#power book 2 ghost s3

[tvshowcloset]

Who: Alix Lapri as Effie Morales What: Sacai Cargo-Pocket Pleated Mini Skirt - Sold Out Where: Power Book II: Ghost 3x01 “Your Perception, Your Reality"

[xothemedia]

Power Book II: Ghost 3x8 | “Sacrifice”

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S3 Musings - Armand, Lestat, & Marius

I am SO glad Sam Reid properly contextualized Lesmand's mess, cuz folk keep ignoring the most crucial aspect of Armand's entire psycho-sexual obsession with Lestat: MARIUS.

Autumn Brown went and pulled out the same tired quote people always use from Blood Communion, Armand raving how Les is "it" for him, wigging TF out. But Sam shut that ish down immediately:

Cuz people constantly decontextualize the circumstances under which Armand even said that to Lestat in the first place:

I explained this all the way back when 2x3 aired and Armand gave that BS fanfic about Les "abandoning" him & Nicki & the coven--I knew Armand was lying, cuz that's NOT how Les leaving went down!

In the BC quote, Armand is saying that he loves & hates Lestat, cuz he's JEALOUS of Lestat. Armand was abandoned by Marius (I posted a whole tirade against Marius about this), and resented that Marius had forsaken his "beloved Amadeo" in his hour of need after being indoctrinated by the CoS; meanwhile Marius didn't know Lestat from a stranger in the effing street and still let the man live with him and told him all his deepest darkest secrets that he never told his own Blood Fledgling Spouse Child Amadeo. What makes Lestat so effing special, that Marius--who keeps EVERYONE at arms length--was suddenly welcoming this rando French blonde chaos demon with open arms; doing eff all to Les when he ran blabbing about TWMBK to the entire world?! Amadeo was the one Marius said he loved most, who he then kicked to the curb when Amadeo broke the rules/disappointed Marius, and never heard Boo! from him for the next 500 effing years! Why HIM and not ME, when you were MY everything?

Armand felt abandoned, and more than anything, he was TERRIFIED in BC, cuz just when Marimand were just starting to reconcile and get along again after a good 30+ years of tension post-reunion in QotD, Marius got kidnapped by the Big Bad Rhoshamandes, who'd already kidnapped the other people Lestat loved most: his son Viktor, his mom Gabrielle, & his Blood Spouse Louis. Armand was never kidnapped--Rhosh skipped right over him, and took Lestat's father-figure Marius. Armand was certain that if Lestat went after Rhosh he'd be killed, that he'd "vanish into the same darkness that has swallowed Louis and Marius." Armand panicked, cuz if Marius & Louis & Lestat were all dead, who would Armand have? What "imitation of purpose" would he have?

The Elders were actually SCARED for Armand in BC, afraid that he'd try to kill himself again (a la Memnoch).

Armand was speaking from a place of panic & pain, clinging to Lestat as his last life raft. Cuz Lestat always represented a type of hope & inspiration for Armand. All old AF vamps need someone who can help them "Make Contact With The Age" and learn about the modern world from--cuz vampires are mimics & hungry ghosts who parasitically feed off of others. (Louis is an extremely modern vampire, even in the books, who becomes the Contact for Lestat AND Armand.)

Armand DESPERATELY wanted Lestat to be his Contact, but Lestat ALWAYS rejected him, knowing Armand was just a bottomless pit that could never be fulfilled.

But Armand's a psychopath who loves the chase (a la Devil's Minion), so in a way, Lestat's rejections kept Armand pushing forward. Lestat wanted Armand to learn how to stand on his own 2 feet. Lestat loves Armand like a little brother, and cares about his well-being, and sees the potential in Armand because he IS a powerful coven master with nerves of steel--he has what it takes to lead, but he insists on following Lestat--the "Fool for God."

Amadeo ("Beloved of God") worshipped Marius; if Les had let him, Armand would've worshipped him, too. Cuz they're White Jesus.

God Complex Lestat believed that all vamps are gods in & of themselves; who shouldn't feel the need to worship anyone, God or the Devil. They should all live like him, devil-may-care, middle finger & fist to the sky. He's always been a FIGHTER. And if there's one thing Lestat doesn't like in a companion, it's a simp effing doormat who never does anything to stimulate or excite him; who just lies on their back & takes anything & everything the world throws at them--no challenge or fight whatsoever. Armand never stood a chance; just like Sam said: "they're not really compatible in that way."

Louis had BITE to him--"there's the spark!" but ironically, Lestat's oppressive domineering behavior contributed to all the factors that chipped away at Louis' confidence, till he was literally broken in Ep5. Lou's 2x8 speech that he's ready to reclaim his agency & autonomy is a step in the right direction for Loustat as a couple, as they both learn to respect each other's individualism, without Les tryna force Lou to be the type of vampire HE thought was best; allowing Louis to (re)grow into his skin & not think it's a personal rejection of him if Lou decided to not follow Les's every effing word about vamps (which would become CRUCIAL in PLatRoA)--and Lou learning to not be so condescending & judgemental against Les's hedonistic impulses.

There is no way for Armand to ever ingratiate himself to Lestat, when he's ALWAYS looked to Lestat to tell him how to act & live & dress & behave. Lestat wants a partner/parent to love, NOT a child to raise. Louis was a fledgling whom Les barely even managed to teach how to be a vampire--but Louis never relied on Lestat to teach him how to be his own person. Louis was never looking for Lestat to be his effing father. But Armand's literally an orphan child who's been looking for a father-figure to teach him how to be a person, ever since he was kidnapped & sold into slavery as a human; and Marius left the kind of hole in Armand that no one ever filled--not Louis, not Daniel, not Benji or Sybelle. But Lestat looked into that hole, pointed & laughed, and said fill it yourself, or die.

So thank frikkin god Sam brought all this up: the dynamic b/t Lesmand isn't REALLY about Lestat at all. It's about how deeply Armand's been affected by Marius being GOD to him, and how Armand's suffered from abandonment issues & PTSD--that I'd argue are even WORSE than Lestat's.

[mistfallengw2]

2, 7, 10, and 11 for Maeveryl?

@mystery-salad

Get to Know Your Character

2. How do they treat themselves when they're feeling sad?

First, they allow themselves to feel the sadness (no bottling up allowed), then try to make up for it. If Adamas or friends are not available to spend time with them, they'll dive deep into books, maybe after a good training session to let out the tension.

-

7. What emotions or situations do they try to avoid? Why?

(Bottled up) anger and situations that may cause it. Maybe weird for a berserker, but they have valid reasons.

[More bits of context and lots of rambling under read more at the bottom]

-

10. What are their emotional triggers?

Being harshly reminded of people they lost or being put in situations where they could lose people they care about, as it triggers more negative emotions than they might be ready to deal with at once. They can still manage to function for a long time and deal with it just fine, but it still affects them greatly and leads to them needing more time to recover.

Going berserk can also act as a trigger and leave them emotionally raw, as channeling rage can also carry other negative feelings and painful memories, especially if they do it too often or for too long.

They also do not like to have Balthazar's action be brought up in their presence. While they don't really have a connection to him (they did feel a bit of magical resonance around him or where he had used his powers, which became relevant in S3 and PoF) and they can rationalize the fact that Aurene absorbed Balthazar's magic, they still feel somewhat ashamed that they're the way they are because of something Balthazar once created (which pairs up badly with being a sylvari, y'know). The negative experiences with a few people who brought it up in a more or less accusatory manner kind of sealed the instant-negativity of the topic.

-

11. How do they feel about love?

In their opinion, it's the essence of life, in all its forms. If you don't love and care about others and the beauty of this world, what are you even doing with your life?

While they never really look for love, they love without shame and are very sappy about it all, as it's what keeps them grounded. No one really has the heart to complain though, no matter how annoying it might be for them, given how genuine they are about it.

-

MORE CONTEXT FOR 7. [Oh boy this got rambly, but the cinnamon roll shroom deserves it.]

After undergoing the transformation granted by the Idol of Balthazar (during The Ghost Rite), Maeveryl actually did suffer from side effects tied to it. They didn't turn into, as Gixx had put it, "a ravaging, blood-crazed psychopath", but they became quite moody and started getting carried away during battle, which was weird for someone who used to be cheerfully calm, warm sunshine personified and not particularly interested in combat regardless of their talent for it.

