#[and Maybe That's The Catalyst For Their Downfall Who Knows]

[tizeline]

I just finished binge reading everything under your separated AU tag and I have QUESTIONS!! (that mostly just stem from me being a mikey fan) Be prepared as I will ramble.

So. My #1 burning mikey question is as follows. Why does he decide to, you know, NOT eradicate all of humanity? Does he just do it because all of his family is? Ugh it’s hard to phrase this but I’m wondering if Draxum’s word means so much to him he changes his entire world view, since draxum was the person who made him believe humans are evil, if he changed his mind he must be right? If he is the very last one to change his worldview, how does he react to the person who essentially indoctrinated him into believing humans are evil just going back on his word? Would he just, idk, try to keep going by himself (proper villain arc style!) Or does he get his own little human/outside friend to convince him, like his two other brothers do? What would happen if instead of a human/outside friend to convince him humans are okay, he gets someone like say, leatherhead, who was experimented on by the earth protection force?(Since in 2012, he was experimented on by the Kraang, but I don’t see a way of that happening when they were locked away his entire life) Huzzah for conflict! or better yet, That same leatherhead convinces him humans are okay? Though that those seem out of character…. And of course maybe it would be mondo gecko, who he befriends and then finds out was human just a few months before and still views himself as such…. So many possibilities!!

speaking of other characters, do the Drax trio have any Yōkai friends? Like one Sunita, or maybe even one yoichi usagi, per chance? Though I’m pretty sure they’d be pro-human so… idk how that would work. The question still stands.

Also, seeing as you mentioned Raph starts to hang out with Leo,Donnie and April, how does mikey react to that? Would he feel abandoned or left out? (Who am I kidding of course he would but like. It does t hurt to ask!)

And seeing as he’s alone now and he’s not training all the time (I hope) this feels like a good Segway into asking: does he have as much of a love for art as in canon? What are his and Raphs interests (since we know Leo’s!)

thanks! I love ur work and ur art and ur Au and ur mother for creating you.

P.s. I had another question I wanted to ask but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was rn so you can expect more asks from me in the near future ;)

Hoo boy, long asks mean long answers, strap in folks!

So EXACTLY what causes Mikey to change his mind on everything is something I'm still working out the details of. Draxum definitely plays a part in it, considering how much faith Mikey has in his dad, Draxum of all people changing his mind would be one of the biggest reasons for Mikey to also second guess himself. It's not like he'd instantly change his entire worldview though, after Draxum gives up on the Evil Plan, Mikey, or rather Dr. Positive, tries to motivate him to come up with a new plan for a short while. He gives up after Draxum makes it clear that they're Done™ with that, and Mikey isn't very keen on trying to do the Evil Plan all on his own considering HIS ENTIRE FAMILY decided to just give up on it. That doesn't mean he'll suddenly start liking humans, he still thinks they suck ass, he just isn't actively trying to cause their downfall anymore.

For both Leo and Raph, a big reason why they changed their minds on humanity was because they interacted with humanity and learned how wrong many of their previously held assumptions about them were. It makes sense that that's the catalyst for both of their redemption-arcs, and in that sense it also makes sense for Mikey to unlearn his prejudices against humans by interacting with them. HOWEVER! You bring up an interesting point, for Mikey specifically it would probably be more effective for another yōkai/mutant to give him a new perspective considering he'd be a lot more willing to listen to them rather than a human. I haven't been planning on including Leatherhead or Mondo, but it would be fun idea so I might do so.?That being said, getting to actually know a human later on would still be a good learning-experience for Mikey, I'm kinda tempted to bring in Woody from the IDW comics into the story too, for example.

So then we get to the topic of friends! Despite The Drax Bros growing up in yōkai society, they're still a bit isolated. They can go and hang out in The Hidden City basically whenever they want (as soon as they're old enough to do so), but when it comes to actually getting close to other yōkai and forming proper friendships...? So first of all, Draxum has a Reputation™ amongst yōkai, he's a well known figure and a lot of people are honestly a bit intimidated by him. Most yōkai thinks it's best to just stay out of his way, which includes staying out of the way of his weird kids. Basically, the bros' association with Draxum has a tendency to get in the way of them actually befriending anyone :/ Not just that, but while there are certainly yōkai who don't have the most positive feelings about humans, the Draxum family's stance on humanity is very extreme, which even most "human-critical" yōkai will find off-putting.

All of this is to say that no, they don't have a lot of friends haha. Leo hangs out at Run Of The Mill all the time, and Hueso definitely has a soft spot for him, but at most he's only acquainted with the other employees and regulars there. I'd imagine that includes Sunita, considering her dad works there and as such they've interacted on occasion. But again, Leo's extreme view on humanity makes most people uncomfortable and as such they'll mostly indulge him in civil small-talk to avoid getting on Draxum's bad side. Raph and Mikey...? They might have some casual friendly connections with some yōkai in The Hidden City, especially Mikey can be quite sociable if he can keep himself from ranting about humans for two seconds lmao. But for the most part, honestly, I think The Drax Bros are content staying a bit closed off from others outside their family. The three of them are very close and they know they can trust each other, that last part's important considering their Big Plans aren't exactly.... legal.... and as such they need to remain secretive about everything to others. I feel like they'd mostly start bothering finding new friends after they decide to abandon their Destroy All Humans Plan.

(Sidenote, I really like when Usagi shows up in TMNT stories, but I've never consumed any Usagi media myself. Almost all I know about both Miyamoto and Yuichi I know through TMNT and as such I don't feel confident enough in my knowledge about the Usagis to include either of them in the story. I HAVE been planning on reading the comics, so maybe I'll include him at a later date??)

But OH BOY Mikey's reaction to Leo and Raph starting to hang out with Donnie and April?? :D Both of Mikey's older brothers ditching him to hang out with their new little brother and his annoying human friend??? :D OH BOY YOU HAVE NO IDEA! :D

Listen, look at this from Mikey's perspective: You finally find your Long Lost Brother™ after thirteen years of him being presumed dead, great! Small problem, he's been brainwashed by the evil humans who kidnapped him and now thinks YOU'RE evil for some reason? No matter! He just needs some time to adjust! So you're patient with him, you show him kindness and understanding while gently trying to guide him back to the good side, to his REAL family. You do EVERYTHING right, and how does that bastard repay you?? HE instead turn your brothers against YOU! He ruins your plans of saving the world! Everything was PERFECT before HE showed up and started complicating things, and now your family is BROKEN and everything sucks! And it can all be blamed on Donnie.

...Hate is a very strong feeling, I don't feel like Mikey is really capable of feeling something like that, at the very least not against someone he does still technically considers family. Rather, I think the best way to describe the feeling Mikey is about to start feeling about Donnie would be bitterness. Mikey takes all the negative feelings, all the hurt and confusion about the situation he's ended up in and directs it all at Donnie. Because it all comes back to him, doesn't it? It was only after Donnie got reunited with them that things started going wrong. And from Mikey's point of view, Donnie has basically stolen Mikey's brothers from him. Needless to say, Mikey is dealing with a lot of negative emotions that he doesn't really know how to cope with them aside from taking it out on Donnie.

Donnie, who is so used to being love-bombed by Mikey is VERY flabbergasted over him basically just completely flipping a switch overnight. Mikey will just be glaring at Donnie like he's trying to explode him with his mind and Donnie's just "???who are you and what have you done with Mikey???". He starts acting really hostile towards Leo and Raph as well, it's all very weird!

Back to me not having figured out the details of the entirety of Mikey's character arc, one thing I'm contemplating is how long I wanna drag it out for. For example, I know I want to change up the events of the movie at least a bit in the AU for the sake of novelty. One way of doing that could potentially be for it to focus not on Leo's and Raph's ever growing tension in their relationship, but rather focus on Donnie's and Mikey's relationship? It'd be extra interesting if Mikey hadn't at least completely gotten over his hang-ups about humans when we bring Casey Jr into the situation. CJ looks at Mikey and sees a younger version of the man that was basically an uncle to him, like family, and Mikey looks at CJ and is just like "ew. human." and that'd be a whole dilemma to deal with. But as interesting as that could be, I'm scared that it'd just get tedious if Mikey is stuck in angst-mode for too long. We still have the entirety of season two to get through before we get to the movie, it's gonna be a while is what I'm saying. Then again, character growth takes time, maybe Mikey reconciles with his own family and starts the path to befriending Donnie by the end of season two, but they run into some roadblocks along the way. They ARE very different people, even in canon, I'd imagine it might take some time for them to properly befriend each other.

