#&&. ooc / he wanted to interact with his daughter again after so long <3

[fandoomrants]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON TUA S4/TUA IN GENERAL

First of all, I can't believe I make this account because of this show and waited excitedly for 2 years only to feel so numb right now...

Unlike some people I didn't hate season 3. Season 2 is still my favourite but 3 wasn't that bad, just a bit odd. And there were many directions where things could have went.

Mostly spoiler-free, for season 4 I can say:

-It did answer some long awaited answers but I feel like it didn't answer everything, some things were just vague mentions, and it also created more questions.

-I feel like either some actors were busy, or didn't want to return, because there were characters I expected to see but they were either not mentioned, or vaguely addressed, which was disappointing.

-The ending somewhat wasn't terrible, I have always assumed something like that might have to happen, yet I hated how by the time it did, all the characters were so ruined that I couldn't feel even a bit bad for most.

Now, I'll get into some more details about the things I liked, and the ones I didn't.

Spoilers ahead:

Things I DIDN'T LIKE:

-I already ranted a lot about this in my comments while watching but - Five and Lila! I like(d?) both characters and I thought the journey they had from constantly fighting enemies to reluctant allies to friends who relied on each other, was great. Loved their scenes in the beginning of episode 5.... And then wanted to jump out of somewhere. The thing is, I don't exactly hate the way it happened. I hate the fact that it 1) happened when Lila was already with Diego, and had THREE kids with him, that was basically cheating, and 2) the fact that in the end, it didn't bring anything to the plot. Diego and Five fought almost until the end, and it was uncalled for. It didn't bring the characters' development anything. It turned Lila into a cheater and Five.... Well, I've said before that I didn't see him as aro/ace like some other people, but I didn't see anything that this brought for him. I just think they worked better platonically altogether, because they went a long way and nothing suggested anything between them.

And this also leads to...

-Diego and Lila. For me, they were sorta relationship goals. They were constantly bickering and fighting but it was their thing. They were on the border of toxic sometimes but somehow managed to stick together. So how did this happen?! It could have went a whole another way. Diego realised he really loved her and wanted to be with her. I think that I would have accepted it if she and Five had kissed or something, and she had realised she loves Diego too, and returned to him, but no. In the end, it's unclear what she even feels for him.

-Lack of interactions between Klaus and Ben. Okay, I know this isn't the OG Ben Klaus spent years with, but in s3, Klaus was the one who constantly tried to reach out to him and convince the others to give him a chance. Now, nothing. Luther was the one who interacted with him and looked after him, and then later Viktor. I get it that Klaus had other stuff on his head but it was a weird development, and it felt even a bit OOC.

-The lack of closure to some characters relationships altogether. Ben... Just turned into a monster with Jennifer, didn't get the chance to interact with the rest again. Ray was mentioned to have "walked away", Allison never mentioned him. She spent the whole season 3 ranting like mad, now only Klaus said a word. We didn't even get to learn what happened exactly. And in this universe, was Claire his daughter or no?! Also. Luther literally mentioned Sloane once. Never heard about her again. Like, maybe he had searched for her but it wasn't mentioned at all. Dave also wasn't mentioned even once. Sissy wasn't mentioned. Now, I know all if these characters were from other timelines but they were loved by the Umbrellas, and in previous seasons, they mentioned them, and wanted to find them. Now, not one mention... Even the Sparrows were barely mentioned. Nobody mentioned Pogo. Or OG Grace (well, the robot one they called "mum". Not the real one from the 60ies). I just feel like these were left as some plot holes. I get that the last two weren't exactly needed here, but there could have been at least a mention. They were from the original timeline, the siblings had spend their whole lives with them.

-Gene and Jean. I get it. Every season has some "villain" character(s), but I just really disliked these two for some reason. Won't even elaborate.

-Not even one dance, except for Gene and Jean. All seasons had at least one iconic dance.

-The music, now, I won't complain too much about it, but all seasons had some great songs. Here we had them too, but we mostly listened to Baby Shark, which was hilarious but also a bit weird.

-No epic battle scenes. Well, Luther and Diego had something of the sort, but the end battle was pretty lame, imo.

-They got back their powers, and some of them had new powers too, but it was all unexplained. What happened with Lila, what were these laser eyes?! Also, Allison got new powers, never used the old ones again (I kinda get it, tho). Klaus.... Presumably got the floating? Which was supposed to be a thing in general? But in any case, none of this was explained! I thought at first that they got the powers some of the other children like them had but we didn't learn that. Also, Diego, Luther, Viktor, Five, Ben didn't get any new powers. Diego did something weird at one point but his whole thing was controlling flying objects and I don't count it. And Five's arriving at the station isn't exactly a new power. Ben's was a result of touching Jennifer. Nothing new for them, otherwise.

-Speaking of getting back their powers, no epic battle and all, here's another thing. In s2, in the beginning, and then the end, it was epic! They were all fighting with all they had, unlocking new ways to fight and all. I believe they were at their peak. Five also managed to get a few seconds back in time, Klaus was able to control armies of ghosts. Here, none of that. They were pretty weak. And maybe it was a side effect of just getting their powers back, but it was disappointing. Klaus didn't go back to alcohol and drugs, yet he only saw one ghost of a random guy, then a dog. They could have made the ending at least a bit more epic.

-In the end, the Umbrellas ceased to exist but.... What about the rest of the special children?! This Ben wasn't even from the Umbrella Academy. And ok, in the end, only these got their powers back in this timeline but surely, the thing with the branching timelines must apply to all 40-something. So how only 7 gave up their powers in one universe, and things got back to normal?

-All in all, the weird pacing and vibe. It wasn't as serious as season one, or chaotic as season 2 and 3. There were barely moments that made me truly laugh, and some characters were OOC. And some didn't really get to achieve anything. Viktor, with his whole plan on helping Ben, achieved nothing. Five kinda ruined his brother's family. Klaus... He also didn't achieve anything, in the end Allison saved him yet again. And while it was cute, it also was, I feel, a step back from his characterisation because he was shown as quite adaptive and able to get away from a bad situation. Allison pretty much only saved Klaus. Diego had a family drama, but nothing much. Luther.... He was just there. Ben's arc was ok but I hated how little time he had with the rest, in the end, he never got to feel as part of the team, and Lila just... Ruined her family for someone who is both around 20 years older and 20 years younger than her at the same time.

-This one is pretty much for humour purposes but - Luther without pants way too much!

-I feel like I must be forgetting something but I'll just move on to...

Things I LIKED:

-Claire having much more screen time and actually being a developed character, rather than just someone staying there for the sake of Allison!

-Claire and Allison, and especially Claire and Klaus's relationship! I feel like Klaus would be good with kids, and even change his ways because of them. (He sorta did, despite walking away at one point. I like to think that spending time with Allison and Claire helped him get clean.)

-Allison and Klaus! I mentioned in another post that I've noticed that they were closer even in season 1, where they interact much less hostile and with more fondness that with the rest of their family, in flashbacks he comforts her when they get their tattoos, etc. And then, of course, their reunion in s2. In s3, we didn't get much of them but I loved them in s4.

-Allison and Viktor taking care of each other! These two had some really rocky relationship throughout all of the seasons but they still cared for each other in a way that was different than the rest. They had the true sibling bond but I think by the end, they also learned to be friends.

-Viktor in general. The only character that didn't once irritate me with a decision he made. I feel sorta sorry for him because he seemed to care for everyone. Allison, after all she did, Ben, although this isn't the one he knew. He got to clear things with this version of Reginald, too. Generally loved him here.

-Now I'm a bit bitter-sweet about that, seeing how things developed but, Lila and Diego's daughter named Grace!

-Even more bitter-sweet, and tiny bit hippocratic but Lila and Five, before that one development in ep 5. They could have truly had a good and normal PLATONIC bond.

-Allison, somewhat. She's one of my least favourite characters, especially after season 3, tho she wasn't my fave before that either but here I liked her.

-Luther somehow didn't irritate me either, although I didn't like him much too, before.

-Klaus has always been my favourite and even though I didn't quite like all that happened, I liked his development, his desire to be sober, and his unwillingness to get his powers back. I think he had lots of potential, and obviously most of his problems came from his powers.

-Despite everything, the last scene, with all the characters we've seen before, being happy and all that. Agnes and Hazel! For some reason, loved that even in this timeline, without all else, they found each other! And the fact that the kids of the Umbrellas were still there. This is a tiny bit of a plot hole on it's own but it was a nice scene.

-And finally, somewhat learning how Five founded the Comission, and finally learning what the "Jennifer Incident" was!

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

DOING AN ENTIRE CHARACTER ASK SHEET FOR SKARA AND WILLOW BECAUSE I CAN PART 1 (Questions 1-10)

1. Canon I outright reject

You know how in Sense and Insensitivity there’s that bit where Skara kisses the King cardboard cutout and runs away with it? That bit that made that one Sking shipper a thing? Yeah, so this is a really mean prank played by either the twins or Boscha using an illusion, and Skara only ever thought Rulers Reach was ok. My evidence for this is the fact that I will personally beat you to death if you imply my daughter did Titan-knows-what with a standee of an 8-year-old cat-dog-hybrid.

While I’m at it, let’s also make it clear that she was never living furniture for an adult man either. Again, that was a prank because N O.

(Can you guess why Sense is my third worst episode of the show?)

Literally the second half of Any Sport has Willow acting so OOC you’d swear it has to be a really bad fanfiction. She gets kidnapped by the same dude who spent the entire afternoon lying to her about who he was, threatened not one but two of her best friends in his last appearance, and works as the second-in-command of a fascist religious order she canonically rallied the Isles against, and she… blames herself for it. She has the opportunity to defend her friends against Darius and put up a real fight, and instead she does some of her weakest magic in the show so Hunter can swoop in and save her. And in the last 30 seconds of the episode she just casually tells shows off the pic of the Entrails with Hunter like it wouldn’t cause Amity to go into a PTSD-inspired rage. I literally rewrote the entirety of the episode in my head, but if I can’t reject the whole episode, I’m at least rejecting its second half.

(Can you guess why Any Sport is my top choice for worst episode of the show?)

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

Skara is a chaotic bisexual gremlin and you can’t convince me otherwise. If chaotic bisexual gremlin energy could be used as a power source, Skara would be the only battery the world would ever need.

A slightly more serious Skara head cannon I have is that she left Boscha because Skara wanted to apologize to Willow, and Boscha not only refused to join her but outright mocked her for it, leading Skara to go do it herself. She never spoke to Boscha after that day unless she had to.

Willow has a lovely singing voice and sings to her plants when she waters them. It’s part of why Skara fell so hard for her. She hears it one while walking past the Plant Track room and thought to herself ‘Wow I really am a chaotic bisexual gremlin.’

3. Obscure headcanon

Skara is a great chef. She loves to cook and bakes for her friends all the time. I have no evidence for this other than the fact I think it sounds adorable.

Willow didn’t go to H.A.S. in the first season only because she would go straight home to work out most of the time. In reality she loved learning about humans, even if she had more of an understanding then Gus that most Witch information was probably a stretch.

4. Favorite line

“Good game Willow.”-Skara, in her one positive interaction with Willow in Wing it.

“I’m a sneaky sneakster.”-Willow’s most adorable line, from Hooty’s Moving Hassle.

“Not if I don’t look down.”-Willow, casually dropping the funniest line in the entire first season during Escape of the Palismen.

5. Best personality trait

For Skara it’s her ability to accept responsibility and grow from her mistakes. It’s a difficult thing to do, to admit you were wrong for so long. It’s not something that came naturally to her either: she had to work hard at it, and it was a painful process. But Skara did, and now she’s a teacher cause she wants to help other kids avoid her mistakes while learning the same lessons.

For Willow, it’s her kindness and unwavering defense of her friends. She’s always looking out for everyone, always doing whatever it takes to make sure they’re safe and cared about and know that. It’s a trait she always had, but it grew over time as she matured into a true blue protector.

6. Worst personality trait

For Skara, it’s her guilt. Her self reflection has sadly burdened her with a deep sense of shame for her bullying, and while she never bullied anyone after she leaves Boscha, she still hates herself sometimes for how she used to be, something that causes her to become more reserved and isolated. Willow can tell when she gets like this though, and always tries to remind her that her past is in the past, and she’s moved on to become a better person.

For Willow, it’s her inability to regulate her own needs. She gets better at it with time, but even after Future she still can’t always take time to just think of her own feelings. She’ll push herself till breaking point until one of her friends reminds her it’s ok to care about herself for a bit.

7. Age/height/weight headcanon

Sometimes I see a bunch of Willow art I wonder if it’s a headcannon that she was ever chubbier than Amity or Luz, given how often people seem to make her just as skinny…

Skara is the taller of the two, even if most of that extra height is her hair, something she’ll playfully tease Willow about from time to time. Thankfully Willow has the advantage of being less of a full blown simp, so she can easily pull Skara down to her height for a kiss.

8. Unpopular opinion about them

Skara was never as big a bully as Boscha. She was A bully, and I don’t want to deny that, but I think it’s canonically wrong when people make her to be as bad as Boscha. It was clear throughout that she could tell when Boscha was going too far, and there’s a few moments where she seems even scared of Boscha, like when they run into her during the King segment in Swap or when Boscha’s about to burn Luz alive in Wing It.Most likely, Amity bullied Willow because she felt she had to, and Boscha bullied her because Amity did, and later because she felt Willow stole Amity from her, while Skara, Cat, and Amelia probably just stuck to the sidelines because they wanted to be accepted by the others. Again, it isn’t cool, and I know that Skara feels like garbage for how she acted to this day, but please don’t act like Skara was as big a bully as Boscha.

Everyone used to act like Gus was the character who deserved more respect from the show, deserved more story’s, but really, it was Willow who got shafted in the end. Gus has 3 unquestioned spotlight episodes (Something Ventured, Looking Glass, and Labyrinth Runners), he drives two subplots (Understanding Willow and Grom), and eventually even steals Willow’s bits, like her glowing eyes (I know Dana said it’s a thing all Witches can do under intense emotion but that’s a retcon and we all know it). In contrast, Willow seems like she has more, but she honestly kinda doesn’t. Sure, there’s Teenage Abomination and Hooty’s Moving Hassle which are good and perfectly Willow centric, but then things get a lot fuzzier. Understanding Willow would be better named Understanding Willow’s Relationship with Amity Primarily through Amity’s Lens, Wing It is solid but mostly used to drive Lumity, her only real moments in season 2A were getting Clover in Hunting Palisman and having all her bones broken in Looking Glass, Any Sport PRETENDS to be about Willow, but in the end is more about Hunter then any other of his team up episodes, to the point the second half spends most of its time making Willow weak and self loathing JUST SO HUNTER COULD LOOK LIKE A HERO, her subplot in Labyrinth feels a lot worse when you remember that Any Sport actually proves that Amity was completely right to think Willow couldn’t fight the Emperors Coven (also Willow shows more anger towards Amity here then she ever did to Hunter which is cool, totally fine, not aneurism causing at all), and honestly, as nice as it was to see Willow have a bit of an emotional arc in Future, it was more a way to get Hunter a girlfriend then anything (also the fact it’s pretty much a complete ripoff of Luz’s own arc in Reaching Out). In less words and as less of a ramble, Willow may technically have more stuff then Gus, but honestly, Gus stories are actually about Gus, while Willow stories are almost exclusively used for other people’s development, whether it be Amity’s, Lumity, or *sigh* Hunter’s. And I wanted her to be more than that.

