#which makes neil extra happy

[kazoo-the-demjin]

The real reason Neil stares at Andrew when he cracks a smile after Kevin returns to the dorm drunk and with a new tattoo is actually that the motherfucker has dimples Neil can't look away from. Thank you for attending my sermon.

[cubbyyyy]

just a reminder that one of neils favorite memories is when he found andrew cuddled up with their cats.

[wahoo-wahey]

good omens season one save me

[colleendoran]

How Do I Do Stuff

The question was phrased a little strangely, and I don't want to embarrass the person by posting exactly what was said, but I'll answer it and hope this clears everything up.

I do almost all of my drawing by hand. No, I don't trace in Photoshop. Not a judgment on those who do, but I come from a generation of artists who did not use Poser programs or other digital tools. We learned to draw using a technique called the Sight Size method. I know a lot of people assume everyone - including the old masters - traced everything using optical tools, but while it is true some people did, it is just as true that most didn't, and you can draw with great accuracy if you learned how to draw the old fashioned way.

Sight Size breaks everything down into its barest components of geometric shapes and you build from there. Once you learn it, you never forget, and it applies to everything you will ever draw.

I learned it using a set of Famous Artist Course books my mom had since she was a kid, and they are still the gold standard. They're often on ebay. If I were you, I'd buy them.

I actually find using figure reference really annoying because I like exaggerations and modifications from reality in my final work.

This page from Neil Gaiman's Chivalry was drawn and painted without figure reference of any kind.

I don't know why people assume I trace all the time. If you were to try to use photographs to replicate these figures, you would find they are slightly off. There is no tracing here.

This is not to say I never use reference. This page, for example, was referenced from a photo of my mother. Isn't she pretty.

But this page of Sir Galaad was drawn and painted without reference.

He's pretty, too.

If he were real, I'm sure a lot of people would be very happy about it. But he's not. And had I reference, the art would have gone a lot faster. I had a time trying to nail this face that is very alive in my head but doesn't really exist.

Back in the ancient days, all cartoonists had to learn to draw and paint extemporaneously because reference was limited and digital tools didn't exist. While some high end artists had photography studios and professional models with costume and sets on hand, small fry like me were limited to what was in the house or available at my small local library, which was no bigger than a few rooms of my current house.

Artists kept extensive "morgue files" or "swipe files" which were collected from magazine clippings and photographs so we would have as much of what we might need on hand for quick reference. These ephemera collections could get unwieldy. I have thousands of photographs I've simply never sorted. I finally dumped most of my files this past year.

Have I ever traced anything? Of course, especially if I have to re-use a shot or setting over and over. Making extra work for myself is just silly. It's my job to make pictures, not to perform magical feats, like copying one shot after another over and over without making a mistake.

However, for almost 15 years of my career, I refused to copy or trace anything, and did not even own a lightbox. On the one hand, that forced me to learn to carefully examine what I saw. On the other hand, it was a stupid hill on which many deadlines died.

Only after I realized many professional artists had lightboxes and overhead projectors did I finally break down and get one.

The one thing I use my lightbox for more than anything is for tracing my thumbnail sketches to the final drawing paper. Instead of trying to capture the liveliness of the original sketch by copying what I see - only bigger - I blow the thumbnail up to the size I want the final art to be, then I trace over the thumbnail using a lightbox onto the final drawing paper.

Here's a look at thumbnails from the graphic novel Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples.

I enlarged these on my computer to fit onto 11"x14" paper, and traced the thumbs before finishing the art which was drawn in pen and ink and colored in Photoshop.

While I obviously made some changes, the essence of the thumbs is there in the final work. Tracing my thumbs retains some of the looseness of the original sketches, which is often lost otherwise.

So, there is a valid purpose to tracing at times, though in my opinion, too much tracing can weaken drawing ability, substitute for developing skills, and make the work kind of stiff.

If you want to, I'm not your judge. But it's weird to me that people think I must be faking my skills in some way.

Ironically, the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, which is a large heavy sheet of paper - also, the origin of the word carton.

Preparatory sketches were made on this paper which was then transferred to the final work surface via either tracing or by stamping little holes in the paper through which dust was sprinkled, recreating the contours of the drawing for the artist to follow.

So the origin of the word cartoon comes from a process often used...for tracing.

[santacoppelia]

The HUGE analysis - This season starts and ends with a discussion, doesn't it?

Ok, my loves. This was one of the really long metas I've been working with, and probably the one that has taken me the longest (because it depended a lot on rewatching the season time and again).

I couldn't help to notice that the fist interaction Aziraphale and Crowley have in season 2 is a fight, really. Yeah, we have the beautiful “in the beginning” sequence, with both of them being angels and happy and all the such (oh, how lovely, Neil Gaiman planting the seeds of why it will matter to us that Aziraphale will not be fighting the idea of inviting Crowley to Heaven, because he remembers that happy, careless guy). But after the intro, we see them having a big disagreement… And we end the season in the biggest disagreement they have had, probably, in 6,000 years.

I love over-analyzing and dissecting narratives and characters, and more so if I can use only what we’ve been shown in the screen. Therefore, I believe that the first fight of the season tells us a lot of the things we will need to know to understand the final fight of the season between them. Let’s take a look, shall we?

The first fight is motivated by having an amnesiac Gabriel in the bookshop.

They see the same circumstance: Gabriel in the bookshop means trouble with Heaven. He is also an individual risk, because he has menaced Aziraphale directly (well, Crowley under the visage of Aziraphale).

It affects each of them differently: even when they both panic, Aziraphale feels compelled to be kind to Gabriel (gives him a blanket and hot cocoa) while Crowley has a full-on panic induced reaction and gets defensive.

They propose opposite solutions: Azi wants to do the Good thing, taking the “higher road” (help Gabriel), while Crowley wants to do His Own thing: “Protect the precious, peaceful, fragile existence I have carved for myself”

At that moment, Aziraphale corrects him and marks a “we”, which is very interesting. But immediately after that, Aziraphale gets all "my way or the highway".

Crowley asks for clarification, with a well-leveled tone of voice: “Is this how it is going to go?”

Azi clarifies "no, I want you to help me!" But then he does the passive-aggressive thing: "if you won't, you won't". (oh, Aziraphale, how you triggered me here, my dear chap. I was angry at the character the first 6 times I saw this)

Therefore, Crowley is out. He marks a clear limit: “I won't. You are on your own”, and then storms out. No Eccles cakes would help him: he needs a breather and counting to 10. That doesn't help either.

Crowley only comes back after gaining an extra perspective: the "extreme sanctions" talk with Beelzebub.

When he comes back, Aziraphale will stand his ground: he feels he deserves an apology, which is delivered via a “I was wrong, you were right” literal admission (even when he probably wasn't "right", but that's their way... And they've been doing it since 1650, or so they say). Then they are able to work together again.

Now, let’s see how this dynamic plays out in their last discussion of the season:

They come from different sides of the same experience: Crowley went to Heaven to investigate and learned about the plans to continue with the end of the world, while Aziraphale stayed defending the bookshop. Then Crowley saves the humans, while Aziraphale solved the Beelzebub + Gabriel affair.

They haven’t had time to talk, as they get interrupted by The Metatron. While he takes Aziraphale, Crowley receives a visit from Maggie and Nina.

Each one of them gained an extra different perspective: Azi, the Metatron proposal (and veiled menace); Crowley, the pep talk/scolding from the couple they were trying to get together.

This makes them develop different solutions:

Crowley wants to finally admit what Azi has been saying all the season: they are a "we" (Azi said so when Crowley talked about his “precious, peaceful, fragile existence”; he said it again when talking about “our car” and reinforced it with the bookshop)

Azi wants to take the "higher road": go to Heaven, reinstate Crowley as an angel, so they can still work together.

Crowley sees the “usual dynamic” of their disagreements coming: it will be Azi’s way (or the highway). That has happened before, in front of our eyes, and not only in this season: it happened also in season 1, but we have already attested that it is still happening, and it is even “worse” (Aziraphale being a little “petty” with the “if you do, it is fine, but if you won’t, you are on your own” in the Gabriel discussion).

Crowley gets indignant. He asks, tentatively, if he told him where to stick it… And then he reinforces his belief. We are better than that, YOU are better than that, you don’t need them, I don’t need them; then he makes the first mention of the offer of getting back to Hell (which he hadn’t shared with Aziraphale), and makes a new point: I said no, neither should you!

