#I have thought way too much about this

[beachy--head]

What are somethings you would have liked to see happen for April and Jackson either individually or together? Storylines, relationships, etc.

For April: more storylines about her professional life. She was never given a chance to shine on that front, so I would have loved to have seen her rule the ER, practice new trauma techniques on the field or in the hospital, and be celebrated by her peers. Having her be involved in the foundation with Catherine as a guide. Her having friends outside of Arizona, too. Maybe with Alex, Amelia, even Maggie.

For Jackson: we should have seen more of his struggles with fatherhood, his legacy, his dad. He was happy and yet terrified to be a father before Samuel, and they dropped any mention to this afterward. The Montana episode should have given way to a more detailed arc about his father and whether Jackson wanted to include him in his life. And though his exit from the show was good, it would have been even more impactful if his legacy and his involvement in the foundation had been explored in the preceding seasons. Also have him more meaningful friendships with Ben or Alex, and someone to mentor!

For them together: them learning to communicate clearly, laying a good foundation for them getting back together. Lots of domestic and sexy scenes, them raising Harriet, talking about Samuel, being happy.

(see, this is why we need a spinoff now.)

[madoka-take-me-away]

Every time I hear about white women eating their placentas all I think about is Hannigram

[eosofspades]

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

[nouverx]

Arcane season 2 ending made me too sad so yk what, everything is fine actually, Viktor is now a teacher at the Academy and he mentors young Zaunite students. That's how I choose to cope.

[karmanun]

Isha: A writer’s musings

Tw mentions of suicidal ideation, depression

Maybe a little late to the conversation, but you’ve mentioned in a couple of your others posts that Isha somewhat puzzles you, so I wanted to share my two cents, because Isha confused the hell out of me at first two.

I have always been a fan of the idea of Jinx becoming a parent/parental figure with Lux just because of how important a theme parenthood is in her story, there has always been something incredibly poetic about it all coming full circle, so while I was certainly intrigued to see Jinx actually depicted in a parental/older sibling role in S2, it sort of felt like it was happening too quickly? Like, shouldn’t Jinx have more time to grow and figure herself out a little before being a role model, especially to such a young girl?

However, the more a thought about it the more I realized what a genius move it was. Many people picked up on how Isha heals Jinx’s inner child - she even says it herself:

- “I had a different name back then you know. Powder. Stupid, right? I thought I was rid of her for good, but… you kind of remind me of her.”

But it’s more than that. Jinx is simultaneously coming to accept her role as a symbol to the Zaunites (a role which makes perfect sense: Vander kept the peace but also upheld the status quo, Silco furthered the movement but walked all over the very people he claimed he wanted to free to do it, Jinx was the first person to actually make a move) but it’s a struggle for her. Jinx has never been a “big picture” person - while I have no doubt that she believes in the cause, given everything Piltover took from her, she operates mainly off of emotional reponses and impulses. Her world is limited to her inner circle of family and she has trouble empathizing with anyone outside of it. She was already someone who was driven by personal connection. Throw in severe suicidal ideation and naturally she needs more than simply a grand cause to accept her role as a symbol.

Isha fulfills that missing piece. She is the personal connection Jinx needed to drive her towards something new. Jinx wouldn’t have cared about being Zaun’s hero, but the fact that she is Isha’s hero is what convinces her that there might be something to it.

“Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?”

Boom, I have the character figured out!

Except…

What in the cheezits frick was this about???

Now, from a storytelling perspective: do I think Isha’s death was necessary? Of course not. Do I think it was worthless? Also no.

To figure out what is going on here, let’s back up and explain what S2 was doing with Jinx (because although Isha is my precious baby gremlin with an explosive personality and I love her, from a writing perspective she is primarily a narrative device for Jinx’s arc). My take is:

If Jinx’s arc in Season 1 is about accepting that she is “Jinx” ie she can never go back to the girl she was before, then her Season 2 arc is about learning that “Jinx” can mean whatever she wants it to mean. She gets to decide what that means, no one else. As we discussed above, Isha is the one who truly helps her to understand that - this little girl who never knew Powder, only Jinx, and still sees a hero, a friend, family in her - helps her see she can be more than the destructive force of chaos Silco told her was perfect.

So when Isha died and Jinx fell back into depression and suicidal ideation, it sort of seemed like it was all for nothing - like the lessons she learned through Isha were lost, and that having Ekko replace Isha as the one who helps her accept her new identity was, as you put it, “shipping wish fulfillment”. However, I slowly came to realize that just wasn’t true.

As somewhat of a side note, this video really helped me understand what was going on with the Ep. 9 opening, the AU, and Ekko’s character arc in general. The basic gist of it is that he redefines his views on the potential of the present (something the Z-Drive is symbolic of) and therefore of Jinx’s potential. After Isha’s death Jinx falls back into her old, dark mental state, but not because Isha’s lesson is lost: because that is a human response to such a horrible tragedy, and frankly I commend the writers on not shying away from that.

My interpretation of Jinx and Ekko’s interaction in Ep. 9 isn’t that he’s able to pull her back from the brink because he’s her savior or because they’re just so in love, but because the fact that even the very person who gave up on her, spent years despising her, and tried to kill her multiple times (for justified reasons) was able to redefine the way her saw her was a jarring reminder that Isha’s lesson was not, in fact, lost - that there is still more to her than just a jinx.

