#(she's a Gremlin hence the gif)

[greypetrel]

what about "One time she went to see him"?

Hello! Thank you for asking! :D

wip game here

It's the working title for my winter celebration fic! It was the title when I still believed it would have been just one chapter. Then I finished Veilguard, I decided that I wanted to go full canon divergent and changed plans, LOL.

The initial plan was Aisling and Cullen sheltered at Dorian's after the South goes awry. She'd stay, but she's also 6 months pregnant with her second child, so she left command to Radha, her sister, and acts as a strategist via sending crystal. It's... It was getting way too angsty. The pov was still Niamh's, their firstborn, dealing with everyone being grumpy and sad and First Day not being celebrated all together for reasons she doesn't fully understand. A good moment to reveal she's a somniari to mamae, bringing her to speak with the Dread Wolf, make peace and fix First Day, no? Instead, we went for a happier Home Alone 2 route.

A small extract from the actual final chapter under the cut! (but feel free to ask again if you'd rather have a piece of the discarded thing)

“Will you listen to me, this time?”

“When didn’t I-”

Niamh started to rebuke, but interrupted herself when Emmrich rose one single eyebrow at her, very little impressed. She frowned and pouted, but it was much more to express frustration than to have the professor act on it and change course. She groaned too, and slouched forward on the chair on the opposite side of his desk, crossing her arms to her chest.

“I will.”

“Sitting properly on that chair and taking notes as you should, not hanging upside down from the chair, floating on the roof, or pretending to be dead on the table.”

“Ok.”

“You will trust I know better which exercises are below your level and which aren’t, and will comply to my judgement on the matter. And I don’t want to turn back when I explain and find you teaching Wicked Grace to Manfred instead.”

“Fine!” She huffed, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.

“Excellent. And I’ll pretend you aren’t behaving just because there’s your father here.”

Niamh pouted more, and casted a side glance to her father, sitting on the couch, who was horribly chuckling at her, hiding his smile behind a hand. Taralin was much less conspicuous from his lap, and laughed openly.

“Niamh’s getting-”

“Shut up, Kevin.” She hissed, but it was half-hearted.

[rey-jake-therapist]

Okay, I cooled down, watched the episode again and... cooled down because I was pissed off again, mostly at the terrible lines that came out of Galadriel's mouth during that fight... "Do you want to heal me?" (that was so random lol), "the free people of Middle Earth will always resist you" (cringe intensifies), "You want to heal Middle Earth... Heal yourself !" (Peak cringe).

I already ranted about all the things I didn't like in other posts, I didn't change my mind a bit, so I will focus on what else I liked, especially after rewatching.

There are moments of the Haladriel fight I really enjoyed. Starting with this :

(gif posted by @tpmind)

This little smile, the first time we see him soften since season 2 started, and... god, I wish we could put sound on gifs because this "Galadrriel"... oh my heart. He was really glad to see his wife !

Then this, which was comedy actually :

(gif by @letthefairyinyoufly)

First, Evil Barbie looks very cute, I want to kiss him. Ahem, I derail. But this moment made me laugh so hard. Galadriel and all of us think of Sauron of this brilliant master mind who's got 320 plans in his head, is always ahead of everyone and manipulates us all like puppets, and here he's just like.... "Wut? Nah, I improvise often actually". I liked this line because it made him a more realistic villain, finally. There's a lot he can predict and plan but he can sometimes be surprised too ! Like at at the end, when Durin and his dwarves came at the rescue : he thought the Balrog had killed them all, probably. Sauron really doesn't like these dwarves lol

And I know it was not everybody's cup of tea, but I loved most of this duel. At least the beginning ! It was everything I predicted : she was the enraged gremlin, while he calmly avoided blows and barely struk back. At some point his face even said, "she serious? She wants to keep fighting? Boring, but if that's the wife wants..."

Because this is literally what happens. As he tells her, he doesn't want to harm her at all ! That's why he doesn't use any magic against her. It would be so easy if he did. Galadriel didn't best Sauron, he let her best him, at least until she rejected him again and angered him doing so. That's only then that he changed and became actually agressive. And even then, he effortlessly owned her. The only reason why she managed to scratch his face is probably that he was pissed and caught off guard by her refusal to be with him.

We saw how easily Sauron can kill someone when he really wants to. With a hand wave he would have thrown Galadriel against a tree if he had wanted to harm her or kill her, c'mon. He toyed with her like a cat with a mouse and it was delicious to watch. Galadriel wasn't nicer with the Numenor boys in season 1 than Sauron was with her during this fight. She was stronger than he thought though, he underestimated her, hence why she made him fall on his back.

And the sexual tension during this fight ! Incredible, and it just kept culminating until he stabbed her with Morgoth's crown. I'll come back to that in a minute. And the height difference, let's not forget the height difference !

I liked that we finally got the confirmation that earlier in the season, he used Nenya to communicate with Galadriel with visions, like I suspected. I didn't like how it was executed (shapeshifting into Celebrimbor to make him repeat "Aren't they the seeds you planted?" was a bit of an overkill), but I'm glad they clarified that, for her and for us.

Halbrand's appearance ! His puppy eyes! He was totally manipulating her like a puppy begging for food, but still, so cute... Man, he's good lol

Galadriel frozing, closing her eyes when he repeats what he told her and dropping her defensiveness! I loved that moment, too bad it lasted what? 5 seconds, then it was gone? I know many of us, me included tbh, thought he was just manipulating her again, even mocking her feelings (and ours as well), and that the way it was executed could make it seem like Halbrand was really fake, after all. I blame the terrible execution of this scene for that, tbh. Not Charlie's acting! he was perfect, he always is.

But back to the point : I think what this moment tried to convey, very awkwardly, was that he reminded Galadriel of this moment in the woods, and of her own words earlier in S1, as an echo to what he said just before: "Not all of it". And he did that not to manipulate her or to mock her, but to force her to force the truth that she refuses to admit : they're not that different. But again, it was terribly executed and suffered from a complete lack of emotions. It was supposed to be his "hit her with the truth" moment, I guess? If it was the purpose, it obviously missed the mark.

But wait, I said I would only post positive thoughts...

Now of course there's THIS :

Man, that was insane. I have no other words for it. It was horrible, yet disturbingly HOT. I must say on my first watching, I screamed "nooooo, you said you wished her no harm, what are you doing?!", and seeing him insisting to get Nenya really annoying. So that was it? He only cared for his freaking rings now?

(crédit @spellofwinter)

Trusting how he looked at her straight after stabbing her, I'd say not. He may say what he wants, but that's the look of a Maiar who's still down bad for his she-Elf. I mean look at him.

I liked his speech about how he would have not rested until all Middle-Earth worshipped her and all that, I loved it. It was ridiculously romantic, especially considering he was literally twisting the knife crown into her wound. It was really, "you hurt me, my turn now". He's such a petty bitch.

Galadriel's awful "The free people of M-E will always resist you" line kinda ruined the mood for me, and not just because she wasn't vibing as he was ; why does Sauron have the best lines of dialogs while Galadriel gets all the crappy ones? 'seems very mysoginistic to me.

Then I read some posts here and came back to the scene to rewatch, and wow, some of you are really good, you know that? And no, I'm not referring to the obvious sexual innuendo behind this move lol But as it's been observed by others :

He stabs her with Morgoth's crown, just as he was by Adar.

He aimed for the shoulder while he could have very well gone for the heart (proving that even then, he didn't want to kill her)

There's an undeniable significance in the fact that he stabbed her with Morgoth's crown and not with Adar's sword. As @apoloadonisandnarcissus pointed out in this post, it contains a very powerful dark magic, that will leave Galadriel forever marked with a wound that can never fully heal. Sauron knew that, and he chose this weapon on purpose.

One of the reasons why I never thought that the show would give us Dark!Galadriel at the of season 2, is that Sauron himself doesn't want her to become his "dark queen". He's drawn to her light ! That's why he wanted her to be his queen, because she's already the Lady of Light to him. He wanted her to touch the darkness, not to be wrapped in it like he is. She was supposed to balance him, that's the whole point... But now that she's determined to shut the door on him, he realizes that if he lets her go now, he'll lose her forever.

So he stabs her with Morgoth's crown, knowing fully well what it will do to her. Saying "I would have put a crown above your head etc." is Sauron putting the blame on Galadriel for what he is, as he believes, "forced to do", exactly like he accused Celebrimbor of forcing him to torture him. It's Sauron's playbook all over again : "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice", "you did that to yourself", "I'm the victim here", etc.

My first reaction to this scene where he asks her to give him Nenya was to believe that he was only interested in the ring. But Ioved the fact that he talked in her head, because it's the first time he does that. And it's probably because of the wound he just gave her that he can do it. I didn't like the scene in itself that much because it looked like he was woodoing her more than anything else.

But the fact remains that he didn't take Nenya by force. And that's when @apoloadonisandnarcissus strongly disagree about Sauron's intent here :) You think the bond he created by stabbing her was accidental because his plan was to steal her light and turn her into a ringwraith, I'm saying it was his intention since the start to bind her to him. She was supposed to stick around though lol

Seriously, he could have just taken Nenya from her finger and let Galadriel become a ringwraith. Why didn't he just do that? It's not cryptonite to him, he could have just taken it. He renounced her, right? She didn't want him, he didn't want her as his queen any longer, so why asking her to give Nenya to him instead of just taking it, if he didn't care about Galadriel at all? We saw with Adar that Nenya will "work" even if it has been stolen, so Sauron didn't want Galadriel to give it freely because he thought he woudn't be able to use it if he just took it from her.

So, my theory may be delulu but is supported by Sauron's facial expression : he was still on a power trip. Clearly lol. He knew he could heal Galadriel with Nenya, and he intented to because he didn't want her dead, but only... if she gave her the ring herself. He wanted her to submit to him, entirely. He could have told her he wanted Nenya so he could heal her, but then she would have given it just for that, and that's not what he wanted.

Of course, he didn't expect her to jump instead. He tried to catch her hand to stop her fall, again, why? Why would he care if she lived or die? If the point of it all was to get his hand on Nenya, all he had to do was to walk down the cliff and go pick up Nenya down there. He had more than enough time before Arondir and Gil-Galad would find Galadriel. But he didn't do that. He just remained stunned, he couldn't believe what she did. Then he lashed out on Glug who just happened to arrive with his complaints at the wrong time. Though, tbh, Glug wouldn't have survived for long anyway, being sort of the unionist of the Uruks. Sauron's not exactly a democrat... Plus he hates them.

So, I'm convinced that Sauron's plan at this point was to bind Galadriel to him, forcefully, since he can't get her to join him willingly. He stabbed her with Morgoth's crown so he could possess her. His design was of course way darker than what he had in mind first - making her his queen and not resting until all Middle-Earth worship her - , but I don't think that making her a ringwraith was his purpose.

Now of course, we'll see what the writers do with that, maybe he'll just keep antagonizing her which will prove that binding himself to her but not totally enslaved was purely accidental, but it has the potential to take a very interesting turn, anyway.

Last thing I liked, and which also convinces me that deep down, this moron stilll cares about her, has also been noticed by several other fans. @galstelperion published a great edit of the shots that look like very much as if Galadriel was being watched by an eye from above, by Sauron. The first one is when she's found by Arondir and Gil-Galad.

Even when Gil-Galad tries to save her from the darkness that's taking her, it looks like they're being watched (I took a screenshot but it's really more obvious if you watch the edit)

Then, that's the effect we see from Galadriel's POV, when she wakes up after Elrond heals her :

And then again when the camera turns on her. See how she puts her hand on her wound (also her heart, ahem) immediately? It could be because it still hurts, of course, but it could also be because she feels Sauron's eye on her. In LOTR, Frodo's wound made him suffer each time the Nazgul who stabbed him was close.

Also, Galadriel's wound looks like an eye if we look at it with attention.

So my point is : Sauron DID check on her after he realized she was still alive. He knows she's fine because he's got his 24/7 livestream now. Fanfic writers, have fun with this information ;)

Why didn't he check on her immediately then? Easy answer : petty bitch. That's what he is, after all. It's possible he was conflicted ; not happy that she may be dead, but thinking that maybe it's for the best that she is, as @darklinaforever suggested if I'm not wrong?

And to finish with a very delulu theory that will certainly never be proven true : when Gil-Galad says the darkness is too powerful and he can't save her, Elrond answers with an absolute certainty, looking at Nenya : "I can". Then he puts on the ring, which we know is a very difficult thing to do for him because until now, he was totally against the use of the Elven rings.

Where does he take this certainty from, I wonder? I know he saw Galadriel use Nenya to heal Camnir, but Camnir was wounded by an Orc arrow. It's not even remotely similar as the wound that an object as powerful and dark as Morgoth's crown, Elrond would know that (and Gil-Galad would have probably saved her without Nenya, if it was such a wound). So how is he so certain? Probably because Nenya showed him. And who proved during this fight that he was the one using Nenya to send visions to Galadriel, in the earlier episodes? I mean, maybe not of all them, but we know he was the one who showed her visions of Celebrimbor prisoner of "the seeds that she planted" at least...

Who knows, maybe Sauron did save her after all hahaha. Maybe that's what Charlotte Brandström hinted at, when she said :

"I think Sauron even really loves Galadriel and you will see that at the very end."

What else showed in this episode that he really loves her?? I can't think of anything else. Binding her to him, with the potential intent to turn her into a ringwraith? from Sauron's POV I guess it's love, but it doesn't happen "at the very end". At the end of their encounter yes, but who would look at this scene and think "this real love right here?" While Galadriel's healing happens... at the very end of the episode. I'll let that sink in...

The main obstacle to the idea that Sauron still loves Galadriel is episode 7 : Galadriel is put in a cage by Adar, threatened by a spear which he uses to make her bleed, and yet we don't see Sauron reacting to that. It can make us think that he didn't care at all what could happen to her, but the thing is : we can't be sure that he even saw that she was prisoner of Adar, since we don't know what he can see from the walls where he's standing. We don't know if he stayed on the walls to watch or if he left immediately with Celebrimbor.... We don't know if the scene where Elrond charges is happening right in front of him, or in a totally different place... We know nohing, so there's still room to think that he simply has no idea where Galadriel is at this moment. For all we know, he believes she's still with the Elves. Or he saw her but also saw Elrond going to meet Adar, and assumed he could handle this on his own. Or we will learn in season 3 that he mind palaced everyone and was in fact masquerading as Elrond (lol, I hardly hope for that now).

That's one of episode 7's many plot holes : since they didn't stop showing Sauron obsessing over Galadriel, they should have adressed this, either by filming him while he looked at the scene, either by filming him while he left the walls with Celebrimbor. At least, we'd know.

In conclusion to all this, I'd just like to say that episode 8 was still very disappointing, but all these points I've found redeem it a bit to me. At least if I'm right about Sauron's intentions when he wounded her with Morgoth's crown. If his intention was only to make her a ringwraith and steal her light... It's even worse than I thought and it's indeed probably not doomship anymore, but sunkship.

