#say is sapphic fantasy. tell me what else it's about so i know whether i want to read it or not

[bottomoftheriverbed]

I originally put this in the tags and i might make my own post on it but anyway. Fandom has a terrible terrible habit of examining every piece of media as if analysing a romance novel. It uses the conventions and expectations of romance and then applied them to media where it does not and should not apply. In the above case, if this were a romance novel or a romantic comedy then the 'if this does not turn into a romance, then what is the point' criticism would have some validity. That is usually the point of romances and the starting point for further analysis. If ted lasso was a romance then much of the show would be centred around getting the main couple together and much of the more in depth analysis would have to bare that in mind. But it doesn't. Fron what i can gather, while the romances are important for understanding characters, the world building of ted lasso is not designed around getting a couple together. The plot of ted lasso is not designed around getting a couple together. And fandoms do this to pretty much everything.

I also think this attitude is partially responsible for a lot of 'shipping war' anti shit where romance has to be the be all and end all. I also think it's indicative of a wider amatonormativity which is reflected in a lot of intra community bigotry against a- and m-spec people. If the world is centred around romance and aspec people can't participate in romance as prescribed (with sex there but only barely acknowledged in a lot of cases) then how can they participate in the queer community? If the world is centred around romance than a romantic relationship is the most important thing in determining an mspec persons identity.

It's bullshit. Romance is a brilliant and fascinating genre that can be incredibly nuanced and deep but not everything is a romance and doesn't need to be.

Okay I've been drinking but I gotta say

I keep seeing takes in the Ted Lasso takes about the various favored pairings — be they Rebecca/Ted, Trent/Ted, Roy/Jamie, Roy/Keeley, Keeley/Roy/Jamie, WHATEVER, with this sentiment of "if this relationship does not turn into a romance, then what was the point of the show?"

And that really frustrates me as someone whose most valued and cherished relationships are not romantic, and who will not likely ever have another romantic relationship in her life. Because there's a point to friendships! There's a point to love in all its forms, in all its complexities. Romance is great, absolutely, but to say that there's no "point" to Rebecca and Ted's trust and respect and affection if it doesn't become a romance, or there's no "point" to Trent becoming a Diamond Dog if he and Ted don't start dating, or there's no "point" to Roy and Jamie and Keeley's complicated dance around each other this past season if it doesn't end up in bed — that just makes me really depressed about the limitations people are putting on how people can love each other.

You can absolutely cheer for your favorite ship and hope that it becomes canon — but to reduce all the rest of the show, which is clearly about a lot of different things, not solely romance, I think does a disservice to the show itself.

[thelaurenshippen]

re: that *chef kiss* PERFECT Franken-Drummer post and tumblr not being all over The Expanse, I know right?? it’s such an amazing show with so many delightful, complicated characters yet it’s so unfairly slept on! maybe because S1 takes awhile to get going and ppl give up? idk but it makes me sad that I have so few ppl to squeal about Drummer and Amos and Bobbie and Christjen and Ashford and Naomi (ad infinitum) with 😭🚀😭

WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT OBSESSED WITH THE EXPANSE HELLO!?!?! there's literally so much to love about it oh my god. you're right, it DOES take a second to get going but once it does!!!

for those of you who have not read or seen The Expanse series (I myself have yet to read the books), let me tell you why you'll love it:

political space drama with incredibly distinct cultures and phenomenal world building, if you're a details girlie (gn), you're gonna go nuts

the found family vibes!!??! are off!?!? the charts!?!? (minor spoilers for the first few episodes) four people are thrown into a situation in which they accidentally become the most important people/fugitives in the whole galaxy and most of them DO NOT trust each other, what could possible go wrong, and even better, what could possibly go RIGHT

Christjen Avasarala. you are not ready for her. most powerful mover-shaker on earth with the most incredible outfits you've ever seen, refined elegance with the filthiest mouth, plus she's got a classic "whatever those two have going on is so gay it veers into something else entirely" with her younger protective knight lady, Bobbie

