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icantbelieveitsnotbutler · 3 days ago

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Polaris Identity Theory

Manga spoilers under the cut.

Because Toboso conceals his face, Polaris is probably a character who readers would recognize.

Polaris has claimed on multiple occasions to be a butler, and said that he lost his previous master. This might lead one to assume he was a butler in Vincent Phantomhive's household. However, Polaris appears to have a different chin shape compared to any of the previous butlers.

Polaris' first physical appearance is when r!Ciel comes to the townhouse. Soma opens the door, let's r!Ciel in, and offers him food because he believes him to be o!Ciel. R!Ciel shoots Soma with a small handgun, which is o!Ciel's signature weapon. When Agni tries to protect Soma, Polaris appears and stabs him with a knife, of which he has many. In this scene we see that Polaris is tall, but not as tall as Agni.

He is also incredibly strong and fast, performing maneuvers that would be impossible for a human, and as a result, impossible for a bizarre doll created from a human, as the bizarre dolls we've seen so far seem to retain the physical limitations of their human bodies.

Sebastian even remarks that killing Agni would have required more than 5 average humans.

The rest of the information we have about Polaris is very limited. In Japanese, he refers to himself using 私 (watashi) and uses uses polite sentence endings (desu and masu).

However, Polaris' most distinguishing characteristic is his devotion to his master. When confronted with the possibility of running out of blood and losing r!Ciel, he loses control, yells, stops using polite speech in Japanese, destroys his surroundings, and falls to his knees.

If Toboso were introducing a new character, she wouldn't need to hide his face. The only existing character who fits the profile of a butler, exceedingly devoted to his master, almost as tall as Angi, wielding an absurd amount of knives, and with strength and speed way beyond those of humans, is Sebastian.

When Polaris first stabs Agni in the townhouse, he seems to appear suddenly and unnoticed by Soma and Agni. The reader might assume that he came into the room or out of hiding at this moment to defend r!Ciel. However, I believe it to be more likely that he walked in with r!Ciel, unremarked-upon because if Ciel walks in, Sebastian would be expected to follow. In fact, it would be strange if the 13-year-old came in alone, without an adult, and especially without his near-constant companion.

At this point I will mention what originally made me think of this theory: Sebastian's catchphrase. I will do my best, with my extremely limited knowledge of Japanese, to explain.

The phrase Sebastian is so fond of saying is "私は[悪魔で]執事ですから." He's literally saying "For I am a devil and a butler," but doesn't blow his cover as a demon because it sounds identical to "For I am a butler to the end/persistently." (私は[飽くまで]執事ですから)

After freaking out over the possibility of losing r!Ciel, Polaris tells him and Undertaker that if r!Ciel died, "I wouldn't be able to rest, even if I died. I can't imagine where else I could be... for I am a butler, even in death."

私は[死んでも]執事ですから。

This is nearly identical to Sebastian's catchphrase, both saying "For I am a butler," with a single word (and its attached particle) swapped out:

私は(I)[ ]執事(butler)です(am)から(for)。

An obvious problem with this theory is that Polaris is loyal to r!Ciel, while Sebastian is loyal to o!Ciel. An even more obvious problem is that while Polaris is murdering Agni, Sebastian is with o!Ciel elsewhere. This is the point where my implausible theory reaches its peak of absurdity: I believe Polaris is a bizarre doll of Sebastian, specifically Sebastian the butler.

When Undertaker impaled Sebastian on the Campania, he obtained his cinematic record. Like when Grelle cut him with her death-scythe in the Red Butler Arc, Sebastian's record only shows memories of his current body and nothing before it manifested. The sole purpose of the body named Sebastian is to be the best butler and to serve his master. This could also explain the previous master Polaris lost and his insanity over losing another: the last memory of the body the cinematic record was taken from is seeing o!Ciel thrown over a railing and out of reach; Undertaker captured Sebastian's desperation in that moment and used it to create a bizarre doll.

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #polaris #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive

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furiouskettle · 2 days ago

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random Look Outside character headcanons/opinions

(may be incorrect cause ive just been watching playthroughs. going off of the info i got from that which may be missing some parts.)

body horror talk, spoilers from all over the game and ending under the cut.

Sam

I love sam. hes just nice (potentially a pushover) and a dork. HES JUST A GUY!!!! i love that the game gives him time to show you how he’s processing his/your actions?

Really funny to me that him being unemployed is part of the reason he’s the protagonist. Can’t become a monster if you don’t have to go outside.

Am curious why he isn't working at the grocery store (if he did work there). did he leave or get fired?

OW losing an arm has GOTTA HURT. i cast pain upon this man.

his hair is just Like That no matter what he does

Joel

mY SWEET BABY BOYYYY i want to see him grow up big and strong (not too big and strong considering the everything but you get the idea).

looks like he has some form of "vision" post-mutation?? he doesnt seem to have any issue playing video games so i opt that he can “see”, just not very well. it’s short range and fuzzy. might be more of a feeling of his surroundings than real vision? whatever it is, it's good enough to play super jump lad.

I also HC that he’d developed shortsightedness when he had eyes, just that nobody had noticed yet that he’s squinting at things more than he should…

I think his biting/devouring is involuntary when he’s agitated. thankfully it hasn’t come to him biting any friends so far!

get this boy some popsicle sticks to gnaw on. not even for tooth reasons. eight year olds just love chewing on popsicle sticks. (preferably after popsicle has been consumed)

Apart from not fully understanding everything going on due to his age, he seems a bit dazed from the mutation and probably has brain fog for a few days after, which is Definitely not helping sam with the Oh My God this kid doesnt know his parents are dead. OH GOD I KILLED THIS KID'S PARENTS AND I HAVE STOLEN HIM AWAY

oddly chill with losing teeth. has taken some of his baby teeth out by himself! gives joel my childhood trait of oh hey my tooth is wobbling! lemme get rid of that real quick. twist twist twist

Jeanne

i dont have much to say on her atm but she’s lovely and really doesnt deserve what happens to her. on the bright side the worst seems to be over for her?? if she’s still growing does that mean that she’s gonna have to be like “oop a new head’s budding. gotta get someone to lop that off for me before it becomes a problem.”

Lyle

FIRST OF ALL i LOVE how his design kind of references how old cameras had to be covered with fabric so the photo wouldn't fail.

i think he wore glasses when he was human! …the lenses got absorbed into his face. the camera he was holding did too. I think he didn’t own as many cameras as he ended up with. That big one he has seems specific enough that maybe that was the one he was using to snap a sky pic??? idk if he touched any other cameras after that but THAT one has gotta be the one he was holding.

idk if he finds spiders GROSS but he is definitely the kind of person to be afraid to be in the same room as one.

I think most of his legs are telescopic to some degree! he just doesnt see the need to make himself any taller than he already is, except for photography reasons.

reiterating from one of my doodle posts, i like to think his eye lenses shed over time. if you took off the lens early on an eye (via injury) it would have weak vision. built-in glasses!

I hope the soul photo thing is like a special attack thing for him that he has to set up intentionally? it feels mean to have all the photos he takes with his built in cameras be the soul-stealing kind. he does take photos by accident/involuntarily a lot but the one he takes after the kiss with sam is totally on purpose and he absolutely still has that one. concerning.

idk if he gets out of his apartment much during the Visit, but it could be that HE hasnt seen any mutations worse than his/doesnt know that sam has totally seen worse. Hence why he's trying to hide so hard from Sam (not to mention the guy is crushing HARD, he's not gonna wanna be vulnerable in front of him).

....also hideous monster or not hes naked under there. i dont blame him for wanting to stay cloaked

Xaria & Monty

oh god theyre art students. that explains SO much.

very funny to me that xaria heard a voice in her head compelling her to check out the window and decided she’s gonna be contrarian about it.

I imagine a lot of Monty’s projects are setting something on fire. shows up to class with a pile of plastic baby heads. sets them ablaze. the most important part of being an art student is the time honored tradition of bullshitting some sort of meaning that’s gonna satisfy the lecturer.

Probably decent at life drawings but he keeps burning his works. (not to mention realism doesnt appear to be his kind of style)

Xaria feels like she’d stick to slightly more traditional mediums (painting, sculpture)? a lot of surrealism, mixed media, themes of nonconformity and violence. has totally used blood in a project before. More intentional about the meaning of her art- the intention being that she wants to make people uncomfortable.

i think it’d be hilarious if they’d been binging horror movies the night before. funniest options are The Thing and Tetsuo the iron man.

Since Sam mutates into something regardless of what you do up on the roof, i’m guessing the same goes for these two if you bring them up there. cool/nasty idea for their mutation is they fuse into one being... not necessarily an idea im running with atm but fun to think abt anyway

Sybil

AGH, sybil….. i love her. she's just really nice...

I think she’s in some sort of schrödinger’s cat situation - dead and alive until observed. or maybe like a quark (particle that cannot be observed but you can see the effects of it).

it’s unclear if someone ever was next door to you, but if I recall the astronomers tell you there’s no way she’s there? (cant recall if its bc she was “dead” by then or if its the totally wrong floor.)

the game says it was a mystery what happened to sybil, but a potential course of events could be your Real Neighbour just got sucked outta their window same as what happens to you if you look and sybil THINKS shes next door to you.

I’m pretty sure she’s in all of the walls? some of her text implies that, even tho she doesnt seem to be really aware of it.

far as she knows, she's in her apartment. what's her apartment like? well, it's an apartment. it's got walls. she can see out the peephole. there's.... furniture. What else do you want?

(man. between her, the pipe lady, the water pump guy, and the boiler room the walls are CROWDED. no wonder the roaches decide to move to your place.)

The Visitor

what do i even say about it? it is, in the most direct meaning of the word, awesome. it’s unfathomably immense. it's beautiful. it's horrifying. I love that in a single eye out of infinite eyes, it sees a miniscule creature who just wants to live. Sam becomes a smaller reflection of the Visitor, and the visitor gains a fraction of what makes sam human…

I wonder, did the visitor even “exist” until witnessed? same as sybil, maybe it could have some quantum thing going on. i can’t speculate on this any more than the astronomers have.

Sam (ritual-denial)

while it’s the nicest ending possible, i still feel kinda bad for sam :( he can never be truly alone anymore, but at the same time isn’t becoming a giant god-creature kind of isolating? sure, he must grow used to it over time but MAN. WHAT AN ADJUSTMENT.

regardless, it’s nice that he decides to use his new form to take care of the world, and sounds like he probably gets some extra brain capacity to be able to do all the stuff he does. (probably a few extra mini-brains to control the different arm nodes)

I hope he gets to take time for himself too, sometimes. probably sleeps like a dolphin (switch off half the brain for a power nap)

I don't think he can do verbal communication (at least, it's gonna take him a WHILE to figure out how to talk with his feelers) but at least there's keyboards.

also its funny how he gains like a gajillion arms after potentially losing one of two.

also i love the cafe patrons and the mutants at the camp. theyre all so fun. AND MANUEL FUNKY LITTLE DUDE WITH THE JAMS.

i need to find more about the lady with the slasher mask i just know she exists.

@mtgc858 @deafeningfestivalpaper @kasprawn39 @contract-crawdad @goawaypopup @eyessss come get yer headcanons

anyway uhhhhhhh hope you found my rambling fun to read byee

#teapot noises #look outside #look outside game #look outside spoilers #ok i keep going back and adjusting things and spending too much time so im just gonna stop here

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blorger · 2 days ago

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Eyes, the so-called window to the soul, an often invaluable key to a character's true nature, are perhaps one of the less examined descriptors in the hp books.

