#we always credit where we got the symbol from!

[melabea]

where do you get your symbols/icons you use on your flags? Do you make them yourself?

sometimes we make them ourselves, but we usually get them from flaticon or the noun project ^^

[silversodas]

I Think There Are Actual Hints That Vox and Alastor Work Really Well Together or More Like They Have All They Need to Work Together

So we know that Vox and Alastor like to define each other by how their preferred medium is better, but what’s interesting is that’s just how they define each other, Alastor being an old fashioned radio and Vox being a sell out TV, but that’s not what they are, what they are is Audio and Video. We even see when one might have done better with the others help, like Alastor’s commercial that he did for the hotel

His Audio was fine enough, got your attention, but holy shit, the video was awkward at best, it makes you uncomfortable watching it. And it makes it even more awkward when you can tell Alastor is overcompensating with his voice. But what he did know was a little impressive, some people pointed out that he probably did the editing himself. I believe that these out of place skills such as summoning tech and knowing how it works are remnants of Vox. Just like How Vox is always Smiling when he needs to take control of a situation is remnants of Alastor

They probably learned these things from each other. As a matter of fact the way Alastor kept jumping from scene to scene in the commercial was similar to how Vox kept jumping from visual to visual in the beginning of stayed gone, going vary fast to keep attention. Speaking of which

Stayed Gone is an example where Vox is really strong in visuals, buuuuut probably needed a little help audio wise

Alastor knows how to lure you in with what you hear, Vox pulls you in with what you see, and yeah he snatches your attention right away and (like I said earlier) jumps from visual to visual and you can’t help but be transfixed

Buuuuutt that’s Vox’s problem, they are just watching, his audience can’t even grasp what the fuck he is trying to say because Vox is overcompensating with visuals, and it’s how Alastor verbally slaughtered him in stayed gone. Alastor is so charismatic and experienced with capturing an audience with his voice alone that Vox immediately loses his.

Because, just like how Audio can’t do all the work, neither can video, and one can’t overcompensate for the other, they need to flow together

But I have noticed this a while back, what made me think that they probably work really well together, or rather they have all they need to work together, is what @cringefailvox said about the different outfits that characters like Vox and Alastor wear during songs that have symbolism to it

Like how Vox always dresses as roles that are the leader or face of an organization Bishop/TV Chef/Captain. Roles that have power, but are at the whims of many people and need the approval of said people to stay in power

While Alastor is dressed in more subservient roles Nun/Busboy, roles that are essential to run the organization but often go unnoticed, but can pull the rug out from under said organization if they decide to leave. In other words, it might be symbolic that he is a support (until he decides to take it away)

So Vox being the front runner and presenter basically being everything you see (Which is ironic because Vox means The Voice) and Alastor providing support and stability (he honestly doesn’t do to bad with support, stability is up for debate though) is another way they, in theory, could make a good team.

But the team up would work just like audio and video unfortunately, video is not the most important part, but it’s the part that gets the most credit. while audio emphasis and supports video, it’s part goes unnoticed until it’s not there. And Alastor’s ego has an ass so fat it’s aw inspiring that he can fit it through the door, so that may have been ONE of the reasons he said no to joining Vox (not saying it’s the only reason or even main one)

Vox may even see the potential for exactly what their partnership could be and it’s a reason why he took it so personally when Alastor shot him down

And it’s just so interesting that Vox and Alastor act like forces that should be pitted against each other but their capabilities show that they would go together like peanut butter and chocolate (in theory)

[moonastrogirl]

Jyestha nakshatra

Credit @moonastrogirl

This post is in honour of jyestha season and for all Jyestha natives ☂️

Jyestha natives are often misunderstood, also they trigger people easily but do they care ? Not even a single bit. Because at the end of the day this world is cold, it’s a constant battle and it’s everyone for themselves first.

We live in an animalistic world and the spiritual world is even worse. Spirits of people are also hungry. We need to defend ourselves against intruders physically and spiritually who want to feed off our energy or our ressources and that’s what jyestha natives do best. The umbrella, their symbol, protects them from physical and spiritual attacks and intruders. Plus the talisman which gives them this spiritual barrier for their power.

Jyestha is the nakshatra of those who have immense power and a huge spiritual presence. And with great power comes great responsibility. It’s so cliché yet it’s so true for Jyesthas.

That’s why this nakshatra gives better results once the native is grown and quits being childish. Young jyestha natives just play with their power and think they can get away with everything which they absolutely don’t. What they don’t know is karma remembers and karma will be served one way or another and sometimes in the most ridiculous way. It’s a must for them to respect the laws of karma.

Jyestha is the nakshatra where everything coming into the mind can materialise into the physical world. Natives thus have great manifestation abilities. Whether they realise it or not. They do. Every little thing they think or say they will receive it one way or another. It’s like they have a direct communication line with the universe. The power of their words and thoughts is unbelievable. So it’s best if they are careful about what they say or think especially about themselves and the people they love. This quote says it all.

« I got the power of life and death coming out my tongue »- Nicki Minaj (Jyestha sun being her soul planet, atmakaraka)

This power and this presence intimidates people with or without jyestha natives saying a thing. People just don’t know what to do with it sometimes. Jyestha must learn how to let their spirit speaks and fights for them. They don’t need to react all the time. The universe is always working in their favour. Especially jyestha moons. Natives just need to say the least to make the best impact around them. Plus manifest, manifest and manifest again for their highest good.

If this post resonates with you, like, comment or reblog it, it will show me what I do is useful to you and thank you for reading me 💜

Credit @moonastrogirl

[thefallennightmare]

Just Pretend-four

*gif created by me. feel free to use, simply give credit*

Parings: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Warnings/Tropes: language, angst, fluff, smut, star-crossed lovers, right person/wrong time, cheating, talks of mental abuse.

Summary: “I can wait for years, heaven knows I’m not getting over you.” A story about two star-crossed lovers, that always find their way back because their souls are entwined. The universe desperately attempts to bring them together, no matter what the cost.

Authors Note: 7k words in this one with so many easter eggs! Can you find them all?!

Collaborating With: @thescarlettvvitch(better give her all the love as well)

Tags: @thescarlettvvitch @ozwriterchick @waake-meee-up @notingridslurkaccount @niicoleleigh @sammyjoeee @xxrainstorm @dominuslunae @notmaddihealy @malice-ov-mercy @crimson-calligraphyx @iknownothingpeople @writethrough @thebadchic @blackveilomens Claudia on Tumblr @tobe-written @blacksoul-27 @loeytuan98

Malcolm's curses echoed throughout the open space of the venue as he tried to help Chase set up his drums.

"Dude, I'm telling you your doing it wrong!" Chase all but scolded.

"Then do it yourself, man!" Malcolm snapped while letting the symbol drop to the stage.

The loud sound made me jump as I was working on adjusting my microphone stand to my perfect height and with hands on my hips, I narrowed my eyes at the two of them.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Chase ran a hand over his face with an apologetic sigh. "It's been a long night. The drive here was rough on my back so I got little sleep."

"And Trey's been smoking on the bus so my asthma's flaring up," Malcolm said while throwing his long hair up into a bun.

I frowned at my two best friends when the guilt weighed heavy on my shoulders. Yesterday was a long day with the zoo and then half a day of travel for us to get to our next city, most of us were feeling the exhaustion deep in our bones.

"I'm sorry. Let me talk with Trey about the smoking."

Malcolm was quick to assure me it was fine and almost not worth talking to him because we all knew that nothing would come of it.

Biting my lip, I checked the time on my phone to noticed that we had some time before soundcheck.

"Text me your coffee orders, yeah? I'll go grab us some because I think we're going to need it today."

Jumping off the stage, I threw on the hoodie I had tossed before I started setting up while Chase called behind me.

"Ask the Bad Omens guys if they want anything!"

I waved my hand in the air in a way of saying I was already planning on it and made my way to the backstage area of the venue where I knew Bad Omens and crew were hanging out in the green room. They already had their soundcheck earlier and were just hanging out before having to get ready for the show later tonight. Boisterous voices echoed down the long hallway as I stepped through the door with a small smile on my face.

Noah and Nick were leaning back in their chairs while they played a video game on the system and the small television they brought along with them.

I snuck up behind Noah and covered his eyes with my hands which caused him to call out in a shout.

"Oh, fuck you. No fair!" He averted his head below my hands just in time to see Nick beat him in the level of Mario Cart.

Giggles escaped me in a fit as Noah turned in his chair to glare at me while I highfived Nick.

"You cheated."

I shrugged. "I wasn't the one playing."

The corner of his lips turned up in a smile as he extended the controller towards me. "Want to play the loser?"

I tapped my chin while nodding towards Nick. "I'm pretty sure I'd play the winner."

Noah scoffed. "Only because you helped him win."

"My, my," I tsked my tongue while crossing my arms over my chest. "Are we a sore loser, Noah?"

"The fucking worst."

Folio said as he snatched the controller from Noah and started up a new game with Nick. Noah's eyes burned bright as he continued to smile up at me, memories of our day yesterday at the zoo replaying in my mind. How sweet he'd been with buying things for me and the nickname-fuck, it still gave me chills when I remembered how sweet it sounded coming from his lips.

"Well," I cleared my throat while shifting on my feet. "I don't know about you guys but Hollow Souls desperately needs caffeine. Malcolm and Chase are seconds away from clawing each other's throats out. I thought to come to ask if any of you guys wanted."

Most of them nodded, so I told them to text me the order as I turned on my heels to walk out but noticed Noah rise to his feet, tossing on a hoodie.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Did you really think I would let you go by yourself? That's four trays worth of coffee."

"Oh," I hesitated. "You don't have do to that, Noah. I'm sure I can manage."

He ignored me, simply pocketed his wallet and used a claw clip to hold his hair out of his face.

Shit, no man should look that good with a fucking claw clip.

Pushing those thoughts away, I let him lead me out of the room while following close behind. It was a nice afternoon in North Dakota so I planned on walking which Noah didn't seem to mind thankfully. At first, we said little, just letting the comfortable silence fall between us, and as a group of people walked passed me from the opposite direction, I had to walk closer to Noah. Our hands brushed against each other and the same shock that buzzed through me nearly attacked me as I reared my hand away from him apologizing.

"It's alright," Noah smiled, not giving anything away if he felt the spark too.

"So," I finally said after some more silence.

It was killing me. I needed to say something to get a conversation going so I could listen to his voice.

"So," he repeated while dragging out the 'O'.

"I want to say thank you again for yesterday. It's been a long time since I've had a fun day like that," I admitted with a sheepish smile.

Noah looked at me surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. Lately I've been focusing so much on Hollow Souls and trying to elevate us to the next level that I haven't found time for myself to do things I love. Although, I love what I do."

"No, I get what you're saying. Some people think that just because we're always working on our career that we must not have a social life outside of it."

"Yes!" I smacked his chest with excitement. "You get it."

He chuckled as we turned the corner to the new block, the coffee shop slowly coming into view. As I read the very long text message of the coffee ordered, I was thankful that Noah came along.

"You know, we still have to watch our movie," Noah reminded me.

"Shit," I said realizing I forgot. "Yes, we do. We should have a movie night where we each choose a movie or something like that. I mean, we're going to be on the road with each other for a month might as well."

I smiled up at him with a bright smile on that Noah gave right back.