Initially they thought it was just emotional dysregulation tied to mourning Sieran's death and the whole stress of helping with the creation of the Pact, but they felt a lot and felt it strongly, both in positive and especially in negative, and it seemed to increase the more time passed (and the more they dipped into that mental state). After they mentioned how they felt during the Battle of Fort Trinity (which was a wild emotional rollercoaster for them), some of their fellow scholars brought up the possibility of the idol's influence and the similarities with berserkers' abilities. It made sense, Maeveryl figured it wasn't that big of a deal since it had its valid uses in combat, so they kept allowing it to happen... until they nearly died due to the recklessness that came with it. It was their first sobering experience, and the now-mostly-faded scar on their face (left by the "secondhand" magical fire of the searing cauldron) serves as a perpetual reminder of the risks they had ignored up to that point.

For the rest of the Orr campaign, Maeveryl tried their hardest to avoid anything that could make them angry or particularly sad, which quickly proved to be nearly impossible given the Pact was fast approaching Arah. So they bottled it all up and pretended to be fine! After a fast recovery, they pushed to go with Trahearne and the others to the Source of Arah, and their new method backfired quite fast, as Adamas had to risk getting in their way to get them to snap out of it. Unable to join the final battle due to their recent wounds and sore in all the ways, they waited in the backline camps, trying to quickly get ready to face their emotions and keep themselves in check no matter what happened. While they didn't lose anyone they truly cared about, such a potent fear of loss and ending up as emotional support for others was another sobering experience, if not even "educational", for lack of a better term.

After Zhaitan's defeat, believing that those powers could still be useful if used correctly, they focused on studying their own situation and reaching a good level of control, all with support and help from Adamas and their friends to keep them in check and grounded whenever things got too stressful. It was something they were already fairly good at, but fast forward a few months, they had learned the proper ways to manage and channel any sort of emotion without letting it get to them, allowing them to enter berserk mode at will and develop their powers. It was far from perfect, but letting themselves go berserk during combat became sort of therapeutic to Maeveryl, as they could finally have an outlet to let out all of the negativity in a "productively destructive" manner. Still, they learned the hard way that it had to be done in relative moderation (or at least properly counterbalanced with rest and positive things) to avoid succumbing to it, so they still tried to avoid any personal emotionally intense situation they could (and specifically one particularly sore spot).

In the years that followed, Maeveryl didn't lose themselves no matter what happened, be it loss of dear friends or catastrophic events, and it all ended up being quite instrumental during HoT (where they resisted Mordremoth's call better than most, meekly accepted the abuse all sylvari suffered, and had the calm nerves to call themselves off the mission when they felt at their limit) and later in IBS. Other than that, their overall demeanor became even calmer than it used to be, they learned to be a great mediator, and they ended up becoming even more fiercely supportive of their loved ones (especially Adamas, of course).

Only one other time they lost themselves in the rage, years later in Bjora's Marches, but it was to save Adamas in an impossible situation, and they snapped back as soon as the threat was eliminated. It hurt enough that they didn't tap into it for months, though not for the reasons most could imagine. When it happened again for another similarly good reason, they thought they'd lose themselves again, but they kept full control for the very first time.

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: august 2023

read:

The Song of Roland - I wouldn't have picked it up if I didn't chance upon a neat old copy for free. It's, uh, educational? And the translation into Russian is quite beautiful

Angélique and the Demon, Angélique and the Ghosts, Angélique in Québec by Anne Golon - still reading this series and honestly can't wait to finish it - not because I don't like the books, but because the translation gets progressively worse with each volume. Someone please tell these people there's a difference between a wolverine and a lynx, or between a guinea pig and a porpoise (I know the latter two are called almost the same in Russian, but context, man. Context. Guinea pigs don't frolic in the waves). Story-wise, however, I am still having a great time

+ currently reading the next Angélique book and Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater (the sequel to Half a Soul I read last month)

watched:

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) - honestly, I watched it because: 1) I wanted to check out the show but thought I won't understand anything without the movie; 2) Salma Hayek pretty. I didn't expect to enjoy it because it's written by Tarantino and I really, really don't vibe with Tarantino, but enjoy it I did. The hostage-taking part was actually unsettling and the vampire-fighting part was fun; the family dynamics were also good. Again, Salma Hayek pretty, which also helps

From Dusk till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) - empty, skippable

From Dusk till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (1999) - now that's better, if only for the period setting. Ara Celi has perfect looks for a sweet kind girl tragically turned into a monster. I think the moral here is that if you're physically abusive to your kid, then your kid is better off being a vampire, what do you mean I'm misinterpreting?

From Dusk till Dawn: The Series (s1-3, 2014-2016) - as you could probably tell from the amount of gifsets I keep reblogging, I loved this one. Mythology, westerns, reluctant teamwork, family feels, hot people fighting and drinking blood - what's not to love? (Actually, that one character death is not to love, and the last episode is hella rushed, but what can you do). It actually isn't necessary to watch the film to understand it, but the knowledge of it makes it very interesting to compare the two and notice the cameos from the actors who were in the film. S3 kind of reminded me of Teen Wolf, which isn't much of a compliment, but this show overall had the same ambience as a lot of stuff I watched as a teen/in my early 20s (understandable, being made in that exact period), so that was nice.

Oak Thorn & The Old Rose of Love (2022) - this is like 20 minutes long but deserves to be on the list, because it's the story of Merlin and Nimue made by the director of The Green Knight, and it's beautiful

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) - it's good! Not "wow, incredible" good, but good, and I'm glad it is, because it's such a powerful and underrated chapter of Dracula. A slightly more detailed review with spoilers here

Woe Is No Big Deal / Раз, два — горе не беда! (1988) - rewatched this gem and dying to know if Leigh Bardugo has seen it, because this satirical fairytale/Cold War allegory was doing ~tsarpunk~ long before her

Wild Nights with Emily (2018) - that's right, there's more than one comedy about Emily Dickinson. This one's based on a play and feels like a play, which took some time getting used to, but in the end I enjoyed it

[tomorrowedblog]

Thursday Releases for October 3

Friday is usually the busiest day of the week for new releases. Not this week though. For some reason there a bunch of releases on a Thursday. Whatever. Thursday Releases for October 3 include Salem’s Lot, Hold Your Breath, House Of Spoils, and more.

Salem’s Lot

Salem’s Lot, the new movie from Gary Dauberman, is out today.

Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Hold Your Breath

Hold Your Breath, the new movie from Karrie Crouse and William Joines, is out today.

In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region’s horrific dust storms, a woman (Sarah Paulson) is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.

House Of Spoils

House Of Spoils the new movie from Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy, is out today.

House Of Spoils follows an ambitious chef (Ariana DeBose) who opens her first restaurant—a farm-to-table affair on a remote estate—where she battles kitchen chaos, a dubious investor, crushing self doubts… and the powerful spirit of the estate’s previous owner who threatens to sabotage her at every turn.

Heartstopper S3

The third season of Heartstopper, the TV series from Alice Oseman, is out today.

Charlie and Nick are ready to take things to the next level. As they get closer in every way, they face their relationship’s biggest challenge yet.

Dan Da Dan

Dan Da Dan, the new TV series from Fūga Yamashiro and Hiroshi Seko, is out today.

This is the story of Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult freak. The two of them started talking after Momo rescued Okarun from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them since Momo “believes in ghosts but denies aliens,” and Okarun “believes in aliens but denies ghosts.” To make the mutual deniers believe in each other, Momo goes to an abandoned hospital, which is a UFO spot, and Okarun goes to a tunnel, which is a haunted place. In each place, they encounter overwhelming paranormals that transcend comprehension. Amid predicaments, Momo awakens her hidden power and Okarun gains the power of a curse to challenge the paranormals! Their fateful love begins as well!?

Gnomes and Knights

Gnomes and Knights, the new game from Terletski Games, is out today.

Gnome hunting reaches a new level! Become a mighty knight and plunge into the world of dark fantasy without leaving your home.

Victory Heat Rally

Victory Heat Rally, the new game from Skydevilpalm and Playtonic Friends, is out today.

