#the 'this is a talking fishbone scene???

[rosiethedragongeek]

The events of the first movie are SO much more heartbreaking thinking of Hiccup as trans

[memoriamp4]

I hate that we never heard Astrid tell Hiccup 'I love you'. I was fully expecting her to tell him she loved him back in rtte 6x06 after he told her he loved her... but she didn't. Like they really made an entire episode about Astrid wanting a more lovely dovey relationship but then she never even said 'I love you' in the episode?? And Astrid has so many inspiring and loving speeches to Hiccup but I wish there was an 'I love you' included in at least one of them

[zarinaa113]

There is something so beautiful about reaching out to the monstrous with intent to touch it gently. To risk the sharp teeth and the lethal claws, to defy fear and revulsion, and choose to be delicate with something that can be, and often is, incredibly brutal.

[arcanewhoosh]

Could you right a story where jinx’s S/O is scared of bombs or loud things in general and one of jinx bombs went off scaring S/O and jinx comforts them.

So I forgot that the inbox was a thing and found this two years after you asked for it. Sorry lmao.

I think I completely failed this cause I chose season 1 Jinx and hooboy Season 2 Jinx would've been a better choice.

Also this went over 2k words I realize I may be a yapper.

The Monsters We Allow

2k words (Jesus this wasn't supposed to be this long)

Proofread? Y/N

TW: Descriptions of injuries

You're no stranger to the hazards of working for the Eye of Zaun. Even the more hardened residents of the Undercity oftentimes couldn't stomach some of the work the job entailed, more so the people involved in those jobs.

So now here you were, helping build an explosive device of some sort. Fishbones Jinx had called it. You guess that you should add assistant weapons maker to the long list of jobs you've held working for Silco over the years. It wasn't always like this, though.

You started out as cleanup crew, showing up after fights. You didn't want to at first, but if you crossed Silco, you'd most definitely cross his daughter, Jinx. If you crossed his daughter, then it was almost a certainty that you would end up in pieces and puddles on the walls and floors. You'd rather be the one cleaning than be the one being cleaned up. So you put your head down and went along with it.

It was messy work, but it turns out even with all the fucked up things tolerated in the Undercity, rotting body parts weren't one of them. It wasn't pretty, and your first few days you had to include your vomit in the list of things you had to clean up. Eventually, though, you got over it, got better. Well enough that Silco would only trust you to do cleanups of whichever unfortunate soul was on the receiving end of Jinx's chompers. You could figure out which weapon was used to do what, what the direction of the splatter on the wall or floor meant. You could look at a scene once and replay how the entire fight went.

The job wasn't pretty, not at all, but it put money in your pockets, good money. It put food on your table and clothes on your back. Most importantly, it gave you security. A blanket of protection that ensured people would think twice to cross you. Silco only kept a select few on constant contract. Sure, you didn't run around beating the shit out of people during collections, or blowing them up. You didn't have a robot arm or guns-choice of weapon was bucket and shovel-- but hey, you were deeper in his inner circle than most people.

Eventually, he started bringing you along to meetings. After those meetings, he'd ask you, What's the quickest, and cleanest way we can get rid of this person?

It was jarring at first, being asked how to kill someone. But whatever reservations you had about becoming a murder consultant was heavily outweighed by your fear of being the one consulted about. So you'd answer diligently, if a little hesitantly. The first time you answered, he had looked pleasantly surprised. As if getting recommendations on assassination was pleasant. You remembered thinking.

It didn't take long for people of the Undercity to associate your presence in these tag-alongs with the sudden death of whoever you and Silco were visiting. Whispers about how you wouldn't even talk during the meetings, how you'd sit and simply look around. If you were addressed by the person you were meeting with, Silco would politely redirect their attention back to him. Sometimes, sometimes, that person wouldn't die. Silco once credited it to you, that people suddenly became more pliable once he brought you along. Another blanket of security. People started treating you differently, more respect, fear maybe. It was a little funny, how typically aggressive brutes would become the politest people towards someone who had just barely reached the age of eighteen.

One day, Silco had asked you to his office. You thought it would just be regular stop before another meeting, standard procedure by then, really. But that day he had another guest in his office. The blue braids were already a dead giveaway, but you still politely introduced yourself.  She laughed, and identified you as The one who ruins my fun because she had to follow your instructions when Silco needed her to get rid of people.

You knew back then that she was dangerous. Quite frankly, she scared the shit out of you. You didn't have a problem with seeing dead bodies and parts, sure. But she was younger than you, and already had no qualms about taking lives. She was the one leaving behind entrails that you had to clean up. And apparently, she was now to be occasionally under your watch. Silco thought you'd be a good fit for a companion. Around the same age, he had said.

You kept a respectful distance from her, but she unfortunately grew fond of you and decided to keep you around more often than not. Silco didn't see anything wrong with it, if anything it made the both of you more notorious. His Loose Cannon and his Harbinger of Death. A deadly combination in theory, but in practice, it was mostly you having to accompany Jinx for her less dangerous - there were still casualties - pranks, and bailing her out of sticky situations.

And now here you were, two years later, making a launcher with her- making was a generous word, more handing her stuff - and getting ready to probably blow more people up.

You feel your stomach begin to unsettle again. You were used to seeing dead bodies, parts of bodies, what was left of bodies. But never in the stretch of time that you had worked for Silco, had you ever had to see dying. You always showed up after. It had only been two days since the explosion at the bridge, but somehow Jinx was walking around as if nothing had even happened to her. As if she didn't blow herself up the last time you had seen her. If you were making an educated guess based off of her eyes, you'd say she was hurt and got pumped full of shimmer; or maybe she was just living off of pure mania at this point.

You've cared for her, but now you also care about her. It seems that no matter how much respectful distance you put between yourself and her, propinquity eventually came into play, and affection followed. And the only sense you had was to go along with it.

It took you a while to get used to being around her. She was temperamental, to say the least. But you eventually learned not to ask any questions about her family, not to bring up the dolls she kept at her place, and avoid asking any questions at all about her past. If she wanted to, she'd tell you. The only time she wasn't unpredictable was when she was tinkering away at her little station, blasting her music.

She was calm, placated, almost normal. If you had never met her before and had seen her then, you would have thought she was beautiful. Not that she isn't, it's just that her reputation tended to precede all her other perceivable qualities. More than all of this, she was vulnerable. Her back turned to you, not a care in the world if you wandered around touching things. You realize now that it was in those moments probably that your affection for the girl grew. All of a sudden, getting her out of unideal predicaments included treating her wounds; then nursing her back to health if she was sick; staying over when she had nightmares. And yet you were still cautious, careful not to trip on some invisible wire that would trigger her temper.

"Whoops-"

A bang, a clattering of tools, and you're back at the bridge. Back at looking at screaming people, crawling on the ground because their legs had been blown clean off, some with limbs partially attached, some falling off, someone trying to feel where half of their face had gone. All moving, breathing, alive.

"Easy there, jelly legs." You look up to meet Jinx's eyes. Once a soft powder blue, now striking orbs of red violet. She's holding onto you. At some point you had lost your balance and was now kneeling on the floor, one hand on the side of Jinx's desk for support. "You sick or somethin'?" She asks.

"Sorry," You breathe out. "I think… I think I'm still reeling from what happened at the bridge."

She lets out a laugh. Loud, boisterous, manic.

"The bridge? The little ol' light show? You didn't like it?" Her smile falls, and she cocks her head to the side. Fuck.

Now you're on thin ice. "No, no. It was nice." You quickly say, shaking your head. "It's just, I'm not- I'm not used to seeing the before part, you know?"

She guffaws. "Wait, wait, wait." She stands, walking over to her desk littered with metal scraps and remnants of her previous projects, picking up one of the butterfly robots she had made. "You're telling me-" She plucks off a wing, the remaining one flapping aimlessly. "You" Points it at you. "Who's in charge of cleaning up exploded bodies, and telling Silco - who tells me - how to kill someone without a mess," Plucks off the other wing and throws the body away. "Gets queasy over a few blue bellies kicking the bucket?"

You take a breath to steady yourself. "I don't know. I never- I never thought about that part. I've never had to see it."  You unconsciously start clenching and unclenching you hand not holding onto the desk. A nervous habit, one that you tried to shake off. A habit that Jinx had taken note of the first few months of her dragging you along with her escapades.

"I'm sorry." You say after a few beats of silence.

In one quick flash - too quick, inhumanly quick - Jinx is kneeling again in front of you, cupping your face in her hands.  "Hey now, it's alright." Her tone is soft, caring, tragically comforting to you. "We all got our little quirks. I sure do."

She frees up one of her hands to brush your hair back. "Come to think of it, I think that was the first time you had to see something like that, huh?"

It always astounds you how quickly she can disarm the guard you put up for her. You know she's dangerous, you know you should be cautious. But a few sweet words from her and you're putty in her hands, completely at her mercy. You wonder if it's normal to love and fear someone at the same time.

