#that was sure as hell an interesting parallel to include by accident

[vanmarkus]

I just rewatched the recovery episode (he looks so cozy) and I never even clocked that buck says he'll need more than one beer even though that's probably not a good idea in his condition. but yeah he hasn't been sleeping because he's scared of what might happen and maybe beer will help but then he falls asleep right away because... eddie <3 aaah (as if couch theory wasn't enough to make me cry already)

don't even get me started lmao

I mean tbf he had all the checks and stuff done by then, so technically a few beers shouldn't have been a big deal but all he wanted to do was just to unwind... and that's what he did <3 on Eddie's couch <3 where we saw both Eddie and Chris conked out within episodes of this <3 and no, I'm still not okay about that <3

[erikiara80]

Stranger Things and Wayward Pines parallels

I started watching Wayward Pines after @chirpsythismorning made this post, and I'm sure other people have already talked about it. The Duffers co-produced that show and also wrote some episodes.

Here some of the parallels that intrigue me the most. There will be spoilers, of course.

Wayward Pines is set in 4028-4032. An ambitious scientist, David Pilcher, discovers that the human DNA is mutating, so he and his sister Pam come up with a plan to save humanity. Pilcher builds a town, abducts a few selected, puts them in cryo hibernation, and then they all sleep for centuries, while the world collapses and a process of evolution mutates the human race into Abbies (Abberations)

First thing I noticed: many characters say that they woke up in Wayward Pines after a car accident, including the main character, Ethan Burke, a Secret Service Agent who was investigating the disappearance of two federal agents.

This makes me think about my theory that everything changed after a car chase/accident in 1976, here and here. And here what I think happened to Will and El in that accident (TW: mention of drowning and suffocation)

Hell and "Paradise"

Pilcher tells Ethan the truth about their little town: "You didn't think Wayward Pines ran itself, did you?"

Owens: "You didn't think we were working out of a shed, did you?" (In Wayward Pines, they find a tunnel system under a shed)

There are some very interesting parallels between Pilcher and his sister, Nurse Pam, and Brenner and Terry. We'll see if there's some surprise about Terry, if she was really just a student, or there's something more.

I always thought that this photo hinted at something, a deeper connection between Mama and Papa. Like the two Bonsai Trees books in Terry's house and Brenner's bonsai in S4 seem to imply.

When Pam starts to have doubts about their project, David orders her to be put back into cryo-suspension.

Pam gives Theresa a key card to help her find answers. Henry gives El a key card, too.

CJ plays chess, like Henry and El. For centuries CJ was the custodian of all the frozen, sleeping people in the mountain. He would wake up periodically for a brief period of time, to make sure that systems were online and that the facility was well cared for, and then he would go back to sleep himself. Every time he wakes up, he plays chess and talks to his girlfriend, but she's not really there...

And then there is Jason Higgins, who definitely makes me think about Henry Creel. Jason is the "chosen one", the kid that was raised by the Pilcher siblings to become the leader of Wayward Pines and what is left of humanity. He always felt different, he wanted to explore new lands...

Henry becoming an explorer.

And then this. In The First Shadow there are creepy vibes between Henry and his mother, and in S3 Robin and Steve talk about Back to the future and Lorraine being attracted to her own son, Marty.

Jason is in a relationship with Kerry Campbell, but he doesn't know that she is actually his mother! This is possible because he was awakened from cryo-sleep and grew up, while Kerry kept sleeping. Also, Pilcher lied about his family. He wanted to adopt Jason, the son of a pregnant student, but when she lost the baby, Pilcher and his sister adopted Kerry's baby.

So, we also have something similar to the "babies switched at birth" thing that has been hinted a lot on Stranger Things. In the newspaper article in 1x08, Terry's story is Joyce's story, word by word, so...

I will make a post about Back to future and the possible meaning of Steve and Robin's dialogue about Lorraine being attracted to her son, and Steve not calling Fox's character Marty, but Alex P. Keaton, another character played by Fox. There's a lot to say!

Anyway, on Stranger Things, the characters have said that something's wrong (Nancy to Murray: "Your timeline is wrong", and Hopper in the play: "My timeline is off") So, IF they are stuck in a time loop and we're dealing with many timelines, there could be some big surprise, even something similar to the Jason-Kerry plot twist. Similar, not the same.

[sunshine-zenith]

Also let’s talk about how the crown affected Farmworld Finn and the Winter King

Finn Mertens isn’t the warm(get it), happy guy we’re used to. He’s still protective and badass, but he stays out of trouble. Some of it is clearly just the world he lives in — the Farmworld isn’t the safest place overall — but he shuts down at the mention of the crown. The opening scene of Destiny shows the “Snowman” attack a family, including a baby, potentially killing them — even if he doesn’t really remember that (like Simon only has fuzzy memories of being Ice King), the knowledge alone is enough to haunt someone for the rest of their life

Winter King, meanwhile, was clearly living in denial — he redirects attention to all the gifts he could give than focus on his time as Ice King, he refuses to admit the awful thing he did to his Princess Bubblegum, and he claims not to remember Betty before suggesting Simon replace her with magic. This last bit, he tries to play it off as a joke and calls it unethical, but we see an Ice Marcy in the castle — he’s aware that the shit he pulls is messed up and he’s fine with hiding it.

The thing is, he lived with the curse for like 900-ish years before finding a way to offload most of the curse onto another person. Candy Queen is a danger to him, and even if she isn’t he clearly doesn’t enjoy her being around him. But he’s choosing to let her keep existing — he’s chosen for years to let someone else suffer the way he suffered, because he’d rather face inconvenience/danger/the knowledge of how fucked up his actions are than go back to the crown

Let’s look at how these two compare to Simon — while he’s overall been more alright with talking about the way the crown affected him than Finn Mertens, he’s also willing to go back to it. Sure, Ice King doesn’t have the weight of fairly recent human murders on his back, but the guy was technically a villain and did hurt people. On the other hand, neither of them are coping with the crown’s aftermath well. Finn and Simon both seem to have unhealthy relationships with alcohol to cope with the crown — Simon’s shown binge drinking and seems to be a regular at the bar. Finn on the other hand has children and is clearly doing his best to provide to them, so I doubt he gets wasted often, and the one time Jay said he did, it seemed like an accident, but it’s notable that the only time he was willing to talk about his trauma was after he had gotten drunk

That lack of warmth (get it lol get it) I mentioned earlier is something they both share as well. Finn still has his Jake and clearly loves his dog, but he pulls his daughter away from Jake to have her do chores, even though Jake was clearly itchy and very much doesn’t have the strength or flexibility to properly scratch the itch. Finn’s children are well cared for, but quiet. They clearly don’t expect much affection from their father, and seem pretty used to him being unhappy/short with them. Simon, meanwhile, shows remorse for making Astrid cry but doesn’t make up for it when she returns. He isn’t reaching out to Marceline, even though she’s basically his daughter and would totally welcome him around (plus Bubblegum seems pretty happy to hear from him as well). It had only called back later or something, they could’ve talked about how he was trying, he clearly was, but he still needs help.

They also share an aversion to cold it seems — Simon’s reaction to the ice in his drink, all the times Finn Mertens stares into open fire (though maybe there’s a chance his wife could’ve been the Farmworld’s equipment of Flame Princess, but you gotta admit this series is really leaning into Finn/Huntress Wizard). It’s notable that, after wheedling ice magic as a teenager, the adult Finn Mertens builds a flamethrower into his prosthetic arm

Simon and Winter King, meanwhile, have some interesting parallels in how they treat Fionna and others. Simon’s so at the end of his rope and not coping that he’s willing to return to mental hell, essentially go though with magical suicide, under the guise of helping Fionna and Cake. Sure, his desire to help them is genuine, but his self sacrifice here is deeply unhealthy. Winter King is meanwhile behaving horrifyingly selfish, but with equally desperate motivations (the PB/CQ situation), and he’s hiding behind it by giving out presents and entertainment. He’s genuinely fulfilling Cake and Fionna’s wishes, and is sincerely trying to fulfill’s Simon’s “need” for a new crown. He’s gleefully giving them tours and playing games and inviting Simon into his lab. Shoot, he doesn’t have to use magic to give Cake Wi-Fi but he does anyway

The difference is that Simon is doing something self destructive with his need to help Fionna, while Winter King is distracting from how destructive his actions are by giving Fionna what she wants

Then there’s their respective Bettys. Simon’s not coping with losing Betty, like, at all. She either doesn’t exist anymore or she’s more or less become a god. He’s trying to summon a way to her instead of living his life. Winter King meanwhile is acting like Betty meant nothing to him. Sure, he’s had at least a hundred years to properly work through her death, but like. He’s a Simon. And he seems to have even less of a support system than our Simon — his only friends are a couple of ice people he made. Dude totally hasn’t sat down with his grief to work through it. He clearly isn’t letting the past go even though he’s acting like it doesn’t matter to him (the Ice Marcy thing)

I don’t have a conclusion, other than like. Ya know. The crown hurts people. And clearly the multiverse doesn’t have a therapist that specializes in helping people working through that pain

[thechekhov]

So glad you decided to play Undertale! I think it would really suit you so I’m so happy you got into it! Could I have your thoughts about the game? I would LOVE to hear them. I’m ALL for long essays and rants, that’s my jam, but even just a small review from you would make me ecstatic!

Alright alright alright alright. 

I am ecstatic that someone asked because I have a lot to say AS ALWAYS. 

I’m gonna try to keep this readable, I swear. Will add pictures in between to keep things interesting. 

However, due to the length this will SURELY achieve, AND due to spoilers (and yes, laugh at me all you want, the game has been out for 5 years) I’ll put this under a cut. Read at your own (f)risk.

Metagaming - the game plays YOU

When I first started Undertale, I ‘knew’ these things:

there’s a stabby one with a knife, their name is chara

there’s a flower everyone hates

something something sans something something

and the last, and perhaps most important thing

you can spare your enemies to avoid killing them

The thing is. The THING IS. 

I did not realize how pervasive this strategy was. My thought at first was ‘okay, so I don’t have to kill EVERYONE.’

I had no idea that the reality was that I didn’t have to kill anyone.

I’m sure many others have already said this, but Undertale kind of changes the way you think about other games. It forces to you examine simply fighting your way through the RPG by introducing completely non-murder-y ways to resolve issues. This conversation-based combat style is not the first of its kind, I’m sure, but it’s also incredibly well done. It ties into the story, it ties into your decisions.

It ties into your decisions SO MUCH that it changes everything else in the outcome.

Undertale is a game well known for breaking the 4th wall. However, it does so in a strangely eerie, heart-wrenchingly real way. It teaches us that there are other solutions to conflicts - and it really... it really TEACHES us, you know?

Which is funny because to be honest, it took me a while to get the lesson.

(You may already be fully aware of this but yes, my first True Neutral Route was extremely organic. I legitimately had no idea that there was even more than one ending. I was just stumbling about er... killing. Out of habit.)

The beauty of this is that the game drives home that point even more effectively because I was fully unaware of my own bias. I had assumed that some enemies would require killing - DESPITE TORIEL SPECIFICALLY TELLING ME TO TALK TO THEM, and the entire Ruins tutorial being about Mercy. I killed the Dummy on accident (granted, it was due to me pressing the key too fast a few times) and didn’t think much of Toriel’s disapproval. I killed a few monsters because I saw my level was low and decided to automatically grind a little bit. 

By the time I got to Toriel, I was still not comfortable with the mechanic. I knew I could Spare her somehow - after all, she was a kind monster, and clearly an important character - but the Spare option didn’t yield promising results the first few times I chose it. I ran out of patience and decided that maybe... maybe it was like pokemon! 

Maybe I had to get her health down to a certain level before she would allow me to pass through.

Funny thing though.... you know what happens if you attack Toriel one too many times? Even if she has most of her health left? 

Yeah uh... it activates that one-hit-KO thing from No Mercy Route.

So of course, what happened? I hit her one too many times... and killed her! And of course, immediately panicked and reset. 

I got back to my previous save, Spared Toriel PROPERLY this time, and walked out of the ruins only to be confronted with my own reliance on the magical ‘redo’ button which was... apparently... not that magical.

Because it WASN’T a clean redo. Flowey apparently remembered. 

The idea that the game would KNOW about my previous attempts beyond the save file snapped me out of my casual Undertale playthrough. I realized that something was up - this game was not going to be like the others.

I think it was from this point on that I tried to be more careful, but again - I still hadn’t quite gotten the memo about not killing. I took down a few monsters around Snowdin. And when I got to Papyrus, I grew frustrated about not being able to beat him (I ended up losing several times and coming back to try again) and went off to grind SOME MORE because I figured that could raise my HP and increase my chances of holding off long enough to Spare him. 

(The incredible thing about this game is that actually, raising your level gives you only a slight advantage. You can be level 1 and carrying no items, and as long as you’re relatively proficient at dodging the bullet hell style projectiles you will have no issues.) 

Anyway, the point is that I realized I could spare the big monsters and did so readily - but I didn’t bother to spare many of the smaller ones. 

I figured it didn’t matter. 

And then I successfully evaded Undyne, gave her a cup of water, etc... and then went to her house to meet Papyrus, fully expecting her to befriend me anyway. 

And you know what happened?

“She said she won’t hang out with a murderer.“

I think that probably hit me the hardest at that point in the game. 

I had a bit ‘....oh’ moment at that point because I realized that the game would punish me for killing even the ‘not-important’ civilians of the Underground. It wasn’t about just sparing the ‘boss monsters’. My actions had consequences beyond just the ‘elite’ characters that we all tend to focus on.

Because yes, it made sense. It wasn’t about just Undyne - why WOULD she randomly be my friend after I killed tons of living beings?

From there on, I spared everyone, but didn’t reset. I decided to see how it would unravel.

The thing I want to talk about, which is a little difficult, is that...

It took me that long to learn that kindness was the answer. And that, in itself, ends up being a metaphor. 

It’s difficult to be kind if you have not been show how to be.

It’s difficult to change the way you behave (in a game or out of it) if all you know is using other methods.

It was hard enough to spare Toriel before I realized I had to just be very patient and trust that her attacks wouldn’t hit - though at first I thought she would just kill me! 

It was hard to avoid Papyrus’ attacks and I had to die several times before I successfully got through it. 

It was near impossible to fight Undyne because I legitimately had no idea Fleeing was an option. I struggled for ages at her stage, and I had to ask for help to understand what I could do.

And that’s actually honestly very true to life as well.

Being kind takes risk. Being kind takes effort. And sometimes, being kind means asking others HOW to be kind. 

When you choose to be kind, you risk being hurt, and you risk being trapped (Toriel). When you choose to be kind, you need to expand a lot more energy to succeed (Papyrus). When you choose to be kind, you need to sometimes reach out to others to show you how to properly do it (Undyne).

The rest of the playthrough probably went about as you expect. I completed the game, didn’t kill any Boss Monsters, fought to the end and... got that really unsatisfying Neutral Ending which felt strangely bittersweet. 

And of course, after I was done, I was prompted to go back and do a proper Pacifist Run. Which I did. I learned about the background of Determination, about Chara and Asriel... and about how everything came to be the way it was.

The thing that gets me the most about this game is how it serves as a direct parallel to how we use videogames. In fact, Undertale is a videogame... about videogames. 

Chara appears to be a direct metaphor for the people that use videogames to escape - to cope with whatever happened to them in The Overworld. Bad family life, or bad relationships or whatever we suffer - escapism through games is not, in itself, a new theme. 

Chara arrived in Undertale by dropping themself down a hole in the mountain, perhaps even seeking to end their life. They dropped into a world which offered them comfort and companionship, a new family and a new life - but in the end, their nature was destructive because their means to finding a solution inadvertently used other people as fodder. Asgore, Asriel - they used everyone else to complete their plans. It wasn’t about forming connections - it was about Completing the Quest. 

I wonder - did Chara even HAVE access to a MERCY option? 

