#Oh FFS. What a horrible person she is.

[cyarsk52-20]

They would never do this shit for a black man. White murderers get a pass in this country for some reason… the delusional ,brainless , meat licking is off the charts. My goodness, I hate the Internet sometimes.

[mikuni14]

Jack & Joker - Ep 7

This episode was extremely hard for me to watch, because it's like someone took the tropes I hate the most and decided to put them here one by one. Lack of communication, misunderstanding, saying something horrible about a loved one when don't mean it and they hear it, a love triangle, a love triangle with a girl in a BL series, noble sacrifice, noble, stupid and unnecessary sacrifice, being mean for a "noble" purpose to protect a loved one by rejecting them, heartbreaking fights, jealousy, the pain of rejection, suffering alone. I hate every single one of these things and a series that I like so, so much decided to throw them all into one episode, at once. So it's easy to imagine that I'm not having a good time ���

So many bad things happened in this episode that I started crying at the end, it was just too much. What really depressed me was that many of these things were unnecessarily bad, and there was a kind of malice in them that was hard to watch on screen.

I had some understanding (not excuse - understanding) for Save in the last episode, but then I didn't know all the facts. Now I have only contempt for him, because he is simply stupid and cruel in what he does. Save didn't even arrange something specific for Hope, or even for himself, which is exceptionally stupid, since he literally sold his soul to the devil - as it turns out, for nothing. On top of that, he didn't have to include Joke in his schemes, my jaw just dropped when after everything he did to Jack and his grandma, he himself, without being asked, says to Boss that there is one more dude who can mess with your plans, like bitch fr? Save dangerously plays god, messing with people's lives (in grandma's case - her LITERAL life) and for whom, for his boyfriend who works for the mafia and openly says that he actually likes doing it and unlike Jack - is a real loan shark who beats people (his behavior radicalized Tattoo). Hope was beaten, which is a risk of the profession he does, he wasn't beaten up randomly on the street for money, or bullied at a regular job., ffs! But what Save will never earn my forgiveness for is that for the sake of unclear privileges for his boyfriend 1) he could've killed an innocent person 2) he destroys the lives - and I want to emphasize this - LITERALLY DESTROYS THE LIVES of 3 innocent people. And not that I like Rose, but it also affects her life. Thus, grandma, Jack, Joke and Rose are just pawns, a colateral damage in his plans, for his own personal gain.

SAVE IS LIKE TEE FROM DFF. Sorry, but just as I had no sympathy for those guys, I have no sympathy for Save. He doesn't have to do this, he doesn't have to do such cruel and plainly evil things, he doesn't have to be so zealous, such an "employee of the month doing 200% of the norm" lol. It's very interesting that Save, instead of persuading Hope to leave this job and even run away, since he's oh so worried about him, directs his efforts to protect him, by harming others - others who are in the same or worse situation as he is.

..........

This whole marriage plot is so silly and soap opera and that's how I decided to treat it, so that I could still like this show 😅. Gods, it's just so stupid and when Jack initially didn't agree, I was so happy that finally, a voice of reason, and yet.. I don't know how Boss and Jack imagine doing this? I mean technically and.. just… generally???? How Jack plans to marry a woman he doesn't care about (with potential sex? children????) and at the same time follow Boss's orders, while being, you know, himself??? Not to mention that there is a whole ass person in this puzzle: Rose? And I'm not even mentioning Grandma, who is not stupid - how will she feel knowing that Jack literally sold himself for her health? From Jack's words in this episode, I gather that he is more or less aware of Joke's feelings. And I'm a little upset about the fact that Jack hurts him so much, knowing this. And his "noble motives" do not excuse him, because Jack leaves scorched earth behind him, destroys people around him and HIMSELF. And it will get even worse, because there will be no way out of this situation, in which he is digging himself deeper and deeper, which is what Joke was trying to tell him. Jack does something I particularly hate: he "sacrifices himself nobly" but he is really selfish in this sacrifice, because he doesn't ask if anyone actually wants his sacrifice it's The Sign all over again, fuck. And the fact that he does all this alone, officially, to protect his loved ones, shows that he really doesn't trust those close to him, that they can either help him, or that they could decide for themselves. And although I don't like Rose, Jack is ready to marry her without love, for his benefits, which is... suddenly not so noble, right Jack?

I know that all this is the law of slightly exaggerated TV romances, because if Jack had trusted Joke and his grandma and talked to them, maybe together they would have figured out another way to get money for her treatment, but then again, there wouldn't have been all this drama 🙄

But Jack didn't even try.

And he's really getting to the point where even if he wanted to stop, he wouldn't be able to, and even if he somehow managed to, there would be nothing to save, because everyone would be too hurt by him to forgive him. And he's so blinded by fear and the belief that he's doing the right thing that he doesn't even see it.

The approach of Save, Jack and Joke to situations when they feel they have no choice is very interesting. Save sacrifices others without hesitation, Jack sacrifices himself (consciously) and others (unconsciously), Joke sacrifices himself. Joke is truly selfless in all of this, because he is able to humiliate himself in front of his father for someone he cares about, work for pennies, but legally, as Jack wants, when things are very bad, he still feels duty towards the grandma - a person, who was kind to him. Whatever he does, he's alone in it, he doesn't involve others, any harm falls only on him. Apart from that, he blames himself for everything...

...........

Despite everything that the series has shown in tis ep, and which I actively hate, I cannot but praise the series for a few things:

the actors gave it their all in this episode, especially in the micro-expressions on the faces of Jack, Joke and Save, when you can see that they are trying to hide what they are going through

as always, I have to praise the incredibly accurate socio-political-economic background of the series. That there is always a bigger shark in the pool, the total detachment from reality of the rich and that they do NOT WANT to know this reality and that they don't really care. How easily the poor fall into a spiral of debt, a system of dependency, passivity caused by constantly hitting a wall and helplessness in the face of constant adversity (how Jack did not even consider other methods of obtaining money, but went straight to Boss)

that in reality it's so easy to manipulate the poor, who ultimately harm themselves and each other, which is exploited by the elites. The elites know that it's enough to set people against each other and they will jump at each other's throats, doing all the dirty work for them, while they feast on exquisite dishes in beautiful interiors, in expensive clothes. Tattoo, Save, even Jack, do what is expected of them on their own, and their actions negatively affect… themselves and people like them. This is a very brutal and gloomy conclusion to this series, unfortunately also very realistic. Because the rich, the elites know that a divided, depressed society that lives in fear is easier to manipulata and control. Becasue if Jack, Joke, Tattoo, Hoy, Save and Hope joined forces, they would probably be able to oppose Boss, to come up with something for themselves. And so from the beginning we see how their various selfish actions throw themselves and others like them under the bus. Because really, as sad and awful as it may sound, neither Boss nor even Rose could have done anything if not for the significant "help" from Tattoo and Save

the unexpected, but weirdly compelling het ship 😆

Finally, the most beautiful scene. I really appreciate the choice of shots in this scene, especially when only the hands are framed and the focus is on them, without showing the face… 💖

Why can't they be like this all the time 🥺

[aruanism]

The Ocean Blue and Bloodied Hands

1.0k words | ooc, self indulgent aruani ff :33

(I'm not fluent in English T.T + I'm still taking creative writing classes)

Since when did you start looking at me that way, with your pretty sapphires and ever-so-curious gaze?

Because I'm a monster—a mass murderer with blood on her hands. I was trained to kill; I murdered countless people for the sake of missions. Yet, you still stood by me. When our gear was inspected that one day, you called me a nice person. Why? During an expedition, I was trampling comrades without hesitation. And you, you looked so scared under my gaze. I knew you'd figure me out soon enough after that, dearest. Yet when you did, you kept my secret for a whole month. Although I'm wounded, my dear. You gained my trust and betrayed me afterward.

Though I'm glad I could be a good person even just for a while. At least for you.

I was trapped in a crystal with my thoughts for four long years due to your betrayal. And yet, you still talked to me—looking up at my still form with your pretty blues, as if I would reply. I stood there, my eyes closed, still encased, wishing I could; could see the look on your face as you talked about your explorations or the way your eyes sparkled with each word spoken from those precious lips I wanted to kiss so badly. And when you said you understood me, do you really? I can only hope that I'm still a good person to you.

While countless colossal titans trampled over millions of people, it was also the first time we talked to each other properly, uninterrupted. The ship’s engine roared beneath our feet, the ocean’s waves humming its continuous rhythm. I pressed my knees close to my chest before patting the space beside me. Please, I need you. Awkward silence and unsaid feelings lingered between us until I remembered I had to thank you.

“I realized…that I hadn’t said thank you yet.”

“Huh?” Is that all you have to say?

“For coming to talk to me over all those years. Thank you.”

“Oh.” I missed you, more than I’ll ever express.

In truth, I was so lonely. I thought I was going to lose my mind. Four damned years of being hardened, I could see nothing while my thoughts were louder than ever. I had to look forward to hearing you and Hitch’s voice, just to remind me that I was alive and breathing. Even if those stories were as stupid as Hitch talking about her bad taste in men, it gave me a sense of normalcy that I yearned for. I remembered the story you told me—that day you visited the beach. You told me that you even found a beautiful conch, though I bet it's as beautiful as its beholder. I may not see the wonder in your eyes when you told me your experiences, but I can see it so clearly now, in those deep blues that I fell for since the beginning. How I wish I was there to hold your hand, gaze into your eyes, and...and...

"Oh, Annie." Hearing my name on your lips…sounds so right.

“Tell me why?” I need to know something.

“Why bother talking to a rock that couldn’t so much as grunt a response back?”

“Huh?” Give me a response, please.

“I mean…There must’ve been girls out there more fun and cheerful than me, right…?”

It’s true. There are girls out there more deserving of your attention than I am. Some girls might even give you the world if you asked them to. Of all the women in that island, you chose the terrible Female Titan under the name of Annie Leonhardt, whose presence is but a living nightmare. She's a traitor, a bloodstained Marleyan warrior candidate, a horrible being who deserves—

“Annie, I did it because... because...I—” I want to….no. I need to know.

“...I missed you.” What?

Three words, three syllables. A combination of words I never thought I’d hear in my whole life, spoken from the lips of the man I hold so dearly to my heart—Armin Arlert. Suddenly, the hardened warrior I was crumbled to a million pieces. I felt so vulnerable, so real, so human. My cheeks reddened as the unfamiliar yet felt-so-right feeling of being oh-so-loved spread through my chest. I never felt this way, not in my 20 years of living in this God-forsaken world.

“...Why?” The only thing that came out of my dried lips.

“Huh? Do you really not get it?” I don’t, Armin.

“Even after Hitch teased me so much?” Yes.

“...I don’t. ” I’m being honest.

Because for years, Armin was talking to me, an enemy. He’s a good person compared to myself. He was willing to visit me, knowing I might wake up at any moment to strike once more. When I stood to stop the conversation, he held my hand. Those hands that belong to the man I've felt human with for years...

“Sit back down.” Alright.

Squeezing my hand even tighter, I sat back down with him avoiding his gaze. He's holding my hand so tenderly, the same hand possessing the ring behind multiple people's lives lost. Besides, why should I stay? I already said what needs to be said. I had thanked him for being there. What's more to be talked about?

“And I know I’ve told you this before.”

“But I’ve decided I really don’t like being called a good person.” Huh?

“I’ve killed a lot of people. Not just soldiers. Regular people, children…” So have I.

“I’ve killed comrades…” I know.

“I’ve been a terrible monster myself for a long time.” Then let’s be terrible monsters together—you and me. I want to be there for you like you were for me.

Hours after our conversation on that ship, I could only wave goodbye as you rode the flying boat with the others. I decided I wouldn’t fight anymore. To spend the final moments of my life in peace…with you. Even if this is a selfish dream, I want to enjoy every year of my life with you, not worrying about anyone else. I could look into your eyes every morning and run my fingers through those golden hair strands on your head.

Because I love you, my dear Armin. I loved you, and I still do.

[arisu-artnfics]

“A trip to Paris” 6

Notes: 

Chapter: 6/12 Previous Next (First). Versión en Español

Also on:     A03 || FF || DeviantArt || Facebook.

