#sometimes the simplest

[leftpeanutstarfish]

Jkk

[foursaints]

hi do u like unironically ship bartylily

sorry it sounds like im hating im not im just genuinely curious bc ive never heard of it before lol

i think they’re really neat and i’m dead serious

[doriandrifting]

No but it really is insane that at that very moment, Mike is grappling with two things: 1) his belief that the painting is for someone Will has feelings for and 2) the knowledge that the painting is for him. And he’s smiling.

[raineandsky]

hey i just recently discovered your acc and I'm honestly in love with your work! I don't know if you do requests but just in case you do,could you maybe do a snippet of supervillain capturing hero and torturing for months until they suddenly got bored of them and ordered villain to get rid of them for good. Basically villain doesn't know that it was hero they were ordered to kill by supervillain and when they entered the cell where hero was to kill them,they suddenly recognize hero and become extremely suprised by what they saw. Villain for some reason can't bring themselves to kill hero and just stands there for who knows how long whilst trying to decide what they should do as hero just layed there slightly unconcious full of bruises,wounds,cuts, burns and dried up blood all over their body. Sorry if this was long hehe,feel free to continue it (if you want to of course) :)

welcome to the gang, glad to have you here!! thank you for the request, i hope you like it :D

-

A curse tumbles from the villain’s mouth before they can stop it.

Of all the people the supervillain has caught, has been bragging about catching, why was it hero? The hero should know better. The villain knows they know better.

The villain’s never seen them so… defeated. They’ve thrown their fair share of punches, of course, but they’ve never quite managed to have them half-conscious on the floor like this. Crimson paints their skin in crazed patches, black circles smudged underneath them, rope digging violently into their already reddened wrists. The hero lets out some half-hearted noise as the villain nudges their clothes back to survey the damage better.

Bad. Very bad. It’s a miracle the hero’s still alive, but that’s what they do, isn’t it? Survive despite the odds. The villain gets back to their feet with a scowl. Where the hell did the supervillain find them? Why would the hero let this happen? Probably to protect some random civilian, the villain knows that, but still.

The hero’s eyes open, kind of, unfocused and glazed over. They get a front seat view of the villain’s shoes and, for whatever mindless reason, weakly reach their bound hands out towards them.

The villain takes a half step back, more on instinct than anything, and despite the lack of… well, anything in the hero’s expression, they can somehow still see the slight distressed crumple of their face.

Fuck. Their heart stings, even though it knows better.

No, they think sourly. You’re here to get rid of them. Don’t show weakness. Show [Supervillain] what you are.

The villain’s dagger is inside their coat. It’d be so easy. Nothing more than a shallow, red line across the hero’s throat. Easy. Kind. Merciful.

They step forwards again, ever-so-slightly, and bend back down to the hero’s level. Their hands are where they left them, abandoned in their desperate attempt at connection, and the villain nudges their foot between their fingers in potentially the biggest show of compassion they've ever have.

It’s a kindness, right? The hero would appreciate it. It would be the nicest thing the villain’s ever done for them.

But it wouldn’t, even the villain knows that. The hero doesn’t want to die any more than they do.

Every passing second is throwing more doubts over what they’re doing here. They need to make a choice before the supervillain decides they’ve been down here too long. They need to act before they can change their mind.

The villain pulls their blade from inside their coat,

and cuts the rope at the hero’s wrists.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 20 thoughts

oh man! i really loved this episode. no aliens, no overarching plot, just some silly shenanigans and yeah, some murder, but in a far more lighthearted fashion than in other cases. filler episodes i love you soooo much <3

from the beginning, i thought the prompt sounded really good... shoutout to people who work in sideshows and other touring entertainment industries, y’all are real for that 

we open with some kids laughing under a full moon… nothing could be scarier… except SOMEONE WATCHING THEM!

and whoever it is, they are approaching the pool with feet out. where are their parents to safeguard them from stranger danger, i ask into my screen!

OH he is the dad!! what was once scary has now turned heartwarming. he splashes about in the pool with them and says they need to get ready for bed. aww. 

BUT NOW SOMEONE IS WATCHING HIM IN THE POOL!! NOOO the heartwarming session HAS BEEN CANCELLED... is he being EATEN???