"Yeah, definitely. I think I'd have to choose The Scorpion King, I watched that movie so many times because of Godsmack being on the soundtrack."

I stopped dead in my tracks for a moment making Noah as well. "No fucking way. So did I!"

He gave me a teasing look. "Right, that's why you watched it over and over. Not because of The Rock."

My face scrunched up in disgust. "Fuck, no. I prefer my guys with long hair and covered in tattoos."

The air around us tilted on its axis as a red hue crept all over my face when I realized I described Noah as my perfect guy. Everything around us seemed to slow as the two of us stood staring at age other, his tongue pushing against his bottom lip, a low noise coming from the back of his throat.

"Uh, I think I see the coffee shop up ahead," I pointed behind him, drastically trying to get his fiery gaze off of me.

It rooted me in place making me incapable of thinking clearly or making the right choice.

Relcuctantly, Noah nodded slowly, and we began walking in stride with each other.

"So I noticed Trey wasn't anywhere to be found," he spoke slowly, almost trying to test the waters with this conversation.

"Yeah, he wasn't feeling well, so he's sleeping it off," I explained.

"Right," Noah snorted under his breath.

My eyes sliced over to him. "What's that supposed to mean, Noah?"

With a sigh, he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. "I'm not trying to upset you. But you have to admit, he's been drunk every night."

"I know," I let out a long breath and kept my gaze straight ahead to the old couple in front of us.

Cleary they were holding hands and taking their time in their afternoon stroll together. The older man leaned over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek and I smiled warmly when he took off his tan coat to lay it over her shoulders. Even in her red three piece button up jacket and skirt, she must have been cold.

"Are you warmer now?" He asked her while perching his glasses higher on his nose.

She tucked a strand of her ice white hair behind her ears, her own red glasses resting on top of her head.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Are we almost at the coffee shop?"

"Yep," he patted the pocket of his jacket that was slung over her shoulders. "I brought your favorite book to read to you. We only have a little while until you're needed back to the center."

"Angel?"

Blinking rapidly, I looked up to Noah as my body blazed with heat because of my nickname.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"You don't have to answer this but a lot of us are wondering why you're even with him. We all see how he treats you," he said.

I tried to find the anger that should have been festering with the bluntness of his question but it wasn't there.

Maybe because what he's saying is true.

"He wasn't always like this. When we first started Hollow Souls, Trey was vibrant and alive. The last few years have dulled his soul, along with the drinking. But I'm used to it, don't worry. I can handle myself."

"That's not what-."

"Can we drop it, please? With you, the last thing I want to do is talk about Trey," I snapped while coming to a stop in front of the door of the coffee shop.

The way I worded my sentence didn't go unnoticed by Noah whose lips twitched.

"Sure, angel. Come on, let's go inside."

His hand ghosted over the small of my back as he let me step inside of the busy coffee shop. The line had about 8 people in front of us so Noah and I fell in line behind the same older couple from outside.

"Noah, dear," the older lady smiled up at her husband. "I'm going to go grab a seat. Order me a tea?"

"Anything for you, Allie," he mused while leaving a tender kiss on her forehead.

I looked up towards Noah but nearly sucked in a breath when I realized how close we were. He may have towered over me in height but his lips were so close to my face, I could feel his warm breath fan across my own lips. They were plump and pink, almost begging to be kissed.

Ignoring how my heart race pick up and stomach flipped, I motioned towards the older couple in front of us. "Look, its you in sixty years. Same name and all."

Even with a fond smile on his face as he watched the older couple, Noah shivered.

"If I ever lose my hair, I might cry. This has been years worth of growth."

We shared a laugh and moved up in the line, Noah's eyes grazing over the large menu board.

"Have you ever tried a chai tea iced with oat milk?”

I scrunched my face up in disgust. "It doesn't sound appealing. I usually stick to the same drink."

Noah bumped his shoulder with mine. "Come on. It'll be good for you to try new things."

Don't fucking tempt me.

"I don't know," I hesitated.

I hated straying away from things that were so familiar to me.

"I think you��ll love it. Not too sweet, just right. It’s got everything you want. Would you trust me if I ordered it for you?” Noah's eyes practically begged as he pushed out this bottom lip playfully.

"Yes," I rushed out but quickly composed myself. "Sure, but I want whipped cream on top?"

"You can have whatever you want, angel," Noah promised.

We both stepped up to the counter and gave the young girl an apologetic smile as I pulled out on my phone.

"I am so sorry," I apologized. "But we have a pretty big order. We'll obviously pay extra since it's a busy time and don't mind waiting until it slows down if you want to make the order."

The young girl, Rey said her nametag, blinked slow as her eyes darted from Noah to me then back to Noah.

"Holy shit," she cursed while breaking out into a large grin. "You're Y/N! From Hollow Souls!"

My heart warmed at how ecstatic she was to meet me. Rey then gazed at Noah once again, with a less ecstatic expression but still star struck nonetheless.

"You're Noah Sebastian! I actually just started listening to Bad Omens because I saw you two were touring together. Enough, Enough Now is my favorite!"

Noah's face beamed with so much pride it was almost adorable.

"That means so much, thank you. Are you coming to the show tonight?" He asked.

Rey's shoulder fell. "No, I tried to buy tickets, but it sold out so fast!"

Noah and I shared a look before I rummaged through my bag looking for something I kept in here exactly for this reason. Ethan, our tour manager, always made sure we had extra tickets for something like this.

"How many do you need?" I pulled out a stack of five tickets.

"Oh, no!" Her eyes doubled. "You don't have to do that. Please don't think I'm not complaining to make you feel bad."

"Please," I assured her with a sincere smile while sliding all five tickets on the counter to her. "I'm about to order ten complicated drinks. It's the least I can do for holding everything up.

Rey eyed the tickets carefully, and Noah urged her with a slight nod.

"Let us get through this rush and we can start your drinks," she smiled while pocketing the tickets.

"Of course," I said then bagan rambling off our very large order.

Once we paid, thanks to Ethan's business card, Noah and I took our drinks that Rey made before the others over to a table in the far corner of the cafe, away from the gathering crowd. Since we would be here for a while, Noah and I decided to drink our coffee while sitting.

His long fingers drummed against the wood of the table, an unknown tune, as my knee bounced up and down with slight anxiety. Ever since tour started, I was never alone with Noah for longer than a few minutes, but now there was no one else around as a buffer if things became awkward.

Noah motioned towards my drink. "Try it."

I rolled my eyes at his eagerness before brining the warm drink to my lips, blowing away some of the heat first. He tracked every movement of my lips as the pursed out almost like I would kiss something.

Or someone.

"Alright, I have to admit; it is pretty good," I set the cup back on the table.

Noah's eyes burned with heat as he stared straight at my lips and suddenly feeling self conscious, I brought a hand to my face.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

"No, you're good, angel," his voice was deep, almost rough, as he finally tore his gaze away from my lips up to my eyes.

Just like every other time we stared at each other, it was full of so much tension but in the best fucking way possible. Behind the dark depths of his pupils, there was this magnetic pull that kept sucking me in no matter how hard I tried to grasp at whatever I could for support.

I cleared my throat to break the silence but Noah's phone buzzed on the table next to his coffee which broke the spell we were under.

"Fucking Keaton," Noah chuckled under his breath as he quickly typed something on his phone.

I nearly choked on my coffee, it burning all the way down my throat, and set the cup back on the table.

"Wait, Keaton? As in Keaton Pierce?"

"Yeah," Noah nodded with a bright smile. "He lost his copy of Super Smash Bro's and was wondering if he could borrow mine but little does he know, that was my copy he lost."

I huffed out a short breath. "Tell him I'm still waiting for the $100 he owes me."

His eyes brightened in surprise. "You know Keaton?"

"Yeah, one of Hollow Souls first tours was Warped Tour. We all got real close with everyone in Too Close To Touch but Keaton and I have this bond."

I was so engrossed in telling the story about how Keaton and I grew incredibly close the summer we were on Warped Tour together that I didn't notice Noah's jaw clench with jealousy until the last words fell from my lips.

"He's like a big brother I never had. He means so much to me," I smiled fondly.

"Keaton's one of my best friends," Noah divulged about how Bad Omens and Too Close To Touch also met on Warped Tour one year.

Running a hand through my long hair, I suddenly cursed myself for not bringing a hair tie, but kept my attention on Noah.

"I can't believe we have a mutual friend but yet never met before! I thought for sure Keaton would try to hook us up," I said.

"Yeah," Noah's voice trailed off as he was deep in thought, not realizng that as he brought his coffee to his lips, some of it spilled onto his sweater.

With a curse, he rose to his feet and pulled it off which in turned caused his shirt to lift as well, showcasing off more tattoos that it shocked me to see he had. The band of his briefs poked through the top of his jeans and with the sharp curve of his v-line, I was practically drooling at the sight of him. Which he quickly noticed because he threw me a smirk as he sat back in his chair.

"You're staring, angel."

"N-no. I was just-." I stammered like a schoolgirl that just got caught staring at her attractive older teacher.

Well, you kind of did.

"I was just surprised to see more tattoos. I though only your arms and neck were covered," I explained while messing with the cardboard sleeve on my cup.

"I've got tattoo's everywhere except my back and parts of my thighs but I plan on covering those spots soon," Noah informed. "Since we're on the topic of tattoos, how many do you have?"

"Oh, shit. I've lost count over the years. I've got them scattered all over and sometimes forget that they're there."

"You know," he leaned back in his chair with a cheeky smile, long legs extended towards me as his foot grazed lightly over my calf. "I'm pretty good at hide and seek. I bet I can find them if you'd let me."

My cheeks blazed with immediate arousal with his sly words and I had to squeeze my thighs together underneath the table, hoping Noah couldn't tell how turned on I suddenly became with this conversation. But two could play at that game. If he could make me flustered, so could I.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer someday," I winked while taking another drink of my now cold coffee.

Shit, how long have we been sitting here?

I dared a quick glance over to Rey behind the counter and noticed they were working fast to get all ten of our drinks ready.

The sound of metal scrapping against ground brought my attention back to Noah and realized he had pulled his chair closer to me, something dark filling his eyes. Our hands were on the table, so close they were almost touching, as his fingers began drumming on the wood once again; almost to keep them busy.

"By the way, I don't know if I told you how much I liked you wearing my shirt."

I gulped as my eyes darted from his down to his lips. "Uh, yeah. You-you said that."

He hummed. "I've seen people wear our merch but none of them quite pulled it off the way you did yesterday.

I licked my lips, breathless. "Many people wear your merch, Noah."

"No, angel. It's not the same," his fingers grazed over my knuckles. "It hit you in all the perfect places. It's like you were made to wear it."

Every inch of my body buzzed with arousal and heat with how foreward Noah was being. He was staring so intently at me as if he wanted to sink his teeth into the crook of my neck to drink me in. His nostrils flared slightly.

"You smell good."

I gulped. "Dylan Purple by Versace."

Noah leaned back slightly so I could see all of his face. "I'll have to pick you up a bottle the next time I stop at Sephora."

Holy Hera. What was this effect he had on me? He didn't touch me with his lips but I begged to taste them. Did he wear chapstick? Was it flavored? Would I be able to taste his coffee?

Get ahold of yourself! You're dating Trey.

