#I love that the fandom got revived thank you all for your service in writing smut fics

[ijustwannawritesomething]

Help me complete my modern warfare fanfic bingo 😄 might have noticed some reoccurring themes :^)

[reds-writings]

I've watched true detective back in 2014. Now I decided to rewatch it, got in "I need him carnally" mood, went to ao3 to scratch that itch and found like 3 x reader fics. Weird, I remember that x reader started to appear around 2013-2014. Thank you for doing your thing and feeding us!

Glad to be of service! I was starving for more content as well and decided to bust out some works for funsies after a season 1 rewatch. It was nice to see a revival in the fandom after night country came out so that made it all the more encouraging to wanna participate and just have fun with some writing! I love being in this little fandom bubble <3

[927roses-and-stuff]

Miracles in Gotham: Chapter 3: Unwelcome Discoveries (Part 1)

Hey, guys! This fic is inspired by @ozmav mav’s Maribat AU. Shoutout to @mystery-5-5  for brainstorming ideas with me for this fic. 

Midterms have got me acting up. Despite the quarantine, I literally wasn’t motivated to write until the moment I could use writing to procrastinate. Absolutely brilliant logic. Truly. Thank you guys so much for the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter.  

If you want to see more, follow: #miraclesingotham or ask to be added to the tag list.

P.S. For the sake of continuity, I’m going to ignore the Heroes United thing because that episode was basically a fanfic of the fanfic and as much as I loved the animation and the new characters...I’ve seen better plots and explanations for a lot of the similar problems in the Maribat fandom. Also Sparrow is probably a reference to Batman, anyways. Also, canon has just gone out the window...I guess...whoops. 

P.P.S. Swearing tw, death tw. 

Please remember this is rated M for a reason. Also, it is my headcanon that not everyone who dies during the akuma attacks come back. Of course, it’s not mentioned in a children’s show, but I’ve always seen the Miraculous Cure as a cure for physical, non-living objects as they’re easier to fix, and lives take a lot more effort and energy from the user to revive. And since Marinette is a child, there’s not going to be a lot of energy to spare.

Tag list: @northernbluetongue @spicybelladonna @my-name-is-michell @legendaryneckjudgestudent @lokiifriggasonn @zerotosiki

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To the members of the Justice League…

I am writing to you as Chat Noir, superhero of Paris and holder of the Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction, and partner to Ladybug, the official Guardian and the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous of Creation. I come to you with a plea similar to ones that we have sent you a year ago. The magical terrorist, Hawkmoth, is still at large here in Paris, France. If you are not aware of who he is, Hawkmoth is a domestic terrorist in Paris who relies on the power of the Butterfly Miraculous to create a physical and amplified manifestation of a person’s negative emotions, using the victim as a host, using magical butterflies as his form of transmission. These are called akumas. The akuma allows Hakwmoth to essentially get inside the mind of  his victims and manipulate and amplify their emotions.  We have been fortunate enough to have a failsafe in Ladybug, who can repair any physical damages, and even bring back lives, from these attacks. However, both Ladybug and I have reached our wits’ ends with no lead to Hawkmoth’s true identity. The people of Paris are suffering both from emotional trauma and the physical trauma of being subjugated, manipulated, experiencing bouts of amnesia, and even resurrecting multiple times. Hawkmoth has even taken to exclusively targeting a middle-school class at College Francois-Dupont.

Ladybug and I are aware of the risks superhero presence may bring since we will not survive a fight if any more experienced superheroes such as yourselves are akumatized. However, I feel that we have no other choice. Our Master has recently been put out of commission and the rest of our comrades have had their identities compromised. Ladybug is now the Guardian of the rest of the Miraculous. And although she will not approve of my plea, even your  advice or insight will be of use to us.

Please consider our plight and contact us as soon as you can.

Chat Noir 

Bruce Wayne was not a perfect man, he will admit. However, he did pride himself on his sense of logic and adaptability to most situations, as long as they stayed within the mortal realms of believability that is. Magic, however, or anything pertaining to the supernatural was out of his forte; in fact, he often liked to pretend it did not exist despite having acquaintances and enemies whose entire lives revolved around it. There was a reason he did not tolerate the  prolonged presence of meta-humans in Gotham, after all. 

He re-read through the email once, twice, again and again, desperately wishing that it had not been his shift to look through the messages that the Justice League received on a daily basis. Why couldn’t it have been Superman or Wonder Woman? Or better yet, Dr. Fate or Zatanna, never mind the fact that the latter was technically retired. Any of them would’ve made sense of this gibberish that was laid out in front of him. 

Initially, he thought it had been a coded message. It made perfect sense, in his opinion. The only concrete fact he could dissect out of this nonsense was the presence of a domestic terrorist and how they were targeting some middle school students for whatever reason. His mind recalled  the recent conversation he had with André Bourgeois yesterday. Even he had mentioned a domestic terrorist going after his daughter’s class, which was why he reached out to Bruce, since Bruce would be the most fitted to protect them with his resources, despite Gotham being the crime capital of the world. He nodded to himself; the facts were consistent then. There was a terrorist and middle school students were the targets. 

On one of the other screen monitors, he had pulled up records of College Francois Dupont School for a background check using a VPN to connect to French service networks. Both the email from this Chat Noir (Selina would get a kick out of that) and André failed to mention the terrorist’s intentions with these kids. However, looking through the different classes, there had been a special note besides Mme. Bustier’s class that stated:

“High vulnerability to akumas.”

This was where Bruce was once again stumped. Of course, he really couldn’t deny the existence of magic, but accepting that meant accepting that the terrorist used magical butterflies as his form of attack. Bruce wasn’t a qualified psychologist or any sort of specialist, but surely magical butterflies could not give you emotional trauma, mind-control, or even as Chat Noir had implied, a means to murder. 

Bruce scanned through Mme. Bustier’s class to look for anything that might be different from other classes. If he recalled correctly, this was the same class that André’s kid was in. He took note of the name, Chloé Bourgeois, and other notable names such as Adrien Agreste (who’s father was a fashion mogul and a model in his own right), Lila Rossi (a diplomat’s daughter), Max Kanté (a genius, and he noted to himself to see if that held true when the class was under his supervision), Marinette Dupain-Cheng (the class president and the designer of a recent rock album according to Jason who had obsessed over the cover for a few weeks before Alfred confiscated it), and Alya Césaire (an aspiring journalist who ran a blog called the Ladyblog). 

Okay, he rationalized. While not all of these kids were significant, some, like the Mayor’s own daughter, would be prime targets for a terrorist, so that made some sort of sense in Bruce’s mind. 

He sighed again, wishing that he had a cup of coffee or an energy drink with him at the moment. Unfortunately, Tim’s recent addiction meant no one could have it. Bruce scoffed underneath his breath. Alfred had really weird rules when it came to show “family support.” Tim was a grown man who should suffer his own consequences. Alas, no one argues with Alfred lest they risked his wrath. 

Bruce hovered over the link under Mlle. Césaire’s file, the Ladyblog. Perhaps it would give him some answers. 

As a bright ladybug designed website popped up, Bruce realized he might have been so wrong. 

He scrolled through the website thoroughly from the latest posts to the earliest. He noticed a concerning trend where the later blog posts centered more around one of Césaire’s classmates, Lila Rossi, and shaky videos of a red and black spotted figurem and a black cat figure fleeing the scene, or fighting some sort of abomination that Bruce did not even attempt to understand. In one video it was the two heroes against a flock of pigeons, or a gigantic baby, or whatever else. Bruce had half a mind to dismiss the entire blog as based on falsities, however one of the videos caught his eye. 

It was a video titled: “Syren: Paris Going Underwater!!” 

That was concerning, considering a flooded Paris would’ve featured on international news, not just on an amateur blog by a middle schooler. Fortunately for him, the video quality was clearer, allowing him to watch as the camera recorded the scene of that day. 

Bruce jolted awake and snapped to attention when he realized it was being filmed on a rooftop, and that the water levels were still rising as the video progressed. From what the camera captured, there were only a handful of people on each rooftop; not even making up a fifth of the Parisian population in total. 

What the fuck?

Then, as the video concluded, gigantic swarms of red and white bugs (ladybugs?) filled the camera’s frame and when it disappeared, everything was back to what he presumed was normal. The video then faded to black, posting statistics that chilled Bruce to the fucking bone. 

“Death count: 1.528 million Parisians

Resurrection count: 1.51 million Parisians

Injured count: 10 000 Parisians

Permanent death count: 18 000 Parisians

In honour of the Parisians who were not revived and were injured during the attack, the Ladyblog, offers our condolences, and will help in any way we can online and offline.  The akuma victim, as always, will remain anonymous for safety purposes.  Links to help organizations and donation funds to the peoples and families affected will be posted below. Additional links will be posted for available online mental health services.”

And, if Chat Noir was to be believed, some people had died multiple times. 

After making sure the video was not doctored in any way (though that would be cruel to assume about a kid’s blog), Bruce sent Chat Noir’s email (along with the earlier videos from both heroes and an email from Marinette Dupain-Cheng that he had found) and all of the links he had amassed to his own computer in the Bat Cave before closing all the tabs on the monitors. Swerving around, he stormed to the Batmobile, eyebrows furrowed in solemnity. 

Magic or not, whatever terrorist was plaguing Paris had a pretty damn high casualty count, and the only people that were stopping him were this Ladybug and Chat Noir people, who did not seem to be properly equipped (the Ladybug heroine was using a yoyo, for fuck’s sake) to deal with someone of this power. Not to mention, Bruce winced, their mentor  was “out of commission” whatever that meant, with their peers being compromised, so they probably had no outside help.

And it seems, Bruce’s features darkened into a scowl, his dear friend André Bourgeois had a lot of explaining to do. Police department has it handled, his ass. 

In the meantime, he was going to make damn sure the class under his care would have a relaxing reprieve even if he had to lock up every villain in Arkham Asylum himself. 

________________________________________________________________

Dear Diary, 

The talk with Chat was a bust. I know he thinks I don’t trust him, but I wish he knew how much I’m trying to, but it’s not as simple as he makes it out to be...right?  And of course I trust him with my life, but as the Guardian, I can’t just make impulsive decisions like going to other superheroes, especially when there’s no guarantee they would help us, or can even be trusted in the first place! And I can’t just reveal our identities to each other either. It would put Chat and the rest of the Miraculous at risk. And I really don’t want a repeat of Chat Blanc…

That future will never happen on my watch. I forbid it. 

Speaking of other superheroes, I think there might be someone though, who could help us, even a little bit. 

Marianne. 

