#JUST TO POINT THAT OUT AGATHA IS STILL VERY MUCH A VILLAIN HERE

[aparticularbandit]

Okay, we talk shit about Agatha killing all those witches, but - with one exception (Alice), every single one of those witches also tried to kill her.

Every. Single. One.

Those witches would still have tried to get a coven together to seek a road that wasn't there, would still have not been able to summon a road that wasn't there, and likely still would have lashed out at the other witches around them for being unable to summon a road that wasn't there.

Agatha provoked them to attack her specifically, sure.

But they still attacked her.

[gavillain]

AGATHA EPISODE SIX SPOILER DISCUSSION; HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A GOOD EPISODE!!!!

A LOT happened in this episode, and we got a LOT of answers!

I'm really glad we got Billy Kaplan/Billy Maximoff's full backstory here at the midway point, and I really enjoy the way this episode bridged the gap between WandaVision and Agatha All Along. I'm just really excited to see Billy's story getting adapted here in general too. Obviously it's a bit different from the comics, but they kept a lot of the core ideas of it in tact. And I'm super happy to see that they explicitly kept his Jewishness in tact as well given the MCU's unfortunate habit of erasing or neglecting Jewish identities. We find out here that Billy Maximoff's spirit is inhabiting the body of Billy Kaplan, who died in a car accident the day the Hex came down. We also find out that Lilia was the one who put the sigil on Billy after reading his palm and seeing his broken life line (I was surprised but I thought that reveal was very satisfying). We find out that Billy's boyfriend's name is Eddie, so he's not Teddy Altman and thus probably not Hulkling, which I personally never really thought but other people were theorizing.

Oh and RALPH BOEHNER RETURNS!!!! :D Honestly, I didn't think I would care, but my boyfriend and I went WILD when we saw him pop up. A+ callback right there :D And I like him being the one to sort of facilitate Billy going to Westview after Agatha. After how little he did in WandaVision post-reveal that he wasn't Pietro, it was nice to see him get a bit more relevance again in the overarching plot.

Agatha pulls herself out of the mud and survives, and I also really loved how Agatha wasn't mad or vengeful towards Billy. She was legitimately excited to see him and know who he was. Their relationship is one of the most interesting parts of the show, so I'm glad to see that it's not totally being burned to the ground. Obviously, Billy is fully in the right not to trust Agatha, but we're now at a juncture where the two of them are going to be more open and honest with each other, and that has me excited! We just saw Agatha last episode prove why she is still very much a villain, but we also saw that Billy has a bit of a dark side in him too. I think we're gonna see Billy be torn between good and evil as the show goes forward and deciding what type of witch he wants to be, with Agatha being the proverbial devil on his shoulder. I made the comparison a few weeks back about Agatha and Billy being Maleficent and Riku from Kingdom Hearts in another font, and that seems to be the direction we're heading, which excites me.

Theory wise, there's not a whole lot of new theories for me at least, other than the ones continuing from previous episodes, but I do have a few more scattered thoughts: *Eddie uses the black heart emoji for Billy, so does that mean HE was the black heart that Lilia wrote on the list instead of Rio? If so, it's kind of weird that HE would be a "black heart" in any way. But also this still has me thinking that Blackheart may yet be involved. Not as Rio (who we pretty much know is Death due to leaks), but maybe somewhere else? I dunno, I'm not giving up hope that he or Mephisto are involved, even if it's just as an after credits scene.

*BILLY HAVING A BLACK CAULDRON POSTER IN HIS ROOM MADE ME SO FRIGGIN' HAPPY! To see Disney acknowledging that movie always warms my heart, but to know that Billy is a fan in this universe is REALLY cool and gives me a sort of kinship with him. Love to the underloved!

*Rio is still MIA since Alice died. Is she still tending to Alice or is she doing something else?

*Lilia and Jen aren't dead, and we know as much, but they didn't escape the bog with Agatha, so I'm wondering if the next trial will see the get out or maybe see them waiting there for Agatha and Billy.

*Billy is apparently on the road to find Tommy, which makes a lot of sense. I know people are upset that he's not after Wanda, but I genuinely don't think Wanda's return to the MCU was ever going to be in another TV show. I think, if Wanda returns, it's going to be in Avengers Doomsday, much like her return in the comics during Children's Crusade. But I'm excited to see if Tommy DOES return in this show or if Billy's ambitions are going to remain unresolved at the end of the road. I'm excited to find out!

NEXT EPISODE WITH SPEED PLEASE! I have a MIGHTY need to see Billy in that Maleficent cosplay in what I assume is the next trial… yes, I am, as ever, myself XD

[lieutenant-pride]

i kinda wanna rant about agatha all along

for better or for worse i looked in the general direction of an mcu property again and spoiler alert, it's mostly for the better

really i just wanna blurb about it and why i think it's a standout in the mcu catalog, and why i feel i'm enjoying it compared to all the other work i've seen in the mcu - and some work outside of it, to an extent!

(ACTUAL spoiler alert for under the blurb for guardians vol 3, multiverse of madness, wakanda forever, deadpool and wolverine, and - of course - agatha all along)

the preface: my history watching stuff with any attachment to the mcu involves quite a few of the mainline movies that were released leading up to avengers infinity war and endgame. back then, i had much less of a problem with the writing decisions made within the work because i really was just looking for popcorn films out of these - and to be fair, i can't take shots at others who want that now, either! some of my favorite films predating infinity war were thor ragnarok and black panther

after endgame, i kinda fell off the bandwagon and didn't really want to indulge many of the series actively from that point on, though i didn't really pinpoint why for a bit after that. i didn't engage with any of the tv shows in phase 4, aside from seeing clip shows of wandavision and what if here and there. what sort of helped shape why i was losing interest in the mcu and its style of writing - and works that ended up shaped by that style of writing inside and outside of disney's reach - was watching the four post-endgame films i had any passing interest to see: guardians vol. 3, multiverse of madness, deadpool and wolverine, and wakanda forever. each of these illustrated my issues with previous films clearer than before, in different ways.

Guardians Vol. 3 is a film that was heavily hindered by the past films' comedy chops hamstringing the serious character story for rocket raccoon. much as i wanted to invest in this heartfelt story they were putting together for him, it IS a guardians of the galaxy film, so how can it hold water if it's all serious all the time? it led to a tonal dissonance, especially with the usual irony sprinkled into that humour that you see in a lot of films within the mcu? much as it tried to bring me in, it still actively pushed me out

Multiverse of Madness has a worldbuilding issue in what it allows its villain to do and when: Wanda in this film - namely during her Dreamwalking moments - can just do straight up anything she wants, as long as it makes her a horror film level threat to the heroes. this, unfortunately, leads you to ask, with alarming frequency: "Okay, if she can do X, then why doesn't she do X again now, instead of Y?" this is also combined with the fact that the rules of her magic only get the slightest hint of boundaries during this film. sure, we can say it's the darkhold empowering her the whole time, but if this book allows her to do so much, why does she go through the catalog of spells and pick a new one with each situation, when some of those spells could work alarmingly well for her in later scenarios?

Deadpool and Wolverine was a lot of fun - in isolation. unfortunately, what it also did was paint in bright-ass colours what's a big problem with all the films actively a part of the MCU, by upping the dosage to 11: irony poisoning. this film wants nothing more than to look at old comics and pop culture and old flops and behind-the-scenes info about movies that fell flat, then turns to you and goes like "hey remember this thing? you like these fun jokes and characters? you like these memes? see how these things don't wanna be comics but we do?" it's a film that is very deeply tongue-in-cheek. and hey! that's fun, to some degree. it's just when you realize it's an SNL skit stretched out to feature film length that you kinda have to look at it - and other ryan reynolds work, after a bit - and kind of wonder if he wants to make anything new that's not busting open the fourth wall at every opportunity.

Wakanda Forever is the outlier here. where the others illustrate my frustrations, wakanda forever gave me a glimpse of something i wanted to see more of: a story that wanted to tell itself to you, that didn't want to hamper itself down with the same saturation of jokes that others in the MCU have. this was a film that wanted to put - front and center - a story about a brilliant and powerful woman grieving her paradoxical lack of power to save the ones she loves, and her struggles with grief as revenge begins to cloud her vision. the usual chops and attempts at levity are still there, but perhaps because there's less of them and they're timed better, there's more room for the real story to breathe, and for us to really focus on that struggle Shuri goes through. i finished watching this film and actually liked it quite a bit compared to the rest!

so yeah, by this point, i was much clearer on what i wasn't loving about the mcu: it's the damn irony poisoning and - as a friend of mine once put it - they're films that make all the actual fights about who "has the more powerful blue". the mcu films largely aren't willing to invest enough time in themselves to properly set up the stakes, and have those characters acknowledge them as they move forward, instead focused more on spectacle and quick quips.

now, that does make for fun popcorn movies, sure, but after getting a hypersaturation of that, i kind of wanted more from it? if i was getting a world of magic or sci-fi or superpowers, i wanted more than just a vague gesture at how powerful each of these things were, i wanted them to actually set up stakes and lay out clearly and consistently what made the villain a threat - and treat them like one consistently! and if the villain isn't the big issue, then i wanted to see what really was: the internal conflict was something i wanted more of, as well. i wanted characters that actually struggled with what choices they made or showed integrity in those choices, that held up their actions with conviction, instead of taking a lazy jab at it

agatha all along released, silently at first, mostly something i heard of because - on release - there was already buzz about billy kaplan being who teen HAD to be. i didn't watch it right away because i didn't care about the tv shows too actively before, so why do it now? and plus, what if it was just the same as the clip shows of wandavision i had seen? the best of it would just become clip shows on youtube eventually, right?

sometime later - had to be a little under two weeks ago, since it was just after episode 5's release - i got bored and said "you know what, how about i give this show a chance, after all?"

thank you, bored me, that was a pretty damn good decision

the first episode was a trip into the hexed mind of agatha, looking at the world through her vision as billy tries to break her out of it. it was a bit deceptive at first, but it was fun enough to keep me on board, even though i knew the tone had to shift considerably from there. the first couple of episodes did great at laying the groundwork for the series to come, and i wasn't as aware of it early on, but it was becoming clearer there was something different here

especially because each episode seemed to make it progressively harder to "just censor the queer bits" let's fuckin gooo!

but while one of my earlier grievances was more quietly alleviated, another seemed more loudly crushed by episode 5's climax. not necessarily the reveal that billy was billy all along, but the events leading up to it: there were characters in world moving on from a death that JUST HAPPENED - a murder, even! - and this leading up to billy's explosion and character reveal. this moment, where agatha celebrated her return of her powers even after killing one of her coven; where the two senior witches, while frustrated, seemed to shake off the death shockingly easily; and billy, the most junior of the bunch, has to deal with these people he thought he trusted just shaking off the death of someone he had made a friend of! there was actual character-led drama here! tension from characters acting accordingly led to a big shift in the dynamic and a character taking extreme action! i'm INVESTED???????

(the earlier grievance that was quietly handled was my worldbuilding and magic system issue, because this story wanted to genuinely believe in the magic it crafted and made sure, with each step, the rules it wanted to craft were followed. the funny thing is, by working mostly with characters that had little-to-no power as well as those who just couldn't control what they had, we were able to focus more on building the rules up through non-powered means and using the knowledge of the craft they practice first. i think we can also have a discussion on how maybe the balance of "exposition" vs "show don't tell" is a bit too tipped to the former's side, but i think that's something for another day, after the series finishes)

from there, episode 6 happens, and it just cements this show - in my mind - as probably my favourite mcu series. first of all, because if episode 4 didn't already do it, 6 made sure that there was just no room to censor out the gay bits, fuck yeah. secondly, it builds on the character we were already being introduced to quite well: using billy's past life as a source of internal drama was a natural choice, and it's done quite well, allowing you to invest deeper in what this kid's going through and why he's hunting so fervently for the witch's road, and what he expects to get out of it. even the final section where agatha interrogates his convictions (which by the way, definitely is where i'd start asking about exposition vs show don't tell) is great - not just for him, but for agatha, as we see HER convictions on display as well!

i kinda wanna wrap up my thoughts - and also episode 7's barely come out - so i won't touch on that one; just know that 7 is also peak, potentially even the best of the series to date

agatha all along was so deceptive to me because i was almost expecting just a general witch-y spinoff of what we got of her in wandavision, and what i saw of her made me think she'd just be another quippy villain that gets her own spinoff like loki (that series might be good too but i just don't like loki that much...?) what i got instead was a series focusing on agatha trying to get her powers back alongside a teenager with his own mysterious intentions - both seeking out a perilous option to get what they seek, alongside initially skeptical comrades who all get their own level of development as time goes on. what i got was a series that was invested in building upon the ideas of witches and magic that wandavision built some foundations on, delving deeper into the topics and showing us how other witches think and feel about their perception and struggles in the modern world. what i got was a disney series that didn't just say there was a gay character; it said there were many, and a few of them even make out on screen and have ex-lover drama! what i got was a series that took its world seriously, and a goddamned breath of fresh air out of the mcu!!!

so yeah agatha all along's pretty damn good, hope it keeps up the momentum in episode 8

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

I (almost) finished my first-ever campaign of DnD! Here's some things I noticed and lessons I've learned. Probably nothing revolutionary, but maybe someone might find it helpful!

