#need to do a character study on him

[atomicradiogirl]

yes house md as a show is outlandish and insane. house is literally a truman show of his own show. background characters are made out of cardboard, the walls are glass, he is just allowed to bully patients and his coworkers for funzies. but like there is also a deeply realistic element to house as a character. his actions are in line with his life, his backstory, and with his predicament. his chronic pain which lead to an opioid addiction, his childhood trauma, his trust issues that have definitely been shattered throughout his life leading to his cynicism, his refusal to seek mental support. of course the one constant and true trusting relationship in his life will also be codependent. this all makes sense. but this is also a show where house gets shot, gets recruited by the CIA for an episode, goes to jail multiple times. but it’s also a story about a deeply damaged man making the best of what he has and also learning to accept love? oh yeah and this is also a sherlock adaptation.

[dreamsy990]

drew some of my fav ody designs! wasnt originally meant to be also replicating the styles but thats sort of just how my brain works. except i didnt copy the lineart styles of anyone here so its DEFINITELY a bit uncanny for a couple of these (LOOKING AT YOU QINNY IM SO SORRY) but whatever

the designs featured here (from left to right) belong to: me, @gigizetz, @neal-illustrator, @irunaki, @bigidiotenergytm, @qinnyanimation, and @foopsie-daisy

[feralforbeanix]

Manfred Von Karma did not burn Phoenix's letters to Miles.

Like, I'm not even saying this to defend Manfred's character (though the fanbase does get a little crazy with what he actually did and didn't do) I'm saying this because that's not canon. I'm not sure it was even possible in canon.

Phoenix didn't write letters to Germany. He didn't know Miles was in Germany, let alone Von Karma's address. He didn't even know who Von Karma was until Edgeworth told him about Manfred in Turnabout Goodbyes.

In the game canon, Miles just stopped showing up to school one day. All Phoenix seemed to know was that he transferred schools suddenly. He didn't know why or where to. Remember, Phoenix didn't even hear about DL-6 until Turnabout Sisters when Maya mentioned her family's involvement.

Even in the anime canon (I haven't watched the anime in a while so I might be off about this) where Phoenix and Miles get a chance to properly say goodbye, Phoenix still doesn't have a direct means of contacting him. His best way of doing so was dedicating a song through the radio using Signal Samurai codenames and hoping Miles would hear it.

Phoenix mentions trying to contact him several times when explaining their relationship to Maya, but this was after finding out Miles was this "Demon Attorney". Miles would have to be at least 20 at this point in time, living back in California with at least a few trials under his belt. With how young he reached success, it's not impossible Miles was living on his own at the time. Even if he wasn't, I doubt Manfred was going through this grown adult's mail.

No, what the game seems to be implying is that Miles ignored Phoenix. (Maya even says, "I guess he didn't want to hear from his old friends.") And I don't think this was out of hatred or anything, I think Miles just wanted to forget his past entirely because even the good memories of his childhood would be bittersweet at best.

And to be honest that makes it even more tragic to me. Why do we need Manfred to intercept their connection when Miles' trauma and guilt complex is already doing that?

I like to think Miles knew Phoenix would be asking questions if he ever responded to those initial attempts at contact. Questions he of course doesn't want to answer because they'd at best open old wounds or at worst risk his childhood friend finding out he might have committed patricide.

I also like to think he knew Phoenix of all people would stubbornly try to find the answers Miles wouldn't willingly give because he literally mentions Phoenix always being "single minded in his work" and "always seeing things through to the end". If anyone was going to press and bring those uncomfortable and painful memories out in the open for the sake of "helping him", it would be Phoenix Wright.

Why do we need Manfred to take away all that complexity and tragedy? That is such a waste!

