#you can see it flash on screen sometimes as i reference colors and details lol

[mirukimary-artarchive]

Timelapse under the cut!

⚠️WARNING: Flashing lights⚠️ Timelapse | Real time: ~7h

🧡 For Azuki_Nyan on Toyhouse 🖤

[sheriffofmagic]

Im always a big slut for hurt/comfort, so if you made it Vang0Chainz I would perish. Also Burger Chainz trying to enculture Vang0Bang0 by having a movie marathon that turns into a sleepover. Also what if Burger knew Vang0 before he lost his memory but promised Vango that he'd never tell him who he was before. im also tipsy lol im jus throwing spaghetti places. i love your blog btwww

I was going to go to sleep but i saw this ask and had to start writing immediately (must have some weird dumb pavlovian response to vang0chainz) anyway this is super dumb hopefully, maybe you’ll enjoy it. it’s almost 5am and i didnt proofread this so its definitely a huge mess but uhhhhh here’s the trash you ordered

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“Will you stop fussing?” Vang0 says, snappier than he intended.

Burger Chainz pulls back from where he’d been inspecting Vang0’s hurt shoulder, a mix of hurt and embarrassment on his face.

“It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been shot,” Vang0 continues, “at least… I don’t think it is. Muscle memory or somethin’. Anyways, I mean it. I’m fine. And you hovering over me like I’m about to drop dead isn’t helping.”

Vang0’s not fine, obviously. He’s been shot which, muscle memory or not, stings like a bitch and more than anything makes him mourn for his jacket which there is no salvaging from the burn marks. A shame really, the chrome color had nearly matched that of his hair. He’d been thinking of turning it into his signature look, perfect for merchandising. Oh well. He wasn’t dead so that was a plus of sorts....

They were at Vang0 and Burger’s place (technically Vang0’s but Burger was there so often the distinction hardly felt necessary anymore) and, aside from the bullet wound, this was a pretty typical Saturday night. The TV providing a low din of noise to fill the empty spaces of whatever inane conversation was taking place between the two of them. Tonight was more tense than usual. Vang0 Bang0 was not a strong man. High charisma, low constitution. All that. Hiding pain wasn’t exactly in his repertoire but ignoring it? That he might be able to manage, especially if it stopped his massive cyborg friend from pulling the kicked puppy look for the next couple of hours.

Night City wasn’t exactly known for it’s premium broadcasting, most nights after midnight channels tended to switch to the same things. Classics. Vang0 didn’t care much for it, looking back at the past, even the fictional past, wasn’t really his thing. Burger Chainz, though, Burger Chainz loved them. Tried to hide it, Vang0 knew, but he’d referenced them often enough that Vang0 picked up. Vang0 was observant like that, even though he pretended not to be.

All this to say, it was after midnight, Vang0 was the one in pain, and yet Burger looked like he was the one on the verge of a breakdown. Vang0 took pity on him, the kind he only indulged in when the streams were turned off and the hour was late and he could pretend he and Burger were just normal friends, “What’s this one about again?” 

Burger looks startled for a moment then glances briefly between the TV and Vang0, “Uhh, it’s a rom-com. He’s emailing another kid from his school but he doesn’t know who it is.”

Vang0 bites back a sardonic comment about how if this kid really wanted to know who his secret admirer was he could cross reference the dialogue patterns and… yeah maybe he can see why he’s not the most fun person to watch movies with and- oh. Burger is still talking.

“-things were different back then, ya know? People weren’t so… nice.”

Vang0 laughs, “You think people are nicer now?”

He gestures to the wound in his shoulder and Vang0 rolls his eyes (Eye? Can monochrome robotic eyes roll?) “Well, not bad folks maybe. Criminals still aren’t great. Prone to violence and all that. But normal people? Yeah I think they’re better.”

“Well aren’t you optimistic.”

Without missing a beat Burger replies with a wry smile, “Well, I have to be don’t I? With you around. Gotta cancel out that negative energy.”

Burger goes back to watching the TV, a slight uptick in the corners of his mouth. Vang0 can only look at him half dumbstruck, half distracted by the pain (getting shot really does hurt).