Bobbie. the "not to be a lesbian but oh my god" post is made for her. we meet her in the show for the first time when she arm wrestles a robot and WINS. you will be begging for her to step on you with her mech suit

speaking of women I want to step on me Camina Drummer. angry revolutionary pirate queen of my heart. do you miss the unique agony of 2000/10s queerbaiting but want it to be not baiting somehow? this show does that, idk how else to explain it. the most agonizing sapphic pining you've ever seen but it's textual and also not painful because its gay. don't worry, Camina fucks, just not the girl she wants most (also spoilers, but this is not a bury your gays show don't worry)

Jim Holden is literally just Some Guy who becomes the special fantasy chosen one because he simply cannot stop Getting Involved. nosiest bitch in the universe, I love him.

imagine you're a girl who leaves your shitty ex and gets a normal industrial job on a spaceship, only to have a six foot, two hundred pound killer dressed as a mechanic imprint on you like a baby duck, and its unclear whether he wants to fuck you or call you a little sister but he definitely WILL kill for you and will do literally anything you say and then you both end up caught up in a weird galactic war by mistake and there's this other guy with a captain america level moral compass and he's cute and you're into him except your shitty ex is still out there with the biggest secret you have and meanwhile your best female friend is the coolest person you've ever met but you don't think you can be what she needs and you're holding your family together, you're holding the universe together and all you want is justice for your people but unfortunately you've gone and fallen in love with the accidental most important man in the galaxy. well, every day Naomi Nagata wakes up

Praxideke Meng. botanist of my heart. literally tames the rabid guard dog that no one else could. gentle and able to stay gentle because of said dog. which brings me to...

Amos Burton. I saved him for last because he is my guy. he is THAT guy. canonically aromantic pansexual king. are you into guard dog characters? do you find yourself drawn to the "sorry my love language is acts of service and all I'm good at is killing people" characters? amos burton is like seventeen tumblr posts come to life. previously mentioned enormous killer dressed as a mechanic, former heels wearing "I didn't always work in space" sex worker who is always rolling into brothels and being like "you guys unionized?", gives a shit about basically no one in the universe except his crew and every single child in the galaxy, accidental comedian because he cannot stop saying weird shit, not a nice or good person but a loyal one, and one who is always trying to relearn the empathy that was carved out of him as a young person. every time he goes homicidal to protect one of his chosen people (crew + any and every child), an angel gets its wings.

fin.

[astralbooks]

Earthbound Hearts - Alex Nonymous

Read: 23/12/2022

Rating: 5/5

Rep: asexual lesbian main character, autistic sapphic main character, f/f relationship, trans girl side character CW: negative self talk, implied autistic meltdown from pov of autistic character, accidental outing (not of a main character and only to one other person)

Review:

This book follows two girls, Skye and Sadie, childhood pen pals who despite falling for each other have solely communicated through email their entire lives. Now in their last year of high school, Skye manages to convince Sadie to come outside and meet her face to face for the first time, upon which Skye finds out that there was a very good reason why Sadie had until then spent most of her life indoors.

This book can be described as a love letter to stimming and other ways that autistic people authentically express themselves. Sadie is autistic. It isn't her autism that leads her to stay hidden away from the world, it's what comes of her being made to feel like she absolutely has to mask and keep all her autistic traits hidden. Throughout the book she grows in confidence and comfort in being herself, and the final line of the book had me smiling really really hard. Also there's a certain line that Sadie says near the end that upon reading it I had to stop and stare at my ceiling for a bit because I felt it so hard. Skye was also a really great character! She's driven, curious, academically successful due largely to the hard work she puts in towards achieving her goals, and she's rather unpopular with her teachers due to her unwillingness to be talked down to or treated like she's inferior. I had a lot of fun reading from her perspective! One of the most significant side characters is Skye's best friend Isaac. Isaac is a trans girl and the only person she's come out to at all is Skye. Nobody else knows that Isaac is trans, and she evidently hasn't chosen a new name yet and is at the point of the book is uncertain as to whether or not she's even going to. This is my first time seeing a character like Isaac and I really hope it's not the last. Trans people are under no obligation to tell everyone immediately, or change our names, or do anything if we don't want to or aren't ready to. At any given moment there are loads of real trans people out there who are in the same kind of in-between stage that Isaac is in, and they deserve to be acknowledged as well as the trans people who have everything figured out including a new publicly usable gender-matching name. There's room for all of us. Aside from her gender, Isaac is just a great character. She's the go-to leader of her and Skye's friendship group for very good reason. Also, Isaac being in this in-between stage in her transition is thematically resonant with the rest of the book. The group are in their last year of high school, they're about to start applying to universities, their friendship group may or may not survive graduation, and the relationship between Skye and Sadie is developing and changing rapidly. The whole book feels like a snapshot in the lives of the characters as they're just starting to become the people they're going to be, and I really loved that! I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for queer contemporary with fantasy elements or who are looking for more autistic rep in the books they pick up

