She's Just Marking Her Territory At This Point Tbh😭

Valerie: "Danny, i think your goth friend doesn't like me that much"

Danny: *obviously sweating*

Danny: "Who? Sam? Oh, no, she absolutely adores you! Haha!"

Sam: *glaring at her while stabbing her salad*

Valerie: "...."

Valerie: "That's...nice..."

Plot twist- imagine jude didn't come back to Elfhame not bcz she was upset but because she had found this cute friend group (that consists of both males and females) who taught her stuff about the world like buying groceries or playing video games

Cardan, storming into the mortal world: SO THIS IS WHY YOU WON'T COME HOME?

Jude, literally getting icecream with her friends: Wha-

Cardan, gesturing to the males in the group: MEN? YOU IGNORE MY LETTERS FOR OTHER MEN? IS WHAT I HAVE NOT SATISFACTORY ENOUGH?

Friend group: ooohhh

Jude: Cardan you're embarrassing me

Friend group: Jude, who is he?

Cardan, having a literal fit: SO SHE DIDNT MENTION ME EVEN ONCE

Jude: no wai-

Friend group: not that we've heard

Jude: Cardan maybe you should shut up now

Cardan, lifting up his hand furiously, showing off his ring: I'm her HUSBAND

Friend group: goes absolutely crazy

It would be such a cute dynamic and at the same time so hilarious because Cardan would CONSTANTLY have meltdowns at the thought of her choosing another man over him and her friends would just be laughing and oohing on the side like an audience to a play while Jude just sat there with a throbbing headache

Valerie: *reading a book*

Valerie: "Ehh, I hate the enemies to lovers trope. It's annoying fr"

Danny: "..."

Danny: *sweating* "You sure?"

Ekko meeting his younger self ⏱️💔

AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT THAT is that--what gets me about the Miles and Margo flirting vs not flirting debate is that I really think people are underestimating how annoyed Miles is with Gwen in this scene.

Bear with me. I'm not saying anyone's a horrible person, I'm saying this is a fun thing about his character.

Miles is annoyed with Gwen on the Spider Society tour.

And he has good reason to be! She's been brushing him and his questions off. Back in Mumbattan she said she should've "never come to see him." And he's finding out that she lied to him--for instance, about the "small elite strike force" actually being a huge society.

I feel like a lot of people don't notice it because he's not letting it show too obviously. I think he's trying to brush off his annoyance and keep a positive attitude, but it still shows in his actions. And in the script:

And, of course, the most obvious:

And I wanna pause before I get to the whole Miles-Margo flirting thing to take a step back: the reason why this is important to me is because Miles isn't stupid and Miles isn't an always-positive ray of sunshine. It's clear that at this point, he's clocked that Gwen is lying to him. And he realizes that she's treating him badly. He's not oblivious, he's just choosing to not pick a fight with her about it right then and there. Even then, he's not just rolling over and taking the bad treatment, he's just reacting to it in a more subtle way.

...Which brings me to the flirting.

Now, the LAST thing I want to imply is that Margo is a tool for Miles and Gwen to use. Those that know my blog know I love Margo. I think she's a great character in her own right, and she doesn't just exist as a plot point to further ghostflower's agenda--it's clear metatextually that this moment served at least partially to introduce her as a character that will be important next movie, as a member of the Spider-Band.

Even beyond that, I don't think Miles was faking his interest in her. I mean, we all saw his spider-sense go off, and I don't think it's just because "they're all spider-man." I believe they were both genuinely interested in each other and sparked a connection there.

That said.

I also believe Miles noticed how Gwen reacted to it. And maybe dug his heels in further than he would've otherwise, to get more of a reaction out of her.

I mean, we all know Miles is down bad for Gwen. If he hadn't been annoyed with her at the moment, I think he would've been a lot more receptive to "keeping moving" like she wanted to, simply because he's usually really attentive to her being upset. He tries to make her feel better. But this time, he doesn't. In the movie proper, he ignores her to keep talking with Margo. In the script, he literally physically follows Margo:

You guys see what I mean, right? It's the same as acting super invested in the anomalies right after Gwen claimed they weren't interesting. It's resisting Gwen and what she wants. Something he usually never does.

This! Is! Important! To! Me! Because I think it shows that Miles has a higher awareness and independence than people give him credit for in these scenes! He's not just running around enthusiastically, not knowing about the lion's den he's walking into. He knows something is up. He knows he's being treated unfairly. And he's not just forgiving it and letting it go--he's addressing it, in his own subtle way.

Anyway, I think that on the Gwen side of things, he's mostly annoyed at her because he feels she's devaluing their close relationship with the way she's acting (because she is). So flirting with Margo is kind of rubbing that exact same behavior back in Gwen's face.

And it works, because he gets a reaction out of Gwen that reinforces that she cares about their relationship--he annoys her. She literally yanks him away from Margo. And based on the way he reacts to that, I think he's pretty happy with that reaction. Because he forced Gwen to acknowledge that she cares about him and values their relationship like he does.

(most pixelated screenshot known to man but you get my point. anyway)

lots of ppl have mixed opinions on cardan in the first book, which is fair, but me personally, just LOOK at how subtle he is at protecting her. and i don’t just mean when he stuck his foot in the water to scare the nixies away from jude when his buds threw her and Taryn in the river, i mean these:

This one, when he thinks that dains spies are about to beat Jude’s ass over who gets the pretty prince, so he cautions her away from picking a fight w them. And that’s AFTER she’s kidnapped him LOOLLL

And this. really cute and subtle way of saying “be careful babe!” but he makes it seem sorta like an insult. like she would be wasting his time if she went and died. he keeps himself so well guarded so as to not get himself hurt again PLS. guys i am normal about him.

him reaching for her after he learned that valerian tried to kill her AGAIN. 😐 i need him.

And then this one. imagine how he felt seeing her leave the tower covered in blood knowing that valerian was in there w her. and Hollys annotation here. yeah ok im so normal- this proves that he didn’t expect his cruelty to encourage valerians murdery lust for jude. to encourage Locke to take her as his prize, to encourage nicasia to humiliate the twins to get cardans and lockes favor.

AND DONT GET ME STARTED, on when he’s drunk and his families been murdered and he’s officially elfhames #1 most wanted and he’s telling Jude to be careful, that she shouldn’t be at balekins evil little revel 😭😭 he worried more for her than he did himself.

and i could just GO ON. and i shall:

when he sends her a dress made for royalty opposed to one that made her look more like servant/ would allow Taryn to outshine her (she could never tho)

When he told Locke to piss off and began dancing w her when Locke was abt to tell her that he’s been fuxking her sis the whole time.

When he saw her (canon according to Hollys annotations) after she stole Sophie (the human servant at hollow hall) and didn’t do or say anything AND PROBABLY EVEN TOOK THE FUCKING BLAMMMEEE IM SO SICK.

anyway I’m sure there’s more so feel free to add on 😭

But i just LOVE how cardan knows how jude is, the way that Taryn describes jude in her novella- as someone who doesn’t back down from a dare, who picks fights with anyone and everyone, who brings those that pick on her down to her level. he knows his wife so well, even in the first book, he knew her so much better than even her father. than ANYONE even Taryn. bc Taryn was all like “promise you’ll stop bothering them!” Like do you KNOW who you’re talking to lmao

anyway I LOVE TYEMEMEMMEMEHSIAPS someone sedate me fr

Another cute moment in Café "the last Drip"

Another gesture study made into a cute small thing. <3

Pluh! Kai and laurie art dump because I’m absolutely downhill for them

Wedding song