"We'll be okay." She presses her forehead against yours. "I've got you, like you've got me." You nod.

"You can handle helping me with one more thing, right?" There it is. "We just need to do this one teeny thing, and then we can chill out."

You put in active effort to keep your breathing steady. Your stomach still in knots. "What thing?"

She grins. "A dinner party. You're my co-host." She pulls you up with her as she stands, leading you over to where she was working, where Fishbones was seemingly complete. "Wanna see something cool?"

You nod, and she fishes out the HexTech gemstone she had stolen during Progress Day. She opens up a slot near the handle and inserts the gemstone, Fishbones immediately lighting up, a blue hue illuminating her dark room. You contemplate asking her about her new weapon, weighing out the pros and cons. But the fact that her hand was still holding yours, her thumb idly grazing your knuckles was enough to encourage you.

"What are you gonna do with this?"

She runs her free hand above the clear panel where the gemstone is. "We're gonna go make a point."

The rational part of your brain is telling you to stay behind, that whatever this was, being in the vicinity of a HexTech-powered weapon was not a good idea. But this was Jinx, and she had already decided that you were coming with her. Incurring her wrath now, also in the vicinity of the HexTech-powered weapon, was not a good idea either.

So you do what you do best, and go along with it.

[connecting-the-stars]

Ekko will help Jinx

My theory for Act 2 (spoilers for Act 1)

Trigger warnings:

Discussion of suicidal thoughts/ideation

Okay, bear with me. I’ve seen no act 2 or 3 leaks or screen shots. But I’m fully bought on the idea that Ekko is going to help Jinx in her healing journey. (Might be my bias talking).

spoilers below:

Merch:

The merch released shows Jinx’s new design and it is such a light/less defeated look on her. Like her face doesn’t carry this misery and exhaustion upon her, from all her grief. The morbidly relieved/expectant expression on her face when she was ready for Vi to kill her, that is gone. Most noticeable is the fact that both of her iconic braids are gone, hair cropped short that is so reminiscent of Vi’s in season one. Her clothes are brighter, Fishbones gets a modification and fixed, like the air around her is just less heavy. (Albeit this is from one picture and it could be wildly out of context.) Her design change is just miles away from her current form. I’m half convinced this is her final look in Act 3 and she gets the chance to heal.

There’s a time-skip basically confirmed for this season, whether it occurs in act 2 or 3, things will change for Jinx.

Time-skip:

The time-skip is most likely around a year or at least several months. If act 2 has the Brainy Boys on vacation in another realm for a few episodes, Jinx will be facing the start of Zaun’s revolution and the undercity turning to her, Vi will most likely be shunned by the undercity and lean more on her alcoholic tendencies (her fighting pit era), Ambessa will be manipulating Cait, the firelights without a leader. But if they open an episode with the Boys returning and them being confronted by this time skip and whatever had occurred in the hex gate — like fish out of water they will have to learn about everything thats changed, for better or worse. Jayce with Mel missing and Cait’s corruption, Hemidinger with the fact that the hex gate is unsafe, and Ekko and the impact of Jinx’s revolution upon the undercity and the firelights.

Seems like the teaser for Act 2 is setting up the firelights to join Jinx’s efforts and movement, believing Ekko is dead as they place him on the mural. We see him fighting with Vi on the firelight hoverboards and his hair is longer, this could be an act 3 event. But I doubt that either of them would be supporting Piltover’s current stance, so they are most likely fighting with Jinx’s forces against Piltover and Ambessa’s army. (The team up is real guys.) Ekko will see her movement for Zuan and positive impacts on the undercity not being run on shimmer, and he will find Jinx

However, before this war fully breaks out, Act 2 confirms that Jinx is gonna face Warwick / Vander’s reanimated body… and you know who else is fighting him? Vi. I think something is going to happen with Singe sending Warwick out upon Jinx or upon her revolutionary group, and Jinx gets involved to stop him. Jinx with her shimmer enhancements are awesome and has accelerated speed, but Warwick is gonna outmatch her, especially if she realizes who he used to be. We’ve only seen Jinx’s scratchy distortion once or twice so far, mainly when Vi was revealed to her as an enforcer. But seeing Vander back from the dead and worse off than ever, her guilt and horror is going to be off the charts. I think she loses ground, and gets hurt - badly. The teaser shows someone (most likely Sevika ) carrying Isha to safety, the scene is soaked in this blood red fog, the same as the Warwick fight. Several accounts over on Twitter are pointing out that Isha is reaching out to someone off screen, that she seems to be scared for Jinx’s safety. There’s a shot of Vi standing alone against Warwick, and I think she is going to save Jinx.

Oh Okay… now on to

Time - Bomb:

The famous Bridge Scene. Wow. Am I right? So of course, this scene has been analyzed up and down and inside out, but to reiterate; Jinx’s nickname of “The Boy Savior” just hits different now. (It’s important enough that it’s the Name of an episode). In the Blu-ray behind the scenes/making of Arcane the writers discuss: the cut scene of younger Ekko searching for a way to rescue powder because he believes she is a prisoner. When he finds Powder recently turned Jinx and tries to save her from Silco to then have her violently refuse (the detail of her slapping him the same way Vi did to her at the end of Act 1: S1.). She does not want to be rescued and does not accept help. In addition to the venom of her voice, the condescension, like she does not see him as the capable resistance leader. They are similar ages, the only kids of the first act of the Undercity to remain in the lanes, Jinx the prodigy of Silco, and Ekko completely alone in the Lanes. Silco keeps reminding Jinx, especially when Vi returns, that no one from her old life will care for her. He compares his and Vander’s fallout to Powder’s and Vi’s, pushing this narrative that it’s them against the world. Telling her to bury Powder, and that Vi has not returned for her but for the hextech crystal.

Character Mirrors/Foils:

Metal / Nature

Silco’s / Vander’s Image

Raven / Firelight

Past / Future

Isolation / Community

Jinx stuck in the past with her ghosts and her mistakes and Ekko forced to grow up faster and choosing to become a caretaker of those who can’t defend themselves. (Becomes a protector like Vander had once been, that Vi had been.) He puts all his efforts into making a safe haven for those impacted by Silco’s gangs and shimmer products, and he wants to build a community that supports a better tomorrow.

“It’s not enough to give people what they need to survive; you have to give them what they need to live.”

Ekko is still quite young and yet he chose a role of helping those around him and created a positive community, while Jinx became more and more of Slico’s tool, of learning his beliefs and violence. (S1E6: Silco’s outburst after Vi and Cait escape in season 1, wonder how many times he did the same thing in front of her. Also him referring to Jinx as the prize of Vander’s kids, like he is fully aware of Jinx’s genius mind and engineering skills.) Jinx often being depicted alone in her hanger, talking to her ghosts. Jinx feeding into her own insecurities and feeling that she has to prove herself to Silco and be useful in a way she had not been seen as powder in their family group. Her disregard for the damage Slico brings to the lanes with shimmer and her blowing up the building during progress day in Piltover not concerned with who gets hurt. Ekko and his firelights becoming antagonists to shimmer verses Jinx and Slico’s forces as they protect the products.

Further the visual imagery and visual parallels between them are so interesting.

[pictures above from twitter account: @Chi11in_Like_a]

So I believe that Ekko and Jinx have this strong connection to one another, even more so with learning about the cut scene from season 1, and Ekko is going to pull on that more so than ever. The writers confirm: They “saw” each other during that still moment on the bridge, the children they used to be. They were not enemies, they were not on opposing sides, they did not want to kill the other. Their expressions in this scene when time slows, it kills me. Of course, the scene plays out, Jinx uses a sneak attack and everything blows up in their faces. Ekko gets this look of shock on his face as he looks between the bomb and Jinx, and my heart breaks. Jinx nearly dies from this (this is one of many times that she is entirely careless with her own life), Ekko is hurt for the remainder of the season. But the moment of recognition, of their childhood games, of them laughing, of the sullen ash atmosphere of the bridge being met with both of them falling into old patterns. The mood shifted entirely, elevated by the music. The music in this show never stops amazing me.

I do not remember if I looked deeper into Jinx’s reckless tendencies in season 1, but this year on my several rewatches, I have definitely noticed. She is not afraid of dying, she’s not afraid of getting hurt. As powder, she was so scared of fighting and of getting injures, throwing the haul from the over city into the river to get away from an attacker. Jinx does not care if she dies. I think she assumes that she is too far gone, that no one can help her. I think she believes no one is willing to try. After watching Vi race back to Cait on the bridge when Marcus betrays them and shoots Ekko, Jinx sees her only remaining blood leaving her again. (S1:E7) Season 2 episode 3 fight between Vi and Jinx, crushes me. Her encouraging Vi to go through with killing her, her guilt over what happened to their family.

