#why is this neverending

[mlobsters]

jared padalecki and jensen ackles discuss season 9, oct 2013

the real fake world of supernatural

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Hurt No Comfort, Brotherly Angst, 100k+

the scene in question, 9x08

[sweetteaanddragons]

Struggling with a plot point in a hopeful future fic and can't decide what I think of it; I have decided to seek other opinions to see if that clarifies the issue.

[strechanadi]

Ludmila Pagliero, Mathieu Ganio

Onegin

Photo Agathe Poupeney

[anonymous-gambito]

Fellas fellas it happened. It surprisingly happened. I found a fanfic where little Zuko pushes Azula off a roof.

[faunandfloraas]

...

[cathode-crew]

I like to think that Tenna got a little irritated waiting for Spamton to tell him his secret on becoming a big shot, that he had him be a guest partcipant on his game shows and progressively kept increasing the strangeness/difficulty/danger of his physical challenges (the quiz questions also became more strange and personal).

And this is what made Spamton upset. Thinking Tenna didn't care about him at all and that he's incapable of sincerity. He was probably already afraid that Tenna only became close to him just to become successful, and now it looks like he also only wants him around for entertainment and laughs.

[layzeal]

LWJ: wei ying… during those 13 years, where were you?

WWX: ahahahaha lan zhaaaan you know how my memory is 🥺 sorry, i really don't remember….

WWX's soul back then in Hua Cheng's ghost city:

[teal-deer]

Thing I dislike a lot about the Neverending Story film: it turns the dad into just another Boring Absent 80s Dad in a Vague Corporate Business Job

In the book,

a) the dad is specifically a dentist, which I think is neat (it's like how Calvin's dad in Calvin & Hobbes is specifically a patent attorney) and

b) suffering from severe depression due to the death of his wife. His alienation from Bastian is specifically because of that.

The end of the book has Bastian bringing the Waters of Life back from the place between Fantastika and the Real to his dad. The literal water disappears from his hands, but he brings it with him anyway -- the light and hope of imagination and love. He reminds his father that even if Bastian's mother is gone, Bastian is still here, and he needs his father.

I think most importantly, that scene speaks to the fact that adults need stories and dreams too.

[sualne]

it's also about the self but that's a given

[charmfamily]

CORVUS CROSSING: A CHARM FAMILY STORY. CHAPTER I "BOY, YOU'LL BE A MAN REAL SOON." PART VI. Transcript Beneath the Cut.

OLIVE: I'd ask how you've been but something tells me that's probably going to be a stupid question, right?

MINERVA: Less stupid than you'd think. [She smiles a little and shrugs her shoulders.] The first year was the worst one with all the holidays and "first whatever without Emerson there" moments, but you know, for better or for worse, life doesn't get to stop when you have kids. Not having any other choice is a great motivator to keep going and then before you know it, your baby's in college and looking back, the last few years doesn't seem like it's been so hard. Most of the credit for that probably goes to my sisters, but it still feels like I accomplished something, so hey. I'll take it.

OLIVE: You know if you'd like to be close and keep an eye out for Damien, there's always an open position in codicology for you to take —

MINERVA: — I appreciate that, but... I left that Minerva in Selvadorada. Haven't so much as touched a Rune Tome in six years and honestly, I don't intend to pick it back up ever again; I've done all the adventuring I'm ever going to do, more than I ever really wanted to do to begin with after I had Damien and Gemma, and now it's time for life to get simplified. Get up in the morning, keep Damien out of as much trouble as possible while not being too overprotective, get Gemma through the rest of school and get her to college so she can start her life, feed the animals, make wine with Vesta, and that's okay. It's better than okay — I like having a quiet little existence with as few complications as possible in it.

OLIVE: You sound like Mortimer... except you've thrown yourself out of work and he's thrown himself further into his, at least last I heard— there's not much news coming out of Goth Manor these days, only that it's business as usual. [She frowns.] You said Bella went missing around the same time as the funeral… now that I think of it, I don't even remember her being at the service.

MINERVA: By the time I made it back to Ravenwood, she was already gone. [She shrugs and sighs softly.] Fortuna's quick to remind everyone that as far as the Corvus Coven has been concerned for decades, Bella's always been an unreliable flake and it's not the first time she's fucked off and left everyone else standing around holding the bag. Never when it counted with me before though, and honestly, I didn't think she ever would do it to Mortimer but apparently there's a first time for everything. Every now and then there's reports of a supposed sighting of her in some random part of the world but I don't know how true any of it is. If she wanted to talk to me, she would, and if she doesn't ever speak to me again, I know I didn't do anything to cause that to happen so ... that's one more complication I'm not getting involved in.