Was their world one without the option of sparing someone? Did they only have the choice of acting - and was Mercy in the hands of whoever attacked them? I wonder how difficult it might have been for them. I wonder how that, in itself, shaped their perception of the world. 

I wonder if that’s why, during the No Mercy run, people recognize you as Chara? If they come back and attach themselves to your resonating DETERMINATION?

If this is true, was MERCY perhaps created later, brought into existence once Asriel himself made the choice to NOT fight, to turn back and flee, even after being attacked by humans in the Overworld? 

(It would be a nice parallel to Asgore DESTROYING the Mercy option when you enter the fight with him...)

...

In the end, I think Undertale is about many things, including video games. 

But it’s also hurting - and being hurt. 

It’s about how trauma can shape us, how we deal with feeling grief, and loss, and depression - and not being able to feel anything.

It’s about how we focus on goals and use DETERMINATION to keep going - even when whatever it is that’s driving us no longer has any SOUL. 

It’s about how our action have consequences, but they also carry the weight of a choice, and how powerful those choices are, and how powerless we feel when we aren’t given a choice - not to fight back, nor show mercy. 

I think that’s probably the reason this game resonated with so many people. It really brings something we love about videogames to the forefront - that ability to fight back, to have full and total control of our own lives...

And it also shows us how having that endless loop of repetitive grinding and fighting with zero consequences can lead to an incredible hollowness and make us numb to how we interact with real-life people. 

Anyway. 

Good game. 

[enderspawn]

op I am pleading for you to talk about c!Schlatt I keep getting interrogated for saying c!Schlatt was the best president and he really didn't do anything super terribly wrong please talk about him

i mean... im sorry anon but idk abt best PRESIDENT. manburg under schlatt.... kind of sucked imo JFKDLSJFKL

1. manburg had massive food shortages, to the point the average citizen (including fundy) had to eat spider eyes to survive.

2. he imposed ludicrious tax of his civillians (namely niki. we dont know if he did that to Every Business like w fundy or if he targeted niki specifically bc of her closeness to the ex-president, but neither is good)

3. exiled those who he saw as political opponents to keep his power

4. straight up ignored his cabinet a lot of the time to make his own decisions (such as destroying the white house, which led to quackity leaving)

5. was widely hated by all the citizens. literally at one point all the ppl left in manburg was schlatt and jack manifold (who was MIA on the server and left to found Manifold Land when he came back)

6. held a public execution, AGAIN without the consent or knowledge of his cabinet (IF I REMEMBER RIGHT. i know big q opposed the execution at minimum, but idk for sure if he knew it was planned at all before the festival)

7. was basically at war his entire presidency thanks to pogtopia's existence

and thats just what i can think of rn! the reasons i like c!schlatt are fully based around him as a character and HIS personal development, not around his policies or actions. especially when compared to the other two presidents, who either won or prevented a war and kept the majority of its citizens happier and healthier than Manburg, he's.... probably the worst president they had tbh

BUT since you gave me an excuse to ramble abt him anyway, i wanna go on abt what i DO like abt him (under a cut bc this post is already kinda long oops) but

tldr; i like schlatt bc of his relationships with others, his flaws and pitiable moments, and how he is a fantastic parallel/foil to the characters around him

I like his complex (and yes, abusive) relationship with quackity, especially after his death and quackity's feelings flipping rapidly between hating him and missing him. but before that they did have a honeymoon-esque period-- at least from quackity's view.

watching their date you get the idea schlatt mightve never really been interested in him and mightve just been using quackity's interest in him for his own advancement! but we dont know.

maybe he did truly love quackity in his own fucked up way in the end, even if he wasnt a good person. maybe he regrets his actions and cruelty. or maybe he doesnt.

in the end they were (like the animatic i linked said) "built from the same dirt", they're both incredibly ambitious and prideful people and parallel each other a LOT (see: q's need for power, his want to execute ranboo paralleling tubbos execution, etc). they're not good for one another, but i love seeing just how they fall apart together (i hope you die, i hope we both die kind of beat)

and.... god his relationship and impact w fundy i could ramble abt all day dude. fundy kept schlatt's sword after his death and calls it an heirloom. we dont know 100% how old fundy was when wilbur was exiled (i mena... he ran for president but current fundy is like 20something and tommy ALSO ran as vp at 16) but we can assume he was a late teen. his own father was gone, but schlatt... seemed to CARE. he showed him affection.

fundy's never truly felt like hes BELONGED anywhere (even the country his father said was all for him, he felt ostracized and made different by his fathers doting babying) and because of that hes always looking for a group to be a part of. hes a people pleaser (its part of why hes so easy for big q to get for las nevadas).

and schlatt GIVES him that feeling of belonging he deserves. hes a spy the entire time, yes, but he becomes conflicted about it as time goes on.

could schlatt just be using fundy and filling his head with empty praise? sure, i couldnt fault you at all for that interpretation, its perfectly valid. BUT, i dont think so. he seemed genuinely shocked to see fundy oppose him on nov 16th. remember, he didnt know fundy was a spy.

in that moment he realizes just HOW alone he is and always has been. and its a tragic moment: the last person he had, the person he himself mightve truly CARED about left him just like everyone else. he was alone, truly and fully. even his allies were only there out of obligation and bc of him paying.

he knows his health has been failing him. he cant even swim due to muscular issues but he refuses see a doctor about it because he refuses to let himself be seen as weak.

hell, one could argue that issue leads to his abraisive and abusive behavoir in relationships: he refuses to let himself be true and genuine to anyone, there always has to be a wall and a proud perfect persona. its part of why hes a great villain both in narrative and to watch as a casual fan: just like c!wilbur, he's playing an act.

hes a foil and a parallel to wilbur. both are men who hide their true selves behind a certain role or persona they feel they have to play while they hide their crumbling health (schlatt's more physical and wilbur's more mental). both experience their rise and fall. but wilbur isnt despised, even if he thinks he is, while schlatt isnt truly loved by anyone, even if he thinks he is.

most of all, their deaths couldnt be more different. wilbur went out with a bang. a large dramatic scene fit for a storybook, with a long monologue and cinematic final blow ALL made to fit how he saw himself in a story and simply filling a required roll. but schlatts death is practically overlooked (especially in comparison to wilburs death and everything else that happened that day).

he built his entire persona about being this massive, larger than life powerful guy but he died small, weak, and frail to his own failing body. its... pitiful, honestly. it doesnt feel fitting, it feels wrong. his life up that point demanded drama, but his death was nothing more than... an accident, almost. unintentional. clumsy. its fucking brilliant.

[themadauthorshatter]

OH MY, GOODNESS!

RED SCHOOL UA HEADCANONS/STORY!

Sorry for not picking this up earlier. This part we are focusing on Arc 2: where the RQ cast meets the SGE cast.

Sophie is über excited at meeting the crown prince, but Agatha is less enthused because she's a realist and doesn't know HOW the RQ crew is getting over to the SGE.

Tedros and his friends are ecstatic they're meeting the Nortan princes. They even wonder if there are more than just Cal and Maven.

The students are all on the hot topic of Nortans visiting, though Agatha is pulled aside by Hester, Dot and Anadil, who all express their anger and impatience at Sophie, who won't shut up about Cal in particular, even though he's betrothed. Agatha assures them everything will be fine when Sophie sees that Cal and Evangeline are an item. (Yeah right. Marecal all the way.)

In Norta, it's rumor city among the Silvers, who aren't exactly looking forward to entertaining a bunch of school children.

Our main three in Norta are talking about their upcoming excursion to the school in the Endless Woods, Cal being apprehensive to leave Norta practically unguarded for an unspecified amount of time, but excited at the idea of seeing new lands, Maven just not wanting to go because it seems like a waste of time, effort, and resources, and Mare not exactly sharing her thoughts because she'll be even further away from her family than before.

Evangeline is not amused. At all. She's just playing along until they get back and never have to deal with the students of the School for Good and Evil again.

Regardless, they don't know what could be there, so they need to make sure they're not potentially making any new enemies by this complete accident on Tibe's part. Or, that's his thought process at least. And he's only told Cal this information, as, from what he can tell, the SGE isn't Red and Silver and instead use magic, a concept only found in fairytales. With an entire school of teenage witches and wizards and warlocks, and maybe a dragon or two, assuming this place is prestigious and in the higher end, it's better to make an ally rather than an enemy. And the idea of warring aginst school children does not sit well with Cal.

In training later, though, Maven and Mare see that Cal is absolutely faking his excitement at least a little bit, like 58% faking it. It shows when Arven pits him against Evangeline, Sonya, and Elane.

He ends up nearly burning all three of them alive, lost in wanting to get the fight and group training over with so he can be alone and think his thoughts.

Silly, Cal. Maven is paying attention, and asks what's wrong.

Cal brushes it off and says everything's fine, but Mare and Maven know better, Mare having seen what liars look like and Maven knowing Cal for all his life.

Cal tries to a go about his day and ignore whatever he's thinking, which is difficult to do because Maven's following him. He turns and Maven stops, simply explaining that he's going the same way as Cal. They continue walking, but Cal notices that Maven's not really going anywhere, content to follow his bother. This results in a chase between the two of them, Cal jogying before speinting to shake Maven off his tail, succeeding when he loses Maven down a hall, as in he ran down the hall partially before hiding behind a wall and watching Maven sprint right past him.

Maven only realizes he got played when he can't hear Cal anymore.

He and Cal don't meet up for the night.

He talks about this with Mare, and brings up that Cal's avoiding him.

TV/Graphic novel perspective, over time we see Cal get followed by both Maven and Mare, though over this time Cal grows more agitated and looks more annoyed and tired as they continue to try to see what's wrong with him. Maybe we even get a gag of both Mare and Maven spying on Cal from behind a wall, hiding behind it when he looks over his shoulder, and then continue their spying when he looks back, confused, annoyed, and agitated.

After a week, Cal catches Mare and pulls her into a room before leaving and telling her to wait for him.

He returns with Maven, who's over his shoulder, trying to remain calm, because Cal's stronger and bigger than him, and even tries, in mild panic, to negotiating to not beat him to a pulp, because Cal looks ready to murder them both.

He sets Maven on his feet and tells them both very bluntly to stop following him; not only is it freaking him out, but his soldier instincys are going haywire and he will not heistate to attack them both, which he doesn't want to do because it won't end well.

Mare and Maven apologize, but, being concerned despite herself, Mare asks Cal what his problem is, seeing as how he's avoiding both her and Maven.

Cal gives them a tired look and takes a breath. "Fine."

CUT THE THE SGE!

Tedros, Tristan, and Chaddick are hanging out together away from the Evergirls, though Chaddick does admit that the girls are looking nice today(16 year old hormones, am I right?)

Tedros isn't listening, balancing his sword on his fingertips.

Tristan, arguably the most feel-y of the three, wonders if or when the Silvers will arrive.

Tedros doubts they will, but one can hope.

This turn if pessimism confuses both Tristan and Chaddick, and Tedros happily explains:

They're all just students. What would royals and nobles want with a bunch of schoolchildren? They don't even have magic, don't believe in it, don't know it, just don't have any magic. The closest thing they have to magic is their silver blood, and not even THAT is magic because of how limited it is.

That, and Sophie and the Nevers will probably drive them all away.

Speaking if Nevers, Chaddick admits how weird it is to see them getting showered and clean, presentable in case the Silvers arrive as a surprise visit.

It is odd, but it's in their best interest to play nice with everyone, and that unfortunately includes a very babbly, and planning-to-be-flirty Sophie.

Speak of the devil, Sophie emerges from the trees to find the trio, specifically Tedros, who she wants to talk to.

He leaves, lying that he has some homework to do.

He's really going to find Agatha, who's reading to pass time and get her mind off all the gossip.

They have a rocky conversation about the current events and even wonder what silver blood would even look like, if they ever get the morbid chance to see it.

Agatha asks why he's talking to her and Tedros sighs that he just wants to avoid Sophie, but also wants to be around someone who's smart.

She smiles and asks if he thinks she's smart, sort of silently teasing him as he stammers and tries to come up with a save for the tongue-slip.

He spots Nicholas behind her instead, eyes wide and red as he raises an axe over his head, aiming for her.

Tedros, thinking quickly, tackles him and throws the axe away, which knocks Nicholas out of his daze.

Tedros shouts at him, "What the hell was that?" but Nicholas only looks around, very confused as to how he got into the trees or even got hold of an AXE.

There's confusion all around as Nicholas stumbles away towards some friends, muttering about a headache he now has and how sore he now feels.

Agatha and Tedros only exchange glances, worried and confused.

Was it a curse? A hex? A spell? And how did he get a weapon from the Doom Room?

CUT BACK TO NORTA AS CAL HAS JUST FINISHED SPILLING THE TEA! All three are sitting in a triangle on the floor, because it's close to night time and, because I'm a sucker for parallels in a story, to establish that despite the age differences between them and the students, and the experiences Cal and Maven had on the war front, they're still kids too.

Mare fights the urge to dry heave and Maven only hums at how Tibe is actually paranoid enough to consider war against a bunch of kids.

Cal admits that, yes it is ridiculous, but he's still unnerved. It doesn't help that they're dealing with people who have magic, which is stronger than Silver powers, even Mare's lightning is possibly no match; magic is all encompassing while their powers are limited to one "element."

Mare, in an attempt to alleviate the atmosphere, wonders if everyone will even BELIEVE what Norta says about these kids, as magic doesn't exist in their world.

Cal admits he does not believe in magic. It's not that he's heartless, he's just seen too much to know better. As much as he'd like to, he knows that it's nothing but slight of hand and tricks to fool the other person.

Maven agrees, except he's known because of Elara, but he gives them an explanation closer to what Cal said, only changing that he saw a magic show and saw how the tricks were done to fool the crowd.

When they ask her, Mare admits that if she believed in magic, and if it was real, it would have made things different for her and her family, she also inwardly admits that she'd make things different for all Reds as well.

After a moment of silence between them, Maven asks Cal if he's heard anything about them leaving and visiting these endless woods, and Cal shrugs, sighing that it's all speculation and in the air. If they do go, it will be both brothers and their betrotheds, Elara, Tiberias, a few other High House children(Elane, Sonya, Olliver, and Ptolemus), and a few guards, one of them being Lucas. Volo Samos and the rest of Tibe's council will stay behind to keep Norta in shape while they voyage to the School, stay for a little bit, and then come back, assuming things go okay and don't take long.

WE ALL KNOW NOTHING EVER GOES RIGHT IN STORIES😈

Either way, they all take a breath and leave the room together, Mare hoping Lady Blonos doesn't scold her for being alone with both princes. Cal tells her not worry because they'll cover for her, saying they had a bet and Cal won. Maven mutters, "By default," and he and Mare jog away as Cal chases them, yelling that they'd better explain what that means before he gets his hands on them both.

TIME JUMP/FADE TO THE DAY THE NORTANS LEAVE FOR THE ENDLESS WOODS, THE FADE HAPPENING WITH A PAN TO A WINDOW AND THEN GLIDE DOWN TO THE DOCK!!!

Mare sighs up at the ship before boarding, noting a very anxious Cal looking over the walkway as he himself walks aboard, Evangeline striding ahead of him.

Maven chuckles that Cal's always been a scaredy cat around water, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Mare admits that while Cal is acting like a child, it's actually a smart move to know yoursl own limits and weaknesses.

From his place higher on the ship, Tibe gives Mare a, "Well said, Lady Mareena," and admits he may have underestimated her ability as a strategist. Maybe her time around Cal and the other High House children is rubbing off on her.

Mare fakes a thank you and notices Maven looking away.

I have not forgotten how Tibe isn't as loving as Maven; no amount of tragedy is going to negate neglect.

Mare tries to back up the now crestfallen Maven, but Elara calls for her son, asking to speak with him alone, mother to son.

He agrees and walks off to meet her, looking back at Mare before he does.

Tibe watches them walk off, and we get a glare off between him and Elara before the Queen leaves to speak with her favorite son.