(as he is killed, the camera shows a van with the words “alligator man” on it... at first i'm thinking that the alligator man was the creature who just Ate this guy, but turns out the father WAS alligator man, so named for his skin condition. rest in peace mister alligator, the world is a worse place for ur loss)

and now the agents are looking into his murder :(

(also, in the opening credits, we see that one of the guest stars is named “the enigma”... I’ll have to look into their work)

mulder says there have been a lot of murders in this fashion over the last 28 years, and they have been going all over the country!!! it seems to involve some sort of round bite mark. must be time to go investigate.

they roll up the the alligator man's funeral. honestly it is sad! and we see that the widow slash mother of the kids is a bearded lady and she is absolutely serving but this is a very sorrow-filled moment for them all

and interrupting the moment in which his community remembers the warmth he brought to their town, his casket starts moving… and someone emerges from the ground… and stabs himself in the chest with a spike???? HUH???

so the deceased was an escape artist but was forced into the sideshow circuit because of his skin condition… scully says she didn’t know sideshows were still a thing… which is honestly fair because it is a very vintage sort of entertainment. and they have a Not So Great history.

BUT if the people who live in this town in the summer are all traveling performers.. and if they have been touring for years... and the murders go on for years… hmm, it seems things are starting to add up

mulder notices a drawing of a creature on the menu of the restaurant they are sitting in, and he asks who drew it. why, the sheriff says, it's the artist named hepcat, of course! cut to him tending to his freaky mermaid. he describes his scary maze business as “a tabernacle of terror” 

mulder asks what the drawing on the menu was, and i was thinking, hmm, looks like the fiji mermaid, and hepcat says it is the fiji mermaid, and mulder doesn't seem to recognize it?? i assume this is one of those situations where he acts like he doesn't know what is going on to get more information because i feel like that is Exactly the sort of thing he has read about at length. like i had him pegged as a guy who could write a dissertation on the subject at the drop of a hat. so i think he's lying but narrative wise it isn't fully revealed. 

scully: “what’s the fiji mermaid?” hepcat: “it’s the fiji mermaid!” <- thanks this clears up a lot <3

mulder is acting surprised to hear that the top half of the fiji mermaid was a monkey, which i again assume to be an act? but he says that the tracks at the murder look monkey-ish. so perhaps there is a correlation...? between the very active murder case and that time PT barnum sewed a monkey and a fish together? hey, the dots aren't connecting for me, but i don't work for the fbi so what do i know

they go to get a place to stay and the guy operating the rental place, a kind and verbose fellow with dwarfism named mr. nutt, gives them their keys. and mulder asks if had worked in the circus, (and since everyone they have met so far has in fact done so, i feel that this was a fair question, but maybe i also deserved what follows), and mr. nutt really lays into him about making judgements, and maybe some people with dwarfism want to manage hotels...

and as all of this goes down scully just observes. wow. she let him flounder. lmao.

the man carrying their bags is named lanny, and he has a conjoined twin sort of situation, it's not entirely clear- but he says mr. nutt got him to work there because he believed it was undignified to work in the circus. hmm.

back to hepcat at his studio… listening to some groovy music... and something crawls in his window… looking like the fiji mermaid. and it BITES him.

next morning. mulder going for a jog. in a sweatshirt and sweatpants in florida heat. what in the hell was he thinking??? let’s analyze that while a man chomping a fish emerges from the river. we receive no real clarification on what is going on in either of their minds.

scully in bed. alerted to a murder by lanny. still in a robe. we get a shot of her chest and also lanny's brother that felt mutually uncomfortable. SMH no rest for her!

okay, examining the scene of the murder. mulder notices some blood on a little window and WHY DID HE TOUCH THE BLOOD NASTY!!!! NASTY!!!

they deduce that to fit in the window, the suspect would have to be a contortionist…. and they walk out to see a contortionist. it’s the spike guy that so disrespectfully ruined the funeral!!

he puts a nail up his nose in front them. and mulder pulls the nail out. probably to get some blood. not an easy watch still.

we learn here that the guy with the puzzle tattoos who was eating the fish in the river earlier is called “The Conundrum”, and the spike guy slash contortionist is dr. blockhead

dr. blockhead gives the conundrum a bunch of crickets and he gulps them up; then he offers crickets to the agents and scully TAKES one, says thanks, eats it, and leaves LMAOOO????? never let them guess your next move....