She wasn’t a Guardian, but she was a Ladybug user for a while and was really close to Master Fu. She must know something. She’s in London so she might not be available but...

I’ll check up on her today after class! If she has any helpful advice, I’ll be sure to share it with Chat too. 

Gotta go!

Bisoux, 

Marinette

Scrambling to get ready, Marinette fumbled with her pigtails and shoulder bag simultaneously, trying to make sure that her pigtails were just right. Tikki zoomed around, helping her get ready by shoving stray pens and pencils into her pockets. When they were done, Marinette rushed downstairs, swiping one of the freshly-made quiche along the way. Just before she exited the store, she turned back to give her Maman and Papa a smooch. Hastily, she then left the bakery, the bakery’s bell ringing behind her as she sprinted to school. 

It was a mystery for most people, but despite living less than five minutes away from the school, Marinette was always late. Marinette liked to blame her Ladybug duties when Tikki asked, but she knew better. She had the habit of being late since before she knew the Miraculous existed. 

To be fair though, Marinette usually slept in because she was exhausted from schoolwork, designing,

and Ladybug duties. Was it her fault that Hawkmoth liked making 3 AM akumas? Was it her fault that coffee- for all the espresso and sugar she dumped into it, and despite all those hipster blogs saying otherwise- did nothing to help her stay awake? Of course not. If anything she was a victim here; a victim of late night akumas and faulty biology. 

Fortunately for her (and her quiche), she was actually earlier today than usual. She could see students milling around the courtyard behind the school. Some sat with their friend groups while others huddled to catch up on the homework from the night before. 

Unfortunately, one of those groups was Lila and her friends. Lila sat on one of the picnic tables, talking about whatever grand adventure she supposedly went on or whichever famous celebrity she supposedly saved from a rare type of cancer or something while her friends sat around her, captivated with every word. Marinette rolled her eyes. It was too early for this. 

She steered away from them towards the other side of the yard, where she could see Alya and Nino cuddling while finishing their homework. She glanced back at Lila, who waved at the couple before going back to whatever story she was regaling to her loving audience. It was probably because Alya and Nino hadn’t seen Lila greet them in the first place, but Marinette couldn’t help feeling a bit happy that they didn’t return her greeting. 

“Morning, guys!” She greeted as she approached their table, sitting on the other side. 

Alya looked up first. “Hey! You woke up early today,” she teased, giving her shoulder a friendly nudge.

“Heh, guess it’s my lucky day today,” she said. As she sat down, she began eating the quiche she had swiped earlier. “Well, almost, anyway.”

Alya rolled her eyes and smirked. “You live in front of the school. It’s your own damn fault at this point.” 

Nino, who had been pouring over a worksheet that was due today, finally looked up. Upon seeing Marinette, he smiled. “Hey, dude. You’re actually early!” 

At Marinette’s exasperated groan, both Alya and Nino fell into giggles, Marinette shortly following along. 

“Keep that up, and I’m not gonna let you guys eat at my place for lunch,” she teased, wagging a finger at them. 

Alya wagged her own finger, engaging in a finger sword fight. “As if your mom would ever let us starve!” 

Marinette laughed, as she wrapped her finger around Alya’s and lightly slammed it onto the table, declaring her victory. 

“Okay, okay, you got me.” Marinette went back to eating her quiche, devouring it before it got too cold. For once, she was in a pretty good mood. 

“Hey, Alya, Nino,”

And of course, she just had  to jinx it. 

Marinette didn’t even try to join in the conversation to acknowledge Lila’s presence. If Lila wanted to talk to her, she needed to stop lying about everything; and with her supposed “lying disease,” that wasn’t happening anytime soon. She only wished Adrien was here so someone could sympathize with her. 

“Oh, hey Lila,” Alya greeted, having gained her hand back and waved. “Ignore Nino here. He forgot about Mendeleiv’s worksheet due today.” 

“Oh, I see.” Lila said. “Well, you know, Nino. If you ever need help with science, one of my cousins actually won a Noble Peace Prize for his contributions in molecular chemistry.” 

Nino, to his credit, only muttered an “uh huh” before turning the worksheet over and frantically scribbling all over it. Marinette briefly wondered if Nino understood what he was writing down- or if he cared. 

Alya perked up. “Wow, that’s amazing Lila! What did your cousin do?”

Lila smiled bashfully, and looked away, waving her hand. “Oh, you know, it was the discovery of some man-made element.” Marinette had to give Lila credit- she knew how to fake her blushes really well. “I’m nowhere near as smart as my cousin, you know? All the scientific words get me so confused!” 

Marinette buried her head in her arms. Did she need to be here for this? She could just slip away? Glancing at Lila, who caught her eyes, she decided against it. Like hell she was letting Lila take away her time with her  friends. 

Alya laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, I understand completely. English is so much more of my forté, you know?” 

“Yeah I totally get what you mean.” Lila stopped laughing as her gaze landed on Marinette. Only she seemed to notice the glare she gave her.  “Oh, hi, Marinette. Glad to see you’re early today.” 

“Yeah,” she deadpanned. “Hi.” With a fake smile, she robotically waved at her. 

“Well, anyways I got to go. See you later Alya.”  Lila said, waving her fingers before finally walking away. Marinette exhaled. Thank kwami. She may have been less obnoxious today but that was probably because of Alya’s presence. 

Speaking of, the said girl turned towards her. “You could be nicer towards her.” 

“She almost got me expelled.” Marinette had had this conversation with Alya many times before. At this point, her responses came like clockwork. She contemplated telling Alya’s threat back in Lila’s first day, but she really wasn’t ready for the backlash if Alya accused her  of lying. 

“Well,” Alya stuttered. “It was because she has an illness that makes her lie uncontrollably.” 

Marinette was pretty sure there was no such illness but at this point, Lila had somehow convinced everyone it was an actual illness. That, or no one wanted to point out the obvious lie, including administration. Which would be pretty negligent of the school admin so she hoped not. 

“Alya, if it was just an illness that makes her tell lies, pray tell, who put the test answers in my bag and the necklace in my locker?” she asked. 

“Maybe, well,” Alya tried coming up with an answer but failed, thereby changing the subjects. “Look, both of you are my friends, and I don’t want to get in between the two of you.” 

Marinette sighed. “Yeah, yeah.” She picked up the discarded quiche container and her bag. “I gotta go to class and see if Mme. Bustier needs help.” 

Alya frowned. “Marinette, wait.” 

“It’s okay, really.” Marinette assured her, before walking away. When she was climbing up the steps to the entrance, she sighed heavily. She didn’t really understand Alya’s logic sometimes. If she knew about Lila’s supposed lying disease, why did she put Lila’s trash on the Ladyblog? If Alya knew Lila’s lies had led to Marinette’s initial expulsion, why still defend her? Marinette shook the thoughts away, not wanting to get into that impeding headache. Lila Rossi was never worth her time. 

When she reached the entrance, Lila was leaning against the doors, her arms crossed. Her olive green eyes were glaring right at her. 

“Dupain-Cheng.” 

“Rossi.” 

Lila strutted up to her, getting uncomfortably close to her face. “I told you what would happen if you didn’t play along.” 

Marinette stared back, unimpressed. She really had more pressing issues than this weird power play Lila wanted to play. Leaning back and stepping to the side, she said, “I already told you I’m not scared of you, Lila.” 

Marinette didn’t spare her another glance. In some ways, she pitied Lila. What kind of life did you have that you were so desperate for attention you lied about everything, and tried to get rid of anyone else who called you out? 

She really hoped Alya would soon see sense. Adrien had once told her to take the high road, and honestly? Sometimes, it felt good to not let Lila’s lies get under her skin. 

Then again, when did Lila ever go down so simply? 

[dokkaebiking]

Pass the happy! 🧡 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications!

ONE~♥♥♥ I know it's been awhile since you sent this to me, but answering things in my inbox on tumblr mobile is a game of Russian roulette that I don't particularly like. It's about a 50/50 chance that mobile will either nuke the ask, post it wrong, or actually do it right, so instead I'm on my computer so I can be sure that it won't implode. Now to think of 5 things that make me happy (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

1. The Korean webtoons/webnovels that I've been reading for the past year, such as: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Trash of the Count's Family/Lout of Count's Family, The S-Classes That I Raised, and SSS-Class Suicide Hunter/SSS-Class Revival Hunter (although I cannot read the official ENG version on Tapas for that last one, because they translated Kim Gong-ja's name as Confucius Kim...it makes me want to die...you don't translate someone's name like that D:< His name MEANS Confucius, sure, but it's still a Korean name, and you don't see WEBTOON changing Kim Dokja's name to Reader Kim *seethes*) to name a few.

2. Related to the things above, after finally joining Twitter just so I could consume fan content for those Korean IPs, I've recently discovered Group Orders and Korean Proxy services, so now I can actually buy all that amazing fan merch (like prints, acrylic standees, anthologies, and other misc. items) and official merch (mostly the physical books of either novels or manhwa, but if I can get a limited/special edition that comes with extra goodies, you damn well bet I will get it—they're almost never in ENG but I don't give two shits about that)! My wallet is starving and begging me to stop, but I get my seratonin from material goods so it can fuck right off.

3. @magnustesla existing *★°*☆(￣▽￣)/☆*°★* No but really, the KakaIru-specific events that they've modded for and helped put together since last year have been one of the few things that allowed me to keep my sanity all throughout 2020, and now into 2021. The KakaIru Zine? Blessed. The KakaIru Mini BB 2020/2021? So god damn wonderful. The KakaIru Big Bang 2021? I am so very honored to be able to participate in it. And not only all that, but they've been an amazing friend that I am blessed to know, and have always reached out to help if I've ever needed someone. You are a superstar, Magnus, and thank you for being you~♥

4. Writing! While it's been kind of stressful, because I've been writing for events lately—I'm writing for my BB piece right now and only just over half way done with it, and it's due next month (っ °Д °;)っ—it's also been extremely fun and rewarding. My writing doesn't really get a whole lot of attention, or 'make numbers' as the children say, but that's not what it's all about. Certainly, I love getting comments and kudos, knowing that people are enjoying something I've worked hard one, but even more than that I'm simply happy that I worked on something, finished it, and put it out there in the world.

5. Baggenshield fanfics. This one has always made me happy, but as with all fandoms I dip my feet into I tend to hyperfixate for a time, then go onto other things. Which is to say that it's been awhile since I last really delved into Baggenshield content, but I really got back into it this month, and it's such a comfort ship I cannot even begin to describe it. Even though canon killed off one too many dwarves (no dwarves should have died, fight me), thank god for fanfic, and the tag "Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies", because canon failed me. Bilbo has been one of my favorite characters since I was a tiny tot that had the illustrated book—the one with art from Rankin and Bass's animated movie of The Hobbit, and had a clear cover with Smaug and the dwarves/Gandalf/Bilbo on it on it that you could peel off to make the cover just the side of the Lonely Mountain—so to now be 32 years old, and still love him so dearly, but now also see him as queer as I am? ADORE HIM.

