#sorry about the delayed reply!

[welcometoteyvat]

also you mentioned wondering about fanan’s backstory—this actually does not come up in my plot for the fic at all so i will just tell you: the person responsible for the accident fanan was in is osial, who in this universe is a corrupt businessman whose greedy behavior led to the deaths of fanan’s sisters.

my canonverse backstory for fanan is that she was a member of a pod of aquatic yakshas living in the sea of clouds before the archon war. sometime during the war osial took up residence in the sea of clouds and slaughtered many of the yakshas living there, including fanan’s sisters. after morax defeated osial, fanan decided to join him on the condition he would protect her old home from future harm, and in thanks for defeating the tyrant who ravaged her people. the situation in the fic is a reference to that, but i kind of forgot that it was just a headcanon and nobody would know what i’m referring to hahahaha

oh my god this is so real though!! osial on the finance bro grind............................. L,, FJSDKJFKDSJFKL i can TOTALLY see him w like slicked back hair and a tight fitting suit sitting all high and mighty in some company's c-suite LOL perfect image of a greasy businessman who's just a little fucked up

also canonverse headcanon accepted— it is so fire !! zhongli really making it his mission to get as many allies turned friends as possible in the archon war... but it's so sad :( her and xiao should. traumabond

[taradactyls]

I just need you to know how I am EATING UP Trying to Tread Water! It's been an age since I've read long form content like what you're writing and it's just 🥹🤌🏻 thank you for your work ❤️

Thank you! I'm glad the massive word count didn't put you off, and I hope you've continued to enjoy it. It's actually been ages since I read a long fic, I think writing Trying to Tread Water has made me read a lot less in general, funnily enough. When I have the energy I mostly prefer to be immersed in crafting my own story.

Thank you again for sending me this message - I remain awed that people not only want to spend their time reading something I've written, but also take time out of their day to say such kind things to me ❤️

ps. Love the username!

[sugarsnappeases]

GIVE US QUILLKILLER THOUGHTS!!!!!!

i would be delighted to!!! i’ll try to say things we (@quillkiller and i, we’re conjoined) haven’t said before lol…. please be warned. this post got LONG (lots more under the cut)

so for me the general trajectory of the quillkiller relationship is devotion -> betrayal -> haunting (and the devotion and haunting are sort of synonymous, no? different shapes of the same undying love) so i’ll try to follow that trajectory in this post too

so. Devotion. we’ve said before that a big part of bella’s character is her need to devote herself to something. she’s a follower at her core, and before she meets voldemort, she finds this in rita. rita who’s mean and nasty and genuinely believes she deserves to be worshipped (major god complex). bella who wants to worship her, wants to give her everything, wants to give herself up to rita like an offering, a sacrifice.

and it digs deep into the both of them, this devotion, claws its way into the marrow of their bones until they can’t let each other go. they’re in different hogwarts houses and come from what feels like different worlds but bella’s sneaking into the ravenclaw common room at night, they’re passing notes in class, exchanging looks in the great hall, meeting up in secret nooks and crannies. bella is getting married but rita is the journalist at the wedding, kissing her before she walks down the aisle, sneaking off to fuck in one of the side rooms later. bella sending patronuses like ‘come over’ or just showing up at rita’s flat, clinging onto each other even when they know they probably shouldn’t and that it can’t last and that it’ll have to end at some point, taking as much of each other as they can get bc they know that it can’t be forever and they didn’t even think it would last this long… i imagine them waking up together like this:

and the thing is!! there’s so much love. so so so much love. like even w bella married and everything, that’s never an issue at all. they’re happy, they have fun and they make each other laugh and they love each other so so much and so so well even if they both think that’s it’s ultimately gonna fall apart. and that brings us to Betrayal.

it’s the idea that both of them are selfish and obsessive and cruel but before they’d always been all of these things together. but bc they are these things and bc they’re always pushing each other and challenging each other and making each other more, they’re always, inevitably, gonna cross a line that the other cannot. for rita, this is her article, and for bella, this is her dark mark.

and to me, their respective betrayals happen kinda concurrently, like either one of them could happen first, but they don’t fully fall apart until both of them have happened bc, for example, if the article happened first, bella wouldn’t forgive rita (it’s disloyalty and bella can’t understand or forgive it bc she’s unendingly loyal <- another core bella trait) but bc of the disconnect there, the way they both can’t quite understand how unforgivable what they’ve done is to the other, i don’t think rita would necessarily see a huge issue. like they’ve fought before and it hasn’t been final and if rita called, bella would still show up, ofc she would. and vice versa. if the dark mark debacle happened first, rita can’t forgive her for that (bc no matter how morally reprehensible she is, rita can’t justify or support genocide and doesn’t understand how bella thinks she could), but if bella called, rita would go.

