#these hallucinations/dreams sequences were so good

[pinardenizs]

Pınar deniz and Kaan Urgancıoğlu as Ceylin Erguvan Kaya and Ilgaz Kaya

→ Yargı, 2x29

[bugsbutch]

the mortifying ordeal of seeing the kind of corny shit that would only feature in your most self-indulgent playing-with-blorbos-like-dolls-in-your-head-before-you-fall-asleep session being actually acted out by actors on your screen

[hmar177]

DALLAS WINSTON ONE SHOT <3

******SMUTTTTTTTYYYYY******

I'm not sure when I stopped loving Jack, but I know it crept out of the subconscious of my mind the second I saw that damn photo. I know I shouldn't feel this way, Jack is perfect. He comes from a good family, he's sweet and charming, he gets along with my friends and brings my mom flowers everytime he comes over. He was everything I could have dreamed for myself. He is who I should want. But that damn picture of Dallas Winston.

I wish he had just stayed on his side like he was supposed to.

My predicament started a few months ago when I was walking home from school. I had to stay late after my final class to run over a few plans with the committee for the dance coming up. It was my first dance that I was fully running myself and I was over the moon about it. I loved planning big events like this. My brain worked meticulously over every detail and it was so satisfying watching it all come together.

After I had finished my meeting with Sally and Davis, I found myself taking my normal walk home. It was a beautiful day out. The sun was just low enough in the sky to cast a gentle, warm glow on my face, the leaves left a quiet hum in my ears, and I found myself inhaling the glorious scent of the freshly landscaped houses as if the scent would live forever in my lungs if I breathed deep enough.

As I rounded the last corner before my street, I heard loud screeching coming from behind me. A car full of what seemed to be 4 or 5 rowdy boys came barreling down the street. Blasting loud rock music and howling like a pack of wolves, the boys came up fast. I stopped in place and watched as they came closer. They slowed up ever so slightly as they passed me, giving me a good chance to glance into the vehicle. I didn't recognize them, but I did recognize the driver. Dallas Winston.

With his sunglasses sitting low on the bridge of his nose and a cigarette hanging lazily out of his mouth, he held my eyes as he cruised by. I can't tell if I imagined it or not, but I thought I caught a hint of a smirk on his face before he punched the accelerator once more and took off before I could even register the entire exchange. It almost felt like I had just hallucinated that whole sequence.

What were a bunch of greasers doing over here on the west side? Not that I ever had anything against them, I just figured they would want to stay clear of a bunch of privileged, snotty folks who are constantly after their demise.

I had never met Dallas before, but I knew bits and pieces about him. Grew up with a rough homelife, dropped out of school, and even wound up in prison for a while. Everyone in this town saw Dallas and all the greasers as less than. I saw them as kids who just had shit luck when it came to the parents department.

I knew some greasers. There were quite a few in my grade, like Sodapop Curtis. He was one of the sweetest kids I ever met. Had a heart of gold, and a boatload of love for some girl Sandy he always seemed to mention. Soda dropped out a few months ago though after his parents both died tragically in a car accident. Another example of kids with shit luck and no ones around this town to sympathize for them.

Later that night, I found myself sitting at my desk trying to work on my short story. I was assigned by my English teacher to write a short story loosely based on a truly exciting and invigorating time in my life that made me feel alive. The only problem was I have never had an experience in my life that could remotely be described as such.

Everyday, I wake up, go to school, go to event committee meetings, or to my internship at the local newspaper, The Tulsa Chronicles. After all that, I either come home and do homework, or just hangout at the drive in with my friends and my boyfriend Jack. Nothing about my routine is special or interesting. It never changes and I don't see it altering anytime soon. In a town with so little to do, it is quite the tall order to ask us to find something interesting to write about.

I want to be a writer some day, so when I can't complete a simple short story for school, it horrifies me that I may be chasing after a hopeless dream. I intern at the Tulsa Chronicles in hope of it being a good addition to my college applications, but for now I am just helping with the printing and shipping of the papers. One of the editors told me if I had a writing piece that I was proud of, I could pass it along to them and they could give it a read and see if there were any opportunities for me to write something for the paper soon. I was hoping this short story could be that piece that I was proud of, but that is looking like a pipe dream now.

After staring at my blank paper for what feels like hours, I decide tonight is not the night that I am going to find any inspiration, so I turn out the lights and climb into bed. Maybe my dreams will inspire me. Maybe I'll dream of those greasers, flying through neighborhoods and screaming, sounding like they are high on the freedom that life has to offer. I want a taste of what they are having.

The next day is the same as all the other ones, not to anyone's surprise. I woke up, went to school, and made my way over to the Tulsa Chronicles. When I walked in, the newsroom was buzzing much more than normal. In a town as boring as Tulsa, there is not a ton of news to report, so when the newsroom was like this, something major must have happened.

“Rose, get to the printer stat. We need to start loading up these boxes now!” my boss Susan yelled from across the room.

“On it!” I let her know.

As I made my way to the printer, pages were flying out faster than I have ever seen before. This must be a big story if they have the printers working this hard.

Page after page, I watched them stack into a nice pile until the cover page finally flew out.

It read, “Delinquent youths turn heroes after daring fire rescue”

Right next to the title, I saw their faces, Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Caid, and Dallas Winston.

Pony and Johnny's pictures didn't shock me. Cherry Valance told me a few days ago how sweet and kind they had been to her at the drive in and they always seemed like kind approachable kids. But cherry had also mentioned that Pony and Johnny had protected her from, Dallas Winston

Dallas had always seemed so cold and foreboding. Even his smirk from yesterday's drive by left a chill down my spine. It wasnt that I was afraid of him, but Dallas Winston wasn't someone you just assumed you could become fast friends with. You had to earn his loyalty to be seen with him. His picture being tagged alongside this story seemed extremely out of character. Dallas had his family of greasers and he had himself. There wasn't much else he was looking after. Especially not strangers in some random church fire.

I picked up the front page and looked at it very closely. Part of me didn't want to assume like the rest of this town that this was a mistake, but a bigger part of me couldn't help but think this wasn't true. Dallas Winston saving children he didn't know? Dallas didn't walk by a child in the street without trying to terrify them in some way. Something isn't adding up. Were we all utterly wrong about him? I couldn't help but just stare at his picture, trying to see him run into that burning church. Coming out covered in ash, carrying a couple kids in his arms and placing them down gently before rushing back inside to save more. I felt a twinge in my chest. Something I haven't felt before.

“Rose! Quit daydreaming and pack up those papers. The delivery service will be here in 20 to take those boxes out. They better be filled!” Susan yelled.

“Yes of course.” I replied, suddenly taken out of my temporary, and odd trance.

As I loaded each paper into the boxes, my eyes lingered a little too long on Dallas’s face as each paper piled onto the next. After what must have been hundreds of papers, I “accidentally” misplaced one in my bag sitting next to me. I don't know why I took it. I would surely be getting one of these papers delivered to my house within the next day or so, but part of me wanted to just have this for me. I also didn't want to explain to my dad why I needed his morning paper, the one I had helped package and ship out and have had access to for over a day.

After loading the last box and as a sudden calmness came over the newsroom, it was finally time to head home. I grabbed my bag, making sure the paper was tucked in enough so that it wouldn't be seen, said goodnight to the staff, and made my way out.

As I walked out of the building, I looked up to see Jack leaned up against his shiny new sports car that his parents just bought him as a good job for making the basketball team present. It sounds ridiculous and it is ridiculous. When you come from money like Jack's family, there are very few occasions that don't involve an illustrious gift such as the sports car he now leans against.

I say all this with complete understanding that I come from a family very similar to Jacks. I am privileged and I know that, but I don't see that as a reason to act any differently towards others. Why should the number that's on my fathers paychecks determine whether I am a better person than others? It doesn't. But people like Jack feel that it does. But Jack makes me smile, and my mother hasn't shut up about those lilies he brought her this past weekend when he was over for dinner. Who could hate Jack, right?

“Hey there honey. How was the journalism world today?” Jack says with a smile as he opens the passenger side door for me to get in. Jack picks me up whenever he's in the area and he knows I'm here. It's very sweet of him. Another reason to love him, right?

“Busy. There was a big story today so there were a lot more papers to print and ship.” I told him.

“Really! What was the story?” He asked.

I hesitated for a second.

“Oh I don't remember. I didn't really get a chance to read it. Too busy getting them into boxes.” I explained. I don't know why I lied. I think a part of me felt guilty about the things I felt and thought as I looked at Dallas’s picture the past few hours and another part of me wanted to keep Dallas to myself for a bit longer because by morning everyone would be talking about him. More people would be picturing him as this grand hero, and I still wanted to be the only one who saw him that way.

The rest of the ride, we sat in comfortable silence. That was the best way to describe me and Jack's relationship. Comfortable. Our parents set us up freshman year of highschool and we fell into the narrative with ease. He was cute and popular. It made sense why I should want him, so I convinced myself I did. And it worked for a while. A long while now. But as we come towards the midway point of Junior year, I'm not too sure how much longer I can convince myself that Jack is what I want. But what would be my reason for leaving him? He was too nice to my parents? He made one too many jokes that made all my friends laugh? He was too popular? Too athletic? On paper he was perfect. Trying to tell anyone that my time with Jack was coming to an end would make me sound like the biggest fool. So I just stayed. There was no reason to leave, even though I wanted there to be so badly.

We pulled up to the front of my house and he came around and opened my door. I thanked him and looked up to my house. The big, beautiful white home sat on top of the hill at the top of my street with a huge porch that wrapped around the whole house, and perfectly painted blue shutters. It was truly out of a magazine and I was eternally grateful for being able to be raised in a home as beautiful as this one. The dining room light shined bright and I knew my parents were in there waiting for me to arrive so we could have dinner as a family. Jack took my hand and walked me to the door. My mother opened it as we took the final step onto the porch.

“Jack!’ My mother said, “How kind of you to bring Rose home. Won't you come in and join us for dinner.”

A pit immediately formed in my stomach.

“I'd love-” Jack started before I cut him off.