Once they're gone, Mare asks how he can stand a bitch like Elara. She gets they were arranged to marry, but two people cannot hate each other that much.

For context, Mare's been here for about 4 months. She's visited her family only twice and has had a lot of time with Silvers and dealing with Tibe, Elara, Evangeline, and anyone who isn't Cal, Maven, and Lucas.

Back on track, Tibe semi-scolds her that, as a lady of the court, she should know better than to be mouthy towards him.

Mare, kind of fed up with his BS, folds her arms and counters that as a princess and his future daughter-in-law, they should be comfortable with each other enough for her to ask such a question.

Tibe gestures for her to come closer and she approaches, close enough for Tibe to sneer at her that if she thinks he's letting Maven, his son, his boy, marry a Red rat like her, she's more of a fool than all of the Scarlet Guard put together.

Lost in her anger, Mare asks which he's more afraid of: Telling Mare the truth or having his court, and the rest of Norta, Red and Silver, find out their secret.

With a glare down, Tibe congratulates her on how she's picked up verbal combat, and that she's a good learner. He then admits that the two of them aren't very different.

It offends Mare DEEPLY and she asks what that means as Tibe begins walking away.

Another bit of context, there are two sets of stairs to the upper level of the ship, a left and a right. In a fun bit of camera work/detail for anyone paying attention. Mare would walk up the right hand stairs to meet Tibe and, when he walks down the stairs, he walks down the left hand stairs and Mare follows him, the two walking back to the deck, so Mare basically walked around in a big circle. Just a cool thing I'd add, maybe it'd be symbolic of her situation or of some kind of cycle, I don't know. If you have any ideas, feel free to tell me.

Back to the story, Tibe explains to Mare that they're trapped by who they must marry, or have married in Tibe's case.

Another small detail, on the upper level, Mare would be on the left hand side of the screen/panel and Tibe would be on the right, but on the deck they're sides change, Tibe being in the left and Mare being on the right.

I'm a sucker for small details, so sue me!

Back on track for reals, Mare's VERY confused because she thought princes, or kings, could choose who they could marry. Tibe agrees that, yes, that usually is the case, but the reason he couldn't really choose was because there weren't anymore Queenstrial participants for him to choose from.

"But you have two sons?" Mare ponders.

Tibe shakes his head and asks if she REALLY thinks ending an alliance with Volo Samos of The Rift is a good idea, based on what she's seen from his daughter, Evangeline, half-joking that he's glad Cal is her betrothed and a simple friend of Ptolemus, who's shown how much of a berserker he is. (Yes the Scarlet Guard attack on the Summer palace still occurs.)

Mare asks what he'd do if that was the case, and Tibe chuckles, saying he'd renounce the throne and give it to Maven instead.

The two only chuckle, not comfortable enough with each other to fully laugh, and then Tibe admits that while he isn't sorry for needing to keep Mare a secret, he is sorry that she's alone, and forced into a life she never wanted.

"If you're so sorry, then why not let me go home?"

"Lady Mareena, the high houses would end us both."

For once, Mare can't really tell if he's lying or not, but doesn't get a chance to ask as Tibe returns to the top deck, Cal walking around the desk to Mare. He notices that his father is walking away from her and she looks a little distraught and very confused.

Cal looks between them and asks what happened and Mare simply answers that she and his father were just having a talk before leaving to her room/cabin

It's going to be a long ride to the Endless Woods

This is Part 1 of Arc 2, they do say the second act is the longest.

Keep your eye out for Arc 2, Part 2, because THAT is where things pick up even more

Anyway, Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!!!!

[ssaalexblake]

for the meme: thasmin or book/burnham (is the ship name burnbook?)

(Okay this turned into a thasmin meta essay with Opinions so i only did Thasmin in the end lol)

thasmin: I want to give thasmin an award for making me interested in a companion/doctor ship because honestly All of the doctor’s companions deserve so much better than the doctor, but they’ve made thasmin so thematically interesting to think about that i actually kind of don’t care? An Achievement. It is Interesting. It’s a good interpersonal plot. I want to see how they’re going to go. 

I was with the people in s11 who were like ‘wow okay Yaz is Really into her’ because they’ve been putting in Yaz’s Thing for 13 in as early as the spider episode, Yaz’s comments to Claire about ‘her person’ were of exactly No surprise from a narrative stand point, admittedly i was very surprised from the standpoint where they were explicitly comparing 13′s relationship with Yaz to an actual legit romantic and sexual relationship (i... don’t think the sexual part was a Thing here but i am reticent to describe byron’s behaviour as anything But merely sexual so it gets included) because... That’s a big thing? While i wasn’t shocked narratively, i Was kind of shocked from a real world perspective and the politics of the bbc that that bit made it to air. 

(also though. BURN. 13 got compared to the ultimate fuckboy and it was justified)

Which is Nothing compared to how far my eyebrows got up my forhead @ Jack explicitly relating his feelings for the doctor to Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor. Jack is like... In Love With The Doctor. They put them in the same boat. That’s a lot. 

As far as i’m concerned, it might not be a canon Relationship, but it’s at the very least a canon Ship at this point. Even if not requited. That is canon. 

That said, had you asked me about 13′s feelings towards Yaz in the first half of season 12 i’d have very much said it was definitely unrequited, but then Praxeus happened. That look 13 gives Yaz as she asks to go off on her own to investigate that alien base sure as hell was something! 

Those aren’t the best caps of this whole exchange, but this is the first and arguably Only time i’ve seen a sign that 13 may actually have some reciprocal feelings here. The only part doesn’t Really matter, imo, because 13 has been actively trying to Avoid becoming too attached to her companions, has had other more pressing matters to deal with and Really won’t want to deal with the idea of Yaz having feelings for her (think Ten Casually doing his very best to ignore Martha’s feelings for him, except 13 isn’t being a jerk about it). Her hiding her feelings apart from the odd slip up? Would very much be in character. 

(also... they did that comparing of 13 to Byron who was kind of... Ignoring Claire’s feelings for him So I feel like i have some ground to stand on here when i say 13 is knowingly not acknowledging this all) 

But here’s the thing,  take that whole exchange above out of context of dw and shove it in a blockbuster and it’s the hero and the romantic lead separating knowing one of them is off to do something dangerous and wondering if they’ll ever see each other alive again. The whole scene was played out, and s/o to the pink/purple romantic lighting, like a love scene? I was Very intrigued by this. Especially with 13 proclaiming at the end of the episode with a kind of wistful smile that she’s a romantic. 

But This was 13 Before the s12 finale, though. How will she interact with Yaz now? The doctor’s Not stupid, she knows Yaz has feelings for her. She’s evidently been content to ignore that (that’s not really even a Bad thing, to be honest, Yaz may not have hidden it well but she’s also never acknowledged it or in any way Asked the doctor if she does reciprocate... She may not Want to do anything about it and 13 following her lead isn’t bad)... But will 13 still be content with this as their relationship with where she is Now?

Her forced solitary confinement of an unstated number of years had quite obviously removed her weariness of physically embracing the people she loves and allowing them to also touch her, she was Gripping onto the guys in the special, but perhaps more importantly she was letting them in emotionally as well. She may not have filled Jack in on all the context, but she was actually very honest about her feelings and such with him, she had an emotionally open conversation with Ryan and conceded their close relationship, a parallel with how she rejected the very same thing in fugitive of the judoon. 

(she didn’t have Much of a moment with Graham, but i kind of like it... Graham wasn’t ready to leave but did to stay with Ryan.. To him And the doctor this is almost unfinished business). 

The point is, 13 may have lost her sense of identity and feels lost, but she’s also fundamentally kind of changed how she’s interacting with her companions. Now i Know there was consternation that Yaz and her got next to nothing in that episode, but it was pure logistics imo. They have all next season to go into their relationship, they had 75 minutes to wrap up hers with Ryan and Graham, no point wasting their dwindling time to focus on what can be addressed later. 

So... If she follows her pattern... She’ll probably be more open with and To Yaz next season. In which case, we’ll now see 13 play Her hand on how she views the two of them. I’m interested. 

I want to see 13 grab onto what she Knows in the face of her identity issues. She knows her relationship with Yaz. 

That said, i feel like Yaz’s relationship with 13 Is all tied in with her low sense of self-esteem. She’s mimicking 13 because she thinks 13 is a good, useful and helpful person scoring Big Victories and she thinks that’s better than what she herself manages. From a storytelling standpoint, Yaz’s less favourable feelings towards 13 now, evolved from the kind of crushing hero worship of s11, was Very necessary to her as a person, and i’m Very convinced they will have at least one big fall out next season because, well, their personalities are just Like that but also Yaz needs to twig that the small victories matter. That people like her matter and are just as useful as The Doctor. 

I personally would like maybe something along the lines of them having a huge explosive argument that Totally removes even the doctor’s Function off the pedestal it’s been put on by Yaz. I think yaz already took 13 off the pedestal as a person but she still views 13 running around saving the universe as a much Better version of helpful and good than anything a regular human Yaz can do. In the words of Rory Williams ‘the small victories matter’. Yaz has forgotten, this, or maybe never realised it to start with, but she needs to and 13 needs to be the vehicle for Yaz to realise that. 

That said, 13 and Yaz have never had much luck with Touch. When 13 grabbed her hand in it takes you away, Yaz is so surprised you can see it in her face and body language. The only time Yaz reaches out for 13 she is physically shoved away. Their next touch is Yaz shoving 13. They are leading up to something here. What’s it going to be? 

They should kiss, basically. 

Yaz deserves to live out those gay ‘hot for teacher’ vibes. Let 13 snog Yaz’s socks off. 

But if i have to choose between them kissing Or Yaz getting personal character development through the doctor being absolutely shoved off her pedestal? I’d pick the latter any day. But i want Both of those things and don’t feel it’s impossible because the Yaz self-esteem plot is inherently linked with the doctor idolization plot. Yaz is still too good for the doctor in every way, but Yaz deserves Some culmination for her feelings. We all know it can’t end well, she’s immortal and she’s not... But i’d like her to get some closure for her feelings for the Doctor before she leaves. 

But also my most cutting edge thasmin insight is that 13 totally by accident gave Yaz a Massive praise kin/k. 

Thank you for the ask!!!!

[daresplaining]

Should we see a fusion of normal Daredevil and the public domain Death-Defying Daredevil? And why is it yes? :P

    Yes! Well, maybe. I’m not sure I would want a fusion, necessarily, but I would love a team-up! 

    I realize that some people might not be familiar with “the OG” Daredevil and the Golden Age, and I haven’t discussed them yet on this blog, so here’s a little history: 

    Daredevil debuted in Silver Streak #6 (Lev Gleason Publications) in 1940, as part of the Golden Age of superheroes kicked off by the success of Action Comics (Superman) in the late 30s. This Daredevil was an orphaned, mute (for a little while, anyway) circus acrobat named Bart Hill, who wielded a boomerang and fought the bad guys in a spiffy red-and-blue costume and spiky belt. 

[ID: A comic illustration showing Golden Age Daredevil standing poised to throw a boomerang. He is wearing a head-to-toe spandex suit split down the middle (red on the left and blue on the right), little red-and-blue superhero undies (blue on the left and red on the right), and a yellow spiked belt. There are two WWII-era soldiers on either side of him, firing guns, and a big American flag in the background.]

    The comic was hugely successful. Alongside his thrilling swashbuckling, Bart did all of the typical World War II-era superhero things, like punching Hitler and fighting racist Japanese caricatures. However, the end of the war brought with it a severe drop in readership across the whole genre. Suddenly, people were no longer interested in reading about superheroes, and many comics publishers went under, taking their characters with them-- including, sadly, Lev Gleason Publications and Daredevil. This slump marked the end of the Golden Age. 

    Two of the surviving companies were Detective Comics (DC) and Timely/Marvel, which continued to make money with other genres of comics-- romances, horror anthologies, westerns, etc. But then, in the early 50s, the clever people at DC had an idea. They would try and revive the superhero genre-- not with new characters, but by salvaging code names and concepts from defunct Golden Age comics and reinventing them. They tried this first with the Flash, transforming chemist Jay Garrick, who got his powers in a lab accident involving hard water, into forensic scientist Barry Allen, who got his powers in a lab accident involving a shelf of chemicals and some well-placed lightning. And it worked! The new Flash debuted in 1956 and took off (...as it were). And so they did it again, repurposing lost Golden Age heroes like Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, and the Atom into newer, shinier forms and selling them with great success to an audience that was once more becoming receptive to superheroes. 

    Timely/Marvel didn’t revive their own superhero success until a few years later, but they did it almost exclusively with their own characters. The debut of the Fantastic Four in 1961 was a rousing success, and then Spider-Man appeared the next year and changed everything. Superhero comics were popular again, and the creative minds at Marvel went into overdrive to pump out more issues and new characters to feed the fans. As I said, most of the characters were their own creations, but a few key exceptions were Ghost Rider, the infamously lawsuit-plagued Captain Marvel and, first of all, our guy Daredevil, who was snapped up out of public domain obscurity and salvaged for parts. Matt Murdock bears almost no resemblance to his Golden Age predecessor, but he certainly wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Lev Gleason's Daredevil. 

    There’s one more detail to mention, and it’s relevant to my answer: 

[ID: The cover of The Flash #123. In the foreground, a man is cringing as a steel girder falls toward him. The image is split down the middle by a brick wall. On the left side of the wall, the Silver Age Flash is running forward toward the man, and on the right side, the Golden Age Flash is doing the same. The man is saying “Flash! Help me!” and both Flashes are saying “I’m coming!” A red caption box in the bottom left corner reads, in yellow lettering: “Featuring ‘Flash of Two Worlds!’ A spectacular story that is sure to become a classic!”]

    DC could have just taken their fancy new Silver Age heroes and moved forward from there, but they didn’t. In the groundbreaking story “Flash of Two Worlds” (The Flash #123), Silver Age Flash Barry Allen meets Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, and rescues him from the parallel dimension in which he has been trapped. With this story, Jay was integrated in his full original form into the new DC superhero universe, and soon the same was done with all of the other Golden Age heroes, bringing them back alongside their younger, hipper counterparts. This process was not only a wonderful way of preserving those original characters, but it also created the DC Universe’s rich tradition of superhero legacies, which has continued to this day. 

    Marvel did not do the same with Bart Hill, and I think that’s a huge shame-- not necessarily because I want a Daredevil legacy (I am very attached to Matt’s origin story as it is), but because it would've been fun to have his character kicking around the Marvel Universe. Fortunately, he is still around-- as mentioned, he has been re-dubbed the Death-Defying 'Devil and has appeared in comics from both Image and Dynamite Entertainment. But he and Matt have never teamed up, and I really think they should. I would read the hell out of a “Daredevil of Two Worlds” story. 