I received an early copy of this book prior to its publication in return for some feedback. Details may be different in the published version.

[gunkyengines]

4, 7, and 9, for the s/i questions if you're still taking them!

Ohhhh my gods @jetsetspy I’m so sorry for answering this question so late ;-; My answers are under the cut!

4. Does your insert have a backstory? Tell us about it! How does their backstory, if any, define who they are? How does it reflect their relationships now? Their hopes and dreams?

Bellamy Amplexus – Final Fantasy XV SI

Bellamy doesn’t have much of a backstory just yet, but I do know this:

·         Their family isn’t a huge part of their life, aside from a younger sibling, who, to this day, I have not yet named.

·         They want a sense of belonging somewhere, and have a number of self-image complications (it’s not really a set of “issues” to them, because they’ve found comfort in their body and self over time, but they still have wishes about what they could be seen as—androgyny is a tough line to straddle).

·         They hate the nickname “Bella”.

·         Bells, as far as I’m concerned right now, finds their sense of belonging amongst the ‘Bros ever since they just sorta started… tagging along, I guess? It was just an act of good will from the prince and his guards and a bit of hitchhiking on Bells’ end that got them where they are now.

·         They were originally a bit of a vagabond prior to meeting up with the guys. Hitchhiking, walking absurdly long distances, camping out often, all that jazz.

Junko Hisayo – Persona 5 SI

Junko is a character who I largely based off of my late-high school self for both self insertion and coping reasons, but a few things do set her apart from me. As in, she’s a pretty close approximation, but by no means is she a direct, direct copy of me.

She’s a student at Kosei Academy, simply due to the fact that I read on the wiki that it’s speculated to be a catholic school (I was brought up in the catholic education system, so, I could find some accuracy and likeness in that), and attended meetings at both the drama and art club there. She has bitter memories of the two clubs, as she was betrayed by the one major figure in both: her childhood friend Hideo Sunjaya. Since then, she’s taken to expressing her creative outlets in circles outside of her student life, and finds her passion in writing. At the time of Persona 5 canon, she’s set on becoming an editor. In the future canon, she does in fact achieve this goal. In this way Junko’s less of a model of who I was, and instead she’s what I hope to be.

She comes from a somewhat broken home, but has a strong relationship with her mother. Despite her current disconnect, Junko feels that she owes it to her parents that she has such a good understanding of her own identity, as they were supportive when she first came out as sapphic, and continued their support when she decided to be GNC and soon after came into her identity as a demigirl.

Elizabeth Beaufort – Red Dead Redemption 2 SI

Lizzie is a pretty lighthearted simulacrum of a more feminine version of me, translated loosely into the scope of the year 1899. I’m by no means a historian, but here’s Lizzie’s life.

Elizabeth Beaufort is a born and raised resident of the town of Valentine. Her mother is whatever the RDR2 universe’s equivalent of Quebecois French is, having moved to Saint Denis due to a family matter down there, and subsequently met her father. A Valentine resident himself, he beguiled her mother and convinced her to move to Valentine and live as the wife of a livestock owner (he comes from some blue blood ‘round those parts—as mentioned by the VDL in Chapter 2, the town is a goldmine of trade).

