#so give me hte CONFESSIon

[konohamaru-sensei]

To me, Kimi ni todoke is a perfect story

What can I say now that I have finished season 3? The season 3 we didn't even know we would be getting? Well, I used to tell friends that I am happy with whatever comes, but now im greedy and I want it all. I am very Kazehaya about new KnT seasons, I guess.

Anyway, I have been browsing the tag a little to find gifs and reactions and such, and I already see discussions (not much tbh but still) about how this and that in the story should be different and while the anime did skip things (Rip to "you are mine now" Nakamura-san would have sounded SO GOOD!), people are satisfiedI think. I am, at least, very happy.

But to me, Kimi ni todoke is perfect. and not perfect in this way that i have small problems but overall I'm happy. No, I find it perfect perfect. Every storyline every character development from beginning to end is perfect. I guess people complaining about Ayane or whatever, even if its not here on tumblr that much, just show me that I can't interact with fans of this fandom either.

See, ever since I found KnT in 2009 when I was just 17 (about the age of the characters in the story funnily enough) I have always rewatched it when I was doing poor mentally. I must have seen it 12-15 times over the years, I've probably watched it twice after my fathers death alone. These characters mean the world to me, all of them. I love all of them.

But the girls! At different times of my life I could always connect to another one of them. So much so that while I like Chizu best and think she resembles me the most (in fact, I think she is the anime character that is closest to me in personality), I find a part of me in all of them.

When I found the story I had just lost my friendgroup (because an ex lied about me, it happens) and I had to go back to being alone, so I emphasised with Sawako (and her distancing herself from her friends always makes me cry, without fail, always).

When I moved out to study in 2011 and was mentally so low in 2012 and dated guys because I thought otherwise they wouldnt be my friends, I reread Ayanes okinawa arc over and over and over again.

And of course I have my friends call me by a different name than my given name because my given name is boring lol Kurumi and me.

And ah, Chizu, it would be too long to explain. Too personal. Nobody would care. I had a best friend once that I lost because I was scared of our friendship ending. I love Chizuru because we are the same, and I'm jealous of her because she is better than me. I don't have time or space to express my feelings. Level up to Nisi friendship level 6 to hear tragic backstory.

Also, I can't talk about this show without mentioning how much the voice actors mean to me. Long before I knew any seiyuu-names I knew Kazehayas-voice. In fact, I hated oikawa in hq SPECIFICALLY because he has kazehayas voice and isnt nice! You gotta be nice with that voice man! Their voices are tattooed onto my soul and when I hear them in other places I always think of KnT first.

I love them so very much that when I watched the Tokyo E ncounter episode with Nakamura Yuuchi (Ryu) and Sanpei Yuuko (Chizuru) when they are playing Halo and he is teasing her for having bad aim, I started crying - like sobbing. It was so weird I have you know but I just sat there and I couldn't get it together.

Anyway, Kimi ni todoke is perfect to me. Everything about it means the world to me. I have to physically restrain myself to not rewatch the season again.

Please netflix, finish it, please. You may cut some things. I will forgive you if you cut some things, but give me the end.

[shewhowas39]

chapter 19 sneak peek!

working on chapter 19 of Juniper & Starlight! not sure yet when this will be up. Monday or Tuesday, i hope? but this one is gonna get spicy. here's a little preview before the spicy bits start. the lead up, if you will.

***

“Are you all right?” she asks. 

Astarion has to resist the urge to wince at the genuine worry in her voice. He’s still not used to people showing concern for him. It’s part of what he wants from her, of course, and yet it still itches, like a shirt made of cheap fabric. 

“Oh, yes, quite fine,” he answers. “My backside might be a bit bruised, however.” 

“Sorry.” June scrambles off of him and gets back to her feet. “I didn’t mean to knock you down. I saw you struggling to close the book and I felt a whole lot of necromancy and I got real scared something bad was about to happen to you and…” She trails off as Astarion also stands, dusting off his trousers. He watches her eyes dart to the book and then back to him. “How’s that going, by the way?”

“It’s a unique read, certainly,” he says, tossing a glare at the book. The two dark amethyst gems on hte cover seem to stare menacingly back at him. “A tome of necromancy guarded by spirits.”

“I take it those were the voices I heard when I touched it?” 

“Yes. They became louder when I opened it, surging into my mind. I can’t reason with them. They exist to protect that book.” He walks over and picks up the book, grimacing at the faint sound of whispers, taunting him from the shadows. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to protect this tome,” he says, more to himself than to June. “It has to be something more than a book of cantrips.”

“Astarion.” June takes a step closer to him, her eyes the color of midnight in this dim lighting. “I know you’re hoping to find something useful in there, but that thing is dangerous. I can feel it. I ain’t telling you not to read it, but please be careful.” She offers a smile that seems rather sad. “We already got one crazy person in the party. Don’t wanna add another.”

“You’re right,” he says. “I’d hate to be as mad as Lae’zel.” He’s pleased when that earns a little chuckle from her. “But perhaps you’re right. It may be best to put it aside for now.” Astarion sighs and scowls down at the book. “I still think it may have the key to giving me an edge over Cazador, but I can’t learn anything as long as those spirits remember their mission.”

“We’ll figure it out,” June says. “I promise.” 

He raises an eyebrow at her. “We?”

“Of course. I ain’t just gonna leave you hanging out to dry when all this mindflayer business is done with. Like I told you, Astarion, you’re my friend.” 

Her friend. 

Astarion moves his gaze back down to the book and away from June’s face. He needs to be careful. Last night, he’d nearly confessed everything to her. He’d been so surprised by her easy trust in him and so confounded by her declaring herself to be his friend that he’d nearly let the monster crawl out of the void in his chest and claw its way up through his throat. He’d nearly let the guilt he’s been avoiding looking in the eye go free. 

Thank the Gods she’d had one of her visions and hadn’t heard the first part of his admission. And thank them again that she’d kissed him and shut him up completely. 

In theory, he already has what he wants. She is concerned for him, she trusts him, she seems at least somewhat invested in his well being. That should make him feel good. It should mean his plan is working. Or perhaps even that it’s unnecessary at this point. But Astarion doesn’t trust it. He doesn’t trust that it can be that easy. And he certainly doesn’t trust that, if he told her the truth of his intentions, she’d still call him a friend. 

No. He needs to be careful and keep that guilt chained up in the darkest part of his soul, away from the light of day. He needs to not feel it. To not feel anything. 

But, by the Hells, June, with all her painful sincerity and her big, sad eyes, really makes that difficult sometimes.

“Well, if nothing else, perhaps I can beat Cazador to death with it,” he says, waving the book around theatrically before shoving it into his bag and silencing the voices in his mind. “But you came over here looking for me. Did you need something?”

“I actually came to see if you needed something.” June says, gesturing to her neck. 

“Oh!” Astarion’s mood instantly picks up at the prospect of her blood. “Now that you mention it, darling, I am feeling rather peckish.” He sidles up beside her, slipping an arm around her waist. “Your tent or mine?”

***

readers of J&S know that things get a little steamy once these two are alone in a tent together... this chapter is gonna take that to a new level. i'm excited!

[420technoblazeit]

I genuinely think we could be good friends if I wasn’t so socially inept and terrified of what others think of me. You’re super cool and at least give the air of confidence, and I admire it!!

dude il ltell u a secret im also scared to talk to ppl so if u dotn message me and i dont message u we'll juts b sitting here like scared cats on the opposite ends of hte fuckin room so just message me!!!

(Confess something you've thought about me on anon)

[0wllight]

My dearest Minho,

May this letter find you well.

I must confess, even though I haven't even sent this at the time of writing, I know I will eagerly await your response. It is something that has never changed upon meeting you- wanting to listen to you, that is. Thank you for being such a strong voice in my life. I know I am not the best at conversation, and I always feel as if I need to repay you for your patience. Perhaps writing this can be some form of repayment…but that was not my original intention.

I love you. I feel as if we were made for each other-- one cannot play pool without a cue and cue ball…even though the idea of being fated is not one in reality. Because of this, it makes our encounter all the more special. We are a 1 in a million of possibilities.

I wish I was not so…new to this. I know you would not love me any different if I talked more, or kissed more. But deep within me I would love nothing more than to do that and more. As it is what I love about you- your voice, your laughter, your affections. It will take time, but I will get to there eventually. At the moment, however, I feel to reiterate my feelings by writing them to you. And afterwards, once you have read this, perhaps…perhaps a kiss. If you wouldn't mind.

I care for you, and wish for your care in return. You are a great light in my heart. Continue to keep me in your thoughts as you are in mine.

Yours, with love, Venom

ok so first heres connecticut right now. it will be on the news tomorrow btw everyone look forward to it you'll see some guy destroyed the netirety of hte state dont worry it was just me

lets also get this out of the way that i am one finger down because. ihave a band aid on one of htem and i alos cant feel my fucking hands its like so cold in here im going to die why didnt you add holding my hand onto your message venom/j

anyways now that we got these disclaimers outta the way

here comes the mental illness where i try to seriously respond to a letter:

JASJODISAIGA2I3[T9302IT930IA903GOKOPGREKLG;ERAMGLA; HIG WHO NEY HIAPWEA HIEA GAWGEAW GWAE MEOW MEOW MEO MEOW MOEW HAIEG AIWAEGIOAWMGKLEWMAGKLWAEMG MWAL HI HONEY HI HI HI THANK YOU FOR WRITING OT ME I RELALY EPAORPPRECIATE LYOU LISTEING TO ME. IM GOING DSOPGAKKGODASKOGPSAKGOPSD sorry i cant read this without goingg GAISDGDISAJGDASJGJIGDAS ok ok i go t this YOU DONT NEED TO REPAY ME I WOULD KILL A MAN FOR YOU. OK. ITS OK HONEY UR TRYING UR BEST THATS WHAT MATTERS UR TAKING LITTLE STEPS NAD ITS OK!! OK I CANT WRITE THIS RESPONSE WITHOUT FUCKING EXPLODING BUT YES I WILL GIVE YOU A KISS COME HERE MUAH MUAH KISSY FORMY BELOVED HUSBAND MUAH ILY I WOULD UGASHGAKMAGGKMLLGMWAKLMGWAKLWGMELKGMWAGELKMWALKMAEGWLKMEAGWLKEAWG I CANT EWALKLG;EWAKGL;EAW IC IAWTNICWA TIAMLAEWML;ATKAL;T ML;AW CRIYNG SOBS GIJSGJSLKDMKSLDMGKSL I ALMOST THREW MY PHONE ACROSS THE ROOM IN MY AUNTS HOUSE WHILE READING THIS BTW REALLY FUN FACT IT WAS SUPER FUN MY BROTHER THOUGHT I WAS INSANE OK DID OYU KNOW MY OCUSINES TALKED ABOUT YOU IT WAS FUNNY I ALMOST PASSED OUT LIKE 16 TIMES BUT ITS OK IM FINE NOW WE GOOD!!! IK U DO THE BAKING BUT I WILL MAKE YOU COOKIES WITH HEARTS ON THEM IM SO GOOD at baking like esriously so good i think im sleep deprived here typing this im so sorry followers ill make this really short i almost passed out like 2 times writing this and am lightheaded right now too curse not taking my meds ever but heres just me at venom ok thanks bye i walked into the eletric fence

.

[walker-extended-universe]

Season 2, Episode 2

“The One Who Got Away” is a very apt title, I think.

I’m gonna talk about the B plot of this episode first before I get into all the heavy stuff.

So August, Stella, Colton, and Todd are all in Saturday detention. Stella and Augsut and Colton are in detention for the parking lot incident. Todd’s reason is unknown but I’m willing to bet he was skipping classes or something. Seems like something he would do. Trey likely in a bid to distract himself from his mounting worry over Micki and Walker’s silence, sets up an escape room type situation for them to do to work on their communication skills. August and Todd are in one room, Stella and Colton are in another and the goal is to find a key to unlock the door. The key to finding the key is in their “shared history”. Todd and August find their key first after talking about Ruby and the whole mess related to her. Stella and Colton take a little longer due to their more strained relationship. Colton makes some surprisingly revealing comments about his parents’ attempts at dodging the divorce bullet and how it’s affected him. Eventually, theyfind their key as well and Stella gives him a ride back to the property. While on the road, they come across an unknown horse and decide to help it.

Part of me wonders if this was meant to set up a sort of romance plotline between Colton and Stella. I have a feeling Todd will at least be mentioned as August’s friend in later episodes, if not more screentime. The only complaint I have about about this entire episode is that Colton’s reveal about hsi aprent’s didn’t seem natural. He didn’t like Stella at this point and there was no reason for him to give her a real response to the question “Why are you so angry?”. It felt more like something that should’ve come later but it all worked out.

Now for the main plot of the story.

“GM” or Garrison is Seranos’ right-hand man and Micki’s former flame. He doesn’t reveal who she is at the meeting but he does take her somewhere private for a meeting to discuss a possible deal. She is agressive and confrontational, demanding evidence or proof that he’s being serious about this. It’s revealed that they intended to marry 14 years ago but she left him stranded at the atlar when he refused to change his criminal lifestyle. He tells her he can provide evidence for all of Seranos’ crimes if he gets immunity. He also reveals the identity of the sniper and the reason for the hit in Austin: Seranos is getting paranoid. Denise Davidson, despite Liam’s protests, agrees to the deal and heads to Del Rio to assist in the case. 