[nicemom93]

In The Wreckage

Eight days. It’s been eight days since the horror of Season 4 dropped on us unexpectedly, messing up all of our plans to watch together, with personalized marshmallows (thanks, @jjmazzy) and Veronica-themed food. And while we all knew that we were going to lose someone, I don’t think anyone was ready for what we got, or how poorly it would be done. 

What I also never expected was a season that made me:

1. Wish that we’d never clamored for more Veronica Mars after MKAT;

2. Wonder if I could actually still enjoy old VM canon, since what S4 did to Veronica and her story was so awful.

I came across a Hulu forum (again, thanks, @jjmazzy ) and wrote more than I’ve been able to write in the last 8 days, explaining my unhappiness and my hope that Rob Thomas is not allowed to bring any more Veronica Mars canon to life, but it may have been too long and the damn thing won’t post. So, I’m sharing here, under the cut, to at least get this off my chest. 

Although it is inevitable that this show would have ended for good in 2007 without the steadfast support of its fans, I respect that a showrunner gets to run his show. He doesn’t have to cater to what has become disparagingly termed ‘fan service’. There are a couple of problems with that in the case of the Veronica Mars revival however. 

After the unprecedented fan response to bringing Veronica and company back for a movie, the fandom continued to keep the attention on the desire for more canon content. Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell did an admirable job continuing to mention their own wishes just often enough to keep the fans’ interest piqued. Then, last summer, a month before the formal revival announcement, the teasing began…we’re close, so close, so very close…and the fandom responded as expected, shouting our desire for more VM content from every forum available. I cannot believe that this deliberate tease and the fandom response did not help make the deal with Hulu. “Look at our built-in audience! This is a sure-fire money-maker.” For the next 11 months, we were then spoon fed the pieces and parts of the story that anyone with a brain would know was going to keep the interest high. Kristen Bell even finally declared herself ‘Team Logan’ after years of frustratingly stating that do-nothing Piz was better for her beloved character than the boyfriend who always had her back and knew exactly what she needed. What a great day that was – seeing her finally admit what the rest of us have thought all along. We should have known it was a scam to keep us on the hook, but, boy, did it work. Hulu has probably never gotten as much free advertising from a fandom as it did for Veronica Mars.

But the show we got in S4, and what is being proposed for S5, are not what we were sold. In S4, Veronica became a shell of who she has been in the past. That might be understandable given all of the trauma in her life, but when last we saw her, she was working toward understanding what she wanted out of her life and was learning to make better choices. What in the world happened to her between the end of MKAT and S4? Nothing is mentioned, but for a character to have such a significant change in outlook and behavior between chapters of a story, there really should have been some explanation. There is no question that Veronica's always been...troubled and kinda difficult, but that was earned by the circumstances of her life, and the people who cared about her still managed to ground her to a certain extent, no matter how hard she was on them.

In S4, she's hateful to everyone who has loved her, except for her dad, who she mostly ignores. Her disdain over Wallace's life choices was hard to stomach. Her treatment of Weevil was so self-righteous and horrible that I truly hated her in that last interaction...you know, the one before he saved her ass in spite of how awful she was. And her treatment of Logan was appalling. She spent most of the original series looking down on teenaged Logan because he wasn't as focused and driven and put together as she thought he should be (newsflash - she wasn't all that either), but here she's looking down on him because he’s gotten too focused, driven, and put together. I get why she had trouble with the fact that she's still a mess and he's not any longer, but the way she taunted and undermined him did not make her a character I would like to see again. Now, a Veronica who understands her own dynamic, and is trying to improve herself, that would be interesting, but there is nothing in how S4 concluded that would cause her to make this change. She now has a reason to be a shell of her former self, with no hope for anything good to ever come from her life.

Since S4 aired, we’ve heard from Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell telling us this was the only way to keep the show going. They’ve even had poor Jason Dohring out trying to sell that message, in spite of the completely disrespectful way he was treated after helping keep fan interest in this show over the long term. Not just because of the abs, although that’s the typical argument from those who want to see a fifth season of Veronica beaten down once again. No, it’s because Logan Echolls has had the best arc of character development on this entire show, and on most other television shows as well. It is difficult to fathom why no one wanted to continue to take advantage of that.   

However, this showrunner doesn’t think a married woman detective can be interesting. Rob Thomas has stated in interviews that he thinks Logan and Veronica in a perfect relationship would be boring. Umm, have you watched your own show, sir? That marriage is never going to be perfect. Watching them negotiate their new dynamic would be interesting to watch, but apparently not interesting, or maybe it's just not possible, for Mr. Thomas to write. He’s also stated that he needed Veronica to be the underdog again—that’s where she is best. I don’t disagree, but I’m not sure how more trauma piled on her translates to underdog. She’s always going to be the underdog because she takes up for the underdog. At least she used to. Her relationship status doesn’t change that. 

Mr. Thomas’s consistent message following the show’s drop has been that he wants this to be a pure mystery show, and take out the teenage soap element. He could have done that easily by not regressing Veronica back to the maturity level of a teenager. That was the only obvious aspect of teen soap that I saw in S4 and he chose to wrote her like that. He also chose to throw in the completely unnecessary love triangle tease, a ridiculous soapy twist for a character who has never been a cheater, at a fundamental core level because of what she has seen, and who has been in a reasonably stable and loving relationship for five years. We’re also told that the horrific trauma she endures at the close of the finale is what will finally get her to heal. There is no valid writing that would make that true. Over the last fifteen years, Rob Thomas has piled trauma after trauma on this character, and none of them have caused her to heal. Here, in spite of her fears, she again chooses a life with the love of her life, establishing that she does still have some hope for a better life, even when she knows so much can go wrong, and she is rewarded for this growth by being dealt the worst blow possible. What about that set-up sounds like a reason to finally choose to heal?

Our final sight of Veronica is of her again running away from what’s left of her life, including any type of support system. Mr. Thomas indicates he sees the future of this show only as Veronica traveling and solving mysteries on her own on the road. He wants a pure mystery show, although he admits, very accurately, that he doesn't do mystery that well. He also accurately assesses that humor/banter is where he excels, but where in the story of a lonely, bitter widow with no one in her life are we to find that humor? V's repartee with Keith and Logan especially are where that is easiest to find, and Logan’s dead and Keith will maybe be on the other end of a phone call. Why would we wish this dark and hopeless world on a character that we’ve loved for years in spite of her flaws (and her creator’s). As a longtime, very immersed fan, I wish I could travel back in time and let the fandom know what it’s like at the end of this time stream. If I believe in Marvel Time Travel, that still leaves us in a shattered world that we unwittingly asked for, but maybe I could at least save other versions of me and my fandom friends from the heartbreak of a Veronica Mars revival. Canon ended just fine with MKAT. I can only hope that the Hulu Powers That Be don’t continue to allow Mr. Thomas to continue to inflict his vision of more trauma porn on Veronica Mars. 

[catalystcrisis]

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Cullen Rutherford/Original Character(s), Cullen Rutherford/Spirit Healer, City Elf | Elves/Cullen Rutherford, Cullen Rutherford/Mage(s) Characters: Cullen Rutherford, Original Female Character(s), Eve Surana, Female Trevelyan, Dorian Pavus Additional Tags: Healer, Spirit Healer, Slow Burn, Rivalmance, blood and guts and revivals oh my, Medicine, Medieval Medicine, Addiction, Drug Withdrawal, like the slowest of burns probably Summary:

"Some call the Circle a prison - that can only breed resentment. Perhaps opportunities to work outside the Circle? A mixed military service, or healers' clinics with templar support." - Cullen

This fic is his idea brought to life. Skyhold is crammed with refugees, pilgrims, an army, and a sunny Inquisitor who flings herself at Venatori and dragons with her reckless companions at her side. There is no way the Inquisition can mend itself and defeat Corypheus without a resident spirit healer.

Cullen just wishes that she were grandmotherly and doting. Not ridiculously young, mouthy, and unrepentant whenever he catches her stealing military scarves to use as bandages. And she'd better stop saying "Maker's gilded spank paddle!" or he'll shut her mouth for her.

(A big thank-you to my Discord DA fanfiction writing groups! You're all amazing and I'm so thankful for your help!)

Notes:

Hello readers! Thanks for popping in. I know you want to get to the fic, so here is a quick rundown:

This fic is mainly told from a spirit healer's perspective, which means that there will be descriptions of injuries, diseases, and bodily fluids throughout the fic. It will include 'medieval medicine' which is prevalent in Thedas (ie. humorism, leeches, amputations, bloodletting, trepanning, etc.) but it will also incorporate some modern aspects of medicine, so while it may get a little jumbled, I hope it will make sense eventually. This fic isn't meant to be the most accurate history of medicine (I mean, it's Dragon Age), so please bear with my creative license. Feel free to write a comment or DM me if something is unclear!

This is a slow-burn rivalmance. Feed the flames with comments! Please?

Chapter 1: The Alienage and the Ex-Templar District

(You can read chapter 1 if you click below!)

"See here, Eve? How you can feel a rounded firmness - no, use the pads of your fingers, not the tips - there, feel it now?"

Eve held her breath against the sweet smell of rot, knowing that if Nessa spotted a shudder that she would get an earful later. Gently, she edged around the work table and obediently used her fingers to locate the lump under the patient's grimy, whiskered jaw. Just to the side of a muscle was a pea-sized spongey node.

The man hissed in pain and jerked away, cupping the side of his face so just the tip of a pointed ear stuck up above his hand. "I'm so sorry," Eve sputtered, hiding her flushing face behind her long black hair and twisting her hands behind her.

"S'alright da'len," the man muttered, trying to smile but grimacing around his swollen jaw instead. "I just need to grit and bear it."

"Hmm, well, gritting will only make the tooth rot feel worse," Nessa mused. She deftly coaxed the man's mouth open and lifted a candle to illuminate the inside of his mouth. "Eve, how can we tell that it's tooth rot and not an ear infection?"

"Umm," Eve said, trying to ignore the sounds of a spirited foot race outside. It sounded like her friends from the thieves' guild were out there racing the all the alienage children. "His tonsils and ear drums aren't swollen or red, no change in his hearing, and no pus found, thank the Maker."

"And what are the cardinal signs of a localized infection, Eve?"

