#I feel like I'd be attached to Angel if the show was like . Good

[dogclownmuppetthing]

I am so mad . Unrelated to anything Ive posted obviously but I am still staunchly refusing to watch either of V*vsieP*P's shows , on principal , BUT . Fine . She got me with One song Poison is all that matters to me . Tho especially if covered by like Anyone else .

[saturnneedsspace]

After Cas confesses his love, but before he pushes Dean away, he pulls something out from his trench coat and slips it into Dean's pocket. Cas pushes him down and gets taken by the Empty, followed by Billie, leaving Dean alone on the bunker floor. As he cries, he feels something push into his chest, so he reaches his hand into his flannel pocket and pulls out the mixtape. The one he had given Cas as a gift and a secret sort of love confession of his own, thinking Cas wouldn't understand it. But as he stared down at the tape over top that read 'Dean's top 13 Zeppelin traxx', he knew that Cas understood. And he feels his heart break even more. Cas knew. Cas knew how he felt, yet he never said anything until it was too late. They were both too stupid to understand and just tell each other.

As Dean held the mixtape firmly in his hands, shoulders shaking with his sobs, he noticed that something felt off about it. The texture was different. He would know. He had flipped the cassette over and over and over in his hands before giving it to Cas, trying to decide on what to say to the angel.

Dean used his sleeve to wipe the blurriness from his eyes so he could see what was wrong with it. It still took a few seconds to adjust, and when he saw the large crack down the center of the tape, he gasped and brought it closer to his face. More tears spilled down his face. Cas' last move was to give this back to him, to show him that he understood their love and reassured Dean that, though he never said it, he knew how much he had meant to him. And Dean had broken it. The last thing Cas had ever given him besides the bloody handprint forever imprinted on his coat.

But as Dean's hands held on, finergrtips rubbing over the surface again and again, desperate to feel some kind of comfort in his hopeless situation, he noticed something attached to the back of it. He sniffled, wiped his eyes again, and flipped it over. On the backside, there was a piece of paper taped there with his name written on it. He quickly ripped it off, causing the cassette to re-split in half, obvious that the piece of tape being all that held it together, and opened the note.

Hello, Dean.

I just wanted to write you this before I give back your tape and apologize for breaking it. I'm really really sorry. I know I'm not super good at apologies, but writing makes it a lot easier, so I'm writing it for you. I hope you'll forgive me. I didn't mean to break it. I know you spent a lot of time picking the songs specifically for me because you knew I'd like them, though I had trouble understanding some of the parts. I'll never understand why humans love music so much. It's so much noise and there's so much going on, but I know it's important to you, so I will learn to like it. I'm very sorry for breaking it. I don't ever take it out of my trench coat, just in case I need to listen to it during an emergency, and I fell onto it. :( Please forgive me, Dean. I'm very sorry.

As Dean read, he watched tear drops stain the paper. He laughed a little as he continued to cry, noting how the letter was the most characteristic Cas letter he could think of. And he was happy. So happy that he didn't break it himself. It was already broken.

Cas knew how much the weight of handing over a mixtape was, especially a Zeppelin one for Dean, and he acknowledged it. Dean squeezed the letter to his chest as he leaned back against the wall and continued to cry silently.

[giglio-nero-e-bianco]

A bit of rant (sorry😅)

Ok so in your au irep Wants kids

Most likely picked out baby names,already has a nursery etc

BUT

When peri Does get pregnant(mpreg is thing in this series) then won't erip ALSO be pregnant because of the whole when a fairy is born so is their anti fairy AND which one would be with which???

Peri with the anti one and irep with the fairy one?? But also the kids WOULD be mixed so which ones more(fairy/anti fairy) will be the parents that match more(like if one baby is more fairy there most likely in the stomach of peri) and i believe in canon no fairy and anti fairy had kids with each other

So how WILL they look like?

But i am wondering does PERI want kids i mean his job is dealing with a child/children(in the future) and there's worse kids then dev...

(Plus how many kids does irep want?)(how will cosmo and wanda be as grandparents)

SO, There's two versions of the babies, the normal AU with a domesticated Irep (they're silly hee hee hee) and the cupid's curse au:

In a normal AU I'd say Dev remembers what happened and Irep is being punished by being co-parenting with Peri, but he's only allowed to grant wishes that follow the rules.

Irep and Peri definitely want children but it's against the rules to have another baby... BUT DEV IS A SMARTASS, he says "the rules say that fairies can't have a fairy baby, but it doesn't say that they can't have a fairy baby AND an Anti-fairy baby"

So following these loophole they get their babies, twin girls Fiore (name picked by Peri) and Angel (name picked by Irep)

Cosmo and Wanda LOVE their grandchildren and Jorgen is about to have an aneurysm trying to get the rules about babies to be loopholeless, Wanda is definitely the one that does their girls hair, and Cosmo is the one they go to for permission to do something; anti-Cosmo is the one that taught the girls to style and anti-Wanda is the grandma that can't be 5 minutes without feeding her babies

Dev is a soft older brother, when the girls were born he was "you're welcome" on the outside and "OH MY GOD IM AN OLDER BROTHER" on the inside, he loves them even if he tries not to show it

But in Cupid's Curse is different, Irep is the one to take it upon himself to have kids with Peri

Does Peri wanna have children with Irep in the AU? Of course he does! His beloved wants to be a father so he shall grant him children

Cosmo and Wanda didn't know about the pregnancy and kids until they were around 3 or 4 years old, so by then, the girls had been raised by the Anti-fairies, Fiore got her terrible-twos and her anti-grandpas spoiled her as much as they could, bringing her to the evil side, Angel got her terrific-twos and while she went to Peri for some comfort, Irep didn't let any kindness bleed into her, so by the time they're older, they're both on the Anti-fairies side. They were too late to do something and now their family belongs to the Anti-fairy world

Dev is still a good brother, he doesn't feel as attached to them because they weren't his wish, but his fairy godparents' children do look out for him and love him as much

And they definitely know about Peri's curse, in fact, they stole another arrow in case the first's one effect wears out

And they're both Edgy Babies like their father

For both AUs, I say they can't be mixed races, but their powers do interwine, their magic cancels the other one's perfectly, however, if they work together, their magic can be incredibly powerful

Also, male Anti-fairies can't bear children, so Peri would just have twins every time

Irep wants as many children as he can get (but I'm NOT doing that many OCs)

[snek-eyes]

Do you think Crowley is mean to Muriel? My gf says he is a little mean but tbh I don't see it. He wants everyone gone so he can have alone time with Aziraphale, and Muriel is not a friend. They're sweet and all, but they were happy to spy on Crowley and Aziraphale and rat them out to Heaven, and they adore the Metatron quite obviously. Muriel isn't evil, just incredibly naive and as caught in the manipulative system just like Aziraphale is, in a way, but they work for that system and they seem to do it happily. They did help Crowley in Heaven, but that doesn't make them friends especially since as I said Muriel is clearly pro Metatron or too naive to be against him. If I were Crowley, I'd want them gone as fast as possible, too 😅 And they don't get the hint the first time with Crowley talking about "us time" so he just gets a little more direct, but that's about as direct as he can get with Aziraphale, too, and as he is with Maggie and Nina, and it's never mean or rude, yk? Just grumpy, in his lovable way. That's how I always read it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it 😁

* fogot to add: it's nothing personal, Muriel's just doing their job and Crowley knows it, they even helped him (more or less willingly) but they're still working for Heaven.

Hey there, really interesting question! or I'd say two questions: A) Is Crowley mean to Muriel, and B) is that justified?

imo, Crowley & Muriel can basically be summed up by this moment:

"Yay, bully for you." *turns away to go back to cursing heaven*

Crowley, well... he is mean to Muriel. But it's in the way you are when you recognize it's not the person's fault you personally find them annoying, and you don't want to actually make them feel bad. He knows! He knows it's not their fault they're such a neon sign of everything he hates about heaven, that they're so brainwashed and ignorant, and cheerful about it.

But the fact is, Crowley manipulates the heck out of Muriel! And he's downright disrespectful about it, doesn't ever bother to give them a good story, he just says confident nonsense, knowing Muriel has no choice but to take his word for it. He takes advantage of their naivete and uses them for his own ends. That's not exactly nice!

^ tell me that's not condescending as hell lmao

But on the other hand... Yeah, Muriel is a spy for heaven! Not only that, but they've been sent here knowing absolutely nothing about earth. Their very presence is an insult! Crowley and Aziraphale have been here for 6000 years, and heaven still thinks that just the baseline of 'being an angel' makes someone good enough to outmaneuver them? Rude af. So, it's not all that out of line for Crowley to give heaven the same level of respect they showed his side.

