#otp: doomed from the start in this life and the last

[swiftletinthecloud]

― Margaret Atwood

@pscentral event 26: minimalism

@userdramas event 16: fools (in love)

@asiandramanet event 6: antagonists | enemies to lovers

@asiandramanet april bingo: quote

“As expected, we were not supposed to be together.  But even if I go back to the beginning, I think I will fall in love you again.” ― Han Ri Ta | MOON IN THE DAY (2023)

[swiftletinthecloud]

Yes, the fact that she didn't come to him under false pretense but fully armed to kill him in his sleep and he injured her, saved her, and told her to live to try again another day just makes me feral. They're going to go from this into being in love with each other with eyes wide opened. And from what glimpses we get so far, that love was genuine on both sides as well, not just one sided from him. The contradictory of how they feel for each other, the love and desire to protect the other person but also the desire to kill them! I'm fully on board with this wild train and can't wait for ep 3!

It's a quick but super-telling moment that we hear the servants discuss that the general Do Ha is a habitually bad sleeper and then we see it's because he has nightmares about all the killing in his victories. He is a person who does terrible things but is haunted by them but keeps doing them because he thinks they are necessary and it's an oddly realistic thing in a story with such a fantasy concept. In a way it goes to the fact that the root of the impossibility of the main couple back in 6th century is rather realistic for the time period - he kills her whole family but it's a quick and efficient way to end the war, he views it as necessary but he doesn't get a kick of out it. But however expected a practice for back-then warfare (it's something her father would have equally done to whoever he defeated), she ultimately cannot let it go - how can she ever be with a man who killed her entire family?

But anyway, her attempt to kill him goes awry:

I love that he pulls down her mask, sees her face and you can tell this is the moment that he WANTS her. It went from routine assassination he thwarted to something else entirely.

Lady Caroline Lamb called Lord Byron "mad, bad and dangerous to know" but this dude fits that moniker well over 1000 years before Lord Byron was born.

I love that she is proclaiming how she will kill him as his dagger is literally stabbing her to the bed and then the servants ask if everything is OK and he lies because he doesn't want her taken away and executed.

This is EVERYTHING!!! I thought she was going to approach him under false pretenses, he will fall in love and then oops surprise! But it is a hundred, a million times more glorious that no, she will never pretend, their meet-cute is her attempted murder of him and he will fall in love with her in full knowledge of her plans.

He throws down her sword back to her! AAAA! But also a set of clothes. He is literally telling her to live so she can plan to kill him another day. THEY ARE INSANE FOR DOING THIS THEY ARE INSANE FOR GIVING US THIS WE ARE SO SO LUCKY WITH THIS!

She is murdery, unbroken and insane.

And he is utterly smitten by that feral unbroken promise of violence.

Really? Do tell...my mind shall not go in the gutter my mind shall not go in the gutter...

He really really wants her to pick the outfit and life...

This drama is out of the deepest darkest parts of my id.

Side note, apparently the web comic had an OST and this song is mmmmm:

[silver-and-stars]

Are they already doomed ?

HEADLAND: [...] Obviously, the end, that last shot, was very inspired by the end of Fight Club just standing there together, ready to watch the world burn. The tragedy is that we know that's not gonna happen because we've seen Plagueis, so we know this is not possible. It was actually the actors’ idea to hold hands, and it was a really, really good idea. [...]

The OTP to end all OTPs. I'm still emotionally scarred from The Rise of Skywalker where there was this weird backpedaling where they were like, “Oh, it was a kiss of gratitude. It was like completely platonic.” First of all, I don't kiss people on the mouth to say thank you for saving my life. Are we wrong to be reading that there’s some romance there? HEADLAND: No! Because that was the whole thing that happened after The Rise of Skywalker. They were like, “It was a kiss of gratitude,” and I was like, “And what if I walked into traffic?” So are we right to read romance into the hand-hold? HEADLAND: Oh, yeah! Again, they’re Sith. It's a different vibe. To me, it's gonna hit different because of their allegiance and who they are. So, yes, it is framed as romantic, but I do think, again, it's not gonna turn out great. I think if he's training her, “One to hold the power, one to crave it.” So they're starting off as equals, but what's gonna happen? Like in Romeo and Juliet, it's amazing because right at the beginning they're like, “Okay, these two die. Let's start the play.” As you're watching this incredible love story unfold, and it's one of the most beautifully iconic plays ever written, in the back of your mind, you're like, “This is not going to turn out well.” I want to clarify: They are not necessarily doomed or destined to fail as a team. But the Sith rule of two denotes a power imbalance. Which clearly, due to the final shot, is not their relationship. Also, Plagueis complicates their journey as Sith, because we know his apprentice is eventually Palpatine. They will not defeat him.

https://collider.com/the-acolyte-episode-8-explained-leslye-headland/

Oh no...

She has already plan for their doom.

She is so into the ship, from the interview you can see she is really invested and interested in their dynamic, in Osha (less in Mae imo, because Osha is the one breaking the father-daughter bound, not Mae who is more a motivator for Osha). But in her mind this is already ending in tragedy.

I just want them to run off into the sunset, to get to be evil without dying for it. It's not like irl evil gets punished, so just let them disappear to some corner of their vast galaxy.

And if they have to die, truly do it Romeo and Juliet style : still in love and devoted to each other, dying together because the world around them pushes them to it. Give us the true lasting Sith powercouple, the girl going Dark Side and sticking to it and the guy not betraying her.

