#that one post about not being able to draw anything romantic outside of characters standing next to each other

[nyupuun]

:beach:

[morteamore]

Cutting Room Floor 11/13/2022

I write a lot. All the time. If not fanfic, then original stuff. I have a dozen story ideas at any given moment and I’m not always dedicated enough to follow through with them. Sometimes they’re only interesting for a hot minute.

I think I might just start posting random excerpts of stuff that will probably never go anywhere. Maybe once a week or so, make this my writing platform if I remember. 

This one was a cryptid story. Not really anything romantic, though relationships were a part of the overall plot and do help start some of the central conflict. It was more likely to go down the horror pipeline and get good and gory. Didn’t end up liking the chapters I did write, though. I think I changed the character names a dozen times. They still seem like placeholders to me.

CW: relationship drama/conflict

======================

Standing outside the door of the modular home in the mid-morning sun, Nate felt a wave of nausea roll through him. He reached for the door handle, jiggling it, drawing away as if burned when he realized it was locked. Then he turned himself around and walked quickly back down the porch steps. The scruffy, brown patch of sod that served as a lawn crunched under his booted feet. He kicked at a mound of dirt someone had randomly dumped there and rubbed nervously at his shoulder, sighing.

In all his twenty-three years, Nathaniel Thibault, Nate for short, had never been good with goodbyes. 

As he stood looking out at the sprawl of the moudlar community, he weighed his options. Brad, his boyfriend of the last three years, was leaving the small town of Trois and heading to the United States in just a week. Los Angeles, California, to be more specific. Nate would not be joining him. In fact, Nate, born and raised in Trois, had never been far outside his Canadian hometown, and didn’t have much desire to travel. He was comfortable here among the dense trees and the encroaching presence of underbrush. He didn’t need big city living, unless he was DJ’ing a gig, with all the skyscrapers, congestion and pollution they had. He was much happier among the natural world. Which, considering his heritage, wasn’t that surprising.

Still, he knew that wasn’t the life for Brad, that Brad longed for culture and opportunities much richer than Trois could give him. And he respected that. They had discussed their future desires at great length, on cold mornings while tucked in bed under thick duvets. Almost always Brad got that far away look in his eyes when he talked about seeing the states, or Europe. And Nate knew he couldn’t compete. In the deepest chambers of his heart, he knew that he would lose Brad some day to wanderlust.

And now that day had come.

When Nate turned back to the trailer, intent on giving the door a second try, it was cracked open. Standing in the doorway in just a pair of jeans and a tank top was Brad. His tall frame almost brushed the top of the door jamb. Upon seeing Nate, he opened the door wider.

“Thought I heard someone out here,” he said, then canted his head, much like the creature whose blood ran through his veins. “Come on in. I have a fresh pot of coffee brewing.”

The nausea tossed in Nate’s stomach like the sea. He nodded anyway and climbed the stairs, not being able to stop himself from giving Brad a sniff as he passed him. The other man smelled like the wilderness. Fresh pine and musky fur and earth. It was comforting, at least to Nate. He moved into the kitchen and took a seat on a stool at the breakfast bar. Brad closed the door and retrieved two mugs from an overhead cabinet. One said I 🍁 Canada on it. The other had an image of a labrador retriever hunting water fowl.

  “You’re here earlier than I expected,” Brad said, pouring the coffee up to the rim of the Canada mug. Nate liked his coffee black, and Brad knew it. For his own cup, Brad left room for an ample amount of cream and sugar. “We were supposed to meet for lunch, not breakfast.”

“I know,” Nate said, drawing his mug close. “I couldn’t wait that long.”

“That eager to discuss our soon-to-be long distance status?”

As he sipped his coffee, Nate winced, and not just because of the bitter contents of the mug.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about, actually.” With a slump of his shoulders Nate set his mug down. “I’m not sure that it’s going to work out, this long distance thing.”

Brad, who’d been moving to sit down opposite his boyfriend, stopped in his tracks. Carefully, he set his mug down on the breakfast bar and placed his hands on its ledge.“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, you’ll be in LA and I’ll be stuck here, and I’m sure after a while that’s going to get old. You’re going to meet other people and want to date them.”

“No way.” Adamant, Brad leaned in closer to Nate. “I would never do that to you, unless we both agreed to it. I care about you more than anything. How can you sit there and say that so casually?”

“I can say it because it’s the truth. You know it. I know it. The only one willing to face it here is me, though.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?”

For a long time, Brad stared at Nate. Nate could feel his gorge rising, that feeling of sickness creeping up even higher in his throat. He turned his head and eyed the bathroom door hanging ajar, debating if he could keep himself from getting sick.

“I am,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice steady. “I’ve thought it over a lot these past weeks. I don’t want to hold you back.”

“You’re not holding me back. Hell, I’m just going there to test the waters for a month or so, see if it’s my scene or not. I plan to come back either way.”

“But what if you end up liking it? What if you decide to move there? I don’t want to live in LA. I don’t even want to live outside Trois.”

Heaving a sigh, Brad let go of the ledge and put his face in his hands, scrubbing at it. “Of course I know that. And I know that trying to convince you otherwise is just plain crazy. But I was hoping….” He trailed off, letting his arms flop back down to his sides. “You’re so damn stubborn sometimes.”

“Probably why I’m the last of a dying clan. I’m surviving out of pure spite and stubborness.”

“So, we’re really doing this? We’re really breaking up now?”

Drinking deeply from his mug, Nate looked down at the counter top, contemplating its cracking surface. He felt a familiar pressure in his jaws and recognized that his emotions were starting to get the better of him. He tamped down a growl, his head bobbing.

“I just feel one of us will end up getting hurt worse if we don’t,” he said.

“Or you’re afraid of change.” With a scoff, Brad turned his back on Nate. “Since we’re not mincing words here, let’s call this like it is.”

“That’s not fair. I’m just trying to see a future where we settle down together and are happy that way. And I can’t see it with the way things are right now. You’re always going to have your restlessness, and I’m always going to have ties to Trois that can’t be broken.”

“And you’re just starting to see this now, after three years with me? How long have you been keeping these thoughts to yourself?”

“Calm down. They’re only recent. Only since you started getting recognition and were thinking about pulling up roots.”

“See, that’s the problem,” Brad pointed out, turning back around. He walked into the conjoined living room, flopping down in his favorite armchair. “You always talk about having all these roots, all these connections. To Trois, of all places. You haven’t even seen the rest of the world. You don’t know if this is the right path you’re walking. It’s not like you have to live like our ancestors did, tied to the place they were born.”

“Maybe you don’t,” Nate said, sounding wary. “You have an entire pack of siblings. They’re all capable of handling the family legacies. I don’t have that luxury.”

Brad rubbed at the stubble on his face. From his perch, Nate watched him, his memories taking him back to the times he had run his fingers over that rough and bumpy surface, the electric pulse of stimulation beneath his fingertips

“Well, even if you didn’t live here, the lands would still be in your name. Moving away doesn’t change that. Maybe it’s harder to maintain that way, but it’s not like they’ll go anywhere.”

“How long have we’ve been together, and you still don’t know what it’s like to be a Thibault?”

“I know damn well what it’s like. Just as you know what it means to be a Forestier. But isn’t it time we broke tradition and went on our own ways? What do we have to gain from sticking around here? It’s not like we’ll be passing our bloodline down. The loup-garou don’t even really approve of our relationship. They just tolerate it.”

“Tradition is all I have left. And so what if they don’t? It’s not like they can officially do anything about it.”

“And what about if we wanted to get married? They’d never sanction it. We’d be outcasts at best.”

“Do we really need marriage?”

Brad went quiet. He looked down at the carpet. When he lifted his gaze again to look at Nate, his expression was emotionless.

“I think the question is: do you really care about me that little?”

Sighing, Nate had to break eye contact. He hadn’t meant to hurt Brad, but his mouth had run off with his deepest thoughts before he could stop it. Maybe that was for the best. He hadn’t had to dance around the truth until Brad drew it out of him, as he always seemed to do eventually. It hadn’t cleared the air. Far from it. But it had moved the painful task of breaking it off with Brad closer, and the sooner Nate was done with that, the sooner he could go home and crawl into his bed, dwelling on what could have been for the next week.

“You should probably leave,” Brad told him, his voice tight. His words took on a slight growl. “Having you here right now is just not a good idea.”

“I’m sorry. This isn’t the way I wanted things to go.”

“Well, it’s the way they went. Please. Just go.”

Shifting off the stool, Nate managed to make it to the modular home’s front door and open it without being tempted to look back. Then he was walking down the porch steps towards his motorcycle. A shiver coursed through him. He paused to tilt his head toward the sky, where the sun was making its slow journey towards its apex. Closing his eyes, he let its rays grace his skin, warming him on the chilly Autumn morning. It was impossible to tell how long he stayed like that, the warmth radiating in the follicles of his hair and the skin at the back of his neck. Eventually, he slid on to the driver’s saddle, sighing as he started up the engine.

  As he drove away, he thought he saw the curtain in Brad’s window shift, but he couldn’t be certain. 

[kaidenya]

Yandere Types ✧ MHA

Description: A breakdown of the types of yandere I think the MHA characters would be like. I will be using the Yandere Chart that I created in order assign each characters type and danger level. Part One :: Hanta Sero, Shoto Todoroki, & Tamaki Amajiki,

WARNING: yandere content, toxic relationships, v light smut NOTE: kidnapping, non-con, violence, in order of danger level, not proof-read, a shit post really

“If I can’t have you, no one can...”

HANTA SERO — 16

Motive :: Isolating (3)

Behavior :: Possessive (6)

Executions :: Wrong Idea Type (2) | Monopoly Type (5) 

Hanta Sero is extremely charismatic and many find it very easy to relax around him. Most people wouldn’t think the ability to fit in with any crowd was a disadvantage, but it had left Hanta with a shaking fear that he couldn't stand out among his peers. That was the last thing an aspiring pro-hero needed while trying to climb to the top. It’s because of this lack of control in his social life that his yandere motive would be isolating you. He would wish to keep you away from all things that could potentially draw your attention away. 

It wouldn’t take much to catch Sero’s interest. He’s a wrong idea type which means the shortest interaction can spark his interest- whether it's lending him a pen in a moment of need or smiling at him in passing. He would very much like to keep you safe, more so if you’ve been open to his advances. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he offered you substances such as cannabis or alcohol to speed up the process of you growing comfortable in his presence. He would get physical faster than most as he is naturally a touchy person, most likely going down on you multiple times before attempting to get pleasure from you. Hanta is very intelligent, it would be relatively easy for him to earn your favor, and making sure you are constantly satisfied would be a major factor. Besides, he has a wicked mouth that would murmur sweet nothings as he sucked and licked at your arousal making it nearly impossible for you to think about anything else.

You would not doubt that Hanta had your best interest in mind. Even when he would express his concerns about the intentions of others. He would appeal to your logic and be sure you knew how much you meant to him— how he couldn’t lose you. Of course, he was always right about the ones you decided to keep around despite his warnings. Whether they made you uncomfortable, turned their backs on you, or vanished completely- you always lost contact with them. By the time you've started to run low on outside connections, you wouldn't mind pushing people away. Hanta Sero would be your constant. Besides, his peace of mind meant more to you than certain relationships and you were sure he'd do the same for you.

SHOTO TODOROKI — 17

Motive :: Submissive (1)

Behavior :: Overprotective (5)

Executions :: Obsession Type (3) | Self-Sacrifice Type (8)

Shoto Todoroki is motivated by his family trauma. There is no doubt that he is touch-starved and desperate for affection, beneath his hard protective exterior, of course. He looks at life through a calm and calculating gaze. On the off chance that he came in contact with someone who caught his interest, he would keep his distance, which is for the best considering his social cues are severely lacking. He would most likely be the one to watch you for the longest before making a move. Shoto would be sure to look out for you without making it on your radar. There would be times he would even go as far as to turn away your potential suitor or lead you away from an upperclassman prank. His infatuation would only grow with time, but there would be a breaking moment where his yandere behavior worsens. It would be a particularly heartfelt moment between you, whether it's sharing a traumatic moment or assisting with an injury, that would push him past the point of no return. He would be obsessed. 

Todoroki's overprotective nature would take an aggressive turn when he would catch others interacting with you. It didn't matter if they had glanced your way for a beat too long or went as far as to seek out your attention. By the time he began courting you, rather than just watching from afar, you would begin noticing the changes in his behavior. Specifically when others were around. There would be a point when he told you not to interact with certain classmates. His social understandings would be his downfall as he wouldn’t note your negative reaction. Not until you stand up to him. After that, you could expect plenty of gifts and apologies. He would so clearly feel guilty and stop at nothing to make sure you knew that, to the extent that you almost feel wrong for being so upset. He was just worried that he would lose you.

The turn in your relationship would be when you grew intimate. Oddly enough you would have to be the one to take this next step in your relationship. However, once he's given free rein to touch you, he won't stop. Shoto isn’t the type to plan for one romantic relationship, let alone anything after his first love, so the moment he slid his cock into your tight, wet concave he would own you. 

TAMAKI AMAJIKI — 24

Motive :: Isolating (4)

Behavior :: Obsessive (3)

Executions :: Stalker Type (6) | Worship Type (10)

Tamaki Amajiki is rarely sure of himself or his actions despite his undeniable intelligence and talent. He had taken to hiding in the shadow of his peers, though that was difficult with best friends who pushed him into the spotlight. Being a member of the Big Three only drew the attention of more. It was safe to say that his anxious personality could be a setback. However, it also made him very observant. Through that observance, he can decypher environments and body language much faster than most. He liked to stand back and watch- to feel the tension around him. That tension would be suffocating when he officially met you. It could be a number of instances. After Nejire had knocked his books from his hands in a fit of excitement, arms swinging and sending the stack right to your feet. Or perhaps Mirio would be bursting into laughter, cheerfully slapping his arm and sending him tumbling into your around a sharp turn. Either way, he would be a stuttering mess. If you met his apologies with soft smiles or reassurance it would surely set his gears turning. 

It would be his lack of confidence that encouraged his yandere-like behavior, specifically stalking. Within a week he would be able to put together your schedule and your locker location. How he hadn’t noticed you before would remain a mystery as he would begin seeing you everywhere. Some days he would fall into step with you, keeping a safe distance as he marveled at your routine behavior. As time went on he would feel more confident in closing that distance. It would remain that way for a few months until something pushed his interest into a fixation. Every good quality that you possessed would become far more impressive to him and spur him to get closer— to learn more. He would begin breaking into your personal items be that your locker or bedroom, it didn't matter as long as he got closer to you. It wouldn't be surprising if Mirio and Neijire had started to notice the way his gaze would linger. They would take it upon themselves to reach out to you without realizing the severity of the situation. 

The tipping point for his yandere behavior would a moment of absolute panic. You would have already grown close, fully integrated with the Big Three, when you would begin spending time with another student. Tamaki would be able to contain his jealousy when it came to his friends, but someone outside of that close-knit group? He would see them as a direct threat and he would deal with it accordingly. In the beginning, he would explain how he feels comfortable with you, making sure you knew how different you compared to others. That would most likely lead to the two of you spending more time alone. If that didn't keep the threat at bay then he would waste no more time, prompting threatening or attacking them. In the long run, the only thing that would ruin his hold over you would be pushing too many people away and getting caught, but he would deal with that the best way he knew how.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Best of 2020

Better late, than never. I enjoy seeing other people’s top-10 lists and I said I’d do one for 2020, so here we go. I haven’t had the chance to watch EVERYTHING I wanted to, but you’ve got to pull the trigger at some point. When the Academy Awards took place on Sunday, I felt like I hadn’t seen ANYTHING nominated but I could remember dozens of times where I felt like I wasted my precious minutes with cinematic detritus. I assumed putting this list together would be easy. It wasn’t. I’ve got a lot of runner ups but for now, here are my Top 10 “Best” (by which I kind of mean my favorite) movies of 2020:

10. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Never Rarely Sometimes Always gave me a lot to think about. On the surface, it's about a teenager who has to travel outside of her hometown to get an abortion, but it could've been any kind of procedure she's uncomfortable (or unable) asking her parents for. It's about the lengths she has to go to when her main source of support is cut off. You feel uneasy throughout, wondering what lengths the girls will have to resort through and whether something horrible is just around the corner. For this reason, I think many parents would find the film enriching.