Eve, who was edging to the clinic door, stopped in her tracks. "I can't remember," she muttered to the dirt floor, tamping down on the guilty twinge at the lie. She curled her bare toes, hoping Nessa would just dismiss her in exasperation.

"Tsk. I taught you better than this and Maker knows I've dragged you to see more than enough infections since you showed up at my door," Nessa said imperiously. There was an undercurrent of steel beneath the wry amusement in her crisp tone.

Even surrounded by mismatched furniture and tools cobbled together from odds and ends, Nessa was regal in the daylight streaming in from a nearby window. She sat on her patched clinic stool like a shem noblewoman - no, as if she sat on the Ferelden throne, a sharp light glinting from brown eyes stamped with crow’s feet. The man dutifully held still in her hand as she surveyed her apprentice with an expectant look.

Eve straightened and crossed her arms. "And they have all been disgusting," she declared. A prickle of pride glowed in her chest - her voice hadn't wavered that time.

The man winced and Nessa pursed her lips in a disapproval. "While that was true for some - most - of them, that is not a cardinal sign and your rudeness will cost you latrine duty for the week," Nessa said coolly, boring her eyes into Eve'. "What did I tell you about treating patients, yourpeople , with respect?"

"Oh, it's alright, she's just a child-"

"A child old enough to know better," Nessa said firmly over the man's protests, fixing Eve with a look that made her feel like a flea-infested nug.

"It'd be easier if infections and the pus weren't so gross!" Eve protested, knowing that she should shut her mouth like Nessa was always after her for, but she was right - infections were horrifying, and the smell ... she was just telling the truth.

"Well, don't get any high hopes for the future," Nessa said, "you are the child of an alienage surgeon. Your future won't be full of gold and candy. More of the pus and guts variety, I suspect."

Eve curled her little hands into fists. She was frustrated . She'd just learned that word that week and that was what she was. Frustrated of being cooped up in the same shabby clinic day after day with its never-ending line of sweating, coughing, puking patients that looped around the Vhenadal all the way to the outskirt fence penning the alienage in the city. Frustrated of standing on aching feet, as hour after hour she would hand over a tool Nessa needed to fix the patients or look at a particularly stomach-turning piece of anatomy that Nessa would present for inspection. Frustrated of having to trot at Nessa's heels as they paid house calls to particularly sick elves who would inevitably be stewing in their waste by the time they got there while the other alienage kids ran and played past them, or ran messages for extra coin from the thieves' guild. Not that she was mistreated by Nessa, not like some of the others or those who served in shem houses, but it was hard to live with the formidable woman.

Heat boiled into her cheeks and she glared as sharply as the costly scalpels Nessa used in her surgeries. Then I wish I'd been left on someone else's doorstep! Eve thought fiercely, wishing she could say it all out loud and hating how calm and expectant Nessa looked, as if she knew and it didn't matter .

A beat of silence stretched, then two. Only the somewhat muffled sounds of a crowded alienage pressed in through the thin walls as Eve glared then dropped her gaze. "Swellingheatrednesspainlimitedmovement," Eve spat out quickly. She sent a small pair of tongs skittering across the table to Nessa then bolted out the door.

Then, because she had what Nessa called ‘an unrepentant need for noseyness’, she hid around the corner. A low whistle drifted through the swinging door. "Thought for sure that she'd do something stupid and curse you til she was blue in the face," the man’s voice said. "What a fiery little troublemaker. And what spooky eyes. Must've rained and stormed the night she was born."

A short sigh followed. "Well, she was left at my door nine years ago, so I couldn't tell you," she heard Nessa say dryly, "but let it never be said that I raised a dumb bunny. Now, close your eyes, open your mouth, lay back and think of Andraste."

Evening settled down into the alienage, the dust quieting as families retreated from the deep blue shadows into the warmth of their shabby but cheerful kitchens. Eve loitered under a ratty awning, tugging the hem of her threadbare shirt higher to cover the colorful bruise she'd earned in her latest roughhousing match from her messenger friends. If only Nessa would let her out more; she'd be able to keep up with them and learn how to do more than just slip out of an attacker's grasp. She could learn to return the blows, learn how to wield a dagger with her eyes closed, slip by Nessa's watchful gaze with the stealth of a black cat. Then maybe she'd be able to join the thieves' guild one day and become one of its infamous Fangs.

She jumped when the door to the clinic opened and shielded her eyes as a bright light pierced the gloom. "Is that my loving and respectful aid?" a familiar voice drawled. "Will the Maker never cease his miracles?"

"I'm sorry," Eve blurted to the dirt without preamble. Even as she’d raced and scuffled with the other alienage kids, she’d felt guilt for leaving Nessa and the patient behind in the clinic. Nessa was the best surgeon of the alienage and deftly cared for patients too complex for apprentices, but what if she needed Eve for something? What if a kid came in with tooth rot and needed Eve’ smaller hands? She hadn’t been able to shake the guilt, even when her friends were teaching her how to dodge a flying kick. "I shouldn't've been rude to the carpenter. I didn't mean to make him feel bad. I know it's worse from a surgeon."

A thoughtful pause. "Why?"

A crimson flush flooding from the collar to the tips of his pointed ears of the bedbound patient flashed through her mind's eye, red in his chagrin and mortification. It'd been the first time Eve had felt such strong waves of nausea and pity at the same time, warring with each other until she could school her face into the semblance of calmness that Nessa wore all the time when she pretended to not notice these things. "Because," she said slowly, looking up, "we're there when people feel their worst. And they need us to help. It'd be worse to ask honestly for help when you feel weaker than nug piss and the surgeon told you to nob off because you stink."

Nessa's dark eyebrows had steadily climbed her forehead, the corners of her lips twitching. "That's- Maker's furry nut- I mean, for Maker's sake, where did you learn-" Nessa heaved in a breath then seemed to count silently to ten like she was after Eve to do. "Next time the guild kids start that talk, I want you to stuff your fingers in your ears or I will clean your mouth out with soap," Nessa threatened firmly.

Eve nodded, biting her lower lip to keep from grinning. She was about to offer to make dinner when Nessa hoisted her traveling satchel higher on her shoulder and instead blurted, "Where are you going?"

"Hmm? You know where I'm going," Nessa said absently, now adjusting her cloak and checking the oil supply in her lamp. "I go there every other week, for Maker's sake."

Eve didn't want to say anything that broke the bridge they'd just repaired, but a cold tendril of fear snaked around her insides. "You shouldn't," Eve said, "not alone. I can go with you-"

"Da'len, you are shaking in your boots - well, if you ever actually wore boots," Nessa said dryly, swinging her lamp to light the cramped alley. "Eat the stew and make sure the fire is put out by the time I am back."

"Nessi, no, I'm fine - I can do it!" Eve insisted, feeling like a baby, using her nickname for Nessa while clutching her fists against her sides and trying to stop the quivering. She knew that she was glistening with sweat in the amber lamplight and didn't care because Nessa could not go alone. "You can't go - not with those, those things . They're crazy!"

Nessa's face vanished in shadow as the lamplight swung in the breeze, obscuring her expression. But her voice sounded thoughtful when she spoke again. " That ," she murmured, "is precisely why I need to go. They may be crazy, but they gave their lives to the Chantry and that blasted dwarf dust they keep begging for. The People are not the only ones who suffer, and we have not forgotten - just as we will not forget others who suffer."

"But, but they're shems," Eve protested, rooting around her frazzled mind for a good enough reason to keep Nessa home and safe, away from the walled-off district full of emaciated wandering humans out of their mind with madness. She sometimes glimpsed their shivering, rail-thin figures hunched beyond the fence separating the grungiest streets of Denerim from the alienage, bloodshot eyes roving; their enraged shrieks and wails for lyrium scared her more than anything. "The Chantry have sisters, don't they? Can't they help? Or pay healers to?"

Tapping came from under Nessa's oiled leather work cloak, a sign of impatience. "You know as well as I that the sisters only know basic remedies," Nessa said tartly, then muttered under her breath, "wouldn't know the difference between an umbilical hernia and a pregnancy without checking the genitals, but I'm not the Revered Mother, thank the Maker." She continued in a somewhat more dignified voice, "And you know as well as I that nothing can be done for lyrium withdrawals, not even with the magic of a healer. And who has the gold to waste for a lost cause? No, better to be eased a little with some headache draughts and focusing solutions than die alone in complete agony."

She wasn't going to stop trying until Nessa stopped using that adult voice and listened to her. "But they don't care about us so why-"

"Who came and put down the abomination in the Banal'ras district last month?" Nessa interrupted.

Eve bit her lip. "Templars," she muttered, hanging her head.

"That's right. We were able to help the injured People thanks to those 'shem' templars whether or not they wanted to kiss every single elf in the alienage. Now, get back inside and not another word out of your smart mouth or I will put you to work with Cyrion."

Help Cyrion fuss over every single human, elf and dwarf that entered his house and listen to him haggle with them over things like 'trade agreements' and 'taxes'? Eve squirmed on the spot, watched Nessa take a few brisk steps down the alley, then ran to catch up before her courage ran out. "I'm coming with you," she declared, hopefully with as much conviction as her hands were shaking, "you can't talk me out of it even if I have to work for Cyrion for days."

"Is that so?" Nessa mused, lamp swinging away to reveal dark glittering eyes and a small furrow between her brows. "Even if the 'crazy' ex-templars start raving?"

"Yes," Eve said stoutly, hiding her hands behind her and summoning every ounce of determination in her nine-year-old body.

She waited on a knife's edge, trembling between wanting to go with Nessa and wanting to run inside the steamy warmth of their home until Nessa finally gave a curt nod. "Get your boots and your bag," she ordered in a tone that brooked no arguments. As Eve scurried inside to obey, she heard Nessa mutter, "and I hope your sticky-fingered friends in the guild teach you how to lie better."

Eve clopped along behind Nessa’s trailing cloak, trying not to trip on the patched leather boots that she was still growing into. The further they walked from their clinic by the vhenadal, the more cramped the dirt roads became with piles of filth and the buildings teetered higher and higher to accommodate the poorest of the alienage. Jagged bricks and hungry eyes gleamed in Nessa’s lamplight as they neared the gap-toothed fence on the outskirts of the alienage. Two tall silhouettes loitered by the posts, their armor glinting in the lamplight set behind them.

“Hello there,” Nessa called in a carefully neutral tone. Eve was suddenly struck with the need to drag Nessa home by the cloak as a distant moan carried through the blackness beyond the light. Was it too late to turn back?

“I am Nessa Surana, and this is my daughter,” Nessa continued, “we are here to help the ex-templars.”