Also "it was the actors' idea to hold hands". They get it. Probs to them for that.

Also that tackle at Wookipedia and the Reylo denial, bless.

[swiftletinthecloud]

(via @dangermousie) 🤡🤡

this makes me sick actually this is too much - it's been 1500 years and this is still how he feels

[sinecosinewheel]

@galaxirin @bornetoblood

😭 i rly am the amelia guy huh (nm about it!)

- How I feel about this character

to start, she is my funny guy. in-game i think she's an awesome depiction of the healing church's state, the last vicar is powerless to do anything but pray, alone, clutching the medallion of her predecessor who all but set her up to fail. she's both a tragic figure, and the highest remaining member of the organization who doomed the town. in my hcs she is all of that, and she regularly mulches and beheads people, and she likes bugs. she is my funny guy!

- All the people I ship romantically with this character

hmmm. melia x early retirement. jshdj fr I don't have any specific characters? maybeeee henriett? ok wait i like to think she's henryk's great grand niece or smth and theyre really on the nose w/ the names. ok divergence, my henriette hc is that she was rejected from the church hunters and inherited her old mans Old Hunter style duds nd started vigilante mushing beasts w/ her kirkhammer pro bono. so tool of the institution x bitter rogueish vigilante. plus u summon henriett for melias fight so putting down an old flame .... i have successfully talked myself around to this ship let's get it 🎉

- My non-romantic OTP for this character

she really could've used some guidance other than laurence in her life, so i like to think she would've found a mentor in maria, had maria lived long enough to meet her. rlly tho most people were scared shitless of her and/or intimidated by her status so she had no non-killing, non-laurence social outlets. i haven't arbitrarily picked and made up a backstory wholecloth for an npc hunter to be her dead friend yet but also them lmao 😭

- My unpopular opinion about this character

slamming my fists on the ground beating my head on the wall SHE DOES NOT LOOK LIKE, I QUOTE, 'THE SEXY DOG FROM OLIVER AND COMPANY'!!!!!!

ok that's a personal grievance but i stand by it. umm i wish she showed up again? not sure if that's unpopular but i don't think many people think of it. like maybe she could've showed up in the hunters nightmare...even as a gorpse.....or had more item descriptions ab her!! i want the bell ringing woman set!!!

- One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

hrmm i wish we could have gotten to see more of her in general!! the fight intro cutscene is fucking iconic but maybe she could've been an npc u can talk to... and then u have to fight her when u progress the night farther... n u could start her fight early like the dancer in ds3 by attacking her and get an alt intro cutscene....basically just any content of how the church worked, or what her role was before everything exploded i think

- My OTP

apparently amelia x henriett! news to me. real enemiesish to lovers opposing forces attract type shit here

- My crossover ship

ourgh. hmm maybe millicent elden ring or emerald herald ds2? maybe the ds2 miracles lady lmao melia would in her head b like my dads a much better grifter than her...shes silly i like her :) n the miracles lady is into muscles maybe. idk lmao it could be unhealthy, it could lead to melia unlearning some toxic shit bc the miracles lady is like a cartoonishly over exaggerated version of the people she was raised with, i don't even remember her name though x.x

- A headcanon fact

i stg this entire post has been a headcanon fact lol 💀 uhm uh oh lol we are ending on a sad one heehee. so u know how vicar amelia boss form is covered in bandages? after the school of mensis began kidnapping blood saints the healing blood of the healing church began to run dry, leading yharnam citizens to seek it from other sources, like certain prostitutes with special blood. seeing no other course and to uphold the legitimacy of the church's special blood, the vicar underwent the mysterious process of becoming a blood saint herself and all but bled herself dry to make up for the demand

[tameila]

Thanks for the tag, @belphegor1982!

3 Ships:

THE OTP: Pikelan (Critical Role / of course, they are my actual parents who raised me but also [Maisie Peters voice] 🎶 I still love you, but you're taking me from your arms...back to therapy, therapy, oh lord, I'm going back to therapy 🎶 )

a recent ship: Nelendira (Trigun / made the mistake of reading the only two good fics in the world that includes this ship and now im doomed to suffer eternally)

a classic: FenHawke (Dragon Age / fighting off the urge rn to replay DA2 but also I gotta see my mans, light of my life, Fenris)

First Ship: gotta be honest, it was probably Maxwell and Sandy...yeah, from Hamtaro....uh huh, the show about the hamters, ye.

Last Song: So Much (For) Stardust, Fall Out Boy

Last Movie: I think it might have been The Barbie Movie from when I saw it back in July

Currently Reading: rereading Trillium and Ivy for the third time because I gotta get my Vashwood and Nelendria fix somehow. though last night I did fall down a rabbit hole of rereading some of my old FenHawke fics, because I miss 'em 🥺

Currently Watching: Nothing in particular, but I'm very excited for the new D20 season that starts tomorrow!

Currently Consuming: I just finished my daily lil treat, a grande London Fog with soy milk from Starbucks. Understandably, they didn't have them in Dublin, but now I gotta make up for lost time.

Currently Craving: ....another grande london fog with soy milk from starbucks....😔

tagging anyone who sees this and feels inspired, just be sure to drop me a tag when you do so I can be nosy hehe!