But that still leaves Muriel stuck in the middle, getting used by both sides.

I think Crowley is intentionally only seeing Muriel as a tool—one of Heaven, but one that he can use to their advantage. He doesn't want to be sympathetic to them—they are a danger, and Crowley's also got his personal issues around how he seems to have only let himself get attached to one other being.

Yet, there's this moment where he seems to sympathize with them, despite himself:

and another one, when Saraqael shows up and it seems like he's gotten Muriel in trouble, he starts to jump in to defend them. That seems kind.

"shh, don't say anything without a lawyer present."

That final bookshop scene is what you seem to be focusing on though, so let's get there.

Crowley has been hyped up on manic energy all night, all week really, and finally all of this is almost but not quite over, he just wants so badly to finally be alone with Aziraphale and re-establish their status quo. He barely has the patience to even be fake-polite to Muriel (especially now they're being bubbly about the Metatron, who's already on Crowley's shit list and just you wait buddy), he wants them to go away. Maybe it also isn't any fun to manipulate them anymore now he's sympathized with them that little bit.

The pretense is paper thin, but Muriel doesn't get it until he drops it entirely:

This is the first time Muriel's fully cottoned on to the fact that Crowley isn't being Nice anymore. And it's possible Crowley feels bad about it, because when Muriel still tries to stay in the bookshop, he gets dramatic about it, but still reigns himself back in for his next attempt.

The really interesting moment comes when Muriel actually asks for something. Asks to take an earth thing with them, asks to learn. That finally gets Crowley's attention, it's the first time he looks away from the window (Aziraphale) for a reason that isn't telling Muriel to shoo. Long enough to not only look at them properly, but give them enough personal thought that he recommends them a book.

Listen, I love Crowley, but he's kind of an asshole! He's impatient and condescending and manipulative... and yet, when it comes down to it, he cares. All of that can be true.

[harleehazbinfics]

Home is where my Heart is.

Chapter 8: An Angel's Head Table of Contents | Profile

Word Count: 2128 A/N: aaaaa take it. we're getting more miledy backstory in the next chapter, cheers!

Feeling a gentle hand sweep through my face, I open my eyes and see Al. I wiped my own tears away and sat up.

“Couldn’t sleep well?” he asked somberly.

“Yeah, just- it’s just a few months until her birthday is all. I just miss her so much,” I answered hugging myself trying to shake my anxiety.

He sighs, probably feeling the same way. Al left us before Abby could even reach her 4th birthday. He adored Abigail, in some way she had her grandmother’s face that made him attached to her even more. So, leaving without seeing Abby through adulthood has been rough on him. Though I’ve him told stories about our lives, how Abby missed him and often quoted his sayings from his recorded shows that she begged me to give her when she found it in her father’s old studio when we were cleaning it out. It warmed his heart that he was still an important part of her life despite being gone, clearly pleased that he didn’t end up like his own dad that he grown to despise.

“I know, but since we haven’t found her here. She must be off up there, somewhere better… safer…” he mutters almost regretfully.

I tried to smile and held his hand in assurance, “Yeah, I hope you’re right.”

He raises his lips to a smile and says, “Well then! How about some breakfast to lighten up the mood?” and guides me to the table in the woods in our room placing a dish for me and a deer carcass on his side. I roll my eyes playfully at him and said, “I’m not standing next to you if you don’t take a mint after.”

“Of course, of course. I won’t forget.”

While we enjoyed our meal together, the door bursts open to reveal Vaggie and a bunch of Eggbois.

“Alastor!”

His eyes shifted from her to me and his meal before replying, “Do you mind? I’m in the middle of breakfast.”

“Good morning to you too, Vaggie,” I greet before eating a mouthful of the meal that Alastor prepared for me.

“Hi,” she responds dryly, “Pentious' eggs are all over the place, and I need you to get rid of them.”

He throws away his utensils and summons his microphone before responding, “Oh, well, in that case, I'd be delighted to!”

“Humanely!”

“Hmm. Well, that's a lot less fun,” he remarks turning his head from Vaggie and on to me revealing his glowing red eyes and the x-mark on his forehead, “but I suppose I can take care of that on my outing today.”

“Great!” she looks at our table and sees the dead deer and comments, “That looks disgusting.”

“Dear, can you wait after breakfast?” I sighed, while Vaggie saw herself out.

“Alright, I can wait,” he smiled smiling at me and sitting in front of me again.

“Hello, little men. How are you all doing today?”

“Hi, pretty fish lady! We’re well, though we got kicked out by the owners, now we’re going wherever you go!”

I laugh at them petting their heads, “I see. Now be good eggbois and follow Alastor and I closely. We don’t want you ending up cracked.”

They saluted at us rather clumsily making it endearing for me to look at, they remind me so much of how the children in the orphanage played pretend.

As we enter Pentagram City, the little Eggbois kept pestering Alastor with questions making me cover my giggles under my hand as I watched his eye twitch in annoyance from their never-ending questions.

“This seems rather familiar. Remember when Abby reached the age where she would question us about everything?” I started with a smile, trying to calm him down.

He huffs out a laugh and nods, then shakes his head, “She was so talkative, it seemed like she would never lose her voice.”

“She’s a lot like you in that way,” I grin bumping my hips at him.

We get caught off-guard when Zestial comes before us, I guess we were so engrossed in our conversation that we missed this mighty being’s arrival.

“Hark, Alastor, M’lady. How fare thee this day?”

He places a peck on my hand in greeting while Alastor makes a little static sound.

“Who's that, boss? Want me to rough him up for you?”

“Follow in silence if you value your shell!” he replies tapping their heads and then turns back, “Greetings, Zestial!”

“Ah, the weather, doth become this fine day.”

 “Indeed, looks like we might have some acid rain this afternoon!”

Not a moment later, a demon overhearing their conversation lights themselves on fire and runs away screaming, my eyes following his figure before our party continues with our walk. I let the two gentlemen talk with themselves—listening in to their conversation.

“If our luck doth hold! I do revel in the screams. How art thou? It has been an age since thou hath graced us thy presence. Some hath spun wild tales of you falling to... holy arms.”

As he says this, my eyes couldn’t help but widen at the implication. This wasn’t just about him helping Charlie, who by proxy is Lucifer’s daughter—an angel. Does he mean that he made a deal with someone from heaven. With a confused look, I turn my eyes on Alastor who looks around somewhat nervously.

“Oh, I just took a well-earned sabbatical, nothing serious,” he adjusts his bowtie in the mirror as he answers, “Though it's fun to keep everyone on their toes!”

“There too hath been rumor of thy involvement with the princess and her recent flight of fancy. Tell me,” he stops walking and opens his coat briefly, making me somewhat embarrassed for looking directly at him, “how does thou fall in such folly?

“That is for me to know. But please, do guess, I'd love to know the theories!” Alastor answers holding his cane in one hand and the other on my waist pulling us forward.

“T'would be grander folly by far to assume the workings of your mind, Alastor. Thou hath been naught but an enigma since thy manifested in this realm!” Zestial comments.

“Coming from someone as ancient as you, I take that as quite the compliment!” Alastor ‘smiles’ as we arrive at the entrance to Carmilla’s building. While we got on the elevator, the little Eggbois closely followed only to be stopped by Alastor.

“No, no. I have a very important task for you. Stay here and guard the front until I return,” Alastor commands making them salute. I raise my eyebrow counting only four of them. I find the other one near the door, which I pushed behind me with my foot signaling him to stay quiet.

We entered the venue, quietly greeting Rosie then sitting between her and Alastor.

“Welcome, Hell sovereign overlords. I've invited you all here because you represent the controlling powers of our city. Together, you own millions of souls. Souls at risk with the new Extermination schedule. We need to discuss what can be done to minimize the impact to our interest.”

“Zestial, so good to see you, my friend,” she greets when he sits near her.

He summons a teacup and saucer and replies, “Enchanted as always, Carmilla.”

She finally notices my husband and calls him, “Alastor?”

He replies smugly, “Yes, I know I've been absent some time. I'm sure you've all been wondering!”

“...Not really. But welcome back in any case,” she replies dismissing him which he narrows his eyes in offence to.

“This year's Extermination was brutal, far more even than years past. We have assessed that about 16% of the population was lost With the angelic legions now returning twice as quickly, I think it prudent we—"

She gets cut off when Velvette enters the room on the phone with presumably one of the other Vees, side-eyeing her for her impertinence.

“Yes, I've got it handled, Vox. Are you doubting me? Really? Me? That's what I thought. Haha! Yes, I know. They're all a joke. Thank you, V. See you soon. Kisses, darling.”