[charliedawn]

Ohhh, Charliessssss, remember when you made the fanfic where Peter and Kevin hannibal both liked the reader? What if the same dinner happened, but before that, they get to meet the rest of the family, and the family likes the reader how Peter and Kevin like them. The reader is very versatile, with music, Sr. Hannibal likes classical. So while he's listening to it doing whatever he does and like the reader starts singing some of the lyrics. (Not expecting them to know the song) For Hannibal Jr., the reader would love to help him cook, and they would probably dance a little with some fun music in the background. For Morgan, the reader hears him reader and politely ask him if they could join him and listen, saying his voice is nice. Peter and Kevin, they already know the reader from school. The reader is besties with kevin but keeps him in check when he snaps at his family or is being snarky.

Kevin: *fighting with Peter for the umpteenth time* Give it, you little monkey!

Peter: No!

Morgan: *cue an eye roll* Just give it back, kevin

Kevin: Oh, shut up, Morgan

*Reader gets up and slaps him over the head*

Reader: Stop being an asshole and give it. Dirtneck. *Give Kevin the same thing as Peter to stop fighting*

Do you also remember that moment when a reader made little sister reader cry in that one fanfic, and Kevin wouldn't listen to his father? I wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up and listen to his father so badly. 😤

For Peter, the reader is very sweet to him and gives him hugs and likes to make him flustered. The reader knows when he's faking being nice. (Like when he did to capture his s/o and pretend to be hurt to fool them)

And the reader isn't faced by blood or bodies because they like horror movies (the none of the family knows that yet?

At dinner, they all like the reader (and would like them to be their s/o) hopefully.

(Also, could you use the artist, Tyla, for a face claim she's so pretty)

Love you! Have a good day!

(Here you go ! Enjoy. 💜)

You had followed the instructions to the letter and found yourself on Hannibal property. Both Peter and Kevin had been struggling with school and hence, you had proposed to tutor them. But at the time, you hadn’t realised the lions’ den you would be stepping into.

You came up to the door and knocked. The door opened and a nicely-dressed gentleman appeared.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure ?" He asked—his deep brown eyes giving you a careful once over.

"Y/N. Y/N L/N, sir. I am here to tutor Peter and Kevin." You replied with a smile and Hannibal Jr. stared at you curiously for a few seconds before wordlessly letting you step inside.

"Of course. We were expecting you. Come on in."

You obliged and stepped inside. But, you were rendered speechless by the immensity and the beauty of the place. It was literally carved in mahogany and black and white marble. You looked up and there was a legit glass dome covering the ceiling. HOW RICH WERE THESE PEOPLE ?!

You shook your head when the man with the elegant suit and the charming smile returned with a tray of homemade chocolates that he place in front of you.

"Kevin and Peter should soon be downstairs. Anything you would like to drink before the session begins ?" He asked politely and you smiled back.

"Hum…Water, please ?"

He nodded.

"Of course. I shall be right back."

As you waited in the grand sitting room, your eyes wandered across the opulent space, taking in the intricate designs and sheer extravagance once more. The Hannibal mansion was more like something out of a gothic horror novel than a home, and yet, it didn’t faze you. After all, you had seen your fair share of horror films, and this place—while eerie—was nothing compared to some of the haunted houses on screen.

Your train of thought was interrupted when Kevin and Peter came tumbling down the stairs, already bickering.

"I told you not to touch it, you little gremlin !" Kevin snapped, his dark eyes flashing with annoyance.

Peter held onto some kind of red stone, his blonde curls bouncing as he stuck out his tongue. "And I told you I found it first, so it's mine."

Kevin made a lunge for Peter, but you quickly intervened, stepping in with a firm, playful slap to the back of Kevin’s head. "Stop being an asshole, Kev. It’s not that serious."

Kevin rubbed the back of his head, shooting you a glare that was more annoyed than angry. "Wha—?! What are you doing here ? Who let you in ?! And why are you always siding with him, Y/N ?"

"I'm siding with common sense," you said, rolling your eyes before taking the red stone from Peter. "Here. Mine. Now, both of you stop acting like children."

Peter grinned, clearly pleased with the outcome, while Kevin muttered under his breath.

"Fine, fine. But only because you asked," Kevin finally said begrudgingly.

"Right, because you're such a martyr," you teased.

Just then, Hannibal Jr. returned with your water, his gaze flicking between the three of you with mild amusement. "I see you're already keeping the peace. That is a rare talent around here."

You smiled, taking the glass from him. "I have a lot of practice."

Kevin rolled his eyes but didn’t argue as Peter stuck close to you, practically beaming. It was clear Peter already adored you, not just as a tutor but as someone he could rely on. He tried to look tough, but you knew how soft he could be, especially when you gave him attention. You ruffled his curls affectionately, and he blushed, looking away to hide his flushed cheeks.

"Y/N, you're embarrassing me…" Peter mumbled, though he didn’t move away from your touch.

Hannibal Sr. entered next, his presence commanding yet elegant, and you instinctively straightened up. He was an intimidating figure, but as he approached, his eyes seemed to soften slightly. His gaze landed on you, appraising, but there was something about your calm demeanor that intrigued him.

"You must be Y/N," he said in his deep, cultured voice. "Peter and Kevin speak highly of you."

"Thank you, sir," you replied, flashing him a polite smile. "It’s a pleasure to meet you all."

They all smiled before your session with the Hannibal brothers started. You gave them exercises to do and gave them time to do them before explaining their mistakes and giving them each individual tasks and exercises to do. You asked Kevin to exercise breathing techniques before oral exams so he may control his nervousness and not be as snappy about criticism. For Peter, you decided to give him texts to read aloud and also, ask him to write in a journal to exercise his pen writing. Once done, you asked if you could stay a little bit and look around—as you had never seen such a beautiful house. They agreed.

As the evening progressed, you found yourself slipping seamlessly into the Hannibal household dynamic. At one point, you wandered into the grand study, hearing the soft strains of classical music playing in the background. Hannibal Sr. sat at his desk, a book in hand, but you could tell he was deeply immersed in the music. The familiar notes of "Lacrimosa" from Mozart’s Requiem filled the room, and without thinking, you softly began to hum along.

When you started singing the actual latin lyrics, Hannibal Sr. raised an eyebrow, not expecting anyone else to know the piece so well. He didn’t comment, but there was a small, approving nod. You had caught his attention and he approved of you—as a worthy tutor for his children.

Later, when you moved into the kitchen, you found Hannibal Jr. preparing dinner. You asked if you could help, and to your surprise, he accepted the offer. The two of you worked side by side, chopping vegetables and stirring pots, the atmosphere surprisingly light. A fun, upbeat tune played on the radio, and in a rare moment of levity, Hannibal Jr. twirled you around the kitchen, his reserved demeanor cracking just slightly as he chuckled. He then invited you to stay for dinner.

Morgan, the ever-serious one, was in the library, reading aloud to himself when you found him. His voice had a deep, soothing quality, and you asked if you could join him. "Your voice is nice," you said with a genuine smile, causing him to pause for a moment. He wasn’t used to receiving compliments like that, especially not about something as simple as his voice. But he obliged, allowing you to sit with him as he read, the two of you sharing a quiet, intellectual moment.

When dinner was finally ready, the entire family gathered around the table. Peter sat beside you, leaning into your side as you gave him a quick hug, whispering something teasing to make him flustered. He blushed furiously, stammering a response, while Kevin, across the table, grinned and nudged you with his foot under the table, clearly enjoying Peter’s reaction.

As the meal progressed, you could feel the eyes of the Hannibal family on you—not with suspicion, but with interest. Each of them had found something about you they liked. You were adaptable, versatile, and somehow, you managed to fit into their strange, chaotic world with ease.

Hannibal Sr. raised his glass at one point, his voice smooth and composed as he spoke. "To our guest, Y/N, who has proven to be an excellent tutor." His eyes gleamed with something deeper, something approving, and you realized that this dinner had become more than just a simple meeting. It was a test—and you had passed.

As the family toasted to you, you couldn’t help but smile. Whatever you had gotten yourself into, one thing was clear: the Hannibals liked you, and whether you realized it or not, they each wanted you to stick around for a long, long time.

As the evening drew to a close, the tension at the table grew thick between Peter and Kevin. What had started as a few playful jabs escalated into something more heated. Peter, with his wide, puppy-dog eyes, had been clinging to your side for most of the night, clearly loving the attention you gave him. Kevin, on the other hand, had been throwing snide comments Peter's way all evening, barely containing his frustration.

It finally boiled over when Peter leaned in a little too close to you, and Kevin, not having any of it, snapped.

"Can you stop clinging to her like a leech, Peter ?" Kevin growled from across the table. "She’s here to tutor us, not babysit you."

Peter puffed out his chest, glaring at Kevin. "She’s my tutor too, Kevin ! You’re just mad because she doesn’t let you act like a jerk."

"That’s not—" Kevin stood up, his dark eyes flashing dangerously as he pointed across the table at Peter. "You’re acting like a little kid. She’s not interested in you like that !"

"At least I don’t treat her like dirt !" Peter shot back, standing up as well.

The argument escalated from there, with both brothers bickering loudly, trying to one-up each other. You groaned inwardly, unsure of how to defuse the situation this time. It wasn’t uncommon for them to bicker, but this felt different—more intense, like both were trying to win your approval.

"Kevin, Peter, enough !" you said, standing up from your seat, but they barely heard you over their arguing.

Morgan rolled his eyes from the other side of the table, sighing in exasperation. "This is ridiculous. Can’t you two go five minutes without acting like idiots ?"

Kevin shot Morgan a glare. "Stay out of it."

That’s when Hannibal Jr. stood up, his presence immediately silencing the room. His calm, measured voice cut through the tension. "Boys, sit down. Now."

Both Peter and Kevin looked momentarily chastised, though they didn’t sit. The argument was still simmering under the surface. You could see it in the way they kept sneaking glances at each other, daring one another to start something again.

Hannibal Jr. turned to you, his gaze softening slightly. "Y/N, I will drive you home. It’s getting late."

You nodded, more than ready to leave after the chaos. You gathered your things and followed Hannibal Jr. to the door, the air between Peter and Kevin still crackling with unresolved tension.

As you walked out to the car, Hannibal Jr. opened the passenger door for you, ever the gentleman. Once you were seated, he walked around to the driver’s side and started the engine. The drive was quiet for a few moments, the hum of the engine filling the silence.

Then, after a while, Hannibal Jr. broke the silence, his voice low and calm. "…I deeply apologise for my nephews’ behavior tonight." He glanced at you, his usually composed features tinged with a hint of regret. "Here is the promised money." He reached into his coat and handed you an envelope, which you took hesitantly.

You opened your mouth to protest, but before you could say anything, he continued, "I would understand if you would not come back to teach them. They have put our family to shame tonight. But, they are good boys," he added, his voice softening even more, "They are just very young and impulsive."

You held the envelope in your lap, looking out of the window for a moment as you processed his words. There was an undeniable weight to his apology, a sense that this wasn't just about tonight. It was about the expectations that came with being part of a family like theirs—expectations that Peter and Kevin had yet to fully grasp.

"I…It's okay," you finally said, glancing at him. "They’re not bad kids. They just need someone to keep them in line."

Hannibal Jr. gave a faint smile, his eyes flicking over to you briefly before returning to the road. "Perhaps. But it shouldn’t be your responsibility. They’ll learn… eventually."

The rest of the drive was peaceful, and by the time you arrived at your place, the earlier tension had faded into the background. Hannibal Jr. parked in front of your house and turned to you one last time, his expression sincere.

"Thank you, Y/N, for your patience tonight. I do hope this won’t dissuade you from coming back."

You smiled back at him, giving a small nod. "I’ll think about it."

He seemed satisfied with that and gave you a polite nod before watching you head inside. You weren’t entirely sure what you had gotten yourself into with the Hannibals, but you knew one thing for certain: you weren't running away just yet. You smirked and chuckled to yourself.

You were definitely coming back…

[skzoologist]

My mooties

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⤐ @dmnksrt - One of my irl best friends, you guys can thank her for so much, because she is my number 1 fan and keeps cheering me on. Without her, I wouldn't have written this much. She's a victim of accidentally being converted into a kpop fan, purely because I was also dragged into the fandom. Even though she stans another group and man (Suga), we still ramble to each other for hours easily. Once she gathers the courage to post her own fanfics, you can be sure I'll be there to support her immediately. Her brain is wonderful, just like her, I wouldn't hesitate to commit arson for her sake. Her tag is 'my Darling', no, we aren't dating, in case any of Nat's anons come here asking that.

⤐ @nerenbe - Well well well, if it isn't my menace herself. This lil gremlin is the sole reason I am in this fandom altogether, since she just kept singing 'Star lost' while we were in the Christmas market in the year 2023. I guess this is what I get for dragging her into so many animes and manhwas, haha. She isn't really active here, but know that she loves to murder me with pics and memes of my bias and wrecker. Truly, she lives up to her nickname.

⤐ @shetherocket - The last of my irl best friends, the poor one who isn't in the kpop fandom and has no idea wtf I am saying to her, ever. It's really funny actually, as she just nods as I speak, no clue about anything. But she likes Felix! Loves his softness and sunshine self, so I sometimes spam her with him lmao. I am never going to be sorry for that :D

⤐ @thightswideforhanin - First ever person to loudly admit Bae wrecked her, and hard. I always enjoy her reblogs, she was one of the first ever active members of my blog.

⤐ @michelle4eve - A shy follower of mine who gathered enough courage to speak to me, and would you look at that, we speak more regularly now :) She's very sweet, which is why I just call her my Sunshine.

⤐ @jinnie-ret - Jinnie-ret, Jinnie-ret, the person who started it all. She was the first skz writer who noticed me and decided to raid my blog, quite literally. She recommended my work on her blog and I got a big influx of people, making me breach the 100 followers threshold. I still can't believe she'd followed me back, when I've been her silent follower for months by that point. While we don't speak a lot, as she is busy, I know she's very welcoming and kind (also my brit mum, because she decided to adopt me lmao).

⤐ @atinyniki - Niki, my precious little pocket pookie who just loves to pester me and absolutely shower me in love, no matter how hard I keep pushing it away (this is the norm for me and my friends). She's absolutely sweet and so strong, I look up to her in that sense to this very day. We easily start gushing about ATEEZ or my husky puppies for a good while, or even start planning some gut-wrenching fics together xD I am so happy she wrote to me, even if she keeps insisting I am cute, falsely.

⤐ @writingforstraykids - Nat, my talented menace! I love her art, oh my god, I cannot wait for her to draw more, even if that is a year later or more. And her soft thoughts? Hell yes! She's the one who usually gets to see my own random thoughts about the boys (hence our collab), because she's my mootie and they get VIP services :) I am forever afraid she's gonna do what my menace does and send me pics of the boys... I would straight up die on the spot.

⤐ @cheesemonky - Leisel! While we don't talk a lot (timezone differences and my depressed, anxious self), she's cute and so supportive. I just know if we would talk more, our chat would be filled with rambles and thoughts about TXT, haha.