[ugh-yoongi]

hi, 👄 🎬 and 🐸

hello friend tysm <3

👄 Your OTP are having their first kiss. What song do you imagine is playing? i have thought abt this for five minutes and can't decide 1. which couple, and 2. which song, but i think i have cracked it. keep driving, when they kiss in the diner parking lot: len - steal my sunshine or elo - mr. blue sky.

🎬 One of your fics gets turned into a TV series. Which one is it and what network is it on? i answered previously and said tvltid on some streaming service, but this time i'm gonna say riding fakie on the cw. like that is peak not-actually-good, made-for-angsty-teens cw fodder right there. it lasts way too many seasons and everyone's sick of it and saying "damn that's still on???" after the second.

🐸 If you incorporated your OTP into a Disney movie plot, which would it be? fa&r couple into something like sleeping beauty, which may sound weird but like. real doomed from the start vibes. namjoon has his celebrity life and societal/idol expectations (aurora being bethrothed to someone at her christening and being cursed shortly thereafter) that do not lend themselves to a healthy, functioning relationship—that, just when you think they're about to get it right and sort their shit out, they just... don't (maleficent luring her away to prick her finger on the spinning wheel). lots of parallels there, i think!

fanfic writer emoji ask game

[swiftletinthecloud]

I also just realized something else. Do Ha wanted someone to remember him (and he probably wasn't remembered in his time after his death if his toxic adopted father had anything to do about it) so he really was forgot by history itself probably even as his ghost is there to experienced everything for 1500 years. Yet, now with Yeong Hwa dreaming and remembering about him, Do Ha, other people are remembering his existence too. Jun Oh's manager who knows the truth, the evil ghost, and now with the discovery of the lotus seeds at his old home that's on the news (which likely will get ppl in-verse researching who used to live there and all that). So with Yeong Hwa remembering and knowing about him, others are also starting to remember Do Ha too.

Also the lotus seed as her talisman and the old monk saying he wasn't the one who made it so like did Do Ha made it in the past then?

Moon in the Day, ep 5

I love me a good parallel and this show is FULL of them. Most of the time it is the past blending/overlapping into the future. And others it's Do Ha deliberately making the parallel. I mean:

This is not an accident. But now we have Yeong Hwa recognizing the parallels since she is remembering her dreams. She also seems to be dreaming more and m ore.

The louts seeds though. The LOTUS SEEDS. The fact that he gave them to her and the bet her that they would blossom in 1000 years. To her saying he would also have to live 1000 years to see if he wins the bet. I wonder if this is the start of them being forever tied. But even more, one of the seeds of her talisman was made from the lotus seed and it's now broken. Plus more of the seeds that he gave her have been found and they are trying to get them to blossom. Clearly the lotus seeds need to blossom as part of their story - maybe to release them from the cycle. And I'm going to further guess that it has to be the talisman one that needs to blossom.

I'm slightly surprised that he's confronted Yeong Hwa already about her calling him lord since the hospital (and that she's admitted to the dreams) but I forget this only has 14 episodes so maybe that's about right that it's coming out.

If I understood it right, the Yeong Hwa is the only one of Ri Ta's reincarnations who saw him. She's also the only one who resembled Ri Ta. I wonder why she stopped seeing him and did she forget about him once she did? Perhaps when she stopped seeing him, she started to have the dreams instead. Except now she's remembering the dreams.

I'm sad since it seems like Do Ha mostly wanted someone, anyone, to remember him.

I'm very curious about the old monk and what role he plays in this. He definitely knows more than he's saying and I think he may be trying to help them.

I cannot stand the actress lady but I love how Do Ha has zero time for her but also allows her to make a fool of herself. I loved the bit with the archery. She was so pleased with herself and how well she shot the arrow. Then she tries to teach Do Ha and says "i'll give you private lessons". I'm actually kind of annoyed that we did not get to see her reaction to him hitting the bull's eye twice.

The evil guy is watching Yeong Hwa and protecting her for... whatever evil plans he had. I'm guessing the suicide note he had the actor write is for the actor when eventually dies. The subs only had "suicide note" but there was a whole letter.

Last note: Do Ha, meet Seo Do Guk. You are both MLs in currently airing dramas who suffer from insomnia/bad dreams due to traumas (differing) but sleep peacefully with FL by their side.

[astorythatwritesitself]

How about 3, 14, 20, and 21 for Adrian?

Well this one was a lot of fun 😂

3: Scars or painful spots: Many |D Her hands got it worst, ME1 era they were littered with scrapes and burns from weapons; and there's a large scar across her face that she has no active memory of receiving (happened while on raid-guarding duty on a colony world, she got ambused with a knife). All of these get nullified during the Lazarus project- but hey, blank canvas! From there on, she develops:

-Permanent burn scars and mild nerve damage (even with the cybernetics- its not enough to mess with dexterity, there's just some loss of sensitivity) in her left hand from heavy use of fireballs, she's actually lost part of her fingerprints for a while there.

-The glowing scars fade, but that side of her face is always a little... tender.

-Everyone Lives scenario sees some nasty damage from the Citadel's fall, but her right leg gets it the worst- even when re-set, it's not straight and tends toward nasty flares of pain.

14: Ingrained habits/force of habit: Adrian Shepard's weapons are extremely well maintained, her armor is spotless, and if she has a bed, it is  c r i s p. She also tends to position herself at the front of any group she's in- even fully off duty, which gets annoying and kind of hilarious when it's somewhere she's never been.