that’s them one betrayal in ^^ (i.e. rita post bella’s mark showing up at lestrange manor bc bella called. or bella post rita’s article showing up at rita’s flat bc she called). and they need both the betrayals to happen to be fully over (and obvs both the betrayals are inevitable bc of who they are and the circumstances they find themselves in even if they’re trying so hard to cling onto each other). i think by the time of both the betrayals, they’re already hanging on by a thread - hanging on so so tight, don’t get me wrong, but things are already falling to pieces, they just haven’t noticed yet, or haven’t let themselves notice yet.

it’s been building and building bc they both want everything, they want to have their cake and eat it too, selfish and hungry and wanting, that eventually they cross they line and it all falls down. they lose their ‘one good thing’ (<- bella says this about rita), they lose the woman that they still love, the only woman they ever have and ever will love, bc they just kept pushing for more:

and it’s both of their faults but they blame each other and hate each other and love each other just the same and they don’t realise that the closest they ever were to everything they ever wanted was when they were together. until later. thus. the Haunting.

and i have a lot of visual aids (quotes) for this part lol. this spans the rest of their lives, and i tend to mostly consider it from rita’s pov bc she’s not in azkaban and a lot more mentally present and also lives a lot longer so i think it’s more tragic for her (bella is also very much tragic but i will say that by the end of her time in azkaban, she’s really not much more than a shell of herself and she would’ve had most of her happy memories (a large part of which are w rita) sapped from her by the dementors and therefore it’s hard to say how much capacity she would’ve had for being haunted, being as, in and of herself, she would’ve been little more than a ghost x)

we’re gonna kinda gloss over everything here bc i have lots to say and this is already so so long but i have quotes that refer to a) rita’s general existence after the break up:

(obvs we're referring to her articles here. and just everything she writes in general. and everything she does. and everything she is.)

b) rita after bella breaks out of azkaban in 1996, and she sees her on the cover of the daily prophet:

and c) basically just rita for the rest of her life. forever. til the day she dies (this quote makes me a little insane...... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!):

IT IS MY KNIFE AND MY HEART TOO!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! anyway i'm gonna stop talking here bc i've rambled on for far far too long (although i have more to say if anyone wants... i'll always have more to say about them i think) but for now!! i'll love you and leave you with a few links to posts/fics that i think vaguely encapsulate our quillkiller conception (and by that i mean reccing jen's fics and a couple other things i've said):

life-changing fic 1 (rita writing bellatrix's obituary) | thing i wrote (unsent letter from r to b after azkaban break-out) | life-changing fic 2 (bella visiting rita post-azkaban break-out) | thing i wrote (another kinda quillkiller thesis...) | life-changing microfic (nsfw, that good old bellatrix black devotion)

[marlowe-art]

just want to say I really love your art, I’m glad you do timezone rb’s because sometimes I feel like I miss when you post! it’s really inspiring to see how consistent you are, consistency is something I really struggle with so I admire it a lot. your style is so detailed in a subtle way, it’s really wonderful to study it for a while and pick apart all of the little parts that make it beautiful. thank you for sharing your pieces with us!!

thank you very much, glad to hear you like my work! also good to know the timezone rbs aren't annoying haha, i often finish stuff at like. 10pm pacific time on weekdays. when most of the world is snoozing and not on tumblr

[thevioletcaptain]

Hi! So, I’ve never attempted a podfic before but I just read Unworthy a little while ago (I’m kind of obsessed with it) and thought I’d give it a go.

The thing is, I realized I have no idea what the rule of thumb/code of courtesy/agreed upon convention is with podfic (I’ve been an Spn/destiel fan for a long time but I’ve just started dipping into fandom space in the last couple years aka I feel like a baby and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or commit a fandom faux pas).

Like do you want to hear it first and approve it or should I just put it up on ao3 (and with that should I gift it or just tag you or mark it as inspired by your work)? Help 😅

Also please feel free to tell me no (I’m just as happy keeping it for my own rereading/listening use)

Hi anon! Thank you so much for your message 💜

I'm so flattered that you've made a podfic of something I wrote!

I'm absolutely happy for you post post it on Ao3. Please do use the "inspired by" marker so that a link to your podfic will appear on the original for people to listen to. I'm also more than happy for you to either mark it as a gift or just tag me -- whichever you'd prefer.

I can't wait to listen once you post it!