Aziraphale goes back to the “you are the bad guys!” thing. Heaven being the side of Truth, of Light, of Good… It is not the propaganda Crowley needed for this move.

Crowley then clarifies the fallacy in his logic: when Heaven ends life on Earth, it’ll be just as dead as if Hell ended it.

Aziraphale then sees the "undesirable result" coming: Crowley is not going to accept, not with that argument.

Crowley makes his plead grow in urgency: Tell me you said no.

Aziraphale’s pitch of voice goes high (usually used as a sign of distress): “If I’m in charge, I can make a difference.”

Crowley understands. This is his “my way or the highway” moment. That’s why he comes up with the courage to make his half-proposal-half admission.

Crowley never gets to state out loud the “I want us to be together in a formal way” part. His voice breaks before he does so. He mentions all of the reasons they have to stay together, which Aziraphale already knows: we have been together for a long time, we’ve been a group (“our own side” was the way he always said it before) and we’ve spent our existence pretending that we aren’t (Azi also knows that! He has been working hard into making Crowley notice it!)

You can see, when they shoot Aziraphale’s face, he squints a little during that moment: maybe questioning, a little disbelief? As usual with Michael Sheen, it is a blink it and you’ll miss it moment.

After the grunt, Crowley proposes his alternative solution: going off together, using Beelzebub & Gabriel as an example that they could.

Therefore, what Aziraphale has just listened is what he already knew: yes, they are a “we”. Crowley wants to run away (he had proposed it twice during the Armageddidn’t, another pattern they have already established).

The next step is the usual way for Aziraphale: he reinforces his proposal: come with me, to Heaven. Ill’ run it, you can be my second in command. This idea has rubbed me wrong since the first time I watched this scene. Why remark the hierarchy? (not to say that I’m in Crowley’s side in here, but… It was weird and uncomfortable to think of them in a vertical power structure; they have always been equals).

Then, he goes back to making a difference, only it is “we” this time. Crowley is noticing he won’t back down… But Aziraphale usually doesn’t.

“You can’t leave this bookshop” works as a representation, a figure of speech. “This Bookshop” is “This life we have been building”, and they both understand it as such.

“Oh, Crowley… Nothing lasts forever…” For Aziraphale, it means he can leave this for something greater. For Crowley, it means… Actually, the same. But without him. Because he knows the “my way or the highway” side of Aziraphale, and none of them will budge. Aaaaand… that’s Crowley heart breaking. The rest of the scene happens with Crowley in “breakup mode”.

Aziraphale is used to “the discussion dance”. He Insists, “Crowley! Come back, to Heaven, work with me! We can be together, Angels! Doing good!”. He promises all he can: “come back, work with me, we can be together”, which have always been Crowley’s triggers to change his mind. However, the problem lies within the “angels doing good”. That’s the part that Aziraphale would need to let go before getting back to Crowley.

And then, he breaks down: “I need you!!” That has always worked! Aziraphale knows that Crowley loves being needed, he won’t leave his angel when in need, right?

And then, he gets angry. And he questions if Crowley has understood what he is offering, which transforms in an “I don’t think your exactly and my exactly are the same exactly” all over again.

Crowley is already brokenhearted, so he answers truthfully, as far as he knows. He understands how terrible the offer of going back to heaven is for both of them, and is not aware of the veiled threat in Metatron’s offer. He knows that going back to Heaven is a non-negotiable boundary, and Aziraphale is absolutely determined to cross it.

Aziraphale, then, does his passive-aggressive shit again: “I guess there is nothing more to say”. My guy, my love, you need to become better at negotiating with your loved one.

This is where Crowley decides to show, don’t tell, the hurt: no nightingales. And then… The “You idiot. We could have been… us” (no, you couldn’t, it was always too late!!! First the pandemic, which I’ve decided to treat as canon, then Gabriel. They never stood a chance).

In this context, Crowley’s kiss is a desperate way to say good-bye to the person he cared most for the last 6,000 years; also an angry way to regain some semblance of control and affect Aziraphale; and a final way to get some “closure”. Is there desire? Is there love? Maybe. But they are lost in a cocktail of emotions that have been stated during the rest of the discussion.

The angry “I forgive you”, which is also a usual dynamic for Aziraphale when he is angry with Crowley, gets there too late for Crowley to react to. He has already “checked out”. That’s why the “don’t bother” feels almost like an afterthought and comes after a small sigh.

After watching this 16 times, I’m pretty confident that the first thing Aziraphale mouths is a “no…” and then… he sobs a little. Michael Sheen, you’re a beautiful actor. The rest of it is a masterclass in using microexpressions to convey a whirlwind of emotions in under 2 minutes.

Sooooo... Did I hurt my own emotions while writing this? Yes. Did I absolutely need to do so? Also yes. Even when I like doing intertextual readings (and that's why I like bringing some theology to some of my musings), reading what is in "the text" (in the scenes we have watched, in the dialogues we've been shown) gives me an enormous amount of pleasure, and I find a lot of comfort in believing that most of the things that I'll need to understand and enjoy a great piece of media are being given to me inside it. And I believe Good Omens is a great piece of media!!

I have no Shakespeare to offer you this time. Let me know what you think!!

[ickypuppi3]

billy’s mom waking him up while it’s still dark, whispering even though neil’s working the night shift. it’s a couple days before his tenth birthday and she’s telling him they’re going to have their very own adventure, just like the ones in billy’s books. she grabs an already packed suitcase from under billy’s bed and kisses him on the nose, tells him to get dressed quick. the two of them leave in an old beat up yellow bug that she managed to get for a third of the asking price and keep parked around the corner until now. they stay with friends and jump from place to place so neil can’t track them down. billy gets used to surfing couches and staying in motels.

he spends his tenth birthday in a diner, his mom gets him a big stack of pancakes and a milkshake with extra cherries. gets a candle out her pocket along with her silver lighter. sings happy birthday and pulls a face when the waitress frowns at them, just to make billy laugh. she sips at her coffee while billy tucks in. smiles when he holds some out with a “c’mon mama, share with me.”

billy thinks it’s neat. thinks it’s the best birthday he’s ever had.

they eventually end up with a place in california, a little bungalow near the coast and billy grows up with his mom. billy gets pretty shirts from the thrift store ‘cause his mama lets him do stuff like that. doesn’t call him a queer, doesn’t force a baseball bat into his hands whilst yelling at him for crying, for being a pussy. his mom lets him read and keep a journal and press flowers between the pages of the neverending story, she plays hendrix and dusty springfield and laughs when billy comes home from his friends’ house with his first piercing at thirteen. she doesn’t tear down his posters or yell when she finds him using her eyeliner.

and everything’s perfect. sort of.

they have bad days- billy’s mom has bad days. billy calls them gray days ‘cause that’s how the world looks when she’s like this. all her color gone. no singing-dancing in the kitchen or baking five different kinds of cake because she couldn’t decide which one was best, no last minute trips to the beach or sitting outside at night and telling billy about the stars. instead she’ll stay in bed, won’t go to work. she’ll stare at the wall blankly and look right through billy when he tries to talk to her. she won’t take the pills the doc gave her and billy doesn’t know what to do. never knows what to do. just chews at his lip until it bleeds, bites at his thumb until it’s red raw. he’ll get in the bed with her. lay beside her and just talk like she used to do with him when he had a nightmare. hum a song to her.

billy’s still pissed at the world just slightly less so. still has that anger and anxiousness simmering just below the surface and shows his teeth when cornered. he’s still hardened in a way that a kid shouldn’t be but. it’s different. there’s no neil. the only bloody noses he gets are at school, when he fights with the kids who call him a fag and a fairy, call his mom a basket case. he uses fists when they laugh and ask if she’s all there with a finger pointing at their heads, ask if billy will “catch the crazy.”

those are billy’s bad days. sitting in the principals office, icing his knuckles.

when he’s fifteen, billy manages to bag a job at the local auto repair by turning up every day and telling howie how good he’d be, that he knows cars and it’s all he wants to do and please please please. eyebrows pulled together, eyes puppy dog wide and hands clasped in front of him until howie grumbles, throws an oily rag at billy. says fine but billy’s gotta pay for anything he damages. someone brings in a chevy camaro and billy asks howie to let him help fix it up. does the begging again until howie laughs. says get a hold of yourself, kid, voice fond as he ruffles billy’s hair.