Back to season 2, Jinx gets away from Warwick, from Vi, and hides out alone and emotionally distraught. (Ella Purnell’s performance blows me away, the guttural screams and cries make me want to sob.) Jinx is at a breaking point, I think she has made it back to her lair, and the ghosts are back in full force. The neon paint and the dolls of her family, the dark empty hanger around her. Jinx will hear Silco again. “Have you had enough?” Her belief that she can only break things and makes everything worse being heightened by Warwick/Vander returning, after starting to build connection and bond with Isha and Sevika. Having Isha’s protection and admiration uplifting Jinx in a way she never expected, and then to have this relapse and massive reminder of her past mistake. Her being responsible for both Vander’s and Silco’s deaths, that Isha and everyone close to her will meet that same fate. Despite Sevika and Jinx finding common ground, I do not believe Sevika would be the person to help her in this situation. She’s bleeding out and heavily wounded, she is alone, she’s at rock bottom in the way she was when everything happened that night. Jinx looks over the edge of the turbine blade. Jinx looks at her pistol.

Cold metal brushes her temple.

Ekko finds her.

I think Ekko will bring her back from the edge. He will be a voice of reason and comfort despite everything they’ve gone through, because of it. Because despite the deaths and Silco and shimmer, he still sees her. The child who only ever wanted to help her family. Despite what he told Vi, the implication that his denial pushed him forward, that Jinx isn’t Powder anymore. But Ekko still sees his childhood friend, and grieves her. He misses his friend.

Tell me this shot from the trailer does not scream that he wants to help Jinx? Really gonna live up to the nickname.

(The strand of blue hair on the left side of the scene.) I fully believe Ekko is talking to Jinx. The last episode of Act 2 is going to be their conversation, and it will end right before we see what is Jinx’s final decision.

He will help her, if she allows herself to accept help. To understand that there are people from her old life that do still care for her. To have no one in the lanes that understood her, that knew her and what she’s done, and for him to reach out a hand first. Isha and Sevika are closer to Jinx than anyone currently, but neither of them know everything or share history in the same way. Ekko will be the one to try to mend this rift. Multiple times the show has demonstrated how kind and generous Ekko is. (Refusing to turn away refugees in the undercity, of giving Hemidinger a chance). If she accepts his help, he can heal her physical wounds and they can start healing her emotional wounds.

Dark thoughts of the end, of ending one’s self, is such a heavy thing to cope with. I want Jinx to have someone on her side, for them to support her through it. She is such a well written character and the way they have showed her mental health struggles. I hope her arc becomes more hopeful.

Act 3:

Ekko will help Jinx fix Fishbones, she’ll dawn hourglass symbols, and work together eventually with Vi again. Maybe, finding common enemies and allies, fighting alongside each other. Zuan’s revolution vs Piltover. Jinx will see Isha again, being the guardian she herself needed when she was growing up. Learning forgiveness for herself and others. Talking things out, and not being interrupted.

Jinx’s healing journey!

I’m very excited for the rest of this season. These two are my favs. (I could be very wrong and none of this is on track, but this is apart of the intrigue of getting invested where characters stories go. Theorizing about what is going on, where the characters will end up.)

- If Timebomb talks to one another I will be over the moon. Years of crumbs lol.

- The fact there is a song named “My Dearest/Best Enemy” [I’m like 67% it is a Timebomb song]

[toothful]

I like to think he takes after Stoick, on this one.

Hiccup either has a sneeze that is so unproportionately large compared to his tiny self that he almost knocks himself over OR the most adorable kitten sneeze you’ve ever seen. The question is. WHICH ONE?????

[kingofthewilderwest]

Am I the only one who feels like HTTYD isn't as memeable as Shrek or KFP? I know we have "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." and the famous dancing Toothless, but that one was really from a parody recap. Other than that, I really don't see a lot of memes from it.

I think that means HTTYD is successfully doing its job with the type of narration it intends.

There are comedic lines like "talking fishbone" and "thanks for nothing, you useless reptile" that fandom has parroted since the early days. There's Hiccup encouraging Toothless while the Light Fury looks aghast as a meme template. And fandom can find anything to josh with, be it Hiccup's hot froglegs in HTTYD 2, or Hiccup's love affair with scrap metal from RTTE, or throwing everyone in the dungeon who made a Stoick joke (I am DATING my time in the fandom here, y'all). There will always be moments we play with, as it were.

But HTTYD, while funny, is built on heart. Shrek and KFP have heart, too (especially KFP), but they're built around different vibes (especially Shrek). Shrek was an intentional, abrupt, genuinely shocking aberration from animated fairy tale movies. For people who weren't around when it happened, there's a REASON it was a HUGE, rocking sensation and has become part of permanent culture. Meanwhile, KFP is a comedy action. HTTYD, at its core, is the story of a boy and his dragon, and a boy and his dad. I wouldn't expect fan response or general societal response to respond to these different frameworks the same way.

When audiences think about the impact of HTTYD, they aren't thinking about the pleasurable absurdisms that lead to "You're tearing me APART, Lisa!" or "I don't like sand" (which actually, for the record, I think is an unironically good character scene, sue me).

You ever watch a movie where they try soooo hard to be meme-able? Or they're throwing in jokes at places they shouldn't? I'm not not not saying it happened here, but one of the things I think THW could've improved was by reducing the number of gags it tried to run - while competing for time to emotionally conclude a sweeping trilogy. Sometimes it's not the place for a movie to have the content that'd make it meme-able. HTTYD's always been funny, yeah, and that's part of the franchise's charm. But different types of funny bring different audience results, and you ain't gonna beat Shrek when it comes for appropriate humor vibes for memes.

I could be forgetting a ton in my sleep-deprived state. But I'd agree it's not as meme-able as Shrek, one of the most meme-worthy pieces of media to exist. It means both have their place in the ecosystem of movies, and it makes both of them fantastic for what they are.

[fynnlink]

Arcane doesn't need a THIRD season...

It needed THREE seasons

Arcane discussion / slight critique (obvi SPOILERS)

Alt title: "Arcane's character arcs: Tell not Show"

I'II preface this by saying:

1) Arcane, especially from a creative standpoint, is a masterpiece and testament to what animation and showcraft can be/achieve. The three year hiatus was more than worth it. Hats off to everyone involved.

2) I thoroughly enjoyed the second season and the finale. It hit all the right emotions and I cried laughed and loved throughout my viewing(s).

But 3) Despite my enjoyment of the entire series, there are a few issues I had with Season 2 and the ending of the series.

Now to the title: In my opinion (and despite my wanting one) Arcane does not need another season after the finale and the story can instead be carried on better/just as well in subsequent spin-offs (like the likely Noxian one). Instead Arcane could've/would've benefited from a runtime of three seasons with the story of Season 2 being split up into two seperate seasons.

Without further ado

Arcane Season 2 started off great, from the season opening with the direct and immediate aftermath of Jinx's attack using Fishbones (the rocket launcher), Cassandra Kirammin's gorgeous HAND-DRAWN funeral, to all the emotional and high intensity scenes with the Zaunites from Silco's funeral and the Jinx-Sevika-Isha found family/team-up, all the way to the first act's incredible conclusion with the Temple of Janna Showdown and the Discovery of the Wild Rune below the Hexgate. It had and was everything I wanted and wno et of all the writing I wanted and more, the animation, the acting, the soundtrack and most of all the writing.

There were certain issues which I'll get to in a second but Season 2 Act 1 was mostly solid writing and followed through on Season 1's excellently written explorations of oppression, police brutality, ableism, class divides and classism, racism and prejudiced bigotry and many other complex and importand real themes/matters. After Act 1 followed Act 2 and my first big issue and the entire premise of this post: another (albeit much shorter compared to S1 A1 to S1 A2) timejump. While this usually doesn't necessarily pose an issue especially since Arcane has successfully handled timejumps/skips in the past without too much "Tell not Show" (an inverse of the "Show don't Tell" trope https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShowDontTell#:~:text=This%20is%20a%20writing%20or,book%20doing%20indisputably%20badass%20things.) which can lead to characters and storybeats feeling disconnected or the changes feeling jarring.

The multiple timejumps and montages rush a story that would've benefited from time and patience. I understand why these choices were made and the montages were creative and gorgeous, however there were too many in too few episodes.

The time between Act 1 and Act 2 of Season 2 should have been shown and not summarised into a montage.

Vi's arc and development into her in-game self (i.e an Enforcer) was incredibly rushed and underdeveloped ("Are we still Sisters?"-Jinx "Nothing is ever going to change that" S1 E9 | "My sister is gone. There's only Jinx now."-Vi S2 E3) and in many ways actually devolves/regresses upon her established character ("I grew up knowing I'm less than them. That my place is down there. I want Powder to have more than that and I'm willing to fight for it." S1 A1 "I'm the dirt under your fingernails, Cupcake." S2 E9) compared to season 1 Vi's character is or at least feels very reduced to simply one half of CaitVi, there's also no real follow through / no real consequences to Caitlyn's actions both as a Dictator General of Piltover and especially towards Vi. There was no actual apology from Cait (no, micro-expressions and withdrawing Jinx's guard does not make up for physical abuse) and the entire "Prison Cell - steamy edition" felt out of nowhere/weird (I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT CAITVI'S FEELINGS, THOSE WERE THERE AND ARE VALID AND DESERVE TO BE EXPLORED.) considering Vi and Jinx's interaction just before, Jinx's obvious suicidal ideation and Vi's unexplored trauma from her childhood spent in prison.