OLIVE: Minerva... I know it takes time to find your feet after a devastating, world-shattering loss, I've been there. Many times in my unnaturally long life as I'm sure you know, but I'm speaking of Ichabod specifically... the first one. My mortal one. Darling don't let the rest of your life be filled with complacency and things that are 'good enough'. Don't waste it by burying your head in the sand and hiding from life to avoid all the complications that come with it — it won't make anything hurt any less.

MINERVA: What else am I supposed to do? So much of everything about me was wrapped up in that marriage. Fifteen years of him being the biggest thing in my life and all I'm left with is … this feeling that I've lost myself in a way I can never get back.

OLIVE: If you don't mind me saying so frankly and without the filter of politeness, you've completely forgotten everything that came before him because when you two met you were a 25 year old graduate scholar and this relatively young, brilliant, handsome professor fresh out of a doctorate program scooped you up, pumped two kids into you and relegated you to being his faithful sidekick — And to throw salt into the wound, the fucker trained you to be happy about taking the backseat instead of driving your own course. My memory's quite long, sweet; long and accurate and the Minerva I taught was a fierce and powerful genius of a girl. She didn't shy and shrink back from complications, she didn't leave questions unanswered, and she didn't make wine with her bat-brained plant-loving forever-virgin sister Vesta because it was quiet and simple. You lost yourself when Emerson Charm put a ring on your finger, not when you put him in the ground.

[brianskangs]

(231209) YOUNG K x SAY YES

[boyleblr]

you know. anto in some rockabilly 50s drama would be my certain death. why can't we have that?

[sidneycarter]

love the idea that post The Situation thomas is just increasingly obtuse when it comes to jimmy's feelings.

so when one day mrs hughes mentions in passing at how much easier it is to handle james now he's settled down, thomas is incredibly confused. and a little bit heartbroken too of course.

it gets even stranger when on valentine's day alfred sulkily asks jimmy how many cards he's sent that year and jimmy merely shrugs and smirks. mrs patmore chastises them for gossiping and announces that surely, jimmy's only got one to be sending.

then one night, most of the staff are enjoying a rare night off in the pub. as usual, a host of pretty girls surround jimmy, and one particularly brave one asks jimmy if he's got any plans on one of his half days. jimmy throws her a cheeky wink and says "sorry, darling, but i'm spoken for."

thomas starts feeling really rather hurt. he's known all along that this would happen eventually - that jimmy would eventually move on and find a nice village lass, but it still stings to hear it. somehow, it hurts even more knowing that clearly jimmy has fallen for someone but he hasn't even told thomas.

thomas puts on a brave face and elbows daisy in the side. "d'ya hear that? jimmy's kept that quiet 'asn't he?"

daisy looks at him with a frown and cocks her head to the side. "well, not really--" but before she can say anything else she's swept up into the rowdy conversation of the table.

a few weeks later, thomas and jimmy are alone in the servants hall, with thomas reading the paper in his rocking chair and jimmy tapping out melodies on the piano. the tune he's playing is sweet and gentle, and thomas finds himself swaying his head along. as the song draws to a close, a gentle round of applause sounds from the doorway.

baxter stands smiling. "let me call you sweetheart is one of my favourites. it was beautiful, jimmy."

jimmy blushes prettily and stands, closing the piano lid. "thank you, mrs baxter. good night."

after he's gone from the room, baxter enters to fill herself a glass of water. she smiles fondly at thomas. "he's so smitten you know. head over heels." she rolls her eyes affectionately.

it takes months until thomas finally figures out the truth of what's going on. well, to say he figures it out is somewhat generous.

he's in the servants hall again, this time feeling a little despondent with a cup of tea. jimmy had gone to the pictures with alfred of all people, their friendship seemingly improved since jimmy's given up on chasing ivy's skirt. thomas is resolutely not waiting up to make sure jimmy gets home safe. anna is the only other person still up, and she sits opposite thomas stitching one of lady mary's hemlines in companionable silence.

thomas dwells on his own thoughts for a while, until anna rests her sewing on the table and fixes him with a worried look. "are you quite alright, mr barrow?"