“I'm actually not feeling very well so I think I am just gonna go to bed.” I quickly sputtered out. Facing Jack I said, “Maybe another night.”

I gave him a quick peck on the cheek before rushing up the stairs and straight into my room before anyone else could say anything. That was definitely rude of me, but the thought of having to sit next to Jack for the next hour, knowing I smuggled home a paper with the only intention of staring at the man on the cover made me extremely nauseous. I may not feel for Jack the way I used to, but I wouldn't be disrespectful, and if I was gonna be disrespectful, I wasn't gonna allow him to eat dinner with me and my family as if everything was fine and dandy.

I sat down on my bed and immediately removed the paper from my bag. It wasn't often that I had strange outbursts such as the one I just had downstairs, so I knew my parents would leave me be for a while. I took the paper, and got comfortable. Reading the entire article front and back and learning that what the title states was indeed true, I took the cover and discarded the rest of the pages. Holding Dallas’s picture up, I thought about the words in the article and how they described the man I was looking at. Bold. Courageous. Brave. Not words I would initially think of when I heard the name Dallas Winston.

His face held hard lines in his jaw and forehead. He had strong dark features and striking eyes. He was beautiful in a rugged and tired way. A way that you never see here in the west side neighborhoods. I was mesmerized by his stern stare. I wanted to know everything about him and I wanted to know it now. I wanted to spend a day with him and learn what it took to earn his trust. To earn a glance from those haunting eyes. The way he looked at me as he rode past me in his car yesterday felt like a shot of espresso. It jolted something awake inside of me. I needed another hit. I craved it.

Before I could comprehend what I was doing, my body was up and at my desk. I was opening my drawer and pulling out a pair of scissors. I slowly and carefully cut around his face making sure not to accidentally trim anything important off, because truthfully it was all important. He was important and I needed to know why.

I held the small picture of Dallas Winston between my fingers, holding as close to the edge as possible, with fear I might smudge it, and I grabbed a piece of tape. Walking over to my bed, I taped the picture on my wall right next to where my head lays when I sleep. I could hide it during the day behind my pillows when I made my bed. It was just for me. He was my new interest. He was my excitement that I had been looking for, I just had to find a way to make these little daydreams something real. As I crawled into bed with the image of dark raven eyes flashing through my mind, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, Jack, my parents, and Tulsa all feeling like a distant memory rather than my reality.

It could have been 3 hours or 3 minutes, but before I knew it, I was woken up by the sound of my desk lamp falling to the ground and a soft breeze coming from my window that I was sure was closed when I got into bed. I shot up like an arrow and reached for the lamp on my bedside table, flicking it on as fast as I could. As the light flooded the room, I was immediately met with the eyes I saw as I lulled myself to sleep. I had to be imagining him right? Dallas Winston stood right there in the middle of my bedroom, standing at least 6 foot 2, drowning in his leather jacket, with his signature blue jeans, and a black eye that was shining through even in the dim lighting.

“Dallas?” I began before he ran over to my bed and clasped his hand around my mouth and the other one slid behind my head keeping me quiet and still.

Slowly he shook his head as if to tell me, now is not a time for talking. I assumed he was scared my parents would hear him, which I am now realizing never even crossed my mind. My parents would lose their minds if they strolled into my room right now to find a greaser, Dallas Winston worst of all, standing in my bedroom at, I flashed my eyes to my clock, 2am. But my parents never even entered my head, nothing really entered my head. Not fear, not my parents, not jack. All I could think about was that incredible shot of adrenaline I felt when I saw him, and coming up with a plan to make him stay as long as possible so I didn't have to stop this feeling.

All of a sudden I heard sirens, and red and blue lights flash past the house at a high speed. I looked up at Dallas who was looking out the window to make sure the coast was clear. His hands were still firmly placed around my head. I studied his face while he wasn't paying attention to me, just as I was doing last night. But this was ten times better. The picture didn't do him justice. He was gorgeous. A light sheen of sweat coated his forehead from running I assumed, and his hair drooped gently in front of his eyes, giving him a rugged elvis look. I could stare at him for hours and not get bored for a second.

Once he saw that he was in the clear, he slowly brought his attention back to me. He studied my face for a second, a small shimmer of something in his eyes but I don't know what it was. After a moment he brought his eyes around my room, studying the pictures and posters on my walls that I'm sure I'll be embarrassed about later, to the books on my nightstand, and with another flick of his gaze, he was locked in on something behind me. He stared long and hard and I couldn't think of what it could be. He slowly came inclose, his lips right next to my ear.

“Well I'll be damned. Looks like I have a fan.” He whispered, his warm breath hitting my neck.

My eyes widened, the picture. Dallas WInston was looking at the picture of him I cut out and taped next to my bed.

“Now tell me darling, if I remove my hands, can you stay quiet and not let anyone know I am here? Because I do have a few questions about this I'd like to ask.” He said quietly with a shit eating grin on his face, so good, that it could seduce the Queen of England.

I slowly nod. Why am I not terrified right now? A known felon is standing in my room right now in the middle of the night. He snuck in my window in an attempt to run from the cops. I am harboring a criminal right now as we speak and all I can think about is how I can end things with Jack so that this lasts forever.

“Good Girl.” He says softly, then slowly takes his hands off my mouth, immediately missing the feel of his touch. God I was so fucked.

He pulled over my desk chair and took a seat right in front of me, our knees almost touching. He held the picture between his fingers looking at it, then up to me.

“So tell me, what's a nice girl like you doing hanging up pictures of bad Dallas Winston on her pretty pink bedroom walls?” He asks.

I think I stopped breathing. What was I supposed to say? There was no real explanation for why I hung up the picture other than I was chasing a feeling I couldn't even name. I stared blankly trying to say anything, trying to think of something to say that would make him as interested in me as I was in him.

“Well?” He pushed after I sat there stunned for I don't even know how long.

“Uhh, I, Uh….. I think I want to feel what you feel.” I said. Shit. That didn't even make any sense. He for sure thought I was crazy. He looked at me puzzled.

“Honey, the last thing you want is to feel what I feel.” He gave a small laugh that created small needles in the back of my throat and moved to get up.

“I want to feel alive. I want to be reckless and have fun. You have fun, don't you?” I said quickly, anything coming out of my mouth was just a hidden plea for him to stay.

He stopped in his tracks, and looked back over to me. The moon casting a soft glow on his hard features. The shimmer in his eyes came back for a second. He slowly sat back down.

“Oh, I have fun. But the kind of fun I have would give a soc like you nightmares.” He said with venom on his tongue. I couldn't tell if he was threatening me or daring me to push him more.

“Show me.” I whispered. Dally smirked at me pondering my dare for a split second, before he slid his switchblade knife out of his pocket and softly dragged the blade from my fingertips, up my arm, and across my collar bone. Every hair on my body stood straight up. My breath hitched ever so slightly and he moved the blade to my neck and held it there.

Part of me was truly scared, and another part of me felt that there was something a bit performative too. Dallas Winston wasn't going to hurt me. I knew that for a fact. He leaned in close, taking a strand of my hair in his other hand, and brought his lips to my ear.

“Are you having fun yet?” He said. I couldn't see his face, but I could hear the smirk in his words.

I backed away so I could meet his eyes. A fire raged behind them. I would give anything to look inside his brain, even for just a moment. I smiled at him and I could see the excitement grow. I don't know why, but I liked what was happening. I liked the uncertainty of what he was going to say and do, and I liked that I trusted him for no reason at all.

“I think I like you more than I should.” I say. I don't know why I said that. I wasn't even embarrassed that I did. It was like being close to him unlocked a new version of myself that I didn't know existed. A version of myself that had confidence and a desire to push the limits. I felt alive.

“Do you like me more than your boyfriend?” He grinned.

“Do you want me to?” I challenged. He grinned and his gaze flicked down to my lips for a moment before it returned to my eyes. The knife at my throat is all but forgotten.

“Let's make a deal. If I can kiss better than a soc, you have to go out with me.” He said.

“And if you can't?” I said, barely a whisper.

“Oh honey, there are very few things I can't do.” He said leaning in and attaching his lips to mine. I felt the knife hit the bed next to me as I melted into his kiss and his hands wrapping around my face.

It was soft and slow for all but a moment, before I knew it he was laying me down on the bed and forcing his tongue into my mouth. I guess it wasn't forcing it, more like me waiting for it and craving it.

My hands roamed his body, feeling his toned muscles through his thin black tee shirt. I slid his leather jacket off, as his hands found their way under my shirt. He planted his hand on my stomach and pushed me down to the mattress keeping me in place. A breeze gently floated in from the window, and it made me hyper aware of the slickness that was now coating my thighs.

His mouth moved to my cheek and then to my neck. I clasp one of my hands over my mouth to muffle my moans. He placed his thigh between my legs allowing me to move my hips to get some relief.

God what was I doing? How did it come to me grinding on Dallas Winston in my bed at 2 in the morning. I couldn't bring myself to stop though. It was all too much. Too good.

“How am I doing sweetheart?” He said in my ear before he brought his face back up to look me in the eyes. “I think the tears in your eyes are telling me that I'm gonna see you tomorrow night.”

I moaned into his shoulder, as I felt his hand trail down my abdomen and underneath my waistband. He teased there for a moment, smirking down at me waiting for me to stop him, but there was no way in hell I wanted this to ever end. I gave him a quick nod before he cupped me over my underwear. He quickly covered my mouth with his own as he knew I was about to moan. He chuckled softly into the kiss.

“My God Dallas. Oh my god” I moaned into his mouth.

“I am a God, aren't I?” He growled before sliding his fingers underneath my underwear and inside of me. The pleasure was so overwhelming, that I bit into his shoulder to stop myself from crying out. He groaned from the pain, but I knew he liked it.

As his fingers pumped in and out of me, he slowly started to grind himself into my hip. He was hard. I felt him poking through his tight jeans, begging to be let out.

“Dallas. I want you.” I begged. I need more of him. I need him closer.

He removed his fingers from me, leaving me feeling empty. I looked up at him and he immediately placed his fingers into his mouth, sucking me off of them. I let out a moan. He was trailing kisses down my chest, then my stomach, never taking his eyes off of me.