Notes on the module:

we ran an adventure loosely based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, but I changed the backstory significantly to tie into one of my players' backstory and that became a large focus of the story, so I can't necessarily speak to the story of the module. I personally felt it was a little lacklustre, with a lot of plot points feeling very skin-deep or like a last minute add-on (*cough* Venomfang). But

the NPC names are very classic fantasy, but they didn't feel very organic to me - everyone at the table had huge trouble remembering most of them, except for Gundren, Agatha and Reidoth (again, grain of salt, neither me nor my players are native English speakers)

the locations are great, they're very evocative and fun! The dungeons were often way too big for us, I retconned almost half the final dungeon just to give us a hope in hell to finish it in three (very long) sessions. But if your party moves more quickly or you plan on running this campaign for a good bit, there's a lot to do.

since LMoP is (or was) advertised as the ideal intro to the game, I was a little surprised at how challenging I found it to run some of the combat. Especially the ones that contained a bazillion goblins or bugbears etc. to keep track of... but a friend with much more experience pointed out to me that LMoP is a great intro to the game for players. Which is an excellent point! I'm not saying it's necessarily super hard to run, either, I'm sure it's not! But for someone like me who struggles with visual orientation on a good day and yet decided to run combat in theatre of mind, it got pretty confusing a few times.

it has a really annoying little plot hole right at the end of the first encounter, which I caught, hoped I could ignore, and then it came up immediately: The PCs start out defending a wagon on the way through the woods, which then gets attacked. Once they defeat the attackers, the module expects the PCs to abandon the cart they just risked their lives for to pursue the attackers into the woods. Make your peace with the fact that they're probably not gonna do that.

Mistakes I made:

maybe my main regret is Sildar Halwinter, the main friendly NPC. I gave him a backstory and personality that I thought made sense and that I hoped fit the vibe and hinted at a larger world. And it did! I really liked what I did with him. But he was also a terrible NPC to give to my party. I brought a real fiction-/tv-writer sensibility to the character design and gave him a very matter-of-fact and relatively quiet personality... and discovered that my party does not ask NPCs personal questions unless HEAVILY prompted. At all. Not even after the DM repeatedly helplessly says stuff like "well, you've never asked them" lol. I literally only managed to give them some of his backstory by having him proclaim "wow, my wife would have liked this place!!" in a kinda unsubtle way in the final session. Meanwhile, characters with more proactive character traits - like the shepherd who was a real dragon-fanboy and talked about them whenever he could - were immediate hits with my players. So it's not a lack of interest in the NPCs, I just need to work on signalling that there's something there for them to ask about, I guess.

I didn't like the main villain of the campaign, so I made my own and statted her like I would a PC, but I didn't give her nearly enough class levels. She was lvl 6 against a party of three lvl 5 characters, so once they'd dealt with her handful of minions, she was pretty much toast. She could have been at least lvl 10 and still be a doable fight, and would have felt much more like a final boss.

I did not guess correctly how long their "brief" final encounter with the local dragon would take (they were somehow WAY too trusting and would not get scared and run away, so the dragon actually had to slap them around before they got the memo - I refuse to take the blame for this, they refused two separate opportunities to do research on dragons and our wizard did so terribly on the social encounter that a way nicer creature would have probably tried to eat her for it). The encounter was fun, but it happened under a huge time-crunch and we had to end what was the last real session of the campaign on a "and you excape from the dragon's lair and are safe, cool bye go catch your bus!" and had to table our epilogue for a ten-minute window at the start of next session. With is both annoying because it really butchers the flow of the narrative for the players and also because it will cut into the time for a one-shot one of the players is running next session. Idk what the lesson here is, timing is hard.

I should have used some rudimentary maps to keep track of the fights that had a ton of enemies in them tbh. I didn't like that because it seemed like a lot of work, but constantly going "wait fuck, which of the 15 goblins is the one I'm standing next to and is that the one that just took damage?" was no fun for anyone.

I came up with a cool regional effect inside the mine, but I wasn't fastidious about enforcing it so we all forgot about it, which is a shame.

I haven't been nearly as attentive to attacks of opportunity as I should have been and neither have my players, and they're not using Help, Disengage or Dodge actions nearly as much as they could yet

Notes for next campaign/ Stuff that was really popular with my party:

they loved all characters that I gave voices to, even though my voices are objectively BAD (no, really, I can do 1.5 accents outside of "generic British" and I really struggle to keep them consistent)

again, NPCs with obvious, proactive interests or character traits, no matter how irrelevant or borderline annoying were always a hit

my group will constantly volunteer to roll for stuff. Our youngest has firmly established that they roll initiative after every long rest to see who wakes up first, and has been 100 percent consistent about this.

our wizard player is really interested in her character's personality and backstory and is clearly prepared to antagonise a green dragon in service of it. She loved fun magical items, but I haven't sussed out if that was a character trait of the character or the player

our artificer is a little mechanics nerd and would pour so much love and care into her homunculus and golem and their design and abilities

our druid player picks a main theme for her character and zone in on that above everything else. Her character was extremely nature- and animal-loving so I had one of the NPCs teach him Find Familiar (yes, that's not a druid spell, but the player isn't exactly a power gamer so it didn't overpower anything) and I honestly think the chicken familiar was the high point of the campaign for the player (Clover the chicken acquired a bandana from the local tailor and is very fashionable)

she is also much more ready to kill her character than the other two

they like nuance, but they won't accept an impasse situation as conclusion of an arc, even if that's the most realistic

[the-haunted-star]

My humble thoughts on

WandaVision Episode 9 Finale & Series Review (SPOILERS!!!)

Here we are after 9 weeks the hotly anticipated finale to the first Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show has arrived. Season or series finales are often the most harshly judged episodes of a series. They have the difficult task of wrapping up all the loose ends, questions and mysteries raised throughout the series as well as providing a satisfying conclusion to the story. I feel the episode delivered the goods for the most part. There were a few things I had minor issues with but overall I was happy with the story they told with Wanda and Vision.

The main focus of this series was an exploration of Wanda's grief from the accumulated losses she's suffered since her introduction in "Age of Ultron" and how she ultimately dealt with that pain. In that respect I think the series succeeded beautifully.

Grief is a very relatable emotion as we've all had to deal with loss and grief at some point in our lives. It's all too difficult to face grief and entirely too easy to let it consume or overwhelm us. In Wanda's case the pain and sadness becomes too much and she chooses to deal with it by…not dealing with it. She uses here extraordinary powers to create her own fantasy reality, one born of her childhood love of tv sitcoms, a reality where her lover is still alive, she has a family, a home and she is happy. She becomes so engrossed in this fantasy that even she forgets that it is one. When anything threatened her happy reality she lashed out demonstrating just how much she did not want to deal with her grief.

The problem of course is that the pain is still there, festering beneath the surface. She's only put a bandaid on it and by forcing the residents of Westview to unwillingly play along in her fantasy world they too are suffering and feeling Wanda's pain as a consequence. In the end she chooses to face her grief and free the Westview citizens of their suffering by ending her fabricated reality even though it would also erase Vision and her children. Her final goodbye to Vision before the hex closes is heartbreaking.

Reading some of the reactions to this episode I think the series fell victim a bit to a lot of wild fan theories and online scuttlebutt which probably placed some people's expectations out of reach. While I avoided these I feel the series itself inspired these kinds of outlandish theorizing and conjecture because of its freshness and originality.

I speculated in my previous reviews about Agatha's true nature. This episode confirmed that she is indeed a villain who’s after Wanda's power which is one of the things I was disappointed with. I admit I may have fallen prey to the rumors of another bigger baddie appearing but the problem I had is that Marvel took a character that was an ally of Wanda's in the comics and turned her into a rather one dimensional villain. Considering the things Wanda has gone through I think it would have been more beneficial if Agatha turned out to be someone trying to help her and mentor her with her powers. There are any number of other actual bad guys from the comics they could have used for the antagonist role (including the heavily rumored Mephisto). I can see Doctor Strange probably filling the mentor role to Wanda in "The Multiverse of Madness" but I guess I kinda liked the idea of another witch character teaming up with Wanda. It’s irksome when a character from the comics is used in the live action but is really just INO (in name only).

The other criticism which I also touched upon before was the empty teasing of the Multiverse. One of the big surprises this series offered was the actor (Evan Peters) who portrayed Quicksilver in the X-Men movies reprising his role and appearing at the end of episode 5. Many including myself thought this was actually going to be the introduction of a character from another film universe crossing over into the MCU. Unfortunately this turned out to be more of an elaborate easter egg for diehard fans rather than an actual occurance of seperate universes colliding. I suppose they could still put a spin on it such as the Westview resident Agatha used as fake Quicksilver could really be the X-Men's Quicksilver counterpart in the MCU just with no speed powers. We'll see.

In episode 8, Wanda was finally referred to as The Scarlet Witch which is something fans have been waiting for. However the one thing fans have been waiting for perhaps more eagerly than the name is the comic book accurate tiara to be added to the costume. And it finally made its debut and it was a thing of beauty!

This episode also delivered the series first big action scenes with Wanda taking on Agatha and Vision battling his former physical body. While the fights themselves weren’t anything revolutionary they were still fun to watch and felt like they packed a punch.

The finale does answer many of the series’ questions while raising many more. What happened to Ivory Vision after Illusion Vision restored his memories? He flies off afterwards and that’s the last we see of him. Wonder when and where he’ll show up next?

Wanda is seen studying the Darkhold book at the very end when she suddenly hears the voices of her children crying for help. An intriguing tease which could potentially hint at that devilish rumored character being involved after all down the road when you consider the Darkhold is of hellish origin. 😈

I give this episode ⭐⭐⭐out of 5. It was a bit clunky in execution but was still able to deliver an emotional payoff and resolution to Wanda’s story.

The series as a whole: ⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5.

Well one series down but we’re just getting started! Next up in two weeks, Falcon and the Winter Soldier! Can’t wait!

[rootspiral]

WANDAVISION DEEP DIVE part 2

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4])

In which I continue looking through Agatha scenes in Wandavision, I want to get to AAA nowwwwww but I can't stop taking screenshots. I forgot how good this show is

We are on episode 6 and it's naughty couture time! (so much for less screenshotting)

Oh wow, these three together, very cute and not painful in any way! Also not foreshadowing or anything.

I'm not clear on this point, did Ralph have ANY free will or was Agatha just puppeteering him at all times? Because he totally sounds like Agatha doing a half-assed Quicksilver impression. You want to know about Wanda's trauma, don't you Fietro???

Bit much there, buddy. That's right. Too much ham. Off you go.

yep, that's Agatha's manipulative ass alright. and she almost got away with it too.