[edwinisms]

you know. I think the reasons it feels so literally narratively wrong when people refer to charles as being straight (such as in interviews where his love life comes up and so on) are that A) he’s never deemed outright straight in the show, so it’s just an assumption that he must be straight by default (which is silly in a show like this), and B) what he says following edwin’s confession. I know I’m biased, but even when I try to look at it as neutrally as possible, the way he reacts in general and the specific words he uses just don’t sound right when you imagine them being said by a Totally Definitely Straight guy.

first of all if you actually listen to it instead of absorbing the scene superficially it’s not particularly a rejection at all, and the actors have stated that themselves– it’s not him saying no, it’s him saying “I can’t give you an answer right now, but I will eventually”. that’s not an interpretation, that’s literally just the truth of what he said (and again, the actors agree). can you imagine a straight guy saying that, or possibly even more damning, “we have literally forever to figure out the rest [“the rest” meaning anything that goes beyond the kind of love charles already solidly has for him]”.

imagine you’re a straight man who’s unwaveringly confident in his orientation and your gay best friend confesses his feelings for you. you would not respond with the implication there is a “the rest” to figure out. since the main, obvious obstacle would be your solid lack of attraction to men, that’d probably be essential to your response– it wouldn’t be a “I can’t say–“ it’d be a “I can’t be–“. and on top of all that, I feel like the whole thing would have to sound far more apologetic– “I’m sorry, I love you and that’ll never change, but I just can’t love you the way that you love me.” something like that, right?

tldr: this is a rare instance in television where assuming a character is straight by default makes Less sense than the alternative. and charles’ choice of words in the confession overtly suggest that he is, at the very least, unsure of his orientation.

[reel-fear]

Honestly the funniest thing abt Don't Starve lore is just that Wagstaff made a robot born from someone's death, full of trauma upon having several out of body experiences that started crashing out and then threw it into the nightmare hell word and somehow didn't expect it to become the most bitter evil angry person ever. If my only exposure to humans was Wagstaff honestly I would've turned out worse we're lucky WX hasn't strangled their fellow survivors in their sleep yet.

As far as I know we don't really know when WX became truly evil and honestly I think it would be very interesting to imply idk, being mauled by hounds and tossed around in an uncaring unforgiving world for years with some canon evidence even suggesting they don't remember too much of life before the constant, might've been why they turned out. Like that. Esp I think it says everything WX can confront Wagstaff stare him down but Wagstaff just avoids their gaze, one of these people is guilty [and knows it too] the other is not.

Also Wagstaff's quote for the nightmare throne implying he meant for WX to die in there ='].

WX feeling the need to tell a Wagstaff inspired machine she's better than her creators, telling another to never trust Wagstaff. I think it screams yet another thing Wagstaff tossed the second it became clear it wasn't doing exactly what he wanted [as WX says about some of his machines discarded like trash] rather than him saving the world from an evil robot born evil.

Also makes for an amazing Frankenstein comparison, make life, don't give it a name, be horrified when it has emotional problems, dump it in the woods, oops it came back- [I know that's not exactly what happened but y'know]

[spaciebabie]

"who would win in a fight springtrap or x?" springtrap has the cataclysmic ability to fumble every single fight hes in w/out fail

[itsafunnythingisntit]

Castiel and Addiction

Okay, as promised, here’s a breakdown of Castiel and his predisposition or potential for addiction—overindulging in human methods of coping, such as TV/media, alcohol, and even work. 

Firstly, let’s start off with this: 

Castiel isn't predisposed to addiction. No, the truth is that Castiel's addictions, or his tendency to overindulge in human activities, are a symptom of his loss of purpose and identity. After all, he is an angel, and angels are made for purpose. It’s made clear in the show—angels are warriors of God, and they are made to fulfill Heaven’s decree. 

Castiel’s entire arc is centered on his faith. On his search for purpose and duty, first in Heaven and the Prophecy, then in Dean, then his own vision of Heaven (Season 6), then later in Jack (Season 12-15). The transitional moments, such as season 7, and then 9-12, are when Castiel falls into patterns of escapism and indulgence, because he lacks what he, as an angel, as who he is, needs the most: Purpose. Duty. A way to be of service. 

