was loud, very loud; The Vault wasn't too bad, but she didn't feel like dancing; and then... The Pour House. Fuck, that place kind of scared her, always has. She's rarely, if at all, has come here. But... If she keeps her head down and has a few drinks, maybe she won't be bothered. Fortunately, it didn't seem too busy (or scary) tonight. Sitting at the bar, she'd been about to order a drink when she saw the bartender. "H-Hey," she breathed out. Recognizing her old classmate. "I... didn't know that you work here."

🦥ᴡʜᴏ: @alecflynn

🦥ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏᴜʀ ʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ ; ᴡᴇᴀᴠᴇʀ ʀɪᴅɢᴇ

🦥ᴡʜᴇɴ: ᴏᴄᴛᴏʙᴇʀ 16ᴛʜ, 2024

[brutalpath]

      "you don't gotta do anything like that, now." if he sounds wary, it's just because he is. not that he's subtle about it; apprehension lay just behind his neutral expression, vaguely curling the corners of his mouth. he's not even sure what's being offered— just that he doesn't trust a grin that toothsome.

      he pauses, shouldering the heavy bag. "and— i doubt they'd have anything my size."

@daemondaes // for The Baby.

[muunsick]

Peeping where they ought not to peep wasn't exactly a habit of theirs, but there was little else to entertain oneself with out here, so naturally, their eyes fell to Ceres. They stared, just a few moments past appropriate, and realized a hair too late that they were dangerously close to committing a faux pas. They had caught the flash of a pale chest, speckled with dots, shimmering with rain water.

Eden suddenly found great interest in the rock at their feet.

"Well, your sense of direction is probably better than mine." they muttered, itching passively at the marred skin on their cheek. "I ah—was planning on going home, once the rain stopped, but I don't know if that's a great idea right now." Eden gestured awkwardly around their eye. Even now, they still felt the discomforting wriggle of their slimy stowaway, drawn towards its sibling, resting in the skull of the woman beside them.

"I say we stick to your plan. Reach a settlement, fill up our bellies, and hope we're lucky enough to find a solution to our little problems." One could hardly classify this as a plan. It lacked structure and left too many things up to chance. Eden's shoulders sagged, weighed down with both the soggy clothing on their back and the ever dwindling chance they'll come out of this unscathed. They were never good at improvising. Hells, they were quite talentless overall. The weakest link, a ball and chain on Ceres' ankle, but they'll play the part of a dependable ally. Fake it till' you make it, eh?

"I'd hate to get more water in my shoes, but maybe it'd be good to keep moving? While we still have daylight." they suggested, quite reluctantly. "I … really don't want to be out and about past dark."

The pale woman pulled off her soaked jacket, trying to squeeze out the water. The cloth clung stubbornly to her skin, and while she wasn’t particularly bothered by the sensation, the cold was starting to seep in, and she hated the cold.

“A beautiful name,” Ceres mumbled, a hint of a smile on her lips. She was confident enough in her abilities to handle Eden if she posed a threat. The thought of throwing Eden into the rain to cool her down or fleeing like a startled cat brought a chuckle to her lips. She imagined the tiefling hissing at her, water dripping from her horns.

Eden’s question lingered in the air, and Ceres found it hard to answer. Which direction was she heading? She was following the path the energy called her to, a tug she couldn’t quite explain. She shrugged her shoulders. “I followed the path and hoped that the fresh water here meant there had to be a settlement nearby. If not for a healer,” she added, acknowledging Eden's point that not just any healer could remove the tadpole, “then at least to stock up on food, find out where exactly I am, and progress from there.”

She threw her jacket over a dry branch, at least hoping it would dry somewhat. She began to unbutton her blouse, the cold air biting at her skin. The tree was too small to set up her tent, and any attempt would result in everything getting drenched. She glanced back at Eden, the rain still pouring down around them. “What about you?” she asked, genuinely curious.

[lullabyes22-blog]

Hi lullabyes, would u mind sharing your take on the flashback with young Silco, Vander, and Felicia? :O

It's adorable. It's touching. It's sweet. It's a serene moment of intimacy and family (or polycule) bonding in an otherwise deeply frenetic season.

It's also so surreal it may as well be a fever dream.

I should note, at this stage I've shut off my cognitive reasoning about Arcane and begun approaching this as if it's a series of exquisitely crafted, animated short films that are all about to collide into a beautiful disaster.