[blookmallow]

hoouhgh i finally watched hereditary even though i knew it would upset me but i really, really liked midsommar and wanted to give it a shot but it Did, In Fact, Definitely Fucking Upset Me :’) im alright though im just like well! i am never watching That again 

anyway it was. really interesting but i feel like i did not understand it at all. heres me trying to untangle some thoughts 

- I don’t totally understand the significance of the dollhouse/miniature parallels. something something “a way to control her life/the things happening to her when she Can’t control them” annie is unable to express feelings, so she expresses them in her art (her miniatures) like charlie expresses through drawing 

she makes models about her trauma, it seems to be how she processes them, she has models of her mother in hospice care, her mother like an apparition at the bedroom door, and then a graphic model of charlie’s death 

- paint seems to be a significant symbol in some places. maybe... paint represents Emotion/grief? annie normally paints her models very, very delicately and carefully, cautiously controlling and keeping the strokes tiny and precise. she spills the paint before she goes to joan’s house for the first time - maybe a spilling of emotion, trauma pouring out in an uncontrolled mess, so it serves as the catalyst for her deciding she needs help (or, if you go with the “everything was predetermined” concept, she spilled the paint specifically to point her to the paper so she would call joan, i guess) 

in her sleepwalking state in the past, annie covered herself and her children with paint thinner as a flame accelerant  - something to make emotions lesser, to water them down, ultimately to destroy them?

then when she runs into joan again (another Probably Not Coincidence) it’s as she’s coming out of the craft store (possibly, buying more paint, possibly even replacing the spilled paint with something else)

- flame is an obvious important symbol too: charlie sees her grandmother engulfed in flame, her parents are constantly concerned that she’ll freeze because she sleeps in the tree house without heaters and goes out without a coat (possibly she doesn’t feel the cold because of. hell. i dont know) the seance rituals start with a candle flame, dumping water on annie stops the possession 

annie slept in the tree house surrounded in heaters, she did feel the cold and tried to protect herself from it, and she thought she was the link to whatever was terrorizing her family but instead of killing her, burning the sketchbook killed her husband instead, so i think that might be implying that annie is not in fact what’s actually causing all of this. im guessing the book burned her at first to stop her from destroying it - as charlie is really the cause, and probably needs it - and then burned the. father whose name i have forgotten instead of her out of spite or to send a “this isn’t about you, and you cannot stop me” message 

- i think the death of the pigeon may have been what awakened something in charlie, she cuts off its head and draws the severed head with a crown, both foreshadowing what is about to happen to her, and that she. i guess, is actually. hell royalty. or whatever the fuck that was 

she mentions her grandmother wanted her to be a boy, but since peter was born first, i dont understand why this... demon thing passed on to charlie, the second child, instead of the firstborn, who was a boy, which is apparently the demon’s preference. maybe something to do with the fact that annie did not want him and actively tried to miscarry him fucked up the. whatever it is that causes the rebirth

I really just don’t buy that charlie was always a hell demon and never loved anyone in her family? it seems like it took her over or awakened in her as time went on, annie mentions her mother had DID so it’s possible that charlie and. whatever the demon’s name is are in fact two different entities that both lived within charlie (most likely when the grandmother died, it moved to charlie because of the connection charlie had with her. still dont know why charlie was the one groomed into this rather than peter, though) 

- there’s a lot of passively Wanting To Die or seeing the inevitability of death; charlie wandered off, slept in the cold, didn’t bring a coat, didn’t bring her epi pen, wasn’t careful about nuts, possibly Knew or at least subconsciously knew that body, that self, was necessarily going to die, and didn’t ultimately matter. she asks her mother “who will take care of me when you die” and weirdly instead of saying something like “don’t worry, I won’t die for a long time” or something reassuring, annie just says “well, then your father will, or peter” almost implying somewhere subconsciously she knows she’s going to die too

when charlie died, annie in her grief screamed that she wanted to die too. her unconscious self tried to kill her children and herself before, and may have tried to strangle peter (it’s unclear if that actually happened or if it was the demon and peter thought it was his mother or if it was a hallucination/nightmare altogether) and she actively tried to miscarry to prevent peter from being born in the first place 

im not sure what exactly that means. could be that annie subconsciously could feel the trauma and tragedy that was, inevitably, coming for her and her family and was trying to kill them all to save them from it (but was horrified on realizing this, as she didn’t consciously know this) but her attempts always failed because the demon stopped her from denying fate 

 - it’s very odd to me that the father is never included in these incidents, though. we see almost nothing of his own emotional self or grief. the demon never affects him at all until the moment of his death and even then it feels like he was only killed to hurt annie and peter 

we see his anger, but it comes out like annoyance rather than grief, we don’t see him break down until way, way later when he’s alone in a car with his unconscious son (he makes a sudden stop, and. nothing happens, but it’s possible something in the physical act of... almost getting in an accident, almost having That Happen Again, himself, might have snapped something in him)

then they come home, and annie goes from relief that her husband in the front seat is okay, to immediate panic realizing, once again, her child is unresponsive in the back seat with a head injury (though obviously way less severe. he uh. he still had a head)

so. parallels. i lost where i was going with that thought. the demon doesn’t seem interested in the father at all and he seems to be completely emotionally disconnected from his family and his life and im not sure what purpose that serves

- on predestination: charlie’s treehouse may have always been a cult temple (then, did sleeping there affect her spiritually/mentally, or did she want to sleep there because the demon was already in her?) 

we don’t know the extent of joan’s involvement in their lives. she knew annie’s mother, so she’s been involved The Whole Goddamn Time, but we don’t know how far that influence goes. she could have had a hand in putting the nuts in the cake somehow (knew someone there, recommended the recipe, something). peter swerves because there was a dead animal in the road - joan and/or the other cultists could have put it there. joan probably was waiting for annie at the grief counseling group and could have followed her to the craft store to stage an “incidental” meet up (annie is the one who notices her and calls out to her, but she could have just been making herself visible expecting that she would probably see her - if she keeps showing up places and reaching out to her first, annie might become suspicious that she’s doing it on purpose) 

she gives annie the means to talk to her daughter’s spirit, knowing that she’s broken and desperate and will likely do it (probably knowing she’s a medium already, too), knowing that this will make contact with the demon (the incantation she gives her is probably specifically for that purpose - since annie can’t read the language, she wouldn’t know this. the moral here is don’t read weird ancient latin texts out loud) , and knowing that annie will then blame herself for what she perceives is what she’s done to her family - when really, it was the plan all along 

anyway. uh. that sure was a lot 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

S6 Template for Where We Are Currently in the Show

Morning Everyone! So, after getting a particular Ask almost two weeks ago about shirt colors (black and white) in 6x08 and 6x09 pointing to future story arcs, I decided to re-watch the episodes and see what I came up with. This post is what came out of that. It’s a bit long, so get comfortable, but I had tons of fun rewatching these. I don’t get to do that much anymore these days.

So, I looked at Carol's white shirt in these episodes, but as I watched, I kept going back to an earlier time that we'd seen Carol wearing a white shirt. 

Remember, this was the episode where she went out together acorns and had to kill that really Beth-ish walker and then come back and shower and change her clothes. It's also in this episode that she takes Tobin acorn cookies. And they’re pink. (Pink Theory)

So, the gist of what I'm going to say is that I think the entire season is a template for what's going happen moving forward. And honestly, we’ve seen this often enough that it's probably true of every season in some way or another. But will stick with S6 for now.

So, in thinking about Carol and Tobin 6x02, something occurred to me. I think Tobin is a prequel/foreshadow/forerunner of Ezekiel. It's actually a fairly common way to foreshadow something: have a smaller instance of it to foreshadow the bigger instance. I’ve said that with Glenn's death before. His death fakeout served many purposes, but in terms of his own arc, it was a foreshadow of his upcoming real death. In this case, they just put Carol in a short-term relationship in order to foreshadow her long-term relationship with Ezekiel.

And I bet if we studied Carzekiel as closely as we study Bethyl, we would come up with a lot of dialogue parallels and such. I don't have a whole lot of them, but I can think of one major event that was the same in both cases. ( I just had the thought that Carol showing up at Tobin's doorstep with cookies is a whole lot like Ezekiel showing up at her cabin with the pomegranate.)

So, in Carol and Tobin's arc together, remember that she takes off and leaves him at the end of S6. That's when Morgan goes after her and it leads to her finding Ezekiel in the Kingdom. (Not at all an accident that she leaves Tobin and immediately runs in to her soulmate.)

I'm equating that with her leaving Ezekiel after Henry died. And Henry is the other part of the parallel. Carol left Tobin because she was dealing with Sam's death. The death of a child that she felt guilty about. She left Ezekiel for the same reason, after Henry's death. So, you can see the parallels between the two arcs. And that shows that what happened in S6 can foreshadow what's happening currently in the show between her and Ezekiel.

I promise I'll stop talking about Carol and get to the more important stuff. But one more interesting thing that kinda made my jaw drop: After Creepy Wolf Dude took Denise and Morgan, Carol, Rosita, and Tara are on the brownstone together, Carol is looking out the window and Morgan walks up behind her.

He says, "you had a child? A husband?" And it's interesting because he doesn't say daughter, and Carol doesn't reference Sophia or Ed by name. And if you think about what's happened—Morgan was trying to keep her from killing Creepy Wolf Dude because "life is precious" and all that—there's really no reason for him to randomly ask about her past. But I think this shows that it's a foreshadow of what's to come. The next time around, they'll be talking about Ezekiel and Henry, rather than Ed and Sophia.

Okay, so all that was just to show that the entire season foreshadows what's to come. And when I watched 6x09, Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham on the road with the saviors, my just my mind just kept going back to the previous episode about them, which was 6x06.

And we all know how much Beth symbolism was in that. 

We saw Daryl meeting Dwight in the woods in 6x06 and all of the symbolism there. We already know from plenty of analyzing that Sasha and Abraham represent Beth and Daryl. I also think, in some cases, the two of them together represent Beth. But if you look at Daryl's arc in a very broad way for 6x06, we have him getting separated from Sasha and Abe (Beth) and by the end of the episode, he finds them again.

So, in terms of S6 being a template, 6x06 represents Beth and Daryl's entire separation arc. It's on a very small scale, but it kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Why the place they stayed, and Daryl later found them again had a sunrise on it. Why Sasha wrote his name with the huge X in the center. It's to show that this is a type of Beth and Daryl’s separation arc and then their reunion.

 Okay, so let's go back to what’s happening in S6. I'm not going to do this chronologically, but let's start with Daryl on the road meeting saviors. I want to point out one thing. The main leader of this group says something I've always zeroed in on but could never quite make fit.

At one point, he says, "ding dong, Hells bells." That's a reference to the Wizard of Oz. Because, "ding dong, the wicked witch is dead." I've always wanted to make that a Beth thing because the Wizard of Oz template was used for the Grady storyline. When I first heard it, back when this episode aired, I felt sure it was because she was with the Saviors and it was a hint toward that. Obviously not.

But now I'm seeing that this is a Beth template, and that's probably why they put this here. Also notice the Saviors here are wearing black. Which could mean that they foreshadow the CRM. So, the most obvious thing I'm seeing here is that per 6x06, Beth and Daryl reunite after being separated for a long time. Then, on the road back to Alexandria, they run into the CRM (people in black). Maybe Daryl blows up the CRM in some way or kills them. And that will bring TF into a war with the helicopter group, much like it did with the Saviors.

(@frangipanilove​ also pointed out that there’s an AC/DC song called Hells Bells. So there’s a musical reference thrown into the mix. Which is awesome! ;D)

Okay, the next thing Nonny said is that Glenn and Enid probably represent Beth. I think that's true, but I think she's represented in a lot of different ways in this sequence. Specifically, through Sasha/Abe, Glenn/Enid, and Denise.

I won't need to go into a lot of detail about Denise. I didn’t see a whole lot more here than I’ve said in the past. I still think her being taken captive by Creepy Wolf Dude is a foreshadow of a storyline for Beth. There were two lines of dialogue that jumped out and me. When she’s in the brownstone, alone, with Creepy Wolf Dude, she tells him to "show me the wound." That SUPER jumped out at me because in 9x05 when Rick left, we heard Beth’s voice say, “what’s your wound.” Very similar.

The other one was Creepy Wolf Dude explaining how he got his injury. It really wasn't a bite. He said he was breaking into a car and got cut on a rusty bumper. So, the car mention really jumped out at me. I feel like were going to see the fulfillment of this sequence with Creepy Wolf Dude and Denise for Beth sometime after she wakes up. Maybe whoever saved her after Coda gets hurt and she tends to them medically. He also talked about wanting to take over the wall with him to the outside and about how it wasn't as scary out there as she thinks it is. So yeah, it still screams Beth to me.

For Enid and Glenn, they return, and immediately run into Beth's (the blue, green, and yellow) church. And there, they find a gun. We have a combination of the weapon and the biblical symbols. Glenn even tells Enid to look inside the Bibles in case one of them is hollowed out.

But the biggest thing here is that Maggie was in trouble and they came back to save her. And they sort of did, but then Glenn got in trouble and Sashraham showed up to save the day. So, we have two separate instances (Glenn/Enid and Sasha/Abraham) of Beth or Bethyl showing up in the nick of time to save everybody. I think we can all get behind that.

Also, when Maggie gets up on the scaffold, we see the red and green together. Green cord, Maggie’s red shoelaces. We’ve always seen that as a resurrection symbol, and said it probably has to do with Glenn being alive. I still think that’s true, but taken a broader context, it could also be a foreshadow of Beth's return and that this is a template for it.

Okay, so let's look at this from a little bit broader view. We have five main groups that these two episodes focus on alternately. Maggie, Daryl/Sasha/Abraham, Tara/Rosita/Eugene, Carol/Morgan (by 6x09, the two of them merge with Eugene’s group) and then Rick and Michonne's group who are in Jesse's house. 

(For the record, there are two other groups we see very briefly but they aren’t focused on in this episode. One is Olivia and Eric (Aaron's boyfriend) in the armory. We don't see what they're doing except that when the rest of the group runs out into the street to fight the walkers, they join in. And finally, the group that's in the infirmary before Denise gets there. This includes Aaron and Heath. Especially where Heath is concerned, I think that's super important. I’ll come back to it in a minute.)

I’ll start by talking about Morgan, Carol, Tara, Rosita, and Eugene. There’s definitely some interesting dialogue, especially from Eugene. I also think it's super important that they all seem to be wearing light-colored shirts, and that Eugene and Carol are in the same place.

Because where we are currently in the series is that Eugene and Ezekiel are the same place. Now, Ezekiel wasn’t in the show at this point, so it was impossible to have him here, but I'm wondering if at some point in the spinoff, Carol and Daryl will split up and go their separate ways and Carol will go to find Ezekiel.

(We already know there will be a falling out between Daryl and Carol in the upcoming bonus episodes and that they will go their separate ways for a time. Obviously they’ll come back together for the spinnof. But I think this separation foreshadows that in the spinoff, they’ll leave together, but at some point they’ll split up and go to separate places. We saw this with Huck and Felix in TWB, which is a template for the spinoff. And my theory is that Carol will go to find Ezekiel when that happens.)

That's really the biggest thing I think this points to. I also wonder how and if Morgan will be involved. Since he still alive, he could be. But he's also not on the show right now, so it's hard to tell. I suppose it just depends on where FTWD is at that point, and if they bring him back or cross him over into the spinoff. I think that's a real possibility.

I also want to point out the beginning of 6x08, right after the church falls, Carol trips and falls down. It turns out, she slipped on some bullets. Morgan helps her up and they run into the brownstone. It then goes on to say that she's hurt in the head and may even have a concussion.

Now, my first thought was that was super unrealistic, since all she did was trip and fall and we don’t even really see her hit her head. But she's also tricking Morgan and pretending to be more hurt than she actually is, so it may just be a ruse anyway. 

But the point is, between the bullets, and the mention of concussion, that's a huge Beth parallel. So, not sure if this points to Carol being part of a death fakeout, or somehow it's pointing back to Beth. If anything, I think it might point toward the Carzekiel death fakeout because it's after this that Morgan mentions you had—past tense—a son and a husband. So, if I'm right about that, we have a representation of the fake out, and then eventually Carol goes to where Eugene is. See what I mean?

Oh, one more cool thing about Eugene’s group? Remember at first it was him and Tara and Rosita in the garage. Eugene had to pick the lock to get into the house. As soon as he does, they run into Denise and Creepy Wolf Dude kidnapping her. Um…Denise = Beth, so this may well be a representation of Eugene and his two friends (in S10 it’s Yumiko and Ezekiel) running into Beth. Also notice the lock/key reference that led to her. Just saying.

Okay, let's talk about Rick and Michonne’s group. In a lot of ways, this might be the biggest deal, but it's also the most fluid. I had a hard time seeing much of anything as a foreshadow from this group. At least, during the first part in Jesse's house. I mean, Rick is with Jesse, and there's drama between Ron and Carl. I've said before that a lot of their dialogue foreshadow Ron’s death for sure. But I just wasn't seeing anything very new. But I will say now that I think that this does foreshadow Carl's death as well. I get to that in a minute.