mulder is staring at her trying to figure out if he is in love with a woman that just ate a cricket and if this is something she does regularly and JUST KIDDING!!! she didn't eat it silly!!! she "reveals" the lil cricket behind mulder’s ear awww... her uncle was a magician <3

(he also does a lil slight of hand trick and pulls out the bloody nail, saying "everyone's uncle was an amateur magician", which i am sure they can bond over at a later date)

scully goes to a museum that says "freaks free, everyone else leave a donation" and she puts in some money… publicly declared non-freak 

this guy at the museum is touching her. don’t care for that. but I like that he knows lots of random information. and he won’t show his whole face, we as the audience only see him through mirrors. very cool framing device.

he says he will take her back and show her something of barnum’s for another $5 and sworn secrecy. good luck bucko; last time she was told to keep a secret (affair baby) the SECOND she was reunited with mulder the tea had been spilled LMAOOO. he hands her a paper featuring jim jim the dog faced boy, who, dare i say it, seems to be a king.

he leads her into the back rooms… scary. but her trench coat is serving though

okay, deep in the back is a trunk. and it’s empty and opens an exit door. NOOO she was scammed! it’s all part of the hustle. 

(well, that is what i THOUGHT, at least, until she realizes it leads to the sheriff's house, and things are adding up...)

mulder sees something crawling about. it’s the guy who owns the rental space, mr. nutt, under scully's trailer! he asks why he is under there and mr. nutt says he is NOT being creepy. mulder flirts with the man and he runs away LMAO... weaponized bisexuality 

agents are in the trailer having a nerd off and it’s not clear who is winning and there is romantic tension. sheriff hamilton used to be jim jim the dog faced boy???? what a reveal!!!

we are watching them watch the sheriff dig a hole during a full moon. average agent bonding activities. he buried something in the ground and goes inside. 

they are in his yard digging up what he was just digging and mulder has taken his earlier roasting to heart and says “we’re being highly discriminatory here” and clarifies that’s no reason to suspect him of being a werewolf and it’s like well. i don’t know that we both thought he was a werewolf. they pause to consider the moral weight of their actions then keep going.

uh oh! sheriff catches them!!! not a good look being caught digging something up. “We’re exhuming… your potato” is the best line that usually quick-tongued mulder could come up with, which had me losing my MIND and i proceeded to write a very long keysmash to express my amusement

“may I ask why?” (she starts monologing about serial killers taking positions in law enforcement and needing to monitor him as as suspect, and it’s convincing) (he cuts in: “we found out you used to be a dog-faced boy” STOP THIS IS SOOOO FUNNY) and she looks soooooo guilty!!

he doesn’t deny it and says he started balding on his head which put him out of a job. fair enough, gotta pay the bills.

next genius dialogue exchange: “that doesn’t explain the potato” “I got some warts on my hand” “...that doesn’t quite explain the potato” 

(i kept having to pause in rapid succession to write these lines down because i was laughing SO hard)

has anyone thought that maybe a man wants to bury a potato in his yard in peace…. like that’s how we get more potatoes…

“to get rid of warts you rub a sliced potato on your hand and bury it under a full moon” <- new life hack just dropped!!

nooooooo the conundrum is chasing the dog… dog escaped. everyone is pleased. he brings a check to mr. nutt and it’s rent!! king of paying his bills on time. but dog is still barking... NOOOOO MERMAID ATTACK ON MR. NUTT!!!

someone with bloody hands bursts into scully’s room and she must have her gun right by her pillow, and she gets it so fast, but it’s just lanny, saying he found mr. nutt dead... they truly hate to see a hard working entrepreneur in the field of hospitality winning 

the pin at the scene looked like something from dr. blockhead, so they go to his house to investigate and he is full of hooks. i made a noise like whAUUUWAUUHWAUH and mulder is looking intensely at what's going on there. blockhead goes on some cultural appropriation bs. um sir this is weird timing bur you are under arrest.

he gets out of the handcuffs- contortionist and escape artist! but the sheriff catches him by the hooks. what a KING! shoutout to this sheriff, formerly jim jim the dog faced boy, can we add him to the team? skinner are you hiring?  

just as our agents apprehend their suspect, we see that the mermaid creature is in the room with lanny!!! but... he isn't hurt?