Episode 7, where Agatha can't wait to get her paws on those little boys and do horrible villainous things to them (like making them snacks and watch cartoons. And some light trauma)

That's why Billy's her favorite, he's such a mama's boy.

the exact faces the three of them will make when auntie Agatha tries to ghost-mom the twins

babies are delicious

why is she being such an ASSHOLE TO WANDA OH MY GOD. psychological torture for days and days and days

IMMEDIATELY tries to bond with Billy. she's also prodding for his powers but there's genuine kindness there too

Billy genuinely likes Agatha though, that's the thing. despite everything, even in the future he instinctively trusts her and seeks her out. in a way they kind of adopt each other

why does her voice get so tender goddamnit Hahn. you know Agatha is thinking about Nicky and having so many feels

this whole dynamic really hits differently now, doesn't it?

her body language with Monica is so threatening, she's containing herself but you can see she wants to KILL

At this point Monica and SWORD are approaching and there's no much time left, so Agatha takes another big risk and openly approaches Wanda - or actually, not *much* more openly. She goes from over-the-top neighbor to over-the-top witch, the same trick she always uses, except she never went against someone as scary powerful as Wanda. She is truly gambling here, and you can tell by how rigid her body language is. She's projecting strength more than feeling it, and I think she's using señor Scratchy both as a prop for her villain persona (hilarious. that's a cuddly bunny, you idiot!) and also as moral strength, she's holding him like a shield.

^^Agatha when she's purposely being a clown and fucking with people

^^the real Agatha, razor-focused, serious, and, more often than not, cruel.

Episode 8. We now know that Evanora hates Agatha because she was born with succubus powers - born different, born evil, queer analogies abound. Jac Schaeffer says that Agatha has never been loved by her mother or really by anyone before she met Rio, so let's just sit on that.

Here we have a very young Agatha, still a teenager, already up to mischief. Interesting that Evanora does not mention her killing anyone quite yet, Agatha's crimes are about seeking knowledge, something she'll keep doing all her life. She's already a self-fulfilled prophecy, she's being bad and going against her coven because her coven calls her bad and pushes her away. This is supposedly her family, her sisters, her community. She committed a bloodless crime, and they're about to execute her for it.

She denies, Evanora calls her out. Agatha is already refining her greatest skill: deception.

Can she control it? Did they ever try to teach her? And why is she talking about her powers now? She is not being executed for stealing at all, is she? And she knows it. (Also I LOVE that when Agatha is at her lowest she resorts to beg. Her survival instincts are stronger than anything, even her pride, she is self-centered to her very core. That's the only way she could ever survive.)

Evanora starts chanting "mors monstrum innaturale", death to the unnatural monster. And, I'm sorry, that's incredibly fucked up. It gets more fucked up the more I think about it.

"Watch this, Lisa. You can actually pinpoint the second when her heart rips in half."

The coven in an excess of prudence must have decided to kill Agatha in a joint effort, just in case her powers are too much for one witch or two. They thought they would destroy the so called evil with their moral superiority, they actually had no idea of what Agatha was capable of, and by her shocked expression, neither did she - she was never allowed to explore her abilities, not to such an extent anyway.

That's the same expression again, completely focused and merciless. I know I'm repeating myself but the real Agatha is anything but bombastic. Her emotions are subtle but formidable.

When I first watched this scene 3 years ago I came to the conclusion that Agatha was conning the Salemites in order to kill them. She was absolutely not. She is shell-shocked at what happened.

Hahn is very deliberately making understated choices here. No evil cackling, no gloating, just contempt and bitterness.

And I'm running out of space again but it was worth it, this scene was so interesting to analyze. Hopefully part 3 will be the last one for Wandavision

go to part 3

[morrisxn02]

“Well, she might know something.” He was quick to correct himself, realizing the incoherency between his thoughts and words. “What I mean is, if she knows something, and if that was the reason she was framed,” To Edward, Sam Jimenez had been 100% framed. It was almost funny how he had completely discarded the possibility of her being guilty of arson or somehow involved in Ida’s death but still was unsure about people who were closer to him than she was. “I don’t think she’s going to share it with the police… God only knows what else is at stake for her.”

Edward liked the idea of hiring a private detective. He really did. But there was a twinge of anxiety in his chest whenever he thought of the prospect of someone combing through every detail of his life – and what that might entail. What if they dug a little too deep and found out something they weren’t supposed to? What if they turned on them and decided to sell their secrets to their families instead? Rufus Morrison had all the money in the world and, from what Eddie knew, private detectives weren’t famous for having a very strong code of ethics. But Ambrose had a point; if they weren’t on anyone else’s payrolls, they wouldn’t have anyone else to respond to but them. “I get what you’re saying.” Internally, he tried to conciliate the idea of hiring a private detective while still keeping their own identities a secret to protect themselves. “We can try to make it work. We’ll discuss it tomorrow, somewhere quieter.”  

Ambrose’s next question about the point of G’s texts was a reminder that sometimes he thought things through very quickly and ended up forgetting to vocalize them, just expecting that his interlocutor would think in the exact same way that he did and follow the same far-fetched logic. “Listen, this is just me speculating here…” Buckle up, Ambrose, it’s tin-foil hat time. “But I think that Penny and Ida might have known more than what they were supposed to. Maybe they found out who it was who was sending the texts, you know? Maybe they were about to go to the police or something… And whoever is behind this just found a way to get rid of them. Maybe Sam doesn’t know who it is, but she was close to figuring it out and ended up getting lucky.” Not in the strict sense of the word, obviously. “Which doesn’t mean we’re expected to not do anything…” He continued. Sorry, Ambrose. “I think what they want us to do is to expose each other without getting their own hands too dirty.” There was a twisted sort of brilliance to G’s masterplan, kind of like an Agatha Christie villain in a way… “If we do their dirty work – connect the dots, spill the secrets, get people arrested and stuff, they won’t have to worry about consequences much.” He shrugged as if all he had just laid out didn’t sound like it had been taken straight from an Alfred Hitchcock film. “Say, if they accuse someone of manslaughter for example, but didn’t say who it was, they couldn’t get charged for defamation. Plus, imagine if it’s someone close to you, like your roommate. That type of thing leaves people shaken up, doesn’t it?” And wasn’t that what G wanted too? To mentally torture them in every way possible? “Kind of a win-win situation for them...” G’s cryptic messages meant they could ambush them from every direction and get out with a fine or a month of community service – that is if they ever got caught. “But that’s just me. If you ask other people, I’m sure they’ll have their own idea as to what the point of this is.”

Ambrose frowned, nearly wilting when Edward pointed out the Jimenez girl likely didn't know anything. It seemed to be the same thing he had heard among a lot of the people who were dealing with this last year, so he didn't question what his cousin had to say about it. Still it was frustrating to hear. "But she's still in jail," he said, like that would bring about any more answers. Maybe she was hiding something. Yes, she was probably only in jail for the fire, but that implicated her in something, right?

He disliked even more when Edward turned down the idea to get a Private Investigator. Sure, it wasn't like they had any information to give the person -- at least Ambrose didn't -- but that wouldn't be their problem, would it? It would be the Private Investigator's problem. That would be their job after all. "At least we would know they weren't on anyone else's payroll," Ambrose pointed out. He shook his head a little at Edward's more secretive reasons, giving a frown. "So you think this G person is murdering people because they've taken … information they've given them and found something out?" He said, raising his eyebrows. "What's the point of sending these stupid texts out if we're not supposed to do anything with them?" What was the point of any of this, was perhaps more the question Ambrose should have been asking. But perhaps he just hadn't been around long enough to read that point yet. Still stubbornly attempting to cling to some sort of logic in all of this. "You don't think this G person wants us to find something out? Then why send these? Don't they want us to know what happened to Greer?" That's what it sounded like to him. Which meant ... maybe it wasn't G that was the problem.

[heliads]

Some Things Have To Be Said (Part Three)

When S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Y/N L/N is called to the S.W.O.R.D. encampment outside Westview because of her history working alongside Wanda Maximoff, she’ll have to face her past with Wanda and even a confrontation with the woman she loved.

previous / masterlist

You can only stare at her. Your blood feels like it’s freezing in your veins, slowing to a stop. The world crashes to a halt around you. After a long moment, you’re able to claw up the strength to form a single word. “What?” Wanda’s gaze doesn’t break. “Who are you?” She repeats, and the question still burns just as deep the second time.

“You don’t- you don’t know me?” Wanda shakes her head, the movement slow and unflinching. “Should I?” You blink, trying to regain any sense of clarity. “Yes. No. You did, once.” Wanda’s emotionless mask flinches once, and she tilts her head slightly to the side to consider you. “I did, didn’t I?” She looks deeply into your eyes, and you have that same sense of overwhelming scrutiny that you had felt before. Wanda must be reading your mind, but there seems to be something blocking her from looking too deeply, because she looks away after barely a moment has gone by.

“L/N. Agent L/N. If you’re with the government, why don’t I feel afraid of you? Something is telling me to trust you, but I don’t know why.” You feel a bitter smile creep onto your cheeks, lips tugged up at the sides. “It’s because I loved you.” Wanda nods once. “And me? Did I feel the same way about you?” You force yourself to keep a calm face, to not break down. “I don’t know. That’s why I came, to find out.”

Wanda furrows her brow. “Y/N. Your name was Y/N.” You incline your head. “We met a while back. I don’t know why you can’t remember me.” Wanda seems about to answer you, but then you hear the sound of shouting from across the town. It sounds like the cries of two young boys, and you realize it must be Wanda’s children.

Wanda appears to have come to the same conclusion and seems drawn towards the sound, but she forces herself to turn back to you, as if held in place by some anchor tying her to you. “I have to go.” You nod once. “I know. It’s alright.” Wanda’s eyes flicker up to you, and she places her palm lightly against your cheek. It barely touches you, but the sensation of her so close to you is spellbinding. “You need to be careful. There’s a woman here, Agatha. I don’t want you to get hurt.” You let your hand come to rest against hers, contact for just a second. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Wanda nods, takes in one quiet breath. “I’ll come back, Y/N. I promise.” You try for a smile. “I know you will.” Wanda hesitates one last second, as if drinking in the sight of you, then she finally pulls her hand away and hurries off down the sidewalk to help her children.

You’re left standing there, your own hand unconsciously rising to where hers had just left you. Your fingers feel cool against your cheek. Out of nowhere, a woman appears in the middle of the street, and walks until she’s shoulder to shoulder with you, both of you watching the place where Wanda had just been. You speak first. “You must be Agatha.” The woman leers at you, and you realize she was the strange neighbour from before, the one who had known your name.

Agatha’s voice is colder now that she’s dispensed with the ‘happy neighbour’ attitude. “And you’re Agent Y/N L/N of S.H.I.E.L.D. Don’t take Wanda’s lack of memory too personally, I’m afraid that was my fault. I needed her to completely fall apart so I could take her powers, and I knew she wouldn’t crumble as easily if she knew she had someone else waiting for her who wouldn’t vanish when her little suburban dream disappeared.”

You cut a glance over to Agatha. “So you took her memories of me?” She nods, shoulders lifting in triumph. “Had to be done. I’d tell you not to worry because the memories might come back, but I’m not even sure that will happen.” Agatha claps her hands together, suddenly purposeful. “Well, I’m off to rain destruction on your little friend. Stay out of my way, sweetie, or you’ll find yourself in more trouble than you can handle.” The words, spoken so carelessly, carry a far deeper threat than the seemingly innocent words would otherwise show.

In a heartbeat, Agatha vanishes, and you’re alone on the street once more. You glance around you at the houses nearby, and realize with a dull panic that Monica was supposed to be checking out Agatha’s house to find Wanda. Surely she would have heard the voices and come out, right? When you check around, you can’t find Monica anywhere, so you decide to enter Agatha’s house and try to find your friend. If you can’t help Wanda right now, you can at least try to get Monica out of Agatha’s control.

The door to Agatha’s house is unlocked, and you can hear a vague commotion going on upstairs. When you make your way up a flight of stairs and down a hall, you pause by a door leading to a bedroom. You can hear Monica’s voice coming from inside, so you try the doorknob but find it locked. From inside the room comes the sound of someone panicking, and they seem to be begging for their life. That does it- you back up a little, then run at the door and kick it down. Monica looks up at the sound of the door splintering open, and you find that she’s not alone- there’s another boy there, who looks like the new Pietro casting on Wanda’s show.