With Seranos cleaning up all his loose ends and destorying evidence, it turns otu they’re too late to collect the promised evidence as one of Seranos’ men sets the building on fire just as Micki and Walker are maing their move. After some more discussion, they decide to send Garrison in one last time to get a confession. While waiting for Garrison to return, Micki finds out that he was more involved with Spider’s death than he previously claimed and moves in to confront him. There, Garrison admits that he was the sniper in Austin and that if he desont’ kil Walker now, it’ll be over for him and Micki too. In a rush of events, Micki stops Garrison from shooting Walker but inadvertently sends him falling to his death. Seranos is captured by Captain James. Walker later finds Micki drinking and listening to Garrison’s last mix-CD for her.

This was a very emotional story. Micki’s romantic past hasn’t been explroed much beyond Trey and the idea of her getting hitched at 19 is foreign and certainly not something I would’ve imagined for her. I also find it interesting that she considered Garrison to be the one who got away despite the fact that she was the one who left. I wonder how hte vents of this episode will affect Micki and Trey’s relationship going forward as well. She’s going to be feeling the effects of this for a while and I imagine Trey won’t be too happy to learn about this very major part of Micki’s life so late into their relationship.

This episode revealed some more abotu Walker and Micki’s relationship as well. It’s clear they care fo reach other very much. Almost too much. Micki risked her life and her current relationships to go on a job specifically for Walker. Walker spends the entire time questioning Micki’s safety and her mental state and consistently suggests ideas that would bring her back otu of it despite the consequences to himself. I wonder if this will impact DA Davidson’s opinion on whether they should remain partners.

I can’t talk about that without talking about Walker and James. Walker was pissed that James hadn’t clued him on about the fact that he might’ve been a target for the hit too. James had his reasons not to and made sure Walker was protected but that lead to its own problems. I did enjoy watching them work together and I hope we see more of that in the future, even if it’s just in flashbacks.

Of course, there’s Walker and Denise too. They didn’t have a lot in this episode but what they did have indicates a clear level of respect for each other between them. Denise’s comment about the fire has me thinking too. I wonder if there will be any potential romantic plotline between the two of them. She is probably getting divorced soon, after all....

I do want to take a moment to talk about Liam in this episode. He only directly interacted with Denis but every moment was charged with tension. He is clearly not happy to be working under her and most of his time was spent quiestioning her decisions, even if they made sense. It’s like he was looking for a reason to professionally question her credibility for the DA position. I can’t imagine that dying down anytime soon.

All in all, a very good episode that completed it’s own plot while setting up pletny for the future. I, for one, am very excited for the next episode.

[fumikomiyasaki]

Its been a hot minute, but any of these with our ships? 🤑 👏 ❤️ -twistedikon

👏 to congratulate them

It was Graduation day for many students, some HSA students visited NRC to join the festivities. Sindren spotted out of hte crowd a person she wanted to approach an sprinted through it, to jump hug Ikon, causing them to fall over.

"You did it, congratulations Ikon."

She showered him wih affection.

🤑 as thanks for something

Dakota was reading under a tree as Tyler surprised him with a visit.

"Unsual to see you out of your work." Dakota smiled.

As Tyler walked up to him and took him in his arms Dakota was kind of confussed.

"Thank you.... for always being there for me...."

"Whats wrong? Are you fine?"

"I feel mostly like I take things for granted currently. A talk with a buisness partner made me realize... so especially because you give me comfort being here and make me keep moving on...I want to thank you."

"Its sweet I am just not used to the more Emotional Tyler yet."

They both layed in each others arms.

❤️ whilst confessing their love

"Henry I need to talk to you about something..."

There was a light blush on her face but she also seemed nervous and figgity.

"Sure, I am all ears."

An awkward silence broke out after, Henry seemed a bit worried about her after the last days of hard work in the dorm.

"I need to say it but, after all the interviews I did with you for my writing... it seems that I slowly fell in love with you and I.... wanted to ask if you might have want to have a date with me..."

With time a light smile appeared on Henrys face and he instinctly hugged.

"Wha-"

"Of course I would... I actually hoped you would say that..."

[jamiedc-they-them]

Sell and Repurchase

Requested Imagine: While trying to look for an old friend, you find her in the most unexpected of places. Even if, for her, it had been a long time coming.

You typed on your keyboard, getting the pop-up from your newest contact. This one is just asking for the contents that you had stolen from a company. Not the biggest one, but one that would have serious repercussions should you have been caught. 

You hadn’t been, as you had been taught by (who, to you) was one of the best; Skye. 

Saying that name always had a pang in your chest; she was your best friend, one that had helped you learn how to hack and how to do the Rising Tide podcast you had been working on for a few years before…

Well, before it all fell apart. 

Now, the Tide was almost over and done with. Or, rather, you were.

You sold the secrets for money, for a chance to run. You didn’t sell it to some big corpo, just some enemies of the Tide and wanted to see it come crashing down. 

With that, you went dark. You started anew, here in Denver, not really intent on making friends. 

Not when your only one was fuck knows where. 

You knew that those who you sold the info to and who you worked for had other intents with the information. You knew that, despite what everyone said, there was always something else going on in the background, something bad they hid in the shadows. 

“You really think I do, kid?” Your local checkout guy asked you as you paid for your things, “You think I’m just gonna sell you out like that?” 

“Just a matter of time. Plus, I’m helping you out, you help me.” 

“Maybe. But, even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t of anyway.” You looked around as he packed your bag, seeing a customer with a hat on picking out a drink. He seemed to always be there, but so did a lot of other customers.

“Sure.” You brushed it off, going back to your van.

Again, you typed, sending the information off. Now, you waited. Waited for the pingback that would get you one step closer to finding out whether or not your best friend was still alive. 

However, as the ping went off, the door to your van opened, with a man who wore shades and a smirk greeted you. 

“Y/N?” He asked.

“Whose it to?” You replied with, despite already having an idea. 

“SHIELD.” With that, a bag went over your head. 

Your cuffs kept you to the chair, again, as you tried to pull on it, “Fuck.” You cursed. It wasn’t budging. 

The door opened, with that same man walking in, this time without shades, “I’m Phil Coulson, and I’m sure this is really weird right now. But, I have reason to believe you’ve just sold some valuable data to a client that has ties to a very evil corporation.” The man, Coulson, told you as he sat down opposite you. 

“I just get it for them. I knew going in it wasn’t exactly going to be nice.” You confessed. 

Coulson nodded, “Anything else you want to tell me?” He prompted. 

“Nope. I’m sure you SHIELD guys have got a state of the art equipment to find them though, right? I mean, if I can do that from my van….you might need an upgrade.” 

Coulson smiled, “Yeah, maybe we do. But, we’ve got one of our best working on that. She’s been eager to talk to you.” 

“Despite not being interested, I always had a way with women.” You smirked, trying to hide the small amount of fear you had. 

“Yeah, she told us you’d be like that. Managed to make a short file for you.” Ok, now he had your interest. She? There was only one --

The door opened, with the woman you have been trying to find all this time. 

“Thanks, AC. Sorry for taking so long, Y/N’s always been good with this type of stuff.” She apologised. She sounded more mature, not the goofy friend you hand known. 

“Nothing to apologise for, agent Skye.” Agent? He looked back to you, “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to punish you or anything. You didn’t know. As Skye tells us, you’re a good guy. Just, tell her what we need, then we’ll be on our way.” He vowed, before leaving. 

Now it was just the two of you.

She sat down. You could see, in her eyes, that this reunion seemed to carry the same weight as it had to you.

Two best friends. Two siblings by bond coming back together. 

“Hi, Y/N.” Her voice was light. She had lost the professionalism to it the moment she spoke to you.

Now, you just had to find out how the fuck she ended up here. Why she had stayed. That was a big one; you had never stayed in more than one location for this long before. Why change now?

“You ready?” She asked, opening a very small file. Inside was your photo. Ah, so she was looking through what SHIELD had on you. 

You leaned forward, “Oh yeah, I’m ready.” You answered. 

Time to get some answers of your own.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a man Skye had met, just before Miles. The one who came before. Miles and him were friends, but himself and Skye didn’t become a thing until after. His name was Peter. 

“Y/N, born in --”

“You don’t need to read from that, Skye. You know me, just like I know you.” You interrupted with. 

Skye looked at you, eyes hiding the emotion that laid behind them, “Or, I want to know how you ended up here. You wanna catch me up?” 

She fully closed the file, pushing it to one side, “You wanna tell me who you were working for?” She fired back.

“Share for share. I go, you go.” You ‘offered’. 

“You first.” She was waiting. 

“No idea who they were. They just offered me something.”

“Money?” She guessed. 

“Nah, got gigs for that.” You answered. 

“Then what? Give me something, Y/N. Something I can use to help you get out of this.” That’s ironic. 

“You. They said they had information on you. Besides, you not give them enough for me to get out this cleanly anyway.” Something happened in her eyes. They widened, for sure, but there seemed to be a bit of fear in them too. 

However, she was quick to cover it up, “Tried to hack SHIELD to find anything out on my parents. Tried to find some things on yours, too.” She said, voice delicate. 

You looked to the table, before up to her, “Told you, didn’t want to know ‘em --”

“I know...I’m sorry,” You shook your head, telling her to not worry about it, “Anyways, they found me, dragged me into a different room to this. But, same flavour, really: drab colours.” You let out a chuckle at her words. She smiled. 

“Guy said it was a shell company. Just wanted some files. I went and got ‘em.” You said, holding up your end of the deal. 

Peter was good; he was a kind, gentle, soul. Despite everything he had gone through, he had never lost the gentleness he had that his foster father had deemed as weak. 

There was a time when you had a nightmare, and Skye was driving. Peter was there, waking you up and helping you calm down. 

“Are they ok?” Skye asked, looking back at you both through the mirror. 

You nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, they’re good. They’re good.” He assured his (then) girlfriend. 

“I helped them out. I helped them get what they wanted. They wanted Mike, I helped them get him.” She continued to tell you.

“So, you gave him up?” Skye gave you a head tilt and silent glare. 

“No, I didn’t. He had powers, and needed to be brought in.” She defended. 

“I have powers. And you guys didn’t run at me with guns Or you tell them that from the get go, and that’s why you didn’t come running in with guns?” 

“You do. And my intel played a part. Along with other pieces.” Now you looked a bit confused, “Guy who worked in the shop you went to --”

“The cashier?” 

“No, a customer.” Shit. 

“Fuck.” You cursed, leaning back in your chair. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N --” You stopped her.

“Did the cashier know?” She shook her head. 

“Guy with the hat that was always there. That was the agent.” You just nodded.

“We stopped Mike, I was made an offer; I was given the chance to be apart of something, Y/N. Be a part of a team. That, and I got the Tide an in.” 

“Alright, you ready, little sibling?” Skye asked you as you both set up the mics. You nodded. 

She started the broadcast to the rest of the world, telling them what you had found on SHIELD and other organisations like it; the ones who covered things up. 

Peter sat in the driver’s seat, playing look out to see if anyone looked suspicious. He looked at you both through the mirror with a soft smile. His phone went off, it was Miles calling. 

“Used the same backdoor to the place you showed me how to open.” You said. 

“Wait, there was already a back door?” She questioned. 

“Yeah, it’s what I used to get into to get the data.” 

“You remember the company's name?” You shook your head. 

“No, shell company. What for? I do not know. Just know that it existed as a front for something else.” 

“I got my in. Started out not really sure of what to make of them. But, as it went on, we actually worked together well. It was -- It was like we were pieces to a puzzle.” At the pause, she seemed to almost have to catch herself.

“What happened there?” You pushed. This might’ve been it, this might be the key. 

“There was just… this guy. There was...something about him. A pull, in a way. He was like Peter, at first, then more like Miles. His name was -- his name was Grant Ward. He was -- uh….he wasn’t a good guy. I thought he was...but...” 

“I’m sorry.” You were genuine. 

Skye shook her head, “Don’t be, my friends got me out. They had my back, even when they found out why I joined.” 

She then put a pad on a table, “I’ve been using this to talk to Coulson about hte info you’ve been giving me. It’s notes, don’t worry. Just things for the mission. But...I think you’d be good at this.” 

“At what?” 

“At being an agent. Working alongside me, helping me. Just like old times.” 

Now it was your eyes that widened. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Them? You want me -- you want me to join SHIELD?” You asked, still shocked at the very thought of the offer. 

Skye scrunched her eyebrows together, “Yeah. I mean, these people you’re working for aren’t good people, Y/N.” 

“Oh, and SHIELD is?” 

“SHIELD has done some shitty things, I’ll admit. It’s not perfect. Nothing is. But, it’s trying to do good. We’re actually trying to help people. We’re making a difference.” Skye argued. 

“And I’m not?” 