9. Mank

I haven’t posted my review of Mank yet - just haven't had the time so consider my star rating for it "spoiled". If you don't know, it's about Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) and the time he wrote Citizen Kane for Orson Welles. I can’t call Citizen Kane one of my favorite films, but I do often think of it. The story, the characters, specific shots, the overall look, etc. Every time I revisit it in my memory, my appreciation for it grows and in a way, Mank helps complete my relationship with the film. For that reason, I foresee myself revisiting Mank in the future - probably as part of a double-bill. I’d love to see it enough times to memorize some of Gary Oldman’s best lines.

8. One Night in Miami

One Night in Miami addresses the present while being set in the past but something about it clicked with me more than Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. It's essentially a series of long conversations, the kinds that force you to really examine tough questions and see these legendary figures as normal people. Unlike Mank, it isn't so much the individual lines that stand out, it's more the vibes you get from the exchanges. Out of all the movies on this list, it's probably got the best ensemble cast.

7. Sound of Metal

I'm sure you've seen that clip from Un Chien Andalou where an eye gets sliced with a razor? It gives me the willies just thinking about it because if I were blind I wouldn't be able to watch movies or draw. In Sound of Metal, we're dealing with a career cut short because of deafness but the dots are easy to connect.  I immediately connected with this movie, which made its ending feel like a punch in the gut.

6. Tenet

I keep telling myself that I won’t love a movie Christopher Nolan directs just because his name is attached to it. Hopefully, this doesn't make me a fanboy, despite my falling for pretty much everything he's released. I love how ambitious Tenet is. The plot is so complicated but then again it isn't because once you're able to grok the mechanics of its reverse-entropy technology, you'll probably figure out most of the plot's mysteries. For me, that was the fun part. It felt good to see my understanding of the story and theories confirmed. I'll be watching it again once groups can gather so my friends and I can discuss everything in detail.

5. Trial of the Chicago Seven

I know The Trial of the Chicago Seven fudges history in ways certain people would say is irredeemable but I never go into a film “based on true events” assuming liberties won’t be taken. At the end of the day, I care about being entertained. My enjoyment was also amplified by the fact that I didn't know what the verdicts would be - my American history is spotty, at best. It's got laughs, outrage, drama, and inspirational moments. Aside from romance, you've got pretty much all the bases covered.

4. Palm Springs

Out of all the pleasant surprises of 2020, Palm Springs was the biggest. I thought the Groundhog Day thing was played out and the 0-star-worthy Love Wedding Repeat did nothing to convince me otherwise. Then, this movie comes along and does everything you want in one of those movies, and then some. Not only did Palm Springs give me the romantic comedy I'd been craving for (feels like we haven't gotten a good one since "Crazy Rich Asians" it also examines what love and relationships mean through smartly written metaphors.

3. Possessor

No, I didn’t put this movie on the list just because it’s Canadian; Possessor is on this list because it’s the most unsettling movie of 2020. I mean that in a good way. I've already talked about how unsettling the premise is but it's also the execution. Those bizarre “dream” scenes with the different identities merging in unnatural ways is unforgettable. That mask of Tasya's face, half-melted is already creepy enough, when worn by Christopher Abbott as he re-enacts her memories is just so weird it makes you wonder if you’re actually seeing what you’re seeing, or if you’re going mad. Then, there's that shot with the fingers at the end! Makes me wince just thinking about it.

2. Soul

During the Oscars, I get a little mad at Pixar. They effortlessly churn out these masterpieces that mean no other studio has a chance of winning an Academy Award for the Best Animated Film category. It makes me wonder if the voters even bother to watch the competition but I don't think anyone could argue against Soul. It's among their best films. It’s gorgeous, profound, and modern without showcasing any issues that might flush your day down the toilet.

Runner-Ups:

Enola Holmes

I never believed Enola Holmes would end up on my "Best of the Year" list but this movie is a lot of fun. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. Just wanted to remind you.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) I was disappointed when audiences didn’t seem interested in Birds of Prey. Seeing Margot Robbie go all-out and given a script that actually makes good use of her character was lots of fun. I also found it refreshing to see a superhero movie (not really, but kind of) that didn’t involve a plot to destroy the world, upheaval all of civilization, or shoot a giant beam into the sky. I think this is one people will discover down the line and go “why didn’t I go see this in theaters when it was playing?”

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm I’m not 100% in love with Borat 2 but boy am I looking forward to showing it to people who have no idea what’s coming. That scene with Rudy Guliani might not have the same impact down the line as it did when I first saw this sequel, but that’s ok. It’ll still have you picking your jaw off the floor.

Nomadland It’s a great movie and I might’ve put it on my list of the best… but I just don’t see myself watching this one again anytime soon. Great movie though. It deserves every accolade you see directed towards it. Chloé Zhao is shaping up to be a major talent. While before I might’ve said “Eternals who?” Now, I’m excited.

The Vast of Night Until I saw Possessor, this was my favorite horror film of 2020. I love the way this movie does so much without showing anything. It’s all about letting your imagination do the work.

Hamilton I’m still unsure how I feel about the casting in Hamilton. Everyone does a terrific job. I understand why actors of color were chosen to portray the historical figures we meet during this story. It still doesn't sit 100% comfortable with me. Then again, who can argue with those results? I’ve seen the movie twice and the songs are still playing in my head.

1. Promising Young Woman

I only had so much before this post went up. Enough for one more movie. It was a tossup between The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, and Promising Young Woman. As you can imagine, I’m pretty satisfied with the choice I made. Writer/director Emerald Fennell takes the rape-revenge genre and reshapes it into something that feels completely new. Like many of the other films on this list, it also feels relevant to what’s going on today. There are many reasons why I could’ve given it this slot. The writing, the performances, the way it puts your stomach in knots as you wonder what’s going to happen next, the pitch-perfect ending… but I’m going to pick a more personal reason. I try to look at films as snapshots of when they were made. There’s a part of me that winces when I look at Gone with the Wind but I’m also able to take a step back and say “but other than that…” and then just enjoy the movie. In Promising Young Woman, the past is confronted in a way that made me pause and think about two movies on my shelf: Wedding Crashers and American Pie. The Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy, in particular, has a lot of questionable bits of comedy, bits made even more eyebrow-raising by the fact that it isn't an "old" movie whose entire cast is now dead. Let’s just say that when a movie makes me go “This movie is replacing X”, makes me think this hard about things, and does everything else you want in a thriller… it’ll stick in your head for a long time. That's why I'm calling it the best/my favorite movie of the year.

[illfoandillfie]

ok sorry but how many people do yall think rog has ever slept with cos i’m guessing four figures no lie

okay, i don’t normally respond to messages like this because, frankly, i dont really feel like its my place to speculate on roger’s sex life. Theres a difference between writing a fiction story with a character named after and inspired by him and discussing his actual personal life which i have no real knowledge about. What he gets up to in his free time is between him and the women he does it with. but i didn’t really feel able to ignore this one. please don’t take this as me telling you off or shutting you down or anything like that. If you want to speculate about roger’s body count thats up to you, go nuts with it. and i love when you guys message me and I don’t want to discourage you from feeling like you can talk to me or just send me your random thoughts or whatever about any subject. But I feel like I need to address why I disagree with this sentiment. Also so I can ask ya’ll to please stop asking me questions like this. 

So firstly, just to get this out of the way. 1000 is a lot. even 100 is a lot. I think if rog had slept with 1000+ people he’d have a least a few illegitimate kids and probably would have been checked into rehab for sex addiction (not to mention STIs and such because lbr people in the 70s specifically probs werent the most careful especially if drugs were involved). I mean even if we were going to say Rog got lucky with a different woman after every show we wouldn’t reach 1000. According to google, Queen played around 700 shows in their entire career. If we add shows played by The Cross thats only another 67 odd shows (according to wikipedia). 

now, i think there are 3 things that contribute to this idea of roger as especially promiscuous. 1. His attitude/demeanour/general way he sells himself. 2. the generally held conceptions about rock stars and rock star behaviour. and 3. what i’m going to call fandom dumbassery (but i mean that with a lot of love) 

So lets start with the man himself. Roger Taylor is loud and opinionated and not particularly humble. He knows he’s talented and attractive though for at least some time he was a little self-conscious about how feminine he looked. He’s always up for a laugh, likes to party and has admitted to enjoying his drink and his women. He’s had kids with two different women, who’s relationships “overlapped”, and is currently married to a third. At least that’s the perception we can gleam from his interviews, behind the scenes videos, and other public appearances. 

It’s easy to see how that image leads to accusations of being a womaniser and a cheater and basically a bit of a slut lmao. But here’s the thing. I think Roger, in part, markets himself that way. The thing is, if you look at his solo songs and the relationships he currently has with his kids and their mothers, and things other people have said about him/his relationships over the years, I think it’s fair to say he also has a bit of a romantic streak maybe? idk if thats the best way of describing it...he’s self confessed to not being a fan of marriage and the like but he’s not opposed to writing and singing love songs and seems to believe in ~love~ as a concept/power. He certainly cares deeply for those closest to him. Whether or not that translates to an agreement with monogamy I can’t say for certain. It’s hard to draw conclusions here because a lot of what we know of his personal life was fed to us through magazines and news paper gossip column articles and they were never looking for the truth, they were looking for scandal and sensationalism. 

For instance the whole thing with the overlapping relationships. I think most people who have read anything about roger and dom and debbie realise that it’s not as cut and dry as “he was cheating with debbie and left dom for her” even though that was the story being sold by the press at the time. The reality (or at least the version closer to reality since obviously no one outside of them and whoever they were closest with knows all the nitty gritty details) is that rog and dom had already split when they got married. it was a marriage of convenience to make sure her and the kids would be looked after financially etc even after he’d moved out. So while it looked to the public like he married one chick and 30 odd days later was spotted with another, there really wasn’t anything untoward happening.  I’m not saying he never had casual hookups or one night stands and i’m not saying he never cheated, but I do think some of it’s been exaggerated, whether by him to encourage the rock star perception or by newspaper/magazine articles.

Now, obviously, we have stories of rog, particularly in the late 60s and into the 70s, being with multiple women. There’s that bit in the Interview with a Queen “Groupie” (which is a fantastic read and i defs recommend checking it out if you havent already) where she talks about roger being a chick magnet and says that, at the time, it was pretty common to sleep about. But, she also says she didnt notice him doing it more or less than anyone else and seemed to mostly be with Jo (his girlfriend at the time). This is the same Jo that got a mention in the Queen in 3D book (”i think we all had the feeling that these two were together for life, but it was not to be”). Conversely, we have that quote (which i cannot find rn but i’ll link it when i do) about roger sometimes having one girl upstairs while another waited in the garage for them to be finished. I think it was about Rog in the mid-late 60s in Truro but whatever. Obviously he wasn’t anywhere near celibate and it’s likely was sleeping with people outside of his relationship(s). But one has to assume that as he got older those kinds of antics stopped happening, at least as frequently.

There is one potential story that I remember reading somewhere along the way about Roger cheating on Debbie while she was pregnant. But, take that with a grain of salt because I can’t find the article again and also I think it was from like The Sun or something equally as rubbish. The press was notoriously always printing mean shit about the boys and that might have been another thing they published to create scandal. Even so, if we assume it’s legit that is still only 1 story. Not to throw him under the bus but Brian is the one with multiple confirmed affairs, who literally wrote songs about it all. So why is Roger the one with sleazy reputation? 

This is where my second and third points come in. There is a pervasive idea about what it means to be a rock star. The whole trashing hotel rooms, sleeping with groupies, passing out drunk every night thing. And I’m sure that Queen was like that to an extent. I think it’s pretty common knowledge that all of them got up to shit on the road. Between innuendo laden interviews and songs, videos and accounts of their parties, stories CT has put online, and other stories like the one of Roger bringing out lines of coke as dessert when he was having dinner with motley crue. They definitely embraced the rock and roll lifestyle. And I think with Roger’s personality being what it is, it’s easy to link him to those traditional rock star tropes and say it was all true all the time. I also think Roger has done nothing to counter those beliefs. He’s been open about how he wanted to be a rock star since the minute he picked up a guitar, he’s labelled himself as a great lay in magazines, he’s joked about girls pulling their tits out over dinner in interviews (though he said he didnt take her home), he’s written songs like One Night Stand and Dirty Mind and Airheads which explicitly mention his preference for women and alcohol. I think it’s fair to say he’s kind of encouraged that view of himself. Whether it was just a side effect of being part of such a well known band and having such a boisterous demeanour/personality, or whether it was intentional as a version of promotion i don’t know. maybe a mix of them? I mean I’m sure it didn’t hurt sales and stuff. it’s the whole guys want to be him, girls want to be with him thing, right? Maybe that’s just me being cynical though lmao. 

Anyway, the fandom brain has taken all of that and compressed it into memes and jokes about rog being the band slut. Which i’m not complaining about, lord knows i’ve made the same jokes and reblogged the same posts and used those tropes in my fics. They’re funny and lend themselves to interesting fic concepts. Plus, i think roger is the sort of person who would probably laugh about most of it. But it’s an idea that keeps feeding into itself through fandom, perpetuating what is probably a misguided view of his personal life.

Again, I am sure he’s had his fair share of fun and I’m not trying to make out that he was always perfect or whatever, but I don’t think he’s been with as many women as the popular discourse would imply and I certainly don’t think he’s in the 4 digit numbers. 

[lukatheselkie]

HMC - Watermelon and Ice Cream

This is my first of THREE different posts for today! I wrote them all today, that’s why they’re so late. I’ve been waaaaay too busy these past two weeks, with PruMano and FrUk week. But now I’m back to writing without a due date! Well, mostly.

There’s a bit of information to know before going into this. I use two of my OCs, Albert and Alrik. Alrik has his own story coming in a moment, so I’ll describe him there. This one is for Albert. He’s the personification of Stockholm Syndrome (will be abbreviated as SS). This isn’t mentioned in what I wrote, but his mannerisms are directly related to what he personifies. He’s terrified of touching people with bare skin (he doesn’t want to be the cause of someone falling into SS), so it’s an honour if he does. He’s also incredibly cautious of romantic love, because he’s not certain if the person actually loves him, or is just with him because they fell under SS. He’s also very shy and INCREDIBLY soft-spoken. His accent is also stronger than Alrik’s, because he spends more time in Sweden.

*This character is not a romanticization of SS, he is a coping character.* I have been put under it. If anyone says him existing is romanticization of SS, you will be blocked. No exceptions. He is very afraid of putting anyone under it, therefore he is not making it seem like this great thing. He hates even saying what he personifies. I repeat, he is NOT romanticizing SS. And no, having a romantic relationship isn’t romanticization.

Pairings: OC x France

Warnings: Death threat from an overprotective big brother

   Alrik sighs when he hears a knock on the door. Of course someone has to visit when he’s cooking. He sets aside the vegetables he’s in the middle of cutting, and goes to answer the door. He blinks in confusion when he sees Francis standing there, an armful of red roses. He smiles flawlessly at the shorter man, and glances behind him. “Is your brother here?” Alrik scrunches up his nose slightly. It’s weird, seeing Albert accepting affection from someone besides family. But he’s glad he’s happy.