“Nice of you to join us, Velvette. Will your... colleagues be joining?” Carmilla asks despite being rudely cut off by the brat.

“No, they have better shit to do than to listen to an old windbag who thinks she's tough shit. I'm here to represent.”

“Charming. So, as I was saying, we need to discuss—"

She again interrupts Carmilla by waving her hand to get her attention.

“Yes?”

“On the subject of discussion,” she starts before taking out an Exorcist’s head throwing it onto the table lolling side to side as it rests in front of us.

“Holy shit!”

“Oh! Tasty...”

Narrowing her eyes, Carmilla asks, “Where did you get this?”

“We found it during Extermination Day. If these Holy Rollers can be killed, the game has changed. We can take the fight to them. The boys and I have come up with a full assault plan—"

Velvette stops talking as she and the other overlords look at Zestial, who is sipping his tea loudly and aggressively to drown out Velvette.

“If it be true thee and thy colleagues desire to war with such meagre proof, thou art far more... foolish than I be thought,” he laughs.

Velvette scoffs and crosses her arms, “Meagre proof? It's a dead fucking Exorcist. I'd say that's pretty fucking definitive. You going blind, old man?”

“We know not how this perished. Mayhaps t'was not by a demon's hand at all. If we rush to war without knowing mightn't, they purge all of Hell for daring an uprising?”

The other overlords mutter in agreement. Velvette notices Carmilla's expression and smiles.

“Oh, I get it. So, Grandpa is too pussy to fight, so I guess there's no point, right?” she says getting on Zestial’s face, “Oh, what's the matter, Fossil? Too senile to make a real power grab for—"

I lost myself with Carmilla and Velvette’s little duet. They’re completely different styles but they blended well together which I appreciated a lot. Despite Velvette being a little brat coming here, I can’t help but enjoy her singing. I got startled when Carmilla announces that the meeting was over. We didn’t even properly start it when Velvette came in and suggested picking a fight with heaven.

Alastor and I walk out of the room eyes never leaving Carmilla. She seemed so defeated.

“Hmm. Well, that's interesting,” he then points at the remaining Eggboi with his cane, “You, little egg creature. I have a job for you.”

“Oh. Yes, boss!”

“Follow them!”

He then salutes and scuttles over inside the room.

I looked at it worriedly, “Will he be alright?”

“Darling. It’s a little egg thing. No need to get so attached,” he titters holding my waist and takes us to the elevator.

“But it’s so cute!” I pouted.

“Alright, we’ll ask Pentious if he can lend you one of them when he can,” he compromises making me beam at him. “Only if, he can tell us something valuable.”

“Deal!” I reply excitedly then giving him a kiss on the cheek are we got off the elevator and waited for the little egg to report to us.

He bounded happily and stops in front of us.

“So, what did you hear?” 

“First, the old guy w-was all, "Y-you're not yourself. You're the one who killed the angel," a-a-and, she was all, "♪ Whatever it takes ♪"” he reports clumsily making me smile a how adorable it was.

“And then what was the last thing?" Alastor asks getting annoyed by how jumbled up his sentences were.

“She killed the angel?”

Alastor hums finding this information important, “Interesting. Let’s keep this between us. Shall we?”

“You got it, boss!”

My eyes still wide about the information, “She killed exorcists? How? I mean the evidence was staring at us dead in the face, quite literality but, this changes everything.”

“Indeed. We should keep this to ourselves for now, this could help us someday,” he answers mysteriously.

He’s been doing that more often now with me after those years that he stayed gone. Oh Al, what happened.

We arrive at the hotel seeing them get together so happily bantering with one another.

Vaggie says from the balcony, “Alastor. failed to get rid of the eggs, I see.”

“Yes, well, the little monsters prove to be rather useful,” Alastor replies eyes glowing with excitement.

“Why don't you give them back to Pentious,” she says smiling.

“Really? Sir Pentious asks teary-eyed.

“Yeah. After today, I guess I can trust you with them. But seriously, no more weapons,” she announces putting her foot down.

“Why don’t we go to our room ourselves, dear?” Alastor suggests escorting back us to our room.

[mastersoftheair]

ok, so my own final (and very, very fresh) thoughts, bc i wanted to wait until i'd watched everything to make a sweeping opinion of the whole series, and it's quite opinionated. and long. probably too long. i write essays for fun (everyone point and laugh):

my personal (and very, very fresh) ranking of the hbo war shows (not including gen kill bc that's a different war, sorry) goes- band of brothers > masters of the air > the pacific (it's the same for my title score rankings. that hasn't changed yet)

my main points of contention with MotA are 1) the nine episodes, 2) the length of the episodes, and 3) certain editing choices. nine episodes, compared to the classic ten, isn't Nearly enough time to showcase all that they wanna showcase (especially when the episodes are as short as they are, once you get past the recap and "next on" parts). and they wanna showcase A Lot! there so much going on! i'd ask them to pace themselves, but they literally Can't!

i mean, the editing choices are a Whole Thing! practically gives me whiplash sometimes lol. i feel like the weaker episodes still have parts that are Really good, but like. Individually. they don't work together as a stronger whole, which is to the episode's detriment. rather than jumping around (as the show often did), they could've benefited a lot from focusing on the One Story instead of squeezing three more stories into there (i say that, but i think the 4-5-6 episode run (all with multiple stories per episode) did this very well while Still being very good episodes, so it's not like it Can't be done, it just didn't work for 7, 8 and (partly) 9). granted, i suspect a chunk of the weird editing can be blamed on, well, there being only nine (and not all that long) episodes and no one wanting to cough up enough money for a tenth. ugh! i'm blaming both hbo And appletv for this (and covid19 ig). it's just One More Episode, how much could it cost?? and on the subject of episodes, why no episode titles? you used to love episode titles! i could've brainstormed episode titles for them For Free!!

when it comes to the characters, the rankings remain the same: BoB > MotA > TP. it's not totally fair tho, since BoB followed the exact same (and large-ish) group of guys from beginning to end, so you're Gonna know who they all are and get attached. this wasn't the case (for me!) when watching TP, since, unlike BoB, they jump around from group to group. i never felt like i got to know them all that well, outside of the main characters. i think MotA almost hits that sweet spot, especially knowing they had those two main things going against it: large cast And jumping from group to group. there's a case to be made for bias here (i Was the blog blogging about everything MotA for like. years.), but i still think they found a good enough balance of fleshing out the main characters while Also helping the audience get to know about a bunch of minor characters, of which there are a shitton (and their personalities, motivations, backgrounds, quirks).

there's also the representation of women. actual angel renée lemaire is and will always be a cut above the rest (bastogne is just That Good, argue with the wall). she's written so well that it almost makes me forget about how a bunch of women are portrayed in carentan. i have...issues with how women are portrayed in TP (even tho i love lena), so there's that. MotA falls in the middle (again) bc there's Way more women on-screen, but the writing can be questionable. balanced (as all things should be?) captain l'sandra wing-westgate is a character of all time, but episode 7 birthed the craziest discourse known to man (the hbo war fandom), but it wasn't all that unwarranted. manon and michou were sooo cool, but we didn't see nearly enough of them (another victim of the 'editing too many stories into one episode' problem. why not a whole resistance episode? or at least as the only b-plot?). paulina was interesting, but fulfilled one of those 'attractive foreign woman gives sage advice during/after sex' tropes (there's probably a tvtropes page for that idk). so many red cross girls, but none of the in-depth payoff :/ epic highs (multiple women!!) + epic lows (writing women??) = pretty tolerable. not great, not terrible. it was aight. i trust the fandom to build on this tho.

narrative is the big one tho. it's the whole "doing so much with so little" thing they've got going on (i'm ignoring their big budget here lol, could've been bigger). rather than having one main story with many connecting side stories (like BoB), it does the TP thing where there's many semi-connecting side stories set in the same general area. it helps that there's crosby's narration (i enjoy narration, sue me!), and he helps everything connect, sorta. but there's still other side stories that have Nothing to do with him (sandra's side gigs (revealing what she did takes away the mystery of what she Might be doing), the tuskegee airmen, quinn and bailey's eurotrip). would it have helped if there were two narrators (say, someone like rosie)? idk. gonna sit with that one. if there's a through-line, it's not super obvious like in the other two shows. which is insanely funny to me bc i literally like TP less, but that show's got an Extremely tight through-line all the way down. i can't lie and say it doesn't!

back to budget- i've seen people criticize this show for being called "masters of the air" when there's not much of "the air". ig that's fair, but there's the money issue, again. also, it'd get very repetitive if they were always in "the air". there was enough confusion about identifying who was who with the masks on, so imagine if that was Every Episode. out of All the issues the show has, this is the least issue-y. again, that's just my opinion, and it could change.