Thanks again, and I hope you're having an excellent week so far 🥰

[longagoitwastuesday]

So so indebted to u for posting those lovely illustrations from Cyrano <333 & even more so for yr tags!! I'm completely in love w yr analysis, please feel free to ramble as long as u wish! Browsing through yr Cyrano de Bergerac tag has given me glimpses of so many adaptations & translations I'd never heard of before! I'll be watching the Solès version next, which I have only discovered today through u ^_^ As for translations, have u read many/all of them? I've only encountered the Renauld & Burgess translations in the wild, & I was curious to hear yr translation thoughts that they might guide my decision on which one I buy first (not necessarily Renauld or Burgess ofc). Have a splendid day & sorry for the likespam! 💙

Sorry for the delay. Don't mind the likespam, I'm glad you enjoyed my tags about Cyrano, and that they could contribute a bit to a further appreciation of the play. I loved it a lot, I got obsessed with it for months. It's always nice to know other people deeply love too that which is loved haha I hope you enjoy the Solès version, it may well be my favourite one!

About translations, I'm touched you're asking me, but I don't really know whether mine is the best opinion to ask. I have read... four or five English translations iirc, the ones I could find online, and I do (and especially did, back when I was reading them) have a lot of opinions about them. However, nor English nor French are my first languages (they are third and fourth respectively, so not even close). I just read and compare translations because that's one of my favourite things to do.

The fact is that no translation is perfect, of course. I barely remember Renauld's, but I think it was quite literal; that's good for understanding the basics of the text, concepts and characters, but form is subject, and there's always something that escapes too literal translations. Thomas and Guillemard's if I recall correctly is similar to Hooker's in cadence. It had some beautiful fragments, some I preferred over Hooker's, but overall I think to recall I liked Hooker's more. If memory serves, Hooker's was the most traditionally poetic and beautiful in my opinion. Burgess' is a whole different thing, with its perks and drawbacks.

Something noticeable in the other translations is that they are too... "epic". They do well the poetic, sorrowful, grief stricken, crushed by regrets aspects of Cyrano and the play in general, but they fall quite short in the funny and even pathetic aspects, and that too is key in Cyrano, both character and play. Given the characteristics of both languages, following the cadence of the French too literally, with those long verses, makes an English version sound far too solemn at times when the French text isn't. Thus Burgess changes the very cadence of the text, adapting it more to the English language. This translation is the one that best sets the different moods in the play, and as I said before form is subject, and that too is key: after all, the poetic aspect of Cyrano is as much true as his angry facet and his goofy one. If Cyrano isn't funny he isn't Cyrano, just as he wouldn't be Cyrano without his devotion to Roxane or his insecurities; Cyrano is who he is precisely because he has all these facets, because one side covers the other, because one trait is born from another, because one facet is used as weapon to protect the others, like a game of mirrors and smoke. We see them at different points through the play, often converging. Burgess' enhances that. He plays with the language itself in form and musicality, with words and absences, with truths masking other truths, with things stated but untold, much like Cyrano does. And the stage directions, poetic and with literary value in their own right in a way that reminded me of Valle Inclán and Oscar Wilde, interact with the text at times in an almost metatextual dimension that enhances that bond Cyrano has with words, giving them a sort of liminal air and strengthening that constant in the play: that words both conceal and unveil Cyrano, that in words he hides and words give him away.

But not all is good, at all. Unlike Hooker, Burgess reads to me as not entirely understanding every facet of the characters, and as if he didn't even like the play all that much, as if he had a bit of a disdainful attitude towards it, and found it too mushy. Which I can understand, but then why do you translate it? In my opinion the Burgess' translation does well bending English to transmit the different moods the French text does, and does pretty well understanding the more solemn, cool, funny, angry, poetic aspects of Cyrano, but less so his devotion, vulnerability, insecurities and his pathetism. It doesn't seem to get Roxane at all, how similar she is to Cyrano, nor why she has so many admirers. It does a very poor job at understanding Christian and his value, and writes him off as stupid imo. While I enjoyed the language aspect of the Burgess translation, I remember being quite angry at certain points reading it because of what it did to the characters and some changes he introduces. I think he did something very questionable with Le Bret and Castel-Jaloux, and I remember being incensed because of Roxane at times (for instance, she doesn't go to Arras in his version, which is a key scene to show just how much fire Roxane has, and that establishes several parallels with Cyrano, in attitude and words, but even in act since she does a bit what Cyrano later does with the nuns in the last act), and being very angry at several choices about Christian too. While not explicitly stated, I think the McAvoy production and the musical both follow this translation, because they too introduce these changes, and they make Christian as a character, and to an extent the entire play, not make sense.