    “Berty! Francis is here to see you! I think he wants to take you out on a date!” He narrows his eyes at the Frenchman and lowers his voice. “If you hurt him, I will cut off your dick.” He brandishes the knife in his hand, glad he accidentally brought it from the kitchen. He takes satisfaction from the shudder this elicits from Francis. “And don’t think I won’t do good on that promise. Ja, it’s a promise. If you hurt him even the slightest bit, you won’t ever be able to pleasure yourself again.”

    “Rikky, stop threatening him.” Alrik spins around, giving his little brother an innocent smile.

    “I wasn’t threatening him!” Albert raises his brows skeptically.

    “Then why is he paler than usual?” Alrik shrugs, a movement that’s much more animated than it should be. Albert rolls his eyes, and lets out a quiet laugh. It’s only slightly louder than his voice. He switches gears quickly. “Du brought me flowers?” He smiles sheepishly, and Francis’ heart rate increases. His smile combined with what he’s wearing is almost too much. Not that it’s revealing or anything, he’s just not used to seeing the Sweidsh man in anything besides long sleeves, pants, gloves, and a scarf.

    “Oui, of course. Though they aren’t as beautiful as you are.” Alrik fake gags, and practically runs out of the room. Albert blushes, shaking his head.

    “I’m not-”

    “You are.” He shifts the flowers into one arm, and reaches out with his other. “Can I hold your hand?” He nods, and grabs his hand. He steps closer hesitantly, not daring to look at Francis. “Will you accompany me today? We can go anywhere you want. I just want to spend time with you.” Albert finally looks at him, thinking over the offer. In his silence, he can’t help but focus on their slight height difference. They’re too close for him not to. He’s only a few centimeters taller than Francis, maybe three, but it’s noticeable enough he fixated on it in his nervousness. He looks into his eyes, and his uncertainty melts away. There’s patience in his eyes, something he’s not used to receiving. Most prefer to rush him into an answer, which always gives him anxiety. He’s so very thankful for Francis’ understanding.

    “Ja, alright. I think I can handle that.” He gives him a tiny smile. “But I need to change first. I don’t feel comfortable around strangers in this.”

    “Of course. Wear what you have to. I want your company, not anything else. But take these. We wouldn’t want them wilting, now would we?” He holds out the bouquet of roses. Albert takes them cautiously, making sure none of the thorns poke him.

    “Tack. They’re beautiful. As are you.” He whispers the last sentence as he turns away, hoping he doesn’t hear it. He’s not very good with accepting compliments, but he’s even worse with giving them. He hurries into the kitchen for a vase, pausing when he feels Alrik’s gaze on him. “What is it, Rikky?” He looks at his older brother, who’s—rather unexpectedly—smiling at him.

    “You seem happier. I’m glad. I love seeing my little brother smile. And even if I’m not the sole cause as much as I used to be, it’s still a good thing. Maybe even a better thing, because it means you’ve found another person that makes you smile. He’s doing so much good for you. Now give me those flowers, you need to get dressed. Can’t keep your date waiting!” He grabs the flowers, and gently shoves Albert out of the room.

    “Alright then,” he mumbles, walking toward his room. He changes out of his T-shirt and capris into a dark blue long sleeved button up, black pants, and light brown knee high boots that he has to spend five minutes putting on. He hops up, grabbing his gloves and his favourite infinity scarf on his way back to Francis. He pulls the scarf over his head, looping it around his neck twice. He tugs his gloves on, and holds out his hand. “I’m ready now. Can we go to a loppis? There’s one nearby that I’ve been wanting to go to, but there’s always so many people.”

    “I’ll protect you. Stay as close to me as you wish.” Albert smiles at him, and takes his hand.

    “Du have nej idea what a loppis is.”

    “I do not. But you’re excited about it, so I’ll take you to one.” The slightly taller man giggles, squeezing his hand.

    “You’re too sweet. Okej, let’s go! I’ll direct du.” He nods, letting himself be dragged to his vehicle.

~

    It doesn’t take Francis very long to figure out a loppis is very much like his own vide grenier. Though this loppis is a permanent thing, according to Albert. Not all are. “I can see why you wanted someone to come with you, mon cher.” He watches his companion blush, then stick his bottom lip out in a pout.

    “Just because you’re speaking French doesn’t mean I don’t know what you’re saying. I looked up cute names.”

    “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I will stop calling you them.”

    “Wait.” He squeezes his hand tightly, looking away. “I didn’t say they make me uncomfortable. I don’t mind. Please don’t stop.” He bows his head, not looking at him. Francis smiles slightly, seeing the blush creeping down his neck and up his ears.

    “I won’t. I enjoy being able to call you these things.” Albert looks at him, lips parted to say something, but his words never leave his mouth. Instead, he gasps, and picks up an item from a table they’re in the process of passing. It’s a wooden bell, with flowers carved into it. They’re expertly painted, down to the detail of the stamen and anthers. “How much is it?” He asks the seller, already pulling out his wallet.

    “One hundred Kronor.” Albert’s eyes widen, and he hugs the bell tightly to his chest. He nods frantically, and reaches for his pocket. Francis grabs his hand again, shaking his head.

    “Let me get it for you.” He pulls out the appropriate bills, and hands it to the seller. “Thank you.” He nods his head curtly and walks away, Albert in tow. “Consider it a gift.” The Swedish man grins brightly at him and rings the bell happily, not caring about the strange looks he draws in. Francis’ heart aches with joy at the sight. But something bothers him. “I’m sure you’re warm in that. Is there a place we can get ice cream close by?”

    “Ja. But can we get some watermelon first? It’s in season, and I’ve not had any yet.”

    “Anything for you. Can I kiss your cheek?” Albert furrows his brows slightly, but he’s smiling. After a moment, he nods. Francis brushes his nose against his cheek, then kisses it.

    “That wasn’t part of the agreement,” he huffs out, cheeks tinted pink. “But since du just bought me this lovely bell, du are forgiven.” He rings the bell again, letting out a small giggle at the sound it makes. “I’ve never had a wooden bell. I love it. Tack!” He throws his arms around Francis and hugs him tightly. He returns it, being careful not to overstep his boundaries. When they pull away from each other, they walk back to the vehicle in a comfortable silence.

~

    “Watermelon!” Albert practically launches out of the vehicle, into the building. Francis doesn’t bother following after him; he knows he won’t be long. He plays the word over in his mind, smiling at the intensity of it. Normally, he speaks at a level just above a whisper, but he nearly spoke at a normal volume in his excitement. He’s back a few moments later, watermelon slices in hand. He leans back in his seat, and stares straight ahead. “I overdid it. I’m hot now.”

    “That’s why we’re going for ice cream.” He pulls back into the road, keeping his eyes out for the stand he saw on their way over. It’s close, but he doesn’t want Albert to have to walk outside anymore. He’s already red in the face, and not from blushing. He turns the vents toward him, hoping that helps at least a little bit. He thanks him quietly, and closes his eyes. He pulls in next to a stand, and reaches for Albert’s hand. “What kind do you want?”

    “Tehran if they have it. If not, vanilla. Tack, Francis.” He gives him a weak smile.

    “You look miserable. Let me help.” He tugs his scarf off, then his gloves. “Feel better?” A nod. “Good.” He tosses the clothing items in the back seat.

    “Tack. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of doing that.”

    “You’re overheating, that’s why. You don’t stay out this long in those clothes, do you?”

    “Nej. But I wanted to spend the day with du.” Francis scoffs.

    “That doesn’t mean you should risk heatstroke! I’ll be right back.” He opens the door and slips out, leaving the vehicle running for the air. He comes back a few minutes later, thankful to see Albert’s moving around a bit. “Thank goodness. I was worried you overdid it.”

    “I’m sorry for worrying du. I don’t normally push myself like that. I guess I just lost track of what I could handle.” He looks away. “We should go to a park to eat this. There’s one we can walk to nearby.”

    “Are you sure you’re up for that?” He nods, opening his door. He hesitates for a moment, then grabs a paper bag Francis hadn’t noticed before. He chuckles and turns the vehicle off, putting his keys in his pocket. He gets out as well, making sure to lock the doors. Albert walks ahead a bit, looking back at him every few seconds. When he finds a tree he likes, he sits under it. He places the watermelon and bag aside, and reaches out for the ice cream so Francis can sit next to him without having to worry. “Thank you,” he says as he hands them off.

    “I have something to give du after we finish.” He motions at the ice cream, handing one back to the Frenchman. He doesn’t waste any more time, and starts eating his. Francis follows his example.

    When they’re finished, Albert opens the watermelon, albeit with a bit of a struggle. He hands a slice to Francis, and bites into his own. It’s the first time he’s seen him be so careless. “Merci.” The Swedish man looks at him with his eyes.

    “Hmm?” He’s got his mouth full.

    “This is the first time you’ve not been cautious when eating around me. It means a lot to me. I know it takes a lot for you to trust like this.” He swallows the watermelon, blushing hard.

    “I thought it was time I did. We’ve been… We’ve had feelings for each other for awhile. I know it can be aggravating to wait for me to be ready for the more romantic things. Showing I’m comfortable enough around du to stop being so conscious of what I’m doing is the least I can do to thank du.” Francis smiles softly.

    “You don’t have to do anything for me. But merci. It means a lot.” Albert stares at him for at least a minute, then smiles.

    “I want to do things for du. Just as du want to do things for me. Here. I got this for du at the loppis when du weren’t looking.” He hands him the paper bag, then focuses on his watermelon like his life depends on it. Francis opens the bag curiously, being careful of its contents' possible fragility. He stares at the item, awed by it’s delicate beauty. “It’s one of those combs du put in your hair to keep it out of your eyes but also be stylish. I saw it while du were looking at something else and couldn’t resist. The gems match your eyes. She said they’re sapphires and obsidian.” He turns the comb over in his hand, examining it closer. The prongs are silver. There’s a run of sapphires at the top, in the shape of a heart. Obsidians swirl around it, to the outer edges.

    “It’s beautiful,” he breathes out. “Merci beaucoup. I love it. I shall cherish it forever.” Albert bows his head more, but he can’t hide his red ears; they poke through his hair. “How much did you pay for it?”

    “Actually, I got a hell of a deal! Her ex husband bought it for her, so she wanted to get rid of it pretty badly. She wanted fifty for it, but I insisted on double.” Francis laughs quietly.

    “So we wound up paying the same amount for a gift to each other.”

    “Ja, we did! I’m surprised, honestly. Both of our items were underpriced. Mine less than yours, but it’s still a beautiful bell.” He frowns suddenly, realizing he left it in the vehicle. After a moment he shrugs, and leans against Francis. “I hope this is okej.”

    “It’s better than okay. It’s perfect.” He kisses his forehead. Albert tugs on his arm, and wraps it around his waist.

    “Now it’s perfect. Jag älskar dig.” He cuddles up to Francis, closing his eyes in content.

    “I love you too.”

[its-sixxers]

For the soft OC asks: 🌼🌾🍄

🍄 answered here! 🌾 I have another ask for so I’ll link to that once it’s done to kind of space out how THICC these posts are lol. This one is VERY LONG I am so sorry

🌼 Who are this characters friends and found family? How did they meet, how long have they been friends for, could they ever be something more than just friends? What do they look for in a friend or a romantic partner?

Tin Lizzy

Lizzy’s really fond of the people of Megaton - Moira, Gob, Nova, and Walter are the people she’s closest to and will make a point of visiting whenever she’s in town. They were the first people she came across once she was out of the Vault, and their kindness really helped her get it together and go out into the wild unknown in search of her father. In terms of very close friends, though, Butch and Charon are her ride or dies. Butch she’s been friends with since childhood (though they had a rough period of time where Butch was an exceptional asshole), and despite him being one of the best looking guys in the Wastes he’s firmly in ‘brother’ territory for her. Any time someone suggests they date the two usually look vaguely nauseous at the concept. Charon is someone she ends up crushing on once the man’s comfortable enough speaking normally around her, but given the nature of his contract it’s not something she acts on. until later Lizzy’s also convinced there’s no way Charon could be into her given that she’s a lot younger than him and feels generally useless unless there’s a terminal to be cracked, a book to be read, or a wound to be stitched.

Lizzy’s not picky about her friends at all - age, whether they’re a ghoul or not, their vocation or social status - none of that bothers her, which gets her some side-eyes. If a person is kind and good at heart, and someone who is willing to talk with her, that’s all she needs. When it comes to romantic partners - the girl has zero experience and doesn’t even know what she needs. It’s not something she actively seeks (though Butch tries to wingman for her). What romance she ends up in is something that happens pretty organically and usually by accident.

Carmen

She’s got a crew of fuck ups, and she loves them dearly. In her own Carmen way. In order of meeting them: Boone, Cass, Veronica, and Arcade are the people she’s closest to - though she’s had other traveling companions. All of them are screw ups or outcasts, and they all have a shared bond because of it. After getting shot by Benny, it’s only about three years before she ends up leaving the Mojave - but in those three years she loves a lifetime’s worth with the gang. She never forgets them.

Arcade and Veronica are the voices of reason - Arcade’s a little more rigid and idealistic, while Veronica is flexible and pragmatic. Arcade isn’t into women, while Carmen got the picture pretty quickly that Veronica’s pretty hung up on Christine. Carmen wouldn’t really pursue anything romantic with either of them if it was an option, as in the long-term her personality would clash - Carmen’s on the chaotic spectrum while the two of them are pretty orderly. That, and she treasures their input as friends - she can rely on them to tell it to her like it is and to be willing to disagree, they don’t have any reservations romance could give.

Cass and Boone are the ‘this is a bad decision and I support you in it’ gang. All three of them are pretty hotheaded and it’s a recipe for disaster if Arcade and Veronica don’t manage to get everyone to CHILL OUT. Cass is 100% Carmen’s type (competent, opinionated, but also able to share a comfortable silence), but she’s given Carmen the impression of not being into women and any desire on Carmen’s part to pine ended pretty quickly thanks to fuckn’ Boone. Carmen’s relationship with Boone is a disaster in that she’s quite desperate to be more than friends but respectful of his trauma, while he’s constantly toeing the line and continually almost going too far. until he does

Carmen’s attracted to people who don’t follow the norm. Whether that’s telling authority to fuck off, being isolated from civilization from one reason or another - people who stand out and are their own people are people she wants to be around. Passion is another big draw. When it comes to romantic partners - she wants someone she can depend on, and someone who doesn’t freak out when they see her at her darkest.

Eleanora

Her friends are her rock and what keeps her sane. Outside of the Railroad (who are the epitome of her found family - Deacon king of them all), Nick, Piper, and Preston are people who she thinks of as her new family. Arguments and all. They’ve helped her acclimate to a life post-War, and they’ve all been the reason for her mindset slowly shifting to realize that the Commonwealth is actually a much better place than it was before the war when it comes to the people in it. Way more people are genuine and care a lot about their fellow human beings (if they haven’t become raiders or worse).

When it comes to more than friends - she’s aware that Preston had a brief crush on her. She never went for it because of the age difference - she’s a lot older than he is - and because she had a pretty good inkling that the crush was more hero worship than genuine. Piper and Nick have always been pretty friendzoned. Unfortunately for the people in the Railroad, Nora met Deacon at the same time she met them and that’s all she wrote. She will admit Drummer Boy is far too pretty for his own good, and Desdemona definitely had her reconsidering if she was really that hetero.

As someone with a melancholic personality, Nora is drawn to high energy or optimistic people. Friends who can haul her out of her shell and get her excited about life are a godsend. Romantically, people who are passionate, driven, and able to understand her are who she chases.