Chapter 6: “Introducing akumas”

Marinette shook off her embarrassment, there would be time to freak out about that later, right now, she had a job to do.

“Oh, no!” Marinette cried, checking her phone. “There is an akuma close by!” She turned to her new friends–or, rather, temporary friends… she knew they were just here on holidays. “You should stay here, it will be safe.”

“Safe from what? What’s an akuma?” asked Jazz. She didn’t remember reading anything about that, and she had done a lot of research before coming. 

“Oh, um, well an akuma is a person…” Marinette began. Danny raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t planned to have to explain this today, and she was doing a poor job of it. “Well, a possessed person—” 

“Wait, you mean like overshadowed?” Sam asked what all three Amity Parkers were thinking. She didn’t think his ghost sense had gone off, but they couldn’t be too careful. 

“Over– what?” asked Marinette, confused, this was not an English word she knew. She shook her head, “No, I don’t think so… it’s more like control by, as if someone else brainwashed them.” Then she remembered that “possessed” could mean something totally different to them than it did to her.

“That’s horrible,” Jazz commented with a sympathetic look. Knowing that it was done by one human to another made it worse in her book.

“It is, that’s why it is better to stay inside, and let Ladybug and Chat Noir do their job. They will defeat it, don’t worry!” said Marinette. Her smile was a bit too wide, stretched thin. Ladybug would save the day, but first she needed to leave and transform into Ladybug. She just had to figure out how to slip away from them. 

“Marinette is right,” said Sabine. “Our store safety policy includes customers in these cases of emergencies. Please stay inside of the store.” Her accent was stronger than Marinette’s but they could understand her English well enough. 

“Okay... ” said Danny hesitantly. He didn’t think that he could do much against an akuma. As far as he knew they were just people, mind controlled people but still people, as wrong as that sounded. And although it may be killing him inside to know more about it so he could at least try to help, with Jazz and Sam and even the Parisians so close by, he wasn’t about to go ghost.  

“Good,” said Tom, nodding approvingly. He never liked when Alya went to record the battles and he liked it even less when his daughter took the risk too. Although normally Marinette was trying to stop Alya. 

Another explosion shook the bakery. The pastries bounced in their displays and some of them piled up at the edge of the containers. Things were falling off shelves, everything was out of place. Everyone in the bakery ran for cover, and Marinette took the opportunity to escape and 'hide' in the house rather than the store. 

She didn't lose any more time, quickly transforming into Ladybug and swinging out through a window. With the help of her trusty yo–yo she made her way to the roof. Once there, she spotted Chat Noir, who was already watching the villain and trying to understand the situation.

Meanwhile, inside the bakery, Danny was trying to see what was going on from a window since the attack wasn’t that far away. Sam stood next to him, a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. Even though he didn't even know if he could do something against an “akuma,” he was sure there was still some way he could help. 

Jazz was watching her little brother from further in the store, she could tell that he was itching to get out there and help, that was just his nature. She knew her little brother, if things got bad enough, he would try his best to help, even if that meant breaking his promise. 

The fight had gotten even closer to the bakery and that wasn't helping Danny’s stress, he knew he could try to help, but didn't want to break his promise or expose himself.

Then when nobody was expecting it, the battle was over. As fast as it had started, it ended. 

As soon as Ladybug found Chat Noir, he told her what he’d seen and she knew exactly what to do. The akuma was a demolition contractor who got fired for unsafe practices. His boss said he was using too many explosions, but he had a plan, it wasn't his fault that the higher ups didn't like it. He was throwing bombs all over the city, destroying lots of buildings, when Ladybug and Chat Noir found him. Using their awesome teamwork, the pair of heroes quickly found the akuma hidden in a remote detonator and put a stop to his rampage. Then Ladybug launched her miraculous cure and everything went back to normal.

Back in the bakery, Tom and Sabine were smiling at the foreigners’ shocked faces. They had become so used to akuma attacks that it was almost normal to them. It was nice to be reminded of how magical it all really was.

Danny, Sam, and Jazz were more than a little surprised when everything suddenly went back as good as new, the fallen pastries were back on the shelves, toppled chairs were set to rights, and they could see previously damaged buildings from the window with not a scratch on them. It was like the akuma had never even happened. 

It wasn't long until Marinette was back downstairs and she was just as amused by their shock as her parents. The three Parisians explained to their guests that it was always like that for them. An akuma would destroy almost everything in their way, and then Ladybug with her Miraculous Magic would restore it all. Good as new! 

Danny silently wished that was something he could do back home, maybe then people wouldn’t blame him for all the property damage. 

It was at that moment that someone's stomach growled and the Amity Park kids suddenly realised how hungry they were.

“Wow, is it really that late?” Danny wondered aloud. He checked the time on his phone; even without a local service provider, the time was still correct.

“You're always thinking with your stomach, aren’t you?” said Sam. She laughed and gave him a teasing smile. Even though she was also hungry, she wasn’t going to admit it. The hours had really flown by. 

“Let’s go and find something to eat, it’s about time for lunch,” Jazz suggested. She looked around at the Dupain–Cheng family, “Marinette, thank you for all the tips,” she held up the notebook where she’d written everything down, “and thank you, Sabine and Tom, for letting us stay here during the akuma attack. We’ve never seen anything like that before!”

“You are very welcome!” replied Marinette with a big smile. She was happy to know that everything was coming up good for the foreigners. 

“Glad to know that our daughter has helped you kids that much! Have fun in your holidays and please come back!” said Sabine, she wrapped an arm around her husband and the two smiled proudly at the kids.

“We will!” said Jazz, grinning back. It was a nice place, and they could come back for sweets any time during their stay. 

And so, just like that, Jazz, Danny, and Sam waved goodbye to their new friends and headed out into the Parisian sunshine once again. They had passed by some stores and restaurants earlier and Marinette had told them where they could have lunch at a very good price. The restaurant that they ended up going to wasn't the cheapest that they saw, but at least it was on budget for the day. 

Just when they were finishing lunch, their Fenton Phones rang. It was Jack and Maddie calling to check on them because they had learned about the akuma attack. They knew the kids could handle themselves in dangerous situations, but they still worried. Plus, their curiosity was piqued. 

Once the adults finished peppering them with questions, the kids took turns telling them about what happened, Danny explained that no, he didn’t use his powers, and no, he had no clue what that was, and yes, they were all good. Then Jazz took over the story and explained how and why they ended up hiding in a bakery of all places. Sam completed the explanation, saying that it seems to be like magic of some kind, at least that’s what the Parisians believed.   

Jack and Maddie were glad to hear that the kids were okay and hadn’t gotten into any serious trouble. It was enough of a pain dealing with insurance back home, they really didn’t want to do it here. As far as the possibility of magic, the scientific side of them wanted to deny its existence, but they couldn’t explain what would fix all the damage that easily. 

Danny confessed his wish that they had a magic fix back home, and to that, everyone agreed. Then he suggested that maybe next time another akuma attack happens, he could just observe from a closer distance than today.

That made everyone ask if he was planning to transform, to which he responded yes, but just that. No other powers, except maybe invisibility. It would be a stealth mission, reconnaissance. He didn’t want people to give himself away or cause people to panic even more. 

They all talked it over and decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay, just this once. So they could see exactly what was going on here. The rest promised to stay far away. The local heroes seemed more than capable of dealing with those akumas, after all. They had just witnessed that practically firsthand, or learned on the local news – even though Jack and Maddie couldn't understand what the reporter was saying, they could guess, and then a quick check online using the hotel wifi confirmed their observations. 

With their plan in relation to akumas now made, the three teens continued exploring the city. Then, later, they met the rest of Team Phantom –except for Tucker, Valerie, and Dani, of course– back at the hotel to relax and try to call home. It was weird to think about how many hours difference there was –damn time zones– and knowing they would need to wait until late afternoon or evening before they could talk to anyone back in Amity. Thankfully, Mr. Gray answered after just a few rings and they were able to check in with him, easing some of their anxiety. 

The two girls were doing all right, Danny talked with Dani and asked her how she was doing and if she'd had any ghostly problems. Dani told him that he was worrying way too much and he should just relax– he was on holidays and that far away for a reason. 

Then when they spoke with Valerie, she told Sam and Danny that she had heard the mayor was planning a little ‘meeting’ overseas. They pressed her for more details, and she said that Tucker was obviously planning a trip to Paris himself. He had used his power as mayor, in one way or another to make it happen. The public had been hounding the local government for more information about Amity Park, and until now, Tucker had declined a press tour. Recently though, rumours had spread that he'd accepted an invitation from the mayor of Paris. What an incredibly well-planned coincidence! The two teens laughed at their best friend’s antics, but couldn’t be happier. Only Tucker would manage to plan a special meeting halfway across the world just to come hang out with them. 

Jack and Maddie weren't too happy with his idea, but couldn’t really say much knowing that the old mayor did much worse than that. Tucker was also still a kid, and he wasn’t going to be mayor forever. The next elections were coming up soon and would decide the next mayor, after all. 

Hearing news from Amity lent some normalcy to their routine and they talked for quite a while, before saying goodbye. Even though they had only been gone a day, there was already a lot to tell each other.

While the kids were talking, Maddie and Jack looked up local attractions and found that a science exposition was being held not far from their hotel and would be opening the next day. Danny and Jazz expressed their surprise when they learned it wasn’t some sort of ghost convention, to which their parents sheepishly confessed that it was related to ghost studies… in a way. After all, people all over the world were talking about ghosts and learning about them now. 

Of course, the elder Fentons weren’t about to miss the opportunity to talk about ghosts with a whole new city of people that hadn’t already heard all of their theories. They did agree that they were going to just listen to the presentations and such though, even though they weren’t sure how much of it they would understand, it likely being in French and all. 

Just as his parents promised to try to keep a low profile at the convention, Danny once again promised to keep Phantom's presence in Paris a secret, even while invisibly spying on the local heroes. He hadn't really been around other heroes and he was curious about their powers. They were all very intrigued by what they could learn from them and considering that maybe they could use the knowledge later on, it was worth the risk. The others were calling it spying because that was basically what it was, even though Danny refused to call it that. 

Once all were in agreement as to how they would conduct themselves while gathering information during their stay they decided to get back in the vacation mindset. Jack and Maddie prepared themselves for their science exposition, while the kids planned their next outing. The Eiffel Tower was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris after all and it was high time they went to check it out. Thanks to Marinette’s help, they, or, more specifically, Jazz, were able to quickly look through the bus schedule and find the best time to visit when it wouldn’t be as crowded. Once Jazz had fully planned out their day, from how and when to get to the Eiffel Tower and then what to do afterwards, she called it a night.

After Jazz went to bed, Danny and Sam decided to look into getting their phones on the Paris cellular network. They couldn't keep using the Fenton Phones for all of their communication. Sam took the lead in setting that up, since she had experience doing that sort of thing before, but Danny was the one to suggest that they still used the Fenton Phones to communicate with Amity Park, since it would be cheaper than international roaming. In no time at all, Sam managed to help Danny and the rest of the Fenton family to get a temporary local line. Jack and Maddie were very grateful to Sam for helping them with that, since they had been putting it off for “later.” Using the Fenton Phones had been working for them so far, so they might have never gotten around to it.

And so, with a very productive first day in Paris under their belts, they called it a night. It was getting late after all. 

Over the next few days, Jack and Maddie enjoyed their convention, if nothing else, at least they learned the French word for “ghost,” and the kids took turns choosing which tourist attraction to visit. They would only be there for two weeks, so everyone wanted to make the most of their time in the City of Lights. In addition to the most popular locations, they also found some quieter places frequented by the locals that they all could enjoy. Before they knew it, the day for Tucker to join them was just around the corner.   

“So,” Jazz commented, “Tucker finally said that the official reason he’s coming is for him to supposedly speak at a bunch of conferences about the ghosts from Amity.”  

The kids were sitting at the park that afternoon, just enjoying the beautiful day.  

“Yeah. We finally managed to get ahold of him, and it’s like Valerie said, he was supposed to do an online, long distance conference… thing. But you know Tuck, he managed to change it so that he could come to Paris personally.” Danny shrugged. “Although, I also think that he mentioned once that he had a few different cities around the world trying to book him. So, why, Paris? Who knows. Probably just because we’re here.” he shrugged again.