Same with Caitlyn being build up as a representation of someone who grew up privileged turning to generalised hatred and dehumanisation of others/"the other" when experiencing trauma (my phrasing is terrible but I'm referring to Caitlyn's turn towards oppression/fascism in response to her mother's death.) Caitlyn falls back into the exact same way of thinking that she denied/judged for example collectively referring to Zaunites as "Animals" despite rebutting these same words when Ekko said the people of Piltover look down upon those of Zaun, as well as Caitlyn calling Vi's blood dirty/tainted saying Vi has the "same blood in [her] veins" as Jinx after Vi stopped Caitlyn from endangering a Child's life as well as hitting Vi first with a stray bullet and then with the back of her rifle during an exclusively verbal argument. All before ascending to the position of General of Piltover during Martial Law and enacting collective punishment, restriction in movement and expression via military checkpoints and guard patrols, revoking Zaunites' right of assembly and peaceful protest and imprisoning most ("half") of Zaun in Stillwater without trial. Piltover even had to built a railcar system to keep up with prisoner transports to Stillwater opposed to S1's boats.

All this was built up only to have Caitlyn turn back after only one interaction with Vi. Supposedly Caitlyn had begun to doubt/regret the excessive and oppressive Noxian measures but apart from one scene of her disagreeing with Rictus' (Ambessa's second in command) "incitement of violence" at the checkpoint but still supported and expanded upon Stillwater (the exact prison Vi was kept in, even keeping the guard who all but confessed to regularly beating Vi during her seven year imprisonment, he even says he does it so often he "never thought to keep count") and even threatened to use cells and methods she knows and agrees are morally reprehensible.

Caitlyn's deeds as General should have been shown to the audience not just summarised into a short montage only to be glossed over. Instead of a complex and very difficult but incredibly necessary and in the end beneficial look inward for Caitlyn, Caitlyn's time and actions as a semi-dictator were glossed over because Ambessa was simplified into a pure warmonger going so far as to attack her own daughter and even Caitlyn cheating on Maddie with Vi in the cell is portrayed as less morally complex since Maddie completely betrays Caitlyn going so far as to try to shoot her to side with/support Ambessa's war (despite Maddie talking about reestablishing the Council in S2 E4).

If we had been given time with Caitlyn during her "#lowkey-Fascist-Era" especially if we had seen her temper cool and see her kinder side shine in more scenes in which she opposes Ambessa as opposed to one scene expressing disagreement with Rictus and later Caitlyn agreeing to Vi's comments regarding Caitlyn "sidling up with [Ambessa]", then this development and CaitVi becoming a couple again would have felt earned and well-written.

Instead of a comprehensive follow-up to Season 1's themes we got a "But TeAmWOrk GuYs!?" the Oppressed and Oppressors put aside their differences because of the greater / "real enemy all along"ᵀᴹ without Zaun seeing any reparations/improvements apart from one single seat at the same council that has oppressed them for decades/centuries. (Sidenote Sevika was immediately side-eyed and judged and can just get overruled by the remaining Council. États généraux, yes you get a vote but only one)

Yet we end the season with Caitlyn and Vi having sped past their issues and (Vi's) trauma to have a final scene in front of Caitlyn's fireplace with Ekko being shown to grieve Jinx more and Vi proclaim being the "Dirt" under Caitlyn's fingernails (they supposedly worked on that line for 27 hours).

Just to clarify I'm not saying Vi doesn't grieve but it's about what's shown and especially what is given time and here a CaitVi scene was more important than a scene dictated to Vi and Jinx's bond as sisters which was/should be the focus of the series. I'll probably make another post at some point about the Sister's bond taking a backseat compared to the relationships in Season 2.

In the end we were told more than shown why characters acted the way they did. With many interactions and moments of growth only implied.

Arcane would've benefitted from more time, maybe even a seperate Season, spent developing the characters to their final state and to give the series the time to deal with both it's arcane (*wink*) and human themes. And the ideal timeframe for this was in-between S2 A1 and S2 A2.

Many characters feels as if the audience had read the first and third book of a series without the in-between. And entire plot-lines and core themes were dropped/abandoned.

If you're still reading, thank you and sorry I went off on a ramble in the middle there. Again I'm not saying the season was bad and definitely not that you can't enjoy it (I liked it) just that it had a few missed opportunities.

[chronicsyd]

yea, we ALL know why I'M here at this point (like most people i waited All Night for this thing) but Enough Yapping, let's do this! (go watch it first, I'll be doing an Excessive deep dive of this thing (I also had a couple of drafts I've made in the last 48 hours talking about certain worries I've seen from the fandom about season 2, but decided to lay off posting about it until the trailer came out so I'll be addressing some of those in a later post as well), and as always, leakers will be blocked and deleted).

SO, with All That outta the way, let's get into it: Firstly, i was left Completely Speechless by this whole thing like HOLY SHIT! i don't even know What to SAY! Yes we've had a few repeat scenes from the old teaser and clips but obviously the new stuff's what I'm more interested in.

The trailer opens up with Vi admitting to Caitlyn that she was right and saying "My sister is gone. there's only Jinx now." which is something that I've been speculating about since June (well the "there's only Jinx and Jinx is the one that needs to be stopped" thing), so we've already had a clear cut path where Vi is concerned. BUT what interests me is that first part of the conversation is still part of when she's talking to her in her Enforcer Uniform, so her head's probably telling her that stopping Jinx is the right thing to do here after what happened with the Council.

I also don't think I've mentioned this in a post, but I've also had speculation that the person in the hood from the teaser was Jinx not Viktor (just things like how the shoulder width didn't seem to match him but the one second clip we got of him i wasn't able to cross-reference all that well, also the monkey painting in the background added to that factor) but it seems like the show is reenforcing that this is Jinx here.

I've also somehow underestimated just HOW unhinged Caitlyn's going to be this season. like "I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever." is a Crazy line like Jesus Cait!

But what sticks out to me about this scene is not only the fact that Vi's very clearly crying here, you can tell not only by the length of her hair but the fact that the black seems to be somewhat fading means that she spends quite a bit of time hiding out in Zaun (downright Confirming about my thoughts of a timeskip from my last post). Now of course we don't have the context about what she's crying about but it seems like she's just overall frustrated about her situation. But another thing that actually pops up later in the trailer is that Vi actually still has her hair like this,

which means that I actually might be wrong about Vi being in Zaun before she's even in her Enforcer getup with Caitlyn. it seems to me that this whole thing with Vi wearing black actually happens after she fights against Jinx in the temple, perhaps thinking that being an Enforcer and in Piltover with Caitlyn isn't the right choice for her and tries to go about life her own way for a while (which is probably the thing we're "going to hate" when it comes to Caitvi).

Now, the next part of the trailer is what they already showed us with Caitlyn and Jinx talking to Ambessa and Sevika so i don't need to go over that again. However right after that, Sevika asks Jinx what she's planning.

Jinx's response? "to watch it all burn". Whether or not if Piltover recovers from Fishbones doesn't seem to matter to her, she wants everything to burn to the ground. But just a side note the way she's looking at the match in this frame very clearly reminds her of Silco, and still going by the streaked makeup, it's still a fresh wound for her.

now, this frame?

I don't actually have any solid answers for. by the look in Vi's eyes, I'm presuming she's reaching out to either Jinx, Caitlyn, or Ekko. She's not wearing her Enforcer getup here (at least it doesn't look like what she's been wearing) and i can't solidly place the background, there isn't any familiar landmarks sticking out to me. But Vi's hair and bandages make me think that this is probably when she's just starting to come out of hiding here.

There seems to be a bunch of Undercity riots happening against Piltover, which i think is a factor where Ambessa tells Caitlyn that "in order to restore peace you have to enact Martial Law". I could be wrong about this but honestly i don't think I am.

Warwick looks just as fantastic as ever, but they haven't really given us any clear cut answers on how they're planning to utilize him besides being a living weapon for Singed. Singed says "you felt it, haven't you?" but it's rather unclear who he's talking to here, i don't think he's talking to Warwick, i think he might actually be talking to Viktor and talking about the Hexcore and the Arcane and such because of Viktor's "glorious evolution" path.