billy’s four months away from turning seventeen when the doorbell goes. he’s eating a sandwich and watching knight rider. he’s wearing the necklace his mom got him for his last birthday and- he answers the door. doesn’t think twice. freezes when he sees neil standing there. he looks different. hair a little shorter and more wrinkles. where billy’s gained weight, gained muscle, neil’s lost it. his eyes are a little sunken and he’s still got his wedding band on. he reeks of booze. billy has to remind himself to speak, just says “yeah?” his voice comes out small and neil smiles at him. smiles and billy feels this weird twist in his stomach ‘cause .. that’s his dad and he hasn’t seen him in years and it twists and twists and-

turns out. not much has changed. billy realises a little too late that neil will always be neil. they run again. have to leave everything behind. billy doesn’t get to say bye to his friends, to howie, to the car. they leave a lot of stuff behind and head in any direction away from neil. they both try to keep the mood light, take turns driving and play the tapes billy grabbed. they end up in indiana- hawkins. they stay at a motel until billy’s mom finds a place for dirt cheap. it has two bedrooms and a dingy bathroom, a living room slash kitchen and one hell of a damp problem. it’s dirt cheap for a reason.

it’s above a shop in town and- it’s fine. their landlord is an asshole but they’re together and they’ve got a roof over their heads. billy’s enrolled at hawkins high and his mom gets a job at the laundromat. he tells her that he doesn’t need to go to school, that he could just work and help pay the bills but his mom won’t have any of it. says that she wishes she had finished school and that billy’s too clever to waste it. that he has potential.

billy knows the reason she dropped out of school was because she had him. he just nods, rests his head on her shoulder.

it’s billy’s first day at school and his mom drives him to make sure he actually goes. he gets out the car and tries to shake the nerves off. straightens up and puts on his act. plasters a fake smile on his face and it’s working, he’s got most of the girls swooning and the boys at least seem curious. billy looks around and his eyes land on a guy leaning up against a bmw. his hair’s coiffed to high heaven and he’s wearing a polo, preppy as fuck but- pretty. it’s one of the first things billy realises about him, all doe eyes and moles dotted just about everywhere. he’s got a smirk on his face. not aimed at billy but the guy beside him.

pretty-boy walks over to him and billy raises an eyebrow, plays it cool. he introduces himself as steve and billy gets the idea that he’s top dog at hawkins high, is immediately proved right when they step into the building. king steve, freckles calls him. billy laughs- catches steve looking at him when he does and feels his face get hot. steve just smiles wider, calls billy california and tells him to sit with them at lunch. billy tries to ignore the way steve’s smile makes him feel like the rug’s been pulled out from under his feet.

he nods and steve grins. tugs at one of billy’s curls.

says “i think you’re gonna like it here, california.”

[star-dust-stuf]

Dead Poets x fem!reader

title: love, to come into me

warnings: body insecurities

a/n: here I am with another dps fic because they're so cute and make me happy and I want others to be happy too! sorry it's so short and sorry for typos, with love.

-

I was back stage with Neil, he wanted me to do this play with him, it was in the beginning of August and he really was determined to do this play after the boys and me begged his father. 

He wanted me to be on stage with him because he knew I was always one to be left out. He was sweet like that, and though I had my stage fright, I knew Keating and the boys would be up front guarding me from all those other people. 

I was looking at myself in the mirror, the outfit was absolutely beautiful, but it was tight around my waist, and I had a lower belly bump. 

I knew that it was normal but it still made me feel I was throwing off the outfit, how beautiful it was and I made it look ugly. I glided my fingers over the little lump and wished it would go away. 

Neil peeked from the other side of the mirror and saw what I was doing, it took him a minute to realize what was wrong, seeing the sad look on my face and the his sweet brown eyes on me. He stepped towards me. 

"Y/n?" 

I look from my stomach to him, "oh. Hey Neil." 

He looked at my stomach where I was rubbing. "It's normal to be nervous you know." 

I shake my head, "no. It's not that." 

Neil tilted his head, "then what's the matter?" He sounded so concerned.

I sigh, looking at my little bump finally losing my patience with it. "I mean, look at it!" 

He looked at my stomach again. "What, that?" He pointed and I nod. "Y/n, that's-." 

He got cut off by the boys entering, all ruffling his hair and some of them shouting YAWP in which I couldn't help but giggle at. "Ready for the biggest performance of your life!?" Knox said to me and Todd ended up putting his elbow in his rib. 

"Knox, shes scared out of her mind." 

Neil shook his head, "no guys, shes..." He looked at me wanting to know if he should tell the others and gave him a signal letting him know it was okay. "She's just insecure." 

Pitts, Meeks, Cameron, Todd, Knox, and Charlie looked to me, Charlie stepped in. "Hey, what about? You look gorgeous in the dress." 

I smile a little looking to my feet, "its... It's my stomach." I put my fingers over the little bump, they all nodded as they realized. 

"You can't control that you know." Cameron said. 

"Yeah, all those extra organs if you know what I mean-." Meeks said.

I blushed, looking down and Neil smacked the back of Meeks' head. "Look what you did idiot!" 

Todd laughed with the others but then he looked to me. "You know what he means, it's okay y/n, you're a girl and that comes with some  things you see as flaws but it's not." 

I smile and nod a little, "thanks, I expect Meeks to know so much." I tease him.

Meeks laughed a little as Charlie smirked, "i'd take your uterus for one night but I wouldn't servive." 

I smiled and kissed Charlie's cheek, "I know you would." 

They all gave me a hug, and throughout the play Neil had his eyes on me along with the boys in the front row. It was amazing to have such supportive friends that I love and I could see every day at school, that I can be myself around and explain how I feel. They knew they could do the same. 

[millportdingo]

TSC Motifs/Themes/Whatever

Dogs

Starved dog, leash metaphors, cardboard dog, obedience. I think Jean represented as an obedient, loyal dog is pretty straight-forward. I think it's interesting that in the extra content, Nora described him as an angry cat when he came to Evermore. He left as a starved and beaten dog. I wonder where this arc goes, though. Like, he takes a chain around his neck from Renee -per Neil's philosophy, is this "collar" his first reason not to slip the [Moriyama investment] leash? Also Jeremy has always wanted a dog. I guess this piece is a little harder for me to wrap my head around, maybe I'm overthinking it, but maybe he's the right kind of [s]Dom[/s] [s]owner[/s] person for Jean. He has the authority "I'm your captain," but he pairs it with an equalizer "I'm your partner". He pushes Jean, but he holds the hard boundaries. He's intrigued by Jean's scoop neck deep blue shirt - I think partly for the personal growth to wear color and partly because it allows him to see Jean's collarbone. He shivers with the sound of "Yes, Jeremy." I wonder if "my mom is allergic to dogs" is foreshadowing his family's reaction to Jean.

2. Safety

Neil's arc was about hope, finding a future in a futureless situation. Jeremy's had an idea of the future, the perfect court, but his big thing is safety. "Safe" and its variations appear in TSC 48 times. This boy is really not asking for much, but Jeremy makes him feel safer which is just too sweet. Also, tighten those screws for safety..

3. Childhood

At the beginning of the book, Jean knows immediately that he is not in the Nest, because he knows every inch of it. He feels like he knows everything about the world and he often insults people by calling them children. His childhood innocence was stolen from him at the Nest, and outside of it, he regains pieces of it. He wonders at the vastness of the world, he learns skills he never had before (shopping, cooking). I had a hard time when I found out he was 19 (ie 14 and 16 at the time of some really unpleasant things). I didn't understand why he had to be two years younger. But the protection and corruption of innocence is a big part of his story. We see that acutely with his sister's story and it allows him to turn on his parents without guilt. The duck/duckling motif is cute too. When he first comes to Evermore, Thea describes him as a little duckling. He associates little yellow ducks with his childhood and baby sister.

4. Air?

Being able to breathe is core to the safety thing. When Jean feels least safe, he can't breathe. One of his earliest revelations about being Riko's pet was the buried alive punishment, and pressing his face against the sparse airholes. Then there's the waterboarding thing. You'll see Jean mentions being unable to breathe when he feels threatened and grabs at his throat. Conversely his happy things include breeze and open sky (rainbow and the open road). When Grayson appears, Jean says he can no longer feel the breeze, and he is particularly disturbed by the neck biting. There are lots of throat and neck things going on in the book too and maybe it's a stretch but burning (ie eating away at oxygen) comes up several times too.