Because that's what it is.

S2 has thrown a lot of the intelligent plotting out the window to embrace the chaos.  Whether due to time constraints, intellectual fatigue, or creative indulgence, I feel like we have a show that's now just hurtling breakneck towards the finish line. Previous story threads that once held weight and were the driving force behind character arcs and subplots, have since been abandoned. Nuanced motivations and character growth are being tossed to the wayside for the sake of action, montages, music videos, and a cavalier, anything-goes approach to world-building.

And yet, it's still such an incredible spectacle to behold.

@ravenkinnie delightfully noted that she is now watching this show with her pussy.

I agree 100%. S2 is a full-body experience, and one I find myself wholly consumed by. It's like a one-night stand you weren't expecting to be so fucking good. And when the sun comes up, you know it's going to hurt to say goodbye, and there'll be no follow-up call.

But damn, you enjoyed the shit out of that experience.

So yeah, the flashback was fucking adorable. I love the genuine emotion and closeness between the three characters. I adore the idea of Felicia, Silco and Vander being childhood friends (or, again, a very messy polycule) and both men sort of falling apart without her Manic Pixie Dream Girl presence in their lives. It's a nice little character arc.

However.

I cannot reconcile this scene with the rest of S1. It feels completely disconnected from the reality of the show and the world around them. The flashback has absolutely no impact on the current events, nor does it have any foreshadowing. The flashback exists solely to provide us with a glimpse into the past, with sweet little parallels to serve as bonbons that make us coo and sigh. It completely glosses over Silco's deeply, blackly visceral hatred of Vi in S1, reduces the class struggle culminating in the Day of Ash to "Oh, Silco. If only you've protested for your basic civil rights in a peaceful manner instead of tossing a molotov cocktail, you'd still have your family, a place in the community, not to mention your eye," does not really explain why Benzo reacted to Silco's appearance by calling him an animal, and, most importantly, gives the lie to the entire dynamic between Silco and Jinx.

We were led to believe that Felicia's death was the catalyst for Silco and Vander's falling out.  That if Silco had found Vander's letter in their little Brokeback bunk, they would've worked out their differences and found peace together. That they'd have raised Felicia's anklebiters side-by-side as the Zaundads of the revolution.

Except Silco is also the man selling Evil Anime PCP (Shimmer) as an economic cheat-code to earn respect for his people, and Vander is basically Captain Centrist and traumatized by war, and there is NO WAY they would've seen eye-to-eye on their respective methods. There's no way they would've come to any sort of accord. And there's no way Silco would've forgiven the man who mutilated and left him possibly sheared of half his lifespan, any more than Felicia's children would forgive the man who killed their mother.

It's such an incongruous narrative beat.

Which brings me to the other point:

Silco and Jinx.

imo, while I love the idea of Silco carrying either a secret torch for Felicia, or seeing her as a sister he'll always love, and while I absolutely treasure the idea of Jinx being a daily reminder of what he's fighting for - "I'm doing this for us, Jinx." - it sort of cheapens the key connection between them. In S1, Silco and Jinx's arc is, in my eyes, one of the best things about the series, and so incredibly well-written and executed. Silco is a monster, yes, but his monstrosity is the product of systemic and individual trauma, and the inextricable bleedthrough between the two. Finding this little girl and bringing her up under his wing, he has the chance to be the steadying hand and safe harbor he lost after Vander's betrayal. His monstrousness is not something he inflicts on her; it is something that, rather, grows on JInx like a kudzu vine, as the terrain of her damaged mind is already fertile for his worldview and methods to take root and thrive.

He is, perhaps, the best example of nurture triumphing over nature, even if his nurturing is rather, uh, extreme.

But if their bond is predicated on Felicia, rather than two strangers finding each other in the wilderness of heartbreak and learning to let their black hearts beat, messily entwined, as one family unit, and if Silco's obsession with Jinx is merely a projection of his guilt for killing her mother, and, by extension, a projection of his love for Felicia onto her daughter...

It's just.

Do y'all remember those uncomfortable frames that the showrunners admitted were deliberate, despite the evidence in the written text suggesting a familial bond? The subtext that, all the way into S2, carries the implication of a romantic relationship between a father and his daughter?

Well.