Clearing my throat, I sat farther back in my chair to create some space between us but that's when I noticed something just underneath Noah's left eye and my fingers raised slowly.

"Do I have oat milk on my face?" he went to wipe a hand over his mouth.

I huffed out a laugh. "No, it's an eyelash. Can I?"

When he looked at my hand, Noah nodded and I gently brushed away the eyelash, it sticking to my finger.

"Make a wish," I said.

"Don't tell me you believe in that?" Noah replied.

"It's tradition, you have to do it."

He shook his head. "I don't believe that. In this scenario, there's only one thing can ruin my wish, but I don’t think I’m gonna let it happen."

I pouted whiel holding my finger up to his lips. "Please? For me?"

Noah slowly licked his lips before he grasped my wrist to hold my hand steady as he made the whole show of closing his eyes and blowing away the eyelash.

"Happy?" He smirked while keeping his grip on my wrist.

"Yea," I squeeked out.

Once again, we were stuck in that trance where everyone else around us faded away into the abyss and the only ones that mattered were the two of us.

"ORDER FOR Y/N!"

Jumping away from Noah, I practically scrambled out of my chair to grab the many trays of coffee.

Fuck! Get it together! He's just some guy flirting with you to pass the time. Stop acting like he'll fall over the edge for you.

The walk back to the venue was quiet and quick thankfully because my mind was running wild with everything that happened back at the cafe. Simply that's all it was; Noah passing the time with jokes. He didn't mean everything he said. And neither did I.

Right.

Ignoring the voice in my brain, I held up the trays to the group of people that sat huddled together on the couch in the green room.

"Fuck, did you two get lost or some shit?" Matt chuckled while taking his coffee from Noah.

"Sorry," I apologized with a grimace. "We went during the rush and told them to take their time making the coffee."

I handed Ethan his tea. "By the way, I handed out the spare tickets to the barista because of the large order. Also, don't come for me for the bill. I've seen the projected sales for this tour and know that you're doing fine."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Y/N. By the way, your boyfriend is looking for you."

Shit.

"I'll go find him in a minute," I said while passing out the rest of the coffee's to everyone.

"I'm right here."

Spinning on my heels, I stared blankly at Trey as a cigarette hung from his lips. His jaw was clenched tight with rage as he took in the scene in front of him; Noah and I holding trays of coffee from the coffee shop. It wasn't hard, even for him, to put the two together.

"How come every time I find you, you're with him?" He pointed towards Noah with his lighter.

"Trey, I'm not doing this with you right now," I said while walking over to the trash can, throwing out the garbage.

"Great, then lets go back to the bus and we can talk about it there." Trey went to reach for my hand but I snatched it away.

"NO!" My voice was louder than it needed to be but I didn't care; I was angry.

Yesterday and this afternoon with Noah were some of the best moments I've had in so long. I couldn't remember the last time I'd openly flirted with someone and enjoyed it. Noah made me feel so good about myself and I refused to let Trey ruin that; again.

"Just because you're my boyfriend Trey, that doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do or who to hang out with. Noah and I were picking up coffee for everyone, that's all."

"Oh yeah," Trey raised a brow. "Where's my coffee?"

"We figured you'd want a vodka instead," Noah said as he came to stand behind me, almost to show his support of me standing up to Trey.

He scoffed while looking towards Noah. "Did you forget the talk we had the other night, kid?"

Talk? What talk?

"You're older than him by two years, Trey. Calm the fuck down," Chase spat.

"Fuck off!" Trey snapped. "You guys are supposed to be on my side with this bullshit."

Malcolm spoke next. "With Y/N, we're sticking with her no matter what."

Trey's hateful eyes took in the sight of me one more time, eyes grazing over the exposed tattoos on my leg. "Cover that shit before the show."

It was as if he took all the negative energy out of the room with him as soon as he left, even some of the high I was feeling from my afternoon with Noah.

Noah noticed my hands shaking and went to reach for them but I stuffed them deep into my hoodie. "I'm going to get some air."

The air I needed ended up being me standing in the bathroom of my bus screaming so loud my lungs burned. I let out every harsh, negative, word that Trey dug into my brain. It was a never-ending cycle with him and I was angry at myself for allowing it to continue. My position in the band wasn't worth all the mental abuse. So why did I continue to stay?

Just get through this tour and then you can figure out your options.

The back halls of the venue were quiet, and I wondered where everyone had gone. Hollow Souls soundcheck was minutes away but I couldn't find Malcolm or Chase anywhere.

I opened the door to the green room but came to a halt at the scene in front of me; my heart pounded wildly in my chest and my breathing became erratic, uneven, as Noah turned around, almost dropping his phone. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of grey sweats and his shoes, and as much as I tried, I couldn't keep my eyes off of his chest and stomach.

But then realizing what he was doing when I walked in made me lean against the doorframe with a wicked smile.

"Who were you going to send those selfies too?" I questioned.

The sides of Noah's ears burned with embarrassment but he kept his cool. "I have no idea what you're talking about, angel."

Ignoring the way my pussy clenched at the nickname, I pushed myself off of the doorframe to walk into the room.

"Right. Well, whoever gets those pictures is one lucky lady," I said, hiding the jealousy in my voice.

"She could be," Noah responded without a hitch of hesitation.

There it was again. That magnetic pull that seemed to only be around when Noah and I were together. It was unknown and scared the absolute shit out of me.

"Uh," I stammered trying to find my words. "Have you seen the guys anywhere? We need to start soundcheck."

He gave me a confused look. "They're on the stage waiting for you. I figured you would have checked there first."

Oh, right? That would have made more sense than coming to the greenroom first.

I bit my lip. "Yeah, should have figured. Well, see you around."

What the fuck? Why did that sound so awkward?

Not wanting to look even more like a fool, I scurried out of the room and towards the stage where in fact; the guys were waiting for me. I frowned at their impatient scowls and Chase went to throw a stick at me but I quickly ducked to avoid it.

"You realize how late you are, right? Doors open in an hour, Y/N!"

"I'm sorry!" I raised my hands. "I got caught up."

Trey, who surprised the fuck out of me for being here, narrowed his eyes at me. "Let's just get this over with."

As we went on with soundcheck, I noticed Bad Omens merch table was being set up with Noah and Jolly helping. When I sang my parts of the song, I could feel a sense of confidence fill me which strengthened my voice. I could hit notes I couldn't before and found myself not loosing breath as I held a note longer than I normally would.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Noah stop what he was doing to watch with almost a proud smile on his face. Much to my dismay, he was wearing a shirt again, but still wore the grey sweats and I did my best not to let my gaze wander past his waistline.

Trey is right next to you, ya know?

Yet again ignoring the voice in my mind, I turned to Chase with a slight grimace. "Does Malcolm's bass sound off or is it just me?"

Malcolm strung a few strings, which in fact, were out of tune.

"Shit, give me a few minutes and we can run One Night again," Malcolm sighed.

"No worries," I said while pulling out my phone from my back pocket when I felt it buzz. "I'm going to-."

Holy Hera. Hades. Hekate, whichever of the Gods above would listen.

My pupils dilated as I took in the sight of the two new pictures on my phone from an unknown number, barley even registering the next texts that came in.

Yeah, I'd say she's pretty lucky. Enjoy angel. You sound beautiful.

Oh, I think you should wear something a bit more reveling than you usually do, in the most respectful way possible. Give everyone a killer show tonight. Come alive out there.

The words, as sweet as they were, were nothing compared to the pictures of Noah on my phone; the selfies he took earlier. I licked my dry lips and felt a coolness drip between my legs as I clenched them together. Daring a glance over to Noah, I saw him watching me with a stoic smirk on his face as a way of saying check mate.

What a cheeky bastard.

As soon as soundcheck was over, I rushed back over to the bus and riffled through my suitcases, disorganizing the way I had everything packed so I could find what I was looking for. It might not have been too revealing but compared to what I usually wore, this would definitely make some heads turn. Once I was showered, I did my makeup darker than normal and let my hair fall against my back in waves. I slipped into the short leather dress that stopped about mid thigh, the thin straps fitting just right. Even with my knee high leather boots, you could still see the tattoo on my leg.

Looking in the mirror, I couldn't stop the smile that broke out on my face. I haven't felt this good about the way I looked in so long; it made my heart soar with pride.

Checking my phone, I cursed when I realized Bad Omens set was already half way finished and knowing I still had to eat something quick before heading on stage; I made a beeline back into the venue towards the green room. Malcolm and Chase were already there stuffing their faces with whatever food they could find and when they saw me, their jaws dropped.

"Is it too much?" I asked while pulling at the back of the dress. "I just thought-."

"Don't." Chase pointed a finger at me. "You look really good, Y/N. Don't let those thoughts get inside your head, alright?"

Malcolm agreed but kept his eyes a little too long on certain parts of me so I had to smack him in the arm to get his attention.

"Shit, did you say something?"

"My eyes are up here," I pointed to them to make a show of it.

Once we all finished a quick meal, Trey of course nowhere to be found, I sent him a quick text to let him know we would go on soon and to finish whatever he was doing. I probably should have worried about where he disappears too but lately, his whereabouts or the activities he finds himself in didn't matter to me.

Chase and Malcolm ended up leaving the room to go do their own pre-show rituals which left me alone with the camera app open on my phone, really contemplating the hell out of this. It could go one of two ways; he could enjoy it and make whatever this thing between us more intense or he could ignore it completely, not giving a shit.

"Fuck it," I stood with a start and walked over to the mirror.

The same mirror Noah took his selfies in front of.

Trying to find the best angle with the lighting, I snapped a few different pictures and scrolled through to find the best one. Clicking on Noah's contact, that I now saved from earlier, I attached the best picture and typed out a quick message to go with it.

I feel so uncomfortable but I hope your ass is happy.

I let out a quick scream as I hit send, the fear almost making me back out. Bad Omens were still playing, I could hear Noah's screams echo through the thick walls, so I knew it would be awhile till he saw the text. In the meantime, I busied myself with my pre-show ritual to center myself.

Deep breath in. Hold for six seconds. Long breath out.

Deep breath in. Hold for four seconds. Long breath out.

I did this a few times while shaking out the nerves from my hands then started rambling off a few of my lyrics to some of my songs to warm up my voice. By now almost thirty minutes had passed so I checked my phone to see if Noah responded.

Read at 8:34 pm.

So he read it almost as soon as I sent it but didn't respond?

I blinked back the tears while tossing my phone on the couch.

"You're a fucking idiot. What did you expect him to do? Heart it." I muttered under my breath.

"Talking to yourself, angel?"

Turning swiftly on my heels, I saw Noah leaning against the doorframe by his arm. The smile that crossed his lips was the kind that made every part of your body flutter in the best possible way.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Hey yourself," his hair was falling into his face as he looked around the room, almost happy that we were the only two here.

"How was your set?" I asked while wiping my sweaty hands on the back of my dress.

God, how did one man make me so nervous?

Slowly, almost stalking towards his prey, Noah walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He said nothing, only reached the space to me in three long strides and raised a finger to my shoulder, brushing away the hair that fell across it. Our hips were barley touching but I could still feel the buckle of his belt press against the heat of my core and my bottom lip caught between my teeth to keep the moan that danced on my tongue from slipping out. His long fingers grazed over the bare skin across my collar bone over the pulse point on my throat, letting it linger there, as he leaned into the crook of my neck so he could whisper huskily into my ear.