“Why am I not surprised? You guys have always been good at playing the system, haven’t you?” said Jazz. She, like the rest, had suspected that to be the case, but hearing Danny say it out loud just confirmed it. At least Tucker wasn’t really abusing his power… that much. They had invited him, after all.

“Well, it’s Tuck, what do you expect?” said Sam with a shrug. She wasn't going to deny the obvious.

“Valerie and Dani said he’s arriving tomorrow, right?” asked Jazz. They had managed to talk with the girls back home the day before; but it was more Danny asking about Amity and confirming the lack of ghosts than anything else. She hoped, for Danny’s sake, that things stayed okay over there. 

“And I believe that he is staying in the same hotel as us, it seems like the ‘Grand Paris’ always receives important people… ” Danny added, recalling the details of his friend's travel plans. Even though, now that he thought about it, Tucker probably shouldn’t have shared those details with anybody other than his parents, who were coming too. It could potentially be a security risk.

“Yeah, he’s staying in the presidential suite, or whatever it’s called,” continued Sam. She had been the one to confirm the information, but didn’t care enough to remember the name of the room. The rooms had numbers, after all, and that was the important part.

“So I’m guessing you two will want to see him as soon as he gets here, right? The three of you will probably want to catch up tomorrow...” said Jazz. She already knew that Danny and Sam would jump at that opportunity to spend time with their best friend. Even though she was with them and they were having a good time, she still felt a bit awkward, a bit like an outsider.

“Probably…” Danny hummed, half listening. He was watching a group of children playing in the distance and listening to the pigeons coo. He was very much enjoying the holidays so far. As he should.  

“Hey Jazz, you know even though we don’t mind your company, you could go do your own things, too,” said Sam. “You don’t need to stay with us.” She didn’t mind the other girl, but she also knew that Jazz would probably like to do some other normal teen stuff, without her little brother and his girlfriend tagging along. Like maybe check some of the local universities or something, even though she would never want to study that far from Amity. Honestly, Sam was starting to feel a bit odd being around Jazz when they weren’t battling some kind of danger.   

“Oh no, it’s all right! I have the key card for the room, so we all need to stick together… ” replied Jazz. She was the oldest and therefore the one entrusted to keep track of their copy of it. She knew that Sam didn’t mean anything by it, but none of them were dumb enough to miss the awkward feeling between them. 

“Yeah, but you know I don’t necessarily need a key...” said Danny, obviously pointing out his ghostly abilities. He was still oblivious to the mounting tension around him. 

“True, but remember: no powers, little bro. Plus mom and dad trusted me to look after you two, and even though you don’t need it, that doesn’t mean I should just leave you guys! What if you got lost? Or went to the wrong room?” Jazz pointed out. With their limited communication here, getting lost wasn't something to play around with. That thought made her feel better about being there for them, even when they didn’t necessarily need her. 

“All right, all right...” Danny raised his hands in surrender. He had finally noticed how stressful the situation was becoming. “We are going to stick together, and no powers, means no powers...” He sighed. He might actually be starting to miss the ghost attacks.

“Well, with our luck another akuma will attack soon, and you can go spy on the heroes,” Sam teased.

They had found the blog run by Marinette’s friend Alya. The 'Ladyblog' had an English translation on it and explained that akuma attacks were completely random, usually varying between two to three per week, but sometimes as frequently as two in one day, although that was very rare. So, in other words, they happened when you least expected it.  

“Hey! I thought it was just ‘observing from a closer distance…’” 

Jazz and Sam both gave him looks that said ‘not even you believe that.’  

He sighed. “Fine, spying it is… ” he paused, “Let’s hope I don’t get in trouble for that…” he murmured. Even though he knew it was spying from the start, he didn’t want to say it like that, in case it was illegal or something. And he didn’t even know if he would understand anything. 

“So, what time is Tucker supposed to get to the hotel again? I can’t remember what Valerie said, since you guys, or well, you, little brother, were hogging the Fenton Phones the whole time and I had to ask you about it later on…” said Jazz, with a twinge of annoyance, reminding him about his worrying over the phone about whether Amity was doing okay or not. 

If they were going to do something tomorrow to meet up with Tucker and his family, it was best to plan ahead. And Jazz needed all of the information in order to do that planning.

“Well, his flight should land at around 5 p.m. He did a lot of complaining about how he was going to be spending a whole entire day on a plane. He may be a tech genius, but seriously, he didn’t get that if he leaves Illinois at midnight that’s 7 a.m here, then when you add the ten hours flying… ‘voilà’ you get to Paris at 5 p.m.” explained Sam. They had something similar happen to them when they flew over, although it wasn’t as bad because they arrived around 11 p.m. and then slept through the night. 

“If I remember correctly, even you were confused about the time zones when we were travelling...” Danny teased her with a playful grin and Sam just glared at him in return. After all, that Monday night was hard for all of them. 

“Well, if it helps, none of us had experienced crossing so many time zones like that before...” Jazz paused, “That means that Tucker would get to the hotel at around 6 p.m.” she commented, getting them back on the topic of planning for the next day. 

“Yep,” said Danny, pronouncing the ‘p’ more strongly than needed, “so he should be free around six-thirty or seven tomorrow afternoon,” he finished with a nod. He was excited that he and Sam would get to hang out with their friend after such a long time. They had only been in Paris a week, but even before that, it had been hard to see him because of his mayoral duties. Actual ones, unlike this trip… Mostly it was fixing problems that Vlad left. 

“Okay, so let’s just say seven, to be on the safe side, that’s when we should be looking for him,” said Sam. She would never admit it, but she had missed her friend; she was really thankful to have him in her life. After all, the three of them were the original trio, the original team Phantom.  

“Sounds like a plan!” said Jazz and wrote it all down in her notebook that she was still carrying around.

Danny and Sam just rolled their eyes. Sometimes it seemed like Jazz was being a bit extra, but they knew she always had good intentions. And even though they would never tell her, they knew they were going to miss her when she went to Amity Park University in the fall. 

The three teens fell into a peaceful silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 

Danny was actually really enjoying his time in Paris. He never thought that travelling like this would help so much, but with Sam next to him so close their shoulders brushed, and Jazz at his other side, near enough for a teasing elbow to the ribs, he felt the tension slowly melting away.

Sam slipped her hand into Danny’s and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was so glad to see him actually relaxed for once, and she was enjoying every second she got to spend with him. A breeze blew through the park, rustling the leaves on the trees, and she took a deep breath of the sweet summer air. 

Jazz was quite pleased with how everything was going so far. She mentally ran through their itinerary again, they only had a little time here and she wanted to make the most of it. Although, she supposed, always thinking of what they were going to do next was probably not the best way to enjoy the moment, was it? She shook herself out of her thoughts and instead watched the way the dappled sunlight danced across the ground at her feet.

“Well, now that we know when Tuck is getting here,” Danny began, breaking the silence, “and we’ve changed our plans for the weekend to include him–” 

A sleek black car had pulled up at the park, causing some commotion when a bodyguard stepped out of it.

“Okay...” said Sam, noticing what distracted Danny. 

Jazz finished writing down some more ideas for what they could do tomorrow, making sure to account for how they were going to ‘just say hi’ to Tuck. Then she glanced up from her notebook and saw what Danny and Sam were looking at. “Is he supposed to be a teen celebrity or something?” she asked. It did look a bit like it was out of a movie, in a way. 

“I don’t know, it just looked like something was about to happen, with the way those people were acting. I didn’t expect it to just be some guy, I thought for a second that maybe an akuma was coming or something,” Danny explained. After all, they were expecting an akuma to happen sooner or later. 

“I thought the same thing,” said Sam, “but that blonde guy doesn’t seem like an akuma, does he?” She watched the way he was being shielded by his bodyguard. He didn’t seem like much of a threat.

“Oh!” exclaimed Danny, after seeing the guy a bit better the closer he got. “I think I know him!”  

“What?” asked Jazz and Sam, equally confused. They had never seen him before in their lives.

“Well, all right, all right. I don’t, you know, know him know him… but I’ve seen him. In ads. I think.” said Danny, trying to remember where exactly he had seen the ad, or if he knew what it was about.

“In ads, you said...” Jazz hummed thoughtfully, trying to remember what advertisements they had seen around the area.

“I mean, I guess… I don’t remember exactly where, and now that I think about it, I’m not even sure what it was for. I mean, how could I know, it was probably in French!” Danny said with a shrug. There were plenty of signs with people on them, both here and back home. Normally it was because of publicity, someone trying to sell goods or services, or worse, according to him, it was politics.  

“That makes sense,” Sam allowed. 

“He seems to be very popular… well, at least among the girls,” commented Jazz. She had been watching the crowd and noticed that most of the people that were now gathered at the park seemed to be teenage girls.

“Well, I guess, that’s our cue to go. Look, they’ve got a photographer over there now,  they probably came here to work… ” said Sam, unimpressed. What else would a famous teen do if not work in one way or another? It was either that or just be ‘annoying’ in her book.  

“Alright, let’s go,” Danny stood up from their bench. “I’m here to rest, not work!” Well… unless you counted the “definitely-not-spying” he would be doing on the local heroes. 

“Hey, isn’t that Marinette?” Jazz pointed out a familiar set of pigtails in the middle of the crowd of what they could only assume were fans.

Sam followed Jazz’s line of sight and found their new friend talking animatedly with another girl. “Yeah, I think so...” When she turned back, she noticed how Jazz seemed like she was ready to go ask Marinette for some more Parisian advice.

“Uhh, Jazz, I don’t think we need to bother her and her friend right now...” said Danny, picking up on the same thing Sam had. Knowing his sister, she would try to get as much information out of Marinette as possible, even though they didn’t need it, they were planning to spend time with Tucker tomorrow, after all. 

“Hey, just because I’m gathering my stuff and especially the notebook doesn’t mean… ” she trailed off when Danny and Sam both raised a sceptical eyebrow at her. “Okay, okay… fine. So maybe I thought we could ask her a few more questions… ” She sighed. It wouldn’t be that bad to get ideas of what else to do, right?

“Let’s just go,” Danny groaned. He stood up and stretched his back. It felt nice after sitting for a while. 

“I’m right behind you,” said Sam. She would have been happy to stay there and admire the sunset, it was getting late and would be going down before much longer, but the idea had lost its appeal when so many people showed up.

“Fine” grumbled Jazz, outnumbered and defeated. She finished packing up the last of their things in a small bag.

And so the three of them began making their way back to the hotel. They would probably go up to the roof and enjoy some time at the pool while continuing to plan what they would do with Tucker once he arrived. However, as soon as they started walking, a huge flock of pigeons zoomed past them, flying in formation. A scream went up from the crowd of fans, many of them running for cover.

“Uh, that’s weird, right?” Danny asked. “Like, I’m no bird expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not normal.” To be continued :D :D

[sgiandubh]

Asymmetric Bars

Spent much of last night - and I could not really afford to do so: oh, well - watching the event unfold from the comfort of my couch.

Very pleased with all of the enthusiastic live reactions. They are better than any of our keyboard comments, simply because nothing can replace direct experience and personal perception.

I once told a (French) writer friend she couldn't properly start a novel about Russia without going there, irrespective of anything else. She was horribly pissed off and the new-ish friendship went down the drain - but I was honest and (it is my deep belief) also right. All things considered, same applies here: you were not in Sydney, well - all you can do is second-hand comment on what others saw.

I never pretended to be neutral, so I picked my trusted source and went with it, in my reblogs. So, there is no need for me to translate what @samheughanswife saw and shared: these are her things and this is her well-deserved privilege. But to me, it is the vicarious reactions that tell perhaps the most interesting tale and this short comment is about them, solely.

Hormones were obviously off the roof, disguised as they could, from gratuitous bitching to infantile drooling. That bracelet, FFS, it's a fan gift! What did you want him to do? Not wear it and they would have screeched he is dismissive and entitled. Wear it and they screeched it was tacky and 'classless' (according to one of the worst, shameless mythomaniacs in this fandom).

Funny how some (the same people, actually) see fan service where it is obviously not and conveniently forget about it exactly where it is absolutely obvious.