“I know baby, I know. Not yet though.” He assured me. “I just need a little taste first.”

He grabbed the waistband of my shorts and my underwear and slowly pulled them down, never stopping his trail of kisses that now led down my leg.

“So beautiful.” He whispered to himself as he was now eye level with my core. “Spread your legs for me baby.” I do what I'm told. “That's it. Good Girl. Now lay back and let me worship you.”

Dallas wastes absolutely no time diving right in and taking all of me into his mouth. He licks from top to bottom and back again before taking my clit into his mouth and sucking. “So sweet.” He moans into me.

I have to grab the pillow on my bed and cover my face because the scream I almost let out would have surely woken up the entire neighborhood. Dallas’s name on the tip of my tongue. The name about to escape with every moan that shoots through me, which would not only let the town know I was in the middle of the most erotic moment of my life, but also it was Dallas Winston that was buried between my legs.

I feel one of Dallas’s hands remove from my thigh and I look down to see what he was doing. I look down to see Dallas’s mouth still attached to my clit, but his eyes boring into mine with the most seductive look I have ever seen in my life. Without ever looking away from me, Dallas removes his mouth, now just an inch away from me, and takes a little gold foil packet out of his pocket and takes it straight to his mouth. He rips the foil open with his teeth and slides the condom out.

He stands up. His 6 foot 2, god-like stance, looming over me, made me feel so small and helpless on my bed. God, I wish I could be a fly on the wall right now, wanting to see what I might look like. My shirt pushed up, shorts and underwear thrown about the room somewhere, My hair probably a mess, and tears staining my face as Dallas Winston stands over me, slowly unbuckling his belt.

He smirks down at me and he pulls his pants and boxers down, revealing his erection and my god it was big. I honestly didn't know if it was gonna fit inside of me. Right on cue, as if he could read my mind, Dallas says, “Don't be scared darling, you can handle it.”

He goes to put on the condom, but I sit up quickly, grabbing his hand, stopping him. “Can I do it?” I ask him. He looks down at me with hooded eyes and a smirk that could kill.

“Fuck yeah you can.” he says in a breathy tone as he hands me the condom. I take the condom out of his hand and hesitantly grab his dick. A low grumble comes from his throat as I give it a little pump before rolling on the condom.

The second it's on, he pushes me on my back, and comes down on top of me. He starts to position himself at my entrance and looks me in the eyes. “Baby, as much as I want this to last forever, I'm not gonna last very long.” He leans in kissing me hard and chuckles against my lips and I smile at his words. Yeah, me neither.

I take a deep breath and he thrusts inside of me. I clasp my arms around his neck and hug him as close to me as possible. He is big and it hurts so good. I bite into his shoulder again trying to distract myself from the pain, but also from the fact that my orgasm is seconds away and he just got inside of me.

He whimpers in my ear as I kiss his neck profusely. He finds a steady pace that has me borderline drooling. “God Dallas, don't stop. It feels so good.” I barely get out because I can barely catch my breath. I shoot one of my hands out and feel something sharp hit my finger. I look down to see Dallas’s knife still sitting next to us on the bed. It must have nicked my finger. Before I can register what's happened, Dallas takes my bloodied finger and sucks it into his mouth while holding my gaze. His eyes were hooded, and looking drunk off sex.

“Come for me baby. Come on. I know you're there. Show me how good I make you feel.” He begs me. Between his words, and my finger in his mouth, I'm there in a second. Burying my face into his neck, my orgasm rips through me harder than it ever has before. My nails digging into his bicep and a drip of sweat going down my forehead. Dallas still thrusts into me hard and fast for a moment more before he takes my lips into his and I feel his dick twitch as he spills into the condom.

He lays on top of me, breathing heavily in my ear for what feels like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. He slowly removed himself from me, then pushed up so he was hovering over me again. He smiled down at me as I grabbed his face with my hands, pulling him down to kiss me. His kiss was so gentle, the word love flew through my head, but it was only a fraction of a thought.

I brushed my finger over his cheek bone, before noticing my finger was still bleeding. I brought it to my face, inspecting the cut. It wasn't deep at all. Just a knick. Dallas took my finger to his lips and planted a soft kiss to the cut. Adab of blood coating his lip, only for a second before he licked it off.

“What time are you free tomorrow?” He asks as he nuzzles his face into my neck, no doubt leaving more hickeys.

“Maybe around 7?” I told him. “I just have to go break up with Jack, and then I'm all yours.” I giggled lightly. He came back up and looked at me with the most serious expression I saw all night.

“All mine.” He smiled.

***hope you enjoyed!!!!!!!!! DALLAS WINSTON I LOVE YOU***

[je-lurk]

I'd love it if you elaborated on how Agatha's hair reflects her state of mind! I'm obsessed with that kind of character analysis and I have a vague idea how I think they're connected but I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you want to of course. : )

Hi! It took me a hot second, but since I hadn’t finished yesterday I thought I could add ep 4. Here are my ideas, hairstyle by hairstyle.

The beginning of the reflection comes from the idea that loose hair in ancient Rome or Greece represented madness (can’t actually find sources on this so take the historical accuracy with a grain of salt) and, in a lesser extent, grief.

In episode 1, we see mostly Detective Agnes. Detective Agnes wears her hair in a low, untidy ponytail. This is the easiest way to gather one’s hair to free up the face. It’s not even done properly. Obviously this echoes how this Agnes is neglecting herself, mostly through self-destructive behaviors. Still, her hair is collected, as is her mind. The situation makes sense for her.

Until it doesn’t, and Agatha frees herself of the past iterations of Agnes. It might be worth to note that all of these have at least stylized hairstyles. This is, to me, Wanda’s influence: the Agneses (as well as every other character in Westview) were not allowed to lose their mind. Detective Agnes, bearing alone the full brunt of Wanda’s power, even less.

Once rid of all her layers, Agatha is naked (rebirth) and her hair is loose (madness).

"Madness" in this case as in disorientation. Agatha’s brain is barely catching up with what’s happened and needs answers. She’s constantly off balance, mostly emotionally.

She spends most of episode 2 with loose braids, done on the fly but still slightly researched. She’s scrambling for control: control of her appearance, control of others, control of her mind.

With Lilia she actively changes her appearance, gathering her braids in a somewhat tight bun, secured with a stick. She attempts to look both different and more pulled together than she really is. This, as we all know, did not work.

Then she ends the episode with a classic updo, with hair piled on her head and framed with two strands, obviously elaborate. The very little time she had she used to prepare herself, both physically and mentally. Every last hair is secured (except for the two strands, we’re aiming for class, mystique and confidence, not stuck-up-bitch-efficiency) and every thought is in place. The plan is made. And the strands can act as a curtain. She’s never really without those hair that can get in her face (except when under Wanda’s control because she doesn’t have the wherewithal to do anything, much less hide and scheme).

Episode 3 sees Agatha with the same updo, although it changes once they enter the first trial.

Her hair is — I struggle to find another word for it — schooled. It is still "loose", but the kind of loose that is held together by cans of hairspray, with studied waves. Girl is holding together with dreams and a prayer. She looks like she is holding together at least. There is still this idea of vulnerability. She’ll be more understanding, more in touch with the others. Less good at deception. More vulnerable, more protective, towards her son (whose loss is, if not still raw, rawer because of Wanda), towards Teen. The front bang, if we can call it like that, is always between the ear and the eye. Again, a curtain. Curtain that she completely pushes back during her hallucination.

It is interesting to me how the hallucination only happens as she is plucking a hair. With all the hairspray it’s staying mid-air. This, with the hair carelessly pushed back, is the more disheveled we’ve seen her in this episode (yet). This is also the most open, emotional and raw we see her in the episode. Even when Teen said he would drink the wine in her stead was she more reserved.

She ends the episode in the updo of the beginning, though 3/4 ruined by the water (lot of stress in the preceding sequence, plan barely holding on). And then Sharon dies. There is something to the ruination of the most elegant and researched updo she did by herself. It recalls again the themes of mental vulnerability, loss of footing, loss of confidence, etc.

There is a little time between the end of episode 3 and the beginning of episode 4. They all dried, and Agatha took her hair down (it’s less ridiculous like this. It’s a conscious choice of appearance, too, she could have easily put her hair up with literally anything). I think it’s because she has really registered Sharon’s death (I’m calling bluff, though. First, because I love her, and second, because she looks too dead for having been dead this short). Even if she doesn’t want to show it, she cares about her and about her death. If she didn’t, she would have no issue assuming the responsibility. It’s not the first time she’s killed. But she shifts the blame elsewhere.

Then there’s Rio, and Agatha is feeling too much at the same time.

Second trial, loose hair, secured with a headband. I love how, as soon as Rio is involved, Agatha always has a loose component to her hairstyle (not counting episode 1 because she was Agnes). In this trial, Agatha is (mostly, we don’t forget Exposition Boy in this house, but hey, that’s what the loose part is for) pulled together: she plots, takes swings, and leadership, and support Alice. They finish the trial so much quicker and with minimal loss.

They get out, where Agatha immediately gets back her loose hair "style" and her emotions. She doesn’t even care to look too attached to Teen. She cries. I believe we’ve only seen her cry once before, in the hallucination. She gets careless, opens herself too much, begins to believe again (in Teen, in Rio) and only gets back a punch in the jaw ("What really happened to your son?") and in the plexus ("That boy isn’t yours". Come on Rio, she knows she’s entertaining delusions, leave her alone).

Tl;dr: It all boils down to hairstyle = control

Loose hair could represent a loss of control over her mental and emotional states, over others, and over her environment.

Styled hair/hair done could show her confidence (and/or the confidence she wants people to think she has), mental acuity, and general capability to think, plan, and plot (whether for her own benefit or that of her coven). In other words, her ability to control the situation.

[zyrafowe-sny]

forgotten words

a sequence of four 100 word drabbles inspired by various @goldenheart-week prompts

Ambrosius woke to pain. It felt like every single bone in his body had been broken. (Perhaps they had.)

His memories were goop, but one slowly solidified.

He'd been in a fight.

With a monster.

Who was also Ballister's sidekick.