The human closest to them peered down at them from under his helm with eyes rounder than any elf’s. “Help? Riiight… You know that the crazies don’t have anything worth stealing even for you rabbit-ears, eh?” he asked suspiciously. “They’ll have lost it or traded it for dust by now, and they’re howling at the moon tonight. Best to stick to your side of the fence-”

“Trenton, that’s the elf surgeon from two weeks ago.” Another armored human walked up and peered down at them, the lamplight throwing his acne scars in sharp relief. “You here to try and get them to shut up again? We won’t say no to that.”

“They aren’t supposed to,” a new voice interjected from behind Eve. She almost jumped into Nessa as a redheaded elf dressed in battered leathers suddenly stepped out of the shadows with a scowl. “They’re supposed to be home letting the shems take care of themselves.”

“As are you , Shianni,” Nessa said, looking unperturbed. “You’re going to worry Cyrion being out so late and I don’t need him on my doorstep first thing in the morning.”

“And who’s this?” the guard with the scars asked with his hand on his sword hilt.

“No one you need to know, shem,” Shianni sneered with a hand on her hip. At thirteen, she was four years older than Eve and starting to blossom into womanhood. The new swell of her hip emphasized the wickedly curved dagger hanging from her belt. Despite herself, Eve felt a stab of admiration at her courage against the large, towering humans.

“This is my niece,” Nessa said as she swept the youth under an arm. Eve could see Nessa’s fingertips pressing into Shianni’s shoulder tightly. “She is a demure flower who likes to keep her opinions to herself and is always polite to strangers,” Nessa continued, “because otherwise, her aunt will tell the nice guards about that time she ran through the alienage stark naked-”

“I don’t care if you do,” Shianni sputtered, flushing as red as her hair and trying to squirm out of Nessa’s grip. “And anyway, I’m only here because you shouldn’t be out alone and uncle Cyrion agrees with me-”

“Look,” the other guard interrupted, “I don’t care who you lot are or who your aunt or uncle or fourth-removed humpback is. What do you want with the crazies?”

“We want to help heal them,” Eve said when Nessa and Shianni started to argue again.

The two guards instantly took a step back and raised their shields. “What, like magically?” the scarred guard asked.

“No, thank the Maker,” Nessa answered swiftly. “None of us are apostates. We are just surgeons, seeking to help ease the old templars.”

“Well, she’s the surgeon,” Shianni said, pointing at Nessa’s bulging work bag full of draughts and surgical tools, “best one in the alienage and the brat’s her apprentice. I’m their messenger.”

The taller guard glanced at her dagger and the hard look in her eyes. “Messenger. Right. And I’m King Cailan,” he said.

“Just let them through,” the scarred guard said, elbowing his peer. “The Chantry doesn’t look out for them enough after they leave,” he muttered to the elves, “five gold bits and a thank-you doesn’t pay the bills for long or buy enough lyrium for the rest of their blighted lives. It’d be more than what the Chantry does if you could make them feel better with your potions and whatnot.”

The other guard snorted. “Softie.”

“Thank you,” Nessa said gracefully as they passed, leaving the guards to bicker with each other.

Past the fence, the dirt road occasionally winked with shards of broken glass. The muddy puddle Eve stepped in crunched oddly, and she was suddenly grateful to Nessa for insisting on her wearing boots. She didn’t fancy walking around on bleeding feet, forcing glass shards deeper and deeper into her flesh with every step. Then she’d get an infection - probably the nasty kind that turned the skin green, then black and foul until the toes shriveled and fell off… she shuddered and tried to peer beyond the small circle of light the lamp threw off instead.

Skeletal remains of burnt buildings loomed out of the darkness as they passed, broken walls yawning with shadows. Cloaks and jackets propped up on sticks lined the dirt roads as well, sometimes with feet or a hand poking out from underneath. Eve stifled a yelp when the makeshift tent they were passing emitted a high-pitched scream and immediately glued herself to Nessa’s side.

Shianni scoffed, her hand on her dagger as they passed another tent with a pair of bare feet covered in sores sticking out. “You should tuck tail and run home, bunny,” she said, “don’t know why you’re even here, not being a full surgeon or a healer to help at all…”

“Eve’s been really helpful around the clinic,” Nessa said with a warm hand on Eve’s shoulder, “and she’s mostly been good with her studies. Not so much with infections, however.”

Eve flushed a little even as her eyes jumped from tent to tent. “I wish I could heal magically,” she said, giving voice to a persistent thought she’d been having, “so I can fix everything and people won’t hurt anymore-”

“No,” Nessa interrupted. Eve flinched as her fingers turned into claws on her shoulder. “No, da’len. Be glad that you aren’t mage-touched,” Nessa continued in strained voice, “they can turn into abominations in a moment, then tear apart a building and its people in a blink.”

“I wouldn’t become an abomination if I were a mage,” Eve said indignantly. “Or use blood magic. I know better.”

“Well, thank the Maker that you aren’t touched with magic,” Shianni said, “or you’d be shipped off to a Circle, like Neria. Then you’ll vanish when the templars take you in the night, never to see the alienage again.”

“That’s enough,” Nessa said sharply. “Eve hasn’t shown a single sign of magic and that’s how it’ll stay. How else am I going to retire as an old lady? As if your uncle hasn’t enough grief with his only child gone. And enough talk of blood magic, we’re getting up to the right tent-”

A roar made all three of them jump and the lamp clattered into the mud. Shianni scrambled in front of Nessa and Eve with her rusty dagger thrust out as something erupted from the tent right next to them and roared, “BLOOD MAGIC?”

At first, Eve thought a scarecrow had been possessed and brought to life. What froze the scream in her throat was realizing that the black pits carved into the scarecrow’s haggard face were in fact sunken sockets with only a pinpricks to hint at burning, roving eyes in their depths. Greasy, matted grey locks hung around hollow cheeks and dirty skin hung in wrinkled drapes off the bones. What Eve realized to be a painfully emaciated old human staggered to his feet, waving a roughly sharpened tent pole in Shianni’s snarling face while clutching a fist to his breastbone.

“You looking… sacrifices?” he shouted, waving the stick and they all leapt back another pace. “ABOMINATIONS?”

“Hugh, no!” Nessa shouted, raising a beseeching hand toward him and holding Shianni back with the other. “My name is Nessa, do you remember me? I gave you the headache draught two weeks ago when you were feeling bad.”

Hugh jumped at his name, then swayed on his feet as he peered at them with a bloodshot eye. “Nessa?” he mumbled to himself, his fetid breath and quick, jerky movements making Eve mince a step back. “Feel bad… all th’time. All the time. Not abomination? No… not Nessa. Circle prayers start in an hour. Must ready… things. Headache… yesterday?”

“It was two weeks ago, Hugh,” Nessa said soothingly, trying to shake off Shianni and Eve as they tried to pull her back to the gate. “I brought more for you-”

Shianni and Eve cried out as Hugh suddenly dropped the stick and hauled Nessa to him by the arm. “You have it?” he asked fervently, the tip of an open sore on his nose almost touching hers, “you have the lyrium? I need my next dose, knight-captain, I’m burning on low and I found a little yesterday - day before yesterday? Monday? But it wore off fast and I got a wildfire in my head and I need it -”

“Hugh, listen to me,” Nessa coaxed and Eve could hear a note of desperation in it. Nessa threw a warning look at Shianni and continued softly, “Hugh, my name is Nessa. I’m here to help your headache. It’s in my bag - would you like some?”

Hugh swayed and blinked slowly at her as Eve discreetly scrambled to find the right potion in Nessa’s satchel. “Nessa…? Surgeon?”

“That’s right, Hugh,” Nessa said. “I have this headache draught for you. Best to drink it now.”

Hugh stared emptily at her, then relaxed his skeletal hands. He grabbed the bottle Eve offered without really looking at her and swigged down the red concoction as Shianni tugged Nessa back behind her.

“My thanks, Mother Christine,” Hugh said brightly, bouncing on the balls of his bare feet and trying to tuck his stick at his waist like a sword, seemingly unaware that he was wearing nothing but a long, holey tunic. “Best thing for a growing boy like me, need all the food I can get. All this trekking up and down the tower in full armor tires me out like nothing else. Well, maybe not as bad as drill. These mages better appreciate the view, eh?”

“I hope they did, Hugh,” Nessa murmured sadly. “You should get some rest.”

“Not a bad idea, Mother Nessa,” Hugh croaked, turning to peer up the line of makeshift tents. “My room… over here. I’ll see you at morning service. Good night, Mother.”

He bent to wrap a ratty blanket and the lamp threw a ridge of shadows down the knobs of his spine. As Hugh laid down on the dirt and made himself comfortable under the blanket, Shianni and Eve stared at each other, then at Nessa who was rapidly blinking wet eyes.

“We aren’t done yet. Come, he’s usually just along here,” Nessa said briskly, scooping up the lamp and heading past a few more tents towards a burned-down lean-to. Eve lingered, staring at Hugh’s shiny balding pate and at the small glass vial cradled in the hand laying by his whiskered chin before hurrying to catch up to Nessa and Shianni.

Nessa was crouched in the shadow of a crumbling wall with Shianni standing guard at her back. In the corner of the lean-to lay a shriveled husk on its side, even more painfully thin than Hugh. This man - who was probably an ex-templar - had sparse hair, neck and limbs stiffly bent inwards, and if it weren’t for the shallow rise and fall of his ribs Eve would have thought Nessa was paying her respects to a dead man. His crusted eyes didn’t even flutter when Nessa murmured soothingly to him, trying to coax him to swallow the drops of a draught that she’d poured into his mouth.

“Nessa,” Shianni hesitated, for once looking like a young teenager as she watched her aunt work, “I don’t think… will that even help? He looks like he’s going to…”

A muscle jumped in Nessa’s jaw as she abandoned the draught and instead tucked the patched cloak the man was curled under more firmly around him. Eve quietly kneeled beside her and helped. “Yes, he is on his way to the Maker,” Nessa agreed.

“Then why bother?”

“Because no one should die alone like this,” Nessa said. “The Chantry uses up their youth and dedication, then kicks them out when they can’t keep the delirium at bay. You saw Hugh - and you’ll see more, here. They all end up here eventually, without a copper to their name and begging for the demon dust even if it’s what got them to this stage in the first place.”

“Don’t the sisters come here?” Shianni persisted. “They should help-”

“But they don’t,” Nessa said, her voice laced with contempt. She laid a soothing hand on the man’s shriveled fist, the skin covered in old scars. “The withdrawal leeches at their sanity. They forget the most recent events first… how they got here, where they are, where they pawned their sword. Then they forget people - family, if they ever had one. Then their name. Then they forget how to walk, talk… how to eat or drink. Sometimes they remember certain things, but once they forget how to do bodily things… it isn’t long, after that.”