He looked tired. He looked hungover. His outfit sucked: who was the person expecting to see, I wonder, Houdini? JAMMF? POTUS? Michael Jackson? Benny Hill, so popular in their gif repertoire? His outfit was the one he always wears at cons, lately. There is nothing to write home about, but when you are a BBB (slainte and make it a triple), adding boredom to the mix, anything goes to feel alive and important.

It's always been about S, the most peculiar thing, really. Their OTT reactions to a happy go lucky, festive event justify why I don't give a damn about whatever they could ever say about anything else. Being vocal about something is directly proportional, in that group, to having no knowledge or exposure to that something. It is absolutely clear, now.

You wonder perhaps what happened next to my French writer ex-acquaintance. Well, she never wrote that novel. Instead, she went ahead and published a decent one about Nadia Comăneci, something she had a direct experience of.

I still have that email, somewhere.

[kandadze]

Ep 31 loose thoughts

Oh gods one look at Bai Jiu tearing up and we *know* it's real bad now. (I keep repeating myself, and this kid is so good, I hope he has a long and fulfilling career.) Yes, there's only one Bai Jiu, and I'm pretty sure the little doc does not want to lose yet another person, WX - because there is only one WX, too!

Oh good, I thought PSJ's bro's soul got separated from the puppet somehow and he was really gone this time... also, is this the first time PSJ actually apologized to him?

Can they not get even a tiny moment's rest? (Also, seeing just ZYZ with WX I immmediately got nervous about ZYC. I'm so invested in our throuple 😂😭)

A plague? And Fan daren is missing? This is all sus af. Could it be that WZY survived somehow??? He died so fast and so easily it's almost as if he staged it, and knowing what that monster is capable of, I wouldn't put it past him... even though I've no idea *how,* and I really hope I'm wrong.

(Oh no, Bai Jiu's wearing the outfit from *that* scene in the MV...)

This reminds me of when they just met and were investigating demon cases together... and when this show was still funny and only slightly angsty 😭

Fei's blood??? This *really* makes me think WZY has something to do with this... didn't Qing Geng give him a bracelet with Fei's blood on it???

I don't think WX's golden pupils work anymore... can you imagine how frustrating this must be for her. First she's weak and can't do much because she doesn't have the Baize token/powers, and now she's even weaker and dying because the token was tainted. If WZY is still alive somehow I hope we get to see him die a slow and horrible death for real this time. What an absolute piece of garbage, I have no words.

FEI????!!!! HOW??? DIDN'T THIS DEMON SUFFER ENOUGH FFS

FAN DAREN??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? (But also this explains another sus scene from the MV... I've watched it way too many times 😅)

ZYC is such a good big brother... Everytime they show us another piece from Bai Jiu's past I get furious at his parents for not finding a way to let him know the truth about not only his mother's, but also his own nature. This is a kid who thought he lost his mom for good at 5 or so, and then grew up thinking that she was murdered by his dad, because his fucking father didn't think he'd understand the truth - in a world where demons and gods are very much real and present! What on earth was that idiot thinking? He didn't say anything even when his son decided to leave home, at fucking thirteen! Seriously, some people should *not* breed.

ZYC's tender heart! The way he indirectly tells Bai Jiu that every moment counts, and urges him to reconcile with his dad while there's still time... because ZYC has none. (And I'm afraid he means it in more than one way 😢😭)

Lolllll kiddo way to turn the heartfelt moment into an awkward one 😂 ZYC could make a career writing poetry though, he just says the most ridiculously precious things. And the second kind of love he's describing - ah, it's the sort of love I wish we all grew up with, something we should receive from our family, from our friends, something we can then learn and give to others in turn. Like I really don't see ZYC's love for WX as romantic in any way (not to mention sexual), and it doesn't have to be; it's deep and pure and strong, and it almost pains me in its intensity.

Covering his loved ones with cloaks really is ZYZ's (and ZYC's) love language, isn't it? I love the dark colours on WX, even though I'm pretty sure it's to indicate the poison destroying her. The tendernesssss! He was *so* going to propose, wasn't he? He still has absolutely no hope of getting out of this alive though, so he changed what he was about to say. Stupid demon, he's gonna make me cry again I know it.

I was about to start aww-ing at the throuple (and ZYZ carving a little ape token? So adorable), but then they cut to PSJ fighting (sparring?) with her lil' bro and completely threw me off lol no idea what that was about.

Oh gods the way I lost it at their reaction after just one tiny branch fell from Qing Geng's cypress... another moment that would fit so easily into their earlier adventures (when this show still pretended that it wasn't going to rip our hearts out). Good to know that no matter how much they love each other now, the bickering will *not* go away 😂

(Also, I just realized that they've changed into *the* clothes from the MV... y'know, the clothes they wear during the epic showdown. But we're only halfway through ep 31! I'm not ready!)

Huh? ZYZ lost his demonic powers but he can still use his one-word spells? How does that work?

Oh gods, the cackle I cackled 🤣🤣🤣 Get him, ZYC, he deserves it! 🤣🤣🤣

The fuck they just waltzed into Chongwu Camp's dungeon like that? I guess the Demon Hunting Bureau isn't the only place anyone can just enter whenever the hell they want. Also, so convenient that the change in guards means no guards? And there's no locks. I don't know guys, looks awfully like a trap to me...

What. The. Fuck. Did. I. Just. Say?! This is one thing that frustrates me to no end about these guys, they just keep walking into obvious traps!!!

Also funny how the most despicable villain in this whole show is a goddamn human who goes, after all the shit he's done, "Why don't you understand me?" Like sorry dude that I can't even *begin* to comprehend your actions. In the end, no matter what your trauma or reasoning is, you *made* the choice to commit the atrocities you committed. And you made that choice repeatedly. Please die in a fire. For good.

Okay, so they took the guy with them but left WX behind? In the Chongwu Camp *dungeon*? With her father who's been demonized, WZY' s lackey *and* a plague demon who's definitely not the gentle Fei anymore??? Even if that arrow meant PSJ was also there, that was one heck of a choice!

I will never understand how that incense burner actually works, why is it so easy for them to get separated when they teleport?

Ah okay, that was just very temporary. But WZY on that rooftop, seemingly more powerful than both of them... makes me wonder if the king of Tiandu isn't in cahoots with him on this whole experimental shit. Like where on earth did this mofo get the money for all this research and thievery of artefacts and demons' body parts, not to mention the staff he employs.

The way ZYZ guides ZYC to help him unlock more of his power! But of course the monster will have another trick up his sleeve, and now we're dealing with poisonous gas? Argh!

Goddamnit, of course ZYC's locked in an illusion. And ZYZ, too? How the fuck- isn't that the previous Baize goddess? And Li Lun??? How--- okay, you know what, I'm gonna stop asking how WZY is able to do anything he does, he's clearly designed to be an OP mofo. His death better be satisfying to watch, drama!

Omg *everyone* is there. Oh, tempting, to stay in this illusion forever, isn't it? I wanna hug all of them 😭 The way both ZYZ and ZYC know with absolute certainty that none of it is real, though... "I want to consciously be delusional for a moment." Don't we all, Great Demon, don't we all... Also, can this drama get any more obvious? They *share* this illusion. Their biggest desire is the same... just to share a peaceful life with the people they love. ::head in hands for the umpteenth time::

Thank goodness for that moment of hesitation I guess, it seems this was even more dangerous than Ran Yi's dreamscape... It's kinda funny how WZY was just hanging out in the background all this time though, was he just waiting for them to kill themselves? And how close is the Mount Kunlun to Chongwu Camp anyway, how could Bai Jiu get to them so quickly without the teleportation mcguffin?

Nice decoy there boys, and I always appreciate when one of them reaches out to steady the other... Aaand we end on yet another conundrum, which, to be fair, on one hand proves just how paranoid WZY is, with the amount of contingency plans he seems to have cooked up, and on the other just makes me wanna tear my hair out. I want that guy *gone,* stat.

Onto ep 32!

[madraleen]

Delicious in Dungeon - Ryōko Kui Vol.10-11: "Oh, just Thistle, Mithrun and Kabru things" - A Commentary.

Vol.10 -for the record, second most well-designed character award goes to thistle, my beloved.

-low-key worried about laios' party now that we know the mithrun-goat backstory.

-no, truly, do we trust the winged lion? or did thistle seal it so that the mithrun thing wouldn't happen to him too?

-yeah, the lion "really doesn’t want to lose you here," laios, because he'll wanna devour you later! i don't trust that lion.

-ooooooh NICE, marcille wanting to make all races' lifespans equal, such a solid wish that could go horribly wrong, nice!!

-"kabru, make him stop"? really, canaries? really? everybody say "thank you kabru, for being a good influence for mithrun."

-YUH-HUH, "you're good at dealing with the captain" OBVIOUSLY!!! he eats when he should, he sleeps without help, everyone say "THANK YOU KABRU." ffs, canaries.

-thistle be watching everyone like "...wtf?"

-really, the teleportation expert is the most dangerous one, thistle? not the ones freeing the lion? interesting.

-right, that's what i'm saying. go seal the winged lion first. see, you only needed some food in you in order to think clearly, thistle

-argh, that's sweet, how falin's sleeping on her monster body, stop that's cute

-"laios! you okay!?" i don't know how he can ever be okay after suffocating falin, but hey ho. that was a hard sequence. that was hard. oof.

-oh wait, thistle's "wand" is his flute, that's cool

-no, not the "best by" date! lmao, laios, what a way to put it

-that's my deranged boy (thistle). standing on the table. for no reason. you show them. well. "deranged." it's more complicated than that. delgal literally pushed him to become a magician and put the weight of the entire kingdom on his shoulders, and then thistle had to use ancient magic, build a kingdom, create monsters, move everyone down there, protect everyone at all times, fend off invaders again and again, ALL OF THAT ON HIS OWN, had everyone praise him for it, and then had his nearest and dearest be like "actually, the thing we pushed you to do and praised you for, yeah, we don't want that anymore." thistle isn't randomly deranged.

-fumu fumu, that's a lot of dragons.

Vol.11 -lmfao that was kabru's dream that the nightmares ate, wasn't it

-gotta hand it to laios, that's good thinking, quick thinking, the whole dragons thing

-thistle's epiphany is to get everyone on feeding tubes...? like 24/7? for eternity?

-LION, STOP! LEAVE THISTLE ALONE! HELP, SOMEONE!

-wait, so thistle doesn't remember why he sealed the lion? 'cause i was theorizing he sealed him to protect himself, and lion confirms it, but not thistle

-MY HEART, thistle holding marcille's hand. SOMEONE HELP THEM! WHERE THE FUCK IS KABRU?!

-did thistle resurrect marcille??? OOOHHH

-erm, hold up, thistle will be fine though, right?

-kabru warning laios, good boy kabru. but also, tell him about the dungeon's lord!

-not kabru dissociating in real time as he eats bavarois

-goodbye, izutsumi, who knows where you've been teleported to. mithrun probably doesn't.

-ASFDHJ, marcille leaping onto laios to escape mithrun, SO CUTE

-pattadol is sweet, i like her. keep her around mithrun.

-oooh nooo the lion is unsealed, i don't like thisss

-i expect the anime to do justice to just how fast mithrun is

-it's a pity it's come to this. marcille would understand, if mithrun had had time to explain, but now he's trying to kill her and she's terrified and she only has the lion to lean on -.-

-THE FIRST PERSON TO REALIZE MITHRUN WILL RUN OUT OF MANA IS KABRU, ffs, have the canaries spared a second to think of mithrun's- ARGH

-kabru out there doing the lord's work. everyone else is useless. USELESS, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT KABRU

-YES KABRU, KEEP MITHRUN THERE! good boy. and yes, manga, feed me more mithrun and kabru moments, pls and thank you.

-of course it would be kabru that carried mithrun. don't worry, king, no one's taking him from you.

-kabru trying to talk to laios and laios trying to cut him off and leave is excruciating to read

-people really only listen to kabru when he's being honest and not putting up a facade, just sayin'. at least the people that matter to us do.

-i'm confused though. mithrun was the lord of a different dungeon, the one sealing goat demon. this one seals lion demon. why does lion demon know mithrun?

