#not knowing that they're mirroring each other

[kitkatscabinet]

"THE WAYNE SIBLINGS READ THIRST TWEETS"

requested by anon

summary: the internet is horny for you, your brothers suffer for it.

pairings: platonic! dick grayson, jason todd, tim drake x batsis! reader

A/N: 18+, on account of horny twitter users ;)

You and your brothers are lined up in a semi-circle, Dick, you, Jason then Tim, each of you sporting different expressions as the cameras begin rolling.

You and Dick are cheerful mirrors of each other, while Jason and Tim look like they'd rather be anywhere but here as the four of you settle into place.

"So today we're going to have you reading thirst tweets, but the twist is, they're all about your sister." The producer says from out of frame. Abruptly, your brother's moods swing violently.

"No!" Dick cheers, the blinding smile plastered across his face never even twitching.

Jason's frown has evolved from "mildly disgruntled" to "about to start shooting people."

Tim, meanwhile, appears to have stopped working altogether. "Timmers?" You giggle, waving a hand across his face.

"Ew... I mean, people find you attractive?" He scrunches up his nose, and your face turns murderous.

"RIGHT! Listen here you little - " you lean across Jason to strangle your little brother when a giggle from somewhere on set reminds you where you are, and you paste on a practised grin.

"I can see why Damian wasn't invited now."

"None of us should have been invited, this shouldn't be happening." Tim mumbled with a thousand yard stare.

Relishing in his stress, you quickly pull a piece of paper from the oversized thirst jug, staring directly at Tim as you read. "Bruce Wayne's daughter could smack me across the face with a brick and I’d say ‘thank you, mommy’"

Tim dry heaves, face a little green.

"Damn, now I can never use that in bed again." Jason grumbles, causing Dick to spit out his water as Tim gags once more.

"You're disgusting." He kicks Jason as you hum in consideration.

"I don't know, I think I could get behind it."

"Never speak again, actually." Tim fires back.

"Well, if you liked that, then you'll love this one: Sit on my face, I'll pay you, anything! please, SIT ON MY FACE! SIT ON MY-” Dick, who's only just recovered from his previous near death experience starts choking again, making you hit his back a little harder than strictly necessary.

Jason starts attempting to take the jug off your hands, but you quickly dance out of the way, "Oh look, this one's not even that bad." Your brothers look sceptical, but they don't stop you, "She's so fine, I'd kill a man just to breathe the same air as her."

"What is with people and committing crimes?" Jason seems genuinely concerned. How chronically offline of him.

"I attract a very passionate demographic." You shrug.

"You attract future convicts," Dick mutters in devastation.

A shit eating grin covers your face as you read the next one, having lulled them into a false sense of security.

"Need her to pull on my hair like a leash as she fucks me into next week with the strap." Dick wails, falling sideways off the chair like a fainting Victorian woman.

"Hmm, you want the pink or the green one, baby?" you smile seductively at the camera.

"That's it! You're done, you're done!" Jason lunges for you at the same time as Dick, your older brother getting the jug whilst you're hauled over Jason's shoulder.

You shriek, but you refused to be deterred, unfolding one of the papers you'd managed to grab before Dick attempted to thwart your fun. "Not to be dramatic, but if Jason’s sister looked me in the eye and said ‘kneel’, I’d hit the floor so fast I’d break my - hey."

Tim pulls the paper from your hands, staring at it like it killed his puppy. "Why are you encouraging this?" Tim gestures accusingly at the Buzzfeed staff members laughing behind the cameras, before he does a double take at the twitter handle.

"Wait... This is from Roy's Twitter account!" Tim yells, whirling on Jason like he's personally responsible for all of his grievances.

"There's one here from Conner too," You clear your throat, holding the paper far above Tim's head with your superior height courtesy of Jason's unwilling help, "I’d treat you right. You ever want someone to make you cum till you forget your own name, hit me up babe."

Your brothers scream, and you’re having so much fun that you only mildly worry about Conner’s safety in the near future.

(You wonder if you’ll have time to take him up on his offer before his inevitable funeral.)

The video ends with a message flashing across the screen: "Several of the tweets submitted came from Wally West's Twitter account. Some were deemed too explicit to share."

[thewertsearch]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain cloth. Or anything taking place out here in the emerald shitty paintjob, for that matter.

So, wait - in this extended Wizard of Oz analogy, Hussie is the wizard? It does seem fitting, except that the Wizard of Oz was only pretending to be an all-powerful god, whereas Hussie, as the author of the story, actually is omnipotent.

...not that there's any actual proof of that, come to think of it.

Perhaps the in-universe Hussie avatar is merely narrating the story, rather than creating it, and any claims to the contrary are really just smoke, mirrors and braggadocio. If that's true, then they're really just an observer of these events, albeit a particularly well-informed one.

JOHN: this place is weird. when are we gonna bust through the other window, anyway? JOHN: i'm kind of antsy to get on with our adventure and meet up with everybody! JADE: yes me too JADE: hmmmmmm

It's going to be hours, at the very least.

If our two parties were mere minutes from reuniting, there'd be no reason to drag it out for this long. Besides, if the kids' arrival in the B2 session was imminent, then they'd immediately steal the spotlight back from our four new protagonists, some of whom we haven't even officially met yet.

The B2 kids need room to breathe. They deserve some time to develop as characters, without being completely overshadowed by their predecessors. Therefore, said predecessors will have to slow their fucking roll for a second, and let the Alpha Kids shine.

JADE: we should arrive in about three years

Jegus, what?