Soft OC Asks

[misscampbellclarington]

In Character Task

Full name? Campbell Renea (Renee-uh) Clarington

Nicknames? Cam, Cammie, Bell, Bells, Bella

Date of birth? Age? Zodiac sign? October 8, 1993. Libra.

Height? Build? 5′8″, Thin

Hair color? Hair style? Dark Auburn. It varies, generally, depending on my mood and how much effort I feel like putting in. Never messy, however.

Eye color? Eye Shape? Glasses or contact lenses? Blue, Round, and Neither for the time being.

Which facial feature is most prominent? Which bodily feature is most prominent? My eyes are my most prominent feature, I believe. As far as my body goes, I often get comments on my legs.

Other distinguishing features? Posture, mother all but beat it into me.

Skin? Hands? What are your feet like? (type of shoes, state of shoes, socks, gloves, pristine, dirty, worn, soft with lotion, calloused, long nails, fake nails, bitten nails, etc) My skin is pale, and my hands are small, I suppose. I enjoy regular manicures, and my nails are rarely without fresh and meticulously applied polish. This goes for my feet as well. Dirty or unkempt feet draw a physical, visceral reaction from me. I am almost always wearing heels, outside of the gym and the studio. Though, I do enjoy sliding into my slippers once I’m able to settle for the night.

Make up? One will rarely see me without.

Scars? Birthmarks? Tattoos? I have a tattoo of a serpent on the top of my left foot. 

Type of clothes? How do you wear your clothes? Generally I am in dresses or skirts and sweaters. Occasionally jeans or shorts, if the occasion calls for it. My school uniform as well, of course. 

Race/Ethnicity? Does that affect you or how you were raised? How? 

Mannerisms? That is a tough question, and one really best answered by someone who isn’t me. Though, I will give it a go. I tend to be quiet, though I do not shy away from my own opinions and beliefs, nor will I refrain from voicing them. I almost always sit with my legs crossed. I do tend to clench and grind my jaw when I am upset, stressed, or nervous.

Where were you born? Where were your parents born? Where were your grandparents’ born? How many times have you moved in your life? I was born at Fort Campbell on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. My mother was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, my father on the military base at Quantico. My paternal grandmother was from Paris, France, and my grandfather was born on the same base as my father. On my mother’s side, both were from Colorado. How many times have I moved? Perhaps it would be easier to ask how long I’ve stayed put. I would have to guess the number is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 times. 

What are your family’s values? Do you agree? How does this affect you? (This question is gold! If you don’t answer any other questions, answer this one! You can talk about how your character and their family feels about the Master/slave monster dystopian world politics and I can use this for the group revolution plot!) The Clarington family upholds a slew of values: Driven work ethics, determination, power, class, prestige, respect, wealth, Dominance...While I can see the worth and reason for most, I cannot say I agree with them all. And, I cannot say I agree that the list should stop there. I feel my family is lacking in many values that are necessary to create and foster a ‘happy home’. Love, kindness, compassion, and humility are all sorely lacking. It doesn’t- rather, I do my best to act as if it doesn’t. Setting aside my personal feelings something I learned to perfect as a child. I do wish my parents were not so...Cold. I wish I’d been raised in an environment that taught me what to do with the emotions I feel, but force myself to hide. I wish that I knew how to find the balance between myself and what is expected of me. Naturally, the Clarington family fully embraces the world in which we live. The moment Riley and I turned 13, we began our training for the rest of our lives. We had and have plenty of time for that, though, and sometimes I wish things hadn’t been so rigorous and staunch. 

Are you in good health? Do you have any medical problems? I am, yes. I do not, that I am aware of.

Do you have any disabilities? Physical disabilities? I do not.

What past act are you most ashamed of? What past act are you most proud of? My inability to protect someone who trusted me to do so. I will have to get back to you on that.

What sort of sex do you have? The good kind? Passionate. Hot. Wild. Romantic. This also depends on the situation and mood.

Did you attend any kind of trade school before you got here? (So as a minor or in between the ages of 18-21, since it is law that all people go to a BDSM Academy at 21.) Prior to attending Dalton, I was in school, and was able to successfully obtain my Journalism and Writing degree. I attended a fast-tracked program, which allowed me to work through the curriculum at a quite rapid pace.

Have you had any jobs? What are your career goals? (The laws on this are the same as the real world so minors generally need a work permit BUT you can also work with the family business without anyone questioning at just about any age. And just like the real world, a lot of families put a lot of pressure on their children to follow in their footsteps.) To date, I have not, outside of the countless hours of volunteer work I have done. Ultimately, I would like to write for a noteworthy newspaper, such as The Post. 

What places have you visited on vacation? Oh, uhm...Nearly all 50 States, Canada, France, England, Japan, Germany, Russia.

Who is your favorite actor? Who is an actor you can’t stand? Morgan Freeman. Tom Cruise.

What is your favorite movie? Which movies do you absolutely hate? Dirty Dancing is my favorite movie. I do not typically go for the raunchier comedies. Anything Seth Rogan is generally a ‘no’ for me.

What is your favorite color? What is your favorite book? What is your favorite food? Sea Foam Green for color. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is my favorite book. My favorite food is breakfast food. 

How often do you exercise? What are your exercise goals? Frequently and regularly. I’d like to focus even more on my flexibility. 

Do you enjoy hot weather, or do you prefer colder temperatures? I prefer things on the colder side. 

What do you think is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to find life’s meaning.

If you could describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say? 

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Episodes 25-37

They finally changed that awful ending theme, YES!

I have this thing while watching Precure weekly where at some point during the third quarter I start to get tired of the season, this doesn't happen always but more often than not during this time of the show my fire starts to burn out. And I feel like if I had watched GoGo while it was airing this burn out would hit me for sure because I do think this is the weakest point of this season.

The feeling I had while watching this was that nothing really relevant was happening, even though we actually had quite a decent amount of events moving the story. It's that just most of these events were happening in episodes that weren't very memorable or eventful, we also didn't have a climax for this quarter which made it feel like most of the stuff was meaningless. Also, different from the first and the second quarter, this one didn't have an episode that stands out as a sign of this portion of the story and these are all things that make this the less interesting part of this season so far.

We didn't have a lot of fillers, but we had a lot of what would be considered important events happening in episodes where the main plot could be considered filler, and this is the feeling I have for this quarter, it was the "filler arc" even though we didn't really have an immense amount of fillers if we think about it.

Episode 25 introduces new villains and we have Queen Bavarois' departure, then we have the filler in the big city followed by a summer festival episode. Next in line, in episode 28, we're introduced to the next monarch, Princess Crepe, and the following episode marks the debut of another general. We reach episode 30 which is another fairy tale episode but that introduces the new toy that will give Milky Rose's power-up in the next episode, which also crowns Nuts as a rightful ruler since he finally gets to use the power of the crown. Then there's a couple of filler episodes, one to showcase the new general's power and one filler for Urara, and we're already saying goodbye to Princess Crepe in episode 34. Episode 35 is the "last" filler of this arc, and we close this quarter with the two-parter that serves as the climax for this section of the story.

As you can see, a lot happens, yet it doesn't feel like it, it doesn't feel like we had any significant progress outside of Milky Rose's new attack. Does this mean the show became bad and that I stopped enjoying it? No, one of my favorite episodes of this season is here, but again, in comparison with the previous 24 episodes, these 12 feel pretty week.

Talking about the fillers, Episode 26 was a bit weird, it was fine but I still don't know if by the end the people of that city really believed that precure were real or if it was a tv/promo thing for the parade. 32 was the pinnacle of filler episodes because by the end I was like "okay, seeing the girls shrunk down was fun, but why was that for...? What was accomplished here by doing this?". 33 was cute, it's good to see the girls interacting with other characters from school that aren't secondary characters, but by the end, it didn't feel very special. Then we have 35, that seems like it would be a strong emotional episode about the girls wondering about their future and everything, but that is kinda put in the background in order to give Bumbee of all persons a focused episode and it was just weird. And for last, there's episodes 36 and 37, that were supposed to be our climax for this part but that honestly are more filler than anything. They don't really add much to the story, it was just a game show thing for the sake of it, it didn't change the status quo, to be honest, it didn't even have to be a two-parter IMO, it was fun up until a certain point, but they dragged it way too much.

Thankfully, filler land wasn't just a bunch of mediocre stuff because we had the glorious summer festival episode where we can see the combo Komachi and Rin working together again and IT'S FUN AS HELL!! I gotta say, after Yes! Komachi didn't leave that much of a big impression on me, but in GoGo I'M LOVING HER! She was amazing in this episode, from being quirky because of her love for scary things to the smartness to find a way to walk through that world, to her kindness in trying to help Rin overcome her fears, she shined brightly. And once again, she used her Emerald Saucer in another creative way that brought a lot of fun to the fight and that reiterated how versatile mint is as a cure, Again, marvelous episode.

Going to villains, my opinions on Shibiretta and Bumbee remain the same, they've been consistent with what we've seen so far. The biggest thing for the villains was the introduction of not just one, but three new generals at this point of the story, given that we haven't seen much of them I don't have any strong opinions on Yadokan and Isogin, they seem pretty bland and I'm not invested on them but I like that they go all out and they didn't reserve what I believe is their fully beast form only for their final appearance. The more expressive addition to the cast is Mucardia, who's very different from all previous generals we had, I like how his approach is through using disguises and everything, it reminds me of Shitattare in this aspect, and I'm here for this. We also had a kind of a confirmation that the Director had something romantic with Flora or something on those lines from one flashback/dream sequence we had in one of the episodes. Now, the only thing I haven't enjoyed from the villains is Anacondy, I don't like how they're making her someone who's obsessed with a man, I think I was fine with her rivalry with Shibiretta because it could be something of the likes of her feeling threatened of losing her position, but here they made it more obvious that she has feelings for the Director and I really don't like that, especially since they also show her having some level of attraction to Mucardia, I think this goes too much to the route of "this strong woman NEEDS a man". And I think they could let the Mucardia stuff be present, but having her be in love for the Director it just feels like a cheap move.

With Queen Bavarois back to her kingdom, we're greeted with the monarch for this arc, Princess Crepe. And I have a lot of problems with her, to begin is her personality, she's the basic ojou-sama archetype but that is a bit extra delusional because of her love for Coco, she's also the monarch we spent the least amount of time with, I believe, and in this short amount of time we had very few instances where we could see her real personality because the show was more concerned in making her another rival in love for Nozomi and Milk, so it's hard to get to like her and because I don't like her whenever they try to make an emotional moment for her, it just doesn't work.

Now to close this post, let's talk Nuts. I'm glad the show addressed the fact that he was feeling useless, because well... he was, and I like that they gave him his mini-arc of about 3 episodes or so because he was really needing it. I just wish the groundwork had been set in a better way, the steps for his arc here are he sees a laptop in episode 26, in episode 29 we see him drawing the plans for the communicator, in episode 30 he finally builds it but he can't make it work, and then episode 31 is about him putting out there his frustration, showing his determination and being able to summon the power of the crown to give Milky Rose her new weapon and attack. My problem here is that it feels like it wasn't enough, like yeah those points were there, but we effectively only saw that affecting him in 2 episodes, it wasn't a good build-up.

And this lack of build-up also hurts Milky Rose a bit because we don't see Nuts and Milk/Kurumi having an extra bond, the only thing they had was when Nuts knew Kurumi was Milk before she revealed her identity, and again, that was only one instance of it happening. Also, the star of the episode is more Nuts than Milk, so for her to gain a new power-up from this sadly doesn't feel like it was deserved or earned. And I think the producers kinda knew that because instead of giving her something completely new that could make use of the Milky Mirror in the way it deserves, because it is a pretty cool weapon, they just made her old attack but with a different CG effect for the petals of her rose. It is a bit disappointing.

I think this sums up perfectly this third quarter, a bit disappointing from a series that was being consistently good, and I hope this quarter was just a fluke and that we'll end this season with a bang because I really enjoyed the first half of the series and it would be sad to see it sink down in my concept. But anyway, these are just my thoughts, I wanna hear what do you have to say about in the comments down below. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time. See-ya~

[smolgreenboi]

CHARACTER SHEET

repost. do not reblog.

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.                            garfield mark logan NICKNAME / ALIAS.               b, bb, gar, grass stain, salad head (vic only), LGM, etc GENDER.                                 cis male (though able to alter sex by/when shifting) HEIGHT.                                   5′ to 5′5 (age dependent) AGE.                                        13-18 (verse dependent) ZODIAC.                                   pisces (with feral aries energy) LANGUAGES.                          english, can understand spoken swahili & hausa (cannot read or                                                   write it) as well as use basic terminology from both, reads and                                                   understands animal body language & other vocalization or forms                                                   of communication & is capable of mimicking it

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.                 dark forest green (previously dark, earthy brown) EYE COLOR.                   mossy green (previously wet earth with amber specks) SKIN TONE.                     vibrant grass green (previously olive or gold) BODY TYPE.                    lean muscle and nimble. gymnast build. stronger than he looks.  ACCENT.                          neutral american (can sometimes adopt swahili accent when                                           pronouncing specific words his foster mothers taught him while living                                           with them in africa). VOICE.                              a bit high-pitched, frequently squeaking or cracking during early teen                                            years. speaks quickly and with increasing volume when excited or                                            highly energetic. tendency to draw out words or use ‘uh’s and ‘um’s                                            when trying to organize his thoughts at the same time. stammers                                            and/or stutters and gets tongue tied while experiencing extreme                                           emotion (positive OR negative). voice can become distorted before                                           and after a shift depending on current emotional state and the form                                           chosen, but only for a few seconds. DOMINANT HAND.           ambidextrous & swaps ‘default’ hand depending on what’s convenient POSTURE.                         situational & company dependent. gar’s day-to-day posture is                                           attentive, but relaxed. not always ‘good’ but always evident he’s very                                           aware of his surroundings and is prepared to move quickly if needed.                                           when in company of ‘superiors’ or those he respects, admires, or                                           wants to impress, he stands very straight (almost stiff) and keeps his                                           eyes low. SCARS.                             bite scar on upper right bicep. multiple needle-induced scars around                                           bite scar as well as around his left shoulder.  TATTOOS.                        none (will get one on his left arm the year he turns 20 to cover a scar) BIRTHMARKS.                small ‘blob’ on his inner knee, though difficult to notice due to skin                                           pigmentation. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).    he’s green, my dude. and beyond that he prefers to keep                                                               pointed ears, a slightly widened nose, and sharper                                                               canines/fangs even in his human form. at night, he’ll                                                               include tapetum lucidum in his eyes, which lets him see                                                               better in the dark and causes his eyes to ‘glow’ when                                                               reflecting light.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.                     unknown city, new york HOMETOWN.                             ???? (midway, michigan) BIRTH WEIGHT.                         ??? BIRTH HEIGHT.                          ??? MANNER OF BIRTH.                 ???  FIRST WORDS.                         mooma (’mama’) SIBLINGS.                                  none, biologically. considers kori his big sister. PARENTS.                                  mark & marie logan PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.     both of gar’s parents were present and involved when he was                                                   very young. after he contracted sakutia and they were able to                                                   mutate the virus, allowing gar to co-exist with it, they grew much                                                   more distant. gar was often isolated to certain rooms of their                                                   research center, partially for his own protection and partially                                                   because his parents didn’t know what to do with him once he                                                   started exhibiting the abilities sakutia had granted him. a scientist                                                   working with the logans, dr. samuel register, would often try                                                   pressuring them into exploring the possibilities that came with                                                   their son and, while at first resistant, mark began to bend. marie                                                   remained protective, determined to find a way to give gar some                                                   semblance of normalcy. gar remembers his parents with a blend                                                   of emotions he can’t quite explain or give names to, the only                                                   exception being guilt that he wasn’t able to save them.