“You helped people affiliated with fucking Nazi’s!” 

“When?!” You were both getting angry. 

She slammed the file down, opening it pointing at the name of one of your clients, “This. It’s a front for a Nazi organisation called HYDRA. You gave them valuable information.” 

“What information?” 

“On SHIELD agents and their locations. That thing you hacked? That thing with the back door already open? That’s a SHIELD server. You hacked a SHIELD server!” 

“I had to find you --”

“You had Peter.” 

“Had. Had is the keyword there.” That stopped her.

Miles and Skye darted dating. Nothing bad happened with her and Peter, they just realised they didn’t love each other in that way anymore. He was still a good friend to you both. 

“Skye.” Miles said as she stopped the van, “We need to get this new broadcast out.” He said. 

“I’m not leaving Y/N behind. I’m not leaving Peter behind. I’m not leaving our friends.” She said, firm toned. 

“Look, babe,” he took her hands in his own, “Just think about it, ok? You can, you know.” He was keeping it intentionally vague.

“Meanwhile, you two, you got the blowout job, right?” The ‘blowout’ job was one that had a big paycheck to it. 

Part of you should’ve known with the look Miles gave you compared to the one Skye gave you; her’s being one of concern, his being faux-concern. 

“Oh my god.” She breathed out, voice shaking, “He...he’s dead?” 

You only nodded, “I tried to find you both after, but you had both just...gone. It’s why I took off. I wanted to find you, and Miles wouldn’t take any calls or messages.” 

“He ran. He didn’t mention you when I found him, at all.” She said it all coming together for her. 

“How long is it until these guys do it to you, too?” That one stopped her cold. 

“They won’t.” She said, firm. 

“You and I both know they will. We both sold out, just in different directions. At least I’m not fooling myself.” You hated to be harsh, you hated the look of hurt on your best friend’s face. But, you had to be if she was going to see the ‘truth’. 

“I gave you up to protect you! What we did was dangerous!” She argued. 

“You don’t think I don’t know that, Skye? Now, here we you, with me in handcuffs and you playing in the very role we tried to take down. Except, this time, when it crashes and burns, it’ll be you whose left in the dirt as everyone else runs!”

“Y/N...they aren’t like that.” 

“Coulson seems the type. I mean, Miles did it, he has that same look to him.” 

“Stop --” She pleaded. 

“Did they brainwash you or something? Is that why you’re staying? Skye, I just want to know why. I wanna help you get out.” You were desperate for her to see that it was the whole reason for this. 

She leant forward, meeting you in your own movement forward, she had tears in her eyes, “They aren’t like Miles, they aren’t like the nun’s at the orphanage. These are good people, Y/N. They said they’d stay and they stayed. I betrayed them by joining with the intention of taking them down, and they let me stay. I get the hate we used to have for --”

“We? No, just me, Skye. You gave that anarchistic side when you sided with them. Skye, I’m trying to help you out here --”

“And I’m trying to make sure you get out of this without anything bad happening to you.” 

“And you think working with a bunch of suits will fix it?” 

“You think helping a bunch of Nazi’s kill a bunch of people that want to help is good?” 

“Better than selling your soul and your friends, Skye.” 

She stood up, not giving a response. If anything, the slamming off the door was the response.

You may have just lost your best friend. Your best friend in the whole world; someone who was akin to a sister figure for you. Someone who was loyal, and was. Someone like Peter. 

Someone like --

“I’m gonna unlock your cuffs. We’ve gotten the info we needed. Thank you for that.” Coulson said over the comm in the cell, his voice echoing all around it. 

“Sure. Anything for the greater good, right?” There was a sarcastic bite to your words. 

“For once? That’s true. We’ll take it and go after the funders. Any intel we can get is useful on them. I’m just sorry that this one came at a cost.” He sounded like he meant it. 

Then again, Miles also managed to fool you with that one. 

“Skye ever tell you about Peter?” You asked, out loud. 

“No.” Was the response from Coulson.

“That was our last gig together; going in for that one last big gig before we’d all run off together. Plan was to start again, buy ourselves a good home and live there, doing what we could for people in need. Then again, some of those people are the same as those at the top, just money hungry. Miles was one of them. And I -- I didn’t see it sooner.”  You had no idea why you were confessing to this man who you had only seen once. 

Maybe it was the fact that Skye trusted him, looked up to him. 

“I get it,” He said, “I get why you’re cautious. I get why you’re defensive of yourself and her. This worlds a scary place, filled with scary people --”

“I’m not six. Plus, Skye can take care of herself. Guess it’s just....” You paused. Coulson didn’t interrupt the whole time, “It was the way we worked, you know? Just us. Just us and the rising tide, doing the podcast and letting the world know about the truth.” 

“SHIELD has skeletons in it’s past, I won’t deny that. We’ve done things; covered up things and done even worse things. We aren’t clean. But, that was old SHIELD, this is the new SHIELD.” 

“Miles set us up” You admitted, “He sold Peter and me out, then Skye went into SHIELD. I don’t think he planned for her to go in as early, but there were always talks of it. Jesus, that fucker.” 

“How long were you on your own for?” Coulson asked. 

“Three years. Spent it finding any scrap I could on Skye. Then it led me here, with some dead agents on my hands.” 

“They made it out. We managed to warn them just in time. None of them know it’s you. Skye didn’t want you caught in the crossfire. She cares about you.” 

“Like you do with her.” You admitted. A DING! Occurred, and your cuffs unlocked. You scoffed as you rubbed your hands, “Might not have the deepest sympathies for you guys, but you do care about her, that means something. You’ve kept her alive so far.” 

“You did good yourself. Hard to track down. If only you hadn’t gone into that SHIELD server.” There was a hint of humour in his voice. 

You looked at the file she had made on you. Taking it, you opened it up. It was like a biography, with everyone she had known about you. She also had been able to find out some of the jobs you did. 

“You know I’m still pissed she sold me out, right?” You asked.

“That’s understandable.” Coulson said.

“Call her back in, think I’ve got something for her.” 

The door opened, with Skye walking back in. She took a seat at the table. You sat with your arms in front of you, “You ready, little sibling?” She asked, this time with what - almost - sounded like hope in her voice. 

“Ready.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were taken out of your cell, looking around at the area. What you saw was people at work, some mainly in a lab. Skye just kept her eyes forward, leading you into a living area. 

In it, was Coulson and a woman around his age, “Y/N, this is May. She’s like the second in command here, just like you were for when we were in the tide.” Skye nudged you. 

You looked at her and scoffed, “I’m not fully a part of this ragtag group yet, Skye.” 

“Are you trying to do the right thing for the right reasons?” May asked you. 

“Depends on your definition of it.” You challenged. 

“Fight for the innocent.” She boiled it down to. 

You looked at your best friend before back to the others, “Yeah.” 

May nodded, sliding a laptop to the end of the table, “Use that, find us something, we’ll get geared up.” She said, walking passed you. However, as Coulson did, he gave your shoulder a pat in both a ‘thanks’, but also a ‘welcome to the team’. 

You looked at your sister figure, she shrugged, “Welcome to SHIELD.” 

You both went to the laptops, you went back to the message that got you into this in the first place. You traced it, finding a place that was abandoned. You zoomed in, giving the location to them. 

They flew there, with Skye leaving. However, before she did, she gave you a hug before she left. 

“Ok, Y/N, we’re here.” She said over the comms. You had live footage of the area. 

“Ok, the signal goes here. Just...be careful.” Was all you asked of her. 

“Of course.” She assured you, before going in. 

You had two newcomers enter the room, two british people; a man and a woman. 

“Oh, you must be Y/N. Nice to meet you, even if not under the best of circumstances. I’m Jemma.” She said, holding her hand. 

You shook it, before holding it out for the other guy, “Fitz.” He answered the silent question. 

“Is that them?” Jemma asked, taking a seat on one side of you, Fitz the other, both staring at the screen. 

“Should be.” 

“Y/N, we have a problem, it’s empty. The signal just leads to a laptop.” Skye, unfortunately, had to tell you.

“...Shit.” You fell back in your chair, face in hands. 

“Pull up the original message again?” Fitz asked. You did just so, “Look at the end,” You, again, did so, “It’s an anagram. Look, if you -- Jemma, help me.” He asked of his friend. 

“Oh, I see what you mean, Fitz. Yes, if you rearrange it, you get --” She stopped, looking at you for permission. You nodded. 

She typed in the new name you had, getting a ping, “There. They’re there.” She said, pointing to the new place. 

“Guys, we got them.” You said into the comms, giving them the new location. You shared a smile with Simmons. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You sat with Skye in Coulson’s office. He sat on the opposite side to the table, “Today was a success. And, I want to thank you for it, Y/N. Without that intel, we wouldn’t have found them.” He said with a smile. 

“I’m sure you would’ve.” 

“They’re just being modest. We appreciate it, Y/N. Really, you came through in the end.” Skye said, putting you on the shoulder. 

“Y/N, we’d like to offer you a place here. I understand you don’t agree with everything, and that’s fine. To be honest, I think we need that, now more than ever. It’ll be safer here, you’ll have company and you can do some good as you’ve always wanted to.” Coulson offered. 

“Plus, we can work together again. I mean, I’ll be out there sometimes. But...I missed my best friend.” Skye said, sincerely. 

You thought about it, the two just waiting for the answer. 

You finally looked up;

“Ok.” 

[tillman]

wait, if it ISN'T a love potion, what exactly is it?

in gottfried specifically its pretty explicitly just a potion to.. heighten feelings that are already there i guess? its an intensity potion if that makes sense. 

tristan and isolde were already in love before they drank it, they already HAD those feelings for each other the potion is just the thing that pushes them over the edge to the point they physically can not stand to be apart any longer. Isolde already was show to be willing to kill people, the potion just pushes her over the edge to actually having a murder carried out (even if its stopped in the end outside of her control and shes glad for it), tristan is already a very devoted and loyal person, but the potion makes him physically unable to deny isolde that devotion. its all stuff thats already true to their characters its just more pronounced.

i think thats my issue with the tristrant thing in that tristan then is . completely willing to give up his life with isolde in the woods when that runs counter to his entire being. tristan wouldnt have given her up willingly and isolde would never have agreed to go back to mark because they do truly love each other without the potion. see the prose tristan spin offs all having them so deeply in love CHAPTERS before the potion comes into play (a lot of the time the galehaut excursion happens before the potion comes into play which is really interesting and shows how devoted tristan is to isolde long before hes forced into that.) 

like hte potion doesnt MAKE them do shit. it just helps them confess. 

this is even true in sir tristrem which. like. its a parody right. please tell me sir tristrem is a comedy. it has to be. anyways when the potions vapors get into the air and infect corvenal and brangane, they dont fall in love with each other or the pair, they just are even more devoted to them (WHICH IS A FORM OF LOVE YEA but i would hesitate to call that an effect of a Love Potion). also isoldes dog becomes their good companion. its a weird scene sir tristrem is so fucking weird

anyways i just truly do not think its a love potion in the traditional sense at least seen in other arthurian tales. tehres no manipulation involved, theres no forcing one party to love another, it just kinda makes what was already there a physical TRUTH to life which . fits well in the story :-) 

[unlockthelore]

Tiny Light

This prompt for hananeneweek20 is Role Reversal AU!

It’d been a month since Amane met the ghost haunting the boy’s bathroom on the third floor of the old school building. Hanako-san hadn’t been what he expected in the slightest, in fact, she was possibly the most human ghost that he’d ever met. And that was saying something. Seeing her around school, whispering to him during his classes, dragging him into one supernatural debacle to the next — it colored his school life with emotions that he didn’t think possible.

 She didn’t mind listening to him talk about science, the earth and the celestial bodies that filled the heavens. Their talks lasting well into the afternoon where his brother would come calling after him that it was time to go home and that he should stop talking to himself on the roof. Of course, Tsukasa couldn’t see her but Hanako-san didn’t seem to mind. 

She was happy enough talking to Amane and somehow, that both made him happy and sad. Seeing her waving goodbye from the school gates as Tsukasa dragged him off to catch the next trolley car, his touch warm where Hanako-san’s was cold as her fingers left the crook of Amane’s elbow as he was pulled away. The imprint lasting well after he was in his pajamas, warm from the bath, and listening to his brother’s raucous snoring on the other side of the room. 

Gazing up at the moon from his window, the silver reminding him of her ashen hair and that somewhere she was looking up at the same sky from her perch on that window ledge of the bathroom. She granted his wish. To not have to go anywhere, to find happiness where he was, and each day was better than the last. 

She had given him so much despite her somewhat zany way of being and asked for little in return but his labor. Cleaning bathrooms every so often was worth the adventures and hearing her laughter, her smile, her way of fawning over his classmates and teasing about potential crushes of his own. But for everything that she’d given him, what did he give her in return?

When there was a fight, she had to rescue him.

When his friends were taken past the Boundary, she promised to bring them back.

When he stumbled upon one supernatural wonder after another, she was there to keep him from going too far.

Seeing her beaten and bruised, her black dress torn and hat lopsided, giving him warm tight smiles or laughing it off was too much. There had to be something. Something that he could do for her for all that she’d given him — but nothing felt like enough.