But next question - Mikey and Raph's interests! Mikey already likes to draw, but he'd definitely start doing it way more after the season 1 finale (oh wow, a healthy coping mechanism, imagine that!) Raph... Raph likes training. Even after it becomes clear that they're not doing their Big World Domination Plan anymore and as such don't really need to train as much, he still does it just because he genuinely enjoys it. He becomes proper friends with Casey the season one finale and she also really likes training, so it becomes a bonding experience for them. Leo and Donnie later on also introduces him to human media like Jupiter Jim and the Lou Jitsu movies and he gets really into it too XD Nerds!!

... Oh man, I think that's everything! Anyway, thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the AU so much :D

[lou-syd]

Rewatched Mad Max: Fury Road recently, read the Furiosa and Max comics (I had issues with it but some interesting ideas were presented in it) and read the script (I am very normal about this) and Angharad is such a fascinating character to me and I had to compile my thoughts about her and what could have been in a very long post lol

After rewatching with the added context of the comics and script I think she could have had such a cool dynamic with Max specifically if she had lived. I get why from a story-telling perspective it was her who died, doomed by the narrative in a way for being the symbol of hope but her survival could have been very interesting to see play out in relation to other characters, in this case, Max because I love character foils. Also it would have been fun to me personally to see her be part of the Vuvalini and rocking Immortan's shit but anyway...

Angharad as a character is crazy layered with how little there is about her beyond the snippets of her that exist in the movie. She exists in this limbo of being a person and a martyr of sorts.

After she dies, in the script, she does predictably play the role of the Catalyst™

And it's her that keeps the little bit of humanity and hope alive.

And that's a turning point for Nux (and Max lowkey)

Max's reaction:

And in the movie she's introduced with a shot focusing on her pregnant belly and holding a hose, spurting out water (which she immediately shuts off as soon as she notices Max is thirsty but more on this later) which are both very important for the world they live in -- literal new life (the prospect of 'healthy babies') and water as life/ sustenance; hence why Immortan controls the world.

As a foil to Max, she's the idealist. He's past caring about anything beyond survival.

That's not to say she isn't pragmatic. She knows the world they live in and how they have to survive in it. For example, her stance on violence. She knows violence in this world is nearly inevitable but it doesn't mean they have to participate in it if they can avoid it. She reminds Furiosa that they agreed on no unnecessary killing. She can see past the cultish reverence the War Boys have for Immortan to see the reality:

There's also this part in the script:

The comic opens by pointing out that Immortan had allowed for the Wives to have an education and a teacher which ultimately turned out to be his downfall:

And I think that sums up her character pretty well. She's clearly internalized this knowledge from the way she spits back her philosophies and how dogmatic she is about her beliefs. When Cheedo tries to run back after her death, the others remind her 'we are not things' and that these were her words. Which points to the messages left in the vault after they escaped (Who killed the world, we are not things, our babies will not be warlords, etc.) being her words if not literally written by her as a last fuck you to Immortan.

So then Max gets added to the mix.

In the movie and script, there's a sense that he recognizes that among the Wives she's their sort of 'leader' (at least by my interpretation) with how he tends to focus on her and maybe to an extent sees her connection with Furiosa as something of value for his self-preservation among these women hence it's her he holds at gunpoint and makes stay as leverage when they make it to the canyon pass.

It's also her that walks past him and back to the rig even after he just overpowered Furiosa and had a gun in his hand with no qualms about using it. Which the script makes a point of:

It's her that tells Toast she doesn't have to do as Max tells her when they all first get on the rig together and he's securing all the weapons.

She's defiant. Her idealism is still pragmatic and it has teeth. She fights back with what she can -- putting herself in front of Furiosa in the movie (Max in the script) knowing Immortan won't take the shot, immediately jumping out of the rig to cut Max free, shutting off the hose when she notices Max is thirsty while he's holding them at gunpoint, giving the others hope and pushing them to escape.

Putting herself in front of Furiosa/Max also comes after the scene where Furiosa tosses her a gun to reload. Angharad can't reload the gun, she doesn't know how. Toast has to do it. But she can leverage what she has to protect them.

She refuses to lay down even if she might not be 'battle-hardened' in the way Furiosa and Max clearly are, or even Toast who clearly has so more real world experience.

I mean she looks at the man holding her at gunpoint like this:

She's a survivor, like him. And in the subtext, Max recognizes that.

They are so different and have lived vastly different lives. I'm sticking with the chronology of the three first films for Max even if it's super wonky timeline-wise but since Max's comic includes his original established history I'm going with that.

Max is haunted by the ghost of his past, the people he couldn't save. He was a father, a husband, he's alone in the world by the start of the movie and ends every movie alone. He kills if he must, if it's the fastest and easiest option, and moves on. He's succumbed to ennui but still wants to live. He's an aimless drifter, living day to day with no real goals beyond that. The comic describes hims as 'seeking contact only when necessity demanded it of him.' Max has to be forced to care but he's still capable of doing so.

But what has caring brought him but more loss.

Angharad cares a lot. It's her defense. She takes on being a pillar for four other women who suffer the same violent abuses and that's all she has until Furiosa gives them an out. She's not alone, hasn't been for a while. She has hope, she's suffered horribly and pushes on. They survive, in their own way.

It's also Angharad who really believed in the Green Place and likely passed that on to the others (Toast affirming that they're going to the Green Place no matter what after her death) and that includes Max.

As it stands, I do think their characters are sort of connected to each other. If you squint, Max indirectly caused her death. She couldn't regain her footing to get back on the rig because she slipped on her own blood, blood from the wound he inflicted.

And all this is to say that, it would have been very interesting to see them evolve and where that would have taken them. Past cruelties forgiven, a debt owed, and a bond forged -- what would that have looked like for these two? Would she have been on board with his idea to go back to the Citadel and reclaim it? How would she have reacted to the Green Place not existing anymore? To the Vuvalini? Would she have had to cash in on that 'debt' when they faced off against Immortan? So many what-ifs.

Sidenote: I also think her relationship with Furiosa could have been neat to see evolve if she had lived. Like, she's the one that spurred the others into action after Furiosa was forced to leave them. She directly says Furiosa showed them to be stronger.

[ripplestitchskein]

A scenario I would love but am unsure if they will do is Pringles as the catalyst for Stolas to begin examining his privilege and bias in a very real way.

There are a few potential scenes that could be really interesting and impactful that I am already exploring in my own projects but:

If Stella and Andrelphus manage to take away Stolas’s wealth and/or position. (I think they succeed at the former for sure) I would love a scene where Stolas, trying to see Octavia or get access to his house appeals to Pringles and Pringles is unmoved. He has no allegiance or loyalty to Stolas, Stolas has been indifferent to him and all of his staff this entire time, even using them as literal props. So allowing Pringles a moment of “I am doing a job, you have treated me as a servant and therefore I will act like a servant. Who my master is, is irrelevant, you are all the same to me” would be so incredible?

Or the more cartoonish “silent stoic character loses his entire shit” trope where Stolas is bemoaning that Blitz thinks this of him and Pringles just pops off. I enjoy the stone cold drama more but this could be a really hilarious way to do it.

Because I do think it’s probably important that this learning and growth come from an imp and I think it is important that imp not be Blitz or Striker but someone attached to the institution of the Ars Goetia.

I have also considered the slightly crackish possibility that Pringles is a background orchestrator of Stolas’s downfall, maybe even the “Mastermind”. He has observed everything, he probably knows everything. The only reason I shy away from that is Stella is definitely worse so there’s no benefit on his part to allying with her, surely his job is more tolerable without her, less cleaning up broken crockery for sure, though maybe more fridge contents. And I can’t see a benefit for him to doing that unless he was paid a very large sum and allowed to retire. That seems more Andrelphus’s speed not Stella’s. I don’t necessarily like that as I would rather it be from a genuine place of “you have treated me horribly, this is what happens” than “I was paid to betray you”. I much prefer the “You have in no way earned my loyalty or respect” route.

[formulafixated]

The 2010 Season: The Greatest Ride

(This is an old blog post from July 19th 2023)

AKA: Niamh yaps about a random F1 advert from 2011. Here's a bit of a curveball.

My original plan for my second blog post (a deep dive of sorts into the mythic nature of being a Ferrari driver) has been momentarily put on hold to make way for whatever this will be. And I have yet to know what this will be or how it will turn out but stick with me, okay!

Some context first. Picture me at 11pm eating some Shreddies as a before-bed snack and finding things to watch on Youtube while I do (because eating without having a video to watch is a fate worse than death), when I come across a video titled "BBC F1 2011 INTRO". I'm instantly like "oh awesome, love me a bit of The Chain", thinking this would be similar to other F1 intros of the 2010s era.

(Try and tell me you can listen to that song without thinking of Formula One.)

I was wrong.