OMG the twin inside him IS THE MERMAID??

lanny confesses to this when he asks how it would be possible to turn his "brother" in without turning himself in...and he thinks the mermaid fellow hates him and is looking for another brother which is so SAD but he says he’ll come back

is anyone concerned about the twin crawling out of lanny? well, mulder knows he isn't the man in charge here: “scully, you’re the medical expert… I believe you” yessir it's good to remember that!

the mermaid brother appears to have run off into the "tabernacle of terror" and mulder trying to hold a little evil mermaid at gunpoint is SO comical

their asses are lost in the maze!!! scully pulls a gun on a rubber skeleton that fell from the ceiling!

she's trapped in a mirror room to serve infinite looks in all directions, and it looks like mermaid baby is caught... she fires.. but it hits the mirror!! baby mermaid brother escaped!!!

at this moment, mulder slides through a trapdoor... and it was SO funny pls tell me there's a gif set of that somewhere because i need it...

baby on the loose... bad news!!! conundrum is being eaten by the baby twin…. but what if he eats him FIRST, i ask myself, and received an answer in the form of baby being gone and conundrum rubbing his stomach!!!! yassss!!! diva down!!!

the next morning, while everyone is searching for mermaid brother, we learn lanny died that evening of a condition related to alcoholism. we learn this while dr. blockhead and the conundrum are getting ready to leave.

and dr. blockhead's going on about the future, and how nature needs freaks, and in the 21st century everyone will look perfect… "just like him" (points to Mulder majestically posing by a trailer) LMAOOOOOO “imagine going through your whole life looking like that!!!” <- yeah it must be really hard....... /s

at last, conundrum and blockhead are taking off into the great unknown... scully points out he doesn't look too good…. CONUNDRUM TALKS???? “probably something I ate", he says. LMAOOO his voice is sooo normal 😭😭😭

this episode had me laughing. we really had it all: exhuming a potato, scully's valiant attempts at lying, mulder hitting on a guy, lessons in ableism and judgement, a man who eats crickets and fish, flirting over case details, a dog, scully doing magic, mulder running in the florida heat dressed like it was a new england winter. truly i have nothing that could be added.

and did i have a secret evil mermaid twin on my list of probably monsters of the week? no, i cannot say that i did! was it the most compelling or scary of creatures? not really! but i was filled with whimsy. cannibalism saved the day. an excellent episode, and a perfect contrast to earlier in the season when scully was literally About To Die and i was crying a lot over the whole thing. ah, the duality of TV shows!

[koushuwu]

when Levi kissed you for the first time, time itself slowed. it reared to a pace, ever so slow. when his lips met yours. he felt the earth turning on it’s axis, slowing to a halt. when your lips pressed against his, time and space stretched, as if trying to make the moment even longer. as if to make it last, as much as he himself wanted it to last for all entirety to come. as much as he wanted it to last when you smiled against him. it didn’t. you pulled back, and looked at him, something akin to stars in your eyes. sparkling and mirroring his very own. but then you cupped his cheeks in your hands and kissed him again. and as he shuddered and the world stopped just for him, he wished again and again that this moment would in fact never end.

*:･ﾟ✧ koushuwu

[danburys]

when leverage said, "take your time. trust me." it really did change my life. it's not an extraordinary line at all. it's not even that poetic or anything.

but it's nate looking at sophie mourning a life she once lead and it's her saying she needs to leave to find out what she is now and even though he doesn't want her to go - even though that's the last thing he wants - he tells her not only to do what's best for her but to take her time with it. to take it slow because growth is slow. because dealing with the big things, the life-altering things is slow.

and then he tacks on the "trust me." trust him to hold together the team until she's ready to come back. trust him to know what it is to need time. trust him to be there when she returns.

i feel ill about it all the time. it's comfort and understanding wrapped in one. i'll never recover.

[crimson-nail]

“You will deal with this?” asks Knives, the gravity of a hundred years of failing to rely on another weighing on his voice.

“—Yes. Trust us,” Livio and Razlo reply. There’s fire in those eyes, rising to meet Knives’ intensity without an ounce of hesitation left in that molten gold — like he has waited his entire life to be asked such a question, and to be free to give such an answer to someone. “We’ll clean up these two and get the plant back to the Andron facility. She’ll be fine. We’ll take care of her.”

“...Alright.”