another budget thing (i think??)- idk enough about costuming and hair for period pieces so i can't comment on that with my 0 background in it, all i Can say is that i knoooooow people were clowning on marjorie cleven's hair in episode 1 (and i could see why, no such thing as 1940s beach waves). but from what i could understand- that actress' addition was a last-minute thing (bc i had No idea who the hell she was and i already found someone cast for marjorie all the way back in 2021). maybe there's something to say about the quality of rush jobs, but i really do think it was the most last-minute thing bc it came out of Nowhere, and timeline-wise, it looks like that bit was done long after everything else had been filmed. outside looking in, it seems something probably went wrong/didn't work out with who or what they already had and there wasn't enough wiggle room (time and money) to fix it. this isn't me being an apologist (lol), but i feel like a theorist at a big board bc nothing adds up! and i wanna know what happened! i'm just speculating! speculating on this blog is All i did for like Years lmaooo.

this is more of a side thing, but some of the lines in MotA feel really on-the-nose, almost corny. and that was Gonna be a knock against it, but there's some equally Extremely on-the-nose lines in both BoB and TP (Especially in BoB), so if i give MotA shit for it, i'd have to give all three shows shit for it lol. none of them are free of cheese.

another silly aside- no peaches, no main gingers, no main eugenes! we can't have 'em all, but c'mon!

there Is some good tho lol. one thing that MotA really has going for it, that i think the other shows have less of, is- and GOD it feels so weird to call this "world-building" when it's actual goddamn history, but- it's got world-building. maybe that isn't the best word for it. but i like how much Bigger ww2 feels in this show. BoB is one stop, then the next stop, then the next stop, which is, admittedly, good from a narrative-perspective (easy to follow), but not as good when you want a scale of how devastating the war is (in fairness, it was filmed in 2000). even TP feels pretty "enclosed" in a way. there's island-hopping, yeah, but all the damn islands look the same (not including australia lol). it's a theatre of the war we otherwise don't really get to see, but there still isn't all that much to see. it's water and sand and rock and dirt. which is the point, but Whatever! would've been cool if we saw sledge and co. in china, but moving on. MotA's able to really show the scale of it, both in the air and on the ground (that scene in germany during episode 6 was both harrowing and fantastic, also the inclusion of the actual children forced to fight nearer to the war's end in the finale). idk i just liked how it was able to zoom in and zoom out (and in and out again) in a way that the other shows weren't.

another thing it's got that the other shows don't is Really driving home how young everyone is (not "child soldier" young, but damn young). the cast is full of baby faces (rip babyface). a lot of ww2 shows/movies don't bother casting to reflect this, but i think overlooking that takes away from the overall impact. you browse through some old newspaper articles or photos of soldiers during ww2 enough and you're gonna Regularly get hit with the face of someone who looks like they could've sat in the desk next to you during a high school lit class. a lot of those b&w grinning faces look like kids bc they pretty much were (more so if they lied about their age). you don't really get that in BoB or TP (it's Crazy when the real life pics of the soldiers portrayed in those shows look younger than the actors).

i'm mixed about the tuskegee airmen. what we have, i love (thank you, dee rees). unfortunately, my biggest irk is that it leaves me wanting more of them, which i won't ever get. speaking as a black person (not speaking for All black people, just how i personally feel about it), having them included feels like a catch-22. if they weren't included in any capacity (all while knowing there were whole tuskegee airmen in stalag iii with the white main characters), there'd be a problem. however, including them (all while having these time constraints and not enough focus on them) leads to the feeling of having them "tokenized" (which i can see). there's no world where there'd be 50/50 split (even a 70/30 split) bc, at that point, just give them a show of their own. but there'd still be a general annoyance that big budget ww2 shows are only ever white. on the other hand, hanks and spielberg and orloff and miller and all the directors (except dee rees) are white, and how good of a story about black people are you really gonna get from the perspective of nonblack people? that in mind, i personally don't feel put-off by having the three tuskegee airmen in the posters/trailers/promos, bc i just Know there'd be a whole nother problem if they weren't included in them at all despite being in the show for however long (it'd be even worse if they made their pictures smaller). like i don't work in advertising, but i don't know if a "sweet spot" even exists for something like this. people would be pissed off no matter what imo (i'm also speaking with a bias here bc i had to browse through sooooo many comments written by white guys whining and crying and pissing and shitting themselves once they learned that the tuskegee airmen were gonna be in the show in Any capacity, so i'm just cool knowing they're in shambles rn (and josiah cross- he played richard macon- always goes Wild seeing his face in the promos, and his joy is pretty contagious).

i give it somewhere like a 7.5-8/10. 3.75 stars out of 5. not perfect, subject to change, gotta marinate, but i'm overall happy with it! MotA's best episodes are better than many other individual hbo war episodes. should i be grading it using the overall sum of its parts, not just the different parts? idk, i'm not being paid to grade lol.

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Morning or evening! Depending on where you are lol

I've got an au for you! I'm at work at the moment, so I'm sorry if this is all over the place lol

We're over the drama and moving on lol

So this is an official ask about our new fluffydemon!Adam au! My names literally suck so please change it if you think of something better. It's so early where I am, my brain is lowkey fried- but I'm trying 💀

So, it takes place after Adam dies in episode 8 (I think that's the last episode?) And he respawns in Hell, but in another Ring. I've never seen Halluva Boss, so I'm not sure which Ring would be better? Lust, Greed or Wrath? Maybe Lust? Or Wrath. Adam as pretty angry for a while (not that it matters to the story 🤷).

I don't know if Helluva or Hazbin have actually shown demons in an episode? I personally wouldn't count sinners as demons, even though I've heard them be referred to as demons. But for this, demons aren't really a thing, so Adam would be the first Demon.

He's not technically Hellborn. He can't die of old age like a Hellborn, but if he gets hurt and dies, he will come back after regenerating, like a sinner.

So, I guess you could say he's a mixture of Hellborn and sinner, and because of that, he can travel between Rings.

He's definitely made a name for himself in Lust and Greed (I know there's other Rings, I just don't have any ideas for them? If you do, please add them in! It'll be super interesting!)

His first big thing was being a singer/ performer in Greed, doing some shows for Mammon, where he got extremely popular. He even started doing some work for Ozzy- we both know what type of work 👀

I'm thinking where our rp picks up with be 10-15 years after he died in Hell, so you know, a good chunk of time. Adam is really popular in a few different Rings, but this'll be his first time back in Pride.

He's doing sex work for his manager back in Lust, who got him a temporary contract with Val- it's only ment to be six months but Val being Val basically manipulates Adam, and makes him dependent on him. So he actually manages to get Adam into a full contract.

I'm adding bits of another au I've told you about, just because their basically the same thing. So this one will be merging with the fliffywhore!au- where Adam is basically like Angel Dust. So, I'll attach some screenshots of my ask to help the story along (and to stop my thumb from cramping 💀)

Now, I'm a tad suspicious as to why my screenshots where so recent in my gallery so I have a feeling I might have already sent them to you? Actually, now that I'm really thinking about it, I sent this to you not long ago... well. My memory is completely shot 💀

ANYWAY. This is the official story guideline, ignore everything else I've ever sent to you 😅

I'm definitely not embarrassed 💀

Feel free to start us off for a rp if you'd like- it can be from any point that interests you! If you'd like me to start one, just shout out lol

I'd love to hear any ideas you have for this one, i think I've included some of the ideas we discussed a few days ago, so yeah 😝

His manager down in Lust is going to be pissed, but there are just so many more clients here and Adam was going to be making double the money.

A little longer with this Val guy couldn't hurt.

Val: You won't regret it. What's another six months?

Adam looked at the contract carefully, he knew people were shady and would word things very carefully to get exactly what they want.

Adam: Only six more months?

Val: Yes! I promise you'll do great you already have.~

Adam wrinkled his nose, this guy was gross but he paid well. He signed his name in the contract.

Worst thing he could have done.

[chaifootsteps]

Hi, hi! I've been a longtime follower of your blog, but this is my first time sending in an ask because of anxiety. You're the most consistent blog that keeps up to date with Viv and her work. As someone who first saw Viv through the Die Young animation, and watched the HH pilot when it was first released, I grew disillusioned as s1 of Helluva Boss slowly aired. It was mostly because I didn't really enjoy the Stolitz ship and I believe the Erin Frost drama had come out (god bless Erin - she, Ken and everyone else deserved so much better). Plus the world-building and character development was just so off.

I know people have said this before: the concept Viv has is good, but the execution sucks. There's a vision but the product is so damn juvenile. I'm ace, and I became attached to Alastor due to him being ace as well, but we all know how Viv responded when the ship wars were happening. I couldn't stand the constant sex jokes or swearing in HB since when was it required for an "adult" show to have that?