What I was witnessed to instead was enough to make me stop eating altogether. I put the spoon down. My Shreddies were left to drown in the milk but I didn't care, I was physically unable to move as a result of this video. It was a montage of various moments from the previous 2010 season (a beloved season to me), set amongst Hans Zimmer's iconic 'Time' from Inception and over the top was a poem narrated by Eddie Jordan.

"But Niamh, that sounds way more boring and normal than you made it out to be. Shreddies drowned for this?" I hear you say. You underestimate how much a bit of film soundtrack and spoken poetry can impact a girl. I was so impacted, in fact, that I was suddenly fully prepared to pause my planned blog post (which in all honestly I still have yet to find the inspiration for, so maybe this is a good thing!) and write this one instead. I have got to talk about some of these quotes and what they refer to. Think of this as a sort of 2010 season mini recap, but only the most dramatic moments.

Here is the video, by the way. I urge you to check it out.

https://youtu.be/k_hFOC42Qcw

Let's begin!

(A warning: this is all just going to be meaningless drivel from my brain. But you probably already knew that)

“It had charging snorting bulls in the ring tamed only by those two who rode them. Unable sometimes to tame themselves, unable to control their own beast within”

Who doesn't love a metaphor? Obviously this refers to Sebastian and Mark at Red Bull and their tumultuous relationship that had started to develop by the second year of their partnership. Most people think mainly about 2013's Multi 21 incident when talking about the pair's most tense moment, but 2010 had its fair share of these too. Firstly, the wildly entertaining Turkish Grand Prix saw them collide after Seb attempts to overtake Mark on the inside. Due to the angle of Seb's car they made contact and he is sent spinning off into the gravel, with Mark managing to escape being stuck and continuing the race. This moment is so iconic, I think, because of Seb's reaction to it (watch it on Youtube if you haven't already, it's great) and the fact it was the catalyst for the downfall of their relationship. Not helped by the fact that three races later at Silverstone, an incident with Seb's front wing in final practice meant that the team replaced it with Mark's newly upgraded one. Seb then went on to take pole position in qualifying. As a result, talk about favouritism within the team arose. But that's a blog post for another day. Anyway, I love this quote and I think it sums them up perfectly; sometimes they really were unable to tame the beasts within. The way the shot moves from Seb laughing with Britta to Mark in the background looking all solemn and serious? Art.

“It had intrigue and inviting. It had a prancing horse and a rider asked to take a fall”

It's quite easy to wax poetic when it comes to Ferrari, but I think this line is just so good. I love it when Ferrari is referred to as the 'prancing horse', there's something so elegant about it. The lineup for 2010 included newcomer Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who had already been part of the team for a few seasons. The season before Felipe had undergone surgery due to an accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and understandably he had a slow return back to his usual form once the 2010 season began. As a result, by the German Grand Prix, Massa was 31 points behind Alonso and therefore not a championship contender. It was during the last few laps of this race that Massa was ahead of his teammate for a 1st place finish when he received a message from his race engineer Rob Smedley informing him that Alonso was faster. He quite literally said, ‘Fernando is faster than you, can you confirm that you understood the message?’. Felipe let his teammate through to take the 1st place trophy. Ferrari, despite claiming that the incident didn't involve illegal team orders, were fined $100,000 for the controversy. It didn't help that Smedley literally apologised to Massa after the original message... whoops. How many riders of the prancing horse have been asked to take the fall?

"It had those who would not lie down and told that they were not the chosen one."

The term "chosen one" has so much weight to it, right? Obviously this line relates to Mark during his time opposite Seb at Red Bull. Mark frequently vocalised his feelings surrounding the apparent favouritism within the team despite their adamance that there was no such notion. The initial tension caused by the swapping of front wings at the British Grand Prix was soon diminished once Seb took a trip off track and received a puncture, meaning Mark was able to storm ahead and take the win. During his cool down lap he announced over the radio, "not too bad for a number two driver", referring to the idea that Sebastian was Red Bull's favourite. This wouldn't be the first time Mark brought the subject up in a public manner, so it's definitely true that he refused to lie down and accept what was happening. No matter how much they tried to deny it, Sebastian was always Red Bull's 'chosen one'. The chosen one hand picked personally to bring the team to the top after years of disappointing results. And that he did. But God, did Mark try his best!

"It had new and old; new faces, new machines, new blood. And an echo of the past, a name, a memory."

One of the moments that genuinely gave me chills. The 2010 season brought with it five rookies, including Nico Hulkenberg and Karun Chandhok, as well as new teams. There were also new regulations regarding a ban on refuelling, a ban on double diffusers and a collective agreement not to use KERS. But despite the fresh faces and rule changes this season indeed brought several echos to the past. The 2010 season saw the return of a familiar name in Team Lotus, which hadn't taken part in F1 since the 1990s. Their livery even referenced the classic green and yellow colours of the original Lotus cars of the 60s. One of the rookies introduced this year was Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton Senna (who even raced for Lotus during his career). I remember while I was watching the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, Bruno's engine overheated and there was a shot of his eyes through his visor. Martin Brundle reacted to the shot by saying, "that scares me, that looks like Ayrton through the crash helmet when the visor is open... it stops me in my tracks." Despite his unremarkable rookie season, I'm sure he brought back a lot of memories for F1 personnel and fans alike. In a similar vain, 2010 was the year that 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher returned to the grid to drive for the also returning Mercedes GP team after retiring in 2006. 2010 was the year of throwbacks and nostalgia.

"It had the spectre at the feast; a falling god now reigning against his own mortality and risking that of others."

Used to talk about Michael, this line was SO interesting to me. Firstly, the description of him as the 'spectre at the feast'. This phrase can be linked to a scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth where the ghost of murdered Banquo appears at a feast, and is used to refer to someone or something that brings misery or sadness to a happy or celebratory occasion. So why was this used in reference to Schumacher? Of course, the legend's return to the sport brought with it a lot of hope and anticipation that he would return to his former glory once he raced again. Nevertheless, Michael struggled to get good results in his first stint back. A new generation of cars and regulations, and a team which struggled to improve upon its previous success (Mercedes GP replaced 2009 constructor's champion Brawn GP), can't have made it easy for him. Thus commenced a season of misery and disappointment for those once hopeful fans. A so called "spectre at the feast". "A falling god reigning against his own mortality"; a god of the sport attempting to reestablish his former glory but unfortunate timing and circumstances meant he had to accept he was no longer untouchable. The last part of the line refers to Michael's sometimes aggressive driving style, specifically the incident at Hungary where he squeezed former teammate Rubens Barrichello against the wall of the pit lane while defending. The dangerous move was punished with a 10-place grid penalty the next race. People often claimed that while Michael never lost his ruthlessness, he had lost other aspects once apparent in his original F1 stint. Whoever came up with that line deserves a Nobel Peace Prize in literature.

And there we go. The 2010 season recapped in the words of whichever brilliant mastermind at the BBC F1 team came up with that poem, and a bit of my knowledge sprinkled in as its one of my favourite seasons. There's just something about art when it's combined with Formula One because the effects it has on a simple girl like me is groundbreaking. I eat it up every time! It turns simple car racing to something much more dramatic and emotional and interesting and I value every person who creates art dedicated to F1.

Please never stop.

Anyway. That was really long and probably quite boring, but I had so much fun writing it. I love talking about old seasons and I'll probably do it again in other posts. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!

[landslided]

your humble anon back to praise you for those casting choices!! rebecca demornay the absolute beauty!! and phoebe cates is so so perfect! please know i am cheering you on from the sidelines waiting to give you the kudos you so rightfully deserve. (and if you feel like sharing headcanons, i would love to hear about them! also, you mentioned being inspired by hacks so is miguel the ava to johnny's deborah? or is he just the catalyst to johnny's reemerging career? it's all so interesting however i can be patient i promise!!)

anoooon, thank you so much you are making my absolute DAY!! my response is super long so i’ll put it under a cut.

i am not very far in hacks so as of right now ava and deborah’s relationship is… tumultuous to say the least. i will admit, yes, miguel would be johnny’s ava in this context. they don’t have the same arc at all or the same bond but miguel is sort of this door for johnny into the modern world and all it includes.

in my mind, after his fall from grace (and i will get into that), johnny becomes a bit of a recluse. she moves from the heart of LA to a much more secluded place where she does what canon johnny does at the start of cobra kai, she works for a fixing company and makes very little money doing gigs. she doesn’t live from acting at all, she barely gets royalties and she doesn’t have ANY contact with her old friends and costars. miguel moves in her building where she has never been recognized before. in opposition to the face claims i gave, this johnny has gotten a bit more masc and butch in her older age and people wouldn’t immediately associate her now to the image of America’s Sweetheart Joanna Lawrence who was once in every magazine and was a double sided poster (on one side, johnny with her teased to hell blond hair, posing in roller skates with neon shorts and a shirt that says LOS ANGELES, on the other side, johnny at the beach, playing volleyball in a red bikini. she was everyone’s crush, she was THE sitcom it girl) but miguel does recognise her because he and rosa watch a lot of reruns from the 80´s comedy show she and danielle were in and he tries to befriend her for an autograph.