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Burger Chainz glances toward him, unsure, “Mean no offense. Just- you kind of assume the worst. About situations. ‘Bout people. Sometimes, even ‘bout yourself, if it’s not outta line to say.”

“It is.”

“Okay.” An awkward silence. Punctuated by the sounds of the film, too loud to be filling this space. This isn’t the conversation Vang0 wanted to be having. Not now. Not ever, if he could help it.

“How is it wrong for me to assume the worst? Huh? People do the worst all the time. We see it every day. You see the world we live in? You want me to be optimistic here? After everything I’ve gone through?”

Burger finally looks away from the screen, for once there’s no tension in his brow, only sureness. “I don’t want you to be anything other than yourself but goin’ through life thinking every shadow is out to get ya isn’t much of a way of livin’.”

“I didn’t think I’d have to remind you of all people that I have good reason to be distrustful.”

“You don’t. I-” he sighs, “I just wish you’d be willing to things as more than just black and white.”

“Oh forgive me if I’ve had some encounters,” he gestures to his shoulder, “that paint Night City in a bad light.”

Burger hesitates, “Does it hurt?”

“Obviously.”

“Right…”

They lapse into silence again, both of them staring at the screen but Vang0 can tell from the rigid set of Burger’s shoulders that he’s not really paying attention. He’s too on edge. 

It’s not until after the emotional turning point of the film that Burger Chainz breaks the silence. The kid’s friends have all abandoned him, over something stupid Vang0 presumes despite not having paid much attention to what was going on. The kid was angry. Alone. And then the resolution starts and he’s so not alone anymore.

“It can’t all be bad though, right?” Burger asks tentatively.

Vang0 raises an eyebrow at him though which he means to convey Uh well, it is. In case you forgot I was shot by a person in your dumb city just a few hours ago. But which Burger Chainz apparently interprets as… honestly Vang0 has no clue how that man’s mind works.

“I- I mean. It’s not all bad all the time. Aside from the getting shot thing. Not great.”

“Can’t forget the memory wipe.”

Burger’s eye darts around the room, “R-right that too but- But. It’s not all bad. I mean, it’s pretty bad but think about it. You have an apartment and your fans and a sorta job and Dasha and- and me.”

He pauses.

“And that can’t all be bad. I’m only sayin’- the whole world ain’t out to get you, only part of it.”

This shouldn’t be comforting. At all. It should be unsettling. It should make Vang0 want to laugh bitterly and spout some brilliant sardonic response about the world being a cruel place that doesn’t care about people like him. But the music in the movie has shifted to something more hopeful. But it’s the late hours of the night where things like hope are less dangerous to feel. But Burger is looking at him with a soft look in his eyes. Like he really believes what he’s saying, the sap, and like he wants Vang0 to believe it too. He doesn’t but for just a second, Vang0 wants to. He wants to believe in a world with gentleness, the one Burger seems to be able to see where no one else can.

He sighs. Not a defeat. Not an agreement because Vang0 never yields. But an acceptance.

Vang0 tries to release the tension from his shoulders as much as he can, schooling his face into something less jaded. If anyone deserves to believe the world isn’t all sharp edges it’s Burger.

He looks between Burger and the screen, “So do these kid’s friends suck or is that just me?”

There’s a flash of disappointment across Burger’s face, but he’s never been one to push especially not with Vang0. If he drops the subject, Burger will follow. The flash is gone in an instant and a small smile grows across Burger’s face, any residual tension drifting away with it.

“Definitely not just you, they suck. You might’ve missed it but earlier they-” 

And he semi-listens to Burger re-explain the plot of the movie he hadn’t bothered to pay attention to but he finds it capturing him more now. His attention is locked somewhere between the play-by-play and the actions occurring on screen. It’s the resolution now and everything seems to be coming together just a little to easily. The friends are back and the school is welcoming and the crush is confessed and everything is wrapped up too neatly for Vang0 to feel satisfied. There’s still a panging ache in his shoulder. His head is still chattering away as it has been since he woke up. Still there is that faint voice urging him to pull away. To focus on what he’s good at and make content and be alone and convince himself that that is enough. But the volume is so low that the old pop tune playing over the credits doesn’t feel abrasive. Burger is leaning in towards him slightly, conspiratorially, as if talking about this dumb classic is as important as mission details. There’s a smile on Burger’s lips that reaches his eyes. And Vang0 is content, for this moment, to pretend that happy endings are enough.