[eponastory]

I keep being all up in your inbox, but I just gotta ask you another question about Zutara. So, based on everything we know about the show and the characters, how do you think Aang would react to Zutara if it was canon? Maybe at first we would be jealous and mopey about it, but when he pieces together that Zuko is a good partner because of how much he loves, respects, and helps Katara as an equal, Aang realizes that he treated his friendship with Katara too childishly and THAT'S why Katara wasn't so happy about their kisses on the Black Sun and on Ember Island. Aang realizes that Katara doesn't want him because he was too immature and it was unfair. But Aang swallows the hard pill of reality, and uses self-reflection to grow up and be a better person. Also, what do you think about Aang being with Toph? I've read an analysis that Toph would've been a better partner for Aang because Toph is much more likely to put her foot down at Aang's foolerly, and that Toph doesn't glorify Aang with the rose-tinted lens of him being the Avatar.

This could go a few ways.

But seeing as Aang has selfish tendencies and the writers are idiots when it comes to writing romance, I'm gonna go with Aang being jealous.

Let's pretend that Aang is a real kid for this instance. He is 12. He is going through puberty and has a crush on the first girl he has ever seen (you know because the Air Nomads were sexually segregated and there is a reason for that). It's just... eww. He gives me stalker vibes and then expects Katara just to be with him because he says he loves her. Then on top of all that, her choice to have any relationship is limited to Aang because of a fortune teller. Honestly, it's a horrible thing.

Aangs world view is that everything revolves around him, yet he doesn't want to take responsibility for it. He never does either. I honestly think Katara (if she were a real person) is pressured into 'loving' Aang. The problem is, he's doing the pressuring. I've seen this brought up in countless fics I've read, and we all seem to be on the same page. If they were real people, this relationship would absolutely be on the toxic side. So, yeah, I don't think Aang would let it go if Katara left him for Zuko. He wouldn't be happy because it changes all of his 'plans' for reviving the Air Nomad culture. That's a lot to put on Katara, too.

Now since these are fictional characters, I'd put my money on Bryke causing Aang to go into the Avatar state (which has happened before in one of Aangs childish tantrums) which is not good for anyone. I hate that they characterize him this way because it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Like calm the fuck down dude, you're supposed to be following Air Nomad culture... oh wait, you know Jack shit about it because you only learned the basics. Like ffs... the writing is all over the place with that.

But no I don't think fiction Aang would be okay with Katara and Zuko. He'd probably grin and bear it, but inside he's just one step away from Avatar state because Katara was supposed to be his forever girl.

If Aang was truly written to be wise and forgiving, (which he isnt) maybe he would let it go, but no. That's not what we got. He's... a very very flawed character.

[mykneeshurt]

so I don't know if you would feel comfortable doing this but could you do the 141 and Alejandro Rudy

So you and them got invited out to go to the bar with the rest of the boys, but before you'll get there you were having measure insecurity problems. but you go anyway because you want to spend time with the guys. You goes to the restroom/bar to get something drink/etc. and when you come back, you see someone flirting with them. so when you pulled them away from that person who was flirting with them said something nasty about you as you guys walk away from the situation walk and it makes you feel worse so how would they comfort you when you get home

I don't know if that makes sense I'm not good writing out that type of stuff but I hope it's good but yeah I hope it's good

Of course! Some fluff and comfort coming up ❤️✨ gender neutral reader

Warnings - low self-esteem, low self-confidence, self-critical reader - I wrote this last night and I didn’t save it ffs

Walking back out of the toilet you saw a young woman, maybe no more than 25 draped over Ghosts shoulder. Flirting relentlessly with any of the boys she could get the attention of. Feeling annoyed you walked over and pulled her off ‘ever heard of personal space?’ You narrowed your eyes, eyebrows furrowed as you shot her a warning glare.

As she met your gaze she rolled her eyes, ‘and who are you?’ She scoffed, clearly thinking a lot about herself. ‘I’m their friend and you’re making quite the spectacle of yourself. Maybe you should have a water.’ She sneered in your direction, judging everything about you. ‘At least I am a spectacle, not some boring lookin’, ugly cretin’ she laughed. Ouch.

Ghost moved her away ‘I don’t think so love, you don’t speak to them like that.’ She rolled her eyes and walked off, to find someone else to annoy. The familiar sting in your chest began to rise, tears hung just under your irises threatening to fall. That critical voice found its feet again, chipping away at your self-confidence.

Needing some fresh air you left the pub, sitting on a near by bench you picked at your thumbs. The voice shouting at you from inside. You were in your own world until a familiar shadow shat next to you on the bench. ‘You ok?’ Soap asked, his soft gentle eyes studied your face, the smile you’d been wearing all evening now lost. You shrugged not wanting to talk. He draped an arm around you and pulled you close to him, ‘don’t listen to her hen, she’s some drunk tit who wanted to make you feel bad, so she could feel good. Ain’t nothing wrong with you.’ He pressed a tender kiss to your temple whilst he rubbed your shoulder.

Wondering where you were Gaz and Rudy came to check on you. Gaz sat on the side side of you as Rudy knelt by your knees. ‘What happened? Saw you leave’ Gaz asked, his voice laced with concern. ‘That woman who was all over Ghost said some horrible shit’ Soap spat, clearly pissed off at how she had made you feel. ‘Oh babe! Take no notice of her, she doesn’t know you. Not like us, and we think you’re pretty incredible’ Gaz said placing his arm on yours. Rudy placed his hands on your knees trying to offer some comfort. ‘The only person who’s important is you. They’re irrelevant to you, they don’t matter. You do.’

You smiled at him, your sad eyes still fighting to hold in the tears. ‘I’m gonna head back’ you said with a sniffle. ‘We’ll come with you.’

Walking back to base Price noticed the change in your demeanour he hurried up to you. ‘Everything ok kid? You ran outta there earlier.’ You sighed and nodded, ‘naw I know you’re lying kid. You upset about what that woman said?’ Nodding again your averted your gaze from his, not wanting him to see how upset you really were. He placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder ‘oh love, she was talking shit. You’re one of us, family. Nothing anyone says will change that. We love you for who you are.’

You tried to accept what he was saying but you couldn’t. That little voice inside your head still telling you she was right and that you were worthless.

Back at base you went to make a hot drink. Something to distract you from your mind. Hearing a shuffle behind you, you turned and saw Alejandro standing in the doorway. Just seeing him stood there made you burst out crying, the damn of sadness finally breaking. Alejandro pulled you into a tight hug, the feeling of his warm embrace made you cry even more. You felt safe, warm, like you could finally let the catharsis happen. Heavy tears fell onto his jumper as he ran his hand over your head, trying to sooth you. ‘I’m sorry’ you sniffed.

Alejandro pulled away and wiped your tears away with his thumbs. ‘You don’t owe that woman the time of day. She doesn’t know you like we do. That little voice in your head is a lair. You know what we do with liars?’ You shook your head, confused. ‘We kill em!’ You allowed yourself to laugh at this, a real belly laugh. Hearing you chuckle was music to Alejandro’s ears. ‘Thank you’ you smiled, hugging him once more.

As you got back to your room you noticed Ghost stood outside. ‘Hi’ you whispered. Ghost stood there studying your face which was still wet from tears. ‘Mind if I come in?’ Sighing you opened the door and let him in. Walking into the room you sat yourself down on your bed, clutching at your hot drink. ‘Struggling with that voice again?’ Ghost asked as he rested against your desk. ‘Yeah, I just … I don’t know how to deal with it. What that woman said really hurt me.’

Ghost nodded, understanding what you meant. ‘When people pull you down like that it’s cause they’re full of shit and hurting themselves. They bring you down because that’s all they know how to do. They wanna make themselves feel better. You don’t owe them anything.’ You sat taking in what he was saying. You knew he was right, her opinion of you wasn’t important, she didn’t matter. ‘You gonna be ok?’ He asked.

‘Yeah, I think so’ you smiled up at him.

[chaifootsteps]

Okay, so jumping here. I've been thinking and imo the 'Lilith' is Eve in disguise and Rosie is Lilith theory still holds true. This is brought to you by me going "We know Viv is a shitty writer, so from the writing already available, where would she lead the plot NOW?" and by my tinfoil hat.

We know Lilith is somewhere in Heaven (maybe even in Eden itself). Unless she pulls the weirdest explanation out of her hat for why she took a small vacay for 7 YEARS abandoning her daughter (with whom we know she had a good relationship with, IF that part of the pilot is still true. She never stopped to explain what parts of the pilot are still true, ffs.), Lilith would never. I don't even think she:

1) Would be allowed in Heaven, even by making a deal with Adam.

2) Adam's pride is too big for him to simply accept such a deal and Lilith's pride would be equally big imo. This interaction would never work.

So that has to be Eve. And Adam *has* to know that that's Eve. Or he doesn't, idc. Point is, it's far more likely by normal logic for that to be Eve. By Viv logic...? Not so much.

Which brings me to my second point! Rosie and her character. I did kind of feel the Mary Poppins vibes a bit, ngl. Horrible redesign, but oh well... The way she reacted to Charlie, her going "yeah, singing totes works here, in the *cannibal* colony!" and her giving that love advice + "we all did things we aren't proud of" + the fact that she's a "hellborn"? She has to be Lilith, sorry. Also also I feel like cannibalism isn't even such a big deal??? In the show I mean. It's literally so cartoonish it simply becomes a hellish quirk for some inhabitants. Sure Alastor, you're a cannibal, boo-hoo. I don't feel threatened by any of them, is what I mean. And even irl, I feel like yeah, it's gross and most likely getting yourself sick, but what makes cannibalism truly bad is the act of *killing* that person, ye know? In Viv's Hell that can't even happen, they'll just respawn, no problem.

And my final reason issss: Viv just ran so fast past 4 seasons worth of plot that imo she backed herself info a corner. The only things keeping the plot going are...Alastor's deal and who he made it with. It's probably Roo or Eve (or Lilith if Rosie is just Rosie), but I have a feeling like it can't be so simple with her, she has to pull a super complicated sayan explanation to make it seem like she just had us all guessing the wrong things, she's suuuuch a literary genius. And she loves musicals a bit too much (Adam is literally just Beetlejuice minus everything interesting about him), so pulling a Sweeney Todd sounds very in-character for her.

Now, speaking of Alastor....I haaaate how she destroyed his character with all the swearing and the petty edgelord-ness. She's not smart enough to write a smart chaotic presence/maybe potential villain. There, I said it. She should open a psychology book or some shit (she should've hired psychologists to coach her about writing about topics such as SA, addiction, sadistic/criminal personalities and so on, but we know she never put such thought into her work). Or at least a sensibility reader for her plot, smh. The overall tone of the show is jumping around faster than a bunny on electrolytes.

And as always, Alastor and Rosie have more chemistry than Charlie and Vaggie literally the "main" couple. They seem like a 30s married couple, tbh.

Also also super confused about Alastor's microphone and how she can hand it over to Charlie??? Why would he do that??? Are we supposed to understand he now cares about her? Handling his (presumably from the Adam fight) source of power to her just like that?? TWICE?!?

I understand his final lyrics are supposed to be "holy shit, I almost died for these people, what is wrong with me???" in a nutshell (+ that part about the contract), but we were never SHOWN how he became more attached to them??? We just have to believe him based on the talks with Rosie and Niffty respectively. What a joke. (Niffty got partially restored in my brain, at least).

-idk, Broadcast🎭 anon- (I know I DMed u, but yea)

Honestly? Even if this leak never comes true the way Viv planned it back then, I for one am having a great time speculating.

[kira-broflovski]

Sleepover || Kyle Broflovski x Reader (5)

note: how about we get some drama going?

You needed to get home. Fast.

When you knew Kyle couldn't see you anymore, you started running as if your life depended on it. You needed to get home because you had gone over your curfew, and you knew your parents would be infuriated at your seemingly poor time management skills.

You couldn't even tell them you were at a friend's to catch up on work. They would want to know why you needed to catch up. Because you were at home sick? Nope. You were just skipping school to have a couple of days to yourself for once, not that you told anyone that.

Dashing through the front door, your legs felt numb at the sudden stop. You looked around before deciding it was safe. Thankfully it was.

You made your way upstairs to your bedroom, noticing your brother's door was open. Maybe he was just in the bathroom.

