brain rot central 🦝🤪⚔️

I love Rocktiz, but I can't draw him with human Grace because I'm just too attached to the interspecie bond between Grace and Rocky. It's the soul of the movie and its so beautiful.

The human Rocky AU and eridian Grace AU down there, since i really liked the linearts its a shame they're so hidden

Digital Circus Episode 9 drops on Youtube and Netflix tomorrow

Z- Ramble about something fan related

Aaaahhh thank you for sending an ask but also how dare you give me the vaguest ask of them all! Too much choice about what to ramble about, so it took a while to settle on one thing since there’s many Big Fandom Thoughts I have, especially about hazbin as of late

Buuuuut since it’s pride month and also fallenwings week, (at least when I started writing this lmao) I figured I’d ramble about some silly Lute/Vaggi thoughts I had, specifically what disney song I think fits them best.

For a long while Hellfire from the hunchback of notre dame clearly held that place and still does ( @mwright30313326 animatic for this is fantastic btw). The religious trauma, repressed sexuality and internalised shame and self loathing projected outwards definitely fits Lute really, really well:

Beata Maria

You know I am a righteous man

Of my virtue I am justly proud

(Et tibit Pater)

Beata Maria

You know I'm so much purer than

The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd

(Quia peccavi nimis)

Then tell me, Maria

Why I see her dancing there

Why her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul

(Cogitatione)

I feel her, I see her

The sun caught in her raven hair

Is blazing in me out of all control

(Verbo et opere)

Like fire

Hellfire

This fire in my skin

This burning

Desire

Is turning me to sin

It's not my fault

(Mea culpa)

I'm not to blame

It is the gypsy girl

The witch who sent this flame

(Mea maxima culpa)

It's not my fault

(Mea culpa)

If in God's plan

(Mea culpa)

He made the devil so much

Stronger than a man

(Mea maxima culpa)

However for a Disney duet song between Lute and Vaggi both, one song works perfectly for them imo.

…and that’s I Don’t Dance from High School Musical 2

WAIT WAIT HEAR ME OUT

Obviously this is a much sillier and more light hearted option than Hellfire, but there’s layers to this song in how very queer coded it is. The subtext (which is not very subtle lmao, the song is full of double entendres, innuendos and LGBT slang, and the director for the movie was an openly gay man himself who confirmed the queer subtext in the movies was intentional, though they could not make it explicit at the time) song I Don’t Dance is about Ryan, a character who was intended to be an openly gay character according to the director Kenny Ortega (turned down by Disney, ofc), help Chad, who is coded as an closeted and repressed bisexual, come to terms with their sexuality, relating to this idea through dance specifically and musical theater in general, trying to teach him how to dance while they play baseball:

CHAD:

If you wanna play ball, then grab a mitt. But I don’t dance.

RYAN:

You don’t think dancing takes some game?

RYAN:

I'll show you that it's one and the same

Baseball, dancing, same game

It's easy

Step up to the place, start swingin

CHAD:

I wanna play ball now, and that's all

This is what I do

It ain't no dance that you can show me, yeah

RYAN

You'll never know

CHAD

Oh I know

RYAN:

If you never try

CHAD:

There's just one little thing

That stops me every time, yeah

RYAN:

Come on!

CHAD:

I don't dance

RYAN:

I know you can

CHAD:

Not a chance, no

RYAN:

If I could do this, well, you could do that

CHAD:

But I don't dance

RYAN:

Hit it out of the park

CHAD:

I don't dance

RYAN:

I say you can

CHAD:

There's not a chance, oh

RYAN:

Slide home, you score, swingin on the dance floor

CHAD

I don't dance, no

RYAN:

Two-steppin, now you're up to bat

Bases loaded, do your dance

It's easy

Take your best shot, just hit it 

CHAD:

I've got what it takes, playin my game

So you better spin that pitch

You're gonna throw me, yeah

I'll show you how I swing

(...the next scene of them together after the song ends shows the two having swapped clothes, which shippers often interpret as them having just had gay sex)

Chad is a sports jock who sees a rigid black and white binary of what he can and can’t do, baseball/sports are more masculine interests that fall within the acceptable parameters of what he can like/do, while dancing and musical theater is too effeminate and queer. Ryan tells him baseball and dancing are not so different, and that it’s possible to like both, much like how a person’s sexuality, or in a bigger sense the nature of the world itself, is much more fluid and complex. Chad can’t bring himself to open up to this idea (“there’s just one little thing that stops me every time”) and so outright refuses and ridicules the idea because of his own insecurities, and so unlike Ryan is not able to fully express himself.