I haven't been this blindsided by a timeskip since Scarab 25.6 - but the more I think about it, the more confident I am that it's the right decision. Not just because it gives the Alphas time to develop, but because of the possibilities it opens up.

When the B2 kids re-enter the story, they'll be around the same age as Jane's team - and since we've just met Jane's team, I think it's highly unlikely that they'll be included in the timeskip. The Alpha Kids aren't going to be nineteen when John's team arrive - they'll be in the same timeframe they're in now, on the same day they entered their session.

In other words, we're going to get to know the Alpha Kids as a group of hormonal teenagers - and then, when the time is right, we're going to drop a cluster bomb of additional teenagers right on top of their session, stand well back, and watch the shitshow begin. If you think the Jake/Jane/Dirk/Roxy love quadrangle is bad, wait until you see Jake/Gamzee/Karkat/Terezi/Dave.

Plus, a 3-year-timeskip means our protagonists can finally rest for a while. The Sburb crisis isn't over, of course, but it is on pause - and for much longer than I expected it to be, too. The kids can finally unpack what the fuck happened today, and the trolls can enjoy a non-hostile living environment for literally the first time in their entire lives. This is good for them, and I think it'll really help them grow.

It's a shame that we'll probably be splitting the party, but these two groups are still full of interesting dynamics, that we now have time to explore. John/Jade and Rose/Dave can finally get to know each other as siblings, Rosemary can develop as a couple, and the whole Karkat/Terezi situation can finally resolve, one way or the other.

We've been stuck on one single day for almost four thousand pages - but now, we're finally leaving this long, long Monday afternoon behind us. It's time to accelerate.

[tobesolnelyx]

Hiiii, for a one shot, I was thinking about adult!van and reader in an established relationship, they stayed together through the wilderness and couldn't leave one another. Life is not easy, guilt and nightmares making it difficult for both of them, but life is almost peaceful when they're together. They couldn't be more happy, they both like their jobs, somehow happy with what they're doing with their lives. But, recently, reader started to talk less and less to Van, avoiding her gaze, and most of all her physical contact. Van didn't push it at first, not wanting to make reader uncomfortable. But, reader continued to avoid Van like the pest, despite living together, always refusing any sort of physical contact, always managing to avoid talking somehow. Van is starting to get worried, thinking she did something wrong or maybe that reader is going to leave her. And as she goes to confront reader, to understand what's happening she hears noises in the bathroom. The door is slightly open and that's how she sees reader frowning at herself in the mirror, slightly mumbling about negative things. Then Van enters and reader immediately puts clothes back on. Van tries to ask about what happened but reader denies it, saying that everything is okay. But Van is getting more and more worried, she is almost tearful, thinking that it was going to be over for them and that reader was going to leave her. Reader, when she sees Van like this, immediately feels guilty and reassured her before finally explaining what's been on her mind for so long : reader felt insecure about her scars (honestly could be anything you want : the ones she got from the wilderness, in an accident, SH, or even stretch marks, whatever makes you more comfortable writing about) and was disgusted by her own body. Van finds this ridiculous because first of all she loves reader more than anything and also because reader never had a problem with her scars on her face, always kissing them. So, during the next days, Van makes herself a mission : making reader feel better. It could be some nice little comments, soft touches, etc. Could also be during sex and Van worshiping reader's body gently <3

I think it would work as fluff, hurt/comfort and smut if you want to :)!

— i’ll look after you || adult!van x reader 🦊 (post-crash)

a/n: thanks for req! didn’t include the smut part cause i didn’t feel like it. let me know if you want to write soft smut to that anyway. im definitely open to that! it was so fun to write ahhhh

summary: you got too deep in your head. van, as always, is here to help you get through it. hurt/comfort. fluff.

warnings: mentions of self harm, self hatred, standard yellowjackets warnings.

word count: about 2.7k.

It all started years ago, when you finally managed to leave the wilderness behind. As soon as the plane took off, you didn't look back. You didn't even want to.

The problem was, that place was going to haunt you for the rest of your life.

You remember the flight vividly—how terrifying it was. Your whole body shook, cold sweat clung to your palms, and your fingers clutched Van's hand with desperate strength.

Van was always there. No matter what.

So when you felt her fingers lace through yours, squeezing so tightly you thought she might crush your bones, you felt a spark of hope.

A chance, at least, at a normal life.

With her.

Because the thought that Van might not be there was something you never allowed yourself to entertain. Not after everything you had endured together. Not after spending nearly every waking moment side by side, clinging to each other to stay sane—against all odds.

You looked at her.

Everyone was silent then, lost between fear and a fragile sense of relief. The only sounds were the steady hum of the plane's engines and the low murmurs of the rescue crew—speaking as though afraid that a raised voice might shatter the fragile peace and send one of you lunging at them.

Maybe they weren't entirely wrong. You didn't know anymore.

Van met your gaze at last, tired but looser, more at ease than the others. After so much time spent running in circles, after so many days just fighting to survive, she looked as though someone had lifted a crushing weight off her shoulders.

You knew that some of you would never adjust. Would never fit back into the rhythm of the world, would never fully understand what normal was anymore.

But you and Van had each other. And that made you less afraid than the rest.

The first few weeks back were the hardest. Beyond the paparazzi, the nosy journalists, the endless hospital examinations—you simply couldn't find your place around.

Returning home to a place where everything was in its rightful spot was... strange. Running water, warm radiators, soft beds—it was all so horribly normal it made your skin crawl. You couldn't imagine going to college now, or worse—getting a job.