Now to the part of the Trailer that COMPLETELY confuses me...

someone says "the Arcane is waking up", NO idea who's saying this or who it's being said TO, NO idea who These people are supposed to be, I just-- yea this is the only part of the trailer that I'm at a Complete loss for words. The Arcane is magic we all know that, it's what Jayce's whole thing has been about, mixing magic and technology together into Hextech. but this is implying that while Jayce was doing all this the Arcane itself was just... slumbering? i guess. like are these people going to turn out to be mages because of this or something? idk, see, endless list of questions but Absolutely no answers. let's just move on before my brain explodes trying to figure this out.

I skipped a few repeat scenes (like the ones of Caitlyn and the other enforcers against the Chemtanks because I've already talked about it), and put a pin on the Ekko scene i skipped I'm coming back to it.

SO, it turns out we were right in claiming that Jinx loses her middle finger with the art book cover, and I'm Pretty sure that Caitlyn actually shoots it off (which probably explains the "WTF CAITLYN?!" comment i was talking about with addressing the leaks). Also this is like, the Most psychotic I think I've ever seen Jinx like Jesus Christ do NOT leave me alone in a room with her!

Ekko says "sometimes taking a leap foward means leaving some things behind"; maybe he's talking about the past? I don't know who he's talking to here specifically, it may just be giving advice to Vi, seeing as we do see the two working together later in the trailer after Vi's hair is grown out.

Now, I'm going to go a wee bit out of order here for a moment, just because I'm saving something for last.

I was Completely right about Vi facing off against Warwick at some point (i was basically Screaming "Chekov's gun!" for months when Warwick was confirmed), But Vi's still in her Undercity getup here, so I don't know if she's recognizable to him at all here, if this has to do with the illegal fighting ring that she's doing, but the dust seems to kinda go against that, like it's not a "now for our main event!" smokey kinda entrance, if you catch my drift here.

I can't tell if this is supposed to be a flashback of Powder or not because the other person is extremely hard to place, like it looks kind of like Sevika's new hair it's just that the lighting is so dark you can't make out their face. and if its a flashback to the age that Powder was in the opening shot the clothes don't seem to match, like there are things that contradict each other that doesn't make the scene clear cut to me.

Now this frame basically confirms something I've had on my mind, I just never made a post about. and that was my concern that Caitlyn was going to get herself hurt by these Chemtanks. the reason for that being we only saw her going against these things with her rife (and not the Hextech one). Vi and Jayce could handle themselves back in episode 8 because they had the Hammer and Gauntlets, but every other Enforcer there with a rifle was Easily taken out. and Arcane doesn't really go about the "simple plot armor" route, so i saw this ending not very well for her, despite being a good marksman.

And of course we only get another ONE SECOND clip of Viktor to prove he's alive that doesn't even Show His Face! like we Know this is him, and the gem in his wrist seems to imply that he's already going down the "glorious evolution" path here.

I don't have anything to say about this other than i have NO idea what it's supposed to be and that its Freaky looking. Like it kinda reminds me of Silco for some reason, like i don't think its supposed to but that's where my heads leaning for some reason.

Now, does it seem like I've left something out? It's because I did.

What these shots in particular are telling me is that Ambessa actually turns on Caitlyn (because I claimed that earlier in the season Caitlyn actually allies herself with Ambessa and i still believe that to be true) and tries to take over Piltover, because in the shot of Ambessa she's clearly hitting Enforcers, not people of the Undercity, and Caitlyn and Vi are wearing matching outfits here (Vi also reminds me of the ironhulk from Infinity War with this thing) meaning that the two are still working together here, but there is one little thing that I did leave out talking about these shots.

I can totally see this being a chaotic fight between the Undercity, the Enforcers, and Noxus, because Jinx is clearly still in Piltover during this shot. Now Jinx says "then stop me." during this but its definitely a spliced line i don't think she's saying it during this scene and I do believe that she's probably talking to Vi here (and maybe my ears are playing tricks on me but it kinds sounds "echoey" so it's probably from the temple fight). but can we talk about the Purple in her hair now? like despite having a hood on, That's Badass!

Edit: NOPE! I lied, I have a couple more things to point out.

Caitlyn blows up Jinx in this shot, which if I'm right about Vi being an Enforcer before going underground this is gonna cause some Serious issues between the two (because despite saying "my sister is gone" I don't believe that Vi would want an attempt at her sisters life, another pointer in the "thing we're going to hate with Caitvi" oy-vey...). When I mentioned Caitlyn probably being the one shooting off Jinx's finger earlier, i didn't also think about that final shot of Caitlyn from the teaser being right before what happens here. Because we already knew that Caitlyn was apart of this fight, just didn't dawn how drastically this fight is probably going to turn out. Because the explosion is all glowey like that Because Caitlyn's using her Hextech rifle in this scene, and it functions more in the way Jayce's Hammer does than Vi's gauntlets do.

So I'm not exactly sure when this fight scene is taking place, I don't think it's the temple fight, despite what little i can gather from the background, it doesn't seem to quite match the temple, and i think Vi and Caitlyn are still alone during that specific fight (could be wrong but that's just what they've shown as of right now) and I'm seeing Vi as shooting a rocket, blowing up the building that Sevika and Caitlyn were standing next to. it's also hard to name the expression that Jinx is wearing right after this, but it's clear that she was at least part of this fight as well.

Ok, NOW I'm done! I promise! I spent the last TWO HOURS on this thing since the trailer dropped and I'll most likely be spamming about it more if/when i suddenly get new thoughts about it. But that's all for now, bye! (I'M SO EXCITED FOR NOVEMBER AHHH WHY CAN'T IT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH?!)

[anamelessfool]

Duomo di Milano, 1969

Domestic Ficlet of Young Terzo. Inspired by and dedicated to my friends @revelisms and @osiris-iii-bc. They post some really detailed HC and immersive posts describing locations. I've really enjoyed their work.

As always, characterization based on my own Scenes from the Void Ghost AU. Excerpt from an upcoming Terzo-centered fic.

TW: Mentions of Suicide

1969

Giuseppe Lombardi, Archbishop of Milan and spiritual caretaker of the historic Duomo di Milano and distant pen-friend of the current Pope Paul IV, was currently using all of his willpower to not vomit in the back of this police car. Before this moment he was rudely disturbed from his sleep by the housekeeper rapping and creaking the door to his apartments open. He was needed immediately, at the Cathedral. Emergency. He opened one eye, his voice blazing. “At this hour? Can this not wait?” “No, no. Polizia.”

And so here he was, his bones rudely jostled like fruit in a cart as the car drove across the cobbles, lights off. It was an emergency, but whatever incident has occured was already for the most part resolved. Everything was grey, unwelcoming as it all scooted past in the window. It was that boring part of night after the last of the degenerates had staggered elsewhere but before the early pink of morning stirred the ancient stone facades. No emergency, no pageantry, nothing. So why ruin a perfectly good brandy nightcap before bed, just to haul him half-dressed out in the cold? He had been suffering from chronic agita for weeks and it has destroyed his sleep. Maybe it was just him getting old. Or maybe it was the blowback continuing from Vatican II, he wasn’t sure. Bishop Lombardi groaned and squeezed his knees as the car stopped in front of the cathedral steps. The officer respectfully opened the door for him, helped him to his feet but the bishop continued to stare with mild irritation at the priceless stones before him. The sculptures lovingly carved generations ago had no charm to them at this hour, only the weight of the responsibility he did not enjoy at such a time and with so much non-ceremony. Right when he was fully rolling about in his own fabricated misery something caught his eye and gave his brain a swift jerk. A white sheet laid across a body on the cobblestones. Two black heeled shoes peeked from underneath, the feet of a woman. He instinctively looked upward at the white tower surging into the sky, imagining the intensity of the breeze from that height. Marveling at a mental image of those heels against the starry blackness. And they managed to stay on? He was ushered into the Cathedral too quickly to think more about it.

The Cathedral swallowed him like a fish and he stood now in the archway of shadowy overhangs of stone, white fishbones of opulent carvings. The man in the overcoat waiting for him there nodded and shook his hand. “Inspector Rossi, your Excellency, apologies for the late night disturbance.” “What is the meaning of this?” The Bishop wanted his voice to echo across the walls like it did every Sunday but the image of the black heels falling past the white marble facade stalled the voice in his throat. “I brought you in to see if you recognize the victim,” explained Rossi. “She’s…she’s wearing a novitiate’s clothing.” “And you didn’t send for Mother Superior?” He huffed back. “Well, your Excellency it is your Cathedral. And I did not think it would be…an appropriate subject for a woman to talk about. Suicide.” “And you think that’s what it was?” “She left a note. And a child here.” The inspector gestured behind him. “He’s speaking with a doctor now.” “A child?” The Bishop’s head reeled, but their conversation was cut short by the approach of a shadowy figure at the entrance. For a breathless moment both men thought the figure would not cross the threshold, but rather stand there waiting to be let in. It was an odd notion to have about another person, but the way he was dressed in near-mockery of holy vestments prodded a primal sense of doom. There was a beat of hesitation and the man continued his slink over the threshold and into the cathedral, stopping right between the Bishop and the Inspector. He was short, slim, with a smart little mustache and glinting eyes. He clasped his hands together, presenting them with a small neat bow. “I am Cardinal Raphael, pleased to make your acquaintance, your Excellency.” Bishop raised an eyebrow. “I am not aware of you….Cardinal…” His words dripped with the acid that continued to roil in his own guts. His gazed dragged down the man’s appearance, observing the oddly formed biretta, the pendant that at this angle was definitely that of an upside-down crucifix. If it was some sort of perverse statement to wear an out-of-season Carnevale costume, the Bishop was deeply offended but too tired to bluster about it.