For instance, once such change is that Christian is afraid that Roxane will be cultured (McAvoy's version has that infamous "shit"/"fuck" that I detest), when in the original French it's literally the opposite. He is not afraid she will be cultured, he is afraid she won't, because he does love and appreciate and admires those aspects of her, as he appreciates and admires them in Cyrano. That's key! Just as Cyrano longs to have what Christian has, Christian wants the same! That words escape him doesn't mean he doesn't understand or appreciate them. The dynamics make no sense without this aspect, and Burgess (and the productions that directly or indirectly follow him) constantly erases this core trait of Christian.

Another key moment of Christian Burgess butchers is the scene in Arras in which Christian discovers the truth. Burgess writes their discussion masterfully in form, it's both funny and poignant, but it falls short in concept: when Cyrano tells him the whole discussion about who does Roxane love and what will happen, what they'll do, is academic because they're both going to die, Christian states that dying is his role now. This destroys entirely the thing with Christian wanting Roxane to have the right to know, and the freedom to choose, or to refuse them both. As much as Cyrano proclaims his love for truth and not mincing words even in the face of authority, Cyrano is constantly drunk on lies and mirages, masks and metaphors. It's Christian who wants it all to end, the one who wants real things, the one who wants to risk his own happiness for the chance of his friend's, as well as for the woman he loves to stop living in a lie. That is a very interesting aspect of Christian, and another aspect in which he is written as both paralleling and contrasting Cyrano. It's interesting from a moral perspective and how that works with the characters, but it's also interesting from a conceptual point of view, both in text and metatextually: what they hold most dear, what they most want, what most fulfills them, what they most fear, their different approaches to life, but also metatextually another instance of that tears/blood motif and its ramifications constant through the whole text. Erasing that climatic decision and making him just simply suicidal erases those aspects of Christian and his place in the Christian/Cyrano/Roxane dynamic, all for plain superficial angst, that perhaps hits more in the moment, but holds less meaning.

Being more literal, and more solemn, Hooker's translation (or any of the others, but Hooker's seems to love the characters and understand them) doesn't make these conceptual mistakes. Now, would I not recommend reading Burgess' translation? I can't also say that. I had a lot of fun reading it, despite the occasional anger and indignation haha Would I recommend buying it? I recommend you give an eye to it first, if you're tempted and can initially only buy one.

You can read Burgess' translation entirely in archive.com. You can also find online the complete translations of Renauld, Hooker and Thomas and Guillemard. I also found a fifth one, iirc, but I can't recall it right now (I could give a look). You could read them before choosing, or read your favourite scenes and fragments in the different translations, and choose the one in which you like them better. That's often what I do.

Edit: I've checked to make sure and Roxane does appear in Arras in the translation. It's in the introduction in which it is stated that she doesn't appear in the production for which the translation was made. The conceptualisation of Roxane I criticise and that in my opinion is constant through the text does stay, though.

[seriousbrat]

Your anon doubting whether Snape ever protected Lily from anti-muggleborn taunting at school has me wishing we saw a lot more of that friendship in The Prince’s Tale. Because Snape was *openly* calling her his best friend as late as fifth year when the first war was in full swing, they’re not sneaking around meeting in abandoned classrooms, which must’ve caused them both a huge amount of grief. We get a hint of the peer pressure Lily faced - ‘none of my friends understand why I talk to you’ - but I can’t imagine the Slytherin common room was a remotely nice place for a poor half blood who refuses to deny or abandon his association with a muggleborn Gryffindor. But we don’t see enough of that relationship to really understand why Lily likes him enough to keep swimming against the tide (Severus obviously clings because he tragically has nobody else).

me too!!! my fave dysfunctional friendship of all time 🥺 I wish we could've seen more of them but it just means I've got to write it myself!

Also, yes absolutely. I might talk a lot about the problems in their friendship because that's so interesting to me but they wouldn't be nearly as interesting if there wasn't also good aspects to it. And honestly despite everything I think it's admirable that they both defied peer pressure in order to openly remain friends for so long, especially at that age. Personally I think it would go against Lily's morals to abandon her friend because he wasn't popular or cool, which is why she stuck by him. Before Sev was scouted by Mulciber I imagine he was shunned by Slytherins as well as the rest of the school, so I don't think Lily would have abandoned him just because her housemates thought he was a weirdo.