He started calling her Hanako-chan to show that they were friends.

Asking her to confide in him when the weight of the world was too much for her.

Helped with her gardening and grew flowers to see the light in her ruby irises shine.

So often were they dull as she confronted her duties. Tsuchigomori-sensei casting a wayward glance at her as she brushed by him while they were conducting lessons. Yako batting at her hand when she attempted to pet her then bowing her head when she rested her hand between her ears. It was as if she were holding this great sadness and when he caught a glimpse of it, it was gone.

And there was little he could do.

“Neh, Hanako-chan?” Amane asked tentatively, looking up from the polished hardwood floors as the procession of Mokke made their way to the window ledge handing her rows of candy. She was triumphant with a haughty grin on her face, taking the candy with a nod, one of her hands holding a deck of cards. He smiled exasperatedly. They must have been gambling again.

Once her candy was collected and the Mokke left swearing vengeance upon her, she looked at him and smiled. “Hm? Done already?”

He wanted to point out that there wasn’t much to clean. No one really used this bathroom because they were afraid of her rumor and the few that dared to enter were quickly warded off by the Mokke making noise and mischief. The thought crossing his mind of how lonely it must be for her to not have anyone even attempt to summon her or interact with her. Even as a joke. 

“A lot of people come and ask you for wishes, right?” 

Her ruby eyes narrowed and Amane quickly questioned his wording until he heard the tell-tale lilting hum. A familiar sound when she neither confirmed or denied one of his questions. Both comforting and foreboding. 

“And you take things in exchange but that’s just your job..” His voice trailed off as she arched a brow, and he quickly added. “Part of your rumor, I mean…”

One of her hakujoudai floated closer and she set the deck of cards atop of it to be carried away, keeping his gaze all the while. Her own searching his eyes as if she could glean his secrets with a glance. Amane gulped, gripping the handle of his mop until the palm of his hands were burning. It was moments like this that he remembered that she wasn’t someone around his age. She was much older, wiser, and likely dangerous —

But he liked her anyway.

He told her that he liked her anyway.

Hanako stayed silent as she studied him and it was bothering him more and more. Glancing down at his feet, Amane wetted his lips then looked up to meet her eyes.

“Do you ever take anything that you actually want?” He asked, wringing the mop’s handle between his hands.

Hanako hummed softly, the corner of her lips curving into that smile that made his stomach do backflips and his face burn. “Well, just recently I did…” She said cheerily, resting her cheek in her hand, her eyes seeming to glow.

Remembering the classroom, her fingers interlaced with his own, cold seeping into his palms but her smile made him feel warm. “I’m not talking about that…” Amane grumbled, loosening his hold on the mop, letting it fall from his hand and clatter against the wall nearest to the mirror. His hands swinging uselessly by his sides, fingers pressing against the seam of his pants before curling into fists. 

“Come on… we’re friends, right..?” He felt his cheeks burning as the courage welled up inside of him was steadily draining. Communicating his thoughts like this was difficult but she never seemed to hear him unless he spoke outright. “If there’s something that you want then I’ll do my best to give it to you.”

“Something that I want…”

Amane gasped, his shoulders hiking and heart leaping into his throat at the soft whisperb behind him. Cold fingers dancing across his shoulder, the chill felt through his clothes as her fingers traced along his neck, playing with the choppy ends of his hair. Slowly turning his head, his eyes widened. He hadn’t realized in his nervousness that Hanako had gotten close enough to look at him cheek to cheek and eye to eye. 

“Does that mean anything?” She asked softly in a low whisper, and Amane blushed profusely, stumbling backward. His foot catching against the bucket and the water sloshed around as he hunkered closer to the wall, his heart pounding.

Hanako giggled, clasping her hands behind his back. “Just kidding,” she called, stepping closer to him and reaching out to tap her finger against his cheek. Her touch cool against his heated skin and between the wall at his back and her smiling at him — there was nowhere to go. “You’re adorable, Amane.”

It was easy to forget that she was a ghost. Someone who was long dead and could have been playing with him just as much as she was serious. When she said his name like that, as if he were the most precious thing in the world, as if it were velvet on her tongue — it made him tremble inside. 

Her light poke to his cheek shifted to a caress, her palm resting against his cheek and thumb lightly stroke beneath his eye. 

“Just stay by my side and I won’t want anything else,” Hanako muttered, her voice barely a whisper on the wind as if she were imparting a secret to him as she leant closer. The half-lidded ruby eyes closing as she gave him a wide smile. A flicker of pain that he nearly caught quickly covered from view. “Okay?”

For a moment, he was stunned into silence.

For a moment, he wanted to ask her why she looked pained.

But he was bitterly reminded of that day beneath the “confession tree” where she held his face like this and asked him to go out with her. He wholeheartedly felt like agreeing but she urged him to say no, mouthing the words to him then giving him a smile. He hated her knowing smile when he turned away from her with a flushed face. Or the sorrowful look she wore when she apologized.

Of course he forgave her but he was disappointed. Although he tried hard not to think of why. 

“Another fake confession?” Amane huffed, brushing her hand away by the wrist when her fingers curled around his own. It was blistering cold the closer she got to him but he was captivated by ruby eyes. Her wide smile smaller, shyer, and she almost resembled a normal girl. 

“What do you mean, it’s my request…” She held his hand between her own, smiling up at him with softened eyes. His heartbeat picking up at the sight. “You wouldn’t deny me, right?”

The first word on his lips was ‘no’. She had given so much to him and although she didn’t ask for much in return, he was indebted to her. He wanted to help her as much as possible until their contract came to an end. And even then, he didn’t want it to end. Distantly, he wondered if Hanako wanted it to end either. Seizing the opportunity to hold her hand, he curled his fingers around hers.

“I guess not,” Amane said flippantly, hiking his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug as he stepped forward, lifting their clasped hands to where his own lips were covered. His eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled at her. “Even with your ankles, I still like you.”

It was worth it to see the scarlet stain her cheeks at hte compliment before his words sank in and her eyes narrowed at him. 

“Hey.. What do you mean by even with my ankles?” She asked with a glare, yanking him forward until they were toe to toe. 

“Nothing, nothing!” He replied with a laugh, spying the slight twitch in her lips as she fought down a smile. He wasn’t sure why she was so sensitive about her ankles. Perhaps it was something from when she was alive. But he thought that she was pretty no matter what. 

Dismissing the thoughts with a sharp shake of the head, he ignored her curious stare, scratching at his cheek as he looked aside. “Your request, I wouldn’t mind fulfilling it,” he said, feeling more clear-headed than before. He winked at her and grinned. “Because I’m a human that grants the wishes of ghosts.”

Her eyes widened and she stared at him. Did he say something wrong? A myriad of emotions displayed in her eyes and he felt as if he treaded on something unspoken. Grounds that she wasn’t comfortable with. Despite knowing that she could slip from his grasp, he held her hand tighter. Wanting to comfort. Wanting her not to leave. To pull away when they were this close.

Hanako sighed, averting her gaze with a shake of the head. “You’ve been spending too much time with Tsukasa.”

Whatever tension that was filling the air had been broken for the time being and though he didn’t want to let it go, she didn’t move away. And for that reason, he was content to let it go for now.

“Well, we are brothers..”

“Yes, you are…” Hanako sighed. The evening sunlight washing over her and warming her features to where she almost seemed human. “Brothers that get along well.” She squeezed his hand and her smile tightened at the corners.  “And I hope that you always will be.”

He wanted to do the most that he could for her but he wondered how far had she gone for him? And why did she look so sad? 

[goldtips]

okay so ya girl is back at it again. this was originally going to be a reply to someone but well. it got out of hand. i shat all over babylon the anime a while ago and honestly kind of feel bad. there are definitely things that the show does that makes it stand out, esp as a seasonal anime bc you dont expect dir. to spend much time on them!!!! like if we’re comparing this to shows like fanservice anime or any .. mediocre seasonal isekai then ofc this show is better lmfao. the only reason i shit on it is because i expected this anime to be Better ;;;;;;;

mind, i’m not rescinding my statement - as far as i’m concerned, babylon is still a hella frustrating anime because it tries to showcase humans as nihilistic, utilitarian robots that don’t seem to consider the topic of suicide emotionally even though thats supposedly humanity’s defining trait ??? and it deals with the topic of suicide with the care of elephants gallivanting in the fucking savanna :))) the whole show has also been pretty lacklustre in terms of characterization, trying way too hard to be intellectual and feed edgy plot points instead of giving any development - the plot feels reactionary overall and placid rather than exciting. also, the fact that the anime started as a mystery / politico-legal sort of show just makes the transition from that to abstract theory even more forced...........

HOWEVER im promised im going to stop shitting on babylon so lets talk about what the anime does right shall we. more specifically,,, the biblical imagery!!! is great !!!! : D

the show is called babylon. in the old testament (ot), babylon is humanized as a “brutal, callous and proud” woman who “believed that she would reign over the earth forever.” in the new testatment the phrase “she who is at babylon” refers to the new world culture currently at war with the covenant community. in such that rome, as a mistress or whore of the new world, is seeking to seduce and subvert people of god, enticing men to fall “drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

yes,,,, a whore who uses sex to entice innocent men into complying with new culture? who believes herself to be akin to god and also in this context, above the law and morality - im gonna say its not too far a stretch to say that magase was intended to symbolise the whore of babylon.

however, that’s not all - links can be made between the enactment of the suicide laws and the seduction of new culture. who exactly is leading the front? kaika itsuki ( 齋 開化 ), who’s name literally means culture. that aint a coincidence. also, that weirdly-placed reference to roman law / norms during the suicide debate as a way to convince the masses to revert / adopt roman ideology??? also not a coincidence. :))))

in addition, there are two other major biblical events related to babylon:

the book of revelations; and

the tower of babel.

its safe to say that both narratives are being pushed atm.

revelations:

in revelation 17, the spirit of babylon decends upon earth through the whore. she arrives on the back of a beast with 7 heads, “arrayed in purple and scarlet”, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” “seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” the revelations also prophesizes that she will be defeated by a beast, but it is unclear as to which. there are two beasts in book of revelations. the first beast comes "out of the sea" given authority and power by the dragon/serpent. the second beast comes "out of the earth" directing people to worship the first beast, a "false prophet".

in a similar vein, nomaru had secretly vouched for itsuki’s, providing itsuki with the necessary resources for him to rise up in ranks and become the new mayor. the kanji for ryuichiro nomaru ( 野丸 龍一郎 ) contains both the kanji 野 and 龙 which respectively mean field (i.e. earth) and dragon. they are key references to the beasts of revelation

plus according to nomaru, it was also purely because of magase that the political struggle turned out the way that it did, meaning that she is ultimately the one controlling the entire operation. this mirrors the way she is sitting on the heads of the beast (i.e. the proverbial brains of the campaign that itsuki is heading) 

we also see that when magase uses her powers her eyes and hair glow in a sort of purple/burgundy color to support the imagery as well! 

the book of revelations is the final chapter of nt. it is merely an allegory of struggle between good and evil and doesnt refer to actual people or events. kinda like the show huh. nyyy way, we see that the protag john the apostle writes down what is revealed to him through visions to send it to the 7 churches :))

kinda like how zen keeps on seeing magase through visions and has to document !! his findings and report back to admin? ik this isnt exact but there’s a bit where he has to write down her confession and it really struck me as weird until this bit popped up, maybe that was included to as a way of tying in :))

tower:

according to the myth, there were plans to build a city and tower high enough to reach heaven - god who observes this confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other. why? because “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

while not entirely similar, we see recurring themes in babylon that deal with miscommunication and new ideology. the conflict mirrors the myth in that unity of language (or ideology in this case) and its subsequent discordance once differentiated. 

the interrogation scene in ep 4 deals with reconciling differences. magase asks whether those with different values should be accepted, despite them being contrary to norm. all this time, society has been developing an ideal set of norms - the entire country shares the same values and priorities with no deviation. growth has stagnated. in similar fashion to how god commands for many languages to be created, magase sows the seeds of doubt towards long-standing assumptions and moral values in order to create discordance and push japan into a state of new development

in the new campaign, itsuki proposes to apportion shiniki city from japan and instill new values. this confounds the population and sends them into disarray - the tower that they have created is crumbling, in similar likeness to the parable of babel.

SO TL;DR this show has a really cool starting concept i cant lie?????  i for one am not shitting on its supernatural elements (even though the flow was a little inorganic) in hindsight there’s no point in expecting a show called babylon not to delve into supernatural/biblical elements lol :)))

as a right hoe for imagery and philosophy/ethics, this gave me high hopes but the execution of everything else was way below average. why bring in a discussion about suicide that’s poorly researched + try to be edgy abt it and have the citizens to have support it so easily???? ruins the immersion so much

if the anime really wanted to focus on philosophy there should be some mention of ethical theory to justify his point. like, being aimlessly philosophical only ends up being flowery and pseudo-bullshit lmao. one of hte reasons why i was so frustrated with magase and zen’s discussion in the interrogation room. like woman what was your fucking point. its only wasting screentime if you don’t get anything from the conversation. the philosophy was so fucking unnecessary - babylon could have been executed as an in-depth political/psychological anime instead. WITHOUT THE SUICIDE.

this and the lack of good characters really bummed me out. i think that the show was expecting me to connect to some of the characters before they were fucking killed off but i didn’t end up giving a single shit about any of them so. :) the whole show feels more about the shock factor and gore than about interesting plot.

concept 10/10, execution 1/10

[mingi-bubu]

Watch “Youth With You” with Me!