Also, Willow can be angry. Like, really, genuinely, righteously angry. She’s a someone who spent her whole childhood being bullied by her former bestie and unironically was willing to BURN HER MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS ALIVE TO DESTROY SAID FORMER BESTIE (technically that was Inner Willow but still). It seems like people kinda just forget that though. Hell, the show seems to, what with stuff like her, like I said, getting more mad at Amity in Labyrinth then Hunter in Any Sport.

(Also Skarlow is better than Huntlow but you can read my blog to see that so.)

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

For Skara, it was probably her at Grom. It’s such a hilarious bit, her going from a swooning teenage girl on a date to Magic Prom to her just getting so damn into the fight. That tux looks expensive and she rips it off of her like it’s nothing in a fit of bloodlust. And there’s just something so endearing about her Grom photos too. I love (most) of her earlier stuff too of course but Grom to me is the peak of Skara.

For Willow, I don’t know the exact moment, but it was probably somewhere early on, almost certainly around seeing her go from green eyed at Amity’s bullying to apologizing and rushing to help Luz from her plants. I love characters who are both adorable and badass and I think that’s what Willow, at her best, is.

10. Best moment on screen (or in the book)

Skara’s best moment would been her redemption arc if she had one, but otherwise I’d say, again, it’s Grom. Just, *chefs kiss* The best.

Willow has a lot of actually good moments, and I originally answered this question a while ago with her during Understanding, but thinking more on it, I think the best moment for Willow is really her and Amity in Follies. It’s an incredibly minor moment, something you’d be forgiven for forgetting happens if you haven’t seen it in a while, but looking back it’s all of Willow’s best traits in one scene: Her ability to go from intimidating to adorable in a matter of seconds, her emotional maturity in helping Amity with her problems (even if that bits offscreen for shock purposes), actually confirming she works out in the show instead of just saying it in an AMA, her complicated feelings about Amity… there’s like, so much in this one scene that embodies why Willow Park is amazing and deserves all the love.

This… took longer to write then I thought and was a lot more rambly then I expected. Still, hope you enjoyed, and I’ll try to do the next 10 questions sometime soon.

[anarrchist]

(  @tututruck  )

           ‘ ——get’cha hand off her if y’wanna keep it, ‘ he barks, but his tone is low enough to be threatening, though his general appearance and manner of carrying himself did all the hard work for him. Joker had been watching how his own men had been ogling his little girl, his pride and joy, his beautiful && remarkably intelligent princess. A man like him had never held much hope for being a father and nor had he ever entertained the thought, but since finding out that Harley was pregnant all those years ago, there had been a noticeable change in the male. To those around him, he was a doting daddy, but to everyone else, he was still the same old reckless, chaotic clown prince that the city of Gotham had ever encountered. And here, one of his goons was trying his patience, as he had been all night ; pushing the temper of the criminal right to the borders of what was reasonable and if he was not careful, they would be facing something of a bloodbath in the club tonight. The other man regarded him for a few seconds, almost had the look of a deer caught in the headlights, before he realised his mistake and removed his hand from its perch, his fingers unclasping from their hold on the young blonde’s thigh. ‘ Y’ever touch my baby again, I’ll kill’ya. ‘

[fallowfinality]

(Ik i've made a ton of these 'moze cannot be the ideal man, he is not a man' posts but I'm gonna make one again.)

(sandmagiick is a roleplayer i've known since around when I started this blog. She roleplays multiple muses, but her primary when interacting with this blog is Alehna, who in one timeline is Mozenrath's adopted daughter and in another is his love interest.

She's lovely OOC, and I have no problem with her as an actual person, but I've had trouble in the past when replying to her threads because of three tendencies of hers.

1. In the past, she's posted starters for me without asking. My rule about asking me before starting threads exists for this reason. She also deactivates her account when I take too long to reply or respond to messages, or when I fail to reach out to her new accounts.

2. Her characters tend to insist on a heavily affectionate, traditional straight relationship as soon as they have the chance to. On one occasion, this was minutes after our muses met IC.

3. Her threads tend to be all fluff: and while I have no problem with all-fluff threads, as my Mozenrath pretty obviously has a cuddly streak, they also tend to disregard him as an individual and end up in situations my Mozenrath would never be in or would not react well to.

I get the feeling that Meg, sandmagiick's mun, really wants a man to be on-call for her. Whether it be as a father figure or a lover. She also plays mostly white, female muses, who take an intense interest in Middle Eastern culture and men, and eventually fall in love with Middle Eastern men.

I don't have screencaps, and never thought to take them because I don't want to call her out, but her about pages in the past have remarked on how distinctive her female muses' features are in the Middle East: at one point using the phrase 'a unique beauty, with her blonde hair and blue eyes.'

I haven't met anyone else who has done this or even thought this way to an extent I'd be able to notice, but I want her and anyone else who feels the same way she felt to know:

You deserve to be loved uniquely for more than your unique looks. You can never perfectly predict who will love you in that way, no matter what metric you use, but you deserve that love.

You will not find that love by roleplaying a character who already has it. Trust me, I've tried. If IC doesn't equal OOC, IC romance does not translate to OOC fulfillment.

Likewise, you may want to be constantly reassured that you are loved, and this is not a character flaw. But if you want this so often that it places a strain on your relationships with others, I think the type of stability you're seeking really can't be provided by another person.

You may do better working on self-esteem, self-neutrality, or even thinking of yourself as you might think of your own child or lover.

You deserve all the love and support you would give your favorite character, or which you'd want for your self-insert. You deserve it in real life. Part of attaining it is being secure in yourself.)

[dianapana]

SH Day 8- Blackmail Material

@sasuhinamonth

Rated T, Modern AU, OOC

Week 2 started, ngl the fact that I finished week 1 made me feel like it was over and done with, but I also feel like since started and wrote daily I should keep the same energy but I am making no promises.

The Hyuugas always had strict rules, Hinata was never one to disobey those rules no matter how old, outdated and limiting they were. The rules dictated her life from her appearance to her profession and even the people she could keep around her. She kept her hair long at all times just like all Hyuugas had to, her clothing was always modest, never revealing; she chose a job in teaching for as a woman taking care of others was all she was good at, even that job was frown upon by the elders for she was an Assistant at University, and according to the elders a woman had nowhere to be in higher education. They contested even her choice to teach psychology, for that was not a valid science. Despite all of the issues the elders had with her career path, her actions never truly broke any of the rules and they were always approved in the end, Hinata always awaited their approval before actually doing anything either way. She even only kept people the clan approved of, Sarutobi, Sabaku and Nara were all families of high prestige with whom she could communicate, Haruno and Yamanaka were always too chaotic and no good came out of any contact with them. The elders gave her a list of all the clans that had people around her age, the ones written in black were fine to befriend, the ones written in red she had to steer clear of.

Hinata knew that no good could come out of breaking any of the rules, she kept quiet and did as they told her to, she befriended the three Sabaku kids, one of her colleagues at the university was the wife of a Sarutobi and the eldest Nara kid was one of her students. She slowly but steadily gained more freedom the more she followed the rules. When Kurenai asked Hinata to be her daughter’s godmother, Hinata delivered the news and asked to move on her own, when the Sarutobi heir talked her up at a meeting with important family heads, Hinata asked for an extended vacation abroad. In her 25 years she learned how to navigate the rules in such a way that they wouldn’t inconvenience her too much, and she also learned how she could breach them in such a way that would never be found, she was always taking small and calculated risks, she was always careful.

However, one evening after the first day of classes a student approached her, he was an Uchiha, part of an important clan that the elders approved of. Sasuke was a senior and well known around the university, so much so that Hinata knew about him too. He started their conversation by asking a few questions about the curriculum and the end of the semester project. The conversation was pleasant and academic, he told her some of the topics he was thinking of approaching and from which angels, each idea came with a set of pictures he showed her on his phone. After about 30 minutes of talking Hinata’s opinion of him changed. People said he was the type of smart that never worked hard, yet got good grades, some said he bribed all of his teachers, but the most spread rumour was that he was an utterly shitty person, one that would walk all over anyone to get what he wanted.

“I have one more picture to show you and I think we will be done here” Sasuke muttered and started scrolling through his phone.

While watching him looking for yet another resource for a project that was over 4 months away Hinata could only wonder how those rumours even started in the first place, however, her train of thoughts was interrupted by Sasuke’s declaration that he had found the picture. His eyes lit up like Christmas trees and his smile turned into an evil smirk. In the picture Hinata was dancing, she was dancing in a club with Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, her clothes were anything but modest, for they were showing off her back which was entirely covered in ink. Her hair was up allowing the people to see her ears which were filled with piercings. The picture was proof of her breaking over 15 of the Hyuuga rules, the picture alone could ruin her life, the elders would lock her up for shaming them.

Hinata’s terrified eyes turned from the picture to Sasuke’s amused expression. “I found this picture to be very relevant to the class and the topic I wanted to study most when I registered for it” his voice was lower, the earnest and goody-two-shoes act was over, he had successfully fooled Hinata just for fun. “However I do think I’ll need some extra help to fully…examine everything about this picture” his last words were paired with a leery look, he moved his eyes slowly from her face to her chest, legs and back up to her face. “I think meeting twice a week is imperative for a project this size” Hinata was still stunned into silence, when Sasuke leaned over the desk, putting his face barely inches away from hers “I can’t wait to work with you teach”

The Uchiha boy got up and left, not before smirking at her and adding “I’ll find you at the end of tomorrow, don’t fly away little bird, we wouldn’t want me to make missing posters with that picture, would we?”

The moment the door closed, time seemed to start again, Hinata’s heart was beating out of her chest, how could that have happened? Everyone that was at that party was close friends with Sakura, the party was small, how could she not notice someone taking her picture? She had been to a number of parties over the years and never had any issues before, but Sasuke came in which his smirk and was about to ruin everything. He was blackmailing her. Hyuuga’s strictness was not a secret, every other important family knew about it, Sasuke was fully aware that he had the ability to ruin her and he decided to toy with her. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, either fate was equally disastrous.

Hinata laid her head onto her desk whishing the world to disappear, but even her moment of internal wallowing was interrupted by a set of ‘dings’ coming from her phone

Cheer up teach

Ull see all I have planned is fun

Ill contact you when I wanna meet

Make sure to come…unless…

He had her number, somehow that brat was playing her. Had they been in school together? Sasuke was 22 so 3 years younger than her, was he a freshman when she was a senior? Did they meet or interact before? Did they have common friends? Or did she do something to attract his interest and he did everything in his power to find her?

Forgot to tell you

Put ur tongue piercing in when we see each other

Over the years Hinata got a number of tattoos and piercings, they were her silent rebellion against the elders. Due to her modest clothing and long hair, they could never be seen, however, her tongue piercing was another deal. That one was visible at times when she talked, which is why she only wore it at home and on very rare occasions outside, not even all of her friends knew about it, she told very few people about it and even fewer saw it, thus Sasuke knowing about it scared her more than the picture itself. Looking at the texts again made her want to scream and cry, how could she fix this mess? Would Sasuke grow tired if she played along with him? And what was it he wanted exactly? All she could do was wait for him to contact her and see exactly where things were gonna go…

[sinnhelmingr]

tell me about heldolin possible reconcilliation? // @usedhearts​

rubs my filthy little gay hands together. oh yeah baby talk complicated wlw to me--

So, the groundwork for this hypothetical: Our little AU for 3, where Gwyndolin is saved from her canonical fate by a daring rescue on the part of her ex-wife. The two have been distant for some decades, ranging from cool hostility to open disregard, but with that underlying air of disappointment lacing every interaction. There’s nothing to salvage, but Hel’s not the kind of person that can leave anyone to what was planned, regardless of their interpersonal issues. One fraught road trip through enemy territory until they reach safety later...

Well there’s a lot to work through. First being Lin’s lingering trauma surrounding her captivity. Her we get the first hints of reconciliation in Hel’s refusal to let her deal with it alone. Yes, Gwynevere can help, and yes, her realm is safe and offers whatever support the wayward queen requires, but no one here saw it. No one here understood what the Valley had become. Even if they have lingering disagreements, Hel is the one sleeping on the floor of Lin’s chamber rather than in her own bed, because she can’t stand to think of someone she once cared for dealing with all of this alone. It helps, in some way, because Lin does need someone there and is going through it trying to cope.

Every possible reconciliation attempt proceeds from there. Hel has gone through, well, hell and back to save Lin and is still devoted to making sure she’s safe, but it’s not romantic. It’s honestly just Hel doing what she perceives as the right thing. Whether it helps or not, or her role could be filled by anyone else Lin cared for, it doesn’t matter because she’s the one there. And like it or not, she’s not going anywhere. From this, we have a variety of options but the two I personally see working out are these: 

Lin coming to rely on that, sort of clinging to Hel even if not literally. When not dealing with any official business regarding the ongoing political nightmare, she might drift towards Hel, wherever she is within the palace. 

Alternatively, given the mood of most of their interactions post-divorce, there’s a chance it starts as resentment. That Lin can’t stand to be in her shadow, clinging to her in the daylight when her struggles are easier to bear. 

Either way, the two are at least within physical proximity to one another, given Lin’s mental health and coping skills. Which is, inevitably, going to lead to a lot more run ins with her nephew.

Hel in a lot of ways has come to care for Lothric as if he were her own, because my God someone has to love that kid beyond his brother. Someone has to care about his wellbeing. He’s irreverent and he’s anxious and he’s struggling but determined to keep going, hardly the pious saint of the royal family’s propaganda. His wit is sharp and at times cruel, and he’s unsure about a lot of things but trying to hide that fact. Lin’s going to have to, through watching Hel interact with him, accept that her nephew is in fact more than a sacrifice -- for now. I think it’s Lin showing initiative to defrost ice queen around Lothric is going to start changing Hel’s demeanor towards her as well.

Like that’s not to say Lin changing overnight to team ‘hey yeah let’s not roast a living person with autonomy who never had a chance to live!’ is what it would take. That’d be unrealistic and OOC. I think it’s just. Hel being able to see that Lin can set aside her pride or stubbornness just long enough to get to know her sacrificial lamb as a person, as something more than what the rest of the world makes him by hers and Nev’s design. Lin defrosts to Lothric, Hel defrosts to Lin. It’s equivalent.

I think that would be the tipping point to sort of lessen the feeling of obligation between them. Maybe they can finally start talking again like people who are on at least civil terms, if not outright friendly. In my head it plays a little like their initial childhood interactions where Lin is reticent but observant and Hel is the more daring of them. She leads, and for a time, to a certain degree, Lin follows. And during the course of the narrative, as the latter grows stronger, as she acclimates herself to life outside of a cage, Hel starts to back off more and more. 

Maybe Lin won’t need her so much now, maybe things will go back to normal. And instead, Lin still leaves the door open between them, as it were. Just because she’s no longer so reliant on Hel doesn’t mean she wants her gone. 

Or maybe she tries to keep her distance if she’s still fighting against certain imminent realizations. Maybe she tries to shut the door but finds, as always, Hel has a key and she just. Accepts it over time. It’s her choice whether to come and go, just as she can choose to tell her to leave. 