I think that’s why Jinx chooses to live. I think that’s why she chooses to break the cycle not by killing herself but by taking a chance on something new. Ekko being able to change the way he saw her, enough to take a chance on the good she could still do, was the final nail in the coffin that was her journey of self-growth Isha led her on. Just because Isha was gone didn’t mean the person she saw in Jinx also had to be.

Now, I don’t think Isha had to die for Jinx’s arc to reach this same conclusion. They were very clearly careening towards it anyway. I can’t say for sure why the writers chose to go down that route (other than the obvious answer that they love to torment us) but I still believe they got something powerful out of it.

Jinx chooses to live, for her little girl.

Jinx's mental health musings, again.

I think calling a severely traumatized person struggling with mental illness 'broken' or a 'monster' is part of the problem, no matter how violently she's lashing out at the world. So many people in Jinx's life wrote her off as 'broken' 'monster' 'too far gone', and that just made it worse for her at every point.

Vi and Ekko just wanted Powder back, so hard they each were literally ready to murder her until some reminder of her 'Powder' side stopped them, and Silco leaned into enabling her 'Jinx' persona, and all that did was force her to choose between two parts of her psyche mostly constructed by other people's expectations, instead of reconciling with herself.

It took until the very end of S3 and a whole jaunt into another timeline and a romance with an AU version of his childhood crush for Ekko to see that maybe he shouldn't have written her off.

The only people who loved her unconditionally were Isha and Vander... ...and arguably Sevika, in a grumpy auntie who sort of wants you to lead a rebellion for her kind of way. Even AU Powder is hiding her trauma from losing Vi and stifling her own genius to please others and be their support girl. It's no surprise that Jinx is at her most healed, authentic and whole when she is with Isha.

She still had a long way to go, but that was when she felt the most 'complete' to me. She was healing herself on her own steam, taking her own steps to reach out to her sister and reunite with her father. To become the hero, not just for the kiddo who looked up to her, but for herself as well.

The writers taking that away from her just so Amanda could have her shipping wish fulfillment plot will burn in me forever.

[inkskinned]

probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.

we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."

at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.

the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.

the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.

what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.

here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.

[heyclickadee]

I still think the funniest way—the funniest way, mind you, not the right one—to adapt The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck to television would be to make some of the exact same necessary tweaks to the plot, pacing, and (maybe) characterization that you’d need to do with an animated adaptation but otherwise keep most things more or less the same, change the title of the show and change the names of the characters to be less ducky, make everyone human and cast David Tennant in the lead role, and turn it into an old HBO style prestige series. Same story (sans those small and maybe one big plot changes), same characters, but don’t market it as an adaptation. See what everyone (besides the duck comic fans watching, who will have figured it out by then) does when a guy named Donald shows up with triplets in the second-to-last episode.

[hinamie]

corvidae

[alicewhimzy]

well since you ask...

Moral Orel and Midnight Mass crossover.

The island, which I think is off the coast of Massachusetts, is divided in two, one side catholic, the other side protestant, complete with their respective churches (but there is only one school, hospital, police dept, general store etc, with characters from both shows). There is a lot of tension between the two congregations of the island that grows over the course of a year. Some characters are able to develop friendships together despite their differences (Orel and Leeza, Stephanie and Riley, Sarah and Nurse Bendy, Joe and Joe) while others become more hostile to each other (Bev and Miss Censordoll, Sheriff Hassan and Officer Papermouth, Paul and Clay). Many discussions between characters about their different views are had. There are not just vampires, but also werewolves involved, just to even things out.

The catholic/protestant tension rises to a fever pitch as easter approaches, culminating in the events of Sacrifice leading directly into easter mass on a full moon.

🩸⛪🌕

hey y'all important question

is there a moral orel au that you are currently thinking about

be it original or just an au where you can put orel in a different scenario

[egophiliac]

So I was doing some math, and I THINK Skully is almost as tall as Malleus without his horns

I think the main reference to his height is Epel being surprised they're the same age because he's taller than Sebek, yes? which I find interesting, considering Jade and Malleus -- two of the tallest guys in the main cast -- are also there. and, since I've never been one to not think waaaay too much about the absolute stupidest minutiae about fictional characters, I see two possibilities:

one is that Epel is extremely good at eyeballing heights (I actually do feel like he could be? like. I'd believe he can estimate someone's height fairly accurately by calculating based on the life stages of an apple tree, or how many apples tall they are, or something else apple-related like that.) and Scully does, perhaps, fall into that narrow margin between Sebek and Jade in height.

OR two, out of the three certified Tall Guys there, Sebek is Epel's main frame of reference because he's the only one he's had any real interaction with for, let's be fair, pretty obvious reasons.

SO in conclusion, we still have no concrete answers and will probably have to wait until next year when we get his card profile, alas alas. 😔

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[voltaical-art]

im in agony. a little self indulgent but I think wyll deserves to be told he's loved and have a small breakdown about it

[itslilacokay]

oh would you look at that

part 1!

[chickenchirps27]

hello denizens of tumblr i come with humble offerings

they wish to romance you

[kiksniko]

guys. hear me out

[keferon]

Okay I’m. Usually. Usually I don’t enjoy human aus and usually I hate drawing transformers as humans because it feels so wrong to my brain.

But then I stumbled upon Dream of something more by Gemma_Inkyboots and aaauuuhh fuck. Here’s the pile of the most vague and unspecific and undetailed fanart. Because I’m being torn between “I can’t drawing human designs” and “If don’t draw something for this fic I die”.