But I really started seeing some important stuff with Rick and Michonne’s group in 6x09 when they all moved out into the crowd of walkers covered in guts.

When they decide to go to the quarry instead of the armory (because they can’t get to the armory) Jesse says Judith won't make it. And Father Gabriel says he'll take Judith and protect her. I'm sure you can figure out why think that's important.

1)     The Sirius character who represents Beth takes Judith with him to protect her.

2)     We have a representation of Rick and Michonne and being separated from Judith. Even if FG just represents himself in this sequence, where we are in the series now, we have Judith and FG in the same place. So again, this feels like a representation of where we are now. Rick and Michonne have left Judith in, sort of, Gabriel’s care. (I know she’s really more in Daryl’s care, but Michonne did tell her to be good for Aunt Rosita, and if Daryl doesn’t leave with Carol to get Judith in the spin-off—if it’s about Rick instead or something—I’m assuming he’ll leave the kids with Maggie and Gabriel.)

Interestingly, Rick and Michonne are still together, which they aren’t where we are now in the series, but we don't know how long it's gonna take Michonne to find Rick. She might find him quickly and the two of them will be together for significant period of time together inside the CRM. The point is, they’re in a different place than Judith.

So, the group moves on, and of course both Sam and Jesse are killed. And when Ron tries to shoot Rick, Michonne kills him and Carl is shot.

This is the next significant piece. Of course we all know that Carl was shot in the eye in the comic books, so it’s something that they were always going to do in the show. But I really think this probably foreshadows Carl's death as well. Much like Glenn, his almost death here could be used as a foreshadowing for his real death down the line.

Of course, Rick picks him up and he and Michonne make their way to the infirmary. And here's what really jumped out at me about the infirmary: Heath is there.

Angela Kang has confirmed that Heath is inside the CRM. We know Rick is inside it somewhere, and that Michonne is heading to him. So, we have this interesting sequence where Michonne and Rick arrive in a new place and Heath is already there. See what I mean? So, I think we could possibly interpret this as Carl getting shot foreshadowing Carl's death, and then sometime after that, Rick and Michonne and end up at the CRM with Heath.

But I can even give you third possibility here. With Carl being hurt, Rick goes into one of his losing-it trances and leaves the infirmary with his ax to fight the walkers. We hear Michonne screaming after him to wait. She waits until Denise has a good handle on Carl's condition and then she hurries after Rick to fight the walkers. I always loved this scene.

This is the only real representation I saw of Rick and Michonne being separated for a short period of time. Because he heads out without her.

So, think of it this way. He heads out into a hoard of walkers alone. And she screaming his name. Sounds a lot like what happened when he disappeared in 9x05. Meanwhile, Michonne stays behind, taking care of Rick's kids. In this case, it's Carl, but in S9, it’s Judith and RJ. Then, when she sure Carl is safe, or as safe as she can make him, she kisses him goodbye and goes after Rick. So, kind of like she left Judith and RJ behind to go look for Rick. Interestingly, who did she leave Carl with in S6? Denise. Who is a proxy of Beth.

So, I get that all of these overlap and they're very nonlinear. But I’m sure you can see what I mean about why I think all of S6 is a foreshadow of what's to come. And where we are right now in the series is at the crossroads of a lot of these possible foreshadows. Especially of Eugene finding Denise/Beth.

And if we’re super literal with the interpretation, we might even say that Eugene finds Beth (Denise) in the Commonwealth, but then she leaves with someone else (whoever the equivalent of Creepy Wolf Dude will be for Beth) and then Denise goes to the infirmary, which is probably the CRM because Heath is there. And she's there when Rick and Michonne arrive.

I'm not at all set in stone about what I think will happen. I'm just saying its possibility. Beth, CRM, and Rick are things we’ve been looking at closely since Rick left in S9, so this is super-interesting.

Kind of a footnote, but when Denise is still with Creepy Wolf Dude, Carol shoots him. I'm not really sure how to interpret that. Maybe that was just for this episode and not part of the template. Because Carol was still with Eugene's group, but she went outside, saw Denise and Creepy Wolf Dude, and shot him so Denise could get away. So, no idea how to interpret that for future storyline, but it's kind of interesting. Carol being at all involved could possibly be traced back to the fact that she and Beth were at Grady together. Also makes me wonder if maybe at some point in TWB, Huck will shoot someone to save Will, Felix's boyfriend. Just because of the parallels.

And finally, I feel like Rick and Michonne going outside and leading the charge against all the walkers is something that has been foreshadowed many times. Remember that when I talked about 7x08, I said that Rick and Michonne coming to hilltop represented them returning after the CRM to Alexandria to lead the war? I saw this same thing foreshadowed in 8x09 when they return to Alexandria and find out Carl’s been bitten.

In this case, they fight walkers rather than people (the CRM) so I don't know if that translates to the same thing, but the two of them being out there make other people want to join the fight. People come out of their respective hiding places and all of them fight the walkers together. And obviously, in the war against the CRM, everyone's going to have to work together.

I even wondered if these different little groups could represent different factions (Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, but also the people from Fear, the people from TWB, and anyone Beth might bring with her.) But I couldn't pin down who would be who. For example, if Carol, Eugene etc. represent the Commonwealth, that could be one group who comes out to help. Father Gabriel and the people who were in the church coming out to help could represent the people at Alexandria etc. You get the idea.

And of course while all this is going on, we had the super interesting symbolism of Daryl, driving the Paddy truck (Beth symbol), picking up several people which include Glenn, Enid, Sasha, Abraham (all Beth proxies) using gasoline (Beth symbol) and fire (Beth symbol) to set a body of water (Beth symbol) on fire (Bethyl symbol).

And it really goes along well with everything we've always said. I definitely think that the entire group is going to be fighting a big war and Beth isn’t by far going to be the only component. But something about her or maybe her and Daryl together come back with a key or a weapon that will help them win the war. If Daryl hadn't started that lake on fire, the walkers might have overwhelmed them all. It simply gave them the edge they needed to keep fighting and actually win.

And of course, in the sequence we see Daryl join the fight with two knives, including Beth's.

Okay, I'll stop there. Just a lot of food for thought, no?

[erikiara80]

It intrigues me that, even tho Will is not in the lab with El the day of the massacre, many seem to connect him to that day.

Like his parallels with Brenner opening the RR door, and the parallels between the lab scenes and Rink-o-mania.

He's also been associated with 12 and 6 since S1, and in the Nina scenes there are many mentions of those numbers. Now, thanks to The First Shadow, we know that Henry vanished for twelve hours when he was a kid, that he was a fan of Captain Midnight and used the captain's clock as a code for his journal. So, one could say that 12 is associated with him. But there's the name Williams on the grandfather clock, so 12 is "Will's number" too lol

The only tattoes we see in the flashback of the massacre are Seven's and Five's. 7+5=12. The first kids who "play the circle game" are Two and Six. If you leave your circle- timeline?- you lose

There are also mentions of artists, dogs, working out of sheds and building things (like Castle Byers). And I keep thinking about a specific parallel between Ten and Brenner and Will and El in 4x01.

Lab scene: Dr ELlis, Six, Brenner and Ten, whose favorite toy is the Magic 8 Ball -> Kali, mentioned by Henry, and the only one who can project illusions. That's why I think 10 stands for 01, here.

Moments later, we get these lines: 'Lessons with Six. Six is trying to move a block. A red block'. Six, six. Twelve.

Who was building a tower with red blocks in the RR, and picked up the crayons. Two boxes

School scene: El and Will (and girl in black behind him)

82-> 8+2=10. Also, door clanging, hm

There are also two extras here that, imo, stand for Eddie and Henry. Like, "Edward Creel" and Henry. A hint at different timelines? Maybe this is why in Nina there are two different groups of lab kids and Will is in this parallel, even tho we don't see him in the lab?

As for duffel bag guy, I think he stands for Henry because, white outfit, and because duffel bag guy in S3. This is what Dustin says about how a russian spy should look like: Tall, blonde, not smiling. Basically, Henry (well, sometimes he does smile)

I have too many drafts about the school scenes, lol. About the two girls in pink, the Tesla visual aid as a hint at a tear in time and space in 1976 (connected to another hint in S3, the lifeguard's line about water and getting electrocuted, with Happy Birthday and '76 on the poster behind him). AND the teacher that looks like Mr Clarke. But that's for another post. Or ten.

Anyway, back to the parallels.

Why is Will included in this parallel, and paralleled to Brenner opening the RR door? Not sure, but it's interesting. Maybe Will is associated with opening doors/gates because of the car crash in the past (if my theory is correct, of course) or maybe because, if there's a timeloop, in other timeline he's the one who banished the Brenner we see in Dimension X, in a parallel to El banishing Henry. This is not a theory tho. Just a thought.

Would you be so kind and open the door? Twelve is kind, like Will. Interesting that Brenner doesn't say that to Seventeen, he just asks him to open the door.

And why does Ten say that both Ellis and Six (El and Will) are dead? Well, I think THIS might be a hint at what happened in 1976, because we also hear gunshots. The car chase, the accident, the lake...

Another thing that seems to connect Will to El's past is an extra who looks like him. The kid with the word HELL on the t-shirt. We first see him when El says that she will soon see Mike (One)

Then we see him next to Will and El, and when Angela and her friends step on El's diorama, a parallel with Two bullying her. Hell, chess game, and the kid even looks at Will.

Like, let's make it clear that this extra stands for Will and connects him to things he supposedly shouldn't be connected to.

Hell and Angela. Yeah, Rink-o-mania, another parallel with Nina

The way they used this extra reminds me of a scene in 2x01. @chirpsythismorning noticed a boy with a bowl cut who just looks like Will. When Will hears a noise tho, before the vision, magically, bowl cut boy is gone. Now there's a kid with a buzz cut. But the other extra is the same girl, so I think this is intentional. And in this scene they mention a sister, Mike's sister, in... an interesting way (I won't prostitute my sister!)

Is it you? No, Will, that kid is you. And the one with the buzz cut? Maybe he stands for Henry, or maybe this is a hint, like the article in S1, that when he was a child, Will was in the lab, too, for a week.

One more crazy detail. The Russia storyline is a big parallel to the lab scenes, and during their "last meal" (at Suzie's, Will is in front of Leonardo's Last Supper) one of the prisoners says this, about the Demogorgon, before the other massacre of S4:

I have been in this place for a week. My first night I saw six men enter this room. Six.

Enter this room. Like Brenner entering the RR, or Will opening the door at school. Or maybe, another type of door.

[itsuki-minamy]

“SIX IDOLS” – “SPRINT DREAM” (Part 4)

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

* Chapter 1 01 / 02 / 03 

That day, Yojiro Sato (51) was driving his own high-speed boat and racing in Tokyo Bay.

His main business was fisherman, but he also works as a fishing boat captain as a side job. In any case, the main job is to chase the school of fish, current high-speed boats are used for that purpose.

But today's work was different than usual.

The client was a fishing cooperative and the content of the request was mysterious: "Anyway, I want you to go to Chiba city using a high speed boat." He goes through it several times, but it seems the reason he couldn't get the point was because the fishing cooperative was asked to go further.

Sato accepted it simply because the reward was great. Otherwise, it would not accept suspicious requests.

However, when he passed by the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, he began to regret it.

He doesn't think it's a dangerous story.

It goes without saying that Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world and Tokyo Bay is a large adjacent port. Many are trying to carry out illegal transactions by sea. Unfortunately, he has heard stories of people involved in such problems at the level of rumors.

He's been through the fishing cooperative, so he doesn't think it's something to worry about.

Even so, a bit of anxiety washed over Sato's mind.

At that moment the radio sounded. When he reached out his hand and responded by reflex, he heard an unfamiliar voice on the back of the radio.

"Hello. Is this Mr. Yojiro Sato?"

It was a feminine and intelligent voice. Sato responds while confused.

"Oh, yeah. That's right."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Seri Awashima. I was the one who made the request."

"Oh, I see."

The confusion disappeared, but Sato pressed his face into place. Listen to Awashima's words, eager to decline the request in the event of an emergency.

"First of all, I apologize for reporting uncertain content to you in the application. I was in a hurry, so I thought about explaining after taking the first step."

"Okay, but what kind of job is this after all? It doesn't appear to be a fishing request."

"Yes. I want you to pick up a certain person."

When suspicion and vigilance increase, he raises his eyebrow. Sato asked in a low voice.

"Who is that? He is not a criminal, right?"

"What, criminal?"

From the other side of the meeting, he could feel the sign that Awashima was completely disappointed. The voice that echoed next seemed to lack a bit of calm, unlike before.

"Incorrect! The president is not involved in such things!"

"Oh, yeah."

At the angry response, Awashima coughed a little.

"No, sorry. It may be inevitable that it looks like this. I would like you to pick up Reisi Munakata, the representative idol of "Promotion Scepter 4"."

While driving, Sato is confused.

"Why do idols want to get on our ship?"

“As I said before, it is an urgent matter. He didn't seem to be in time for a regular water taxi, so I contacted you."

"Hmm... Well, it's okay."

Sato is not familiar with idols. He is simply not interested. From time to time he sees them on television, but to him they all have similar faces and clothes, so he cannot tell them apart.

That sect image is probably one of those idols. No wonder that is used instead of a taxi, but, work is work.

"So where should I pick him up?"

"Please wait a moment. I'll link the information on the president's location to that PDA."

"Eh?"

A second after the stupid voice leaked out, a spot of light lit up on the GPS map attached to the ship. Sato opens his mouth and looks at it moving at high speed on the map.

“Did you get the location? The point that lights up in blue is the current position of the president."

"Yes, I got it."

"Good. Get closer to the point of light. It also shows the next meeting points."

The GPS map reacts again and projects an orange spot of light. It shows a jetty near the beach park, that made Sato panic even more.

"Wait a minute! How did you do that? This is my PDA, right? Why can you operate it on that side?"

"There is no time to lose! I took emergency measures! Rest assured that we have formal permission to use the system!"

"What is that system?"

To Sato's confusion, Awashima doesn't reply. "More than that!" When he started yelling, the blue point of light on the map continued to flash.

“He is approaching the meeting point. Thanks for your cooperation. Awashima, over and out."

And the radio was unilaterally cut off, leaving only Sato who was confused.

The ship curves and begins to move parallel to the shore. Sato alternately compared the map and the coast. If this location is correct, Munakata will soon be in sight.

"Ah."

With that said, he opened his mouth. Someone was there. That's probably definitely Munakata.

From a distance, he can only tell that he is a man. It would have been indistinguishable on its own, but the appearance of a human who could ride a bicycle at a speed comparable to that of a high-speed boat fits this unusual situation perfectly.

"What should I do?"

Sato is a man of the sea. He is confident that he can handle most things that happen at sea. However, he had never imagined such a situation. Sato looked towards the beach while maintaining his speed.

At that moment, Munakata pointed forward.

Sato looks ahead so he can catch it. A jetty leading off the shore blocked the ship's path as it gently curved.

Reflecting a sailor, Sato curves the speedboat along the jetty.

Munakata's bike has picked up speed.

"Hey, it can't be!"

Unknowingly, Sato was screaming. Because he understood the man's thoughts. Because he understood the meaning of "meeting point" that Awashima said on the radio.

The bicycle races down the jetty at a speed that exceeds that of high-speed boats. Sato made the boat's engine run at full speed. It was not because he understood their speculations, but because he thought that, as a man of the sea, he would not be able to stand upright if he was driving a boat and losing to a bicycle.

The bicycle and the speed boat run next to each other for a very short distance.

For the first time, Sato saw Munakata's face.

Munakata was smiling with a clean face in front of him. It was not the expression of a human reaching such high speed on a bicycle. He was horrified. Perhaps this is a monster that seemed to drag him to the bottom of the sea. Even such an imagination took over his head.

Munakata's bicycle leaned over. At the end of the jetty, Sato's high-speed boat drew closer and Munakata jumped with the bicycle with only the spring from his body.