Eve’s eyes burned and she choked down a shuddering breath, patting the man’s cool skin unseeingly. She swiped at her eyes and was surprised to see Nessa watching her, a warm light in her own. “Do you see, da’len?” Nessa asked. “This is… we can’t leave others to a fate like this. Even if they don’t have pointed ears. It’s never a competition to see who has it worse… we must help, if we can.”

Watching the man gasp shallowly through chapped lips, Eve couldn’t help but agree.

[vagaryfic]

TGD Anniversary Project

So… I feel like The Get Down’s fandom is starting to die out and the general feeling, from the fans to crew members who have discussed this when asked, is that there isn’t anything we can do to save it at this point. There’s this sad acceptance that it’s over and there’s nothing we can do, but it’s understandable though, because we worked hard to save the show we love.

But, the one year anniversary of The Get Down Part 1′s premiere date is next month (August 12th), so I was thinking that we could all band together one last time to celebrate The Get Down and show our appreciation towards the cast and crew. It would also serve as a reminder for Netflix that a very passionate audience for The Get Down does exist despite their insistence on pretending that we don’t, while also confronting them a little more directly about the issues we have with the way they treated the show. 

Now, this is something we can do in four parts, and I’m hoping that there will be at least one option that will be doable for everyone. And I’m hoping that anyone in the fandom on Tumblr who isn’t on Twitter will consider the non-Twitter options this time around as it’ll be a good way to let your voice be heard. 

Option 1: Live-Tweeting a TGD Weekend Re-Watch 

This one is a Twitter specific one, but I think it’s a good one to liven up The Get Down’s Twitter hashtags, have fun and celebrate the show with other fans, and maybe even get one or more of our hashtags to trend. 

We could start on Friday August 11th and end on Sunday August 13th and focus on at least getting through Part 1. It would be great if you can to tackle Part 2 as well, but that will depend on how much time you individually have set aside to do a re-watch. We won’t worry about trying to start at any specific time worldwide either just live-tweet when you have the time to do so. 

Again, always use the hashtags #TheGetDown and #TGDAnniversary and tag the Netflix and The Get Down’s Twitter accounts every now and then. 

Also tag cast and crew members when discussing specific scenes or expressing love for their characters, or the writing, or the acting, the music, choreography, costuming, etc. so they’ll see it and be reminded that we love and appreciate them. And @thegetdownfans on Twitter originally came up with the idea, so shout out to them!

Option 2: TGD Anniversary Fanart

In honor of the one year anniversary of the August 12th premiere date, simply post new fanart or re-post older fanart you’ve made for the show. I know a lot of fans have even made or articles of clothing and other art inspired by The Get Down, so please post that as well. Ideally, it would be best to tweet your art and use hashtags #TheGetDown and #TGDAnniversary and tag both Netflix and The Get Down’s Twitter account so it’ll show up in their mentions.

But, I also encourage you to post new art, or reblog older fanart here, or on Instagram and Facebook. Make sure to tag @netflix here like this and either link to it in a comment on their Instagram/Facebook pages, or tag them in some way so it’ll be seen.

Also, make sure to tag cast and crew on Twitter and Instagram so they can see it as well. They’ve all really loved the fanart and I know they’d love to see more, especially if it’s of their characters.

We could focus specifically on Friday August 11th and even use the hashtag #FanartFriday to increase our chances of getting this event noticed or the hashtags to trend but if you’re unable, posting your artwork whenever you have time throughout the weekend will be just fine.

Option 3: Mailing Netflix Purple Crayons/Writing Letters

This was the most popular suggestion for a TGD related object to send to Netflix, the one I would suggest for anyone who isn’t on Twitter It’s also the cheapest thing and small enough to put into an envelope. So this is what we’ll do: 

1.) Get a purple crayon and an envelope 

2.) Write a short note or a letter 

3.) Write this address on the letter:

Netflix Corporate Headquarters 

100 Winchester Circle 

Los Gatos, CA 95032 USA

4.) Put the crayon, the note/letter into the envelope, then seal it up. I don’t have an envelope to demonstrate right now, but it should look like this:

5.) Put it in your mailbox with the flag up, in a public outgoing mail box or take it to a post office

Now, the note/letter can be as long as you want. If you have a lot to get off your chest, it can be several pages long. If you have any tweets or Tumblr posts you made in the past that you feel sum up your feelings, print them out and mail those. But really, it can be a single page or even a post it note or a notecard, or anything else you can come up with a hashtag like #JusticeForTheGetDown or #TheGetDownDeservesBetter written on it. However much you want to write or have time to write, just something to get the point across. 

But, if you do want to write something longer and need ideas, here are some talking points based on a lot of the discussions and criticism I’ve seen here and on Twitter: 

Explaining why the show and the characters resonated with you, why you believe it’s important, why it made you feel represented, etc.

Criticism for how Netflix ignored us all this time and haven’t had the courtesy to at least talk to us or issue a public statement/apology for the cancellation 

Talking about all of our fan campaigns, especially ones you participated in or helped organize, the hashtags we used, etc. 

Explaining why the show deserved another season or at least a finale to wrap up lose ends and emphasizing each and every unresolved plot point, the characters fates, us not knowing what’s happened to them by the 90s 

Throwing out your ideas for story-lines you wanted to see the show explore to discredit any potential arguments that there wasn’t anywhere else for the show to go and that the ending was conclusive

Any and all criticism you have for the way Netflix failed to support or promote the show, ideas for what they should’ve done

Option 4: Contact Netflix Through Other Methods 

Here’s their Help Center page. Call their Customer Service number or start a Live Chat to simply tell them that you love The Get Down, miss it, and wish Netflix hadn’t canceled it. 

Another idea: on any and all posts from Netflix’s main Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts through August 11th-13th, leave a comment about how much you miss The Get Down and wish it hadn’t been canceled. 

Use the hashtags #TheGetDown, #TGDAnniversary and #JusticeForTheGetDown so they’ll start to notice the tags. You can also tag them on any posts you make here (like this @netflix), and even send their Tumblr and Instagram accounts a direct message. 

And that’s it. 

Please, please, please, if you love The Get Down and it won’t be too time consuming, I encourage you to do one or more of these suggestions. Depending on interest and how well this goes we could potentially do something like this again in April for the anniversary of Part 2′s premiere date, but this might be the last big thing that we as a fandom can band together to do to show how much we love and appreciate The Get Down, and how much we’re going to miss it.  

And who knows, if there’s any hope for the show to be revived in some way in the future (either as a TV or film continuation years later, a stage show like Baz implied or something else like a comic or book, etc.) then a big outpouring of fan love and support could help convince Netflix or whoever else might consider it one day that there’s an audience for it and that it’ll be worth it. 

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, but for now please reblog this and share on Twitter, Instagram and everywhere else. We’ve got a little less than a month to spread the word and prepare, but I think we can do this. 

Thank you for your time and good luck! 

[eyrieofsynapses]

Oh! THIS. I LIKE THIS. If I may add on?

YES, Young Justice fills this gap between “children’s” and “mature adult” very, very nicely. I would say that as of season three it’s more TV-14 or a heavy PG-13 than PG, necessarily (I suppose it depends on what you’re comfortable with your kids seeing), while the older cartoons you’re referencing land a little closer in the low PG-13 or PG rating. Justice League, Batman Beyond and much of their fellow shows don’t show blood or suggestive sequences as the third (and likely later) season of YJ did. Normally they might not be able to get away with such a drastic shift, but thanks the five year hiatus, YJ’s original audience is old enough that there’s no major concern. So it’s currently filling a gap that... nothing else DC’s animated department is doing right now really does.

YJ was so popular that DC thought it was worth it to bring it back to bring people to their streaming service, which is a pretty obvious mark of how good it was. It’s expensive to revive a show like that: they wouldn’t have done it if they weren’t confident in the decision. It’s got an entire universe of its own- remember, they redid huge sections of “family” backstories and play with entirely unique, revamped versions of characters. A prominent example of that would be the Batfamily.

Currently, YJ has already animated Spoiler, Harper Row, and Orphan for the first time. Batwoman has a brief cameo. Barbara’s filling an essential role as Oracle. It’s often been speculated in the fandom that Jason Todd’s backstory has to be significantly different than his comic version. And yet, in spite of their prominence and Nightwing’s outstanding portrayal, they almost always end up shoved to the side for other characters... but those other characters are in desperate need of their own space. The Batfamily is notorious for taking over everything the moment they step into the picture. YJ’s decision to sideline them for the most part is smart, because they can focus on characters who are otherwise frequently underdone. And yet it sidelines a lot of underrated Bats. How do you balance that effectively?

Well, as is suggested here: give the Bats their own show. YJ has the animated versions of a bunch of lesser-known Bats already prepped and ready to go, plus a massive universe of their own. They’ve proven themselves adept at adapting Batman, Oracle and Nightwing; why not give them the others? The age range and stories of Orphan, Bluebird, Spoiler, and Signal all fall perfectly into YJ’s usual stories, and we know YJ is excellent at writing accurate representations of teenagers and strong, well-written women. (I won’t speak for POC but I believe that’s also well done.) A lot of YJ’s usual theme of deception, lies, and “family does not make you who you are” is ideal for all of those characters and the Batfamily at large.

Plus that allows for the original show to give focus to lesser-known characters or families that don’t get as much attention. The Flash family already has some wonderful material laid out. So do the Supers and Wonders. And there’s a positively massive list of otherwise underrated characters who have all gotten an important place on YJ’s list, all of whom absolutely deserve lots of attention.

There are so many possibilities. YES. Yes, yes, yes, all the way, this would be the perfect way to handle introducing a new Batfamily show, give the reins to a competent and proven group, and simultaneously provide a huge boost to what is already an incredible show, and have a new show that sits in that comfortable range between too young and too mature. I love this idea.