⤐ @yangbbokari - Mumu, the chaos child. We didn't get to know each other well yet, but she loves to say random shit and cause mayham xD Very maknae line coded.

⤐ @lilmisssona - Sona, my sweet sonata, who is so sweet and supportive of me despite barely knowing me, it gives me diabetes. I already love her works, her AUs are very interesting. She also loves my two puppies, and I am only glad to provide her with photos and videos of them.

⤐ @minholing - Jenny, my lil biologist sprout. While she left, I will await her return here. Who knows, maybe by then I'll be able to accept her hugs more easily.

⤐ @kimistorm - We don't really talk, but we occasionally tag each other in some games. Her works are really nice and sweet, I wouldn't be surprised if she is like that too.

⤐ @miuracha - Miu, the legend amongst us. I haven't really gathered the courage to talk to her yet, but I do know she is an absolute sweetheart who only deserves the best. I hope life finally gives her a break, and very soon.

⤐ @silverstarburst - Silver, my star and guardian wolf, thanks to her protective nature over her friends. Our friendship started with her tagging me in a Jisung photoset, completely unprompted. That was a sign, so true that we now regularly talk here or on discord. Bless her and her gif/photo sets.

⤐ @galaxycatdrawz - A very active moot of Nat, someone who gave me even more meme ideas when I started memeing Nat, being the menace he is. Thus, he shall be named my official meme partner. While we don't talk regularly, that doesn't mean he isn't fun to be around.

⤐ @thatonedemigodfromseoul We haven't really talked a lot so far, but that is how it is when you just meet someone.

⤐ @dean-a-mean-tae Ah, yes, sweet Ronnie, who likes to sing my praises, even though I am average at best. No, please, don't look at me like that guys, I'm sorry- We have this mouse and cat game where we compliment the other in an endless cycle. Also let me tell you, when I first saw that they mentioned me, saying how good my silly fics are, I just sat in front of my screen like a confused and emotional dumbass. Definitely will remember that day for a good while, haha. I look forward to getting to know them better, if life allows it.

If I didn't tag you here, that either means I am way too nervous to do so (you're probably a big writer blog), or I just straight up forgot with my smooth, pea-sized brain. Please do reach out to me, I assure you I didn't mean to somehow offend you.

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[darksolace18]

Special Instruction

Peter Parker x Reader

This is based on a prompt I found from somewhere.

Warning : it is very weird and it feels like 3 a.m. whatever yolo.

Masterlist

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You and your friend were having a slumber party. It was nearly midnight and the urge to commit something remotely illegal was coursing through your veins.

Basically the usual female culture during slumber parties. Other than summoning a demon.

"you know what? Let's just order pizza. It's been ages since we sat down ordered junk food" Leo, your friend suggested.

The mental image of a pizza and it's cheesy goodness was an absolute amazing one.

So if course, you decided to order two pizzas.

But now the thing is, while ordering the pizza through an official app, there was a small blank box which was labelled as "Special instructions".

And immediately you were struck by an idea which seemed illegal enough for you both to go through without the fear of going to prison.

"hey Leo, what if we ask for the cutest delivery boy?" You ask her who gasped, eyes wide and lips smiling wide.

"YES" she yelled.

So you both giggled like evil little gremlins as you filled that blank in.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CUTEST DELIVERY BOY <3

" Now let's see what happens hehe" you both giggled yet again.

*meanwhile*

"GUYS, THERE IS A NEW ORDER AT XX LANE! AND YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT THE SPECIAL INSTRUCTION WAS!"

A chorus of 'what is it's resonated through the kitchen of the pizza place.

"THEY ASKED FOR THE CUTEST DELIVERY GUY TO BE SENT"

The silence that spread was defeaning.

"IM THE CUTEST DELIVERY BOY"

"WHO THE DUCK APPOINTED YOU AS THE CUTEST? A CUCUMBER?"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY WOULD YOU INSULT A CUCUMBER"

And hence, the whole kitchen burst into a battleground

*time skip*

Both you and Leo kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting for your pizza to arrive that you didnt notice that you both fell asleep.

A sudden obnoxious ring of you phone interrupted your peaceful sleepy state.

You pick up your phone and without checking the caller, you grumbled outing your husky sleepy voice "hello?"

"your pizza is here...ma'am."

Your eyes shoot open. You immediately cut the call and check the time. It was 1 a.m.

You shake Leo like a damn vibrators but much more aggressive who simply rolls away, hair in her mouth and a line of drool dripping out.

You roll your eyes at the sight "what sort of unsexy people I have as my friends, tsk".

You stand up and wobble towards the door and pull it open.

And you scream.

"WHAT- WHAT HAPPENED-" The guy yelled, clearly startled at the sudden scream.

"Why- Why are you covered in blood?!" Your voice trembles in fear. Who was he and why was he covered in blood?!.

"oh this-" the delivery guy shook his head. "It's tomato sauce"

Okay now you feel dumb. But seriously, could you blame yourself? The darkness of the night didn't help in any way.

"oh uh- why are you covered head to toe in sauce-?" You ask.

The delivery guy suddenly seems to falter a little, as he stutters out bashfully "uh..you asked to send the cute delivery guy so....I had to put up a fight didn't i?" He said and smiled at you.

Now that your haze was clear, the delivery guy WAS ACTUALLY pretty cute.

You felt self conscious and looked down to see your Avengers pajama set and felt ur unruly hair. Your face burned a degree more in embarrassment.

"uh...thanks..and sorry for the weird...request...we were just messing with you-" you apologized as you recieved the pizza box.

The delivery guy laughed and winked at you "well, I surely didn't mind putting up a fight to meet such a lovely lady as yourself."

Damn, he is smooth.

"well...tell me your name then?" You asked, hoping to not let this be the first and last encounter.

"Peter. Peter Parker"

[irlcats-bracket]

Bracket 3 Semifinals 1

Pricetag & Bandit vs Simon

PRICETAG

also named price in another submission

shes fat shes a terrible bitch and shes the love of submitter's life. they dont technically know her breed but she looks like a calico kinda. white and black and brown all over. their favorite spot to kiss her is the little brown diamond on top of her head, but she has all kinds of pretty markings. she'll cuddle submitter but not their parents and hisses at anyone else. hence the bitch. its SO funny. she doesnt "meow" so much as she chirps and yells. u touch her n its the worlds loudest MRAP. submitter leaves for work and they go "bye price!" and she goes "meep" and they say "i love you!" and she goes "mow" and it always makes them smile because she rarely does it to anyone else. shes so fat. she has a big ol premidorial pouch because shes 100% indoor and u can hear her claws go clicclicclic on the floor because shes so heavy. she likes to climb on peoples back. she chases moths but no other bugs and likes to make friends with neighborhood critters. she hates bellyrubs from everyone but submitter. if they leave their door open at night she creeps in and lays in the worst possible spot and makes it impossible to sleep. she makes the best bread loaf. shes so fucking round. SPHEREICAL. submitter love her more then anything ❤❤❤❤❤❤ (here submitter said that i can shrink it if i want to but no fucking way i am shrinking things abt a cat aside from their name maybe)

shes named after a canadian hockey player. submitter hates hockey. thanks uncle C dhsbdjjsjsjsjs

PROPAGANDA

THATS MY FUCKING CAT!!!!

GO VOTE FOR MY CAT!!!!!

how could you possibly vote against this face 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 shes the roundest, bitchiest cat in the whole world and shes my best friend. stealer of cream cheese and hearts.

heres a small collection of price pictures where i think she looks exceptionally round

vote for price orb. shes practically a perfect circle. what more could you want

also look how polite she is

BANDIT

submitter's sweet baby boy. He passed away recently, and submitter misses him dearly. He was the softest cat they'd ever pet, and that's not just them being biased. His fur was silk. He was the friendliest cat too, and when he heard new voices he was always up to come meet people. He also enjoyed being around people, and you could always find him in a room with the family. He enjoyed terrorizing the family dog whenevr he got riled up (dont worry, she enojoyed it too), and he loved to bother submitter's parents when they started working from home. Any call submitter had with their folks, he would always make a background appearance, yelling quite loudly. He also had some of the loudest snoring theyve ever heard, and they're so lucky to have a small audio recording of him sleeping. Submitter had him since they were 8, and he was nearly 17 years old when he passed away. Submitter tries to sleep with a crook in their knee so if he's ever lonely, he can come cuddle.

SIMON

he's two years old but still looks like he's six months old. he also recently cost his father and submitter 4k because he likes to eat random stuff off the ground :) luckily he's adorable, loves to beat them all up in the morning to wake us up, and his little meows sound like, "ba-hoo!"

PROPAGANDA

he is scared of everything that is not his mom, dad, or brother. everything else is to be treated as an very scary, dangerous enemy

he once cost us over 4,000 dollars in vet bills because he loves to try to eat random stuff off the ground. my fiancé and i both work minimum wage so you can imagine how happy we were

he went missing for 15 hours once because he pushed through a window screen and jumped. he is the last cat who would ever willingly go outside so wtf simon ....

he is a gremlin who thinks the world revolves around him (it does)

he loves letting me dress him up in hats, dresses, and shirts!

he loves to lick my fiancés face at 5am and will dig up the covers to get to him

he helps himself to any glass of water left out, even if you're also drinking it

he doesn't understand why people aren't always willing to share their food with him- he wants some!! give him a lil taste!

he also sat like this once ?

anyways i reached the mobile photo limit i hope you like my boy!!

SIMON SWEEP

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Things I Noticed While Writing Light The Fuse: Part 4, Episode 2

Time for episode 2!

Two weeks ago according to Ethan later on, since he probably didn't waste too much time in Detroit, he's wearing the same outfit after all so he more than likely bailed that night

Ethan really is a sweet pea and I love him but god do I love writing that temper of his, I don't do it often enough yet between all the fun and smut and heartbreak and angst

I went to rewatch this bit for any details he might've filled in but nope, whole page is empty ;w; thanks Reprisal. Also laughing at Ethan literally leaving everything behind apart from this outfit and a single bar of chocolate. I love the detail that Horn makes its way into pretty much every title, it's a reoccurring bit

Again I was so not paying attention to anything when Johnson wasn't on screen that first watch that I completely missed that she gave him this front and center 🙃 what a jackass I am

I need to know what this means. It was never brought up again, not even when they met up. My guess is that it's supposed to be like 'look at this and feel reassured that I'll get you out' but the take that it could also mean 'show this to someone and they'll help you' is also interesting, but it's probably the former since everyone thinks she's dead and I doubt she has any friends left considering they think she started a war oop

He will be getting rid of this eventually and that's a promise

This is unforgiveable. It's also funny to me that both Ethan and Matty cry but Johnson, the man played by David 'He's Workin' Those Eyes' Dastmalchian, doesn't. Do you know how hard it is to write scenes where he's sad but doesn't cry cause he's Johnson? Extremely.

It's been pointed out before but Johnson is just straight up gone and Ethan is in his place lol like at least get him a stand-in if David had to be gone for the far shots

I still cannot believe that Bash made me imagine this. This line is so fuckin wild

Even Matty got worried when Bash started doing his thing he was not ready for a fight here

lmao Gary in his sunglasses trying to look intimidating, imagine Johnson trying that, it's not working for you bud

This one's a double, cause not only does this say that Doris taught Ethan how to come down from his panic attacks (which makes me cry) but it's also the super rare time that any amount of time is mentioned. It was so incredibly difficult to work out my timeline for this show that I had to grab the one single date shown (ep4) and move entirely around that based on what everyone says, when the boys go on a run since it takes 11 days (ep5), and when their outfits change

This isn't a detail or anything I just wanna say I love writing their scenes since it lets me really get into Ethan's head while he's hearing her actively push away everything he's saying. I kinda made him way more self-aware in my fic because of that, but having him be aware but still trusting her enough to rationalize her actions in real-time is a lot more fun to me than blind trust

I love this line so much lmao there's so many lines I passed over because I watched without the subs, like I just thought Bru was eating the ham pie like that because he liked it but nope he gets them 'runny' so he can 😂 I also like the detail how they had Ethan order four, so either one is for Johnson or Matty's having two lol

That's the one thing that lets me down in this show, Johnson keeps disappearing for no reason ;w; he should always be by Matty's side even without me knowing they're dating so let's just imagine he ducked inside to grab more drinks or he's using the bathroom and he'll just be right back, hence the fourth pie 👍

Can everyone please stop hitting Matty 😭

Matty just going 'mm' and then getting back to eating lmao he's so fuckin cute he doesn't even care, there's also no reason for him to be sitting on the table and hunched over his food like a gremlin he's gunna make me kiss him what who said that

Well I reached my limit trying to talk about their last scene so I guess I'll see you tomorrow to wrap up ep2, who would've thought such a short amount of scenes would need two posts? 💛💙

[luucypevensie]

🦙 + my beloved Rue?? 🩷

(Also fair warning: I’m gonna be on planes for most of the day so it might take me a little longer to reblog these. 😅)

YAY, MORE ASKS ABOUT MY FAVE VOODOO WITCH! THANK YOU FAE! Tagging @dancingsunflowers-ocs and @eddysocs because they love Rue too

1. Their go-to song to cry to: About You by the 1975

2. Their love language: Rue is an acts of service girl; you can see her helping Bianca with studying and cooking her meals that she loves

3. Their favorite holiday movie: Gremlins (Rue is a horror movie aficionado)

4. Their pettiest moment: During the time where Rue and Bianca were enemies, Bianca had made a snide comment about how a test they took was pretty basic and only a brainless fool would fail it. This infuriated Rue to no end, and she spent the whole day studying for the next quiz. When it happened, Rue managed to surpass Bianca with a perfect score (including bonus questions) and she said to her smugly “Who’s the fool now, Bianca?” Hence began Nevermore’s nerdiest rivalry to lovers storyline

5. Their favorite ‘60’s song: L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole

6. Their nicknames: Rue (nickname for Prudence), Voodoo Bitch (by Bianca during their rivalry)

7. Their go-to karaoke song: Rehab by Amy Winehouse

8. A color you associate with them: Black (but dark purple would be a close second)

9. An event from their Prom night: I don’t know if Nevermore would even have a prom night, but I’m sure that if they did, the kids who consider themselves normal would do something to ruin the night like dump garbage all throughout the dance hall

10. Their favorite wild animal: Black panthers of course!

[hoidn]

walt, season 5, and the unconscious

(pretentious title? this thing has gotten so long it seemed to deserve it.)

it's been six? seven? years and i'm still tormented by questions about walt's behaviour towards vic in season 5. i've pretty much come to terms with season 4 (in that i still hate it but okay, fine, i get it); however, season 5 continues to plague me. it's a puzzle and my obsessive brain needs to solve it. so, here i am, writing my way through the season because, as flannery o'connor said, i don't know what i think until i read what i say.

reader, if you are brave enough to wade through this and you're not familiar with psychology (or you just want to watch me try to explain something and possibly do a terrible job), here is a note: psychological mechanisms and processes operate at an unconscious level; hence, most people go through life without having much idea about the complex underpinnings of their own psyches or how they translate into behaviours. no judgement; it just is. i mention it in this context because any discussion of said stuff assumes everybody knows we're talking about motivations, beliefs, etc. over which someone has little to no control. usually they're not even aware of them. sometimes they're sort of aware of them but then develop coping mechanisms to shield them from that awareness because the 'self' is a fragile little gremlin primarily concerned with protecting its own construct, even when what it's protecting itself from is itself. does that make sense? no. but also yes. (study psychology! it's great! not at all murky or baffling!) anyway, if you've made it this far and are now more, not less, confused, just assume everything i'm talking about is happening on a subconscious or unconscious level in walt's thick skull unless otherwise specified.

all right, here i go.