Welcome to VHR! Unlock the secrets of speed in this turbocharged neo super scaler arcade racing experience. Dominate the track & drift your way to the finish line on the road to becoming the VHRC champion.

Wizard of Legend 2

Wizard of Legend 2, the new game from Dead Mage and Humble Games, is out today.

Face perilous magical trials in the fast-paced rogue-lite follow-up to the acclaimed original, featuring co-op and vibrant new 3D visuals. Master new Arcana and elements, experiment with spell combinations, and become the next Wizard of Legend!

Parcel Corps

Parcel Corps, the new game from Billy Goat Entertainment and Secret Mode, is out today.

Ditch the 9-5 and embrace the high octane life of a freelance bicycle messenger! Forget the job security, stable salary, and basic workplace rights less cool jobs offer while you ride along walls, grind rails, and startle pigeons on your way to corporation-toppling domination.

[murfpersonalblog]

I think Santiago was more or less right when he called Loustat " a story of love wronged" during the Trial. Cuz their relationship was as effed up as it was genuine--"the blood is bad here"--and there's just so much to their history where they desperately need a clean slate. Louis has his side of the story, and Lestat has his side, and they're both riding high on emotions--if the S3 promo/teaser's any indication, Les's rockstar career'll be a drug-fueled mess of unhinged emotions (haunted by the memory/ghost of Claudia). So I doubt we'll be leaving Unreliable Narrator territory any time soon.

But I do expect Les to be very candid about how much he loves Lou, and (over)emphasize how much he tried to save/help him get better--the tragedy being that Les was utterly unequipped to understand/handle Lou's mountain of trauma, when Les hadn't even processed his own yet (hence: his TVL backstory). So hopefully he'll take accountability for all the ways he made things worse instead of better, and realize where he messed up in the past, so that in the future he can finally be the vampire worthy of Louis' love.

Lou'd convinced himself that, cuz of all the horrible things Les did to him, he didn't truly love Lou. In 1973 Lou's PISSED, screaming how much Les was "A MONSTER!" as Daniel egged him on, both of them high AF and in no way fit to do an impartial interview. In 2022 Lou's lost in the sauce under decades of Armand's brainwashing, tryna regain lost memories. We know Lou's petty AF, and genuinely resents Les for the wrongs Les did against him & Claudia. But we know huge chunks of 2022 were an "Armand-shaped effigy;" telling Lou (& Daniel) that Les was worse than he really was. So Lou's grappling with 2 different narratives:

A) Lestat the doting husband whom Lou'd always been in love with and was actually very honest about from the very beginning: "my coal fire," Lou nodding his head with a kiss of acceptance in the church on the altar; Les who bought the Fairplay for him, could never say no to him, was desperate for his attention/affection, always shared Lou's coffin, wrote him love songs, gave him a home, gave him a daughter, danced with them in the courtyard, laughed the movies, kissed him in public, etc. Les whom Lou's wants to give "a more nuanced portrait" in 2022; always making excuses for Les' behavior "he had a way about him, the vampire bond," "I couldn't burn him."

B) Lestat the monster who hunted him & preyed on him--just like Les did to him at the Trial by making Lou seem like some disgusting sexual deviant predator, "his eyes sliding down me, Come to Me." With Armand helpfully interjecting---egging him on--how awful Les was, "a Lestat-shaped effigy;" "Banishment;'" "until you're left with no sense of what is real or not;" the "raging narcissist" who "abandoned Armand, Nicki & the coven," etc.

And the coolest thing about vampires (who ALL hunt & groom & gaslight & mind-read & manipulate the humans they want to to Turn--hence: power imbalances & taking advantage of humans' ignorance/naivety) is that they're not mutually exclusive; the "truth" is somewhere in the middle.

I was really mad at 2x5, cuz I'd hoped for something closer to the books with Louis' suicide attempt. I fully expected Armand & Lestat to be there, but I REALLY wanted Louis to hear Lestat's "I love you, Louis. Tell him I love him, Armand!"

There's 4 huge Loustat scenes where Lestat saves Louis' life:

the initial Turning in IWTV, as suicidal Lou was dying of alcoholism

Akasha's burnings in QotD

the vamp upgrade in Merrick after Louis' suicide attempt

saving Louis from Rhoshamandes in Blood Communion

In Merrick, Les literally saves Lou's life again; his blood giving Lou a powerful vamp upgrade (inc. the Fire Gift). AMC's given all that to Armand, throwing up all these extra walls & barriers between Loustat--"we exist now in 2 different worlds."

But while I was mad in 2x5, they patched it in 2x8. There, Louis DOES realize that the evil predator he'd though was out to hunt/hurt him (in the Trial) really was there out of love, to help/save his life!

Sadly, Les' efforts came at the cost of Claudia's life--in 1x4 & 2x7.

So I hope we'll get the QotD & BC scenes, where even though Les constantly does effed up things cuz he IS effed up, he really wants the best for Lou, the love of his life; and really is tryna become WORTHY of Louis, even when he screws up. Cuz he's human.

And we'd BETTER get the Whither Thou Goest scene from PlatRoA, where Lou finally forgives & accepts Les, and they get married.

“I was being hunted.”

With each rewatch, I’m always struck by the look Lestat gives Louis in 1x01. As Louis tells Daniel, "I was being hunted," the camera pans to Lestat, who is staring at Louis with an expression that can only be described as love and longing.

The first time I watched, I took Louis’ story at face value, believing him as I did with most of his claims. Thus, I perceived this glance far differently than I do now. Now that we know Louis is an unreliable narrator, I see this framing as attempt for Louis way to avoid the guilt and shame he feels over being seduced by Lestat. By casting Lestat as a predator, Louis distances himself from the guilt of choosing him again and again.

While there are countless reasons why Louis might have portrayed Lestat this way, it’s worth revisiting the narrative with the knowledge we have now: that Lestat fell desperately in love with Louis and courted him for months. The look we see here is not that of a manipulator with a grand, conniving plan, but of someone patiently and desperately waiting for Louis to meet him where he is, and to love him deeply as he loves him - a dynamic that will the continue throughout the entire narrative.

[boombox-fuckboy]

Hi @rec-rewind, I hope you don't mind I make a post for this. I know you like Unwell, you've heard TMA, and you're listening to Archive 81 (if season 2 was more your thing). Here's 30 other horror pods for you:

Alice Isn't Dead: A truck driver travels America, telling stories of her strange encounters while looking for the wife she had thought was dead.

A Voice From Darkness: A radio help line for all your strangest and most disturbing troubles. Host Dr. Ryder takes calls, answers questions, shares strange history, and discusses ongoing supernatural problems around America.

The Blood Crow Stories: Each season is it's own horror story. S1 is tapes from a doomed cruise ship in WW2, S2 is a religious horror western, S3 is a cyberpunk with demons, and S4 is the occult and old-time movie studios.

The Deep Vault: Dead Signals' (Archive 81) other podcast, following survivors of a crumbling world in an underground bunker, complete with robots, ai, cosmic entities, etc.

Dining in the Void: Heads up for initial pacing issues and rough audio, but the issue is resolved, and I enjoy other aspects of the show enough to disregard. A group of strangers are summoned to a space station for a party, and promptly locked in with various horrors and an ominous countdown, until they can work out who the host is.

Dos: After You: A charming young hitman leaves home to travel Europe, hoping to track down, and kill, the god he fell in love with.

Down: A group of scientists and explorers are put in a submarine sent down an apparently bottomless pit in Antarctica. Nobody likes what they find down there.

Duggan Hull: After her friend/ex-girlfriend goes missing, a young woman tries to track her down and ends up in the middle of a strange and disturbing small town mystery. Fantastic piece of cosmic horror. (Not on Spotify)

Hello From The Hallowoods: A powerful entity visits your nightmares bearing stories of the people, in varying states of human and alive, who inhabit the Hallowoods, through horrors and joys, and as their lives begin to meet. Super queer.

Hi Nay: Supernatural horror following a young woman named Mari, who's babaylan (shaman) family background draws her into helping people with various horrific supernatural problems around Toronto. Formatted as phone calls to her mother telling her what's happened.

The Hotel: About a supernatural hotel that kills people, and the weird staff that make it happen.

How I Died: Work recordings of a forensic pathologist who can see ghosts, when he moves to a new town and encounters a strange sequence of murders.