[a-speck-in-the-grand-scheme]

Sherlock: The first 12 minutes of S4E1

Okay, I’m rewatching the first episode for the second time... and HOLLLYY CRAP I MISSED SO MANY THINGS. I’m just going to jot some things down and tag a couple of people to see if they have any ideas about what I noticed.... because it’s crazy. Let’s begin! 

The Trailer

Okay, I know this technically isn’t part of the episode, but I noticed so many things that I didn’t notice before. This isn’t so shocking, but I realized that behind Mycroft, there’s an image of a pouncing panther or lion, I believe. (And considering that there are a ton of images of lions in this episode, I found this intriguing...)

Another thing that I saw are the symbols under the screen with Moriarty’s ad, “did you miss me”....

There is a locked and unlocked symbol, next to the emergency symbol which is taking up a hell of a lot of space. Also note that they are using cars a lot, like with the case of the boy who died in the car seat, this scene, Mary giving birth....

The Episode 

The episode begins with this document... 

Which is something that we have already seen, (and I think there was a post about this a couple of weeks ago in tumblr, but I couldn’t find it). First, notice how there’s a lion (reoccurring motif in the show) and a unicorn, as well as dieu et mon driot, with Dieu under the lion and Droit under the unicorn, and Honi soit qui mal y pense. Dieu means “god” and droit means “right” in French, and the phrase in the garter between these two means “May he be shamed who thinks badly of it”/”Shame be to him who thinks evil of it.” (Note: A Garter, according to good old wikipedia, was a type of clothing used in the 18th-19th century to keep up stockings, and sometimes even socks). Could the lion symbol that we have seen so many times in the show somehow relate to “god”? As for the unicorn, I have no clue....

I found it intriguing how they decided to show the audience this note because after this image, Mycroft explains all of this to the small committee and Sherlock. So why did they show this document in the first place? I have seen some people speculating that the phone number that the bus stop woman gave to John is a code, as well as the messages that they exchanged. So could the case # (BT198255D, which has 1982 in it) and the address of the cabinet office (SW1A2AS) be a certain code too?

Okay, so now let’s look at the very first scene of the episode. I couldn’t help but to analyze the way they decided to place the small committee. For me, it stood out that Mrs. Norberry was a lot farther away from the rest of the group, and that’s when I looked at what was next to her. Unlike the other two, her lamp is turned off and there is a lamp beside her that creates a daunting shadow behind her, and the others don’t have shadows (as shown with my shitty arrows lol) . Although I am not entirely sure, the other shadow that is to the far right seems to be coming from Mycroft, which is way bigger than hers. I mean, even without looking at the shadows, Mycroft’s is physically bigger than anyone else in this scene because of the angle. Both of them cast shadows in this scene.  

These guys all have code names, which are Antarctica, Langdale, Porlock, and Love. What I find funny is that Sherlock, knowing that they want to hide their identity, asks what Love’s name was, and she told him that her name was Vivian. Vivian comes from the latin name Vivianus, which derives from vivus, meaning “alive” in Latin (and right before he asked her name, he shouted “I’m just so glad to be alive!). Also, it’s intriguing that there are four people in the group just like the AGRA team (And notice that in AGRA, there is a repetition of a letter, which is  A. In ALPL, there is a repetition of a letter too, which is L. Following the similar letter construction, it could be like LAPL, or LPAL?). In addition to this, did you guys notice how strange Sherlock was acting? He was literary starving in this scene, and he was nonstop texting. Since when did Sherlock use social media so much, and hashtags for that matter? (I’ll talk about this later on in the post). 