The implications now threaten to melt into explicit text, and the uncomfortable frames have turned into Unfortunate Implications, and I am not sure how I feel about this.

 It's not giving Lily and Snape; it's giving Sansa and Baelish.

It's giving the showrunners a big, fat "YEESH" rating from CPS.

And it's giving us the same, old, tired trope of a monstrous man unable to form an attachment unless it's through the lens of prior attachments, that whole 'You remind me so much of her' and the like.

 (I also admit I am the world's biggest hypocrite as the entire premise of Forward but Never Forget/XOXO is that the core foursome of Vander, Silco, Lika and Sevika knew each other, and that those ghosts haunt the machinery of the present day. But I try my damnedest to make plain there's politics buffeting all these relationships, and despite all their efforts to claw at self-sovereignty, reinvention and a new order, the past is a stubborn bitch that refuses to let go.)

(Also in FnF, Silco is triggered by Lika rather than into her in any affectionate or romantic way, because they're so similar: pragmatic survivors who aren't above rule-bending to get their way, and at their core just want a smoke break, a stiff drink, and a nap. It's a mutual respect rather than an affection, which is why she bestows on him the dubious honor of mercy killing her if she's too wounded on the Day of Ash to continue on.)

(He's the one person who could, and would, do her the service. It's kinship, and Jinx is the bright torch of their shared ambitions and ingenuity given both wing and voice.)

But anyway.

The flashback is a fever-dream. The kind you have when you're high on cold meds and can't think straight, and the world is a blur of sensations and memories that seem vivid in the moment but melt away into madness when you're better. It's a scene meant to be savored rather than interrogated. And I think if the showrunners had the time and inclination, we would've gotten a second episode solely dedicated to the flashback, rather than shoehorning it in. But since they're clearly trying to tie everything up with a neat bow before the finale, I don't blame them for having to skim past it and focus on the vibes/emotional resonance rather than the substance of a meaningfully written scene.

But hey.

Fanfic writers will have a field day with the open-ended dynamic and the fandom will never fucking stop, so that's nice.

Also we got loads of fantastic gifs of Young Silco. Bless.

<3

tl;dr: I've switched my critical brain off and decided to just enjoy the ride. It's so fucking epic. 

Also, Felicia was delightful and I hope her brotherhood/polycule/whatever with Silco and Vander gets its own spinoff, a la Road to El Dorado (or Zaun.)

[he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle]

I am enjoying how the tighter script in the Japanese version is making it even more obvious that Payu/Arashi really did have every reason to believe Rain/Rei was coming onto him.

It felt obvious to me in the Thai version, but there was so much filler dialog that it was easy to get lost in the weeds. In the Japanese version, we see Rei blurt out to Arashi that he is handsome, then cut directly to him gushing about how handsome he is to Kai. Then we get Kai reminding Rei (and us) that his admiration of Hot Motorcycle Guy doesn't sound very hetero, and then we see Rei defending Hot Motorcycle Guy's hotness against the rumors of Arashi's hotness only to be floored when he discovers they're the same person. And then he really DOES look like he's attracted to Arashi that night, everything from staring at him at the dinner to initiating touch to agreeing to go home with him to sitting on his bed when invited to SAYING YES when Arashi asks if he can do more. Arashi is pretty blameless in this scenario, and immediately backed off when he realized Rei wasn't meaning to offer sex (just mutual attraction). And after finding Rei in his bed in the middle of the night, is it any wonder he continued to flirt in the morning? Rei hasn't said he's not attracted to Arashi, only that he wasn't trying to seduce him that night.

It's just such a clear, direct thread between point A and point B. I made essentially the same mental journey in the Thai version, but the filler scenes and dialog made it a less obvious path to traverse. It felt like Rain wasn't consciously aware of his attraction, so Payu's advances felt both surprising and unwanted (but I could still see how Payu could have sincerely misread the situation). Yet in the Japanese version, it seems everyone is aware of Rei's attraction (from Kai to Arashi to Rei himself) because they're all spending the whole episode talking about it. It's talked about in basically every scene other than the 30 second montage of his failed attempts at flirting with Rinka.

All this to say, tightening the script in this Japanese version is proving really, really helpful for character and plot development, and I am here for it.