Thank you for the episode leaks. Only got to see ep 1 before they were removed. The only thing that made me laugh out loud was the Niffty gag where she stared dead into the camera. I also liked Adam a bit? Sure the "original dick" thing went on way too long, but he was funny too. I surprising enjoyed his song - the lil fist bump he did with Lute was cute, and I like Lute but knowing Viv's record... eh. There was this cool shot where Adam flew up and Lute and those golden angels go behind him and spread their wings making Adam look like the biblically accurate angel. Except Adam himself ruins the effect because what the ever-loving heck is he wearing? I hate it.

In terms of shipping, I wasn't into the Huskerdust interactions. Angel wasn't flirting, that was sexual harassment. In the pilot it was okay because their interaction was brief and Husk pushed Angel off. Chaggie was... something. I genuinely feel that Chaggie could've worked had they not been established as a couple in the first place. The reason why Charlastor (and I guess Charlentious?) happened is because they had chemistry and their interactions could be read as a romantic interest. Since Chaggie was already established, there was an expectation for them to have those, but they weren't delivered and we know well that they weren't supposed to be a thing in the first place. Have Vaggie still be her bff and bodyguard, but show those moments where she genuinely cares for Charlie's well-being that indicates she's in love with her, yet Charlie is completely oblivious to everything. Actually, reverse harem Charlie sounds pretty funny to me.

Btw, armchair psychology anon, as a person studying psychology in my final year of college, dw about people taking issues with your speculations. NPD and other personality disorders are ego-syntonic, which means that the individual's behaviours line up with their beliefs, hence why PDs are only diagnosed during adulthood once brain maturation and personality development is reached. The only exception to this is ASPD (which NPD shares a category with called Cluster B along with histrionic and BPD) as you can diagnose a child with conduct disorder that can become ASPD when they're adults. Cluster B PDs are terribly demonised by media and the public despite the volume of research (I blame misunderstanding and ignorance). Viv could have it or could not; it's just that she shows signs of having it, and that's it. Even if she doesn't, she's still an awful person. Idk what happened in her childhood or some point in her life for her to become like this, but it doesn't excuse treating people like crap - oh wait, ain't this her characters in a nutshell?

That's all I gotta say for now. I hope it's okay to send more like this in the future; I'd love to be a specific anon but idk what's already taken lol. Take care, Chai, and I hope you have a good day/evening.

By all means, send as many as you've got! Because this was a delight to read.

Let me know when you come up with a name. I'll give you a placeholder one for now.

[satoruxx]

RHEYAAA MY LOVE <333333 i am here with a cup of tea and a bunch of treats for you 🍵🍰🍦🍮

…. and some selfship questions :3c

OK SOOOOOOO I HAVE TO ASK . ABOUT KAEYA AND DILUC . I LOVE THEM SO BAD I LOVE YOU SO BAD……. i’d love to know about your love languages!! for both ships!!!!! how do you show them you care, and how do they show you they care? <33 also, what is your relationship with their brother like in each respective selfship?? do you get along? :3

and then . gojo ….. (idk if you selfship with shoko at all but this question absolutely goes for her too if so!!) what do you do for each other when you’re having a rough day?? :’)

ily rheya <333 take as much time as you need with this i got . a little carried away with the questions 😭 BUT I’D LOVE TO HEAR ABT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU WANNA SHARE <33333 sending you so many kisses and hugs!!!!!!

ARIIII HI AGAIN !!!! gratefully accepting all the treats pls come sit with me so we can share them and cuddle <333

giggling and kicking my feet at all these questions i love you so so much !!!! buckle in bc this got much longer than i expected it to...

OKAY FIRST MY FAV TRAGIC BROTHER DUO

me n kaeya....bicker a lot lmao !! but that's how we show affection :33 i think both of us would be very big on quality time !! kaeya would also lean towards a lot of physical touch bc he's a silly lil guy that can't keep his hands to himself <33

as for me n diluc...i think diluc is a very acts of service type of guy !! he doesn't say a lot but he shows affection by doing things for me which is so sweet :33 as for me i think i'd be a big physical touch girlie with him (i won't let go of him he's probably so tired of me LMAO)

i can't see myself being on truly bad terms with either brother since both selfships are a childhood friends to lovers trope hehe !! so i wouldn't be able to hate either of them <///3 when i'm with kaeya i would be on courteous terms with diluc, mostly a hello how are you type thing (which makes me a lil sad since we were all close when we were kids) but diluc has chosen to remain distant.

but when i'm with diluc i'd be on really good terms with kaeya since he's always hanging around angel's share and stuff (and i think kaeya would be more eager to talk to me than diluc would be) !! hopefully that makes sense i feel like i just rambled....

NOW ONTO JJK

i won't lie me n satoru have the most thought out relationship out of all my selfships bc i've quite literally been thinking about him for four years now. when i'm having a rough day satoru is on a mission to cheer me up, but won't ever admit it. he'll subtly do things to make me happy like playfully annoy me or take me to do things i enjoy !!

as for if he's in a bad mood, i'd just get him things he likes (like sweets) and tease him until he's grinning and teasing back. i think we'd have a very bickering heavy relationship so i know he's all better when he's got that dynamic back (a couple of hugs and kisses here and there wouldn't hurt either) <33

this might sound weird but we don't necessarily talk about our bad days/things we struggle with. it's more so a type of thing where we can just tell that smth is wrong, and the best way to deal with that is just be present. so basically actions over words and we never bring it up again lmao...

shoko and i are very different. i am 100% more clingy with her so if i'm having a bad day she will let me cuddle with her or just stay attached to her hip until i'm better. she'll probably act all teasy and semi exasperated but i'd like to think she doesn't mind :33

and if she's having a bad day she usually won't admit it so i'll do my best to make her laugh. find me ripping the cigarettes away from her and smothering her with a whole bunch of kisses <////3

i'm so sorry ari bby i ended up ranting a lot but this was so much fun to talk about !! tysm for sending them in i'm smooching you until you're tired of me :33

also pls pls pls tell me about your selfships i'm so curious !! who do you selfship with ari ?? tell me all about them <33333

[exilynn]

Hey, loves. I brought some HEADCANON'S from my BOOK;AU with Eddie. This is nothing more satisfying (it's all to promote my content and have some fun)

(echoes nocteris

Being in a relationship with Eddie from the perspective of Flight of Icarus - Loves Dragons

🏹 It's not a good idea to talk about other guys who resemble him— Eddie is a card-carrying jealous type. He respects you, but he can't help wanting to be the only guy in your life!

🏹 The love between you two is mutual, and the passion is intense and frightening. You would die for each other. But maybe it's just a "fantasy," and you're both aware of the limits of wanting each other in your lives.

🏹 From Eddie's perspective, everything you do can excite him, just like in The Police's song Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.

🏹 You and he have a few things in common, even in music. Like your shared love for Iron Maiden, Depeche Mode, and more.

🏹 You're the center of his world, and he tries not to overdo it to avoid scaring you, but he ends up being a damn last romantic anyway.

🏹 Eddie found the same comfort in you that he has in Wayne, and he sees that as a gift after feeling like he was 'cursed' his whole life.

🏹 That time you played D&D into the early hours, he surprised you with his courage and determination. He believed in your abilities, but you definitely hooked him (forever?).

🏹 Since you write, he teases you, pestering to read your writings because he knows what they're about (erotic literature/drama).

🏹 The fights, a key point: Eddie knows he acts immaturely in some of them, but you always find a way to understand each other again despite the complexities. And those fights are "resolved" in bed, that’s it.

🏹 You "stripped" his soul and calmed the "dragons," and he couldn't be more grateful. (He lost his virginity with you.)

🏹 Despite his 'corroded' childhood and youth, Eddie gives his heart and soul to you, as if it's not much, but it would be his everything.

🏹 Not being used to affection and interest, you were the only girl who cared about his past jobs. Like when he told you, embarrassed, about working as a bartender for a while on the east side of Howling, but you looked at him as if he were your treasure, and you were the dragon that would protect him.

🏹 Eddie knows how to provoke jealousy by saying nonsense, never intending to belittle you. But he brags about his past and that damn "romantic adventures" diary.

🏹 He says stupid things like, "I'm not Kurt Cobain, but I'd kinda take a bullet for you."

🏹 Raised by women, he’s completely respectful towards all women he interacts with. And don’t worry, he’ll be there for you if you're dealing with a terrible PMS (even if it means challenging your red dragon within).

🏹 Eddie is never quite sure if you enjoy his world—I mean, you brought the comfort he never had in childhood with his dad. So he sees you as a significant attachment figure.

