I've always loved that panel with River's fantasy. It's like Alice in Wonderland and A Midsummer Night's Dream meets LSD.

I can't decide whether I like the llama, the dragon, or the yellow submarine best.

Nice

And Dr. Seuss!

Wow...guess I had better read "Better Days" if there's imagery like this going on, huh?

;)

Definitely some excellent character exploration here, but part of me wonders what River's fantasy would have been pre-Academy or if she never went...cuz what we see here matches River's skewed sense of reality, but I personally picture River having a mansion full of books and reading materials surrounding a ballet studio or something.

Who's to say that wasn't River's fantasy BEFORE the academy? It seems to me that as much as River loved learning, and despite the riches of her family, she wasn't ever a very material person. Maybe her fantasy has always been a desire to be liberated and free to be her own eccentric self.

I like learning, I like reading, writing, drawing, that would be all I would do if I didn't have a job to consider. But there is something even more appealing in being free of the inhibitions of society and my own self. If I lived as constrained a life as I suspect River would have, especially with her genius, I would feel that way doubly so.

And maybe her library and dance studio are in that fantastic castle off in the distance. :)

You know, I hadn't noticed the llama until now.

Yay llama in-jokes!