20: What Ifs/Alternate Timelines: WELL FOR A WHILE I just had an 'everyone lives' AU but in trying to cross media to poke a buddy's angst button I'm now on uh.

Take your pick depending on angst tastes I guess, all stemming from 'haha hey what if Cerberus DID chip Shepard with an Order 66 style deal', and further context that Shrios happens.

Fuck it, is it really an OTP if you can't make them kill each other: chipped Shep goes after the salarian Councilor so it's Thane vs Shepard instead of Kai Leng! Fun options of:

otherwise fully canon compliant so Thane is far from top form and further hampered because this is is partner coming at him with full intent to kill, and we basically get That Renegade Interrupt From Later but now. (Further flavoring: Shepard as we know her is gone. Or: oh no she is FULLY fucking aware in her own mind and can't stop her body)

Less compliance with canon but following the sense that yeah if Mordin starts trying to cure Joker's issues for shits and giggles, he can probably at least alleviate Kepral's symptoms if he puts effort into it. Thane is in good form. Reapers and emotions be damned, he is one of the best assassins in the galaxy and a Shepard under Cerberus' control will doom them anyway. Assume the Virmire Survivor takes over from there. (I've always thought one of the cruelest AUs for my runs is Thane Lives Shep Dies, but wait! It can get even worse!)

Non-lethal takedown and chip is neutralized but uhhhh. It was pretty fucking wired in there. You don't have Shepard actively trying to fuck things up! Because her memory is rapidly deteriorating and her health won't do much better, so it's similar to above of the Virmire survivor taking over, while Adrian rides out her last few weeks with this very sweet guy who she halfway recognizes as being very important, but can't really place it. (In particular: early in, it seems to be a good day, they're talking... and Thane is very abruptly thrown back to what had been a very treasured memory of the SR2 when Adrian says, 'I think my translator just glitched.')

(I'm aware these are far from original, I've seen a few chipped Shep takes around xD but I never really considered it for Adrian til now.)

21: Turning Points In Their Life: Getting lost as a little kid and a turian helped get her safely back to her family. She didn't have a translator of her own yet (& human dialects had literally only JUST been added), and she had seen glimpses of stuff from the war (hard to avoid when your mom had been on the ground at Shanxi), so she was very nervous but put on a brave face. The turian was nothing but concerned because like, that's a clearly lost kid and some instincts are very common between space-faring sapient species. That pretty much sticks with her forever, the fact that even if she couldn't understand the words, their body language and actions were just like when her parents were irritable from worry.

Akuze, naturally, is another one. For a solid three years after, she simply gave in to a near fugue state of following orders... and more importantly, even once she started waking up and really got back to herself, another notion stayed in: She's the first one into a fight and the last to leave, even if it kills her.

(Send me some numbers + character for some headcanons!)

[swiftletinthecloud]

― William Goldman (insp)

Moon in the Day 낮에 뜨는 달 (2023)

@asiandramanet july bingo: blending | Kang Yeong Hwa / Han Ri Ta & Kim Do Ha

[margoshansons]

the leftover children (+ crisis on infinite earths)

--you are allowed to watch the sun swallow them whole and burn them up, to stain your fingers to the bone holding them together

(j.p.)

___________________________________________________

inspired by @cassercole and her amazing edits. (in fact, they’re the reason I got into the oc community in the first place, so please check them out!)

[a-slut-for-smut]

R u an ichiruki? I’m still salty about the ending lmao I can’t believe it. Do you know any IR blogs and any archive/library (fics) blog?

Also, recommendations of IR for horny jail pls

Hello fellow ichiruki anon!

Yup, big sloppy slut for ichiruki indeed, ill honestly go down with this ship despite that shipwreck of an ending. I'll admit i didnt follow the anime/manga entire as it dragged on with filler arcs and life got busy etc, but when i heard about the ending i thought i was having a fucking stroke, i still cannot make sense of it to this day (nor do i want to because my brain actively works to delete this kind of dumbfuckery from my memory). While its such a shame how it ended and spiritually i wanna be outside kubo's house like

...but then I take a deep breath and just tell myself titty kubo had a brain aneurysm and just leave it at that.

ANYWAY to your ask- full disclaimer when i was primetime ichiruki slut i was just a lurker, and this was YEARS ago but ill do my best to help ya out. I do follow some ichiruki peeps from back then but they more or less have moved to other ships/interests, but the ones below seem more active IR blogs from what i can tell:

@dangerousbride IR fanart/comics. Love her artstyle and always will @jellyribbons IR artist, gorgeous gorgeous art @hashtagartistlife IR artist/writer. Big slut for her work

@ichiruki good IR treats, very active @ichirukilover good IR treats, very active

Now im actually not aware of any IR archive library blog, but if there is one i would also be curious to know! @ ichiruki fandom, can anyone help us out???

And to the last part of your ask re: IR horny jail fic recs, there are 2 things you should know:

1. I am so out of date when it comes to the latest fics, and i mean by YEARS. So any i recommend will be old but obviously TASTY AF

2. At the time a lot of smut fics were "post-686" "fix-it" naturally, but a lot dealt with blatant adultery/infidelity. Now anyone who knows me i have a mutual respect kink. Not just to how my OTPs have towards each other, but for ppl they care about. While the smut was amazingly written/angst-ridden and im a total angst slut too, part of me had a hard time really investing myself in those fics as I personally cant condone cheating ever, because i know from experience how utterly it can destroy a person. So in general, my fic recs will be AU/canon divergent. AUGH i lament how kubo didnt make the ending open-ended, it would have been so much better :( Also in my headcanon i like to think despite IR being soulmates, they have utmost integrity to not hurt ppl they care about despite their immense love for each other, and that folks is some sweet sweet angst/doomed romance. Actually if anyone knows any fics like that pls share!!!