Raphael stretched a smile across his face which was supposed to give off a feeling of warmth but was entirely too toothy and smug to accomplish the task. “Not to worry, sir, we shan’t be seeing each other ever again after this moment.”

“You were let into a crime scene, now explain why before I eject you,” stated the Inspector, looking altogether bored with the arcane drama happening before his dark-rimmed eyes.

Raphael bowed his head, nearly curtsying. “You‘ve found a child, have you not? He is ours.”

”Oh? Then you are aware of the victim?”

“Yes, rest her soul,” replied Raphael. “A troubled girl. A convert.”

“Convert? She’s dressed as a noviate, what sort of preposterous—“

“Yes, she wrestled with dark thoughts for a long while. But we took care of her, when no one else would.” Raphael continued his crooked smile. “She was ejected from this very church long before her fateful climb tonight, I’m afraid.”

“We? And who is we?” The Bishop snorted.

“Takes all kinds to lift heaven and earth, your Excellency,” he replied smoothly. “There’s a child here, no? Little boy, dark hair, big eyes? Arsenio.”

“Child?! What is the meaning—a novitiate with a child, that’s preposterous—“

“He’s correct, a child is here,” said the Inspector. “And he’s right about the name.”

“Maria—well, that was the name she chose for herself when she was with us— stayed with us. We helped her raise Arsenio. Delightful boy, very artistic.”

“And do you have an idea of why she would take her life?”

“I wish…I wish I had gotten here sooner. Perhaps things would have been…different.” Raphael sighed. “We noticed she was gone, and had taken Arsenio with her. Didn’t think it would come to this, Inspector. But her heart held a paradox, and we did our best to help. Perhaps the guilt was still too much.”

The acid in his gut and the boiling in his brain curled the Bishop’s lip into a disgusted sneer. Ah, yes, Cardinal Raphael. Some pimp from some sort of depraved bordello, a mocking parody of his organization delighting in vices and whoredom. He’d have to find this den of filth and see it burned to the ground. But later. Right now he just wanted to end this dance and go home to bed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “The child will go to the appropriate orphanage.”

“The child is not an orphan, your Excellency,” prodded Raphael. “He’ll go to his father, of course.”

”Oh and who—! Who exactly is his father then?”

”Our leader.” Raphael continued his toothy smile. “Although, the major difference between us is that we’re more open about our leader having any sort of progeny.”

“This is absolutely obscene,” stormed the Bishop.

“Then let me take a nun’s child off your hands, Your Excellency.” Raphael’s gloved hands tightened, the leather squeaking. His mouth was calm, but within his stare grew a fire of mischief. “I would not want the Church to be involved in…obscenity, surely. I told you that you shall not be seeing us again.”

The Bishop gulped like a fish, then relented. There was already enough controversies that he spent most of his twilight years stamping down. A whore nun with a bastard child from some priest-themed den of secular vice was only going to add more gasoline to the fire and years off his life. All he could do was shrug and throw up his hands. “Fine, take him.”

Inspector Rossi took it from there, ,addressing Raphael. “Sir, well, if he can recognize you then he’s yours. Let me bring him here.”

And so the two men of faith were left alone for a moment.

“You're young for a Cardinal.” Bishop Lombardi gave a little prod at the man beside him. If this degenerate was to slink so casually into his house of God, Lombardi was going to do his best to make him crawl out.

“Am I?” Raphael’s eyes grew wide, and he looked around the space just in case the other man was talking to somebody else. “I'm thirty-eight. Respectable. But I still have my knees.”

“I have never heard of you, and I frequent the Vatican.” He would write immediately to the Holy See after this, of course. He just decided.

“Different social circles, I suppose.”

The bishop’s stomach boiled as he pressed on. “And I was not aware of your elevation. What are your merits, your publications? I have never seen your name in print.”

“I said please and thank you,” Raphael announced. “I ate my vegetables. I brush my teeth three times a day. I did not step on any cracks in the sidewalk.”

“You mock my question, sir,” the Bishop hissed, but the short man barely bat an eye.

“Isn't that what God wants for us?” The Cardinal asked, his grin almost catlike. “To do what we're told?”

Footsteps, and the patter of little shoes echoed on the marble again. It was the Inspector holding the hand of a tiny boy. The boy’s face was white like the carved statues that surrounded them, eyes wide and feline. His jacket was too large for his body, he fought with the knit hat jammed over his head. The socks slid from his bird-like legs and pooled at his ankles. On the front of his jacket was a paper neatly folded and pinned like a schoolmaster’s note for home.

“Born so early, did not think he'd make it,” explained Raphael. “Impatient little fellow.”

The little boy held out his arms wide, oblivious to his surroundings. His little loafers slapped the stone floor as he ran into the Cardinal's arms. “Uncle! Uncle Raphael!”

“Ah, kiddo,” chuckled Raphael. He stooped to his knees and gave the boy a pinch on the nose. “You're out past your bedtime, my little potato. Shall we go home?”

“That was easier than I thought,” said the inspector. “Mystery solved. Barely needed you to come by, Your Excellency!”

“You're going to let this…child…go with this—this— offensive, Satanic mockery?!”

“The boy clearly recognizes him,” replied the Inspector. He chuckled, shaking his head. “Some look…Happy Carnevale, Your Excellency.”

“In September?!”

“Thank you, thank you Inspector, Bishop,” said Raphael while Arsenio continued to bounce on his tippy-toes like a spring lamb. “I'll take him home….perhaps in a day or two we will sit him down…explain it all…” A pained expression lanced across his easy smile, then he recovered. “I'll admit now that I will miss the little lad.”

“His father will be grateful to have him back safely,” said Inspector, but the Bishop noticed a small wince from Raphael at that. Or perhaps it was a shadow. Or indigestion.

But whatever disturbance it was fell away and the mysterious Cardinal grinned again. “That's the plan. If you truly wanted to know.”

Bishop Lombardi snorted. “Not surprised she jumped. And what sort of depraved imbecile would run your….institution?”

“A musician,” Raphael replied simply.

“Terrible,” snorted the Bishop.

“An American.”

“Even worse.”

“See, there’s at least one thing we agree on,” Raphael said with a perfect wink. He smiled down at his young ward and muttered kind things to him as he helped him down the stairs.

And Raphael was then good at his word. He and the boy were never seen again.

Terzo and Raphael show up once more in this Secondo and Rebecca Domestic Fic!

[dragonmasterhiccup]

My question may be a bit ridiculous but I still want to ask based on your analysis,

In the HTTYD series, Hiccup was always called "Fishbone" because he was born prematurely, yes, he was like that in the first movie and he couldn't even lift a bucket of water, but in the next movies, the armor he wore was mostly made of iron pieces. In order to prevent hard falls and to soften the blows, the thickness of the iron should be thicker than normal, right? Technically, it would probably be like that. Okay, back to the question, damn.. I forgot the question I was going to ask. Okay wait, it takes physical effort to lift that much weight, but when we examined his costume, and even in the first scene of the movie, during the secret attack, we saw a soldier say to Hiccup "People don't have such fishbone legs!" (That's how it was in my language, I can't remember the English version, excuse me.) So.. is this physically possible???

To be honest, it's a question that has been on my mind for days before going to bed and has been keeping me awake for ridiculous reasons..

Not ridiculous at all! It's a great question!

I did a little research just to be sure, but it is entirely possible to be lean and strong, it does have to do with how you exercise though. It's like with gymnasts, they are incredibly strong, but also can be on the leaner side.

I also had to scroll back a bit on my blog to reference this post that also talks about Hiccup's strength.

I don't think it's ever explicitly stated when he started working in the forge with Gobber, but smithing does take a considerable amount of muscle, not to mention just holding on to Toothless while he flies. Using his flight suit as well must use a good amount of strength. Now, based on how quickly he made Toothless' tail, I'm guessing he had been in the forge a couple years at least. There are headcanons that he was sick a lot growing up, and that could also explain why he's so small for his age and not as strong in the first movie as he is a few years later in Race to the Edge and the other two films.

I like the fishbone callback! In English, I believe the line was "No human has legs that skinny!"

Do animated films play a little with the laws of physics? Definitely!