Another vital step in their potential reconciliation is that it not be built upon reliance or obligation -- now they can see each other as relative equals.

By this point Hel’s been doing everything short of actually saying the words to convey she’s not stopped loving Lin. Even if she doesn’t realize it, there’s no other way people can take her actions. For Lin, I don’t know if it’s that simple but we can talk it out next time you’re online because Christ I’ve been typing this so long the weekend is over and you are back at work. The vibe I get from your Lin is that even if she cares she’s daddy’s girl and stubborn as hell once she’s been hurt. She’s either unsure or unwilling to convey that she’d like to patch things up. Which is valid, she’s been through a lot, there’s so much to work through before she even thinks of romance ever again. She’s especially been through the loss of her daughter, and that bond comes before anything else.

(Sidenote for those who are not privy to our discord lore: Let’s put a pin in the fact that at present Lothric has decided his salvation lies in overriding his mother’s decision to just lock him in the kiln once he’s ‘ready.’ He’s seen how Hel can influence his aunt and said ‘Yes, of course, I have to Parent Trap them into a reconciliation and then Hel will convince Aunt Gwyndolin I deserve to live and Mother won’t have any allies left!’ All the while his primary lackey is just questioning what version of the Parent Trap he saw because that’s not the plot at all-- /j. Anyway there’s three idiots -- two princes and a physician -- out here trying to play matchmaker despite the fact none of them have any romantic experience. This can only end well.)

I feel like the real test is going to be whether distance makes the heart grow fonder. Hel’s got other responsibilities out there, and once assured Lin is in a more stable place, that others will be there for her in a way that helps, she has to take care of them. She has to be with her own people, has to make sure they are safe, keep an eye on the world beyond. She’s gone like a thief in the night, and Lin has to learn how to navigate the world without her, furthering the balancing act between them returning to normal. Hel rode off on her big black horse and no one cna say for sure when she’ll be back. She comes and goes through the kingdom like a storm, staying just long enough to cause problems but gone with the slightest shift in atmosphere. The horse comes back only weeks later. Its rider does not. Instead, perched upon that black stallion is a familiar crossbreed, tattered but hanging in there.

Hel saved her, at the cost of her own freedom. What can Lin possibly think about that?

So it’s a flurry of Lin campaigning for her sister to send a party to save Hel, Nev saying that she can’t do it yet, possibly as she is is too busy with the fracturing of her own kingdom to lend the men. All the same, she forbids Lin from going off and doing something drastic. Tells her younger sister to stay with her daughter and help Yorshka heal. She needs it. Which works bc we have that big dramatic Hel returning to the castle drenched in blood and falling cinematically into Lin’s arms. It’s the drama these wlw deserve. 

And as we know, Lin insists on being Hel’s own caretaker while she recovers. To the point she scrutinizes every move Lothric’s physician makes in checking that the newly returned Death isn’t badly injured. Lothric thinks he stays winning because now Lin’s doing the same ‘demonstrate love but don’t speak it’ bullshit that Hel is so adept at. He’s buying his physician drinks after this despite her protests that alcohol does not sit well with her--

Hel eventually recovers enough from the strenuous battle and escape to start moving around the castle more. She confesses that, despite gossip saying this was some act of passion to show her devotion, she didn’t do this for Lin. She did it because it was the right thing to do, because Yorshka was in danger, and it had nothing to do with her mother. Something that breaks Lin’s shell completely because it proves Hel is still the woman she fell in love with. She didn’t risk her life and return the one Lin loves the most as a hollow token meant to win her heart again, she did it because her conscience has never steered her wrong. 

Now try this one on for size: One day it dawns on Hel that something is missing. She tears up her room seeking it only for Lin to finally be That Bitch and hold out her exes wedding pendant -- one she found that Hel never stopped wearing, if the fact it was still around her throat when Lin stripped her of her bloody dress is any indication. Hel’s been found out. Lin’s about to start asking some serious questions.

And if one of them can finally confess at this point that whether the love stopped or never did they feel it now just as they did before, that’s not the end. That’s not reconciliation. Because the fact remains that they broke up over an act that Hel considered pure evil, when Lin helped decide the ultimate fate of Lothric. Reconciliation is going to depend wholly on how AU we want to go, if Hel and the revived Artorias are able to convince Lin that this is heinous and even if it is what her father would have wanted, it isn’t right, it makes her just as terrible as he was. If Lin can finally see to reason or at least sentiment over legacy and duty, then I can see the pair moving towards actual reconciliation and spending at least the last days of a dying world together and at peace with their ultimate fates. If not... Oof. There might be other ways to make it work once Lothric goes rogue and says he won’t be kindling, if Lin can admit that yes, that means all the cruelty was for nothing and she was wrong (like her sister does), then maybe some slowburn reconciliation could take place.

But ultimately it’s going to depend on both character development on Lin’s part, whether by choice or in spite of resistance, and Hel proving that all the things Lin has accused her of (changing, being untrue, being corrupted by heresies) are untrue. Changing and steadfast characterization in tandem. Barely even friends (after the divorce) then somebody bends unexpectedly--

[jancys-blue-bayou]

Yeah so Stranger Things 3 was painfully bad

Yeah yeah big negative post about ST3 coming up. Just... holy shit, my expectations weren’t exactly high but jesus I didn’t think it’d be this bad. Wow. Mindboggling to think it was made by the same dudes who made season 1, it feels like a different show. Some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a long while, parts of season 3. This got very long because it was very bad so it’s under the cut. Starting with the few positives and then away we go...

Of course there were bright spots, I thought what we got of Jancy was generally good (just wish there had been more of it. Just like... more lines between them, a few moments could’ve gone on longer...like after the awesome hospital fight scene jesus just let them fucking desperately embrace and profess their love for each other, it was awesome how they relentlessly kept going at the monster to save the other but can we please just have a few more seconds for a comfort moment after?) I liked how they handled the fight btw, apart from the Oliver Twist comment yeah yeah heat of the moment but still felt OOC with that loa a blow. Nancy and Karen scene was nice and um... well Max and El bonding was nice. And um... Mr Clarke! And I kind of dig Murray.

My main issues with it:

- The product placement. Jesus Christ. Okay, ST has always been a show with noticeable product placement. But it’s gone from things like a Coke can prominently on display on a table in s1 (El crushing it with her mind) to literally having a straight up ad for Coca Cola in the middle of a tense scene. That’s the big offender that made me go wow you’re really doing this to yourselves huh, there are many others ofc (everything at the mall ofc, Slurpees being in hyperfocus for a bit, and a lengthy talk about Burger King. These smaller things one by one wasn’t the worst but all combined jesus it was too much, all added together and then bam the Coke commercial was wow... Congrats on the like 80 sponsorship deals and esp the new ST themed arcade hall by Coca Cola hope it was worth completely selling out for.

- Relatedly, the original fucking song. Holy christ talk about jumping the shark. That was the oddest, cringiest, weirdest shit I’ve seen in a long time. Gaten’s a great singer don’t get me wrong, but there’s a time and place for it and an original song stuffed into the middle of the tense climax of the season is not it Duffers. Just a blatant cash cow, hoping to bring in more money via the song.

- Robin. Sorry but holy cow what a Mary Sue. Hey here’s this super cool girl who’s cool™ and funny™ and super smart™ and NOT Nancy (like they seriously for real said in a scene, they actually for real had to pit Robin and Nancy against each other for no reason). And she conveniently has these specific skills needed for the plot (which she gets involved with for no real motivation other than having nothing better to do, lazy writing). Said skills were so over the top unrealistic it completely sucked me out of it. To start with, this random girl in small town Indiana in 1985 speaking French, Spanish and Italian um... does Hawkins High have the most amazing language department or what? Very un-american in that case... and okay then, her knowing those languages wouldn’t help jackshit with understanding Russian. Russian is a notoriously difficult language to learn and it is not related to the Romance languages at all, Robin knowing those languages and oh, having “a good ear” bc she’s in band (?!??! what?!) wouldn’t help her at all. Having the alphabets on the wall and listening to strange words in a foreign language she has no understanding of would never work. No way for her to understand what is she’s hearing, what letters are in the words just, nothing. It’s completely ridiculous. The good thing is she’s a lesbian, crushing Stobin that made me LOL. Btw, I don’t get what age they were writing her as? She’s still in school but later says she and Steve was in the same class, and she knows who Nancy is but Nancy, who is still in school, doesn’t know her even though presumably they’d be in the same year at little Hawkins High? Was it just sloppy writing or what?

- Too. Much. Plotting. What happened to “this season is about the characters” um there was just so much plot stuff and action sequences and barely any character driven moments at all. Those intimate moments that made s1 amazing. Generally regarding plots felt the Russian plot was messy and not well-written also what happened to the US government as the big bad? Unless they’re setting up a big Cold War thing for s4. And felt the zombie thing was wasted, could’ve been used differently like I’d have thought it’d be used like the MF spreading it’s influence over vaster areas and being harder to keep track of etc.

- Too little Will. Will’s whole thing with feeling left out etc was just dropped halfway through it felt very undercooked. His arc was just dropped wtf.

- NO BYERS FAMILY INTERACTIONS WTF. The sequence in the first episode when Jancy has overslept and Joyce wipes the lipstick off Jonathan was cute (but could’ve been even cuter I’d have preferred a short fluffy Jancy moment here just as they wake up before they realize they overslept, bc we didn’t get much pure fluff, and then it’d been awesome if Joyce would’ve just called Nancy into the house to mess with them). But like... that’s kind of it. For the Byers family. Talking to each other in the whole season. When they partnered Jancy with the kids many thought awesome we’ll get Byers bros talking and teaming up (and Nancy and Mike) but there was just nothing. Not even a family hug after the battle at the mall, just Joyce hugging Will, with all this tightknit little family has been through you telling me Jonathan wouldn’t join in?

- No Will and El bonding wtf? SUCH a wasted opportunity. They’ve built this unique awesome connection over s1 and s2 and now in s3 would finally be able to bond normally for real and... nothing.

- Turning Hopper back into an even bigger jerk than he was at the start of the show, neglecting all his character development. What was the point of the whole El and Hopper thing they devoted so much time to in s2 if Hopper’s back at it with the yelling and all now? And jeez his constant whining to Joyce about every man she interacts with holy christ that got annoying. Generally Hopper was such an annoying asshole this season I was so tired of him by the time he “died”.

- TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Jeez, I know I’m on about it all the time but jesus christ there is way way too many characters in this for 8 episodes which hurts the narrative and screentime for interesting characters is just... yeah.

- Speaking of screentime, did we really need that many identical generic fight scenes between Hopper and the Russian guy? Jesus Christ it’s so boring watching fight scenes like that, so repetitive (compare to the hospital fight scene which was dynamic and awesome). Also regarding screentime did we really need to devote so incredibly much of it to Steve and Robin being comedic relief while drugged? Yeah yeah mix light and dark and all that but jesus christ at that point in the narrative shit has hit the fan lean into the dark.

- Totally expected of course but still, the furthering of Steve Memeington. My god they actually had him literally call himself daddy... christ.

- The Billy and Karen/all the other middle age women remains gross and bad in a billion ways. Also completely pointless for the plot, they could’ve come up with any other way to get Billy to the factory. And what did it give Karen in development? Just the realization that yeah I’m tired of my husband but I’m not leaving my family and I’ll stick with him just ‘cause? Okay but did we need her almost sleeping with a kid a year older than her daughter for that? Icky. Also the editing of the scene where Billy hits her was so weird. Also that was weird as fuck.

- The ending. Okay christ my main gripe with this is because of a point above: No Byers family interaction at all! Joyce and Hopper talk briefly about her thinking about moving once or twice but she never talks about it with her kids... obviously she did in the timegap but we need to see that to build to the thing. Having no Byers interactions the whole season and then just oop we’re moving is so weird. I’m also not sure if Joyce’s motivation for moving (her bad memories of Hawkins) would be enough. For sure an argument for it, but an argument against is the one Hopper presents to her (and though he’s not around still there’s still a support system around them there, especially for her kids which she loves above all). Speaking of her loving her kids above all, she knows they love their friends/girlfriend/boyfriend to bits, have walked through fire with them and are each others support system as mentioned, would Joyce really just uproot them from that? There’s also some purely practical things that stuck out to me immediately: the timeskip for the epilogue makes it so they move when the schoolyear is already well under way and Jonathan has started senior year, feel bad for Jonathan there in a number of ways. Also, how the hell did Joyce manage to sell her house and what did it fetch? Her rundown house on the outskirts of a now infamous town with an incredibly bad rep? Even if the buyer bought it for the land the land doesn’t look special, just find it hard to believe she could get much for it. And where did they move? Where did she find a place? And work? Did she have something lined up or? I guess we’ll see.

- Oh and speaking of work, that was another thing that was just dropped, the mall killing downtown and the protests just fell out of the story. But, with what happened to the mall wouldn’t business come back to downtown (possibly reason for Joyce to want to stay if Melvald’s going out of business was another reason to move).

- Sorry but Mileven took way too much space.

- Again, no Jonathan and Will actual brothers bonding. But a whole lot of Steve and Dustin meme fanservice wank.

- Erica is just the sassy black girl trope non stop the whole season and nothing else and it’s so grating and... I was gonna say disappointing but I had no faith in the Duffers regarding this. Just because a bit character becomes a meme doesn’t mean they need to become a main. *cough* Steve *cough cough* Sorry.

- Last but not least, the woobiefication of Billy. Uggggghhhh. Disgusting. And having Max cry over him WTF?!?!?!?!?! staaaaaaahp.

[ladysarahsakura]

Stein’s daughter

My apologise if you believe Professor Stein is OOC in this story.  Also like many of my posts, this is an OG character I created to immerse myself into the world Soul Eater. If you’d like to see X Reader stories they will come I promise. Obviously, I don’t own Soul Eater I only own the characters I created to represent me and my weapons. Love you all!  