You raise an eyebrow. “Well, I was ready to join in the fight but it doesn’t look like you’ll be needing my help. Who’s he?” Monica gives one last look to the boy on the ground. “Ralph, apparently. I think Agatha put him under mind control to make him act like he was Wanda’s twin brother. Easier to recast than bring someone back from the dead.” You shrug. “I can’t argue with that logic. You want to come to the town center? I think some big fight is going on between Wanda and Agatha.”

Monica nods, and the two of you leave Agatha’s house, heading quickly towards the center of town. Sure enough, you see Wanda and Agatha hovering in the sky, exchanging blasts of magical energy. You also see Hayward and his S.W.O.R.D. reinforcements arriving to the scene, and tap Monica on the shoulder to point them out. “You see that? He’s still gunning for Wanda even though it’s obvious she’s not the villain anymore.” Monica frowns in determination. “He’s got a bigger hand in this than he’s letting on. Are you ready to help defend Wanda and her kids?” You grin, reaching for the gun at your belt. “I thought you’d never ask.”

At last, after days of research and planning and mind control, you’re finally back in your element. As Hayward’s reinforcements pour out of their armored vehicles, you take them down one by one, moving with the methodical grace of someone who was practically born for combat. It feels so freeing to be able to finally push everything out of your mind and just take down everyone in your path. A large part of your S.H.I.E.L.D. training was combat, so it’s nice to use that familiar skill set again.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Hayward training a gun at Billy and Tommy, Wanda’s kids. Your eyes go wide as you realize he’s prepared to shoot, and even as you race towards him, desperate to stop this, you already know you’re arriving too late. Luckily, Monica is there just in time, and stands in front of the boys to protect them from the bullets. To your shock, Hayward still fires, but the bullets pass harmlessly through Monica and fall to the ground.

Hayward seems just as surprised as you are, and races into an armored vehicle in an attempt to ram the twins and Monica. Just as he’s flooring the gas, though, a food truck of all things hurtles into the vehicle, crashing into it in a flurry of sparks and twisting metal. You realize with a grin that it was driven by Darcy, and sigh in relief to realize that your friend is alright.

You hurry over to Monica. “Okay, I knew about the glowing eyes, but the bullet trick was new. Very cool and very dangerous.” Monica purses her lips in thought, but she looks exhilarated by her new powers. “I know about the dangerous, but I’m not so sure about the other part.” You toss her a grin. “I’ve worked with the Avengers for a while, and I’ve seen a lot of powers. Trust me, that was very cool.” Monica laughs at that. “It is, isn’t it?”

You look up to see Wanda floating out of the sky towards her children, and turn away hurriedly, distracting yourself by running checks on your weapon so that Wanda won’t see you. Monica frowns at you. “Y/N, when I got my powers I could see into Wanda’s head for a little bit. I know she loves you, and I know how you feel about her. Why are you trying to hide from her?”

You look back at the retreating figures of Wanda, Vision, and the twins. “She only has so much time left with this family, I don’t want to mar any of it with thoughts of others.” Monica follows your gaze, watching them leave. “Does it hurt to see her with them?” You sigh quietly. “Yes and no. It hurt more before, but I know that I’ll be able to be with her again once she lets them go. I want her to have as much time with them as possible.” Monica nods, and puts a hand on your shoulder in comfort. “If you need anyone, you know you’ve got me, right?” You smile back at her. “I do. Thank you, Monica.”

A woman in a black suit comes up to Monica, asking for a word in private. Monica nods, then turns back to you. Both of you know that this is goodbye, that you won’t be meeting up again today, or even for a while. Your eyes warm as you take in the sight of your friend. “I’ll see you again soon. I have no doubt of that.” Monica smiles at you. “Good luck, Y/N. I hope you can make things work with her.” You nod goodbye, then she turns and walks away, following the woman into a movie theatre. You slip away from the crowd of agents, walking briskly into the fading light.

Wanda Maximoff is striding purposefully down the streets of Westview. She’s almost on the outskirts of town when she notices the parked car waiting at the far edge. A woman is leaning up against the car, staring up at the sky, although she straightens once she notices Wanda approach. “Need a lift?” Wanda’s eyes widen as she recognizes the woman. “Y/N?” She hurries over, wraps her arms around the other woman. Although Y/N has had years of training on managing her emotions, she still freezes slightly, surprised at the sudden contact.

Then a smile appears on her face. “You remember me?” Wanda nods. “I remember everything. Agatha’s spell fell apart once I took care of her.” Y/N nods, a warm happiness glowing in her eyes. “I knew you would.” Wanda looks over at her, face falling. “Y/N, about everything, I-” Y/N holds up a hand, cutting her off. “You don’t have to explain. I know. I’m just glad that you came back.” Wanda reaches out, takes Y/N’s hand. She stares at it for a second before finding the strength to continue speaking. “I knew I would, eventually. I don’t think I could ever really leave you.” Her voice falters for a second. “I love you, Y/N. I wish I told you that before.”

Y/N’s face lights up at that, even as she struggles to keep her emotions under control. “I love you too. Always have and always will.” Wanda runs her finger over Y/N’s knuckles absentmindedly, fingers trailing over the faded scars that line her palm. “Thank you for waiting.” Y/N inclines her head at that, then gestures towards the car. “Are you ready to leave?” Wanda takes one last look at the town of Westview, then opens the door and slides into the passenger seat. Y/N crosses around the front of the car, and Wanda watches as she swings her legs over into the driver’s side chair. They lock eyes for a second, both closer than they ever have been, and then Y/N speaks at last. “So, where to?” Wanda looks back over the road before them, eyes trained not on the town behind them but the journey ahead. “Home.”

Wanda is sitting on the porch of a cabin in the woods, dressed in a simple gray. The piercing whistle of a kettle echoes through the open door, and she stands to pour herself a cup. Wanda glances at a dusty clock resting on the mantle, then gestures lazily with a free hand. A portal appears in the space next to her, scarlet sparks flying off into nothingness. A woman in a black suit walks through the portal, trading the tall buildings behind her for the quiet of the cabin. A label is stitched in white over her coat pocket: S.W.O.R.D. Director L/N. A promotion after the success of a recent job.

Wanda smiles at Y/N, handing her a cup of tea. “How was work?” Y/N takes a sip of the beverage, savoring the warmth. “Pretty good. Only a couple of new crises, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” She gestures with her chin towards the corner of the room, where a strange energy seems to hover in the air despite nothing being there to conduct it. “Have you learned anything new?” Wanda grins, a faint aura of power tugging at her lips. “You have no idea.”

tag list: @username23345​

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

How would the mafiafell, horrortale bros, ink, error, delta, and dune react to so s/o who is close to their family but they’re aesthetic is completely different like s/o is a very pastel aesthetic meanwhile s/o family is like the Addams family although they all share one thing a fascination with creepy stuff

Horrortale Sans - He is so confused. Are you sure it's the right house? He will ask you like thirty times as you're walking in the alley. That dark manor is creeping him out, and that's funny seeing how creepy he's supposed to be himself. He won't say a word during the meeting. Your parents are scaring him. He thinks he's like in a nightmare, or another world. How can you be so different from them? He doesn't want to go again unless you had a good reason for xD It's traumatised him so much he can't forget about that.

Horrortale Papyrus - .... Wow. He didn't expect that. If he knew, maybe he wouldn't have put this very flashy clothes to match yours, because he thought everyone would be like that at your home. He's still determined to know your parents though and will do his best to ignore the fact there are all talking only of bloody creepy stuff and that your mother thought it was funny to put a fake eye in his drink despite his past traumas, wich almost made him had a panic attack. He doesn't like this, but he's doing his best to stay nice and smiling.

Mafiafell Sans - He didn't mind until your father said the mansion is haunted and that he couldn't sleep with S/O because he thinks they shouldn't do that before wedding (if he knew what you're doing at home). Now Fang is all alone is his bed, all his bones rattling as a giant ugly lady on a painting is looking through his soul. Even worst, there is a storm outside. One little crack sound and he's running to hide in your room, all his bones rattling, begging you to get out of here because this place is so fucked up.

Mafiafell Papyrus - Now he loves you and all, but this is more his style. Torpedo thinks he is a super classy villain and your family is encouraging him to act just like this. Everyone is acting so nice and polite, he feels like in a polar movie. But then he remembered Agatha Christie and how some rich people died because of poison in their drink and he got obsessed with that for the rest of his stay. What if your parents are nice to him only to see what are his weak points then kill him? Should he kill them first or wait for them to try to poison him? Why is everything always so complicated?

Disbelief Papyrus - "OH! YOU HAVE SKELETON HEADS I SEE! VERY THOUGHTFUL." "Yes, they are the heads of our dead ancestors. It's a family tradition." "... O-OH. O-O-OK..." Wow, he didn't expect that. It's so messed up. He's getting out of here. "OH WOW, MAYBE WE SHOULD GO SEE THE OUTSIDE S/O." "Follow me, sugar, I will show you our cimetery. We have floating skeletons in the water of the crypt." Delta wants to cry. Please don't abandon him with your mom. He doesn't want to become a dead floating skeleton in the water of your crypt.

Ink - It stressed him out too much. The next day, you're waking up and the dark mansion is entirely pink. He couldn't stand all this dark atmosphere. Now it looks like you're living at Barbie's place. At least it matches more with his S/O.

Error - He was doing fine until you dad decided to show him his laboratory with hundreds of dead animals floating in pots. The number of bacterias in this room made him panick and he erased everything in it. Now you have to deal with your parent wanting the eyes of your Great-Uncle back in their pot because it's tradition and threatening to use your boyfriend bones instead if he's not obeying. Error is : terrified. He never wants to see your parents ever again.

Dustale Sans - You are waking up in the middle of the night. Dune is bringing you... eyes. Just eyes. He is so happy. He's explaining your parents has a room full of them so he can bring you all the gifts you want without even getting out to hunt something. Look at all these eyes! He has plenty in his jacket! Even fish eyes, look! He is so excited! Before the end of the night, your room floor is full of random rotten eyes. Dune loves your parents labaratory, he wants to stay here forever.

[galactic-magick]

As Long As I’m With You: Agnes/Agatha Harkness x Reader

Request: Hi, can you please do where Agnes (a villain) saves fem reader's life because she has feelings for her? In the end they end up together // also took some ideas from this request

Summary: You’re accused of witchcraft in your village, and a mysterious beautiful witch comes to your aid.

Words: 2200+

Warnings: fem reader, Agatha is low key evil so she hurts some people, a swear word, reader has an angsty past

Author’s Notes: This can be read as either a standalone fic or as a prequel to my other fic “Spell Practice.” I took quite a lot of creative liberty with this, hopefully that’s alright. Also disclaimer I am in no way a history expert so even though this is set in like the 1500s-1600s it’s probably very inaccurate, but it’s fanfic so anything goes right?

Taglist: @nyx-aira​ @midnight-lestrange​ @thestrangeundoing​ @thegayances @sleep-deprived-athlete @dr-robotnik-said-hella​ @fallingfor-fics @p-nymph​ @thelanawinterrs @sunproud​ (if your tag didn’t work it might be bc your blog isn’t searchable so make sure that’s on so you’re notified of future fics!)

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You had no idea how much your life would change when you left your house that day.

It started out with a simple run to the market and the garden to get what you needed for supper that night, a job that almost always falls to you. You don’t necessarily mind getting away from your family and talking to some people in town, but it’s clear that your family doesn’t want you in the house as much as possible either.

It’s gotten to the point where they’re just looking for a reason to get rid of you. You’re a disappointment, after all. You refuse to marry in order to help your family’s status, even though you’ve gotten a couple offers. You counter your parent’s rules and ideas every chance you get, no matter how much they tell you you’re crazy. They belittle you constantly, saying your dreams are worth nothing and you’ll have to be dependent on them forever if you never submit to the role in society you’re supposed to.

Obviously bullying you out of their lives wasn’t working, so they’ve moved on to spreading rumors about you and setting you up for crimes. None have worked yet, of course, but every day you fear they’ll get too close.

Until you get burned at the stake, though, they’ve given you basically every responsibility of the house. You do all the shopping, cooking, and farming, as well as taking care of your younger siblings. You wonder what they’d do without you, despite how much they seem to want you gone.

As you’re buying a few crops and eggs from your neighbors, you swear you see something move. You turn around and see a little boy floating in the air, screaming.