“I know this is forward, and please forgive me for being bold. But you look sexy as fuck right now.”

A soft moan fell from my lips but I quickly recovered as Noah pulled away so he could look down at me through his long lashes.

Fuck, even his lashes were gorgeous. Every aspect of this man was perfect beyong words.

The confidence I felt from earlier was still surging through me so I wrapped the wooden rosary that hung from Noah's neck around my fingers and gave him a seductive smirk.

"You're pushing the limits, Noah," I teased.

"Oh, am I?"

Slowly, he leaned down towards my lips and I rose on the tips of my toes to reach him because even in my platform boots, Noah still towered over me. We were so close now I could just feel the warmth from his lips on mine before Chase's voice broke through the trance that encased around us.

"Y/N! Where are you! We're about to go on."

"Shit," I cursed while pushing Noah away. "Fuck, I have to go,"

He stepped to the side so I could walk past him but gently grabbed my wrist to stop me. "But seriously, you look beautiful, angel."

I was so worked up that I could have combusted with the nickname alone. Feeling his warm body heat behind me as we walked out of the greenroom and towards the back area of the stage where the rest of my band was waiting.

Including Trey.

Shit.

NOAH

I watched with fury behind my eyes as Trey dragged Y/N over towards the merch area, away from prying eyes and ears. Jolly came up to me with furrowed brows.

"Where the hell did you run off too after we got offstage?"

I locked my gaze onto Y/N's back as she fought with Trey. I wanted to step in to save her but knew that if I tried, it would make things worse. Plus, Y/N could hold her own against him, I've seen it.

"I was with Y/N," I sighed while giving my full attention to Jolly. "I wanted to wish her luck, that's all."

Jolly snorted, not buying my lie for a second. "Right. This is the only thing I'm going to say on the whole subject; Be careful, man. None of us want to see you get hurt especially after."

"Don't," I warned with ice in my voice. "I don't want to hear her name."

"Alright," he squeezed my shoulder. "Just be careful."

I quickly tied my hair back, so it was out of my face. "I don't like the way he treats her, Jolly. If he does that in front of us, what the hell does he do when no one's watching?"

Before Jolly could answer, our merch guy Steven came up to us with a deep frown.

"That guy is such a fucking prick," he seethed. "You guys should have heard the things he said to Y/N."

I nearly pushed past them to go find her but it was Nick now that held a hand to my chest to stop me.

"What did he say?" He asked Steven.

Rage was festering deep in the bowels of my stomach and I knew that if I didn't find an outlet for it soon, I would blow. So instead, I paced in a line backstage, burning a hole into the ground at my feet.

"I could only hear parts but from what I heard, I don't know how she's going to come back from it. It was nasty, Noah. She went up to Veronica their merch girl for something to cover up with but when they had nothing, I let her borrow my sweater."

"What?" I asked, now defeated.

She covered herself up?

Steve sighed. "I never wanted to jump over a table so damn fast to hit a guy. It killed me to see how broken she looked when he left her."

“Noah, you’re going to burn a hole in the floor with your pacing,” Folio's soft voice broke through my rage fulled haze.

"Can you blame me?!" I snapped while throwing a hand towards the stage where Hollow Souls set was about to start. "This asshole keeps getting away with treating her like shit!"

"I don't understand why you care so much? It's not like she's your girlfriend."

My head snapped up to one of our guitar techs, appalled that he had the balls to speak up about a situation he had no clue about.

Sounds familiar.

"Excuse me?" My pupils dilated with anger as I tilted my head towards the tech.

Nick felt the sudden shift in tension so he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Let's get some air, alright?"

The sounds of Y/N's broken voice played through the venue before being drowned out by Trey's guitar and screams as Nick lead me out the back door.

[miwhotep]

7 REASONS WHY MILVERTON CAN STILL BE ALIVE

Reading @diveintovortex 's recent post, I again, got inspired to make an analysis why Milverton can still be alive. I already did one like this before, related to the main antagonist of the James Bond universe, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but today's post will rely heavily on the manga. Here, I will raise seven points why Milverton might not gone yet and we can suspect to see him again.

1, CHARACTER DESIGN

Milverton is one of the most detailed, most bothersome to draw characters of Yuumori (especially with that hair). If we look more deeply into the manga, we can see that the characters who only appeared for a few chapters - like Whiteley - are always designed in a more simple way. Milverton's character design has too much work in it, it wouldn't worth it if this was all the storytime he got. Milverton's distinct look suggests that he was meant to be much more than just a plot-device overall, he is a character on his own who still has hella lot of potential in him.

2, EYE COLOUR

Yes, I can list it under the point above as well - but I wanna focus on this a little more. Only three characters has unnatural, symbolic eye colours in the series: William, the main character, his brother, Louis - who gets important later on - and Milverton. Considering this tendency, his eye colour - beside it referencing snakes - also implies that Milverton is an important character - again: a character, not a plot-device - but Milverton was mostly just a plot-device yet, whose role was getting Sherlock and William face each other. Maybe, just like Louis, he gets important later on.

3, THE LITTLE TRIVIAS

Milverton has some, for the plot, seemingly irrelevant trivia the manga just casually drops at us - like his branch firm in New York. This New York connection gets interesting since Sherliam also ended up in New York. Was this just a coincidence? Or we will come back to this in Part 2?

4, THE RUSKIN SCENE

Ruskin, unlike Milverton was never meant to be an important character - his character design got re-used from The Adventure of One Student and we didn't even get to know his first name - but the manga still gave him a little focus at the end of Two Criminals, where we can see him searching for Milverton instead of saving himself from the burning house. He most likely survived and I'm sure there was a reason his love for Milverton got some attention in that chapter. I used to speculate that it was to forecast that he will get back to get revenge for his boss later - but again, his character design doesn't suggest he is an important character. On the other hand, that scene could be also to hint that Ruskin will save Milverton. Ruskin is not stupid - he could suspect what happened from the open door where Milverton jumped out - and that door could also provide the fastest way for Ruskin to leave the about-to-crash house. Not much time passed since Milverton got shot who could survive if Ruskin gets him out of the water in time. If he jumped into the water to escape, he might've found Milverton as well.

5, THE WATER PARALLEL

This point was suggested by @shreddedleopard during one of our talks whom I fully credit the idea to. Milverton keeps paralelling William in poses, methods - and even in "death": William "died" by falling into the water, too. If this was meant to be yet another parallel between the two, that also suggests that Milverton as well, might turn out to be alive.

6, SHERLOCK AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS MURDER

Milverton's body was never found what let Sherlock escape from the consequences of the murder. However, this might not be the true reason why his body never got found - Milverton's death was actually too bothersome if it was meant to be only for this. It would've been simplier if he just got shot, dying inmediately and his body getting burned with the house and Sherlock could've get away with the murder in this case, too. Milverton also didn't got shot in the heart, but suffered injuries what he could survive if he gets treated in time. If the writer truly wanted us to fully believe that Milverton is dead, it could've been done easily with a heartshot.

7, YUUMORI IS A SHERLOCK HOLMES ADAPTATION

Despite that Moriarty the Patriot gets inspiration from other places than Sherlock Holmes stories - like the James Bond universe or The Dark Knight movie - it's still a story focusing on Sherlock Holmes characters - and the most iconic Sherlock villain beside Moriarty, Irene Adler or Moran is Charles Augustus Milverton... who still has lot of potential. And beside him, who could be the next antagonist in Part 2? The other Sherlock villains who didn't get used yet aren't as much of a big names. That's another point what can suggest that Milverton's arc is still unfinished.

Milverton not getting enough attention in Part 1 despite he clearly implied to be an important character was due to putting too much focus on him could complicate or even get the attention away from the Moriarty Plan what was the main theme of the series in Part 1. Maybe what we saw about Milverton yet was just an introduction and now, that we already know how dangerous and evil he can be, we can see more of his evil in Part 2. Because I'm sure if he is alive, he is ready to commit even bigger atrocities what we could imagine.

[hanafubukki]

Not another card coming back and hitting me in the feels 😭🥹, we see little moments that Lilia got with Malleus with these cards.

We know what traveling means now with Lilia as well, we can see it with new eyes 😭😭 and then we get moments like this. Where Lilia is always thinking about his family 🥹

Silver is such a mood 😭😭 and someone I can see do this because I would too 🤣🤣

The fact that he noticed how sad Malleus was when the gift was destroyed. The fact that he knew because it was a matching set and it was destroyed and that was what made him sad. 😭😭

The way Malleus remembers that incident and understands what Lilia means with this gift. They all are matching and the feelings will always be there regardless of what may happen to the item.🥹🥹

(Not the symbolism coming back and haunting us 😫😫😫)

The way Lilia always takes a picture of others and places but not of himself.

The boys value this gift because they can see him and see how much he enjoys traveling.

This really shows how Lilia has always been giving and showing love, but never did he consider the love he receives.

How he’s so surprised at their reaction. His boys loves him but because of what he went through, he doesn’t recognize it or feel he deserves it.

Which is literally 3/4 of the diasomnia members. Of course, Malleus and Silver learned such a way when Lilia is such a way.

After all, you learn the habits from those you love don’t you?

[tls credit to @/mysteryshoptls]

[frangipanilove]

Full Circle Apple Symbolism; Rick's "Resurrection" in TOWL

From TWD 10x13 What We Become to TOWL 1x6 The Last Time

Apple symbolism was always tied to Rick and Michonne specifically, but in a more general sense, it tells a story about reunion, rebirth and resurrection.

In TWD 10x13 What We Become, Michonne went with Virgil to his island, because he insisted there were weapons to be found there, and Michonne needed weapons for the Whisperers war.

Once there, things took a turn. There were no weapons, and Virgil wasn't in a great place, psychologically speaking. He was confused and traumatized after the loss of his wife and children. He trapped Michonne in a room, and poisoned her by mixing Jimsonweed into her tea.

My favorite way to decipher symbolism in TWDU is through etymology. Almost everything in TWDU has multiple layers of symbolism, and an etymology search is helpful in most cases. This one was no exception; the name Jimsonweed is ultimately derived from a Hindi name which translates to "thorn apple".

Yup. Jimsonweed is ultimately an apple reference. In fact, "Jimsonweed" goes under the name "thorn apple" in many languages, my own included.

The first apple reference of the episode came as we watched Virgil pick the hallucinogenic plant immediately after the opening credits. There would be more to come later...

Michonne did not have a pleasant reaction to the drug. She hallucinated herself in a series of alternate existences, such as being one of the Saviors, and not being around her real family. After the drugs wore off, she overpowered Virgil, and scolded him for putting her in a drugged out state where she experienced having temporarily lost her family:

Then she asked him about his hallucinations:

And this is where we start to touch on the true meaning behind the symbolism around apples. Because, unlike Michonne, Virgil experienced that the hallucinogenic thorn apple brought his family back to him:

"What do you see when you're tripping anyway?"

"Lisa with that damn camera pointed at everyone.

My babies.

Bobby and me lying on the roof of that Annex, looking up at the stars."

It brought his family back.

Virgil wasn't primarily evil, he was broken from the trauma of losing his family.

There's a parallel with Rick there. Where Rick survived in the CRM by meeting up with his loved ones in his dreams, Virgil got to be with his family by taking hallucinogenic herbs. They both found ways to stay close to their loved ones through an altered state, Rick through his dreams, Virgil through the thorn apple tea.