When you got to your own room, you made sure to close the door and make it seem like you had been there for a while in case your parents walk in and become suspicious. After everything was set, you released a breath you never realised you were holding in and laid down on your bed.

You were more tired than you thought. Taking a little nap can't hurt.

Meanwhile, the boy you were just with was awaiting your text message to tell him you had gotten home safely. But you were too focused on making sure you weren't caught past curfew by your parents, so you forgot.

In an attempt to distract himself, he tried studying a little more while waiting for both dinner and your text, but it didn't work. He couldn't get his mind off of you.

What happened? Are you okay? Why weren't you texting him?

So many questions that he didn't ask in fear of coming on too strong.

He laid on his stomach in bed, not being able to tear his eyes away from his phone.

"dude, relax. did she eat at your house?"

"only snacks,, why"

"then she's probably having dinner with her family or something ffs"

"it's been a couple hours"

"maybe she actually spends time with her family"

"unlike you"

"stfu I'm trying to help you asshole"

"alr im sorry,,, im just worried about her"

"clearly"

Kyle rolled his eyes at his friend's logic, thinking he could have at least comforted him instead, even if Stan was being more reasonable. Though he wasn't the best person to go to for girl advice, especially right now.

Shaking his head, Kyle put his phone face down onto his messy bed and planted his face into the cotton blanket.

He couldn't stop thinking about the kisses. That's when a horrible realisation settled in. Were you avoiding him? Was he bad at kissing and accidentally made you uncomfortable? Did you never want to see him again.

His phone buzzed with another text, and he picked it up immediately hoping it was you.

"hello?"

Never mind. It was Stan again.

"what?"

"has she texted you yet or not?"

"nope"

"damn maybe something did happen to her"

"bro stop don't say that"

"just saying"

"uh i might have forgotten to tell you smthn"

"oh god"

"i may or may not have kissed her..."

"what-"

"a couple times"

"WHAT"

[takeurexam]

dynasty || III

genre:

non idol au, time travel, romance, rivals to allies to friends to lovers, crown prince to emperor taehyun, reader gets appointed as an concubine

pairing(s):

taehyun x reader

(warning, this does not reflect the REAL idols personality, and no smut will be written to respect the idol, and i am not comfortable as well, and the taehyun in this ff is not the actual taehyun)

summary:

in which you, an excellent law student about to graduate collage suddenly gets dragged into the past, meeting the famous-fawned over emperor of the kang's dynansty. but you getting dragged into this mess was beyond a mystery, and it seems like you have something deep to discover. meddling with the past is a risky decision after all.

dynasty masterlist

3: Encounter

"So, who was he?" Hobak wiggles his eyebrows as he teasingly looks at you. "Hes a guy I met on my journey to Daedo. He serves the Crown Prince." You start to glare at him as he giggles at you.

"Uh huh.. Okay, okay." You glare daggers at him more as you two walked back to the base camp. "Oh, I got some spicy rumours!" Hobak smirks as your eyes widen and scoot over closer to him, "Spill!"

"Spill?" He looked confused, "Oh right. I forgot im in a whole new generation." You chuckle as you answer his confusion, "Tell me."

The night journey on the way to the camp was just filled with you and Hobak talking about some spicy rumours around the area, and what you did this day; about some clients Hobak met with, such spicy tea at this dynasty.

You both arrive safely at the camp with Soobin passed out in his bed sleeping soundly. You and Hobak share your goodnights and end the day with some nice sleep that you havent tried for a while.

"Where am I?"

You look around the place you're in, its an ominous room filled with guns or swords hanged all over the place, with a horrible smell that smelt like burned wood. "Are these real guns?" You look around the room a little more throughly. "They are..." You touch the guns and open the area where you get the bullets. The room was dusty and looked unused.

"This room dosent look like a weapon room." You look around and notice red curtains, jewelry, mirrors and shuffled around clothes and scattered cargo. "Im in a storage room filled with guns and swords, its either abandoned or unused because of how dusty things are here." You mumble to yourself. "Wait, dumbass. A weapon room and a storage room like this is just the same." You mentally slap yourself.

You hear faint shouting outside the room, and one of your guesses is that they were on the way on the room you remained in, and your first instict is to hide somewhere; you hid behind some cargo boxes as your guess was right- they were heading towards this room you were in.

They open the door as you hear two women murmur to eachother while making sure the door was locked. "Clear." One of them whisper.

They wore Hanboks that were colored green with some black, "They're from the palace. Most likely servants in a higher rank." You thought as you peek at them.

"You fool. You failed to put it on her meal!" The middle-aged looking woman shout as she slaps her other companion that looked a little younger as you peek through the box.

"I-Im sorry! The emperor suddenly barged in and-"

Suddenly, you woke up from that ominus dream as sweat dripped down your head. "Who were they? A dream cant feel this real." You mumble as you wipe the sweat off your face, "Whatever. I need to do my errands for today." You ignore the weird dream and continue on with your day. But somethings a little confusing still.

You get out of bed and get ready for the day incoming.

"Another day another errand." You stretch as you make your way near Daedo to find some more herbs Soobin requested, he listed a lot of easy tasks to do and even noted a little "Stay safe!"

"Wonder if im going to meet General Beomgyu again." You mumble as you pick up some plants you've recorgnized on the list.

You do your errand which is picking up some plants Soobin listed for today and some normal wood and firewood. He listed alot more than yesterday which made you assume that you would be out here for a while.

"Speaking of which, I need to do a backround check." You freeze in your tracks and snap your fingers as you close your eyes, "Day two, met Beomgyu, something suspucious within the palace, and I still have no clue why im here."

"I wanna go home but at the same time, this feels awfully peaceful and fun." You put your finger to your chin as you think out loud.

"But then again, I miss my life there too."

You sigh as you lay down a tree to rest a little bit and stretch as you look at the mountain view you've sat near on. You sat by a tree facing the mountain edge as the afternoon sun faced the other direction.

"This feels refreshing and is making me sleepy as hell." You yawn as you stretch your arms and take a little nap.

"Hey."

"Ow that hurts..." A throbbing sensation filled your head.

"Really now?" You hear a male voice above you, "And why do I feel something like legs beneath my head?" You thought.

"Am I laying down on you right now?" You ask the man.

"Yes, you are." He responds as you kept your eyes closed. "Why?" Your eyebrows furrow.

You then open your eyes to reveal a man with eyes staring down at you that look like pearls, with dark brown hair and a handsome face with clothing for nobles.

"You literally blacked out. You were even drooling after all that trouble." He chuckles. "I thought you were dying so I laid you down my legs to check you because you were saying 'No! Thats so uncomfortable!' When I laid you down the leaves."

"...You did not see me." You sit up and scoot away from him as he stands up.

His eyes blinked several times before sitting up and walking towards you, "You fell from the sky." He crosses his arms while raising a brow at you, suspiciously. "Sky?"

"Okay, how wise you are!" You say sarcastically as you stand up with your eyebrow raised. "How would I even fall from the sky?"

"Perhaps you fell because the heavens wanted you gone." He clicks his tongue, as you glare at him. "Why are you even here? This is near an royal camp.. you're an assassin, arent you?" He draws his sword. "One second you're saving me and the next you're about to kill me." You roll your eyes.

You sigh as you blow the strands of hair covering your hair, blowing them away from your face, and ignoring the 'royal camp' part. "I dont even know why I fell, im experiancing memory loss and cant even remember why im here."

"I do not trust you." He continues raising his brow as his sword is drawn and an inch away from your neck.

"Who even are you?"

"I am the Crown Prince of this Kingdom."

"What?" You look at him as if he's bluffing, but realization hits you-

"WHAT?!?!" You scream that it woke up every sleeping or hibernating animal in this forest.

The two of you sat against the leavy ground with your backs supported by some trees. You've met the 'Crown Prince' Hobak was talking about and he was way something else than you expected.

He was a tease, first of all. Second, he's judgemental, and third, he literally just sneaked out the royal camp because he was bored.

"So..." You chuckle anxiously as you try to build conversation with him.

"What?" His tone cold as he glances at you. "This bitch." You roll your eyes at him.

"I remember now. I fell asleep and I rolled off the mountain and fell into a big pile of grass and you found me their and thought I was about to face death itself." You sigh as you grip your hair following with you groaning.

"How amusing." He smirks. "Very." You sigh, "Oh!"

"Wait, so if you're the Crown Prince, then General Beomgyu serves you?" He nods at your question as you nod back with a look at him. "Thats an odd question. Are you seeing him?" He tilts his head.

You furrow your eyebrows and look at him with a disgusted look, "No way! I just met him yesterday. He was just patroling around the area I was in."

Silence takes over you both as you recollect some thoughts, "I wonder how it feels to be in the palace. Its so interesting though, but I think its better out here than there." You eye him suspiciously with your eyebrow raised.

"Reminds me, I have to find out his name for historical purposes." You nod to yourself as you turn to him.

"What?" He notices your look.

"Whats your name?" You tilt your head. He looked genuinely suprised at your question which was barely even asked. You might even be the first or second to ask that.

He takes some time to look at you and answers, "Kang Taehyun." He mumbles.

"Bingo! He is the guy that I was thinking of yesterday. So he still isin't the emperor here then." You smile as you gather your thoughts.

"Okay!" You snap your fingers as you look at him, nodding your head as he gives you the look of disapproval. "Why are you even out here? Its pretty dangerous for a prince like you, you know."

He smirks, "Then why are you out here too? Isint it dangerous for a pretty lady like you to be out here?"

"You're too kind. I know!" You grin as you wink and push your hair upwards. "Your confidence is charming." He smirks at you with a little grin.

"Uh... okay." You scooch farther from him. "I forgot people are actual weirdos even in this generation. I mean- look at his disgusting smirk!"

He chuckles as your reaction and scooches closer to you, "Well, you know my name, but I dont know yours?" He smiles.

"He went from total grumpy to total flirt! Gross!" Your eye twitches as you maintain your composure, "Y/N. Now, stay away can you!" You shout a little.

He laughs even more as he moves away from you, "Im just playing jokes here."

"Very funny." You look at him deadpanned.

"Arent they going to start to find you?"

He chuckles, "Leave them be."

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE CROWN PRINCE-!"

"I DONT KNOW! ITS YOUR FAULT THAT HE ESCAPED BECAUSE YOU JUST KEEP DOZING OFF!"

"WOW? WHOS THE ONE STAYING AWAKE?? NOW GENERAL BEOMGYU'S GONNA BEHEAD US-"

The two guards argue as they make some noise around the Crown Prince's meant to be tent. General Beomgyu watches them from afar as he sips his cup of tea with an amused look.

"The crown prince is missing, General." A eunuch reports to him, "He may have left about this morning when everyone was out eating and distracted." General Beomgyu drops his tea as he looks at the Eunuch.

"Its fine. I'll find him before sunset arrives, and if I dont arrive before, then distract the people with dinner." The general stands up from his seat and fixes up his armor, "Handle things for a while, Head Eunuch. And make those two stop bickering."

"Noted, General." The Head Eunuch tiptoes away.

"What are you plotting, Taehyun?" Beomgyu takes one last look at the two bickering before heading out to the forest.

"Hey. You should get back soon." You suggest to Taehyun as you both still sat on the same spot ago. "If I get beheaded, the heavens will blame you."

He laughs, "Should I be scared?"

"Idiot." You gruff at him.

You both glare at each other before you turn your glance into the leaves on the ground. Your senses turn awake as you hear something, "Wait. What was that?" Your ears perk up from some leaves crunching above you two.

Another crunch makes you observe the sound, "They're going slow. This is bad, they might be targeting Taehyun. If this was a person from the palace, their movements would most likely be fast paced with the fear of getting beheaded by not finding him on time. And I dont hear this person calling out. The person near me and him might not be a guard or someone from his camp."

You look at Taehyun as he stared down the leaves, before covering his mouth and holding his wrist as he looks at you with protest and fear.

"Dont make a sound. Someones here and they are not from the palace." You whisper to him very quiet as possible as he nods and looks at his sword.

"I hear their footsteps crunching. Im suprised you didnt even notice." You whisper once again. "I was lost in thought." He whispers back.

A sword draws from somewhere above you as you both hid below the small cliff where you both sat on as the mysterious person approaches.

