New Headcanon Acquired - Tumblr Posts

just saw a tag on a fic that said "cleo and lemony both secretly think of the other as the sidekick" and i can't think of a more accurate descriptor for their (nonexistent) relationship

Small Potatoes?

I DID IT GUYS I CRACKED THE CODE

I was scrolling through my dash and came across this post of Russian proverbs and guess what? The “small potatoes” line, as per ANY INTERACTION EVER with Akiren and Goro, DOES have a double interpreted meaning, hence the source of the idiom.

Specifically, I’d like to point out this proverb: 

Любовь не картошка, не выбросишь в окошко. LOVE IS NOT A POTATO YOU CANNOT THROW IT OUT A WINDOW (that is, love is not a small thing that is easy to get rid of)

Which brings me to this reblog:

For about TWENTY YEARS I have been wondering why, in the English-translated Chekhov play I read because it was on the summer reading list for my AP English class, someone says with no particularly enlightening context, “Death is not a potato.”

BUT THAT’S WHY, ISN’T IT. HE’S REFERENCING THAT PROVERB. LOVE IS NOT A POTATO; DEATH IS NOT A POTATO.

And boom. Both contexts give Akiren’s line of “this isn’t small potatoes” so much more depth and meaning. Love is not a potato; death is not a potato. This isn’t small potatoes.

The feelings Akiren carries for Goro aren’t potatoes. It’s more than just the typical meaning the idiom carries. (The idiom itself specifically refers to something small and inconsequential.) But looking at the origin, it’s so much more than just that. 

What Akiren is really trying to say here is not that “Goro’s life isn’t inconsequential”. Take into account the original proverb: Love isn’t a potato. What he’s trying to say is that his feelings – no, his love for Goro is not inconsequential, that it’s not something he can just let go of that easily. When he says “This isn’t small potatoes” he isn’t only referring to having to fight Maruki. He’s referring to the entire situation, which is the reason he’s so vague about what “this” refers to. 

It’s a love confession wrapped up neatly in an idiom borne from a proverb.

Now, take Chekhov’s play’s line into account: Death is not a potato. It references the original proverb, and is equally applicable to this in context, and comes back to not being able to let go easily. Akiren would not be able to let go of Goro. 

And, if you do choose to do the right thing and fight Maruki, Akiren doesn’t let go. Up until the day he leaves Tokyo, Goro’s glove remains in his pocket, and on his last day there, he solidifies his promise within his heart again, and reminds himself that he has yet to keep it. 

These two are so used to speaking in proverbs and idioms and double entendres and quotes, it’s practically a language. 

YESSSSS I LOVE THIS

Who Is Scout's Ma?

She's a character we know extremely little about, however when you stop to consider the IMPLICATIONS of what little we DO know, things start to get interesting:

1. She lives in the roughest part of Boston ("if you were from where I was from, you'd be dead") but dresses quite elegantly.

2. She had 8 boys, all of whom she raised BY HERSELF, and yet somehow she finds the time to maintain this impeccable appearance.

3. Scout clearly loves and admires her to a point where it's one of the few things he'll drop his "tough guy" act for, and dialogue in the comics like "Ma's gonna kill me if she finds out" implies he also still fears her disapproval, despite being a fully autonomous adult.

4. Spy, despite what he likes to pretend, is clearly head-over-heels for her. He even had her likeness engraved on his fanciest gun! (Note the distinct hairband & hoop earrings) For a man who avoids attachment to the point where he never lets anyone see his face, that's an unusual degree of infatuation.

5. None of Scout's brothers left Boston while he was growing up, despite a few of them presumably being adults by then. Not only this, they were still all getting into fights together, implying they were both continuing to live with or near their mother and brothers, AND had reasons to brawl with others beyond just some adolescent street scuffle.

My Theory:

Scout's Ma is the matriarch of a Boston-based crime family.

It explains her elegant appearance, how she and Spy were able to meet, why their bond clearly goes beyond a one-off fling, why she was able to be in Scout's life so much despite the financial burdens of being a single mother of 8, and why all of said 8 were continuing to get into fights with other locals. They weren't just some street gang, they were enforcers. It also explains why/how Scout got into mercenary work, his many mafia-themed weapons, and why he continues to fear her ire even as an adult.

Plus, take a look at this unused angle of the last photo from Meet The Spy:

You'd THINK a single mother from the rough side of Boston wouldn't appear so in-her-element on a fancy date with The Spy, and yet her appearance and demeanour here just SCREAM "confident and in control."

Scout's Ma is Boston's Godmother, and I desperately wish to see someone draw her as such.