OKAY HERES THE IR SMUT FEST, ENJOY!!!

Unveiled by@hashtagartistlife God tier IR smut. Like seriously, this one is BEAN-FLICKIN good yaknowwhatimsayin Winter Warmth by@gunnerpalace Starts fluffy but then HOTHOTHOT The Two-Body Problem also by@gunnerpalace I remember how well-written the sexual tension building between IR was, i FELT their anticipation and anxiousness around each other. I think the smut chapter is actually on their blog and not on Ao3 for some reason! Nurse Rukia by Aquari Lynnel (MazokuSempai) Premise is a little silly/kinky but has all the good stuff :D The Red String That Binds by DeathMeetsLife Actually this one isnt really smutty but i HAVE to rec due to the sweet sweet angst scenario i just went on about because this is an angst FIESTA. BUT no cheating as Kazuo and Ichika are actually IR baby twins but are separated from birth...i wont spoil just READ its so good The Parting Glass by Darksknight LOL ok this isnt even primarily IR more Orihime x Ulquiorra, and actually is post 686/fix it BUT i had to rec because a) Orihime is given some fuckin agency her character deserved and i really like the authors take on her/POV b) the author is fuckin hilarious and on point with all the characterizations c) this fic is a fuckin gem, seriously just read it you wont have any regrets trust me

fuck me this post was long and i am sooooo behind on shit i needa do gotta end it here, hopefully this helps anon!!! xoxo

[swiftletinthecloud]

I can't take total credit for that otp tag since I got it from @handkinkbis but it just really spoke to me and I had to use it for them!

I usually use otp or ship tags if they've got multiple names going on or there's just a quote or phrase and I'm like that's them! 😆

Moon in the Day, ep 2

Two episodes in and I have so many questions and speculations. There's quite a bit to unpack here.

Firstly, we know that they loved each other in their past lives. Despite him killing her whole family. Despite her trying to kill him multiple times. He kept her close and she stayed close. It was a choice. I am very curious to know just WHAT made her finally go through with killing him only for her to hurl herself off a cliff after. Who was chasing them?

I like that their past is not told in chronological order. Rather we are getting it in bits and pieces, sometimes triggered by something that is said in the present and what he remembers.

We learn that he has been with her through multiple reincarnations. Always watching over her. It looks like her current life is the first time she's had her original face. And there just happens to be his doppelganger's body who has conveniently died. I'm convinced that their original life's faces, Joon Oh dying, Young Hwa passing out, the blood dripping down her arm plus the touching of the hands has allowed the General to inhabit Joon Oh's body.

I'm not sure why the cancer is still there when the other wounds healed. And I guess Joon Oh's heart is still beating which is also weird to me. Ultimately it means this body is a loaner and there will only be more grief later. It is just me or does he look a little sickly in that body?

It's interesting that the General can remember bits and pieces of Joon Oh's life. I wonder how far he can go back in his memories as right now they are fairly recent ones.

Which brings me to another point - was the General actually able to READ the script? The show made is seem like he did, which would not make sense since the written Korean language was not created until hundreds of years after he lived. So was he able to read it and if so, was it because Joon Oh could read it? Or is it because he's been with Young Hwa through 1500 years of reincarnations that he's naturally learned it?

I do like how he doesn't have any of the shock in being in the modern world, even though he doesn't really understand it fully and he still talks as he used to when he was alive.

Couple of final thoughts - I'm not convinced the talisman is the thing creating the magic bubble shield around Young Hwa though I could be wrong. I find it interesting how the General always refers to Young Hwa by her current name. It's never her original name (which I don't think they've said in the show yet, nor his for that matter).

Really want to see more from Young Hwa's perspective as she has likely suffered like him throughout her multiple reincarnations (the nightmares etc).

[musicallisto]

I couldn’t fit all of this in my reply so just know this is a response to your response of my questions over bly manor and hill house. Also another message will come in after this one that is the continued response to this one.

This is such a great review and very much valued opinion.

In my personal opinion, I think both shows were very much beautiful haunting, and neither really outweighed the other (though I am a very indecisive person).

Both really grasped the phantom of what it means to die but never really meet death. To be a ghost haunting the future as your maimed by an untold past.