You drop everything in your arms and reach up to him, trying to grab him and help him down, but he keeps flailing, and his screams start to feel directed at you.

“Hey! It’s okay! Let me help you!” you hold your hand up, speaking as calmly as you can. “I’m not going to hurt you,”

“WITCH!” a man yells as he sees you. “SHE’S A WITCH!”

Everyone around turns and watches you.

“No! No! I’m not the one doing this! I’m trying to help!”

“Let him down and maybe we’ll wait to kill you til tomorrow!” someone else demands.

A couple people march towards you to grab you, and all you can think to do is start running.

You race out of the center of town into the trees, and about five men chase after you. You keep going until it feels like your legs are going to give out and you can barely breathe, but they keep coming.

“Please! Please stop! It wasn’t me I swear!” you cry. “I don’t know what was happening!”

“Shut up, girl,” one grunts. “Your father always said there was something wrong with you, makes sense that you’re a witch!”

“What’s so wrong about witches?” a female voice calls.

You and the men spin around, trying to figure out where it came from.

Before you can blink there’s purple smoke surrounding you, and the men are thrown against the trees. They’re knocked unconscious instantly, but you remain standing and untouched.

“Who are you?” you ask, your voice quivering.

“Don’t be afraid, my dear,” the smoke starts to fade and you can make out her silhouette, then eventually her face. “I’m here to help you,”

She’s beautiful. You’ve never seen someone that immediately feels so friendly, so different in all the best ways.

“It’s alright to stare, I know I’m quite a sight,” she laughs. “I’m Agatha,”

“I’m Y/N,”

“Ah, yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of you,” she smiles. “Everyone in the village can barely stand you,”

“Thanks…?” you’re not sure how to respond, especially after all that just happened. “Wait, if you live in my village, why have I never seen you? And how come you’ve never gotten caught using magic?”

“Memory spells, of course,” she shrugs. “Now, let’s get you somewhere safe, alright?”

You nod, and she wraps an arm around you. She takes you deep into the forest until you reach a small house, the glimmer of the fire peering through the windows.

You settle down on a chair while she makes some tea and food. She offers you a blanket and hands you the cup and plate, sitting down across from you.

“So how long have you been practicing magic?” she asks.

“Oh…I…well actually I don’t know how to use any magic,”

“Really? Why were the witch hunters after you then?”

“I was set up, I think,” you say. “There was a little boy floating in the air, and since I was near him they thought it was me. But I wasn’t doing anything,”

“Well,” Agatha sips her tea. “Sometimes magic can manifest itself subconsciously. Maybe you were doing it but didn’t realize it. It’s quite common,”

“But…how would I have magical powers? I’ve never learned it from anywhere,”

“Some people are just born with the gift,” she grins.

You exhale, thinking over what she said. Could it be true? You’ve been a witch all your life without even knowing it?

 -

 That night, Agatha conjures another bed for you to sleep in. But even though she made it as comfortable as she possibly could, you can’t get a wink of sleep.

You lift off the blanket and wrap it tightly around you, getting up slowly and quietly. You walk outside and sit against a tree, looking up at the stars.

You’re sure your family has heard the news by now. Their disappointment of a daughter is finally gone, accused of witchcraft. It seems that the foreseeable future will be spent with Agatha, the only safe person you have.

You wonder just how much she already knows about you. She mentioned she’s heard people gossiping about you all the time in town, yet she still saved you after hearing all those negative things.

Why is that?

“Can’t sleep?”

You jump at her voice, and she chuckles a bit at your reaction.

“Sorry,” you sigh. “I just have a lot to think about from today, I guess,”

“No worries,” she sits down beside you. “So do I,”

“Agatha,” you say. “Why did you save me?”

“Us witches have to stick together. I saw you were in trouble, so I saved you,”

“But you knew, didn’t you? You’ve known I was a witch long before this, didn’t you?”

“I had my suspicions,” she agrees. “Whenever I heard people talk about you, I figured you weren’t like everyone else. But I didn’t know for sure until today,”

“I wish you had taken me before,” you huff, a few tears falling down your cheeks. “It’s been so bad, Agatha, feeling worthless just because you’re different, everyone hates you…”

She pulls you into her shoulder, letting you cry into it, “I know, dear, I know,”

 -

 It takes you a while to come to terms with your potential powers, but as soon as you’re ready Agatha begins to teach you how to use them. You spend your days studying her spell books and practicing simple spells, most of which you fail at.

She encourages you as much as possible, explaining to you that magic is not something you can learn overnight, sometimes not even over years. She tells you that she’s actually thousands of years old (a surprise to you due to her stunning looks) and she’s been practicing for much of that time, and there’s still some spells she hasn’t mastered.

Your impatience still gets the better of you most days, though. You can’t imagine waiting several centuries to get something to work, if you get it to work at all.

One day you’re sitting at the table, trying out a simple transfiguration spell. You wave your hand repeatedly at a potato, hoping to turn it into an apple. It doesn’t even wobble, not even a single spark, but you’ve been sitting here for hours and don’t want to give up just yet.

You nearly fall asleep from exhaustion when all of a sudden it happens. It works.

There’s an apple in front of you. Not a potato, an apple.

“Holy shit!” you scream. “Agatha! I did it!”

You run over to her and point at your small accomplishment.

“Look at you go, darling!” she smiles, hugging you. “At this rate you’ll be changing rocks into cats before you’re 200!”

You laugh, “Oh come on, this is literally just one of the beginner spells,”

“So what? That’s where everybody starts,”

You break out in giddy excitement again, jumping up and down a bit and looking back and forth just to make sure your creation is still there.

Without thinking, you kiss Agatha quickly on the lips.

She stares at you, mouth open.

Before you can apologize, she grabs your face and kisses you hard. She’s everything you’d imagined and more, soft and warm but with a spark you can’t ignore.

When you finally break apart, her hands linger, brushing across your features and in your hair, “I’ve been waiting to do that,”

 -

 Things change after that, but in only the best ways.

Agatha isn’t just your mentor anymore, the only friend who came to your aid.

She’s your everything now, a soulmate, your home.

You tell her all about your life, and she tells you all about hers. As she has significantly more stories to tell, you’ll fall asleep many nights to her whispering all the legends she lived through that no one else knows are true.

She makes you laugh every day, and makes sure you always know how much she cares about you. There’s only so much you can do in your hidden home in the woods, but with magic the possibilities are endless and she’s never short of romantic ideas.

Tonight you find yourself lying your head in her lap while she plays with your hair, close to the fire so you can watch the little shows she creates with the flames.

“What about love?” you ask.

“What about it?”

“Out of all the stories you’ve told me, you’ve never mentioned being in love before,”

“Well,” she sighs. “That’s because I haven’t been,”

“Why not?”

“It’s just never appealed to me,” she says. “Until I met you,”

“Oh,” you grin, looking up at her.

She leans down to kiss you, but you’re broken apart by a loud noise outside.

You shoot up, looking at Agatha in pure panic. Your heart races as the noise gets louder and louder, eventually leading to shouting and knocks at the door.

“WE FOUND YOU!” a booming voice yells.

“Aggie?” you whisper. Everything crumbles around you. Your perfect, happy life, now about to be stolen from you. You have no idea how they found you, if you are about to be dead, if you’ll be able to defend yourself at all.

She kisses you and stands up, “Stay here. I’ll take care of it,”

With a fling of her fingers the door flies open, and the torches the townspeople are holding are burnt out. She smirks, purple smoke covering the area as she goes through them one by one, some just throwing to the side and others suffering a painful death.

She turns their own weapons against them, their own people against them, and makes them regret everything they’ve ever done.

When she returns to you, you’re still in so much shock and panic you couldn’t tell exactly what she was doing.

“Did you…kill all of them?”

“They got what they deserved for threatening us,” she says nonchalantly. “But we’re not safe here anymore. It’s time to find somewhere new,”

“Okay,” you nod as she pulls you against her. “As long as I’m with you,”

“I’ll always protect you, even when you learn enough to protect yourself,” she kisses your forehead. “Always and forever,”

 APPROXIMATELY FOUR CENTURIES LATER

 “I’m back, darling!” Agatha calls, shutting the door behind her.

“How’d it go?” you run to her, grabbing her hands.

“Splendid, that poor Wanda already loves her new neighbor!”

“Wow,” you giggle. “You know I must say, this whole living in a sitcom thing isn’t that bad, you look gorgeous in that 50s dress,”

“Oh darling, somehow after all this time you still flatter me,” she pretends to fan herself. “I have to go back over real quick, alright? Gotta give her this spicy magazine,” she holds her hand up in the air and magically forms one in her grasp.

“Ah! Be sure to get some ideas to use on me when you get back,” she laugh.

“Oh I will honey,” she winks, kissing you before going out the door.

You settle on the couch, looking around at your home. Out of all the places you’ve moved to together, this was by far the weirdest. There’s no color, and everyone besides you and Agatha and Wanda are under some kind of mind control.

You never imagined that day all those years ago would bring you here, spending your life with a beautiful witch and being her partner in all things, even sinister ones. But you wouldn’t have it any other way, and you know this strange town will only bring you more opportunities to practice your magic and help Agatha with her plans.

[captain-aralias]

Rejecting the ‘Chosen One’ story roles...

i was thinking this morning about @frozenspraycans‘s review of AWTWB again, as you do. (again, a note to think about whether you want to read a negative review of AWTWB before you click!) specifically, their key contention that:

“Shepard just replaced Simon in the magickal boy that her whole plot revolved around with. People might say that that’s her job as the designated self-declared sidekick, but in Wayward Son she had shown a lot of independence with making her own decisions, and she became a side character whose focus on character development matched up to Simon’s level.”

it’s a very good point, and basically this review really influences my thinking about the book, and today i was thinking ... i wonder if like so much that feels weird about AWTWB whether this is on purpose. (not a new thought - you can see it there in the quote i pulled out.) because - i don’t think any of us, including frozenspraycans, think that penny is wrong to want to be simon’s best friend and support him. mitali does, but she’s the only one. the rest of us are like - that’s good. and a penny, who at the beginning of AWTWB, accepts that she should let them grow apart because she shouldn’t be controlling simon’s life is actually wrong about herself. actually the lesson she learns during the book is that - yeah - as frozenspraycans says, that helping shepard and simon is important. the moment she fixes shepard’s plot for him, she immediately rings simon to help him as well. 

what she learned wasn’t that she shouldn’t do that role, but instead that she was doing it a bit wrong before, by never prioritising herself at all. 

AND - i would argue.... we can roll this out over all the other characters too. it just wasn’t obvious to me because we talk so much about how ‘Carry On’ is about agatha choosing not to be the girl simon wins, and Baz choosing not to be the villain. yes, absolutely, but also - maybe not quite. 

agatha ends AWTWB going back to watford - she’s not the hero’s girl, but she looped back round to being at the magical school and protecting it. she thought she wanted to run away from magic and reject all that - but actually she just didn’t want to date simon. 

baz doesn’t have to be evil anymore, but his role in the narrative always came from loyalty to his family. and in AWTWB we see him finding a healthier way to still prioritise that. 

simon..... is – i would argue – the chosen one. his role in the narrative is still to save the day, he ends up with a magical sword and a special power that makes him unique. he says a whole bunch of stuff about what he wants, but the one that i choose to highlight here is that he liked his job as the chosen one - he just didn’t like that he had no control/the fear/the killing. now he has a chance to do that job the way he wants.  

TL;DR - taken in totality, the simon snow trilogy may not actually be about rejecting the traditional heroic story roles.

[my-mt-heart]

TWD 11x03 “Hunted” Review

I enjoyed this one so much more than the previous two, and I fully acknowledge that might have a lot to do with getting Carol back, but also, it just felt as close to grounded as a TWD story is ever going to get anymore. Emotions are high, both hopeful and heartbreaking with running themes like struggling for control, making hard choices, and second guessing those hard choices. Additionally, there’s a very interesting callback that has my Caryl senses tingling. 