[isolarya]

neil

time for neil, who might take a while because he is quite a complex character ngl

in his own words, he (feels like he) is kinda trapped in his situation. the adults around him control basically every aspect of his life and his future

when he's feeling like strong emotions, i think he tends not to think things through, which also tends to lead to him doing something to taking a bit of that control back

isn't afraid of breaking the rules because of this, cause again he wants control over what he does

like cameron, school focused and high-achieving not necessarily because he wants to be, but because it makes people happy, and because he's under so much pressure to be the perfect son

tries to make his friends feel included and not turned against, like basically the rest of the poets he's a good friend

his general excited and friendly thing does seem to be a mask of some sort though, as when it seems to slip (like when he shows the play to todd, or after mr perry tells him to drop the annual) he gets colder and less friendly

like meeks, he's a peacemaker, doesn't want anyone to feel bad

has respect towards authority and I think he's probably scared of them a little

he feels like he is/seems to be pretty helpless in the beginning, but having accepted his situation and having given up fighting

however, keating plus the club plus maybe todd I think help him get brave enough to genuinely go for the play whereas he wouldn't have before (like when he didn't in the summer)

technically does become more closed off and todd-like by the end but I do wish this was explored a bit more than just his death and lying to keating

his arc is kinda split? like there's the side where he sinks and develops negatively, and the side where he breaks further free of the control he's under

the turning point for both arcs would I think when he chooses not to tell his father anything and lies to keating, because while he does choose himself for once it starts something off that turns much worse

once he's being sent to military school, he's being separated from his closest friends and thats probably why he does what he does the core of his character is having to find himself when no one will let him, I think, and it unfortunately ends in tragedy

extra note: i think part of the tragedy of neil’s story is that no matter what he did, he probably never was going to get his happy ending

anyway that's probably the end of the character analysis series, relationships and themes analysis maybe over the next couple days

as always, feel free to add/correct stuff!

[97keanu]

Ted Logan x Historic!Reader

Premise: Reader and Ted have been dating for a short while, but had met on one of Bill and Ted's many time adventures. Reader is from the past, and is going to her first Halloween party in 1992. Reader who was stuck with the expectations of women in the past who finally feels free to do as she pleases. Reader experiences 90s twenty-something culture to it's fullest with her wonderful boyfriend.

Tags/CW: Fluff, autumnal/halloween themed, boyfriend!ted, stoner!Ted + Bill, reader gets high but is a lightweight, drinking/drug mentions, anxious!reader, shy!reader, soft!ted, ted reassures reader and is the sweetest boyfriend, dancing the night away, ted tells you he loves you, ted who loves PDA.

Authors Note: tiny text just to save room, rest of post is normal. This one has surprisingly no smut, so if you've been wanting to read a cute, fluffy fic, this one is for you! I kept which part of the past reader is from vague so that you may fill that in as you like! ʚ♥︎ɞ

The house is already lit up, the sounds of heavy metal blasting through the open windows, while the rustling of leaves crunch around your red heels. You look over to your boyfriend Ted with a bit of worry, trying to gauge his reaction. You haven't lived in San Dimas long, in fact, you haven't lived in 1992 for that long either. You still can't believe this loveable goof had dazzled you into his phone booth, taking you from the past and so far into the future. There are times where you wonder if it was the right move, but Ted has always assured you that he would take you right back home if you ever said the word.

And here you are, dressed as what Ted described as a "cartoon" character (which you're sort of becoming familiar with since he and Bill insist on their "Saturday morning cartoons") who supposedly solves mysteries of some sort. You think Ted looks pretty normal tonight, his shirt a particular shade a green and his pants a reddish brown. He completes the look with joint he has stashed behind his ear for later.

You pull your attention back to the big house, it seems almost abandoned, or at least well partied. Tonight, the barren trees outside sport toilet paper waving in the wind, and the orange glow from inside occasionally flashes to green or purple. The thump of Motley Crüe can be heard as you two walk up, and other twenty-somethings adorn the rickety porch their own costumes. Ted laughs as he greets someone dressed as Freddy Krueger (he made sure to get you up to date on your horror movies this month) with a chest bump before glancing down at you. He sees your worried expression and reaches to hold your hand.

"Don't worry babe, everyone's going to like, totally love you!" He smiles that earnest, puppy dog smile of his, and you feel some of the worry subside. You hold onto his hand as you enter the loud, crowded house.

Vince Neil is just finishing his last 'Shout at The Devil' as you squeeze between two Ghostbusters to keep up with Ted. Everything here is so new and strange to you, you hardly understand half of the costumes, even with Bill and Ted spending extra time to keep you culturally in touch with the early 90s. The glow of the kitchen beckons Ted, and you follow.

Inside you see Bill, dressed up as in a giant brown dog suit. Ted sees him and immediately throws his arms open into a happy hug.

"Scoob!!" He yells to Bill, pretending to be in character for the moment. Bill responds with a 'Raggy!' and the two embrace with a smile.

When the two part, Bill looks over your costume approvingly.

"You make an awesome Velma!" He exclaims and throws up a hand to high five. You do so, getting better at the timing these little rituals require. You glance down at your orange sweater and short red skirt, feeling happy that you've overcome your first Halloween hurdle.

Bill and Ted begin talking, and you listen in. You've always been shy, even in your own timeline you were praised for being such a quiet and obedient child. Now, you feel happy to be around such a ray of sunshine like Ted, and he is always ready to oblige your want to listen more than talk when it comes to the social situations. He makes sure to check in, even without saying, like now, when he wraps a hand around your waist and pulls you closer with a quick kiss to the top of your head. He's never shy to give you PDA, and anyone who would feel bold enough to say something about it would be met with a happy indifference by Ted.

Eventually Bill pulls Ted, who in turn pulls you, towards the semi crowded living room. A couple is just getting up, the woman dragging her man longingly to the bathroom, so Bill let's you and Ted take their seat, Bill props himself happily up on the couches arm rest. The room is filled with smoke and laughter, and Ted gives your hand a warm squeeze and a look to make sure you're doing alright. You nod.

Even though the youth culture is so seemingly bizarre on the outside in this time, you know it's not all that much different from what you and your friends did back at home. People laugh into bottles of beer around you, and you remember the taste of the bitter liquid from your time as well. Ted pulls the joint from his ear at Bill's request, and Bill offers a helpful lighter from his jeans. They both take turns inhaling what the joint has to offer, holding it in their lungs, and releasing it to the orange streaked sky. The smoke swirls in the lights and the colors stream through it like hands through hair.

Ted passes it towards you. You pause for a moment. This substance is newer to you, but you've experimented with it with Ted before. Usually you would have a puff or two in the night, especially when Ted had gotten the next day off work from the Cheesy Pretzel. You were surprised to find you actually really enjoyed the feeling of 'being high' as Ted called it. And he was right to call it that, you quickly found.

You take the joint from Ted, giving a small puff, and trying to hold it like them, but ending up in a small coughing fit. Ted laughs a little at your lightweightness and rubs your back gently and kindly. You smile back at him when you've finally recovered, happy to be leading this young, strange, life. You pass the joint back to Bill and lean into the warmth of Ted's body.

You glance at the tiny TV before the couch, feeling your mind slowly getting more relaxed and thoughts slipping away one by one. The TV glows with the image of Laurie Strode having her own smoke session with in her friends car and you feel more connected to this time. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Even though sometimes you wonder if it was worth it to leave your whole life behind, moments like these, enclosed in your boyfriends arms, listening to his soft and happy chatter with friends, enjoying new and exciting life experiences, washed away any doubt. You can't believe how far you've come, how much expectations of your life you've lost. The hedonist in you is pleased, certainly.

You continue to quietly watch party goers until one of Ted's favorite songs comes on. He looks to you, his usual goofy smile appearing.

"Can I have this dance, m'lady?" He says with a laugh, despite not knowing if that's from your time or not. You find his humor and effort endearing, returning his smile and taking his outstretched hand.

He pulls you up gently, and moves to where others are enjoying the makeshift dancefloor. Dancing in this time is so different for you, but you laugh and try to follow Ted's movements, jumping about with him. He teaches you how to head bang to the fast song, his long hair a flurry about his fast when he does it. You copy him the best you can, but what matters most is how alive you feel right now. Whatever shell you had crawled into and begun to live in from your time was slowly cracking here, and Ted was the perfect light shining through those cracks.

You two continue to dance along to metal and rock, and you feel lighter with each jump. Soon enough, Ted pulls you in by your hips and places his forehead to yours as another song ends. Someone has to flip the tape, so the sound of the rest of the party is a blur in both your ears. He holds you close, obviously a bit worn out, but happy to be having such fun with you. You lean into his and he tilts your chin up for a kiss from his soft lips. You love when he does this, you had never been kissed before you met Ted, but now you feel as if he breathes more life into you with each one.