in doing so, miguel explains to johnny that a lot of people would pay a nice amount of money for autographs, for interviews, anything from this actress that disappeared from the public’s eye. the show back then was extremely popular and the 80´s nostalgia has hit america. johnny, for money but also to prove herself she can be more than what the world has told her, tries to reboot the show as an actress and writer (with miguel’s help) and that is when her path crosses danielle’s once again.

as for johnny’s downfall, there were rumors of alcohol (true), drugs (true), homosexuality (true) and her sleeping her way to the top (untrue and that’s why she was blacklisted for so long). she was arrested at 25 years old for crashing her car inside her manager’s house. it was seen as a coke fuelled accident (but in truth, johnny might have tried to murder kreese) and it completely burned her reputation.

miguel, robby and sam are all around 21/22 here because i admit getting a bit tired of writing high school experiences and also because i love the idea of johnny with a team of writers who are all so young and so social media trained that they have to block her out of twitter so she doesn’t get canceled before she can get back into the spotlight. aisha and tory will also make an appearance (and maybe the binary brothers as well).

danielle, as stated in my first post, is an A list celebrity (think kind of meryl streep ish in terms of legend BUT she hasn’t been filming in a long while). since miyagi’s death, danielle has had a hard time getting back onto the saddle of acting, motherhood is also extremely hard when you’re stuck in an heterosexual marriage as a lesbian, your daughter has fallen into some bad crowds and your son would sell pictures of you to TMZ for fortnite skins if you weren’t already paying for everything. she has been thinking of directing more and more (she has refused to do too much to her face and body apart from some hair dyes and a little botox which means that even if she did want to film, she won’t find a good role) and she has the ambition of maybe rebooting this 80´s comedy show she was once a part of but as a lead and director this time so when she learns that johnny is already on the case, she loses her mind a little.

i feel like im already giving quite a bit away here but im actually very excited to get into writing this!!!

thank you again, anon!!! you’re loooovely

[peachymilkandcream]

Written In Blood|Part 10|Modern Yandere Levi x Evelyn

(A/N: We love good old blackmail to get the woman of your dreams XD Hope you enjoy and comment to be added to the taglist!)

WARNINGS: noncon/dubcon, graphic descriptions of violence, domestic violence, manipulation, mind breaking, yandere behaviour/themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, wishing rape upon someone, misogyny, mentions of child abuse, blackmail, revenge porn, etc.

==============================================

Levi spent most the next day comforting Evelyn. She had been through quite the scandal and was still dealing with the aftermath. She had taken a leave of absence from the internet due to the constant backlash and calling for her to take accountability.

Little did she know that isolating herself from the world only allowed him to push further in.

"I know you keep saying it'll be fine Levi but it's hard to see how it will be right now. Everyone's against me and I'm just trying to figure out how to move on from all of this backlash before my entire brand is gone."

"I know it doesn't feel like it but I promise you it will work out in the end. In a year or so we'll look back at this and laugh."

She sighs. "I guess you're all I've got. None of my friends will talk to me-"

He smiles, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I'm not going to betray you like they have." He leans in, the hand holding her face allowing him to grip her jaw and bring her closer, his lips brushing against hers.

The stress and emotional turmoil she'd been going through these past few days making her melt into him, surrendering to his soft lips and warm tongue snaking into her mouth.

The hostilities start when the door flies open, Evelyn's ex standing in the doorway as his expression goes from shock to rage.

"You!"

"Wait it's not what you think-" Evelyn starts, but is quickly cut off.

"You tell me that Petra's bullshitting me, that nothing happened. And yet here you are with the guy not even a two days later?! And then you send him after me to get me drunk and befriend me!? What the fuck is wrong with you!? And this guy? He's a total asshole! He let your stalker go free! Or was that a lie too? All to keep me tied down with you out of guilt!"

Levi remains silent, not allowing the insults to get to him. Eventually this fool would pay for all the insults he threw at Evelyn, but he had to wait. Let him hang himself.

"Please just leave- we're over, remember? I can kiss whoever I want!"

"So soon tells me exactly what I need to know about you, this has been going on longer than you're letting on."

"She told you to leave. And I suggest you honor her request."

"What you're going to force me out?"

Levi roughly grabs the other man and throws him out the door, shutting and locking it, despite the loud banging following and threats.

Evelyn sinks to the couch shaking. "What have I done-"

"Nothing. Forget about him. He's just mad you've moved on and did something for yourself for once."

She takes a deep breath, trusting in his assessment completely. "You're right, there's nothing he can do to hurt me anymore."

===============================================

That was until the ex made a video and series of posts himself confirming Petra's allegations.

While his evidence was largely fabricated people were more inclined to take Peta's initial statements more seriously do to anther and closer person to Evelyn backing them up. Maybe she wasn't lying about anything and Evelyn was a cheater and terrible friend deep down.

The thought shook her fanbase once more.

This time Levi was not kept out of it, much to Petra's annoyance. He was plastered everywhere as the man who caused the cheating in the first place. The catalyst for the downfall of a popular fiction writer.

Levi didn't even bother addressing the claims, his clients were shady people at best and criminals rivalling his infamy at worst. A scandal like initiating cheating only got him a few solid pats on the back and asking intimate details of a such a notable figure.

It was funny, Levi was so busy fighting Evelyn's battles that he hadn't truly had any time for himself to decompress.

That would have to change.

================================================

Levi cleaned up the blood splatter off his suit jacket while the evidence was uploading to the internet. This victim, a man who had asked one too many times about a detail description of Evelyn's intimates, lay gutted on at Levi's feet. He'd clean that up later, first he had to focus on getting the stains out before the set in. Who knew what kind of diseases this fucker had.

When it was finally ready to be published, he smirked, knowing this would seal his fate with Evelyn ultimately. Both of them would be boosted above and beyond their current status and popularity, Evelyn would be indebted to him for saving her ass in all of this, he could finally have what he wanted.

"You crossed the wrong man. Once your reputation is shot to hell the things I'll do to you might be worse than this poor soul."

[phantoms-lair]

Puppet History Theory

(contains Spoilers for season 4 and 5 of Puppet History)

So Puppet History has some serious lore now, and last episode gave us a look at something I'm sure many viewers (And Ryan) didn't think actually existed - The 'Complex Victory Algorithm' . And it was illuminating.

Because the categories it was assessing while we watched weren't on correct answers and historical accuracy. It was on jokes. And suddenly things make sense. How much joy the contestants have and bring. And suddenly things make a sad sense.

Back in Season 1 Episode 1 There wasn't an algorithm. It was based solely on the points. That's why we saw ties. But at some point the Professor switched from using points as the sole victory condition to implementing the algorithm. Maybe he thought that enjoying history was just as important, or maybe algorithm's were just the new hotness.

Or maybe it was sold to him by a magically genie in disguise who had realized just chasing the Professor wasn't enough to catch him and used his own time traveling powers to set up a Xanatos Gambit to turn the Professor's own love of teaching into the catalyst for his downfall, further provoking things by disguising himself as a mortal named Shane and making Ryan think he was behind Puppet History, making Ryan start the series feeling put out with the Professor based on his feelings on Shane, the genie laughing internally at all the humans who pegged him as not human, but thought he was a demon instead of a genie.

When the algorithm was implemented it took things like humor and enjoyment into account. But the Professor never explained those extra criteria and thus Puppet History became a losing game for Ryan. The guests started off excited while he was fulfilling an obligation, thus giving them and incredible lead. He could tally up the points and know he'd won by them, but still lose. And that just made him all the more bitter, thus making victory all the more impossible. Guests could come in and know they could win without getting a single point. Ryan knew he could get every question right and would still fail. The gulf became impassible.

The Professor just wanted for Ryan to have fun and enjoy history, but as with hippo burgers, a lack of communication caused it all to fall apart. Ryan didn't see this as a game or educational. It was just a half hour to forty minute window for the Professor to tear him down.

Then Season 4 happened and Ryan's 'turning over a new leaf'. He still didn't win, yes, but the Professor said the algorithm was twitching. The new positive attitude WAS working. But perhaps the algorithm never called the victory because it knew it was being faked.