"Ballister…" His voice creaked with disuse, and he had no way of knowing if anyone was there to hear him.

Apparently, someone was. An unfamiliar voice answered. "Sir Goldenloin! You're awake! We'll send someone to fetch Lord Blackheart soon."

If Ballister was fetchable, he must have survived too.

Good.

Ambrosius was pretty sure he was supposed to tell him something.

***

Ambrosius' eyelids felt absurdly heavy. One of them simply did not want to lift, activating a burning itch whenever he tried.

So, he gave up. Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure he'd like what he saw when if he managed to open them.

"Zee?"

He decided he must be dreaming. No one had called him that in years. But, just in case, he grunted.

Someone took his hand and began ever-so-gently tracing small circles on it. Perhaps this wasn't a hallucination.

"I was going to be very cross with you if you died."

"You're always cross with me, Ballister."

***

Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive, even with a bum leg and permanent scars.

(Ambrosius wasn't sure about that, but "alive" wasn't the outcome he would've bet on when he went to face Nimona.)

Nurses told him he wasn't actually supposed to be in constant pain, and showed him how to adjust the dosage of his IV meds.

(Ambrosius wasn't sure he deserved the relief.)

And every day, Ballister would show up to bully him through PT.

"Why do you keep coming back?" he finally asked. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I love you."

***

"I love you too." Ambrosius' memory still had more holes than Swiss cheese, but another one filled in. "I…I think I meant to tell you that. Before Nimona..."

Ballister cupped his cheek, and the metal felt cool on his skin. "I know. Or, at least, I guessed that's what you were going to say."

"You stopped me." Ambrosius tried to read Ballister's expression, but his vision was still unreliable.

"Because we both needed to focus on surviving."

"And now?"

"And now we have all the time in the world to figure out a future where we're not nemeses."

"ARCHnemeses."

cross-posted on AO3

[chainedupgirlsblog]

✎ Commentary of Ep 7 ~ The Loyal Pin (Thai GL-2024) - Part 2

In life I only aspire to be as forward and well-spoken as Pin. Such a classy lady! Very demure, very lady like of her to reject this man for the nth time being this polite and calm! (Could never be me!) I love her so much, it was so nice to hear and read this, and to witness! You tell him queen!

Anil might be a princess but she bag herself a ✨queen 💅🏼✨

Let’s continue with this episode!

THE AUDACITY OF THIS MAN???

Pin was flabbergasted, gagged, confused is an understatement. And so was I.

Exactly! I made that exact same face Prik! The audacity of this man!

No. She will never love you. Leave 👏🏼 her 👏🏼 alone 👏🏼 Don’t even get me started on the starting a family part. Move! Remove yourself from my sight as well!

“Please kindly remove yourself from my sight and never return”

GODDAMN!! That’s the most polite go fuck yourself I’ve ever seen. That must’ve hurt. Serves him right tho! When is he gonna learn???

Wish I could say he finally understood, but from spoilers of furthers episodes and the trailer itself I guess the fuck not. The man is insufferable!

Not Pin complaining to Anil’s most loyal supporter and calling Anil, Prik’s Princess when she’s mad at her little girlfriend for not writing her more letters hahaha

And Prik getting right back at her with that comment of haven’t she won both your heart and your… and Pin panicking right there and then ahaha please they’re so funny.

As a side note I must add Freen’s deep voice (when Pin snap at Prik) still hunts me at nights 🥴

THE LETTERS!!!

I might die alone and single after this! Cuz what do you mean this level of romance doesn’t exist anymore???? The softness, the yearning, the handwritten poetry???

Why is it always “I like you. You’re good” and never “Please accept the caresses of my lips on your left cheek, right cheek and your forehead” Why????

How am I supposed to settle down for less than this Emily Dickinson level of poetry??? 😭😭😭

She’s fighting destiny, deadass throwing fits at morpheus for not allowing her dream about her amorcito. My little Princess is so cute 😭😭

A year has passed already! We’re moving fast!

THE GIFTS!! Love all the precious gift they gave each other, they were so meaningful! You could see they absolutely love them.

We know how much Pin loves collecting small little souvenirs from her princess so I can only imagine how much she appreciates the gifts Anil so thoughtfully gave her. She had them made! The Princess is not joke!

“All I want is for you to return to my arms” Nevermind! She doesn’t want gift she just wants her girl back in her arms!!! 😭😭😭

We have one more year to go, be strong sweeties. We can do it!

Oh, she goes to her room every day. Every. Single. Day! Oh to be loved like that!

Such a beautiful scene, them laying down in the bed facing each other as the intertwine their fingers. It’s all in Pin’s head but it’s just so lovely!

And then that little hugging scene where Anil imagine Pin warming her up with the scarf she made herself for her. Ahhh it’s all just pure love and romance! Love it so much 🫶🏻

Then we have another sequence where Pin tells Anil about her new job as a translator and isn’t it amazing how much they’ve grown?!

We also have another small time jump and we see Pin complaining to Prik again about the lack of letters from Anil. Prik tries to reassure her it’s probably because the princess is too busy finishing school and she’s not far off the truth.

Pin goes on which I guess is her daily walk visit to the Pine Palace and she misses her princess so bad she starts hallucinating her there. (Pin, sweetie 🥺)

But guess what? Pin hallucinated so strong that she actually brought Anil back!

The Princess is right there behind her and I can’t wait to see Pin lose her lady like marbles! Hahaha

.

.

.

.

Another great episode. I love this show so much <3 I’m still catching up (sadly not fast enough) But I’ve watched till ep8, so that commentary should be posted soon. Here’s Part 1

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

ive been watching a lot of Pitch Meetings and playing a lot of Earthbound so um

---

SCREENWRITER GUY: So all the kids are gonna fight with silly weapons instead of normal RPG stuff, like Ness is gonna use a baseball bat and Paula is gonna use a frying pan- PRODUCER GUY: Oh, cute. SG: And Jeff has a gun- PG: Sorry, did you say a gun? SG: A gun, yeah, he has like a little toy air gun. PG: Oh, okay, it's a toy- SG: For a little bit, and then he gets a death ray and a bazooka. PG: The thirteen year old boy gets a bazooka? SG: Yeah, plus Poo has a sword. PG: Okay so like, we're supposed to release this game in America too my guy, we're not gonna be able to have kids wielding guns and swords, you know what America is like about that stuff. SG: I figure we just shove a bunch of other stuff in there for NoA to worry about, so they'll get distracted censoring the rest of the game and let the kids with lethal weapons through. PG: Oh, like what kind of stuff? SG: Drugs! PG: Oh my god. SG: Yeah, just a whole bunch of drug references, like there's a whole level that's a hallucinogenic dream sequence in the back room of a bar, and then another part where Ness eats a "magic tart" and gets a hallucination of a kingdom floating in some pink clouds, then there's two different points where he can have a cup of a nice hot beverage that's definitely spiked with something. PG: Is there any stuff that's not about drugs? SG: Oh yeah, at one point Porky's dad says he's gonna straight up beat his kids, so they're gonna cut that out, and they're gonna have to take the red cross off of all the hospitals- PG: Oh, well that all seems pretty reasonable. SG: Yeah plus they're gonna have to change the sprites to not reference the Klu Klux Klan. PG: Oh my god.

---

SG: So they're gonna have to visit all these different towns to find the spots, they're gonna go to Onett, Twoson, Threed, Fourside- PG: Ohh, I see what you're doing here- SG: Winters, Summers- PG: Oh, I mean it seemed like you were building up a naming convention there and then you just switched to a different one. SG: Tenda Village, Saturn Valley, Dalaam, Scaraba- PG: Ope, I think those last two might be racist. SG: Yeah but it's the 90s, so it doesn't matter if we're a little racist, I mean it's not like this game is still gonna be popular in thirty years when it's not acceptable to be casually racist anymore. PG: That's a good point. Plus you'd have to be a real killjoy to point out the flaws in a thirty-year-old nostalgia property.

---

SG: So then the zombies take them prisoner and keep them in a little room under the graveyard. PG: Wait the zombies take them prisoner? SG: That's right, sir. PG: Well why would zombies do that, why would they not just kill them? SG: Well do you want the game to end here? PG: Of course not, that'd be really unsatisfying. SG: Then I'm gonna need you to get aaaaaaaall the way off my back about the zombie logic, okay? PG: Oh, okay, lemme get off of that thing!

---

SG: So it turns out Ness is like this chosen one guy from a prophecy made by something called the Apple of Enlightenment. PG: Oh the Apple of Enlightment, huh, tell me more about that. SG: No. PG: Oh, dangit.

---

PG: Oh wow, well I imagine it's gonna be difficult for a bunch of thirteen year olds to destroy the ultimate evil power. SG: Actually, it's gonna be super easy. Barely an inconvenience. PG: Oh really? SG: Yeah they're all going to discover the power of prayer. PG: Of prayer? SG: Yeah, Paula loses all hope so she starts praying, she gets down on her knees and starts to pray, because she really just needs faith right now. PG: What is going on? Is she Christian? SG: Maybe! And then because she's psychic, her prayer reaches a bunch of people from earlier in the game, and they all start to pray for the kids to succeed. PG: Oh well that's sweet, hey wait aren't they a bunch of years in the past right now? SG: Well I guess her psychic powers reach through time, sir. PG: Oh, okay. SG: Yeah so everybody's families start to pray for them, Ness's mom hears the prayers and Paula's dad and all the other kids from Jeff's boarding school- PG: Ohh, what about Dr. Andonuts? Does he hear the prayer and start to pray for Jeff? SG: No sir he doesn't, remember he's literally the worst dad. PG: Oh right, somehow I forgot. SG: Yeah so they get everybody's families, they get the Runaway Five, they get that random knife-wielding gang leader that Ness met back in Onett. PG: Aw, what a nice moment. Hey what was that last one?

[adickaboutspoons]

As threatened promised, a rough rundown of Ed’s timeline in s2 based on his make-up/facial wound/neckwear/hairstyle situation in the teaser/trailer/promo pics:

Almost certainly we’ll start the season seeing Ed in his Kraken drag. It looks like we’re going to get a montage of raids, because I’m seeing at least two distinct ships in the background when he’s all Krakened up.