Bly manor held the more tragic aspect of a thousand love stories (*spoilers ahead so if you haven’t watch Bly manor or Hill house you might not want to read*) with Dani and Jamie holding the trophy of what it means to selflessly love one another in life past death (their love story was by far the most tragic and I haven’t cried more than watching the last episode.) While Hannah and Owen (otp who deserve everything) display what it means to love someone who death has already claimed, that their love was only to be told in past tense never holding promises of the future. However, Owen never lets the grief of losing both his mother and lover tear down his own bright future and instead uses the love of which both brought (different ways of course) and builds it into his future in a healthy way that prosperous as both are not remembered for what was lost but what is loved. You even have the aspects of what it means to be both self sacrificial and uplifting the unconditional love of a true family (doesn’t matter if blood or not only matters of the unrequited love) can have between all of the characters. Starting with Miles and Flora (my god was flora precious. Miles was adorable when he who shall not be named wasn’t possessing him), the close connection (not in a weird way) between a brother and sister who despite their grief have been pulled closer to one another where they are willing to fight tooth and nail for one another, is such an emotional packed bond that I must elaborate on. I found seeing Miles do all those atrocious acts when Flora sent him that letter such a raw act of selflessness that shows how much Miles loved his sister and despite the trouble and own trauma it may bring him, he was willing to do it to save Flora. Then with Flora you have her uplifting selfless spirit that shows no bounds as she takes on the grueling task of keeping everyone safe from the lady of the lake while still loving the other faceless ghosts and giving them an identity so they may feel less forgotten. She shows self sacrifice when she stopped Dani from being taken by the lady of the lake even when she knew it meant her own doom. Flora holds together the love of bly and you can quote me on that. (Also I wonder if Flora knew the entire time Hannah was a ghost). Henry (my saints did this man put me through turmoil) displays his own love for the family. Despite the love affair and being cut out of his own family by his brother, he still shows care for his family, thought it may be distance (which is a bit warranted since he just lost the mother of his child who also happens to be the wife of his now deceased brother and blames himself for being the cause of their death), he eventually takes control of his own ghosts and is there when he is needed. (Also him calling flora to hear her voice but then never being able to speak is such a heart reaching moment for me as it connects to my own personal experiences). Hannah, Owen, and Jamie are pretty self explanatory as they make up the family of bly and keep it from falling apart. But then there’s selfless Dani, who despite everything, is willing to save everyone she loves (her family) without thought. That in her time of death, she carried no anger toward anyone but only love and when Jamie offered to take on the role of sacrificing herself to save her, Dani refused as she loved Jamie too much to condemn her too. (Now away from family and back to the others) There was of course the obsessive love between Rebecca and Peter, which was challenged by (queen) Rebbeca’s own moral compass and love she had for Miles and Flora. I like to think of Dani and Rebecca as a mirror (tee hee) of one another as both experienced what it felt to be-

in a lifeless love, yet their heart would guide them back to the love which made them feel alive (and both ended up showing that in love there is death and in death there is love.) So watching Rebecca help out Flora and Dani was such a heart warming moment as it shows that Rebecca deep down was a good person who had been maimed by a toxic love. Lastly, the guttural love of a dead mother and forgotten daughter that Viola displayed. Watching Viola seek out her daughter for centuries with nothing left of her, but that love for her daughter. However, Viola’s love is based on loss and revenge and the audience gets to see the love dwindle away as obsession takes place in Viola killing those who got in the way. It took me a while to understand Viola as she is (a very complex character with so many layers) very much more than just a vengeful mother seeking to kill. Bly manor really changed my idea of how I viewed love,death, and obsession. The show really showcased how truly haunting love can be, and that in death love exists.

Hill house to me was more the scarier side of what it means to conquer, succumb, and live with your own demons. And besides Theo, Nell was my favorite character as she is very much relatable to my own personal life experiences. And realizing that Nell was the bent neck lady all along really mind fucked me, because goddamn was that sad. Also i made the mistake of watching Bly manor before hill house so seeing Peter Quint (that man was vile) as sweet Luke Crain really tore at my heart strings as much as I hated Peter, I loved Luke. I was one to cry at the last episode when he blew out the candles. The soundtrack really messed me up too, because hell hearing “if I go, I’m goin” by Gregory Alan Isakov is already a shit show but that with the last episode of Hill house playing was what made me loose my mind. And let’s not even talk about the Dudley’s and how sad all that was.

I'm terribly sorry for how long it took me to answer this, but know that I've been cherishing these asks and adoring them in the comfort of my ask box because oh my GOD, the analysis!! I agree with you on so many points about Bly Manor, but you've also given me tons of new lenses to look at the show through. you've given it so much thought, and everything is so careful and precise and also loving - I can tell bly manor really left a mark on you (but on who hasn't it?) and it would have been a crime to leave these pieces of meta hiding in the corners of my ask box.

I think I've had a stronger attachment to Hill House because I watched it first, and was completely blown away by the mastery of the craft and themes - it was the first time I'd ever seen family and trauma discussed in such a way, and ghosts and spirits are one of the most recurrent themes/metaphors in my writing because I'm obsessed with all that they convey. the lingering of something both loved and despised... something undecipherable lurking in the walls of your own house, something you cannot run from, something that imbues your bones... but also something so very loving and protective, at the same time, like a watchful guardian shielding you from the horrors ahead and behind? and how all the siblings respond differently to the ghosts of Hill House and what they mean to them!! how, in the end, they all are one of the ghosts of Hill House!! I've just never recovered and I don't think I ever will.

[theolddivorcedzukka]

002 with yue

How I feel about this character: yue is so important to me cause u know me i love tragedy i love it when characters were doomed from the start (her life literally came from the moon she was born dead she couldn't have survived without the moon's power HER LIFE ALWAYS BELONGED TO THE MOON THIS IS INSANE) but also she was so sweet and i miss her every day ("an activity?" girl come back to me..)

All the people I ship romantically with this character: sokka and suki!! this girl can hold so much bi energy because what's gayer than being the moon??