On a surface level, it's clear that Michonne had a bad trip from the thorn apple, and that she was shook by what she experienced as a temporary loss of her family. She was rightfully angry about having been drugged. Virgil, more confused and traumatized than evil, explained that he had wanted to help her because he could tell she was in pain over having lost loved ones, much like himself.

Michonne was not impressed, but at the very least she didn't kill him.

However, under the surface, the apple symbolism heralds "reunion, rebirth and resurrection", something which she was about to discover:

Virgil took her to a boat marked with the numbers 672, in which she found Rick's boots and an Apple iPhone with etchings of herself and Judith. It was the same boat we later saw in 11x24 Rest In Peace, when we saw Rick throw his backpack onboard, before being recaptured.

This is the first "proof of life" both we, the audience, and Michonne got from Rick, and it was the apple symbolism that led us here. Because, apple symbolism is about reunion, resurrection and rebirth.

As we know, finding the Apple iPhone and his boots was what convinced her Rick could be alive, it was what encouraged her to leave to search for Rick.

We recently watched her succeed at finding him in TOWL, but not without some resistance from a deeply traumatized Rick.

In TOWL 1x4 What We, which is the episode where Rick fully "came back", the episode where he finally broke free and chose "life" with Michonne over staying "dead" in the CRM, we learned that he had initially gotten through the days in the CRM by meeting up with Carl in his dreams.

Then that had stopped, Carl had stopped coming to him in his dreams.

Michonne had gotten an iPhone with an etching of Carl, and implored Rick to do what Carl would have wanted him to do, which led to a psychological breakthrough for Rick.

This was Rick's true "resurrection", this was when he fully "surrendered" to Michonne, to his family, to "life". It was the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture that truly made Michonne able to reach through to him, through all the layers of trauma and isolation accumulated over time.

On a symbolic level, the apple symbolism and the Apple iPhones were what facilitated this reunion between Rick and Michonne. He had survived in the CRM by "being dead", then the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture "brought him back to life".

This symbolized Rick's "resurrection", this was the true purpose of the apple symbolism all along. Apple symbolism is about "reunion, resurrection and rebirth"!

Similarly, it was the Apple iPhone Michonne found in the boat on Virgil's island that made her believe that Rick could truly be alive, it was the Apple iPhone that convinced her he was out there, that made her go out searching for him.

Apple symbolism as something that heralds reunion, resurrection and rebirth had started with Virgil picking the white thorne apple flower in 10x13 What We Become, and was fulfilled with Rick's "resurrection" in TOWL 1x4 What We.

In 1x6 The Last Time, we see Rick utilize this new insight during Major General Beale's Echelon briefing:

"He brought me back".

The Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought him back. Back to Michonne, back to his family, back to himself, back to life.

Just like how the thorn apple tea brought Virgil's family back to him, the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought Rick back to his family.

Then finally, we see the apple symbolism fulfilled one last time:

We see Michonne holding the Apple iPhone she originally found on Virgil's island, the one that convinced her that Rick could be alive, the one that prompted her to go out searching for him. We see this phone, with etchings of herself and Judith just as the apple symbolism comes full circle:

The final reunion, resurrection and rebirth!

[wereallydobevibing]

Oh, to Find Love in Russia | Konig x Reader

I used to post my stories on tiktok under the username @codlover but I figured since tiktok might get banned I should delete that account and post it here. Here’s one of the stories.

Feel free to use my work as a prompt/inspiration. Better yet, feel free to write your own ideal part 2 just MAKE SURE YOU CREDIT AND TAG ME.

WARNINGS: Mentions of injury, specifically written for my delulu girlies💕

The ice, cold air of a wintery Russia rushed through your body like death through Pompeii. With your lips an ungodly shade of purple and your fingers feeling so stupidly numb, you follow the public map displayed on the side of the nearest building to meet a short term comrade in a common tourist area.

It took you some time, having never been to Russia before, but you eventually find yourself walking alongside a very large man who names himself König. He leads you away from the tourist path and into a market area where you both enter a less than busy bar. You agree you’ll talk here, where it was warm and your shivering didn’t hinder your ability to speak.

The next two hours was a conversation of confirming your roles here and the goals that were set to be accomplished – you both were sent to gain intel, but König’s main focus was to serve as your armor, and gaining intel was especially assigned to you, dear reader.

You were not a special forces operator because you were big and strong, or because you had a particular set of skills pertaining to combat at all. Your task-force had elected you to become one of it’s soldiers because you were a holder of intelligence – you were the brain, and everyone else was the body.

Your skills lied in your ability to speak and understand a multitude of languages. Your looks and personality made you attractive to others both romantically or otherwise – people couldn’t help but make themselves known to you. You were good at making them feel so special that it hurt too much to not spill all their flavors into your cup.

Blackbird, they called you; a symbol of beauty and intelligence. You were your team’s little warbler – whatever they needed to know, you were sent to find out, and you always came back chirping your sweet song of intel.

König was quite taken by you from the very start – he’d never met a woman in his field that carried herself with such grace. Overtime, many women in special forces became much like their male colleagues; rough around the edges, heavily drinking and/or smoking, cursing like wounded sailors.

You? You were so clean. Not a single profanity fell from your glossed lips, your voice was smoother than the finest of silk velvets. Your eyes are still warm with the hope of a better world and twinkled with the gentle promise of eternal youth.

Granted, you were still rather fresh in age being in your early 20s. Still, you were special.

As you both got familiar with each other over the next few hours, König grew firmer in his belief that the radiance of your skin was actually your golden soul shining through your pores.

The safe house you’d both been given had been put together at the last minute. A fact that was clear by how it was a small cabin with only a couch in the living room and one bed in the bedroom, certainly not prepared for two. The kitchen was stocked with little snacks and such, but if either of you ever got the taste for a real meal, you’d have to eat out or go grocery shopping.

König was quick to offer you the only room, as you were a lady deserving of privacy.

Over the course of two weeks, you took turns cooking and choosing restaurants. But by week three, you’d become so focused on your task of manipulating a Captain in the Russian anti-group that you’d end up spending every free moment of your day at the desk, documenting the day’s occurrences and future strategies. König became responsible for making sure you both ate – it seemed that if he didn’t feed you, you’d simply forget to do it yourself and starve.

Week four was when the storm arrived, the great finale that signaled the nearing end of every mission – Blackbird had collected everything she needed and was ready to fly on home and feed her findings to her kin. Things were wrapping up and, naturally, that meant shit was going down.

The final day would end with König wounded – he fought well, your knight in shining armor. Of course he won, but he was losing blood from his abdomen and you knew he was in pain.

The jet that was assigned to pick you both up would not arrive until morning. Your due date was not until two days from now, but you’d finished early. Until then, you used what you had to stop the bleeding and make him comfortable.

You leave him on the bed that you’d been sleeping in for the last five weeks, flat on his back. If not for the pain of his stab wound, he might’ve enjoyed drowning in the lingering, feminine scent of shampoo and perfume stuck to the sheets and pillows you burrowed yourself in at night.

You bandage him with delicate fingers – such a stark difference compared to the medics back at the KorTac base. They were always so rough, like hornets pricking and prodding at his body.

He doesn’t notice how your focus was divided between his wound and his bare chest. Your impulsive thoughts, if you gave in to them, would’ve had you resting the palms of your hands flat on his muscles and grazing your fingertips over the ridges.

You tried to be respectful, the man was in pain – but you just couldn’t help your nature as it demanded to behold the glorious sculpture settled before you. Thousands of years ago, König might’ve been the model for ancient Greek statues. He was beautiful.

König sits up on the mattress when you finish, which now is stained with speckles of blood, clenching his jaw as he did. Your hands come up on his bare chest and you stop him.

“What are you doing?” You ask, bewildered, “You have to rest, König, you’re hurt.”

“This is your bed, schatz,” König grunted, “I will go to the couch.”

Now that the mission is over, you suddenly feel a wave of guilt come crashing down onto you. You’d been so busy thinking about what you needed to do, how you were going to get your hands on the information you’d been sent out to receive that you didn’t ever stop to think about König’s comfort. And here he was, spending every single day of the last five weeks watching your back, making sure you ate, and that you were comfortable. All he did was think about you.

As you stare at him, your heart begins pulsing erratically. Your face grows warm with the sudden realization that this big, brutal, soldier of a man was such a gentleman. He’d been so kind and considerate, looking over your shoulder for you like he was born to do it and not just because it was his job.

Your hands raise to cradle his masked face. You think about how this six-foot-ten beast had been sleeping on that tiny, poor excuse for a couch for nearly two months for the sake of your comfortability, and how he would do it even now when he was in pain.

Without a second thought, you go in and kiss him through the fabric of his mask – a little peck of admiration for his chivalry, a humble praise for being a rare man.

König stares at you when you pull back, he’s stunned. All these weeks of very subtly flirting with you … he thought you’d never notice, or even reciprocate his interest. König figured that you both would separate at the end of this story like Orpheus and Eurydice, he’d be damned to never know you again and you’d forget him as soon as he was gone.

With your hands still holding either side if his jaw, you tell him, “Lay down, König. Here.”

He brings up a large hand to meet one of yours, using the other to hold himself upright and stroking your wrist affectionately with his thumb, “You will not sleep on the couch, schatz.”

“No,” You agreed. “We will both stay here, on the bed, and that way if you need anything, I’m right here to help you.”

Still not believing what’s happening, he tries again to rise from the bed, only for you to guide him back down until his head rested on one of the pillows.

You ask, “That’s okay, isn’t it?”

König, beneath his mask, feels his lips curling upward as he laughs breathlessly.

He grins, “Okay?”

It was perfect.

[orange-demons-deactivated2024]

Companionship in Street Fighter

The most interesting concept in Street Fighter 6 that I really liked was companionship. Every character is connected in one way or another, and most are symbolic of Ken and Ryu's relationship over the years.

Ken and Ryu were always the faces of Street Fighter since the beginning and their friendship/rivalry was something capcom really took into consideration when pushing SF6 out. Ken, Chun-li, and Ryu are getting older but they have a lasting impact on Capcom as a whole.

SF6 now has a roster of fighters that are connected to each other from old to new relationships.

Kimberly and Dee Jay, Marisa and Zangief, Blanka and Lily, Chun-li and Li-fen etc.

Even the Player has a rival/friendship with someone in the Street Fighter Universe.

Although Bosch seems like a character that gets sidelined within the first hour of the game, I do think that Bosch and the Player do have a significant connection.

When talking to our Masters, I find it interesting how often Bosch comes up in conversation.

Granted Player is the one bringing him up, but I found this interaction with Dhalsim fascinating.

Dhalsim: Create a fist within your heart.

Dhalsim: Good. Allow me to pose a question to you. What lies beyond that fist?

Dhalsim: I see. This is your friend...or perhaps a mortal foe?

Dhalsim: Forget what you saw.

Dhalsim: You wish to transcend the shadow, yet it remains inextricably linked to you.

Dhalsim: it is up to you to interpret its significance.

The Player brings up Bosch a lot in conversations that aren't about him, and it's got me thinking, does Bosch even care about the Player to that extent too?

We never see his perspective throughout the story so we could only assume as much.