More on that later, but first let’s talk about the opening. Though the episode as a whole remains  grounded, the first few minutes actually stand out as very cartoonish to me. I get that Angela’s style is geared more towards creating a live-action comic book, but it’s just a little jarring for my personal taste. In quick flashes, we see that the Reapers cannot be outmatched. It’s almost unrealistic how skilled they are, but again, we’re seeing a version of them that feels synonymous with comic book villains rather than the version hinted at in 10x17, where they simply had military training. Regardless, it’s a chaotic atmosphere. Daryl and Dog chase a Reaper into the woods, and that’s all we see of them. Everyone else seems to be getting picked off one after another. After taking a knife to his leg and getting his hand sliced off in the previous episode, the final blow is delivered to Cole in the form of a good, old-fashioned throat slash. Bye, Cole. We hardly knew you. The other people in Maggie’s group get injured. Negan gets injured (but makes a remarkable recovery somehow). Father Gabriel gets injured. Elijah helps Maggie escape one of the Reapers’ traps, but his own fate is unclear (unless you read the synopsis for a later episode). I think it’s important to note this is all happening through Maggie’s perspective, emphasizing that the bloodbath happening before us is her responsibility to bear. She wanted to go on this mission, and now she has to sit with the consequences. If the premiere episodes didn’t make it clear enough, then this one absolutely solidifies her as this season’s leading character. 

Take that how you will.  I do understand the rationale behind it, but one thing that’s really bothering me is how dragged out some of her scenes are. Last episode, it was that endless monologue recounting what she’d gone through with Hershel Jr. and here, it’s her journey through some spooky building where apparently Reapers have followed her.  No hate towards Maggie whatsoever, but I’m just saying, it reaches a point where it’s nothing but a waste of precious story space. 

Blowing past some more ridiculous action sequences in the gallery or mall or wherever the hell she is, Maggie finds herself working with Negan to get them and a fatally (?) wounded Alden back on track. All throughout, the power struggle is palpable. Despite losing nearly all her people, including Duncan who she has to put down and Agatha who gets bit in the arm (per the trailer), Maggie is still hellbent on bringing food back to Alexandria, which is certainly honorable, however I can’t help thinking an underlying drive for revenge is also clouding her judgement. At one point, she even tells Negan that everything is his fault, that he ruined everything they were building, and that he’ll never change. Though there is truth to what she says, her accusations feel misplaced in the moment as if they’ve been swirling in her mind for years and are now being conflated with the more immediate threat, the Reapers. 

Negan once again tries to be the voice of reason, that their mission is compromised and doomed to fail, but ultimately ends up following Maggie’s lead. Unlike the train car situation, he rescues Maggie multiple times. Honestly, their dynamic gives me whiplash. It all culminates to a surprisingly satisfying scene where not only do we get acknowledgement of Negan’s and Alden’s history, but a genuinely heartfelt goodbye between Maggie and Alden, who at least has enough longevity to make us care that he’s getting left behind. Whether or not Alden dies is open to interpretation for now. It was really hard to tell the severity of his wounds, plus there was some indication that Maggie and Negan might come back for him, though that may have just been said as a coping mechanism. I guess we’ll have to see. 

If Father Gabriel’s storyline highlights anything, it’s the consequences of splitting too many hairs in one episode, giving us not much more than a couple beats of how ruthless and unforgiving his character has become when he corners a wounded Reaper. After the man asks if Gabriel is a man of God, Gabriel tells him that “God isn’t here anymore,” and proceeds to stab him in the head. This reminds us that each of our characters are currently in their own personal hell while also confirming there is some strong religious element to the Reaper code.

Back at Alexandria, there are other power struggles at play, one of them between Aaron and Carol. They each have different ideas on how to get their community back in shape, and neither of them is wrong. Aaron wants everyone to focus on refortifying their walls, a problem I suspect is going to come to a head in 10x05. Carol, however, wants to go out searching for their lost horses, which may not present an immediate solution to their problems, but could ultimately make food and supply runs more efficient and successful in the long run. What’s really interesting about this scene is the reference Aaron makes to Buttons, the horse he and Daryl tried to track in season 5 or 6 (I can’t remember), which Aaron reminds Carol did not end so well. Believe it or not, the connection crossed my mind before even having watched the episode, but since it was directly brought up in dialogue, now I’m even more curious to do a side by side comparison of Carol’s search for the horses with Daryl’s. It could present an interesting parallel, seeing as though Daryl was working to find his place inside the community at the time, and now we see Carol doing the same thing. 

The search for horses with Carol, Kelly, Magna, and Rosita is really beautiful visually, but more importantly emotionally. Of course in typical TWD fashion, you have to rely on a lot of non-verbal communication to really dig them out. Without anyone calling her out on it, it’s very apparent there’s a lot at stake for Carol on this mission. She feels greatly responsible for everything that’s gone wrong in the aftermath of the Whisperer war. We know Daryl gave her a rude awakening in the bonus episodes, and now more than ever, she’s determined to set things right. But contrary to Daryl’s harsh approach, the other women here are offering nothing but kindness and support. In a very rare interaction between Carol and Rosita, the latter opens up about a recurring dream where Abraham tries to warn her about some impending danger she relates to Alexandria, but he always ends up getting shot. Shot, not beaten to death with a baseball bat. I think that’s an important  distinction to make because it prevents Carol from taking on any more guilt for releasing the man responsible for Abraham’s death. Truthfully, I’m not too sure what this heart to heart is meant to accomplish other than showing Abe is still alive in Rosita’s heart, and possibly foreshadowing the eventual downfall of Alexandria. I know it has to be falling on Carol’s ears for a reason, but if it has any connection to Daryl being in danger, then it’s not made clear enough. 

Much to my liking, Carol and Kelly are in a really good place with each other, and it’s implied they’re keeping Connie’s search alive, or at least hoping she’ll return. According to Magna, Kelly even looks up to Carol. Aww. Magna herself seems to have forgiven Carol for getting her trapped, offering her a hug when they find most of their horses have been eaten by walkers and all hope seems lost. To no surprise, Carol is not ready to give up, and the others are willing to follow her. They work together as a team until they finally locate the rest of their horses and successfully bring them back home. 

But at the same time, there’s also a little bit of tension between Magna, Kelly, and Carol throughout that only Magna is really privy to. She keeps trying to reach out to Kelly, hoping she can help her heal from the loss they’ve both suffered, but to no avail. In Magna’s eyes, Kelly might be spending a little too much time with Carol, fearing their bond might be creating a sense of false hope. She notices how quick Kelly is to join Carol’s quest to find the horses, so it’s not a stretch for her to think Kelly might be extending that hope to finding Connie. When Magna finally confronts Carol about it by the stables, she raises her suspicion that Carol doesn’t actually believe Connie is still alive, and simply doesn’t want to face what that could potentially mean. Whether or not that’s really true, Carol isn’t budging, and instead goes out again with Kelly later. To do what, I’m not exactly sure, but maybe they’re keeping their eyes peeled for clues about Connie. To me, all of this shows an effort on both Magna’s and Carol’s parts to put Kelly’s feelings at the forefront, which I love because it echoes what I’ve been saying forever now. Kelly needs to drive the search for her own sister, not anybody else.  

The conversation is followed by a really sad,  gruesome scene of Carol slitting one of the horse’s throats, conveying  once again that Carol will always be the one to make the hard decisions nobody else wants to. Both Aaron and Rosita take notice, and though it’s not made explicitly clear, I like to assume it’s dawning on them how integral Carol is to their survival. Our girl is getting the respect she deserves. Of course, we all know she’s an even bigger force of nature out on the battlefield, so I really hope we get to see her take action against the Reapers. They might be unmatched, but that’s only because they haven’t met Carol yet. 

That’s not to diminish the importance of all the seemingly mundane work that’s being done in Alexandria. We can see the urgency through the lens of the children, who reiterate their hunger during a game of cards.  One of my biggest gripes with characters like Judith is that she’s often just used as a sounding board to continue the Grimes legacy rather than shaped into a three dimensional character, but this time I was happy to see a decent balance struck between being kids and being survivors in the ZA . Hershel Jr., the one with the most experience living on the road, even teaches his new friends how to choke down horse meat, which apparently is nothing compared to some of the other things he’s had to eat. Spiders?? Ew.  

The pacing is still really slow, but it seems like we’re finally about to get into the weeds of the Reaper arc. In the next episode, we know Daryl is going to meet up with Leah, so my question is, who do I have to pay to prevent spoilers from getting out? Not that I’m concerned about the episode itself. It’s the prospect of mass hysteria that’s already getting my anxiety up. Let’s try to remember that as was proven with Find Me and even with this episode, Hunted, spoilers can be very misleading. Let’s also keep in mind that we are following an arc and not all our questions will be answered right away. Let’s acknowledge where Daryl will be starting emotionally at the top of this arc with Leah. Guilt and confusion are initially going to color how he interacts with her and what he says. I feel very confident that those feelings are not going to last and shit’s going to get real dark. Again, there’s no guarantee we’ll see that shift in the same episode, but mark my words it’ll happen. Be strong, friends. We’ll make it over the hump together.

11x01 “Acheron Part 1″ Review

11x02 “Acheron Part 2″ Review

[a-white-man---no]

MCU Doctor strange is Mephisto

No, stop scrolling and let me explain.

In the in the 4 issue comic arc One More Day Spider man is forced to make a deal with Mephisto to save a dead aunt may. But in turn he must give up his marriage with Mary Jane Watson. This comic was made in an attempt by Marvel to age down Peter have him better relate to teen readers but that's beyond the point. He does make this deal and his marriage is taken away as well as all memory of it.

And in Spider Man: No Way Home (Spoilers) Peter Parker makes a deal with doctor strange to rewrite a wrong but he must give up his relationship with Michelle Jones Watson (his universe's Mary Jane). This is contrast was a move to grow Peter up, but was largely made so the fans could grow up with him.

Now let's take a look at Wanda (aka the scarlet witch) or more specifically, her kids. Billy and Tommy, made by Wanda in a fit of grief and taken away from her just a suddenly. In the MCU it's because she decided to dissolve the Westview Hex but in the comics it's because she takes a bit of Mephisto's (aka Marvel's approximation of the devil) soul. And in the post credits scene at the end of WandaVision, we see her astral projecting to read the Darkold (aka a very powerful and dark magic book, stolen from Agatha Harkness by Wanda) before hearing her children cry out for her.

And in the Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness trailers, we see what some people have dubbed "Dark Doctor Strange" (who shares many similarities from the doctor strange in the What If? animated series). He is clearly set up to be our villain but one glaring question I had was why was he in our universe? I think Wanda brough him here.

What?! I hear you, I hear you but don't @ me I love Wanda as much as the next person. So hear me out.

She brought him here because she followed the voices of her kids to a dark dimension (maybe by astral projecting?) only to see the face of a Doctor Strange doppelganger. In the end of Doctor Strange's episode of What If? the Watcher (an omnipotent being hailing from a race made to watch over all varieties of universes) traps him in a pocket dimension. He is then returned there after the series finale. That still doesn't explain my theory, but let's look at both MCUWanda and WhatIf?Doctor Strange's Motivations.

They want their loved ones back.

For DDS (short hand for Dark Dr. Strange) he wants his lover back and for Wanda, she wants her kids back.

In the most recent DS:MOM trailer we see a shot of Wanda looking at her kids before they fade away revealing her in her Scarlet Witch outfit. I don't think that was just a shot for the trailer, I think that it's a vision that DDS shows her in an attempt to have her free him. And more than that, I think it works. She makes a deal to get her kids back and agrees to bring DDS with her.

So I guess my Title was a bit misleading, I don't think that Dr. Strange is literally Mephisto, I think he'll be the MCU's version of him

[enbylesbianism]

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Simon Snow trilogy wrapped! (review)

Hi, there! It took me a while to finish this post, as I could talk about it for... a long time (not necessarily a good thing), but I got it! I like praise, so if anyone wants to tell me I did a good job... Also, I might edit this post later on. I don’t remember anything else I’d like to add, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did after posting. My brain does not obey me. Anyways, off to it! By the way, I won’t give this book a real rating.

While this is a review on Any Way the Wind Blows, I intend on analysing some points of the overall series too. The book starts where Wayward Son left off, the end of the road trip, Simon and Baz having problems in their relationship, Penelope helping Shepard with his curse... and the whole situation of the NowNext vampires. Rainbow Rowell only seems to remember the first part. That leaves us with the second book of the series ignored almost completely, with the exception of Simon and Baz’s feelings as well as Shepard’s existence.