My non-romantic OTP for this character: yue and katara !! also i think she would have gotten along really well with mai

My unpopular opinion about this character: well part of what i said in the first question. i don't get why people say there had to be another choice for yue where she didn't die like there literally wasn't any other choice babygirl lmao. or maybe that's just me loving tragedy sorry

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: ok forget what i said in the last one for this one, i would have loved to see her travel with the gaang or just travel the world when the war was over

my OTP: yuekka <3 but yueki comes really close like..an inch behind it

my cross over ship: none

a headcanon fact: yue bi ace btw!!! if u even care!! also i think she would love poetry, both writing it and also hearing sokka share his

[beccanoodles]

Spike and Faye Pairing Analysis

March 2021

Ah the hit or miss pairing of the century! If you don’t love it, you probably hate it lol. I’m a very analytical person so I love analyzing works of art and overall enjoy deep discussions about them too. I have SO much to say when it comes to Cowboy Bebop (and oh I plan to), but I have decided to start with my very own OTP. Here, I am not really going to discuss Spike and Faye’s feelings for each other, but rather why I think people are drawn to this pairing and why I think they're totally valid. Get ready for a long read!😁

⚠️SPOILER WARNING!!! [Major Cowboy Bebop and the movie Out of the Past spoilers]⚠️

First off, let’s clear something up. I am confident most of us can agree that Spike was in love with Julia. Some people assume Spike and Faye fans are deranged and disregard Spike and Julia’s romantic relationship to try and make something of Spike and Faye that never was. While some people may have their various theories and opinions on this, generally, I don’t think anyone denies Spike’s love for Julia. As we will see, this pairing is not really driven by who loves who...let’s first look on the surface.

I don’t know your experiences with the series, but in mine, every time I show this to people it never fails for someone to say something along the lines of,

“Wait, they don’t end up together?”

“Why didn’t he kiss her!?”

“He should have stayed with her...”

and so fourth. 

Naturally, this pairing catches many eyes. 

Think about it, you are given two really cool, really hot and really deep characters that are really fun to see together! There are so many parallels between the two and they are arguably the strongest characters of the bunch. Granted, you can agree with this and still not ship them, but these aspects are part of what opens up the door for many fans of the pairing.

However, there is certainly more to this pairing than them simply looking good together right? As the years pass and I’ve now seen the show multiple times, my understanding of it has evolved in many areas, Spike and Faye included. 

Spike and Faye really couldn’t have ended up together. Sure, it’s a nice thought, but It would have been an entirely different show if they had. I don’t feel that the show should have happened any other way and I don’t think many other fans would either. 

So, what am I saying here?

What’s the point of this paring if I don’t think they should have ended up together? 

It is what's so frustrating about them, yet keeps you coming back and what honestly validates this pairing in my opinion. Spike and Faye are not driven by what is, but rather, what could be.  

I personally feel the themes of classic film Noir are not discussed enough when it comes to Cowboy Bebop! This is one of the show's major influences, especially when it comes to the plot and characters.

One of the common tropes of a film noir is that of a protagonist who is drawn back into his past and ultimate doom, usually by the “seduction” of a femme fatale. In these movies, the women are either a femme fatale [devious, dangerous, mysterious, greedy, troubled, or unreliable] or a woman of virtue [reliable, dutiful, trustworthy, conventional and loving]. 

I am going to use the 1947 classic, Out of the Past to make my comparisons from here on out.

In Out of the Past, Jeff is a former detective who gets caught up in a love triangle between a gangster and his girlfriend Kathie, sound familiar? He attempts to run away with her, but is betrayed and runs off to start a new life in a new town. Here, he meets Ann and falls in love with her, but of course, his past catches up to him and he is drawn back into the world of criminals (largely by Kathie’s involvement). This ultimately results in his and Kathie’s deaths and Ann’s heartbreak. 

Even though Kathie is the femme fatale in this movie, I found myself comparing her more to Julia’s role in the show, than to Faye’s and I found that Faye actually fit best in Ann’s role (this is a bit unusual considering Faye is typically seen as the femme fatale of this show).

Does that mean I think Julia was as ill intentioned as Kathie or that Spike fell in love with Faye? Well, not exactly, let’s look at it a bit further.

“The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can’t leave alone...Like an angel from the underworld or a devil from paradise.”

Most of what we get about Julia is from Spike’s point of view. From this, we learn she is at the center of Vicious and Spike’s conflict, but aside from that she is basically depicted as “The Virtuous Woman” of a noir. The colors around her are warm and she is shown caring for Spike. There is an innocence and modestly about her as well.

Yet, when we finally do meet Julia, we get a different image. We know she is tied up with dangerous men, but is she herself a dangerous woman?

She is certainly capable of betrayal. 

Suddenly she is a bad-ass-gun-toting woman in leather and black, surrounded by hues of grey and dark blue. Intentional or not, Julia is a major part of what lures Spike back into the past and ultimately to his death. In this case, Julia is the femme fatale of Spike’s story and thus, their relationship is doomed from the start.

Faye, on the other hand, is portrayed in somewhat of a contrast. When we first meet her, she is the clear cut femme fatale, appearing cunning, strong willed and seductive. However, we soon find that she has quite a bit of kindness and naivety hidden behind her facade. She uses the former tactics as a way of emotional (and probably physical) protection. Gren points this out in his conversation with her. 

Gren, 

“You’re just afraid they’d abandon you so you abandoned them. You distanced yourself from the whole thing.”