As a lady of relative privilege, life was… well, it was what a privileged life is. Sheltered, simple, and for the most part pretty damned easy. However, her naivete wasn’t something that her mother would stand to see Elizabeth keep, as she wanted a strong daughter who wouldn’t simply bend to the hand of tradition. Would I say that Lizzie would’ve most certainly rallied with those girls in Rhodes? YES. I’d rather die than portray any iteration of myself as complacent rather than progressive lmao. Elizabeth Beaufort flows in the vein of RDR2’s… I guess, progressive* writing? More** on that below, I guess???

*I don’t actually know how well it was received by everyone else, and honestly, I’m not even gonna try to speak on anyone else’s behalf but my own—I found that RDR2, despite some shortcomings, made itself a relatively hospitable environment for me as a white queer.

** Lizzie does struggle a lot with her internalized homophobia? Like… she had a lot of difficulty when she was younger coming to terms with the fact that she’s bisexual. This is less prevalent in her backstory considering it only ever surfaces post-canon. Yes, my SI and her FO came out to each other at random after being married to him for approximately 3 months. And it went fuckin’ great cos guess what!! Theyre both bi!! WLW/MLM solidarity!!! Don’t @ me.

Gillian Wright – Red Dead Redemption 2 SI

·         Gilley was brought up amongst a gang of outlaws, and her being born a woman changed nothing about the things she was taught by said gunslingers. She left the group she once called family because of the leadership turning sour. From that point forward she went it alone, shifting in and out of her identity as Gilley Wright and her masculine persona (a pseudonym-turned-identity) Giles Kingsley, to keep herself straddling notoriety and anonymity.

·         Gilley only started wearing her hair short because of an encounter in which her longer hair was used as a means to pull her back into harm’s way. She lopped it off shortly after out of the feeling that it was a necessity, but soon found that she preferred it that way.

·         Thaddeus, her large draft horse, once pulled carts. She took him during a robbery so that she’d have an adequate mount for her getaway. The connection was instant between them.

Taeko Atou – Tokyo Ghoul OC

Taeko went by another name before her time in the 20th ward. She had another face, another life. But that was a self she had to leave far, far behind. Before “Taeko”, she was a reckless twentysomething ghoul living off of her father’s money, basking in the upper echelons of society, indulging in Scrapper shows and seeing humanity as nothing but an unprepared buffet. The danger ranking on her CCG profile demonstrated as much.

One night, however, her cushy life changed drastically. She went out drinking after a Scrapper show with one of her friends and decided to go hunting with her. Things were as usual, they stayed in their territory, but ended up getting apprehended by a group of Doves. During the getaway, her and her friend were separated, and she had no way of knowing whether her friend was alive. Drunk, desperate, and rather terrified, she decided to abandon all else and ripped her mask off to taunt the officers. They deserved to see her face, covered in gore and as ghoulish as they came! Nothing mattered to her at that point and she wanted to give them a scare…!

That is, until the next morning, when she recovered from her hangover and realized what she’d done. One of those Doves got a picture of her. In a panic, she called her father to ask for some sort of mercy money to clear the issue up. He’s frustrated with her constantly getting into increasingly worse trouble and tells her this: he’s going to pay for her to completely change her identity and her face so that she can move elsewhere, completely out of the way of harm. After that, he’d be cutting her off, leaving her with only the savings that she had prior to the cut-off. No more handouts.

This is when she became Taeko Atou, a pseudonym based off of her Scrapper show guest alias, “Miss AT”, and moved to the 20th ward. She has to adjust to average life a la Schitt’s Creek or Arrested Development.

7. What kind of clothing style do they like? What would they never be caught dead wearing? What’s likely in their closet right now?

Bellamy Amplexus – Final Fantasy XV SI

·         Bells LOVES anything that’ll make them look cute and androgynous. They’re super partial to a femme prince aesthetic. Blouses and linens and vests and suspenders and a bunch of that cute shit. (Yes, this is my preferred fashion style and I wish I could look like that all the time.) They’re also into stuff like your average sundresses and such when it’s too hot for “princey” attire because hell yeah.

·         They’d hate to wear… hm… short party dresses? Cocktail dresses n shit. (No shade to those tho theyre cute. Just not Bellamy’s style.)