Not when, only a month ago, your teeth had torn through human flesh and dirt had soaked into the marrow of your bones.

It was then that Van, finally discharged from the hospital, announced that you absolutely had to catch up on all the movies you had missed while you were gone.

You agreed—because you couldn't imagine being away from her for long.

Besides, it gave you both something to do. Something to anchor yourselves with, to stop yourselves from drifting too far into the dark corners of your own minds.

Even if it meant rotting in front of the TV, holding hands, and gorging on junk food you hadn't seen in months.

Van preferred being at your place anyway. Her mother was too much. And your parents didn't mind. They were just relieved you had some shred of normalcy left.

You always curled up next to her, watching whatever terrible movie Van had dragged in.

Years later, not much had changed. If anything, it had only gotten better.

You lived together now, as far from Wiskayok as you could manage. Partly because you had always wanted to escape that shithole, and partly because you couldn't bear the sight of the others—wandering the streets like empty shells.

Van had opened a small but sufficient business of her own. You had found a stable job at last. Van's scars had softened with time, and you made sure to kiss each one every night.

Evenings were still spent the same way: curled up on the couch, with cheap snacks and some ridiculous film Van had unearthed.

"Van," you said one evening, grimacing but laughing at the same time. "This movie is terrible. Put on something else."

"Hey," she grinned, wrapping her arm tighter around your shoulders, pulling you even closer. "This is a classic, babe. You can't just call it terrible. It's essential viewing."

"Is it?" you teased, raising your eyebrows. "I think I was a much happier person before this movie started."

Van rolled her eyes but kissed your forehead anyway, smiling that lopsided smile you loved so much.

"Too late," she murmured, pulling back just enough to flash you a goofy grin.

You always slept together. In all the twenty-five years since your return, there had only been a handful of nights you slept apart. Not because you couldn't stand being separated, but because it was easier that way.

Safer.

The unpleasant hum of voices and memories in your head would grow quieter when you were together.

There were nights when one of you would wake up disoriented, unsure of where you were. And every time, you ended up curled up together, wrapped in blankets like some makeshift straightjacket, waiting for dawn. Because after those nightmares, sleep didn't come easily. You had to start over, every day.

There were days when one of you couldn't settle. Restless. Like you no longer fit inside your own skin, like guilt was gnawing an unbearable hole through you.

And when it felt like you were about to shatter apart, the other would catch you—suggest a walk, a stupid conversation, anything to pull you back.

Van knew she couldn't survive without you.

And then, one day, it hit you. That strange, suffocating feeling.

And not even Van's hands could chase it away this time. Her words, for the first time, didn't help.

You felt as lost as you had at seventeen.

If you couldn't live normally, you decided, you would at least pretend. For Van. For what you had.

It didn't work.

Not when you stood before the bathroom mirror in utter silence and really looked at yourself. Suddenly, everything chafed worse than ever. You couldn't just shrug it off as a bad day anymore.

Being queer in the '90s hadn't been easy. And your thighs still bore the evidence—white scars slicing across your skin. Not to mention the marks left from the wilderness itself, in random places, some more visible than others.

You hadn't thought about them in a long time. But now, you couldn't stop.

Especially now, when your body had changed over the years. And for the first time in your life, you wondered if Van might... leave.

So, whether consciously or not, you pushed her away first.

At first, Van thought it was just one of those bad days you both sometimes had. You avoided her—which was strange. You refused to meet her eyes. You always kept some distance between you. You sat farther away on the couch, flinching when she tried to touch you.

Van decided to give you space. Maybe it would pass. After everything you'd been through, how could she blame you?

She told herself it would fade, like everything else.

But she started worrying when you began skipping goodbye kisses before leaving for work. A kiss took seconds. You had always found time before.

Then you stopped letting her touch you at all.

You even started avoiding changing clothes in front of her—something that had never been a problem before. After all, in the wilderness, you had seen each other naked countless times. It had been almost natural.

And yet.

That's when Van truly started to worry. Confused didn't even begin to cover it.

One evening, she decided enough was enough.

She would get through to you, one way or another. She couldn't go back to those dark days. She couldn't keep worrying that you would slip through her fingers and shatter into pieces.

Van felt like she was seventeen again.

You were lying on the bed, reading god-knows-what, and Van barely cared. She walked over, gently tugging the book from your hands. She hoped you'd laugh—or at least smile.

Instead, you stiffened.

Van hesitated—but leaned in anyway, bracing herself on her arms and nuzzling her cold nose against your neck.

You flinched.

And not from pleasure.

Her lips found your neck, her hand sliding down to your thigh.

That's when you started to squirm, trying to gently push her away. Your hands trembled. Your pulse sped up. And suddenly, you felt trapped—like a wild animal.

You almost bolted from the room.

"Not... not tonight, Van," you muttered. You didn't even call her "love," like you usually did. Just her name. Something twisted painfully in Van's gut.

"I'm just... not in the mood," you added, fumbling for excuses. "Maybe another time."

You slipped out from under her, leaving Van more worried and confused than ever before.

And a horrible thought—an ugly, gnawing thought—sprouted in her mind:

Maybe you wanted to leave.

A few days later, after closing up shop, Van decided she couldn't take it anymore. The doubt. The fear. The guilt gnawing at her that she had somehow screwed everything up.

You used to tell each other everything. Why couldn't you now?

Van wasn't about to give up on the life she had fought so hard for. She had everything she had ever dreamed of. And she wasn't going to let it fall apart.

Even if her heart hammered in her chest and her legs shook slightly, she hunted through the house for you.