We no doubt all have a distinct eye moment we can remember from the books; perhaps it's Harry's green eyes -so much like his mother's-, maybe it's the whimsy of Dumbledore's twinkling eyes or perhaps what stuck in your mind is one of the more peculiar, out there descriptors that like Luna's popping eyes.

I prsonally find the hows and whys of jkr's physical descriptors to be a fascinating insight into the characters she created so I went and lovingly prepared a brief guide; hopefully you enjoy this,

METHODOLOGY

I counted these instances by hand so please keep in mind that there may be some minor inaccuracies in my tallying (basically don't quote me, I may occasionally be slightly off).

Furtermore, there are some descriptors that I did not consider in my count; I didn't keep track of the number of times in which someone's eyes are implied to be tearing up in some way because most times the crying is alluded to indirectly (eg.people often "wipe their eyes" or "avert their eyes") and actual adjectives like "teary", "misty", "streaming" and "leaking/leaky" are actually used quite sparingly (I will however observe who the narrative choses to highlight thusly because it's interesting).

Similarly, I didn't keep track on the amount of time a character's eyes "widen" since it's one of jkr's favourite ways to convey fear and/or surprise and it's not actually a verb used in conjunction with any character specifically (basically everyone does it at one point or another).

Finally, I did not keep a tally of the amount of times Harry's (or anyone else's) eyes open or close since this happens often regardless of the nature of the scene it happens in and doesn't tell us anything about a character that the excerpt itself doesn't.

TOP OF THE TOP

I would first like to begin our journey through the hp books' ocular realm with a few superlatives; here are the characters whose eyes are mentioned most often:

Voldemort is our leader with 53 eye mentions. He is the character whose eye color (red/scarlet) is mentioned most often (39 times + 2 mentions of Tom Riddle's dark eyes), but other notable descriptors include his pitiless/blank stare (5 times) and his slit pupil shape (4 times).

Severus Snape follows closely with 52 mentions; the most used eye descriptor is black (26 mentions) in reference to his eye color with a special mention going out to his cold and glittering stare (8 mentions each).

Albus Dumbledore is our distant third, with 36 mentions. His eye color (alternatively described as light blue/clear blue/bright blue) is mentioned 19 times and his infamous twinkling gaze is mentioned 11 times.

EYE COLOR DISTRIBUTION

BLUE: this the most common eye color in the books, with 10,5 named characters described as having it (the .5 is Alastor Moody's prosthetic eye). The characters with explicitly stated blue eyes include Albus Dumbledore (19 mentions), Dudley Dursley (1), Firenze (3), Narcissa Malfoy (1) and Ron Weasley (1). Caracters with more detailed descriptions include Gilderoy Lockhart (2) who we are specifically told has bright blue eyes, Ludo Bagman (3) and his baby blues, Aberforth Dumbledore (2)'s piercing brilliant eyes, Fleur Delacour (2) and her deep blue eyes and Igor Karkaroff(1) with his icy stare.

GREEN: The characters with explicitly stated green eyes are of course Harry ( 8 mentions) and Lily Potter (4),but also Dobby (4). I have further included in the count Hagrid's brother's Grawp* (2), who is described as having "sludge colored" "greenish brown" eyes and professor Horace Slughorn (1), whose eyes are described as "pale" and "gooseberry"-like.

*= I acknowledge that Grawp could have just as easily gone in the "brown" eye category but for some reason his eyes's description gave me more of a green vibe; feel free to disregard my categorisation if you wish.

BROWN: curiously, this is color is not more popular. Both Ginny Weasley (1 mention) and Hermione Granger (2) have brown eyes, together with Marvolo Riddle (1) and bowtruckles (1). As far as more evocative color names go, Hedwig (5) is described as having amber eyes whereas Winky the house elf (6) has beetle-brown eyes. Our final brown eyed beauty is James Potter (1), who has hazel eyes.

BLACK: black eyes are quite common with animals and beings since Scabbers (1 mention), acromantulas (1), Fawkes (1) and Goblins -most notably Griphook- (4) all have them. Humans with black eyes include the aforementioned Snape (26) and Hagrid's father (1), with Hagrid himself having the dubious honor of being the only character with beetle-black eyes (9).

GREY:* Lucius Malfoy (5 mentions), Cedric Diggory (3), Draco Malfoy (2) and Kreacher (1) are the only characters expressly stated to have grey eyes. Garrick Ollivander (2), patronuses (1) and Luna Lovegood (1) have specifically silvery eyes.

*:There's another characters who is implied to have grey eyes as well, as we'll later see when discussing pale eyes.

YELLOW: this is another color largely reserved for creatures as Mrs Norris (2 mentions), the basilisk (1), Crookshanks (8), Dragons (2) and merfolk (2) are all said to have yellow eyes. The only humans with yellow eyes are Cat Hermione - albeit temporarily- (1), Madam Hooch (1) and Rufus Scrimegour (3).

ORANGE: this color is reserved for hippogriffs (and Buckbeak) who are twice mentioned as having orange eyes.

RED: There is only one person in the books who has permanently red eyes and that, of course, is Voldemort (39 mentions, sometimes using the term scarlet). Many characters' eyes are temporarily red, be it from crying (Hagrid, Molly, Madam Maxime, Lavender, Neville) or cursed locket possession (Ron). The only animals/creatures with red eyes are Beauxbatons's winged horses.

WHITE: finally, we come to the rarest eye color in all of the books, which gets a .5 on account of the fact that only one person could conceivably have had milky eyes and that is Bathilda Bagshot. Considering the fact that white eyes in general and milky eyes specifically seem to be an exclusive purview of the dead (Aragog's corpse, the thestrals's blank white eyes) and that the only time we meet Bathilda she's currently a corpse being inhabited by a giant snake, I'd venture to say that no one who is alive (or not closely tied to death) actually possesses white eyes.

Of further interest to the eye color conversation, I would like to point out characters who are mentioned to have either pale or dark eyes:

the term DARK EYES doesn't seem to be tied to a single color specifically. the only dark-eyed beings/people whose eye color we know for sure are goblins and Severus Snape, who are both described as having black eyes. The rest of the characters who get this descriptor are Padma Patil (who, being an identical twin, most likely shares this characteristic with her sister Parvati), Romilda Vane, Morfin Gaunt, Tom Riddle, Kendra Dumbledore, Phineas Nigellus Black and Bellatrix lestrange.

The term PALE EYES, however, seems to refer almost exclusively to grey eyed people since Ollivander, Lucius and Draco Malfoy* and Kreacher are all described as having pale eyes. The only pale eyed person with non-grey eyes we find is Horace Slughorn (he has very pale green eyes) and we further have only one pale eyed character whose eye color we cannot be sure of and that is Petunia Dursley.

*: Draco is a rarity in that his eyes are said to be pale (7 times) and cold (2) more often than their actual color (once grey and once light grey)

PECULIARITIES IN EYE DESCRIPTIONS

There honestly doesn't seem to be neither rhyme nor reason behind wether someone's eyes are described or not. Important characters like Ron and Ginny's eyes are talked about extremely rarely whereas beings like like Grawp and Winky get incongruously detailed descriptions.

Of the main trio, Hermione's eyes get mentioned often when she's either crying or on the verge of tears but her actual eye color is mentioned only twice and her expression is almost never conveyed through her gaze. Hermione's eyes are glassy, puffy, tearing, bloodshot; they are sparkling or shining with tears more than they are flashing with righteousness or shadowed with tiredness.

Harry's eyes are more often mentioned in the context of him trying to push hair out of them than they are to showcase his expressions. Besides Harry's eye color and his penchant for glaring we learn precious little about his eyes. The only information of note I found comes from a description Harry provides of his mother's eyes* (to which his are often compared, even by himself). When observing Snape's worst memory Harry notes that his mother's eyes are almond-shaped, a rare descriptor only used in two instances: this one and when Harry meets and describes a Sphynx's appearance.

Ron's eyes are the least described of the trio. We sometimes hear of him rolling his eyes or widening them in fear and/or surprise but that is just about it.

Unlike Ron, House Elves's eyes get mentioned every time they appear in a scene, to the point that we know both the eye color and characteristics of all named elves: Kreacher's pale grey eyes are bloodshot and bulging, Dobby's green ones are round, huge, enormous, immense and they are desrcribed on more than one instance as orb-like and tennis ball-like. Even Winky's eyes are remarked upon with surprising frequency; they are glassy on account of her frequent crying and, like all elves's, they are also giant and enormous.

other characters who get more eye mentions than the number of their appearances demand are Gregory Goyle, who we know has dull and small deep-set eyes and Mrs Norris, whose unique lamp-like eyes are remarked on multiple times.

Some characters have a characteristic eye look that is unique to them. Bellatrix, for example, is the only person with hooded and heavy-lidded eyes (even Andromeda, who is said to resemble her greatly, has wider, kinder eyes).

Characters who have spent time in Azkaban (though not Bellatrix) retain a visible tell of their experience through their gazes: both Sirius and post-jail Lucius** have shadowed eyes that are sunken, like those of the long-imprisoned Grindlewald.

*: curiously, the only other character whose eyes get compared to a member of their family's is Aberforth Dumbledore, whom the narrative takes pain to remind the reader has his brother's eyes.

**: the post-jail change in Lucius's eyes is stark in that, before his imprisonment, he had glittering eyes, cold and cool (a term uniquely reserved for him).

IT'S THE SIZE THAT COUNTS

Another eye characteristic that is often remarked upon is the size of one's eyes, with small eyes being more often than not the purview of villains and general undesirables.

People with small eyes, include Myrtle Warren, Gregory Goyle, Peter Pettigrew, both Dudley* and Vernon Dursley*, Grawp and Morfin Gaunt.

Beady eyes are found in animals like Fawkes and snakes, but also -curiously- in Professor McGonagall.

Little eyes are a Dursley exclusive as the term is only used to refer to both Vernon and Dudley.

Characters with tiny eyes include Vernon Dursley and his sister, Aunt Marge, Scabbers the rat, Hepzibah Smith and Amycus Carrow.

*:As you might have noticed, small eyes seem to be a bit of a Dursley family special. The same goes for the term piggy eyes, which is only found in relation to them

Talk of BIG EYES is strangely not used in a flattering way that contrasts the aforementioned small eyes, with the notable exception of Romilda Vane's case. She is the only character whose big and large eyes are to be interpreted in a flattering manner; as for the rest:

LARGE eyes are found in Petunia Dursley, Hedwig, Alice Longbottom (in whose case said eyes are remarked to be overlarge) and Horace Slughorn

People with HUGE eyes include Dobby, Prof. Trelawney, Narcissa Malfoy and Kreacher.

IMMENSE eyes are the exclusive purview of Dobby, as are eyes likened to TENNIS BALLS, HEADLIGHTS and ORBS.

Characters with ENORMOUS/ENLARGED eyes include prof. Trelawney, Winky, Dobby and Luna Lovegood.

GIANT eyes are exclusive to Trelawney and Winky

BULGING eyes can be found in both mrs Norris and Argus Filch, but also in Norbert the dragon, Dobby, Kreacher, Oliver Wood, Crouch sr., Luna and Umbridge. Fittingly for a category that is most likely supposed to be transitory* both the newly poisoned Ron and the dying Bellatrix are also described through this term.

People with POPPING eyes include Argus Filch, Luna Lovegood, Crouch sr, Vernon Dursley, Ron and Dolores Umbridge.

PROMINENT eyes are found in Luna, Umbridge and Slughorn.

PROTUBERANT eyes are a Luna Lovegood staple but Garrick Ollivander is also mentioned to be having them.