I am in Eskew: Personal accounts from a man living in something that very much wants to be a city, and an investigator who was, in her words, hired to kill a ghost. Creatively horrific stories with a gentle voice and ambient rain. Rougher audio initially but not uncomfortably so.

Janus Descending: A xenopalentologist and a xenoarcheologist investigate the abandoned ruins of an ancient alien civilisation and find more than they bargained for. Listen to the supercut for this one. Really clever use of a strange format: you hear her recordings first to last, and his last to first, and it's all the more heartbreaking for it.

The Lost Cat Podcast: A man befriends strange entities, loses bits of himself and drinks an awful lot of wine while looking for his cat. Unique and fun writing that's stuck with me, yet just the right hint of cliché to make it satisfying in the moment, too. Soft and cosmic horror. (Not on Spotify)

Mabel: Series of voicemails from an elderly woman's caretaker, to her unresponding grandaughter. Horror/mystery with a slow slide into poetic lesbian fae body horror.

Maps of the Lost: An audio guide book to the strange people, places, and happenings of Britan. Lovely soothing voice, more supernatural or new weird but horror enough for this list.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity and Mortality: You're led through a museum of strange artifacts by a sweet audio tour guide AI, who will tell you the story behind each one. More new weird but there's plenty horror in there too.

Old Gods of Appalachia: Tales from the 1800s and 1900s of an alternate Appalachia inhabited by witches, old gods, and entities beyond understanding. With the air of being told stories around a campfire, these tales are connected by individuals or places, seperate but not detached. Any character is disposable, but none are treated with less respect than they deserve.

The Petrol Station: Strange and unsettling stories from a young woman working at a 24 hour petrol station in a very remote british town. Only 5 episodes, but I am hoping for more.

Red Valley: British cryogenic conspiracy comedy horror with some truely gorey sfx at times. Not my sense of humor personally, but it is enjoyable regardless and well made.

SAYER: Several sophisticated AI bully you into completing an array of both mundane and horrible tasks.

SCP: Find Us Alive: First, you don't need to know anything about SCP to enjoy this. A research team gets trapped in an underground research facility when the complex collapses and the building is dragged into a pocket dimension. The tear it was designed to study begins creating tiny copies of itself, generating strange entities the team needs to deal with. Oh, and the entire situation physically resets every 30 days. And yet, this is genuinely also an office comedy.

The Sheridan Tapes: In 2018, famous horror writer Anna Sheridan went missing leaving behind a collection of strange tapes. Listen along as a young detective with his own strange past tries to work out what happened to her. Cosmic horror.

The Silt Verses: In a modern world where gods are both commercialised and banned, two followers of an outlawed river god go on a pilgrimage. Great worldbuilding and tasty body horror. Same creators as Eskew (further up this list)

Station Blue: Isolation horror following a maintenance man who sets up an antarctic research base ahead of the main crew. Based on the creator's experiences with her own untreated mental illness but also there's some cosmic fuckery and light body horror.

Video Palace: Guy (and his wife when she has time) hosts a personal investigation into a collection of video tapes generally considered an urban legend, after he finds one and begins sleep talking.

The White Vault: A repair group sent to a research base near Svalbard gets trapped inside as an unending snowstorm rages, decides to take a nosy at the tunnels under the base, and find some disturbing things. Fantastic audio and a fun cast of accents and languages.

VAST Horizon: An agronomist travelling to a new world wakes from cryo to find the ship empty, off-course, and damaged. With the guidence of a malfunctioning AI, she tries to work out what happened and how to stop the situation aboard from getting worse.

WOE.BEGONE: A man's curiousity gets the better of him as he begins to play an alternate reality game of a different kind. The challenges are brutal and disturbing, but for the prize on offer, it might just be worth it. Single most endearing asshole lead I've encountered, very funny, very gay, and the music slaps.

Hopefully at least one appeals.

[cyanocittae]

I posted 3,296 times in 2022

That's 3,296 more posts than 2021!

113 posts created (3%)

3,183 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@queercoded-disney-villain

@purple-autism-turtle

@autismdino

@saturniidd

@bi-panic-at-the-disco

I tagged 1,936 of my posts in 2022

Only 41% of my posts had no tags

#the owl house - 340 posts

#toh - 339 posts

#amphibia - 224 posts

#the owl house spoilers - 138 posts

#toh spoilers - 103 posts

#she ra - 52 posts

#mood - 48 posts

#important!! - 42 posts

#save - 42 posts

#she ra and the princesses of power - 40 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#honestly the only reason i'm not in the warriors fandom is because i only read the first 6 books because the library didn't have the rest

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

halloween costumes (feat. ghost)

(click for better image quality; versions without tint, with just luz + amity, and sketch below the cut! happy halloween <;3)

See the full post

69 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

#4

did a lil doodle when i found out it was lumity anniversary :)

might color it later idk

80 notes - Posted July 30, 2022

#3

LONG HAIR

(without tint below)

i am so happy that we have a date for s3 ep1

137 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

#2

“Luz, I know things are scary, and I don’t know what the future holds, but it would be so cool if you were a part of that.” (Amity, Thanks To Them)

i thOUGHT THAT SOUNDED FAMILIAR

“Everything is so crazy right now, and I have no idea what my future holds, but it would be so cool if you were in it.” (Luz, Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door)

SHE QUOTED THE CONFESSION SCENE

IM NOT CRYING IM NOT CRYI

171 notes - Posted October 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

why is this so aggressive what did he do

284 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[xeo-kunsatan]

Willy Liddel Lazuli

Age: 8-9 years

Race: Flying Fox (Bat)

He was just an innocent child living with his widower father (Jason) and living a normal school life next to some classmates and a casual friend of him Tails who was back in his school.

When Willy find out his father was an actual monster who not just killed 3 of his classmates and hurted severly one of them, his father used to s3$ually abuse him while he was sleeping, to then the day Willy found the 4th victim of his father about to die, his father attemted to try to r4pe his own child.

Willy fighted back but his father managed to left him severe damages, but fortunately was saved by Shadow, Sonic and Tails who were very terriefied at that scene, Sonic and Tails took Willy to the hospital while Shadow took care in kick Jasons ass to death.

Willy was been in a long coma while we has taking care by Tails, to then being Adopted by a very kind family formed by Jean Lazuli and his husband mason and their baby girl Lumie, having therapy for the traumas of course.

Powers

He has 2 powers heritaged from both parents.

Create ilusions and hallucinations (From his mom) and talk and see to ghost/death people (From Jason)

this powers could develop at growing up

Facts

-He was created since the 2018, being a bubbly and innocent kid then *sob*

-Look it's his old design;_;

- Willy has British accent and origins.

- He didn't discovered his sexuality yet but he's surely gay.

- Willy likes reading, his favorite books are Alice in wonderland, Alice through the Glass and Peter Cat and in general books related with witches and magic.

- Willy in a future becomes into a witch.

[midwesternfields]

For September, films included The Nun II, A Million Miles Away, Insidious: The Red Door, The Darkness (2016) & You Should Have Left (2020). And then the series that I watched were: Virgin River, Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury, and s3 of the iCarly Revival (okay, but can I get a film as the series ending??? That was done back in the day instead of leaving us in a cliffhanger & actually wrapping the plot points up) – oh and like I went & managed to rewatch all three seasons of Pokémon Journeys + the ten epsiodes of To be a Pokémon Master, just bc I wanted to since I'm gonna miss our duo <3 (I have a lot of time during my mornings, cartoons are all I watch bc of the <30min each episode takes [have I mentioned the sleeping Pikachu plush I got during May from Target?])

As for October, which was quite productive, these are the ones I checked off my watch list – although I feel like I could've done more halloween classics, I can always watch those whenever :)

In no particular order: Lupin S3, The Road to El Dorado, Reptile, Nowhere, Spykids: Armageddon, Saw X, End of the Road, The Fall of the House of Usher, Five Nights at Freddy's, Cabinet of Curiosities, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Haunted Mansion (Owen Wilson, my beloved), Hocus Pocus 1&2, Ahsoka (waited until all the episodes were out to watch it because dear lord I can't do this waiting around thing sometimes and this just needed a full day dedicated to it), Haunted (collection series on n*tflix), Ghost Hunters & GHI (selected epsiodes that are favorites of mine), Session 9 (2001), & The Invisible Man (2020).