"hm? oh, yes anna, i'm very well thank you." he takes a sip of his tea to hide his moue.

anna looks unconvinced. "thomas," she says seriously, "is it-- have you and jimmy had a falling out?"

that genuinely surprises thomas. for all his worry and sadness over jimmy's as yet unknown love interest, they'd never fallen out. "no, no, of course not. he's just busy, that's all, which is to be expected now he's, you know," thomas waves his cup vaguely in the air, "courting the mystery lady."

anna chokes on a laugh. "the mystery lady?"

"yes. he's-- he's courting someone, isn't he? everyone keeps saying that he's... or suggesting that he's taken with someone." Thomas adds somewhat bitterly, "seems quite serious if you ask me. not that he's told me anything about it of course."

anna stops giggling and looks at him oddly. "thomas you-- you can't mean--"

"-- do you know who she is, anna?" thomas interrupts a little desperately. he's becoming tired of it all and he just wants to know-- how bad it is, for how long he's going to have to tend to his broken heart.

"thomas. thomas, jimmy's sweetheart is-- well, it's you."

"me?" thomas has a brief, sickening memory of his feelings before, and how miss o'brien toyed with them so badly. but he knows in his gut, that anna would never, and could never do that. he knows she's being honest, as confusing and terrifying as the statement may be.

"yes." anna smiles. "he's like a little puppy when he's with you. surely you've noticed? he gazes at you with stars in his eyes. he wants to do everything you do, and it seems like every other conversation is all about what you've been telling him this week. he only ever plays love songs on the piano when you're in the room. he laughs at all your jokes and he's not even glanced in the direction of a girl since last year." anna shakes her head. "i thought you knew and were just letting him get used to it."

"no i didn't -- i didn't know, i thought," thomas can feel himself blushing, "i don't know what i thought."

anna stands with a stifled yawn. "you make each other very happy. if you really didn't know, i think you ought to talk to him. good night, mr barrow."

"good night anna. and thank you."

thomas is left in the still and quiet of the room, watching the steam spiral up from his cup. a private and hopeful smile spreads across his face. yes, he thinks, nodding his head, perhaps we should talk.

[byler-alarmist]

Well, after such a stressful morning, it was nice to go see the 40th anniversary screening of The Neverending Story with my sibling.

I was imagining Mike and Will sitting next to each other, watching it on a movie date in 1984

I'M FINE

[dextermormon]

just find out that the doctrine(?) of apotheosis/exaltation is kind of taboo to talk about formally (missionary work, over the pulpit, other forms of teaching, etc.) (or at least it's considered obscure doctrine, even though everything logically points to it) and..... I cannot imagine a single reason why other than an attempt to ingratiate ourselves to nonmembers. it's rad and one of the coolest parts of our theology idk what's wrong with it other than it not jiving with the corporate mainstream christian assimilation the institution has been aiming for. y'all can tell me if I'm wrong

[constantvariations]

Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby 2: electric boogaloo

Something that will never not astound me about Full Metal Alchemist is just how tight the story is. Every scene and every character serves the story, which in turn serves the characters. There's no fluff, no detours, and no excess in cast, plot, or exposition

This comes into hyperfocus in the lead up to and on the Promised Day. Every character we've seen thus far, be they main, side, or support, has a role to play and their own reason for doing so. Each has a hand in saving the world

Even Yoki, the bumbling, self-serving comic relief, gets a moment in the spotlight when he hits Pride with a car to save Marcoh, Heinkel, and Alphonse. The best part? Despite it being a genuinely comedic moment in the midst of devestation, it doesn't destroy the tone. Not only has Yoki been a consistently silly character, but it's done in a way that serves the plot without overtaking it for the bit. That's such an incredibly tight line to walk and Arakawa walks it beautifully

Hard to say any of that about RWBY. It's extremely obvious the writers are flying by the seat of their pants towards a vast sea of nothing. That's why their characters and themes and general everything seems scattered and disconnected. Because it is. They don't know where they're going or even where they've been, so nothing is ever going to line up the way a proper story should

RWBY's story never serves the characters the way it should, and the writers are willing to break characters to force them into a role they were never meant to be in. Look no further than Weiss in V9, assigned comedic relief despite recent events, or Yang's weirdass optimism inside the whale during V8. These instances are so jarring because these characters have not been silly or optimistic since Beacon fell, and they're in the show to just... be there. Neither V8 nor V9 benefitted from these scenes, and you can pluck them out with no consequences. Hell, there'd be an improvement through lack of bathos

While both FMA and RWBY are large scale action stories, only one actually knows how to handle it