Episode 2

and we are back with episode 2!!!

i have my water, i have my ramen, my phone is plugged in, and there is a box of tissues within reach

as marvelous mr mark lee would say, lezgeddit

again i think its so funny hes not even in my bias line but i love him anyway aldskfjas;d

oh that’s an uncomvy way to start out

ok now yixing is talking about what they need from the trainees to become good idols

i love that they’re playing cherry bomb in the background ngl it’s really funny

oh we really are gonna replay zhang pd’s whole rap speech arent we

oh my god the guy in the background looked like yangyang im quaking

oh booo i want to know more about the planet/moon mascot

i want to have the ultimate trio of good round boys if xukun’s run has a round lil dude as well

in this house we stan round lil dudes

ok back to the action

this episode is 2 hours fukc that

alsdfkjaslkdf the mentors telling yixing to chillax love to see it

this guy’s outfit is uh.........interesting

kinda baggy

akdfaksdjf chen sijian trying desperately to save his ass after yixing’s speech about rap i love to see ti

wow csj has a lot of range in what he wants to be able to perform

i lowkey vibe with his song so far

he dances like i do alkdfjaslkdj

hes good tho

that move looked xukun-esque

i really do like this song actually

he looks like he’s about to start crying which is mood

that was v good

i hope A but probably B

laskdfjds i love yixing feeling like he has to clarify everything i lvoe to see it

alkdfjasdlkf i love this kid hahaaha he’s hilarious

he got a B

i called it

omg his lil run!!!! i love himmmm

the question i still dont know the answer to yet is why the senior seniors are also here?

and im too lazy to McGoogle it

AHHHHH SHENSHEN’S GROUP!

black pearl himself i love h im

shi mingze!!!

shi zhan i sure hope that the “naughty” translation means he’s like a prank playing bastard and not a regular one UwU

imma be real with y’all even if i didn’t know unine i still think i would’ve loved shenshen and rooted for him

like if i were to go back in time and be watching it live like i am with this season

i think i still wouldve supported him

im excited for their performance

i say as if i havent also watched a fair few times

a;iodsfiadosfu hhx saying that he looks like his uncle made me choke on my veggies

i deffo think that mingze wouldve been my second tho

that man has charisma for days

hey in case you guys forgot

they are

they are bg project

my boys got D

but at least they’re all together

class D is gonna be jam packed on god

given that they only practiced the dance for a week im v proud of them for D

man just dead dropped into the splits i hate to see it

theyre just little boys

ajdfksald; “they call me hanhan but there’s a lot of trainees here with the character han so you can call me xu”

babyyyyy

i love thier matching hoodies

;aksdfjaskd to say nonstandard mandarin im weak

asdfjasd dragged by his hair im so weak

alsdkfjasldkf meeee tooo xu

i too would confess my love for yixing if given half a chance

i love their lil kickies its so cute

xu has a good voice

this song is so fun!!!

it gives me like 70s vibes i lvoe to see it

kdsfja;lskdfj xu baby boy is so cute

alsdjfsa hes just a little boy

i love him omg

yixing’s laugh i :3c

shit hes so cool

i havent seen the dance in it’s fullest before this so it’s super cool

im not married yet but xu i sure could be

i know i know the decisions of the duo’s rankings but i can’t remember

anyway i also stan xu

oh that’s right

f

i cant wait to see how they grow!!!

MINGMING TURNA FLAKSDJF;LAKSDJF;LAKJFOIWE MINGMING

YAO MIGNMING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

HIS LIL UNEVE TOOTH SMILE I LVOE HIM SO MCUHG

SIX YEARS I LOVE YOU

MINGMING IS SO CUTE I LOVE ONE (1) MAN SO MUCH

i love how excited jiayi is for mingming’s dance

damn that’s some chroeo right htere boys

its so weird to see mingming here vs houw i see him dance later

like theres a different sort of confidence he has later after his talk with yixing

they’re both a lil outta breath but yechen seems to handle it better

i think ymm is too focused on dance

but it’s his speciality so who cares

mingming looks so cute

i hate how mingming was very not like idk confident in himself in certain aspects

i mean like i understand why but it still makes me sad

mingming got a c

yechen got a d

yechennie no baby its not yourf ault that he got the grade he did

i; just want to give these boys hugs

i am going to cry bc mingming looks like hes about to cry

is this deep voice boyo

it is deep voice boyo

i call him boyo but he graduated with a degree in biomed

that octave change thooooo

i liked it a lot

bass boy got a grade of C

i love that yao chi and jiayi are so expressive that everytime the mentors give a grade the camera immediately cuts to them

core one

huaiwei is such a sweetie i love  him

alsdkfasld xixi and jiayi

didnt the go to the same college??  i recall seeing grad pictures of them together

dorks i lvoe them

jkasdjflsd yao chi aka yao wow wow

i love him so mcuh hes so cuteeee

asdklfsadklf the facemasks im scraming

what the fuck kind of christmas songs occur in china to have it be the first thought at the sound of “mai rui” (merry)

awww they’re performing one of their senior’s songs that is so cute

BITCH WITH THE ACCAPELLA I AM SCREASCHING

XIANGHENG DAMN BOY

THE FUCKING TRILLS I

THE HARMONIES

OH MY GOD

YAO CHI YOUR VOICE BABY BOY

THE HIGH NOTES

oooh they lost the magic about halfway thru

yaochi is my favorite hype boy

KKKKKDADLKFAJSDHIS VOICE SIR MY RING IS READY AND I AM DOWN ON ONE KNEE

HES SOCUTTEEEE

ooh b to xiangheng

yaochi got a c!!!

and changhua!!!

d goes to beret boy

kaksdfjasd cast planet!!!

guan yue!!!!!

alksdfasldk yao chiiii

this definitely had to have come out of the 70s or 80s

guan yue has such a contagious smile1!!

this is so fun

everyone is dancing

except yixing who looks dead inside alkdfjlskd

hes so cute i love guan yue!!!!

awww jolin likes himmmm

fuck yixing really said no one gets an a today didnt he

guan yue got a b

his partner got a d

YUEHUERA LEETS HEEAR IT FOR THE BOYS

HANHANHANAHANAHANAAHDSFAHSD;KFJ IEWE

IMV ERY EXCITED

alsdkfsdj yangyang not bowing at the same time sent me

the younger brothers bullying hanhan we love to see it

a;ldskfjaskdljf stop bullying the baby hanhan

im so excited for this one ive watched it so many times

i feel so bad constantly for the uniq members bc their company really said you can go fuck yourselves we only want you in film not music

also we are a little like very little over halfway thru the ep

i am not going to cry at yixing clapping and getting everyone else to

OOOOOHHHHH OOOOOOOOHH

YEAH YOU’D BETTER RUN AWAY GIRL

I LOVE MONSTER SO MUCH GUYS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND

LIKE A MONSTER 

A BASTARD

GUI ZE

GOD THIS SONG IS SO FUCKIGN GOOD IF YOU HAVENT LISTENED TO IT GO AND STREAM INT BPLEASE

WENXUAN HITTING NOTES I CANT WE LOVE TO SEE IT

GOD IT’S LIKE A FULL ASS CONCERT RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD

WITH THE MF ROSE PETALS YES YOUNG KINGS

YAOCHIIII WAS SO EXCITED

i dont think they get an a tho

alfkjasdlkfjasklfjd yangyang avoiding doing rap was so cute

that’s right he ends up with a b i think bc of how he sings

i love wenhan’s voice

also this song is so 

its gonna make me cry im glad lrh said you can stop now

damn there really were no A’s in the initial rankings are there

oooohhh it’s vogue 5 from earlier with the muncher

awww yc is so hype its cute

ohhh slick with the mf drum stick catch

asldjfalskdjfkdsljf li wenhan’s face im dead

they all get c

ahhh chen youwei’s turn!!

mr 5th prince himself

hes so noodley

hes literally legs, arms, and torso

that’s it

al;sdkfjal;s he got an F what

ok then

oh gramarie

hmmm  i didn’t like it as much

the final grade was 2 d’s and 2 f’s

i hate that the 3 color boys dabbed

hanyu’s group anyways that’s who they were

asfdalskdfjasl;kdfj the accent group showed up

i love these guys theyre so funny

montage happening of different performances

 the grades were between c-f

no a

ok but you had like several candiates for that ranking but fuck us i guess

i love yixing tho he wants the best for these boys

i am not tearing up that is a false narrative

mr zhang yixing my ring is ready and i am down on one knee just say the word sir

d class is Full

like they really put a lot of trainees there

ok!!!  first task is, of course, the show’s theme song

the stage is so fucking cool guys i love it

i love the amount of bucket hats im seeing from the boys in the training previews adklfjasd

oooh it’s move in time

someone has a giant carrot and another guy has an elmo i love this

lol no elevators adfjasldf

asfsadkfjalksdf shenshen and mingze i love it

i didn’t know jiayi and guan yue were roommate

awww jiayi’s grandmothers lil knitted thing thats so cute

alkdfad hanhan straightaway bullying hanyu adkfjskdj

huaiwei and wang jiayi are roommates i

love to see it

wait how did mingze style his hair???

it took minghao 5 hours to learn the theme dance

i hate it

love the romantic music they put over minghao when he first appeared

i got distracted by minghao teaching the trainees but minghao is teaching the trainees

hes so cuteeee

he got all flustered when they clapped to thank him

class d really do got those steps in eh?

li chengyang got scared by the class above them aldkfjads babie

im not crying over wang jiayi staying so late and jiayi helping him and then minghao showing up to help him im not

i am

oh god my tears are still salty and hurty

im am crying over the ninceness that minghao his showing

not me being viciously reminded that the mentors here really do want to see the trainees succeed in their endeavors

alkdjflasdkfj his lil heart thing thats so cute

ok the next episode preview is about continuing the practice for the theme song stage, reranking, and they hint at the first stages that the trainees will go thru

and the episode ends with  the theme song performance

aksdfjasldk xixi’s tie ends up over his shoulder at one point adkfa

i love the wave motion in their choreo

i know i said this before probably

but it’s really cute and who doesn’t love a good tie moment

i hate the piano at the end tho bc it makes me want to cry for some reason

like it reminds me a lil bit of the npc run theme and how they played it at the end when the last x amount of trainees were seeing videos from their family and friends

or manybe im making things up idk its like 1:30 in the morning rn

i also just realized i was cheated out of seeing love shot which

rude

but ok then

anywayy

im tired and will probably spend a good chunk of tomorrow either catching up to @baobeejun or working on the xunario

have a good rest of your day wherever you are

stay safe !  stay healthy!

see you next time <3333

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

1/Hi! Class anon here again- beware because this got really long! I thought it would be good to give you a little bit of context: I am from a small country in Latinoamerica, with heavy european influence (especially from Spain and Italy) and almost non native people. As we are small and with a small population, everything is expensive here - food, utilities, commodities, rent, etc (in that topic, I was just reading an article about how my city is in the top 3 of most expensive cities in LatAm)

2/ I've never been to London, but from what I've read/heard it's quite comparable in terms of relation between wages/cost of living.  This intro was to place you in my context to answer your phone question. It is the same here, regarding credit or paying as part of their plan/paying it in full at once. Credit plans always have existed, but 10 or 15 years ago it was downright impossible for a working class person to have an iPhone, even if they paid them with a plan.

3/ A flashy phone? Sure. An iPhone? Impossible, because here is more expensive than the rest of the world. (To compare; an iPhone that would cost USD 600 in the US or USD 700 in Hong Kong here it's around USD 900 more or less - I put these places as examples bcause is where I've bought iPhones before, I don't know the ratio between UK/US iPhone costs).

4/ This is very simply because of offer and demand: as there's not that many people here, everything is more expensive than other places, including other LatAm countries (when there are not economic crisis in the region - which is saying something because there's always one going on here in one country or another - food in Argentina or Brasil is probably 5 times cheaper than here, easily) and also because the ratio dollar/my currency is very volatile, more now than ever.

5/ You said "on an individual level access to certain sorts ofmaterial resources and experiences isn’t necessarily a class signifier" in the UK, and I think that's a key point to understand the difference between our class systems. Because of that volatile ratio between currencies, individual access to material resources that are very much measured in dollars (every major thing here is paid in dollars- houses, cars, holidays) are a class signifier

6/ because if you are able to buy an iPhone that means that a) you are well enough to spend more than a minimum monthly wage on a phone, be it in full or with a plan or b) you are able to save, whatever money you can, and saving in an economy like ours is quite difficult. And here plays what I said before about the "upper" working class concept, which is perceived as middle class.