Junko Hisayo – Persona 5 SI

·         Junko’s super masc and butch in her presentation, binds her chest, does the simple graphic tee + jeans thing a lot. Think “Kanji Tatsumi but a lesbian”.

·         She lowkey doesn’t like wearing overly feminine clothes, like, she does not vibe with dresses.

Elizabeth Beaufort – Red Dead Redemption 2 SI

·         Lizzie is pretty standard when it comes to clothes: blouses and skirts, dresses, all just… really basic stuff. She likes simple and solid colours, maybe simple patterns. She’s also like… very cottagecore. Probably likes overalls if she ever wears ‘em?? I’m not a frickin’ historian and I’m not gonna google early 1900s clothes styles at this hour don’t @ me.

·         This is literally just because I’m basic as all fuck and I like a skirt/blouse or sundress style outfit. I don’t wear it often but that’s my jazz y’know?

Gillian Wright – Red Dead Redemption 2 SI

·         Gilley’s another one of my more boyish characters. She doesn’t deliberately go out of her way to look like a man unless she’s under the guise of her male persona Giles Kingsley. But let me tell you—she goes all out for those occasions, even electing to simulate stubble on her face with cosmetics. Think “cowboy drag king” and you’ll hit the mark.

·         Other than that, she just wears whatever’s convenient and comfortable.

 9. Their favorite foods? Colors? Activities? What do they enjoy in life? How do they express their joy for things they like?

As dumb as this sounds I completely burnt out after writing only 2 self insert likes/interests profiles, forgive me lol.

Bellamy Amplexus – Final Fantasy XV SI

·         Favourite Food: Bells is indecisive, but they will gladly eat anything Ignis puts in front of them. They’re thoroughly convinced he uses magic in his cooking. (They’re only half joking about that—it’s so good!) If they were made to decide a top three, it’d likely be Garden Curry, Broiled King on a Stick, and Moogle Mousse with Kupoberry Sauce. Honorable mention being Gyashi Chips (yes, they like what’s effectively Eosian kale chips).

·         Favourite Colours: ANYTHING PASTEL will win Bellamy over, along with any colour considered light and airy. White, silver, pale green, soft gold, baby blue, lavender, and also whatever the sky has going on at any given time of the day—they’re an aesthetic little shit.

·         Favourite Activities: Travelling, leisure shopping when funds allow it (if given the means, Bellamy will 100% engage in excessive retail therapy, no joke), swimming, loving their friends, talking about books and music, gardening, and (I know this sounds vain but bear with me) preening. Yes, they’d be a vlogger in another life. Don’t @ me

·         Bells loves to talk in excess about what they like, and on occasion, when words fail, they tend to express it through squealing, jumping, etc. If someone points out how passionate Bells is about these things, they’ll end up flustered and ask the person if they could continue. I guess you could say Bellamy stims? I’m not diagnosed with anything, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do have stimming habits.

Junko Hisayo – Persona 5 SI

·         Favourite Food: Junko’s pretty partial to miso soup. It’s one of her weaknesses. Total comfort food. (Bro I fuckin’ love miso soup.) As well as baked goods like cupcakes.

·         Favourite Colours: Red, black, silver, pink, blue, purple.

·         Favourite Activities: drawing (sketches, scribbles, doodles, colouring, etc., singing, baking/cooking, writing, and she learned to love gardening after getting close to Haru.

·         Junko tends to show her happiness through verbal and artistic expression, she’s also the type that tends to crack jokes (mostly shitty puns followed up by finger guns).

Again, thank you so much for asking, thank you so much for asking! QwQ Asks are still open, everyone.

[bluebipples]

Mora/Bean is Canon

(but I’m not sure about Endgame)

A very (very) long, unnecessary post. I’d like to start this off by saying bisexuality is consistently erased in the tumblr community, but this isn’t about if bean is bi or a lesbian because it literally does not matter 

*ahem* Also, spoilers if you haven’t watched season 3 because, i don’t know, you probably have a life

anyway, there’s lots of speculation on whether or not Bean’s romance with Mora was a dream or not, and I’m here to give you the (probably) definitive answer (and throw a wild guess at the next season).