But, we do see many instances proving that Hiccup is stronger than he looks. I'll just name a few off the top of my head:

• Knocking Dagur off a cliff

• Knocking Toothless off a cliff

• Stopping a man twice his size wielding an axe with rope that Hiccup is holding taught (I literally had to rewind and make sure I had seen that right, but it's true! He does)

• Catching and carrying Astrid when she was dead weight easily

These examples are all from Race to the Edge, I'm sure there are some from the movies, but those are just what came to mind first.

And you're right, his armor definitely isn't light. Based on the color, it's probably not Gronckle iron since it has a specific coloring and a distinct pattern (though that would make more sense for his armor, as it's known to be lightweight and incredibly strong). The pieces do look thick, at least a 1/4-1/2 inch maybe (at least the shoulder pieces, but don't quote me on that), and wearing it as much as he does is bound to build up muscle.

It does appear that Hiccup takes more after Valka physically, and she is lean and definitely muscular as well. I'm no expert, but the fluidity in which she moves using her staff and while standing on Cloudjumper proves that she's strong while staying on the thinner side.

Since Hiccup is often underestimated due to his size and age, I like that this is another area where he takes people by surprise.

[euruua27]

Idk, when I first watched this scene, I felt like this is what Hiccup is.

He has the ability to convinced, to earn a mighty creature's trust.

I mean, just look at how vast that Montrous Nightmare is and how vulnerable that boy is.

Hiccup was like- having the same thoughts with other Vikings, he thought dragons are dangerous, cruel, cold-blooded. However, after he changed his mind, how crazy he was to get on with such a huge thing just by his heart and his intelligence.

He obviously knows how to treat people (dragons). Maybe because he was not welcomed by his village before, so he would be very sensitive about feelings. (I strongly believe that he finds it easier to breath when he’s with dragons but humans)

This is the thing that the ’talking fishbone’ I love that tittle good at, he did it with certainly, as if it was his instinct. You guys know what’s my fav part? He hold Snotlout’s hand, and ignore his objections, put it into Hookfang’s snout. That's the moment when we know he will be the leader:) bc he knows what's he doing, he knows that Snotlout and Hookfang will fit well together. He is a good observer, he has the confidence, guys:)

Well, I really love seeing Hiccup being stammer, sarcastic, doesn't dare to look at others eyes, hide away... And then... ✨This side of him✨

DreamWorks did very very well!

[r0semaryt3a]

Arcane season 2 opinions with the first few episodes: (spoilers under cut)

Episode one: fantastic start! Jaw dropping visuals, wonderful storytelling right off the bat, already had me crying, top tier voice acting as always and an AMAZING intro sequence! Immediately sets up conflict and throws us right back into the gut punch that is the Arcane storyline. And the score? Already fab. Already love it. Such a good start to the season we are so back baby! And also, like, what a way to introduce your themes and new cast members. I think the way they did that was fab and remains so throughout in this really nice blend of direct exposition and just letting a scene flow. Overall, there’s nothing particular I want to say about the first episode. I think it was fab and I have no real complaints. I like how it gets right into the nitty gritty that Arcane is known for whilst not shoving action straight down our throats: a subtle drip feeding.

Teeny weeny little bit of annoyance with the manner in which Vi ‘joins’ the enforcers but that’s a personal nit pick that really I myself am glossing over as it worked well with the story and wasn’t forced.

Episode 2: SOME OF MY FAVOURITE SCENES EVER OML. The parallels?? Mwah, love them. Love them to bits. “How could someone put all those holes in you?” CRYING, BAWLING MY EYES OUT GOOD GOD. Hate it, love it love it love it. Sucker? New favourite song, new favourite music video I adored the start of that (and the end but the Chem Barrons at the table? Good grief oml serve me some more I BEG) ISHA IS A LITTLE CUTIE, Sevika my woman, my wife I love you. I also really liked how the speech about Silco between her and Jinx really shows us their perception of him and just how warped it is.

It works well to set up a ton of tension and genuinely was so visually pleasing I just can’t. Like that whole scene with Sev’s new arm? Yes please 🙏. VIKTOR’S ARC IS COMING TOGETHER AND I AM EXCITED FOR IT! “It was affection that held us together” man that hurts and I’m here for it. We’ve gotten so much more Mel content I am loving it! Episode 2 is like everything to me already I enjoyed it so much all the different parallels and what not we’re deliciously executed!

Episode 3: THAT SCENE WITH THE GREY?? OH. MY. LORD. YES!!!

But…this is where I have problems (funnily enough also where I do in season 1). Not with the whole Cait-Vi-Jinx fight no. I think was that brilliant. But Ambessa. I did indeed roll my eyes at the reveal of her setting up conflict with Renni in order to secure what she wanted and the whole thing with the Guild merchant (nothing else with the though). Now, it’s not weak storytelling by any means it’s just a few personal “no no” tropes of mine. However, I am aware that this is only the third episode and a major stepping stone on setting up the rest of the season LIKE WITH WARRICK (omlomloml can’t wait) so I’m not going to elaborate too much on that bit. BACK ONTO POSITIVES: THE VISUALS? THE SMOKE-BOMB SCENE? FISHBONES BACK INTO PLAY? the absolute gut wrench of any and all Violyn scenes. WE GOT WAY MORE EKKO??? AND THAT WHOLE TRIP IN THE HEXGATES WAS JUST WOW! My poor gal Mel is suffering…

The animators have put their all into this season and it shows the visuals are FANTASTIC! Don’t even talk to me about the music it was so great I love it all.

I really like the way they’re setting up all these parallels! Almost makes me forget that most of my favs are dead (Cassandra, Silco, Renni, Greyson)

Overall I can’t wait for more Arcane

[nire-the-mithridatist]

Hello, Nire! I saw your reblog earlier and it made me reread. Thanks! Gosh, I miss them.

Picking a passage from this piece was /hard/. In the end, it's either The Mirror/Glass or The Wall, but I went with Mirror.

“I’m okay—it’s just… I’m really dead,” she said wonderingly. “You know, they say people never really get to see what they look like, because mirrors are reverse images and cameras distort and—what I’m saying is, have I always looked like that?”

“No,” he replied, low enough that if anyone walked in, they would assume that he was talking to the dead body. “You were alive.”

“I don’t feel dead, is the thing,” she said. “I can feel everything you’re feeling. When you walk, it feels like I’m walking. When you see things, I see them too. I mean, sure, it’s a little different—you should really get your eyes checked, by the way, I think you’re slightly myopic—and I can also sort of read your mind, but none of this feels like how I thought being dead would feel like.”

And then—

“Is this normal? I mean, you… you did this, right? I feel like this isn’t normal. Also, can you look away from my cadaver for a little bit? It’s disturbing.”

He obliged, turning his gaze ceiling-ward. His eyes watered in the face of the dry brightness of the neon lights, his throat a knot of fishbones. There were no words to quite explain what he was and what he had done; instead, he let himself think it, hurling his mind to the past—distant and otherwise—and allowed her to watch the memories unfurl, from the first time he’d eaten a soul to the moment he panicked and entombed her within him.

Eventually, she said, “I see,” and he wasn’t ready for the sheer relief brought by her matter-of-fact response. She added, after a while, “I don’t suppose you can… reverse it? Pour me back into my own body?”

A futile question, futilely asked. He didn’t bother with lies and platitudes. The knowledge was real in him: she was a shard of glass lodged in his flesh; pulling her out wasn’t going to make the mirror whole again, and he might even bleed to death from the wound. Now, there was only living with it, with her—only the pain of her fragmented life as he carried her around with him.

- i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

((THE soulmate & cohabitation fic EVER. But watch out.)) I adore this so very much and I adore you. 🧡

HELLOOOO

OKOKOK sorry this took a while but this fic is actually one of my biggest pride and joys, and definitely my favorite of all the fics I've written for Vincenzo (and I wrote... some. lmao). Anyway, the Wall is the scene that I had wanted to write from the beginning, it was probably the reason this fic existed at all. I can talk about that (and the media that inspired it in the first place) FOREVER.

But that's not the scene you asked about, hehehe, so I'll restrain myself.

The Mirror scene as you dubbed it is part of the story set-up; as far as fantasy stories go, this one is definitely very soft fantasy, but I needed to set some rules anyway. Like, the obvious question is, can he spit her soul back out into her body? Definitely not or we wouldn't have a story (or well. it would be a very different story) but Cha Young would ask that question, and the reader would probably ask that question. So the main thing the scene asserts is that she's not coming back to life like nothing ever happened. This is permanent. The story is about them permanently stuck together in his body. I was actually kind of worried people would be mad at me for not giving them a "happy ending", but to me the happy ending lies in them learning the joy of this new shape of life they now have, rather than him carrying the guilt of her death the whole time, and I was hoping to hint at that ending through this scene.