Let’s break down the instances of Castiel and indulgence in Supernatural:

In Season 5, Castiel drinks an entire liquor store after realizing that God isn’t listening. At this point, he has lost his Heavenly purpose, and his faith in his Father. He was cut off from Heaven, and he rebelled, yes, but it’s made a point that Castiel always believed in his Father, and he always had some faith that he was doing what God wanted. But that faith was shattered. 

Season 5, Endverse Castiel. Proof that Castiel has the potential for extreme hedonism. 

 In Season 7, he turns to simple pleasures such as bees and nature to forget his failures, because he no longer feels as if he can fight, as if he can do anything, because he thinks he will ruin it ("I destroyed everything, and I will destroy everything again.")

In Season 11, he turns to the TV when he feels useless against the fight with Amara. This is after the attack dog spell, when his grace is weakened and he is, once again, shut off and scorned by Heaven. 

And that’s the crux of it. Castiel is vulnerable to addiction when he is cut off from purpose. When he feels lost, and has no way to be of service. 

But to understand how clearly this is shown in the show, let’s take a case study: Season 11 Castiel, who is stuck in front of that TV Screen. 

For this, let’s look at Cas when Lucifer possesses him, and where Lucifer keeps Castiel trapped in his own mind. First, Castiel agrees to let Lucifer possess him in order to fight Amara, because he believes it's a necessary task, and that he is more useful as a vessel for Lucifer than on his own. This is Castiel's desperation to be useful to the fight (The Devil is in the Details).

After the instance where Castiel pushed through in order to save Sam (The Vessel) Lucifer manages to completely subdue Castiel, and we know that Castiel’s mind trap is in the main room of the bunker, watching TV (Hell's Angel).

Why? Why did Lucifer choose this room?

We know from Micheal’s possession of Dean that archangels purposefully choose their vessel’s mind traps. Dean is given a bar that he owns with Pamela, a place of contentment, because Micheal knows that no amount of trauma can dim Dean—no, Dean thrives on trauma. So what does Micheal want? Micheal wants Dean to forget he’s being possessed (Nihilism). 

Lucifer doesn’t try that. No, he doesn’t give Castiel contentment, because that’s not what Castiel desires, not really. Cas never expressed a desire for peace or retirement or a “normal life”. He wants safety for those he loves, but never cared much for it himself. He’s a soldier after all. And Lucifer doesn’t put him into trauma, or Heaven, because that’s a reminder of Castiel when he had purpose. When he was a warrior, fighting and fulfilling his duty. That would only reignite Castiel’s motivation and confidence.

No, what Lucifer does is keep Castiel at his lowest moment—not lowest because of guilt, or anger, or even fear, lowest because of uselessness. Castiel began watching TV when he was recovering from the attack dog spell, shut out from Heaven and too weak to help Sam and Dean. That was Castiel at his mentally weakest, and that uselessness pushed him to say “yes” to Lucifer—he wanted to be of service to the fight. 

Micheal kept Dean subdued by making him forget. Lucifer keeps Castiel subdued by making him remember exactly why he said yes. He keeps Castiel in the moment that Castiel feels the weakest, most useless—when he was turned away from all duty and purpose, and focused on that TV screen to escape.

Lucifer preys on Castiel's biggest fears: loss of purpose, and loss of utility. Castiel, isolated. Castiel, stuck on human, mundane activities because he isn’t strong enough to act as an angel should, because he’s cut off from Heaven and too weak to help his family.

And in these moments, Castiel turns to humanity, and to human methods of coping—and he overindulges, of course he does, because such methods will never be enough for an angel. Nothing is enough—because no intake of humanity can fill the void of angel hood. 

And by angel hood I don’t necessarily mean Heaven’s purpose. I mean any purpose, any manifestation of duty stemming from his faith. Any mission he can fight for. 