7/ In the last 15 years the middle class here grew a lot, accompanied by a growth in consumer power, and lots of people were able to afford an iPhone (or any other flash phone), go on holidays, etc (of course there's people who can't afford it, after all capitalism still needs poor people to function, and of course the type and frequency of holiday play a role in the class system: for example holydays on the caribbean became quite accessible lately,

8/ but going to Europe is as expensive as ever, therefore something reserved for the wealthy, which makes a very particular point towards the current coronavirus situation, and how in LatAm translated into a class issue, but that's a topic for another ask),and those individual class signifiers changed the perception of the working class: as more people were able to afford things considered leisure, the working class got divided into this upper and lower working class, and friction have grown too

9/ Now we are facing the worst economic crisis since the 2002, and everyone is starting to realise that, after all, we are all tied to the will of those who control the economy. Now when it comes to 1D members, I don't actually know who was able to afford overseas holidays, I only talked about Harry and Louis because they have publicly talked about summers on France and a trip to Disneyland (I confess that after 7 years in the fandom, I still can't understand the need to know every little detail

10/ about their lives, past and present. The scrutiny really baffles me). I also think Harry’sclass position was different from the rest, but I realise now that it was more form my own experience and parameters, and not judging from what the UK class system (although I wanna be cheeky and say that I was perceiving things right, regardless of the specific understandment of the UK class system 😉).

11/ Actually not being able to access leisure activities it's not something I think really marked me growing up, simply because I grew up surrounded by people that were the same as me so never felt like I was missing on anything (although yes I may have sulked a little when I was a teen because I couldn't afford certain phone, not even an iPhone).

12 and last! / I think I will probably miss it more now that I won't be able to go on holiday without spending all my savings, but everything passes and this too shall pass. It's just a matter of adjustment until then! Last thing (this got really long, I wasn't expecting it) I am the same anon as the unemployment insurance one. Nothing in particular about the clarification, only that I thought it wasn't fair you were thinking you were talking to two different persons.

******

Thanks so much for coming back with your thoughts anon.  I found them really interesting and loved learning about your country.  So much of what you said reminded me of New Zealand, although New Zealand is a richer country, but the way that distance and a small economy does affect what resources people have access to (Lots of things are super expensive in NZ too)

I think in a lot of ways what you are picking up is the difference between being working-class in a richer country or a poorer country. And I think the way that certain consumer goods are understood are pretty key to that.  One of the reasons that I bristle a bit when people take having some quite basic and wildly available things, such as a flat screen TV, or an iphone, is that in richer countries that’s quite a common way to dimiss working-class people and their concerns.  You can’t really be working-class/exploited you have an overseas holiday/fancy phone (or smart phone at all) is a classic right-wing talking point here.  Middle-class poeple (and certainly capitalist/ruling class etc) are still more likely to have these things, and have more of them, but that doesn’t mean that working-class people don’t have access to them.

I thought what you said about wider access to leisure marking a distinction between different parts of the working-class was super interesting.  I think that sort of granular division does happen in hte UK, but it is quite complicated and you have to be part of communities to understand it.  

Thanks so much for your thoughts! Come back any time to talk about 1D, class, 1D and class, or anything else.

[calebyap]

Romans: The Gospel of God

Gospel Shorthand

The “gospel of God” (i) promised beforehand, (ii) about His Son, David and God’s heir, declared by the Spirit through His resurrection, (iii) of Paul’s apostleship (iv) for the obedience of faith among all the nations including you. (Rom 1:1-6)

Gospel Rationale

As the faith is spreading worldwide, Paul desires to come to Rome for ministry, but has been hindered thus far. But because of his calling to Greeks and barbarians, he wants to come to Rome. Paul’s drive is “not being ashamed of the gospel” (1:16) because it shows God’s righteousness by faith, and for faith. Why? Because God’s wrath is being revealed against all our sin: the exchange of God’s glory for created things (1:21-23). God’s response was to “give them up” to their choices (1:24-28), and His decree is that such sin deserves death (1:29-32). No one is exempt from this, not the one who judges and those who are judged, not Jew or Gentile (2:1-11). This is what it “under the law” means (2:12-16) — let’s be clear, this certainly applies to the Jews who have God’s law (2:17-29) but have not kept it in the heart. Thus the Jews have been unfaithful with the oracles of God entrusted to them, which in turn, does not nullify God’s faithfulness and righteousness (3:1-8). All have sinned, Jew and Gentile (3:9-20).

Gospel Revealed

A non-law righteousness is now available through faith in Jesus Christ (3:21-25). This justifies us, and shows forth God’s righteousness (3:26). Thus, no one can boast (3:27) because the law of faith apart from law achieves this.

Gospel According to Abraham

Abraham’s justification was also by faith (4:1-10) since he received his justification before circumcision (4:11-12). This enabled him to be “heir of the world” so that he could be father of all those in faith (4:16-17), and this is shown despite the barrenness of Sarah’s womb (5:18-23), and so that we would also have hte same faith-righteousness that he did.

Gospel Explained

Our justification by faith means we have peace with God (5:1) and through Him we have access into grace, and we can rejoice in hope, and through sufferings, since God’s love is poured into us by Spirit given to us, who uses our sufferings to produce hope (5:2-5). The love of God for sinners, weak and bad (5;8), also means we’ll be saved from His wrath (5:9) since we are reconciled to God (5:10-11). Death came through Adam to Moses in one tresspass, but life comes through Jesus Christ (5:12-18) for many trespasses a free gift of life. Where the law increased the tresspass so that sin reigns in death, grace abounds in righteousness for life through Christ (5:20).

Gospel Questions and Answers Part One

One, can we sin as much as we like then? Grace abounding does not mean that we can sin liberally (6:1-2) because Jesus died for sin, and we are united in that same death so we live a new life and we can’t relish our sin (6:4). His resurrection is also ours, and we have a new life where death and sin no longer have control so we can’t use Jesus like a tool (6:5-14), this is what it means to be under grace. We’re slaves to rightoeuensss, not sin (6:15-23). We are free from the law (7:1) since you died to the law (7:5-6)

Two, so is the law evil since it makes us sin and leads to death then? (7:7) No, we learn that the law is holy and it shows our sinful nature (7:12). No, my nature is sinful, not the law, and there is a paradox in my desires. So the law itself can’t save me. So who is going to save me from the law and this miserable life (7:24)?

Gospel Hope

Through faith in Jesus, no one can condemn us (8:1). God’s Spirit did what the law could not (8:2-3). Jesus was condemned so that the law is condemned for me in Him (8:3-4). So if you are in the flesh, you’re condemned, but if you’re in the Spirit, you have life, and He will resurrect us just like Jesus was (8:9-11). So don’t live by the flesh, but by the spirit. Put to death the deeds of the body (8:13), because you’re His sons now, and you have the Spirit of Sonship (8:16-17). This will involve our suffering which is nothing compared to what will one day be revealed - glory (8:18). Our glory, and the glory of all creation when God makes all things new (8:21-23). This is hope in His promises (8:24). When are weak, the Spirit will help us (8:26-27) and make all things work together for our good (8:28), so that we become more like Jesus (8:29-30). So then, He isn’t holding anything good back from us (8:31-32), and no one can be accused, condemned or separated from God’s love! (8:33-39).

Gospel Questions and Answers Part Two

I feel such sorrow when I think about hte unbelief of the Jews (9:1-5). So three, does their unbelief mean that God’s promises to Israel failed? No, because not all of Abraham’s children are Israel, and even in their story, God made a sovereign choice between Isaac and Ishmael, between Jacob and Esau, between Moses and Pharaoh. So no human will or exertion can make this happen, only God (9:16).

Four, then is it unfair for God to “find fault” with sinners? No it’s not unfair, because who can question God? Who can know what He knows? (9:19-29).

So whereas Gentiles obtained the faith-righteousness, Israel who pursued law-righteousness failed (9:31-32). I wish it were not so and I pray for them to be saved by submitting to God’s righteousness instead of establishing their own (10:1-3). Moses’ law righteousness seeks to work to heaven, but the gospel is near you by faith (10:5-8) so that if we confess the Lordship of Jesus and believe in is resurrection, we will be saved (9:9-10). This is why we must send, preach, so they can hear and believe (10:14-17).

Fifth, so did Israel not hear and understand? (10:16-21) No, they heard. But they were made jealous by what God did for the Gentiles instead.

Sixth, so did God reject His people? (11:1) No, God has preserved a remnant (11:5) but not on the basis of works, but on grace (11:6). Israel’s stumbling was so that the salvation would come to Gentiles and provoke Israel to jealousy (11:11-12). So my ministry to the Gentiles will hopefully provoke my countrymenn (11:14). Remember that Gentiles are grafted in and don’t be arrogant towards Israel. God can graft them in again, too (11:23-24). After a partial hardening, and the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel will be saved (11:25-27). This is all to the praise of God and His wisdom (11:33-36).

Gospel Application For the Christian and the Church

As a result of all the “mercies of God” shown in the last 12 chapters, we are told to be “living sacrifices” to God (12:1). We are body parts of the head, Christ Jesus (12:5) with differing gifts to be used rightly (12:6), and motivated by love (12:9-10). These are fleshed out in practical ways (12:11-21, 13:8-14). Within the body, whether strong or weak, we are do live as to the Lord as the main principle (14:1-23) not stumbling one another in the family and seeking not to please ourselves (15:1-6) and to the praise of God. At the close of the letter, Paul reveals that he intends to come to Rome en route to Spain (15:24). His prayer in the meantime, is that ongoing ministry be successful and fruitful, and that his trips be unhindered.

Gospel Friends and Commendation

Paul refers to 18 other believers, 10 of which are women, commending them to the church in Rome. According to thegospel, Paul utters a final benediction of blessing.

[firebunnylover]

Hannah Watches LoSH - The Substitutes

So, this episode admittedly took longer than anticipated. Classes were a lot harder than anticipated this semester, and i’m trying to make money for next semester so I’m trying to get as many hours at work as possible.

With life’s problems aside for now, let’s resume looking at Legion of Superheroes!

The Substitutes

Kicking this episode off, we see that the Legion Auditions are finally underway. Hooray! And boy is there a line.

Yeesh. It's like an anime convention on opening day.

Going inside, we see that the current judges present are Superman, Saturn Girl, Bouncing Boy, Lightning Lad, and Brainiac 5. There are spots for others, but they aren't there.

Hmm. BOth PG and TW aren't here...

The first kid up is Chlorophyll Kid, and Superman asks him to demonstrate his powers, which is promoting plant growth. However, the plant that does grow is not friendly.

Okay, we KNOW Lightning Lad has been dreading this day for a while now.

But... can we just appreciate the off character model image of him?

PFFT HE HAS ANIMU EYES

After Saturn Girl asks Chlorophyll Kid if he can do anything to stop it and he asks if making it bigger will help, to which the Legion say no, Bouncy uses himself as live bait.

THESE PEOPLE APPRECIATE BOUNCY THE WAY HUNK SHOULD BE.

After Bouncy succeeds in bursting out of the plant to take it down, Brainy walks Chlorophyll Kid out. Who is still optimistic about his chances. Aww.

Up next is Stone Boy – NO NOT THE DRUG STONNED! THE ROCK STONE! He just turns into a stone figure of whatever his current pose is.

Gotta love these dorks.

The funniest part is that Stone Kid is set to the side for most of the remaining auditon, with Color Kid up next.  

Also, not overlooking that triangle rainbow on his uniform.

Very subtle.

And then we get our next contestant.

RUDE.

LIGHTNING LAD, THAT BOY LOVES YOU. GO DOWN THERE AND APOLOGIZE!

Aww, watch the Trash Baby tremble in fear.

What a good person Bouncy is.

However, the demonstration he did is not much better than during our initial introduction to him. Good thing everyone without invulnerability was hiding behind Bouncy. He deserves all the awards.

Following up after Pete is Kem, who now refers to himself as Matter Eater Lad. His demonstration involves eating a bomb, but I want to appreciate the bro-ness between him and Lightning Lad

Bros.

And then after Matter-Eater Lad’s demonstration, we get to see this show’s version of Star Boy.

My skin has been cleared. The next best thing before we get Black Panther next year.

Trash Baby and Karma go hand in hand.

We then see Infectious Lass, who I personally think has one of the coolest designs. Interestingly, she is seen with an inhaler. For her demonstration I think she makes Bouncy catch some kind of flu or something. Not sure.

Fast forward to later at the end of the audition, with the announcement that the new Legionairres are Matter Eater Lad and Star Boy.

So. Rude.

After most of the applicants had dispersed, we are left with Pete, Infectious Lass, Chlorophyll Kid, Color Kid and Stone Boy – still stoned (don't take that out of context). They are all understandably dissapointed they didn't make it in.

However, Bouncing Boy approaches them and tells them that he also failed his first audition – and then via Pete reading off the official collector's edition of the Legion Log – not joking – it took him four tries. Four.

Wow, no wonder he tries helping the applicants to the auditions.

He encourages the rejectees to keep trying, giving them a good speech on being a hero. However, he has to leave with the Legion when trouble is reported.