   Dr Franken Stein had a rough childhood. Combining the issues he had with his longing to dissect with how doctors who tried to ‘fix him’ would poke and prod him, it’s safe to say he wasn’t too happy with the way his childhood turned out. He was slightly jealous when he found out his ex-weapon partner-Spirit Albarn- was not only getting married but having a child on the way as well. Stein had many concerns about having a child and getting married: could he have found anyone to deal with him and his oddities? What about the madness within him that causes the need for dissecting, would he pass it on to his children? What if one day he did something to the child? Or his partner? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. One way to fill the small void he had since he was scared to father a child and be a spouse was to choose one or two days a week to go to Death City’s orphanage where he would teach the older children- the younger ones, around 4 or so years old feared him- about animals he’s dissected or told stories of his old missions when he was at the DWMA as a student. These children looked past his stitches, his scars, and the screw/bolt protruding from the side of his head, and saw a scientist that made teaching fun for them. A couple of nurses that cared for said children were a bit unsure of Stein but the children adored him. One nurse, who oversaw new babies from a couple of months to 3 years, formed a friendship with Stein and he assisted her in preparing the food and formulas for the infants and toddlers at the Orphanage. On a sunny day in August, Stein’s life was about to change. The morning of the 27th of August in 1998, the orphanage welcomed its first-week old baby in 10 years. The small baby girl had been left on the doorstep at about 2 AM and the head nurse rushed to the door upon hearing the rapid knocking. They immediately fed the girl bottled formula, weighted her, took her temperature and swaddled her. Upon the infant nurse returning for her shift at around 5 AM, she immediately began round the clock care for the baby after the head nurse told her everything and even had the assistance of a pair of fraternal twins- Rocky and Roxy Takahashi, four-year-old, black-haired, green-eyed cuties who lost their parents to a kishin, took turns keeping an eye on baby girl, reading to her, and keeping watch on her as she slept soundly during naptime. On this day during his weekly visit is when Stein first sees the small infant, only 6 pounds but very healthy, wispy blond hairs already on her head, sleeping soundly in her crib in a light purple sleeper, Stein attempts to not wake the baby up as he converses with her nurse on her health and how she came to be in the orphanage this day. Rocky and Roxy also decided to move into the room with the baby to keep an eye on her at night, attaching themselves to her quickly, treating her like they would their own baby sister and Stein smiled slightly at the sight of the twins playing with the baby girl. Nearly a month passed and the baby girl was growing steadily, was happy and healthy, babbling happily to her friends and caregiver, and had still somehow had not been named. The twin children argued back an forth over what to name the infant girl, the caregiver just chuckled before ushering the rowdy 4-year-olds out for the baby’s nap and they stopped upon seeing Stein watching them interact again with the baby as the nurse slowly put her to bed. To stop the twins bickering, Stein suggested a simple name for the baby girl that he felt the twins would agree on: Sarah, Hebrew for lady, princess, and noblewoman. The baby had been such a sweet baby since she came to the orphanage she deserved a name as such since the twins called her their Princess anyway, also it was a name Stein liked. The girl just seemed like a Sarah. They immediately loved it and made certain to tell the baby her name once she awoke.Over a course of eight months, Sarah began to crawl, tugging herself up at times on her crib, a pants leg, or with the helping hand of her caregiver and the twins. She was slowly learning to walk with the help of Roxy and Rocky holding her hands and walking behind her. Aside from her being a little small, she was exactly where she should be in development. Overall, she was a happy, cheerful, sweet baby girl. By June 1999, she was walking even better, holding herself on the wall or holding onto her caregiver’s pants leg and waddling beside her around her room- they didn’t let her explore much except her room and the hallway outside it- and Stein still watched the baby girl develop from a distance, worried his appearance would scare her as it did the other younger children. He didn’t understand why he was drawn to the infant and worked so hard to make sure she was developing properly, conversing with the caregiver when she would get sick or have a rash or wouldn’t eat some foods. Stein knew better than to believe he could adopt a child, to care for and father them, what if he scared them once they saw his tendencies? What if he snapped and hurt them? He had a couple of friends that would assist him in raising a child for he had spoken about it many times to them, wanting an outsiders opinion on if he would ever be a decent father. Marie Mjolnir and Sid Barrett both said they would assist him when he needed them to. A young Sid was already partially caring for a baby boy named Black☆Star who had been found by him on a mission almost a year prior and he said several times how if Stein adopted the girl how sweet it would be if she and Black☆Star would be friends later in life. Stein had to admit, he did find himself drawn to the small child even after years of saying he wouldn’t be good enough to be a father. He tried to converse with her caregiver about her progress and the two adults remained unaware of the infant waddling slightly back from her spot from the corner of the hallway where her twin friends were attempting to get her to walk towards them. Sarah caught sight of Stein and proceeded to waddle towards the stranger she saw many times but never really met. The twins watched as the blonde, little girl waddled her way up to be near Stein, her summer dress swished slightly with every uneven step she took with her chubby baby legs towards her desired destination which was towards the person she knew of but never saw who conversed still with her caregiver unknowing of the baby they spoke of waddling/walking straight towards them. Her caregiver noticed Sarah first but pretended to not notice as she waddled closer to Stein, Roxy and Rocky giggling from the end of the hall. Stein still talked for a moment before feeling a soft tug on his lab coat. Looking down, he met the baby browns of the child he had been meaning to avoid in fear of scaring her as he did all other young children. His green-grey eyes widened and he stiffened, waiting patiently for baby Sarah to begin crying or wailing at his stitches, his bolt/screw, or his towering height but what he got next shocked him more than anything. Sarah reached up with her chubby baby arms and made grabby hands, a sign she wanted to be picked up...by Stein. He slowly relaxed and slid down to the floor, hesitantly, before she surprised him again by clamouring onto his lap and grasped onto his shirt. Her baby hands examined his own, his clothes and his face and hair as she did with everyone she found interesting and she didn't know it but Stein’s heart began to melt. She touched his mouth, his chin, his nose, his glasses- which he then took off to keep them from accidentally being broken- then her hands made their pathway towards his hair. Again, he braced for a scream or crying, instead, he found baby Sarah place a small hand on the screw/bolt and cocked her head to the side at it. Stein smiled softly and reached up to turn it and Sarah grinned and clapped at hearing a slight click click click from the turning. She grinned and babbled cutely, showing her newly grown bottom teeth and she too tried turning the bolt only to find her baby hands weren’t strong enough. Noticing her confused head tilt again, Stein reached up to twist it again and her face lit up. To get her mind off the screw/bolt, Stein held out his hand to her to examine and she happily did so. She continued to play with his hands, his jacket, she’d trace her fingers around his nose, eyes, scar, and babble happily, even speaking a few real words here and there she had been learning. Stein smiled softly at the baby in his arms, relaxing as she continued memorising him. He continued to talk to her caregiver who had sat beside him and was joined by the twins. She grinned when Sarah began to cuddle into Stein’s shirt as he held her in a large hand as she gripped his finger tightly. He completely relaxed and smoothed her hair away from her closed eyes and she mumbled quietly, did she just say, papa? Soon she was sound asleep, snuggling into his shirt and mumbling softly. Her nurse chuckled, “ You’re really great with her. And she seems awfully attached to you. Have you made up your mind about adopting her?” Stein gaped at the woman, “Me? Adopt her? No, no I couldn’t. Not only is my lab completely unsafe for a baby or a kid in general but I doubt I would be a very good father.” His face fell slightly, imagining all the bad things that could happen to the innocent child. Sarah’s caregiver placed a tender hand on his shoulder, “ Come now, Stein. You’d be an amazing father. Look at everything you’ve done for the older children- teaching them, getting them interested in science and animals- also everything you’ve done for Sarah. You’ve helped with formula’s when she wasn’t liking the previous one, you helped make a salve for her diaper rash since store bought didn’t work on her, you’re attached to this baby and I can tell she’s attached to you.” “ But what if something happens? I mean, I would never intentionally hurt her, but my mind…” The caregiver softly smiled. “Then bring in a trusted friend. Caring for a child could be an experiment for you two as caring for any child would be. You can baby proof a certain section of your home for solely her and not let her past that area and have your friends assist you in helping care for her. The choice is entirely yours but,” she glanced down at the little baby, “ I believe someone already made up her own mind.” She chuckled at the infant resting happily in the scientist's hand. He pondered on for a bit on the what ifs. What if he did adopt this girl? Would he be a good parent? Could he provide a happy home for her? A safe home? Could he really be able to do it so simply? Study how to raise a child and asking Sid and Marie for help? What if something went wrong? What if he couldn’t keep his dissecting thoughts from her? Or worse what if he completely lost it. Soon he chose to go home, after unlatching the infant from her strong grip on his finger and shirt, he phoned Marie and Sid to come over for a talk to weigh the pros and cons for raising her or any child. During their meeting, Marie offered to stay with Stein for a bit to help him raise the child if he chose to adopt her and Sid offered to take her to school with Black☆Star, have play dates and such to assist in her development. Both friends swore to assist Stein in his choices no matter what. On that note, Stein wrote a list of pros and cons which by the end the pros outweighed the cons and he finally made up his mind. With Sid and Marie’s help, the babyproofed a section of the Patchwork Lab: every doorknob, corner, outlet, put a big lock on is lab and cleared out three side rooms for her beside his bedroom. Each room was baby proofed and he labelled each room for different things such as her bedroom, a playroom, and a library/study. Stein, with Sid’s help since he was assisting in raising a baby Black☆Star, helped create a feeding chart and Stein made a chart for when she would get older so she would have a routine she could adapt to in case he was called on a mission- which was rare but could still happen and would ease whoever kept an eye on her then. Marie went out and bought everything a baby would need: diapers, clothes, changing pad, blankets, burp cloths, a new crib, a playpen, a carrier, towels, baby bottles, a stroller, and many many stuffies and toys to amuse Sarah. By the next morning, Stein began the long path to adopting the baby girl filled with home studies and paperwork. He would go visit Sarah every day and personally assist her in learning to balance herself, helping her with her words, he even quit smoking to get the better chance of her actually being adopted by him. This went on for three whole months until all the paperwork and home studies were done. By the end of September, Stein had a daughter. Upon entering her new home, Stein and her caregiver agreed to a trial period. He had one week to see if he could handle a one-year-old and if he couldn’t, his would giver her back to the orphanage and gift all he and Marie had purchased to her to keep. The twins were saddened by not being able to see their younger friend but they were happy when Stein told them he or Marie would come to get them every weekend to bond with Sarah that way she would never forget them. Stein had given the baby girl a few gifts that were more scientific, like a stuffed frog she could “dissect” by taking apart the velcro straps on its torso and insides, he had hand knitted sweaters for her and a few blankets, even stitched little doll figures that looked like her, Stein, Sid, Marie, Rocky, Roxy, and her caregiver. Her favourite was the one that resembled Stein and she slept with it in her new crib in her new home beside her new papa who had set up a cot in her room to keep watch on her first few nights. Sarah slept soundly in her new home and grew steadily. By her fourth birthday, they found out she was a meister and that the twins were weapons. Around the same age, she had begun to question why she didn’t look like her papa and Stein had told her the truth, “ Yes, darling. We don’t look a bit alike, do we? But that doesn’t matter, little one. Because you chose me to be your papa that day when you were a baby and I knew you were my darling daughter. Nothing and no one will ever change that. Stein didn’t enrol Sarah into school instead Marie came and would teach her and she trained with Sid and Stein to get physically and stronger on her own before she became meister to a weapon partner. Sarah grew into a loving both the normal things any child would as well as having a growing curiosity about life to the point of her assisting her papa in his scientific studies. Miss Marie would take her to meet with Sid and Black☆Star where he boasted several times about wanting to surpass Lord Death and stated that when Sarah finally joined the DWMA with him, he’d challenge her to their first duel. By the time Sarah became of age to bond with a weapon, she bonded with both Rocky and Roxy which explains why they bonded so quickly at the orphanage. Poor Stein had to get Marie to help the year prior when Sarah got her first period and he didn’t want to embarrass her by having that whole talk. By age fourteen, the trio had gone on many missions to collect Kishin souls as requested by Lord Death even if they weren’t students of the DWMA yet. Sarah chose to postpone her studies at the DWMA for a little while longer since she was learning about her papa’s evils and he confessed to only feeling calm with her or Marie home with him. Marie still taught Sarah and she learned to bend her own wavelength to heal as well as having papa’s ability to use it as a defence without a weapon and learned that the twins had multiple weapon forms which Sarah could easily wield. She made tremendous progress and not once did she lose her love of life and sense of freedom. Stein couldn’t have been a prouder father, however; he was scared for when she would enrol into the DWMA which was now also a college for older children who wished to have further teachings. Would she be ridiculed for being his child even if it wasn’t biologically? Would she be ashamed? Would she still be happy? There was one way to find out. Byt the morning before her next mission, he enrolled her into the DWMA at the age of nineteen. When she returned home she would be a student. 

[winteriron-trash]

The (Un)Wanted Kiss [Chapter 8]

A/N: Happy Tuesday! This chapter is a bit short than I originally planned, but that’s because I made a last-second decision to change Steve and Bucky’s interaction at the beginning of the chapter because my original idea felt OOC. But I hit my 1k goal, so it’s good enough for me. Also, I plan on updating the Ao3 as soon as I post this so I don’t forget again. Lemme know if you wanna be added to the tag list!

Summary/Warnings | AO3 | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Bucky was in his room, putting away his clothes when a knock came on his door. He sighed. He still wasn’t… in his right mind, and the idea of human interaction irked him.

“It’s open,” Bucky called, folding a shirt. He hated laundry, but menial tasks gave him something to do. Something to think about besides… everything else. Something… domesticated.

Steve walked in, mouth drawn in a thin line. Bucky felt his throat go tight. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to do this right now.

“Can I help you?” Bucky whispered, looking at the floor.

There was a brief pause, and Bucky almost thought Steve was just going to stand there and brood.

“You could’ve told me.”

Bucky glanced up. “What?”

“You could’ve told me,” Steve repeated, holding his belt buckle. “I wouldn’t have been mad. I would’ve respected your decision. I’d… I would’ve been happy for you, Buck.”

“What?” Bucky narrowed his eyes, throwing his shirt down. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Steve studied Bucky, eyes narrowed. The look on his face made it almost seem as if he saw Bucky as a stranger, and not his best friend. “You and Tony.”

“What about us?” Bucky snapped.

Steve shook his head. “Buck, Natasha got a hold of the footage from the base you and Tony were being held at. She… we thought it might give us some valuable information on HYDRA.” Steve swallowed, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect to find a damned sex tape.”

Bucky’s gut twisted. Oh. “Steve-”

“Look,” Steve said, breathing hard. “If you and Tony are together, I don’t care. I respect your personal choices.” Steve let out a quiet, wounded sigh. “I just wish you’d told me the truth.”

Bucky wished Steve was angry. He would’ve preferred it if Steve were red-faced and screaming, eyes glowing hot with hatred. Bucky could handle people yelling at him. He could take the screaming arguments. They burned hot and hard, but they would always simmer out, eventually.

But the sad, faded look in Steve’s eye? That hurt, so much worse. The disappointment painted across Steve’s features cut into Bucky’s chest with the sharpest blade he could imagine. Knowing that Bucky had hurt Steve like that, it was worse than any bullet.

Bucky didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. There was nothing to say. Steve deserved better, deserved the truth. But the idea of making him stomach it was even worse than this. Bucky clenched his jaw.

“I just don’t get it.” Steve cleared his throat. “I don’t understand why you’d go all this way to try and hide your relationship with him. I would’ve been happy for you, Buck. For both of you.” Steve shook his head again, and Bucky could feel the anger coming. “But instead you lied to me. You made me- I thought there was still something between us. And if there isn’t that’s fine.” Steve turned and Bucky could see the tightness in his muscles. “I just wish you would’ve told me.”

Bucky watched Steve walk out, closing the door behind him. Bucky counted sixty seconds before he sat down on his bed to cry.

-

After nearly an hour of wallowing in self-pity, Bucky found himself in Tony’s workshop. The music was annoyingly loud and Tony didn’t even notice his presence, but anything was better than the deafening silence of being alone. Bucky curled up on the couch in Tony’s alcove, and just watched the other man work.

It was surprisingly nice.

Tony wasn’t nearly as hateable when he wasn’t running his mouth. Hearing the word ‘genius’ get thrown around to describe him so often almost made the word lose it’s meaning, in a sense. It didn’t feel adequate in describing the man Bucky was watching work, describing how he so easily immersed himself in the technology he built. It was… mesmerizing, almost.

Bucky didn’t realize he’d dozed off until the music stopping jerked him awake.