Castiel is plagued by his loss of purpose, and the only cure there is to it is for him to find another mission. 

It’s like the point that Famine made with Dean—that Dean is empty inside (My Bloody Valentine). That he doesn’t feel hungry because nothing could fill him. In that episode, while Castiel’s vessel felt hunger, he himself didn’t have “hunger” of his own. 

Because the only thing that Castiel needs—the core of his existence—is purpose. And he had that during My Bloody Valentine. But when he loses it, that’s when he falls to anything else to try and fill it, but it’s not enough. 

And that’s the truth of it. Nothing is enough—but in the meanwhile, Castiel copes as humans do, because angels don’t cope, because angels don’t lose purpose, so he has no model for what to do. Instead, he turns to what he knows about coping that he has observed from humanity, or really, Sam and Dean are: drinking, sex, watching movies/shows, and throwing themselves into work. 

So how does Castiel cope?

First, Castiel turns to work (Heaven Can’t Wait), because this is the most familiar one to him. He knows humans find some sort of purpose and duty in working, and so that’s what he attempts. That’s why he gives his all to it, gives that gas station job the sort of angelic zeal that he would to fighting celestial armies. Because this is Castiel attempting to find a new purpose, a normal purpose in human, ordinary existence. 

Think of it this way. Gas-N-Sip Steve is the first step to Endverse Cas. Give it a few years or so. I mean, cut off from Heaven, Cas searches for some sort of task or duty to fulfill, and he tries the Gas-N-Sip. And it’s not just duty—it’s usefulness. He tries to find pride in it, to find purpose in it, but Dean coming, and the case, is just another reminder to him that no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much zeal he puts into it, it won’t work out. Because human, civilian purposes cannot fill an angelic absence. And that’s what it is. 

So what would probably happen? Cas would move on to numbing. We see this in the Endverse (The End), where Cas moves to drugs, and sex, and drinking. And yes, that’s the extreme version, where Castiel turns to hedonism as an effort to, again, fill in that devastating, existential void that a lack of purpose left him. That’s what would happen if Castiel remained human, because Castiel is predisposed for indulgence. Not because he’s made a certain way, or he’s morally wrong in any capacity, but because he will spend his time searching for some goal that he can redefine his faith around, but it just won’t come. Not for a human Castiel, especially not for the one we see in Season 9. 

Because Endverse Castiel isn't a different, alternative universe Castiel with an inherently different configuration. Endverse Cas is still this Castiel. It is—it’s this Castiel that we know, pushed to the brink, stripped away of heavenly purpose, his grace, and all that he had faith in for years and years. Endverse Castiel is the ultimate, harrowing consequences of a Castiel that is unable to save himself, and is unable to temper his existential need for belief, for duty. 

But in the show, Castiel saves himself. In Holy Terror, Castiel ends up stealing grace and comes back to Sam and Dean. In Seasons 9 and 10, he finds some semblance of purpose or duty in helping to save Sam, and then to help Sam and Dean with the Mark of Cain. 

But in Season 11, we see that it’s not enough. Because while Season 9, Gas-N-Sip Castiel is the first step to Endverse Castiel, because both arcs are a human Castiel struggling with a lack of his angelhood, and all that comes with it. Season 11 Castiel shows that such a spiral, such an arc can absolutely happen to angel Castiel as well. 

In Season 11, Even with Amara unleashed, Castiel falls into that pattern of overindulgence with the TV, because it’s not enough to have a mission. Not when he’s not at full power, not when he can hardly help—because then that mission, that duty isn’t for him. Isn’t for a Castiel that is weak, or powerless, or useless. Because Castiel is driven by duty, by faith and purpose, and when that is gone—when he cannot fulfill his duty, when he does not feel worthy or able to fulfill a mission, Castiel turns away. He turns to indulgence, to human coping mechanisms, to any form of comfort. 