BEACON-like is a term reserved exclusively for Sibyl Trelawney

LAMP-like is, likewise, a mrs. Norris exclusive

*: Another observation that must be made in regard to large eyes is that not all of the characters l listed above are described as having permanently big eyes. In many case, these terms are used as synonyms for wide-eyed (the term indicating surprise I chose not to include because of its indiscriminate nature). Regardless, with one look at this list one can easily identify repeat offenders (like elves, Luna and Trelawney) whose eyes are more likely to actually be big

To close out this section, I would like to point out some miscellaneous descriptors used to highlight a character's eye shape, something that actually happens quite rarely in the books. We are more often provided adjectives that give us an impression of a certain character's eyes but aren't necessarily descriptive then we do with tried and true physical descriptors.

Round eyes, for example, are often used to describe Ludo Bagman's child-like expression while pouchy is a term reserved for Dolores Umbridge's toad-like eyes. In order to highlight Blaise Zabini's "exotic beauty" (barf), he alone receives long eyes that slant (like goblins' eyes do, do with that what you will). Morfin and Merope Gaunt are the only characters with strabismus while the perennially shady Mundungus Fletcher has permanently droopy, saggy and baggy eyes.

IT'S ALL IN THE EYES

Some terms, usually those referring to how the light catches a character's eyes, are surefire indicator of their nature (or, at the very least, the nature of their actions).

Glittering eyes, for example, often do so with malice or mischief; some notable adopters include Lucius and Draco Malfoy, Peeves, Severus Snape, Griphook and, in two occasions, some random Death Eaters (as seen through their masks). (It must be noted, for completeness sake, that Harry's eyes also glitter in one occasion, and not for evil reasons)

These same characters' eyes also also described through the synonyms gleam and glint, though these two terms are more widely adopted by non-evil characters.

Oliver Wood, Crookshanks, Fred Weasley and Minerva McGonagall's eyes also glint, but at the same time so do the Death Eaters', Draco's Snape's and Voldemort's.

Gleaming eyes, likewise, are not only used for characters like Aragog/acromantulas in general, dog Sirius as the Grim, thestrals, Snape, Voldemort and Bellatrix but also for Ron, Trelawney, Oliver Wood, Ernie Macmillan and Slughorn.

The complete opposite of glittering eyes is probably twinkling eyes, who are only found in "good" characters. Besides Dumbledore, the term is also used to refer to the expressions of Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks and Bill and Molly Weasley.

GENDERED EYE LANGUAGE

Eyes that are tearing or on the verge of tears are a near total female exclusive. In line with this meta by @wisteria-lodge ,The only male characters who occasionally get described using the same language do so for either femme-coding or comical reasons.

While terms like red rimmed and streaming eyes (aunt Muriel), burning eyes (McGonagall), leaky eyes (Myrtle and McGonagall) are female exclusives, only male characters have wet or watering eyes (both Scabbers and Peter, Kreacher and Slughorn).

Hagrid, our most prolific male crier, shares both teary and bright/overbright eyes with noted female criers Hermione and Molly Weasley (plus, unexpectedly, Petunia) and further displays misty eyes together with Luna (and again Petunia) and puffing/puffy eyes with Hermione.

As a curious aside, notably femme-coded character Draco Malfoy has both shining and sparking eyes which, when referring to Hermione, are used to describe crying but for him indicate malice.

CONCLUSION

I'd like to close this out with a look at some terms I was surprised weren't as widely used as I would have thought:

Only one character has mean eyes and it's book 1's troll

the only instance in which the term long-lashed is found occurs when Snape's doe patronus is being described

Only one person has hungry eyes (even though quite a few characters have hungry expressions) and it's Voldemort

both alert and weary (two very useful descriptors for a war and conflict in general) are terms used uniquely to refer to Remus Lupin's eyes

Vernon Dursley is the only character with angry eyes

Rufus Scrimegour is the only character to have keen eyes

Similarly, only Phineas Nigellus possesses clever eyes

lastly, only Peeves's eyes dance around

Please enjoy the fruit of my (unasked for) labor friends,

xoxo

#please work with me here; graphic design is my passion™️#this is by no means exhaustive #I left out some of the less common one-off terms #especially when they referred to uninteresting/expected topics #hp #hp meta #harry potter meta

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wuddabudda · 14 hours ago

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Omg yeah!! I’d love to elaborate ^^🫶✨ I’m unironically Sova’s biggest fan HELP LMFAO!! Anyway, apologies in advance, this may be a long response:

To preface, I am not calling Sova problematic in a negative way. It’s more so a celebration because it means he is a complex character xD yaaay!! I love my morally messy blondes!

A lot of Sova’s “problematic” characterization I’m referring to is fanon characterizations/the sliver of information that is provided through voice lines towards Sova & especially the Fade Reveal Dossiers!

For example:

➡️"Sova, now here is a man of principle. But you have broken rules before, yes? Ah. Of course you have." —Chamber

➡️ "Sova, I accessed your background file. A good story, but that's not really how you lost your eye." — Cypher

—

Based on these interactions, it is safe to assume that Sova is not the perfect, golden archer that he has built his entire identity to be. He has failed, and will fail again. While riot does not write him to be outwardly self-righteous…he pretty much is, given the weight of his identity and the desire to preserve it, is basically his greatest motivation and also the cause of his greatest fear.

Sova needs to be confident, he needs to be sure of himself and his beliefs, because if he isn’t, the identity he has meticulously built WILL come crashing down. Even a lot of agents, specifically Chamber, Fade, and Cypher, call him out for this dissonance in his character. For someone who holds himself on such a high moral ground, he sure does pack a lot of secrets and debatable actions that has made him the man that he is.

This is where the “problematic” comes in: Sova is a hypocrite. In his pursuit of perfection, he forgets, that he is still a broken man who has possibly done deplorable, questionable deeds to reach his idea of “perfection” before joining the protocol. Which is honestly what makes his character lovable. It humanizes Sova and adds depth to the shallow, yet model solider of VALORANT.

To back track, because of these high expectations, Sova cannot afford to fail. His identity IS the archer who has never missed. Thus, he burdens himself with any challenge, however big or small, because of the expectation he has to meet—the expectation that he has forced onto himself. This negative perception of himself then affects his personal relationships, and is specifically the reason as to why he even feuds with Cypher in the first place. Sova projects these overtly sanctimonious standards, that nobody even asked for LMFAO.

Sova’s internal turmoil with his identity is where all the fan headcanons mostly stem from. A lot of art and fics of Sova attempt to explore beyond the facade he has made: what was Sova’s greatest failure? How did he lose his eye? What is his true identity that is NOT the SOVA, Agent 06, that he has perfectly crafted for himself? Is the VALORANT protocol a way for him to escape his messy past?

Consequently, a lot of fan headcanons make Sova insecure, somewhat insane with perfectionism, and deathly honest to a fault.

—

TLDR, it’s honestly just Sova fans making him a complex character because Riot literally only gives out crumbs of lore for our favorite golden archer ugh 😭😭… sorry for the long read! As you can tell, I looove this character so much… he makes me go crazy!

“You always had it in you, Hunter.”

Wanted to draw a young, short haired Sova! Man, I love what the fandom and my personal brainworms have done to this character. Oh Sova, the problematic, holier-than-thou, beast within, character that you are…

#sorry sorry for how long this is!! I just really love sova…#sova #me ranting about sova /pos LMFAO #sova valorant

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veliseraptor · 6 hours ago

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thinking about a post I saw that was arguing that how an author portrays a given thing can "tell you more" about that author than if they do or not, and while there is maybe some truth to that I also had an instinctive "well, sure, but" reaction to it.

I think that reaction is a little bit about the fact that there's a tendency on here (and sometimes elsewhere) to read an artist's work (whether literary, visual, or otherwise) as a revelation or a window into their inner world. And I don't think that's necessarily accurate, warranted, or a good direction to take criticism or analysis.

I'm thinking some about this post I reblogged about intentionality and art, specifically the prioritization of the unintentional in art and what it says about the creator/the lionization of the unintentional as more genuine/authentic, and how it relates to generative AI.

It's certainly possible that a creator depicting a queer character in a way that evokes queer stereotypes is showing their ass about the way that they "really" feel or what they "really" believe. It's also possible that they're intentionally saying something and that something may not be "queer people are bad." This is a clumsy example but I think it goes back to the desire to seek out didacticity or morals in fiction/art - to look for what the creator is telling the reader or wants the reader ("reader" here used loosely to refer to any interpretation of art) to think.

as opposed to, perhaps, creative work as play ("what happens if I...") or even just as an invitation to think; not toward a specific end or purpose but to provoke some kind of consideration in the reader's mind.

Of course this doesn't mark anything as above critique, and works deserve engagement with the social context from which they emerge and with which they engage. But I think it's possible to do that critical work without assuming that it necessarily grants some kind of privileged access to who the creator themself truly is.

#lise has opinions #actual english major lise

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utilitycaster · 9 hours ago

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I mentioned I had more thoughts on "party of NPCs" in a recent ask, and I'm about to do a little Nein Againing, so: the original mention, from an early 4-Sided Dive (covering up to 3x21) from Taliesin, was mostly about two things: the fact that the characters (other than Imogen) were offbeat and felt like statblock archetypes (weird fey quest giver! undead witch in the woods! Guard #2!) and that only Imogen and maybe Dorian had a "feeling of intense destiny."

It did not mean they had uniquely tragic backstories (and I do not think they did); it did not mean they were uniquely impoverished and lacking in resources (indeed, they had tons of resources very early on compared to any other low-level party on CR); it did not mean they were uniquely othered by society (and I found that while that was part of their backstories, it didn't play out very strongly during the campaign, less so than frankly either the Mighty Nein in a number of places, or Vox Machina in specific locations such as Syngorn). It was literally just "wacky or archetypal, and lacking in a feeling of intense destiny."

As for lacking in destiny - I don't think that's a problem, and indeed I like characters who make their own destiny! But I think that "party of NPCs" increasingly gets quoted by people who are leery of D&D characters exercising their free will and who defend a lack of direction. I feel Bells Hells often seemed to wait around for direction, and again, that's a whole discussion that's been had many times and which gets into the meta level, but between that and the actual intended meaning Taliesin had, it doesn't make them more special to me; it makes them less.

PC vs. NPC is itself not a perfect dichotomy (in that PCs of one campaign become NPCs of another; or that someone can adopt a character like Cerkonos and make him a PC), and all it means is player character vs. non-player character. Ludinus is an NPC, but he certainly makes choices. However, EXU Divergence does a brilliant job of showing what makes a player character a person who has levels and not statblocks. Almost everyone starts as an NPC; they become a PC through the events that occur in their lives. This again is not unique to Bells Hells. Fjord and Veth were very much the Sailor and Commoner statblocks until a life-changing event occurred to them; Percy was a Noble statblock; Vex and Vax were hunters or bandits until they decided to be more than just mercenaries and join up with a group, and so on.

The issue I always had was in fact that lack of destiny - which I am taking to be external and narrative, not internal and literal. It's hard to say in a world where fate and destiny are quite real, but I think what's also important is that other campaigns actively discussed destiny vs. free will at length (in particular, Percy's conversation with the Raven Queen, and Fjord, Caleb, and Caduceus in episode 84 of Campaign 2) and engaged with it thematically in a way Campaign 3 never did. But when the Nein are introduced as a "handful of wandering destinies" I don't think the intent is to say that what they do is pre-ordained (and indeed, it's an improv medium and there's an unexpected PC death; we know it's not). I think it's more in reference to the fact that these are all people with some intent - to learn about their powers, find their family, or undo what has been done to them. Many of Bells Hells lack that (Laudna never has any clear nor consistent goals of her own that she works towards), or their motivations (free themself from Jiana and learn more about who they are, deliver the weave lens and learn about their parents, find the Gorgynei) are either over quite early or rushed past to make way for a plot that most of them are poorly grafted into, and never quite takes. I suppose that is what most makes them feel like NPCs, but that is not complimentary - it feels like they are in someone else's story, and that we're waiting for the PCs to arrive the entire time.