Sherlock, acting jittery and excited, tells them that he’s going to wait for Moriarty’s next move because as a ‘target,’ the only thing he can do is wait. Sherlock felt confident that when “everything is lined up,” he will “know when it will begin.” It is not the first time that we’ve seen this concept of him being a target and of him waiting for the inevitable shot. Remember the blind banker circus scene? There was a performer chained up against a board who, when the sandbag started falling towards the pressure plate to trigger the arrow, had to escape from the trap. I won’t get into detail about this because I have already discussed this in my meta post about Sherlock and the Magician Houdini being similar, which you can read about it here. It’s also interesting to note that Sherlock says, “I know when the games on, because I love it.” I don’t think we’ve ever heard Sherlock say that he loved anything before... so what is going on with Sherlock?

Later on, in the show, we are brought back to apartment 221 (221 is back and in business! YAY!). After looking at this image for a solid minute, I realized that, again because of the camera angle that they used, two keys are subtly seen between John’s hands... 

It’s the brightness keys on the computer. lol. 

Anyways, Sherlock tells John that he’s “going to monitor the underworld,” which is his excuse for being on the phone all the time. Then, we get a montage of all the cases that Sherlock was on, such as... 

Dusty Death: A man was found near the sea near Falmouth, with sand in his lungs (again, it is not the first time we hear about sand! I also discuss sand imagery in my meta post) 

Untitled case #1 (I think?): Sherlock was looking at a thumb in ice, who was presumed to be Mr. Hatherley’s. Mr. Hatherley was described as “white as a sheet” (reference back to ghosts) 

The Duplicate Man: Dennis Parkinson was believed to be in two places at the same time, and murdered a man (Back to the idea of twins and ghosts. Correct me if I am wrong, but in John’s wedding, wasn’t it also presumed that the killer was in two places at once?)

The Circus Torso: A limbless body was found near the Waterloo station (Again, the circus! Once again, I also discuss Waterloo in my meta post. Aw geeze I have to stop self-advertising lol) (Also, notice how the body was limbless, while during the Untitled Case #1, they had a man’s thumb. The people are disjointed, it’s like synedoche) 

The Canary trainer: Wilson, who was an ‘unusual man,’ had an odd hobby. Although this case isn’t too clear, Sherlock mentions how he had some sort of connection to a man that froze one night in November. 

The Cardiac arrest: Apparently a man killed his brother. (Again, they discuss only a body part of the person, this time the heart. The thumb, the limbless body, the heart. And then these cases are also very fragmented as well because we only catch glimpses of the texts that Sherlock’s sends.) 

Untitled case #2: The jellyfish, who presumably killed someone? Again, it’s unclear.

Also, is it just me, or is Sherlock actually naming all of these cases instead of John? What the flip is going on!?  

So, after this little montage about Sherlock’s cases, we get a scene with John and Sherlock as they are walking up the stairs. 

In this scene, as well as many others in this episode, we see a lot of cold colors, especially sea-blue hues. In this scene, although there are some lights on and a window, Sherlock’s phone is emitting a blue light that seemingly follows John up the stairs. But then this is where things get funky...

We see this bluish light on the characters, but where exactly is this coming from? The window would be the most logical answer, but it’s so far away from where they are standing and it would emit warm colors, not cold ones. Okay, now let’s talk about what is actually happening here. In this scene, John realizes that Mary called 59 times, which is actually pretty crazy if you think about it. Seriously, 59 times, and because she was in labor. Shouldn’t she have just called the ambulance or something instead of trying to contact her husband if he wasn’t picking up? Also, what the heck, John? Does this mean that John was too distracted with Sherlock and he didn’t notice that his phone vibrated 59 damn times, or was his phone completely on silent? (Dude, I swear they are going overboard with the phone metaphor).

Okay, now onto the birth scene! There are quite a few things that stood out in this scene for me. First off, when John tells Marry to calm down, he says “Relax, it has two syllables!” What the heck? How does that help Mary calm down? Because it stands out so weirdly in the conversation, I feel like this is some code of some sort; perhaps it’s the answer to how to solve one? (AGRA has two syllables, right?) Also, did anyone notice that at first Sherlock was in the front seat.... 