He smiles. It’s returned in kind, toothy and lopsided and less than an inch from his face.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” says Nai, allowing a serene expression to overtake his features, “I’m going to pass out now.”

-

finally finished up a sketch page from the monster of a fic i’ve been working on since april… i am out here being delusional ❤️

[yellowhollyhock]

so. Roman writes a script for an episode that he knows is good. He's very excited. He feels like he finally did something right.

Shows it to Logan. Gets it back all marked up.

accidentally got long

It starts a big fight. Easy for us to imagine how this goes because they have this or adjacent fights all the time.

Janus is on Roman's side which would make Roman more angry. Virgil is on Logan's side which hurts especially (idk if there's new content but last I know Roman and Virgil were pretty much the only consistently getting along, maybe Janus and Remus idk). Remus is there for a good time (see Roman's ideas are not good you should use mine). Patton manages to hurt everyone's feelings by taking Roman's side but sounding unsure about it (poor little guy is trying so hard to take care of everyone).

Roman has some good points: why is Logan criticizing his work when it's going to be reviewed by the writing team anyway? Isn't the most important thing at this stage for Thomas to be excited about his own ideas?

Virgil probably gets a little defensive here, like okay wow I'm sorry that Thomas can't always feel great and excited about his creations all the time. Did you even think about how much worse it would be if it was the writing team making all these corrections instead of Thomas doing it within his own head?

And then something clicks for Logan. All these corrections? What do you mean?

And now Virgil's defending Roman as best he can and still be honest with himself. You did kinda rip into it, Teach. I know you're holding is to a high standard but geez, look at all this red ink

Logan: Huh. It sounds as if the two of you think that because I marked it excessively, I disapproved of the script.

Thomas, glancing between them: Well yeah that's usually what red ink means (?)

Logan: No--I mean, yes, but this isn't high school. We're working at a higher level here.

Roman: And now you're calling me a high schooler?

Logan *adjusts glasses*: I specifically said this isn't high school. It is true that, especially for beginning writers, revision marks are usually an indication of

m i s t a k e s

Logan: Wow. As I was saying, Roman is not a beginning writer. I marked the text so excessively because I was engaging with the text. Seeing as it is, in fact, a draft, and will be submitted to peers for review, it is important that Thomas i prepared to discuss the material.

And they're all huh wha? but he wrote it tho?

Logan: Yes, but it's my job to take it from a daydream to a plan. If you read my notes, you would find--

Patton: Red ink!

Logan, thrown off: Yes, that's--we've established that I've made marks--

Virgil, recognizing an Epiphany from the Heart when he sees one: What are you getting at, Patton?

Patton: I mean, this isn't high school anymore!

Logan: Okay, you're just reiterating what I've said.

Patton: Sorry, what I mean is--when Thomas was in school, revision wasn't really treated as part of the creative process--it was a judgment from an authority figure, like a teacher! Or a parent

Logan, now interested: What are you getting at, Patton?

Patton: Thomas has a negative emotional reaction to the color red in that context.

Roman: But that's ridiculous!

Janus: Red has more positive connotations than negative. That's basic color theory :3

Virgil: Don't.

Remus: BLOODY BODY DRAGGED ACROSS THE FLOOR OF THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Patton is horrified

Logan, annoyed: Patton, you were saying?

Patton: Oh! Glitter pens!

Thomas: Glitter pens?

Roman: Glitter pens?! Now is not the moment for a consolation prize!

Logan: Oh, that's actually quite brilliant, Patton.

Virgil: What??

Logan: As I was saying, way back at (time stamp) before I was I N T E R R U P T E D, if you were to look at the notes I've made, you would find things circled that were phrased particularly well that I believe should go untouched to the final draft.

Roman: ... we would?

Logan: You would also find extensive notes on how the things you've implied in this script fit into the larger lore, which you have done particularly well this time.

Roman: Oh, I, uh--

Logan: I've noted places where we could have an opportunity to research a topic you've touched on and elaborate further, if the run time permits. If not we could possibly link relevant articles.

Roman: ... Oh.

Logan: Of course, minor grammar mistakes or small inconsistencies are also marked, but you do make a valid point there were not many of them this time.

Patton: So if we started color coding the different things Logan does when he revises, we could get Thomas to start thinking about the revision process differently!

Roman: Logan, I'm so sorry, I've been approaching this all wrong. I felt like you weren't even looking at my contributions or giving them a fair chance, and the truth is that's exactly what I was doing to you.