I think the fact that this comment is from just after episode 21 and people still cling to it for Campaign 3 is perhaps the most telling thing of all; it was a party of NPCs by vibe, and at episode 21 that's not a bad thing, but it never fails to shed that over the course of the next hundred episodes.

#critical role #4 sided dive

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thedexcat · 17 hours ago

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ENA:DBBQ Speculation Megapost

OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS AHEAD Hyperfixation waxes and wanes over the ocean of interpretive works, and I once again find myself on the shores of a new captivation. Now, I'm not the type to listen to other's interpretations of things before forming my own thoughts. Perhaps this will be retreading old ground, perhaps there will be fresh takes. I just want to commit my thoughts to writing before I slide down the slippery slope of feature-length lore videos and whatnot.

So, where to begin on the subject of ENA: Dream BBQ Chapter 1? I think a good starting point would be...

1: The Title Character Herselves, ENA

Right from the very first trailer, we could all tell: This ENA is different from the one we know from the webseries. Some say that this is a different ENA from before. Others suggest that perhaps something changed her. Maybe it's something in between. For the purposes of this post, I will be referring to this ENA as being her own individual, with no connection to the previous ENA until proven otherwise. The ENA of Dream BBQ will be simply be referred to as ENA. The ENA of the webseries will be referred to as "Ur-ENA"

So, we have a salesperson with a bit of a short temper. But as we experience the world through her eyes, there are some questions that come to mind. The first of which is, "What is her job anyway?" Well, right off the bat, there's some troubling implications. She appears to be after a "Boss", who has gone into hiding, and whom ENA and Froggy refer to as their "Target". The obvious interpretation is that ENA is a contract killer of some sort. But... there is room for doubt.

It was Froggy who first refers to The Boss as a "Work Target", very specifically using English words, that "wacky language" as he calls it. He may have coined this phrase without necessarily knowing the connotations of referring to a person as a "Target". This is brought up by Theodora the Genie, who asks ENA, "Do you even know the ingredients of that word salad?"

But, for reasons we'll get into later, it wouldn't be particularly surprising to anyone if ENA was hired to kill someone. Not after the incident.

CHEESE AND RICE, ENA

As you talk to more and more people in the game, it becomes clear that this ENA is universally despised. Even a lot of the more agreeable characters tend to have some hint of resentment in their words when speaking to her.

This brings us to what appears to be the underlying theme of Dream BBQ: Sin and Forgiveness. ENA has evidentially committed some unspeakable act in the past, some great Sin that has made her known throughout all the worlds. As to the severity of this Sin? We get a hint when ENA first lays eyes on the Bathroom, a place that has been referred to as somewhere where Sins are absolved and Truth is revealed (seriously, two of the stalls have a damn confessional window between them).

"A giant bathroom? Uggh... It's not enough for this many bodies. I hate myself."

This seems to be heavily implying that ENA was apparently responsible for a horrific massacre that occurred in the past. An act beyond any hope of redemption, hammered home by the conversation with Theodora if you actually make it to the Bathroom.

When first speaking to Theodora, she mistakenly forgives ENA's Sins briefly, which immediately mends the gaping wound in her body. Whatever is going on with Human(?) ENA, it seems clear that the wound is representative of guilt rather than a literal physical injury. Ultimately, Theodora offers to fulfill one of ENA's Asperations, and you're presented with the only dialogue options offered in the current version of the game. You're given a list of choices, but you quickly learn that desires are never fulfilled, nor quenched. Any option that would immediately bring ENA peace is doomed to fail for one reason or another.

Like the rest of them... Like the rest of them... A blissful life? No, that aspiration is beyond what ENA is capable of herself, and cannot be granted.

Eternal happiness? No, the natural order of things cannot be changed.

Frank's forgiveness? Refuted outright, in a way that implicitly says "You know perfectly well why you cannot have that." Punishing the Moon? No, the only one that deserves to be punished for being born is ENA herself. All that ENA can aspire to is to perform the task that she has been given. Nothing more. You leave with more questions than you entered with.

Despite all this, ENA carries on with an unwavering faith in G0D and destiny. Several of her interactions bring up matters of faith in a way that seems to... agitate people. Perhaps they see her penitent ways as a means to evade the consequences of her past actions. Perhaps they may even be right. Regardless, ENA seems to find comfort in the idea of an inevitable fate outside of her control.

(And now for the super speculative part that has me going off of 'vibes' more than anything concrete.) As for her Sin, well, my personal interpretation is that the Incident occurred due to ENA being negligent rather than malicious. I could be way off, but the intense weight of her guilt feels like it comes from a 'personal failure', a mindset reflected in her extremely adamant work ethic.

When attending the Purge Event, even though it's for the sake of reaching the Bathroom, she seems completely devastated by the thought that she is on some level slacking off while on the job.

Her limbs get tangled in gnarled branches emerging from her heart. In these moments, she is fighting against herself. Are the branches restraining her from performing her duties, representing her intrusive desire to lose her worries in the vore disco Purge Event? Or are the branches the opposite, her sense of responsibility unnaturally forcing her not to partake in any of the frivolity?

Honestly, it's too soon to tell exactly. Regardless of the specifics, my personal takeaway is that her work ethic probably stems from some disaster that she could have averted if she were more dutiful. Yet she is still at odds with herself, perhaps yearning to live her life in the carefree way that she (probably) used to. Anyway. That's my analysis/interpretation of ENA herself. But I'm not done with this post yet. We've barely touched the subject of...

2- The Genies of the Doors

Beyond each Door lies a land governed by a Genie. In keeping with the 'digital' theming of the series, I've taken to calling each land beyond a Door a "Domain".

Beyond the Lonely Door is the Domain of the recluse Theodora.

Beyond the Crowd Door is Domain of the deviant Pierro.

And lastly, beyond the Horse Door lies the Domain of a fresh corpse.

Therein lies an interesting issue: Genies, while powerful granters of desires, can be killed. Not only that, but one person you can question at the start of the game has this to say: "No Pierro the Genie, no town." This implies that their existence somehow reshapes the world around them, fitting for such powerful entities. So... what does that imply about a Genie getting killed? The game branches twice in the first chapter. The first branching moment is whether to go to the Purge Event or to complete all the sidequests to unlock the Humanboard and ascend to the orb in the sky. These two branches end up leading to the same destination, the nexus outside the Bathroom. Here, the game branches a second time...

If you fail to cross the river (or interact with the puking guy on the other side. fuck that guy he made me do even more runs.) you end up taking a roundabout path to your destination, and you ultimately find that Theodora, the Genie of the Lonely Door, has died at the bottom of what seems to be a well.

But hang on... If you successfully cross the river and go directly to the Bathroom, Theodora is alive and well! In the well! So what gives?

Well, after your meeting with her in either branch, the world begins to change. Places begin to lose their definition, becoming either distorted or changing into pure white geometry. Landmarks become clipart drifting in the air. Real estate investors swoop in on the newly freed up land. The Domain of Theodora is no more, and the Lonely Door is closing.

Many of the people are gone, replaced by familiar strangers.

...I would like to take this moment to point out that the main theme song of the game, Anemoia, is a word meaning "Nostalgia for a time or place that one has never known."

Anyway, this inevitable loss of identity seems to imply that no matter which route you take, Theodora dies. Whether you're too early or too late, ENA doesn't find out who or what killed the genie. Between this and the murder of the unnamed third genie, there is some malicious entity just barely out of sight, slaying genies for unknown reasons. When considering what this could mean for the story down the line, I recall a certain line spoken by a certain goblin of a girl.

"Rude entities like you get punished for the sins of others." Someone is maliciously reshaping the world. And if these acts are as disastrous as they seem, then ENA is in a prime position to take the fall in their stead. She's already known to have caused some kind of calamity, and she's attempting to seek audience with the genies as they're actively being killed off. Should we meet with Pierro in a later installment, I imagine that things will take a swift downturn from there. It's a shame we don't know anything about the third genie...

...or do we? *Vsauce theme*

3- The Shadow of Ur-ENA

The connections between Dream BBQ and the webseries are few and nebulous... but they are there if you look in the right places. The Extinction Party is mentioned by one of the taxi driver's heads, and the location of that episode can be briefly spotted behind one of the doors of the Purge Event. The Domain beyond the Lonely Door starts morphing into the setting of Auction Day. But there's one point of connection that's been nagging at me... and it's pretty obtuse 🐬

youtube

Dialing a hidden phone number, we're met with Phindoll....'s answering machine. The message explains that he's looking for some kind of employment. Perhaps he suddenly lost his job? Who was he working for back when we saw him last? ...Oh, yeah. Runas. That wish-granting entity... on the other side of a... Door... ... The Great Runas might be fucking dead, guys.

We've now seen implications that this game takes place before Auction Day... but after Temptation Stairway. If linear causality has any role in this story, it's as a horrified onlooker.

Of course, this can be reconciled if Runas turns out to be the new genie that replaces the murdered one. But dialogue early in the game suggests that temporal shenanigans may be afoot. After all, the low-poly lady at the desk claims...

"You are too late! The Boss isn't even born yet!"

She's... a very blunt, straightforward person. None of her other lines are nearly as ambiguous and confusing as this one, so I'm inclined to take this line at face value. We are in no position to be making assumptions about how concepts like time even work in this setting. So what does this all mean? ... ... I dunno. We only have chapter 1 to work off of, after all.

But if Runas was in fact the murdered Genie, then there is one suspect in particular that pops into my mind. Someone who has met Runas. Someone who was... unimpressed. Dissatisfied. And found herself trapped inside his domain for a long, long time.

That's all for now. There's some glaring points in the story that I simply didn't have enough insight on to really remark upon. (Was that the Holy Code in the ending cutscene? What does ENA's body-hopping power entail? What was with the other ENA in the sewers, and who was she talking to?) Also at this point, my fingers are snapping in half from typing out all of these thoughts. A lot of this was just my personal interpretation, so don't be surprised if it clashes with the analysis of other people. In all likelihood, when the future chapters come out, I'll look back at this post and laugh at how dumb I was.

#ena dream bbq #ena: dream bbq #ena #ena joel g #speculation #theory #analysis #Youtube

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a-vibing-potato · 20 hours ago

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Ignoring how angsty they are, 5x3 and 5x4 of Supernatural are SO GOOD for me as a Castiel and Destiel supporter like oh my gosh

5x3:

Dean gets jumpscared by Cas in the mirror

The turn around and the fucking LOOK. OH MY GOD THE LOOK. Gay fuckers I swear. Dean looking Cas up and down and looking SPECIFICALLY AT HIS LIPS with his babygirl eyelashes and they're lowkey breathing each other's air and-

"Cas, we've talked about this. Personal space?" Like WHEN did you guys talk about this! WHEN did you have TIME

"My apologies" and the step back :(((( I'm just a slut for characters saying apologize/apologies instead of just sorry

Cas is so curious for Sam <3

"Give me one good reason why I should do this." UM, he literally rebelled for you? He was killed and died for you? He's the reason you got to see Sam right before he killed Lilith? He's the only way you got away from Raphael alive? Need I name more? You just owe him one dude.