5x01 - 5x02

it's a given that walt's head trauma and gunshot injury are major mitigators of the bulk of his behaviour in these episodes. then there's the previously established issue of transference, which comes into play when the enormous sense of guilt he still carries about martha's murder finds a convenient focus in the search for donna. i think his motivation here is a belief that in rescuing donna he'll be atoning for (what he perceives as) failing martha; i.e. he has to save donna because he couldn't save martha. saving donna will balance the scales, in effect. this sort of 'cosmic tally' framing is very on-brand for walt: cf his belief that cady's accident was some kind of punishment for him having sex with lizzie, thus requiring him to perform whatever ritual it is i can't remember to even up the score.

all of this then piles atop his fixation on maintaining control. the more walt feels he's losing that control, the more threatened his sense of self becomes, leading to a kind of existential panic. his psyche copes with this by creating a less threatening reality, one he can control: inventing feelings for donna as part of a grand narrative in which he's the intended target of the attack. he then proceeds to ignore or lash out against anything (vic, evidence, logic) that doesn't forward or fit within his chosen narrative in order to preserve his artificial sense of control (due to defence mechanisms themselves requiring constant defending from the intrusions of reality). this leads him into a paradoxical spiral wherein the more he tries to exert control, the more out of control he becomes. the moral of the story is that attempts to control reality via a personal narrative always fail because reality gives zero fucks about your psychological constructs.

meanwhile, vic bears the brunt of all his shit, as well as taking care of him, and solving the fucking case, and saving his stupid ass from drowning, and giving tamar CPR to save her life. does vic get any credit? maybe a quick thank you? a brief but heartfelt apology? no she does not. am i bitter about it to this day? yes i most certainly am. however, as i said, getting shot + head trauma + pain + medication = heavy mitigation for assholery. that doesn't mean he just gets a pass, though, especially not for his particular cruelty in 5x02. those few seconds when he allows vic to believe that the jane doe in the morgue is donna are inexcusable. he can see how devastated she is and he knows that she's devastated for him. it is an entirely deliberate setup on his part and... just... what the actual fuck, walt?? it reads like punishment to me, but i don't understand where the desire to hurt her is coming from at that point. is it because he knows she's right about donna being the target but doesn't want to admit it? is it because his grand narrative is collapsing and he needs someone to blame for this whole clusterfuck? is it just a "my life is shitty and i feel like being a dick" move? i cannot account for it and that bugs me because this calculated viciousness isn't something walt has ever displayed towards her before.

5x03

it's a few(?) days later and, as usual, walt's injuries appear to be magically healed. now it's as if his constructed grand narrative never existed. he doesn't seem terribly upset that donna is avoiding him; he's got an air of sad defeat about him, but he's neither heartbroken nor making any real effort to change her mind. the latter could be read as him being respectful of her perceived wishes, but i'm not convinced by that. he didn't respect her expressed wishes when she first turned him down; instead, he continued to pursue her in his own waltish way. additionally, she's just been through a traumatic experience and, if he had any real feelings for her, he wouldn't hesitate to force the issue with his special brand of aggressive caretaking (which is what he does with vic).

since he's a perceptive man (when he's not being wilfully obtuse, anyway), it can't have escaped his attention that tamar's obsession was a mirror to his own. that might also be a factor in his anaemic response — it's gotta be an uncomfortable realisation, if nothing else — but given his overall personality i think it unlikely his ego would allow anything other than complete denial about the possibility that he could go as far as she did down the same path. despite (very! recent!) evidence to the contrary, and maybe even more than most people, he believes there's a point at which his conscious mind can overrule his unconscious. cool story, bro, but that's not how it works. the unconscious mind is the undertow beneath even the most placid surface. it's incredibly powerful and, if you get caught in it, it's almost impossible to escape without intervention.

so, in typical walt fashion, he chooses to ignore the problem rather than engage in some self-examination about the way he's been behaving. it's disappointing but completely unsurprising. what is surprising is something new that manifests in both this episode and in 5x07. there are several instances where we've seen him lash out defensively when feeling jealous or threatened, but always in reaction to an immediate situation. this isn't that; i don't know precisely how to define it, because it's not a single specific behaviour common to both circumstances. yet they're such markedly uncharacteristic incidents that they must stem from a common motivation, particularly given how deliberate and conscious his actions are. and although his intent is clearly to hurt vic, it's not to the level of cruelty in 5x02. these are small, petty hurts, like little jabs meant to sting but not inflict real damage. why, though? now that he's no longer shielded from the discomforts of emotional reality by his grand narrative, he's obviously extremely conflicted. his attempt at escapism hasn't done anything to resolve the turmoil going on in his psychological landscape; in fact, it's likely made things worse. that's the only explanation i can come up with for the very abrupt swerves he begins to take.

in this episode, the "it's work-related" phone call he makes to donna is very clearly performative. there is absolutely no reason why walt couldn't make that call in the privacy of his own office. instead, he deliberately walks out to use ruby's phone when vic is the only one there. his nervousness and dithering are probably real to a certain extent because there's precedent (cf him calling cady in 2x02), but i'd be surprised if some of it isn't solely for vic's benefit. his awareness of her presence is hardly subtle: he glances back at her after he dials; he glances back when he hears her footsteps; he looks at her when she's at the printer; he turns to look again when she walks away.

his behaviour makes it clear that he not only wants her to know he's making the call, but also wants her to hear whatever conversation eventuates; he sets it up that way. and it's confounding because it's so unlike him. this is like a foray into teenage levels of emotional maturity, whereas walt usually fluctuates between the two extremes of mature adult and cranky toddler. viewed from one direction he's regressing, but viewed from the other he's maturing. IDEK. i genuinely can't determine if he does it to get her attention and provoke a reaction (like pulling her pigtails?) or to punish her because he can't handle what he feels and the only way he can cope is by making it her fault. possibly it's a combination of both? added to this he continues to be perplexing by otherwise treating her with much more respect and consideration professionally than he has done in quite a while.

5x04

speaking of abrupt swerves, i submit this scene:

What Work Conversations Look Like According to Walt and Vic

as a scholar of the many expressions (or lack thereof) of walt longmire, i can state with authority that he has never looked at any of his other deputies in this manner. he's never even looked at either of his girlfriends in this manner. but there he is in the middle of his office (with dave milgrom standing off to the side), listening to vic report on a lead, and looking at her *waves hands wildly at screen* like that.

5x06

there's nothing relevant in 5x05 so we move on. here in 5x06 we just skip right over the part where dave should be petitioning a higher level court to get the judge on the case to recuse himself due to his personal relationship with the plaintiff's lawyer (*sigh*) and discover that vic's being called to be deposed as a witness for said plaintiff.

dave: but you said you had a good relationship. she likes you, right? happy employee? vic on the answering machine: damn it, walt, pick up! it's me, vic. walt's face: ... dave's face: oh, shit.

apart from enjoying the comedic excellence of this scene, i am fascinated by the news that walt has categorised his relationship with vic as "good" at this point. so many questions arise! i'm very curious to know walt longmire's definition of a good relationship because it appears to be quite different from mine. and considering that dave wasn't even introduced until two episodes ago, when was this statement made? was walt drunk at the time? damn it, i want answers!

next up is the absolutely excruciating awkwardness of vic's deposition, in which the ~revelation~ of the kiss in 5x01 wins first place in some kind of mortification championship. walt is even more than usually inscrutable in this scene, which i don't entirely know how to interpret, but i suspect it's because he's ruthlessly suppressing a fervent desire to punch and/or murder tucker baggett. for my purposes, the scene itself is only noteworthy in that it serves as a catalyst for the conversation between walt and vic that follows on the drive back to the office.

one of my favourite undergrad professors once described an epiphany as "an intellectual orgasm. in a can!" an idea that has continued to delight me immensely ever since. it pops into my head on those occasions when i have a breakthrough in understanding or a moment of significant insight about something, such as the one i had about the post-deposition conversation that turned out to be in complete opposition to the big chunk of words i'd already written about it. my intellectual orgasm in a can was so powerful that it untwisted my perspective of that scene and led me to an entirely new understanding that made so much more sense. it was pretty awesome, albeit humbling to learn i'd originally gotten it so wrong. but the good thing about being wrong is that i then get to figure out what's right, which for me is often more fun than just being right in the first place, because i am A Nerd. it turns out that where i'd been going wrong was in making a judgement based on an erroneous comparison. in the context of season 5 (and the entirety of season 4 as well), walt's been very closed off to vic; however, instead of comparing the walt in this scene with that closed-off walt, i'd been comparing him to early seasons walt, who's much more open (on the walt longmire scale of openness, anyway). it's such poor character analysis on my part that i'm kind of appalled at myself, and my only excuse is that the back half of season 4 and most of season 5 really mess me up. i'd never had an actual character trigger me until donna, but she does, and it's severe enough that i'm unable to untangle the character in the narrative from the trauma she represents, which is likely why this season is the hardest for me to analyse. olol thanks i hate it, etc.

back to walt, though. he's such a private person that he must be feeling a certain level of discomfort about the kiss being public knowledge. in spite of that, when vic brings up the topic, he actually talks to her about it rather than ignoring her or brushing her off. i used to think that walt referring to the kiss as "a moment" was an example of his favourite coping mechanism, aka denial. i thought he was too afraid to say the actual word because it would be an acknowledgement of what had happened. but actually this scene represents his first tentative effort to reach out to vic after a season and a half of nothing. he's not trying to diminish what happened between them; rather, he's redefining it, without reference to anyone but the two of them. by calling it "a moment", walt is reframing it not just as a single act but as a shared experience that was so much more than simply a kiss. that scene, that shared experience, is all about intimacy, vulnerability, and tenderness between the two of them. so here walt is saying "it doesn't matter how tucker baggett, or anyone else, misconstrues it, you and i know what it was and what it meant." apart from the romantic aspect, this 'us vs them' element of their relationship got lost (or, on days when i'm feeling particularly mad at walt, destroyed) in season 4. now he's taking the first small step towards reestablishing that sense of unity with vic and i am here for it.

in the final part of this scene, he tells her, "if you were unhireable, i wouldn't have hired you." it's a statement i'd always interpreted as meant to correct the logical fallacy (i.e. he hired her ergo she wasn't unhireable), and a bit of a jeer at tucker; given the expression on vic's face after he says it, that's how i think she herself takes it. but thanks to my intellectual orgasm in a can, i realised his intention is more personal. kind of like the scene in 4x01 in which vic tells him, "don't you touch me," what's important in this sentence isn't the verb; it's the pronoun. in the same way that his use of "a moment" excludes everyone but the two of them in regards to the kiss, this statement also serves to bind them together in a shared experience. he, walt, hired her, vic, and whatever tucker baggett or anyone else thinks about the matter has no bearing on them. they are now, and have always been, in this together. it's an affirmation of what's clearly spelled out in 2x12:

walt: why didn't you tell me this when you applied for the job? vic: 'cause i didn't think you'd hire me. walt: because you'd done the right thing at your last job?

he hired her when he didn't know the truth; he would've hired her even had he known the truth. she was never, and could never be, unhireable to him, regardless of whether or not she was unhireable to anyone else.

5x07

strap in kids, because here comes the longest part of this hybrid essay/conversation with myself. 5x07 is an episode i don't know very well; the case itself doesn't interest me and there's just too much donna in it for me to watch more than vic's scenes when i rewatch it at all. so, of course, because there just isn't enough irony in my life already, it would have to turn out that this deceptively non-relationship episode—in which a character positioned as walt's love interest has more screen-time than in any other episode!—is actually the most significant walt/vic relationship episode of the season. this discovery came in bits and pieces while i worked through other episodes, but as i wrote through everything that came up, its shape seemed to fall into four interwoven strands. none of them exist independently of the others so it's difficult to tease them apart, but they're roughly as follows.

strand 1: the title of the episode as an overarching theme. 'from this day forward' is an allusion to marriage vows. using that particular phrase to represent/encompass the episode is an interesting choice, given the number of other possible options from the same text, because this clause serves to define a temporal placement. grammatically speaking, 'from this day' positions us at a point in time that is 'now', while 'forward' indicates onward motion, i.e. 'beyond now'. there is no 'before now' within the parameters set by this subordinate clause. in a sense it severs the past from whatever meaning is made by the main clause to which it's attached. it marks the border where change takes place.

strand 2: walt's lack of interest in sexy times with donna. full disclosure: i've never actually watched the first four minutes of the episode. everything i know about it is secondhand, so there may be details that i'm missing. that said, walt certainly doesn't appear particularly bothered by ultimately not having sex that night/morning. in fact, he seems to give up on the idea quite easily. this impression is reinforced in a later scene with donna when he tells her he and his wife waited to have sex until they were married, then asks, "will you be all right if we just watch a movie tonight?" while the walt longmire lexicon can at times be very complicated to translate, in this case i really can't fathom what it could mean other than "i don't want to have sex with you".

strand 3: the very specific and unprovoked jab walt takes at vic on the first morning of the episode. in 5x06 walt tells dave he wants to settle the lawsuit because "it's about negotiating lies. i don't know how to play that game. [...] i care about being able to get back to doing my job. this lawsuit is a restraining order to keep me from being effective. these people did not elect me to protect myself, dave. i'm here to protect them." yet here in 5x07, when vic expresses her concern that he didn't sleep well because he's worried about the lawsuit, he mentions none of that noble reasoning. instead, he insinuates that his motivation was her deposition.