You're right that on the face of it, it seems strange that Lily would like him, and as we know her Gryffindor friends didn't understand it; but I think the bonds of childhood friendship can be very strong. As kids they had a lot in common, being the only magical children in Cokeworth. Sev was clever, he was Lily's introduction to the Wizarding World, and they were the only two people who had one foot in Cokeworth and one foot in Hogwarts, so nobody else could really understand them the way they did each other. Nobody else had that wealth of unique shared experience. Also, I really do believe that she liked him as a person haha, and that Sev has likeable qualities if you get to know him-- but only Lily ever really did. So she saw a side of him that nobody else did. If you have a bond like that with someone, years of history and inside jokes, it's easy to overlook the negative and make excuses for it.

[isawken]

This might seem a little out of left field, but do you watch the Philly Mummer's parade? I think mummery is pretty heavily tied to foolery.

i had never even heard of this before but holy moly am i glad i do now

also i looked up what a mummer actually is out of curiousity and here's a quick lil history lesson for those of you who like that kind of stuff: there was apparently there's a precedent in medieval times (i so far have only found specificity mostly referring to england) for something called a "mummers play" which, as far as i can tell from some quick research, looks like was just some loose group of actors who would go like house to house on holidays and pretend fight each other in character for the entertainment of the viewers. and then a doctor character would revive the loser and they'd move on to the next house, rinse repeat. the characters would often be well known established characters like robin hood or king george. not a lot of talking, mostly just fun gesticulations. i did also find reference of german and austrian mummers plays (mummenschanz) featuring, not fighting, but instead just going into people's houses and playing dice, which i'm not clear if that was supposed to be a funny ha ha type thing or just like. general shenaniganry. idk if there's much fake fighting in these parades but i hope there is, i'd love to see all those jokers fake fighting to the death. all in all ur right anon, it is tied to foolery thanks to the heavy use of pantomime!

[tierra-paldeana]

He looked her dead in the eyes for a few long moments before suddenly jumping into an excited little spiel. "Okay! Great! You have made a verrry smart decision choosing the Battle Subway as your destination! It is a LOT more fun than the Battle Maison!" Please don't let Evelyn hear him saying that.

"Because in addition to battling we also have trains! And there are some claw machines in the station lobby if that interests you. But I still think the trains are the best part! Aside from the battling, I mean. The trains and the battling are of equal importance."

Poor Rika, she's been met with such a terrible fate. Though the pair of brothers were equally insistent when it came to people visiting their facility, Emmet had a tendency to be a little less polite about it. He just got too excited- especially when Ingo wasn't there to try to calm him down.

☠🌏– Although the Subway Masters' attitude caught her off guard at first (judging by the way he and his brother dressed, she had come to expect... definitely not this kind of personality, for some reason), she quickly grew into it - if there's any type of person she's more than happy to meet and get to know, that was anyone who felt a passion for their profession as well as Pokémon Battles.

Not to mention she had a soft spot for people older than her expressing such child-like wonder and excitement... it was reassuring, in a way. Perhaps someone else would've found it overbearing, but she's very happy he's excited to have her on board.

''Nahaha! Really now! It's true that the Maison's closer to Paldea, but I had it due to visit Unova more closely after landin' in Blueberry Academy some time back, so that can wait. So, the battles take place IN the trains, yeah? I've never seen anythin' like it, that's mighty intriguin'!''

Of course, she's pumped up about getting to try her luck at the Subway, but... the mention of the claw machines also grabs her interest. Oh, she's very tempted to ask him if they had plushes in those machines, but... No, Rika, you're discussing 'business' with him, you wouldn't want to give him a weird impression right off the bat?! So she just nodded, hands in her pockets.

''Yer brother's talked to me a bit 'bout how the Subway operates, but I never knew 'bout the claw machines! Personally I wouldn't mind a refresher, n' if you can tell me anythin' else that might be of interest for us, feel free to fire away, nahah!''

Oh. Oh wait. Oops.

''Ah, dang it, I almost forgot...! I'm Rika, secretary and member of the Elite Four of Paldea. It's a pleasure to meet'cha, Emmet! Good ol' Rika can't wait to visit ya two over there sometime!''

[snickerdoodlles]

Kim is my favorite character but Chay is the most special™️ boy in the universe :p that’s why I keep thinking of an AU where everything is mostly the same except that like in the Sandman there are anthropomorphic personifications of the fundamental concepts of the World (they are: Dream, Death, Destiny, Desire, Delirium, Despair and Destruction) and Chay is casually besties with Death, most people don’t know they even exist and the Mafia fam knows that there’s some kind of magic in the world but nothing more than that.

