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Suddenly Lyra gripped Will's arm. "Shh," she whispered. "Don't look. I'm sure they're up there. I saw something move and I swear it was Pan..." Her hand was warm. He was more aware of that than of the great mass of leaves and branches above them. Pretending to gaze vacantly at the horizon, he let his attention wander upward into the confused mass of green, brown, and blue, and there—she was right!—there was a something that was not the tree. And beside it, another.

HIS DARK MATERIALS • The Amber Spyglass — 3.08 | The Botanic Garden — Chapter 35: Over the Hills and Far Away

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the way apollo inspires loyalty is SO underrated tho like, it’s not noticeable because it’s not the *lays sword at your feet* type of loyalty but literally every single bitch apollo spoke to that wasn’t already irredeemably evil ended up being like “actually im going to protect this nice lil dude. who cares about his crimes” like!!!! he’s extremely good at being liked when he’s not forcing the asshole persona actually

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I think part of what frustrates me about age gap discourse with respect to BTVS specifically is that framing Buffy's relationship with Angel as 'grown man preys on teenage girl' requires that you ignore everything about the context of the show, the context that their relationship occurs within, and also what it means for both of them as characters and for the show as a whole.

It's also just like, really boring?

Like before you get to any of the story reasons why that's just a stupidly reductive analytical framework, you have to start with this: in a story aimed at teenagers, the fantasy is of being special and desired by a sexy immortal, and because the story is aimed at teenagers, the main characters are (or start as) teenagers, since the coming of age narrative that underpins everything else doesn't work without it. Hard to tackle that transition from adolescence to adulthood with a main character who begins the series as an adult!

(And it's not as if coming of age stories for adults don't exist. Phoebe Halliwell is a very good example--unlike her older sisters, she starts off unemployed and kind of adrift and desperate to find a purpose, which she ultimately does as a witch and a Charmed One, and all of this is done while she, as the youngest, is in her early twenties at the series start, because the show is primarily aimed at adults.)

And the thing is, Angel isn't just some adult man preying on a highschooler for kicks because he can't find women his own age. As Angelus, he spent well over a century enamored with Darla and committing wanton slaughter and destruction by her side. As Angel, with the exception of Buffy, all of his love interests are adults, and his love for Buffy is not tied to her youth, innocence, or naivete, considering that it links and binds them so completely that they keep crossing in and out of each other's lives through the end of Buffy's show, with the door explicitly open for a future relationship once Buffy's finished baking.

What draws Angel to Buffy--and what makes their relationship so dangerously compelling and also ultimately spells its downfall as, within the text of the show, it is explicitly a tragedy--is the fact that she's the Slayer.

That's the key point--her status as the Chosen One! He is drawn to her (as all vampires are, to a greater or lesser extent, but it's no accident that her only other truly earth shattering romantic relationship in the series is with another vampire) because she's the Slayer, and because of the soul he was cursed to bear and the guilt he feels for the evil he committed as a vampire, he wants to protect and save her as part of his atonement. He falls in love with her because she brings light back into the darkness he has been cast into since being forced to bear a soul even as a monster. And he would be 241 years old whether he was turned as a teenager and could pass as one of her peers or turned at 26 (the show is inconsistent on the age at which he was turned and it really doesn't matter, since the buffyverse never tries to pretend vampires are 'frozen' at the age they're turned anyway), and yes, part of what is darkly compelling about their relationship is that the age difference is obvious (Sarah Michelle Gellar was 20 and David Boreanaz was 28 during season 1), but the reason Angel being an 'older man' is never considered super relevant (aside from a few lampshades) is because... it really isn't.

The important thing, the critical thing, the thing that matters in the context of their relationship is that Angel is a vampire. That's why when Angel pulls out his 'I'm 241, you're 16' spiel it rings so hollow--because that doesn't really matter to either of them and he knows it. He's trying to push her away because it's the only way he can really protect her, and even then it doesn't work, and they all suffer for it horribly, Buffy most of all. (And even then she can't stop loving him, nor he her, and that makes it all the more tragic when he realizes the only thing he can do for her is leave.)

Also, it really throws into sharp relief the fact that people care so much about Buffy being a teenage girl when it comes to her romantic relationships but not at all when it comes to her being fated to die. Something the show itself is also quite critical of, because that's part of the point--being the Slayer is an awful burden that none of them have ever had a choice but to bear, and Buffy was supposed to die at sixteen years old. The only reason she survives is because she broke the rules by trying to have a normal life in addition to being the Slayer, which is the only reason she has friends to help her and save her, and I'm supposed to look at all of that and care that her broody vampire bf was a 'grown man' when he was turned? Really?

I don't think so. You can't just be willing to take what the show says for itself at face value when it comes to all the fighting and killing and dying but then balk when it comes to sex. That just doesn't work for me. (I mean, you can, and a lot of people do, but it's frustrating, hence this post.)

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1.03, Snow Falls 3.21, Snow Drifts

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ONCE UPON A TIME APPRECIATION WEEK Day 2 - Favorite Costume(s)

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Bandit Regina and Shepherd David… I have the vision.

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In another realm, I’m your mother. And I can’t bear let anything happen to you, I don’t care what realm we are in. You’ve saved so many people. Hell, you saved me.

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Once Upon a Time | 3.11 - “Going Home”  // Maleficent 2  | Mistress of Evil 

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tv meme: [1/10] families/siblings

Regina and Henry Mills

Once upon a time there was a queen. And she cast a glorious curse that gave her everything she wanted… or so she thought. She despaired when she learned that revenge was not enough. She was lonely. And so she searched the land for a little boy to be her prince. And then… she found him.

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my top 10 ouat quotes #3. Jefferson, 1x17 "Hat Trick"

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Think of it as a long-distance call from an old friend.

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BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ➤ Timestamp Roulette 2x04 | Inca Mummy Girl

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GET TO KNOW ME: ♡ [3/15] Male Characters: ☆ Scott Mccall (Teen Wolf)

I don't care. No one else dies. Everyone on that list, everyone on that deadpool. It doesn't matter if they're werewolves, or whatever. I'm gonna save everyone.

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“You’re Regina! Regina Mills adopted Henry Mills in the real world.”

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