Logan: I appreciate you acknowledging that, Roman.

anyways the whole reason I put this on tumblr and not ao3 is because it has been sitting about here for uh. years now. So yeah they color code things and it helps Logan feel like he has a place in the creative process and also helps Roman not to take feedback so personally

[corpsoir]

hey actually do you want to draw the yoin perhaps MAYBE . i don't know if you've ever drawn him. maybe some kakyoin polnwreff violence if you'd like...... .....

i have drawn him before but its old sucky art i prefer not to think about HADHSJKFAJHFJDKS

[ellenlandryy]

#mmm.. 👀

[gayofthefae]

Wait you guys......

Mike and Will are in love

No because like they're just...they're just a wholesome childhood friends to lovers slowburn I'm gonna rewatch like "aww you don't know yet".

Like....

Mike and Will are in love.

They fell in love from ages 12-16(?). That's so cute. What the hell. I just randomly starting thinking about it like it's just some show I just heard about or something and I'm like "aw cute trope". What a cute trope wtf. That's adorable. Two twelve year old boys in the 80s and they fall in love over the course of many years as they grapple with internalized homophobia and homophobia in their small town? That sounds like a GREAT show where can I watch it? That's adorable.

Mike and Will are in love. And...that's just the premise. That's just the premise of their plot. If you came up to me after you watched episode 1 for spoilers and you were like "What happens to Lucas? Dustin? Mike? That girl they found? The kid who went missing?" I could just be like "Dustin gains confidence and becomes besties with Mike's sister's boyfriend after they break up, Lucas meets this girl who's introduced next season and they're really good for each other, the girl gets adopted by the police chief and then into the Byers and has a great found family and independence arc, and the boy who went missing survives and he and Mike fall in love!"

And that'd just be like...right. I'd just be telling you what happens.

[tartarduck]

on a sunny day, i'll bring a bouquet of your favourite flowers, and wait downstairs at your door.

[rayar32]

HI. SO. I HAVEN'T POSTED IN A WHILE. here's why!

(tldr: my brain was stupid and only wanted to post fan art, so I'm actively going against it by posting All of my art here, OC or fan art)

okay so, I started posting on this blog again because of the great Twitter Exodus™, when I realized that maybe, putting all my eggs in a single barely working basket wasn't a good idea. at first, I was mostly posting whatever came to mind, because really that's my overall philosophy when it comes to posting art/thoughts online. turns out however, that I ended up gathering a small amount of Symphogear heads when I became obsessed with the show a year ago, and started cranking out art while in the shores of my fiery obsession. now, that? that's great actually! I love seeing everyone's comments and funny tags about my art, it's absolutely wonderful!

however, because my brain isn't normal at all, it also meant that I had built up expectations for myself. I started posting OC content, but it just wasn't hitting as many interactions as I wanted to, at least compared to all the fan art which, is understandable, completely so! however, it did also discourage me from posting anything related to OCs, and instead made me want to post only fan art.

turns out, however, when you force yourself to post only one thing it becomes really, really unfun to actually post things. so, that's why I haven't been posting things; I, as an artist, draw a lot more OC stuff than fan art. I love making stories, and it's something that's always deeply fulfilling even if attached to another fandom, like with my Symphogear OCs.

so what am I gonna do about it? well post Symphogear OCs, and literally any other art content I make. I'm making this officially my "very professional art archive" blog, broken up by my stupid thoughts and answering asks every now and then. so yeah! expect almost daily posts from now on, as I haven't stopped drawing at all since I last uploaded here-

[leavemeslowly]

I don’t know you at all

I don’t know you

Not at all

CHIHIRO - Billie Eilish

[smokestarrules]

So I finished watching Revue Starlight and it was amazing, phenomenal, incredible, and many other words! The one thing I’m stuck on is, why a giraffe? Why have I seen people talk about this show so much and nobody ever mentions the giraffe?! He’s just there, being a giraffe?! What the hell?!?!

Because he's us. He's the audience, watching from above, encouraging the story to play out as it does. He needs to be able to see from all angles, needs to be able to observe no matter how far away he is, and ultimately, his gaze is what causes the show to exist in the first place. He's the audience, and the audience needs to be able to see from a certain height, otherwise they won't enjoy the show at all.