You okay?

when taken out of the context of their history, the words themselves might seem innocent; they might even seem to be meant as reassurance. in context, though, it's clear they're meant to sting. they imply that her deposition revealed something so shameful he's choosing to settle the lawsuit in order to keep it hidden. he's deliberately trying to make her feel small and guilty and responsible. this would be a dick move at any time, but given their post-deposition conversation in 5x06 it's particularly spiteful. the only motivation i can find for this abrupt swerve is that some kind of connection was made in walt's mind between vic and what happened (or rather didn't happen) with donna earlier that morning. not that vic in any way prompted his lack of, um, fervour with donna, but we certainly have canonical evidence that if walt really wants to get it on, he will get it on, physical discomfort notwithstanding. so what seems to be happening is that, rather than accepting and admitting to himself that he really isn't into donna, somewhere in the depths of his psyche, where all his confusing romantic and sexual vic-related feelings live, walt turns it around to become vic's fault that he didn't care enough to go to more effort to have sex with someone else.

strand 4: marriage as metaphor and symbolism. while marriage as a plot element is hardly unusual or noteworthy in the show, this episode features the concept of marriage as a recurring motif. for starters, there's the obvious parallel between tizz and walt: they're two people whose spouses were murdered. ordinarily this would be an inconsequential detail—walt deals with a lot of spouses of murder victims—but what's interesting here is that both of them are somewhat distanced from their marriages. by that i mean that martha was murdered several years ago and tizz hasn't seen her husband for two or three years. both of them are separated from marriage not only by death but also by time, which connects back to the overarching thesis of 'from this day forward'.

then there's the conversation at the end of the episode that i'm just going to refer to as the "let's not have sex" scene from now on. in it walt uses his marriage to establish what amounts to a barrier between himself and donna. he obviously feels he needs to justify or excuse his new reluctance to have sex with her, but instead of being direct about why, i.e. "it turns out i'm actually not into you", he references his history with martha. this abrupt swerve is probably the only situation in which i feel any compassion for donna. it's got to be confusing, even a little insulting; after all, it's a rejection. despite my belief that she deserves what she gets in every other circumstance, i make an exception here because, consciously or not, walt is being dishonest. by invoking his marriage in this context, he's implying something that's simply not true. to begin with, we know, and obviously walt knows, that he had sex with lizzie ambrose at least once when they were "not really dating", and at no point did he bring up waiting until marriage with her. then of course there's donna's own experience with him: that he was apparently quite willing to bone down when they were basically strangers, perhaps slightly less willing but not opposed to it a few days ago, and on neither occasion did he even hint about waiting. so while his sweet story of What Happened In My Marriage itself is true, what it implies isn't. it's merely a convenient shield for him to hide behind.

and that leads to what's at the heart of this, which is if marriage is the framework then what's inside it? something had to occur for walt to make his 180° spin from attempting sexy times with donna at least twice in the opening scene to basically telling her it's not going to happen at all only days later. i'd never been able to determine what it was because there just didn't seem to be anything that could qualify. of course, the underlying emotional reasoning has been evolving in his unconscious for a long time and we've seen what a messy struggle it's been because even within himself walt is a stubborn bastard. yet, in spite of his sometimes contradictory behaviour, when you take season 5 as a whole, there is an obvious linear progression towards a resolution. those apparent contradictions in behaviour are external indicators of the inner struggle between what he actually wants and what he thinks he should want, etc. which is all fine and dandy but the movement from struggle to resolution to action requires a trigger and i! could! not! find! it!

the problem is that causal relationships in psychology aren't always obvious. sometimes you have to make an inference based on the evidence and then work backwards to prove or disprove it by process of elimination. to that end consider, first, that walt's jab at vic early in the episode serves as the final external evidence of his emotional struggle; second, that the "let's not have sex" scene serves as the initial evidence of said struggle having been resolved. logically, then, the impetus for that resolution must be found at a point occurring chronologically between those two scenes. it also has to contain some kind of personal resonance for walt. now consider the scene in the middle of the episode in which tizz tells walt, "when you love someone as much as i loved tony, even when they're gone you can't help thinking they're gonna walk through the door. at least now i know he can't."

hat, rabbit, ta da!

no, really. that's it. anticlimactic as it seems, this quiet, unassuming moment is the something i could never find. this is the catalyst that enables walt's psyche to finally reconcile the conflicting parts of himself. is there direct textual evidence that this is the moment? nope. there's also no convenient light bulb going off over walt's head; nor is there one of those close-ups used to signify a character's mental breakthrough. yet it's the only plausible answer fitting all the parameters required by the question. additionally, if we examine the structure of the narrative, even the scene's placement—in the middle of the case and of the episode itself—implies its function as some sort of pivot, so that both temporally and thematically it's quite literally central.

but why? it seems like a total non sequitur in relation to what walt is/has been going through. that's why i said causality can be hard to determine. it's like trying to explain the train of thought that begins with a conversation about tying shoelaces and ends with you blurting out something about the donner party. your thoughts make the journey from A to B via logic determined by your individual neural connections and conceptual associations; however, anyone outside your head is going to look at you and say, "where the actual fuck did that come from?" possibly while backing away to a safe distance. (no this has never happened to me why do you ask?) the unconscious functions in a similar way: it obeys its own logic, but that logic is largely inaccessible by direct means. this is why ending up at B, even if you do know the location of A, can appear entirely random and without reason.

so, here's me teasing out the logic of walt's unconscious. to begin with, although tizz only mentions love, she's specifically talking about her husband, and walt is going to comprehend her words within the context of marriage. while (romantic) love and marriage aren't necessarily synonymous to everyone, for him they absolutely are. to walt, that kind of love is inextricably linked to the idea of marriage because his foundational experience took that path. in effect, his relationship with martha is the reference manual by which he navigates romantic love both conceptually and in praxis. that's actually the main reason why i always overlooked this scene: i'd supposed that whatever feelings he was feeling here had to do with martha. after all, walt + marriage = martha in the shorthand of the show. the problem with assuming that association here, though, is that it's lazy thinking. the narrative hasn't referenced or reminded us of martha in quite a while. in fact, the presence of her absence ceased to be an overt theme in walt's life mid-season 4. added to that, tizz isn't talking about her husband's murder; she's talking about the pain of years spent believing that he'd left her and being unable to find closure. her experience has nothing in common with walt's beyond grief and that's such a broad category it's essentially meaningless.

with neither martha nor a direct parallel to act as anchors for this analysis, we need to shift away from boolean-style thinking. ('cause lbr the unconscious is far more quantum than binary anyway.) embracing a more oblique approach, what i find is that walt's unconscious responds to tizz's statement by, in essence, posing its own real life 'compare and contrast' essay question. it asks him/itself, "in the contexts of love, marriage, and the prospective pain of being left, who do you love as much as tizz loved tony?" and since there's no way to consider that question honestly without confronting the pretence walt's been using as a defence mechanism since 4x07, the path he takes to arrive at an answer necessarily addresses and ultimately resolves his inner conflict at the same time. like many things we try to hide from ourselves for protection, what he's forced to admit is ultimately quite simple: the answer to the question is not donna. arriving at that admission is akin to reaching a destination, or the end of the quest, if you will. there's always a bit of an interlude before the next quest begins, and in this case it's taken up by the passage from unconscious to conscious mind. sometimes that sort of thing seems to happen suddenly and all at once, but i believe this is more of a gradual trickle situation. possibly because he's maintained his defences so staunchly and for so long that he needs to ease himself into the truth, though it's equally possible that it's simply the normal processing pace of walt's emotional insights. that would actually explain a lot. either way, by the end of the episode his conscious mind has received enough information to spur him to act on it, and obviously that action takes the form of the "let's not have sex" scene. so although he and donna don't officially "break up" until 5x10, any possibility of a romantic relationship between them effectively ends here.

bam! *mic drop* (idk i've just always wanted to do that)

frēonds, it seems you can take the girl out of academia, but you can't take academia out of the girl, 'cause i've got an itch in the back of my brain saying there's got to be a conclusion to wrap everything up. except conclusions and i have never really seen eye to metaphorical eye and this is not an academic paper, self. instead i'm going cheerfully rogue by introducing a new topic only tangentially related to my central thesis. because of reasons, that's why. and, weirdly enough, it's about donna. i know, right? but, see, the thing i've come to understand in the >3 months and >12K words it's taken me to get all this out is that donna's obvious role as a plot device isn't the excursion into horribly lazy writing i've always taken it for. i'm simultaneously grateful for that realisation and pissed off about it as evidence of how much she messes me up because i have degrees in this shit and i should be able to spot something that blatant at a distance even without my glasses on.

but the point is that donna's arc is heavy-handed by design because she's intended as a blunt instrument of dramatic irony. that's her whole purpose. her defining characteristic is being undefined not because the writers couldn't be bothered fleshing her out but by necessity. she's not a creature of the narrative, merely a tool in service to it, and her function is as a vessel, a blank canvas, a metaphor. she has to be explicitly unknowable in order to serve as the embodiment of fantasy, lies, and secrets; and as the manifestation of the familiar comforts of guilt and denial; the demands of the past; the tyranny of should*. as such, there's no means by which she could be more an agent of the unconscious unless she were an outright hallucination. i mean, come on, walt's impetus to pursue a relationship with her in the first place is due to a fucking dream.

in the conscious world, i seriously doubt he gives donna a moment's thought after the case in 4x05 is closed. having been confronted by the prospect of losing vic again, he's still suffering from jealousy and its consequences. the rift between them continues to increase largely due to him punishing both vic and himself: withdrawing from her like a wounded animal retreating to its den, except in this case he retreats into himself. it's confusing and hurtful for vic, but it's maybe even more damaging to walt himself since he's already done a fantastic job of alienating/disconnecting from his other sources of emotional support. but while he's not ready to acknowledge his feelings, let alone address them, withdrawing into himself doesn't allow him to escape them, either. then suddenly his unconscious mind provides him with a convenient avenue for that escape: donna. he can't allow himself to feel what he feels for vic, but he can shift the focus of those feelings by pouring them into the empty vessel of a stranger (transference leading to the grand narrative in 5x01-02). when that fails (quite spectacularly, i must say), he shifts to (an attempt at) recreating the past. post-5x03 he and donna are just somehow in a relationship despite having no history beyond a few conversations, one attempt at sex, and a traumatic assault. it's like he's taken "fake it 'til you make it" as relationship advice. donna, still being a complete unknown, poses no emotional threat or danger of contradiction, and for as long as she remains that way, walt can fill all the empty space with whatever he wants her, and them, to be. on the surface, it looks the way he believes a relationship should.

of course, in reality it's impossible to actually have a relationship with a complete unknown, with a construct, a metaphor, a blank canvas, a dream. and since that's all donna is, in reality it's impossible to have a relationship with her. we're practically hit over the head with it in 5x01-02 as walt's grand narrative plays out and crumbles right in front of us. what this reveals is that the story arc between walt and donna is never about walt and donna; it's only ever about walt. the narrative is showing us an external representation of the internal journey he's undertaking and the choice he ultimately has to make. it's like a live demonstration of the processes that usually stay mostly inside our heads, but here it plays out in a very literal way, so that the conceptual choice between whether to remain within the safe and stable confines of the construct or to embrace the frightening and uncertain fluctuations of reality is made manifest in a choice between two women.

is it really a choice, though? when i initially began to really think about the idea, i remembered the scene in 3x05 in which vic expresses being conflicted regarding her concerns about branch's behaviour. the situation is eerily reminiscent of her experience with bobby donellato and causes her to doubt both her past actions and her instincts in the present. she asks walt what he thinks she should've done in philly, if maybe she should've kept her mouth shut instead of reporting what she knew.

walt: doesn't matter. vic: it doesn't matter. why not? walt: 'cause i don't think you had a choice. looking the other way and keeping quiet, that's not who you are.

i kept coming back to that's not who you are. this is the same episode that begins with the heraclitus quote "character is fate", the idea that who you are determines what you do. so walt's argument is that, although ostensibly faced with a choice between two actions, vic's decision was predetermined because, being who she is, she could not have chosen otherwise. in that light, what seems like choice is, in fact, a process of the conscious mind catching up to what the unconscious mind already knows, and the presence of options to choose between is for all intents and purposes an illusion, or perhaps a disguise. it's like a magic trick the unconscious has to perform to allow the conscious mind a sense of having control over its actions, when all the time it's really just following the path already laid to a foregone conclusion. if walt was much younger i might describe his journey as a bildungsroman; or maybe it qualifies as an allegory, though it's neither strictly moral nor spiritual. either way, the outcome of his "choice" was inevitable because that's who he is. he was always going to choose reality over fantasy. he was always going to choose vic.

THE END (finally!)

*'the tyranny of should' is a quote from https://enneasite.com/trifix/. it's associated with tritype 126, whereas walt is a 146, but i do think the particular descriptor fits here. if you don't know or care about the enneagram then this will mean nothing to you but don't worry. it doesn't actually matter; i just think attribution is important.

[clarktooncrossing]

Giraffe's Eye View: Christmas Specials Special (2023) | The Flash - Running to Stand Still

Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again. All the dogs in the neighborhood somehow learned to bark Jingle Bells in sync. Yet retail workers are still more annoyed with Mariah Carey. Snow is getting shoveled, tossed, and formed into sentient beings leading parades without permits. It makes for an excellent distraction as the Krampus abducts children for bad behavior. Fruitcake is exchanged only to find its permanent home in the garbage. Terrorists have hijacked the Holiday office party right before your boss can give you a Jelly of the Month Club membership as your bonus. And of course, the Turducken has returned to wreak its fiery vengeance upon an unsuspecting world! If all this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, perhaps these following Holiday specials will!

Greetings people of today and robots of tomorrow! It is I, Santa Clark, your geeky giraffe friend with a deep love of Christmas! My obsession for the yuletide is rivaled only by Maleficent’s hatred for it, which is saying a lot considering she once teamed up with Mad Madam Mim to kidnap the literal Spirit of Christmas. Yes, that really happened. I know this due to my annual pilgrimage to the Island of Misfit Specials, home to obscure or nerdy festive media ranging from movies, TV episodes, and comics. It’s no easy journey. Constantly I find myself confronted by sinister snowmen, genocidal gingerbread men, and worst of all, crappy commercials. Getting stabbed in the foot by a candy-cane wielding cookie is one thing, but I swear I’ve seen that ad for Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium more times than I’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street! Sometimes at night I catch myself reciting that jingle. Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium: Where Christmas meets Convenience! Huh, maybe Maleficent had a point.

Nah, my deep-rooted appreciation for this time of year can weather even the most moronic marketing! It helps that most of the merry media I’ve seen have put me in the perfect Holiday mood! Examples include the time a Ninja Turtle found himself trapped in a truck full of stollen toys, a drunk department store Santa stumbling onto a wish-granting magic bag, Big Bird nearly becoming a popsicle, Gwenpool waking up in a world where Galactus took the place of jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, a terrifying tree stump trying to slaughter some saps over a stupid ship war, and the year when Death gave the Little Match Girl the greatest gift of all. Needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. That is, until I took my friends on a trip to the Island, tasking them to find me new, strange, seasonal specials to review! Some of them were fair, finding me festive favorites as comforting as coco in front of the fireplace. Others were fiendish, wanting to feed off my misery like Gremlins after midnight. Regardless of how naughty or nice my companions were, I’ve compiled all of their suggestions into a makeshift advent calendar! So stay tuned everyday until Christmas to see how badly my buddies can shred what little sanity I have left.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my buddies gave to me...