This comes out when they’re “casually” talking about some horrible thing that Korn did and Chay just looks at Kim and asks “if there was a way for him to die and have nobody be responsible for it, would you want him dead?” And he’s like “yeah, obviously” and Chay is like “okay! :D” and like two days later Korn just dies out of nowhere and nobody can prove it but everyone knows that Chay had something to do with it so Kim just asks and Chay just tells him he asked a friend to do him a favor and Kim is like “???” until Chay is like “yeah, that friend is literally the anthropomorphic personification of the concept of Death :D” everyone else is for some reason also there.

Chay doesn’t tell anyone this bc they would lose their shit if they knew but they met Death when they died accidentally when he was like 4 and when Death came to collect him, they just told her very politely that he couldn’t go with her bc that would made Porsche sad, she found him adorable and let him stay alive! They have been friends ever since.

Tankhun kind of knew that the personifications existed but never told anyone, he met Despair & Delirium when he was kidnapped :) to be fair he thought he was hallucinating.

I practically just told you my favorite daydream about those two 😂 tbf I thought you would find it interesting

-⏳💤💜

anon

anon I am kissing you on the forehead, this is DELIGHTFUL

Chay!!! as besties with Death!!!! Death a common friend to all but the deepest connection with CHAY. I love your day dream, I had in fact immediately pictured Korn's bloody ruthlessness being in part an effort to court Death for his own nefarious purposes, and Chay's like "oh? do you want to meet her then?" and Death arrives and gently tells Korn he's always had her attention, he never had to try to catch it, and Korn feels very smug about this until she holds out her hand and Korn realizes he's just dead and she means she knows everyone who passes through her lands eventually, he's not special.

(I hope!!! You do not mind me playing with your day dream! Yours is a beautiful idea, I hope I added and didn't impose 😂🙏)

but oh mannn, I'm right there with you in that Kim is my favorite but Chay is my most specialest boyTM, and I have a silly day dream for them too actually! I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire? it's a novella series centered around the concept of portal fantasy worlds, with a bunch of children who had gone to different alternate worlds and are now back on earth, trying to make a life after and several waiting/hoping to return to their worlds. I had actually first had a weird mashup of that series and bad buddy, but then kp came out and I fell down that rabbit hole and my brain shifted the day dream to accommodate Chay going to a different world where he'd gotten literal wings before he was returned to earth (reason typically being for Porsche). and something-somrthing happens, the exact reasons for this next bit change, but somehow he and the other boys are in danger, Chay's door opens again for him, and he drags all thr boys with him for safety and they all learn our boy is MagicTM. Kim is 😍 x100 obvs, he doesn't really care about the specifics he just cares about Chay lol. Porsche's reactions vary but usually around I THOUGHT THIS WAS JUST A GAME WE PLAYED AS KIDS, and Kinn and Khun are just. Baffled. Mind blown. What the fuck is happening, this is very cool but still WHAT?!

[topnotchquark]

No way your thesis is not now kitten daddy is a shell of his former self

Except it literally is lol.

I've expounded on it a bit earlier too. But life was. Not. Kind. To Vale post his final title.

See the nature of power is that it is a potent drug and even the ones most deft at handling it definitely take psychic damage. When you're someone like Vale who was given a free reign since young adulthood to do whatever you want, you get used to it. He basically got Jeremy Burgess as his mechanic on a whim, and even though Yamaha had their strict Japanese ethos he was able to drive design decisions (colors, gimmicks, cartoons, the works) as he wanted. He was allowed these things because he won.

When he came to Yamaha from Honda, he managed to turn a midfield team around to deliver instant wins. He was able to shut everyone up who thought his wins with Honda were due to the bike.

I guess that's what he wanted when he made the switch to Ducati. A continuation of the magic. Flip a backmarker around, deliver even more on top of the existing 9 championships. Solidify in the minds of the people that Valentino Rossi is the sport and he will win irrespective of circumstances and competition.

Anyway none of that happened. And listen, there are healthy ways to process something like this but whatever that healthy thing is, is not embedded in the mind of a man doing 300kmph on a death machine while also entertaining crowds. (Btw if we compare to similar motorsports champions, Schumi quit after losing in 2005 and 2006 because who wants to have that after basically conquering the world. Lewis' 2021 loss was something that clearly affected him and he's doing what he can to reclaim some of that lost pride and power)

So eventually what we're left with is a man who after 9 championships has to contend with the fact that new and aggressive opponents exist that he can't win out against as easily. And that he's older, and that the world's eyes are on him as usual and now he doesn't have the form and power to dictate how people see him.