To begin with, Disenchantment is no stranger to foreshadowing. In fact, rewatching the show a few times you notice that the writers practically laid everything out in front of us the entire time. It’s actually admirable from a writer’s perspective, imo, but I’m not here to cream my pants over the writers. An example of their consistent foreshadowing would begin in the very first episode, when a blimp is seen in the far background of one of the scenes over some mountains. This would later be explained by the introduction of Steamland, which became a pinnacle location to the plot in seasons 2 and 3. There are plenty more examples, but I’d rather save it for the ones I’ve found in season 3. (And, one could argue, Bean asking a hot mermaid to nibble her earlobes was foreshadowing her later romance with one, but, hey, who am i to over-speculate)

Now, for the juicy stuff, as well as some artistic appreciation. Was anyone else absolutely in love with the ocean scenery? Like, somebody popped the fuck off in the background department bc hot damn. Don’t worry, I promise, this is extremely relevant. 

(excuse the thing in the top left) This is the sky a few hours after they’d left Steamland, meaning it’s early morning / sunrise. Holy shit, I nearly cried when I saw this scene. This is goddamn beautiful. The clouds? The blending? The bright coloration? Who the fuck did this??? How do I give them money??

Sorry for the lack of a consistent timeline, but I didn’t get a good shot of the sky in the same day afternoon shot, so, here’s the afternoon sky before Bean and Elfo crash.

And this delightful pink son of a bitch is the sunset, into which our ladies rode with my heart soaring. At this point, I had to pause to search ‘disenchantment’ on tumblr to see if it was gay and sure enough the top image was mora and bean kissing. i love this hellhole.

Now, why the hell are skies relevant, my friends? Well (I’m starting to realize this is another fucking dumb sky post like that one that’s 10 years long but this is worse because I’m losing my mental sanity to prove half an episode in a 3 season cartoon actually happened)

This would be when the ‘dream’ starts, which is after Bean hits her head, and presumably, late afternoon. Swimming with your mermaid girlfriend underwater all the way to Mermaid Island probably takes some time, so they get there by, say, sunset maybe?

yes, i use subtitles, i do not have a good attention span. So, yeah, maybe sunset-ish, or like, really late afternoon. 

and, of course, our wildest sapphic fantasies come true. again, excuse the subtitles. 

Here’s the juicy juicy shit that real good-good. Please stay with me.

The lyrics to Mora’s song:

They say that you’re a drowner

And we’re parted by the sea

But I can keep you floating

If you just hold on to me

I’ll keep you safe, I’m on your team

And when it feels like just a dream

Believe it’s true

Because I do

And someday if there’s a war

On some not-so-distant shore

And lines are drawn

I’m never gone

This star’s your guide

And I am always on your side

Well, well, well, how the dots have connected and my gay brain is spiraling. Not only am I swooning, but I’m also itching with theories. Lots of ‘em. I’m about to give MatPat a run for his money. 

First, I wanna get out there that if you tell me Bean’s subconscious could have written that song, you are incorrect. Bean is a lot of things, but... creative isn’t exactly one of them. There’s an entire episode dedicated to how bad she as at writing creatively (unless it’s about her familial issues): season 2, episode 8: In Her Own Write.

So, ‘when it feels like just a dream / believe it’s true’ sounds a whole lot like we’re being told something. Or, Bean is, but she’s not great at picking up hints. Another fact we are shown again and again and again. 

‘Someday if there’s a war / On some not-so-distant shore’ I mean, this shouldn’t be so hard to point out. Kinda seems like Dreamland is in a bit of a tizzy right now, huh? I mean, what with the Elves learning that the Trøgs are direct descendants of their forgotten ancestors that adapted to living underground overtime and- oh- wait- did that not get revealed yet?

Well, let me do you a think by referencing Skyrim because that’s the easiest example I can think of. There are these ugly bitches that ruin my entire day every time I encounter them called the Falmer that dwell underground that were once Snow Elves, but had adapted to living underground after, you guessed it, the arrival of... goddamn nords/humans (a few centuries after, but still). Large eyes with poor vision, bigger ears to make up for that lack of vision, and a more grey skin pallor from, y’know, living underground. I won’t give you a lecture on evolution, because this is already super duper long. Kinda wild that Disenchanted would take a commonly used Fantasy trope like creatures colonized by humans adapting to life underground, it’s almost like the whole show is to poke fun of overdone fantasy tropes.