Touched by Bouncy's speech, the rejects decide to do the Hero-ing to show what they are made of. AWW.

Back with the actual Legion, we see some weird creatures are eating the ionosphere.  

Wait, those monsters are republicans basically.

We finally see Star Boy and Matter Eater Lad in action, the latter who eats one of the monsters... oh boy.

Back at New Metropolis, Pete has taken the Leader position (imitating Lighting Lad-senpai), although his mom has to drive the squad to places (im gonna guess that they don't have their full drivers license yet).

However, most of their efforts don't work out too well.

But then we get one of the best villains on this show.

Star Finger.

THIS GUY. IS SO FRIGGIN EXTRA.

With him showing off his gloves' powers, we see that one finger releases what I will dub Star minion. I know in the show they are called Furries. But that word does not give me positive feelings in the context sense, since the word has a... sexual association to me. So I refuse to call them that here.

Hmm...

The reject squad (I'm sorry im not sure what to call them at this point because they haven't coined the term Substitutes yet even though I know they're called that in the comics), arrive and tell Star Finger he's going to jail.

Oh good, I don't have to feel too bad about calling them Reject Squad for now.

Star Finger manages to give them a good whooping though, and gets away.

Fancy.

But they group finds the minions going in the same direction.

We then return back to the Legion who are still fighting the monsters eating the ionosphere, with PG and TW back with the group. Brainy is unable to figure out where the monsters are coming from, but it's clear they keep coming.

Back on Earth.

HOW COULD YOU JUST LET HIM FLOAT AWAY STAR FINGER.

But that aside, the Reject Squad has managed to track Star Finger, and call up Brainy. But our grouchy robot dismisses them and Star Finger.

Brainy hangs up on them, and Pete confesses on being stuck on what to do next.  But despite that, he and the rest go to confront Star Finger again.

Okay I have questions on how that works.

Nice.

Star Finger gets annoyed that they are back, and ask who they are again, and if he owes them money.

Very accurate.

Their fight with Star Fingers goes much better this time. They still mess up in several ways, but manage to jump back up and use their powers in an effective manner. But Star Finger shoots the star minons at Stone Boy, making him float away.

The scene then cuts back to the Legion, and we get a good scene with Lightning Lad and Superman.

Seeing that the monsters' numbers have increased, Superman calls Brainy to see if there any solutions yet.

And he did!

Oh.

So his solution is a cannon that will polarize the ionosphere to make it inhospitable for anything, but there is a chance that it can incinerate the rest of the atmosphere over the western hemisphere.

Oh boy.

Superman tells him to keep thinking but Brainy states that there's less than an hour less, and given no clear origin, not many options are available.

We then see Stone Boy arrive in space with the Star Minions, and then this happens.

OH BOY.

The commercial cut then happens, and when returning, we finally see some more Legionnaires. HOORAY!

PFFT.

But as soon as the transformed Star Minions let go of him, Stone Boy turns into stone and descends back to earth.

But Brainy exits the ship with the cannon, which is charging. Superman insists there has to be another way, but Brainy says he doesn't have any other options.

Mm.

Returning to the Reject Squad, Star Finger once again has the upper hand on all except Chlorophyll Kid. WHo then proceeds to grow the same plant from the Audition. Which first attacks Star Finger, then turns to the squad.

And then Star Finger incinerates it, saying they should feel honored as he prepares to kill them. Thankfully Stone Boy crashes into the guy just in time, which leaves Star Finger unable to do anything else.

I'm gonna guess Stone Boy is the silent guy.

But he tells the group that the Star Minions are what eating the atmosphere. Unable to reach either the Legion or the SP though, the Squad try removing Star Finger's hand, but it refuses to go.  And when Pete demands to know how to get the glove off, we get one of hte best moments.

Wow.

Just as the cannon Brainy made is at full power, the Squad manages to arrive in Pete's mom's car with Star Finger tied to the hood.

Pfft.

Infectious Lass tells the Legion that it's Star Finger's glove that made the monsters. Brainy is still playing the role of the doubter.

What a grouch.

He removed it with grumpiness.

MY GIRL IS HARDCORE.

Brainy then says it seems the Squad is correct, but when they say they managed to save the world, he says not yet.

What a grump.

The scene cuts back to earth, where the Legion is thanking the Squad, with Brainy admitting they underestimated Star Finger. To which Star Finger says "Of course you did!" As the SP drag him away.

And then Lightning Lad admits they underestimated the rejects as well. And that he hopes to see them at the next audition.

The Squad state that although they are not as power as the individual members, they still make a good team, and they can fill in for the Legion once in a while, which  Bouncing Boy then coins the term "Legion of Substitute Heroes". Which the group likes.Superman replies to by saying they would be honored to work with them again.

What a dork.

So final thoughts on the episode overall and the characters

Okay, so this is both a lighter toned episode and one of the best written ones, and it doesn't even focus on the main cast of the series. I really enjoyed the episode. I also like they don't use the word Substitutes early on.

My only nitpick is the difference between this episode and the audition issue of the show's comic, which focused more on Infectious Lass rather than a group of the rejects, who is very different between the two versions.

We get a better look at the different types of people in this universe, seeing that not all people have boast-worthy powers, but they can still be effective if used in a particular manner. And even if the power is a good concept, execution and limits of that power can impact how effective it is.

I can understand both the reasoning on not picking just anyone in the auditions. Being in the Legion is hazardous. But I can also understand the disappointment of those rejected.

Now, onto the characters.

The only official Legion characters who got developed in a way were Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, and Brainiac 5.

Lightning Lad HATES the auditions. And we can't overlook the muttering under his breath when the audition was over. And clearly he wasn't a fan of the rejects – especially Pete. And that reaction when he sees him the first time since the initial meeting?

Not okay.

Garth, you go over to that boy's place and take him out on an apology date.

Although, he does believe the squad/Substitutes kids on the glove thing. So, he doesn't think them as unintelligent initially. And he does warm up to them afterwards, saying he hopes to see them next audition. Aww.

WIth Bouncing Boy, we once again see the optimistic guy who has faith in others. But it goes into his background a bit. We learn that he wasn't automatically accepted into the Legion. But instead it took him four tries before getting in.

Four.

Give this guy an award for determination.

Now it even makes more sense why he would volunteer to help applicants prepare for the auditions. He knows how it feels to be rejected, but he eventually got it, so he wants to give others as much guidance as possible. He was the right person to give the rejected applicants a pep talk afterwards.

It was kind of funny when he sees the Squad arrive in space, and told them that when he said "When I said keep trying, I meant next year." So, he's not trying to get these kids to endanger themselves.

And the part where he says he believes the Squad? Perfect.

Bouncing Boy is a perfect person.

And on the other hand... character development with Brainy...

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY.

So he's mostly annoyed with the auditions as well. Not to the same level as Lightning Lad. But he is much more dubious of those who didn't make it in, and when told to examine the glove, he shoves the cannon to Lightning Lad angrily. So, clearly, he has a lower opinion that Lightning Lad of the rejects.

He does seem to apologize afterwards, but clearly he's the type who doesn't seem to think highly of others initially. Making it hard to socialize with.

And then there is the solution he came up with. Making the ionosphere inhospitable with the chance of incinerating part of the atmosphere.

While the chance of dooming the planet wasn't that high, it was still a major issue. But Brainy insisted it had to be done. Thank god the Squad came in with the glove.

But the fact he was ready to overlook the risk to get rid of the monsters does show some of his darker nature. We've seen a less dark thing regarding him withholding info from Superman and the others. But this episode? This was a major thing to remember for season 2.

We also see signs of a bit of development with Superman, but not from this episode. It's from the last episode. Regarding Brainy.

When the cannon finishes charging up, he comments "I just hope we're not about to save the world by destroying it." That was directed to Brainy.

The Superman from the earlier episodes – particularly the range from first to seventh or eigth – wouldn't have said something like that. But think about what happened last time. He found out Brainy neglected telling him important things – the Alignment and the fact his powers depend on the yellow sun. He knows now Brainy has questionable morality. Not necessarily wrong in terms of the long run usually, but not entirely good with its current impact.

Does this mean their relationship has taken a turn for the worst? No. It means he's seeing Brainy more as a real person. A person with flaws.

And with that, can go to try helping him address those flaws.

And now the rest of the Legion. Most of them didn't get that much character development but I can make a few comments.

Saturn Girl is bad ass. She threatened Star Finger with having Matter-Eater Lad EATING PART OF HIM. And I don't think she's the type for lying in serious situations.

Phantom Girl and Timber Wolf don't have speaking roles, but I certainly want to know where they were when they weren't seen at the auditions.

As for the new comers, we got Star Boy and Matter-Eater Lad.

First, on Star Boy's character.

In most adaptations of the comics, Star Boy is depicted as white. However, in the 2005 reboot, he was changed to be Black. And anyone who knows me well knows I am the type to celebrate any POC hero/protagonist. 

Hence why anyone following me found their dash being flooded with Black Panther when the trailer came out. 

And my extreme bitterness on the fact the show's final product had lightened Triplicate Girl's skin color in comparison to the concept art.  

So I appreciate the fact that Star Boy was presented as Black in this show.

Speaking of Black Panther...

PLEASE GO SEE THE MOVIE WHEN IT COMES OUT WHEREVER YOU LIVE IF POSSIBLE.

In this episode, he doesn't have any speaking parts, like Wave. But he is expressive. Much more expressive. And isn't afraid of putting Lightning Lad in his place.

Despite the disappointing lack of development in this episode, he would get more development in Season 2 thankfully.

With Matter-Eater Lad, we do see he and Lightning Lad do have a friendship. And that he won't balk at the idea of eating living things. Making it even more likely he would have bitten some part of Star Finger off.

We once again see some of the other Legionnaires though. The list includes Element Lad, Tyroc, Sun Boy and Blok. And if you look carefully, also Shrinking Violet (although only towards the end). They don't get developed.

Now, the Villain of the episode.

Star Finger is an absolute JOY. And is one of the show's best villains because of his dramatic personality. He's not realistic or complex like Mekt or Alexis, and he's not threatening like the LSV, Londo, or (arguably) the F5 (I say arguably because let's face it, they aren't that interesting but the show is written so that the Legion considers them a threat). But he has so much personality you can't help but admire his antics in the show.

As for his personality, he is very dramatic. And clearly lacks much concern, as seen with the Star Minions.

HE JUST STEALS THE CROWN FROM ONE AND LETS IT FLOAT AWAY.

As a villain in terms of personality, he is a villain written well. He's written in a way that wanting to be a villain/criminal to strike fear into people seems legit. In comparison to Drax, he is the better written guy. An arc is unlikely, but he is still very enjoyable.

And now for the Substitutes, aka Reject Squad.

Chlorophyll Kid is another overweight character who is not written as someone obsessing over food. He is timid, and while he can't control plants – particularly the man eating ones, he does figure out how to use them effectively in some degree.

Stone Boy didn't get a lot of development in the episode, due to a combo of both not being a talker and constantly turning into stone for long durations. But he is very smart, given he made calculations on when he was falling back to Earth. SCIENCE MAJOR MATERIAL.

Infectious Lass. While I do like her in the cartoon, I do like the version they had in the cartoon's comic more. Mainly because she had more personality, but that can be because it focused on her. But she is still great in the show. She is definitely more vulnerable emotionally than any of the other girls we've seen on this show, which I appreciate. We need diverse personalities. And I love the fact they gave her an inhaler and made her sound like she had a cold.

Color Kid is very energetic, and almost on Star Finger's level of flamboyant. Not ignoring that rainbow triangle on his chest. Unlike the rest of the squad though, he is less aware of danger and why exactly he didn't make the cut. But I would sell my soul for his skills with color though. I think ANY ARTIST WOULD.

And then there is my favorite, Porcupine Pete. We’ve already seen him before, and we see that he is written consistently in this show. Massive Legion fan, adorkable. And no one can pry me away from the idea he has a crush on Lighting Lad-senpai. But we also see he has a close relationship with his mom. And he can hurt others easily with his quills, although unintentionally. As seen as when he saves a girl in the pool and she is unfortunate enough to get covered in them.

He assumes leadership of the Reject Squad. He isn't always sure what the best course of action is, but isn't afraid to ask for help. He doesn't let pride interfere.

Very different from Lightning Lad-senpai.

We also see him develop confidence in this episode. Which I love.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully my next review won't take too long, given I’m on winter break. But I have work, and I don’t think we need to ask on what work in retail is like during holiday seasons.

But meanwhile, I was hoping if I could get some feedback on the gifs, particularly with the fonts. If you think there’s anything I can change to improve them, lemme know.

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia: Ivy on The Run and After the Rain Reviews

Hello all you happy people! We’re into week two and after far too long we finally get some answers.. well okay not the ones we thought we were getting but hey you take what you get sometimes. Point is it’s a big week, with a fun ivycentric episode that fleshes her and Felcia out and a far more serious episode that finally explains a few things, not saying what things because spoilers. So join me under the cut for some smiles, some tears, and a bit of Muay Thai and Myagi-Do as I break things down. 