"Because your Michael's vessel and no one will dare harm you." "Oh, so I'm your bullet shield." I mean, yeah, that too

"I need your help because you are the only one who'll help me. Please." BABY MY HEART SWEETIE

Dean leaning away from Cas' touch and Cas' confused look and Dean going "Whoa. Last time you zapped me someplace I didn't poop for a week. We're driving." yes please

(Also the excitement I had for Cas being passenger princess was UNREAL)

Cas' genuine belief that they can tell the truth and people will understand and believe them. Honey, I wish so much for you :(

DEAN HAVING A FAKE ID FOR CAS???? LIKE WHY??? HOW??? WHEN DID YOU HAVE THIS MADE??? BECAUSE CAS SEEMS SUPER CONFUSED LIKE HE DIDN'T POSE FOR AN ID PICTURE BUT THERE HAS TO BE AN ID PICTURE RIGHT??? HOW WHY WHAT WHEN WHERE-

The tender readjusting of Cas' trench coat and shirt collar to get him prepped for interviewing the sheriff <333

"Because that's how you become the President." Did I ever mention how much I love Dean?

Dean introducing himself as FBI and Cas being absolutely ZERO EMOTION OR DESIRE TO TALK OR DO ANYTHING

The ID being upside down

Dean flipping it right side up and saying that he's new <3

CAS LOOKING AT HIS OWN ID CURIOUSLY. BABY JUST WANTS TO KNOW HE'S SO SWEET AND PRECIOUS.

Cas sitting in peak dissociation until he blurts out that angels and demons are causing this. Like honey you haven't talked in ten minutes and showed no desire to do so, why now lol

"What did he say?" "Nothing." "Demons." *look at each other* "Nothing." "Demons."

Dean's pointed look at Cas, clearly telling him to shut up. "Anyway..."

"He's down at St. Pete's." "St. Pete's." Baby thinks he's being so helpful lol. You're doing great, sweetie <3

"Just an empty vessel." Dude that's literally still a human. Like that just makes me think of referring to all humans as empty vessels, because, I mean, they are all just potential vessels waiting to be filled.

"So is this what I'm looking at if Michael jumps in my bones?" and Cas' response being basically "Nope! It'll be worse :)"

"Where've you been?" "Jerusalem." Great, just normal Tuesday things lmao

"You keep saying we're gonna trap [Raphael]. Isn't that kinda like trapping a hurricane with a butterfly net?" and Cas' response being "Nope! It'll be worse :)" Part 2

"Do we have any chance of surviving this?" "You do." LIKE YOU DON'T??? (I FLIPPED MY SHIT WHEN HE SAID THIS)

"So odds are you're a dead man tomorrow." "Yes." AND YOU'RE JUST CHILL ABOUT IT??? YOU JUST DIED AREN'T YOU SCARED!

"Well. Last night on earth. What are your plans?" "I just thought I'd sit here quietly." Stop he's so real for that

"Booze, women?" AND CAS IS SO FLUSTERED POOR THING HE'S SO INNOCENT I CAN'T DEAN YOU'RE MAKING HIM UNCOMFORTABLE

"You have been with women before. Right? Or an angel, at least?" AND THE UNCOMFORTABLE NECK RUB LIKE NO WHY WOULD HE HAVE BEEN? WHEN WOULD HE HAVE DONE THAT? Dean Winchester, do you really think Cas would've done that?

"Look, I've never had occasion, okay?" Yeah, and that's totally fine baby like that fits your life story and character arc, no need to be embarrassed

"There are two things I know for certain. One, Bert and Ernie are gay. Two, you are not gonna die a virgin. Not on my watch. Let's go." aka the GAYEST sentence of all time. I wish the next scene was them fucking dirty on the mattress because oh my GOD, DEAN

POOR Cas in the strip club, he looks close to tears, probably shaking. Sweetheart... he does not belong here. The autism doesn't like the club and the gay doesn't like the women lol

"This is a den of iniquity. I should not be here." BABY not to mention being somewhat of an ex-ANGEL in a strip club. That's fucking rough.

POOR CAS chugging that beer like it's his lifeline. He's also probably never really drank too much if at all before, so a lot of firsts for baby.

His begging, pleading look to Dean when he's about to go with the stripper :(

THE SCREAM?? And Cas looking a little disheveled with his trench coat coming off his shoulder a little bit <3 but also poor babe, couldn't even get his JACKET off before he got pushed out of bed

NOT CAS USING THE GIRL'S DADDY ISSUES AS FOREPLAY

"This whole industry runs on absent fathers." STOP

This being the hardest Dean's laughed in years <333 (and that's the story of how Cas got banned from a strip club :))

Cas's Enochian chanting >>> plus "I'm here, Raphael. Come and get me, you little bastard." is this honey's first time cussing??? or am I just forgetting some other time? Just feels like something he doesn't do.

CAS CALLING RAPHAEL HIS LITTLE BITCH

Cas looks so fucking beautiful riding in the passenger seat like the princess he is <3

5x4:

Cas standing on the side of the road, talking to Dean on the phone but a car goes by

"What???? What?! I didn't- I didn't get that." one of my FAVORITE Cas moments I've seen so far (and this is counting ALLL the spoilers I've seen for like season 9+) because his entire voice changes!! He drops the deep voice AND the gravel and is all high-pitched and ADORABLE and it makes me wonder if the gravely deep voice IS his actual voice or if he just puts it on for show. My headcanon is he just puts it on to sound more powerful but BABE.

THE quote of all time "This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."

"I'll be there immediately." "Whoa, I've got stuff I need to do!" "What stuff?" Cas is so ready to roll lmao

"I'll just wait here then." Poor baby :( Dean hung up on him :(

"Why not go get washed up for the orgy?" WHAT??????? WHAT?!?!?!? AFTER LAST EPISODE WHERE HE WAS SO EASILY FLUSTERED BY SEX??? ORGY??? MY BOY

"What are you, a hippie?" "I thought you'd gotten over trying to label me."

End!Cas IMMEDIATELY understanding and knowing what's up with Dean

My favorite part of the entire episode: His SMILE and his GIGGLING and oh my gosh he's just so HAPPY and sweetheart <333

"no dice"

"Are you stoned?" "Generally, yeah." (With giggling!)

(Talking about torturing people) "No, that's good. Classy." *End!Cas laughs* "What? I like past you." (ALSO forgot to mention but I LIVE for the vibes of End!Cas in his ratty-ish lowcut shirt and baggy pants and just laid back energy, and in this scene specifically adored him propping his legs up on the table :) like our 2009 Cas would never do that)

"Are you saying we, uh, walk in straight up the driveway, past all the demons and the Croats, and we shoot the devil?" "Yes." "-Okay."

"Are you coming?" *End!Cas sighs* "Of course."

"He's coming." "-Okay." (Also one of my favorite things about End! Cas is every time he asks a question, End!Dean says some answer that End!Cas obviously thinks is wrong and kinda stupid, but End!Cas immediately just responds with okay before End!Dean has even hardly finished his sentence. He goes wherever his boyfriend goes <33)

Cas driving???? I mean, it's End!Cas but still. And taking pills ON THE ROAD?!

"It's the perfect antidote to that absinthe." Icon, honestly

"But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of— psshhew!—drained away. And now, you know, I'm practically human. I mean, Dean, I'm all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months." he's so chill about it though, like I hate this for him but also relatable queen

"So you're human. Welcome to the club." "Thanks." (genuine)

"Why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby. That's what decadence is for." Once again, ICON

"Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out? But then that's, that's just how I roll." That is NOT how you roll but I love you

CAS SAVING DEAN FROM ZACHARIAH YES PLEASE

"That's pretty nice timing, Cas." "We had an appointment." (and Cas' genuine smile!!! He missed his boyfriend and couldn't wait for their date :))))

#how do people not ship them in season 5 i swear to god #am i just too corrupted with being ON the spn website #or what #because i physically CANNOT see them as platonic #they're boyfriends in my mind #but anyway #supernatural #spn #castiel #dean winchester #spn cas #destiel #spn season 5 #spn 5x03 #spn 5x04

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bluejayadler · 6 hours ago

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Dead Boy Detectives X Rise of the Guardians

Someone said Charles Rowland as Jack Frost...and Yes. We doing this. Because why not do a DBDa x Rise of the Guardians AU. In Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians are specifically guardians of childhood and different parts of childhood - like Santa is wonder, Sandy is dreams (love the Sandman/Dream references we can easily throw in), Tooth Fairy is memories, Bunny is hope (spring, life, new life). And give me some leeway here, its been a bit since I've looked heavily into the lore of the movie and the books. So I could try to match characters based on personality but we're gonna go by Center - Santa explains to Jack that he protects Wonder because that is his center, and that Jack needs to find his center to know what type of Guardian he is. Spoiler - Jack is Fun.

Now we'll keep Charles as Jack Frost. For a couple reasons - one, it sparked this whole thing. Two, they're stories line up so well! Jack died in a frozen lake! Charles died of hyperthermia from a freezing lake! Its too perfect. Three, I think Charles's center could be fun. And I say could be. The guardians centers are boiled down aspects of childhood - ideal childhood. Charles uses smiles and laughter and jokes to cover his pain. Just as Jack used humor to fight off fear in one of his flashbacks. At the beginning of the movie, we see Jack bringing a snow day and having fun playing with the children, starting a snowball fight, creating an epic sled ride for Jamie. And he's all smiles and laughter. Even after Jamie stops. Jamie crashes and loses a tooth, and all the kids start talking about the tooth fairy...and even then, Jack is still trying to keep the smiles up, keep laughing, keep the game going - Until Jamie walks through him. Then the smile is gone. He's alone. No one to pretend to be happy for. (If you spend 5 minutes analyzing Jack's story in the movie, this children's movie becomes so depressing...worse if you add his book backstory to it. But I'll refrain from that particular angst analysis until requested). Anyhow, so there's Jack. Then there's Charles - "try to be happy for all of us", "Charles is always happy, that's who he is", always a laugh, always a joke, always a smile. And I think part of it is genuine. He's not inventing this facade. He's using that part of him as a shield - hide behind the smile. Charles is always up for a game or some fun. That is a huge part of who he is. That could be his center. It just also is his mask and his shield. Charles dies the same way, for the most part. He protects another boy. Sees the anger in his "friends" and tries to distract them from it - a joke, a laugh, "lets just go play a game". It doesn't work. They chase him into the woods. They chase him on to the ice. The rocks hurt when they hit him, but he thinks, its worse when they hit the ice, when the spiderweb of cracks start to spread. He's under before he can think of how to escape. The ice has resealed over him before he can even try to surface. Charles Rowland dies in a lake. Charles Frost wakes up in a lake. (More of Charles later when we do Edwin).

Next is Niko. Niko I think would be Santa (aka North) (Nicholai/Nicholas Clause - Niko Clause!). Santa's center is Wonder. And I think that would be Niko's too. Plus, the Dandelion sprites could be elves! Two very poorly behaved elves, but still. Niko - miss "I'm very open minded. Niko who followed a story about dandelions bringing luck into a strange forest and ancient rune. Niko who learned the colors of sea glass and found all the local folk tales. Niko who wasn't afraid to find new depths within herself. Niko who jumped feet first into the supernatural world once she saw it - joining two ghost boys and a psychic medium on cases, taking care of two sprite-like maybe-gods that tried to kill her, meeting and showing deference to shapeshifting royalty. I do think it would be cool to see if there are any Japanese myths/folktales that are similar in nature to the Santa Clause mythology. Like, I don't think Niko in this should be the same Santa Clause as in the movie. No, she still needs to be her, so tying in her own culture and folklore/mythology would be a must. Also, Santa Niko leaving little pieces of sea glass for people!!!!!!! To bring them what they need - courage, emotional stability, etc!!! (If we branched outside canon characters, there is also the obvious argument that Niko's center is Love. I don't actually think it is. I think she is fascinated by the concept of love, but that can be tied to Wonder as well. But that's a whole other thing.