Castiel equates his utility with his worth—probably from the millions of years he has been a soldier. And if he cannot be useful, he has no place on the battlefield. And like Endverse Castiel said- if he is helpless, hopeless, and hapless, what else is there that he should do? It’s not that Castiel is particularly wired to be more likely for addiction, it’s just that Castiel, and all angels, have a very specific need for purpose, a need that cannot be filled by anything else. And if he doesn’t have that, well, what does he have? 

Family doesn’t cut it, not really, not when he can’t protect them. Not when he can’t be of use to them. It’s just the way that he’s wired. 

That’s the heart of it. 

As an angel, and as a character, Castiel has two driving motivations: having faith, and working to fulfill a duty or purpose. When these are stripped from him, or he feels unworthy of them, Castiel turns to human coping mechanisms. And the tragedy of this is that he cannot temper himself, because there is no way to fulfill himself using these methods, whether they are healthy (working, trying to be normal) or not. There is no point where that coping will fulfill him, where he will find any human thing that makes up for something architectural to his character—purpose. 

It’s simply the way that angels are wired—humanity, and human indulgences cannot fill a divine void. 

[beiyuanism]

thinking about mark's mother's death and like. this is going to be disorganised because i don't know how to say it more coherently. but the way mark's father says that mark should have stopped him from drunk driving makes me think that it wasn't a thing he did. he might be an alcoholic and an asshole but he doesn't drive while drunk. and well. if he doesn't do that usually. then what happened to make him do it that one time. and why didn't mark's mother stop him. because i can imagine that if he used to do it regularly she'd have known there was no way to stop him. maybe she'd have been scared of his reaction if she'd tried. if he already was this abusive before her death. but if it was a one-off. and if mark's father truly believes that seven year old mark would have been able to stop him from getting into the car. then i imagine she would have been able to stop him too. so why didn't she. was she incapacitated in some way. was she also drunk. was she injured was she sick. because i like the idea of mark's father crashing the car while on his way to the hospital with his wife. no one else around who could drive them and the emergency dispatch is telling him there's an increased number of calls so it might be a while before an ambulance gets there. maybe it's a holiday. and mark's father had a few drinks more than usual already. but his beloved wife is hurt and someone needs to get her to the hospital. and anyway ambulance rides are expensive and maybe they don't have that kind of money or a good insurance. so he gets into the car. people do it all the time with no consequences after all. he crashes on the way there. and he spends the next fifteen years blaming his then seven year old son for letting him drive instead of making him wait for the ambulance.

[littlelightfish]

This half-foot. Dandan.

Looks preety similar to this lady here (I'll put them together so you see):

Half-lidded eyes, black hair&eyes, small eyebrows, curly hair... Dandan's skin is lighter probably because of low sun exposure (dungeon), and he has tons of freckles because he preety.

This two are clearly relatives if not siblings.

Flertom is a mirror image of the lady up there. She got Chil's eyes. She even has almost the same haircut (a bit longer). She's clearly the mother. We've solved Chilchuck's wife mystery.

But this wasn't what I was going to say.

This implies that Wife and Dandan both knew Chilchuck since their childhood. Because there's no way that Chil was just friend of the sister. They're both close to the same age, and I'll say Dandan is a Younger sibiling (she gives big sis vibes, and he gives young bro vibes). So either she introduced him to her brother or he introduced him to his sister and they became best friends as kids.

Could you imagine how their relationship was after Chil's Wife left him?

He knows he has to say something, but he doesn't want to end his relationships. At the end he takes his sister's side. He distances a bit from Chilchuck, calling him an "aquitance" rather than a friend. It isn't that he hates him, is just that it's complicated. And they both know it. They're in good terms tho, they just aren't best friends anymore and they don't talk about it. Their worry is the guild, not their personal stuff.