Don’t get me wrong, aspects of the book are mentioned, but never in a truly important way. Lamb, the Vampire King, is mentioned by Simon, but only focusing on his and Baz’s relationship, never about the fact that there are a bunch of vampires (supposedly ‘evil’) in the U.S. but I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? I could count on one hand the times the NowNext vampires were mentioned (like, literally, this isn’t an exaggeration, I looked up ‘NowNext’ on the e-book and only got five results), all of them either being one of them considering telling someone else about it, then not following through with it, or dismissing it as a concern for Lamb. Which makes the plot of Wayward Son completely useless for the trilogy. Now, that wouldn’t matter as much if everything else had been properly developed, but we definitely can’t say that.

We are introduced to a brand new, poorly developed villain, Smith-Smith Richards, whose character arc is as ridiculous as his name. He’s one of the fake Chosen Ones that started appearing after the events of Carry On (and the only one to be mentioned and/or defeated, for that matter). It becomes clear that presenting as Simon Snow-ish is part of his brand, especially when Baz describes him as looking like the Netflix adaptation version of Simon, and that he was raised and guided by his uncle, who’s just... there. I don’t think it would’ve been hard to make him manipulating Smith-Smith into believing he’s the prophetic savior of the Magickal World, which would not only make both of their characters more interesting, but it could also serve as a parallel of Simon’s relationship with the Mage. Richards also has some special powers such as increasing a mage’s magic for a limited amount of time, but taking it away afterwards, as well as making someone immune from spells. It’s worth saying those aren’t skills that are usual in the Magickal World, or else there wouldn’t be so much confusion and shock from people (specially Baz and Penny, who would definitely have heard of something like this before), but we get no explanation on why or how Richard has them.

Then, we have the Salisbury’s. We, as readers, already know Lucy and Davy are Simon’s parents, making Ruth his grandmother. It’s noticeable that Rowell builds up to that discovery, by making Simon get along with Ruth instantly, him thinking about Lucy a lot etc. It makes us excited to read the part where they actually figure it out, to know how Simon would deal with that, him dealing with the fact that he’s the Mage’s son and the fact that, technically, he killed his father. I suppose that’s the point, but actually getting to that part was incredibly underwhelming. The way they discovered about Simon—being able to lift a family sword—hadn’t been mentioned or hinted at before. One would’ve expected Simon, who’s particularly interested in swords as it’s mentioned many times throughout the series, to notice a freaking Excalibur at the Salisbury’s place before. 

And speaking of noticing things: when it’s finally revealed that Simon is Lucy’s son and the Mage’s heir, Baz pointed out the uncanny similarities between his boyfriend and the deceased Watford principal. “Those narrow eyes. That tilt of his head. I thought... I thought he’d learned it. Was imitating it.” + “Merlin, Simon, you even look like him.”  (Any Way the Wind Blows, chapter 86) Simon was the Mage’s protégé for years and I assume the Magickal authorities knew that he was the one to inherit all of his money and personal belongings, but no one, in the whole British Magickal community, thought about them being related? I refuse to believe there were no conspiracy theorist teachers at Watford or that Mitali or even the Pitch’s alongside everyone who was against the Mage didn’t at least check to know if there was something behind those characteristics. Baz literally said (chapter 88), “I think it’s undeniable. I’d cast ‘Flesh and blood’ on them, but it would bounce right off of Snow (...)”, so there is a spell for that. Plus, we didn’t even have one whole chapter of Simon dealing with this information! The chapters (no more than five, out of ninety-one) were divided between Simon, Baz and Lady Ruth’s POVs. He’s the main character, so one would think he’d get more development.

Another point that felt rushed was the romance. While Simon and Baz’s relationship wasn’t, as it’s been a topic Rowell has explored for three books (we’re not counting Fangirl here, as their ‘participation’ on it was minor and their personalities weren’t as consistent as in the trilogy. Not that it is that consistent there), the others just felt like she wanted everyone to finish the trilogy with a pair. I’ll start with Shepard and Penny. There were fans who liked them together before Any Way the Wind Blows, but it wasn’t hinted at—it was more like a fandom thing. I personally like them as a couple, but it could have had development and, maybe, foreshadowing in Wayward Son. I mean, they did fight monsters during a huge part of a road trip together.

The next one I’ll talk about is Agatha and Niamh. I love them, don’t get me wrong. Actually, it’s precisely because I love them that I wish they’d gotten a better treatment. Niamh wasn’t introduced before Any Way the Wind Blows. I get why she wasn’t introduced in Carry On—it was interesting to see a character who wasn’t caught up in Simon and Baz’s drama during the school years—but a hint of her existence could’ve been left in Wayward Son. Agatha is an important character on it, and a mention of her father training an aspiring veterinary could’ve fit somewhere, as a hint, maybe. (Also, Lucy, the dog, being absolutely forgotten during this book when a lot of Agatha’s time is spent in a veterinary clinic...) Besides, we could get the vibes from them, but after they kissed, there was barely any content. We didn’t get them calling each other ‘girlfriend’ (or if they even like that label at this point), or the aftermath of the kiss, or a POV from Niamh. Or Niamh appearing the epilogue? If Agatha was taking care of the goats, I’m sure Niamh would have a part in that too. Still on Agatha’s character, but not on Niamh’s, it felt like Rainbow Rowell was setting up for aromantic and asexual Agatha, specially because of this quote: “It was like she'd pulled the feeling right out of my heart. I could have kissed her. (I still wish sometimes that I wanted to.) (That would feel like an answer to... the question of me. Then I could say, 'Oh, thats who I am. That's why I've been so confused.')” (Wayward Son, chapter 4).

And I was leaving the best (I need to be sure everyone knows I mean this sarcastically) of the romance topic for the end: Fiona and Nicodemus. It’s just... so forced and undeveloped. Not even because, to me, they’re both gay as hell. There was just... such a lack of development! I don’t think we had any interaction between the both of them before Any Way the Wind Blows. There was no foreshadowing or why would Fiona, a vampire hunter from a family of vampire hunters, would marry... a vampire! I’d already find it weird to see fanfiction of them as a crackship, but it’s canon?! Like, canon as in they’re going to get married and use Fiona and Natasha’s mother’s ring? Seriously, nothing will take from me that this is a lavender marriage (as I’ve already discussed with my best friend, which inspired this post of theirs.)

I’d also like to speak about a topic that’d been hinted throughout the series, especially post-Carry On, which is the criticism towards the Magickal Community in the U.K.. That criticism is very much embodied in Shepard’s character. It’s explicitly said that the British mages have some kind of supremacy towards other supernatural beings, such as vampires for example, gatekeeping literal magic. Up until relatively recently, mages with weak links with magic couldn’t attend Watford (and that’s a major plot point in the final book) and there’s a denial towards any other kind of magic except the ones that are part of their craft. Even within the Magickal community itself, there are more important families that are more likely to succeed, like Natasha receiving criticism for marrying Malcolm, as a Pitch. It felt pointless not to tackle the issues you’ve set up yourself in your own universe. Penelope has very strict morals related to magickal law and beliefs, something that she could’ve deconstructed, especially considering Shepard, her love interest, symbolises that. Another point related to that is, the trilogy is very clearly heavily inspired by Harry Potter, where many of those points are very clear (e.g. wizard supremacy in relation to other species, such as werewolves and domestic elves and the status quo that makes some traditionally magical families more influential than others, like the Malfoy’s vs. the Weasley’s), so it’s not an easily forgettable concept.

The series also had a lot of inconsistencies. The one I’ve seen talked about more often is Simon and Agatha’s... intimacy status, let’s call it that. Simon’s whole thing in the first book was that he struggled controlling his magic when experiencing intense emotions, which makes it hard to believe that he managed to have sex withount an... accident. Besides that, though, there’s this quote, “She (...) presses a kiss into my temple. No one has ever kissed me there. No one has ever kissed me anywhere but on my mouth” (Carry On, Chapter 27), but in Any Way the Wind Blows, when Simon’s about to have his wings cut, Agatha says, “It’s a strange feeling to look at someone’s chest and know it’s nothing to do with you anymore, but still to remember kissing every inch.” (Chapter 14)

So, we have established that Rainbow Rowell’s work, both character and plot driven, is flawed. “But we got the characters interacting for the closure of the series, at least!” Well... we got interactions between the canon romantic relationships, yeah. But besides that, we didn’t get much. There were no interactions between Agatha and Penny, or Shepard with Simon and Baz. Or Penny and her mother figuring stuff out. Or literally anyone with a therapist. And not gonna lie, the interaction we got between Baz and Dev was underwhelming, to say the least. Niall is nowhere to be seen, too.

Rainbow Rowell’s writing is beautiful: she writes poetic lines that make the book seem perfect at first glance, if you don’t think about it for too long. Her words are very shiny, but once you get use to that light and see what’s behind them, what’s between one shiny quote and another, it has so many flaws and plot holes that it reads like a first draft. There are many concepts in there that are genuinely good: the rest of the trilogy focused on the protagonist dealing with the trauma of being a child soldier instead of being entirely an adventure, Simon being unlabelled, a fake Chosen One that gives mages fake hope... Those are all good ideas, but so poorly explored that, despite being an entire book/trilogy, it still feels like a writing pitch or something among those lines.

I felt iffy about other things during my reading of the series, but they aren’t exactly plot points, so I’ll just list them below:

Mitali, Penny’s mom, including ‘discovering your bisexuality’ as a mid-life crisis thing 

As I’ve seen people talking about biphobia/bi erasure in the books, I’ll be including this post that features both unlabelled and bisexual individuals talking about the topic (it isn’t my place, as a lesbian, to talk about this, that’s why I decided not to do so.)

Romanticising of Baz’s suicide (a.k.a. chapter 61) in the first book. If you’re not in a good place mentally, like I was when I first read Carry On, I hope you know that a kiss or romance doesn’t help any mental illness you or others might have. Don’t let anyone use your guilt to manipulate you. Paraphrasing Alice Oseman in their graphic novel Heartstopper, love can’t cure a mental illness.

Any Way the Wind Blows was... very horny. I can’t point out how this makes the book bad exactly, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. One of Rainbow Rowell’s strongest skills is that her quotes, when loose, are good. They tend to be poetic and just beautiful, overall. But in the... explicit scenes, these skills were barely used, and I felt like I was reading NSFW tweets off of someone’s private account on Twitter. Besides, the first two books of the series weren’t written like that, so the change was very sudden.

The older people could’ve been more explored. Penelope and Mitali’s relationship and how similar the both of them are compared to each other, Daphne and Professor Bunce’s insecurities and why they believed in Smith-Smith, Fiona, Nico, and Ebb... Also, the Mage and Lucy. We could’ve had more on them, y’know. 

The pop culture references. They made the book read even more like Twitter’s feed. Honestly, if I wanted to read prompts and nice ship content alongside memes from Twitter with some horny thoughts sprinkled all around, I would’ve opened the Twitter app. Or Tumblr, Instagram, whatever.

The POV switching felt lazy to me at times. It’s nice to know how different characters are experiencing that situation, yes, but sometimes, like during the discovery that Simon is a Salisbury, it read as if Rowell wanted to create tension, but couldn’t think of any other way to do it except the switching around.

Narrative wise, I think Simon and Baz should’ve spent more time broken up. 

[aethwrs]

Let me help you

Agatha Harkness x Reader

A/N: I'm not really proud of this but I hope you like it. I'll fix the possible mistakes later.Also, please tell me if I should add any trigger warning.

TW: mental control, mentions of nightmares

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Silent streets, the loud sound of gusts of wind and large blood-red clouds covering most of the night sky gave the environment a gloomy appearance. Blasts of crimson red and purple magic were seen here and there, both coming from different witches who were fighting each other, their magic altering that chaotic environment in which lightning and thunder could now be seen and heard.

Agatha was trying to take Wanda's powers, while she was trying to save and keep standing that city that was the product of her sorrow and sadness, in which she now had her own family with the man she had lost time ago.