Ted pulls away and gazes into your eyes with a softness about him. He mouthes that he loves you, but when you miss what he said, he kisses up your neck to your ear, telling you his love with each kiss. You blush hard as he does this, shivers across your skin. You feel goosebumps under your orange sweater and have to adjust your fake glasses when he's done. He is blushing just as much as you, and you are grateful to be here with him.

The night continues and ends with laughs and fun for you and Ted, and you slowly find yourself not needing to think about the past, or future. You're here, in the present, with someone who loves you. That's all that matters.

[differentclasss]

Christmas One Shot ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Neil Lewis x Reader

pairing: Neil Lewis x reader

summary: Neil throws a party at Gumshoe and admits his feelings towards y/n.

warnings: smut 9 (a handjob) and not really proofread writing. Neil is a little cringe in this lol. Probably not in character

a/n: I wrote this so quickly but I just wanted to get something out for the holiday! Also, send me requests! I have some free time so I'll probably start going through those again.

Honestly, you would’ve spent Christmas alone if it wasn’t for your friend Neil deciding to throw a last-minute watch party of It’s a Wonderful Life at Gumshoe Video that day. It was the most in spirit of the season activity you had done that December with the whole idea of Christmas spirit being a little lost on you recently. You didn’t know why you lacked the usual zeal compared to Christmases of years prior but the whole month of December just seemed like any other month. It was true, you were getting older but even so, you normally had at least a little bit of enthusiasm for this time of the season. You pushed these thoughts away, however, telling yourself you would at least have fun at the small gathering at Gumshoe. You would work for free every once in a while too at Gumshoe, when your schedule was free, so you knew everyone there. It would be fun, the same ensemble as usual all planning to go.�� Neil was the planner of this whole thing too, which truth be told was the entire reason you were even going. You had a small crush on Neil, he was cute, and it was hard for anyone not to find him cute. He was the type of cute that would make you do something really stupid if you weren’t careful, which is why you admired him from a distance, only ever playfully flirting with him but all around keeping it pretty friendly. 

Christmas day came and you slept in, no reason to get up early with your work being closed that day and the watch party being at six in the evening. Eventually, four rolled around and you spent a bit of extra time getting ready, you told yourself you just wanted to dress up for the holiday but deep down you knew that attention-seeking part of yourself wanted to impress Neil, even in the slightest. Off you went, donning what you considered a festive outfit and grabbing a bottle of wine as a party gift, not wanting to show up empty-handed. When you got to Gumshoe you took note of all of the decorations in the windows. There were twinkling lights and a few cardboard cut-outs with those cheap Santa hats draped over their heads. You thought if anywhere could offer you single-use Christmas spirit, this would be the place. 

After making your rounds of brief catch-ups with some of your fellow regulars, you spot Neil. He’s over by the television, fussing with the VHS player. He curses under his breath as he clicks the on and off button a few times and waits for something to happen. 

“Is it broken?” You ask, appearing over his right shoulder.

 

“I hope not.” He mumbles. “Before you ask, I already unplugged it and plugged it back in and I’ve been pushing the on-off button for five minutes now.”

“It’s old,” You say and crotch down to the player's level. “You try hitting it yet?”

“What?” He asks, looking at you with a bewildered face. 

Without another beat, you lean over and hit the top of it with your clenched fist. Neil looks a bit shocked, maybe a bit afraid that you just broke it completely, but then it turns into a happy grin as the VCR turns on.

“It’s a Christmas miracle.” He says in his charming boyish way. 

“I just earned my wings from that.” You joke back and stand up, then hold the bottle of wine out in front of him. “Oh, here. I wasn’t sure what kind of wine you liked so I kind of eyeballed it but… Yeah. Merry Christmas, Neil.”

“Oh, thank you. Red?” He says with a small grin as he takes it from your hands. “It looks nice… Thank you. Oh! I have a, uh, gift for you too. You’ll like it, come on.” He nods his head to the office and walks in front of you.

 

His office was lightly decorated with a small Christmas tree on the corner of his desk. You watch as he opens a drawer and shifts through it for a minute. He pulls out a crudely wrapped small box, the same shape as a VHS, you can’t help but blush at the gesture. He hands it to you and you take it, looking at his poor gift-wrapping abilities. It’s sweet though, making you feel a little guilty about buying him a meager bottle of wine. He tells you to unwrap it and you do, pulling the wrapping apart revealing a tape of Vivre Sa Vie, you had been looking for it for months now and that pesky blush just got worse from the sentimental gift.

“Neil,” You say and look up at him. “You didn’t have to do this… Thank you so much. I’ve wanted for this ages now.”

“Don’t mention it.” He waves his hand. “I know you’ve been looking for it and you’ve been such a great help here lately.”

“Thanks.” You say again and smile. You want to lean in and kiss him on the cheek but you decide against it. “Well, we should probably go out there and start the movie, yeah?”

He nods and you both take your leave into the main floor of the shop. You sit down on the couch and watch as Neil does a small introductory to the movie like he always does at events like this. After he starts the movie, he opens the bottle of wine pours a glass for himself, and then pours you one. After he hands you the filled glass, he sits next to you and you feel his thigh against yours, making it hard to concentrate on the movie.

Somehow you managed the whole two-hour runtime without dying from some sort of sexually frustrated-related stroke. The wine didn’t help either. You were a little tipsy, Neil having poured too much in your glass, and being near him for so long made it clear to you that you liked Neil a lot more than you originally thought. When the characters Mary and George in It’s a Wonderful Life kiss like they need each other, you find yourself looking at Neil through your peripheral view. Once the credits were rolling, people were starting to get up and either leave or refill their glasses. Neil stood up to say goodbye to some people who were leaving and you could breathe for a moment, not having to feel his thigh against yours. After a moment of contemplation, you decided to leave, it would be the best option with how you were feeling. You knew that he was cute enough to make you do something stupid and with the right amount of wine, you would probably act on it.

“Leaving already?” Neil asked as he saw you put on your coat.

 

“Yeah, it was fun but… I should probably go home and get some sleep.” You said.

“Aw come on, it's not even nine yet…” He said with his best puppy dog eyes. “We were gonna Eyes Wide Shut next. You should stay. What else are you going to do?”

You went back in forth in your head for a moment, but in the end, you knew you were going to stay. How could you deny his pretty blue eyes? He was right, after all, you would go home and probably just watch a movie by yourself. 

“Alright,” You say with a small grin and shrug off your coat. “Just one more movie…”

“Great.” He says and then takes your empty glass. “I’ll get you another.”

You wanted to say no thank you but he was already grabbing the bottle and pouring another, thankfully not overfilling it like last time. Those who were staying, which weren’t many, all retreated to the couch and Neil sat back down next to you after putting the next film in the VCR. You tried to focus all your thoughts on the movie this time but your mind still wandered. You thought of his lips and his hands instead of the movie. 

This film was just as painful as the first, all because of Neil. You swore he moved closer to you while the picture played out. You finished the glass halfway through and decided against another, feeling a little hazy. Amid your hazy and lustful thoughts, you realize more people are leaving and get up to say goodbye. After you say your farewells, you realize it’s just Neil and you in the store. You feel awkward and grab your coat.

“Wait.” He said quickly, making you stop what you were doing. “I hate to ask but… Uh, could you help me clean up the place a bit? I just don’t want to have to deal with it tomorrow morning.”

You agree and set your coat down. After all, this will probably only take an extra half hour. You don’t mind spending more time with Neil either, you’re just worried you’ll ruin the friendship, despite not knowing him that long. You start by picking up any cups and he starts to sweep. You offer to mop but he says he’ll do it tomorrow. It ended up only taking twenty minutes and you both are okay with the results. It’s not spotless, but it will do for now. You stand next to him after you finish and then look up at him.

“I had a great time tonight, Neil.” You tell him. “And thanks for the tape. I don’t have to return this one, right?” You joke.

“Absolutely not.” He shakes his head. “I hope you like it.”

“I will, I’m sure of it.” You say. “Well, goodnight.”

“Wait.” He says and lightly grabs your bicep as you start to walk away. “I don’t know if it's the wine or the whole "sentimental-ness" of this holiday but… You look pretty and I was hoping I could, uh, kiss you.” The way he phrases it makes it sound like a question and you blush at the request. 