That's why Dandan introduces Chilchuck to Laios. If they were in bad terms, he would've suggested any other half-foot. They both priorize the guild and general safety of their own race. That's why Dandan suggests Chil instead of a less experienced hafling. He cares about the union and respects Chil's time and experience in dungeons. They're on good terms, at least good enough. Summing up, I get the feeling Dandan doesn't particularly likes Chil after what happened with his sister, but he respects him at least.

[borgialucrezia]

i'm just thinking about arthur getting terrified of tommy when he broke down after the failed assassination of mosley and instead of approaching him and trying to reassure him, he sneakily took out the bullets of his gun while driving back to the mansion and let him roam wild in the field acting all suicidal. and by letting him run into the field alone at least he knows that tommy can't kill himself with an empty gun... it's batshit to me how his assumption of tommy killing himself turned out correct and he saved his life by emptying the gun...these two are so fucked up actually.

[humlase]

Here's this fuckass animation project I didn't do then had to cram in 2 days.

If it looks bad I KNOW. Once again, crammed 10 weeks worth of work into 2 days. I did not sleep.

Thank you to my wonderful partner @agaric25 and super cool friend for doing the voicelines for me. It would be actual ass if I had to do those myself.

additional credits: https://freesound.org/people/M-Murray/sounds/723857/ for the background music.

[honeyhobbs]

[saint-hymn]

no because see if we're talking c!tntduo, especially c!wil,

for me its always "almost" with these freaks. almost acting on it, almost closer than they should be, almost, almost, just enough to make c!wil feel alive and more. arm's length. unhealthy distance or lack thereof. get the blood pumping and yank himself away at the last moment. leave them both wanting like some fucked up starved kenneled animal, like stretching a rubber band, like hunger-thirst and the omnipresent want. you get me? the bassline, the base note of this story is wanting-needing-wanting. and

let's look at who's on the table today. just one half, sorry, c!Wilbur. i sanctify and canonize him now as the patron saint of almost-there. one must imagine Tantalus happy. hold onto that sentence for me while we go through this.

his hand slams the button and he almost leaves a mark; his poignant point was additionally steamrolled after this fact and no one even bothered to give him a proper burial, a proper memorial, because who mourns a fucking costume, a typecast homicidal maniac?

he almost won. he almost got it. he was almost happy. they were almost free. he almost proved a point to big Q. he was almost seen. he was almost understood. he almost made up for his wrongs kind of maybe not quite probably not, but he almost, he almost, he almost,

he almost forgave himself?

(kind of maybe not quite probably not.)

he was almost loved he was almost seen as human it almost wrapped up perfectly it almost had a cherry on top but, again, the thing about desire is it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied. c!q holds him with a desperation and he digs from q's gaze only an understanding of himself. this is not a two way radio.

the cherry on top is that this is his penance now, his stupid little ending no one likes. for what? for failure? for being the sly motherfucker he is? for being too stubborn and too arrogant to take up quackity's offer and, by extent, always always keeping him at arms length always leaving them both oh so fucking wanting?

he's now in the middle of bum fucking nowhere with no one who loves him with no one who knows him with none to show for how he clawed through the thirteen years of limbo except some scars and claustrophobia and a longing loneliness haunting him. there are no winners here, no trophies no grand ending. he ran off from his problems, as always.

congratulations, mr. president, you are now some unknown gas station clerk. another costume to wear, another character to play, forbidden from exiting stage left and being, what, himself? as if, honestly.

there is a want there, if you squint. does quackity want him to open up so he could close the distance, say what is always stuck in his throat, or taxidermy him like a trophy?

is this love, or fascination? is this affection, or obsession?

i think even under the gaze of someone that completely matches his freak and considers him not untouchably demonic but simply unpredictable i.e. c!quackity you could never find what he is. if you keep taking off his costumes there would just be more. if you keep taking off the mask his face would contort to more. if you're something so used to being forgotten you wouldn't even bother being yourself because who would even remember that? you keep peeling off his mask, facade after facade, and at some point you'd just be digging at dirt. you can't solve this puzzle, only pick it apart and ruin it

of course he can't be honest and open up, there's nothing in there. it's all a play, an actor, a lesson in dramaturgy. he'll open up when he's cold and dead on the operating table.