Finally, she found the bathroom door ajar.

She froze.

You were standing there, pants pushed halfway down your thighs, a loose shirt hanging off your shoulders, examining... the scars?

Van realized you were staring at yourself like you were searching for something that wasn't there.

"Disgusting," you muttered under your breath.

And that was enough.

Van pushed the door open.

You turned to her, wide-eyed, yanking your pants back up and fumbling to button your shirt. She had already seen. But you couldn't bear the thought of her seeing again. Because maybe this time, she would agree with you. Maybe this time, she would see you the way you feared most.

"What are you doing?" she asked softly, standing in the doorway.

You shook your head, forcing the most fake smile you had ever given her.

"Nothing," you said. But the tremor in your voice betrayed you.

Silence stretched between you. Heavy and loaded—like the nights in the wilderness when you spoke of dreams you didn't really believe would ever come true.

Van wasn't about to let it go.

"Okay," she sighed at last, her voice filled with confusion. You bit your lip, guilt gnawing deeper and deeper with each second. "I'm tired of this shit," Van said. "Tell me what's going on."

You clenched your jaw. Lowered your hands. Looked at yourself in the mirror again.

Took a deep breath.

"Nothing's wrong, Van," you lied—and the words tasted like acid in your mouth.

"Bullshit," she snapped. Her voice cracked. She swallowed hard, fists clenching at her sides, eyes locked on yours so fiercely you couldn't look away this time. "You're avoiding me," she said.

You dug your nail painfully into your palm.

"You're avoiding me, and I have no idea why," she continued. "I'm tired of being brushed off. I'm scared to death, and you're just..." her voice cracked again, tears glinting in her eyes. "...you're just pretending nothing's fucking wrong."

"You want to leave me?" she asked at last, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

"What?" you stared at her, stunned. "No. It's not that. I don't want..."

"Then what is it?" she pushed. You had only seen Van cry a handful of times. Knowing you had caused it now made you feel even worse.

And you broke.

"I feel horrible," you said finally, your voice barely above a whisper. "In my own skin. With my body. With the scars..." You shrugged helplessly."I feel disgusting."

Van blinked. Once. Twice.

Then she laughed softly— not because she thought it was silly, but because she couldn't understand how you didn't see it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, her expression turning serious as she took a small step toward you.

And when you neither moved nor answered, her hands found your waist, pulling you tightly against her chest. Into a warm, firm embrace. Her fingers slid through your hair, and you felt something inside you shatter completely.

And it didn't even feel bad.

The tears came freely then. You broke down completely in her arms, soaking the front of her t-shirt, your fingers clenching tightly into the fabric as if it were the only thing keeping you grounded. You didn't know what you would do without her. And you never wanted to find out.

"I'm sorry," you sobbed into her shoulder, and she only held you tighter, anchoring you so you wouldn't spiral even deeper. Just like she always had. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." The words died somewhere along the way.

Van held you like that for a good half hour. Until you calmed down. Until the tears slowed, until your eyes grew puffy and your lips tasted salty from crying. Until your grip on her softened at last.

She carried you without a word to the bedroom, wrapping you tightly in her arms throughout the night, just like she had done so many years ago. In case you woke up needing her. At least it gave her a few hours to think of a way to fix this.

She listened to the steady rhythm of your breathing, adjusted automatically when you shifted in your sleep, whispered softly in your ear about how much she loved you. Even if you weren't fully awake to hear it.

Eventually, Van found a way. She found a way to fix it.

And that was already more than half the battle won. Because Van was sure of one thing: She wasn't about to let you go. Not after holding you every night for the past twenty-five years.

Van launched a little plan.

It started the next morning, when she made you breakfast and buried you under a mountain of compliments.

"You don't have to say all that," you muttered, trying to wrangle the whirlwind of emotions tearing through your head—guilt, that strange nervousness whenever you tried to believe her.

Van simply sat down beside you at the table and tilted her head until you had no choice but to meet her eyes.

"I think about it every day," she said, a small, genuine smile tugging at her lips. "I think about you—always. Everywhere. I just figured it was time to start saying it out loud."

You stared at her.

Van had always had this uncanny ability to melt people's walls with the sheer force of warmth she somehow carried inside her. You never knew where she got it from. But you were endlessly grateful for it now.

She tucked a stray lock of hair behind your ear, and you had to fight the smile creeping onto your face.

Van hadn't been this stupidly proud of herself in a long time.

Over the next few days, she kept it up. Complimenting you. Sometimes so ridiculously that you couldn't help but laugh.

And it worked. God, it worked.

She didn't slow down either—if anything, she doubled down.

Then, once you started feeling a little better—a little more like yourself—she began pulling you close again during movie nights.

"You're staring," you mumbled one evening, your eyes glued to the TV. The stubborn knot in your chest loosened a little more each day. And every time it threatened to tighten again, stealing your breath away, Van was there to pull you back.

She just hummed, her eyes still fixed on you.

"Is that bad?" she asked softly, her fingers tracing slow, comforting circles on your arm. Then she began planting small kisses along your shoulder, your neck—anywhere she could reach.

You stiffened at first. But you didn't pull away. Not this time.

"I guess not," you murmured at last, tilting your head a little, giving her better access. Her lips roamed up and down, her hands gently massaging the scars on your thighs. And this time—you didn't flinch.

"Good," she murmured against your jaw, pressing another kiss there."Because I love you too damn much not to stare."

[biancadoes1]

Sorry, this is long and if you don't post it, I understand.