Okay so I think they should make another dc animated show, one that is made for adults and has adult themes and humor, but is less graphic and/or gratuitously violent so they can still market it to kids, It’s Young Justice, I’m talking about Young Justice. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, a ton of the cartoons from the 90s and early 2000s are really good and enjoyable for both kids and adults, instead of making two different kinds of cartoons that fall on two completely opposite sides of the spectrum like say Justice League Action and Harley Quinn, they take a page from their predecessors like Justice League Unlimited and Batman Beyond and make a show everyone can enjoy, except this time they go into it with that being the goal, like with YJ season 3. My suggestion is a batfamily show seeing as we’ve never really had one that gives them the spotlight they deserve, one that really flushes them out as real three dimsional characters outside of the Batman’s shadow. That being said Batman should still be in it, he’s very marketable and that’s okay, the show needs to make money to get and stay on the air. Batman sells, plus there isn’t currently a Batman show on right now, so we’re due for one. However this time it could be something different, something new and interesting, it could introduce characters that are all but non existent outside the pages of their comics, like Stephanie Brown and Duke Thomas. After years of pretending that Batman works mostly alone I think DC owes us a bomb ass Batfam the animated series (still workshopping the name... maybe Beyond The Batman, or maybe We were Robins, or Batgirls and the Birds of feather... Batfam Inc.. The Dead Robins Society, Dead Robins Club? Batman and co. Orphans of the Bat...I’m having way too much fun with this, but you get my point.) There is so much source material to draw from and little competition in the way of comically accurate adaptations of the batfamily outside of Dick Grayson and if we’re being honest not all of them are particularly accurate (YJ killed it but otherwise he’s either ooc or majorly sidelined by Batman and later Damien). I’d love to see what they could do with the proper time and respect devoted to bringing these characters to the small screen. As much as I want live action I think animation is a much more attainable goal seeing as they have literally never even managed to get Dick GD Grayson a character who has been around literally almost as long as Batman and longer than even most of the other big name heroes, even close to correct in any way shape or form.

[deathbycoldopen]

*vitual hug for all my spn folks*

I've (obviously) eased off of my involvement in spn stuff lately, partly because irl stuff got in the way and then because I realized I wasn't too concerned about falling behind on the show so I didn't bother catching up again. But, I still love all of you in the fandom very deeply, and I'll never forget or dismiss the impact this show and this fandom has had on my life.

That said, I am incredibly disappointed with what I've heard about 12x21 and Eileen's death. I won't make judgements about the quality of an episode I haven't seen (the majority of reviews I've seen say it was exposition-heavy and plodding, both of which are hallmarks of buckleming but not necessarily deal breakers), nor can I comment on how Eileen’s death fits into the overall narrative of the season when I’ve only seen half of it.  What I can say, though, is that character death to “”””””raise the stakes”””””” has been so overused in television today that I cannot imagine a situation where I would approve of killing off Eileen.  The fact that Supernatural just killed off a dynamic, interesting female character who represents a facet of society that is even more rarely represented than the queer community, and on top of that did it in the first five minutes of the episode, makes me want to change my handle to “No more death by cold open” instead.

So on that note, I wanted to share a paper that I wrote only a few weeks ago that is (sadly) appropriate to this situation.  The paper was a continuation of a discussion on the Bury Your Gays trope controversy that exploded last year, but I feel like the entire thing is pretty applicable to this situation as well.

Let Them Live: A Proposal by Hazel Howland

(read on google docs, or continue under the cut)

We Deserved Better

On April 21st, 2016, a single document began circulating the internet, among television fans and television creators alike.  The seven-point document had a simple point: “We deserved better.” (Carbone, Hosko, Tass, & Mama, 2016)

The pledged, dubbed “The Lexa Pledge” on Twitter, was a direct response to the sudden rash of lesbian and bisexual female character deaths on television.  The controversy began with the death of popular character Lexa on the CW’s The 100, an outcry centered around the TV trope called “Bury Your Gays,” and continued as more and more lesbian and bi female characters were killed over the course of just a few months.  In such a tense standoff between fans and creators, the Lexa Pledge was written by several writers and producers of the Canadian TV Show Saving Hope, in an attempt to offer a solution to the Bury Your Gays controversy.

But just how viable is the solution offered by the pledge?  The obvious option, that TV creators just don’t kill off LGBT characters, certainly lacks the nuance that the Lexa Pledge reaches for.  Simply not killing off LGBT characters would mean that in an Anyone Can Die situation, suddenly all queer characters are magically immune- and while as a queer woman the thought of immortality is appealing to me, in practice it’s not the most exciting of narratives.  It changes the stakes of the narrative from “anyone can die” to “anyone except this one character because they’re queer can die.”  Not only that, it might also encourage television creators to limit the number of LGBT characters in their shows- which, given how underrepresented LGBT characters are (Stokes, Bradford, & Townsend, 2016), would be fairly detrimental to the queer community.

The Lexa Pledge itself proposes a much more deliberate approach to the problem.  Of the seven promises included, two are concerned with the issue of representation above and beyond the Bury Your Gays trope; one acknowledges the need for informed consultants from the LGBT community itself; one even pledges to never mislead fans on social media.  The broad yet detailed approach ticks off all the boxes of the controversy- and yet, in the year since the pledge was first written, it hasn’t had much success.  One of the creators of the Lexa Pledge, Noelle Carbone, has even stated that “In retrospect perhaps it should’ve been a single more general statement pledging to do better. More people would’ve signed on to that version of the pledge.” (Liszewski, 2017).  The text of the pledge was intentionally exhaustive, she went on to explain, which limited its appeal (Liszewski, 2017).  It’s not hard to imagine that writers and producers not inclined towards the progressive would be hesitant to sign such an ideological and restrictive pledge.

The solution then needs to be something simple and general enough that it has wide appeal, perhaps not instead of the Lexa Pledge but in addition, something much more subtle that still results in fewer LGBT deaths.  After all, queer women aren’t the only characters on TV who are dying in droves- Vox lists two hundred and forty-two character deaths in the 2015-’16 TV season alone (Franmke, Zarracina, & Frostenson, 2016).  With this oversaturation of character death on television, death is no longer really an effective way to heighten the drama of any given show.  In that case, it seems like the best course of action is to kill (or perhaps revive?) two birds with one stone: press creators to focus on avoiding character death in general.  This will not only sidestep the Bury Your Gays issue, but it will also increase the emotional and financial impact of any given television show.

Don’t Kill Your Darlings

An oft-repeated piece of advice to aspiring writers is to “kill your darlings.”  The phrase itself has been attributed to many different sources over the years (Wickman, 2016), but no matter the originator, it’s usually referring to favored sentences or word choices that are ultimately unnecessary to the text, that the budding writer needs to trim from their work.  However, television writers and producers lately seem to be taking this advice far more literally, and killing off any fan-favorite character they want.  The usual excuse is that death “raises the show’s dramatic stakes,” but for the most part, “You’re doing it for shock value, even if what you’re trying to convey is that everyone in this [fictional] world can die.” (VanDerWerff, 2016).  Viewers become desensitized to the neverending barrage of death, especially when the character death isn’t particularly meaningful or well-done.  “In isolation,” VanDerWerff (2016) writes, “a death that is adequate, though not particularly stirring, becomes harder to take when there’s a whole wave of mediocre deaths around the programming grid.”

Character death does tend to create a lot of much-needed buzz around TV programs, but the Bury Your Gays controversy proves that not all publicity is good publicity.  The episode of The 100 that began the controversy, “Thirteen,” was rated a 5.7 on IMDB with wildly disparate ratings on either end of the scale- 60% of reviewers gave the episode a one out of ten, while 28% gave it a ten out of ten (IMDB, 2016).  Meanwhile, the ratings for the show dropped by 14% the episode after Lexa’s death, and with a few exceptions has been lingering around one million viewers since then, only about half the number that watched the first season (Wikia, 2016).  In fact, research has shown that “brands advertised in violent media content were remembered less often, evaluated less favorably, and less likely to be purchased than brands advertised in nonviolent, nonsexual media” (Lull & Bushman, 2015).  Given that television is a business based on advertisement revenue, that finding should be particularly relevant to any TV writer, producer, or executive pushing for character death.  Ultimately, they need to be asking themselves if the potential shock value is worth potentially alienating their fan base, crashing their ratings, and losing advertising revenue.

Getting There

We are living in the Golden Age of television, and the industry has changed rapidly and momentously in the past few years, thanks to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.  With so much change comes opportunity for more- but in order to create a format where death isn’t stuffed into every episode of every TV show on air, both fans and writers need to put in some work.

It’s easy to forget with the structure of television, where episodes are written and filmed months before they’re aired with no time to change plots based on fan reactions.  But the fact of the matter is, the viewers are the ones who have purchasing power in television.  If the controversy and outcry is big enough, then fans can have a fundamental impact on the shows that we watch, from bringing a favorite character back to an entire show.  In order to do that, however, the push for change has to be huge and constant.  Fan outrage over Lexa’s death may have done considerable damage to The 100’s ratings, but the conversation about Bury Your Gays has long since petered out.  Most of the articles and fan reactions covering the controversy are from spring of 2016, and yet lesbian/bi female characters are still dying.  There might be still more as the TV season enters the home stretch, when most TV deaths tend to occur.  The conversation about Bury Your Gays and character death in general has to continue in order for the medium to change, and so that falls on the fans to keep the momentum going.

It’s the job of the fans to educate TV executives and creators on what they’re doing wrong.  It’s not enough to just quit any one show- they have to know why their numbers are suddenly dropping.  In this day and age we have more access to creators through social media than ever, and so it’s our responsibility to utilize those platforms to our fullest advantage.  Additionally, television is meant to elicit an emotional reaction from the audience, and the goal of any character death is to generate shock and buzz.  That means that in order for any message to the executives to be successful, it has to be smart; it has to explain that this is the wrong emotional reaction, and causing them to lose viewership.

Of course, fan response can only make so much of an impact; the brunt of the labor is on those actually working in television.  Readers, if any of you happen to be involved in the industry, this is for you.  As we move into the end of the 2016-’17 season and you begin work on the next, we TV fans, both casual and devoted, straight and LGBT*, have a simple request: let them live.  It doesn’t matter if the character you’re about to kill off is gay, straight, black, white, male, female, or none of the above- let them survive.  When characters are dropping dead left and right, it’s no longer raising the stakes when yet another one bites the dust; all you get from that is another stale narrative.

There’s an infinite number of conflicts and narrative arcs that can develop characters other than grief and death.  In fact, with the overwhelming number of shows chasing the Anyone Can Die format, it’s actually shocking and original when a show takes a different route.  It might seem restrictive to ask you not to kill of your characters, stifling your creativity, but if the arc you’re developing has been used so frequently, it isn’t really creative.  Your job is to think outside the box and create something dynamic and new, not just rehash the same plots over and over again.

Sometimes, character death is driven not by creative inspiration but by necessity, because an actor is leaving the show or some other mitigating circumstances.  But in that case, character death only precludes that character ever returning to the show (in most cases- some shows are fantastical enough that coming back from the dead isn’t an impossible occurrence).  Killing the character off in that case just means that options are now even more limited in the future.  Furthermore, actors leaving for other roles or because their contract is up are often well-publicized- meaning that any shock value in killing them off is doubly nullified by predictability.