🏹 He knows, he just knows where to touch you if he wants to stir a mix of excitement and confusion.

🏹 Eddie loves a light BDSM game when you grab his handcuffs off the wardrobe and show him who's boss (he enjoys that role reversal).

🏹 He would show you Hot Wheels collections you used to play with and a bunch of junk he kept somewhere from the old mechanic shop where he worked with Wayne as a teenager. It's all part of the flirting, trust me.

🏹 He would joke about how you ignore him and give attention to "non-living" things, referring to "stupid devices" that don't entertain you.

🏹 He always makes sure to check on you, and if he suspects you're not okay, he'll find any excuse to cheer you up and help you shut off from your problems.

🏹 He’s a big, romantic lover, and when he’s high, he creates entire semi-intellectual debates (the perfect opportunity since he's a nerd). "The guys from Athens looked like they were wearing grandma's clothes they bought at a thrift store" (probably in a discussion about Socrates and the academy).

🏹 One of the worst things he can see is you crying, so be aware that he'll make you laugh (after you’ve sobbed and he’s hugged you tight).

🏹 The whole thing about him seeing himself as the town's (freak) because of Jason and his crew (Jason, you bastard). Eddie doesn’t feel like that anymore —the horrendous creature—since he fell in love with you and you brought emotional stability into his life.

🏹 When he runs out of creativity for songs and crumples up papers but then reconsiders because you taught him a sacred (fake, made-up by you) proverb: the "I should."

🏹 Eddie is the type of "star lover," so he’ll invite you, in the middle of the night, after you’ve bundled up, to stargaze (because he appreciates you and couldn’t be more comfortable comparing you to them).

🏹 He’s the noise guy, but he doesn’t mind spending some quiet time when he's with you. Putting on some slow music, whether to dance or just to enjoy the moment in the trailer with you.

🏹 He’d probably have a custom necklace made for you and give you his skull ring, even though he sees it as his "lucky charm."

🏹 He’s a tease, that’s the word. If you want to sit still for a while, fiddling with something that isn’t him, he’ll bug you until you pay attention (needy but mature enough to understand space).

🏹 He lightly squeezes the back of your neck when you're anxious—the neck and shoulders are the tensest parts of your body, and he knows it. Besides your restless legs, which he calms by holding them with caresses.

🏹 He loves that "hit and return" game, like when you challenge him to a silly duel.

🏹 Eddie protects you at all costs; if you have unfaithful friends, he’ll choose you over them every time. Anyone who harms your honor is no longer worthy.

🏹 If he sees someone circling you with malicious intent, he’ll pull you away from what he calls a threat to his Punk Fairy/Banshee.

🏹 He would dedicate anything to make you feel like the most badass, strong, and beautiful woman in the world… especially in his little world.

If you guys like it, I'll bring some of the best quotes he said in the book <3

[haven-of-dusk]

After discourse about the topic spawned over there, I posted this analysis on how healthy I believe Ethan/Danny and Aiden/Lydia were as couples on the Teen Wolf subreddit. But looking back over it, I'm honestly happy enough with the analysis that I'm going to copy it wholesale to right here:

With Dethan, what Danny did for Ethan was pretty straightforward, but significantly important for Ethan: he just made him happy. With what we know about the Steiners' past, it's more than likely that the only friend Ethan had with any consistency was Aiden, and much as he loves his brother, Aiden is...himself. Ethan can spend time with Danny and not have to worry about wolf politics, or orders, or look over his shoulder waiting for someone to come looking for revenge or Deucalion to appear and punish him.

As for what Ethan provided for Danny, while we don't get a ton of information on Danny, what we do know is that A. He probably was a bit lonely at the start of S3 considering his 'best friend' left town, B. He never seemed to have a consistent partner up till Ethan, and based on the partners he did have we can guess it was either because those relationships were about sex/intimacy and nothing else, or because there just weren't many options and nobody was the right fit, and C. Danny expressed that finding out about his condition and its effects usually drove people away or made them far too overly cautious for Danny's liking. Using all that, I think it's safe to say that Ethan's consistency and willingness to basically fight to stay with Danny was a big part of why Danny got attached. Ethan wanted to be around Danny just because Danny was himself. Instead of driving him away or making him overly protective, Danny getting sick had basically no effect on Ethan's behavior outside of just reaffirming love.

In short, they worked for each other because they provided the stability they both needed for the other.

With Aidia, what Lydia did for Aiden was...basically calling him out for bad behavior. It'd be reductive to say she became the angel on his shoulder, because it's a bit more complicated than that, but what made the way Lydia helped Aiden grow so effective was that she never tried to force him to change his personality. He didn't need to stop being sassy, or 'cure' his anger, or anything of that sort. What was important was that when the chips were down, she could count on him to do the right thing, and he did prove that, and along the way she helped him finally feel good about himself (likely not a commonality with all the abuse in his past). It is a wonder what positive reinforcement can do.

As for what he did for Lydia, I think it's most important to remember that her boyfriend immediately prior had an extremely toxic relationship with her that ended with verbal and borderline physical abuse, not long after she was basically SA'd on the field by Peter (and then had her mind invaded). So in essence the fact that Aiden was devoted to her, let her take the reins so to speak, and allowed her to dictate her needs from the relationship was a big step up and the type of healthy boundary setting she desperately needed after Jackson doing...the exact opposite of all of that. Whether he was the right forever partner for her or not, Aiden was the exact sort of boyfriend she needed in that moment of her life.

So in essence their relationship worked because they both felt validated and cared for by the other, but Lydia was still able to set a line in the sand and Aiden realized he wanted to stay behind it and change for the better.

With all this I'd be remiss to not mention and address a couple of the major criticisms I've seen directed towards these couplings...

While it is true that they started the relationships because of the Alpha Pack's mission, the way the show depicts that element, the initial deceptive phase lasted about 24 hours at most before they both actually started falling for their 'targets'. Ethan was definitely just dating Danny for its own sake by at the latest Episode 7, and the dialogue a little later on even confirms that Ethan was attached to Danny despite the Alpha Pack no longer having any need of him. The switch in Aiden's mind is a little harder to pinpoint, but at the absolute latest it was by the 3A finale when he was ready to fight Kali to protect Lydia. So just on the whole I don't think it's fair to say their relationships were 'built on lies' when their feelings turned genuine so quickly.

The other one I've seen is speculation that Ethan and Aiden are child predators/adults dating children/are no better than Kate. But really the oldest the Steiners could be in my opinion is 19, and are probably younger than that given how easily they pass as teenagers. The most information we get about their age is that they 'never finished high school' which could mean anything from dropped out the previous year and are, in fact, still the same age as their peers, to dropped out several years ago and are now somehow 25 year olds able to masquerade as teenagers. And honestly, with how easily they slip into the high school life, I don't think the latter is plausible. I don't really have a 'gotcha' piece of evidence for this argument, but I just find it hard to believe that two adults could enter the school system and blend in easily and no one, anywhere in the show, mentions that they aren't actual teenagers.

To be honest, use of that last argument feels like attempts to manipulate some of the show's vague lines to discredit the pairings, since there just isn't much to scrutinize otherwise.

And to be clear, none of this is saying you have to like these pairings, but it is always important to recognize the difference between not liking a couple and declaring that couple unhealthy.

[hughgrants]

i had a big brain moment on the way to work

by which i mean i'm once again going to dx one of my comfort characters as having bpd traits

Spike aka William the Bloody (BtVS)

He's messy, he's passionate, he's malleable! He was a shy, rejection-sensitive poet until he became an overly charismatic, rejection-sensitive killer! He thinks love is everything and gives his many lives meaning! But sometimes that love is not love, it's passionate infatuation and involves repeated unwanted pursuit behaviors (aka stalking). His alliances, stances, loyalties, feelings can often change quickly on a dime! He literally took a coat from someone else and made it his whole look and personal signature style (bpd mirroring behavior to an extreme). He was enmeshed with Dru, hot and cold (mostly cold - abusively so) with Harmony, wanted to be enmeshed with Buffy, did get enmeshed with Buffy through an unstable, destructive relationship. He can be myopically focused only on his own needs (granted he IS a vampire) and fail to see others' unless the situation doesn't involve him, then he can see it more clearly than they can (lovers walk). He has weird chemistry with almost EVERYONE (Xander, Angel) because of his superficial charisma!

He splits (quickly vacillating between adoration/idealization and hatred/devaluation) on Buffy in a big way. She's the ideal women, she's the 'bitch' who won't let him take a stationary 'walk' outside her house every night (ie watching/stalking her), she has 'stupid hair', etc. He does this to Dru as well in "Crush" and Harmony on a regular basis (she's his 'baby', she's an 'idiot', she's adorable, she's his punching bag, etc.)