Sato opened his eyes and looked at the figure of Munakata leaping against the sun.

After a short break, Munakata's bicycle landed on the back of the high-speed boat, made a sharp turn, and came to a stop.

"Fu..."

With a sigh, Munakata wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

"......"

Sato was just looking at Munakata, who was behaving like a human, with his mouth open.

When he got out and parked at the bicycle rack, Munakata looked at Sato and said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you. Sato Yojiro-san. My name is Reisi Munakata. Thank you for your transportation to the planned location."

Swallowing hard, Sato asks suspiciously.

"You are a human?"

After opening his eyes somewhat surprisingly, he replied with a bitter smile.

"I'm just an idol."

++++++++++

At the Suzugaya sorting yard, Domyoji Andy (19) turned his pale face down and swallowed nausea.

He, who is scheduled to appear on "Sprint Dream Live Tour", is at that location because the Suzugaya courtyard is a helicopter landing site owned by "Scepter 4."

The event titled "Extreme Solo Part, Idol from Above 6500~", is Domyoji's assigned role this time. The event of strumming a guitar solo while skydiving from 2000 meters above the sky is sure to be a great thrill if it succeeds, but it can only be said that it is insane.

For today, Domyoji was repeating a special training every day. In total, it would have fallen enough to reach the surface from the stratosphere. Domyoji said that if he ran for Guinness, he would not pass, and gave a tired smile.

At that moment the door to the waiting room was opened and the staff entered.

"Domyoji-san, please prepare for take-off!"

"Eh?"

His eyes are round. Domyoji looks at the watch as it is. There is still some time left before the live begins. The turn of "Shoumutai", including Domyoji, was supposed to be in the second half of the opening ceremony.

"Is it still early? Was there an accident?"

Anyway, when he got up and left the room with the staff, Domyoji was so quiet. He doesn’t know what kind of problems are waiting in the live presentation. Not only staff but also idols need to take this into account and respond flexibly.

"There is no change to Domyoji-san's appearance time! We are going to pick up the president from now on!"

Domyoji opened his mouth. The staff didn't look back and pushed the door in front of them while walking quickly.

At the landing site, the helicopter was already preparing for takeoff. The high-speed rotating main rotor disperses a roar like a gunshot. Defeating the sound, Domyoji yelled at the back of the staff.

"What happened to the president? That person is surely the interpreter for the opening ceremony!"

“Currently, the president is crossing Tokyo Bay! We'll pick him up at sea and head straight to the Tsubakimon Dome!"

Domyoji is confused. He is crossing Tokyo Bay? He has no idea what the hell is going on. What he knows is that he is about to fly high again.

After sitting on the seat and fixing his body with a harness, Domyoji finally noticed.

"Hey! Don't I need it if I pick up the president?!"

"It's the president's judgment that it's a waste of time to go back every time! After leaving the president in the dome, Domyoji-san will wait in the sky until the time of the "Extreme solo part, Idol from above 6500~”!"

That was brilliant. Wait a minute, he try to tell if he would be flying all the time, but then his body was fixed. Jumping out the rear hatch, the staff gave Domyoji a big thumb up.

"Thank you good luck!"

The hatch closes as he continues. The sound of the rotor increases the pitch. Domyoji's stunned face disappeared into the darkness of the plane.

++++++++++

"The President has arrived at meeting point E! The pickup helicopter that was already waiting has started to approach!"

"Let go of the rope, the helicopter must be very careful!"

"Got it! Let go of the rope! Try to drive safely!"

Brilliant laughter erupted in the monitor room as the pilot made a joke. Private language during the operation should be strictly prohibited, but Awashima felt a slight smile on her lips. This would indicate their high morale. She doesn’t have to worry.

"President, I secured a rope! Start climbing."

"Domyoji, can't you point the CCD camera at the president?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll try."

Domyoji hastily responded to Awashima's voice. After a while, a rough image appears on one of the monitors.

Munakata was about to board the helicopter. Standing in the open hatch, he turns and pays him homage. A high speed boat floating ahead, probably Yojiro Sato, a man who appeared to be the captain took off his hat and waved it.

The expression of the image has been softened.

"President. Thank you for being safe."

On the CCD camera, he sees Munakata smiling.

“Thank you for your hard work, Awashima-kun. Did you worry?"

Awashima shakes her head slowly.

"I wasn't worried."

It was a lie. During these 30 minutes, Awashima has looked at the clock no less than 50 times. It's not because she doesn’t trust Munakata. It is probably due to the weakness of Awashima's heart.

Munakata's deep eyes can even see Awashima's inner heart. Still, she looked directly at her boss and reported on the situation.

"We are on time. If you move at full speed from the current location of the president, it will be enough to reach the inauguration. The president's suit has been brought to the room of the occupant of the helicopter."

"Okay. Let's finish all the preparations on the fly. Has the final landing point I submitted changed?"

"No, there are no changes. The helipad is already in control."

At that moment, one of the monitors lit up red and emitted a warning sound.

"What?"

"I will confirm it!"

Staff operate the console quickly. Awashima holds her breath and stares at the movement.

Finally, the staff raised a strained voice.

“There was a fire at the Tsubakimon Dome Hotel! Looks like an evacuation notice has been issued at the hotel!"

"No!"

“No recommendations have been issued for this place! Deputy Chief, what do we do?"

Impatience melts in her hand. Various thoughts come to mind instantly. How big is the fire? How to accept evacuees? Should the concert be canceled, even if no recommendations have been made? The enthusiasm of the people involved and the fans for this live show is extraordinary. But if something happens to the fans, it is irreparable.

An intelligent voice broke those thoughts.

"Awashima-kun. Confirm the evacuation of the hotel guests."

Raise her face. Beyond the CCD camera, Munakata's rough expression was as calm as if he were sitting at his usual office desk.

Awashima looks at the staff. The personnel turned to the front and quickly returned to operating the console.

Finally, he told the staff in a shocked voice.

"We share the confirmation of the status of the place, but the evacuation of the three guests has not been completed! It seems that we are reconfirming the people who have been in the air and have been evacuated!"

"Three people. That means they are…"

The CCD camera points in the other direction. Seeing that, Awashima took a breath.

Near the window on the smokeless floor. A man and a woman are crouched in a narrow space. The woman appeared to be holding a child.

"The number of people matches. Apparently, the evacuation was delayed."

Awashima looks at the image from the CCD camera. Imagine a tragic future for a family left behind at the scene of the fire and blood gushes from their faces.

And Munakata said of course.

"I am heading to the rescue."

Awashima knew that Munakata would say so. Knowing that, she still screams...

"President! Don't do it!"

Domyoji's camera captures Munakata's face. Munakata wasn't looking there. He murmured, looking serious at the scene of the fire, perhaps putting together another thought.

"Awashima-kun. About us?"

"Ah..."

The answer to that was fixed. Awashima squeezed her hand so tightly that her nails dug into her palm.

"We are... idols...!"

"What kind of person is an idol in "Promotion Scepter 4"?"

"Our goal is to be the ideal human who should be a role model for people."

Munakata looked at Awashima with a teacher's gaze, watching over the poor students who gave the correct answer.

"So that's it."

"Huh!"

Munakata goes to the scene of the fire. Although he is an idol, he is only a human. There is no guarantee that he will be able to return safely, so the worst consequences may await him in the future.

And, while looking at the worst, taking steps to prevent it from happening is also a condition of being an ideal human.

Awashima said that decisively when she took a little breath, exhaled and was ready to do it.

“We will contact the various parties involved in the handling of this incident and request assistance in rescue activities. I pray for your safety, President."

Behind the camera, Munakata nodded slightly.

Fushimi Saruhiko clicked his tongue as he leaned his back against the wall.

If Munakata's decision was stupid, Awashima, who followed him, could only be seen as a fool. He are an ideal person and he are trying to ruin his job by getting caught up in an additional idea. Fushimi's frank opinion is that, it is the role of rescuers to help the victims, and that is why they have to get rid of that work.

But he will never reveal it. At least not yet.

It only deals with possible situations.

Makes a call from his PDA. The other party came out with a ringing sound. Before they say something to him there, speak up.

“Akiyama, I got a job. Call the members of the 'Shoumutai'."

While saying that, Fushimi turned away from the wall and quickly headed to the end of the hall.

++++++++++

To be continue…

[thanksjro]

Last Stand of the Wreckers, Issue #4: This Series is Awash With Lippy Sons of Guns

Issue #4 starts off with an uncomfortably handsome Prowl. I mean honestly, look at this asshole, he’s simply too pretty.

I don’t think Roche has ever drawn the guy ugly, but this is on another level.

We’re in a flashback sequence here, as we start to gain an understanding of just why exactly Ironfist got put on the Wreckers in the first place. Back when he was working at Kimia, Ironfist got a call from Prowl. Seems Prowl’s read his work, and is impressed by the sheer amount of effort he’s put into it. They chat a bit about it, but no call with Prowl is ever casual, and he asks Ironfist if he’s ever been interested in actually being a Wrecker. Which, of course he has, but he’d never exactly been cut out for that kind of work, especially after his Accident™. Prowl has a little push in that area, because he’s Prowl, and makes a deal; Ironfist joins the Wreckers as a weapon expert, and in exchange he does something for Prowl.

We won’t find out what exactly Ironfist’s agreed to do until later, as we jump back to the present, where the Guzzle and Kup are about to lay the smackdown on some unsuspecting Decepticons.

With how many cameras are currently trained on you guys, I can’t say you really have the time for wisecracks, old-timer.

That big vault door behind them leads to the cell of one of the most notorious Autobots ever to grace the galaxy- Grimlock. This is the “help” Springer requested they find, meaning that he’s a sort of last resort, which tells you just how much of a powerhouse the guy is. Volatile, sure, but a powerhouse regardless.

Too bad the cell’s empty.

Snare steps in to explain just why that is, having snuck up on our Big Gulp duo.

Well I’m sure that won’t be a plot point later on.

Of course, Guzzle doesn’t really feel inclined to believe a word of what this Getaway kitbash says, and starts threatening to shoot him. Snare however, has even more secrets to tell.

Perceptor and pals have finally discovered just what the hell it is that they’ve been looking for all this time. Aequitas is a supercomputer, and a massive one at that. They’re here to download its memory files. Topspin is less than pleased with this whole thing.

Ironfist agrees- there’s no way they’re going to be able to get all the data in Aequitas downloaded before the Decepticons get through to them and tear them to pieces. Verity, however, is more concerned about the size of the computer itself.

A large part of Aequitas is made up of something called a culpability drive, which breaks down factors like motivation and accountability into a streamlined equation so it can do something completely ridiculous: calculate guilt. Yes, someone had the bright idea to break down guilt into a binary system, without any “human” element involved. Because that couldn’t possibly backfire.

Then the narrative catches up to Topspin, and Ironfist and Verity get put on babysitting duty while he deals with his phantom pain. Pyro’s made to help Perceptor with booting up the computer.

Over with Springer, he and Impactor have a little heart-to-heart, while Twin Twist is passed out with a shadow over his face, probably waiting for the horrific reveal of what the dentist’s done to him. Springer feels really bad about Impactor having been sent to Garrus-9; he’d figured that after the trial, Impactor had been sent to rehab, or at least a prison that wasn’t quite as torturey.

Impactor points out that Springer’s testimony at Aequitas was pretty damning, and I’m starting to wonder why Springer didn’t see this coming. Unless they somehow managed to move that massive friggin’ supercomputer in the last few years, Impactor’s trial happened on Garrus-9. Kind of seems like a foregone conclusion that anyone who got put through the Aequitas wringer would end up staying if found guilty.

Impactor still doesn’t think that what he did was wrong, and the only reason they stop verbally duking it out is because Twin Twist does his dramatic face reveal and the dentist comes back in to finish off those fillings.

Funny, they had a similar setup at my old orthodontist’s.

As the dentist prepares to turn what’s left of Twin Twist’s face into the “Lust” scene from Se7en, we get back to the real point of this whole miniseries: fanwanking. Ironfist is telling Verity about the Decepticon’s answer to the Wreckers- Squadron X.

This group is made up entirely of characters who only existed in the Marvel UK comics, and even then only barely. This is convenient on multiple levels; it allows the Wreckers to have an antithesis to their own group that won’t disrupt any of the ongoing storylines outside of Last Stand of the Wreckers. Nobody’s really vying to use the guy who beat up a piano and then got thrown out of a bar, now are they?

It also allows you to use an already-established character that still has plenty of wiggle room for story application. No point in trying to make a new set of characters when we’ve got a bin full of nobodies off in the corner. Especially when we’re only going to have these guys around for a few minutes.

But we’ll get to that later.

Back to Ironfist’s story…

Oh hey Whirl.

Springer’s in a bit of a pickle- his lower half is trapped under a busted barricade, and Squadron X is closing in. Impactor has no intention of leaving Springer behind, so it’s time to get crazy. Springer tells Impactor to blast a hole through his TORSO so he can surprise-attack the approaching enemy. Impactor does so, reluctantly.

Please note that the emphasis is not mine, but the narrative’s.

That’s just a cool panel.

Once all that’s over and done with, Squadron X are all put into inhibitor harnesses to keep them from trying anything funny while in custody. But oh ho, what’s this? They’ve escaped! And they’ve ripped Sandstorm’s arm off! Surely, this must be dealt with, and who better suited for the job than the dude who’s been obsessed with taking these guys out for years now? Impactor gets to work.

And thus the day is saved, thanks to the Wreckers! Yaaay!

With Ironfist’s story concluded, Perceptor takes the time to mention that they’ve got a problem. Turns out Aequitas has some state-of-the-art security measures going on- in order to even turn the thing on, someone’s got to feed the thing their spark. You know, a robot soul. This thing runs on souls, and the donator has to be a willing participant otherwise it won’t work.

Well that’s awful convenient for you, now ain’t it, Percy?

I’m assuming they just never turned the thing off during the trials, otherwise they would have run out of juice very quickly.

So it’s slim pickings in terms of sparks. Perceptor’s playing IT, Topspin’s whole spark situation is a consent minefield, and Verity’s soul is the normal, human, intangible kind. And now we get to the part of our story that’s a little sad.

Pyro and Ironfist aren’t popular. They’ve never been in the spotlight. They aren’t important. They were brought on the Wreckers to die, plain and simple, because it’s a game of numbers, and their numbers are miles below the likes of Springer and Kup.

Pyro isn’t on-board with this at all, saying that this isn’t how it’s supposed to go down for him.

Say what you will about his delusions of grandeur, but this is a guy who knows what he wants.

While Pyro’s dreaming big, Topspin’s having a really bad time in the background. That vicarious perception’s hitting real hard right now.

Ironfist plays the child in a bitter divorce between Pyro and Verity as they argue over who the hell should die so the plot can keep moving. Ironfist has a lot to say, a lot that he really should say, but he doesn’t. He’s not proud of himself, or the things he’s done as a weapons’ expert. After reflecting on his life- a life that hasn’t been profoundly wondrous or meaningful- he concedes to being the one to die.

But that doesn’t happen, because Topspin takes matters into his own hands and puts the goddamn dog to sleep. The dog in this case being himself and Twin Twist. Aequitas thanks him for his donation, sucks out his spark, and over in the torture chamber Twin Twist explodes.

With the twins(?) dead, Aequitas is online, and not a moment too soon, because those Decepticons are starting to bring the door down. Perceptor hands a headphone jack to Ironfist, tells him to plug it into his brain, and to get ready for the hurt, because they’re about to download the entirety of this supercomputer into his head.

Back with Impactor, he’s about to get his cornea scratched, when Guzzle and Kup come to save the day, following Snare’s guidance.

I just want to say, Guzzle wins the Worst Crotch award. It’s simply awful.

So Kup and Guzzle free Springer and Impactor, just in time for Springer to revenge-stab the dentist with the torture stick. Too bad he’s already shot Snare.

Play… makes you free... in the prison that’s been turned into basically a death camp. Is… are we really doing the Holocaust parallels again? God, I hope I’m reading too much into that, I really do.