"Okay. We might have to run." You look at him as he nods, "Hold me tightly as possible." He mumbles.

"One." You whisper.

"Two." He whispers.

"Three!" You both shout as you run upfront to avoid the person on the small cliff, you look back to see an figure with black clothes which fit the standards in your head for assassin looks. "Its an assassin." You breathe out to Taehyun as you both ran.

The two of you ran for your life as you both panted heavily with the leaves crunching loudly. "Wheres your camp directed at? I think its best we go there!" You ask Taehyun.

"Right up from our East! Lets run there." You nod at his answer as you both change directions and start running to the East.

You look back to see the assassin running after you two as he had a sword drawn. "Fuck, he has his sword out." You pant.

"Is he right or left?" He asks you as he does not bother to look behind and focuses to run.

"Left!" He was in the right side as he turns you around and swaps places with you. "What are you doing!" You catch your balance.

"Its best if hes in my direction! Your safety must go first!" He sees a light from the camp, "We're not too far!"

"Dipshit! You cant get hurt! You're the crown prince!"

"And you're an innocent person involved in my shit! So stop whining and let me!"

You sigh loudly as you continue running for your life, "Fuck, im getting tired! Its good I can run better here than in my original life- but my body has limits!"

You both look behind before seeing the assassin stoping in their tracks and running away, "Huh?" You both look at each other confused.

"Your Imperial Highness." A deep voice startles you both as you two slowly turn around to see a man in a high ponytail- black armor and.. "General Beomgyu?" You grin as he looked a little suprised at you.

"Beomgyu." The prince mumbles.

"Why are you two together?" He questions with a raised brow, "Long story!" You push the General to the direction of the camp as he eyes you with thoughts of you acting suspicious.

"Hurry, hurry and lets go to the camp." You three walk up to the camp nearby.

<previous chapter

>next chapter

a/n: i swear on skibidi i dont have full complete plot of this fanfic but it is what it is! we finally met the kang taehyun 🥳 anyways i stayed up pretty late for this so i'll be sleeping for a while <3

see you next time, @takeurexam

[scentofdriedflowers]

so I bit the bullet and watched the svu premiere today and well for me it was... meh on the characters/squad... better on the case (heard it was from a real story kind of so...)...

squad is still a mess

Bruno and Velasco are kind of useless and boring I don't see why they're still there, sorry not sorry, one of them AT LEAST gotta go. They don't bring much if anything to the plate like, dudes have been there for 2/3 years now and have still 0 personality and the acting is wobbling at best, also how the fuck Bruno is dressed? he looks like he just got off bed, dude?!

new girl, Silva is it?, is meh, don't like her much, kinda like muncy but better acting at least, I need more to see, now is kind of a show off and bit arrogant on her 'i know things i'm from homicide' like gurl, you've been there 3 weeks tone it down a notch will ya? svu is gonna mentally challenge you, but at least she's kind of competent and can do the boys job alone lol. Imagine being mentored by Velasco tho LOL! big laugh I had there lmao. get me Rollins back ffs

I save Liv and Carisi here, at their best! thank god for a court scene fucking finally they remembered they have a court set. God I missed Amanda being there supporting him and watching him do his magic. Defense lawyers are kind of limp tho, I miss Rita Calhoun or Barth or Buchanan kind of lol assholes sharks but good. Fin is Fin, weird comment on the gun at the shooting range but whatever.

Talking about the shooting range, kind of weird/cringe, what was that?? this showrunner way to write 'team bonding' lol? news flash it didn't work. Also kind of coding this new girl as the Rollins replacement number...5? 6? lost the count , oh look she can shoot 🙄

I still found so many scenes were I'm: 'Amanda should be here', 'it's missing Amanda Rollins hour', yeah there still a big Rollins-shape hole in the squad room, still want her back there, big time.

Also Curry, only 'new' character I really like, but what the fuck is she still doing there??? why? what's the point? she doesn't look and act like a captain that's offending for her, I'm offended on her behalf! get her the deputy chief position for fuck sake! I thought that was the whole point on reintroducing this character!?!!! why Graziano is ruing characters that are not even his?! or if she likes so much svu get her to take the bronx svu to fix and lead, she get the boys out of Manhattan and we're good, and we see 16th interact with her in some episodes.

Bottom of the line it wasn't super horrible but it didn't feel like SVU, it doesn't feel like SVU anymore, since season 24 since Rollins left there's no family squad, they're just coworkers, no found family feelings, no meaningful private scenes, no real bonding...only happen sometimes when the core 4 are together and we need Rollins for that, they don't know how to introduce new characters and make them stick and be loved. When they introduced Amanda, Amaro, Carisi and Barba they were big presence since episode 1 and loved right there, when they introduced Mike Dodds or Kat or Garland they were swept in the family too, but now nothing. Maybe there's no chemistry/feelings with this new actors like there is with Mariska, Ice T, Kelli and Peter, but it's lacking the heart of SVU. and I don't see it happening anytime soon. Also still missing Amanda like crazy and not worth losing sleep over this show. I think I'll tune in when the Rollisi family is in, so episode 3 and 4 for now I guess lol.

rant over✌️

Ah I forgot new opening credit is yikes you get mariska and then a string of men, i think they put the new girl in it already just because if not it looked really bad with just a men cast with M, especially for a show about 99% women trauma. And why it looks so dark?? Why they all dressed in black or dark colors? it ain't a Johnny Cash song, it's missing some colors, also a blonde, just saying. And the precinct too, I miss season 17-20 layout, it had warm colors.

[scratchybongvt]

FINISH OR FORFEIT CHALLENGE!!! (Sidemascots 1.2)

Vinicius: Finish or Forfeit?

Paralympic Phryge: FINISH OR FORFEIT, WAHEY!

Burke: I think I’m going to have PTSD…

Miraitowa: Why is Para Phryge looks sooooo screwed up?

Sumi: Unfortunately, she is drunk. And because our audience is under their respective countries’ drinking age, we had to force her to go from Vodka Drunkenski to Soda Popinski.

Vinicius: But to be clear, she drinks a lot prior to that.

THE SIDEMASCOTS!

Vinicius: Season 1!

Sumi: With our brand new member…

Borobi: Please it’s Clyde… PLEEEEEASE IT’S CLYDE!

Vinicius: Olympic Phryge!

Borobi: OH COME ON!

Paralympic Phryge: and special guest… PARALYMPIC PHRYGE, WAHEY!

Sumi: Do you need to tell her that she’s in a strip club in Paris last night?

Paralympic Phryge: Rules are simple guays… keep it clean, or I’ll smash your mommy… WAHEY!

Soohorang: We don’t have parents!

Paralympic Phryge: Fail a challenge, do a forfeit!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Paralympic Phryge: Complete the challenge, choose someone to do the forfeit, WAHEY!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Vinicius: You’re gonna go down!

Paralympic Phryge: First person… oh I can’t read this shit… I’ll just make my own nicknames, WAHEY!

Vinicius: I’ll just call names on your behalf.

Vinicius!

Paralympic Phryge: Brazilian Fauna… *hiccups* you challenge is… Oh I can’t read anything… I’ll just make my own! WAHEY!

Vinicius: Oh no…

Paralympic Phryge: Your challenge is: *burps*

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Vinicius: Let her finish!

Paralympic Phryge: DO A POLE VAULT! (drinks can of Diet Coke)

Vinicius: What height?

Paralympic Phryge: in a height of 69 baguettes…

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Sumi: What’s the height of 69 baguettes?

Olympic Phryge: Equates to around 41m, or 134ft.

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Vinicius: I’ll get over it anyway!

Paralympic Phryge: Your forfeit is…*burps* get pie faced!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Vinicius: I’ll get over it anyway! Watch and learn!

(Transition to outdoors)

Paralympic Phryge: Three, two, one… GO!

(Vinicius proceeds stretch his arms to the bar and over it)

Vinicius: tada!

Paralympic Phryge: You can’t stretch *burps* your arms!

Vinicius: I can and I just did!

Paralympic Phryge: PASS!

Vinicius: Well that was easy.

(Back to the studio)

Miraitowa: Why do you want to pie face me?

Vinicius: Your face looks pie-able.

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Miraitowa: Please, I’m fragile!

(Vinicius slaps Miraitowa with his pie)

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Paralympic Phryge: Congrats Fauna, you just pied someone I recognize a bit.

Sumi: DEFAULT OLYMPIC MASCOT!

Miraitowa: ffs.

Sumi

Paralympic Phryge: *Chug 3 cans of Dr Pepper at the same time*

Sumi: You done?

Paralympic Phryge: American Black Bear with flappy hands…

Sumi: Please just call me Flappy Hands.

Paralympic Phryge: NO!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Sumi: Why? It’s not like it’s your catchphrase!

Paralympic Phryge: Your challenge is…

Down these cans of cherry coke from my drinking cap for 1 minute!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Sumi: Oh, haha.

Paralympic Phryge: your forfeit is… *burps* get dumped by an ice bucket, WAHEY!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Vinicius: An oldie but a Goldie!

Sumi: Can you please switch the forfeit to something more relevant?

Paralympic Phryge: NO, GO!

(Transition)

Vinicius: On your marks, get set, breathe and GO!

Everyone: CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG!

Sumi: DONE! *breathes heavily*, Cherry Coke is SHIT!

(Everyone laughed)

Paralympic Phryge: Black bear… *burps* this isn’t the first time you downed something horrible in your mouth…

Sumi: I nominate Soohorang!

Soohorang: WHA- (Gets ice bucket’d)

(Everyone laughed)

Soohorang: Hey! I can withstand cold water!

Sumi: Damn… I should have aimed it at Vini…

Vinicius: WHAT? NO!

Miga

Paralympic Phryge: Orca or whatever the heck you are…

Miga: I’m a half-orca, half-bear, but go on.

Paralympic Phryge: Your challenge is… BINGE WATCH SUMI’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Miga: That’s not a challenge, that’s a forfeit!

Paralympic Phryge: Your forfeit is… *hiccups* SHOW YOUR FEET PICS ON INSTAGRAM! WAHEY!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Miga: WHAT?!

Everyone: SHOW US YOUR FEET! LA DI DA DI DA! SHOW US YOUR FEET, SHOW US YOUR FEET!

(To Sumi’s bedroom!)

Sumi: If you dare turn you eyes away, the computer will turn off until you turn back again!

Miga: NO!

Sumi: CIAO!

(Back in the studio!)

Vinicius: Aw, it’s been 3 hours, let’s just crack open another one!

Paralympic Phryge: CRACK OPEN?! WAHEY! (Cracks open a can of tasteless coffee and downs it)

Burke

Paralympic Phryge: Chessboard boy… *hiccups* win a game of anti-chess with me, or you have to support the away team for the next home game!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Burke: What’s the next home game?

Sumi: It’s against Montreal.

Burke: What?

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH CANADA! THEIR HOME AND NATIVE LAND!

Burke: Also, what’s anti-chess?

Vinicius: It’s chess, but instead of forcing their king to checkmate, the object of the game is to have YOUR king to checkmate!

Burke: That’s easy. GAME ON!

(To another studio!)

Wenlock: Keep it clean or I’ll smash all of you! Ready?

Burke: READY!

Paralympic Phryge: *farts*

Burke: Oh, stop drinking soft drinks…

Wenlock: GO!

(2 minutes later)

Burke: HEY DRUNK! I’LL LET YOU CAPTURE MY KING!

Paralympic Phryge: Instant win?! WAHEY!!!

Wenlock: Burke wins!

Paralympic Phryge: WHAT?!

Burke: It’s anti-chess, after all. Go support the away team for your next home game!

Paralympic Phryge: AGAINST WHO?!

Everyone: STADE RENNES!

Paralympic Phryge: WHAT?!

Everyone: ALLEZ! TO STADE RENNAIS! GAGNER! TO STADE RENNAIS!

Paralympic Phryge: No… Rennes are shit bro… RENNES ARE SHIT BRO!!!! (Runs to a wall)

Miraitowa

Paralympic Phryge: what? We already did chessboard boy!

Vinicius: I’m sorry but it’s a DIFFERENT chessboard boy!

Paralympic Phryge: Oh… haha. (Downs a 1.5 litre bottle of Coca-Cola)

Ah, WAHEY!