“You’re hurting these people, Wanda” Agatha's voice was present, causing Wanda to look up, finding the owner of that voice standing on the edge of a building with a malicious smile plastered on her face as she watched how a crowd of neighbors approached the red-haired witch, begging her to stop causing them pain.

“Stop this” Wanda muttered as she looked around and listened to the neighbours who begged to be released from her mind control, “Stop this!” She yelled, this time addressing Agatha who was watching the situation from above.

“I am not the one causing them pain, dear” she chuckled, her hands pointing to the people surrounding the other witch. “I just cut their strings”

Just seconds after Agatha said that, she watched as Wanda disappeared right in front of her eyes and without even having time to react, she felt cold hands settle on the sides of her head and then some red mist clouded her vision, her eyes turning the same color as that mist.

In the blink of an eye Agatha found herself back in that forest that was once her home but now, the memory of it only caused her nightmares and pain.

No, she couldn't be there.

No.

She didn't want to be there, not again.

"Agatha!" she heard the distant screams coming from among the tall trees. With Wanda closely following her, Agatha slowly approached the place from which those screams were coming.

Taking the place where she was that night, Agatha saw how her constant nightmare and worst memory was happening again, but unlike how it happened in dreams, this felt real.

"Harkness do something!" Agatha watched your face twist in pain as you screamed with all your might, for some reason your powers weren't working and you weren't able to defend yourself on your own. But no matter how much you yelled at her, young Agatha still didn't know how to use her dark magic to help and all she did was protect herself from the hunters with a barrier.

"I can't" Agatha murmured, more to herself than to you, she couldn't understand someone with as much power as you was unable to defend herself.

Your gaze full of fear and anger sought to make eye contact with the other young woman while you tried to resist the men's attempts to take you away.

"AGATHA!" Your voice reflected your pain, you were helpless. You were exhausted and did not know how long it would be until you passed out from the physical pain caused by a powerful force that you were not able to recognize. You felt how it drained the last traces of energy you had and before everything faded to black, you whispered, "help me"

Those were the last words Agatha heard from you and what happened next was just a blur.

Opening her eyes, Agatha found herself in the same situation as before. Wanda in front of her a few meters away and...no, it couldn't be real. Her mind was surely playing with her because otherwise, it would not explain what was in front of her eyes.

"I see you recognise her, don't you?" Wanda said in a mocking and sarcastic tone while one of her hands kept your head fixed looking at Agatha. It was you. Y/n. But how? "Cat caught your tongue?" The redhead laughed bitterly and she could swear that she saw Agatha's eyes soften in fear.

"Y/N...how?" Agatha yelled the last part looking at the young woman, who released one of your hands, letting you fall a few inches while you let out a small cry of fear.

"Harkness for the love of-" You started yelling at her right before Wanda silenced you. Oh it was you definitely, Agatha would recognize your kind and patient personality anywhere. You were struggling to get out of Wanda's grip, kicking and hitting but there's no need to say that it wasn't working.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, dear" the red-haired witch whispered in your ear, earning a death glare coming from the oldest witch.

"What do you want, Maximoff?" Agatha muttered as Wanda smiled evily.

"You leave me and my family in peace" She started, playing with a lock of your hair between her fingers, Agatha's eyes watching every single move she made. "and you two can stay alive"

"Let her go first" you rolled your eyes, still unable to say a single word while Agatha negotiated your 'freedom'.

"As you please" and with a flick of her hand, Wanda disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, letting you fall freely from the heights.

Knowing you would use your magic to stop the fall, Agatha stayed in her spot, surprising herself when the only thing she saw was how you didn't even attempt to save yourself and instead, you only called out her name.

Going as fast as she could, she caught you a few inches before you hit the ground, hands gripping your waist tightly to help you get on your feet.

"Are you really alive?" She whispered, fixing and taking out the dirt from her dress.

"I'm as alive as you are, Harkness" You coldly answered, tying your shoelaces and moving her out of the way, ready to go. "Now move"

"You didn't use your magic, why?" Agatha blurted out of nowhere, her eyebrows raised and a serious expression on her face. "And how are you here?"

"That crazy witch just pulled me into this dream town and surprisingly, I couldn't do anything" you sarcastically replied to her and emphasized the words 'dream town'. Rolling your eyes in annoyance you approached her, getting dangerously close to her face "guess why? oh yeah, I have NO MAGIC!"

Taking advantage of the closeness, she looked into your eyes. You were infuriated, yes, but your eyes also showed her how the pain bottled inside of you screamed to get out and take control of your body.

"What do you mean you don't have magic?" Although your closeness made her somewhat nervous, she simply decided to ignore it and continue her questioning.

"You see, for example, you can use spells and continue with your evil witch-style plans..." you began to explain with a false expression of joy and a calm tone of voice while moving your hands in the air as way of emphasizing your words "and I can't!"

The sudden change in your voice made her move slightly away from you, not because she was scared, but surprised. But who was she to judge you for being mad?

"You're as lovely as I remember you" she replied sarcastically, hearing a sigh coming from you.

"Same goes for you" you told her, your voice monotonous and cold, since you only wanted to leave that place but she was making you waste your time. "But now, if you excuse me, I have to go" You pushed Agatha aside, ready to go before she stopped you once again.

"You are so stubborn" she muttered under her breath and with a simple move of her hands, both of you appeared on her basement, your eyes quickly scanning every corner of the gloomy place.

"If I remember clearly, you used to like that" It seemed like you were just teasing her and if it were another time, she would have done it too, but the venom in each of your words made her realise how mad you actually were, so maybe the jokes should wait. "oh and for you to keep in mind, you just brought me here against my will...very villainous may I add"

"What I was trying to say is, I can help you" Evading any sarcastic reply she could think of, Agatha remained serious as she spoke.

"Why would I trust you?" You shrugged and asked without even looking at her while you inspected the books stored on the shelves.

"Because you know me" The brunette simply answered and pointed to one of the old books "and take that one"

"Do I really?" You turned to her with the book full of dust in your hands, determined to question everything you could, knowing how much it irritated her.

"As much as you probably hate me, you must accept that you need my help" Agatha gestured for you to come closer to her "You know I wouldn't hurt you so...let me help you"

"But you wouldn't protect me either" you whispered and chuckled, the words coming out of your mouth unintentionally.

"Y/n, about that day I-" she tried to explain but stopped once you stood in front of her handling her the book.

"I don't feel like talking about that now" you said softly, sighing and showing her a gesture similar to a smile that even if it wasn't one, gave her some hope.

"Then let's start with this book" Agatha added, leading you to a small altar in one of the corners. "We have a long way to go"

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: WandaVision

I love Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch. I’m not sure how apparent that is, but just in general I love comic book characters who use magic, and Wanda is probably my favorite (or at least tied with DC’s Zatanna). Sadly, I never really felt like the MCU did her any justice. She debuted in the worst Avengers movie, her brother was killed before they could showcase a meaningful relationship, and then her next appearances had her speedrunning a relationship with Vision. She definitely got some great moments in Infinity War and Endgame, but she felt woefully underutilized. The same could be said of her boyfriend Vision, who had it even worse than her, because he gets killed in Infinity War and is basically forgotten about after that, with nary a mention in Endgame. These are two fantastic characters, and the MCU just didn’t handle them well at all, and they felt like a complete waste that it was really hard to care about.

Thank god for WandaVision.

This show really did something incredible. It made me care so much about two characters I wished I could have cared about before, and become incredibly invested in their relationship. Wanda and Vision get much-needed spotlight and character development and end up becoming two of the best and most fleshed-out characters in the whole franchise, and it’s amazing they waited so long to do this. Wouldn’t it have been better if we cared so much about them before?

The show has three core elements that help make it great: its characters, its themes, and its presentation. The characters are the big one; Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany really get their time to shine, and both of them manage to do great things with their characters, characters who until now felt more like background characters than actual Avengers. Their relationship is so cute, so wholesome, but with an undercurrent of something a bit sadder that ties in with the show’s themes, and then when they have children things become even more sweet with that dark undercurrent still running strong. Aside from them, the standout of the cast would have to be nosy neighbor Agnes played by Kathryn Hahn… or I should say, the show’s villain, Agatha Harkness, a magic-siphoning witch who’s exploiting Wanda’s fragile emotional state to gain the ultimate power. She’s an actual well-executed twist villain, which is quite a feat for modern Disney, and she’s just as fun and campy as you’d hope an evil witch would be, complete with her very own ridiculous villain song that has her winking at the camera and proudly gloating about killing puppies. It’s delightfully cartoonish. Other standouts include Evan Peters as ‘Pietro,’ in a hilarious and clever bit of meta casting that leads to a dick joke (which might be one of the funniest twists in the MCU) and the return of the greatest Ant-Man supporting character Jimmy Woo. Even Darcy, the absolute worst part of the first two Thor films, manages to return and be tolerable.

The presentation is a big selling point, and what helps the story feel so fresh and unique. Each episode is an affectionate take on a different decade’s sitcoms, starting really oldschool and eventually working all the way up to more modern fare. Interspersed throughout these episodes are some rather entertaining fake commercials which harken to elements of Wanda’s life, and a couple of later ones even act as some heavy foreshadowing for future revelations. The different camera techniques, colors, and whatnot really help sell this fantastical sitcom world Wanda created, though I have to say it is a bit of a shame they couldn’t integrate this style more into the climax, even if there are story reasons for it. It was just such a cool and fun concept, it’s a shame it had to be resolved before the climactic finale.

The themes, though, are what really make this show shine. This show is essentially about a woman dealing with grief. Wanda has lost the man she loves, she has lost her brother, and she’s struggling to find her way in the world. As a coping mechanism, she creates a fantasy world and refuses to face reality, burying her emotions and refusing to move on, instead clinging to the happy concepts that might have been. It really is fantastic as a character study of Wanda, giving her a remarkable amount of depth. I found myself relating to a lot of the themes on display; as someone with depression who has had my fair share of painful experiences, I could empathize with Wanda to a degree. Sure, the person I loved was never murdered by Thanos, but I’ve experienced with grief before. It’s really great stuff they’re working with here.

Unfortunately, as good as all these things are, the show isn’t 100% perfect. The biggest issue is when the show switches focus from the interesting stuff inside of Wanda’s sitcom world to more standard MCU stuff outside. Sure, it’s fun to hang out with Jimmy Woo, the greatest character ever, but a lot of the stuff out there just isn’t engaging and some things just aren’t really elaborated on too much. It’s certainly not awful, but between some really confusing twists with Monica Rambeau (who is a good character otherwise and one I want to see more of) and the extremely boring, 2/10 on Psycho Analysis villain Hayward, there’s really not much here that can even hope to compare to the events unfolding in Wanda’s life. The best things from the outside are flashbacks, such as when Monica returned from being snapped or when we get to see Wanda visiting Vision’s corpse in government lockup, which is one of the most tearjerking moments in the show.

There’s also how the swerve into the standard “Big Marvel action” isn’t exactly graceful. After a great episode where Agatha goes back through Wanda’s life, giving even more insight to Wanda as a character and showing us a lot of fascinating moments, we get into the grand finale which feels like what you’d see in a movie theater, for better or for worse. Now I’m a real slut for crazy witch duels between hot women, and this certainly delivers on that front, but there’s so much other crap going on and it really is weird to think how this show about a superhero woman learning to handle her grief somehow became a big, epic showdown that wouldn’t look out of place in a Harry Potter film. I don’t hate this finale as much as some people do, but it definitely feels like the weakest episode overall (which isn’t too bad, since it’s still good, just not really what I would have liked to see).

WandaVision is the sort of thing I want to see more from the MCU going forward. It’s fresh, it’s interesting, it doesn’t take a standard route for the most part, and it utilizes characters who never got a fair shake in interesting and creative ways. Most importantly, it’s very weird and very comic booky, which is something the MCU was lacking for much of its first ten years (save for the films Gunn and Waititi made). I’m sure not everyone is going to find this to be their cup of tea, and it’s easy to grow bored of the cuts away from Wanda to the more cliché affairs outside of her sitcom bubble, but this is definitely a rich and rewarding show that engages with some heavier topics in an easy-to-digest and enjoyable way. Hopefully we’ll see more creativity like this going forward.