At the end of Season 4 Ryan betrayed the Professor to the Genie. And yet even then it's showed he never wanted the Professor hurt. He just wanted the prize he'd, by the criteria given to him, won several times over.

To Ryan he was getting what his tormentor promised him. To the Professor, though, he was being betrayed by the student he'd put the most work into. The one he'd wanted to succeed the most. It twisted him.

I can't say what happened to the Professor between seasons, but one thing is for sure. He's not playing the game anymore. He's out for revenge against Ryan. To what end, I don't know. At least not until we find out what's behind the 'Puppet Cream'? Seasoning him up to eat? Turning him into a puppet to steal his body? Absolutely nothing and this is all a scheme to fuck with Ryan's head and make victory seem hollow? Who can say.

[alterrune]

(Lily Burnway was walking through the hallway, despite seeing Laurence's Shadow being thwarted, she still can't stop thinking about her Shadow self.)

Lily Burnway: I know about Laurence's Shadow being stopped, but where was mine, whoever she was.

(Lily suddenly see's a TV turn on, it was producing static, and it suddenly showed Lily's Shadow)

Shadow Lily: Hi Lily... quiet a show was put up back there. I saw it, I guess everyone else didn't see me. Must feel good to not be the cause of danger huh?

Lily Burnway: *Sigh* Of course you'd show yourself... what do you and my brothers Shadow want with us both?

Shadow Lily: What's wrong, scared that you'll lose each other? What if you die again? Will Laurence regress to the madman he was back then, will Aaron fall to the despair event horizon? Will the ColorStreak Battalion and Hack-Anon waste their time again trying to save you? Your misfortunes are all of theirs, you know it, you're a catalyst for misery. Your existence will cause the downfall of the people who are helping you. Who knows, maybe you'll do on a suicide mission by yourself so you won't get anyone else killed!

Lily Burnway: Shut up, just leave.

Shadow Lily: Trying to push me away? Will you push everyone else away, scared of what will happen if you stay around them? You just don't want to listen, now everything is rather... messed up? I'm going to leave now, you'll have to learn that there is a-lot more terrifying outcomes there than you can dream up about. Deaths of someone can rest on your shoulders.

(Shadow Lily see's the ColorStreak Battalion approaching the TV)

Shadow Lily: Deep Breaths, Lily. Deep Breaths.

(Lily's Shadow dissappears, and Lily punches the TV, destroying it, despite knowing it wouldn't do a thing to her Shadow.)

...so that's why you have those bandages wrapped around your hand.

Yeah. Dr. V had no idea why I destroyed the TV, and it's not like I could tell her. She'd never believe me. Hey, you guys aren't mad about it, are you?

No. Not at all. And besides, we can just get another TV easily. We can easily pay any replacement costs.

Thanks for understanding, guys. Man, that Shadow me REALLY pissed me off. And I know what you said about having to "accept it" and all, but it's REALLY hard to accept it when it's literally every bad part of you wearing your own face.

Yeah, that's fair. I just hope we can keep this whole "buying time" thing up until Grand Festival is over and we can put our full attention onto this Shadow situation.

I honestly hope so too. A lot of this plan is just "make shit up as we go along".

Alter, this came outta nowhere. We need to buy some time not only so we can enjoy Grand Fest, but so I can think of a way to get these Shadows to stop before something really bad happens.

Let's keep it up, then. Keep an eye out, Lily. Contact Kyle if you need help, and we'll come running with him.

Thank you. I really appreciate it, as does Laurence.

[mannanoo]

The Line Terminates Nowhere and Everywhere

No Warnings Apply General Audiences Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot Dream SMP Word Count: 1,110 Completed

Wilbur's head was clearer than it had been for... a long time, and he knew what was happening.

But that doesn't mean he wanted to think about it too much.

There were a few things Wilbur knew.

He was dead. He’d lost his final life and there would be no respawn.

He was stood on a train platform

Something wearing his face was leaving on the train, that was being conducted by a man with a strange mix of his father’s face and Dream’s.

Schlatt was passed out on the bench near the ticket office that was covered in bedrock.

He wasn’t quite sure when it sunk in that the person that was leaving the platform was his ghost, or something similar. Or when it sunk in that his only company for the rest of eternity would probably be Schlatt.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, they’d been friends once upon a time. On the other, Schlatt was the man who’d exiled him and his little brother from L’Manberg and was the catalyst for Wilbur’s downfall.

He was still staring down the platform, watching to see if another train would come by, maybe someone else losing their final life with L’Manberg’s destruction. He knew that Techno would spawn Wither’s. He knew his friends would continue to fight. He wouldn’t be surprised if another train came along with Tommy or Tubbo as passengers. He was still staring down the tracks as a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side to see Schlatt looking at him. They stood looking at each other for a moment, neither smiling nor frowning. Just… looking.

“I’m not sorry.” It was Schlatt who spoke first, breaking the silence but not the eye contact. Wilbur was the first to look away, looking down at his hands before stuffing them into the pockets of his trench coat.

“I know. Neither am I.” They stayed silent, Schlatt’s hand falling from Wilbur’s shoulder to dig deep into his pocket.

Neither were sure how long they had stood there, but they were both certain that no one else would be joining them any time soon. The tracks had been perfectly silent since the train had left, save for the quiet dripping coming from further down the platform.

It seemed to echo around them, the quiet, rhythmic dripping and for as long as they had been standing there, neither could quiet tell which end it was coming from, just that it was further down the platform. Most likely past the fog that obscured the actual end of the platform.

A few moments after he was absolutely sure another train wasn’t coming; Wilbur took a breath then nodded his head down the platform. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. As soon as he started walking, Schlatt was moving alongside him. It was strangely reminiscent of the moments between adventures and challenges, when they’d just walk aimlessly together, too drained to talk but basking in the comfort of not being alone.

The dripping never seemed to get louder, or quieter as they walked, but broken signs buzzed above them every few metres. Schlatt seemed to be looking around much more than Wilbur was, like he was trying to find something new, but Wilbur knew somewhere in the back of his mind, that nothing was going to change. The platform would continue for what seemed like forever, never ending and never changing.

(The voice telling him this was his afterlife sounded suspiciously like his father. He could remember his father telling him once, after his mother was gone. He remembered his father telling him that his mother would be ok, and that they would be as well.)

(Another voice that sounded like Schlatt was telling him he deserved nothing more than this underground train platform. That he didn’t deserve whatever his mother had instead of this hellscape.) He knew Schlatt wasn’t actually saying anything, but even so, he couldn’t find it in himself to disagree. He didn’t deserve the fields of flowers his mother loved so much, or the setting sun she seemed to glow in, or the smell of fresh baked bread from Niki’s bakery he was starting to wish he lived long enough to smell again, or the sunrise that seemed to be the only thing that could make him feel warm in his final weeks.

He deserved this empty platform, with no trains, and buzzing signs that couldn’t tell him where he was, and the constant dripping that he was sure would drive him insane if he couldn’t learn to ignore it, and Schlatt for his only company. He knew that as soon as they stopped walking, or they started talking, that these moments of peace would be over. He knew that eventually, they’d talk again, and it would turn from spoken words to insults to screaming and digs that would be much too harsh and barbed with poison.

He knew, the moment the arguing started, that he’d start missing Tommy, and the way he could make an argument seem like a normal Tuesday afternoon conversation. He knew the moment Schlatt would make a dig at his rebellion, that he’d miss Techno and Tubbo; ow optimistic Tubbo was to get L’Manberg back and how Techno was willing to do anything to get rid of it, both of them appealing to the different sides of him they’d known. He knew the moment he actually started to come to terms with being dead, when the feeling of death and everlasting cold and the emptiness in his lungs sunk in, that he’d start to miss Phil. He’d miss the feeling of Phil sat next to him making paper lanterns for his mother, he’d miss the feeling of Phil’s arms around him after a nightmare, and the quiet cries as he’d lain in his father’s arms dying and how comforting it felt to know his father still cared, despite him being so far gone.

For now, though, he was content to just walk with Schlatt in silence. Content to walk along this never-ending platform. Content to know that with him and Schlatt gone, maybe, just maybe, Tommy and Tubbo could be kids again and that Niki could reopen her bakery. Maybe Phil would move on, and maybe he wouldn’t, but Wilbur was content knowing he would have Tommy and Techno to help him.

And he knew now, that it was his ghost that he had seen leaving on that train. He wasn’t sure how that would affect his family grieve, but he hoped his ghost wouldn’t do more harm than good.

But for now, he’d just have to wait, until his family joined them in their own time. Hopefully, he thought wistfully, that he wouldn’t see them for a long time, especially not Tommy.