He trusted the Player enough to give them a SIM card before he was taken. Maybe to tell them, "If anything happened to me, this is how you can find Kalima and the Resistance."

And he tried many times to scare the Player off so they wouldn't enter the Suval'hal tournament. Where he would've activated the championship belt to kill himself and JP.

But when the Player found out Cardboard combatant was him all along, he said "If you've come this far, I want you to watch me finish this fight." The fight between the Resistance and JP.

Bosch even asked the Player if you can give Yua his bangle and tell her that he's dead, he says "You're the only one I can count on."

Bosch also chose to go to the Player when his body was reaching its limit as a warning if things go south. That he may not recognize them in the arena.

And at the end of the post-credit cutscene, Bosch is wearing the matching hat that he and you got when visiting Metro City.

In the end, Bosch's hair is shaved so I can assume it's to keep people from recognizing him and a low profile.

In fiction, it could symbolize character growth and a break from the past. But paired with his matching hat, which he mentioned was cringy, he is still linked to you, the Player. Just as Dhalsim said.

Side note on what Ken says about Ryu:

[accio-victuuri]

i’ve thought about whether i should bring up the topic again cause i’ve already mentioned it earlier this month when WoF trailer came out. at the time it seemed kinda insignificant and a reach but it is gaining some traction in the fandom again. as usual, if something is even close to being important, it will always show up and the meaning is gonna be clearer the days go by. as soon as WYB shared his character poster and that coin was so prominent, the cpn became more solid. during the trailer, we didn’t know just how significant it was to the point that it’s Wei Ruolai’s symbol. he is not only holding it, but tossing it kinda like how GG did in the vlog.

yes, this is universally, how people do a coin toss so it’s not like some niche gesture that only the two of them will know. however the key here is how close it appears between them. the vlog is released 3/2 and then the new trailer for WoF 3/6. the first bts for yibo as lai lai was also of him studying the coin with his colleagues. i know it’s highly unlikely that the vlog’s whole concept was a way to tease us with WYB’s drama. let’s give credit to where it’s due, xz and his team have always been really creative with how they present their content. maybe at this point, xz was already kinda into this coin and the team thought about integrating it into his vlog’s theme and story. at the same time, this also made GG somewhat become a messenger that WoF is coming soon, we just didn’t pick up on it.

one other favorite speculation i love is how some are saying that this could be the same coin WYB’s Wei Ruolai is using. 🪙 that WYB took one from the set or got one of his own which is similar and gave it to XZ as a keepsake. and i absolutely love the thought of XZ taking it with him to a foreign country to remember him by. kinda like how in the lacoste show, WYB was wearing a lacoste necklace, but inside was the 🦴 because he had to have it on him.

A coin is not as flashy compared to if GG suddenly shows up with a jewelry on him and use it consistently like WYB does. This kind of lowkey thing to remember someone by is so on brand for GG. I also remember GG sneakily mentioning WYB’s character in one of his weibo posts that was shared last year, 3/5! What a coincidence! Why GG thought of (allegedly) giving that clue may mean Wei Ruolai is a character of WYB he is fond of. 🤍 think about it, at the time the vlog was released, no one knew about this tidbit about WYB’s character. that in itself holds weight for this cpn.

Let’s see, maybe this coin will show up again in GG’s vlog or whatever — by that time, we will know that is has more significance than a random vlog prop.

P.S: If you haven’t already, don’t forget to reserve WoF over at IQIYI App. Let’s support WYB’s new drama!

source.

[nerdylilpeebee]

Okay, I watched episode 8 for the Third Time and I found some interesting details.

First, when Uzi and N are hiding from Cyn in that hallway, he has a flashback. It goes a little quick so it'd be easy to miss the details, but if you pause and look at it for a second...

That's Cyn EATING HIM ALIVE, scalpel in hand... So N either didn't die to the crows in the correct version of events when he was punished for defending Cyn... Or Cyn took his mangled corpse, reanimated it somehow, and was eating it alive like this for some reason.

And all this presumably after doing the same to V first.

As he immediately looks left to see her torn-apart corpse, broken glasses and all.

This is interesting cuz it implies that Cyn... Well... Didn't even give her favorite drone a painless death before he became a DD. Dark. And speaks to Cyn's insanity as the Solver began to influence her more and more.

Second detail I noticed:

Uzi at the end glitches. As if... She's a hologram. This is the exact glitch of one of Cyn's holograms.

I'm... Curious now. Is this even truly Uzi? We do know eating Cyn's heart, the singularity that was beating like a heart, killed Uzi. Flat-out, fatal-error and everything. And before she got back up, very suddenly I might add as if dragged to her feet like a puppet, she looked like this:

Shaped exactly like the Solver Symbol, tentacles and all.

Now here's where I go into theory time.

What if... What if Uzi died? As in legitimately she's just dead, and this is Cyn? What if this isn't a trick towards Uzi, as in convincing her she got what she wanted to pacify her, but a trick towards everyone else?

I'm not sure what Cyn's motivation for doing so would be, but it is REALLY odd that Uzi glitches in the post-credits scene, and specifically she glitches BLUE. The only things we've ever seen glitch that color have been holograms. And we've never seen Cyn glitch that color unless she was a hologram. Her glitches for teleportation were always yellow.

So this post-credits scene suggests Uzi is a hologram at this point.

.... Alternative, less dark theory for this: Uzi's "real body" for some reason is the Spooky Snake Crab now (we do see a flash of it in the credits) and subconsciously she's creating this hologram of herself to act as her "real body" as a coping mechanism?

A final detail I noticed, is this thing in the credits:

Whatever it is, it's some kind of shadow ghost thing that only appears for like, a single frame.

I'm personally hoping this is Doll. If you look closely, it does look like she's wearing a skirt, and one a little too short to be the one Cyn is wearing. But also...

How? Plothole that should have prevented her death aside, her core got eaten... How would she return? And what is she if she did? We've not seen anything similar to this before. No shadow-entities have been in the show at any point.

It also looks quite... Malicious. Assuming Glitch makes good on their implication they'll be making more stuff with Uzi and N in the future, it seems they might have a vengeful Doll Spirit to contend with. XD

[avatar4life]

As always credits to @crimson-cherry for this beautiful art.

Reader was walking around the city when she and her friends noticed the ninjas in weird uniforms "uhhh, why are they dressed like that?" Namir asked confused and a bit amused by their looks as reader sighed in embarrassment "it's... Wu's tea shops uniforms" she said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck "you mean the one he's trying to make a business out of?" Phytios said as he took a bite of his candy"yup" she confirmed it as they all looked at the ninjas showcasing their powers"... where's your brother? Isn't he always with them?" Strymyr asked as he looked at each of the ninjas but didn't find Lloyd"I don't know, all I heard from his conversation with the ninjas is him going to the museum to help" she shrugged her shoulders, she never knows where her brother is unless she eavesdrops the conversations between him and his 'family'. After a while they got bored and it was time to go back to their respective homes so she walked back into the tea shop on the mountain "hi reader, welcome back..I didn't know you were out" Misako said with caring visible in her voice. Reader just nodded at her and went behind the counter to the cash register as the first two clients came, a mother and a daughter, clearly close to one another, making reader feel bitter as she only saw that happen between Lloyd and Misako. Just as she was about to give them the bill for the teas they chose, the ninjas barged in in a clear state of panic, all talking over one another "ninjas, calm down. Can't you see? We have our first clients" Wu said as he pointed at the mother and daughter. The little girl, who looked around reader's age, which is 10, stared at the ninjas in awe and admiration 'ugh, great another fan of the oafs' she thought in bitterness. She looked at Wu and to her surprise she saw a look of worry in his eyes "ninjas, you four weren't my first pupils" he said but gets interrupted by the little girl pointing outside. Reader follows her line of sight and sees Lloyd "Look, it's Lloyd!" The little girl said in excitement, but reader has a feeling in her chest, like a heavy stone is there as she looked closer 'that is not Lloyd' she thought.

---------------------------------------------------

One thing led to another and now she was hiding behind the counter as whatever took Lloyd's body was fighting with master Wu and Nya after the ninjas got defeated by him. She peeked her head from the counter before seeing some symbols coming out of the old staff that Wu always carries with him. Fortunately before the possessed Lloyd could ran away with the staff Nya let a shelf fall and stop him, making reader gasp out of worry for Lloyd but then remembering that that thing was not her brother. She soon ran out of the shop with Nya and to the Bounty, along with the others ninjas.

She looked around worried as she counted the people on the ship "where's Kai?" She said because even though she didn't like him or Nya, she didn't want for them to be separated like she and Lloyd now are, and for a while have been after the tomorrow's tea incident. The ninjas looked at her before noticing Kai fighting with Lloyd, or whatever took his place. Soon Nya brought down the Bounty's anchor and grabbed Kai as they flew away. Reader sighed in relief for a brief moment before noticing something "he's following!" She yelled loud enough to be heard . The others look outside as they noticed the possesed Lloyd flying on a dragon "quick use your powers!" She yelled at the ninjas "we can't! We lost them!" Jay tells out of panic "what?!" She yelled back, now panicking too. Soon Wu interjected before the panic could escalate "I need to deciph the symbol on the staff before he can!" And then Zain added "me and Kai will protect you while Jay and Cole fight off that guy!" He explained the plan as he, Wu and Kai already run inside "what?! Why do we have to do that?!" Jay said, still in a stage of panic "cause I'm the smart one" Zain added with a hint of cockyness in hus tone, making reader roll her eyes before running to hide in her room. As soon as she got there she sighed in relief before yelling surprised and shocked and scared as she sees a spirit in front of her "who are you?! Are you with whatever took my brother's place?!" She tells before the spirit kneld down in front of her "I'm not here to cause you arm. I know you feel useless, unable to do anything to help except hide and hope for the best. You want to help save your brother from Morro right?" It said as it voice was neutral and calm despite the situation "... Morro?..yes, I want to help. But I'm useless, my powers cause destruction. I inherited all my father's bad things and obviously Lloyd had to inherit all his good traits." She said bitterly as she felt the heavy feeling on her chest again "I can help you change it all. But this must require focus, determination and the understanding that it will come to a cost" it said to her, looking at her as it sat down in front of her by the door "...will this helping me save my brother from Morro? Whoever that it" she asked "you care for him, Why? He abandoned you for his new family with the ninjas and your uncle Wu? Why do you want to save him?" It asked curious "I'm not doing it for myself, I know me and him will never be close again. But Ninjago needs it green ninja and the ninjas need their brother. I will do anything, even sacrifice myself if I have to, just so Ninjago could have their precious hero back" she explained determined to the spirit "so can you help me or not?" She added with a glare, as menacing as it can be coming from a 10 year old as if to warn the spirit to choose wisely "you're determined, focused on your goal and ready for whatever the cost may be. I will train you, little lighthouse, to transform your darkness.." it took her hand and showed a black and purple flame on her hand "..into to light" it finished his sentence as it maked the previous dark and cold flame into a bright and warm one. She looked at the flame on her hand in awe before the Bounty crashed again something "I have to go now, but do not worry, I will be back" it said before disappearing in thin air.