Now imagine amidst all this shit show, comes the most gifted rider of generations. Who makes heart eyes at you while you have to contemplate your own mortality. I'd chew at the bars of my own enclosure too.

[mobius-m-mobius]

Hello there!

I have to ask cause it's everywhere and apparently my husband and I didn't see it!

Aziraphale & Crowley were obvious to us as a couple but we didn't see this with Loki & Mobius (please people don't be mad 🙃). I saw a great love and a bond that will last forever but not the way we witnessed in Good Omens. To me it was more of a family thing. Like Mobius has two sons. Could be the representation of Thor and Loki. I don't know. I was so surprised when I saw all this on Tumblr. I want to rewatch the show now to see if I really missed all the signs.

Hi there! 😊 Thank you for the ask and please don't worry for wondering, part of the joy in a watching experience is being able to see something in a completely new light. I hope you've come to the right place as Lokius and Aziraphale/Crowley are the only romantic pairings that have stood out to me in ages but now for fairly different reasons so I'll do my best to explain why in my own personal view Lokius is a slow burn for the ages above and beyond all other love stories to me and I'd absolutely recommend rewatching Loki, especially season 2, with the mindset that the tropes of every good romance are present in *every* interaction Loki and Mobius have.

(adding a read more here as I feel this is about to get almost horrifically long if you'd like to know even some of the signs lol)

Right from the start we see Mobius recounting being a fan of Loki's most mischievous acts on the timeline, pushing the question of just why he's focused on ruling and nothing else, really getting under his skin in a way no one ever has before?? And in that there's something even better and deeper than love at first sight; intrigue. Loki's furious at being held by the TVA but can't help being drawn back to what an enigma Mobius is to brush off his insults and offer salvation in the face of knowing every good or bad thing Loki's ever done and believing in him anyway.

Cue the tentative partnership and rapport they both get far too comfortable in which you see when Mobius indulges in letting Loki ruin the mission at the renaissance fair and later tries to backtrack in reassuring Ravonna he's got things under control, then again when Loki realizes Mobius has been reading him too well and defaults to leaning in to "fix" his perfectly tied tie, a callback to when Mobius pointed out Loki has a tendency to try and seduce people in more powerful positions who could help him. You actually see Mobius lean in for a moment before realizing himself and pulling back, but contrary to everyone else Loki's tried this with he doesn't give in or get angry, he laughs and once again points out what Loki's up to, trying to find a way to get to the Timekeepers.

That entire sequence is the tipping point for me when they officially enter romantic territory, as Loki's visibly thrown and surprised by the way Mobius reacts and scrambles after him, finally taking things seriously enough to do real work and is rewarded not only with trust he's never been given so freely before but a now mutual fascination you see during their conversation in the cafeteria (a highlight of the series for me ) when Loki can't help but try and learn more about the person who knows him so well already by asking genuinely about Mobius and his jet ski magazine. Blew me away because any previous version of Loki would've never taken the time or interest in something so ridiculous (in his eyes), but this Loki shyly takes in the way Mobius beams and opens up, because how could you not fall a little when such a simple pleasure makes someone happy?

Then when they research Roxxcart they flirt again, Mobius praising Loki and teasing he might take his job before what we refer to as the Roxxcart grocery store divorce and for good reason 😂 When Loki's captured back to the TVA, Mobius isn't just hurt, he's clearly jealous and *extremely* so because he thought *they* had been building something only to now think Loki played him all along and during Loki's next interrogation Mobius loses his temper in a way he never has before, making scathing comments about Loki stabbing him in the back and siding with his "girlfriend" which should kind of speak for itself there 😅 Then their mutual assurance of trust before Mobius is pruned and the hug in the void being initiated by Loki is huge as well when this is the first time he's shared EVER that with someone and you see the crushing despair when Mobius later no longer remembers.

Getting into s2, it's easier for me to sum up with the base of their s1 relationship laid out since there's no need to get into as much detail when the entire thing is pure romance start to finish.