Ryan is a theater kid who in the last movie of the trilogy realises how much he loves dance choreography in particular, and in the second movie has him teaching Chad how to dance and choreographing the performance that wins the talent competition.  

The reason this applies so well for Vaggi and Lute is that Vaggi herself is a dancer, it’s how she’s most comfortable expressing herself (Charlie has singing and Angel Dust has acting, Vaggi has dancing). But she’s also a fighter, like Lute, and she learns that fighting and dancing are not so different. The climax of her arc in S1 has her go through a dance and fight lesson with Carmilla, where Vaggi starts to reconcile the two different halves of herself as a lover (dancing) and a soldier (fighting). 

And then in S2 we see her showcase this growth best in her duet song with Charlie in Easy, where she pulls her out of her spiral and finally gets through to her in the language she speaks best, dance!

(...which also acts as a metaphor for them having gay sex and doing the “devil’s tango”) 

 Which ofc you already know because I’ve read your fantastic metas on Vaggi’s arc. 

Much like Chad, Lute is very much coded as a repressed bisexual and a lot of her internalised biphobia/homophobia is directed outwards in lashing out at Vaggi, who is open and comfortable in her sexuality as a gay woman. Both are exorcist soldiers who are expected to conform to a certain standard, they all wear the same uniform and keep their hair short, being seen as too emotional or empathetic is a deviance and weakness that is punished, that Lute herself enforces when she’s sees any one stepping outside the status quo:

So there’s a very specific repression of the expression of gender and sexuality going on with the exorcists, that can mirror that of high school sport jocks, Adding on to this is Adam being their commander, who wore a jacket that is deliberately meant to be styled like a letterman varsity jacket, that a jock/sports captain would wear, fitting with his toxic macho persona, and who is the one placing these expectations on to them. 

Chad is also like… So obsessed, especially in the first movie, with every one sticking to the status quo and resents the idea of change or people *gasp* having more than one interest outside of their specific clique, because of how it threatens his way of life. And spends most of the movie trying to discourage Troy from pursuing musical theater alongside basketball. This is pretty much a recurring theme for the HSM trilogy, are you defined by one thing? Or is it possible to be and do more? 

No, no, no, no

No, no, no

Stick to the stuff you know

It is better by far to keep things as they are

Don't mess with the flow, no, no

Stick to the status quo 

Lute: ♫ What are we even talkin' about? ♫

♫ Some crack-whore who fucked up already? ♫

♫ He blew his shot, like the cocks in his mouth ♫

[Lute stands up and puts her Exorcist mask on.]

♫This discussion is senseless and petty♫

[Both Adam and Lute fly up in front of Charlie, before flying over to and landing on the orb.]

Lute and Adam: ♫There's no question to be posed♫

♫He's unholy, case closed♫

♫ Did you forget that "Hell is forever"? ♫

And this goes for the exorcists with Lute and Vaggi. Lute clings to the status quo of heaven, of Adam’s black and white ideology, angels never make mistakes and those that do are unworthy of heaven, and sinners are defined by their mistakes and cannot be more than that. To her, they are as different as night and day

Charlie: But these are souls...Human souls just the same as the ones you have up in heaven.

Lute: (coldly)  They are not the same. They had their chance and they earned damnation.

Charlie: You're wrong. Sinners made mistakes, sure, but everyone makes mistakes.

Lute: Angels don't make mistakes.

Charlie: You really think that.

Lute: I know that.

And Lute has to believe that, because if winners and sinners aren’t so different, then her life’s purpose as a soldier and exorcist means nothing, and by extension she would be nothing. It’s a direct threat to her way of life. 

But Vaggi shows that it doesn’t have to mean nothing. Her skills and experience as a soldier and exorcist still very much play a part in her life and come in use many times, including her trust exercise in S1:

Vaggie: No. I told you you could trust me, and I'm not going to let you down. [walks away from Charlie] I just need to teach them, the way I was taught...

[As she said this, Vaggie smiles with excitement when she has the perfect trust exercise for all of them.]