I want to go back to the WT for a sec, and one of the reasons I don't think what we saw was fake. First of all, I think the existence of dating co-stars, while having the potential to be great for a project, is more likely to be a headache for PR. What if there are problems, or the couple break up while doing promotion? Obviously, when doing promo, there is always the desire to present co-stars who get along and had a great time working together (even when the opposite is true), but beyond that, I don't think Netflix or Shondaland would be putting pressure on them to mirror their characters--certainly not to display the level of unhinged behaviour we saw. Whether or not they were flirting like mad because they're obviously attracted to each other (but were not together), or carrying on an affair while seeing each other people casually, or together all along....I firmly believe that chemistry and closeness is very real.

I didn't really start to think they were together until they started responding to people asking about it. I couldn't for the life of me understand their reactions. I expected them to be clear that Penelope and Colin are characters they play, and reality is different than fiction. Yes, I think Luke said at one point, it meant they did their jobs well, and obviously Nicola said they were great friends....but obviously, I was not the only one that noticed what seemed like very careful word choices, a lot of smiles and blushing, and an acknowledgment that fans shipping them was "sweet" and "not to worry". They saw the whole shipping discourse getting bigger and bigger, you would think they would want to push back harder, not in a mean way, but in a "we're bloody actors" kind of way. And no, I don't think it would have affected viewership--people were already very excited about Part 1, and looking forward to Part 2. And I would say most people--at that time--were not expecting them to behave the way they did; we're still flipping out about it all now.

What's happening now obviously poses many questions and possibilities...the surface narrative that the media is always right there to jump on *could* be true. But for people that are both described as warm, wonderful, caring people....are both really ok with the nasty vitriol their "partners" receive? To have your bf/gf called names, have their appearances and careers mocked; wouldn't that be reason enough to come out and show some kind of support? Or are we meant to believe that's what the no-comment-uncomfortable-looking appearances are about? ("See, this is who I'm with, leave us alone.") Meanwhile, both N and L seem pretty quick to come to each other's defense, when no one would expect them to (for example, the recent SAG blind item when N emphatically denied L was the subject). And while we know she was at the William Tell premiere, I'm fairly certain she posted nothing about the movie (all the other members of the friend group shared supportive IG stories celebrating Jake). Also, while we know she went to see his play (more than once?), yet she also never made a peep about being there, and what she thought of it and his performance, as a supportive gf (or friend!) would do. And while I can understand that L and N are not as active interacting with each other on SM because of the current insanity of fans, wouldn't things like wishing each other happy birthday be a way of retraining fans and assuring them that they are, in fact, the best of friends, who tease each other and have fun the way they used to?

As always, I want to say that they obviously can do whatever they want to do and don't owe the public a thing. But what we do see....mixed messages, indeed. It just reinforces to me that we really have no idea what's going on.

.

[star-light-artist]

My Andor S2 E1-3 thoughts!

If that formerly Imperial woman dies, it's worth it - not because of any info or thing she got to the Rebels, but because she chose to do the right thing. And that is always worth everything. Ahhh!! The writing is already incredible!

Seeing other children excited by Leida's wedding, too young to understand that she is a child bride, is heartbreaking.

I wonder if we'll ever get Leida's husband's POV - he didn't want to hold her hand. How pressured into this marriage was he? Does he care about power, or is he just doing what his father says?

Dedra's plan to create a rebellion just so she can show the galaxy how "evil" they are PERFECTLY mirrors Luthen's exact plan that used for the Rebellion - how he orchestrated the attack at Aldhani just so that the Empire would tighten its fist, creating the need for more rebellions!

Syril & Dedra?! At 1st, I didn't know how to feel about that. But now that I've seen her so viscously defend him to her even more evil than her Imperial bosses mother in law, I absolutely LOVE them. They're both evil & toxic, but not to each other. 💖 The 2 most strict & OCD Imperial people in the galaxy found each other & you know what? I'm happy for them.

The squabbling rebels were hilarious for a while, but they're starting to get annoying. I wonder how they fit into the larger story cause they don't seem to be doing much right now.

Mon partying while she knows that her oldest friend is about to get assassinated?! Man, alive!! That was crazy! Luthen can be pretty evil at times. I'm sad that they did that to Tay's character. Before now, I had really respected and appreciated him.

Mon got drunk at her daughter's wedding just like her own mother did! 😭😭 The generational trauma!

Leida going from crying to her mother to hating her on her wedding day is very interesting. Did her father really poison her against her that much, or is she just a rebellious (lol) teenager? She thinks that Mon is too overprotective, but some day she will look back and wished that she had taken the out her mother gave her.

[artificialroux]

MAISIE & MISTY QUIGLEY 🐁🦜

— a sister is both your mirror and your opposite

maisie quigley is part of the journalism club and yearbook staff, one of their most passionate members. she's eighteen, a full year older than misty. she grew up close to misty — their bond was intense, weird, and totally sincere. they performed skits, plays, and spooky “shows” at family gatherings — everything from haunted house tours to over-the-top reenactments of ghost stories. while misty idolized her, maisie was often quietly worried about misty's intensity and her hunger for approval.

she joined the journalism club mostly as a way to stay busy and snoop on people (“everyone wants to be remembered — they just don't know how ugly it looks.”) she ended up on the fateful plane trip because she was assigned to help document the soccer team’s championship journey. her and misty call each other “maze” and “missy” affectionately, they are close as sisters can be, maybe a bit codependent.