“We can chalk it up to the sentimental nature of the holiday and dissect it another day.” You say teasingly and walk up to him. “You’re in luck though, I’ve been thinking about kissing you for a while.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He puts his hands on your waist and kisses your lips at first softly, but then much rougher as it goes on. You both stumble for a moment as you try to find a solid surface to lean on. He lands on the back of the couch, leaning on it as he pulls you closer in your kiss. You try to keep up his kisses but they seem too quick to try to find a tempo. He squirms as he kisses you sloppily. His hips rut against you as one of his hands holds the small of your back and the other settles on the back of your neck. 

“You’re so pretty.” He mumbles between kisses. “Ever since I met you I wanted to kiss you like this.”

You can’t think of anything to say except little moans of praise. Your hand slinks between the two of you and finds his fly which you unzip and sneak your hand into. He grunts as you palm him through his boxers and eventually, pull him out. Your hands send shivers down his spine. He had thought about this for ages, how you would be in such an intimate moment. He never thought you would be so willing and so open to the idea of pleasing him like this. He keeps grunting into your mouth as your hand works up and down his cock, pre-cum spilling from the tip and on your hands. Based on how sloppy his kissing is getting, you don’t think he’ll last long. 

You kiss him harder and apply more pressure to his hand job, making him whine as his breathing gets shallower. His hips start to buck into your hand, wanting to get as much pleasure as he can through you. You think for a moment to bend down and replace your hands with your mouth but you like how he kisses you much more. You don’t notice his grip on you tighten before he bites down on your lip and muffles his moan. You feel something hot on your leg through your tights. His breathing slows and he comes to his senses.

“Shit,” He says and pulls back, looking down at the sheer tights you’re wearing. “I’m sorry. I can buy you new ones! I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine.” You giggle and look down at your now-ruined tights. “They were like, two dollars. Don’t worry about it. Just a little gross now.”

“A little?” He asks with an embarrassed laugh. “I’ll make it up to you. How about we go get dinner together this week? I’ll pay, obviously.”

“If you wanted to take me out to dinner, you didn’t have to come on my leg. You could’ve just asked.” You tease and then lean in to peck him on the lips. “I’d like that a lot though. I like you a lot too.”

“I like you too.” He says, blushing at the elementary confession. “Let me get you a towel. I’m sorry.” He adds and retracts from you to go find some way to clean up his mess.

It is probably the weirdest Christmas you’ve had, never before experiencing a love confession or for that much, getting your tights ruined by a guy's cum, but you feel hopeful weirdly. You feel hopeful because of Neil, come this time next year, you’ll be with him you hope. Maybe it’s not the perfect way to start a relationship but it is the start of one. One you’re optimistic about. 

[aboutnavi]

I was brushing my teeth, reflecting about life, & my mind went back to AFTG and there is a scene on the first book that it has been stuck on my brain since I read the trilogy again this January and it's about Seth. Now, I know the fandom -in general- barely talk about Seth because Nora decided to kill him off for shock value and when people try to talk about him, it always comes back to 'he was a homophobic, disgusting piece of shit' which yes, valid but also, are we forgetting Aaron? The babyfication of Aaron in this fandom had everyone collectively forgetting he was exactly like Seth (even worse: towards his family!!!). Two wrongs doesn't make one right & I'm in no way justifying Seth's action but if we never talk about characters on AFTG just because they were problematic, we are not talking about any of them, ever (ok maybe some of them, but still).

My point is: the scene. Neil is confused as to why Seth hates Kevin -specifically him- so much, since Seth could get along with most people if he wanted and tried hard enough but he refused to give ground to Kevin & his answer is just so humanly heartbreaking it goes to my list of moments Nora did something right in AFTG. The scene goes like this:

Neil: Why do you hate him?

Seth: Because I'm sick of him getting everything he wants just because he's Kevin Day. Do you know what fame gets you, shitface? Everything. All he has to do is ask for it, and someone will give it to him. Doesn't matter what. Doesn't matter who. The world is dying to give him anything he wants. When he broke his hand, his fans cried for him. They flooded our locker room with letters and flowers. The amazing Kevin Day can't play anymore. Their lives were over. They'd grieve the loss forever. But tell me when's the last time anyone cried over you? Never, right? They're there for Kevin every step of the way, but where were they when we needed them?

Neil, stupidly: So you're jealous.

Seth: His life is not more important than mine just because he's more talented.

Neil first instinct is to say jealousy because jealousy is something he understands (he felt jealous of Kevin for having a future, for being able to play, for the talent, for the life he never got to live when his mother ran away, etc.) but for me what Seth is trying to portrait is more like the painful awareness that you get when you realize you're also worthy of love and care. Seth is such an unexplored character who had so much potential if Nora hadn't killed him for the sake of showing how Riko could be/was dangerous (and she could have done that in so many different ways!!!) & you can see that on, for example, Nora's post about his life. Seth was always the no-priority person, the kid no one payed attention to, the boy that if killed, not even his mother would come for the funeral. He was every aspect a Fox and he spent his entire life being told he was no one and to be able to say his life is not more important than mine shows so much development; the chance he had put on himself for being open to love, to care, to second and third chances... it was all there. It breaks my heart that he never got the chance to become something. & I do not believe he was an inherently bad person? They are so young in AFTG, all of them. Maybe Seth wasn't bad; maybe he was just twenty-two, you know?

& on the extra content when they tell Allison he died and she goes 'He called me not even an hour ago! He was drunk and rambling but he was happy for the first time in weeks. He was talking about how he finally thought graduating would be okay, about how he wanted me to help him look into grad schools. He wanted to go into social work and help people like he helps us. I know he wanted to die! Everyone knows he wanted to die! Every time he said he was done with life I walked away from him and every time he came chasing after me. This is the first time--he wanted to live.' breaks my heart.

Because, ok, Seth dies. Let's pretend it was a good idea for him to die to set some sort of impact on the story for a second. Except his death goes without much fuss. The shock Nora wanted is felt for maybe three seconds, in one paragraph in the last page of TFC and then we barely talk about Seth on TRK and TKM. Neil can't even understand how impactful was Seth's death - he only cares about how it will affect the game & his guilt is more about how Allison would feel towards him then sadness over losing a teammate - and this insight we get from Allison is from the extra content and not everyone goes on to read those so if Nora wanted something out of his death - pity, shock, sadness, or whatever - she should have put this scene IN THE BOOKS.

[humbledragon669]

S1E5 – The Doomsday Option Write Up P3 - Saturday (The last day of the World) from "He was waving"

Let’s have a go at getting this episode wrapped up, shall we? I have less than a page of notes to write up from my rewatch so it must be possible, surely.

The first thing I want to talk about is the scripting for Adam’s character. Throughout the season, we’ve come to learn that he is capable of great love, for his surroundings and the people in his life. This scene is no different. Notice how he has no desire to rule over anywhere other than his beloved Hogback Woods? To the extent that he’s happy to give entire continents over to other people for them to do the ruling. He also appears to be making the offering based on what he thinks will make them happy, so even though his birthright and resulting powers are well established by this point, his true human nature is still motivating his decisions. And even though the Satanic part of him wants not to care about his childhood friends, he’s physically incapable of letting them leave without following them and trying to convince them to stay. You can see how devastated he is when they finally do leave:

I find it interesting that the one thing that seems to really spur on his despair is Dog abandoning him, which I suspect represents the loss of all the love that he has in his life. I think that the following montage, complete with an emotional string-heavy soundtrack, subtextually conveys the choice he has to make for himself – stay as Adam, the little boy who loves, or follow his destiny and become the Destroyer of Worlds. It’s clearly not an easy choice – the fact that the playing card background that commences the montage is of the Great Beast shows where his thought process at the beginning of this sequence – and the last thing we see in the montage is the playing card being covered up, leaving us in doubt about what his choice he has made.

If you look very carefully, you can see the King of Hearts icons on the bottom left corner of the card on the table, which tells us his decision but the outcome of his decision is represented more clearly in the script and soundtrack, where the last word he hears in his memory sequence is his human name, melting his dual tone scream into the single tone of a child. And just in case you were in any doubt, his eyes lose their demonic red glow – his choice is complete. It pays off too – Dog returns to him instantly, and again I think this represents the return of love to his life. It revives him and makes him fully human again. It’s a pretty beautiful analogy really.

I didn’t find an awful lot to talk about of note in the next few scenes – they’re incredibly focussed on the narrative, and very purposefully bringing all the threads together, so just to sum up we have the following main character groups coming in to land (get it? Because they’re all going to an airbase landing strip… *tumbleweed* Yeah, yeah, I’ll get my coat…):

Adam and the rest of The Them.