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.                        superhero/vigilante. will eventually become a wildlife educator &                                                 conservationist, working with various organizations and                                                 rehabilitation.  CURRENT RESIDENCE.         jump city, california CLOSE FRIENDS.                   victor, kori, raven, dick RELATIONSHIP STATUS.        single. FINANCIAL STATUS.               his inheritance has him more than covered (but this is a secret). DRIVER’S LICENSE.               he don’t got one lmfao, he got legs and wings bay-beeee CRIMINAL RECORD.              theft, breaking/entering, destruction of property (pre-hero work). VICES.                                    various forms of escapism. desperate need of company, often                                                 regardless of how dangerous or toxic it may be (will make excuses                                                 for the other party or claim it’s not that bad ; refuses to be alone).                                                 general refusal to seek or accept medical help for any injury.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.                        demisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.                   bi / pan-romantic PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.       submissive | dominant | SWITCH. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.              submissive  |  dominant | SWITCH. LIBIDO.                                                 low (on a 1-10 scale, probably a 3). TURN ONS.                                          returning his bad jokes with an even worse (or better)                                                               one. a contagious laugh. warm hands. the way someone                                                               lights up when they’re excited over something they care                                                               about. pun-game on point. intelligence. sleeves rolled up                                                               to the forearms. genuine acceptance. kindness toward                                                               animals. upbeat attitude.

TURN OFFS.                                         lack of empathy. ignoring him. belittlement.  LOVE LANGUAGE.                              sending memes. quality time, taking turns choosing                                                               activities. various forms of physical contact, be it hand-                                                               holding, leaning into you, propping his legs over yours,                                                               etc. special nicknames for you and only you (gets irritable                                                               if other people try to use them). allowing himself to show                                                               signs of sadness or depression around you.  RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.          initially friendly and welcoming, though this can 180                                                               immediately depending on how it’s received or how he                                                               observes you treating others. highly protective of friends                                                               and those considered family, to the fault of being blindly                                                               willing to “throw himself away” if that’s what it takes. puts                                                               friends/family first, always. doesn’t give a shit what                                                               genetics say, you choose your family (trigon’s a dad?                                                               news to me). crushes fast and hard, but it takes a bit                                                               longer for romance or sexual feelings to actually root                                                               themselves.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.           pride . waving through a window . what’s up, danger? HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.                    video games, dancing / choreography, free-running &                                                               parkour, climbing anything he can, exploring/being                                                               outside, swimming, sun-bathing, flying. MENTAL ILLNESSES.                          complex PTSD. depression. situational anxiety. PHYSICAL ILLNESSES.                       infected with a mutated strain of the sakutia virus. LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED.                 right-brained. PHOBIAS.                                              being alone. hospitals/medical staff/scientists. needles. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.              low to medium, depending on his company (ie:                                                               confidence is higher when around his own team & friends,                                                               but significantly lower when in steve/mento’s presence or                                                               around someone he might be crushing on or trying to                                                               impress) . VULNERABILITIES.                             mentions of his biological parents. bringing up                                                               past “screw-ups” or mistakes. tara (especially how he                                                               spoke to her the night of her betrayal, though this is                                                               information he hasn’t shared with anyone). his fear of                                                               himself and his own “potential”. (post-series) accidentally                                                               killing madame rouge. his refusal to wind up alone.

tagged by stolen from: @humanitysbridge​​

tagging: @gctjinxd, @nvertoolate, @demon-sorciere, @ring-of-azar, @fastestboyalive, @kywht​, @floraluniversal​ —————YOU if you’re reading this (tag me so i can peep) !

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Acorn Symbolism: Romance, Promises, and Peter Pan!

Morning Everyone! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this posted. As I keep saying, cray week. So, I said before that I thought they represented romantic love And I stand by that. For one thing, there are both a male and female component in the germination of acorn seeds. Hence, the romantic love symbol.

But let me mention a few other important acorn references as well.

@frangipanilove​ pointed out Daryl’s line to Carol last season about Ezekiel being “corny.” A play on the word acorn, perhaps? Now, maybe that’s a silly word play, but given the Serious/Sirius references and “Del Arno Foods,” it’s obvious that the TWD writers don’t mind silly word plays.

Now, @frangipanilove is working on a “nut” theory that will probably be much more comprehensive than this one. She has other “corn” references that are specifically around Ezekiel. I’ll leave that to her. But I suppose you could argue that this is a Carzekiel thing, rather than a Bethyl thing.

Or is it?

I would argue that it might simply be…a romantic love thing. After all, people in love tend to wax a little corny, right?

But there’s something else @wdway​ thought of that kinda proves the acorn reference is tied to Beth. I’d completely forgotten about this acorn reference in the show, so kudos to her for her awesome memory.

Do you remember there being acorns in the show before? Think about it for a minute. I will say it’s pretty subtle.

Okay, so take a stroll down memory lane to 5x11, The Distance. That’s two episodes after Coda and the one directly after 5x10, where the music box woke up. TF brings Aaron into the barn, Rick knocks him out, and they spend the episode trying to figure out whether he’s trustworthy or not, and also driving to Alexandria for the first time.

At one point, Rick sends everyone out of the barn to hide in various places and keep watch in case Aaron is part of a larger group that might be a threat to them. Then Judith starts crying because she’s hungry, and Aaron offers the applesauce in his bag, right?

But just before that, Rick tries to mash up acorns for her to eat. Voila! Acorn reference!

Why is that important? Because this scene has almost every major TD symbol in it, sitting in that barn. We have the flare gun (fire), a bottle of water with "Greendale springs” written on it, the music box itself, bullets, toilet paper, the applesauce, and even a dog reference (Fido) on top of the applesauce jar.

And this is the barn from 5x10, outside of which the music box has just awakened.

So, the acorns are most definitely a Beth reference.

Where do we take it from there? I’m not sure. I do think it’s significant that we saw acorns around Aaron right after the music box woke up, and we’re seeing them again now, right when something is happening with Aaron and the Whisperers. To me, that says Beth is about to appear.

Also, I won’t go into all the details now, but 5x11, The Distance, is another episode you should go back and watch if you can. There are SO many amazing references in that episode that we had no way of identifying the first time through. Eugene makes a “copulating dogs” reference. Rosita says, “we’re halfway there,” which I can’t help but see as S5 being half way to S10, suggesting the “dog” will return in S10. Tons of stuff like that all through it. Go watch! 😝

If you look up acorn symbolism, they can represent strength, much like the oak tree (which I’ll talk about in a minute). But that could also represent Beth’s strength. They can tell the future, so yes, they definitely portend something Daryl’s future, and are kind of the ultimate foreshadowing symbol. They suggest looking deep within ourselves (Daryl feelings for Beth) and that if something is nurtured in the right way, it can become powerful. Again, Beth nurtured Daryl like no one ever has.

@frangipanilove​ and I researched the phrase Carol uses, “double capper.” It doesn’t seem to be a real thing. I just figured it was slang, but it’s not coming up in online searches as even that. So I don’t think it means anything by itself. It’s just something mean to draw our attention to the acorn and its symbolism.

Also, the “double” part (2) might represent that we’ve hit the second phase. This hearkens back to retellings and the fact that carrots take two seasons to grow into maturity. It’s something I haven’t mentioned for a while, but we always figured there would be, symbolically, two stages or two times around for Beth and Daryl. The first was S4/S5, and they, as characters, hadn’t matured all the way at that point. We always saw it as Beth returning as stronger, more mature in her character and survival skills, etc. But it’s true of Daryl as well, at least emotionally. This is something I have touched on recently, about how he does understand his own feelings now and will be able to communicate them. So again, the “double” part might represent that we’ve entered phase 2, which is just a fancy way of saying we’re in the part where Beth will return.

Oak Trees

Let’s talk about oak trees, which produce acorns. You might even call acorns the offspring of the oak tree.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what kind of trees we’re seeing, because we don’t get close up shots of the leaves. But we think all the trees in Fear, on which we’ve seen ladders painted, and Alicia is now painting Phoenixes, are oak trees. (Ladder Theory, Phoenix Theory).

We also talked about the tree in the opening credits—the one the plate glass windows hang from—and whether it might be an oak or not. We also looked up biblical symbolism because we all know biblical symbols are big in TWD, and they’re a big deal in the bible as well.

There are several cases of the holy men of the bible (including Abraham, Jacob, and Joshua) making sacred vows under oak trees. Sometimes they bury things in token of these oaths. Jacob’s is very significant, especially as it is entangled with the story of Jacob’s ladder, and remember that in FTWD, we’ve seen ladders painted on oak trees.

One story that stood out to me was that of Joshua. Reading it, I became convinced that the tree we see in the opening credits is, indeed, an oak tree. Let me explain.

In the story, Joshua utters the famous line, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” He then asks if the people will do the same. They make a solemn oath to always serve the Lord, and they do it under an oak tree. Joshua puts a rock under the tree (which represents Christ, btw) and says if they break their promise, the rock will testify against them in judgement.

So, the oak tree = a solemn promise. It occurred to me that’s pretty much what Rick did under the tree with the plate glass pictures hanging on it at the end of S8. He made an oath to honor Carl’s last wishes and not kill Negan. (“My mercy overcame my wrath.) And if that was an oak, then the one in the opening credits must be as well. (Bc of the plate glass pictures.)

And the more I think about it, the more significant that becomes. I don’t want to go into all the details of this today (because this post is about acorns), but I’ve said before that I think Negan will lead to Beth in some way (hence all the bats we saw around her). And the only reason Negan is still alive is because of Rick’s “oath” to let him live in order to honor Carl’s last wishes.

Remember the Phoenix near Carl at his death? (Alicia is painting phoenixes on trees in FTWD.) Well, if Carl hadn’t died, I absolutely think Rick would have simply executed him at the end of AOW. And if Negan is as instrumental in Beth’s return as I think he’ll be, then that’s super important. You could argue that but for Carl’s death, Beth wouldn’t have ever returned. Which explains the phoenix we saw just before Carl’s death.

Also, these new opening credits that start and kind of center around the oak tree began in S9, after AOW ended. Which says to me that Rick’s oath (keeping Negan alive, etc) is what’s driving this part of the story, now. So, this really is all beautifully and intricately connected.

And how do we go from the oath under the oak tree to an acorn symbol? How should we interpret that?

Well, this may become more specific as we learn more, but for now, here’s how I think of it. Just as the acorn is the offspring—or offshoot, if you will—of the oak tree, so Beth’s return (and Daryl’s happiness) will be a result or offshoot of Carl’s death and Rick’s oath.

Peter Pan:

All right, I’m going to switch gears and talk about one more possibility for this acorn reference that the lovely @weapon13whitefang​.

She said between the acorn in this scene with Carol and Daryl, and the “kiss” reference, she was immediately reminded of Peter Pan. In Peter Pan, there are tokens of kisses exchanged. Like thimbles. Peter didn’t know what a kiss was, so Wendy gave him a thimble, which was a token of a kiss. 

In return, Peter actually gives Wendy an acorn button. Now, technically, this is not an actual acorn (though many PP interpretations use actual acorns). Rather this was a term for a button made of wood, which in slang, was known as an “acorn button.” (Source) In symbol of their friendship, Peter and Wendy wore their gifts for one another around their necks on necklaces. Wendy’s acorn button even saved her life when the Lost Boys (on Tinkerbell’s angry lie) shot her out of the sky. The button stopped the arrow from piercing her heart and killing her.

This has SO many promising implications.

But first thing’s first. My first thought was about what this meant for the question of romance. You all know I don’t think this signifies romance between Carol and Daryl—I know it doesn’t—but I need to be able to explain why.

So, Wendy and Peter exchanged tokens, much like Carol giving Daryl an acorn in this past episode. The question is, was there ever romance between Wendy and Peter?

Meh…a little bit. Wendy was definitely crushing on Peter when she first met him, though it was as much the prospect of adventure as anything else. (Which might have also been true of Carol early on, especially as Daryl helped her search for Sophia.) 

But think about it in the long term. Things don’t work out romantically between Wendy and Peter. Wendy leaves Neverland, grows up, gets married and has kids, where Peter doesn’t. They always have a deep and abiding friendship—and even love—for one another. They wear their token necklaces for decades after their adventures together. But romance? No, it’s not really part of the story.

In fact, if you want to get REALLY detailed, why did Wendy first become disillusioned with Neverland? Because she came to understand that Peter brought her there, not as a girlfriend or companion, but to be a MOTHER to the Lost Boys. (Daryl and Carol have a mother/son relationship, as confirmed by Norman in S7.)

You could also argue that Carol finally putting the tragedy of Sophia behind her and marrying Ezekiel and finding happiness represents Wendy moving on from Neverland and getting married and having kids. Daryl is still Peter Pan in Neverland who’s never sustained a real relationship before. Of course, we think he will, when Beth returns. But for now, the Peter and Wendy analogy is very apt.

And it opens up a lot of possibilities for me. I’m super intrigued as to what will happen with this acorn. He put it in the pocket of his vest. Will it save his life? Deflect a bullet or something? Or is this less literal than that? If it represents Beth or his relationship with her, maybe it foreshadows that she’ll save his life in some way. (Something we’ve all theorized about for a LONG time.)

I also think it’s interesting that Wendy was flying when she was shot out of the sky and the acorn button saved her. They even called her the Wendy-Bird. Now, granted, in this analogy, Carol, more than Beth is Wendy. But still. 

1) We saw a plane crash this past season on FTWD, and we’ve seen several helicopter crashes, including one on the roof of Big Spot in 4x01 (Beth) and one when Merle returned in 3x01 (resurrection of character). 

These are representations of birds falling out of the sky. You MIGHT even be able to lump the satellite in with that. I don’t know if satellites are ever referred to as birds, but it did fall out of the sky, after all. 

2) How many birds have been used around Beth as symbolism? Blue Heron. Yellow Wagtail. Phoenix. Songbird.

3) And of course there’s a major precedent for the writers using children’s stories as symbolic templates in the show. The Wizard of Oz. Little Red Riding Hood. The Little Prince (FTWD). Why not Peter Pan?

So yeah. I gotta stop now, but let’s just say I’m still loving the acorn symbol and the acorn scene. They portend great things for TD and Bethyl. 🎉

Which acorn interpretation is your favorite and why?

[meat-husband]

Michael Myers - Alphabet Ask Meme

I’m hoping to start doing requests on this blog, so I thought I would start up with the alphabet ask memes as a sort of intro! I figure all the letters get asked eventually, so I’m just doing all of them in one go. There will be one of these posted for each character I’m writing.

I have a page with what and who I write for here.

Both the NSFW and fluff alphabet asks are under the cut!

NSFW Alphabet

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

If you're lucky, he'll fall asleep and allow you to stay next to him. In this case, you can get away with pressing into his side or hugging his arm, but don't expect the cuddles to be returned. Otherwise, he's probably halfway out the door and planning his next murder before you know what's happened.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

There’s nothing in particular that stands out about himself in his opinion. But if he had to pick something, his hands are probably the most useful - people aren’t going to stab themselves, you know.

Michael likes your eyes, so easy to see your fear and panic and lust. He’s always liked being able to read someone so easily when they can’t do the same to him.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He likes leaving you messy. He’ll dig his fingers into you afterwards and smear his cum into your skin, then have you lick his fingers clean.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

There’s a lot you don’t know about him. Not even because he doesn’t want you to or hides it, but simply because he either won’t or can’t communicate it. He doesn’t much care if you happen to see him do something, you knowing doesn’t matter. The only secrets he has are the ones you haven’t stumbled across yet.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

He’s peeked through enough windows to get the gist of it, but it’s not too much help during the real thing. Mostly he’ll rely on instinct and what he’s seen others do, but he’ll sometimes listen when you try and show him.