--------------------------------------------------

Soon the night came and they all looked at Wu for an explanation on what actually happened and so he explained the story of his first pupil, who he previously in the past thought was going to be he green ninja and was named Morro, making reader look at him in surprise as she reckoned the name from the spirit 'so he was his first pupil? Uh' she thought as they continued to listen before the ninjas asked their own questions and the falling asleep, soon getting followed by Nya and Wu. Reader stayed awake as she looked at the sky 'wherever you are spirit, I hope you are right and can teach me how to save Lloyd' she thought before falling asleep on the floor, nor having noticed said spirit looking at her from on top of tree branch with one thought in mind

"may the lesson begging, little lighthouse"

WOOOO I FINALLY DID THE FOURTH CHAPTER!! Have a good reading

[howtobecomeadragon]

Mike got upset at Hopper in s2 bc Hopper was keeping El hidden... when she could've been helping Will and preventing Will's situation from getting so bad

Obviously there are other reasons too, he was mourning and missed her, it was a shock to see her, etc. I'm just saying I think this is the bigger reason.

This also ties into Mike viewing El as a superhero and how this puts their relationship in a weird space. If someone is a superhero, you're not missing them as a person, you're missing them for their powers and what they can do for you.

Obviously we saw that Mike was missing El in 2x01 and 2x02. But at the end of 2x02, we saw Mike having a new concern about what was going on with Will and that he was seeing something from the UD. Mike is confronted with the reality that he doesn't know much about the UD and doesn't know how to help. He doesn't know if this is real or just visions. He doesn't understand (although he does his best to help), the others wouldn't understand, but Eleven would. She would know, she'd be able to help, she'd know how to stop this.

Because, after all, Mike has said it before: she's a weapon. He viewed her as a way to get Will back before (partly, not claiming this was his only motivation in his relationship with El) and now in s2, Mike is missing her for what she could have done here: helped Will.

Mike does what he can to put positive spins on the situation and he provides that emotional support, which probably helped more than he knew.

But that didn't exactly stop the bad things from happening. Mike still doesn't know how to fix this thing happening to Will. He does everything he can, he comes up with the idea to spy back and to put Will to sleep, but it's still a very upsetting day or two.

When El returns, he greets her happily but as soon as he hears that she's been out there, listening to his calls, his face drops. He wanted to know she was out there. And then very quickly his anger moves to Hopper. El didn't know that Will was in trouble. She stayed away bc Hopper told her to, but she didn't know what was going on. Hopper knew. Hopper knew that El was probably one of the only people who might know enough to help, so he gets mad about Hopper hiding her, when she could've been there, she could've stepped in as soon as Will saw the Mind Flayer the first time.

Moving onto the fight scene:

Mike and Hopper both look and gesture towards this wall a lot (EDIT: credit to @runninguplenorahills for pointing this out, this is also in Will's bedroom, similar to the s3 kiss with El in the finale. just another thing pointing to this being more to do with Will than the GA might thing), and I get that it's probably the direction of where El is in the kitchen, but just like always, Will is there symbolically too. He's there in the drawings that are on the wall between them in the dead center of the shot. It's a symbol of just how bad things got with Will.

Mike looks at the drawings and says he doesn't understand how Hopper let it go on so long with El there but hidden.

Again, looking and gesturing at the walls. And there's this talk of blame here. "Don't blame her, she's already upset." "I don't blame her, I blame you."

Blame El for... just staying hidden? When Mike can tell she wasn't allowed to talk to him? That doesn't really fit perfectly with the word "blame." What Hopper might mean, instead, is for Mike to not blame El for how bad it got with Will. "Don't blame El for not coming to help sooner, don't blame her for everything that has happened the past couple days." And Mike doesn't, he says he's blaming Hopper.

Another couple things from the full fight scene:

"Protecting her?" Mike sees what happened. Hopper chose to protect El over protecting Will this season (in a way, balancing out his actions from s1, selling out El's location to Brenner to save Will).

"So I should be thanking you?" Along that same line: Mike isn't thinking about his or his family's safety. Brenner is gone, and it sounds like Hopper kept El hidden for reasons he doesn't understand or care about at the cost of Will's safety.

"Nothing about this is okay." There's so many things he's upset and overwhelmed and scared about right now. It's multifaceted, just like so many of Mike's scenes. He's not just mad bc he missed El, there's more there.

After the scene with Hopper, Mike and El are standing away from each other. He even seems to be avoiding eye contact with her? Maybe from embarrassment over his outburst, maybe he just feels weird and conflicted already, feeling the strain of having his attention split when he's already so worried about Will. But either way, the shots are framed with Mike and Hopper together and everyone else with El. He didn't rush out from that fight to stick with El, be close, hold her hand, talk with her more.

And the first time he speaks in this scene it feels a lot like another "I'm the only one who cares about Will" moment. He's put the pieces together and was considering Will's part in all of this. He's not voicing concern about El being in danger again or leaving again, his mind is on Will.

And I think this all goes to the goodbye scene between El and Mike. Mike is concerned about losing people close to him. He can't say goodbye to Will, but he says goodbye to El. She tries to kiss him, he leaves his eyes open and doesn't move closer at all. A car with Will drives away and a car with El drives away, both headed towards danger. He stares after both, scared.

GA viewers assume he's just focused on El as he watches the cars drive away, but he spent most of the season just focused on Will. GA viewers assume Mike's outburst just has to do with loving El, but he spent most of the season trying to help Will, just like s1, except this time he didn't have El, his helpful link to the UD, to make the supernatural mysteries a little bit easier.

[firestorm09890]

just some rambling about lcb’s canto v part 3 things vs the source book

It felt like they combined the personalities of Starbuck and Stubb, and then they replaced Stubb’s personality entirely with Flask’s (the third mate), who was always the one described as irritable while Stubb was the jovial one.

Book Stubb was also pretty uncool, despite being so casual. Pip had to be the replacement oarsman in both cases, but the reason Pip’s sanity snapped in the book was because he jumped overboard out of fear once, Stubb told him they’d just leave him behind if he did it again, and then when it happened again, Stubb did leave Pip behind, and those few hours out at sea before the Pequod rescued him were what broke him; here, Stubb saved Pip from a fate worse than death, and then what happened to Stubb after is what broke Pip.

Speaking of Pip, weird choice to make them want to be a landlord. That’sss all I’ll say about that

Also, RIP Tashtego. Constantly got the short end of the harpoon in Moby Dick (basically first to slay a whale on the voyage but Stubb got all the credit, fell into a whale and almost died, saw the White Whale at the same time as Ahab and should’ve been awarded the gold doubloon for it but Ahab insisted he was first) and the trend continues here by giving his incredibly homoerotic moment of being saved from drowning in the whale by Queequeg to Ishmael instead, with him just not showing up at all… actually maybe Tashtego won in this case lol

The flashback with Ishmael going into Ahab’s cabin made me think that they would give her the dilemma of “should I kill her right now in her sleep”, similar to what Starbuck had in the book, but nope.

There’s a huge difference in the way Starbuck butted heads with Ahab in the book vs in Limbus. Book Starbuck definitely had a lot less faith that the captain was steering them right- forget “after we kill the Pallid Whale it’ll all be okay” that Limbus Starbuck thought, no, book Starbuck repeatedly told Ahab to please, turn around, please stop trying to go kill the White Whale, your revenge quest is meaningless because it’s basically just a force of nature and you can’t get revenge on nature, we can just go home, we've had bad omen after bad omen, don’t you see you’re leading us to doom- and he did this from the very beginning all the way til the very end, when they literally saw the beast. However, despite his pleas and disagreements, he did still follow the authority of the captain (can’t have a mutiny when it’s just you who disagrees; can’t shoot a man while he’s sleeping when you have too much of a conscience and a fear of going to hell to justify becoming a murderer) and inevitably helped Ahab get what he wanted. That’s something both Starbucks share.

Overall… it’s probably because they had a different story to tell. They had to make Ahab worse™️ than in the book so everyone surrounding her had to be changed to facilitate the fact that she had such a hold over all of them

The thing with Ahab promising gold coins to the crew (with it being clear to the audience that they’d never get them) was the progression of the book’s singular gold doubloon, which was promised to whomever saw the White Whale first. In the book, it was merely a symbol, with a bunch of different characters attempting to analyze its symbolic meaning in-universe (mostly in an astrological sense) and not really wanting it for monetary reasons (Flask even says that it’s just worth $16 and could buy 960 cigars. of course, that was in 1851, and inflation is one hell of a problem…) Here, that promised money is worth a lot more, both monetarily and as something to keep the crew going.

And then! The cult-like aspects. Kromer had her inquisitors with artificial brainwashing and it’s very stereotypically cult-like, but Ahab’s crew was a lot more accurate to how real-modern-day cults work. The recruitment of Ishmael made that clear. Here, she was at a low point in life, with no idea where she should go, and then boom, Ahab steering her. In Moby Dick Ishmael already wanted to go on a boat, as did every other sailor there. None of them even knew who their captain was until after they’d been out at sea for weeks because Ahab is weird like that. He got all his sailors into a disturbingly powerful fervor one night about the White Whale but for the most part they seemed to be mostly in it for the whales they encountered along the way. Book Ahab even recognized that in order to keep his crew from mutinying, they had to pick up some other whales- and unlike the gold coins keeping the crew motivated in Pequod Town in Limbus, this was an actual, tangible thing. More of a compromise to keep the crew happy than a lie.

Limbus Ahab’s boat was completely Ahab, with desires completely Ahab, completely enrapturing her crew. Book Ahab’s boat was The Pequod, a whaling ship that just so happened to have a monomaniac at the helm. Limbus’s Pequod crew had faith in Ahab until they died by her hands; book Pequod crew eventually recognized how completely fucked up Ahab was and how screwed they were, but to quote the book itself, “their fear of Ahab was greater than their fear of Fate.”

that’s about all the braincells I have for this

[soppybitorag]

The Captain as Man, Mirror, and Medals.....

a 🚨Red Lever🚨 meta on The Captain appearing in a mirror (and a cracked one at that) in the opening credits of Ghosts and what that could mean in the context of s5e5 and beyond :-D

What do mirrors symbolise?

Briefly, they outer vs. inner perception; who we are vs. what we let people see/want people to perceive us as. Mirrors Cannot Lie, and thusly expose our reality. Reflections are often said to be a persons True Soul, an idea across many early civilisations. It wasn't reflected light rays hitting your eyeballs, it was you seeing your Soul.

But also, we are 'mirroring' people when we copy them, appearing unoriginal and inauthentic.

Captain as Portrait and Mirror -

Now, ghosts can't see their reflections or be captured on camera/film. We don't see Captain looking *into* the mirror, just what is shown to us: the outer self/controlled perception. Also, the way he is framed makes it look like a portrait, something signifying power, virtue, and importance.

What we *see* is a middle-aged man of supposed stature, with a collection of earned medals (reflected, they'd be the right way round, which they aren't irl).

A soldier.

A Truth, as Mirrors Can't Lie.

Portraits can be twisted, however, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray. In it, Dorian's portrait grows more grotesque because of his sins and vices, whilst retaining his external beauty over many, many years.

Captain, likewise, is forever going to look the age he died, much like how Dorian is forever the age of when he got the portrait made. (Not saying they're similar in personality or really any deeper than that, just thought it note worthy.)

It'd be remiss to forget that in the opening creds, Robin is next to the mirror, flickering a lamp.