Aziraphale, Madame Tracy and Shadwell.

Anathema and Newt.

The Four Horsemen.

Crowley and his flaming Bentley.

Fast forward to our first little Easter Egg for this section – the book that the soldier is reading in his watch station office is another one of Neil’s:

I have had a few, very inconsequential niggly questions about the sequence of scenes prior to the Horsemen’s arrival at the air base (like why does R.P. Tyler pick his dog up when the Horsemen arrive instead of just continuing across the road?), but this one has bothered me more than I would like to admit. Who is the extra person in the car that the Horsemen arrive in?

Even the Script Book is no help here (or even the original book) – it specifically states there the car has four people in it, each one of them a Horseman. So who is he? Where does he come from? Where does he go? I did remember to check the FAQ master list for this one, but I couldn’t see it referenced there anywhere.

The next thing of note I could pick out is that Adam refers to the Horsemen as “them”:

Not if you’re them.

Perhaps this is just a necessity of language, but it stood out to me because of the nickname that his own gang has allocated to themselves. There are more parallels to come when the two groups meet on the tarmac at the air base (not least the fact that each one has four members, and that both groups show up on bikes), but this was the first time I felt like the comparison was being made explicitly.

Two more niggly questions about the next couple of scenes:

I know R.P. Tyler’s sole purpose in this story is to act as a satirical NIMBY, but why does he stop The Them on their way to the airbase? Those kids were legitimately not doing anything wrong and he gives them a hard time for it. Not only that, he doesn’t seem to give two shits that they’re happily cycling off to a classified military site when he does find out where they’re going. Such a weird man.

Why does the soldier ask for a screwdriver to fix a computer? I’ve worked in IT for over 10 years, and I could count the number of times I’ve had to use a screwdriver for troubleshooting on one hand, and I certainly wouldn’t have said that responsibility would fall to a “muggle”, rather than an IT professional.

Still, when it comes to unanswered questions, Death has got it nailed:

SOLDIER: Who the hell are you? DEATH: I am neither of Hell nor Heaven.

Uh, right. Pretty sure that’s not what he asked but what does it matter? All the people in that room aren’t paying attention to the Horsemen after that anyway. According to the Script Book, they’re simply unconscious at this point, rather than dead, but that feels quite inconsistent to me. Why would the Horsemen leave them alive? They’re all going to die in 31 minutes anyway. And can we just take a moment to appreciate how poignant this line is?

Except the dying. When it comes to some things, machines will never replace people.

Deep. And really fucking dark. Did someone say this was supposed to be a comedy show? And does anybody else find the real-life foreshadowing of the Russia-Ukraine conflict really creepy?

I know the two countries were in a very precarious political position for a long time before war actually broke out, this exchange just gives me a bit of a chill.

I find it interesting to see that the corporeal representations of Famine, Pollution, and War are all disintegrating in front of our eyes as Armageddon approaches. Personally I would have thought that the opposite would be more appropriate – that they get stronger and more powerful as their presence in the world starts to take hold. I wonder if the idea instead is that they are disintegrating as corporeal beings with the result being that they disseminate into the atmosphere.

I have no idea if this is intentional, or even if anybody else will see the same thing, but there’s a split second in the Bentley where, to my mind, it looks like Crowley has a small pair of horns:

It happens so quickly before he turns and faces forward ahead again, and his hair is looking pretty dishevelled (unsurprising, given his journey up to this point, although it looks pretty well styled in the next shot). If it’s intentional, I give serious credit to the people that snuck that one in – the subtlety and attention to detail is astounding. And if it’s pure coincidence? I think it’s brilliant all the same.

At this point, I want to give a bit of consideration to the music for this episode in particular, and it was the music playing on Aziraphale’s arrival at the airbase that drew my attention to it. It made me realise that each group of people, or storyline thread if you’d prefer, have their own style of music, and that each of those styles has been playing during their respective scenes throughout the episode. Sometimes the music doesn’t even stop when moving from one scene to the next, but simply blends into the relevant style required by the characters. There’s very little of this episode that is without a musical backdrop, and the fact that we have been moving so rapidly through musical genres without it being uncomfortable to the audience is absolutely incredible.

And speaking of music, we have the return of a song that’s actually already been used once in the season before – Bohemian Rhapsody. We first heard its use way back in episode 1 when Crowley arrives at the graveyard to meet Hastur and Ligur, but the lyrics we hear this time are different, and don’t seem to have as much meaning. Makes for a pretty epic entrance though, doesn’t it? And if you couldn’t tell how delighted Aziraphale is (as Madame Tracy, obviously) when he realises that Crowley has showed up (bearing compliments no less) by the way he speaks his name, check out this swoon:

I love how nonchalant Crowley is when he gets out of the car here, and with the perfect line to announce his arrival too. It makes me wonder how long he’s been thinking about what he’s going to say when he finally arrives at the airbase, and how many other punchlines he’s already rejected. I also wonder how much of that swagger is him desperately trying to make up for the emotional wreck of a display Aziraphale was witness to earlier that afternoon. To be fair, it totally works – he oozes cool as he saunters towards the gates of the airbase and, oh so comfortably, takes his place beside Aziraphale, with reassurances that he’s going to save the day.

That. Was. Hot. Just me? Perhaps I’m just too hung up on the idea that I think Crowley feels he has a lot of ground to make up for, having failed to rescue Aziraphale in the book shop. That growl though… It’s almost enough to make you miss the fact that Crowley talks to the “army human” without his glasses, and openly refers to Aziraphale as his “friend”. There’s a pretty obvious statement being made here – no more hiding. He also points out that they’ve “come a long way”. I can’t believe that he’s referring to the physical distance travelled by them both at this point – as the crow flies I would make it to be about 40 miles. There’s more to his sentence that we don’t get to hear (something of a running theme in this show I think) because The Them are about to turn up, giving their own rendition of a Queen song credit.

Sounds rather like the middle section of Bicycle Race, don’t you think? And there’s one more thing to note before we wrap this episode up: Adam’s treatment of the soldiers that turn up on the tarmac is a mirror image of what Death did to the soldiers inside the bunker, causing them all to pass out at his will. As I said earlier, we’ll see some more of those parallels in the final episode for the season.

And that’s it for this episode. As always, questions, comments, discussion – all welcome. See you next time 😊

[khevinday]

on twitter, nora liked a post insinuating jean was in love with kevin and kevin never noticed, but jean is no longer. she also liked a tweet asking if they would talk about kevin leaving jean behind in the nest. from this i'm gathering jean carries a very deep, multifaceted wound of betrayal (which isn't really new but yk). now of course, this is all speculation and nothing is confirmed for canon, but. it's got me thinking about like.... who does kevin have?

i think the immediate answer is andrew, neil. his father, the foxes. but i mean like... who is his person? andrew and neil have each other, jean will have jeremy. and kevin, from what we know from extra content, will have thea. and maybe we'll get a glimpse of that in tsc, but kevin went almost the entirety of the books never mentioning thea himself or even speaking to her off screen until the end. and even then he wouldn't have if she didn't come find him.

now i'm no thea hater but their relationship never felt special to me. i never felt any sort of relief for kevin having her. and now i'm thinking about how lonely he might feel, how lost. and it just feels like... he's got the short end of the stick somehow? and it makes me so sad. who does he talk to, who does he feel comfortable enough with to share his darkest thoughts, who does he allow himself to be vulnerable with? who is there teach him how to let himself feel those things? no one understands his grief over riko, but who is the person that he'd try to explain it to?

i just want him to be happy and loved and to love in return. not idolized, not celebrated as a champion, but loved as a person who has been hurt. it breaks my heart thinking he may not get that earth shattering, life changing kind of connection with anyone.

[evesetchings]

So! A few years ago, I found this piece of very cool fanart by the amazingly talented @mysterykidsmisadventures and at the time, as a huge enjoyer of both mystery kids (I was mainly there for coraline and gravity falls, as I had yet to see paranorman and lacked the ability to play Psychonauts) and the monster falls au, (probably my favorite of the gravity falls aus) it was probably my favorite piece of art for a good long while, and I really wanted to make something for it. However, I didn’t think I had the artistic ability to make something of suitable caliber whether it be in art or writing. So I just sort of didn’t.