About half way through the month I found myself binge watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (couldn't remember if I'd already done that this year or not, so I said might as well [also reporting in to say that I still cried at the Tale of Iroh, scared of the day that I don't ngk]; took me 3 nights and that's only because I wanted to pause between each book lmao)

Picked up rewatching Psych again, and I decided I'm pacing myself with each season, so it's my "I've had the day off and have finished the chores, so time to watch something while we eat lunch" series :)

Bluey – if I had a nickle for every time a blue dog managed to entertain me & heal a part of my soul (aka the inner child), I'd only have 2 nickles, but it's weird that it happened twice, no? (Sleepytime is my favorite, followed by Camping [I'm a sucker for visuals of space], all the episodes with Rusty & when Pat [Lucky's dad] makes an appearance; honestly the whole series is adorable and so amazing) – just have s3 to watch now, plus the epsiodes that for whatever reason aren't on d*sney+

And then, of course, the long awaited S2 of Loki – I think I'm liking this season more than the last; Loki & Mobius have had more screen time together, plus Oroboros as a new character, and just how it seems to focus on the one thing with Loki not leaving the TVA (cue the way he found the way to control his time slips); just one more episode to go 😭😭😭 [it feels like good omens really with the silly 6 epsiode seasons; speaking of which, I've listed to the audio book version w/ David & Michael and it was just so lovely to listen to them <3 ]

January's brain rot was mostly Obikin, plus whatever else my brain has decided to completely blank on (it was a long month okay?)

February would like to add on Longmire & Miraculous to the mix, along with the yearly switching from football to baseball mode

[tvshowcloset]

Who: Woody McClain as Cane Tejada  What: Amiri Black Bandana B-Ball Hoodie - $178.00 Where: Power Book II: Ghost 3x01 “Your Perception, Your Reality"

[xothemedia]

Power Book II: Ghost 3x6 | “Land of Lies”

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S3 Musings - Louis Going Forward

I've been seeing posts in the tags, and just wanna urge LDPDL fans (esp. show-only fans) who fear that Louis won't have anything to do after S2, not to freak out just yet. No, he doesn't show up in the books as much as Lestat, ofc, but if AMC's smart they'll realize that there's plenty of book!Louis content to keep Jacob around!

We've gotten plenty of assurances from Rolin Jones that they've no intention of sidelining Louis, as Loustat's endgame (a la Blood Communion). (But Rolin's also fanboyed nonstop how much he's been waiting to do TVL and focus on Les's story & adventures. Ofc, intent & execution are 2 different things, so forgive us, Rolin, if the fandom's side-eying y'all.)

Louis taking an active role in Owning the Night and dropping his address so the vamps can take him on is a BOLD move; I love it. Rolin said waaay early in S1 that they made AMC!Louis stronger and with more of a backbone than book!Louis, and he definitely is. Plus, AMC!Lou has the Fire Gift--one of the most powerful attacks in a vampire's arsenal. So I imagine that S3 will be pretty busy for Louis--in contrast to the fandom's hilarious headcanons that Louis'll be minding his business at home crocheting and doing yoga while Lestat's making a fool of himself on tour. 🤣 He' pretty much gearing up to be Louis the Vampire Slayer! Guillermo! Take notes!

While book!Louis isn't in TVL (Lestat's backstory), he comes back in QotD when Loustat get back together again. So we have a lot to look forward to there, as Lestat tries to get all the vamps' attention so they stay AWAY from Louis & fight Lestat instead--culminating in Les' disastrous Death Valley concert when Akasha appears.

Loustat has a lot of romantic scenes together as Les starts courting Lou again, asking him to come his concerts & watch him perform--so I hope AMC gives us some backstage lovin', showing Lou as "Monsieur le Rockstar's" boyfriend, b4 all hell breaks loose & Akasha takes Les away. :(

Book-plot wise though, the elephant in the room is ofc TotBT, and David Talbot. 🤮 We don't know yet how far AMC's going with Raglan James, and if they're incorporating that book into S3, or saving his schemes for the new Talamasca series and holding Raglan's fight with Lestat until S4. 👀

Aside from Les, TotBT is a VERY important moment for Louis' character development, too. I've already explained Louis' HIGHLY significant role in that book, and how Louis' choices impact Lestat going forward with Memnoch. So we'll have to wait and see if Raglan shows up again any time soon.

I PRAY that "others we can't tell you about yet" means Raglan, and NOT that racist pedo David Talbot. Everyone knows David was conjured up as AR's Replacement-Louis when she didn't wanna write anymore sad & depressed mopey vampires anymore. So instead we get that closeted colonizer David, and AR got butthurt when people didn't like him, LOL (esp. not in Merrick, oof!). 😂

But tbf, the QotD majorly improved David's character, removing every bit of his problematic context, to just focus on his role in the Talamasca, tracking down vampires like Marius; which is smart.

So I say AMC could/should either:

do what QotD did: water David down to make him less problematic

give his role as Les' sidekick to Daniel--maybe providing context for how/why Daniel was Turned; if he's still human during Les' tour (in the S3 promo), and gets injured by Raglan, so Armand swoops in & saves him

give his role to as Les' sidekick to Louis, Mr. & Mrs. Smith style, as they fight Raglan together (cuz book!Louis already said he'd kill Raglan if he ever saw him). Does AMC!Lou have beef w/ him for snooping around w/ Daniel in S2? 👀

So yeah, there's a lot of action-packed potential for Louis in S3; that takes him beyond his grief over Claudia (esp. since we won't have Merrick as the following book/season)--unless ghost!Claudia is a thing and she becomes a Problem™️. But that's way too close to the plot of Blackwood Farm, which I'd prefer AMC do instead--esp. since that way we can still get Merrick Mayfair come in as a crossover.

That's so precious! 😍

A cleansing, amen! I can't imagine what Jacob had to go through, playing Louis! Method acting is REALLY hard, esp. with mentally ill & chronically insane characters--we all saw what it did to Heath Ledger! And look at Joaquin Phoenix, out there literally starving himself, jfc.

Nah, we get you, Jacob.

Jacob, I've been saying it since S1: YOU WERE ROBBED OF YOUR EMMYS. I effing hate AMC for not doing you the justice you deserved and making sure S2 could at least qualify for a nomination. I'll never forgive them for it; esp. cuz you can bet your arse they won't fumble the ball in The Vampire Lestat's season; oh nooo~! 🙄😒 White Lestans can gaslight TF out of us all they want, minimizing our trauma & pain & rightful suspicions, but Black actors have been shafted by Hollywood bureaucracy & shenanigans since it's effing inception, and IDGAF what anyone says--once is an accident, twice is a pattern!

He really is. But I get so mad & so offended that Jacob's immense talent and Louis' incredible character arc is shunted to the side by critics & viewers alike. Brad Pitt put literally ZERO effort into Louis and it showed; meanwhile Jacob's out here giving the acting performance of a lifetime. But people won't STFU about Lestat's hair.

EIGHT SEASONS!? Motherfudger, wtf!? XD I'm all for it, but y'all are gonna have to speed up how long it takes to film & air each season--at 2+ years per hiatus, 16 years is way too much, even for the Supernatural fandom. And LBH, Jam Reiderson & Eric are NOT gonna make it 16 years in the face department.

That is so beautifully put, Sam. ISTG, when is he publishing his doctoral dissertation on TVC already!?

FACTS! I have hope for S3. It's perfectly OK to tonally shift and switch MCs! So long as you're not neglecting & disrespecting THE titular vampire--hasn't Louis suffered enough?! 😅 I'm excited for where S3 takes him.