We finally find out what the prize for winning the Pit fights is: you can either fight Overlord, or kill yourself. Not much of a prize, if you ask me.

Speaking of the Blue Terror, he’s on his way over. Snare asks that Impactor just kill him, because there’s no way he’s going to risk being found out by Overlord that he was being sneaky. Impactor obliges, crushing his brain module between his fingers.

Then Overlord quite literally explodes into the room.

Back over in the Aequitas chamber, Ironfist’s just finished with his upload, and he’s shaken by what he now knows. The Decepticons have nearly broken down the door at this point, and there’s only one way to save themselves- they have to detonate the prisoners’ deterrence chips. This, of course, includes Impactor. Perceptor’s all for it, but Pyro’s wholly against the idea. Verity tries to put in her vote, but humans don’t have rights in the eyes of Wrecker law, so it all comes down to Ironfist.

You heard the man, let’s kill the purple guy.

[nerdylittleshit]

Thoughts about Spn 15x06

BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Uff. What an episode. As we are in the final season everything that happens now feels much more significant. Once again the actual monster plotline (in both storylines) feels just like a means to an end, with the focus on the characters and their relationship with each other. Just like Becky said, the interesting part are the characters, not the monsters. This episode focused more on Sam, specifically his relationship with both Rowena and Eileen, and how both could be important for his future. Meanwhile Cas’s storyline was overshadowed by his recent break up with Dean. The Chuck storyline was on hold, given our boys time to reflect on their recent past.

But, as always, let’s take a closer look.

Fish ‘n’ Clarence

I was curious to see what Cas is up to, because for the first time in a long time he is without a mission. He cut ties with heaven, he thinks Chuck is out of the picture, and he is on break from his new family, the Winchesters, as well. I expected him to still hunt, to still do some good, because that is what Cas does, so I was surprised to see that he is on a break, renting a cabin, spending his days fishing, something Dean enjoys, so clearly he is still on Cas’s mind. It is obvious that Cas is still hurt, from the way he retreats himself, or as Melly said taking yourself out of the game. He makes it look like this is work related as well, but it goes deeper. His expression during his conversation with Dean was that of a jilted lover. He hasn’t read Sam’s messages, or answered his calls, knowing that Sam would ask him questions he is not ready to answer yet. Dean on the other hand expresses his worries, despite everything. Everything about that scene was framed in the way of two people having to talk each other after they broke up; not like two friends or family members who recently had a big fight. And on the other side we had Sam, who had to deal with both Rowena and Eileen, two women he has (subtextual) romantic connections too. A parallel that obviously would not work if we aren’t meant to read Dean and Cas as a romantic couple as well. Everyone is haunted by their (ex) lovers.

The Sheriff, who turned out to be a djinn, is an obvious parallel to Chuck. A man in position of power, who abuses said power, by covering up his own crimes. Cas explicitly calls him out for that, telling him that his power won’t protect him from Cas. Other people smarter than me have already written lots of meta about Cas role in season 15, from Becky explicitly calling out Chuck for not including Cas in his story, and that is ignorance might be Chuck’s downfall. Chuck is so focused on Sam and Dean, that he totally underestimates Cas’s power, the original rebel and breaker of rules. Cas is the embodiment of free will. And in all of Sam’s visions so far (Chuck’s possible endings), Cas played no role. Because in the original events it was Cas who helped preventing that one brother would kill the other. And now Cas has realized that taking yourself out of the game won’t change the game. The only way to defeat Chuck is to become active again. To stop someone else who abuses his power.

Some other things I noticed about Cas: he used the alias ‘Clarence Worley’, a character from the movie “True Romance”. It is possible he simply used the alias because ‘Clarence’ is an alias he used before (and the name Meg had given him). My personal headcanon is however that Dean made him watch “True Romance”, perhaps even explicitly pointing out that one of the characters is named Clarence and it stuck with Cas.  

Once again we see someone shooting Cas, to no effect, reminding us of his angelic nature. And yet, moments later we see Cas healing someone, and how it seems to drain him, something we have also seen before. It might be because heaven is still running on low energy or because Chuck’s weakened state influences the angels as well, we don’t know yet.

And lastly Cas told Melly that monsters are real, just like Dean did last episode with “Ashley”. It is obviously not the first time they told civilians the truth, but I still think it is odd how regularly they do this now.

And don't be afraid of the ghost of love (It'll haunt you as long as you want)

Sam is haunted not by one but two of his (subtextually) lovers. Though I found it oddly touching how much trust both Rowena and Eileen put in Sam. Rowena made sure that only Sam would be able to enter her apartment and obtain her possessions (though perhaps Dean would have been able as well). Eileen reached out to Sam after her death. Sam of course feels responsible for both of those deaths; directly for Rowena’s death as he was the one who killed her (despite her consent) and indirectly for Eileen, who died simply because she knew the Winchesters. It is quite telling then that after an episode that deals with characters haunted by their past we finish it with a woman coming back from the dead, undoing at least one of Sam’s traumas.

Eileen, just as Kevin, landed in hell despite being innocent, and just like him she therefore can’t go to heaven. It implies that this might be a bigger issue, that there are more than just two innocent souls, who do belong in heaven, but are now stuck on earth. The spell Sam uses only works once, because we learn that once Death sees a loophole she closes it (speaking of Death, when will we see Billy, and hopefully Jack, again?).

The way Sam found the page with the spell, by coincidence, reminded me of 7x17, the way Dean accidently found the number of a hunter who would lead him to Emmanuel/Cas, though we later found out it was Bobby’s ghost helping him. So perhaps Rowena’s ghost helped as well? The spell however is not finished and it is interesting to see that Sam by now knows enough about witchcraft to finish it. Sam even reminded us that Rowena was perhaps the most powerful witch, we know how complex her spells usually are, so this means something. And hopefully we will see more of witch!Sam in the future, because that role suits him.

Once again we also have another pair of siblings, that are meant to parallel Sam and Dean, though the parallel does not work out. Sam thinks he can bond with Emily over their older siblings, but where Dean only teased Sam, Jacinda straight out abused her younger sister. Sam offers her a way out, but Emily refuses and instead uses for once the chance to cause pain on somebody else; the abused becomes the abuser. While Emily did not kill her sister she does not wish for her to come back to life either. Yet she can’t withstand her mother; she is unable to break free from her toxic family and in the end all three women are dead. Unlike Sam and Dean, who have learned from their past, and their toxic relationship has developed over the years to a much healthier one.

On a short note, two of the witches are played by actresses who have appeared on the show before, the witch mother and Emily. The actress who played Emily even appeared in season 1 (episode 1x19), back then a child, now a young woman, a nod to how long the show has been on the air. We already had other actors this season who had guest stared before on the show (the couple from 15x04 had appeared – also as a couple – in 1x08) and by now this re-castings feel deliberate, little nods to the long past of the show.

Like I mentioned before we finish the episode with one of the ghosts haunting Sam becoming a living person again: Eileen. There was something quite intimate about the scene, though I didn’t think the fact that Eileen was naked made the scene sexual charged; it was a symbol for her rebirth. But she shared that moment with Sam, she started her new life with him and he is the one who brought her back to life. If they (hopefully) end up as a couple this is quite some story to tell. And yet another parallel to Dean and Cas. Cas brought Dean back from the dead as well, he raised him from perdition.

Sam and Dean still think quite different how to move on, now that they know Chuck is back. Just like Cas Sam thinks that you can’t change the game if you are not part of the game. He still thinks they have a choice, that they can break the rules, that Chuck can’t control everything (like Sam shooting him). Dean feels trapped, wondering what is real and what is not, despite Cas’s answer (“We are”). With both Sam and Cas ready to become masters of their fate again I think it is only a matter of time until Dean finds his spirit again. At least I hope so.

Until then <3

[tarysande]

Uriel Doing What has to be Done

“Just because he told us his plan doesn’t mean that’s his plan. It’s Uriel.”

I’ve been thinking about Uriel. And I’ve been wondering how much of the pattern he could see at any given moment. Because he’s an angel; an immortal. A human minute is not the same to an immortal being who doesn’t have to live within the concept of a lifespan of perhaps 80-90 years. Does Uriel see patterns of days? Yes; he claims pressing the key will kill Chloe in two days. Does he see months? Years? Is it a clue that, when talking about Mum, he says, “She’s been here, what? Three minutes? Now you’re already defending her.”

Because here’s the real question: Why does Uriel bring Azrael’s blade to Earth? (And why, for that matter, does Azrael let him? Death is always watching.) We, the audience, think it’s because he’s going to use it to kill Mum. We think that because it’s the conclusion Lucifer jumps to, and even though we have seen Lucifer jump to many many wrong conclusions in the past, we believe him. Not only that, Uriel’s very appearance, I believe, plays on audience-held prejudices and biases. 

Before Uriel, every celestial we meet is tall and strong and beautiful. We trust Lucifer because he’s our POV character, even though we know that his own feelings and emotions and history make him an unreliable narrator. We have seen the beautiful favorite son, firstborn angel Amenadiel fall in slow motion and then crawl haltingly back toward the light. We’ve seen Amenadiel do good things and we trust him, too, especially when Lucifer grows to trust him.

When Uriel shows up, he’s shorter and thicker than either Lucifer or Amenadiel. His human form is older; he is not young and beautiful, his clothes are drab and either too baggy or too tight. And if first impressions don’t ensure we already dislike him, Lucifer’s attitude toward Uriel takes us the rest of the way---disparaging Uriel’s trenchcoat as “pe/do/phile chic,” for example. That’s a laden word.

We, the audience, think we know what Lucifer thinks he knows: Uriel has come to hurt Chloe. Like Lucifer, we love Chloe and hate anyone who would hurt her. We distrust Uriel because his clothes, his appearance, his New York accent, his Mafiaesque vibe, like relying on ‘accidents’ to get what he wants and ensure his outcomes (Hell, the actor’s connection to The Sopranos) encourage us to. Kimo breaks legs for the Mob in the same episode we’ve got an Italian American actor known for major gangster-related roles pulling strings; these things are rarely coincidental with the Lucifer writers.

This episode is about appearances. Lying about them. Changing them. Pretending to be something you’re not. Amenadiel pretends to still be a powerful angel; Chloe pretends she’s not as upset about the accident as she is; Kimo pretends he still has movie star money; Jamie Lee pretends she still loves Kimo; the manager pretends he has Kimo’s best interests at heart; Kimo and Wesley pretend to be enemies; Chloe reads Coraline--appearances!!--to Trixie. What is Uriel pretending to be? How, perhaps, is his appearance at odds with his truth?

Uriel pulls out Azrael’s blade after explaining, “Dad’ll do the same thing [forgive Mum], he’ll let his guard down, and then she’ll destroy him. I need to make sure that doesn’t happen.” If we look at the events of “God Johnson,” this is exactly what happens. The God we see in God Johnson may not be the full power of the Almighty, but we know He has some of God’s essence, some of His memories. It’s not just the healing power of life; God knows Lucifer as Samael without prompting. And we know that iteration of God is willing to forgive. Mum is the one we know isn’t interested in forgiveness because she tells us again and again that she’s got an axe to grind and boy she can’t wait to get at the sharpener.

God, after all, is still an enigma---as “The Weaponizer” reminds us with Lucifer’s angry speech about how no one knows what He wants, and the various grace notes peppered throughout the episode reminding us everyone is essentially blind when it comes to God’s actual wants/plans/needs---”Nobody bloody knows because the selfish bastard won’t just tell us!” That this is immediately followed by “There’s my Lightbringer” in an episode that is going to introduce us to the flaming sword is not a coincidence. Mum means Lightbringer as truthbringer, I think; shedding light in the darkness. It’s one of the many meanings of Lucifer’s name and his insistence on never lying.

But back to Lucifer and Uriel at the church. Lucifer is the one who points out it’s Azrael’s blade; he explains its power; he says, “No Heaven, no Hell, just gone.”

Uriel replies, “Finally a moment of clarity between us.”

But is it the clarity we, the audience, think it is? Is it the death we (and Lucifer) assume Uriel is planning? Because when we get to the finale (Uriel says, “Maybe I’m working up to a big finale.”), isn’t that what happens? Lucifer slices open the universe and Mum leaves. No Heaven. No Hell. Just gone.

Lucifer, still assuming Uriel intends to use the blade on Mum, says, “You’ve gone completely insane, brother.”

And Uriel says, “I’m doing what has to be done, and you’ve run out of time. I don’t care about your deal with Dad, I don’t care about your little human, but it’s obvious you care for her a tad more than you do Mom. Now, all I need to do is hit this one little key, right here. A sequence will begin and two days from now, your cute little human will finally die. So, Lucifer, you can either let that happen or you can give me Mom. Last chance. You choose.” 

The bolding is mine; I’ll come back to it in a moment. But first, here’s the thing: Uriel doesn’t tell us what it is he cares about, not in so many words. What can we infer? That he doesn’t want Heaven to go to war. He doesn’t want the Universe to be destroyed by Mum and Dad fighting. He looked up to his siblings and kept trying to play with them, even when they rejected him, and even when, as Lucifer says, it was “strange, considering he already knew what the outcome would be.” So what is he doing here? Revenge? I don’t think so. That’s Mum’s thing. He could’ve killed Amenadiel. He could’ve used Azrael’s blade on Lucifer.

Why does Uriel bring Azrael’s blade to Earth? If it’s to “kill” Mum, why are his last words to Lucifer about “the piece”? If Uriel’s plan was to avoid Mum returning to Heaven, being forgiven, destroying Dad (and possibly the Universe in the process, including his siblings), why would he tell Lucifer what he needs to know to fix the flaming sword? The cut-through-the-gates-of-Heaven, maybe-Lucifer-would’ve-succeeded-in-his-rebellion-if-he’d-had-it flaming sword?

What if Uriel saw a different outcome all along?

Back to Uriel’s monologue, then, and his actions on Earth. These actions seem focused on Lucifer; he only deals with Amenadiel because Lucifer adds that variable. He doesn’t seek Amenadiel out. There, I think, we see the actions of the frustrated, stubborn, rejected little boy whose siblings never played with him. But I don’t think that kind of vengeance (or even justice, some might say) is why Uriel involves himself. I think, on some level, Uriel believes Lucifer is the only one who can come close to understanding him (though I wonder if Uriel and Azrael didn’t hatch part of this plan together, both being young and small and not the best or brightest or most beautiful). 

Think about it. If Uriel was always rejected and excluded, who of his siblings can now understand that best of all? He needs Lucifer to help him but he also knows he can’t just ask Lucifer to help him; Lucifer is paranoid and distrustful. Lucifer might say no. The pattern might change. Perhaps Uriel has seen all the ways it will never work just to ask.

So Uriel goads him. Finds his weaknesses. Plays on them. Exactly like Mum is doing to Lucifer. Only Uriel’s doing it to try and save everything, whereas Mum is doing it to get Lucifer and Amenadiel to help her “retake” Heaven; war is always implied. Death is always implied. Patricide is implied. 

In their fight, Uriel says, “Patterns are tricky like that; it takes time to get a real sense of them.” He looks Lucifer in the eyes. “I needed to study you a bit.”

Again, we assume because Lucifer assumes that Uriel means he had to study Lucifer’s fighting style. But I don’t think that’s it---at least, not all of it. Uriel arranges the car accident; he watches Lucifer’s reaction to it. Uriel arranges the confrontation between Kimo and Chloe; he watches Lucifer’s reaction to it. Uriel gives Lucifer an ultimatum (Lucifer, who once rebelled against the Creator of the Universe because Lucifer asked, “Why can’t I choose my own way?” and Dad said, “Because I said so.”). 