maisie is eccentric but in a different flavor from misty — she's outwardly charming and socially a little better at hiding her “offness,” but once you talk to her for more than a few minutes, it’s clear she’s just as weird. she has a strange sense of humor — loves macabre jokes, weird trivia, and “fun facts” that aren't actually fun. she's overly theatrical; she’s that girl who treats regular conversations like performance art. she is a little bit vain; she likes attention and thinks of herself as a misunderstood genius.

she gets most of her clothing from the thrift store, like misty, her aesthetic is vaguely 80s mixed with 90s schoolgirl looks: lots of thrifted cardigans, clunky shoes, odd jewelry (e.g., mood rings, lockets with nothing inside), lacy socks, mismatched nail polish. misty definitely copied some of her vibe — the chunky shoes, the colorful socks, the earnest but awkward way of presenting herself. maisie carries around a disposable camera everywhere for yearbook and journalism club, she even says she’s documenting “the end of an era” in a totally dramatic way.

being apart of yearbook / journalism club, she is the unofficial “historian” of the school. she is definitely over-involved in weird extracurriculars (debate team, tried to start a “macabre literature” club that nobody joins, besides misty.) she knew about the soccer team mostly through yearbook coverage — wasn't supposed to go to nationals but she tags along to “capture the moment.” post crash, she takes a lot of photos early on — documenting the crash site, their food rations, early cabin life.

her relationship with misty is deeply codependent, even if they fight sometimes. misty worships her a little — everything about misty's attempts to connect with people later partly comes from trying to recreate the weird little world she and maisie had together. they definitely did musical performances at family gatherings (like showtunes, or weirder stuff like reciting edgar allan poe together.)

while misty loves birds, maisie adores rodents! she also dyes her hair brown, which makes her curls pretty bleach damaged so they're more frizzy and unkempt than her sisters, especially since she teases them and brushes them out dry. while misty serves as a medic and later a cook in the wilderness, maisie is something of a scribe, a keeper, a historian. she keeps detailed records: writes down major events, food supplies, weather patterns, and (later) the group's evolving myths, rituals, and “legends.” she maintains a survival calendar: noting how long they've been stranded, seasonal changes, and tracking who is alive/missing. finally she acts as the memory-keeper for the group: the one who remembers when someone made a sacrifice, when someone broke a rule, when a tragedy happened.

tags ;; @dippindotties @logansdogmotif @chshiresgrin @antlrrqueen @orangecatsmissingbraincell @rippedpatches @soapysbouquet @ohno-people

[daughterofheartshaven]

I just wrote this up somewhere else and then realized I could share it here. I've seen some people saying that the reveal that The Well was set on the Midnight planet didn't really add anything. Here was my reply to one person who had said that and asked for people who liked the addition to explain what it added for them:

Okay, I really liked this being a follow up to Midnight, and since you sent out an open invitation, I'll talk about what this adds for me. I should probably give the context that Midnight isn't really a story I like that much, so the deviations from it didn't bother me in the same way it bothered you. Meanwhile this is pretty easily my favorite 15th Doctor story so far.

Firstly, this felt like a very effective raising of the stakes in the midway point of the story. Generally in Doctor Who we open with a mystery, and then by the end of the episode the mystery is basically solved. This is a very mysterious story and up until that point I was assuming that we would solve the mystery and that would be crucial to the story, but knowing it was the midnight entity raised the possibility that the mystery was not going to be solved (and, to an extent, it wasn't in my opinion. It partially was - we figured out the mirror thing - but there's still a giant pile of unknowns). So, for me, that turned this story from a somewhat generic mystery to an "so [expletive] we're actually in REAL danger" situation, which I think the remainder of the episode followed up on by actually showing we are in that much danger. This wasn't about making the Doctor scared. This was about making ME scared.

The other reason is probably deeply connected to the fact that I've seen all of classic who and am VERY in the weeds of the expanded universe stuff and so on. It's important to me that I make it clear that I don't think this does not make my takes any more valid than anyone else's, but they also do effect what I want. And this sort of thing - returning to a planet at a different point in its history - is something this show almost never does unless the planet in question is Earth, Skaro, or Gallifrey. I can think of only a few other examples of this happening off the top of my head - Peladon and Telos, both from Classic Who, and New Earth from Modern Who. Kinda and Snakedance are an edge case (I don't promise I remembered anything, but you take my point). And all of those examples happened within a few generations of each other. Getting into the EU weeds adds maybe a couple dozen more planets that are recurring, while adding hundreds of new ones. So while Doctor Who is good at planet diversity (when they're not doing every single episode being on Earth at least), it's very rare for them to feel like they are giving their planets history. So to see a planet almost 500,000 years later and to see how knowledge was lost, how its native species evolved, and how stories of the Doctor was passed down for countless generations - or maybe this was the same entity after all this time, I don't know - was an extremely new experience in a franchise that struggles to find new experiences. I'm pretty sure that this is why this episode overtook The Robot Revolution as my favorite with 15. I can see why you said this made the universe feel smaller to you, but to me it made it feel bigger - not because of space, but because of time. I hope that makes sense and sheds a little insight into my perspective!

[magnus-marmot]

"As above, so below" and what it might mean for TMAGP

As Hermes Trismestigus supposedly wrote in the Emerald Tablet:

"That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracle of one only thing."

Alchemists took this to mean that everything that exists on the earthly plane must necessarily reflect something on the heavenly plane, because the two were inseparably linked. It's been applied to a variety of things. Paracelsus used it to claim that the human microcosm parallels the universal macrocosm, which meant that diseases affecting different body parts could be cured by finding their likeness in the nature. It's also why alchemists were so comfortable with giving metals direct parallels in the celestial bodies (gold=sun, silver=moon, Saturn=lead, etc.), and why they thought planetary movements had an effect on their alchemical work. In the most basic terms, it means that everything on earth and beyond it is linked and forms a single unity.