AND THEN HE FRICKIN TELEPORTED TO THE BACK SEAT WITH MARRY

They frickin put a mind palace scene and it’s so subtle!!! Guys, you have to rewatch that scene because there are also a lot of things that don’t seem right. First of all, John is turning the car for waaayyy too long, like if he is almost going in circles instead of actually turning. Also, there is a lot of flashes of light and reflections of buildings everywhere, which made this scene really distracting to watch. ALSO, we don’t actually see the birth of the child, but instead we see a huge beam of light with the sound of a car crash/tires breaking and that’s when the baby appears. What. The. Heck. Are. They. Doing. To. Us. 

....

After that flashing light that we saw, we see a get together with the whole crew. We see Mrs. Hudson taking a picture, and that’s when I noticed her necklace... 

Its looks like a key to me. But to what lock, I wonder? MMMmMMMMM....

.....

The church scene also seems like a mind palace moment to be honest. Why? Firstly, during the baptism, the priest reaches down to touch the water, and we hear the sound of water, but we don’t see it. The container looks like it’s completely empty. The camera then pans over to the godparents, and we see Sherlock typing like a maniac. The only time that Sherlock looks away from his phone is when Mary tells the priest that they were going to call the child “Rosamund.” And here is when I realized something. Ever since the first scene, Sherlock has been on his phone using social networking and hashtags... which was something he really never did before. He seems completely disconnected to the world around him, although he nonetheless pays attention to it, but when he hears Rosamund, he looks up. As we will later learn in the episode, Rosamund was a name that Mary used in AGRA. So why was Sherlock so stunned when he heard that name? Could it be because in this entire episode he is in his mind palace, and he is allowing his mind to figure out the mysteries behind Mary just like in TAB? Could it be that the phone connects him to the real world, and he is looking at other cases stored in his mind palace? That would mean that Sherlock is actually ignoring what is happening in his palace (unlike TAB, which he was much more involved) and he is paying more attention to the real world. So what we initially see with Sherlock being uninterested with what’s happening around him is not actually the case, but rather he is ignoring what is happening in his mind palace until he gets to the information that he wants. I mean, let’s look at the time when hashtags were seen in the series... 

It was when Sherlock made a come back; everyone was hashtagging like crazy. Could his tweeting be the only connection he has to people in the real world? Going back to the scene, this would make sense. Molly asks Sherlock if he has gotten John’s texts, which Sherlock says, “no I haven’t.” How the hell did he not get his text when he’s on the dang phone all the time?! Could it be because Sherlock isn’t part of that world, the mind palace world, and perhaps he doesn’t get anyone’s messages? Instead, he might be trying to send his messages to the real world? But no one responds yet... so could it be that the only connection to the real world he had, his phone/heart, has been severed? 

Applying this idea back to the baptism, when the priest asks Sherlock if he was ready to be a godfather to this Christian couple, his phone just said “Sorry, I didn’t catch that, please repeat the question,” which could indicate how ridiculous that statement was. Seriously, Christian parents? Since when did they ever show any interest in religious matters? This scene ends strangely too, as the image becomes distorted with a water effect. And suddenly the image transitions to another one, but before that you can catch a glimpse of Sherlock zooming across the screen... as shown below.... 

And finally, to the bus scene. 

John gets a text presumably from Sherlock, which says “Baker Street? Tomorrow at five pm? Lestrade says he has a belter.” A Belter, if you didn’t know, is a loud singer or song. Although I am clueless as to what this means in this context, it seems like it is important because John looks up from his phone, contemplating what he was going to say. He responded “Mary says it’s fine” which, I believe, was a lie because he wasn’t with Mary at that scene. Then he kind of chuckles at the conversation before suddenly looking serious, as if he realized that he unintentionally showed his emotions. When John looks at the mysterious bus woman for the first time, for just a second we hear a baby crying and we don’t hear it ever again. Um, what? WHY?!

Okay, and about that flower....

    ..... what....

This is only the first 12 minutes......

Help me. Please. 

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@just-sort-of-happened @deducingbbcsherlock @skulls-and-tea @loudest-subtext-in-tv @iamjohnlocked4life @bug-catcher-in-viridian-forest