Uriel goads Lucifer, knowing damned well that goading Lucifer is usually an efficient way to get him to do something. Tell him he can’t. Insult the things he loves to get his ire up; Lucifer is impulsive and protective. Uriel suspected Chloe was a weakness---or, perhaps, even a source of change that makes Lucifer better. So he insults her, belittles her, attacks her, knowing Lucifer will shoot from the hip. Uriel says he doesn’t care about her; he says he doesn’t care about Lucifer’s ‘deal with Dad’---we know Lucifer loves Chloe; we know Lucifer values the honor inherent in keeping his deals above all things. These words are very precise jabs at Lucifer’s weaknesses, his Achilles heels. Uriel knows what he’s doing. And Lucifer doesn’t see it; he falls for the “trap;” he lets his anger drive him. (Later, Uriel also mocks and insults Mazikeen---Lucifer’s favorite---but again, though he has the chance, he does not kill her. He’s still trying to push Lucifer toward an action.)

But Uriel does give Lucifer what he most desires; choice---at least he says he does. The thing Lucifer wanted so badly that he ended up rebelling and being banished from Heaven for it. Here, too, a parallel between Lucifer and Uriel: Uriel is making choices here, something that would never have happened Before. He still looks up to his brother, still wants to be like him.

Mum says, “He’s not going to give up until he has either me or that detective.” Asked to make this choice, Lucifer says, “I refuse to believe that. There is always another way.”

“If anyone can find it,” says Mum, “it’s you.”

Because hasn’t that always been Lucifer’s role? To find loopholes? Other ways? To do the unexpected?

And believe it or not, I think Lucifer’s ability to find other ways is what Uriel was counting on, too.

“Your pride was always going to be your undoing,” Uriel tells Amenadiel. (And doesn’t everyone think/know that pride is Lucifer’s thing too? Pride goeth, doesn’t it?)

Ultimately, pride is Uriel’s undoing, too. Like every other celestial we’ve met, Uriel underestimates the intensity of Lucifer’s loyalty to those he loves, human or not. Because the celestials don’t “get” Lucifer’s (or God’s!) fascination with humanity, relegating them to the equivalent of toys or pets, they do not understand the lengths Lucifer will go to in protecting them. When Lucifer kills Uriel (because it’s the only other choice he sees, and Uriel has goaded him relentlessly into thinking this is true), and Uriel says, “I didn’t see this coming,” it’s proof that Uriel---with all his patterns, all his prescience---still failed to accept that his celestial brother, his brightest brother, could possibly care enough about humanity to do the unthinkable.

Perhaps in the pattern Uriel thought most likely, Lucifer ended up working with him to build the flaming sword and banish Mum with it after they traversed this path. Perhaps he believed (wrongly, always wrongly) that he could manipulate Lucifer successfully (the way so many others have tried and failed to do). Perhaps he didn’t understand that his brother does not negotiate with terrorists, especially those who hold the safety of his loved ones hostage. Uriel says he will take both Mum and the detective; he says, “You can’t stop me, brother.” 

Getting Lucifer to act by telling him what he can and cannot do. 

And in that final moment, I think Uriel understands. In studying Lucifer, he missed the most important lesson. His brother isn’t the man he once was; he’s changed. And this changed Lucifer might have been reasoned with. This changed Lucifer might have helped. 

And so Uriel tells this changed Lucifer, “The piece is here,” hoping that Lucifer will pick up the thread of the pattern that should have been, the one where everyone is saved, where Mum gets her own universe, where his family doesn’t go to war with one another, where there’s no Heaven, no Hell, just gone.

Uriel just won’t be there to enjoy it. In this pattern, his is the sacrifice that makes the best outcome possible. Hell, maybe he did know that all along, too. How sad that would be. To be your worst self in order to make the best outcome happen. When Uriel says, “You’re lucky I would never use Azrael’s blade on you, brother,” is he planting the idea that becomes Lucifer using Azrael’s blade on him? How much of the pattern has he seen?

And I would like to believe, from one rejected brother to another, Uriel does see that his own actions led to this fratricide---and that he regrets it, because in making his brother a murderer, Uriel has potentially undone all the work that has gone into changing Lucifer for the better since last they met. (They call each other brother so often, even though they are, on the surface, enemies here. Brothers. Something that could have been and now never will. Even in dying---forever removed from existence---Uriel reaches for his brother, entrusts him with information. And somewhere in Lucifer’s subconscious this gets stored not as a lie, but as help---because otherwise, HellUriel wouldn’t be able to “tell” Lucifer what he needs to be thinking about.)

Pride goeth before the Fall, and in this case, the Fall is a very final one---and perhaps neither Lucifer nor his brother actually “got what they deserved,” no matter what Maze says. (“The prick got what he deserved.” Lucifer doesn’t think of him as a prick here, no. “He was my brother,” he says, tortured. “What have I done?”)

And in a world without Chloe Decker, without Linda Martin, without people who love him back, I think Lucifer might’ve fallen all over again after killing Uriel. But he doesn’t. And that’s a change, too. A really damned important one.

[trashcankitty12]

So... I don't know anything about Valkyrie because I still haven't found the time to read all of your fics but from little bits and pieces I've seen about her here and there, she sounds really interesting. So can you give me a crash course on Valkyrie? I'd love to learn more about her but heaven knows when I'll find the time and motivation to read all your fics (so many words!!!) so I would love to hear some interesting facts about her and her relationships with her parents and Flora and Winx.😁

Crash course? Okay, but you asked for it!

Curiosities: 

Val’s birthday is October 13, and on a Friday the 13th at that. (So original, I know.)

She has a dragon birthmark on her back. She also has scars on her arms. One from Stormy and one from a Shaa creature. 

There’s a scar on her shoulder from sparring with Kota as a child. One of his illusions got out of hand and it triggered an emotional response from her dragon, so they sort of ended up scarring each other up.

Valkyrie has a familiar in the form of a tuxedo cat named Cheshire. (And Griffin absolutely, totally, does not like the cat. And it’s completely beside the point that she can be found petting him as often as her daughter. A coincidence really.)

Her favorite classes are Monster Taming and the combat classes. She absolutely hates potions, even if her grades are well above passing.

She has a cousin named Morgan who is a fairy and half-elf. Because of their parents being gone often to teach in Magix, they grew up forming a sister-esque relationship.

Valkyrie is a lesbian. The first person she came out to was actually Helia when they were about 11 and he was down visiting his mother and uncle. He helped her gain courage to open up to their other friends and eventually to her mother. (Griffin had no cares for who Valkyrie would end up dating, so long as they treated her daughter with respect and love and weren’t affiliated with the Coven.)

She’s a big reader and loves documentary movies. (Her and her aunt Ediltrude especially love true crime stories and have little murder boards. Griffin would cut their time short while she could, just as a precaution.)

Like Griffin she loves astronomy and history. Like Valtor, she has a love for combat.

By Earth’s zodiac thing, Valkyrie is a libra. It’s a bit ironic since she’s vital in the whole “Balance of the Magical Dimension” thing.

By the Magical Dimension’s zodiac thing, she’s an elemental. Considering her magic comes from the Element of Fire, its fitting. 

Val doesn’t do horror movies. “I see enough horror in my day to day life. I don’t need the extra stimulus.”

She also has a fear of snakes that stems from an accident when she and her friends (elementary friends and Morgan) stumbled into a baslisks’ nest and almost ended up lunch. (Thankfully Griffin and Saladin had noticed the kids were gone fairly quickly and came to their rescue.)

Traits:

Like her mother, she’s sarcastic and has a “Type-A” personality. She can’t stand the thought of getting behind on anything. She also has a tendency to antagonize her opponents and then getting into more trouble.

She also has a tendency to sneak out of places and loves to do word play. (Ex: You snuck out of Cloud Tower. ‘Actually, I walked out of Cloud Tower. Through the tunnels. So… No real sneaking.’)

She has an affinity for swords like her father. Griffin enrolled her at a young age in a junior sword fighting league after she begged to be signed up with Helia. 

Valkyrie is impulsive and doesn’t tend to think things through, but when she does actually sit down to plot out something, she’s a great tactician.

She has a tendency to see things in black and white, often forgetting that shades of gray exist in life. 

Smart-ass. Need I say more?

She loves to write and often writes journals about her adventures. (It also assists in separating her own thoughts from the thoughts her dragon has. After all, she’s a two-spirit and her dragon still has a mind of his own… As does Bloom’s.)

Physical:

Valkyrie takes after her Great-Aunt Hetty in the height department… 5′0″ and affectionately known as an “imp”. 

She also has short purple hair in a bob-like cut. Her eyes are blue-gray and she wears black framed glasses.

Her outfits typically include short-sleeves and shorts. She can’t help it, she burns hot and can barely stand to wear long-sleeves.

Val has issues walking in heels. She’s a bit clumsy in them.

Griffin:

Valkyrie is close to her mother and they have a fairly open and honest relationship. (Of course, there are some things Griffin doesn’t talk about. Like parts of her time with the Coven and anything that has to do with Valkyrie’s father.)

They have a Yule tradition where they wear pjs, create a blanket fort, have hot chocolate and popcorn, and watch horribly cheesy holiday movies for the hell of it.

They have also been known to have flour and dough fights in the kitchen. 

Griffin adores Valkyrie with Flora, thinking the fairy is a calming influence on her daughter. (And the look Flora gives Valkyrie makes her think of the looks she’d given Valtor…)

Griffin never tried to turn Valkyrie against her father. She only told her daughter that they shared a power, eye colors, and that he never left the Coven. Valkyrie’s dragon filled in the rest of the blanks.

Growing up, Griffin made sure Valkyrie had a warm and loving environment to be raised in. She wanted to make damn sure that Valkyrie never had to question her love or that she was worth something. (She’d seen enough self-doubt and self-hate in Valtor, she didn’t want her daughter growing up the same way.)

If Valkyrie had nightmares while growing up, she never hesitated to crawl into bed with her mom. And Griffin never hesitated to keep vigil to protect her child from ‘the glowing golden eyes’ and ‘the chill of frost’. 

Valkyrie really looks up to her mother, and will be the first to tell you that she wants to be as strong and will-full as her mother when she’s grown. (And boy is she ever her mother’s daughter.)

Snowball wars are a thing with this family. Bring it on. (Usually adults vs. the kids.)

Valtor:

This relationship is beyond complicated.

It went from non-existent to antagonistic to mourning.

She never really knew him growing up, what with him being in Omega and all… But once he was out, her dragon had already explained to her just how horrible he was and she was angry with him.

That anger didn’t waiver when he tried to mess with her relationship to Flora or when he took over Cloud Tower and tormented her mother.

But once the dust settled and his corruption started to dissipate in his final moments of clarity, Valkyrie could see bits of who he used to be. And she mourns for that version of him. The one who admits he should have left with Griffin and should have been there for her.

As a kid, she used to fantasize that he would come back and be apologetic for siding with the Ancestral Witches, that he’d get back with her mother and they’d have a ‘normal family’. She resented the teasing she got as a kid because she was from a single mother household. 

She grew out of those fantasies though, especially once she started being able to communicate with her dragon and learned about the horrible things he did as one of their soldiers. 

(She still hates that he had to die, that she couldn’t save him from the corruption of the blood bond he shared with the Ancestral Witches.)

Bonus:

Val is very much a family-oriented witch. If her cousin needs her help, she’s there. Her uncles need her? Boom, there she is. Her grandmother? There she is.

Yule is her favorite holiday because of the traditions she shares with her family. Including: the dinner with family and extended friends and family, the movie marathon with her mom, the major snowball war that always takes place, and the catching up.

She considers her grandmother a second mom because Theodora often watched Morgan and Valkyrie while their parents worked in Magix. (Theodora is thrilled to have had the chance to be there for them like she was for her own children.)

Val tends to get in on the prank war between her mother and Uncle Sal. (Palladium refuses to partake on the grounds that he doesn’t want to end up dragon food.)

Flora:

Ah love… Isn’t it a grand emotion?

They met when Valkyrie intervened in an attack by the Trix, and Valkyrie was enthralled immediately.

Flora felt a connection with her too. She loves her witch and loves knowing that she has Valkyrie wrapped around her finger. (All she has to do is mention what she wants and Valkyrie will do her best.)

Valkyrie has a protective streak and has a tendency to get fired up if anything threatens or harms Flora. She’s even summoned the Army of Darkness over her fairy. 

She also has a jealous streak whenever she notices someone lingering too long around Flora. (She’s burned people for such offenses.)

Valkyrie finds herself becoming more and more a romantic while hanging around Flora. Flora adores it.

They see things in each other that others don’t. Flora sees the vulnerability and emotion in Valkyrie. She sees the good and the light that resides within.

And Valkyrie sees in Flora someone who is strong and compassionate. She sees a woman who loves her and who has a bit of darkness herself. (Flora isn’t quite as sweet and ‘innocent’ as they all make her out to be.)

They complement each other in ways no one else could. Flora is calm and collected with her planning, and Valkyrie tends to be impulsive. (Sort of a parallel for a different couple…)

Flora knows how hot Val can run and how volatile she can get, but she knows without a shadow of doubt that Valkyrie will never burn her. And Valkyrie knows she never could burn Flora.

The Other Winx:

Valkyrie is close to Bloom, the two of them having similar situations. They both have a bit of a twisted sense of humor, but Bloom tends to be more lighthearted than Val is.

Bloom and Valkyrie often spar together too. Bloom wants to connect more to her dragon like Valkyrie has done with her own, and the fastest way is to spar.

(It also helps them get out a bit of resentment that they have for each other. Bloom hates that Val’s dad is responsible for what happened to her planet and that Val got to grow up knowing about her magic. And Val resents that Bloom got to grow up completely worry-free of falling into her parents’ shadows.)

Stella and Val are more antagonistic to one another. I mean, they’re friends and everything, but Val can only handle Stella’s “princess ‘tude” for so long. And Stella can only handle Val’s darker sense of humor for a little while.

Val and Tecna tend to play games together. Board and video. (They tend to stalemate at Chess. And they get competitive enough that boards have been known to be flipped.)

(There are even a few card games that are now forbidden to be played again.)

Layla and Val have a kinship in sneaking out and having overprotective parents. They also tend to share their love and respect for the ocean and all it’s creatures.

Musa and Val once bonded on their love for alternative bands and rock music. Don’t know how it came about, but it did,

Bloom and Val have done projects together that combined Val’s persuasive writing skills and Bloom’s artistic sensibilities. 

Val has also been talked into modeling/explaining goth and punk fashion to Stella to assist in expanding her fashion lines. (Both ended up leaving with strips of fabric and paint attached to each other. No one has bothered to ask what exactly happened there.)

Layla and Val sword fight together and consider each other rivals in that area. Of course, Layla likes to claim there’s no real competition, she’s obviously the best. And Val makes counterclaims that she is the best. (Riven likes to disagree with both of them, only to end up defending himself from both women.)

Val and Tecna work together on showing more emotion. For Val, trying to keep her emotions in check is a witch thing/power thing and for Tecna it’s because that’s just how Zenithians are. But both are willing to try and be more open with their feeling to connect to their friends and loved ones better. So they try to practice with each other.

Bonus:

Out of the canon boys, Val feels closest to Helia and Riven for different reasons. 

She’s known Helia since they were able to walk and have been each other’s rocks. (even if she had assure her cousin that she wasn’t interested in Helia ‘like that’)

(She was there for Helia when his parents divorced and when he decided he didn’t want to continue fighting and sparring, but wanted to paint. He was there for her when she came to realize her sexuality and when she found herself overwhelmed about her... Legacy...)

With Riven, it’s sort of a solidarity thing. He has issues with his mom leaving him and basically considering him only after he’s made something of himself at Red Fountain, sort of like Valtor left Val and really only considered her for her powers. 

(They also have similar tastes in music and are both not that great at dancing… So they took lessons together to surprise Musa and Flora.)

Helia likes to tease Val about her romantic side and often helps her with gift ideas for Flora. (His favorite is the painting he did of the two of them, both looking to the other as if they’re the only ones in the realms.)

(Back in the day, Helia and Val were quite the kiddie trouble makers. To this day it is debated who was the worse influence: Val or Helia.)