In TMAGP 39 (spoilers), we get the most explicit example of this in Alice's dream: she is both the dying body (the macrocosm) and the heart inside of it (the microcosm). When she tries to reach inside to remove the source of her pain, she feels her own hand tightening around the flesh she's trapped in. Because you can't remove something from the system without breaking the unity, and the unity can't be broken. As above, so below. (This entire statement is so incredibly rich in both alchemical and non-alchemical symbolism because it's a masterpiece of writing, quite possibly my favourite incident in TMAGP so far.)

We've also been getting hints that the different dimensions somewhat mirror each other. They're not quite the same, but they are similar enough that the same people have existed and had similar life experiences, the Magnus Institute has been founded on both sides and it's been dealing with the supernatural even though the metaphysics are clearly different, and in the latest episode we learned that Sam had appendicitis around the same time in both timelines. It seems that a lot of the same events will take place in some form, which makes me think that they're linked together or entangled somehow. As above, so below?

But these dimensions (and we don't know how many there are, probably an infinite number) seem to be parallel to each other rather than hierarchical. So either they live in a sort of morphing mass where every version and every dimension is simultaneously tugging and nudging at each other, or there's some interdimensional, liminal plane that's affecting all of them. Both sound like reasonable conclusions, though the latter is more compelling to me, since it would also be more compatible with the formation of the Fears. Because if all the "earthly planes" share an aetherial plane that they reflect, then it would make sense how some worlds would condense and actualise fears into entities, and how other worlds might do the same to other ideas. They would be drawing from the same pool of possibilities, but the resulting paranormal activity wouldn't necessarily be the same.

Either way, it seems to suggest that all of these worlds are united, in one way or another. Which makes it very likely that they're bleeding into each other at the points where the boundary is thin (such as liminal places/states). And it also explains why Celia's home world was pulling her back. If it's all connected as one, and if they all mirror each other, then her removal would be leaving a vacuum of energy that needed to be filled. And if that's how it works, then wouldn't the banishment of the Fears leave quite the vacuum to be filled by other types of horrors?

[themaladroit]

it's a day that ends in y so I'm thinking about the double life finale again.

how both scott and pearl, despite being actual soulmates, each have no idea what their soulmate is doing. scott's completely blindsided by pearl killing bdubs/impulse and then cleo/martyn; pearl's completely blindsided by scott sacrificing himself to give her the win.

but their chosen "soulmates", cleo and tilly respectively, understand and mirror them better than ever. pearl spends the whole series saying she should be on the same number of lives as tilly, and they're finally both on red and fighting alongside each other until the end. then cleo (seen in their video, which shows the spectator view of the last few moments) sees scott placing TNT and immediately, without hesitation, approves of her chosen soulmate's suicide...which you could argue is because it'll put them on the same number of lives too.

(there's a whole other thing to be said about martyn's role in this too. in a sense he almost casts himself as a chosen soulmate to pearl, but pearl doesn't choose him in return. he eggs her on in chat to kill scott in the final confrontation, and in cleo's video you can hear him saying it too, but unlike them he doesn't correctly predict what pearl wants to do. at the same time, he and his actual soulmate cleo both want scott to die, and arguably this is where they're as close to proper soulmates as they ever get in the series.)

honestly I don't even know what the takeaway is from all this, but I love how you can interpret it in so many different ways. maybe there's something more real about the connections you choose than the ones you're forced to have. maybe truly being close is a different thing from being soulbound, and there's a reason the two pairs who were least close are the ones who made it to the end. maybe there's a fundamental tragedy to the fact that you can understand someone so deeply and perfectly, but actually maintaining that connection was impossible from the beginning. maybe there's something beautiful about the way everybody ends up dead anyway, because at that point you can't tell who's "supposed" to be soulbound at all, and maybe it just doesn't matter. maybe pearl forgives scott at the end not just because he let her win, but because he's lifted the burden of trying to understand someone so different from both of them.

i'm so normal about this series

[perfectwitchcrown]

CW: References to suicidal ideation

I'm sort of majorly fascinated by Leah, Priest, and Dante's relationships with each other. Leah was physically saved by Dante as a child, while Priest considers himself to have been saved by Dante's clumsy expression of sympathy as a child. However, the way they engage with him is also majorly different. Dante is officially (?) Priest's mentor, and in the original Japanese text he refers to him as sensei, but he also like fully doesn't respect him as a person lmfao. Leah's level of respect for him, on the other hand, seems vague. In the Japanese text she refers to him as Dante kun, which is personally hilarious to me since he's both older than her and higher up than her in the church hierarchy. It's kind of hilariously casual. They don't seem especially close, but they've known each other longer than Dante's known Priest. Like Leah's cheerfully informal with him but she's also kind of like that w everyone, but also like they're the only two survivors of a massive loss of civilian and exorcist life it's so ???

As a caveat, I'm fascinated by the extent to which Dante has shared his relationship with Vergilius to the rest of the church. Priest doesn't seem to know that they know each other at all. But simultaneously, the image that Dante has of Verge when they were kids, that is his phone background, is also a printed out image on one of their strategy boards (although it's unclear where he's at so maybe it's like his . Leah has the image downloaded to her phone tho too. She and Barbara were with Dante in France looking for witches, so I'm guessing that's when she got it, but what is the backstory Dante gives to him and Verge when he explains why he has a cropped photo of Vergilius as a kid?? Anyway, I also think it's funny that we get a Leah panel when Mikhail points out in chapter 19 that it's a funny coincidence for there to be a Dante and Vergilius running around. One, that feels pointed from Mikhail tbh since he's been consistently shown to be smarter than he seems. And two, why r we getting a live Leah reaction. How much does she know ??