Anyhow, on to Crystal. This might be a cop out but Crystal as Tooth Fairy. Toothiana (Tooth Fairy) is the Guardian of Memories - memories of innocent times, of good times, of joy, etc etc. The memories of our childhood that keep us warm and help us feel like things can be okay when they aren't right now. I don't know if this is Crystal's center, but it plays so well into her narrative. Crystal who has her memories taken from her (yes, in the movie, Jack is the one with no memories, but shhhh). Crystal who also has the power to peer into the memories of a person or an item or a place. Crystal who is connected to ancestral memory. Crystal's narrative plays tightly around the importance of memories in who we are, who were were, and who we could be. It isn't everything, and Tooth Fairy knows this. Memories aren't all we are, but they inform who we are. Crystal herself says she doesn't know who she will be once her memories are back but she wants to sort it out. At the same time, she doesn't want her memories to be all she is. And Tooth Fairy collects teeth of children to store their memories, to give them back when needed - to help them remember when needed. Crystal having the power to bring out memories would be amazing. I think there's a fun arc too of that being corrupted a bit. Not for evil (though, if we throw in a David plotline here, maybe), but for good, but misguided good. In the show, Crystal makes Becky Aspen forget the scary things that happened to her. Which is good. However, what if Tooth Fairy Crystal goes too far, believing that in order for her to protect children and childhood, she needs to take the scary and bad memories away. She learns though that she can't do that and that she shouldn't. But it'd be an interesting arc. Like Niko, I also think it'd be cool to look at any African folklore/mythology with similar themes/plots to the tooth fairy. I know there are various tooth fairy folktales around the world - I think in parts of Europe, its a mouse. But also, Crystal could be a fun blend of African folklore and western folktales of Tooth Fairy - her being American but being tied to her ancestral roots.

And now, Edwin. Edwin led me down way too many roads. I have four options for him. 2 for movie canon. 1 for book canon. And 1, lets just throw canon to the wind. The first movie option could be Bunny. I think this fits least of the four, but there's some fun to play with there. Bunny if the Guardian of Hope - new life. Edwin comes back from Hell. And while he doesn't come across as the most hopeful all the time - he had to have a huge amount of Hope in order to escape Hell after 70+ years. He kept trying to escape. He never gave up. He always had that hope - somewhere. And who better than someone who fought against 70+ years of Hell to hold on to hope to become the literal Guardian of Hope, to protect it. Edwin spends his afterlife solving mysteries for ghosts, ensuring they matter, that their deaths are waved away like his and Charles's were. Edwin brings hope to his clients - hope for closure, hope for moving on, hope for answers. Hope that they do matter! (God, I love the "we didn't matter" scene!) Plus, I can just picture Edwin having shelves upon shelves of intricately painted and carved eggs (none of the cute live eggs from the movie were harmed int he carving of eggs!). But given how many different cultures have some type of traditional art around carving or painting eggs - like, Edwin would have so many cool ones. The meticulous details put into each on and the knowledge of their origins and meanings! So yeah, Edwin as Easter Bunny COULD work. Not the most intriguing option though.

Now, if we throw canon to the wind, we can say that Edwin's center might be curiosity. There's no list of all the things Guardians can be guardians of, but I think curiosity is a huge aspect of childhood. And I think it's different from wonder. Wonder is fascination and this emphasis on imagination and magical things. It helps North/Santa create his toys. I think curiosity is different. Its a desire to learn, to know, to explore. Its a thirst for knowledge. A hunger for understanding. I think this works well for Edwin who was always reading in life, who takes "meticulous notes", who read detective novels then started a detective agency, who MAPPED OUT HELL! For this, we'd need to find a common children's folktale character that would fit this center. I can't think of one at the moment - though Curious George would be hilarious. I did think of the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" - and having Edwin be some form of cat while considering the Cat King could be somewhere in the narrative is hilarious. There's also the phrase "wise old owl". And I do love the imagery of an owl-Edwin (not as bird-like as Toothiana in the movie). But Edwin with his greys and browns, a touch of blue feathers. A bowtie pattern like Rowlett!!! (gotta work that pokemon AU in). Edwin with his wings folded all proper and prim, perfectly placed like his jacket - his wings even wrapping around him like armor. Edwin who sends out little owls to watch and learn and seek out information like Tooth's fairies seek out teeth/memories. Maybe his owls even watched over Charles, trying to learn about the mysterious boy made of frost. Charles covering Edwin in snow and making a joke about, "Look mate, you're a snowy owl!" I might need this.

Okay, okay, okay, but that was only option 2. And I said there were 4. On to number 3 - book canon. And forgive me in advance, I've not read all the books. My knowledge is through some deep dives years ago when the movie came out. Apologies for any errors. But in the book, there is Mother Goose. I don't know if she is ever fully given the title, but that's the children's character she is based on. She is the Guardian of Stories. Edwin, with his books and detectives stories! Edwin who writes down everything. Edwin who keeps case files. And the comics include the boys "telling" the stories of their cases with the little bits and blurbs from their case notes. Edwin, who found a dying boy, and read to him to bring him comfort! Edwin could easily be the guardian of stories. Katherine (mother goose) is also described as more mature than the other children, closer to adulthood. AND, because narrative is always great to add - in the books, Katherine may or may not be romantically involved with Jack. Well, Nightlight, before he comes Jack Frost (Jack has a very long and tragic backstory in the books!). Nightlight and Katherine are close friends. They're described as having a deep bond, not even needing to talk to know what the other wants/needs/thinks, fearing for losing the other (I think this is mostly Jack worrying about Katherine growing up as at that point, Jack is Nightlight and is not mortal while Katherine is). And Nightlight even gives up being a nightlight (and his immortality) to save Katherine. As if Charles wouldn't give up his existence to save Edwin. So yes, this one plays beautifully.

And the 4th option. My favorite in particular. Going back to movie canon - the last guardian remaining is Sandy, Sandman, Guardian of Dreams. (To review - Charles is Jack Frost, Niko is North/Santa, Crystal is Toothiana/Tooth Fairy, Bunny was already discussed for Edwin but we're setting that aside). I think the same logic that can have Edwin as the Guardian of Hope can apply here, especially adding in the curiosity from Owl Edwin and the love of stories from the Guardian of Stories. Him as Guardian of Dreams would sort of combine all those aspects. Because Edwin does dream. Of a better afterlife. Of loving Charles and being loved. He followed his dream to become a detective and solve mysteries! He is creative and clever and, whether its his intention or not, he does help fight the nightmares and fear - by bringing closure, by solving mysteries, by helping ghosts. (And I think its funny that Sandman captures Pitch with a glowing gold leash/whip and Edwin capture's Meatball with a glowing gold leash.)

But the narrative play is the best! We're gonna bring back the Charles lore for this one. So, Charles and Edwin in general make amazing Guardians of Childhood - because they were robbed of theirs! They were both murdered after all. They both endured Hell - Edwin quite literally, Charles more figuratively. But even before dying, neither had a real childhood, like the "ideal" childhood the guardian protect. Edwin couldn't dream or wonder like he would've wanted to - forced to follow the role laid before him, to hid who he was to fit in and be accepted, not to have emotions. Charles endured abuse at the hands of his own father. And betrayal from his friends. He didn't get to have fun or to dream - not really. These two dead boys who had their childhoods ripped away from them who then turn around to become protectors of others' childhoods. "We didn't matter. So these cases matter. They have to matter." ...One word. Change one word..."We didn't matter. So these children matter. They have to matter." (look, this scene lives rent free in my head.)

Edwin always had the potential to be a Dream. Not that his classmates knew this. Not that any of them knew anything about the guardians and the different creatures that existed not just in their folktales and campfire stories. They certainly didn't know the boogeyman was real - well, real-ish. The King of Nightmares didn't actually call himself the boogeyman. But it was a good enough moniker. Good enough to call him when the group of schoolboys decided to "sacrifice" their classmate. Pitch saw an opportunity and he took it. Edwin was a perfect Dream - and his dreams could easily be made into Nightmares.

Sandman's sand can be corrupted, turned from dream to nightmare. Its the duality of dreams. We see it in Sandman - Dream is responsible for both dreams and nightmares. Both exist in his realm and he rules over both. So Edwin, as a potential Guardian of Dreams, has the potential for both inside him. And just as Esther uses Edwin's pain for power, Pitch would use Edwin's potential dream sand for nightmares, trapping Edwin in an everlasting nightmare to harvest more sand, to build his army of Nightmares. Edwin escapes, eventually - harnesses enough of his own dream sand to find his way out. He manages to destroy enough of Pitch's army, or maybe its timed with the other guardians beating Pitch, that Pitch is simply too weak to come after him right away. But he eventually comes back - Pitch targets Sandman in the movie for a reason. Pitch comes after Edwin again and always will - an endless fountain of dream sand waiting to be corrupted with fear.

Then comes Charles - Charles who can freeze anything. Charles who bears the power of ice and snow and cold. In the movie, Jack basically does the most damage to Pitch consistently - he's not afraid to fight Pitch head on. Charles definitely fights the Nightmare King for Edwin - protecting him at all costs. But there's a duality in Charles, as there is in Jack, as there is in dreams. In the movie, Jack is abandoned by the Guardians - they believe he sided with Pitch, they believe Jack let them down, they believe Jack isn't good enough. "I was never good enough." "I'll make it better." Jack faces Pitch alone and in that fight, Pitch sees the potential for darkness in Jack and tries to recruit him. And why not? Jack was alone for centuries, like Pitch. Jack was abandoned, like Pitch. No one believed in Jack, like Pitch. And as Pitch says, "what goes together better than cold and dark?"

We've all seen the posts - "name a character who didn't deserve what happened to them." "Name a character who could've become the villain but didn't." "Name a character who would've been justified in becoming evil." "Name a character who endured so much pain but stayed kind."

Jack was alone for 300 years, left intentionally alone by the other guardians. He was created, given only a name, and then abandoned. Charles was beaten, abused, betrayed, and murdered. Edwin was bullied, isolated, murdered, and tortured for decades. All three of them could've become the villain and everyone would've looked at them and said "yeah, understandable." They each had the potential, and they each turned away from it. Jack didn't want to be just "cold". He didn't want to be fears. Charles worries about being like his father, about being the bad guy. Edwin doesn't want others to suffer as he did, to be written off as he was.

Pitch/King of Nightmares trying to recruit Charles, Pitch/King of Nightmares corrupting Edwin's dream sand. Playing on the duality of the centers, of their power. The possibility of evil/corruption exists with all their powers/centers. But I think its most obvious with Jack Frost (cold) and with Sandman (dreams/nightmares). So placing both of them in those roles is perfect!

And for the record, I don't think Pitch/King of Nightmares is any of the villains, not even Esther. I think in this, Pitch is every villain, or specifically, every personal villain. When Charles faces Pitch, he sees his father, hears his friend's taunting voices "Charlie boy". When Edwin faces him, its Simon and the others chanting "Mary Ann!". Crystal sees David, feels him inside her mind. Niko sees featureless faces staring at her, feels the emptiness of her father's absence.

Oh, a bit more on Charles as Jack and Edwin as Sandman - imagine, if you will, Charles staring at Edwin as he crafts beautiful magical things with his sand! The beautiful golden glow of the sand so much like lantern light. Charles can't help but be mesmerized. And sometimes, he tries to mimic it - to match Edwin's creations with ones made of ice. Edwin always compliments his skills, of course.