[bestworstcase]

Considering how much you love the saporian au, I have a I guess alternative pitch to ask about. In Rapunzel's Return, if it was revealed that Cass was Saporian instead and still goes through with crossing the line in canon. So when Rapunzel and the gang gets home, do you think the Saporian invasion fight would've gone differently with this new information brought to light for her, especially since Varian is working with them now? Do you have any input on this?

why yes i do

so to start. let’s skip back to like august/september of 2019, which is when the tts hyperfixation kicked in but before s3 started to air. at this point in time my thinking was:

the separatists are definitely coming back in some capacity because the series made a point of putting their symbol on the book in RDO, signaling that andrew was not a one time deal.

there’s a press release that says raps will encounter an old enemy when she returns to corona and while it might be varian, my money is on the separatists.

cassandra encountered zhan tiri behind the door in the shell house and learned or saw something that soured her pretty hard on corona

i have been theorizing that cass is saporian since the first time i watched under raps, like, a year ago

i have also been theorizing that zhan tiri is saporian since she was introduced, mainly because it’s fun and it ties two great antagonists together

if cass IS saporian, and the separatists ARE the threat awaiting rapunzel in corona, these two things are probably going to end up intertwining down the line in s3.

sigh. [puts on my clown shoes]

a big part of the appeal of saporian!cass to my mind is that it gives cassandra an excellent reason, completely unrelated to rapunzel, to return to corona after she takes the moonstone. right? in my head, before s3 aired, my theory was kinda: zhan tiri got into her head and drew a connection between cassandra’s individual feelings of being neglected/overlooked/treated unfairly, and the systemic problem of saporians being oppressed/cast aside/treated unfairly.

and cass wants so badly to be a hero. she wants to be admired. she wants to be a protagonist, basically, and if cass is saporian that positions her perfectly to become the hero of the saporian separatist movement after she takes the moonstone. it fits so well!

so if, beyond just cass being saporian, this were the direction the series had gone with cass being saporian—and taking into account that this is a disney princess show and it is going to be pro-monarchy at the end of the day, and trying to stay within those bounds—i kind of imagine it playing out like this: 

1) cass takes the moonstone and angrily lashes out at rapunzel, telling her about what zhan tiri told her in the HOYT (which boils down to ranting about how saporians in general and cass in particular are treated badly and she’s not going to take it anymore and this is my destiny, rapunzel). then she leaves, with CtL going exactly as it does in canon. 

2) reeling, rapunzel returns home—only to find that it has been taken over by saporian separatists. talk about a punch in the gut! and then to make matters worse, varian is working with them. i think “rapunzel’s return” can still end with victory over the separatists in this version, but the separatists aren’t imprisoned at the end—they escape, swearing that it isn’t over. [the conflict itself plays out similarly, except for preference the separatists aren’t trying to glass corona, they’re just trying to stay in charge / drive team corona out. this allows for escalation later with zhan tiri and also doesn’t paint. people fighting back against their oppressors as pure evil,]

2a) varian and rapunzel still have their emotional conversation and sort-of apologies, but! varian doesn’t turn against the separatists yet, and when they escape, he goes with them. however, fundamentally their cause isn’t personal to him, and he’s now all conflicted because rapunzel doesn’t hate his guts like he’s been telling himself she must. 

3) rapunzel frees quirin from the amber despite varian’s continuing betrayal, because it’s the right thing to do and also because she’s desperate for SOME sort of victory after all this. varian doesn’t find out about this until after his redemption.

4) the separatists continue to cause problems in B-plots throughout the first half of the season. someone (probably eugene?) tries to broach the subject of cass with rapunzel in the context of cass potentially joining the separatists and throwing the power of the moonstone behind their cause. rapunzel brushes this off on the grounds that no matter what cass is still her best friend. meanwhile we keep getting cass stingers, with cass struggling to control the rocks and zhan tiri helping her, except instead of driving her into rages at rapunzel, she’s focused on radicalizing cass to the separatist cause (although she does not spell this out at first).

5) BVA kicks off with zhan tiri dropping the bomb that she wants cass to join the separatists. cass is shocked (she knows how extreme and violent they are—and she’s not like that, is she? she hasn’t hurt anyone!), which triggers the burst of red rocks. 

5a) in corona, the red rocks cause varian to have horrific visions of his father/all of corona trapped in amber, confronting him with his own guilt. he’s been sticking with the separatists mostly out of fear of being rejected if he tries to return to corona now—after all, rapunzel gave him another chance, and he threw it back in her face. but the visions are too much for him, and after he sees that they’re capable of petrifying people, he rushes straight to corona, sneaking in through the tunnels to warn rapunzel. she decides to trust him again, and they set off to the demanitus chamber to stop the red rocks a la canon.

5b) as varian and rapunzel emerge and see that their efforts paid off, rapunzel assures him that she’ll make sure everyone hears how he put himself in danger to warn them, and how he saved the day... and as varian is thanking her, he hears a very quiet “...son?” from behind them. he turns around, unable to believe his ears. it’s his dad. his dad is free. for a second he’s terrified this is some sort of lingering effect of the rocks but rapunzel explains that she found an incantation that she used to free quirin, and there is a BIG EMOTIONAL MOMENT as he reunites with his dad. because varian realizes quirin must know everything he did after his dad was trapped in the amber, and he’s so afraid his dad will be ashamed of him, but quirin is just like. no, son, you may have gone to a very dark place but you found your way back all by yourself, and you did the right thing, and i’m so proud of you. tears, and so on. 

5c) BVA ends with cassandra and zhan tiri, rather than eugene and rapunzel, debriefing. cass reveals that she felt rapunzel’s fear of her during their moment of connection, and she is upset because even though cass hasn’t done anything, rapunzel seems to see cass as just as violent and dangerous as the separatists are, perhaps even moreso. and zhan tiri comes in with “they’ve already written you off as a monster” and “what do you think forced the separatists to such extremes? they tried to be reasonable, and they were persecuted just as you have been” and “really, what do you have to lose?”

6) and that is how cass gets on board with zhan tiri’s joining the separatists plan. [if cass doesn’t already know at this point, i think this would be the part where zhan tiri mentions that she’s saporian, too]

7) then we hit pascal’s dragon, and this is the episode where rapunzel starts really considering what cass being saporian means, basically using LBB as a proxy for working out her feelings about cass and ultimately coming to a sort of hopeful conclusion that maybe... cass being saporian is important to her and maybe—just like the enraged dragons that destroyed nigel’s village—the separatists have valid reasons for their anger... but also that a peaceful resolution can be reached if rapunzel doesn’t let fear consume her.

8) islands apart, then, becomes a little more focused on rapunzel trying to get the whole story out of the captain; how did he end up with a saporian kid, what do the separatists want beyond blowing corona up [he’s the captain of the guard, he must have dossiers on these people], and most importantly, what options are there for compromise? fresh off her own commitment to meet cass halfway, the conflict between rapunzel and the captain vis a vis fountain cass can also be nice and sharp. 

9) in cassandra’s revenge!!! we just scrap the entire eugene surprise birthday proposal subplot. the first half of the episode is cass cruising into the separatist camp in the woods with the moonstone and ghost!ziti. she and andrew are immediately at each others throats because both of them want to be in charge but cass ends up winning by dint of a) having a magical rock with enormous destructive power at her disposal, and b) having a clear plan. she steals the scroll to distract everyone while the separatists in to steal [insert magical saporian artifact macguffin here] from the palace vaults, with the intention of using it to free zhan tiri. 

10) cass’s part of CR goes very similarly to how it does in canon: team corona turns up to rescue varian, rapunzel tries to talk to cass about finding a viable compromise on the saporian issue, and cass, not wanting to hear it, goes berserk and attacks her. partly this is venting her very real personal anger at rapunzel (i like the idea of rapunzel reaching for her burnt hand being the thing that sets her off) and partly she’s just furious because rapunzel still doesn’t really get it. “nobody has to get hurt? saporians have already gotten hurt! i have already gotten hurt!” <- that kind of thing

10a) also!!! a “nothing left to lose” where varian is saying “i worked with the separatists and it wasn’t worth it!” and cass is saying “don’t you get it? i’m not like you, i don’t have other options, i’m saporian” would be sooooo goooood

11) in any case cass gets yeeted off the tower and injured, as in canon. team corona leaves. the separatists come back, find the tower in ruins and cassandra crawling back up from her ledge. they help her up, treat her injuries, and then reveal the bad news: the macguffin they were after, the one they need to free zhan tiri? it’s gone. corona sent it to the keeper of the spire for safe keeping. 

12) race to the spire! is about cass and the separatists trying to retrieve the macguffin from the spire. and it is also about an extremely shaken rapunzel talking to xavier about all of this, realizing what the separatists were probably after when they broke in, freaking out (cass joining the separatists is one thing, but bringing zhan tiri back?!) and reluctantly turning to edmund and adira for help... because she thinks she knows where cass is going to go next. 