As the show progresses, we start to see less of her “femme fatale nature” and something more genuine. Think about it, between Hard Luck Woman and RFB Part 2 we don’t see much of Faye as her typical conniving or unreliable self, aside from changing the course of the Bebop maybe. Sure she takes off, but it isn’t at all for the same reasons she did in Jupiter Jazz or Speak Like a Child, for example. 

I would argue we actually see her more trustworthy and caring than ever. Since I don’t want to spend too much time talking about Faye’s character development (not here at least) I’ll give one example of this. 

When she returns to the Bebop after her encounter with Julia in RFB Part 1, she gives Spike the message, even though the outcome might hurt her (i.e. he leaves and/or dies). While she does first say “It’s gonna cost you,” she doesn’t really mean it because she tells him without hesitation only moments later.

This isn’t to say Faye good, Julia bad. Both women have their layers and even though we know way more about Faye, I don’t get the impression that Julia is selfish and cunning like Kathie was. But I do get the feeling she was enclosed in a world of crime and betrayal the way Kathie was. We really only know the basics of Spike and Julia’s situation. Who knows the details like motive or how long it lasted etc. etc. We can only speculate...

There is a scene towards the end of Out Of The Past, where Kathie tells Jeff to go away with her. This time it is her asking him, just like Julia asks Spike. During this she mentions,

“I never told you I was anything but what I am, you just wanted to imagine I was. That’s why I left you.”

This got me thinking...did Spike imagine Julia as something she wasn’t? Or something he wanted her to be that she just couldn’t be? 

It could explain why we get such contrasted images of her.

There are themes of this “dreamlike” relationship between Jeff and Kathie, similar to Spike and Julia’s “It was all a dream.”

The two of them were going to “live and be free,” probably something neither of them knew how to do and most likely wouldn’t have been able to get away with.

When Jet asks Spike if he can just forget the past, this is his answer.

Spike,

“There was a woman. For the first time in my life I saw a woman that was truly alive. At least that’s what I thought. She was the part of me I had lost, that part that was missing, that I had been longing for.”

I always wondered about this, because Spike is clearly talking about Julia, but right after is when Faye shows up. To me, that spoke volumes...

Faye is a woman who is terribly human and terribly alive.

Going back to Faye and Ann, I find their similarities shine not so much in the “Virtuous Woman,” concept, but rather in Ann’s dedication to Jeff and her optimism for the future. She is also the last person to talk to Jeff before he leaves for the final time, as if he were being presented with one last alternative. Spike spends his last moments with Faye as well, in which she basically begs him not to go and keep him in the present that she has now discovered for herself. She may be stuck, but she is definitely someone that yearns for human connection, love, and life.

The problem is, Spike and Faye are both set in opposite directions. Her’s leads to a future and Spike knows this because he points it out early on (My Funny Valentine). He also knows, his most likely does not. He has already dug himself too deep into this hole, if you will, that there is really no turning back. 

But let’s say none of that was an issue? What could be?

I sat and watched this movie (Out of the Past) with my mom. She didn’t know anything about it and didn’t know why I was watching it. I wanted her genuine reaction. The whole time she was getting mad at Jeff until the very end. I asked her why and she said that she wanted him to be able to live happily with Ann. I explained to her why he had to do what he did. She understood this, but still couldn’t help but be sad at how things turned out for him, when they could have been good.

Even though Kathie and Jeff are the “lovers,” of this movie, you don’t really want them to end up together. Forget that Kathie has a devious nature, regardless, you know where it has to end and you don’t want to see your hero die.

Like Kathie, Julia symbolizes Spike’s inevitable doom and Like Ann, Faye symbolizes his possible future. 

“I’ll be with you till the end”

                           “You’re the one still tied to the past Spike!”

                                                               “Why do you have to go? Where are you going? What are you gonna do, just throw your life away like it was nothing?!”

It’s two sides of a sad coin...

We want Spike to have a future and because we love the characters of the show, it would be really great if he could have it with them, but that is where the tragedy is. It's only an idea we can think about, a possibility presented to us as it was to Jeff and Spike before their deaths.

The bottom line is, when it comes to Spike and Faye you are really only given a taste. You are not given what you expect to see, which is why I say this ship is driven by what could be. As it is with most of the character relationships in the show, no major breakthroughs are made until the very end, when it's too late. Then it just feels like such wasted potential, but sometimes in life, that's how it is. And thus, we have been given a very classic noir here ladies and gentlemen!

So no, I don’t think people miss the mark when they ship Spike and Faye, nor do I find they invalidate the show by any means. I kind of like that Watanabe switched it up and didn’t do the expected, but left us those subtle hints. He didn’t outright give Spike another lover, but he gave us someone that represents what he could have. Kind of does that with the crew as a whole too!

UGH. I love-hate this show and I love this pairing! Thank you for reading my thoughts and I know this may not be the case or reasoning for everyone, but just based on what I have seen around the community and where this show draws inspiration, this is what I have concluded. I didn’t get into Spike and Faye’s feelings for each other because it gets a little more theoretical there, but I would like to do a post on my thoughts on that as well sometime. I also didn’t touch too much on Spike’s reasoning for choosing to face Vicious in the end, just because I know that will only lead into a whole other analysis lol. But you know I have my thoughts on that and certainly plan to share them 😎 Also, I know I basically spoiled it, but Out of the Past is such a great movie!! I think if you’re a fan of this show it's definitely worth a watch! There are so many more parallels to Cowboy Bebop that I didn’t even mention. Anyways, thanks again and talk to you soon!