#dead boy detectives #charles rowland #edwin payne #dbda #dead boy detective agency #save dead boy detectives #crystal palace #niko sasaki #rise of the guardians #literal 4 am ramble

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caesarflickermans · 9 hours ago

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Hello, CEO of Plutarch Heavensbee! I have a question for you.

How do you think Plutarch knew about Latin/Rome?

To me, this quote has so many layers to it that NEED to be looked into: (still mad we arent getting a plutarch book) "It's a saying from thousands of years ago, written in a language called Latin about a place called Rome."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any other character ever says anything about other languages/countries. We only get a brief rudimentary dump about 12/Appalachia and the history of how Panem was formed, but that's literally it. At no point in any time does anyone else really reference the old world -- and Latin comes from the old world even to people from today!

How do you think he managed to dig up history texts? Do you think he shared his knowledge with a lot of his allies (or enemies)? He was just explaining the quote to Katniss, he wasn't sitting down and giving her a lecture. Do you think he just knew about Rome specifically, or do you think he knew about other nations?

I tried looking up theories or even interviews with SC but I couldn't find much. (I also, very stupidly, googled "How did Plutarch know about Rome" at first without realizing that I would need many actual THG terms in the search to get things that are not about the actual Plutarch philosopher lmao. But now I have a crack answer: Plutarch Heavensbee is the reincarnation of Πλούταρχος.)

I received this ask before Sunrise, and am happy to report that my initial thoughts perfectly align with the new material:

The Heavensbee family maintains a monopoly on historical texts.

The prequel gives us room to speculate, particularly in relation to Trajan Heavensbee, whom Plutarch references as the sole ancestor "who has been of any use" (SOTR, 9).

It is no likely no coincidence that Trajan's portrait depicts him holding a book, that he presides as the owner of the Heavensbee library, and that his statue is featured within the Academy. The family's influence extends so deeply that they have a hall named in their honour within the Academy.

While arguments have been made that Trajan's title as "Father of Panem" suggests a founding father myth, I propose a different theory. To me, he might have been the architect of Panem's education and indoctrination system during the formative years of totalitarian rule.

Ballad introduced us to some characters who make occasional references to the past—Snow references ancient US cities, while Gaul directly names political thinkers. However, Snow references the burning of books to keep warm during the war, thus implying that Heavensbee's possession of a library is extraordinary. Additionally, I believe that historical revisionism—similar to the one revising the events of the 50th Hunger Games—necessitates eliminating historical texts to maintain the illusion of Panem's superiority.

Hence, I assume that the Heavensbee library is quite unique within the Capitol, as Trajan likely played a vital role in maintaining (and being allowed to maintain) the library, many families burned their books, and I take it that alike Fahrenheit 451 and historic parallels, controlling the past (Orwell) was a vital factor far before the 50th Games.

Collins' reference to George Orwell in particular have made me giddy for the sole fact that I've viewed the Capitol through that very lens for years, thus meaning that Plutarch's in-depth knowledge is a rarity, and that the Heavensbee family's access to historical texts were what allowed them to escape parts of the indoctrination.

#plutarch heavensbee #trajan heavensbee #thg #the hunger games #sotr #sunrise on the reaping #sotr spoilers #if o'brien was speaking the truth? that would be plutarch #i did copy some aspects on o'brien's idea of rebellion to #how i perceive the capitol rebels!#anon #inbox

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sephines · 12 hours ago

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Been thinking about what makes Declan’s sex scenes so good (apart from the fact that…he is in them). There’s a lot I could talk about here but I did just want to hone in on 2 things that I think are surprisingly rare in sex on screen, and those are a) ‘Christ, you’re wet’, and b) in 2 out of his 3 sex scenes not only do we see him fuck Maud with his fingers but that’s all we as viewers see: that’s the main event from our perspective.

(Note: generally cisnormative language used in this post just bc I’m talking about the film & tv industry which is cisnormative and in this specific instance talking about cis characters.)

‘Christ, you’re wet’ has lived in my head rent-free since I first saw it and it stands out so much as a line, and I think part of that is just that we so rarely hear any reference to women being wet on screen, even from women themselves. I actually can’t think of any other scene off the top of my head (though there must be some). We hear about men’s hard-ons all the fucking time, both generally and in a way that’s supposed to be titillating, but we never fucking hear about how wet a woman is! To hear that vocalised and acknowledged feels both meaningful and sexy, especially when combined with Declan’s thick Irish accent and that intense gaze.

Honestly I think especially hearing a man vocalise something like this stands out to me, because in this horrifying patriarchal culture we live in there’s this dichotomy of a not insubstantial portion of men treating women’s bodies like they’re at once incredibly desirable and incredible repulsive. I know I personally grew up around male friends who viewed women’s bodies in this way. So to see this gorgeous man acknowledge a woman being really wet and in a way that makes it so clear how turned on he is by that feels not only super fucking hot but important.

I think there’s also just something really fucking sexy about hearing something that’s usually kept quiet almost to the point of being taboo spoken out loud. There’s that little thrill of being like ‘oh! We just heard Aidan Turner talk dirty about how wet she is’, it feels private and intimate and like we’re getting to hear something we usually wouldn’t. You know? It feels fucking dirty. Even though the reality is he’s just acknowledging a very normal and expected part of sex.

And of course, then there’s the fact that being told how wet you are by someone you’re fucking is hot for many reasons: it feels exposing, it’s a way for them to assert their power over you by communicating that they know exactly how much they turn you on, and it also exposes their desire for you.

And then the same with Declan fucking Maud with his fingers (I don’t really like the phrase ‘fingering’ bc it just reminds me of being 12 years old and hearing that so-and-so had been fingered in the school loos by a pimply pre-teen boy whilst they bunked off P.E. or whatever… Profoundly unsexy) - I feel like we so rarely see this on screen in sex scenes between cis men and women? We see men giving oral to women more but even that has only started becoming more common in the last decade or so. I remember listening to an episode of Sentimental Garbage about Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane and the hosts made a great comment about how sexy the line ‘sinking my fingers into every inch of you, because I know that’s what you want me to do’ is, and how that’s in part because it’s just so rare to hear fingering (fine, I’ll use that word) acknowledged in art/media, let alone given that kind of sexual charge and attention, despite it being something that so many women love.

For that reason it contains a lot of the same thrill that hearing Declan tell Maud how wet she is does. And on top of that we get to see a sex act purely focused on the woman’s pleasure, and we get to see this strong, incredibly sexy, very sexually competent capable man using his skills purely to get her off. I think on screen (hell, in fiction, in culture in general) straight cis men’s sexual prowess tends to be limited solely to the realm of their dicks and what they can do with them, and still ends up revolving around their own pleasure as opposed to their partner’s - it’s like, they’re fucking a woman for their own gratification and the woman just happens to love it too. Whereas these two scenes with Declan are focused on him very intentionally pleasing Maud, and at the same time we see how much pleasure he gets out of that, how turned on he is by fucking her with his fingers, feeling how wet she is, hearing her moan.. Especially in the third scene, the camera really lingers on his face as he touches her and we hear her moaning - it really makes a point to show us in the intensity of his expression how turned on he is by pleasing her, how determined he is to please her, how present he is in the moment. Fuck! It’s hot.

And I just can’t think of any other scenes like that?

And that’s what those scenes revolve around - sure, maybe they have other kinds of sex after that, but we don’t see it. The fingering is the event, the fingering is the sex scene. The show is telling us this is important and hot and worthwhile in and of itself. And it’s clear that Declan thinks so, too.

#declan o'hara #aidan turner #rivals 2024 #alright that’s my analysis over #I always think I’m gonna be able to sum up my thoughts in a paragraph and then I write a whole damn essay #musings

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elysiae · 2 days ago

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sorry, i HAVE to talk about this. spoilers for the technocyte coda below! specifically about Zeke because im going insane over his voicelines. long yapping post under cut

this one specifically.

"you can't do anything to hurt me that won't make a great headline."

can we. can we talk about this? like listen, i might just be spewing, but this line is so intense.

first of all, the way and situation with which he says it. after the extravaganza that is the final showdown, a battle side-by-side with his boys, flashy and powerful, just like the band itself. after all this fight, he's defeated, at the mercy of his enemy. he looks it in the eyes, and he pretty much says, you cannot hurt me in a way that won't benefit me. you can beat him down, physically or mentally. you can kill him. you can do something worse than death. but it will ALWAYS benefit him. why? he's the star, and all it will do is bring more attention to him. more attention, more fame, more money and love. and he knows it. he's not scared to point that out, either. i mean, with it sounding like the coda is echoing things on-lyne has said rather than making up their own (other than certain character breaks), it probably wasnt in such a life-or-death situation, but... y'know, Zeke still said that. about what? to whom?

and then there's the delivery. first of all i LOVE Zeke's voice actor, biggest props to him. second of all. holy fuck. you can hear the smile in his voice. he's not saying that with a grimace of rage, or as a last ditch effort out of desperation to be spared, he says that with confidence. he says that smiling, almost like he's about to laugh or scoff. he's not scared, and if he is he's doing a damn good job at hiding it. he's so confident. he knows. its like it's happened before. everything and anything done to hurt him has only made him and his boys even more of a powerhouse. why would this be any different?

and yeah, i know the coda isn't Zeke, so who knows how he'd really react? but i bring it back, the coda leeches off his personality. thats just a slightly fucked up, mangled version of our starboy. hell, we dont even know if theyre really a part of the techrot hivemind. we know the infested can be scared, at least to some extent what with how they refer to us as 'demon' and their known fear of hybrids.

to be fair, just from what ive heard (only DJ & Zeke really, i didnt pay full attention to Drillbit cuz i was so enamored by the fight) none of them seem particularly frightened. but i just. i dunno. a lot of DJ's voicelines struck me, which i'm DEFINITELY going to get to later, but that one voiceline from Zeke really got me for some reason. a couple others too, but thats for later. TLDR i am absolutely fascinated with this goddamn boyband and DE better bring them back for more content or i will riot

#�� posts #warframe #warframe 1999 #wf 1999 #wf 1999 spoilers #warframe 1999 spoilers #on lyne #on-lyne #warframe on-lyne #warframe zeke #warframe spoilers #technocyte coda #techrot encore #wf spoilers #wf1999 #wf1999 spoilers

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choicesapril2025 · 2 days ago

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Welcome to Choices April Challenge 2025

This time of year is symbolic of second chances, emotional growth, unexpected reunions, and reflection on what should have happened. This month's challenge invites you to explore renewal in all its forms—emotional, romantic, personal, or fantastical—through the lens of your favorite Choices characters and books.

Prompts:

After the Storm. A character returns home after everything has changed.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

A reunion or relationship no one saw coming.

Spring Cleaning. A character finds something that sparks memories.

What If… They Never Broke Apart?

Your OTP finds their way back to each other.

The Letter They Never Sent or a secret confession that changes everything.

“I’m not who I used to be.”

New Hair, New Me: A small change symbolizes something bigger.

Set your fic during springtime, where nature mirrors emotion.

Forgiveness Isn’t Easy. Two characters try to rebuild trust.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

Soft moments or a quiet, gentle renewal amid chaos.

New Beginnings, Old Feelings: Reuniting after years apart.

What Could Have Been: A character gets a glimpse of another path.

Learning to hope again. A character reopens their heart.

A Rebirth Arc – Physical, emotional, or magical transformation.

“You remind me of who I used to be.”

The start of something unspoken or a slow burn that finally catches fire.