[juvederm]

i know emily was probably the one with the most Attitude but i kinda get tired of seeing her portrayed as the main antagonist to the group (although she was a little bit mean to matt, just slightly overboard but i think she really struggled with saying how much he meant to her)

but back to the speculation of How jess and emily's friendship may have ended

and it might step into headcanon territory but im so curious what other people think might have happened!!!

i think emily was the one that felt the most remorse. i mean she's the one that insists to hannah it was just a prank, her reaction is a bit softer than jess's was ("it's fine she just can't take a joke." somewhat harsher)

emily doesn't really comment on hannah's reaction ever, and jess is the one that holds the opinion: "what hannah did was stupid and not our fault" but emily is more focused on showing actual regret and concern toward their disappearances and when she Finally figures out what's been going on all this time, you can kinda hear it in her voice that she feels very guilty and regretful while explaining to sam, ash and chris what she saw in the mines (also her sobbing at the sight of beth's head)

it's hard to say with jess because of her lack of screen time, we don't really see her uncovering any clues because smg developers moment. like mkay.

but anyway. i think the initial catalyst to the downfall of jess and emily's friendship was jess's lack of remorse. i think they maybe had an argument about it, jess drops emily and then goes to talk to mike who emily would probably also be having issues with. mike also moves on very quickly, he's described as hating commitment so i think as soon as he liked jess, he dumped emily

so combining the two: losing her best friend and then losing her boyfriend, emily probably has a lot of shit to deal with, and maybe it's implied that she was kind of the mean girl of the group already (alongside jess), i think because of all that drama, she may have just stopped giving a fuck but also caring very deeply. like she's kinda developed thicker skin but at the cost of her consideration for other people's feelings (using matt as a rebound & treating him poorly)

i really feel a lot of sympathy for her, it sucks to see people not really look past her harsh exterior when it probably has a reason!!! just like with every other character

[alwaysthepessimist]

The thing is I can agree with what you said about the video not being the catalyst of Non's downfall, but at the same time that doesn't change the fact that if it wasn't for that video, maybe the police would've taken his disapearance more seriously. I know they are corrupt and they were always going to drop that case, but the video just gave them the perfect excuse to not even try to actually find him. Not only that, but the public perception of Non was very negative because of that video which sucked because if the public had put more pressure on the police to find Non, maybe someone on the police force would've felt pressured enough to help Non's family for a longer period of time. I know it's giving too much credit to the police but ,at the same time, we can't just dismiss the impact Jin's video had on the way Non s disapearance case was handled.

I didn't know the cast and crew were defending Jin, but if that's the case, then I fully agree with what the first post said about the writers misjudging that plot-line. I can understand that they wanted us to see Jin as a teenage boy who made a mistake, but who, at heart, is a good person, but I personally can't. Mind you, I actually liked him at the beginning, it's just that along the way I've realised that his defense of Non felt very performative, and that was before the video reveal. Yes, he was defending him against the group, and i'm sure he meant it, but he never put himself at risk while doing so. He never did anything that could potentially hurt his position within the friend group. He always did just enough to appease his moral compass ,but never enough to actually have an impact on Non's situation. Not only that, but the writers never took the time to explain to us where his loyalty to that friend group came from. They never explained to us why despite everything he had witnessed, Jin never thought of leaving them behind or at the very least, tell the truth to the police when it was time to actually make an impact. So it's a little bit difficult for me to empatize with his plight. And I'm saying all of that without even touching on my feelings towards Non.

Jin and the video

Or, a plot-line I think the writers may have misjudged.

In the most recent episode, we had Jin confessing to Phee that he posted the video. To most this was validation of what they already believed, to others it was confusing as there have been some contradicting clips that show Jin with a computer that was a different colour, as well as the screen flipping back and forth from night and day mode.

While this debate still continues a bit, particularly since we already knew that Jin probably thinks he must have posted it, I think the renewed reaction has cemented for me my thoughts that I think that this is a plotline the writers misjudged.

See I still - at least at this point, with the caveat that I could be proven wrong as this is horror/thriller - believe that Jin is intended to be a character that people can somewhat empathize with. He's not like Top, Por, or Tee, who are shown to be cruel and dismissive to Non. Though people deny it and talk around it, Jin is the one character that showed empathy to Non, he stood up for him, etc.

But the audience mostly doesn't empathize with Jin at all, and I think this is because the writers miscalculated.

People were already frustrated with his character even before the video incident, but the video really pushed it over the top and now Jin is the most despised character on the show.

However, I'm not sure whether the writers actually anticipated this reaction properly. The way that the show has handled it makes it seem like they haven't, because the video hasn't been touched on all that much, at least not to the extent I might have expected if the intention was 'yes, this is the worst thing done in the show, Jin is the villain who you should all hate and want to die'. We have other characters fitting that bill - Tee's uncle, Top, even Por to some extent.

Yes, the video has been mentioned, but only briefly. It doesn't hold the weight in the discussions about what happened to Non that I would expect it to if I thought the writers felt that this was the worst of the worst in the story they're constructing. (Again, it's possible that something will happen in the next two episodes that will counter this.)

And then there's the fact that people are still questioning whether or not Jin posted the video, given the different colour computers and different colour scheme. Personally I'm inclined to just go with what Jin said at this point, but at this point that's mostly because I feel like it's not going to matter.

I don't want a reveal because it's not going to make a difference. It's not something I have any excitement for, though I originally did, and it's because I know that for most viewers it's not going to land, it's not going to have the intended impact. Reveals usually are supposed to have an effect on the emotion of the audience, to make them view a character a different way, or perhaps empathize with them (or hate them more).

Though I will briefly add that of course it's possible that (if this is included) the writers anticipated this and are thinking more about the impact to the character who would be at fault, which is certainly a possibility. But if they have any intention at all for it to be a change in how the viewer looks at Jin, it's not going to land. Most fans aren't going to care, they aren't going to change their minds.

The only acceptable ending to most at this point is for Jin to die.

So with that in mind I think that the writers made a mistake with this plotline IF their intention is to write Jin as a character the audience could empathize with, because most do not. He's not coming across as grey, he's not coming across as someone people can understand or empathize with.

The act of filming and/or posting the video is, for the audience, making Jin the ultimate villain and if the show gives them anything other than validation of this thought, they are going to be unhappy.

Time will tell.

[ranvwoop]

as i showed more Au Butler i would like to explain. who is this man. he is simultaneously "oh I am the only capable one here Get Me Out Of Here" and "but if I do not get a good grade in butlering i will die" (and genuinely Liking his new buddy bc. eventually you warm up to people)

and billiam III is out here trying his best, scamming people, and just really believes in that tumblr post about paying for a butler specifically to insult him

[peppermintsparker]

it's always been you

summary -- the one where peter parker realises how badly he's messed up. cue a heart to heart with aunt may, a heartbreak and a love confession warnings -- mentions parental death (gwens dad), minor explicit language, little bit of angst and mostly fluff authors note -- this is a part two to this fic so please read that beforehand!!!

Peter Parker cannot believe how badly he had messed up. Really, if someone had tried to bestow the ‘worst person in the world’ award upon him, he wouldn’t even think to turn it down; he knows he deserves it more than anyone else possibly could. Not only had his selfishness caused Gwen to lose her father, he had also lost you. His best friend, the other half of him. The biggest and brightest part of him.

There’s a lot of things that he knows to be true: Aunt May is the best cook, grass is green, Flash Thompson is a grade A asshole. And that you are, without a doubt, the most important person in the world to him. Peter knows he loves you, more than he should love a best friend really, and he knows that losing you would be the catalyst to his downfall.

And, Peter Parker absolutely does not want to live in a world without you. Only, now he sort of is living in a world without you. He knows that he has to make it right, and he has to fix what he’s broken. Only, he’s not quite sure how he is supposed to fix something that he doesn’t know can be fixed; that’s where May Parker, the wisest woman he’s ever known, comes in.

“Y/n told me that she loves me,” Peter confesses over dinner, five days later. There’s an air of nonchalance about him that he knows will likely drive Aunt May crazy, but he needs to get through this conversation first. “I went to go see her, after Gwen’s father died. She cried, and I apologised and told her that I had kissed Gwen. When she told me that she loved me, she told me that she knew I was a boy that would never be hers.”

May looks rightfully perplexed, trying to figure out what the right thing to say in this situation would be. “How do you feel about Gwen?” She asks; a question Peter’s not sure that he knows the answer to. Though, he sort of does know the answer deep down; she’s pretty, and smart, and sweet. Gwen Stacey would totally be his type if he wasn’t in love with you.

When Peter fails to answer, May knows that it’s time to try a different approach. “Okay, picture this: you’ve graduated from school with a doctorate in mechanical engineering and now you’re working in a lab. It’s a Friday evening and it’s been a busy week and at the end of the day, you drive home. Who, and what, are you driving home to?”