Fortunately my shadowy French friend Zephron (Zephron-Art) found just what I needed from within the speed force. Surprising as it sounds now, there was one a time when The Flash was DC’s hottest hero. Back before Ezra Miller shoved babies into microwaves, Grant Gustin was bringing a much needed sense of adventure to CW’s grimy and gritty Arrowverse. After appearing on the emerald archer’s series, the scarlet speedster became his own leading man, delighting fans every week as he raced against his recurring rogues. Sadly the momentum didn’t last. Over time the storylines became too complicated and repetitive, watchers losing patience with every new evil speedster introduced. Not even a crisis event could bring them back. Hence why after nine seasons the call was made to finally let the Flash run off into the sunset. Many are happy to see the show come to a conclusion, an equal amount happy to have seen it in the first place. It might have stumbled while racing towards the finish line, but some episodes are a reminder of why we stuck it out at all. Such is the case with this Season 2 episode, Running to Stand Still.

You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout. I'm telling you why! Weather Wizard (Liam McIntyre), Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), and the Trickster (Mark Hamill) are coming to town! The terrible trio have escaped from Iron Heights Prison ready to bring bad tidings onto our hero. Barry’s adopted father Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) puts it best when he says Santa hates them. If that wasn’t enough, the fastest man alive also has to contend with his girlfriend Patty (Shantel VanSanten), a vengeful police woman with visions of Weather Wizard’s death in her head. Turns out the normally chipper cop has a grudge against the seasonal scumbag who killed her father so many Christmases ago. Welcome to the CW, where drama hits you like The Brick. I haven’t even mentioned Joe finding out his estranged wife had a son she never told him about. Tis’ the season to confront trauma! Thankfully all that heavy-handed angst is nicely balanced with superhero fun, Holiday cheer, good acting, and the ongoing mystery of Zoom’s identity. Yeah, it’s about as mysterious as who the Sugar Plum Princess is, though there’s an actual decent twist at the end. If all that doesn’t convince you to give this festive frolic featuring the Flash a watch, I remind you that Mark Hamil is in this episode hamming it up! What more could you ask for?

How about five heroes for the price of one?

That’s exactly what we receive in an episode of the 2003 Justice League animated series, Comfort and Joy. Green Lantern (Phil LaMarr) & Hawkgirl (Maria Canals-Barrera) spend time playing in the snow, Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) discovers the true meaning of Christmas down at the Kent family farm, and Wally West’s Flash (Michael Rosenbaum) calls a yuletide truce with the Ultra-Humanite (Ian Buchanan) to make the season bright for some orphans. It’s a fantastic watch for this time of year, even if the writers try way too hard to convince folks that Santa Claus doesn’t exist in the DC Universe. Uhm, why wouldn’t he? You’re telling me that shape-shifting martians, a city full of hyper-intelligent gorillas, a man made out of atomic energy, and ancient snake demons are more plausible than jolly ol’ Saint Nick? Get real here, everything about the festive fatman could easily be explained via comic logic! He could hide the North Pole like how the Amazonians hide Themyscira, the reindeer could all be connected to the speed-force, and Santa being a kryptonian would explain everything else! Not to mention, they’ve actually shown Santa in the comics before. Dude once managed to penetrate the defenses on Apokolips just so he could shove a single lump of coal into Darkseid’s face! DC’s Santa Claus is badass! Whether you believe in Santa or not, Comfort and Joy & Running to Stand Still are a dynamic duo to watch this time of year. Though if these Holiday heroics don’t satisfy you, then I’ve got another colorful bunch of crime fighters courtesy of the French.

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[legendofzoodles]

LOZ Character Analysis/Rant

 The Hero of Time 

‘the flow of time is always cruel’

Forced to grow up too quickly, to abandon childhood and embrace adulthood for the sake of his destiny and kingdom. Neither Ganondorf nor Majora were the true villains. Time itself as always been Link’s true enemy. 

Ironic that history will forever champion him as The Hero of Time.

~~~

To be honest he never struck me as the cold serious type. I feel like he only became hardened and jaded as his perspective on his past experiences changed with age. I mean, look at that goofy kid! He was a mischievous little gremlin back in the day and I won’t hear otherwise. He would have been very sociable with the forest children, playing games, playing pranks and living a carefree life. 

At least subconsciously, he was aware that he was different to the Korkiri. This would have been pointed out to him due to him being the only one without a bonded fairy until much later in life and the fact that everyone was aware that he was growing up. This wouldn’t have been a major concern for him at the time. It would be 7 years later.

The inciting incident that spurs his adventure is the death of his mentor figure: The Great Deku tree. This would have had a profound effect on the young boy, but the send off was so inspiring that more than anything it motivates Link to fulfil his new role. The Deku tree recounts to Link the creation story of the three Golden Goddesses and the business with Ganondorf. At the time much of this would have flown over Link’s head who was probably more focused on the fact that his tree dad was dying and the job he needed to do.

Much later in life though, realising that there are supposedly benevolent beings with infinite power who created this world who sit around and let fiends like Ganondorf cause such misery would add to his jaded view of the world. 

Leaving the Korkiri forest must have been bittersweet, especially since he had to do it alone, for the forest children could not leave (I feel like if Saria could, Link would have wanted her to join him). The first part of OoT must have been a blast for child Link. For a short time he got to go out and explore Hyrule with no strings attached, a truly free kid (many characters refer to him as a child quite often: ‘kid’, ‘lad’, ‘fairy boy’). 

At his young age he didn’t properly grasp the severity of the situation, and saw the quest as fun. To his credit, things were going great, he met princesses (and got engaged to a fish princess! He would’ve looked forward to bragging to Mido about it), wrangled himself a loyal horse and explored the land (bet this cinnamon roll had planned to bring back gifts for his friends in the forest). 

Then Ganondorf pulled the rug out from everyone and great googly boogly, it all went to shit. 

The shock of waking up from what he probably initially assumed was a nap must have traumatised him. Imagine waking up to realise you had missed out on puberty, see the kingdom in ruins, your woodland father figure is dead, your childhood friend/crush is dead and it’s your job to fix everything. 

He did everything perfectly up until now. None of this was deserved. 

At first he might have felt guilty for abandoning the kingdom, but honestly I think that would have dissolved into sheer anger the more he thought it through. Since he was a child, nothing regarding the 7 year coma can really be attributed to him specifically. And being 9 I don’t think that would register until much later in his life, but due to the confusing nature of the whole thing, he wouldn’t know who to blame or what to direct his anger to. Hence the bitterness he carries with him. 

Fi obviously didn’t want him to perish. She did what she did to give him the best fighting chance, but perhaps it was poor judgment on her part to prioritise the wellbeing of her master over that of the kingdom. It was the right call in terms of protecting the hero, but it screwed over literally everyone else. Not to mention that the Royal Family and Raru had been duped by Ganondorf and Zelda/Lullaby had been forced into hiding. 

All in all, I don’t think the 7 year coma was anyone’s fault; the forces of good made their moves and Ganondorf just outplayed them. 

Link himself wasn’t a much of a player at all, more like a variable both sides used in order to outplay the other. The outcome of this struggle behind the scenes was cruel and unfair in the eyes of the hero. He’d done what he was told, he had purified the Zora and Goron’s guardian deities, he had collected all the sacred elemental gemstones and was ready to claim the power that was his birthright. 

Raru, Fi, Hylia, the Goddesses even the Royal Family failed the Hero of Time. But he wouldn’t have thought this back then because he believed that he was destined for greatness. He’d been told by the Deku tree that he’d accomplish amazing things and save the kingdom. In his mind, he had failed.

Since Time still pretty much had the mind of a child in the latter half of OoT, he probably deviated from the main quest, unable to resist the need to help the suffering people. The sight of the kingdom he’d just explored now in such disharmony, a twisted corrupted version of itself, must have been awful. The kingdom had already been taken over, so there was no real need to hurry, he just needed to focus on building up his strength and make sure he defeated Ganondorf. It probably also took him a fat while to get used to his new body.

Because of this, I’m genuinely not surprised that there’s a canon outcome where he dies to Ganon. The odds were against him from the get-go. There was no way he was going to be at his best when he was still mentally 9 and in a body he’d barely gotten any experience in. Maybe he misjudged a sword strike, overestimated his reach or underestimated his speed. It wouldn’t have taken much, just one small mistake for it all to be over. 

On the flip side, following the outcome where he does win, it would be a massive boost in ego. Not in an arrogant way, more just in self assured confidence. The fact that he was able to overcome all that despite the trash hand dealt by the Gods and his own weapon, would give him the attitude of not fearing what life throws at him. Although it wouldn’t make him reckless, it would be the reason why he’d continue to go out adventuring and helping people. He has the hero’s spirit after all, going out of his way to do what’s right is in his nature. 

The trauma from speedrunning childhood was probably the main reason he allowed Zelda to send him back in time. That, and to expose Ganondorf before he can cause all that devastation. He probably thought it would be exclusively beneficial for him and the kingdom, by way of erasing those 7 years of hardship under Ganondorf’s takeover...not splitting the timeline. I feel like Zelda knew it would cause a timeline split (she has the Triforce of Wisdom, she 100% knew and you can’t tell me otherwise) and leave her timeline without a hero, but purposefully put his wishes above that of hers and the kingdom. Maybe out of pity and/or guilt. 

To protect him, she didn’t mention that teeny weeny world shattering detail.

Regarding Sheik, I think Time would have liked and respected them a lot during OoT, taking comfort in their guidance. Probably saw them in an older sibling sort of light, quickly feeling comfortable to joke around with them and maybe confide a bit too. I don’t know how he’d feel about them being Zelda, because I don’t know how he’d feel about Zelda herself. It wouldn’t be overwhelmingly positive though, some of that unyielding bitterness would be directed at her I’d imagine. 

After all he lost everything, his father-figure, his best friends, his childish innocence and doesn’t even have a home to return to anymore. But Zelda? When all this is said and done she can return to her life of privileged luxury, ready to rule the kingdom healed by the Hero of Time (and the sages too). To be fair that’s adult-timeline Zelda, child-timeline Zelda isn’t really the Zelda he knew, but he probably isn’t too keen on having much to do with her either.  

I feel like there would be things from both OoT and MM he’d struggle to get over later in life, due to him being so young when he experienced them.

Needless to say he never touched the Master Sword again.

His desperation to find Navi at the end of OoT is interesting though. It shows that he cares about her, but she wasn’t kidnapped or went missing...she left him. It’s possible Link thought she just needed to go somewhere, but I don’t think that was the case. 

No matter the reason, it was for all intensive purposes, a dick move. Because even if you’re not a Korkiri, I believe you can still make it into the forest if you have a fairy companion to guide you. Be doing this, she effectively locks Link out of the Korkiri forest, banishing him from his childhood and robbing him of the chance to live in carefree peace with the forest children. So aside from missing her, he probably chased after her because without her, he can never return home. 

And we know in LU that years later she still hasn’t come back...

During his life leading up to LU, he was probably going with the flow. There was no way back into the Korkiri forest without Navi, so he sort of aimlessly roamed around Hyrule and went wherever there was adventure. Helping anyone who needed it, taking down dangerous monsters and travelling around the kingdom. He didn’t think of it as a job and didn’t take it too seriously, he knew he had the power to do good so like his predecessors before him, and did what was right because he could. 

I do like the idea that sometime before LU, maybe in his mid twenties, there was an incident where he used the Fierce Deity mask and something went horribly wrong. He ended up defeating whatever forced him to resort to that power, but it resulted in the Fierce Deity almost possessing him, or the power itself tried to take over for a moment- either way it lead to the missing eye and tattoos. 

I have a fair bit more to say on the Fierce Deity...but I’ll leave it there for now.

Time never saw the masks he collected as toys. Some were connected to the dead, one housed a very powerful entity and therefore needed to be treated with respect. Keeping the collection mostly to honour those they represented and maybe also as proof of the adventure. MM was another thankless quest, no one outside of Termina (which may or may not exist) knows what happened there, so he could tell stories using the masks as evidence that he wasn’t full of shit. 

That being said, his skill as a swordsman and warrior would be enough for most to believe him. He’s had a long while to master the blade and was probably besting even the most skilled knights in the Hyrulean Army while back in his child body after OoT. He can use a bunch of different items, shoot a bow with deadly accuracy and even do a nifty bit of magic.

Unfortunately, due to his circumstances his intelligence stat capped off mid-way through childhood. Filling his time with adventure and daring do meant he wasn’t exactly hitting the books and making up for the lost years of homeschooling...or tree-schooling in his case. As such, he’s a very slow reader, his handwriting is like that of a 4th grader’s, his arithmetic is excellent as long as the numbers don’t get to big or the math more complex than adding, subtracting and multiplying. Also statistics and fractions smaller than 1/4 mean basically nothing to him.

In his defence, what’s reading a few books compared to year’s worth of life experience? This man is wise beyond his years, always aware of his surroundings and one could say he’s very much a people person. The only thing that didn’t improve with age is his cringe humour.  

Since the Hero’s Shade looked heavily armoured, it seems likely that Time was officially signed up to the army but maybe as a reserve and has had knight’s training once he became old enough to enlist. Things didn’t go smoothly after Ganondorf was outed by kid Lullaby and Time. The King of Thieves didn’t get arrested lying down, he got arrested after a long drawn out bloody conflict with the Royal Family. 

This conflict led to the Gerudo being chased out the desert and the reuse of their Spirit Temple, turning it into a prison: the Arbiter’s Grounds. Time couldn’t fight in this war because it happened when he was still a kid (could have ended when he was in his mid teens) and since he isn’t known as the legendary hero there was no way the army would let a minor fight in their ranks. He wouldn’t have risked pulling out the Master Sword to prove his status, for fear of Fi putting him in stasis again or Ganondorf having access to the Triforce and Sacred Realm.

He may be bitter towards the Master Sword, but he’s downright hateful of Royal Family. He saw evidence of the atrocities the Sheikah committed under their orders in the Shadow Temple, their cruelty towards the Gerudo and incompetence to stop Ganondorf in his original timeline. Hence why he spends his life doing his own thing rather than rise the ranks of their army.

Music is incredibly important to him. It not only serves as a meaningful connection to Saria and the life he once had, but it’s also how he interacts with the world and enforces his will on it. Again, as a kid he only saw the ocarina as a practical little instrument that could do cool things (btw I know for a fact that Time would never drop Saria’s ocarina or favour it to Zelda’s, even if it’s something the player can do. He wouldn’t do it willingly, only resorting to it if he needed space for a item that could save his life), but as he grew into an adult appreciated its connection to space as well as time.

He may travel alone, but that’s mostly due to the sense of isolation he acquired from his experiences and the burden of bearing the God-like power of the Fierce Deity. On days off or when he feels he needs a break, he’ll seek out the company of those he cares about. Those relationships would have started from scratch, because in this timeline no one remembers him and courageous acts he committed to save Hyrule.

Still has a deep connection to the Korkiri forest. Even though he couldn’t return. It’s a safe bet to assume that the Hero’s Shade is in fact a Stalfos. What if the reason he risks going into the Lost Woods without a fairy guide was because he’d heard news that the Korkiri Forest was falling into decay. The Deku tree still dies in this timeline and without a new sapling to replace him, the forest dies. What if Link went to try and save the forest by finding a new sapling, only to find himself lost and cursed to forever roam the haunted woods as the Hero’s Shade. All while his home slowly perishes.

Leaving the forest in the decrepit state seen in Twilight Princess, with the hollow husk of the Deku Tree serving as the game’s first dungeon. Who knows the fate of the Korkiri...

Twilight’s existence makes him exceedingly happy. Before that revelation, he probably didn’t think too much about stuff like legacy, descendants and passing down his skills. He’d have a funny view on nostalgia. Spent most of his life not putting too much thought into the past or dwelling on a future that may not come to past if he doesn’t make it back from an adventure. Until he gets a family of his own. The normalcy and security his wife and kid(s) bring will finally have him looking at the past fondly and the future with hope. 

I’ll leave you with a couple more famous OoT quotes:

‘melody that will draw you into infinite darkness’

‘A childish mind will turn into noble ambition’

~~~

Thanks for reading! 