“And how long have you been there?” Tony asked, wiping motor oil off his hands. He didn’t look mad, or even annoyed. Only mildly curious with an amused eyebrow raised.

Bucky shrugged.

“Any reason for coming down here?” Tony’s questions were casual as if they were only suggestions that Bucky didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to.

“Just…” Bucky shifted, pulling a blanket tighter around his shoulders that he didn’t remember putting on himself in the first place. “Needed to get away from everyone else.”

“Steve?” Tony tilted his head to the side.

“Yeah.” Bucky cleared his throat. “He… we got into an argument.”

“Uhuh.” Tony started putting tools away, but his tone was inviting for Bucky to say more.

“He saw… the footage.” Bucky fiddled with the hem of the blanket. “Of you and me. In the cell.”

Tony glanced over his shoulder, studying Bucky. “He did?”

Bucky nodded. “He thinks… you and I…”

“Oh.” Tony blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said. “I don’t- I can’t tell him the truth.”

Tony put a screwdriver down, walking over to sit next to Bucky on the couch. “And why’s that?”

Bucky shook his head, blinking back tears. “I love him. I love him so much. I can’t… he doesn’t need to know what they did to me. It already hurts him so much. I couldn’t do that to him, Tony.” Bucky tried not to think too much about when he’d started calling Tony by his first name. “He deserves better than that. Better than me.”

“Do you really think that?” Tony stared at Bucky. “I mean, I thought I was self-depreciative but damn. You really think Rogers would ever want anyone but you? You’re all he’s ever wanted. You’re enough for him.”

“I’m not worth it, though.” Bucky stared at his hands.

“Steve disagrees.” Tony shrugged. “And the funny thing about deciding what we’re worth?” Tony sighed. “Is that we’re usually the worst judge of it.”

Bucky glanced up. He studied Tony’s face, eyes narrowed. Tony gave him a faint, yet genuine smile. Bucky didn’t know what to do with that. Didn’t know how to deal with Tony being so kind to him, showing Bucky a man beneath the many layers and masks that might’ve actually been worth liking. A man who Bucky might’ve misjudged just as badly as the media did.

Bucky smiled back.

-

@socialtendancies @justjessica131 @my-drowning-in-time@creepycrazyshipper@trashcanakin@journeythroughtherain @bash-it-all@adriebananas@valiantkittenwitch@skye07@jeshiipacheco@crazy4thewinbros @daughter-of-infinity@alldagayshipsbruh @tqny-stark@mrunaliniraman@drarrydarling @i-dont-know-anything-and-i-worry @shadowkya @niniony @shadowkya

[underthebluerain]

Watched Thor: Ragnarok yesterday. Some of it I liked, some of it I loved, most of it was a mess, some of it I hated. The things I loved made me really emotional and saved it from being a wholly bad experience. The things I hated are the reason I am really glad I didn’t spend money on it.

Fair warning, this "review” is as messy and disjointed as the film. Also long.

-The moment the movie started with Thor’s monologue it was clear it was 100% off tone with the Thor universe. Like what.

-The first woman we saw in Thor was Jane Foster doing scientific research. The first women we see in Ragnarok are two unnamed fanservice extras who are presumably skurge’s conquests and are there for the guy to show off to, with barely any lines, no important role and (I think) never seen again. Just a thought.

-I will admit, I did fid some moments funny and genuinely enjoyed them. Others were just ridiculous, a sign they completely ignored the kind of story and especially characters they were showing. And the moments that should’ve been dramatic but that were played in a funny way, even worse. Like Thor and Loki’s reunion. Thor thought he was dead, again. Honestly. Take away all the emotional depth why don’t you. (Yeah I still laughed but it was a Robbed Angst Moment).

-Not to be That Guy but... Loki’s in-universe The Dark World play has Lady Sif and the Warriors Three in a bigger role than they had in it (since they are present at Svartalfheim) and also has Jane in it so 1) it’s keeping both Sif and Jane UNLIKE THIS MOVIE and 2) how shitty is that the in-play acknowledges these characters and the film proper doesn’t. I am so tired of Marvel’s self-referential “haha let’s lampshade the fact that the women are missing but not actually do anything to remedy it!” also unashamedly used in AOU and Antman.

-The bit they showed us about the play I liked in general though, it had plenty of Bro Feels. And Odin!Loki mouthing “I didn’t do it for him” lol but also aww. Also interesting that Sif and the W3 were included (just like in his deleted TDW imagining. He really wants Thor’s friends to like him damn) worried about him and Sif was sent to get help...?? They are not helping me forget about sifki tbh

-Also I shouldn’t be surprised that something serious like Loki’s origins was mentioned only to be funny but like... what?? He seriously decided to let everyone know?? Really?? And is this play seriously how he decided to do it?? When was this?? Was everyone chill with it?? When did he become cool with it?? 

-Was Jotun!Loki called a blue icicle or did I hallucinate that

-Literally the only mention of Jane is of how she dumped Thor and him saying he dumped her instead. Besides Jane being missing, several reasons why this is shitty: 1) again, only one mention of her in the entire film 2) the only mention has her referred to only insofar as her relationship or lack thereof with Thor goes 3) Thor wouldn’t be trying to save face regarding the breakup, he’d just be sad about it 4) it isn’t a good enough reason to have her missing, fuck you.

-Thor to Strange: “Who are you and why should I care” lmao same

-Hela being Odin’s daughter is so out of left field. The backstory regarding her helping Odin win the realm even more so. What?? Just what??

-On the other hand, nice to see the fishiness about Odin and Asgard’s treatment of other realms acknowledged as shitty. But they still had Odin’s only scenes  being good to his sons...?

-I am conflicted about Hela’s design because on the one hand I am gay and find it sexy but on the other I kind of resent they gave her the Black Skintight Catsuit™ of Sexy Female Characters.

-The W3 didn’t deserve those sudden deaths and Thor didn’t deserve to not find out about them.

-I SO loved Thor and Loki’s interactions. I'VE MISSED THEM SO MUCH

-The mural with the family was nice. I didn’t like how frigga was depicted lower than her husband (and this even though she’s taller...) and looking at him/the ground while the men are looking forward, but it does make sense given Asgard’s sexism (as established in other movies, because apparently now they have an all-women army. Ok then why was Sif being the only female warrior a big deal?? Answer: this movie doesn’t give a shit about continuity)

-So... Odin was ashamed of how he got the realm... but he still made a hugeass mural about it??

-I do like hearing Odin get called out. also Odin manipulated history, who else isn’t surprised?

-Again with the humour being used to reference a tragic past event: Loki’s apparently telling the Sakaar gang (whom he barely knows) about how he let go of the Bifrost. As if it’s a funny anecdote. They all laugh. What.

-Just let Hulk stay there and rot Thor

-Hulk is an asshole, I didn’t need more reasons to hate him but they gave them to me

-They didn’t just made an AOU reference they actually had the gall to show me ooc!nat and fucking brutasha AGAIN EW EW EW WHY FUCK aaand I officially hate Taika Waititi. I am SO glad I didn’t go see this movie in a theatre can you imagine giving more money to be traumatised with the same shit again omg

-Lmao they literally threw in a line in just to give Banner more degrees than Jane, Phd’s actually, so his are more important right? The male ego truly is astounding

-I thought we’d see more of Valkyrie’s backstory and her grudge against Hela, but at least we got something. Also her name wasn’t revealed?? Was it in the credits? She is cool though. I liked that her introduction was not at all dignified (falling off the ship bc she’s drunk? lol. Wasn’t expecting it tbh) but she got her dignity back. I’ve seen it mentioned that her story of “badass warrior leaves after traumatic battle and becomes jaded drunk who pretends not to care about anything but eventually finds it in herself to come back and fight for what’s right” is a story usually reserved for men and it’s great that she got it.

-I feel so defeated that Asgard had to be destroyed.

-The rock alien was quite funny.

-Thor has literally lost his home, his girlfriend, his mother, his father, several of his friends (not that anyone told him) and his fucking eye give this boy a fucking break

-Thank god Thor didn’t end up believing Loki was dead again bc I would’ve gone there and killed him myself tbh

-I think one of my main problems with the film is that I actually enjoyed the adventure, some of the humour and few emotional moments, but it ignored and/or glossed over so much that was important that it’s not as gut-wrenching as its predecessors. To sum up: this movie was a good fic, but not a good enough Thor movie, you get me? Especially given how this is probably the very last Thor movie.

-Even without watching the Infinity Wars trailer it’s obvious Loki’s taken the Tesseract you little shit. I hope Thor knows and is like “take it out let’s see what we do with it hmm?”

-Fuck, I really enjoyed Loki and Thor’s relationship in this movie. On the one hand, the movie robbed them of several emotional moments (Thor finding out Loki’s alive, their reunion, a longer confrontation), but on the other the humour gave them several great scenes of sibling banter and backstory that I loved so much (even if some of it didn’t make sense like the snake anecdote: cute, funny but nonsensical). And despite the movie’s light tone not fitting with the other films’, I... feel like it did kinda fit their relationship here? The film made it work. I still wish we’d gotten more emotional scenes and arguing and angst, but I did like to see that it’s been quite some time since their grievances and that has sort of caused them to cool over a bit, so things are calmer, lighter. And that allows Loki to act less like a “I’m gonna betray you” (which is still there, but he doesn’t play it up so much), and above all allows Thor to say, “look, this has been fucked up for a few years, I don’t think trying to stay together will work”. Which I think is both sincere and reverse psychology. Sincere because Thor has been through a lot of pain and he knows Loki has too, so he doesn’t think he can handle having Loki there but not being able to trust him, and if Loki wants out he’s not gonna force him to stay. And reverse psychology because he’s hoping so bad that he’ll want to stay, that he’ll choose to. Freely. And he knows that the only way he will make a free choice is if he thinks Thor has made his and that it’s to stop pursuing him. I AM EMOTIONAL

-AND LOKI DID COME BACK TO HELP AND THOR FUCKING BELIEVED HE WOULD OKAY

- “IF YOU WERE REALLY HERE I MIGHT HUG YOU” “I’M HERE” GFHXKCJDLKLXKS

-WHAT THE FUCK WHERE IS MY HUG

-AND THEY DID END THE MOVIE TOGETHER SIDE BY SIDE WITH THOR AS KING AND LOKI AS ADVISOR AND GOING TO EARTH AND FACING WHATEVER DANGER IS COMING TOGETHER AND I AM VERY EMOTIONAL OKAY

[masterofmusic]

My Issues With OUAT

Alright guys, you know I have issues with A&E’s mess of a show. I love it, but I am disappointed at how they decided to write it. It’s full of dropped storylines, plotholes, underdeveloped characters, OOC characters, overused plot devices, you name it. So I decided to list all my issues with the show, and maybe I’ll give my solutions in a different post. Here we go (I’ll edit this if I miss any)

Season 1:

Curse broke too quickly. And I think that’s where the trouble started- once they reached this point, they had no idea where to go with it. Knowing that the Black Fairy is the supreme evil, I’d introduce her here in some capacity, so we can develop and build up to the final battle properly- especially as she is vital to the Dark Curse mythos. Put backstory of Blue and Fiona here as well- we get more info on fairy culture and start the “shady blue fairy” thing. 

Realms fully explored here: Enchanted Forest, Wonderland, Fairy Realm, Atlantica (mermaids)

Villains- Regina, Rumple, Black Fairy, Blue Fairy, Cora

Season 2:

They killed Cora off too soon. That’s my main gripe here, there’s so much more they could have done with Cora- have her linger in SB longer so there would be more Regina and Cora development (hell, Snow included). We could have incorporated OUATIW here, when Regina questions what she’s been up to in Wonderland. We get more detail of Cora’s ruling years as the Queen of Hearts (including Alice meeting Cora). Cora lives on as a villain- mother/daughter time.  Regina discovers the Cora/Rumple affair, so that can be explored as well. 

Emma and Snow going to the EF: more could be done here, including a full background of Mulan and Aurora (Maleficent too, including Lily’s father). Cora again, chance to develop her character.

Blue gets more screentime- more buildup of Fiona

Along with Frankenstein, Dracula comes into play as well.  

Also the finale- there should be consequences of Regina’s electroshock torture. No mention of nerve damage? Really? 

Realms explored: Storybrooke, Enchanted Forest, Wonderland, Atlantica, Fairy Realm

Villains- Same as season 1, plus Maleficent 

Season 3: 

Zelena. Oh man Zelena. We get the wicked witch, but such a dumb backstory. We’re gonna fix this- develop her character more, give her way more screentime. Introduction of the Zades relationship. Cora again with Zelena- but different father. For Zelena to be so powerful, she could have a father like Merlin. This could tie in Camelot. 

Neverland arc- Yeah um let’s make Neverland look more like Neverland, yeah? Plotwise, Robbie is excellent, but I feel we need something extra going on here. Not sure what- maybe Tink and the mermaids get more focus?

Oz arc- More development of Oz culture. Why is magic so taboo here as opposed to the EF? 

Regina Vs. Zelena- an actual witch fight. One that takes more than 5 seconds. 

Robin Hood- Backstory. Outlaw Queen. Like, Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, etc. Also soulmate thing- maybe Robin and Regina have met in the past and Rumple made them forget? 

Oh yeah. Regina puts herself under the sleeping curse this time, and Robin has to wake her. This is how the soulmate thing ties in. 

Time travel plot- same, except Marian is not brought back. 

More development of the Missing Year- Outlaw Queen galore. 

Realms explored: Neverland, Enchanted Forest, Oz, Underworld (Zades), Camelot (Zelena’s origins as the daughter of Merlin)

Villains: Regina, Zelena, Cora, Rumple, Black Fairy, Hades

Season 4:

Dark One mythos origin here due to Rumple’s plot. Everything stays the same, but we go into the origins more. Nimue/Merlin, and all the other dark ones get a small backstory so we know the full history of all their shenanigans, and how absorbing the powers of all the previous dark ones affects Rumple. With Merlin, he creates Excalibur and defeats Nimue and all that, but here we see him in his mansion mourning the loss of Zelena- the daughter stolen from him. His mission is to find her- we understand more about Zelena’s unique powers. Her breaking the laws of time travel magic is a big deal. 

The author mythos is explained better here as well. Henry gets more to do, is actually important as the author. 

Frozen arc- Not much changes, but Ingrid doesn’t die. Instead, she’s Cora’s third daughter- conceived after Regina due to a safety measure. Cora was unsure if Regina would take the throne, so she went after Arendelle’s royal line. The ice magic comes from a blend of Cora’s magical genetic line and the King of Arendelle’s nordic genes. Ingrid meets Regina and Zelena, they bond. Ingrid becomes Queen of Arendelle after her release from the urn. 

Fiona and Blue continuation of story as a subplot, more buildup to final battle

Maleficent arc- Focus on Lily/Lily’s father. Interaction with Regina in the past/present, her own storyline with Aurora. Ursula and Cruella stay the same.

ZLENA WAS NEVER MARIAN. No baby drama, no love triangle mess. Good lord. 

Cora is still around being Cora. 

Heroes and Villains AU- we give this more than one episode. Maybe explore how Regina dying for Henry affects Robin

Regina becomes the Dark One instead of Emma. This triggers Cora’s remorse at how she treated her daughter, once she sees what the curse is doing to her. Zelena and Ingrid both are determined to save their sister. Robin gets more of a role. Rumple/Henry/Emma/Charmings involved

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention ships. Outlaw Queen is a big focus, as well as Zades, Snowing, Rumbelle, and yes, Captain Swan. 