The thing about how people never can actually see themselves is a fun fact that every so often haunts me. We don't 100% know what we look like! We know how we look like in the mirror and how we look like photographed, but neither of those are the same as how we can see other people directly, as they really are. And even here, now, Cha Young isn't really seeing herself and she never will. She's seeing her own dead body -- and dead bodies look very much unlike living ones -- through a slightly myopic pair of eyes that's not her own.

(Yet.) (Part of the story is also about how the body turns from something she borrows from him into something she actually shares ownership with him, and that's why around the wall scene their body and body parts are referred to as "their" and not "his".)

Anyway I'll stop rambling before I bore you but thank you SO much for asking about this fic and giving me an excuse to revisit it <3 <3 <3

send me a short extract from my writing and i'll give you a "dvd commentary" about it!

[k-she-rambles]

ok but what if blue sword/temeraire fusion?

Some timeline squishing might be involved, because blue sword is set 20 years after temeraire

plot bunnies, not all connected:

-> the gang has to travel through Damar to reach Istanbul during BPW. This is an Issue because Damarians have a bad history with a large black dragon trying to conquer the country. Temeraire is treated in Damar like Lien is in China. They are helped by a mysterious red-haired stranger

-> Tharkay has a little of the Damarian Gift and every time he has to deal with something emotionally fraught his eyes turn gold. Things tend to break when he is angry, and he has a noticeable habit of keeping his hands to himself when upset. Laurence keeps noticing the light in Tharkay's eyes the same way the British characters notice Harry's kelar.

During the fountain scene Tharkay's eyes are burning gold and Laurence either stuns Tharkay by taking the full force of them and/or Tharkay confuses Laurence by preempively apologizing for the migraine Laurence is going to have in the morning

-> or LAURENCE is Damarian and he is maternal cousins with the Crewes. His "stiff with honor" attitude is him unconsciously keeping himself from setting things on fire. Accidents can be deadly on a ship!

• Every time someone runs interference for Laurence about to say or something he regrets out of temper, it's really his friends and allies noticing his kelar acting up (whether they know about it or not) and stepping in before he accidentally makes an admiral choke on a fishbone.

(If he learns about the kelar during the series it's kind of traumatic for his identity as an Englishman. Bonus points for everyone expecting him to do a kelar assisted jump onto Temeraire's back during the amnesia arc and then not doing that.

He heals Tharkay instinctively when Tharkay is found but modern kelar is meant for war, not healing. It's the only time Laurence ever heals and it's very painful for both Laurence and Tharkay

• (Tharkay's hands are fine but he has a huge burn scar on his right forearm in the shape of Laurence's hand for the rest of his life)

• Laurence's memories are back but he feels like he's been concussed all over again

• Bonus points for the encounter with the king's madness (George's) poetically paired with the king's madness (kelar).)

• Laurence is blindsided after the war to find out that the maternal great aunt his father was kind of weird about was very important and bby cousin Angharad dropped a mountain on an army is now queen of a foreign country. He won't admit it but he's briefly very annoyed that Richard abandoned his post.

Laurence is running hot during the dinner party in Black Power War, and people can't look him in the eye. Tharkay’s first impression of this British aviator having dinner with these holier-than-thou East India Company peacocks isn’t just the Chinese coat and impeccable manners even when drunk and pissed off (doesn't someone with the Damarian Gift know not to get drunk? Is he a fool or an idiot?) —it’s the blue eyes flashing gold to almost literally pin Tharkay in place.

‐> no timeline squishing at all and we substitute Damarian dragons for the Damarian horses. Imagine if Tsornin and Isfahel could talk! Red Wind is Harry's first mentor.

• The legends of Aerin fire-hair are of Aerin and the elderly dragon Talat defeating the tyrant dragon Maur.

• The laprun trials are held in the air, and are almost more about the dragon's right to bear arms than the rider. Dragons ALSO wear sashes, and it's considered bad form in the trials to damage the other dragon's rider or the rider's harness --the trials are a test of skill and self control.

Tsornin is ALSO jealous of Narknon and keeps threatening to eat her. Narknon does not care at all.

[marunalu]

So I startet a Bleach re-read project while at the same time re-watching the anime in synchro to each other, because I was interested in how much both differ from each other. Actually, the Bleach anime is well known for changing or cutting entire scenes of the manga for whatever reason and till to this day I have no idea why the anime studio thought it was a good idea to do so. So far I only did the first chapter/first episode and oh boy there are already so many changes I had to split this post into two parts.

To be fair, some of these differences are not that bad or important nor do they disturb the flow of the story, but most of them are still completly unnecessairy or replaced with filler moments and its no wonder why the author Tite Kubo got so frustrated with the anime studio and forced them to send him the scripts of every single episode before release. Espicially in the first two arcs all these differences are very obvious and they only start to lessen after the soul society arc. So here is a list of all the changes, differences and cuts I was able to find. Warning the list is LONG!

In part 1, I want to focus mostly on everything that was in the manga, but cut/not shown or play out a little bit different in the anime in chronical order. I also included a lot of minor things. Lets start with the madness.

Toshi-bro demanding to know if Ichigo has a death wish.

The other skateboarders sort of calling Ichigo a psychopath as he stomps Toshis head into the ground.

Ichigo insulting Mit-bro when he addresses him and the latter repeating Ichigos insult and his friends checking on him after Ichigo kicks him down.

The skateboard gang promising to never disrespect the memorial of the dead girl again as they run off and Ichigo apologizing to the dead girl for using her to scare off the skateboard gang and the dead girl assuring him that she was happy to help him out.

Isshin Kurosaki demanding to know if Ichigo knows what time it is after kicking him and Karin Kurosaki commenting on Ichigos ability to see, talk to, touch, and interact with ghosts which makes him a quadruple A special level spirit medium.

Yuzu Kurosaki expressing a desire to see ghosts clearly and Karin bluntly stating that she does not share this desire and her bringing up her latest plan to profit of Ichigos ability to see spirits and Ichigo reacting with outrage to this. Also Isshin expressing confusion prior to being thrown off by Ichigo.

Ichigos internal monologue about being able to see spirits for as long as he can remember and never even considering the existence of Shinigami.

Yuzu deciding to bring dinner to Ichigos room later and Isshin wondering why Ichigo does not share his problems with his father, prompting Karin to assert that she would not share her problems with him either, meanwhile Ichigo wondering why his family is so strange and mistakenly identifying the Jigokucho that flies through his room as a black swallowtail butterfly.

Isshin clashing with Ichigo over how much noise the latter is making and revealing that he cannot see Rukia, to Ichigos confusion.

Yuzu comforting Isshin after his clash with Ichigo "hurt him".

Rukia deciding to only punish Ichigo with a minor case of paralysis for his attitude.

Rukia naming the technique she used to help the glasses-wearing ghost pass over as Konso (= Soul Burial) and her noting that it no longer seems necessary to ask Ichigo if he believes her tale.

Ichigo wiping his drawn mustache off on the floor and asking Rukia if a Hollow is nearby, which she confirms, followed by him berating her for standing around and talking.

Rukia noting that she seems to be hearing Fishbone Ds howl through some sort of unseen filter and wondering how Ichigo heard it before she did and Ichigo asking if the noise he just heard was the howl of a Hollow.

Ichigo demanding that Rukia undo her spell, because its his family getting attacked right now, only for Rukia to counter that he cannot do anything and will only add to the bodycount and wondering what is happening to her after opening the door and experiencing the powerful sensation of Fishbone Ds reiatsu.

Karin explaining that Isshin was attacked and Yuzu was taken before begging Ichigo to run away.

Rukia assuring Ichigo that Karin is okay and simply passed out.

Rukia wondering just what Ichigo is after he breaks out of his restraints.

A wounded Isshin lying unconscious on the floor when Ichigo reaches the living room.

Ichigo internally identifying Fishbone D as a Hollow upon seeing him and expressing fear at the latter being a monster instead of humanoid like all the other spirits he has seen before.

Yuzu reacting to Ichigos arrival and confronting of Fishbone D.

Ichigos baseball bat being broken by Fishbone Ds punch.

Ichigo bringing up Rukias explanation of Hollows attacking people to eat their souls and questioning why Fishbone D attacked his family if not for this reason.

Rukia being sent crashing into a wall by a surprise attack from Fishbone D while distracted by Ichigo, which leaves her bleeding from a head wound.

Ichigo demanding that Fishbone D kill him and leave the others alone, prompting Rukia to call him a fool.

Ichigo apologizing and Rukia stating that she cannot console him due to being too badly injured to continue fighting and Ichigo internally claiming that it is all his fault and that they are all going to die now.

Ichigo seeing Yuzu begging him to run away even while nearly unconscious and resolving to follow Rukias plan as a result.

Rukia realizing that Ichigos strong spiritual energy was the source of the unseen filter obscuring Fishbone Ds presence from her.

Rukia wondering what Ichigo is after he kills Fishbone D.

So part 1 is done. The second part will focus on all the differences that are in the anime but not in the manga of chapter 1/episode 1. Here is a link to part 2.