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

He prefers to have you trapped against something, limiting your movement without binding you. It keeps you controlled with less effort and unable to get away from him, not that you could anyways.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

He’s not completely blank faced under the mask, but you aren’t likely to see it. Even then he’s still very much on the ‘serious’ side of things. He doesn’t care if you’re amused or laughing or feeling soft, but it’s not something he would show if he did feel it it doesn’t count if he smiles cause you can’t see it.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

He’ll sometimes shower when he comes around and if you’re lucky it’ll be before any sexytimes. He’s not usually filthy, but human blood is sort of gross no matter the amount. You’re still trying to convince him to let you wash his clothes but so far it’s a losing battle.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

There’s zero romance in this man, probably in the negative actually. You’re not gonna get any secret signs of affection or special gifts. The fact that he doesn’t murder you is about as intimate as he gets, and even then it’s a slippery slope.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

It’s pretty rare for Michael to take care of himself, he has enough patience to wait out anything, even himself. If you don’t come to him first, then he’ll get around to tracking you down eventually.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

He’s up for almost anything, probably has the least hard no’s out of everyone. He doesn’t keep a favorite for long, there’s so much to try and he’s got to make up for all that time being locked up.

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

It’s honestly wherever he happens to be when the mood strikes, or really wherever you happen to be. Inside, outside, public or not isn’t going to stop or inconvenience him. If you don’t want the whole town finding out you’re banging the boogeyman then it’s on you to keep quiet and not draw attention.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You’re not really sure yourself. It’s hard to imagine what he’s thinking most of the time and so you can’t say what it is that sets him off when he does approach you.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Absolutely would not agree to being bound in a way he couldn’t escape from. If you wanna tie him up that’s fine, he’ll just snap the bindings when he feels like it, but anything he can’t get out of when he wants isn’t going to happen.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Not a big fan of giving. He will, but only when the mood strikes him and that’s not terribly often. Maybe it’s just his preference or maybe he doesn’t like removing the mask for it, but no amount of begging will change his mind.

P = Pace (Are they fats and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

It depends if he’s trying to annoy you or not. His preference is always rough, usually fast, but if that’s what you’re craving he’ll slow it down just to get you frustrated. If he’s not doing something to pester you then he’s not having a good time.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Quickies work better with his routine, which for a guy that has no job other than murder is pretty booked apparently, but you’ll need the breaks between full blown sessions anyways.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

You’re gonna lose track of how many times you’ve been suddenly pulled into the bushes or someone’s backyard. It doesn’t matter who’s around to hear either - he’s always quiet, if you can’t shut up then that’s your fault.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He’s pretty average, maybe 2 rounds in a row. But he’s the undisputed king of edging, so that one round is going to last half the day.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

I think he would definitely use things if you offered them, but do you really want to give him that kind of power? Introducing him to new things is dangerous on its own, let alone things that may or may not go inside you.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He can drag shit out for daaayys. All he’s gotta do is let you get yourself worked up, sit passively until you’re shaking in his lap, contributing nothing more than light touches - then just get up and leave. When he does come back, you’re impatient and needy and stupid enough to get back into his lap and let the whole thing happen again, until he’s decided the game is over.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Quiet enough to unsettle you, make you wonder if he’s even feeling anything. Heavy breathing is about all you’ll get, but it makes you wonder if he would be any more expressive without the mask (he’s barely holding in those moans under there but you don’t know that).

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

The mask is actually super uncomfortable and hot and humid but goddammit he’s got a reputation to uphold.  

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

It’s hard to say. Most of the time, you will have to be the one to start something, and he tends to go along with it. If Michael is the one taking action, it’s going to seem sudden and out of nowhere from your perspective - meanwhile he’s spent two days hiding around corners, watching you.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Not very easily, or often. It’s practically unheard of for Michael to fall asleep without a few hours of tossing and turning. Being put to sleep for 20 some years via tranquilizer has sorta fucked up his body’s ability to do that naturally. There’s not much to do for it other than wait it out - you might be inclined to try soothing him to sleep, but that’s just gonna piss him off and make him leave to wander around the house, or the streets. Best course of action is to pass out yourself, and there’s a 50/50 chance he may have done the same by the time you wake up.

Fluff Alphabet

A = Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?)

You’re interesting, for the moment. He’s missed out on a lot of experiences in his life and you being the one to introduce him to all these new things keeps you interesting. Your affection for him is something strange to him and he enjoys testing its boundaries.

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?)

There are many reasons this is not a good idea. Even if we’re not including the brother/sister dynamic from the sequels, he still has a history of killing family. If you happen to get pregnant accidentally, it’s 50/50 if he’d let either of you live, and at best he’s just gonna disappear.

C = Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

Cuddling is a single player game with him. He might tolerate you climbing all over him but he’s not going to reciprocate. You carefully ignore those rare mornings when he’s managed to fall asleep next to you and you wake up with him snoring into your hair, legs tangled with yours.

D = Dates (What are dates with them like?)

Sometimes he will sit next to you while you watch a movie. Better chances the bloodier the movie is. If you’re really, really lucky, he’ll eat in the same room with you.

E = Everything (You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…)

You are his. He might not be around all the time, but this is still an ‘ownership’ before it’s a ‘relationship’. There aren’t many rules to it, he’s content to let you do what you want for the most part, but he’s ruthless about enforcing the few he does have. 

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?)

Love might be too strong a word. He likes you enough to not want to kill you, however that happened. He also doesn’t want anyone else to harm you, so he likes you enough to protect you as well. He certainly doesn’t want anyone else touching you. He knew all of this pretty quickly, otherwise you’d have ended up dead once you attracted his attention.

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

Sometimes he’s not rough, but that’s not the same as gentle. He’s not used to casual touch so he’s a little more uncertain about movements that aren’t made with the intent to kill. He is overly cautious rather than gentle, unsure about how it’s supposed to feel.

H = Hands (How do they like to hold hands?)

Michael will let you hold his and depending on what you’re doing (talking, watching tv, reading) he may tighten his grip in response but he’s not holding your hand. That’s totally not what's happening here.

I = Impression (What was their first impression?)

There was an unlocked door and Michael was interested, that’s what always draws him towards a person or place. He liked the fight you put up, the fear and panic, but really it was more his amusement that saved you - you’re the clumsiest person he’s ever chased. 

J = Jealousy (Do they get jealous?)

You’ve found some of your favorite books shredded on the floor and have a sneaking suspicion he may resent the time you spent pouring over that new release. Besides the obvious knife holes, he’s careful to leave the remains scattered all over where you can’t miss them.

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?)

You’ll be smooching the mask for a long time before you get the real thing. It’s not as terrible as you thought, but he makes no effort to return the kiss from under the mask. Real kisses are few and far between, and handed out only when he feels like it. Even when he gets comfortable enough to not wear it to bed, the face is still off limits.

L = Love (Who says ‘I love you’ first?)

You’ve tried to get it out of him, but so far nothing has worked (“If you love me don’t say anything.” “...” “Got you!”). He’ll huff when you say it, so you’re always sure to lay it on real thick and sappy, just to get on his nerves.

M = Memory (What’s their favorite memory together?)

When Michael has a favorite memory he likes to relive them. Unfortunately for you, he’s rather fond of your first meeting with him and it had been a frantic jumble, running through your house while a manic with a knife followed. You know what he’s up to when he comes towards you with a determined step and a raised knife, but it’s still terrifying (and that’s why he likes it tbh).

N = Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

He brings things home, but not ever anything useful. Usually it’s sharp objects, you’ve got quite the collection of random knives now. He does at least leave them in the sink, so you wake up early to remove old blood and scrub your kitchen down before breakfast. He doesn’t reuse them either, so you either keep a handful of incriminating murder weapons or try to discreetly dispose of incriminating murder weapons.

O = Orange (What color reminds them of their other half?)

Blacks and blues and yellows, the colors of new and old bruises he’s left to mark you. It’s not just because he enjoys seeing his handprints burned into you (but that too), but reminders that he’s coming back and you’ve got promises to keep.

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

He really, really hates them. It’s an easy way to get under his skin if he’s getting a little too smug about something. He’ll tolerate being called Mikey, but anything else is only going to make him grumpy. Generic ones like honey and sweetheart are bad, but if you rhyme his name to make one he will straight up leave.

Q = Quaint (What is their favorite non-modern thing?)

Well, I guess knives aren’t exactly modern and they’re probably what he’s best known for. He’s interested in new things, but doesn’t keep that interest once he’s had a look, so there isn’t much that he keeps around.

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

If he’s got someone he wants to kill, then rain isn't stopping him. Most likely he’s simply peeking in windows though, with everyone inside it’s easier to find an occupied house and less likely that someone will notice him.

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?)

You can never tell when he’s upset until he snaps. It will usually happen when you’re gone and you’ll come home to a wrecked house, broken furniture and torn clothes, ominous red stains in the bathroom. He’ll stay away for days, sometimes longer, and there’s no way of telling what set him off.

Michael’s not great at comforting others, that should be pretty obvious. He’ll avoid you until the crying or moping is over but if it’s something he can’t get around all he can really do is be nearby. Having a breakdown while a serial killer looms in the corner of your bathroom is odd enough to shake you out of it actually, so it’s helpful in a weird way.

T = Talking (What do they like to talk about?)

He’ll listen to you and you can usually tell by his body language what he thinks of something, but it’s really a guessing game. You’re never sure if you’re right and sometimes you must read him wrong, but it’s never frustrating unless he’s trying to be.

U = Unencumbered (What helps them relax?)

Sleep is the best way to put him in a good mood, but unfortunately it doesn’t happen very easily for him. If you’re asleep next to him he may happen to scoot closer and throw an arm over you, but that doesn’t count as snuggling because he doesn’t snuggle, you know. It’s second best to actually being asleep himself.

V = Vaunt (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?)

Michael can be so quiet that you’ve gone days without realizing he’s in the house with you. Sneaking up on you is a common occurrence and it’s always when you’re holding something breakable. He doesn’t jump out at you, but turning around to find him 2 feet away is a little concerning when you’re not expecting it. Sometimes you’ll be trying to sleep and only know he’s there when you hear someone else breathing.

W = Wedding (When, how?)

He’ll take jokes about it just fine, but bringing it up in a serious way would just push him away. You’re not going to get any sort of acknowledgement of affection out of him, let alone a big party dedicated to it.

X = Xylophone (What’s their song?)

You haven’t noticed that he seems to prefer anything in particular, but it’s safe to say that a wide variety of spooky Halloween songs have made it into all of your playlists. You can’t tell, but you really hope it annoys him.

Y = Yes (Do they ever think of getting married/proposing?)

He doesn’t think of it at all. He’s living in your house and not killing you, that’s as committed as he gets. Not to say he doesn’t consider this a serious relationship in his own way, cause there’s not many ways out of it that end well for you.

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?)

Please don’t.

[nostalgebraist]

Continuing my Legion liveblogging I guess (previously)

The latest (third) episode was cool, but seemed like a diversion from the main story, which is apparently going to wrap itself up in only five more episodes?

What I’m most skeptical about them pulling off in only five episodes is any kind of real perspective shift that puts someone other than David in a protagonist-like role.  It’s weird, because Noah Hawley has done a whole bunch of interviews, both at the end of S2 and now at the start of S3, about how he’s so excited to step outside of David’s (implicit) perspective, to see him from the outside.  Maybe Syd’s been the real protagonist all along, he says.  Or, this new character Switch is great because she’s a vehicle for seeing David from the outside.

It’s weird because, however much the show succeeds or fails or its own terms, it definitely seems to be failing on this thing that the showrunning is externally asserting as his intent.  The show simply is written from David’s perspective and his alone; even when it critiques him, it’s the sort of critique you get inside your own head when you’re feeling down, from imagined versions of your friends/enemies/exes/et. al.

No one else has a clear personal story thread -- or in some cases even a clearly delineated personality -- that could stand on its own without David existing.  Everyone else reacts to him, and sometimes their reactions are disapproving or antagonistic, but they’re still reactions to him and are interesting to the writers mostly as such.  Who is Switch when she’s not being a vehicle for “seeing David from the outside”?  We know almost literally nothing about her.  For that matter, who is Syd without David?  What are her goals and dreams, her challenges, her baggage?

I’m sure there’s someone out there who would take me to task for not reading between the lines enough and picking up on how Syd is Actually A Real Character if you pay attention.  But, I dunno, it feels to me like saying Skylar White is as developed and engaging a character as her husband, just because she’s morally in the right to be wary of him.  She sure is.  But there’s a simple and infallible test here: would you watch a show only about Skylar without Walt?  Only about Syd, without David?  What would it even be about?  (We don’t even have enough information to judge whether such shows would be any good.  Maybe they’d be great!  After all, you can draw anything on a mostly blank canvas.)

I don’t have an entirely coherent thought here, but . . . OK, so the show is clearly in the same territory as something like Evangelion, where many of the specific events, characters, and sci-fi concepts are metaphorically “about” common and potent psychological experiences (heartbreak, feeling rejected, childhood trauma, yearning for an absent mother, these sorts of things), although it’s (thankfully) hard to come up with a single, rigid scheme of metaphorical correspondence that handles the whole thing and removes all ambiguity or specificity.

Hawley has said things to the effect of, oh, it’s a grandiose sci-fi depiction of a relationship and its surrounding emotions.  He talks about it being all about David and Syd, and whether they’ll get back together, as if it were a real-world romantic drama.  And I think we’re supposed to be able to engage with it on that level, viewing the fact that Syd is trying to kill David based on messages from the future, and that David has started a Manson-esque cult, as literalized and externalized versions of the things that go on in real people’s heads in real and familiar situations.

S3 makes a lot of sense when seen this way, but mostly -- again -- if the emotions are David’s.  The entire situation feels like some guy’s self-hating, post-breakup daydream.  Your ex is coming to kill you, because she’s convinced (perhaps rightly) of your immense moral turpitude (but at least she still cares about you, if only negatively!).  She is doing this in collaboration with this cool, in-command, effortlessly masculine guy (so different from you, you who are so twitchily desperate to prove your worth) who’s actually utterly horrible and abusive, who caused you great harm in the past, but who she and everyone else has somehow decided is okay at the same moment they decided you weren’t.  You’re now desperate for love, looking for it maybe in some bad ways, and also ruminating heavily on the past, especially on the other major female presence in your life . . . your mom.  Right?  It’s all very emotionally authentic, but the emotions are all David’s.  The other characters might as well be daydream phantoms, playing out their assigned daydream roles.

(In the real world, Syd would just be done with David at this point; appropriately enough, her only reason for continued involvement in his life is a message from the future, a writerly device that is both purely fantastical and purely arbitrary.  The dream must keep her in the frame somehow.)

And then there’s Lenny, the fourth part of this romantic/psychological square.  Lenny and Syd are two sides of a coin in the way that David and the Shadow King are two sides of a coin -- implicit romantic rivals, opposed archetypes of the same gender.  The secondary members of each pair, Lenny and SK, aren’t judged by the same standards as the primary members: Syd et. al. make an alliance with the (present, existing) monstrous SK solely to oppose a (prophesied) monstrous David, and the same show that has Syd intoning Margaret Atwood quotes continues to treat Lenny (an addict serially abused by patriarch types) as wacky comic relief.  Really I think Lenny, much more than anyone else, has the potential to be the loose end that unravels the whole narcissistic, self-contained, David-centric tangle.  Either she’ll remain the wacky bad girl whose story doesn’t “matter,” which would dissolve the feminist pretensions of the David/Syd storyline whether the writers realize or not, or her storyline will eventually be treated with a gravity proportionate to the extent of her screentime, which will establish that there’s more in heaven and earth than David and his crush.  I expect the former but hope for the latter.