Of course death and grief are very powerful and important life-changing events; it’s not fair or reasonable to ask that they be left unexplored in television.  In fact, some of the best episodes in television have been focused on the death of a loved one- personally, “The Body” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to mind, but there are many, many more.  However, there are many other potential storylines that have a similar resonance with real life, like childbirth, first love, trauma, and so on, that can develop a character just as thoroughly as grief.  And the power of the death narrative is, by its nature, limited if it’s constantly used.  One death is a person; a hundred is a statistic.

The Lexa Pledge was on the right track in its call to action.  “We deserved better” and the seven pledges reminds all of us that the work to change the world of television.  But more than the toxic Bury Your Gays trope, television has given us a vision of a violent world, where lives- especially women, especially people of color, especially the queer community- are expendable.  We can’t just ask the industry to keep from killing queer women when others are considered just as expendable, and when death itself seems trite from overuse.  Exploring options other than killing off a character not only avoids the pitfalls of the Bury Your Gays trope, but also brings something fresh and exciting to a medium dominated by death.  It’s only a first step, of course.  Even keeping characters alive and well has very little impact on the representation of minority groups on television.  But at least, if the grim reapers of television can relax their scythes, the representatives that we do have won’t be dropping like flies, and that’s a start.

#LetThemLive

References

“Bury Your Gays”. (2010). TV Tropes. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays

Carbone, N., Hosko, S., Tass, G., & Mama, M. (2016). A pledge to the LGBTQ fandom. Retrieved from https://lgbtfansdeservebetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/pledge2.1.3-originalsigned.pdf

Franmke, C., Zarracina, J., & Frostenson, S. (2016).  All the TV character deaths of 2015-’16, in one chart. Vox. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/a/tv-deaths-lgbt-diversity

IMDB. 2016. User ratings for “The 100” Thirteen (2016). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4731502/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt

Liszewski, B. (2017). How Saving Hope lived up to the Lexa Pledge. The TV Junkies. Retrieved from http://www.thetvjunkies.com/saving-hope-live-up-to-lexa-pledge/

Lull, R., & Bushman, B. (2015). Do sex and violence sell? American Psychological Association Journal. Retrieved from http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/45488561/Lull_and_Bushman_-_Do_Sex_and_Violence_Sell_PB2015.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1493153456&Signature=3Kh2mVnkiD3GYWNpXqv%2FWGzqiNo%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DDo_Sex_and_Violence_Sell_A_Meta-analytic.pdf

Stokes, Z., Bradford, R., & Townsend, M. (2016). Where we are on TV. Glaad. Retrieved from http://glaad.org/files/WWAT/WWAT_GLAAD_2016-2017.pdf

The 100 Wikia. (2016). Ratings.  Retrieved from http://the100.wikia.com/wiki/Ratings

VanDerWerff, T. (2016). TV is killing off so many characters that death is losing its punch. Vox. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/2016/6/1/11669730/tv-deaths-character-best

Wickman, F. (2013). Who really said you should “Kill your darlings.” Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/18/_kill_your_darlings_writing_advice_what_writer_really_said_to_murder_your.html

[nikkxb]

The 11 Questions thingy

Tagged by: @adorableears7 (thank you!!)

This got really long and I really like these questions, so I want to pass them on to the people I tag. 

How did you get into fandom? What was your catalyst to finding the tumblr community?

What’s your favourite part about your favourite fandom?

If you could spend the day with any fictional character, who would it be and why?

What fictional character has had the biggest impact on your life or has inspired you the most?

Talk about your favourite book (I KNOW IT’S HARD but if you had to pick one).

Do you have any accomplishments or anything in your life you feel the most proud of?

Tell us about a project you have going on! Or if you don’t have one, maybe something you’ve always wanted to write or draw?

How do you feel about AU’s?

Do you have any favourite composers or soundtracks?

In your opinion, what is the best Disney movie to come out since Disney’s Golden Age?

Fangirl about something, really go wild!

I’m tagging @skittledoodles @misku-nimfa @denilmo @heavenissilcnt @cakeiton @leisurewriter @kagomehigurashi and anyone else that wants to do this! No pressure, though! Only if you want to. :)

1. How did you get into fandom? What was your catalyst to finding the tumblr community? Well shit. I got into fandom in general during a time most people on tumblr might not remember -- back when Quizilla was only quizzes and people made each question a section of their story with the answer holding the end of the chapter. The stories were drastic between good and bad, so a “Quizlist” was created to showcase good fics. I was a part of that forum and community, finding stories to add to the list, going through nominations, and offering beta services to Harry Potter fics. Then, I kinda fell away during college and randomly went looking for Inuyasha fanfics I remembered a couple years ago. Revived my long forgotten tumblr blog, dove headfirst into what was left, and haven’t looked back since.

2. What’s your favourite part about your favourite fandom? I don’t know if I can choose a favorite fandom, but I love the worldbuilding that happens. In the Naruto fandom, I’m attracted to the headcanons and people that build everything missing. The same for Inuyasha -- those things that focus on building the world around Papa Inu, or focusing on what happen in present time while Kagome’s gone, or things like that. I love the ingenuity that comes with it and how people can create around what’s there.

3. If you could spend the day with any fictional character, who would it be and why? Asuma! Hands down, Asuma. Can you imagine the stories he has?! He would just be so much fun to talk to, to learn more about his life and enjoy the day. Either him or Ron Weasley. 

4. What fictional character has had the biggest impact on your life or has inspired you the most? Ooooh Edmund Pevensie, definitely. The Narnia books are so close to my heart and I treasure them so much -- and his character is one of my absolute favorites. To see how he handled himself and earned a pride in who he could be by giving up pride in who he was, just absolutely fantastic. His is one of my favorite character development stories of all time and it goes further through the series. Love it so much.

5. Talk about your favourite book (I KNOW IT’S HARD but if you had to pick one). Howl’s Moving Castle! Okay, so it’s hard to miss that I love the movie, BUT THE BOOK. It’s wonderful! Miyazaki definitely edited and changed a few things from the book to make the movie, so the book is almost a new story. It adds in this sense of magic and realism that could be explored in every which way AND SERIOUSLY. If you’ve seen the movie, READ THE BOOK. It’s worth it!!

6. Do you have any accomplishments or anything in your life you feel the most proud of? I...honestly don’t know. 

7. Tell us about a project you have going on! Or if you don’t have one, maybe something you’ve always wanted to write or draw? Does wedding planning count?! I roleplay, so outside of writing those threads and asks, wedding planning is really taking up my time. I’d love to get back into writing fanfics, but it’s just not working out right now. 

8. How do you feel about AU’s? I LOVE AUS. I have 12 stories posted on AO3 right now and there are 7 aus in that. I’ve always felt there are other authors who can better explore canon and I love reading those, but my heart is always in creating other verses.

9. Do you have any favourite composers or soundtracks? I love the soundtrack to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. If I have trouble settling down to write, I usually will put on that to help me focus. It’s just wonderful. Other favorite soundtracks are The Lion King, LOTR: FOTR, and Remember the Titans. As for favorite composers, I bounce all the time, but I think it’s probably Chopin.

10. In your opinion, what is the best Disney movie to come out since Disney’s Golden Age? So, apparently Disney’s Golden Age includes the movies he worked on while he was alive. For some reason, I’ve been mixing that up with Disney’s Renaissance. Knowing that, the best movie is Beauty and the Beast, but my favorite is Mulan. 

10. Fangirl about something, really go wild! There’s this peanut butter chocolate smoothie at the bagel place that just opened up in the front of my town. It’s delicious. Like, so good that even though the bagels taste more cakey than anything and the service absolutely SUCKS, I’ll continue going back and paying five dollars for because as soon as I start thinking about it, I want one. It’s a perfect balance between the two flavors and isn’t too thick to drink through a straw, and the chocolate chips are big enough to be satisfying when you bite into one. It’s fan-fucking-tastic and now I want one.

[stuckinfandomland]

So, I can write about what’s what in fandom all I want. But where’s the proof of dedication? Where’s the credibility? The ethos? Well, first shameless plug to go check out my  Tumblr a made to go with this blog that has all my fandom reblogs and post from here. Also for you Otakus out there, my AnimeList. But for those who want to see the real-life dedication, I’m making this new category for any time something fandom happens to me. As for this first one, I would like to say thank you to financial aid for sending me into debt further making me a broke college student and giving me the money to buy merch. So, without further ado here is all the awesome stuff I bought.

Black Butler: Book of Circus Poster from 5 below cost $5

Alice in Wonderland Mug from Hot Topic Cost $20

Renegades by Marissa Meyer retail cost $19.99 Half-Priced Books $9.99

Yuri!!!ON ICE fabric poster form Hot Topic Cost $18.99

Yuri!!!ON ICE t-shirt from Hot Topic retail cost 22.99 Sale $10

First, I believe I have to do the Black Butler: Book of Circus Poster since I finally get to talk about how much I love the series. I love Black Butler. I always had a thing for mysteries and the gothic so of course, when I found this show I fell in love, especially with Sebastian. I mean like he does kind of makes hell look worth it – wait what no stop that. I really enjoyed this revival of the series after Season 2 was … Anyway, a very bias review aside I recommend this show to people who like anti-heroes and historical shows (w/ a bit of BL fan-service but why not). Next, there is my Alice in Wonderland Mug. Honestly, if you haven’t guessed that I like Alice in Wonderland by now your just not paying enough attention. I am not a huge fan of classic literary, but certain works hold a dear place in my heart. Alice in Wonderland is one of those epically the Disney movie. The original one, not the live action ones—just didn’t like those as much for some reason really wanted this mug because it has been my dream to have a Mad Hatter Tea Party with a wide variety of teacups and teapots. I have been waiting so long to get this book and I cannot wait to be able to talk about the Lunar Chronicles and just how awesome it is. The book a bought, Renegades by Marissa Meyer, is about a world that is now run by superheroes. It is amazing and you can kind of see how it has a mixture of DC and Marvel fandoms in it. It is so good but no spoilers because I’m busy with finals and I can’t read 500+ pages and still ace all my finals. (I’m not that kind of genius.) Finally, the thing that I love so much I got two things about this wonderful, wonderful show. Yuri!!! ON ICE is a beautiful anime that is about ice skating because of sports anime. What sets it apart for me was the amount of love and understanding that not only the characters have for each other but the people who made it had for the fans and vice versa. It amazing and honestly, I don’t know what to expect from season 2 since season one made all my dreams come true. Forever Red, JaceofHearts♥ Well I spent about $50+ on stuff I don't need #noregrets #FDOM17 So, I can write about what’s what in fandom all I want. But where’s the proof of dedication?