It’s hard to tell, but it looks like he’s not wearing either the cravat OR the pearls at first, but we see the pearls peeking out from his jacket lapel when he’s saying “Fuck you Stede Bonnet” to the little groom dolly, so my money is on his snatching a strand from someone’s throat at the wedding raid. If it’s from the throat of the bride herself, I wil EAT. MY. OWN. HANDS.

Incidentally, we seem to have gone back to fingerless gloves for all the Kraken/pre-reunion shots, rather than the full gloves from the end of season 1, so RIP to the ��full gloves mean he’s cut himself off from human contact/emotion” metaphor (but more on that in a minute).

So if I had to guess, I’d say next we get playing with the dollies and having a good cry about it

Followed by a manic moodswing to babygirl princess cleaning mode with the hair up and the pearls and the gloves, but a little bit of kohl still smudged around the eyes. I think he enlists Frenchie’s help, since they both seem to be carrying around containers full of bottles while he’s sporting this look, and I think it’s the back of Frenchie’s coat we see when Ed starts his “No more” list.

After that, since the lighting is soft and sunset-esque, I’d say we have the helm scene where it looks like babygirl is daydreaming

I’m wondering if the daydream goes wrong, though (maybe he’s cross because he let himself think about Stede again at all. Maybe the daydream goes sour and dashing, swashbuckling, Bearded Stede fights his way through Izzy to Ed only to say “Just in case it wasn’t clear when I left you, I wanted to make sure you knew that I don’t love you and never did.” or something equally gutting) because guess where else we see the babygirl princess updo

(and we know this has to be after the raid montage, because the big ass treasure chest in the background on the right was carried off the ship where Ed shot his gun in the scene where Fang smashes two guys heads together).

So I’m kind of wondering - since Ed was at the helm, did he steer the ship into an oncoming storm on purpose?

So then we FINALLY see the cravat, but he’s also wearing the pearls, so we know this has to be after all the raiding stuffs.

And the only other place we see it in any of the promotional stuff is when he wakes up and head-bonks Stede.

And looking at how banged up he is - blood on his temple, puffy cut on his cheek and lip, that these wounds are pretty fresh. My guess is he sustained them in the storm, and something goes Very Badly, resulting in him either getting swept overboard, or the crew having to abandon ship, and being rescued by the Chinese junk, where the crews will reunite (based on Stede’s costuming during the headbonk scene, and the fact that Frenchie, Archie, and Jim are with the Revenge crew during the crossbow scene, when everyone is dressed in the Chinese ru).

I have toyed with the thought that all the blue-filtered shots are a fever-dream/hallucination while Ed is laying injured, but I’m not 100% sure on that. For one, Ed doesn’t have his coat, his boots, or even his gloves

But he for sure has the pearl necklace, and it looks like maybe his lip is split (though it’s hard to tell if that’s a shadow or not), which are peculiar details to include in a fantasy sequence.

If it is, I’m guessing it ends when Ed ties a rock around his waist and leaps from the cliff - it’s hard to see, but there’s a rock with a rope around it on the ground near the rag man (Hornigold?), and you can see the rope going down into the water when he first hits. You can also see his feet are bare, just like they were in the gunshot scene.

If not? IDK. The pearls and the lack of gloves place it after the reunion. Remember how I said we were going to come back to the gloves-as-a-metaphor-for-emotional-openness-and-connection? Ed DOESN’T WEAR GLOVES AT ALL ANYMORE after the Kraken scenes are done. I can’t tell if he has them on in the headbonk scene, but after he meets back up with Stede, our babygirl’s hands are NAKED and VULNERABLE (and ready to touch his boyfriend. In a world where I get everything I want, after the reunion, they go to the Significant Cave, and Ed leaves Stede and his gloves behind, and Stede shows up at Anne and Mary’s because “You left these (and me) behind,” but Ed doesn’t WANT them (Stede) anymore, can’t he take a HINT? Thank you for indulging in parenthetical fanfic that almost certainly won’t actually happen this way) But the fact that the wounds are so hard to see that they might not even actually be there? Would put it later in the season.

Because boy howdy do they still look fresh when he shows up at Anne and Mary’s.

But everything else must come later, because the wounds looks progressively more healed. When he’s wearing the sackcloth shirt, his lip still has a little mark on it (but significantly smaller than it was at Anne and Mary’s)

But that mark goes away before the one on his cheek does. It’s not there at Spanish Jackie’s or when he’s talking to the bunny, or in the scene when the VO says it feels like there’s a storm coming.

So I’m not really sure where to put those in relation to one another. Vibes alone, I’d say “Storm’s coming” (followed by beach battle, where there also aren’t noticeable facial wounds or gloves, but Ed is clutching his side as though still recovering from cracked ribs or something).

Then bunny talk, since he’s still wearing the same clothes, then Spanish Jackie/the docks where, since he looks so chill and relaxed, the “something new” he’s trying is he and Stede actually retiring from piracy together.

[lassieposting]

I really liked your theories about the prototype and catnip and would like to hear your thoughts about some other stuff if that's okay with you. I'm sorry if it's not organised

who do you think we play as ? at first I thought it was one of the 3 most mentioned characters like Stella or Rich but poppy refers to the player by they (do you think one of those characters uses those pronouns or they used ot to keep the mc a mystery?)

also the most confusing thing by far for me is in the dream sequence we have the gulit hunts you and the radio messages but what do you think "happy and fun why was it done" it's so out of place compared to the others

Also the "get up " radio do you think it's the same as the death messages?

Also why do you think the prototype showed up at the hallucination when we weren't present at the at the hour of joy how did we know about any of this

Also is just me or is ollie after final fight call sound so passive aggressive 😅?

Aaaaaa thank you Nonnie! I'm glad you enjoy my unhinged rambling ❤

So I do actually have thoughts on some of these!

who do you think we play as ? at first I thought it was one of the 3 most mentioned characters like Stella or Rich but poppy refers to the player by they (do you think one of those characters uses those pronouns or they used ot to keep the mc a mystery?)

So like, I don't think we have enough information yet to fully discern who the protagonist is, but based purely on the details we do have so far, I'm tentatively inclined to side with MatPat on this one: I think the most likely candidate at this point is the unnamed Head of Security, owner of the executive slide with the missing name in Chapter 2.

We know that Playtime did take steps to conceal what they were doing from their Average Joe workforce. The instructional posters directly order employees to stay out of the Innovation Wing unless they have authorization. Marcas Brickley's tape indicates that he witnessed PJ Pug-A-Pillar moving around through the gap in the Innovation Wing gate, but he has no idea what the "monster" was, and he's disturbed and distressed by having seen it. The workers in the lobby in the Hour of Joy tape don't seem to have realised that Huggy Wuggy was not a statue. Poppy recalls workers panicking and asking, "What are those things?"

The correspondence between Playtime and the contracted construction company directly states that the secret labs they're building are strictly need-to-know, only to be discussed with those with authorization at Playtime and the building company.

Mommy Long Legs recognises us. Given that the average production-line worker was not aware of her existence, that means we are someone who was high-ranking enough to know about and be directly involved with the Bigger Bodies Initiative.

The Head of Security would absolutely have a good reason to be wracked with guilt. If that's us, keeping the Prototype contained, and the Bigger Bodies creatures compliant and harmless, was our responsibility, and we failed. We knew how dangerous the experiments could be - Huggy Wuggy killed several security staff during his escape attempt, after all, people whose lives were ours to safeguard, people whose families we would have had to break the news to - but we still failed to put sufficient measures in place to prevent a mass uprising (it's implied we as the player character are not fully aware of what happened at the factory, but we know that something went horribly wrong enough for all our coworkers to vanish from the face of the earth). It's entirely fair for us to feel like every single human life lost in the Hour of Joy is on our head.

Rich is an interesting possibility, but while he clearly doesn't like working for Playtime and suspects something is Off about the place - he brings up that the workers aren't allowed to talk to the orphans, and that the orphans are deprived of sunlight in the underground Playcare - he doesn't seem to be actively complicit in Playtime's atrocities. He's a regular day-job worker, not a high-ranking exec, and I don't think he has any clue just how evil his workplace really is. My suspicion is that Rich's audios exist to make a point to the player that good people also worked at Playtime, who didn't know about the Bigger Bodies initiative, and who were slaughtered regardless during the Hour of Joy. Rich exists to provide a face (or, at least, a voice) to the people who were killed who didn't deserve it.

also the most confusing thing by far for me is in the dream sequence we have the gulit hunts you and the radio messages but what do you think "happy and fun why was it done" it's so out of place compared to the others

So personally, I'm inclined to think that this is possibly CatNap, now a young adult, trying to rationalise what the Hour of Joy was meant to achieve versus what it did achieve. Because in the end, it didn't actually do shit. The experiments are still trapped in the factory. Cruelty is still ongoing, only now it's toys hunting toys rather than humans experimenting on children. CatNap is old enough to remember the glee and relief and catharsis brought on by the Hour of Joy, by being free, by being safe, by being reassured by the Prototype that it was all over. And then the gradual, sinking realisation that they're all trapped, every one of them, with a dwindling food supply and no hope of ever going back to their former lives. I think he's asking himself what the point was, when it didn't actually achieve anything long-term.

Also the "get up " radio do you think it's the same as the death messages?

Short answer: Possibly.

That's not Prototype's voice. We've heard him talk in his tape and in Project Playtime - he has a very deep, almost demonic growly voice. Honestly, the get up almost sounds more like Harley Sawyer, the doctor. But we also know Prototype is a vocal mimic, so that very well could be him talking to us, using one of his many imitable voices.

Since the hallucination is guided by CatNap, and CatNap has had a telepathic connection with Prototype, I actually have a few theories on what this could be.

It is Harley Sawyer. We know he essentially tortured the experiments post-transformation, Prototype in particular. This could be a memory CatNap has seen in Prototype's mind of one of those sessions - making a point to the player that the experiments were subjected to horrific abuse and an uprising was their only option.