He is litterally shedding light on the mirror, implying a deeper meaning/more to be understood about what's there. There's also the fact that the mirror is cracked (cracked? definitely distorted).

Cracked Mirror Symbolism -

Cracked Mirrors can be seen as a form of deception: if distorted they can warp the image presented (even when we expect the truth from them), making things appear closer than they actually are (a common occurance in fairytales, for example), or taller/bigger/wider/fractured.

Some people believe broken mirrors weaken the spirit of a departed person. Oscar Wilde famously used this belief to mark a characters' death in, you guessed it, Dorian Gray.

It's worth noting that Dorian Gray is also the story that led to Wilde's imprisonment for homosexuality.

Cracked Mirrors are notably bad luck in many cultures, too. Romans believed that Gods observed them through mirrors, so breaking them was severing that connection, thusly having the Gods curse you with bad luck.

Ultimately, cracked mirrors present a fractured sense of self, where the inner and the outer are at odds with one another, or there is discontent in one or the other. Perhaps both.

What does this mean for Captain?

Well, we *see* a man of stature/inportance with war medals. Virtuous.

In actuality, the medals were always forever out of his grasp (making things look closer than they are) as he never left Britain, as much as he maybe would have liked to. He stole the medals to deceive the Veterans by façading (being inauthentic/copying/mirroring) as one of them, but bad luck had him put them on clearly wrong to all but him. If he had a mirror, he could've fixed it.

He was most likely one of the lowest ranking people in that room, in a house he once had control over, but no longer did.

Those actions directly led to his death, where he forever is entrapped with and condemned to wear unearned medals.

Of course, he most likely wanted to be perceived as integral/noble by people, but he just wasn't. He thinks himself a coward, wearing a mask, and forever will be. It's no wonder that in his purgatory/button house afterlife, he elects to seek control over how people see him. He's just The Captain.

some extra things I wanna throw in here

Captain died looking into Havers' eyes. He could probably see his own reflection at his end. But at least it was in the eyes of someone who truly knew him and loved him. For him. Told him as much. Because Mirrors Can't Lie.

Also, one way to rid yourself of the bad luck caused by breaking a mirror is, apparently, touching a tombstone with one of the shards and burying it deep down innthe ground where spirits can't find it, at nighttime.

So here are some completely random images.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Uea and Red

I don't have a fancy intro for this so lets just get right into it.

Uea is red. We know Uea is red. I know Uea is red. But there is just something about the red on Uea that feels wrong. That I am having trouble wrapping my mind around. Maybe it's just that the color choice doesn't match well with James, but I'm going to choose to analyze it as an intentional part of the show instead, because fuck it, we ball. Because you see, it isn't all of the reds that I have trouble believing, just one specific shade.

So what red do I have a problem with?

The bright red. Uea's main red. Unfortunately :(

There is just something about it that makes it feel...fake? to me.

But, as I said, there are plenty of moments in the show where I wholly accept, understand, and associate Uea with red.

So when do I buy into Uea Anol The Red Rascal?

In lighting like this:

In clothing like this:

(I do consider pink to be a red since it has red in it.)

(This last image is from the after-credit scene of Cutie Pie where Net and James cameo as King and Uea).

In King's sheets:

All this to say that there are times when I completely see Uea as a Red Rascal, but I needed to figure out what it was about the main red that always took me out of that mindset. What was it about the main red that made me feel like it was a lie?

And after reading @respectthepetty's commentary on a previous thread : "Uea wearing a blue shirt in the past could very much symbolize him trying to not be himself." it really got me thinking.

That red is too saturated, too vibrant, too loud for Uea. At least in my opinion. Because while RTP is also correct and Uea "has been shown to be more spontaneous, attention-getting, and dominant" that is really only true when Uea is being sexual. When it comes to sex, Uea is the more dominant person. It is Uea that initiates/asks for the first sexual encounter with King, it is Uea who sets the (truly low bar) rules, at every point of the sexual relationship he has with King, Uea is in control.

But the same can't be said for non-sexual situations. In social situations, in matters of day to day existence, external personality, etc. King is the far more outgoing person. At the office King is the one who gets all the attention, he is more openly flirty. And while Uea gets his share of attention in the office, he does not reciprocate it the way that King does. Uea is quiet, Uea is reserved, and that's doubly the case when Uea is triggered. Unless he is actively re-living the moment, he dissociates or retreats in to himself to process his own emotions. When Uea's mother asks him for tuition in Episode 1 and he starts thinking about all his other stressors, he doesn't say a word, he just returns to the karaoke room and starts drinking:

At the hospital he folds in to himself, he barely puts up a fight, the only time he really even says "No," is when King starts reaching for his own wallet:

When King sniffs his neck the way his stepfather used to, Uea retreats to a hallway to hide. At no point does he offer any explanation (and to be clear he doesn't have to, he's allowed to keep it secret)

Honestly, the only way anyone in Uea's life probably has any indication that Uea is going through so much is from physically witnessing it themselves (King seeing Uea freaking out in the dark, King seeing Uea submissive in front of his mother, Jade protecting Uea from Pock, King rescuing Uea from Pock).

So to have such a bright and vibrant red for Uea feels wrong, it feels like a lie to me. Mostly because Uea's daily personality is more passive and restrained compared to his more open and demanding personality in the bedroom. I believe Uea as a Red Rascal when his reds are darker and muddier (the red-browns) or lighter and more subtle (the pinks). Uea's bright reds make me question his color-coding far more because it is so strong a color. (To be clear here this is not me saying I don't think Uea is strong, just me saying that he is too quiet for the bright reds).

And it got me thinking more about when and where Uea wears the bright red colors and where he doesn't. And it always seems to be in moments of anxiety.

When Uea wears bright red:

At the very beginning of Episode 1 when he is introducing himself to the audience

When he goes with King to get tested for STIs

When he goes home for his birthday.

These are all anxiety inducing moments.

Uea is making a first impression on us the audience, he's trying to gets us to see what he wants us to see. He is trying to convince us that what he is telling us is true. That is ordinary. The literal first words in his opening monologue are:

"I'm just an ordinary salaryman. I'm nothing different to others, but there might be one thing different...I don't like being around people in the office,"

Three minutes later, we get the truth:

Uea may seem like an ordinary salaryman on the outside, but he has been horrifically abused and is struggling with navigating trauma that is far outside what I would call "ordinary". Guess who picks up on the issue? King.

STI testing is the same thing, Uea is worried and King says as much:

And anyone who has seen Episode 4 understands perfectly well the anxiety Uea must be feeling at the prospect of going home. Because well...

#pransdaddarktimelineedition

And we know one of Uea's coping mechanisms is sex. He can't find the words to talk about his feelings properly so he tries to push them down, and distract himself with pleasure. If we want to look at the bright red as anxiety, Uea usually has something white on as a cover. His anxiety is there but he is trying to hide it.

But at King's he takes that white sweater off, tries to fuck his feelings away, but the anxiety is fresh, he hasn't regulated his emotions enough yet to be convincingly okay, and King #greenflagextraordinaire once again notices Uea is not in an emotionally secure enough place to proceed with sex.

And sure, you can argue that Uea wears these bright reds while he's one on one with King, and there the bright red can't just be anxiety, and we could also argue that every color has positives and negatives and the same could be said for the bright red. And to that I say, sure, but the one on ones with King are as follows: King snaps Uea out of an active trigger, King and Uea discuss starting a friends with benefits situation, Uea shows up to King's apartment on short notice after having a breakdown. None of these moments are what I personally would consider stress free.

Compare that to when Uea wears more muted/subtle reds:

The first time he meets King in a bar, (this is actually the brightest red that he wears that I can actually believe for Uea, and that's because it is a darker red than the other three firetruck red shirts.)

The day after he's shared a moment of connection and trust with King in the hospital after sending his mother home.

When he has forgiven King for accidentally triggering him without King knowing and is ready to re-initiate the FWB.

In the pool with King, when King asks him if he likes the sea and Uea replies "Kind of, but I preferred the calm one,"

Even the red lighting is different, the first red light is brighter and more intense, and that's because Uea is under time pressure to make a decision about whether or not to start the FWB deal with King. In the warmer post-coitus light of the second lighting photo, Uea is incredibly relaxed, almost drowsy, and is being asked to answer honest questions about why he agreed to be FWB. He's not anxious here, he's calm, and as a result Uea and King get to bask in a richer, deeper, less harsh red light. We can interpret the same information from King's sheets, with Uea being happy and relaxed and cuddled by King.

And even when we finally get King in red:

It's still not as bright as Uea's more purely red outfits (ie not the red-browns or the pinks). And naturally because King is still hiding something we've got to trap the brand new red color with all that black.

ANYWAY all of this to say I have figured out what is off-putting to me about the bright red, what makes me feel like it's a lie. IT'S BECAUSE IT IS A LIE!! Or I guess, more accurately, it's an over-compensation. Uea is red, but his trauma and his pain has made that red less vibrant. If respectthepetty is right, and let's be honest the Parent of All Tumblr Color Theory is always right, then Uea wearing blue at home was his way of suppressing his true self.

And if that's the case, then the separation he has from home, because he is no longer living there (since he's still in communication with his mother and therefore cannot fully be separated), has allowed Uea to stop hiding his true self, and embrace the Red Rascal he is. BUT because of his trauma, because his response to trauma seems to be more on the flight and freeze side of things, he is more prone to submission in the face of environmental triggers. When he can no longer simply ignore his mother's text messages, he will try to get his Mom to take a taxi, then give her money, and then resign himself to going to the ATM rather than actually fight her. When he sees his stepfather again, he will run to the dining room rather than engage, he will try to run to the kitchen, when he is stopped he will beg, quietly so as not to make a scene, and then he will run, and run again. (I want to be clear here, Uea does not need to fight, he is doing everything right, and he's doing the best that he can.)

When Uea is faced with high anxiety situations, he needs reminders of who he is. And those reminders need to be bright, and they need to be loud, because they need to be able to break through his initial panic and ground him. So he wears the bright red to tell himself and tell others fundamentally who he is:

A Red Rascal

And funnily enough, this bright red shirt Uea wears at the end of Ep. 4 is the only bright red shirt so far that doesn't bother me. It seems to fit him better than the other bright reds do and that is probably mostly because the loudness of this shirt is mitigated by the shadows on the front darkening the overall color and back of the shirt being washed out by the light rather than intensified by it. Or possibly because the pattern breaks up the color in a way that doesn't make it even brighter. I feel like the solid white stripes, and the solid white jacket from the examples above make their reds almost neon.

Here though, Uea is drunk and being hit on by a stranger. I don't think our boy is coping very well with the realization that he might be falling for King and so the Anxiety Red comes back. But it's not as In Your Face Bright Red as the others, and that's because he's not in as high stakes of a situation here. It's just hinting to me of potential inner turmoil on Uea's end, and since I haven't read the book I have no idea if Uea is contemplated fucking up a good thing and trying to end it because he doesn't think he is deserving of good things.

---

And for a total tangent, shout out to the purple in Ep. 3 after King and Uea's first night as official FWBs. I love when red and blue combine ;)

Ok, I have nothing else to say on this matter at this time. Thanks for listening, and as always if you made it this far, please collect your invisible Participation Medal.

TL;DR: Uea is a red rascal, but only when he is wearing muted red tones, not when he's wearing actual red. Shhh, I know...but it makes sense in my head