i am looking at c!quackity elbow-deep in the actor-metaphors on the operating table and i am asking: was it worth it? did you get what you seek, what you *wanted* from him? is this your idea of being closer than arms length? will you keep this as a trophy, too, that you have finally understood the misunderstood?

remember the bassline: want. need/want.

is the stage too big for c!wil or is he too ambitious. is the world too wide and his flames too dim? did he waste his shot, one piece of lead against leviathans? is he so lost in his own layers and layers of costumes he couldnt ever find himself again even if he begged to? i would ask "why, despite everything?/why, when everything was done?/why, when you tried your best?" but then he'd be asking the same question with a pinch more desperation and buddy neither of us has the answer here

there it is again, then, a stalemate of the omnipresent want.

the want to get-what-you-want (the hands grasping at the retreating water and reeling fruits / the hands grasping at burning flags and broken swords / the hands grasping at poker chips and glossy cards)

the want to understand (i push my thumbs into this caricature of actors and only façades split)

the want to be understood (c!quackity looked at him like he was human, through it all, and under q's gaze he was alive)

one must imagine Tantalus happy.

[gurobitsu]

every time i try to draw ANY OTHER character my eye starts twitching and my heart starts pounding and i start sweating and the lines are shaky and the art is not arting and then i toss it away and start drawing mista instead and then i breathe a sigh of relief and feel better (like a fucking fool)

[expectiations]

The Husbands of River Song is not and has never been about the Eleventh Doctor being a deadbeat, distant husband (gross mischaracterization by the way) and the Twelfth Doctor being the "better, more mature, affectionate" husband.

It was about River Song. It was about River and how the events in Manhattan took such a toll on her. It was about letting us see River dealing with grief the way The Snowmen showed us how the Doctor coped after losing believing he had used up all his time with River.

Looking at THORS now with The Ruby's Curse in mind, I get the instinct (for lack of a word that I cannot remember) that the Manhattan incident Blue Roach read from River's diary was not the Manhattan episode that we saw in series 7.

On that note, I'd also like to bring up the fact that the Doctor grounds River and River grounds the Doctor. As Tree talked about in one of her tags, River's empathy is more cognitive than emotional and after musing on it for a bit – considering that the Doctor can no longer go to Manhattan (which may have changed in later series but I wouldn't know at the moment because I have yet to overcome series 7b) and that River does spend time with her parents in Manhattan post-TATM, would the latest Manhattan incident in River's diary be the funeral for Amy? Amy's death? Perhaps even Anthony's? I mean, we already know Rory died five years earlier than Amy. So, knowing how deep River's love for her mother is, it's not too farfetched to say that River spent that time with them. River was by their bedsides as they drew their last breath.

Then Rory's gone, Amy's gone, Anthony's gone. Where does that leave River? Where is the Doctor? (sulking on a cloud on top of Victorian London? trying to figure out the mystery of his newest companion? all while constantly mentioning a certain Professor Song who actually turns out to be his dearly sort of departed absolutely beloved wife?)

Without her parents (and her husband) to ground her, she goes on this maddened, grieving space Robin Hood spree. She seeks fun to fill in the void and takes up marriage as a hobby/side quest. Does she look for the Doctor? Perhaps. Yes, actually. Considering she crashed her latest sort-of-husband's ship onto a planet where she purported the TARDIS to be.

But... she's stealing the TARDIS. She could have just called the Doctor, yeah? So, she doesn't want the Doctor to know then. Well... yeah, considering she has two sort-of-husbands in hand.

So, River would just have gone on from one space Robin Hood spree to the next had the TARDIS not sort-of-stranded herself on Mendorax Dellora to make sure her Water stopped being stubborn and reconcile(?) with her Thief?