It's us. Again, if we're the Head of Security, that could be us snapping at an experiment, suggesting we were somewhat callous and not particularly invested in their welfare. Which would make Prototype's Get Up death screens a deliberate mockery - turning our own words back on us.

It's Prototype, same as the death screens, and he's just using someone else's voice. You may have read my theory that Prototype was military, and if this is him, that comes through here; he's a stubborn, hard-headed determinator who has very little patience for us failing to make ourselves useful. He needs us. Get up. We can die later.

As a side note on this section, the "DON'T MOVE. DON'T MOVE AN INCH." voice? I have a fond headcanon that that's us. That's our voice. That's CatNap's - Theo's - final memory before he completely lost consciousness when he was electrocuted: it's us and our security staff cornering Prototype at gunpoint when he brought Theo back for medical attention. That's the moment he was recaptured - Theo's last memory of being human.

Also why do you think the prototype showed up at the hallucination when we weren't present at the at the hour of joy how did we know about any of this

Because it's a hallucination. We're not seeing what actually happened. We're seeing a representation of the protagonist's mind making sense of everything they've learned.

If we are the Head of Security, we know about the Prototype. Keeping his ass contained and making sure he couldn't hurt anyone would've been our primary job. Because we're a human and part of Playtime's executive board, we would have seen him as an evil monster who's violent for no reason, and we would have been given access to the shrink's reports on him - we'd know he's fiercely intelligent, we'd know he's stealthy, we'd know anything that would be relevant to us keeping the facility workers safe. But I think the protagonist underestimated him - a wholesale rebellion prompted by his mind control ability never crossed our mind. And here, I think the protagonist is realising for the very first time just how intelligent he is, just how much influence he has, and that he masterminded the toys' rebellion. We're realising it all comes back to the Prototype. And we're setting that knowledge in the wider context we now have of just how torturous the experiments' treatment and situations were while Playtime was functional.

However, it could also be to do with CatNap, since he's the one guiding the hallucination - Prototype's hand reaches down from on high to smite us, in line with CatNap's religious zeal. It could be CatNap trying to scare us off by showing us the Hour of Joy in a glorious light; his hero saving all the experiments. Fear him, lest ye be smoten, and all that.

Also is just me or is ollie after final fight call sound so passive aggressive 😅?

There is definitely a Vibe about that interaction, a distinct tone that he doesn't have the rest of the time. I'm undecided how I'd read that tone - on one hand, it sounds almost resigned, as though we've made our choice as to whose side we're on and the Prototype considers this us deciding we're his enemy, but on the other...that doesn't match up with my suspicions about his ultimate goal.

It could, of course, also be resigned as in grief. One tired old soldier to another tired old soldier: he knows we didn't really have any other choice than to try to kill CatNap, since CatNap was determined to kill us, and he had no choice but to follow through because all the doctors who could have tended to CatNap are dead, but he's hurting and angry and bitter about it all the same.

Anyway I hope you enjoy these ideas!

[ginnymoonbeam]

I've been enjoying reading theories and analyses of The Eighth Sense ep 6 from lots of different perspectives. Personally I don't believe the episode was a hallucination/dream/anything unreal, because that is not the level of storytelling this show has taught me to expect.

I mean that in multiple senses. First that this show does a lot of playing with perception and time, but not wholesale invented realities (unlike, say, The Eclipse - which, to give that fakeout scene its grudging due, had already shown some full-on character imagination spots). The soft filters and collapsing sense of time feel to me like a very evocative representation of Jaewon's state of mind, not an indicator that what we see isn't really happening.

Second, making the entire episode unreal would be bad storytelling, and thus far this show has been very very good and deliberate in its narrative choices. There were so many good, interesting conversations and character moments, there was so much of Jihyun's perspective, their intimacy progressed quickly but believably given everything that's come before. I don't believe this writing team would take the audience through all that and then ask us to reset our sense of where the relationship is. I think better of them than that.

Back to the thing about Jihyun's perspective - most of the early half of the episode is in his pov, as he watches Jaewon and tries to figure out what's going on with him and how to help him. As he finds himself sitting in the sand and sleeping in the cold and wondering a little bit how he ended up here. If this show were going to do an unreality sequence, I'd expect it to be solidly rooted in the perspective of the person imagining it. It's been nothing but careful and precise so far in its character and perspective work, I don't see that suddenly changing.

(Also, for different storytelling reasons, I think Jihyun is alive. I think we're headed for a lot of complications from Jaewon's guilt and trauma, all of which have more fruitful story potential if Jihyun survives.)

[shuublebunny]

Reunion

Hey gang, I wrote a quick little drabble of how I personally think Aphmau would have reacted to seeing Garroth again during the first dream sequence. I could never understand how she wasn't angry with him and just went "omg shawty I missed you <3"

Enjoy!

♪ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

Tired. That seemed to sum it up pretty well--only it didn't--Aphmau was beyond tired, she was exhausted. Fifteen minutes, no, fifteen years she spent battling that damned priest and his brother. That stupid, horrible brother in whom she had put so much trust, toward whom she felt such deep affection.

That same, wretched brother who stood before her now. No, that's impossible. Of course, she had experienced a good few things that should have been impossible recently, and she supposed this shouldn't be too much of a shock. She could be hallucinating, for all she knows; after all, she hadn't been able to sleep in days, and this environment certainly didn't resemble anything short of some twisted dreamscape.

Whatever the reason for this vile man before her, she couldn't help how she burned with rage at the sight of him (of course, she hoped to suppress the slight, cool wave of relief that soothed the scorching fire of contempt that coursed through her veins--he was safe). She stood there, glowering at him from a decent distance of a few paces opposite from him under the cascading branches of the wisteria they were situated beneath, and he stared back, his gaze soft, warm, and full of admiration as he shifted slightly in an attempt to conceal his anticipation.

"My lady? Is that really-" "Don't," she cut him off, her tone icy enough to crystallize the knight's blood in his veins, "speak as though you are so pleased to see me."

Her interruption was met with a moment of palpable silence from the traitor, who looked like a kicked puppy. After a while, though, he bravely (stupidly) spoke again. "But I am. My lady, I am so glad to see that you're safe."

"Are you, now?" This was a very different Aphmau from the one Garroth saw as he regathered enough of himself to fend off his brother; that Aphmau was confused, afraid, and teary-eyed at the thought of leaving him behind. This Aphmau was cold, distant, and livid, yet somehow as radiant as ever. "Because you didn't seem too concerned with my safety--or anyone else's for that matter--when you sided with Zane."

He could have hissed at the sting of her words, true as they were. "I know. It was wrong of me to act in such a disgraceful manner." She stared at him, unimpressed, through half-lidded eyes and a quirk of her brow, but she let him continue. "What I did was horrible, and I cannot apologize enough. But you must understand that Zane took advantage of my love for you and used it to control me. He turned me into something I'm not." Aphmau's barely-maintained composure snapped at the ridiculousness of his excuse. "Your love for me?" she spat, venom dripping from her tone. "What you did wasn't love. You were upset that I held affection for another man that wasn't you. It was an act of possession."

"You think I'm possessive? You led me on," he retorted through gritted teeth. "I did nothing of the sort." "You kissed him!"

Aphmau nearly doubled over in laughter at the incredulousness of his accusation. "I beg your pardon? I have done nothing of the sort." Garroth's pulse pounded so harshly at her denial that he could hear it. "Don't deny it, I saw you. You led me on and then you kissed him!"

"I can't lead either of you on when I'm not actively pursuing either of you," she retorted with a wry, humorless chuckle. "I never chose to be pursued by either of you, and if you perceive me being friendly as an attempt at courtship, that is your own damn fault." Garroth opened his mouth to defend his wounded ego, but his lady continued, "And even if I did, you have no right to claim me if we never explicitly determined what we are outside a lord and her guard. You didn't just betray me, but all of Phoenix Drop! Do you even know what's become of our home?"

That seemed to shut Garroth up for a while, and Aphmau could feel her chest swell slightly with a cold, sick sense of pride. She didn't really feel much better. Her guard, who looked thoroughly shaken at the realization, finally choked out a hushed plea. "What happened?"

The lady felt everything she had experienced come rushing back to her, images of decrepit, overgrown homes and her now adult children flashing behind her eyes in rapid speed. "'What happened?'" she seethed, "Well, for every minute spent in Irene's Domain, one year passed in the overworld. So you can imagine my dread when I returned to my village abandoned, in shambles, with everyone gone." Garroth could feel his head begin to spin as his lady continued, "the only one left in the village was Dante. Did you know that he spent every day, for the past fifteen years, going to that same spot where we all disappeared in hopes that we would come back? That he stayed in the remains of Phoenix Drop as people slowly started leaving because there was no hope for a lordless village? How he's now an adult in his thirties, with a wife and two children?"

She felt her eyes start to burn with tears that she refused to shed in front of him. "Yip is all grown up now, and Donna and Logan have kids of their own now, as well. And Laurance came home to find Ungrth's grave was robbed. You should have seen how distraught he was." Her chest heaved as her rage caught up to her. "And Dante looks so tired. Nothing can seem to bring back that spark in his eyes. Cadenza has fully taken over Metelli as their lord, and Nicole is the lord of Scaleswind. They're both incredible." The tears continued to burn, and her chest continued to tighten. "And Zoey gave up her immortality to bring us back. She could still live forever if you weren't so stupid," she spat. "And the worst part? My sons are all grown up. Malachi looks to be my age now, and Levin has been lord of what remains of our home for the past year. Levin didn't even recognize me--he couldn't even look at me without glowering at me. He tried not to show it, but he resents me, and I can't even blame him. He took on lordship at sixteen! And he feels that he has to live up to the standards of a woman he didn't even know, a woman who abandoned him!" Her last statement came in choked sobs, the tears finally daring to burst forth and roll down her cheek in fat, hot streams.