I don’t know what’s going on with the mental illness theme at all these days.  At most it’s come up occasionally as non-functional wallpaper -- David’s not just a cult leader, he’s a cult leader who hallucinates occasionally! -- which calls the central claim at the end of S2 (”you’re both”) even more into question, one would think.  But is that deliberate?  Is anything deliberate?  Who even knows.

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Bonus (Editions #1)

Is there anything I have to correct so far?

With the latest post on special events, I have reached twenty-one main entries in this series, including the Introduction. After this post, I would like to take a break from this series for a few months. Not to worry, I will have more posts in this series planned for next year. Before then, I'd like to take some time to consider the mistakes I have made in this series so far and clarify some points.

To start, I want to make something clear about Natsu and Lucy's relationship in the rewrite. I can't stress enough the fact that I'm not trying to write Nalu out of Fairy Tail, in that Natsu and Lucy have no relationship resembling the one they have in canon. They'll still do much of what they did together in canon, including most of their shared work on missions. The difference is that that I'm not basing their relationship on a formal partnership or making their relationship romantic in any sense. For what it's worth to people who might think this has to do with ships, I don't see myself making many ships canon that didn't become explicitly canon before the end of the series clearly sail, if I even make any other ships explicitly canon before the end. 

In talking about the overall theme behind the series. I said that the main theme should be the value of life, as opposed to the idea of friendship. While I stand by that, I do think a similar theme can be used to supplement that theme. Rather than focusing on simple friendship, I want to play with the importance of the bonds between people. I said that this is a better way to incorporate the "importance of friendship" theme in the series and I believe this is an important theme to have given the arcs of many characters in the series.

First, is a point I made regarding the ban on guilds fighting each other. In my post on the history behind Eastern magic, I said that the ban was something that happened immediately after magic became allowed on the continent. However, we learned during chapter 449 that this was actually explained as a result of the damages caused by the Second Trade War in x690. I don't want to lose the canon explanation. So, I will have that be a debated topic up to the point where the war ends.

Speaking of which, I have been working on changes for Irene and Acnologia. One universal change I want to make about their dragon forms is that both are able to switch between forms so long as they train to do it. This change comes from the dragons we've been seeing in the sequel. I feel like they have enough time to work that out on their own. While this isn't a big deal for Acnologia, this will be something that changes a few things about Irene's backstory.

Now comes one of the biggest places where a post like this is necessary: series timeline. For the sake of this post, I'll cover the timeline from the start of the series to the end of the Phantom Lord arc. While the events of the first chapter are still on July 2nd and the Macao arc ends on July 4th, Natsu and Lucy will arrive at the guild on July 3rd. The Daybreak arc will take place on the 5th of July and Erza arrives three days later for the Lullaby arc. Two days later, on July 10th, Natsu and Erza fight, kicking off the Galuna Island arc. That arc should last about three more days until the Galuna Island team sees what Gajeel did to the guild, on July 13th. July 16th marks the day of all the major fights between the guild. July 20th marks the technical end of the arc when Lucy rejects her father. However, the events of Next Generation, what I consider the epilogue of the arc, will be a month after the battle ends on August 16th.

A few of the dates are changed from my initial post, the big thing is that I've put dates on a lot of stuff I was ambiguous about. The big reason is that I have a better idea of what I can and want to fit in this part of the series and still have the timeline seem similar to canon. If it seems like I'm adding a bit more time to the series, I am trying to make time for at least three events from outside the main manga events of the series to happen.

I don't really have much to say about Natsu other than address a potential concern that can be had with my changes to him. I feel as though my decision to have Natsu grow into thinking of the guild as a family can be seen to make him more generic. While I understand this theme has been overdone in shonen as a demographic, the way Natsu's arc plays out somewhat justifies its inclusion. If I want Natsu to care more about someone who is his family, I should show a shift in Natsu's thinking about family. The upshot to doing this during the events of the series is that we can see how this shift happens in real-time, as opposed to what happened during the series.

In a similar vein, I feel the need to address an issue that my discussion of Lucy may have brought up. In that topic, I mentioned a significant detail relevant to the ending of my rewrite. I don't want to talk too liberally about my plans for the end. I want as much of it to be new for even followers of this series as possible. However, I can only care so deeply about this when I have this series and am dealing with a series that will have already been completed by the time I start publishing chapters.

In talking about Gray, I made a remark about his connection to Deliora in the final arcs implying that he doesn't have a moment that involves it. However, there is the fight with the Historia of Ur he shares with Lyon. During the fight, he's the one who gets Lyon to have the right mindset in fighting her. At this moment, it becomes clear that Gray has gotten past the events of Deliora.

I also questioned if there was a similar situation regarding the connection to him and facing E.N.D. The answer, loathe as I am to admit it, is Lost Iced Shell. It is a decision that I can only somewhat understand the logic behind. I can see Gray wanting to defeat Zeref in a way that will allow him to make up for almost killing Natsu and not have his friends miss him. However, the logic behind the actual magic is near nonexistent. 

That being said, Natsu and Gray's reconciliation after the fact is amazing, in canon. I'm not sure how I want to go about bringing Gray and Natsu to that without that. What's more, given a number of other changes, their relationship will look different than it does in canon. This is one of the toughest changes to account for in rewriting the series.

In talking about Wendy, I suggested that she might be motivated to grow because Natsu leaves to find Igneel. Later on, I all but confirmed this as my plan. To be clear, I do plan on having a major reason for Wendy's growth post-Tenrou to be Natsu wanting to protect her. I don't want this to be read as a matter of Natsu belittling Wendy, nor do I want Wendy to interpret it as such. The issue is that Natsu doesn't want something bad to happen to her that he can't prevent. Wendy grows so that she can be able to protect herself. The bad news is that this means she won't be in a number of the extra events from the series. The good news is that I'm not sure I want her in some of them, to begin with.

Regarding Lisanna, some may see a conflict between wanting her to be more important than the original and not trying to make her replace Lucy in the narrative. As I've mentioned a few times before, I don't think the potential narrative purposes Lucy and Lisanna serve are either contradictory or identical. Lucy's thing is that she finds guild as a type of family because she isn't as connected to her biological one. Lisanna sees the guild as an extension of the family she has. About the only reason they shouldn't be seen to get along is fan politics. I don't see why they both can't exist and both have relationships with Natsu that draw him closer to the guild for different but complementary reasons.

One thing long-time followers of me may have noticed missing in all of my posts about Juvia is a specific shot at the logic behind Juvia's death in the last arc. While I don't love the moment, I have found some logic behind it that is, at least somewhat acceptable. I plan to talk about it in the post I feel expected to make August 31st of next year.

As for Gruvia, I know that my position on the ship is definitely controversial. I don't know that it's impossible for me to justify Gruvia given what I'm trying to do. But I can't say that I need Gruvia to happen at all. I can't say that Gray ending up with Juvia is the only sign that he has let people grow closer to him and gotten past the trauma in his life. I also don't think Juvia needs to end up with Gray as a sign that she is able to love others better than before joining Fairy Tail, provided I handle it well.

I wasn’t expecting to do this, but I do want to talk about my handling of Acnologia’s backstory, as there were comments about it on my last post. I recognize that Mashima was involved with both handlings of his past, considering he didn’t have much time to get to it in the manga. I haven’t seen what the anime does with his backstory, but I definitely want to have the trigger for his transformation to stay seeing the girl be killed by dragons, as it was in the movie. If I want to change anything else, I will talk about it when I talk about him later on.

Finally, I want to address the question I started this series with: how bad is Fairy Tail? To be honest, I can't say that it's bad. By no means is it the best series ever written. But, through the process of rereading and reworking Fairy Tail, I'm constantly shocked by how little needs to be seriously changed. Of all the changes I've made, two are major fundamental changes to canon. A lot of the changes I've made and plan to make are either incidental changes due to those big changes or slight changes that may have been hinted at as possible within the original canon. 

Part of why I'm doing this rewrite the way I am is because I firmly believe that Fairy Tail isn't fundamentally flawed. I don't need to change the nature of most things in the series to make the whole thing work better. Of course, I think Fairy Tail has issues and I’m extremely wary of the people who don’t think so. However, I believe Fairy Tail is good enough to be the place I look to change Fairy Tail the most. Or rather, I want the series itself to dictate what changes I do and can make because it’s not terribly impossible for me to do it this way. I love that I have an outlet like this to explain my thought process in doing so.

But if you’ll excuse me, I have to actually work on the rewriting part of the deal. A common joke among writers is that they’ll talk more about the writing they want to do than actually doing it. It will be a while before I’m ready to share the fruits of my labor in this endeavor, but I hope my work shows and that you’ll be looking for it to come.

Based on the Introduction, Part 2, Part 3, Part 8, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 19, and Part 20

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 111 Thoughts

If this chapter doesn’t have forty pages of chibi Eren wandering through the woods asking where his nii-san is, what even is the point.

(The point is Drama.

Intrigue.

Fluid.)

Thanks, I hate it?

So yikes, we have a proper ballgame going and everything is awful leading into the ninth inning. It’s going to be extra innings with Paradis’ chief closer out of commission, up against their rival team. Truly one for the record books, people.

First thing is actually first, where the manga, in a fit of hysterics, gives me something I wanted: Numbers.

Over a hundred people have joined Eren’s side, deserting their posts. The suspicion is that they’ve done this out of the belief that the people with the power to rain down armageddon are maybe the safest shadows to hide under, and hey, with all the waffling their government has done about solving the problem of the whole world wanting them dead, why not?

For the larger groups, everything makes a simple amount of sense.

Eren has power, so people gather behind him.

Eren has power, so Paradis will yield to it for the sake of survival.

It’s a bit of a horrifying story, and one that I always take some joy in seeing. There comes a point where individuals have so much power where the only thing stopping them from changing the world however they see fit is their own boundaries.

Whatever Eren’s boundaries are, they’ve changed. He’s willing to kill children for the sake of his mission.

He is the most powerful card Paradis has, and without him, they have nothing.

Leaving them stuck doing whatever he wants them to.

It’s a similar tactic to the one he uses to drag the Survey Corps into his massacre; they need Eren, so they have no choice but to come support him in the choices he’s made as an individual. Everything else falls away in the face of the power Eren wields.

Yeah, the head of their government has been assassinated by his cult. Along with several other lives.

So?

Does that fundamentally change anything?

Does Paradis somehow need the Founding Titan less now that their command is facing disarray?

For a story so often pointing out that if you don’t fight, you can’t win, it’s pretty damn... something that the main character has all but removed the ability of a party he’s allied with to fight. They can’t resist him, and he knows it, and he’s exploiting it at his convenience.

Putting Zeke’s location on the negotiating table is cute, and a nice stall tactic in theory, but for all that Pixis says it’s not submission, Paradis is powerless.

If they don’t conduct rumbling experiments, they have no protection against the world.

They can’t conduct rumbling experiments unless they let the Yeager Bros come into contact.

If the Yeager Bros come into contact, they can do whatever the hell they want.

Which they have already been doing, so picture all of this, only more.

Pixis’ decision is really the only one he can make if he doesn’t want their people at each other’s throats. They can’t publicize how their one and only hope is willing to dismantle their government. They can’t publicize that they can’t trust their military to be acting in the interests that the government puts forth.

There’s a delicate balance here, with the balance being a complete lie because security has already toppled off and discovered that there’s no net below.

Their only prayer is someone swooping in and placing a trampoline down below before the crushing fall is completed, and there’s no guarantee of even that much happening.

If Zeke and Eren don’t want to help, no one can actually force them.

Zeke is one of two living humans in the world who can power the Founding Titan.

Eren currently has the Founding Titan.

They can’t kill Eren outside of a controlled environment, or else the Founding Titan will go who knows where. With Eren’s pile of abilities he’s nommed, fighting to subdue him will be next to impossible. With the added limitation of doing everything they can to avoid killing him?

Armin brings it up as a point of faith; if Eren has the Founding Titan, it shouldn’t matter what Zeke wants out of it.

Eren now has a cult who doesn’t blink twice at assassinating key government officials. Even if it doesn’t matter what Zeke wants, what Eren wants, or is at least willing to put up with, is heavily alarming.

“No, no, we’re not submitting. We’re negotiating.

What do you mean the only thing we have is something we’d have to hand over anyway to get what we want.”

Like.

Hell, man, talk the good game all you want to keep morale up, but you people and your entire society now rise and fall at the whim of a man who has put no effort into making himself look trustworthy.

So, you know.

Ganbatte.

Other special numbers include thirty soldiers + Levi standing in between Eren and Zeke once Eren finds Zeke, Hange, and three unnamed soldiers who are either about to be very dead, very traitor, or the coolest NPC badasses ever.

Meanwhile, Eren still has a hundred.

Just trailing around after him.

With bombs.

Considering Eren could kill most all of those people (except Levi and Hange) without help, I repeat the theme of this post that Paradis is so beyond screwed it has actually become laughable.

Another fun thing of note that only I care about is that even if Eren can’t get to Zeke, he might be able to get to Historia, and Nile appears to be in charge of her security.

The reason only I care about this is because Nile is in charge of her security, and Nile has been fed the story of Historia and NPC Farmer Guy being totes in love 5evr.

(NPC Farmer Guy has no name and no face. I declare him Red Shirt-san, and also reallllllly fucking dead. Especially if my crack theory of the carriage from last chapter rushing off to Historia was correct, meaning that Pieck, theoretically having tracked the carriages, is going to pay the Queen a visit.

Bye Nate.

(his name’s Nate your canon is invalid))

Briefly defending my descent into self-interest, Historia getting zero panels and barely any hearsay about her is driving me nuts for all sorts of reasons.

Two people (count them, two), in the entire world, are capable of drawing out the power of the Founding Titan. One of them is an untrustworthy dick. The other is Historia.

Historia, when last seen under extreme emotional duress, was of the opinion of, “fuck humanity titans did nothing wrong.”

As we can plainly see from her expression at the end of 107, there is nothing but blue skies and happiness going through her boundless considerations of humanity now, and she is most assuredly, definitely on their side as all of her friends ditch her in the middle of the woods and never visit or mention any concern for her except that one guy who has taken up murdering children, and he possibly did that in active defiance of concern for what problems it might cause her.

What could possibly go wrong.

There are about three people who hold the fate of Eldia in their hands, and we know what none of them are thinking. They also all have a much more casual relationship with murder than most of the rest of the cast.

What I’m trying to say is that Paradis your politics are boring because your livelihood hinges on three catastrophically emotionally damaged people, and all of the story’s energy is going towards keeping those people away from thought bubbles or general illumination.

If Historia, Eren, and Zeke decide that you guys die............ you die.

You possibly should have invested more in strategies that weren’t so entirely dependent on renegade children following orders.

Okay okay, enough pointing and laughing at the futility of government in shounen. Mikasa! How you liking your entire page of dialogue! Does it feel good? Does it make up for the gaping hole Eren being a nutcase is causing?

Of course it does!

I don’t know how I feel about Kiyomi, but I am glad that her relationship with Mikasa is so obvious in its self-interest. Mikasa isn’t being yanked around; she knows this person caring about her blood hasn’t translated to caring about her people.

Whatever Mikasa’s genes, Paradis is her home, and she considers herself as Eldian as anyone on it.

What’s interesting in that conversation is that Hizuru is still doing what it can to avoid being an ally of Paradis. They’re letting this one clan mess around, but unless results can be produced, the whole scheme is dead to them.

...

You know. Paradis had better start hoping that there’s still some massive secret to the Titans, because with the current knowledge available, they are just... so incredibly screwed on so many different levels.

I’m inclined to think that Kiyomi wanting Mikasa safe is one of the few shreds of honesty she has left. I’m an optimist. A child connected to the days of honor long gone... hey, it’s a romantic concept, even conniving foxes can have one last hurrah in them.

But also, Mikasa just doesn’t deserve people piling more lies on her.