Realms explored: Atlantica (Ariel/Ursula), Enchanted Forest, Camelot, Arendelle, Fairy Realm, Oz

Villains- Cora, Regina, Black Fairy, Zelena, Ingrid, Rumple, Maleficent, Hades

Season 5: 

Camelot arc- the gang has to go the Camelot to find Merlin and save Regina from the darkness- she’s gone worse than EQ mode. Wearing more exposed outfits, etc. Merlin finally meets Zelena, tells her of her potential for true light, as he was responsible for the Dark One curse and she is the counter to it. She is the one that can save Regina. Cue Zelena redemption! Morgana Le Fay is introduced as Cora’s mother! 

Arthur is an ass. Hits on Regina, tells her that if she hooks up with him she won’t be burned at the stake for being a witch (magic is outlawed in Camelot) 

We see how the darkness continues to consume Regina- Epic Outlaw Queen development (Dark Outlaw Queen at first, then Robin protects her from the witch hunters). Zelena breaks the curse on her sister. 

These witch hunters are good at what they do- in the midst of it all, they kidnap Zelena (they sense something different about her magic). She is held captive somewhere in Camelot- discovers they wanted her for the demigod baby she carries. 

Underworld arc- We meet Hades, who is in a rage over the kidnapping of his wife. He summons a portal to Camelot and sucks everyone else to the Underworld. Everyone else finds out about Zades, and it is revealed to them that she’s pregnant. He asks them to get Zelena back. We get Hades backstory on Olympus and meet other gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc. What Hades’ life has been like pre-Zelena, character backstory. Other gods have a bigger role- maybe the gang ends up on Olympus somehow?

They find Zelena, but she’s in bad shape. Close to death. The only way to heal her is ambrosia- she becomes a goddess (because would Hades have let her stay mortal, for her to eventually die and for him to be alone again? No.)

Regina has to deal with meeting the souls of her victims and apologizing for everything. 

Subplot- Merida and Mulan backstory! We visit Imperial China and Dun’Broch, how did Mulan become a mercenary? 

Realms visited: Underworld, Camelot, Oz, Enchanted Forest, Dun’Broch (Merida)

Villains- Regina, Zelena, Ingrid, Cora, Hades, Rumple, Black Fairy, Arthur

Season 6:

Origin of the dark curse is the same, but now that we’ve been building Fiona’s story for 6 seasons, this is actual payoff. Blue is shady AF. Lots of time spent at the fairy realm. 

Rumple family drama with Gideon/Fiona/Henry

Land of Untold Stories- we explore this more. 

Wish realm- We spend more time here too. except that actual Robin gets sucked up with Regina and they encounter the banished, older queen locked up. 

Split Queen- only difference here is that Regina becomes whole again and takes the EQ back inside her, becoming one person again, learning to deal with her darkness. OUTLAW QUEEN WEDDING Y’ALL (and eventual pregnancy)

Regina is pregnant! Praise the gods! (both Mills women are pregnant at the same time- cue comedic relief). Ingrid/Cora/Regina/Zelena finally feel like a family unit. 

Final Battle time- This is it. The culmination of 6 seasons and it’s hella epic. Fiona casts her curse because she’s just plain evil, and its chaos. The realms are collapsing, and everyone has to step up and save them. We go to each realm and save it like in Kingdom Hearts, Regina’s castle is the Traverse Town hub. There’s at least an hour long battle between everyone else and Fiona- think Battle of Hogwarts/Helms Deep from LOTR rolled into one. It’s one giant magic battle with swords and bows and fireballs and it’s epic. It takes a lot to bring Fiona down. But she is defeated eventually. 

Epilogue- Everyone goes back to the Enchanted Forest. Regina and Robin rule as King and Queen, welcome a daughter. Snow and Charming are no longer the main royal line with the birth of Regina’s daughter. Zelena is Empress of Oz, visits Hades in the Underworld and her sister in the EF, has a daughter. (Cora’s magical bloodline can only have daughters). Ingrid is Queen of Arendelle, etc. Henry and Emma invent a way to have easy portal hopping, so that people can cross realms back to Storybrooke with ease. There. No season 7 nonsense. 

Whew! that was long!

Season 7: NOT ENCHANTED FOREST VERSION 2

ok, so I I know I said this wouldn’t contain season 7, but this last episode gave me an idea. Regina and Robin are ruling in the Enchanted Forest, like where I left off with season 6, but all is not well. Somewhere in the kingdom, a witch named Oriana Gothel is stirring up trouble, creating the Coven of the Eight. 

Why? Well, Gothel thinks the magical balance of light and dark needs to be restored after Fiona’s defeat- the practice of dark magic has become nonexistent in the Enchanted Forest as a result of Regina’s reign. Deciding to “restore balance to the force”, she recruits 7 promising dark witches for the coven, with the goal of resurrecting Fiona. Fiona’s her idol- the darkest of them all. With Fiona back, Gothel believes that a new world order will be established and things will be as they should (think Voldemort and his view of purebloods, but replace that with dark witches/wizards).

Obviously, Regina/Cora/Ingrid/Zelena aren’t going to stand for this, but this doesn’t stop Gothel from trying to recruit them. The Mills family is going to have to team up once again, this time with the forces of Oz, Camelot, and Arendelle behind them. The stakes are high, with young children to protect from Gothel’s greedy hands. 

Subplot 1: Rapunzel (Megan Warner). Rapunzel has  2 daughters and a loving husband, but she has magic, was the first person approached by Gothel. When Rapunzel refuses to join the coven, she’s locked in the tower. Victoria Tremaine (Gabrielle Anwar) is recruited instead. We find out that Victoria is Cora’s sister.

Subplot 2: Tiana and Dr. Facilier. The voodoo doctor is very interested in Gothel’s plan, offers her his help in finding recruits. 

Subplot 3: Rumple and The Guardian. The Guardian will be someone that can withstand the Dark One curse without going insane- he searches to find the person that he can finally pass the Dark One curse off to. However, things are complicated when he finds out that Mommy Dearest is awake. 

Realms visited: Enchanted Forest, Oz, Camelot, possibly Underworld 

Villains: Gothel, Fiona, Facilier

General gripes:

* More Regina backstory that’s not her searching for Snow. What was her marriage like in the early years? What was her relationship with her mother/father growing up a princess? What if her and Zelena met more than that once?

* More development of characters like Aurora, Cinderella, Ruby, etc. 

* No more character assassinations- like seriously, Emma, Regina, Snow, Belle, and Rumple’s characters were all destroyed 

* Too many memory curses. Like seriously, no more. 

*No more recycled plots for Rumple/Rumbelle

* Development of Zelena. True development- not just some flashbacks of her being jealous of Regina. More time building up Zades. Zelena spends time with Henry being his aunt. 

* No musical. Just unnecessary, and doesn’t fit the tone of the show. 

* Timeline disaster- we establish a solid, concrete timeline. No more “many years ago” and conflicting flashbacks. 

* Maleficent- Nothing against Kristin, but what the hell did they do to Maleficent? She’s not as evil as she was in the movie

* More effort put into magic battles- think Harry Potter level of CGI and effort

* Regina’s redemption- this could be handled better- you can’t redeem someone that doesn’t regret killing hundreds of people, and still has a vault full of hearts 

* explanation of magic/laws of magic. 

* actual sex scenes- not quite HBO levels but almost. 

*More magical creatures- we have werewolves, so where are the vampires?

If I missed anything, or if I can improve on things,  let me know!

[marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer]

MTVS Epic Rewatch  #155

VM 3x04 Charlie Don’t Surf

1) Let’s be real, this episode is kind of a drag, and it’s only worth a watch for all the Logan angsty feels okay? Because of that, this should be ranty.

2) 

VERONICA: This is a bad idea. KEITH: No, it's not. VERONICA: You only thinks it's not 'cause you came up with it. KEITH: Ergo, how could it be bad? Math, sweetie. Me plus idea equals good.

Hm, what could this “idea” they’re talking about be...?

FYI, Logan is never a bad idea, okay?

3) Veronica is totally freaking out, and tbh, we can’t blame her considering one of the last times Keith and Logan were at the Mars’ home together this happened...

Keith certainly wasn’t - and to this day kind of isn’t - a member of the Logan Echolls Fan Club (I’ll get to the Keith/Logan stuff later) but Veronica had been dating Logan for a few months now, they were going steady, and didn’t Veronica want the two leading men in her life to get together and get along? Oh right. I totally forgot about Veronica’s need to compartmentalize. Never mind.

Anyway, it’s so cute to watch her freaking out and then to watch Logan tease her a bit... 

LOGAN: Can I mention that my eyes adored you? I got it. No calling you bobcat, no talk of milky thighs.

...but then he sincerely reassures her...

LOGAN: Veronica? I won't say anything bad.

And not only does this calm her down, but it also makes her hold her hand out to him (a striking parallel to Logan holding his hand out to her when arriving at his house in A Trip to the Dentist...) in a “we’re doing this together, we’re a team” sort of way. I’m here for this shit, Rob Thomas. 100% in.

Also, this whole scene is a nice reversal of the “meet the parents” typical scene. It’s usually the person meeting their significant other’s parent the one on freak-out mode, not the other way around. But it makes sense that Logan is the collected one here (although I’m 100% he wasn’t all that collected on the inside...). Logan might be a jackass occasionally, and he certainly was a smartass to Keith on more than one occasion. But he’s not stupid. And more importantly, he loves Veronica and he knows how important her dad is to her, so he’s certainly not going to do anything to ruin the evening for either of them. At least, not on purpose...

4) Of course, that reassurance didn’t last long... 

Keith was rather amicable - though not exactly friendly or warm - and he was asking the standard “father-meets-boyfriend” questions. The thing is, Keith and Logan have a shared history. He wasn’t really meeting his daughter’s “new” boyfriend. Keith had had an idea of Logan built in his head for years now, some of it based on fact, some of it based on prejudice and a definite transfer of guilt because of Aaron’s actions. It’s both OOC and IC for Keith, though. On the one hand, I don’t think we ever see him hold on to his preconceived notions of a person as hard as he does regarding his perception of Logan. On the other hand, it kind of makes sense that he’s always on guard regarding Logan because he can tell how much Veronica cares for him, and therefore he understands that Logan - knowingly or not - has the power to hurt Veronica like nobody else. Oddly enough, he seems to believe Veronica is blind to Logan’s flaws, while Veronica - just like Keith - holds Logan to higher standards than any other of her boyfriends. Like father, like daughter, I guess. 

So yeah, Keith is amicable enough, and he’s not really asking any tough questions. And even though Veronica seems to be overreacting at first, I get it. Because there’s something in the way Keith regards Logan and the tone of his voice that is kind of telling you he’s setting Logan up to take the bait and prove how much of a screwup he is and how wrong he is for Veronica. 

Regardless, Logan was doing quite well. He was answering Keith’s questions sincerely and respectfully while still being Logan.

VERONICA: Where is this going? KEITH: My end game is to find out what classes Logan is taking. LOGAN: Just core stuff, you know, sociology, freshman comp. Mass com, which is kinda coming in handy. You know, apparently being the offspring of a murderer doesn't get old. I'm getting all these interview requests. Larry King wants me to come on with O.J.'s kids. KEITH: Oh, you thinking about it? LOGAN: No. KEITH: Why's that?

5) We all die a little bit inside as Logan looks back and forth between Keith and Veronica when they’re lovingly bantering right? I mean, he’s so happy to see the two of them interact in that way because that’s exactly the kind of relationship he wished he’d had with his parents or with any family member, which is the whole point of this episode. Correction. It’s one of Logan’s traits as a character. Throughout the series and the movie, Logan is desperately looking for familial relationships, for that kind of love. It’s really sad, actually. Here’s this boy who is always wearing his heart on his sleeve for the world to see, who falls for the mildest show of affection because he’s so desperate to be loved, and time and again he’s deceived and used. But that doesn’t deter him. (I think that’s why he held on to Carrie, she was the closest thing to family he ever had. So, can Logan have a family, please? Outside of Veronica, I mean.)

Anyway, a lot of feels about this whole opening scene, okay?

6) It’s nice to see Veronica trying to mend fences with Parker. At first, I thought Parker’s beef with Veronica was a bit exaggerated. But then again, Parker didn’t know who had raped her but she still needed someone to blame, which is totally valid even if her blame was misplaced on Veronica. Anyway, it’s good to see Veronica opening up about her past and to promise Parker she wants to help her. More of this, always.

7) “Do you remember me by any chance?” 

Uh, duh? Raise your hand if you watched “Just Shoot Me” and shipped these two...

8) Dick going to Veronica’s is priceless...

EITH: Can I help you? DICK: Do you know which one of these is Veronica's? Oh, guess so. This is so freaky. I've totally been to this complex before. We had to pick up our maid here once. Is Veronica home? KEITH: Honey? DICK: Ah, it's like a little kitchen area, huh? Oh, it's so awesome. VERONICA: If you're not gonna shoo it out with a newspaper, I'm stepping on it. DICK: Hey, buddy. Hope it's not weird me just showing up. I can't believe I've known you forever and you've never had me over. VERONICA: You left a flaming bag of dog poo in front of our door one time. That was kind of a play date.

9) See? This is the kind of thing that bothers me... if you’re going to have a character have her head shaved, then you gotta have her be bald and/or wear a wig. A decent wig, if possible. After all, she’s out wearing it. But man did they give up quickly on the wig thing...

Beginning of 3x02

End of 3x02

Beginning of 3x04 

Clearly, that’s Julie’s hair, but at least they kind of made it look like a wig? A super real wig? Very unlike the one she was previously wearing?

Middle of 3x04

All pretense is dropped and Parker looks as if her head had never been shaved at all? 

10) I do love the lobster anecdote Keith told Harmony, but I also get Veronica’s reaction: why does this woman I’ve just met know this very personal anecdote about me that barely anyone knows about? Of course, she knows why. 

HARMONY: Veronica, the liberator of lobsters? LOGAN: Awe, I never knew. VERONICA: A single lobster, once, from the Chart House when I was seven. He tells that one to all the new clients.

I deeply enjoy Logan’s reactions throughout this whole exchange...

11) So I get that this exchange and Dick’s shady attitude and reply...

VERONICA: What happened to your hand?

DICK: Window fell on it. Whatever.  (...)

VERONICA: Logan said you showed up at his place the night of Parker's rape, all wrecked, saying you screwed up.

...were in order to set up Dick as a suspect, but tbh who really bought Dick as a red herring this season? I mean, what were the odds of a second Casablancas being the season’s Big Bad? That would’ve been lazy writing. At the same time, if Dick hadn’t been set up as a red herring at the beginning of the season, there really wouldn’t have any purpose for him in the show...

12) 

VERONICA: I need to talk to you. I followed the trust money all the way down the rabbit hole. The payments are going to a person named Charlie Stone. Do you know who that is? LOGAN: No, should I? VERONICA: Yeah, probably. Charlie Stone is your brother.

13) 

VERONICA: Here's his number.

LOGAN: Yeah, and what am I supposed to do?

He didn’t even think about it, he was that desperate for some sort of family connection. Poor baby. 