12a) cue crazy cass + separatists + ghost ziti vs team corona + brotherhood battle at the spire. with all the canon insanity of the weird ass artifacts getting thrown into the mix. cass and the separatists win, possibly because ghost ziti advices cass to grab and threaten calliope to force rapunzel to cooperate and cass does it. 

13) TOTS is now the freeing zhan tiri episode. and the gothel disciple backstory episode. because turns out! none of them really know how to do the actual jailbreak with the macguffin, so... they need gothel’s old research, from when she and the other disciples used the same artifact to free zhan tiri last time. rapunzel is in the cottage with a similar idea: she’s trying to learn more about the sundrop and its connection to the moonstone. loredumps, idk. maybe all this takes place in the ruins of the tower instead; i like the idea of gothel having a creepy little laboratory in the cellar or something. 

14) rapunzel pleads with cass to think about what she’s doing. the separatists have a point—does zhan tiri? what is zhan tiri after, what’s her agenda, what is she, even? and it nearly works, she nearly gets through to cassandra, but then... cap shows up, and cass does not react well. cap is there to try to apologize for their last altercation, but she does NOT want to hear it and the whole situation escalates. team corona gets driven out of the valley, cass and the separatists do the ritual to release zhan tiri and wow things are really bad now aren’t they!!!

15) flynnposter... idk. cap recuses himself from the whole fighting cassandra thing because he cannot handle it and because everyone agrees he’ll be more effective at getting through to cass if he’s not showing up in the captain’s uniform, eugene gets put in charge... and zhan tiri is out to cause problems. i just think she should get an episode of zany hijinks all to herself. she deserves it. to keep the plot relevancy going let’s say she’s impersonating eugene-as-flynn because a) it’s funny and b) it masks her real agenda, which is, let’s say, wiping corona off the map, stealing the sundrop, and using it to plant/grow a new great tree on the ruins of the city. seems like a fitting vengeance against both demanitus (for banishing her) and rapunzel (for destroying the great tree), yes? 

16) once a handmaiden. with zhan tiri now fully out and about cass has been sort of demoted to second in command and she is struggling with that, because it’s making the inferiority complex bubble up and bringing with it doubts that this is really the right thing to do, or even really what she wants. she slips away to clear her head, perhaps even using the cloak to disguise herself so she can wander around corona... and finds the nasty little magical traps zhan tiri planted earlier. she realizes that whatever zhan tiri has planned for the eclipse, it’s a lot worse than she’s letting on. (maybe some of this is connected to gothel’s research: gothel wanted to retrieve the sundrop from rapunzel, and cass recognizes ritual prep for that from gothel’s notes and is like. oh no.)

17) so... at a loss for what to do, she impulsively goes to rapunzel to try to... warn her? apologize? take her up on that offer to negotiate? cass is really not sure, and seeing herself in wanted posters and of course demonized in feldspar’s play does not. help. this part of the episode can go pretty similarly to canon, except that when cass is confronted by zhan tiri it’s a lot more cutting, with zhan tiri focusing how even now she feels like she needs to serve rapunzel at cost to herself, needling her about her lack of conviction etc etc, in addition to goading her with the news about project obsidian. cass angrily rejects her and goes to talk to rapunzel, publicly reveals herself on purpose because a) sometimes she’s not smart and b) striding onto the stage in the second act of feldspar’s terrible play to tell everyone in the audience that corona is in grave danger really seems like a good idea at the time and ziti is lying about project obsidian so everything will be fine right!!!!

18) everything is not fine 

19) cass gets shot in the back with project obsidian courtesy of panicking guards and a teeny tiny bit of help from zhan tiri and, crushed by the realization that rapunzel must have authorized this, cass does the “no you know what? fuck you, i see all that talk about negotiation was just pretty words after all” thing and wrecks the place, while zhan tiri stands by watching like >:) 

20) PLUS EST EN VOUS. im sorry anon this has gotten way longer than i thought it would. but i am Passionate About Saporian Cass. the situation is now dire! everyone in corona is hunkered down in old corona, frantically trying to draw up battle plans or like, any plans at all. corona itself is in ruins. it really looks like cass/the separatists have won... but rapunzel keeps thinking about how cass tried to warn them of some greater danger. she can’t give up on cass just yet. 

21) so, desperate, rapunzel turns to the separatists. she takes... varian, because he knows them, and lance because he’s good at talking to people, and eugene, because she needs him with her. and she walks into the separatist camp and says look, i know that ultimately what you want is for saporia to be free to be its own country. that you only took over corona and tried to destroy it because you thought you had no other choice. and maybe under my dad’s rule, that was true. but i’m the queen now, and i can accept a declaration of saporian independence if i want to. so i’m going to do that right now, no strings attached. saporia is free. 

22) and the saporians are like holy fucking shit

23) what brought this on???

24) rapunzel is like cassandra is my best friend. and i didn’t treat her well, and i made her feel like she couldn’t talk to me about how she was hurting, so she did all this. she’s angry and she’s right to be angry, but more importantly, she’s hurting and scared. and i want to make it right. and also i’m terrified that zhan tiri is going to hurt her, because she said something about zhan tiri going after the drops?

25) and like the best she’s hoping for here is for the separatists to drop out of the conflict and go build their kingdom back up again, but they huddle up and decide that a) cassandra is their friend / one of theirs, and if she’s in danger they’re gonna side with her over zhan tiri, and b) if they team up with rapunzel now and it turns out rapunzel was lying and this was all some elaborate set up to attack cass while she’s without allies, then they will be there to help cass hold the line

26) there are ABSOLUTELY NO MONKEY SHENANIGANS 

27) cass sort of miserably is going along with zhan tiri’s plans but she’s also just kinda hoping rapunzel doesn’t show up for the eclipse. 

28) rapunzel shows up for the eclipse with a bunch of separatists and cass is like rapunzel what the fuck

29) there is...an attempt by rapunzel/cass/the separatists to get everyone’s story straight which is interrupted by zhan tiri doing the “traitors to saporia pay with their lives” thing and just. going ballistic on the separatists and cass. and also rapunzel, except she needs rapunzel to not be smushed like a bug until after she retrieves the sundrop so she’s a little gentler.

30) cass and rapunzel team up to protect the separatists: with both of them using the full power of the drops, they can hold their own against zhan tiri (she is VERY POWERFUL and she PROVES IT during this fight by going toe to toe with both of them without breaking a sweat)... but things go from bad to worse when the eclipse hits, because the sundrop goes dormant, and zhan tiri pounces. gets the sundrop, and now it’s just cass trying to solo this demonic sorceress lady before the eclipse ends and zhan tiri gains the power of the sundrop. It Is Not Looking Great For Our Heroes.

31) zhan tiri stomps cass into the curb and is about to land the killing blow when the rest of the coronans + the brotherhood charge in (they were waiting on the mainland on rapunzel’s orders, not wanting to escalate the situation if it could be solved via talking, but it is now very obvious that rapunzel needs back up). zhan tiri deals with them pretty handily too, but her distraction is enough for rapunzel to shake off her depowered exhaustion/pain and help cass back to her feet. 

32) raps, cass says, i’m so sorry. i never meant for any of this to happen, i just—

33) and rapunzel says, i know, it’s okay. i’m sorry too, for taking you for granted. i love you.

34) cass, tearing up, is like, i love you too. and i’m gonna stop this.

35) rapunzel is like ??? but there’s no more time because zhan tiri has finished smashing/immobilizing everyone else and cass is already charging at her, no longer trying to attack or defend, just get close enough. 

36) as the eclipse comes to an end and the sundrop wakes up again, cass latches onto ziti, grabs the sundrop. and slams it against the moonstone still embedded in her chest. there’s a huge explosion, and when the dust clears... cass is in the epicenter, very dead, and there’s really nothing left of zhan tiri but a bunch of spasming vines and shadowy magic, burning slowly away in the brilliant light of the unified power. everyone else is pretty damn battered too.