But most notably: he slides into a LOT of different roles in the show. He's villain, lover, hated ally to buffy in s2, annoyance and philosopher in s3, partly neutralized enemy and thanksgiving dinner 'guest' in s4, stalker and sometimes ally in s5, abuser AND abused in s6, serial killer AND redemptive sacrifice in s7 - then ghost turned ally/comedic sidekick turned final battle warrior in Angel S5. Yes, most of this is due to the writers trying to find ways to use James' appeal as an actor throughout the seasons without having to kill off the character, and reportedly it was difficult to integrate him into the plot in a way that felt organic starting in S4. But the end result of this, factoring in James' chameleon-like and committed performances, is that Spike is a LOT of things and slides into these roles with ease even if they don't fully 'fit' him in a way that feels essential to who he is. That's malleability - that's something people with BPD traits can exhibit and even struggle with. Lack of cohesive sense of self -> trying out different roles based on whomever you are drawn to or idealizing -> altering behavior patterns, style, mode of personal expression, etc.

But most convincingly, his entire identity is based on the strength of his emotions and attachments. They take him down so many paths and change him fundamentally as a person. First Dru then Buffy, from being seduced into becoming a great evil to ultimate sacrifice for love and the forces of good. His entire philosophy of life is that it's driven by romantic passion:

“You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood - blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.”

Listen when I was 14 I was like "huh the excess grandiosity and passionate yet unstable affect and behavior are a vibe here"

And 20 years later I am aggressively tackling my own bpd traits through all the therapy. But was Spike an early awakening of the fact that my emotions run deeper than I'd like? Maybe, maybe not. Still an interesting question.

NOTE: This is just a headcanon/fan analysis using a framework familiar to me. I am NOT seeking to babygirlify or absolve any of his terrible behaviors. I think much of the show is resonant with viewers because many of the characters have a dark arc at some point. Willow is for the perfectionists who hurt themselves and others in their pursuit of avoiding painfully imperfect situations and their own errors. Xander has hero moments but also deep insecurity from his family trauma and a toxic possessiveness of women. Buffy shoulders the weight of the world but finds it hard to express things that torment her internally with those whom she loves. Angelus is the PERFECT metaphor for the cruelty of a first boyfriend who grows cold and abusive after physical intimacy. The show takes us to VERY dark places - and ultimately that is what I take from it, not one relationship, season, or storyline.

[anystalker707]

Be good for me

Pairing: Gerard x Vampire! Reader Word count: ~ 1 400 Genre: Light angst / Comfort / Intense Summary: In the light of all the murders that have been happening lately, (y/n) decided to pay Gerard a visit. Kind of content: Blood play / Religious themes / Gaslighting [a/n]: Not proofread.

Gerard was far from being the best person, and that’s exactly what had sweat trailing down the back of his neck as he read the first pages of the daily newspaper issues sprawled over his desk. The last one, which had been delivered to his front door that morning, had a picture in black and white of the police leaning over a body covered by a white sheet while the big, black letters above it read SIXTH BODY FOUND THIS WEEK.

The press was going to play dumb, of course, none of them wanted to receive a death threat attached to their desk with a pocket knife. Either way, Gerard was aware. He knew that pattern of killing very well—the way the bodies lacked some organs along with blood, with precise wounds—, and it was clear someone had bothered the vampires yet again. It alone made him think over and over about all the favors and connections he ever had with them. Maybe he had helped rival groups without knowing? Or didn’t do something right?

A shaky breath escaped his lips as he tried not to overthink it, muttering critics towards the others—who did The Used think they were to mess with the Deathwish gang, after all? It was no surprise one of their men showed up dead across the sidewalk without any blood in their veins. Gerard chuckled while lighting up a cigarette he stuck between his lips.

All that calmness lasted until Ray’s voice rang in the back of his mind. “I heard something regarding Deathwish,” he had said during dinner, “but keep it low.”

God help him it hadn’t reached their ears.

The church wasn’t far from the house. It only took him a cigarette and a few minutes of walking before he found himself inside the holy and quiet place, only accompanied by God, his angels, and saints. It was all silent, with barely any noise coming from the outside, and that lack of noise made the place more comfortable along with the dim lighting. Only the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling kept the place alive, summed up with the yellow lights of the candles burning with a favor someone asked from God. It almost had Gerard listening to the quiet prayers people would mutter under their breaths, mumbling into their praying hands.

He had been close to that ambient once, truly close. He could still remember the name of each of the images that sat behind the altar, fragments of long prayers, but instead of being a comfort, it was much more of a weight in the back of his mind. Ironically, the church still felt like a safe place. Whether it was because of his family or the rumors of vampires being weak before holy symbols... he didn’t know.

“Thought I wouldn’t find you?”

Gerard’s blood felt cold. His eyes widened and he swallowed dry. Anything he did could send him not six feet underground, but straight to hell.

They sat a pew behind him, leaned forward so their elbows rested above their thighs, their steady and deep breath hitting the back of Gerard's neck. Even from that distance, Gerard could smell the fucking blood.

"Why would I hide from you, (y/n)?" Gerard sounded tense. Jesus, that anxiety would get him into actual trouble at some point.

"I don't know, you tell me," (y/n) scoffed with a chuckle. "A church would be the first place I'd head to if I needed to protect myself from a blood-sucking demon."

"I keep my faith alive."

"Sure you do," they hummed, reaching out a hand to Gerard's shoulder. "But you needn't be so tense. All I wish from you is a favor." Their fingers found his dress shirt's collar and pulled it down just enough to trace their cold fingers against his skin, feeling it rise with a shiver.

Gerard wishes he could feel nervousness, to be afraid of (y/n)—it would be a lot less pathetic than wanting more.

"What would it be?"

"I need to know where Ray is." (Y/n)'s fingers wrapped around the back of his neck, sinking into the skin just at the same moment Gerard tensed up and gasped. "I know he's one of your close friends, practically family, so—"

"I can't!"

"—so that's why nothing too bad will happen to him. With respect for you. All I need to know is where he is, hm?" Their words were muffled against the back of Gerard's ear. Fuck.

"S-Sorry," his voice trembled, and for a second he wondered what his friends and subordinates would think if they saw him in such a state. "But I can't. Ray is like a brother to me."

A gush of air hit him, even making the flames of the candles tremble, and (y/n) now sat by his side with their forehead almost pressed to his. "Look, let's not make it harder than it actually is, hm?" They had an arm around Gerard's back, their other one held his face so he wouldn't look away—Gerard groaned softly as he nuzzled into their hand. "I need to know where Ray is. He won't be the tenth person. He won't be on the next newspaper cover, baby. Don't you trust me?"

Only lost bits of words escaped Gerard's mouth, no thought being allowed to be completed because what if (y/n) didn't like his answer? What if he said the wrong thing? What if he said where Ray was and the others found out?

"I trust you," Gerard's voice was small and trembling. "But..."

"Shhh, it's fine," they whispered and let their lips trail down to his neck, bending his head to the side. "I'm not forcing it out of you. Just relax for me.”

Gerard couldn’t help but comply, pressing his lips together as he let himself go in their arms with a shaky sigh. A shiver ran down his spine with the light touch of their lips that eventually opened up as their touches turned into open mouthed kisses that now and then had a breath caught in his throat. His hands sought for something to hold onto, anything but not (y/n)—his hands balled into fists around nothing by his thighs, letting his nails pierce into his palms, only not painfully because of how short they were.

(Y/n) tugged at the thin skin with their teeth, having fun in how easily Gerard reacted, something they’d extend for longer if they weren’t so anxious. They wouldn’t drink blood from anyone and subject themself to drain the blood from men with rotten bodies; they’d only get the best from the best, and the best included Gerard.

A squeal came from Gerard at the same time (y/n)’s teeth pierced through his skin, escaping his throat as much as he tried to muffle it down, but soon the pain turned into a discomfort he was already used to and allowed him to relax into their arms. (Y/n) had to bring an arm around his body in order to hold himself up properly, all of that without ever disconnecting their lips from his neck.

No matter how much they wanted to, Gerard would never serve as a proper meal—a dessert, maybe, a snack, but not a meal. Firstly because (y/n) didn’t want to risk losing him, and secondly because he wouldn’t be so special if they kept drinking from him as if he were cheap wine.

(Y/n)’s tongue dragged against the punctures, catching the most of the blood they could before the tip of their tongue pushed into one of the wounds. Gerard hissed as his hand found (y/n)’s thigh and his fingers sank into it with a strong hold, but according to how they kept their motions, he was forced to let go of the breath he held, eventually whimpering. They could almost catch their name among the mess of sounds that escaped his lips, almost sobs, something that just had the feeling in their stomach bubbling up.