And, of course, it’s revealed that the Lost Kingdom of the Elves is underneath Dreamland, directly where the Trøgs dwell. It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots. Elves have hidden themselves in this world - remember, Elfo was the first elf since Leavo to leave Elfwood in years. So let me spin you a yarn about a well-known tale called Colonization. I’m sure we all know where this is going. Clearly, not all of the elves stayed underneath Dreamland. Judging by how many Trøgs there are in relation to how many elves, I assume less than or around half of the elf population managed to evacuate Dreamland while those who remained took to living in the shadows. We’ve seen the conditions of their underworld, and, well, one can assume they went a bit nutty along the way. I’m sure the mushroom spores didn’t help.

Then, there’s the prophecy. Bean, Elfo and Luci are the saviors of the Trøgs.

‘Lines are drawn’ - after Bean is crowned Queen Bean (lol) she and Elfo drift apart. He obviously feels abandoned by her, and even if he did sacrifice himself for Dreamland, I’m certain he won’t be killed. I’m on that wonderful conspiracy train that the Ogre Queen is his mother, but that’s another story for another day though it’s somewhat related. Needless to say, if the Elves declare war on Dreamland, lines will certainly be drawn. And, I recall my statement above: Bean, Elfo and Luci are the saviors of the Trøgs. I’d count it as ‘saving’ them if they reunite with their cousins, the Elves, and take back the kingdom that once belonged to them; wouldn’t you?

‘I’m never gone / This star’s your guide / And I am always on your side’ This is a callback to a few things in this episode. Mora tells Bean that the heart of the Big Flipper leads to Mermaid Island, as Bean recalls when she is given the necklace Mora made for her. So, that’s another double nudge-nudge wink-wink from the writers (a joke they also made consistently this season, making me feel aggressively mocked. so i have powerpoints on this show, now, and nothing to do with them.) 

Anyway, if the Elves and Trøgs do succeed in taking over Dreamland, Mora has explicitly stated that Bean has an ally in her - and, of course, the mermaids. So, looking too deeply into a song written by a fictional mermaid for her equally fictional girlfriend aside, let’s move on to more obvious evidence.

Bean then wakes up on the beach to Elfo saying nobody wanted to help them, , yadda yadda, it was clearly a dream, right?

(yes, I wanted to get the caption that made me cry. now you have to be sad, too.) except, wait a second, that’s a goddamn morning sky. And, beyond that, the very next episode which continues off from Bean and Elfo walking back to Dreamland, it’s also morning and leads right into the rest of the same day. well, shit me a brick. chronologically, it makes sense for this to have not been a dream.

and, naturally, the nail in the coffin. There it is, the necklace, right there in front of our fat faces. I’m sure you’re wondering how Bean can sleep through swimming underwater for presumably hours, but, hey, tHAT’S JUST A TH-

In conclusion, the Disenchantment writers make it a point to give us not-so-subtle hints (mostly in the background) towards future plots. This seemingly innocuous, what, ten minutes of a sapphic fantasy come true could be an incredibly important plot point. It’s not the first time they’ve used a small storyline to pull the strings together for a far bigger one - they literally do it every season, multiple times. My evidence towards Mora and Bean having a real romance stems from the design of the sky backgrounds that clearly show the passage of time throughout the episode (and show), as well as the fact that Mora’s necklace washes up on shore not long after Bean wakes up. Along with this presented evidence, I believe the Elves are going to try and overthrow Dreamland (just like, basically, every other kingdom or secret society in this show) and Bean will have to figure out for herself if Mora really is waiting for her on Mermaid Island. As for what else Season 4 has in store, I have lots of other theories but for the 4 people who read this, I shall not disclose.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, and I am so very sorry.

Also, here’s a bonus pic of the ocean scenery.

(luci voice) who did that?