One Last Chance. Whatever your MC or OC does next… changes everything.

Submission Guidelines:

Fanworks from all Choices books/series (and Pixelberry) universe are accepted.

You may submit any form of fanwork: fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, moodboards, edits, text fics, fan videos, playlists, etc.

Mention @choicesapril2025 in your post. Feel free to also tag my main @liaromancewriter.

Specify the prompt(s) used in the header, as well as book/series, characters/pairings; rating and genre/category if applicable.

All fanworks must be new, and anything posted before April won’t be accepted.

Late submissions will be accepted until May 3rd.

Prompt Use:

You can participate as many times as you can/want, including multiple submissions for the same prompt.

Use the prompts whenever you like and however you like. It’s not about a specific word but rather the creativity it inspires.

Feel free to mix and match/use prompts in the same fanwork; include this info in your header for reference.

Warnings and Labels:

If your work has mature or NSFW content, please label it as such and use appropriate warnings.

Please add a ‘read more’ page break to avoid long posts and hide sensitive content below the line. This prevents exposing other fans to triggering/disturbing or mature content.

Reblogs and Masterlists:

If I don’t reblog your work within 48 hours after it’s posted, send me a DM or submit an ask with the link to the post.

There will be one weekly masterlist categorized by book/series (depending on event participation).

If you have any questions, please let me know.

I look forward to seeing and sharing your wonderful creations. Good luck!

Tags: @choicesmonthlychallenge @choicesficwriterscreations

Signal boosts are appreciated!

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anyplaceisparadise · 1 day ago

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The Use of Colour in Gladiator II: White

I have write ups for multiple colours worn by characters in Gladiator II, and all of them are used to show one specific theme or emotion. However, I argue that white takes on several different meanings throughout the film for multiple characters, so there is going to be multiple themes here.

I'd also like to say that I referred quite a bit to one of my favourite books, The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox for a few quotes as well as Emperor of Rome and SPQR by Mary Beard while working on this. I highly recommend all of them! These are definitely not mind blowing ideas here, just stuff that came to me because this movie has given me a severe case of brain rot. If you disagree, that's cool. If you've mentioned any of this before, I love that we're on the same wavelength. If you think this is ridiculous and I've gone off the deep end, you are correct. Finally, buckle up, because this is going to get kinda long.

Several characters in Gladiator II wear white throughout the film. While white is usually used to convey peace or innocence, I argue that characters wear white to show four different themes: homecoming (Acacius), purity (Lucilla), godliness (Geta), and honesty (Macrinus).

Let's start with Acacius who wears white to show a homecoming in two sense of the word: a literal return home and a return to what Rome should/could be from what it is now, corrupted and failing.

At this point in the film, Rome has strayed far from "home". The idea of home for Acacius is a uncorrupted state, without the emperors in charge. When Acacius wears white, he is representing that idea.

“We believe that this most pure and perfect colour will eradicate the world’s imperfections, remove even the most stubborn stains and make us immaculate again” (The World According to Colour, pg. 142). The movie opens with his bad deeds. He is seen leading an invasion, conquering lands and people in the name of Rome. He cuts down and kills multiple people, but all of that gets washed away upon his return home to Rome as he wears white and receives laurels from the emperors. His return home in white shows the beginning of Rome's return "home", too.

While meeting with Geta and Caracalla, he speaks about wishing for time to see Lucilla. He also chastises them subtly for their greed and speaks about his care for Rome ("Rome has so many subjects. She must feed them"). Acacius wearing white represents not just his own literal return home, but the idea that Rome will return "home" in a sense as well, back to what Marcus Aurelius wished for, and what Acacius wishes for, too.

He wears the same outfit at the first games in his honour, above. It cannot be stated more clearly, he gives a speech asking the Roman people to pray for strength for Rome. He is representing Rome, his home, negatively abroad. But now, the representation becomes more positive; he has returned home and he is asking for the Roman people to help return Rome back to it's home state (pure, uncorrupted) as well. Again, Rome has strayed far from "home" with the emperors in charge.

He is also wearing white when Lucilla informs him that her son, Lucius, is still alive. Meaning, the hope for Rome to return is still alive too: Rome is on its way "home", with now both Acacius and Lucius returning to Rome, from the same campaign but in two different states.

Later on, Acacius also wears white to the second round of games, this time with a red cloak. I won't get into it here (or Lucilla's yellow dress) because the focus is on white for this post, but his use of white at this point in the film, when the plan is in place to overtake the emperors, is another representation of homecoming, the plan of returning Rome to what it could be and should be is underway. The home they all wish for it to be.

Lucilla wears white throughout the film as well.

Lucilla wearing white is used to show purity. Not necessarily in the sense that she is a good person (even though I think she is), but purity in the sense that really, out of all the characters, she has the best claim to the throne. As the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, she is the prime candidate to take over the throne once it is decided that the twins have got to go. Alas, she is a woman. There's no sense in me going on about the sexism and misogyny of this in this post, but it is even mentioned by her father in the first film: "If only you had been born a man. What a Caesar you would have made." While that quote is from the Gladiator (2000) film, the point is still being made here as well.

She also wears a white veil and a white dress when she confirms for herself the poem that was in Lucius' childhood bedroom:

The purity of Rome, the Rome that Marcus Aurelius imagined and hoped for, is all wrapped up in Lucilla's family.

This is also reinforced when Lucilla meets with Macrinus.

This meeting takes place after the first round of games. Lucius has won the match and Lucilla completes the poem, realizing that Lucius is indeed her son. Macrinus notices this, and during this meeting, he speaks of Marcus Aurelius and also tries to press Lucilla for more information regarding Lucius' true identity. Don't worry, there is more on Macrinus' outfit here later on, as he wears white here as well. The white of her dress is again representing the purity of her bloodline in connection to Marcus Aurelius and now Lucius.

Later, Lucilla wears white and blue during the night scene, when the plans to overtake the emperors is fully exposed.

It is a full betrayal for Geta and Caracalla. Are they more hurt by Acacius or by Lucilla? The hopes and dreams of Rome returning to a pure, uncorrupted state is being fully revealed to the twins in the form of Lucilla (and her dress), and it does not include them.

Lucilla later wears white to watch Acacius die, where the hope for Rome's homecoming (in the form of Acacius) dies as well. She is chained to her seat and is forced to accept what happens. Notably, the dress she wears here is also yellow in some parts. I won't get into the use of yellow, as that is for another post.

Finally, Lucilla wears white to her death. Again, bloodline is pointed out by the commentator: “As punishment for her conspiracy against the empire, for her calumnies against the emperor’s imperial bloodline”.

It is Caracalla's bloodline that is being threatened, by Lucilla's. They know that she is the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, that if anything, her claim to the throne is better than anyone. Using the word 'purity' in association with bloodlines feels icky, but the point stands here.

Moving on. Geta, Geta, Geta. He wears white throughout this film to represent godliness.

Our introduction to the twins has them cosplaying in military wear. However, it is only Geta that wears a long white cape. In this moment, he is not just playing war games, he is also playing god. He is the one to place the laurels on Acacius. He is the one making decisions regarding the conquering of land and people. He says as much to Acacius in this moment: “There are victories yet still to come. Persia, India. Both must be conquered.”

The most obvious moment of godliness is the second instance of Geta wearing white.

He is quite literally channeling the gods by becoming a vessel for them. This speaks to several things, the belief that emperors became gods (usually upon their death), and therefore the arrogance of his belief - he's still alive in this moment. He truly believes that he is a conduit for the gods (watch his eyes flutter and roll back), and he really believes that what he is saying and doing is not only right, but approved by the gods. Obviously this belief is shattered moments later. He is still in white upon returning to the palace.

He is confronted by Caracalla, and pleads with him. He reminds Caracalla that he, Geta, would shield him from their father's blows. “I have always protected you because I love you”, he says. Geta is not just believing he is a god, or playing a god, he really is Caracalla's own personal god, protecting him throughout their lives. And he is doing so again, protecting himself from Caracalla, but protecting Caracalla from Caracalla as well.

Now, from here I diverge for just a moment to Macrinus. Macrinus is a complete chameleon throughout the film and his outfits reflect that. And while it may not seem like it, Macrinus wears white to represent honesty.

Macrinus is not wearing white the first time we see him. The first time we see him wear white is when he speaks with Lucius after taking him on as a gladiator.

Macrinus is actually a pretty honest character! He is just honest...enough. He is honest on his terms.

My apologies for how awful this photo is, I am literally in my living room taking photos of my tv for this. Either way, you can see that the white robes he wears is not completely white like the others. In fact, most instances where Macrinus wears white, it is not fully white, it is patterned or off-white. He is honest with Lucius here.. but only to a point. He is honest about his desire for money and power and he does not have qualms about how he gets either. He is also honest about what he sees in Lucius and why he was chosen: “It is an art, choosing gladiators. Some choose entertainers, some choose brute force, I choose rage.” and, “Rage pours out of you like milk”.

He wears a sort of white outfit again to the party at Thraex's:

Again, it's not an entirely white outfit; he has a dark robe over top. He's honestly showing off his gladiator here, but he's not as upfront about things to anyone, including Thraex and Lucius as he could be. Again honest... to a point.

He is also wearing a combination of colours to meet with Lucilla, as I mentioned earlier. I won't get into the other colours in this outfit. The lining is red and his actual outfit is gold (more on those colours in other posts). But look at the white on top, showing the attempt at looking honest to Lucilla. He's a good guy, trust him! Honestly!

He also wears white and blue to see Thraex in order to take his house:

Once more, it's white with a pattern. Thraex says he can offer Macrinus cattle or art instead of the house and what does Macrinus ask for? "Truth". He wants honesty from Thraex regarding Lucius and the plot against the emperors and he's doing so while wearing a very honest looking white robe. But not too honest, there's still a pattern to it.

Now here I return slightly to Geta.

As stated earlier, Geta's use of white represents godliness. He is a vessel for the gods and he is Caracalla's god as well. His outfit next to Macrinus' is interesting because while they're both wearing white, it is Macrinus that is wearing a more pure white (for the first and only time) with less gold and embroidery. Macrinus is wearing white here to mirror Geta.

It is in this white outfit that Macrinus turns Caracalla against Geta. He dishonestly takes on Geta's godliness, by appearing honest to Caracalla. It is in this outfit that he uses Caracalla's hand to kill Geta, another instance of playing god.

After the death of Geta, this is what Macrinus is wearing:

I wasn't sure where to put this one because to me it was off-white and yellow-ish in other shots. So I'll probably talk about it again when I get to the yellow post. But I'm including it here because the off-white nature of his outfit is again representative of his honest-ish behaviour. His intentions there are not entirely honest, hence the slightly off colour of his outfit.

Interestingly, Caracalla does not wear white in this film (take from that what you will), save the bedsheet which I'm not sure really counts. Another character that wears white is Arishat, who is wearing white just before the Romans invade. If we're counting the bedsheet, it could be argued that they're both representing peace or innocence (which is funny for Caracalla, I know). But let's assume he was peacefully asleep before being awoken abruptly by threats of a coup and violence, just as Arishat wore white as she was peacefully living her life, doing laundry, gardening, and playing with chickens before being abruptly interrupted by the Romans.

There are many different uses for the colour white in Gladiator II, it just depends on which character you are looking at and when. Because white takes on several different meanings, I decided to look at that one first. The next colours I look at only have one meaning or representation. If you read all of this, thank you!

#gladiator ii #gladiator #emperor geta #joseph quinn #marcus acacius #pedro pascal #macrinus #denzel washington #lucilla #connie nielsen #emperor caracalla #fred hechinger

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