37) horrified, rapunzel crawls out of the wreckage, grabs the unified drop. revives/heals everybody (except zhan tiri, rip), ending pretty much goes as it does in canon. except i like the idea of the epilogue / ending sequence of life after happily ever after (reprise) also being a montage of both corona and saporia being rebuilt, the countries now equals and allies... and also cass, when she leaves, is explicitly going out in search of saporians whose ancestors were displaced by the conquest, both to invite them to return to their ancestral home if they so choose and also to reconnect with her own heritage. 

38) THE END!!!

[sunriseseance]

HECK YEAH alrighty here we go then! 1. Broadly: what do you predict we'll see from Klaus in s3? I know you've mentioned him snapping a bit- what're your thoughts on what that might entail? (1/?)

I think that Klaus is experiencing his first full moment of independence, especially power independence, at the same time he is experiencing extreme emotional turmoil. They’ve told us that alcohol (at east) does jack shit to prevent his powers. I think that he has spent a long, long time with people who (IMO) do care about him, but don’t think about him all that often. “Klaus is still Klau” as a modus operandi for the entire family, at least at default. Now he no longer has a Powerful or Moral (although I have my problems with this interpretation) Ben to lean on, I think we’re gonna see a Klaus who is coming into his own, who is hurting deeply in ways the sibling do not (and possibly cannot, Klaus lies and masks A LOT) know, and who feels that the turmoil inside of him belongs outside. 

2. Do you expect to see Klaus’ powers expanded on in s3, and if so, how do you think they’ll go about that? I think levitation and telekinesis would be amazing but seeing as they’ve already given those away to his siblings, I don’t think it’s all that likely. I love your clairvoyance theory (more on that shortly), and I've been playing with the idea of a telepath or empath Klaus, something akin to his "channeling" powers from the comics. (2/?)

I think that probably the primary thing in store for Klaus is commanding ghosts and being possessed. These play together interestingly and are both extremely powerful. He can command an army without a second thought, and they listen to him, but also if he slips up they can jump in his body, he’s gone and they’re in charge. It’s an interesting and fruitful dichotomy and power structure. Also I think he can make ghosts possess other people. They made a big point of showing that Klaus was conscious before Ben entered Vanya’s mind. If he can command spirits, and spirits can possess other people that is a great deal of power. (Also, like, Klaus is able to make Ben not possess him. Neither of them may know it, but he DOES command spirits. He does.)

As to his comic powers, I think we may very well get them!! They’ve teased levitation multiple times in s2 alone, and I think this idea that a show about shitty superheroes would care if their powers were redundant does not quite vibe with me. Like, what’s the point of Luther if Vanya can stop bullets and lift a tank with sound waves. Klaus’s version of TK could EASILY have its own niche (no need for a trajectory or sound waves). I don’t want to promise that it’s coming because, like, focusing on his psychic related powers is more cohesive, but I don’t think that the option is in any way off the board. 

3. If they go ahead and give him clairvoyance, how would you like to see that play out? 4. Similarly, do you think his possession powers will be explored further in s3? (3/?)

I think that giving him clairvoyance would be a very handy plot device on top of being interesting for the character. Klaus’s powers have pushed him to the extremes of apathy. Imagine what that would look like if he has the capacity to know everything? He is a person who deals with the hurt of others by denying everything. He has had too much asked of his empathy and compassion. Giving him clairvoyance gives him access to all the hurt in the world. I would love to see that. I would love to see his brain forcing him to care about people because in this particular regard he CAN 100% help. 

Yes absolutely I think his possession powers will be explored further. I know this is a controversial subject, but I think the show took care to make it clear that is is awful and terrifying for him (however it was for Ben) and that it plays interestingly with his ability to summon and command spirits. It serves as a way to even the playing field, almost. He command them, they can take him over. That’s scary for everyone. I don’t think this is one and done at all. 

4. I would LOVE to hear more about your thoughts on Hotel Oblivion's influence on TUA s3- disclaimer, I haven't read the comics (yet). (4/?)

YES OKAY. Based on my own personal desires and my knowledge of the comics (Sparrows locked up) and also the Sparrow crest, I think s3 is going to include at least some of Team Zero locked in the hotel. It could EASILY be all of them, but I could see Reg deciding to keep Five, and even Vanya. This would be interesting because it allows Five to age, allows Five to rest, allows Vanya to see the horrors of actually BEING on a super hero team, and requires 1-4 to save themselves, and in my IDEAL world, save Five from Reg, as well. It would be so fun to watch 1-4 escape the hotel and rescue Five. IMO the hotel is going to be the best if it is treated as a piece of horror. Not something they can understand, something simultaneously enticing and hostile, and something that they have to fight their individual Bullshits to escape. Whoever is in it. I think that would be beautiful. 

5. How would you like to see Klaus' character develop this season? Seeing as s2 has left him unprecedentedly broken, I think this will lead to an AMAZING pay off in s3, esp when it comes to him being without Ben. His powers have so much potential (even w/o the comic book expansion pack) but they have all have come back to Ben's help. This is true of his choices too- Ben is constantly supporting/criticizing him. I'm so excited to see him alone and newly independent. (5/?)

YES SO MUCH. We watch Klaus shatter and regress completely in s2. I know a lot of people feel he wasn’t treated with respect by the narrative, and I respect that, but my general thinking is that this is a part of the whole, and everything we saw of him is in line with a) intense hurt b) the act he puts on. I think that Klaus shattered in s2. He killed the love of his life, he relapsed, and he did his best to make sure nobody cares about him. Ben turned into more of a harmful figure in his life than ever before, and now he’s lost him completely, left with only guilt, resentment, and complicated feelings. 

I think Klaus is going to actually have to DEAL with himself. He’s been able to deflect or hide or bury his hurt and his power and everything else. Like you said, he relied on Ben for a lot, and now it is only him. I think he is going to externalize the chaos he feels inside (and so does Sheehan), and I think he is going to have to confront who Klaus REALLY is, whatever that means. I think he will admit he is powerful, he is hurt, and he is angry. Ultimately, I think this will lead to him with more balance, and he will have a better understanding of himself. But I think he MUST snap a bit first. Nobody takes him seriously, not even himself. He has to change that before he can move on. 

6. How would you like to see Klaus' relationships with his siblings grow this season? I am wondering how him mourning Ben will be received by his siblings. I am also thinking a lot about whether him hitting rock bottom & truly alone for the first time will push him to be more vulnerable and open with his siblings OR if it'll be his breaking point where he shutters out everything he can, emotions and more OR a mix of both. (6/?)

This is a really good question. I’m not at all sure I have a definitive answer, but here I am typing anyway. I think the obvious setup of the first 2 seasons is that everyone thinks Klaus is fine, and that he can Manage, whatever that looks like. This includes Klaus. So my Most Fruitful Idea is to show that he isn’t fine, in a way he cannot hide. I feel like possession could be a good start to this, but so could him diminishing in his ability to respect ghosts, or many other things. Basically, I want the siblings to see through Klaus’s act. None of them, fucking none of them, ever have. He’s done his best to make that the case. I want the act to spread thin in s3, which I think is supported by how the act looks in s2, and I want the sibs to see through it finally, and I want it to be almost too late because he’s lost and angry and goddamn POWERFUL and he knows them in ways they have never known him. 

Also, I like the idea of Klaus and Allison snapping together. They are the two who lack hope, the two who accept as a blanket the end of the world, the two who enable each other, and also the two who bonded with Vanya. Seeing them go down a dark path, and seeing Vanya recognize it and help them stray away from it? Amazing. 

7. Any songs you would love to see in s3? (7/7) Sorry for the IMMENSE amount of questions, comments, and concerns, I have been pondering these things for weeks and since I always adore your tua content, I would love to hear your thoughts and any input from others!!

YES SO SO SO MUCH

I would love “Be True To Your School” by the Beach Boys because of the 60s and the irony factor. Any Bob Dylan song would send me to an early grave due to joy, but I’m gonna say especially “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” which is an incredible song about futility and trying and hurt. I also love the idea of ANY Masseduction by St. Vincent song, but I would especially nominate Masseduction, Young Lover, and Happy Birthday Johnny. 

ALSO NO NO NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE AT ALL THIS WAS SOOOOOOOOOO FUN OH MY GOD do this any time (or come off anon and into my DMs I promise I’m friendly). Thank you so so much!!!