14) 

NANCY: They set up this boo room so they could fondle girls as they went through. So, we dressed up as rats and strategically put rat traps on all of our gropable parts.

15) Disclaimer: I’m this guy.

16) And then, “Charlie”...

Gotta hand it to him, though, he did his job well. I mean, he knew exactly how to get to Logan, he read him really well and he knew what kind of things to say to make him open up. So he’s a douchebag, but a smart douchebag. 

It’s really sad, though, that Logan falls so easily for his act. 

LOGAN: You surf? CHARLIE: As often and as long as I can. LOGAN: Man, we are brothers.

17) 

VERONICA VOICEOVER: I have options. I could be excited for Logan. Thrilled even that his new brother is such a keeper. Or, I can be me.

Don’t hate me for what I’m about to say, but... I think on some level Veronica was happy she was right. There’s something about the way she decides to let Norman know she caught him that makes me wonder if she ever considered Logan’s feelings when confronting him. Like, she was reveling in confronting Norman and  uncovering his true identity, showing off how smart she was (or how much smarter than him she was...) Regardless of how it would affect Logan, she loves being right, and the P.I. in her was telling her something was off about this Charlie guy, so she followed her instinct. Now, I’m not saying she wouldn’t have felt relieved if she had been wrong. But a part of her would’ve been disappointed her instincts failed her. Does this make any sense? 

18) Of course, just before everything goes to shit, we get this scene...

LOGAN: So, it's Christmas, right? The entire family unit is around... Which was rare. And I'm, I don't know, I'm nine and Aaron hands me a gift, but he notices the box has been re-wrapped, you know, so he knows I peeked. I'm nine years old; he's re-gifting me a fruit basket. He starts shouting about how I've ruined Christmas. CHARLIE: Oh, my God. LOGAN: Yeah. And he, uh, he tells me I'm not opening another gift until I eat all twelve pears in the box. CHARLIE: Damn, man, the scissors incident, the drained swimming pool episode, now the box of pears. LOGAN: Yeah. So, I'm eating the pears and taking my time, taking these dainty bites...the man comes unhinged. Takes these pears and just starts shoving them down my throat one after another. And then...and I'm choking but he doesn't stop until my mom holds a cheese knife to his throat. To this day, I puke if I smell a pear.

In a couple of days, Logan had opened up to “Charlie” about his entire history of abuse by his dad. Like, this is the most private thing about Logan, and he’s completely honest about everything, probably more honest than he’s ever been with anyone before - Veronica included. And we get to hear this, and we’ve seen some things before and heard comments about others (just like here we hear about the scissors incident and the drained swimming pool episode, both of which I’m equally interested and not interested in learning about...) but it’s like seeing the tip of an iceberg of shit (a shitberg?), you know? There’s so much more shit below it, and we will never really know everything about Logan’s childhood. 

Also, this sort of explaines why we always see Logan eating apples, right?

19) Of course, after their heart-to-heart, there’s a tiny blonde waiting to rain on their parade... 

VERONICA: Hi, Logan. Hi, Norman Phipps.

LOGAN: What did you call him?

VERONICA: His name. Norman Phipps. At least, that's the name of the guy who rented his rental car and a quick google check reveals that Norman Phipps is a contributor to Vanity Fair. Thank God for mobile wireless, huh? So, Norman, how's your story coming.

NORMAN: It's great. In fact, I'm almost there. Just one thing, Logan. That fruit basket? Was it from Harry and David? God is in the details. Ah, please take a swing. It'd make a great lead.

Btw, Logan punching Norman in the face is twice as rewarding for me because I hated Gilmore Girls’ Logan. #notsorry

20) And then this...

VERONICA: I'm so sorry. I should've just left it alone.

A) What does she mean by that, though? That she shouldn’t have followed the money trail and found out about Logan having a brother? Or that she shouldn’t have continued digging after Logan met “Charlie”? B) There’s something about the way he looks at her as if he doesn’t truly believe she’s sorry? Or as if this is a very Veronica thing to do? Both, probably.

21) I can’t help but find this speech about “looking for the truth” a bit ironic coming from Veronica herself...

VERONICA: I was looking for the truth and I found it. You wanna nail someone to the wall, just to have someone nailed there, or do you want the person responsible to pay?

I mean, ultimately, yes, Veronica does look for the truth. But she also makes the mistake, on numerous occasions, of nailing someone to the wall just to have someone nailed there. I would love to say this is Veronica growing up and learning from her mistakes, but I think the rest of this season will prove otherwise, so...

22) He literally had just met the guy and he gave him his grandfather's watch? Like, we know how much his grandpa meant to Logan (remember the lighter?). It breaks my heart that he was so gullible...

LOGAN: I was hoping you could bust some of it out again and help me find Norman Phipps.

VERONICA: Why?

LOGAN: Well, I gave him a pocket watch that belonged to my grandfather, the only decent member of my family. 'Course, he died when I was five, so who knows. Still, kinda burns thinking of Norman having it.

23) I’m fine, I’m fine...

VERONICA: The reporter acted alone. He was tapping Charlie's line when you called. Your real half-brother is innocent.

LOGAN: And I was so quick to believe that guy. And, you know, I look at you and your dad, you know, that thing that you have. I never had that.

VERONICA: You couldn't have known.

LOGAN: No, I'm sure that won't matter to him.

24) And of course, Logan being Logan, he has to try again...

ANSWER MACHINE: Hi, this is Charlie. Please leave a message. LOGAN: Hey, Charlie, it's Logan again. Uh. Listen, I'm sorry about all the messages... Yeah, I guess I thought I'd give it another shot. Fourth time's a charm, right?

:(

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows V2 #3 Thoughts/Review

Click here to see my older thoughts

I’m not gonna go page by page on this one just FYI

Story:

Annie May Parker is sent to the principal’s office for doodling in class. Outside his office she encounters an older student named Stephanie Kim who has a reputation for being the toughest kid in school. Stephanie advises Annie May to just let the principal say what he wants and wait him out. This works with Stephanie later explaining her four years of school has taught her that their principal doesn’t really care too much about the students or what they do, so long as his life isn’t made difficult.In the playground the pair spot Jermaine Grant (son of Gloria Grant) who’s being picked on by some older kids. Annie steps in but it’s Stephanie’s words which send the bullies skulking off.

Suddenly Annie’s Spider Sense blares and she receives disturbing visions of her parents in trouble. Recognizing the Regent’s base from her visions, Annie changes into costume and races off to help her folks. At the scene though she cannot find them and is promptly captured by the Moloids, waking up hurt and in their clutches (leading us to the end of issue #1).

MJ/Spinneret angrily rescues (and consequently grounds) Annie leaving her to watch them fight the dinosaur from earlier issues from afar. But following another Spider Sense induced vision she sees her parents falling into a large hole and tries to warn them. She’s too late however, but she’s just in time to notice the dinosaur waking up and lunge at her. As Normie Osborn watched intrigued she lures the dinosaur into the hole, sending it tumbling down to land nearby the Mole Man who’s captured her parents.

After a few quick exchange of words Annie declares that it’s time for them to fight, whilst exclaiming fearfully in her head.

Review:

I like the art.

I don’t like Annie being a hero and think it’s OOC for Peter and MJ to let her do that.

Well that’s all I have to say for this issue....okay I’ll elaborate.

Yeah...the art continues to be immensely great and whilst I find it OOC BS for Annie to be a hero...I have to admit that just looking at her as a hero in her own right...it is really endearing.

And this stems from Conway’s ability to write a pretty decent child character. I feel as time has gone by many writer’s have become more skilled at doing this when in the past it used to be an almost guaranteed path to something insufferable.

In the first two pages alone we get a look at her creativeity, a trait stemming mostly from her mother but a little bit from her Dad and also her quick thinking when she covers up her revealing doodle by eating it. Whilst childish and unnecessary it underscores Annie’s youth. We’ve seen Peter go to lengths to cover up his identity and Annie is simply doing the same but in a more childish manner. The artwork even reflects this in places as it becomes a little more simplistic and a little more cartoony which makes sense when the series is being viewed through the eyes of a child.

We’re also introduced to more supporting characters in the form of Annie’s Principal, teacher and school mates. With their introduction we now have a pool of characters and environment for each member of the Parkers to interact with and follow respective subplots about Peter=Bugle, MJ=the store, Annie=the school, an ingenious move on Conway’s part to add variety and dimensions to each family member. The principal character is maybe too hard an attempt to give a character a gimmick, but it is early days. The other characters though are decent enough and there is ground for some interesting dynamics between Stephanie, Jermaine and Annie. Annie looks after Jermaine and is turn looked after by the older Stephanie despite Annie being the stronger of the two. It’s an interesting flip on Peter’s lonely and bullied school days but isn’t quite as wild and popular as MJ’s.

As for the dialogue same story from previous issues though Conway does a good job of reflecting the nervous, ineloquent, jumpy and fast thought processes going through the mind of a child...even one who says OMG in her head...by the way has anyone seen by walking stick?

Moving on...Annie’s Spider Sense.

It is an interesting power that has a lot of potential so long as it isn’t misused too much and doesn’t become equivalent to Madam Web’s abilities. It is also something that renders her unique to her parents...but not her ‘uncle’ Kaine.

Yeah...Kaine’s Spider Sense lets him read the future too. Is this a deliberate rip-off? I dunno.

Her debut double page spread and in fact all of her action panels once more made me more open to what is otherwise not a great visual design for her costume. It’s one of those suits which makes sense realistically but too the point of not being very good visually. In fact her undersuit which is just black with a red chest is much better visually speaking. But the one aspect I’m not okay with at all is the pigtails. I think they are cute on her but as part of the costume look too dorky and offer too easy a weakness for enemies to exploit...which they do in this very issue when they capture her. Its hard enough believing that Peter would allow Annie to play hero let alone believing he and fashonista Mary Jane (who’s made a point of making her hair more practical in costume) would allow Annie to swing around like that.

If nothing else it further makes the deduction of her and the Parkers’ identities easier to figure out. Your looking for a family of three, one man, one woman and a young girl, both ladies with long red hair, the girl wearing it in pigtails. Hmm...how could we figure this out? Maybe Peter Parker the famous Spider-Man photographer who’s daughter has long red hair like her mother and wears that hair in pigtails could tell us? Then again maybe the Parkers don’t care that mucha bout people deducing their secrets considering they all are fairly liberal in throwing their names and familial titles around.

You’d think at the very least Normie Osborn who along with his family has a close personal relationship with the Parkers and probably would know who Annie is would be able to deduce this. Even if he is only aged...um...actually I don’t know how old he is. He’s acting like an adult but he’s much shorter than his assistants and clearly younger too. If you presume Annie was born circa Mayday in the Clone Saga and she’s at most 10 years old now then Normie would be like...15 tops? And that’s really pushing it. The letters page claims that there is a reason or this age dilemma but I have no idea what that could refer to.

The action scenes are well drawn and Annie’s defeat of the dinosaur was an example of her inheriting her paren’ts resourcefulness, but the big problem is that it mostly rehashed what we saw in previous issues and gave us little plot advancement. At least advancement from where previous issues left off. We’ve fleshed out Annie and made note of her powers but in terms of all the Mole Man stuff we’ve moved maybe one pace beyond issue #2 which itself only moved like 2 paces beyond issue #1.

Mole Man is...ehhhh...his weird nutty dialogue is starting to enter a danger zone where it will become too over the top and insufferable.  Its trying too hard to be self-aware that he’s a ridiculous character. In contrast Annie’s joke about being grounded was much funnier and Peter’s reaction of quiet pride and light reprimanding was priceless.

Overall this issue gets a....B I think. It was really compromised by the limited plot advancement but the set up stuff with Annie and her characterization kept it afloat well enough.

[hogwartselementumrp]

[carina-debayle]

Eorzean Alliance After Party: Hestia’s Discoveries

Log Date: 12/3/16

OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the readers enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participants knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!

Tags: @halone-from-the-otherside @lightsinshadows @ishgardianknightblogging @jancisstuff @darkknightsbread

If I had any words to describe how the Eorzean Alliance went, I suppose I would have to say mostly without a hitch. It was very successful, minus one unruly person who felt the need to sew some chaos into the mix, but I am sure some people enjoyed someone stirring the pot to make the event a bit more exciting. Armont’s speech I’d like to hope instilled confidence into those of Ishgard, but even I don’t have to be of their culture to know that prejudice and hate runs deep. It could be many turns, or even forever before they would perhaps ever truly find peace. Even then I had my own uncertainty as my husband and I had a less than pleasant interaction the night before, and all I really wished was to find peace with him again. 

After all was said and done and Hestia managed to get herself lost meeting new friends, we were all gathered together as the event dispersed slowly but surely. Now it was simply small talking and praise... at least to a certain extent...

Vevekera Lelekera: "That is the plan-" he stops and leans forward, raising a brow at Hestia hiding behind Guillemont. "You've got a ward."

Guillemont De'bayle: "Oh, Hestia. You snuck up on me." He crouches down with his arms open. "Do you have a hug for your uncle?"

Hestia De'bayle: "I sneak up a lot! I'm sorry," she moves over to him as big of a hug as she could, "Uncy Gilly, how you be? Did Big Eye come and visit?"

Guillemont De'bayle wraps his arms around his niece, and stands up - taking her with him. "Yes. I saw him in a dream, but he was busy so I left him alone." He begins swaying side to side, with the intention of swinging her legs slightly.

Hestia De'bayle giggles out gently, her little boots rocking, "he was busy?! Big Eye is so rude..." she huffs, "Tomtom tries to help him, but I think he is too far to help! Big Eye is lost..."

Guillemont De'bayle looks surprised. "Lost? Did he wander off?"

Hestia De'bayle: "No, no, Mommy said that's how you call people who you can't help. Lost."

Guillemont De'bayle: "Oh. I see." He glances back to his sister-in-law for a moment. "Well, what does he need help with?"

Hestia De'bayle: "I dunno... I don't know how to help him! He is not nice to his friend Tomtom, we tried to take him to Jamie for advice but Mommy said the water makes Tomtom and Big Eye sick so they had to try and talk through glass."

Carina Roussos: "I imagine you wish to stay and speak to people... I think I will take Hestia to my mothers tonight," she says up to Armont, "when do you think you will be home?"

Guillemont De'bayle: "Jamie? Is he the fish?"

Hestia De'bayle: "Yes, big blowfish. Jamie-son"

Guillemont De'bayle: "Ah, I see." He continues swaying. He pauses, hearing Carina say something about taking Hestia to her mother's? "If you need someone to watch her tonight, I uh... I would not mind?" He grins. "I bought some new books recently. Perhaps I could uh... I could read her a story?"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Such a dutiful uncle. Ties of family, indeed."

Carina Roussos: "Oh? Sure, if you would like to. I tend to just surprise visit my parents with her, but they never mind. Never really have much going on there and they love her company. I wouldn't dare keep her from all her family though. Would you like that Hestia?" she smiled to her daughter.

Hestia De'bayle: "Yes! I want to bring Tomtom though and Big Eye!"

Guillemont De'bayle: "Sure! Should we go pick them up now?"

Carina Roussos: "Sure, I have to get her clothes anyways and change myself for my trip to Costa," she smirks some back toward her husband. "Shall we?"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Hello Hestia. Do you remember me?"