It’s quiet in the kitchen as Peter thinks about it, trying to envision where he is in the future. He knows that if Gwen had asked him this question, he’d have to say it’s her. But when it’s May Parker asking, the answer feels like it could be different. And it makes him feel guilty, like he’s leading Gwen on. But it’s you, Peter thinks, it’s always been you.

“It’s Y/n,” Peter answers when dinner has long been over. May is sitting on the couch, watching a movie on the television when Peter comes to interrupt her downtime. “I’ll come home from the lab, and I’ll be tired from a long week. And, Y/n will be sitting at the kitchen table, music playing in the background, maybe from the radio or Spotify, whilst she works on her novel. Maybe we have a dog or cat, but there will be several loose pages in front of her. She’s editing, and looks tired, but still so beautiful. She saves her work, gets up to kiss me. And all the tiredness and stress just dissipates, melts away. Because I’m home. And, it’s Y/n. It’s always been Y/n.”

May smiles at him so brightly that Peter thinks that it could power New York City forever. And, he knows that he’ll have to break Gwen’s heart in order to love his best friend the way that he wants to. “Go, Peter,” May tells him, the movie forgotten about now. She doesn’t mind, she’s seen it before and her nephew needs her attention the most right now. “You have to talk to Gwen, and Y/n.”

“I can’t, May. I can’t.” Peter knows that he sounds desperate, and that there’s only so much his Aunt May can help him with. But, maybe it’ll be enough anyway. “I can’t break Gwen’s heart, not when she’s lost her dad. But Y/n is everything to me, and I don’t want to live in a world where she isn’t mine.”

“I know that Gwen has lost her father, and that is a hurt she will feel forever,” May pauses for a second, trying to gather her emotions as she thinks about Ben, and how grief is a hurt that is always felt. “But not telling her? Peter, that is going to make her feel worse. Gwen deserves better than you pretending to love her. And, she will move on and she’ll find the one for her. And in ten, or twenty, years time, she might even be grateful to you.”

Peter nods, moving to press a kiss to his aunt’s forehead before rushing to grab his skateboard from where he’d dumped it in the entrance way. He’s quick as he skateboards through the city streets, avoiding getting hit by the traffic. One knock, two knocks, three knocks before Gwen opens the door. “Peter!” Gwen exclaims, voice full of surprise. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today, you wanna come in?”

“No I, uh-” Peter pauses, trying to come up with the right words. He hates that he’s about to break Gwen’s heart, but he knows that it’s necessary for the sake of love. A deep breath before, “no, sorry. I’m not staying long. I feel like such an ass for telling you this but I can’t not tell the truth and I really am so sorry for the loss of your father and I know this isn’t a great time but Y/n told me that she loves me and I left without saying anything because I’m with you. Only, I love her. Like, a lot. And, it’s Y/n, you know? It’s always been her.”

“I know.” Gwen smiles, and Peter’s not entirely sure what to think. And, Gwen must sense the boy's confusion because, “I know it’s always been Y/n for you. The two of you have been best friends for twelve years now and I see the way that you look at her. You look at Y/n like she strung all the stars in the night sky. I won’t lie and say I’m not upset by this, because I am. But you love her. So please, Peter, go and tell her okay? I’ll be okay.”

Peter’s quick to press a kiss to Gwen’s forehead, “I love you.” He’s honest, and earnest, and even though Peter doesn’t mean it in the romantic way, it still warms Gwen’s heart to hear him say the words. “I know it’s not in the way you want me to mean it, and I’m sorry that it’ll never be you. But I love you, Gwen Stacy. And, goodbye.”

In the blink of an eye, Peter is already skateboarding back home, stopping at your house with a hopeful smile on his face. Your bedroom window is open, and Peter can hear your music playing and the sound of you typing on your keyboard and oh – how it fills his heart with joy to hear the familiar sounds of the Peter + Y/n playlist. Skateboard abandoned in a bush, he climbs up the trellis until he’s leaning against your windowsill. “Hey, you.”

You jump, whirling around on your desk chair to see the boy you’ve loved your entire life. It’s a fresh sort of pain, and you can’t help but wonder why he’s practically hanging off your windowsill. “Get in here, idiot,” you shake your head at his foolishness. Peter does so, sitting on your bed to look at you. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you meant to be with Gwen?”

“I told Gwen I don’t love her,” Peter starts, trying not to laugh at the look of pure shock and disbelief on your face. “Well, I did tell her I love her but not in the way she wants me to love her. Not in the way that I love you. Because, I do love you. I don’t know when I started loving you but I shouldn’t have left that night. I should have said it back, but-”

“Gwen.” You finished for him, and Peter just nods. Truth be told, you’re not sure what there is left to say to Peter. Everything you wanted to say, you had already said so there wasn’t much else left to say. You turn away from him, and Peter worries that he’s blown it so he hangs his head in dejection whilst you save the document you’d been working on.

“Tell me again.” You practically demand, whirling back around on your chair. You don’t know why you’re so desperate to hear him say those three magic words again; maybe it’s because you’re not entirely sure it’s real. “I need you to tell me again. Please.”

And Peter does, with a softness that could put the finest of wools to shame, three words delicately weaved together with the finest of red threads; connecting the two of you in an everlasting love that you’ve only dreamt about. “I love you. I loved you at ten years old when you finally learnt to tie your own shoelaces, I loved you at thirteen when I comforted you through your first heartbreak. I loved you at fourteen, when we were each other's first kiss. I loved you at sixteen. And I’m standing before you aged eighteen years old, and I love you.”

And this, you knew for sure: Peter Parker would always be part of you. He would always be yours.

[someone-to-watch-movies-with]

Why I’m angry: shock value is not tragedy

Tragedy is an ancient form of storytelling, and I was personally hoping for a real tragic end to Killing Eve. Specifically, I was looking forward to a good cry after some variation on a Romeo and Juliet ending. I say this to emphasize that I have no problem with Eve or Villanelle dying if it makes sense for the story and leaves me with a feeling of catharsis. But this ending was mere shock value, with none of the elements you see in tragic storytelling.

In a real tragedy, the hero’s downfall is caused by their own tragic flaws and events they set into motion. What flaw of Villanelle’s led to her death? Wanting freedom from the 12 who had stolen much of her life? Wanting to change and become something new? Loving Eve? Are we to believe the writers see queer love as a tragic flaw? 

I and many others are angry because Villanelle dies for what seems to be no coherent reason at all. It’s not glorious or operatic. It’s not romantic. It’s not a noble sacrifice. It’s not redemptive. It’s arbitrary and abrupt, with no greater meaning for our heroines. This ending is just bullets cutting them down at the moment of triumph out of a sadistic cruelty toward the audience.

Carolyn has no coherent motive to have Villanelle killed, at least none that is shared with the audience. We might assume Konstantin’s note says Villanelle killed Kenny, but the audience and Carolyn know from Season 3 that Kenny was killed by Konstantin. Eve even calls Carolyn out on knowing who killed Kenny in the finale when they meet at the pub. There was CCTV of Konstantin in the building just before Kenny’s death, and Konstantin confessed he was there but it was an accident that Kenny died. Carolyn spared Konstantin at the last moment because she loved him, and that’s all there is to it.

Furthermore, even if Villanelle had killed Kenny, why would Konstantin implicate her in the murder? Konstantin loved Villanelle like a daughter and would not have wanted to bring Carolyn’s vengeance down on her. Making her the killer would undermine V’s whole arc in Season 3 about not wanting to kill anymore. Nothing in her reactions and body language in the Season 3 finale scene where Konstantin faces execution suggest she played a part. For these and other reasons, it doesn’t work as a retcon to make Villanelle the killer. Villanelle did not kill Kenny.

So even though it might seem like the information in the note should be a catalyst for what Carolyn does, the contents are not revealed to the audience and the thing we would most easily assume (about V killing Kenny) doesn’t make sense. The note then just serves as a MacGuffin to bring Pam to Carolyn so she has somebody to monologue to in the finale.

The only plausible motive we’re left with is the fact she wants to get back in the good graces of MI6. She tells Pam she is homesick for MI6, but that, “you don’t go back to MI6 emptyhanded.” WTF? Why? In the words of Eve, For what?

Carolyn is a sloppy mess of a character with no coherent motives throughout the entire series. From what we know, these are at least some of her past flip-flops:

(1) Young Carolyn is British intelligence, infiltrating the 12.

(2) Sometime later she defects to Russia. We know this because we hear from Vlad in S4 about how angry his colleagues are over her betraying the Russians the last time they worked together. That’s why they leave rats in her flat: a rat for a rat.