Loki and Mobius frantically desperate to find each other when in reality they had been separated for maybe an hour? Mobius ignoring all other issues at hand and his superiors to gently hold Loki by the waist and pull him close, constantly grounding by touching his back, arms, anywhere to provide extra comfort and Loki giving him that control, Mobius spending the entire season actively trying to enjoy being on the field without limits for a change and organizing dates between the two of them all season when his focus used to primarily be on the work. He repeatedly asks Loki to go for a drink, suggests visiting the theatre, going on a hot air balloon ride, etc, while Loki stops to indulge in popcorn and pies just because small joys are important to Mobius. When Loki visits Mobius' original timeline self they spend the ENTIRE ep flirting with each other, and honestly Don having two kids is just as it seems since there were no official indications otherwise; he may share genes with Mobius but is a different person with a different life. Don can't stop bringing up how single he is, teases Loki about following him home, which Loki absolutely did but only after fixing his hair and coat to try and look as good as possible before seeing him (because again, he looks like Mobius) and getting so flustered stammering over his words he may as well have been in a 90s Hugh Grant rom com 😂😂

Don't even get me started on the finale, which has every character except Loki and Mobius basically living their ideal life while the two of them are clearly left unfulfilled and wanting, missing each other to the point Mobius leaves the TVA (which exists out of time) for a timeline that Loki can see as a tear rolls down Loki's face in the final scene because of it.

Do I think that had their characters been tied to anyone but the Disney/Marvel corporations they, like Aziraphale and Crowley, would've shared a kiss as well? Absolutely yes, but that isn't a necessity for me personally and in all honesty despite Aziraphale and Crowley having kissed I actually felt season 2 of Good Omens was a massive backtrack for their relationship compared to the quality of time they spent together in season 1 which I much preferred. Again, that's personal preference and everyone sees and interprets elements of romance differently which is completely fine and I hope this wild ramble at least gave some perspective on how I and many others view Lokius 😂💖 Happy watching, no matter how you end up viewing them, and thank you again for the ask!

[mirmidones]

3.40 i woke up bc i was cold and needed to pee and now i can't fall back asleep i keep thinking of the people i accidentally ghosted. is it ghosted if there was no intent to ghost? i feel so bad and it's not even like i don't think about them i often do think "i should really reply to them... once this is over ill properly sit down and write them... " and then i don't bc something else happens and im dealing with that and the longer i leave it unanswered the more difficult it becomes because i feel so guilty and therefore want to do things properly not half assed but bc i feel so guilty a part of me also tends to avoid it even more. if i do this to you just know i'm really sorry and ill get back to you i swear

[chronicparagon]

[ *screams in science*]

[helenofblackthorns]

AWW THANK YOU RINA 🫶🫶🫶

[bedlamsbard]

btw, what are your thoughts on WandaVision? I really liked the concept and the execution of the first half but was a bit disappointed by the decision to have a Big Enemy To Fight instead of being entirely about Wanda's duality and internal conflict.

I don't mind the show having an enemy to fight, though I think WV might have complicated it a bit too much by having too many antagonists that turned up in the last couple of eps, particularly because none of them have since shown up in the MCU and explained what they were doing there in the first place. That last is really a Phase 4/5 problem, though, not a WV-specific one. (When I did my rewatch a few months ago, I also said that WV really should have had a cameo from either Ross or another Avenger -- it needed a tie to something else that was relevant to Wanda.)

I like WV a lot -- it's very rewatchable for me, and I like how playful and experimental it is. I think it's also pretty good at actually dealing with the post-Blip chaos when it acknowledges it, and a lot of the character dynamics are excellent. On rewatch I can pick out some nitpicks with it -- for example, they never acknowledge that Pietro also got Infinity Stone-kickstarted powers, despite Fake Pietro and Tommy both having superspeed in the show. And "Agatha All Along" is a bop, but like...what did Agatha actually do aside from insinuating herself into Wanda's life and enchanting Ralph Bohner.

From a two and a half years later perspective, WV's biggest problem is what I think of the as the "CATWS Problem" -- although it's individually excellent and does pretty well at building off preceding installments of the MCU, it's essentially ignored by the later installments, even the ones that depend on it (a.k.a. DSMOM; we'll see how The Marvels does with Monica, I guess). Through no fault of its own, it becomes retroactively worse just because of how it's incorporated, or not incorporated, into the rest of the MCU.

Fun fact: my department at the university was consulted for the Latin that's in Agatha's flashback scene, since the movie was filmed in Atlanta, and Jac Schaeffer's assistant e-mailed the nearest classics department to make the Latin be Not Google Translate. I've seen the request letter with the original Google Translate version, it's pretty bad. The Latin in the show is accurate now! A friend of mine did the Latin translation and Marvel Studios sent her some WV merch when the episode aired, though I don't think she's credited in the ep.

Other fun fact: the first time I watched WV I hadn't seen anything Wanda or Vision had been in, because the only three Marvel movies I'd seen since CATWS in 2014 had been Ant-Man and the Wasp, Thor Ragnarok, and Captain Marvel. So WV was actually my introduction to Wanda and Vision.