A promise to protect someone calls to her heart. I’m sure Mikasa has thought those words to herself many times; whatever happens to Paradis, her priority has always been her family. Not a blood family, like Kiyomi holds on to, but one bound to her with ties of steel.

Only now her family is at odds.

Mikasa might care more about her family than anything else, but in practice, she’s a compassionate, responsible young woman. She can’t turn her back on the world just because her family has. She’s going to bleed herself dry trying to do the best for both of them.

That’s not a happy thought, because even if Mikasa, with all her strength and ability, fights for anyone in this conflict with all her heart, the concept of winning is a far off dream. Her supernatural gifts don’t make the world turn. Her gifts simply mean she might survive when everything around her explodes.

Yuck.

And also hey, Connie, I love you man, but you turn those angry eyes away from Mikasa pronto.

Then we’ve got the many trials of Nicolo.

Featuring Gabi and Falco.

...

I don’t wanna. I can skip this part.

Uggghgghghhgh.

Hell, this is a lot faster than I thought this disaster would come out, and it’s a lot grimmer than I really want and in general just ow.

Nicolo is a prisoner of war. He is allowed to cook. He finds light in cooking for people like Sasha. He’s Marleyan, and Eldians are devils, but being around them, his heart softens to them, and his role becomes something more complicated.

As a soldier, fighting the demons of Paradis is just what you do.

As a person, fighting people like Sasha, Jean, and Connie...

With a heavy heart, he can hand off laced wine to their superiors. He can continue to operate as a soldier fighting against Paradis. But the very thought of Connie and Jean being caught up in that sends him into a panic, and he falls back on racist rhetoric to cover it up.

Rhetoric his heart isn’t even in anymore, because more than killing, Nicolo finds himself in cooking. In bringing people happiness.

And Gabi killed the person who shows him that. The person who gave him solace from the hell of war.

It doesn’t matter that she’s a child, or a Warrior Candidate, or anything but the person who killed Sasha.

She cares about Falco’s life. That comes to stand as another condemnation of her. She knows what it is to care about someone? She’s valued enough that this boy is willing to jump in front of a blow meant for her?

Did she think the person she killed wasn’t?

It’s destructive and awful, and Gabi finally has a defense for herself that isn’t just brainwashed rage at the island. That girl? The one she shot? That’s the girl who shot someone she knew. Guards who watched over Warrior Candidates training, in charge of penning up Eldians, but they were still people Gabi saw a home in.

She can’t justify the loss of Sasha, but she can justify shooting back, especially at someone who just clubbed Falco in the head.

But she’s still just a brainwashed child.

Sasha’s father watches two people, profoundly touched by his daughter, ripping each other apart because they’re in pain. Sasha changes Nicolo for the better. Sasha and her path in life is what’s breaking this child.

A child is calling his daughter a devil. She’s been brought into this conflict and all she sees is the enemy, and the good there must be in fighting that enemy.

Gabi doesn’t even try to fight back when Sasha’s father holds up the knife.

She’s bleeding and in tears, and for one of the only times, she isn’t reacting with violence. She’s just a stunned little kid, wondering if the people who’ve fed and housed her on this island of evil are about to kill her. Like she killed the daughter they loved so much.

Of course the man who raised Sasha doesn’t lay a finger on her.

Of course the man who has to physically hold down his child to try to force her to stop eating so she won’t die of starvation later understands how hard the world is.

Horrific things have happened.

He isn’t going to bring one more into this world.

And Gabi... from the very start, she’s been the most passionate about becoming a Warrior. She’s going to follow in her cousin’s footsteps. She’ll commit war crimes, she’ll take on a death sentence, she’ll do whatever it takes. She’s a Warrior.

She’s a kid.

She doesn’t want these kind people to hate her.

Kaya reacts the same way Gabi has to everything so far. She charges in with the only weapon she can find, trying to kill the problem because the emotional strain of what’s actually going on is too big for her young heart to take.

Kaya, who really has been kind. Who’s the reason they’re here. Who’s been trying to get her and Falco home.

Kaya’s in tears, and Falco’s unconscious and bleeding.

All because of what Gabi’s done.

Nicolo sees the same thing.

That’s why he comes clean.

The world is such a cruel place.

They’ve got to spare the beauty where they find it.

I’m not going to touch that plot bomb, because the manga can do it for me in future chapters. Zeke having a bunch of government officials drink his spinal fluid is honestly on par with every other thing he’s done, so. One more point to the Paradis Screwed column.

So last word goes to Mikasa.

I mentioned in the chapter where Louise and Mikasa talked that Louise had seen Mikasa’s strength impact her life, but completely missed the kindness behind that strength. Mikasa is terrifying as a soldier. She’s cold and relentless.

As a person, she will ask the child who killed her friends to see her wounds, and hold her close to keep another child from hurting her.

Mikasa is kind.

Gabi has met so many good people on this island, and all of them are in tears.

It’s funny and sad that Mikasa and Armin take her into the back room to calm down. For all their lives practically, they’ve been looking after a reckless wild child who gets into fights they have to finish for him.

Gabi is as driven and passionate and full of anguish as Eren as a child, and now she’s with two of the people who know that.

Armin and Mikasa might not know how to help Eren, but they can help this little girl.

And Mikasa can keep another little girl from knowing what it’s like to knife someone in the back because they killed someone you love.

Welcome to Emotions.

Where everything is absolutely awful except maybe the people feeling them.

[five-wow]

to avoid extreme spam of anyone brave enough to follow me, i’m putting all of my 9.12 thoughts in one post. tl;dr: i loved it.

the (much, much) longer version:

the “previously on” starts with scenes from episode three or four of season one oh gosh

THIS IS A GRACE HIGHLIGHTS REEL. I’M ALREADY EMOTIONAL

first question of the night: rachel wakes up and finds that grace didn’t come home so she jumps in the car and races to danny’s, but where did she leave charlie in the middle of the night??? i’m assuming he was with her

i’ve already seen this very first bit in one of the previews but still: grace was driving a car that stan bought her two weeks ago and that DIDN’T HAVE PLATES YET and nobody told danny. there are so many things wrong with that

these actors are both so good in their despair though. the opening credits are just now starting and my heart has already been squeezed to a pulp???

steve!!! the very first thing we see after the credits is steve, sick with worry, half running into the hospital and speeding up when he sees danny to wrap him in a hug. he does this little hop thing?? that kills me??

so steve squeezes danny (and it kind of looks a little like danny was going for a handshake bro hug thing but steve just bulldozered over him and gave him the real hug they should be having? good steve) and then he rushes to rachel to hug her too, like a matter of course. i like that

oh noooo. the other girl’s dad turns up and blames he crash on grace (understandable under the circumstances but not helpful in the least) and as soon as steve realizes what’s happening he steps over to situate himself in between this guy and danny??? i love steve so much gosh

duke turns up with critical info and he tells steve about it??? not danny or rachel, and admittedly he maybe has a stronger bond with steve i guess but at least danny he definitely knows pretty well too (they’re ohana too, right?) but he tells steve about what’s technically danny’s daughter and there’s so many things to be read into that (the main thing obviously being that steve is as good as grace’s parent too and it’s canon fdjkfdjk)

i’m five minutes in at this point and i already have this much commentary. this is going to be long

i think i’ve said this before but: it’s not necessarily bad that stan bought grace a car. it’s not bad either that rachel didn’t tell danny, but if what rachel says and it’s because grace wanted to tell danny herself, then rachel should have put her foot down and not let grace go out with the car (that didn’t have plates yet??? that can’t be legal right?) until grace had actually told danny about it!!! rachel just doesn’t learn from her past mistakes about not telling danny shit about their kids that danny DEFINITELY should have been told and it’s a believable character flaw but it’s so painful

“there’s all kinds of things that happen that you should’ve told me about that you don’t tell me about, i’m used to it, alright? i’m used to it.” danny fucking knows and this is honestly the number one reason why romantic danny/rachel can’t ever work again as far as i’m concerned because it would be built on so much resentment and pain and pure shit that it’s just too much to put behind you, because they won’t ever be able to fully, completely trust each other again (and not all of it would be rachel’s fault, btw, i’m not saying that - it’s just that when she fucks up, she fucks up big time)

“i’m a cop now. i’ll keep it professional.” [cut to tani pushing her suspect out of his chair and onto the floor] well, you know, she’s got a point there. that’s exactly what professional looks like to five-0 (i like this secondary plotline a lot though! tani as protective and slightly violent older sister is super interesting)

danny is calling steve to update him even though there’s barely any knews because steve deserves to know everything (and probably because danny’s wants to hear his voice, lbr) and it’s good

this phone call between tani and junior is also super sweet!! (though it does kind of add obvious fuel to the fire of parallels they’re drawing between tani&junior and danny&steve, whether that’s something you like or not)

the whole team is so concerned about danny and of course they are but it’s still really good to see!!

of course grace can’t just get in a car accident, it has to be some kind of a crime. (i don’t even really mind but it’s just so predictable, gosh. they need someone to blame)

kamekona and flippa are bringing food to the hospital!!! that’s so thoughtful!

charlie! he exists in this episode! i’m still slightly fuzzy on where he was all night (because noelani comes in with him but the way she then asks charlie if he wants to hang out doesn’t seem like he’s been with her this whole time, so where the hell was he?) but it’s good to see him now, at least

also!!! noelani babysitting charlie!!! EVERYONE IS HELPING OUT. OHANA. <3

danny had noelani bring some stuff for rachel which is good and kind but the sweatshirt thing makes me... a little concerned... about romantic connotations. but i’m stubbornly deciding to read this as a purely platonic gesture to help out a sort-of-friend/co-parent

OOPS steve calls because they located a phone that grace received a threatening text message from at the hospital, but is leading danny to this person really a good idea right now? oh gosh

oh god grace was helping a classmate that got bullied and she dropped a girl’s phone in someone’s beer to stop her from showing around a picture and i love grace

the thing is, right. the thing is. I KNOW that grace is going to be okay because she’ll be in the next episode, eating pancakes at danny’s and laughing with steve, but i’m STILL almost crying watching danny and rachel wait with all this sickening tension without knowing anything and then watching them rush to get some news only to hear there’s been a complication and all they can do, AGAIN, is wait more

it’s GOOD but it’s SO PAINFUL

steve, junior and lou watch a security tape of zippy’s where some creepy guy keeps coming up to grace and katie’s table and then grace gets up and clearly tells the guy to go away and a) that’s really good on its own but also b) steve’s proud “atta girl”!!! yes!!!

danny apologizes for being mean about the car, holy shit. and yes, he was a little mean, maybe, but he was also incredibly stressed and he had a right to be angry, god.

“i should have been more honest with you. about a lot of things.” at least rachel had realized that much, omg.

rachel is playing the “what if” game and danny tells her that she shouldn’t and it’s actually a really nice moment. i like this.

THAT VIDEO. and both rachel and danny just crying and crying and the mutual forehead kisses and comfort??? i think i’ve made it pretty clear that i don’t ever want romantic danny/rachel again but this? i LOVE this. they can’t be a couple but they can still be a team and family in this weird way through their kids.

danny is just sitting on the floor in a hallway now and steve finds him and sits down next to him before they even say a single word and i’m already swamped with feelings just from that. i’m easy like that djfdkjf

steve says that grace is really taking after danny by going after bullies and standing up for the little guy and danny says “i think maybe she gets that from you more than me” anD I AM DECEASED. RIP ME. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HANDLE THESE FAMILY FEELS??

i’m not going to quote their entire conversation about steve being in more of grace’s pictures than danny and steve saying they should throw grace a big graduation party in steve’s backyard and danny actually smiling about something but i COULD because this is EVERYTHING I EVER WANT.

rachel finds them with the news that grace is OKAY and FUCK YES but also???? danny and steve’s expressions of relief???? are the exact same??????? and then there’s THAT ONE HUG that involves danny and rachel and steve, all three of them, and at this point literally nobody can convince me that steve isn’t as much a parent to grace as either of these other two

ALSO. LET ME JUST TALK ABOUT THAT HUG FOR A BIT. danny and rachel fall into each other’s arms because duh, at this point, of course you’d hug, and danny kind of swings them around a bit and then REACHES FOR STEVE who’s standing there right next to them with his hands on his hips and just DIVES into it and rachel makes room for him too? and then they’re CLINGING TO EACH OTHER and steve has closed his eyes and wrapped himself around them and he has his chin on danny’s shoulder and danny is smushed between them and have i given of the vibe that I LOVE THIS yet because I DO

grace! we get to see grace in color for the first time this episode!

there’s a party for grace at danny’s home!!! and danny says he didn’t know about it and i’m leaning towards believing him because i can easily be 100% convinced that this was steve’s doing oh gosh

GRACE AND STEVE HUG. literally just the hug content in this episode is lethal to me oh shit

“we’re still here, okay. anytime you need us, we got you.” PRIME DAD!STEVE. FUCK YES.

djfdjkfd @ steve somewhere in the background when kamekona mentions the restaurant going “i still prefer the name steve’s”

koah’s thing about appreciating tani and appreciating being brought into this big weird family????? almost made me cry again

OH NO. yep i was bracing for this already because i’d seen enough people talking about this, but i’m at the end, with danny and rachel outside at a small table and danny brings her some food they ate at their first date and she points that out and he says that it’s on the menu because it was their first date meal and, uhhhh, no. nope. don’t do that, come on, guys, what the fuck

alright, so yes, there are pretty undeniable flirting vibes here, but i’m stubborn. i’m still going to deny them. i’m going to view this as a happy end where danny and rachel have been brought a little closer together as divorced parents of two kids and where they can share a moment again without it devolving into a fight and i’m choosing to let that be all it is. and steve’s look and smile at them? that would honestly be out of character if it was supposed to be “oh i’m happy that danny might be getting back together with his ex-wife” so obviously i’m going to interpret that as “oh i’m happy that danny and rachel seem to be getting along platonically because that’ll make danny and grace and charlie’s life easier”

okay, now that i’ve seen all of it, two things:

what happened to katie??? she was just as bad off as grace from what we heard but we never got to hear if she was alright??? and the thing with her dad was never resolved either???

MELISSA. remember, danny’s girlfriend??? i’m about 99.9% sure we never heard that she and danny broke up, unless i missed something, and i don’t think i did. so. what the fuck are we supposed to think there? i’m not certain they’ve mentioned her once this season but at the same time danny was definitely teasing steve about his lack of dates in 9.01 and that was a prime opportunity for steve to say something, anything, to danny about danny’s dating life as a comeback, but they didn’t take that chance so at that time i assumed he was still with melissa. but? now they seem to be doing this thing with rachel? and melissa has been forgotten? i see people in the fandom say that danny is single all the time and i get it because at this point it’s an assumption that makes sense, with how little melissa has been mentioned for seasons now, but we’ve never gotten confirmation of that and it bugs the hell out of me because she’s a character that supposedly played a big role in his life at one point and she was in multiple episodes and now they don’t even have the time for like, one line of dialogue that somehow tells us what’s what? the complete irony here is that i never really liked danny and melissa’s relationship (she is so young for him, and that’s just the start of it) and now i sound like i’m defending it when really i just don’t want this poor woman to be treated so ridiculously. i swear i’m going to file a missing persons report omfg where is melissa #melissadeservedbetter

aside from my bitterness about melissa though - i LOVED this episode. it was tense and painful and i’m as concerned about the danny/rachel hints as the next guy, but it’s not that explicit here and i do like seeing them together as friends so i’m good with it for the most part for now? and there was SUCH good dad!steve content and some amazing steve/danny and the steve-danny-rachel hug killed me as much as i’d hoped and there was a steve and danny hug and a steve and grace hug and the sideplot was great too and i loved seeing tani and koah together more, and i just??? really loved almost every second of it a lot