So she (3) must've returned to the MI6 fold. Maybe she was with Konstantin during this period (2-3)? Surely this would be explored in the spin-off (but fuck you SWG, I’m not watching!).  So anyway she went back to MI6 and that's where she is when we meet her in Season 1.

(4) During S4 she's back with the Russians, in that terrible flat containing the rat smell. Why? It never seems to make much difference  to anything that happens except to setup that 30 second chat with Hugo in the finale about his girlfriend being a spy.

(5) In the finale she's fucking over Villanelle to get back in with MI6 for the third time.

Carolyn clearly gives no fucks about national allegiances. So why is she going to kill Villanelle, a person who she was BFFing around Havana with earlier this season, just to get back into the good graces of MI6? A group she’s already defected from at least twice?

There is no plausible story explanation for what happens, so it’s not tragedy. We cannot feel catharsis because there’s no way to connect these events to the flaws and actions of our heroines.

Villanelle is just dropped dead by some bullets from the sky for no reason whatsoever. She had no agency in what happened to her. That’s shock value, not tragedy, and I’m so tired of sadistic self-aggrandizing writers thinking their work merits the “tragedy” label just because it causes the audience pain. 

[legobiwan]

Alright, people. I want to talk Pong Krell.

This is not a Pong Krell support post. Fuck that guy.

But, in making my little "Kenobi" video, I did end up revisiting parts of the Umbara arc, and I kind of want to talk about it.

1) I think it's very interesting that Krell does end up being taken down by the clones working together. And, in a way, that whole scene kiiiinda foreshadows Order 66, in that the Jedi, powerful as they were, were extremely vulnerable when it came to the clone army. If the clones, working together, could take down a dark-sider wannabe, it's no surprise that they were able to eliminate the majority of the Jedi as they did. I guess what I'm saying, is that it sets precedent for what we see in ROTS.

2) Krell is such a try-hard, omg.

I mean, he's just doing the whole, "If I do something really cool, all the popular kids will like me." Gods, Krell, grow a bloody spine. Dooku probably wants nothing to do with you. (Can you imagine Dooku with this guy? No way. Dooku, for all of his faults, has standards. Obi-wan standards).

BUT! This does lead me into another point.

3) While it's doubtful Dooku ever would have taken Krell into his confidence, it's likely Dooku may have encouraged this notion. And it's a smart move, from Dooku's point of view. Remember, the original Order 66 arc had the clones turning against the Jedi because they believed them to be traitors to the Republic, no chip involved. In egging Krell on, Dooku could have (may have) been setting the scene for this inevitable betrayal by a Jedi, which would chip away at the clones' confidence in the Jedi and thus allow them to be manipulated against the Jedi. Krell is an idiot, but a useful one for further undermining the legitimacy of the Jedi Order.

4) Speaking of the Order and the clones. I really want to know what the fallout was after Umbara went down. I'm assuming the clones reported this to the Jedi (and, oh gods, Obi-wan was on the other side of Umbara when this went down, he would have likely been the one to have arrived on scene first. He spoke with Krell, multiple times! You have to wonder how much Obi-wan's faith in himself and the Order was shaken due to this). Did the Jedi report this to the GAR and the Senate? Something tells me no. (Or maybe yes, which primed the government to eventually order Ahsoka's execution later on). What kinds of conversations were happening within the Council? In the clone barracks? Between Jedi and clones? How badly was that trust ruptured? Also, considering Barriss's defection not far after this, it's really not a good look for the Council and the Order as a whole.

5) I find it fascinating that so many bad decisions in Star Wars, specifically with the Jedi, stem from visions and prophecies which ultimately are methods of control if they are acted upon. Sifo-Diyas has a vision of the Jedi and the Republic falling and ends up helping to create the clone army. Qui-gon is so convinced of the Chosen One prophecy that he ends up bringing back a boy who is somewhat unsuited to the prevailing Jedi culture into the Order and them emotionally blackmailing his apprentice into raising him, despite his instincts. (And who would end up being a major catalyst in the downfall of the Republic and Jedi). Krell also has a vision about the end of the Republic and decides to try and get on top of things, triggering his own death and also pushing the Jedi further into an untenable political situation. Anakin falls for this twice, first with this mother on Tatooine and then with Padmé in RoTS, the consequences of which we are all familiar with. Moral of the story? You can't control the future. It's an interesting theme that deserves a longer, better-researched post.

6) Gods, poor Rex. First Umbara, then he gets dragged along on the Zygerrian adventure and placed in the Zygerrian slave pits with Obi-wan, and then, to top it all off, Obi-wan goes and fakes his own death, which must have caused some kind of uproar that again, we see little of on-screen, aside from the deteriorating relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin. But you have to think Rex's confidence in the Jedi has to be a little shaken at this point. No wonder he ended up choosing to go with Ahsoka during the battle of Mandalore.

Anyway, there's no real thesis to this post, aside from the fact there was some real Trouble in River City within the Jedi and due to the war and the Council's decisions before some of the more egregious incidents occurred, such as the bombing of the Jedi Temple. I haven't really thought about post-Umbara stories, but that would be a very interesting conversation between Obi-wan and Cody, especially in light of the Rako Hardeen arc.

[estercity]

just extending on both of my latest persona 5 posts: i think it’s important that for every palace owner it isn’t the phantom thieves who are the main catalyst for the metaverse break UNTIL shido. even with them working in the background, it has to be someone else who is that final push before the thieves can enter. my ideas are (tw suicide and sexual abuse mention):

kamoshida: shiho. her suicide attempt and the resulting hospital investigation is what gets the public eye on kamoshida, spreading the rumors of his sexual misconduct to a much larger audience and causes him to break

madarame: ohya. ohya publishes an article based on ‘anonymous’ claims (either ryuji purposely sought her out knowing he’d create a stir OR yusuke gave her facts she could use because his oppinion of his teacher have changed) that madarame’s work is stolen. these aren’t NEW rumors for the timing and the media stir it causes at such a key time in his career causes him to break

kaneshiro: THIS IDEA IS FROM @samarecharm ‘S TAGS; someone with connections in either law enforcement or legal coming after kaneshiro, maybe even on unfounded claims, whilst kaneshiro is threating the phantom thieves is enough to make him crack. i don’t think it would take much, i’d even probably use SAE to be the one that applies the final preassure because even if she won’t look into the case for a while the stir is enough to throw him.

futaba: sojiro. okay for this i have to fuck with things a bit - i’d bring out the uncle threating to fight sojiro for custody OUT of her confidant and put it in the main story. i think futaba’s emotions at realizing if she remains in this state and her uncle manages to gain custody of her based on that, the threat of he’d essentially force her to conform with a society she is not equipt for due to her grief and trauma would be enough. the catalyst is futaba either overhearing or sojiro confronting futaba directly with this knowledge

okumura: i think there should be a whistleblower. in the midst of everything okumura is doing and the news about the changing hearts, someone comes forward with evidence of okumura’s corruption and unlawful business. obviously this would just be a downfall waiting to happen, the conference would be more addressing the evidence than admitting without any, but i think okumura experiencing a heavier downfall fits considering...HOW IT ENDS FOR HIM.

sae: ITS GOT TO BE AKECHI. even if they’re not aware it’s akechi, i think he should be medelling in the background and i think sae should know about it even if the other phantom thieves - or us as the audience - don’t witness it. i can just imagine him twisting it into a ‘oh but no hard feelings, right? i’m just doing this out of concern ^.^’ when he is FULLY sabotaging her and her case.

shido: THIS IS THE ONE WHERE AKIRA HAS TO BE THE CATALYST. shido and momentos are the palaces where akira is the final application of preasure (though momentos is akira inspiring the PEOPLE). i think it would be interesting if shido gets to realize akira is the one after him. that means this endeavour is personal, that means he knows akira will not stop until he gets his revenge. maybe he even accepts them in? he has nothing to hide anymore, they know who he is.

maruki: i briefly considered rumi. and i might even say i’d want a bait and switch where you’re led to believe it’s rumi, SOMEHOW, but i think in the end it has to be sumire. sumire is a huge victim of maruki’s god complex and i think she has the right more than any to blow things WIDE OPEN and bring maruki’s downfall. i think she’d come out about her struggles and explain WHY she’s been the way she is, citing maruki for manipulating her into believing she was her twin sister and setting back her recovery. its a large enough case that once the ideal reality breaks down maruki realizes VERY quickly how much trouble he’s in and at that point there’s no preventing the inevitable

anyway. those are my thoughts :) i’d like each person to appear in the palace in some way. i might go with like a playing card of chess piece motif? since it’s like the final play of the game if you will - but yeah thats all i got <3