[strywoven]

closed ( ft. knives + kaen ) . / @stellarhistoria

Not often is Kaen specifically called upon , summoned from their dutiful destruction to approach Knives himself.  It is a sign of FAVOR , this calamitous doe has heard , but still doubt lurks behind their thoughts as they stand and await his arrival , perched on the precarious edge of some nervous anticipation ; what could he possibly want with them after all the time ?  Nothing with Knives is ever so straightforward , and Kaen doubts he has asked them to come merely to again acknowledge their loyalty to both him and his ideals ( truths of which have steadily become their own , oddly enough ) .

It is this incorrigible unknowing that undoes them , raises a stricken match underneath their nerves which only light ABLAZE when they sense him enter and approach.  Almost too easily , Kaen culls their uncertainty , forcing it to silence and back into the recesses as they dip their head l o w to the greater once he rounds their shoulder and stands before them.  The important thing is that they are here per request , without question.

Without lifting their head ( after all , one must not look him in the eye out of respect ) , Kaen speaks up , their tone soft but resonate , flowing through the space with a quiet p o w e r , ❝ … Wha’s th’ occasion ? ❞  Only ever alone , just the two , does the doe think themself in any position to so brazenly talk casually with him , as if t e a s i n g ( & not once has he corrected them , either ) .

[springfelt]

ʚ ˚      brown   eyes   roam   enchanting   countenance   placed   before   her,   a   hint   of   incredulity   embedded   in   her   gaze.   would   attempt   to   ask   familiar   face   behind   the   bar   mixing   concoctions   of   liqueurs   if   he   could   take   a   moment   out   of   busy   night   to   pinch   her,   unable   to   believe   that   this   could   be   anything   but   a   ridiculous   dream,   still   songbird   holds   her   tongue   as   she   slides   unfinished   glass   to   opposite   end   of   mahogany   counter.   “   i   can   look   out   for   myself.   if   anything,   someone   needs   to   be   keeping   an   eye   on   you.   ”      chides,   despite   roseate   hue   tinting   the   apples   of   her   cheeks   as   if   other   were   slowly   widdling   away   at   frozen   confines   of   beating   vessel.   a   sigh   escapes   from   brims   at   announcement   of   soused   state,   one   could   tell   from   a   mile   away   ballerina   had   been   out   of   her   element   in   gritty   alehouse.   “   you   think   ?   ”   tongue   clicks   against   roof   of   mouth   displeasure   before   she   continues.   “   i   dunno   where   you   met   that   guy,   but   i   don't   trust   him   to   get   you   home.   ”   naturally   assigns   herself   the   role   of   drunkard   assistant,   mother   would   remain   unaware   of   guileful   daughter's   absence   until   sun   shines   well   over   the   horizon.   brows   pull   together   in   utter   bewilderment   when   statement   leaves   raven's   mouth;   she   has   heard   her   fair   share   of   drunken   babble,   though,   this   one   seemingly   takes   home   a   dazzling   gold   medal.   “   we   need   to   get   you   home   or   we   can   find   out   where   your   brother   is   and   dump   you   with   him.   c'mon.   ”   proposal   of   running   away   together   tucked   far   into   the   back   of   cranium,   she   steps   back   and   pulls   delicately   on   other's   limb   —   actions   hardly   mirroring   the   gruffness   of   her   responses.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤcommotion  of  incessant  chatter  causing  blue  birds  to  spin  atop  crown  was  out  of  the  norm  for  cherub.  her  routine  :  plethora  of  academic  books  surrounding  being  with  ivory  aperture  locked  hindering  habitual  invasion  from  inebriated  elder.  uncertain  if  it  was  the  intoxicants  bubbling  in  abdomen  when  she  establishes  current  location  both  immensely  safe  and  far  more  rousing  than  eerie  confines  of  château.  how  fatherly  figure  could  down  dozen  bottles  of  intoxicant  in  one  night  stirs  in  cranium  —  when  grief  weighs  down  entirety  of  existence,  supposes  anything  to  remedy  such  anguish  would  make  do.  "  someone  has  to  look  out  for  you.  "  her  nod  is  instant,  posture  perking  as  if  she  was  prime  candidate  for  career.  incapable  of  placing  a  phone  call  due  to  crippling  anxiety  that  plagues  mental  yet  auditioning  for  role  of  bodyguard  —  alcohol  ringing  true  in  every  word  that  parted  peony  petals  lacquered  with  gloss.  "  i  think  i'm  a  little  drunk.  "  there's  a  pout  drawing  on  pretty  features  following  her  much  defeated  tone,  weight  of  cranium  settling  in  palm  of  perched  limb.  loathed  lack  of  control  over  sensory,  succumbing  to  the  putty  that  was  becoming  of  body.  "  i  took  the  hint  ...  and  i  detested  it  so  i'm  breaking  that  horrible  rule  !  i  was  thinking,  while  you  were  singing  —  you  sounded  so  pretty,  by  the  way  —  why  dont  we  just  run  away  together,  junie  ?  "