[The scene changes to the group standing on a rooftop with half-destroyed buildings all around them. Everyone was shocked that the exercise has taken them to a live turf war battlefield with guns blazing in the background, demons screaming, and explosions booming.]

Charlie: *shouting over the other demons' screaming* THIS IS HOW YOU LEARNED TO TRUST PEOPLE?!

[Back at the rooftop, Vaggie makes a drill sergeant march.]

Vaggie: *drill sergeant style* There is nothing stronger than the trust between comrades in arms. Buckle up, buttercups, because today you boys become men!

[There is a loud explosion in the background, sending shockwaves that sways Vaggie's hair with a satisfying smile. Vaggie advances on Sir Pentious]

Vaggie: You, *picks up Sir Pentious*

Sir Pentious: Wait, wait! I can't fight without my minions-

Vaggie: Are gonna survive together!

[Vaggie throws Sir Pentious off the building before turning to Angel Dust]

Vaggie: And you, (Angel Dust: D-don't you even think about it-) are gonna make this hotel work!

(I love the implication that she’s taken what Lute would’ve taught her as her lieutenant in the military and trying to imitate her while running the training exercise)

Charlie: *grabs Vaggie's hand* No, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put pressure on you. We work as a team. I guess I just thought all this would be easier, but, we'll figure it out, together. I mean, look what your exercise did for them. 

And running the hotel in S2:

Vaggie: Thanks for signing the guest book. [To herself] This is like being in the army. 

But she’s not defined by that alone anymore, she’s grown to be more and to explore different sides of herself, and is a lot more confident and happy as a result. And if that’s possible for Vaggi, then it’s possible for Lute, too.

Vaggi and Lute use military terms in both their songs in S2 which you’ve pointed out: 

Lute: I’ve still got a job to do my mission’s incomplete

Only a traitor could consider making peace

Vaggi: My hand, your hand, your body in mine, they can withstand the firing line

And going back to I Don’t Dance, the song is filled with overlapping baseball and dance terminology to convey the integration between the two different sides of sports and musical theatre, along with the progressive choreography of them dancing while playing baseball:

RYAN:

Slide home, you score, swingin on the dance floor

CHAD:

I don't dance, no 

RYAN:

Lean back, tuck it in, take a chance

Swing it out, spin around, do the dance

CHAD:

I wanna play ball, not dance hall

I'm makin’ a triple, not a curtain call 

And Ryan challenging Chad by pointing out that dancing isn’t inferior and doesn’t make you lesser just because it’s seen as queer/effeminate in being too expressive, and in fact makes you more, because you’re capable of more than the one thing you were told you could be and do:

RYAN:

I can prove it to you til you know it's true

'Cause I can swing it, I can bring it to the diamond too 

In the same way Vaggi being more feminine and expressive in her appearance than when in the army, open about her sexuality and who she loves, as well as being a dancer, doesn’t make her weaker or any less capable of a fighter than Lute. It makes her more, because she’s grown outside the confines of what she was told she could be and do. Which comes up with her challenging Lute’s worldview in the S1 finale:

Vaggi: Seriously, you're pathetic, you know that? Ready to die rather than accepting mercy? No. Live. Live, knowing that you only do because I let you. The failure. 

But we’re obviously not done with these two yet and their foiling in the series. I feel the natural climax of Vaggi’s arc is trying to teach Lute what she’s learned, as the girls are mirrors of one another. They cannot deny or kill each other, because to do that would be to kill part of themselves. So how do they reconcile? How can Vaggi teach Lute what she’s learned? My answer would be a dance lesson like the one Carmilla gives Vaggi. Like Ryan gives Chad. (I have some thoughts on how a reprise of Out for Love would go for Vaggi/Lute, but that’s gonna be in another post cos this is already getting out of hand for what is essentially a jokey rambling semi-serious analysis) 

In conclusion, I’m predicting Vaggi and Lute having a homerotic dance fight, where a flustered and frustrated Lute keeps trying to fight Vaggi and a smug Vaggi keeps pulling her into a dance lesson instead, which ultimately is a tipping point for Lute finally coming to terms with her own bisexuality and realising she can be more than just a soldier (half joking/half serious prediction but it's fun to imagine)

“Sometimes taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind.”

“They call me Cowgirl cuz I like to ride 😝😝”