Garroth, who could only stand bewildered and ashamed for all of Aphmau's evisceration of his character, buried his pride and did the only thing he knew to do; he pulled her into his arms, as if to shield her, whispering a plethora of 'I'm sorrys' and sweet nothings until her ragged sobs and labored breathing calmed down. The tidal wave of emotions had finally crashed, and Aphmau couldn't find it in herself to push away. After everything that had happened, it was nice to be comforted, to be seen. This was her guard, her Garroth. The one who was always there, who never faltered, unless he dealt with wounded pride--

She ripped herself out of his arms with a newfound fury, flames dancing wrathfully behind her amber eyes as she scowled up at him. "You took away everything! You stripped Phoenix Drop of their lord--and by extension, their validity as a village, robbed Dante of his youth, and robbed me of my sons' childhoods! I will never get to watch them grow up. I missed so many of their firsts, their joys, failed to comfort them in times of grief…everything! You robbed me of my motherhood." Her vision blurred, and she could see red. Her senses only seemed to do her any good when Garroth reached for her, and in a moment of clarity, she swiftly slapped his hand away. "I swear to Irene, Garroth Ro'Meave, I will find a way to bring you back to our realm and you will help reverse all the damage you've done."

"…Of course, my lady."

[zahri-melitor]

Dark Nights: Metal

Well that was certainly an event.

I think the reasons to read this come under a handful of categories:-

Do you care about Barbat(h)os lore?

Do the words ‘Dark Multiverse’ sound like something you care about finding out more about?

Are you an event tragic and want to be set up to read storylines and events spiraling out of this?

Are you the sort of Batman fan who wants to see him curbstomp with everyone else’s powers?

If your answers are no, congratulations, skip this event, it’s a fever dream.

If your interest is piqued: look the best way to describe this uh thing is that a multiverse evil Justice League of Bruce Waynes comes to harass Earth-0.

Yeah. You’ve got:

Red Death (Bruce Wayne who absorbed the Speed Force from Barry)

Murder Machine (Bruce Wayne bonded with an AI of Alfred that’s infected Cyborg)

Dawnbreaker (Bruce Wayne who got a Green Lantern ring immediately after his parents were murdered and had so much willpower he could override the ring into letting him do murder)

Drowned (our gender-swapped Bryce Wayne who performed surgery on himself to turn amphibious to defeat Atlantis after they tried conquering the land)

Merciless (Bruce Wayne who was in love with Diana but ended up possessed by Ares’s helmet after her death)

Devastator (Bruce Wayne infects himself with the Doomsday virus)

The Batman Who Laughs (yeah you all know this one, is the Bruce & Joker combo)

It’s also a ‘collect the tv & movie references’ event, with specific visual references to things like: Star Trek Wrath of Khan; Mad Max Fury Road; Game of Thrones; etc.

It is also, I guess, stuffed full of in-joke references back to earlier events and storylines, both pre and post Flashpoint. Bart Allen gets name-checked. There's an Arthur's hook hand joke that lands quite well. There’s a comment on the street about turning Gotham into a No Man’s Land. Batman: Lost is just ‘how well do you recognise a bunch of classic Batman tales’. And so on.

Interestingly, the two titles that I enjoyed the most (in terms of both references and how their story was constructed) were Batman: Lost #1 (a Snyder-Williamson-Tynion combo book) and Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs #1 (Tynion, with Rossmo on art).

I know. I KNOW. But the Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs title, despite having literally everything working against it, had the most coherent storyline for how Bruce got corrupted, it was the only title that focused on the fact people would care, and as tends to be the case, it had Rossmo assigned for the art to do some really interesting things. Tynion can tell a good story and actually cared about the stakes of it.

While Batman: Lost #1 is far more understandable as a great event one-shot. It has Bruce hallucinating his future, being in his 70s at home in the Manor with a crowd of grandchildren running around (one has Gordon red hair! Another is called Janet!) and he's telling stories of his past battles to Janet. There's a library wall where the books are all his 'adventures' and of course they're all labelled with the names of various famous Batman stories (and it's fun to look through them and pick out the priorities) and as Bruce tells Janet the story she requested, how it went keeps shifting and other storylines are interposed (and also have oddities in them). It's a title that rewards knowing the original stories Bruce tries to tell. Dominique talks directly to the camera explaining how things will proceed in the Dark Night, Dark City scenes.

Finally there's actually a really lovely intro sequence to Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1 if you're a Bobo fan, which includes Rex, the Wonder Dog. I really loved that bit.

Either way, this was one of those events with characters stuffed into every possible panel for Meaningful Reasons and a load of nonsense (I'm not even going to bother understanding some of this, but I got the impression there was a whole pack of 'where has this character been' retcons put in place).

It's a very, very, very, very Bruce Wayne obsessed event. And while there was certainly good material to enjoy in it if you like playing spotto with previous events, the entire metal lore was just ultimately painful to read.

[candysharkart]

hi would u be willing to talk more ab ur belcher hcs that theyre all schizoaffective? :]

i can defs try! i cant promise i have really anything "smart" or insightful to say, cuz my husband and i just kinda draw from our own experiences :o

(if u are reading this and dont know what schizoaffective disorder is, im writing this w/ the definition of "a combination of schizophrenic symptoms and mood disorder symptoms like major depressive and bipolar disorder")

bob has felt the most schiz to us from the start, he's got his voices, which feel way more like he's acting as a mouthpiece for the objects he's talking to, rather than him just doing a bit. he knows its not "real" but also. it is to him. (i think hes also had some? hallucinations? but most are drug or stress induced and he also has a lot of cartoon dream sequences so...?) he struggles with paranoia and anxiety, and he's had pretty manic and depressive episodes in the show. i think he tries his best to stay grounded and self-aware with his delusions. he's very skeptical, and gets really irritated by misinformation. (probs also an affect of his autism tbh)

we also have a hc that he's more irritable and negative in the early seasons bc he's on meds that arent a good fit for him. (we dont really have meds hcs other than that. they might not be able to afford them)

linda's symptoms arent as obvious beyond her delusions like the raccoons and the cemetery stuff, but i think she's taught herself to suppress her issues so she could better support gayle who had more disruptive ones. her parents seem like the "stop being mentally ill its annoying" types. she has her own instances of paranoia and anxiety, but she mostly tries to smother and ignore anything negative she feels. VERY manic and impulsive tho. i think she also has some hallucinations in show but im drawing blanks on specifics.....

i would personally say tina is pretty depressive, but she's good at trying to cope in (mostly) healthy ways. her family is a good support system for her! she does have the most instances of visual hallucinations that arent cartoon bits (she seems to have them a lot when shes feeling guilty...) her anxiety and paranoia reminds me a lot of bob but also of gayle. they have similar outburts

gene has the least examples that i can think of.... i think he considers ken to be pretend and is just joking about him being real bc it annoys bob (compared to tina who thinks her horse Jericho is maybe...a little real) but i think he has some other hallucinations tht arent like that. hes surprisingly anti-social! he definitely often views himself as superior to the kids he knows. gets that from his dad lol. and his mania and impulsiveness are very much like linda :) he doesnt have depressive episodes as much as the others, but they hit him really hard :(

and louise! shes paranoid and has lots of aggression issues! to me she is also very depressed. (the puppet ep is esp relatable to me lol........) and she's VERY manic in the ambergris ep! i think she also has a couple instances of voices similar to bob's? but its kinda hard to tell the difference when shes still a kid who plays pretend with her toys. her talking to the taffy dummy feels more like what bob does tho.

i hope? thats the kind of hcs you were talking about? ive been trying to think of the right words for like 3 hours now. im very bad with words and so much of this stuff can also be attributed to other brain stuff, and one person can have a lot going on in one brain! so i hope i dont upset anyone with this post. thank u for ur time :)

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI 5.08 “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” review

Okay, we all called it but still, I did very much enjoy dressed up Miggy being all adorable on their date. Until of course, it all went horribly terrifyingly wrong. Man, those were some freaky hallucinations.

Anyways…

I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts on this episode and I can’t decide if I’m hugely disappointed or extremely thrilled.

So three plots this week, but I think they made that work even though they were very separated from each other and Childs really had no one to talk to. He was/is really growing on me which means it would make sense for them to kill him. Likeable people die… it’s the TV way.

The Miggy/ case-case

As some clever people had guessed the proposal was not real (I mean we knew it wasn’t going to be real but the fan girl in me so wanted it to be!) but just how quickly it was going to go from ‘awww adorable Miggy date’ to ‘Higgy’s worst nightmare’ had me a little shook. But that wasn’t even really the nightmare… oh boy, that was some freaky hallucinations there at the end, well done.

Problem with putting the proposal and Higgy in trouble first thing… well, I’m just waiting for that moment to happen. So everything leading up to it is a little…well for me, I don’t really super focus on it. Or I didn’t today. So yeah, the Miggy + case was a little bit of a blur to me. I did enjoy our babies having their first fight, brought on by Magnum’s terrible password etiquette and looming death. Very fitting for our duo.

(Also, Higgy, 64 symbol passwords? What are you trying to protect? The lumminati deepest darkest secrets?)

Higgy doing her American accent always amuses me, but I did like southern belle from season 4 better, that was hilarious! A patient figuring it out and Higgy actually telling her because even if the patient told…who’d have believed her?

Magnum just knowing Higgy was in trouble there at the end did annoy me a little. Like come on, surely there must have been a better way? Also him rushing up the stairs - like boy? where are you going? Higgy’s find my phone was offline! Making for good last second rescue drama, sure, but still, not sure it made 100% sense.

It did get us both this

and this

so can’t complain.

Also can we talk about how it’s Higgy having the proposal dream? I half expected, even as I knew it was her dream, for it to be drugged Magnum having the dream. Our girl sure has come a long way :-)

Even if the more horrible bits of that scene, with the two Higgy’s and the padded room/corridor - was my favourite.

Also heartbreaking with the whole “whose blood is that”. In fact that whole drugged Higgy sequence was freaky as shit. I will be having nightmares of American accented Perdie going ‘whose blood is that?’, (and Higgy will be having those nightmares too in the fan fic my muse really wants to write -let’s hope muse-me sticks around when I’m starting at the blank pages of my google docs later…)

Did enjoy bad ass bitch Higgy being all “do you think you’re the first person to drug and interrogate me, you’re an amateur”. Like, part of me really would love to know just all Higgy’s crazy spy adventures.

Anyways, did love most of it and it does fit with nervous Higgy which we have been getting lately, so bonus points for continuity but… still IDK, maybe the clickbait proposal thing but something throws me a little?