Also taking note of how River has read stories about them and knows that Darillium is purported to be their last night together (I could also bring up the fact that this is why I find it easy to digest the "River meeting regenerations of the Doctor younger than the Tenth Doctor makes sense and doesn't break cannon nor ruin SITL/FOTD" but that would take a whole other post). Does this River believe her time with the Eleventh Doctor has ended? The same way series 7b Eleven believed his time with older versions of River has ended? Is this all part of some grand fuckup in communication all thanks to their tangled timelines?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But has River not just been running from her family's death? Has River been running from her supposed last night with the Doctor?

"But River doesn't run." Oh yes. Yes, she does. She knows when to stand her ground. She knows when to charge. And she knows when to run.

"That's out of character for her." No, it's not. She's not invincible. She's this well trained assassin, yes. But invincible? No.

Invincible from the tendency to be blinded by their emotions? Obviously not.

River lies. And River runs.

She is not afraid of her death. She is afraid of the day when her husband, her Doctor, looks into her eyes and looks right through her. And it shouldn't kill her but it does. It did.

So she ran and ran until her bigger-on-the-inside Mum gently reached out and put her back together with the only person left who could ground her. Who she didn't recognize at first but still fell in love with (and would have loved even if he hadn't been revealed to be her actual, long missing husband). Who finally found out their last night wasn't just any night – it was a twenty-four year long last night. Who finally gave her a breather from all the running she'd been doing.

And oh what a night that was (it was the talk of the universe).

[severinaprince]

u kno, I don’t think that people consider enough the possibility (and very high probability) that Snape wasn’t mean to student’s because he wanted to, but more so because he had to. Not saying they he was nice. That man sure as hell wasn’t nice, especially when reading from Harry’s point of view.

But let’s consider for a moment the objective circumstances: Severus Snape was a past Death Eater, who at 21-ish years old changed sides (something only Dumbledore knew to which extent and the reasons), and knew of the possibility of the Dark Lord coming back because Dumbledore told him, and anyone who listened honestly, that he didn’t believe Voldemort to be truly gone.

Now, Severus Snape knows that Harry Potter, this child who is the Dark Lord’s undoing, is alive and is coming to the school, as probably most of his contemporary schoolmate’s kids are also going, have been there a while and will come for various years after. Snape is still bound to Dumbledore by his promise to be a spy, and is bound to Voldemort by brand. And Dumbledore is highly suspicious shit is about to go down (which u kno, he was rights ‘cause even from the first year lil Harry started Going Through It™️).

Having that background: Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin, and presumed Death Eater (‘cause u kno, spy), who was never known to be openly warm nor kind, who was fiercely bullied and he retaliated when felt necessary, is supposed to seem impartial and nice to all of his students?

Morally, should he had been? Heck yeah. Any decent teacher and adult should.

Realistically, should he had been? Well, if he wanted his cover blown, sure. If he wanted all of the Death Eaters who had children in school questioning the hell out of him, yeah. If he wanted Voldemort suspicious of his alliance and current belief system (which would have been at odds with the Death Eater ideals), uh-huh. But that would have made for a lousy spy at best and disastrous war changing consequences at worst.

And let’s be really honest here: Dumbledore gave him the position as teacher, primarily because he wanted to use Snape as a spy. That was Dumbledore’s priority, not the teaching. Which is a little wild to think coming from a school headmaster, truly.

This theory (which personally extends from theory to canon, because that’s how being a spy works) does not excuse him from how his prejudice blinded him from seeing Harry for Harry and not James (but the case could be made that neither did Sirius, but that’s another topic). That was wild. However, at the same time, he looked out for Harry’s life.

Again, I’m not saying Severus was warm and nice and he certainly acted mean and cruel at moments, particularly with kids from the other three houses. I just think that was part of the tragedy. He had a role to play, he played it perfectly, getting himself branded as a coward and a traitor by the people closest to him. And because of him, they won the war.