[stackslip]

so after a second watch, the thing with arcane s2 so far is that near all the plot beats are really good and exactly what i wanted, but they also almost all desperately needed more buildup. it's like we're missing 10-15 extra minutes an episode for the scenes that would really flesh out a lot of the characters' motives for the choices they make and to build up the world! it's so painfully obvious that they're craming in plot bc they're missing a season or have cut time per ep, and as a result while im ecstatic at a lot of the developments v few of them feel earned!

vi choosing to become an enforcer, her agonizing feelings re jinx in particular feel like they're missing. we should have seen the moment cait chose to use the vents to target the undercity and others' reaction to this, especially vi. it's great to see the hole silco left, but we needed to see the underground falling apart in something that's not a shiny league amv. we needed to see the kid spend more time with jinx for her choice to defend jinx to hit harder. we needed to see more of jinx's suicidality and her voices disappearing. i would have been so grateful to see mel trying to do more to rally to counter her mother's influence and being foiled at every turn. more hints of ambessa's manipulation too! would have loved to see ekko and his peers rescuing undercity people and dealing with the aftermath of the war there directly!

and like tbc i think they v clearly considered what they did have the time with and chose to trim or cut off near anything that wasnt a super cool fight scene or important plot beats. the ACTUAL beats are near all a win to me tbh! i am ecstatic about cait's character arc, her using the vents made me gasp; the mel and ambessa situation is sooooo fascinating and fucked up; i love the revelation about hextech poisoning the ground; sevika and jinx dealing with the gaping wound of silco's death is so good; viktor's ominous messiah arc is hitting for me; i loooooved cait hitting vi and vi just breaking down.

in terms of missteps, i wish ekko didnt feel like he's just being explained plot at (i like his dynamic with jayce so far tho), i think vi of all the characters suffered by far the most of the sacrificed time to make her choices and words mame proper sense, caitvi kiss felt far more like they had to kiss before they broke up but in context did not work, and made me roll my eyes so hard, we did not need a five minute cait angst montage, i did not care for how "league" the zaunite chembarons felt instead of an organic part of zaun like they did in s1, half the songs are a complete miss to me, etc etc

i dont think the season is a loss and again im interested in the actual beats, and tbh i kinda feel sorry for fortiche and the writing team bc it's obvious that this is less like, active clumsiness on their part or shite writing and far more that time was a deeply limited resource for the story they wanted to tell and they had to make choices. you could argue if it would have been better to drop some plot threads entirely and focus more deeply on others but imo it wouldnt work for a series like arcane where the cast' actions have such massive ramifications on each other so. i get it. it's just really unfortunate considering how tightly written s1's tragedy was

[syrena-del-mar]

The Nine Circles of Hell: Dead Friend Forever, Episode 7

First, a trigger warning: I'll be discussing themes of revenge porn, grooming, statutory rape, sexual coercion.

I'm going to discuss this episode with as much upmost care as I can, due to the sheer amount of sensitive material that came out of this week's episode I will also not being using any explicit scene screen captures from this episode. If there's anything you'd like to me to take out or want a more in depth conversation, feel free to use either of my message boxes.

Last week I said DFF had more to offer than just being a campy 90s slasher remake. While I first thought we were already in the depths of hell, thematically, with Non getting beaten by the mafia, I didn't expect this week's episode to somehow double that pain. But here we are. I was lulled into false security with the 5 minute montage of getting to know what Phee and Non's relationship was like. I should have remembered that I'm definitely watching the wrong genre when I expected more of those moments.