I truly believe that this incarnation of Link is one of the most interesting. Imagine what having control over yet being completely at the mercy of the flow of time would do to a person. There are lots of other interpretations you can pull from Link’s experience on OoT and MM, which is a testament to the incredible game design. 

Expect edits every now and then for posts like these. They take a while to write and I don’t always proofread...

If you enjoyed this post check my other ones:

Hero of Twilight character analysis

Hero of the Sky character analysis (TP story) From Shadows: Link’s backstory

Masterlist

[latent-thoughts]

loki surprising reader from an early dismissal of their mission and reader gets kind of panic-y bc she hasnt shaved/plucked/waxed/etc some hair on her body and other preparations she puts her body through whenever she's abt to have sex so she tries to avoid loki the whole night bc of this.. eventually, loki finds out the reason why she's been avoiding him. fluffy (reassuring) smut? 👉👈 srry btw if this is too specific, thank u in advance <33

Writing about this topic was a first for me. Hope you like it, nonny.

“Surprise!”

Your eyes widened upon opening the door. And you almost closed it back in a sudden bout of panic.

Because freaking Loki was standing there, with flowers in his hands, no less, smiling at you mischievously.

"Wha…? How?"

He was supposed to be on a mission, on the other side of the world! He wasn’t supposed to return for at least a few days.

Reading your expression, he went ahead and answered your questions. "I finished early and thought to surprise you."

Then he stepped in and swept you off your feet.

You simply froze in his arms. Because the realization that you hadn't groomed yourself at all and that he was about to see what a gremlin you really were was enough to stun you.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” he asked when he finally let you down from that bear-hug to put the flowers in a vase. “Or are you too shocked to respond yet?”

“The latter? Maybe?” you replied, feeling out of breath and out of depth, both.

He grinned, skipping back to you eagerly. "I missed you, so I teleported here as soon as I finished."

Then he pressed his palms to your cheeks, rubbing in the residual static of his magic.

“Hey!” you cried out, just as he pulled you in for a kiss.

Oh, his kisses were always heavenly and disarming, and you couldn't help but be lost in it for a while, the panic momentarily forgotten.

But it returned full force when he began to grope you with the urgency of someone who was looking forward to some serious action in bed.

Oh fuck…

You pulled away quickly, because you simply weren’t prepared for a nookie today. And now that Loki was already here, there was no time to prep for it.

Hence, the panic…

He looked disappointed when you broke away from him, but you pretended to be oblivious.

“Did you eat?” you asked, changing the topic quickly before he could say something. “I should make something for you.”

“We should order,” he suggested, moving closer to you again. “I didn’t come back early to make you slave off in the kitchen.”

“Alright! Lemme get my phone,” you replied with false cheer as you hopped away, not letting him grab you this time.

But he was upon you again while you tried to pick a cuisine on your phone.

“What do you wanna have?” you asked, trying not to sound alarmed when he started kissing your neck. “Loki, pay attention to the menu.”

"Order whatever you want," came his very impatient reply.

You began to squirm then, because his hands slipped under your sweatshirt, discovering that you weren't wearing a bra.

"Dumpings?" you squeaked, arching against him as he stroked your nipples.

"Oh yes… I love dumplings."

"Choose!"

He sighed and finally relented, focussing on ordering food. But once the order was placed, Loki returned to his attempts at seduction.

You tried to distract him with TV, you tried to clean an already clean kitchen, you even tried to hide in the bathroom for a bit. But Loki simply didn’t relent. He was kissy, touchy, feely, gropey… basically just a one-track mind. And he was very eager, as was evident from the bulge in his pants.

It only made you feel terrible about the whole situation. He had rushed back to you after finishing his mission early, only to be rejected…

But how could you explain to him that you couldn’t be intimate with him tonight? That you hadn’t taken care of yourself like you always did whenever he was coming over. That your downstairs area was a prickly, overgrown lawn and your arms and legs were like a tarantula’s?

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming? I could’ve prepared…” I could’ve shaved and plucked and made myself more presentable too.

“Would’ve ruined the surprise.” He was trying to pull your sweatshirt off, but you were resisting. “And I don’t want you to make special preparations for me. Just being in your company is a delight for me, love.”

Damn, the guilt was gnawing at you…

“Loki stop!” you cried out suddenly, just as his hands slipped into your sweatpants. “We can’t have sex tonight.”

It was brutal, but at least you were being honest…

He pulled away from you immediately, looking baffled and… hurt. “You don’t desire me? Is this why you’ve been avoiding my advances?”

Oh… he had noticed. Of course, he had. He was extremely perceptive.

“No, I mean yes! I mean, no, that is not the reason,” you fumbled. “I’m not… groomed enough for it.”

He frowned, visibly confused. “What does that mean?”

You closed your eyes in shame, hugging yourself as you tried to explain. “I prepare myself for you every time you come over. I shave… everywhere. Then I apply lotion all over my body. I pull on some nice lingerie and all. Basically, I doll-up before you get to see me naked. Your surprise visit didn’t give me the time to do all that.”

Your confession was met with silence, which prompted you to open your eyes and peer at him.

He still looked baffled.

“I’m sorry, Loki.” Your eyes welled up as the guilt overflowed. “I want you, I love you. But I just feel… inadequate and ugly without all that prep. I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“That… has never mattered to me,” he stated finally, moving closer to you again, wrapping his arms around you. “I have body hair too. Does that put you off?”

You snorted into his chest despite being upset. “No, fuck no.”

“Then why should I mind yours? I actually thought that was some kind of cultural norm here on Midgard. So I just didn’t question it out of politeness.”

“It made me look soft and pretty and more fuckable, at least in my mind.”

Now it was his turn to snort.

“Really? Because you’re all that and much more to me all the time, not just when you doll-up. I didn’t fall for you when you presented yourself to me after all those preparations.”

He tipped your chin up to make you look directly into his eyes as he continued.

“I did so in increments… whenever you gazed at me from across the Avengers’ conference room with soft eyes, when you snapped at Thor for unnecessarily hassling me, when you played tricks on me in turn and bested me at my own game, when you started wearing shades of green more often, when you matched my wit and didn’t back down from the challenge… and so on.”

Your eyes widened upon hearing his confession; you weren’t prepared for that, and it completely blew you away. Enough to render you mute for a bit.

“Now, I won’t tell you to stop, because your body is yours, and I don’t control you. All I’m saying is… I want you all the same, dolled-up or not.”

He was poised to say more, but you stopped him with a kiss, pouring your gratitude and love into it. Because hell, he was a gem. Understanding and gentle and kind…

“I’m sorry,” you sighed against his lips. “I got caught up in my own insecurities.”

“Will you let me show you how much I desire you?” he asked, brushing his nose against yours, sounding so earnest that you simply couldn’t say no to him.

In no time at all, he had you on your back, naked and completely spread out on the bed for him. When you squirmed self-consciously, he steadied you with a hand over your abdomen.

“There you are, all natural and beautiful,” he remarked, touching you intimately, playing with your clit, making you whimper. “This was all I thought about when I was finishing my mission. I simply wanted to surprise you, spontaneous and eager. To bury myself in your warmth and be lost to the world for at least a few hours.”

Your mouth opened, but you couldn’t speak. Because he slipped two fingers inside you then, and began to pleasure you, working them just the way you liked it. It drove you wild, enough to make you forget about your lack of grooming.

He turned up the heat even further when he leaned over and pulled your nipple into his mouth, sucking and biting it just enough to give you the edge of pain laced with pleasure.

“Fuck, Loki!” was all you could manage to say.

“Yes, give yourself to me, just like that,” he encouraged, letting go of your nipple temporarily. “Do you still think yourself undesirable?”

His thumb pressed on your clit right then, making you incoherent, because it was buzzing with his magic.

“I can’t think!”

“Perfect. Now come for me.”

You did. By everything good and holy, you did…

As you cried out in intense pleasure, Loki shifted over you, his clothes melting away in a telltale green glow.

“How about now?” he asked, pushing inside you, making you tremble as he nudged the last vestiges of your orgasm into the beginnings of another. “Does my desire for you feel any different?”

You shook your head and wrapped your legs around him.

“There you go, my doll, all natural and beautiful. I like the sound of that. Do you?”

He began to fuck you hard then, using those long, deep strokes that made you moan the loudest.

“Answer me.”

“You know I can’t!”

He chuckled and kissed you then, pinning you beneath him, keeping his pace. He didn’t relent even as you climaxed again.

“Do you think you’re not attractive to me right now, like this, replete with pleasure, clenching around me so sweetly, moaning my name like an invocation?” he rasped against your lips, sounding burdened by an oncoming orgasm himself.

His words only made you clench around him harder.

“I was wrong! I’m sorry!”

“Good girl…” He groaned, throbbing and coming deep inside you, staying there till both of you stopped panting.

The afterglow hit you hard afterwards, and you grew quite snoozy in his arms as a result.

Of course, the food delivery guy chose to arrive exactly at that time, much to your annoyance. But Loki had a trick up his sleeve to take care of that.

He sent a double to receive it.

-----

(Also posted on AO3. Please share and leave comments if you liked it.)

[giggly-squiggily]

Hey, do you think you could do the 12 zodiacs from Fruit Basket(you don’t have to do all 12, but at least most. Then again it’s up to you.)? For the Headcanon thing

Now this I can do! I’ve gotcha friend :)

(Putting this under the cut because It got quite long and also potential spoiler warning)

For Shigure, Ayame, and Hatori

Yuki: My darling rat prince! I love him so! Yuki’s a solid switch- sometime the lee, sometimes the ler. I think his worst spots are definitely his ribs, knees, neck and stomach! He’s got a soft, breathy kind of laugh, it’s raspy and rich sounding and just AHH! Depending on who’s tickling him will determine if he’ll physically fight you or if he’ll let you have your fun. As a ler, he’s sneaky- with nimble fingers and a sixth sense for where your worst spots are!

Kyo: Grumpy cat! I love him aswell! He’s a switch, but leans more towards the lee side (even though he’ll claim the opposite). I think his worst spots are definitively his belly, hips and thighs! Unlike Yuki who’s laugh is soft and raspy, Kyo’s is loud and borderline shrieky (Think like a cat who’s getting a bath). He’ll fight you the minute you start tickling him to the minute you stop, so be ready! (Unless your Tohru/his S/O- in that case he’ll let you win.) As a ler, it really depends on who he’s tickling: if it’s Yuki or Hatsuharu- he’s going all out; wrestling, MMA moves, etc. If it’s Tohru or Momiji he’s very gentle.

Momiji: Sweetheart! I adore him so! Momiji is the true ler-leaning switch! He likes tickling and is completely shameless in asking for them whenever he craves a laugh! He’s nimble enough to cling to others and tickle them whenever he deems them in need of happiness! He himself is ticklish behind the ears, his neck and his legs. Unlike the previous two, he wont fight back at all in tickle fights, opting to let it happen and enjoy the feeling.

HatsuHaru: My darling cow boy! (I’m alittle bias- my zodiac year is the Ox, and he’s kinda my favorite) Big ler energy from this one! Hatsuharu isn’t one to usually start tickle fights (unless your Yuki or Rin- in that case he’ll start them whenever you look sad) but when it comes down to it he’s a force to be reckoned with! He’s strong as his animal association, and has pretty good knowledge on his target’s tickle spots! He himself isn’t very ticklish, but if you scribble along his ribs and back long enough, you’ll get a few chuckles. His armpits are especially bad if you want him to laugh!

Rin: She’s a runner, she’s a track star The type of lee who will run at just the threat of tickles. Rin’s really ticklish on her legs and neck. She also has a ticklish back, but doesn’t like tickles there due to the trauma she’s endured. She only let’s Hatsuharu (and eventually Tohru) tickle her- anyone else will most likely get kicked and clawed. Her laugh is the complete opposite of her look- bubbly and sweet, full of happy giggles and shrieks. The few times she does tickle someone (Tohru) she’s rather skilled and crafty with it!

Kagura: This girl. God help you if you’re targeted by her in tickle wars! Jokes- she’s not that merciless! Really- Kagura’s got massive Ler energy and the strength to hold her targets down for maximum tickling! Her own tickle spots are her waist and stomach, along with her lower back. Like Rin her laugh is the opposite of her look: it’s full of snorts and gremlin-like cackles, and sometimes it can get kinda witchy. She kinda hates it, hence why she opts to do the tickling vs actually being tickled. If you do tickle her, prepare for immediate retaliation!

Ritsu: Disaster lee! Ironically enough tickles calm him down! It’s a running joke between some of the Sohma that Ritsu has an “off switch” if you poke him in just the right spot. Sometimes it’s his waist, other times it’s his back, sometimes even his hip. He’s ticklish everywhere, so all of those places work. His laugh is quite soft considering how often he’s screaming “I’m SOORRRYYY!!!” He tends to curl up and deflate when tickled, never fighting back and just kinda letting it all happen. If he does tickle someone back, he’ll kinda freak out if they do- so communication with this one is important (Communication in general is important for all tickle scenarios, but Ritsu especially needs it given his anxiety)

Kureno: Gentle soul! Such a charming switch! Kureno isn’t one to usuall y participate in tickle fights- he kinda stays out of the way while the others duke it out. Sometimes though, Ayame or Kagura will target him just because he needs more happiness in his life. His laugh is rich and deep, the sound musical! Like Ritsu, he’s pretty much ticklish everywhere, but under his chin is a great spot to go for if your really looking for a reaction! As a ler, he’s very gentle to whomever he’s tickling.

Hiro: Little tsundere lamb! Hiro likes to think he’s a ler, but most times he’s always a lee. He’s so grumpy and snarky- he needs cheer up tickles alot. His worst spots are his ribs, feet, and armpits. He’s got a really sweet sounding giggle if you tickle him- he’s like Kyo in which he’ll make empty threats of “I’ll kick your butt!” and “I’m getting you back!”- just with less cursing because he’s a baby. If he does get you back, he’s a menace! (Unless your Kisa- then he’s nice and gentle)

Kisa: Sweetest little tiger! I adore her so! Kisa’s also more of a lee- she’s like Momiji in the sense that she likes tickles, but she’s much more shy about asking for them. That, and she only really has two or three tickle spots (her back, hips, and knees), so getting tickles isn’t always easy. Her laugh is soft and sweet sounding, and she hides in her hands alot; making her even more adorable! As a ler, she’s so sweet- only tickling someone if she knows for certain they want them, and always stopping when they ask.