I’d have had them hiking at pillbox and being all normal cute and not proposal cute, that would have made for more of a gut punch when Magnum was suddenly coughing up blood. Maybe? Because we wouldn’t have gone ‘oh dream/hallucination’ right away.

Also why did Higgy get banged on the head there at the start and then her wound just disappeared? Did they decide to add that in once filming was done to give her a moment with the creepy nurse or something? At least they could have given her a bandaid? IDK, just random intrusive thoughts made me super annoyed by this.

Childs getting himself killed(?)

So not confirmed dead, but since we seem to be getting a very dramatic mid-season finale next week (which already started this week to be honest!) I’m a little worried about Childs’ survival odds.

Especially since he was almost nice and did claim our faves as his friends. Plus got a cute talk/moments with his GF. That feels like nails in his coffin. But I had just begun to like him so let’s hope.

Gordy and baby-Gordy

The father-son ‘adventure’ to the mainland was maybe my favourite bit. Mostly because of this moment.

This moment really got to me. Because like this is the feeling. The feeling when something happens, and even though bad guy is thrown out/sent to jail, the host lady is all nice and apologetic and stuff, the bad unfair thing still happened. And it will keep on happening. And how do you fucking deal or talk about that.

I feel like this is one of the most relatable things for anyone who has ever been a minority one way or another, as a woman, different ethnicity, religion or social class.

Very much liked that Gordy did find some words to talk about it and found a way to sort of help reclaim the situation at the end. But still. Something weirdly emotional and relatable and important about that just eating in silent scene (for me at least.)

Other than Higgy’s freaky hallucinations and the Miggy feels at the end, Gordon and Dennis’ scenes were the best.

Next week

My goodness, not one second of downtime for anyone on this show, ever. Even before the episode we already have.

TC beeing shot.

Childs has been maybe blown up.

In the promo we see Higgy doing some seriously impressive flipping over fighting moves (someone make a gif of Higgy kicking ass from the promo, pretty please!) and Rick being chased through the rainforest?

Figuring Shammy saves the day with TC and takes him to Robin’s Nest where we know will be under siege? So TC, Shammy and Magnum & Higgins there and then Rick being hunted on his own?

I’m excited but I’m also not, because frankly I like being the one that causes my faves pain because then I know I can also give them some comfort and happiness later. This just seems like lots of hurt and very little comfort!!!

(At least it seems to not be another slightly disappointing SUV plot line?)

Well, next week can’t come soon enough while at the same time as soon as it does there won’t be any more Magnum until September. Which is a terrible terrible fate and the only good thing about this would be if this made made my muse wake up and I got to finish some of my fics!

[freyalorelei]

Okay. Wow. Where do I start.

(HERE THERE BE SPOILERS:)

THEY MADE MERSTEDE HAPPEN. Now we KNOW that the crew reads fic, because that was pure fanservice. When he materialized and swam up to Ed, I couldn't stop giggling. My husband asked what was so funny, and when I refused to reply, he asked if it was a fan fic thing. Why, yes. Yes, it is.

(Also MerStede is a good look and yes it's camp and cheesy and cringefail or whatever the kids say these days, but honestly I can't blame Ed 'cause yeah, I'd go there. Also congrats to Rhys for living out his cryptid dreams. :D)

Not loving where the Olu/Jim relationship is heading. Seeing Archie intrude on their space was uncomfortable. And I don't like that they made Olu incompetent (he's been a pirate for how long and he doesn't recognize a battle map?). Zheng Yi Sao is amazing, though. "Girl, how are you?" 11/10, chef's kiss, you're doing great sweetie, etc.

I'm shocked that Lucius immediately pivoted to blaming STEDE for his misfortune instead of, you know, THE GUY WHO PUSHED HIM. Everyone seemed a little too on board with pointing fingers at Stede, and no one mentioned Chauncey or the effort Stede went through to fix his mistakes. He even admitted to Lucius to his face that he's aware he's a flawed individual who has hurt many people.

Apparently Stede's vision of their reunion involves a full-bearded Ed, even though the last time they saw one another Ed was clean-shaven. I get that they couldn't make Taika grow a short beard within days, but it's an odd choice for the character. I guess he's remembering Ed as he was when they fell in love? Also I was originally anti-Steard, but that opening scene gave me pause. Damn but that's a good look for Rhys.

Alas, poor Ivan, we hardly knew ye. And for Ed to barely twitch at his death? That's cold, man. They need him to atone HARD for his actions this seasons, because so far he's become very unsympathetic.

Ricky idolizes Stede the same way that Izzy idolized Ed, and it's going to end just as badly for him. Also now I want to try a gin Rick(e)y. Watch this become the new signature fandom drink (with orange juice in place of lime, of course). Lavender-eucalyptus scents will surge in popularity as well.

"You smoke now?" babe he just endured a cavalcade of horrors incomprehensible to the human mind, you're lucky he isn't strung out 24/7. Also smoking was probably considered medicinal.

Speaking of hard drugs, apparently Ed's been snorting rhino horn, which is an aphrodisiac. Is he just giving himself constant blue balls over Stede as self-punishment? No wonder his brain finally was like, fine, if you're not gonna get a therapist I guess I'll just have to make one myself. And Ed repaid this with a Looney Tunes sequence of repeatedly killing his hallucination.

Which leads me to ask...how did he get in that state, anyway? Auntie said that a man had his head bashed in, but the cannonball that Jim dropped would have caved in Ed's face, no takesy-backsies. Izzy's failed suicide attempt I get; 17th century pistols were notoriously unreliable and misfired all the time. You can't just lightly bounce a cannonball off someone's head.

ETA: You know what, I'll accept Ed surviving a cannonball to the face the same way that the show itself shrugs off all the various major character stabbings, hangings, and drownings in an era when the most effective medical care was catgut, laudanum, and hope. If Stede can survive being gut-stabbed AND hanged at the same time, not to mention Izzy getting shot minutes after losing a leg, sure Ed can deflect a fatal head wound. Why not.

Is it me or were there a LOT of suicide attempts, particularly on Ed's part? Like, I get that he's long past spiraled into insanity, but it's unnerving to watch someone repeatedly hold a gun barrel under their chin. I knew a guy (not well) who did kill himself this way, and in front of his kid no less. She was 18 months old and has no memory of it, thank god, but it was horribly traumatic for his wife and older sons, who were in the next room. So yeah. A trigger warning specifically for suicide attempts would have been nice.

They seem to be leaning hard into Buttons's mysticism. Now he can not only talk to birds, but he's being treated as some sort of sea god who can maybe turn into a bird? I hope they don't veer too far into fantasy; I like that it's more grounded with just a hint of theatricality.

Ed puts 'orgasms' as a priority on his list of three reasons to live. Oooooh, they gonna fuck nasty this season.

...they never did explain exactly how Stede got the crew off that island in a dinghy. Did he row them to land one by one? There's no way he piled them all in...the boat wouldn't support their combined weight.

[adrenaline-whump]

AI art, and a couple of thoughts

Awhile back, an artist/author I follow started playing around with digital art assistants.  They made it sound interesting enough that I tried Midjourney...and got a little hooked. (Examples below the cut.)

As a person who’s never had the patience or skill to Do Art, I find it overwhelmingly joyful to just...enter some words, and be given art in return?  It’s most likely not what I pictured, but that often makes it more fun.  I had fun in the beginning putting in abstract concepts, just to see what came back.  Two of my favorites were generated by simply putting in “evil hunger” and “icy rage”. 

Evil Hunger:

Icy Rage:

At that time, Midjourney was...not good at rendering humans. You see, it works by taking all the art it has access to online, attempting to match keywords to prompts, putting that subset of the art in its little AI blender, and spitting out the result. It doesn’t know, for example, that humans typically have two eyes that look in the same direction. Early experiments gave me a lot of figures facing away from the camera in silhouette, which was good because the clearer ones usually came straight from the Uncanny Valley. I got human figures with one leg, and horses with six.

That was Midjourney version 3.  They’ve since come out with a version 4, which is much better at getting the proper number of physical features sorted. It still has a hard time with hands...but that’s a problem for all artists, from what I understand.

As you can read in the Discourse, if you’re so inclined, AI art can be Problematic. Is it stealing? Maybe. It’s a little ludicrous for me to input “icy rage” into a text box and claim the result is “my art.” There are thousands of real artists, living and dead, whose skill the AI is borrowing. That said, can we defend it as creative derivation? Artists (and writers, and most creatives) borrow from each other all the time. We use each others’ work as inspiration and let it drive our own creation. Isn’t that what’s happening here?

The question is, how much of the result is transforming others’ works, and how much is straight up copying? Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell.

For myself, I’ve got two rules. One is, I don’t use artists’ names in my prompts. A lot of people do, but to me, that’s where it crosses the line into plagiarism.  The other is...well, I’ll illustrate with something it gave me awhile back:

I asked it for a “fire opal talisman” and it gave me this set of four. Look at the one in the lower right corner. It looks like the AI has picked up a signature from whatever art it was using as a reference. That makes me profoundly uncomfortable. So my second rule is, no matter how much I like a result, anything with a ghost signature/watermark is out.

Now, this is a whump blog, so of course I was curious about how it might do for that. The answer is...meh? Even though the current version is better at rendering people, it’s still not great. Many human figures end up looking cartoony. Also, Midjourney has a list of words that cannot be used as prompts, in order to prevent misuse. That’s definitely a good thing, but it means I can’t use “bruised” for example.

I did get a couple of interesting whumpy results, like when I asked it for a film-noir-ish wounded man in a trenchcoat:

That’s not bad. I could use that as story inspo or illustration. It’s just that ultimately, I find that the more specific the result I want, the more difficult it is to wring that image out of the AI.

And one more thing

Since I’m posting this on Tumblr in November 2022, I’m contractually obligated to add this masterpiece I generated five minutes ago:

(IYKYK and all that. The weirdness of the 3 and 4 are an AI artifact, but it amuses me to think that this might be the start of a dream sequence or hallucination where our MC imagines the clock’s numbers moving and changing.)