Non and Phee

This episode really continues and expands the idea that humans are not these clear-cut, unambiguous, good-or-bad beings that idea has now been depicted through Non and his relationship with Phee. Non has so much love to give and so much want for being loved, it's what leads to Phee in the first place, but it's also what leads to his downfall. Because Non loves so much and so hard, it's also why he wasn't ecstatic that Phee had to lie to his father and say that he was involved, just to get him out of trouble with the police. What started like a sweet date turns a bit bitter, because Non is seeing the consequences of his actions not only affect himself but also the others that he loves. It's also why he couldn't tell Phee about the sheer amount he owed Tee's uncle, because he was now well aware that if Phee found out, he would get himself involved.

Non lies and manipulates Phee, he tells him time and time again that nothing happened between him and Mr. Kreng. Non swears to Phee that he isn't lying to him and that he won't keep any secrets from him anymore. It pains him to do so, he's barely holding himself together by the end of a thread thread once he's Phee's arms and his face is hidden from Phee's view. Yet, he does. He keeps it a secret how big of a hole he has found himself in, because he doesn't want to drag Phee down with him. Non says it himself to Jin, he doesn't want to be burden, he'll figure it out himself. It's a direct parallel to the bigger issues that Non is finding himself in beyond just within the 'movie set'. He has the 300 million baht hanging over his head, his parents (in his point of view) regret having him and find that he does is bring embarrassment to the family, and now he has another adult willing to give him the 300 million baht with a fake sense of care. So he found, what he believes to be, a solution that would get rid of the 300 million baht debt and all it requires is giving up a piece of himself, but at least it won't come at a cost of burdening his parents or Phee.

In trying to protect Phee, his lies ends up costing him the one he loves the most, Phee. Now from this point on, this is all speculation, but when Phee accused Non of 'always doing this', I'm not in the camp that believes that Phee is accusing Non about being a serial cheater. I see why people are in that camp, but I initially jumped to that conclusion as well. Now, I'm more in the line that Phee is accusing of Non always feeding him lies, even after explicitly promising him that he wouldn't. After putting his neck out for him, after letting Non do things his way as long as he promised to tell him the truth, Non goes back to telling lies. Phee lashes out, and at the end of the day he's still a teenager, so he hits Non's weakest point. Just get lost and die. The very words that likely haunt Phee in the present-day, now as an adult. And Non's holds the broken bracelet, punishing himself, because he knew that there was no coming back from losing his lifeline.

Non and Mr. Kreng (Please keep my trigger warnings in mind, they will be heavily discussed in this section.)

Statutory Rape. Grooming. Coerced Sexual Relations. Nonconsensual Sex. Molestation. Sexual Assault. Sexual Abuse. Those are all words to describe the relationship that occurred between Non and Mr. Keng. Let's call exactly what it is. I think I'll lose my mind if I have to see someone another person call Non a cheater. There is no cheating when there is statutory rape.

Non is literally at the end of his rope, Mr. Keng clocked that immediately. He knew that Non was isolated, that he was completely othered by his classmates, he believes that Non has nobody else to turn to, and he knows that Non is in deep in a scam that target teens. In his eyes, he found the perfect victim.

Non is taken advantage of by a person in power, a person that he should be able to trust. Non isn't naïve, he clocked that Mr. Keng wanted something from him since the moment they first met. But he is vulnerable. He's being extorted by the mafia and he sees someone offering him the money that he needs to put an end to that. In his eyes, it was a way out, a means to an end that just cost him a piece of his soul. I truly think Non rationalized it to himself as prostituting himself, because he knew that money was never coming without a price. No matter how much Mr. Keng tried to sell it as 'brotherly' love.

But at the end of the day, it does not matter what Non believed or rationalized, because Mr. Keng was the adult in the situation. He had a duty, as a teacher, to protect Non and provide a safe classroom environment. Instead he target, manipulates, and coerces Non into having sexual relations with him. He knows the power imbalance he holds, first as a teacher and then with the 300 million baht he 'gave' him. Mr. Keng, knowing that Non's not close to his 'friends', physically isolates him. He takes him to his office that's half-lit, located in a long hallway with, seemingly, very little foot traffic. He prods at Non, asking what's been bothering him and has him visibly become emotional, before offering his care. He's a complete and utter predator, in every sense of the term.

I hope he dies a long, painful death.