All three have been death seekers as some point in their life, and Dante has faced both Priest and Leah in moments in which they've expressed this, and neither time has he had especially great advice to give. Which like, in the case with Leah, of course not, he was visibly a teenager. But I find the overlap of their despair really interesting. Dante seems to recognize Priest's feeling in the first chapter of the world not feeling worth living in, while Leah's goal at the expense of her own life motivation mirror's current era Dante's desire to destroy Verge and himself in the process.

On the other hand, Priest and Leah's relationship to the Church is vastly different from Leah's. Priest and Dante both fall within the conservative factions hierarchy under the Pope, whereas Leah falls under Cardinal Heisenberg's faction. While Dante and Priest both grew up in Abbott Nicholas's monastery, with him as presumably their primary guardian, Leah was raised by her family, and it is unclear where she lived following their death, although presumably in some part of the church. It's not clear whether she was ever especially religious prior to joining the church, and her motivation for joining was purely revenge. Dante and Priest, on the other hand, have a genuinely complicated relationship with the religion they grew up in. It's something that's impacted their identity in a way that doesn't seem to have struck Leah to the same degree. Which also makes her willingness to use alchemy all the more interesting, for the way it shows she has greater comfort stepping outside the bounds of orthodoxy.

Anyways, I just think these are really interesting features to their relationships. I love Leah's character and have been hoping we'll see her again soon.

[caitlynmeow]

no no it's how they have the same pose and the exact same smile you can totally tell they spend A LOT of time together they basically act the same way

[nova-moshi]

Because of the wonky time nature of the Spire of Deceit, I can freely imagine Truthless Recluse following Pure Vanilla and the others back to his kingdom, and Recluse basking in PV's light and compassion, feeling more at home here than the murky nature of the dark side of the moon.

Both sides of Pure Vanilla will always exist, yet Recluse starts believing some things aren't rightfully his anymore. 'His' old friends, 'his' old home, 'his' old memories, so he latches onto Awakened Vanilla believing him to be the only thing he deserves now, and one day he wants to feel like he deserves this same epiphany, this awakening, but it'll take time since his soul and psyche was so messed up by Shadow Milk.

So in the meantime, Vanilla readily accepts his Moon half and makes efforts to include him in his daily life. Pure Vanilla wishes nothing more than for him to be safe and secure in the castle and at ease, by himself and around his friends. Once they got back to the Vanilla Kingdom, Pure Vanilla had an entire wing made private just for Recluse so he can be secluded and away from the world if he so wished.

Recluse stays up in his tower most of the time, feeling a strange attachment to a high space. He reads and studies magic and histories, only ever coming out once in a blue moon to speak to the other citizens and take walks around the castle in somewhat of a mystified daze.

After Pure Vanilla has free time, he'll take tea and food up to his other half, sitting with him by the warm hearth and just talking about his day to include Recluse in things. Vanilla knows they're both bad about eating, so it's both in part to encourage Recluse (who has little appetite) and remind himself as well.

And Recluse starts to brighten over time, little by little, opening up about experiences PV has already felt-with them being the same person-but allows his other half to get these things off his chest. After all, who could relate to such experiences if not the two halves of the same soul?

The sun and moon are now living under one roof and learning to love themselves again. You cannot separate them, as they're both important to each other and intertwined to make Pure Vanilla...Pure Vanilla. They will still have bumps in the road, as recovery is not linear, but their support system is large. If Pure Vanilla can win and find happiness, one day Recluse will find his own version of it as well.

Recluse leaning into the light of his Sun counterpart, and Pure Vanilla embracing the darkness of his Moon counterpart. How they're both so interconnected now...

[silentsockfeet]

so when are we as a society going to talk about how cait hitting vi and then leaving her sobbing on her knees is a direct parallel to vi hitting powder and then leaving her in season 1

[sysig]

Reverberations, configurations (Patreon)

[barcodenumber00]

although I enjoyed season2 I missed the unionisation themes that were being set up at the end of the first season. lumon presenting a history of conflict between departments to incite separation, MDR and O&D choosing to bridge the gap of distance anyway. The unfinished map Petey made suggesting that the severed floor was larger than they initially comprehended, the anti-severance protest groups outside of lumon fighting for workers' rights. we had a brief hint of that at the start of the season with lumon assimilating the MDR uprising into its incentivisation methods, the implication of lumon as an international enterprise with the new characters that were very quickly dropped and forgotten about, and it was interesting to see the background contextualisation of lumon's industry being propagated by child labour (especially considering the severance procedure in effect makes the adult innies like children, tabula rasa innocents).

but the majority of the characters became incredibly isolated this season anyway and the show became less of a satire of workspaces and more about the way severance as a procedure complicated their romantic relationships. I was kind of hoping this season would lean into some more consequences with regards to petey's legacy in mark's mind post reintegration, and also the mapping out and unionising of other isolated departments on the severed floor beyond the oddity of mammalians nurturable.

[lofi-bear]

anyways everyone look at my spacer war hero "crumbling under the pressure of being the perfect alliance legacy golden girl" commander shepard and her murder chickenbug boyfriend