I hope these were good!

[findafight]

I posted 7,803 times in 2022

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I tagged 2,374 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 139 characters

#jim is down for it and afterwards goes 'that was wild. when can we do it like that again?' and spock is like 'in seven years' jim goes oh🥺

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Middle-aged rockstar Eddie on twitter is so funny to me he'll have very professional tweets about tours or releases etc and promote causes he supports but then he'll be a little chaos gremlin like

"the first time Steve and I actually met I held a broken bottle to his neck. Think that awakened something in him. 😈"

And Steve replies

"Robin told me I sucked on a daily basis, Jonathan punched me in the face, two weeks after Nancy pointed a gun at me I told her I loved her. You ain't special"

And Eddie replies an hour later with

"WAIT A SECOND STEVE DID YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON JONATHAN"

While his followers and fans are like...what is going on and who is Jonathan. Why is Eddie Munson airing his relationship drama on twitter dot com. WHY DID HE HOLD A BROKEN BOTTLE TO STEVE'S NECK

2,113 notes - Posted November 5, 2022

#4

I am a hardline Steve is a "boring queer" truther. Yes he's bi and genderqueer!! Does he change pronouns? Nope! It's easier to use he/him and he doesn't care. Does he wear anything other than high waisted mom jeans and sweatshirts? Absolutely not. Just because gender means next to nothing to him both for himself and in regards to attraction doesn't mean he's going out of his way to do anything about it. He knows he looks like Just Some Jock but he's comfy!! His ass looks good! What more is there to clothes than that!

He goes to bed at ten and wakes up at six-thirty for a run before work. His favourite show is M*A*S*H. The most outlandish thing he's done besides Monster Killing is name his rescue cat WoodChipper because it kept trying to eat his porch.

3,596 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

#3

Steve shows up to work one day with a baby bjorn complete with sleeping baby on his chest and Robin is like Steve....what the fuck?

And Steve says "I would've called you last night but she'd only stop crying when I held her and my parents were fighting, obviously, and I had to figure out how to make her bottle then I fell asleep with her on top of me and I think my dad legitimately forgot about us even though this is his fault, and there's no one to take care of her so I had to bring her. Sorry."

That is a lot and answers very few of Robin's questions.

"who...is she?"

Steve brightens and smiles down at the baby who's tiny baby fist is scrunched up in his work vest. "Oh! My half sister. Her mom works for one of my dad's business partners and brought her to my parents while they were away last week so they came home, mostly to dump her off on a nanny they forgot to hire--hence my baby holder here--and fight. Turns out dad cheating is easier to ignore when there isn't actual proof of it."

"oh. Woah."

"yeah. Anyways, ready to rewind some tapes?"

So they start work Steve logging returns into the computer and cupping the baby whose name I don't know yet's head. Then the little baby wakes up, making little baby noises, and Robin is not one for babies really, but Steve coos and picks her hand off his chest and waves it at Robin.

"see, that's your auntie Robin! Say hiii auntie Robin!"

The baby chews her tongue at Robin and blows a spit bubble.

And how is Robin supposed to not be charmed by that?

"awww," she says, letting the baby grab her finger, "yeah, I'm your auntie Robin. Your big brother's gonna take care of you so good huh? You'll know your way around retail in no time."

Steve giggles.

It is then that The Gremlins decide to show up and Cause Noise. Baby sister starts to cry and Steve takes her to the back to get her to calm down and change her, comes out (ignores the party's questions. Giving them Ultimate Mom Pose with Bonus Effect of Baby) hands her to Robin who is a little nervous but she will not let her new niece (?) Down, and goes back to find and heat up a bottle.

Eddie, who drove the gremlins and was looking for something in his van comes in, sees Robin holding the baby and is like huh? What's this?

And then Steve comes out with a bottle and a baby blanket over his shoulder, reaches for the baby from Robin and tries to get her to latch on the bottle with quiet words and gentle hands and Eddie is not okay he's not fine he's having a melt down because Steve with the kids is one thing but Steve with a Baby is something very different and he should not be expected to keep it together seeing this

Part 2.

Part 3

5,784 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

#2

Rockstar Eddie au in the 90's and there's rumours he is ~homosexual~ right. So the whole band is in an interview, and the journalist asks

"so, Eddie, what do you have to say about those rumours ?"

"what rumours" (he knows exactly what rumours)

"the rumours about you having slept with a number of men. About being, ah, gay? Seeing as you've never had a public relationship with a woman, and some of the songs you've written could be seen as, ah, insinuating things."

(at this point Jeff and Gareth make Significant Eye Contact. They know what's about to happen.)

Eddie nods. "Ahhh. THOSE rumours. Well, gotta say, don't believe everything you hear!" He pauses just enough for the interviewer to open their mouth and interrupts. "I mean," he leans forward with a wide grin, "obviously I am a flaming queer. We know this. [Insert song title here] is clearly about gay sex, duh, I'm not exactly a subtle man. It's the sleeping around stuff that's just plain rumour. I've been happily in a committed monogamous relationship since '86!"

this is obviously not how the interviewer thought any of this would go. They are scrambling. "O-oh? Would you like to... Elaborate on that?"

Gareth speaks under his breath "oh no, now he's not gonna stop" as he looks to the ceiling. Jeff's face is valiantly trying to not smile.

Eddie is vibrating. "Oh absolutely! Okay, so we're from this Podunk Indiana town in buttfuck nowhere, right? Steve and I met when-"

"Eddie please, man. I can't believe you held out this long but we have an album to promote and if you start gushing about Steve we'll be here forever. Please, Eddie." Says Jeff, smiling.

Eddie proceeds to pout as his bandmates ignore his grumbling about never getting to talk about Steve and Jeff and Gareth are like Eddie you waxed poetic about his chest hair in song literally five minutes before this interview. PLEASE let us talk about music I'm sure people will clamour to get an interview exclusively about Steve. You'll have time to talk about him to the press just let us have One Last Interview that isn't just Eddie Talking About Steve Time. Please.

9,948 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

When someone comes out Steve's immediate gut reaction is to drag their taste in romantic prospects. Robin rejected him and came out and he went full "okay fine but please like BETTER girls oh my god" like the Mean Girl he is. God bless.

When Will blurts that he's in love with Mike (which... Yeah Steve knew that one.) Steve goes "okay there's nothing wrong with liking boys but why wheeler?? You can do so much better Will. Seriously. Literally anyone else." And will is just ?????? He just said he liked boys and Steve's biggest issue is that it's Mike?! "Mike is being a jerk!! He's ignoring you!! Dump his ass, Will!" Most confusing acceptance ever.

Eddie confesses to Steve and the man blinks at him like "but...I'm a prep?? And bitchy? And have had, like, five concussions?"

And Eddie is like "what the fuck are you talking about"

"I'm just saying I doubt I'm your usual type! Obviously I like you back but you could probably do better"

"Steve are you saying my feelings are reciprocated while also being self deprecating n order to insult my taste in men?"

"oh. Yeah. Oops."

Lucas and max come out without specifying crushes (except on each other) so there is no need to drag them for their taste in men or women.

Dustin is like "I literally only like Suzie" and Steve is like "I know this and I love you (and her)" BC Suzie is amazing and helped save the world too. And grey ro/ace Dustin.

The only person whose taste he doesn't criticize is Mike and that's because when he says he's in love with will Steve just goes "he's too good for you" and nothing else.

12,144 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[grizzledyoungimpact]

Pairing: Brandon Cutler/Kelani Johnson Quote: After all, waking him up in the middle of the night. Wouldn’t you be grumpy too? Verse: Pokemon

This reunion was not going the way that Brandon Culter had expected this reunion to go. He had expected to surprise a woman he cared about deeply after hours at the Pokemon daycare she owned. What he had not expected, however, was to have the large turtle-like Pokemon slap him to the ground with one of its strong fins.

Not that Brandon often made smart choices.

It was true he was book smart. Brandon had gone to trainers school, even if he didn’t prefer training. The only reason he had taken the classes to be a better trainer was to work for his best friends gym, even if it was unaccredited. No, to Brandon the joy wasn’t in training to work for the Jackson brothers, Matt and Nick, but instead it was in photography. He loved traveling the world to take photographs of the different regions unique creatures. Not only pictures, but Brandon also loved getting video evidence.

But common sense?

If Brandon had any common sense, he wouldn’t have tried visiting a friend of his in a region that he barely knew alone. He had grown up in Castelia City, after all. He was a Unova boy, a city boy through and through. The wilds of a place like Alola, specifically a city as quiet at Seafolk Village, were not a place he was familiar with. Surprising his friend in her home region, this was dangerous.

Hence the Carracosta ready to attack him yet again.

The turtles' strong jaws could easily break his arms if it wanted to, Brandon knew that much. The orange camera emitting the blue glow that he held in his hands, his Rotom, was his only defense. “C’mon big guy. You don’t want…”

The light of the small building further up the lawn clicked on, different than the lights from the houseboats he could see from the top of the hill. The Carracosta turned to face the light, waddling towards the door where there was a woman’s voice, “Whattya doing out here, Crush? Everything okay?”

Brandon shakily stood, a small smile on his lips. Even in the dim light, he could see Kelani Johnson for what she was. His friend had a warm presence, strong but not overbearing. After all, her bloodline had a presence all its own. They were trainers and gym leaders who others both revered and acknowledged as some of the most powerful in any region. Kelani had never chosen that life, that power, and that impressed Brandon. 

“He thought attacking Rotom and I was a better thing to do,” Brandon chuckled as he moved up the walkway. He watched as Kelani looked up from her crouched position, scratching under her Carracosta’s chin.

“You probably scared Crush. He’s a big softie, really,” the woman protested, a small and impatient huff to her voice, “After all, waking him up in the middle of the night. Wouldn’t you be grumpy too?”

Brandon sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, though his ribs were still in pain. “Guess that was on me. I just came to see you, Lani. I shoulda waited ‘til morning.”

Kelani stood, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He could smell the coconut from her shampoo as his face pressed into her shoulder, “You’re awful clingy, Cutler, but I’m glad you didn’t wait. I missed you.”

He pulled back, hands on her shoulders as he looked her over with a gremlin-esque grin, “Missed you too. Thought maybe we could go on an adventure. Whattya say?”

[herotome]

Devlog #37: Before&After GUI

Hi-ho, Wudgey here! Once again we're going to do something a little different today.

I was initially going to write a BIIIG overview of the progress we've made, but I noticed it was already getting long just from talking about the new GUI... (and apparently tumblr has a 10 image limit per post, boooo). So, I'll limit this post just to the new screens, and I'll queue up a post on our CG progress a little later. :)

A lot of this will be familiar if you've tuned in regularly to our updates; but this time I'll go into a little more detail on my process to buff out the post a bit.

First off, some before and after images as promised by the devlog title:

Name Entry Screen (Before 1/2)

I've always felt strongly about incorporating gameplay mechanics into the actual story. When I came up with the idea of having the MC write her name as part of the job search process, I was immediately invested in that direction! Originally, I was going to have the player type in their name into the Clammy Lady's tablet once they actually reached the job fair... but as you can see, it's not visually enticing.

Name Entry Screen (Before 2/2)

I reworked the idea into a resume (which makes an appearance in the March 2021 prologue demo). In my country you're expected to provide a professional headshot along with your information, which suits my nefarious purposes. The player now has an in-universe interface where they can update their picture AND type out in their name.

Name Entry Screen (After)

Finally, with help from some Ko-Fi donors, I was able to commission Re.Alice (who has a vastly more powerful background in graphic design than I do) to tighten the screen concepts and add some pizazz! Once she was done, I was able to code in some animation to give the resume screen more life.

Save Screen (Before)

Next up is the save screen. I didn't have a specific concept in mind for this one (hence the default renpy layout), but I do have strong preferences in save/load formatting from playing other games.

I referenced my favorites: Hollow Knight, Dragon Age, and Mystic Messenger. I quickly decided that I Do Not Like numbered pages, and I would replace it with a scrollbar. I did appreciate screencaptured preview pictures though, and I liked having specific names for each chapter as the player progresses.

Save Screen (After)

(I created a bigger screencapture here because the save slot text is on the small side ;;;)

Again, Alice was fantastic in helping me capture what I wanted! I also enlisted help from @synstoria for the more advanced programming areas. Once they were done, I adjusted the text format, asset positioning and added another touch of animation. I even added a bit of kerning here... who knew my college typography course would randomly pay dividends? lol.

You can see in the upper right, I've written some code to create "checkpoints" that can be loaded from this screen. The default Ren'py autosave system works by saving at EVERY choice; since Herotome is a choice-heavy game, it doesn't make a lot of sense to autosave so frequently! Instead, I'll be utilizing a checkpoint system to save before every major conversation - so if you make a mistake (or want to make chaotic gremlin choices and then claim takesies-backsies), you'll be able to use the checkpoint return to a secure area and try again.

The system will NOT save in the middle of bad endings, so you won't have to worry about getting stuck!

Choices/Textbox (Before 1/2)

What a blast from the past....! I hated the vbox choice screen so much I had to change it asap!! It's a bit nostalgic to see my original Katie sketch; I drew her on paper and added color with the multiply tool. :')

As for the textbox, I didn't really know what I wanted. I struggled with several concepts before settling for a basic gray halftone design for the time being.

Choices/Textbox (Before 2/2)

I designed placeholder assets and recruited @synstoria again to help me with the complicated coding parts. I just randomly go feral and want to break the default ren'py formatting!

I was less satisfied with the textbox, but after several concept sketches I was starting to get somewhere after I researching some superhero art deco images.

Choices/Textbox (After)

After Alice worked on the design, I adjusted the choicebox positions to be higher on the screen, so players clicking the textbox should be less likely to click on a low-hanging choice by accident. (Not that accidental clicks should remotely ruin the gaming experience, if the checkpoints work as intended...)

CONCLUSION

I'm excited about the strides we've made. Next up I'll be updating the Options screen, and I expect to update the Logbook and a couple of other screens further in the development timeline.

These visual updates will be rolled out along with the next installment, which I've decided to call Episode 1 (release date TBA). The common route will have 2-3 episodes in total before branching off into character routes. Normally I'm not keen on episodic releases, but I'm reaaally impatient for you guys to meet the love interests --and, of course, I'm impatient for you guys to talk to Warden a bit more. ^^

Please look forward to the next progress update! And if you'd like to help speed up our process (and get some spicy previews of our game's villain), please consider dropping by our Ko-Fi. We're at 72% of our goal to fund the sprite, which means we're almost there!!

I hope you’re all staying safe and keeping warm.

Much love,

Wudgey.