That couldn’t last long enough, it never could. (Y/n) was panting when they pulled away while Gerard leaned against their side, seeking comfort in the cold and bloodless body of the creature. He buried his head in the crook of their neck, taking deep breaths.

“The south house,” Gerard said quietly, almost muffled. “Near Delaware. Ray is there.”

(Y/n) thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to get there or how to bring Ray here as they licked their lips clean, then cracked a grin. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” They chuckled, and pulled away just enough to press their lips to Gerard’s, letting him taste his own metallic taste on (y/n)’s lips.

[ardentpoop]

simply had to review the whole series via tier list 🤓

S: recommended to everyone I know - especially if you trust my taste in stories - because it impacted me profoundly at a tender young age, it was shockingly effective by this show's standards, and it somehow managed to stand the test of time. season 2 alone. 👑

A: the other cream of the crop seasons in terms of emotional impact and setting. seasons 1 (if you want to smile) and 4 (if you want to rip all your hair out).

B: mixed-bag seasons that are a notch above the C-tier seasons in that the viewing experience feels atypically cohesive, as in the case of season 6 - and if not, as in the case of season 3: the good episodes are good enough to make it memorable overall.

C: seasons that introduced or leaned too heavily on some of this show's worst story elements (Chuck, meta comedy, creation myth fanfiction, angel politics, time travel, goofy-ass monsters like the leviathans) but that contained enough substance to be otherwise engaging (samndean facing their destinies as opposing vessels to Lucifer and Michael, Sam's Cage trauma, samndean's conflict over Amelia and Benny, the Trials arc, the Gadreel arc, Jack's introduction and his early bond with Sam). seasons 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 13. obviously if I were to give the series as a whole a rating decoupled from my intense emotional attachment to it I'd give it a C.

D: what I consider the dumpster fire seasons. unwatchable if you aren't already fucking insane about this show, and even then they verge on excruciating. unfocused, bogged down by bewilderingly not-good writing by the likes of my faves Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner, balls-to-the-wall ridiculous sometimes. seasons 10, 12, 14, and 15. 13 would be here too if it didn't feature the strongest start of any season of this show since s4. I also feel the need to clarify that 10 would be in the C tier had the writers done anything remotely interesting with Dean's short-lived demon arc or his MOC arc - both loaded with potential but pathetically anticlimactic and redundant onscreen. 12 is buoyed by a select few standout episodes but the British MOL arc is so unforgivably awful that I can't rank it higher overall. 14 is my absolute least favorite season of this entire show because it shoves Sam into a back corner for arcs that are painfully relevant to his character... like, notably worse than the rest of the series does.

[autisticempathydaemon]

Tokyo Calling by ATARASHII GAKKO! it's just FUN

Enneagram type four.

YES. and my fave is the ABO copyright saga, but I enjoy having these on in the background while I do other things, and I use them to learn about online drama mostly hehehe

To fall asleep, either thinking through scenarios or audiobooks. if the brain won't shut up, then audiobooks!!

I wouldn't change my name, but I'm also not super duper attached to it haha

Favourite redacted audio!! Davey proposal, or the one where angel steals david's hoodie. there are a lot of call backs in both of these, and my favorite line: 'with you, I'm just- David.'

Zero appeal is Ollie!! I've tried. A few times. but No.

Muppet Christmas carol, I know all the words hahaha

Platonically, besties with Elliott! He'd be a great friend?

Go to ramble is whatever media I've been really into lately. I've gotten really into hockey and PWHL lately, and get me tired, I will ramble to you about it hahaha

Favorite playlist atm is an amalgamation of my daylists, but I'd summarise it as 'bisexual yearning pop'??

Guilty pleasure media is SMUTTY MANGA.

Ooh, this is a cute one. Like, I think there are parts of you that could work so well with different parts of different redacted bois. Yet, when I look at all you’ve given me as a whole, I like you with Gavin most.

Type Fours tend to be creative, emotional, and reserved, an introverted sort of person; I think Gavin is uniquely suited to you in that he’s extroverted enough to pull you out of your shell but not so much you two don’t have a grand time by yourselves. Also, “bisexual yearning pop” one hundred percent sounds like Gavin’s vibe, so I think y’all could have a great time sharing playlists.

The main thing I love about y’all is that I think you and Gavin would like a lot of the same things, that he likes all the things you like. Like, can’t you imagine reading a smutty manga and shoving it in Gavin’s face like “babe, you’ll love this one”? Can’t you imagine watching hockey together and Gavin loving the hot people speeding across the ice and checking each other? Can’t you imagine your first Christmas together with him, showing him the Muppets Christmas Carol for the first time?

Song:

Every other boy’s on to the next one/ I hope that you stay, 'cause I think you′re so fun/ Everyone is asking if we're a thing now/ Are we going somewhere?/ Waking up my friends and texting my sister/ I wanna tell the world the things that we whisper/ Everyone is asking if we're a thing now/ Are we going somewhere?

To find a song for y’all, I searched Bisexual Yearning Pop in Spotify, and I quite like the result! This song is really catchy and cute and paints a really fun picture of a flirtationship on the brink of something more and the sweet, fuzzy feelings of having a crush in that situation. This song is new to me, but I’ll be saving it, and I hope you like it too!

Runner-ups:

Guy is a runner-up because I do love the idea of pairing you with an extrovert but not that much of an extrovert, ya know? Lasko is a runner-up because I think he’d love your smutty manga recommendations most of all the boys. You and he and Gavin should have a fun, little naughty book club.

note: thank you so much for waiting; please feel free to send me some manga recs if you’d like to share. I love a good 18+ Josei 💕

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[irkimatsu]

Hi Irk!! I saw your earlier posts about feeling crummy over seeing certain hot takes in the fandom about Husk and how his relationship with sex in the series will be depicted—I hope you're doing okay now. Frankly, the idea that Husk has to abstain from sex on Angel's behalf is odd to me, especially as someone who's also dealing with sexual trauma. Survivors can reclaim their sexuality! Plus, from what we've seen from the show—Husk seems like the type of guy who would be willing to take things slow and work through unpacking heavy baggage together. And hey, if he could do that for Angel, I'd say he would extend that same love and tenderness to you! I do very much relate to feeling bonkers over my attachments with fictional characters though. I get insecure at times because I feel like I could never be Angel's type due to being multigendered and genderfluid </3

Oh and for the fic ask—I think it was the one where Husk pours whiskey on reader's breasts that I read first from you that I really liked. That one was sooo good holy fuck.

- ⭐ blue-dream-boye

Thank you so much for the message! <3 A big part of my worry is the feeling that I have no right to speak on sexual trauma at all. My history with sexual trauma, if it can even be called that, is mild - never directly victimized, just exposed to tons of shit I was way too young for, with a heaping scoop of Catholic hypocrisy on top. I'm almost positive all that shaped my sexuality into whatever the hell it is now, but whether it's trauma and whether I have any rights to speak on such things, God only knows.

(This isn't even my first fandom where I had to figure this out - last fandom I was in had a suicidal porn star character shipped with a main character. She was just a one-off, but she's immensely popular, I love her and wanted to write more about her but never felt like I could get it right... lingering anxiety from that, maybe?)

I absolutely do feel like Husk can take good care of Angel, taking things slow with sex and making sure he's comfortable. But I also don't want to strip kink from the equation, you know? I still want Angel to enjoy kink with an observant dom who listens to his signs, spoken or otherwise. I really don't like playing into "bad people have icky kinks, good people who are really in love have missionary with the lights off." But then the sex-negative bug gets in my brain and I feel like a weirdo for thinking that being able to safely communicate stuff like kinks is important. I want Husk to have kinks! I don't want his personal growth to require him to give them up! Of course he wouldn't engage in anything Angel doesn't want, but don't make the fact of Husk wanting it inherently be some sort of moral failing!

Angel's attraction... that's another thing I always tread lightly around, since I'm not at all a gay man. Still, regardless of his canon gender and sexuality, labels can always be fluid, and quite frankly I'm also of the opinion that a fan changing a character's sexuality does not take away from representation because the canon material is still right there. Making him straight for homophobic reasons would of course be nasty, but having him experiment with his attractions for the sake of shipping? Go nuts! But as someone who tries to go nuts but gets caught up in "yes, but would he really", I do get the difficulty...

Aside from all the weird anxiety nonsense, thank you so much for the comment on the fic! <3 That whiskey fic was tons of fun to write, still one of my favorites, and I'd love to write that kink again sometime! I love the idea of Husk enjoying exploring every inch of his partner with his tongue...