Hestia De'bayle looks down to Veve, an occurrence not common for the little girl, "Hello! I am Hestia, good to meet you!”

Vevekera Lelekera: "I suppose a lack of memory is a blessing for this case. I'm Veve. Nice to meet you too."

Hestia De'bayle: "Veve, I like that name! I like you Veve, you are small like me," she wiggle around out of Guillemont’s arms to stand beside Veve.

Guillemont De'bayle: "Yes we shall." Weird way to say it "Oh, by the-" he exclaims as Hestia drops from his arms. "Are you alright Hestia?"

Vevekera Lelekera smirks and gives her a nod, "I'm a Lalafell. We don't get to be much bigger than this. You'll keep growing, though."

Hestia De'bayle: "You'll stay small?! I want to be big like Papa! I get stepped on a lot, Uncy's can't see me well when walking into house."

Guillemont De'bayle: "I did not actually step on you. Only uh... I only almost stepped on you."

Jancis Milburga glances over at Hestia's exclamation.

Vevekera Lelekera: "I'm sure you will be." he tries to keep from chuckling at her next words, but simply can't. "Yes. Tallfolk don't look out very well."

Hestia De'bayle: "I will be tall! I will be tall! When I am big Veve, I will hold you up and make you tall too!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "How sweet of you. Thank you Hestia." he hums a bit, and scratches at his chin. "Tell me, Hestia. What's your favorite color?"

Hestia De'bayle waves out her mittens, touching her shirt, "yellow... it's bright and makes me happy! Reminds me of big fluffy choco!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Alright. And what's your favorite animal?"

Hestia De'bayle: "I... hmm... I like JoJo, he is my friend. I like many animals. Big bird, JoJo, Jamie, Kitten... I don't know if Tomtom is an animal. My mittens are big bird choco!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "We'll go with the big bird." he nods and steps back, hands clapping together. A yellow glow peeked out between his fingers and when he opened them up, a small orb of yellow mist sat in his palm. He flicked his wrist and it hopped onto the ground, swirling and growing until it grew legs. Then wings. And a beak. It was only as tall as Veve himself, but it was clearly chocobo-shaped, and bright yellow.

Guillemont De'bayle: "Impressive!"

Hestia De'bayle: "Big bird! Big bird!" she cheered out excitingly, dancing around, "how! How you make bird?"

Vevekera Lelekera: "With magic. I've practiced magic for a very long time." he smiles and twirls his hand in a circle, the bird running a circle around the group before the bitter winds took it away.

Hestia De'bayle watched in a wiggle as the bird disappeared, "birdy!" she cried out, her hands reaching out, as the winds took it away, "magic... I want to make magic!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "When you get older, and if your parents say so, perhaps I'll teach you someday."

Hestia De'bayle: "Mommy! I want to learn magic! Magic! Make colorful birdy"

Carina Roussos smiles down happily toward her daughter, "you know... Mommy's Papa is a great caster... even Mommy used to be able to cast magic, once upon a time. It's in your blood as well Hestia, I am sure if you want to learn magic someday that you shall!"

Hestia De'bayle: "Mommy said I get to learn magic!"

Denz De'bayle: You say that as if the De'bayles do not have their own magic users.

Vevekera Lelekera: "Wonderful. I'd be more than happy to teach you."

Denz De'bayle beckons to Jancis Milburga.

Carina Roussos: "Well they are more known for their physical prowess, but Elezen as well are naturally inclined to magic so I've read. It quite literally is in her blood!"

Denz De'bayle: I thought the plan was to put a spear in her hand?

Hestia De'bayle: "Veve is so kind, Veve is my friend, like Tomtom and Big Eye and Jamie. And Mommy and Papa of course... and..." she murmurs off some names, "Veve you like snackies? Mommy makes yummy snackies for me."

Jancis Milburga comments, "It is good to put many things into a child's hand. Never know which one will be kept."

Vevekera Lelekera: "Snacks are the best. Especially things like chocolates and cookies. Candy and cake. They're my favorite."

Jancis Milburga: "You could put a piano in her hand. Ah. No I mean you can put her hands upon a piano."

Denz De'bayle: Aye, this is true. Does much better than having naught be a weapon.

Carina Roussos: "Would you like to learn music Hestia?"

Denz De'bayle lets out a few laughs. "A piano in her hands?" With a grin, he nods. "Music is a great source of learning."

Hestia De'bayle: "Choco-late. Like big bird... Mommy likes choco-late, but she hides it from me," the girl leers back toward her mother, before perking up, "moosic! How do I make moosic!? With magic?"

Denz De'bayle: “Hm... I wasn't the only one who was taught music…” he seems lost in thought a moment before waving his hand dismissively.

Carina Roussos: "Not quite, well..." Carina leans down to be at eye level with her daughter, "you could call it a form of magic, I suppose. It feels that way, when you play songs for people... seeing how happy or sad it can make them. It's amazing. Just like magic, you have to learn how to make music. We could learn together Hestia? I've always wanted to learn to play music. I... a dear friend of mine made music for me... his song are still very special in my heart. I wish I could share them with you."

Denz De'bayle: No? You cannot play an instrument?

Carina Roussos shakes her head, "he had tried to teach me... I am not very creative unfortunately."

Denz De'bayle: It's not about creativity, truly. You can learn to play and simply play from the pages. Memorization becomes the illusion of mastery.

Vevekera Lelekera: "Such is true. Any fool with a brain can cast a spell from a book. Only the select few can make them up as they go."

Carina Roussos: "I see... perhaps you can help us Denz when the time comes. Do you play at all, Armont?"

Denz De'bayle: Father wouldn't let Mother drag him into learning the piano as much as myself, but…

Hestia De'bayle: "Mommy sings song for me before bed, but she says her voice is crackly like gravel. I like it though... I like Mommy's singing. I don't know what gravel is,” she remarks innocently, rubbing her mittens to her red cheeks.

Denz De'bayle: “He can do his scales,” he grins tauntingly at Armont De'bayle, “He can help you as well. Jancis too!”

Guillemont De'bayle stretches his neck, the joints creaking and cracking as he does. "Ah. My neck was getting a bit stiff."

Denz De'bayle motions a hand to Jancis Milburga.

Armont De'bayle: "I wish I would have learned more from mother to be truthful Denz. Consider yourself lucky!"

Jancis Milburga's eyes grow wide with awe upon seeing Denz De'bayle.

Carina Roussos: "You can learn with us as well Armont!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Ah...rocks. Little rocks. Like when a boot skids against stone." he gestures to his left, and Armont's metal clad foot in response to Hestia.

Denz De'bayle 's eyes subtely look towards Armont, nodding very tensely, before looking back to Jancis.

Carina Roussos: "We can make it a family event."

Jancis Milburga: “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Agreed! We can all make music together!” Jancis beams happily, "It will be so sweet."

Denz De'bayle: “ 'Sweet'. After the first couple of months of off-beat, out-of-tune practice,” Denz grins tauntingly at Jancis Milburga.

Jancis Milburga: "It is that out of tune?"

Carina Roussos: "We have no instruments at our home unfortunately," she laughs some.

Denz De'bayle: “For beginners to the trained ear, aye,” he nods toward her.

Hestia De'bayle: "Can you make moosic, Veve?"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Mm, sadly no. I've only ever practiced magic. I do, however, very much like those who can. It's a very good thing to make music."

Guillemont De'bayle: "I can play the triangle pretty well. Or uh... So I have been told."

Hestia De'bayle smiles widely to him, a small sparkle in her eyes, "I will learn moosic to play for you Veve!"

Jancis Milburga: "That is a most delightful sound, Sir Guillemont."

Denz De'bayle: Aye, -she- had the time given to play well... All those sword swings made you the best damn triangle player we could ask for, though!” Denz shows Guillemont De'bayle his uncontainable jubilation!

Vevekera Lelekera beams right back, "That sounds wonderful. You're a very nice child Hestia. Your parents must be so very proud.”

Hestia De'bayle: "I hope so! I don't know what that means! It sound good," she nods, "what moosic you like?"

Jancis Milburga asks Denz, "You can fix it, yes? And surely we can find a triangle that will be acceptable."

Veverkera Lelekera: "All of it of course!"

Denz De'bayle: We can try. Family-band…”

Jancis Milburga beams with delight at Denz De'bayle.

Denz De'bayle: How have the De'bayles never done that before?

Hestia De'bayle: "I will learn all moosic then!"

Jancis Milburga: "You could learn a Starlight song!" Jancis motions joyfully to Denz De'bayle.

Denz De'bayle: I suppose we had more important things to worry about... Like bread. We could!

Hestia De'bayle: "Star...light?"

Jancis Milburga gets over excited, "And have outfits and dinner and music and stories and a fire in the fireplace."

Vevekera Lelekera: "Right, well. I think it's about time I head off for the evening."

Jancis Milburga: "Just like in the storybooks."

Hestia De'bayle: "Bye-bye Veve! I love you!" she waved.

Denz De'bayle smiles at Jancis, before giving a happy little look to Carina as if to ask "Can we do that?"

Guillemont De'bayle: "I bid you farewell, Vevekera."

Guillemont De'bayle bids farewell to Vevekera Lelekera.

Jancis Milburga: "Travel safely, Lord Vevekera."

Vevekera Lelekera blinks a couple of times, presumably toward Hestia's remark.

Carina Roussos: "You are giving me a look as though I would stop us Denz, of course we can learn that song! I am sure Hestia would love it. And celebrate as well. Rest well Vevekera!"

Vevekera Lelekera: "Ah, right well. Take care you all,” he remarked before swiftly teleporting away on the spot.

Carina Roussos: "Well then, are we ready to go? I am sure Hestia wants to party with Guillemont!"

Jancis Milburga: "A special uncle party?"

Guillemont De'bayle: "He could have just walked..." He looks over to Carina. "Yes, sure. Let's go."

Hestia stayed with Guillemont that evening, and I returned alone. Perhaps I had made him more upset than I had wished... it truly was difficult at time, to try an be honest about my feelings. Most of the time, then tend to upset others around me.

[nny11writes]

What Star Wars stories do you have for us hungry readers next?

I’ll be honest, because SPOP has content coming out a lot right now my attention is more on my fics there (in a desperate bid to beat Season 3′s release in August). BUT! Below is the full running list of Star Wars fics I’ve still got banging pots and pans around my head! This doesn’t include all the other rando ones I work on to try and play with characterization, world building, plot points, etc etc. I do a ton of writing that is never meant to be finished and posted, but instead to help me get a better grip on what I’m doing. So sometimes I write in those instead of any of these which is part of why there’s a long delay in my stuff lol! Someday I might make a “series” of just “Hey Everyone Here’s some Trash Fics That Have No Connection and No Ends!” to get it out there but that day is not this day.

THERE’S A LOT OF THEM SORRY FOR THE LONG POST Y’ALL Current Focus: I know I keep saying there’s more with Let’s Try This Again, but there is! I’m not sure why i keep getting hung up on the chapters but the next one’s almost ready to go, and we have at least 7 more chapters after that! Up Next: 1. I have the still horribly working title named “Barriss finds Ahsoka via sonar”, which is set during the Rebellion era. Ahsoka goes to find a potential Jedi and it turns out to be Barriss. The two struggle with their re-connection and the lingering feelings of hurt and love. Dramatic but also some fun/funny? It’s close but I need to put more on the ending. 2. Fulcrum and the Negotiator is (another) time travel AU where Adult Ahsoka goes back in time and helps to end the clone wars and out Palpatine as Fulcrum. Then Obi-Wan finds her and it goes more into her, him, and Anakin trying to figure themselves out.

3. DECLARATIONS! It will live again! I’m feeling better and better about the idea that the “quality” will “drop” on it. I needed emotional distance and I think I’m getting closer to actually getting back to it. I no longer have a beta for this fic and I’m nervous about the length of it, I looked at it again and realized we might be further along than I thought we were, but it’s still in season 1 of the series and I want to actually follow that through to the end if not more.

4. Close But No Cigar Universe! I have SEVERAL stories for this AU still:

a. “Journey of the Wills” (yes I do mean Wills and not Whills) The in between story following Anakin and Ahsoka as they visit Shili, Tatooine, and eventually land on Raada, the B plot is Yoda and Qui Gon getting a call to Dagobah.

b. “The Siege of Raada” The one where Palpatine finally over extends his reach, but mostly because Count Dooku has an ego and Grievous has a score to settle. This would include post siege content (some of which I’ve posted).

c. “Untitled Mother’s Fic” I got the suggestion (I wanna say from bobkitten but it may have been dontcallmebugaboo) that Shmi and  Azaahsa meet and talk. I liked it! 5. Barriss Haunts Ahsoka needs a massive overhaul I’ve realized, and as a consequence keeps getting shoved further back on the back burner. :| I want me some ghost shenanigans and mild horror dang it!

6. Passing (the fake dating AU) actually has at least another 16 chapters/2-3 new stories I’ve slapped summaries/outlines for down. It had a much warmer reception than I expected both here and on AO3, so I might write more stories in that AU. Not sure If I’d add them onto Passing or make it a series, hence the weird numbers up above lol TENTATIVES (Aka, the fics muc less likely to be finished/light of day, but I do like them! I refuse to call them dead yet since I do go in and edit or write for all of them on and off) 1. Emperor Sassy Pants Sends his Evil Daughter to School (The one where Obi-Wan is a Sith in the senate playing his own long con game against Palpatine and the Jedi along with his Apprentice Ahsoka, who he finds instead of Plo. So also I guess a Sith!Ahsoka and Double Agent!Ahsoka fic? Most just intimidated by how /long/ of a fic this would need to be, and how much Legends/EU research I personally feel I need to do to make it work.) 2. Dying to Live (On Ahsoka’s resurrection on Mortis, she loses the ability to die. Instead “resetting” to an earlier point until she survives. Eventually Anakin finds out, but the tonal shift between the first and second part is....problematic to say the least.) 3. Father’s Daughter-Title Pending (originally it’s own piece, I think it is actually part of the Padme Says No AU. Just further exploring them as a family post Palpatine’s fall. I really like the idea of this, but since I’m now retconning the original framework I need to basically re-write the whole thing and just keep a few small parts I liked) 4. Rex & Ahsoka are Bros, a series of one shots. (I’ve actually posted less than half of what I have written, but the remaining ones need a lot of character tweaking so they stop being sooooo OOC)

5. Untitled Rex&Anakin OR Rex/Anakin Fic (L-LOOK, I had my ego stroked a lot recently over these types of fics and I do like the ideas, but right now everything I’ve come up with is disconnected and disjointed. I need to lay out a framework or outline to know where the hell I’m going first. Also I’m hilarious not confident in the way I write Rex, or the way I write him and Anakin interacting so this has been A Trip and A Thing on that side as well.)

6. The Werewolf AU (I’ve got over 45k words sunk into basically the outline with some scenes written out. Two problems on this one. 1. This needs massive, massive overhauling to adjust the gore and explicit content to match more with what I’m trying to write. The first part is horror the second part is campy humor found family and the disconnect is killing me. 2. I like the overall concepts of this enough that I started drafting out a YA Original Novel based on the world (the story would have some major differences as it’s /NOT/ a found family now). So I feel like I need to kill the 45k Star Wars AU and actually write the damned book instead.)