Non and Jin

First and foremost, whether or not Jin was ultimately the one that posted the video does not matter. Filming a classmate being sexually assaulted is still child porn at the very least and, possibly, revenge porn (if he disseminated the video) at the worst. I was on the same boat as @respectthepetty and their take that Jin had to be the worst of them all. Like they said in that post, Jin is a coward and he even admits to it. There's nothing more cowardly than hiding behind a door, filming you supposed 'friend' getting sexually abused by your teacher, and then even considering putting up on social media for revenge because your heart is broken.

Yes, Top framed Non. Yes, Por demanded (and bullied) money from Non. Yes, Tee brought Non to the mafia. Those are all very bad things, don't get me wrong. All the physical and mental abuse they put Non through was hell. Yet, Jin was the only one aware that Non had already been seeing someone, which seemingly had upset him already. Then he sees him with Mr. Keng and instead of reporting that his alleged friend was being assaulted, he gets angry and films Non at his most vulnerable point in life. Even Fluke didn't want any part of that.

Jin takes away Non's dignity. And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether he uploaded it online or not, he was still the one to film, transfer that file onto his computer, and contemplate whether he was going to post it or not. At every point since he found that Non and Mr. Kreng were in that room, he rendered Non powerless. That video would have never been uploaded if it hadn't existed in the first place. With just a point of a camera and click of a button, he is revictimizing Non every. single. time. that video is opened and seen by another person.

There are no words to fully describe or explain that kind of trauma that he has subjected Non to.

Final Thoughts

This episode was nauseating. It honestly took me about two hours just to get to the end. Usually, I can watch through a show I enjoy really quickly, but this episode was so hard to digest. And that's simply due to how realistic they are approaching the subject of Non and Mr. Keng.

Barcode and Ta really are the stars of the show. I'm not saying that the other castmates aren't amazing in their roles, but man TaBarcode really know are hitting every single emotional beat. I was never a TaBarcode nor a MacauChay girlie, but man Be On Cloud has truly brought out their best this time around. Even though I fully know we are heading towards an incredibly heart wrenching ending for PheeNon, I can't help but want to hoard and scramble for moments of them together.

It's crazy how well, everyone was able to pull their weight this episode. There were so many moments that with less talented, less experienced actors, could have fallen flat, but they didn't. Ta and Barcode's PheeNon was so incredibly heart-beating, butterfly inducing before we were brought back into their reality outside of their relationship. 2J and Barcode's scenes were.... so disgustingly real, for lack of better words. I knew that storyline was never going to end well but it had been more than I ever expected Be On Cloud to release. They're tackling such real issues that weigh on teens with incredible tact, there's no romanticizing what happened. Even Phee's reaction was so understandable when you put yourself in the shoes of a teenager. I'll reiterate again and again, whatever you think about Be On Cloud as a management company, as a production company, they really are breaking boundaries and doing something right. Whatever happens in the second half, I think I'll be here, recovering, for a long time.

[astrxlfinale]

Pain like this he understood all too well. The days of the Genius's Society's favorite pet project, how the tuning of specifics, random chance, and so many smaller obstacles leading to this utter tsunami of spiritual devastation.

So to see Fischl bonding with the floor felt-- not fitting, but understandable. In the way he'd come to sit down next to her, taking the moment to softly brush a hand across her blond hair, a familiar branch of strokes designed to comfort.

Not to mention that boss on the 'YOU DIED' screen certainly looked like a whole bag of fuck.

Caelus doesn't like bags of fuck.

"Here here. Kicking that ass is only a matter of due time. How about we get'cha recharging a touch more on the meantime?" With that said, he'd proceed to star fish right next to her.

"Would a kiss make get'cha spirits back up?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀The noise she makes in response to the...

⠀⠀⠀⠀She wouldn't call them words of encouragement, not in her current mental state, but they are definitely words and meant to be encouraging.

⠀⠀⠀⠀...Well, it's not exactly a noise fitting a self-proclaimed 'prinzessin'. Definitely not a happy noise.

"Ghh... Yeah, sure... Stupid boss..."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Fischl is not a good gamer, that much is sure. A shame she got into gaming because of a certain Stellaron Hunter and justified it as a method to 'test her arm calibration' and got stuck on the same boss for six hours.

"Uuugh...."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Hands drag over her face, and she flops dramatically back on the floor. Who even DESIGNED that hitbox?!