Ivy on the Run:

I was pleased as punch to find out Ivy was getting an episode. While I couldn’t say she was a faviorite of mine, I always found Katie Crowns performance exceptional, and her a delight to watch. The character wasn’t bad.. but EVERY episode up to this one involving her was about her and Sprig’s relationship which while really fucking precious left little room to flesh her out beyond a love of ambushes and being into the same kid stuff Sprig was into. 

This episode not only corrects that but also takes another suprising leap for the series in having Ivy clearly be the main character of the episode. While this isn’t the first episode to spotlight a citzen of wartwood.. it’s the first where the Plantars are side characters in the plot instead of just as important as whoever got focus or usually more important. Here Ivy is the lead of the episode: We open on her waking up for the day (Or rather having been awake for hours to trick her alarm clock), get a sense of her personality.. and of the episodes conflict: Ivy’s desire to be free and explore versus her mothe’rs constnat anal renttientve insistence she do tea related stuff like fold swans properly. IT’s a decent enough conflict that gets elevated by hte twist at the end. 

So she runs out after that to meet up with Sprig, and ambush him because that’s how thier relationship works. And what I really like here is while their relationships still present in the episode it’s thankfully not the focus or even realy lreated. Their clearly together, it’s just not the focus of the episode> Just some nice ranch dressing atop this salad. While they go to hunt for glitter beetles, Anne is teaching Polly, Muay Thai. The martial art of champions.. specifically one eyed ones who like to put tiger in front of their moves. As for why she took it up her mom wanted somewhere to put her energy, as seen in a flashback with a young Anne adorably banging on pans while singing her own version of Wannabe by the Spice Girls. It’s fucking precious. 

So the couple happily go beetle hunting i’ts precious.. but Ivy’s patience with her mother starts to run out as her mother loudly interupts her hunt to return her for tea practice: stirring it, setting tables, folding swans that sorta thing. All things she clearly dosen’t WANT to do or like and gives the impression Felcia is trying to force her daughter to become more like her and less like herself which... no. Just no. 

Ivy eventually hits her limit with this bullshit, tells her mother off and then stomps off to her room whiel her Mom fails ot understand that MAYBE being hypercirtical of your daughter, even if it turns out you have a good reason, might backfire. Ivy is encouraged by her posters, great scene by the way, to run away and leave town, and take Sprig with her.. whose relcutant as he talked himself up as being really well liked and savy out there but was just okay in practice. 

Meanwhile Polly and Anne continue training but Polly can’t get it as she just can’t calm down and focus, and Anne easily blocks her. In constrast Wally shows up, having apparently been watching them. 

And picks it up instantly. I can see why; Wally seems a bit scatterbrained due to his weird and wonderful nature.. but we’ve seen him be entirely capable when the chips are down, and to be a talented musician. So while he’d SEEM like he’d lack focus, it’s probably way easier to him than the impatient tadpole who just wants to kick ass without getting it takes a few steps. 

Meanwhile Sprig tries to talk his girlfriend out of running away together at 10 only for Sylvia to tail them with those bee phone things she used earlier.. and also be there, as once they clear those out she’s waiting and both end up at the Muay Thai class. Things finally hit their breaking point and Ivy wishes she never had family... and I think this is what finally gets it in Felicia’s head she messed up. She meant well.. but sh’es clearly been so hard on her child that, even if she instnatnly regrets it, she’s willing to disown her own mother if it means getting away from her. 

So Felica gives her a way out: Martial Arts Match. Because nothing says parental love like fighting your daughter for her freedom. Though in her defense things are pretty fair: three matches, and Ivy just needs to win ONE by getting a point on her, like in a martial arts competition. I only know that’s what they were going for because I binged Cobra Kai last month along with the first two Karate Kids. 

And that refrence isn’t for nothing as Felcia easily dominates the first two matches using Miyagi-Do esque moves i.e. pure defense, and with a Miyagi style lesson inside as for the final one.. she has Ivy repeat the various tea things she’d had her do, and just like that amazing fucking scene from Karate Kid, Ivy can now fight and realizes her mother was training her the whole time, as her mom simply wanted her to be readly and as for why Felcia herself is a karate master, she picked it up while gathering tea as naturally it’s incredibly dangerous in amphibia.  

So Felcia let’s her daughte win and expalins she just wanted her to be safe.. which is nice but while her devistaiton earlier clearly shows it, it still dosen’t QUITE justify how hard she was or not telling her why when her daughter is a clear tomboy. I do get the Miyagi-Do training style: it builds muscle memory and means you can defend without thinking, fight without having to plan every punch and kick. It’s brilliant.. but you have to match the training to the student. Daniel hated his traning too.. but Miyagi clearly KNEW he would, knew he’d give out and set it all up that way. Felcia.. nearly pushed her daughter into running away and never apologized. It’s not all terrible as there is the implciation this whole match was Felcia realizing she had to make it clera what she was doing, but it’s still fairly torubling the episode never adresses her behavior outright., even if they make up and Felciia plans to take her along next time. Also Polly punches wally in the face... eh he’l lbe fine. 

Final Thoughts on Ivy on the Run: This one was decent. As said the final part feels a bit... ehhh..as it feels they don’t adress Felicia’s controlling attitude enough.. but it dosen’t detract from a pretty fun episode, especially the Muay Thai stuff. That was an unexpected treat. And let’s face it after recently getting in deep with the franchise thanks to cobra kai, I can’t hate anything that reminds me of  the Karate Kid. In a good way at least. 

After The Rain:

Well this was both a long time coming and as painful as I expected. And after over a year and a half, we FINALLY get some answers.. not ALL the answers but some. Look you know what this episode is about, I know what this episode is about, let’s get cracking in round 2. 

So Anne’s got a letter, anne’s got a letter I wonder who it’s from. Marcy.. it’s from Marcy. Turns out she’s ready to go to the first temple, and even sent them a check list: weapons, food (check and check) and armor. Hop Pop already thought of that.. but instead of badass and practical armor.. it’s padded sumo suits that they can’t move in because “less mobility means less trouble”. Or you’ll get eaten by a hawk.. which given this show is probably also on fire and can shoot acid out of its’ eyes. Or lasers. Or acid lasers. The point is their gonna die. THey also naturally need the music box... which Hop Pop about craps himself hearing. Gee it’s almost like not getting the box sooner when you knew damn well abotu the temple thing and that they’d need it kinda bit you on the froggy bottom Hopidiah. 

It gets worse for him as while he mentions his ‘contacts” again.. that night he goes to dig it up. Problem is, Anne follows him when she hears footsteps, and while she initially assumes i’ts just him being a weirdo and plans to suprise him... we instead get the gut punch we’ve been anticpating for the last year and a half.  Hop Pop shouts about the box being gone, clearly panicked... and Anne hears him, utterly devistated and rightfully FURIOUS. He confesses the truth, clearly feeling guilty for what he’s done and lying all this time but Anne dosen’t want to hear it and storms off. 

Yeah as you can tell this is a rough one. So next morning Hop Pop, who clearly hasn’t slept and given his surrogate grandaughter just rightfully walked out on him why would he, confesses to the kids what he did. And while neither like what he did .. they prioritize getting Anne back, sending him to go fix his mess while they find the box. 

The box turns out to not be the only thing missing: various other things around town have been stolen, including a talisman that if Maddie dosen’t get it back will have horrifying consequences. Classic Maddie. As for why Swampy Joe has the answer: the magpie beetle, a beetle that emerges once every 20 years to steal stuff to use as a shell to impress mates. They find the box.. but it’s in a seatle of beatles and soon get swamped.  Meanwhile Anne’s returned to the cave and... okay i’m just going to have to power through or this episodes going to kill me with sadness. After some bits about her and her rock rocky, Hop Pop finds her and she still has nothing to say to him, again for good reaosn, but before he can get to telling her WHY he did it, they hear the others crying for help and Anne tries to rescue them herself, only helping hop pop do so when he points out they NEED to and even if she rightfully dosen’t trust him she needs to for now. THey save the kids.. and Anne STILL wants to leave.

We then get an even bigger gut punch. It turns out Hop Pop didn’t hide the box for some big reveal.. regarding the box. Turns out it’s not the box itself, his book just says it’s dangerous and w’ell likely find out any specifics it had next week. It’s Hop Pop’s lingering trauma. While we don’t find out why the Box is dangerous.. we do find out what hapepned to their parents. And I just want to say before we get into that Bill Farmer’s acting this WHOLE episode is some of hte finest, if not THE finest in his career. HIs guilt, his pain.. it’s all so raw and palpable. Brenda Song’s no slouch either, Anne’s pain and anger is likewise very well done, but Bill is far and away the mvp of the episode.. and this scene is why. 

He reveals he’s been so cautious, so scared for the kids and so overly protective in general.. because of how the kids parents died, something they don’t blame him for but he does: He was out of town on buisness.. when a pair of herons attacked. Sprig and Polly got to the family bunker in time.. their parents... weren’t so lucky. It’s not the big bombastic arc related death we all thought was coming.. but I like it for it’s brutal nightmarish simplicity. They didn’t die some heroic death, they aren’t still here.. they just died like SO MANY background frogs have. Two wild giant animals they coudln’t possibly defend against got em. Nothing could’ve been done no matter what Hop Pop thinks, theirs no way they coudl’ve been saved, and i’ts LUCKY their children didn’t share the same fate. But their gone and it gives a new, awful meaning to Hop Pop’s overproectivness. Before it was mildly justified if a bit strict.. now.. i’ts him trying not to loose what he has left. Trying to hold on tight to his grandkids so he dosen’t loose anyone else.

He hid the box because his trauma and guilt were so severe he did something very stupid, and regretted it ever since and begs anne to forgive him in THE best line read of Bill Farmer’s long and storied career. And she does, hugging her Hop Pop gently, realizing that while he fucked up.. she gets WHY he did.. and that he’s sorry for it. He wasn’t tyring to keep her from going home or any messed up shit.. he just was trying to keep her and his other kids alive. And as Sprig and Polly say it’s not his fault, it never could’ve been.. he can’t help but feel that way. You just feel.. powerless when you loose someone, like you could’ve done something even though 9/10 you couldn’t have and it leaves a hole you never quite fill. So this hit like a truck. But our family is reconclied and the kids get a look at the entry in  Hop Pop’s ancestral book. What does it say besides it bad? what does this mean? We’ll find out next week. For now it’s just good to have them all together again. 

Final Thoughts on After the Rain: This episode is a masterpiece. It’s exepertly crafted, sticks in a few gags for flavor and only has the sprig and polly plot to help keep the main meat of the plot as light as it needs to be.. and it works. The few scenes we get with Anne and Hop Pop are just plain brutal and exactly what’s needed. It’s one of the series best, painful, raw and with a twist I dind’t see coming. I expected, again like most of us for the kdis parents deaths to be tied into it.. but instead.. it’s just trauma. But it’s satisfying enough that it feels like a great payoff, that it wasn’t some big dark secret like misdirected... it was just an old man who didn’t want to loose what family he had left. And that’s fucking brilliant. 

Next Week: THE FIRST TEMPLE BABY! The Plantars and Marcie head into the woods to fight moblins and ggghosts! I mean.. that is what the forest temple is right? 

Until then follow me for more reviews, follow me on my patreon your support would be appricated and see you at the next rainbow. 

[nightmare-circus]

Fuel for Paranoia || Jester || Trial 4.9 || Re: Aristotle, Khaski

Were people giving up!?  Even if Gemini did match the bill for hte culprit there were so many inconsistencies and uncertainties floating around.  It stank like the last trial, and a familiar fear and dread began to stir in Jester, fueling an almost sporadic reversal 

"No... no screw that!  I'm not gonna leave this up to chance like last time!  If we have to squeeze out every last second that we got to figure this out then we're gonna do it!  I'm not gonna stick my neck out again on some flimsy confession that makes about as much sense of flying pigs!"  

There was panic in her voice, even if Gemini admitted to doing the crime it didn't feel right.  Maybe it was the familiar feeling of false relief from the last trial.  A confession that ultimately spelled their doom.

She felt only a little relief when Khaski started to speak and helped to drive the conversation away from the confession and more towards the facts.  And she frantically just waved her hands as if to get his attention.

"That's... that's something I've been trying to figure out.  The guy just chose to float in the sky for thirty minutes before crashing down?  He clearly didn't die from the punch because... he died when we found him crashing.  And that impact... anyone else woulda just... had a nasty fall for sure but that thing was too strong!  It was like he was forcing himself to fall down!"

She punches her own fist into her hand to make some meteoric impact sounds. 

"That's... that's what's been bothering me the whole damn time!  The guy coulda just floated back down just fine if he wanted to but he basically did a kamikazi!  Why!?  What's his deal!?  What did he really see at the Tabernae!?  I just...!" 

She continues to frazzle her hair.

"It doesn't make any sense!  What did he actually do!?  If he actually did try and stop Gemini then why the heck didn't he just float down after getting punched?  He had a whole thirty minutes or so!  And if he suffered from amnesia after we found the first bodies then why did he just hit the turbo right to the ground!?"