THAT IS, until last October, when I had just finished my first watch of ParaNorman, and decided to finally just grab a pencil and paper to make something for this awesome art. I wanted to get this out around Halloween of that same year, but a combination of real world stuff and general anxiety stopped me, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Finally I have decided to post these drawings. They were super fun to do and I really hope you enjoy them. Just remember to check out the original artist as well!

Art under the cut!

Here we have the classics! Cervitaur Dipper and mermaid Mabel! I tried to put in some of the classic Gravity Falls artstyle, and I think they turned out great!

Although the lower halves did give me a bit of trouble. Dipper isn't feeling too good about...any of this, especially considering he now has an extra pair of legs to worry about, but Mabel seems to be adjusting fine, maybe things won't be too bad.

Mabel on the other hand is living. Sure it was a bit tough to begin with, but being swim and move like this feels amazing. Plus, she's been able to see and do so much new cool stuff like this! She knows that it can't last forever, but she's gonna enjoy it while it's here!

And these are reaper Norman and... winged dog? Neil. These ones turned out pretty nice too, I especially like Norman's expression.

Norman's feeling pretty worried about this, but it's not like this is totally new to him. He's always been disconnected from the living due to his gift, and this isn't too different from that. Besides, he's gotten through something like this before, how hard can it be a second time?

Neil is honestly doing just as well as Mabel, if not better. He’s pretty quickly realized how great having wings is and enjoys swooping around and seeing things from the skies. It also helps that being a dog himself makes him feel closer to his dead dog Bub, and who should have said how great it is to be a dog!

We got wood-owl griffin Raz and dryad Lili, which I’m mostly happy with, although Raz’s design was a pain in the ass. Both of them are really freaked out at first, they’re used to dealing with the inner workings of the mind, not weird transformations!

Raz is especially not used to being a quadruped, but once he gets used to it, it’s actually really cool. Having this kind of flexibility is super useful for all kinds of stuff, like getting to new places and trying out interesting new tricks! So it’s not all bad, especially with psychic powers in the mix.

Lili is also pretty alarmed, but she’s also a bit irritated by it too, cause even if she likes plants, she never asked to BE one. She does eventually feel better about it after a while, and it does help that she feels even closer to them, even if she needs to be a bit more careful with her pyrokinesis now.

And finally there are kelpie-taur Coraline and salamander Wybie. These were that last ones I made, and I had a lot of fun drawing them, even if it was a little frustrating at times.

Coraline, like mostly everyone here, is pretty freaked out at first, and learning about what kelpies usually do certainly doesn't help with that. Thankfully, she doesn't have the urge to drag anyone down to the bottom of the lake, but she does realize that she's starting to feel more comfortable near bodies of water, and that moving though water is easier now, and it's actually kinda...fun. She is still looking for a way to change back now, what on earth would she tell her parents if they saw her like this.

Wybie is equally alarmed about being a metallic, fire-manipulating creature that is not an amphibian despite the name, especially because he has no idea what his grandma will think once she arrives. As soon as he starts experimenting around a little, and that doesn’t take long, he starts discovers some interesting things about his new body, like that he can stick to walls, (just like an ordinary salamander!), and that he’s fireproof. (which certainly helps with his tinkering habits) So while he still wants to change back at some point, he’s gonna work with this while he can.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. This project certainly took some time, and I’m glad I finally get to share it. I hope you enjoyed the product of me discovering old art and my insane mental mutterings, and also don’t forget to check out the original art as well!

[bun-bun07]

AFTG

Tw(all mention) child abuse,SA/rope,

Cw- Mostly just sfw

Andrew/neil.

(things that I noticed+my thoughts and speculations)(head cannons)

Things that the fandom asks for but I don't think we can really handle, But we really want it....

Let's be honest we say we want to see Andrew actually genuinely smiling expressing his happiness but let's be completely honest we wouldn't be able to handle that, my heart would literally implode (especially with the head Cannon of him having dimples OMG dig me an early grave)

When I really think about Andrew genuinely crying I just can't handle it even thinking about it makes me want to cry; Him physically expressing that he's in pain would actually mentally hurt me

Already knowing that he's in pain hurts but him showing it would actually break my heart, he's definitely a pretty crier and silent crier too.

2. You know the scene on the roof when Andrew gets back from rehab, I vividly remember him turning away from Neil to put on his arm bands and when I think about it I start thinking he doesn't turn away from him to just hide his scars, Andrew just doesn't want Neil to pity him

especially after seeing him in such a weak state after the incident at Thanksgiving and seeing him genuinely helpless and weak, he just doesn't't want Neil to think he needed his pity and treat him any differently or even think he's weak

(am I precisely remembered somewhere in the extra content Andrew openly admits to not wanting neil to pity him)

But let's be completely honest during the whole series of us reading the all for the game Neil never really shows any pity for anyone.

I know people like to regularly joke around and like to show neil as this supreme joker and prankster and up his sassiness to a level higher than a supreme,

But let's be completely honest for a moment not only does Neil rarely socialize with people he most definitely rarely smiles for anyone and honestly he only shows a little bit more emotion than Andrew

And when I think of Neil's emotional expression level compare him to todoroki cuz he's just as dense and he's just as bad at showing his emotions.

And we most definitely don't see nail smile very often like go back and reread the whole book and there's only a few moments Neil smiles 2+

And the only person we really see him smile for is Andrew which is cute and is completely adorable to think about he smiles a lot more often around Andrew(Andrew is able to make neil smile by just being himself and that's really cute)

Physical affection.

I know people like to write Neil as someone who is starving for physical affection look I have a love-hate relationship with that thought on one hand it's really adorable but on the other hand I don't like how people completely ignore how awkward Neil is when it comes to physical affection,

Like are we going to completely ignore that Neil does not know how to comfort or even handle being hugged like I git it let's be delusional but let's not be that delusional where we completely ignore that neil rarely had any form of physical affection in childhood the only thing we ever got hinted at of him having any sign of affection was his mother sleeping on the same bed as him which is sad.

like the only physical contact that Neil had was violent and was company by pain(this man didn't even know how to be a friend nor did he pick up on people genuinely liking him and even caring about him)

So the thought of Andrew genuinely liking him risking it all for him sacrificing for him puts his brain on the loading screen.

But the point is Neil never asked for anything really physical he doesn't ask for it he doesn't want to be hugged but that doesn't mean he doesn't mind it he may not want it or need it but he doesn't mind having it that's the whole point with neil he doesn't expect anything more and Andrew really does notice these things about him.

Watching Andrew fall deeply more in love with the things that are Neil josten it's even more beautiful than anything and romance may not be what that book was about but it showed it beautifully(it makes me wish there was more of just them.)

And the same thing goes for Andrew,

In all the adoption homes orphanages that Andrew has been to he has never had a good home some may have been better than others but they weren't in the least bit great, taking into account that he was always being abused in some way whether it was sexual or physical and emotional it makes sense that Andrew is so used to people not caring about his opinion because he's so used to being ignored so the thought of Neil genuinely showing care and protectiveness over Andrew well of course to Andrew Neil is in fact a pipe dream cuz something like that is really too good to be true.

Andrew hates it he hates that Neil will listen and cares about his opinion whether it's a yes or no neil listens and cares about him and he hates that neil is the one thing that would truly hurt him to lose because neil genuinely cares about him just as much as he cares about neil.

So when it comes to physical affection between them though they lack it and aren't used to it it's not something that they need or want but it's not something that's unwelcome under their own conditions

But in my opinion I think Andrew likes touching neil just as much as Neil likes to be close to Andrew, but let's always remember even without touching or kissing they like enjoying each other's presents and Andrew's attraction was never only physical with neil.

Happy?

Well yes they're happy why wouldn't they be they live together they own animals together they joke together

They go on little dates together and spend money on each other, they work and spend time together, so why wouldn't they happy not all happy endings need to end with a marriage because who says marriage is the way to happiness just because they aren't married doesn't mean they aren't happy I know some people don't think it or even think about it in that way some people understand it but still want it and that's understandable,

But for these characters I never really expected them to get married though it's a pleasant thought to have to see but to be completely honest these characters never been around happy marriages or grew up in a family with a happy marriage it's never been on their mind to marry it's something that they don't indulge in it's like a tie and though some marriages aren't a tie down or even to be tied to anything period but,

For these characters they are all about regaining their freedom, freedom control and freedom of change or freedom of distance at some point freedom to stop hiding the freedom to speak without pretending to live without fear is the true definition of living they don't need be Married to be happy and if they want to be separated they can be separate without needing to sign papers.