Miraitowa: You done?

Paralympic Phryge: Chessboard boy but drunk…

Miraitowa: I’m not drunk, you are!

Paralympic Phryge: *hiccups* Choke your friend or get spanked!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOO- WHAT?!

Vinicius: There is NO WAY we’ll let the choking streak slip through!

Sumi: We had choking for two VIDEOS in a row now! Didn’t you remember?

Paralympic Phryge: No, all I remember of me smashing shots in a bar! WAHEY!

Miraitowa: I QUIT!

Paralympic Phryge: YOU CAN’T QUIT!

Miraitowa: I can and I just did. I’ll take the spanking, thank you.

(Transition)

(Miraitowa gets 1 spank on the butt per second by Vinicius)

Paralympic Phryge: Don’t worry, whoever you are, *hiccups* this isn’t the first time you get spanked on the butt by someone you know…

(Everyone laughed)

Borobi

Paralympic Phryge: (chug 10 cans of Red Bull) *burps for 10 seconds*

Borobi: Aw, you drink more than an average AFL fan mate!

Paralympic Phryge: Bluey…

Borobi: I’m not a dog but fine.

Paralympic Phryge: Your challenge is… KICK A CONVERSION FROM 40 BAGUETTES AWAY, WAHEY!

Borobi: I’m not French mate! What’s 40 baguettes?

(Everyone stared at Olympic Phryge)

Olympic Phryge: Ugh, 24m, or 26 and a quarter yards!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Borobi: My country LOVES Rugby mate! Let’s do this!

(To the outdoors!)

Borobi: What mate?! That’s not the Rugby field I remember! That’s American Football!

Paralympic Phryge: That’s *hiccups* exactly it, score a field goal or you’ll have to show your search history!

Borobi: Oh no…

Paralympic Phryge: MISS IT! MISS IT!

Borobi: NEVER!

(Borobi kicked the ball off-target)

Borobi: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Paralympic Phryge: BOROBI’S SEARCH HISTORY! CELEBRATION! (Chugs can of Y-3000 Coca-Cola) WAHEY!

(Back to the studio!)

Vinicius: I did not understand a sodding thing in your history!

Paralympic Phryge: *hiccups* Maybe he’s drunk?

Borobi: No, It’s in my indigenous language mate!

Sumi: Aw, for god sake…

Borobi: Sometimes you have to make use of its endangered status!

Vinicius: You f**ker. But, you clever f**ker.

Olympic Phryge

Paralympic Phryge: *burps* That red whatever with trainers…

Olympic Phryge: Oh, you such a joker.

Paralympic Phryge: …

Vinicius: Come on…

Olympic Phryge: I’m your sister!

Paralympic Phryge: I don’t… (drinks another can) remember me having a sister

(Everyone gasped.)

Vinicius: She’s… brainwashed.

Olympic Phryge: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE… (cries)

Sumi: Oh no…

(Olympic Phryge runs to the nearest therapy center)

Vinicius: No sisters can be crumbled in just a few days! I REPEAT, IN A FEW DAYS!

Sumi: Intermission: One like = One pray for Olympic Phryge! We want 50k prayers to get over her brainwashed sister!

Soohorang

Paralympic Phryge: (drinks Carabao from a League Cup) ah… Wet Tiger…

Soohorang: Yes, go on, insult my wet self.

(Everyone laughed.)

Paralympic Phryge: Your challenge is… do a cringe TikTok dance, or go to North Korea!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Soohorang: Oh no…

Paralympic Phryge: Do it!

Soohorang: Uhhh… I’ll perform Gangnam Style!

Paralympic Phryge: WHAT?!

Sumi: An oldie but a Goldie!

Soohorang: OPPA GANGNAM STYLE, UH!

Paralympic Phryge: You can’t revive dead memes!

Soohorang: I can and I just did!

Miraitowa: I wasn’t even born when Gangnam Style released…

Vinicius: Bravo, bravo!

Sumi: Absolutely nailed it!

Soohorang: That was easy, I nominate…

(Cuts to Tani crying while being patted on the back by Kinti in North Korea)

Paralympic Phryge: You can’t pick someone outside of the SIDEMASCOTS!

Soohorang: You say to choose “someone”, not “someone in this studio”

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Paralympic Phryge: shit.

Soohorang: Besides, Tani’s going to North Korea anyway!

Sumi: Funny but for the purposes of competitive sports and fair sportsmanship, pretty much true.

Wenlock

Paralympic Phryge: Cyclops from the Thames…

Wenlock: I would like to call the Ironwork from the Thames, please.

Paralympic Phryge: NO! (Chugs Sprite) *burps* Thames Cyclops, your challenge is to answer a question without saying yes or no!

Wenlock: That should be easy!

Paralympic Phryge: (Chugs 7up) READY?

Wenlock: READY!

Paralympic Phryge: Do you support… *hiccups* Chelsea?

Wenlock: They’re shit so NO!

Paralympic Phryge: PRANK! (Chugs Lipovitan) WAHEY! YOU LOSE!

Wenlock: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Vinicius: What’s the forfeit Phryge?

Paralympic Phryge: Your forfeit is to press this MYSTERY BUTTON!

Wenlock: What it’ll take me to?

Paralympic Phryge: It’s a mystery…

Wenlock: Fine! It’s a forfeit anyway *presses button*

(Wenlock posted a tweet)

Vinicius: GASP…. You’re going to get cancelled.

Wenlock: Oh no, what did I post?

Vinicius: I love the Phryges! Mandeville is crap!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Wenlock: Oh no, I’m going to be sick…

Chenchen

Paralympic Phryge: Chinese antique… (chugs bottle of Crystal Pepsi), ah, your challenge is… WIN A BOXING MATCH WITH ANYONE THE CREW CHOOSES!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Chenchen: 我要打败一切资本家!

Everyone: BURKE! BURKE! BURKE! BURKE!

Burke: Nominate me in the ring? I’m truly… humbled.

Paralympic Phryge: Your *burps* forfeit is…

Vinicius: THAT YOU’RE KICKED OFF THE SHOW!

Everyone: OOOOOOOOOH!

Chenchen: 我要叫习近平用推土机把你们全部碾死！

Paralympic Phryge: I meant your forfeit is to have a night at a strip club with me, WAHEY! *hiccups*

Vinicius: No. we need someone to go once in a while.

Burke: HEY CHENCHEN! WANNA FIGHT? THEN FIGHT!

Chenchen: 这是你生命的终结！

(Transition to the boxing ring)

Announcer: IT’S THE SECOND PPV EVENT OF THE AGES!

It’s Chenchen from Hangzhou versus… Burke from Atlanta!

Chenchen: 开始游戏吧，资本家！

Burke: I like to see you try.

Announcer: And now time for the plot twist of the episode…

Everyone: WHAT?!

Announcer: The 2026 Asian Games mascot… HONOHON!

(Honohon goes through the zip line and instantly knocking out Chenchen)

Burke: Oi? Another Japanese?

Honohon: Another Japanese!

Miraitowa: An American fight a Japanese? Where did I get this before?

Burke: Oi! WANNA FIGHT? THEN FIGHT!

(Honohon blows fire on Burke)

Burke: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Vinicius: Burke’s on fire, I repeat, Burke’s on fire!

Burke: SOMEONE GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!

Vinicius: You’re a fire extinguisher!

Sumi: He wasn’t joking.

Vinicius: Oh, I’LL HELP YOU!

Paralympic Phryge: Congratulations, *hiccups* whoever you are… you just won…

Sumi: Can you kick one of our members out of the show please?

Honohon: Oh… I’ll kick this Chinese souvenir. By the way Sumi…

Sumi: gasp… you know me?!

Honohon: I watched your videos.

Sumi: I’m truly… humbled.

Honohon: I meant the Sidemascots!

Sumi: Oh… that was Vinicius.

Honohon: Oh… Can I join the Sidemascots please?

Sumi: Promise you won’t “accidentally” blow fire to anyone?

Honohon: Promise!

Sumi: We’ll be in touch! And can you please blow fire on this soda addict?

Honohon: Sure thing!

(Honohon blows fire on Paralympic Phryge)

Paralympic Phryge: Wow… *hiccups* that was warm… Anyone fancy some soft drinks… (chugs a can of Spiced Coke and ignoring the fire on her)

THE SIDEMASCOTS!

Vinicius: Season 1!

Sumi: Starring the latest mascot for a major sporting event in Japan unveiled… Honohon!

Miraitowa: I’m truly… humbled.

Vinicius: Next video we’ll do a game show! Get your fingers ready and HIT LIKE!

Sumi: We will return once Miga comes back from watching my epic YouTube channel! Remember, set the sub and like buttons to cook…

Everyone: OR YOU’RE IN THE HOOK!

Tom: ANOTHER SIDEMASCOTS EPISODE? HA, IT’S SH-

[thegreymoon]

The Story of Minglan

Oh, so this exhausting person with the wailing infant is his concubine after all 🙄

Men really need to stop sticking their dicks into everything that is, in the words of Chu Wanning, "alive and female".

***

Oh, ffs.

Her baby is still in diapers and she's already trying to stir up discord between the Emperor and his eldest son.

Again, men really shouldn't stick their dicks into everything that moves. It never turns out well 🙄🙄

***

LMAOOOOO, this half-baked individual has a wife and a bunch of concubines and illegitimate children 🤣🤣

And Madam Qin is pinning her hopes on HIM inheriting the title? 🤣🤣

Please excuse me while I die laughing. Money really gives all kinds of specimens privileges and opportunities that are entirely unwarranted.

Yikes.

***

Meh.

They got off easy. No love for rapists and traffickers.

I forgot which one of these subhumans raped that maid that they tried to force in as Tingye's concubine.

***

I went back and checked in episode 41.

So it is the exiled one that was confirmed to have raped that maid. Though, if I understood it correctly, all three of them (including Tingwei, because having sex with trafficked women is rape) have been raping maids, only this one has a named victim.

***

LMAO, he's too stupid to live.

A tadpole has more job qualifications than him.

***

Oh fuck off.

As always, fuck off and then keep fucking off some more. You are so weak, self-serving and entitled. I would feel sorry for her for marrying you but she did not hesitate one second to throw Minglan under the bus out of petty jealousy, so fuck her too.

***

LMAO, oh, yes, it's Gu Tingye's fault that you are a rapist and a trafficker.

Fuck you. I hope that the rest of your life is horrible and that the rest of your shit family members will follow you soon.

***

Tingye is right, she really should join an acting troupe.

***

LMAO, the delusion 🤣🤣

When has he ever done anything meritorious to deserve a title?? Not only is he not serving of any merit or praise, but he is below average in general, as a person and as a noble. Also, he is a third son, lol, the hereditary title was never going to be his either. She is literally insane.

***

At least he's self-aware, lmao, unlike his shitty cousins, so that is one point in his favour.

***

Aww, he wants her to love him so much 🤗

It's a bit gross, though, because that's what Manniang called him and now I have a visceral reaction to it 🤮

***

Wait, are these those maternal relatives of his who tried to assassinate him as a child crawling out of the woodwork?

All my hate 🤬🤬

***

Oh my god, is this fucking Manniang?? 🤬🤬

I should have known better than to invoke her and summon her shitty ass.

***

Such upstanding members of society, so morally correct, surely, they are the ones being wronged here 🙄🙄

***

Yuck. As I said, Minglan really needs another nickname for him ASAP. This one is forever tainted.

Do kill her! Please do! 🤬🤬

[insane-weasel]

Me, with the objectively worst opinion: Oh...I liked the idea of a QPR Lila x Five.

I'm only halfway through S4, but I like it over S3. (Victor's son caused me to mentally block out like 90% of S3)

Review so far:

Luther's plot: 3/10. I'd love for him to stop being the butt of the joke.

Diego: 0/10. Horrible. You're going to make him a dad and tell me he is not like a super loving and caring father and show me any of that????? Why???? Is he always treated so bad by the plot. Stop making fun of him ffs. Oh, he's barely even chubby, but make fun of his weight. Oh, he's kind of concerned his wife doesn't love him...when she doesn't....make him seem paranoid and in the wrong when...like??? What? WTF is Diego's character.

Allison: 6/10 Thank you for not sticking with Allison is the bad guy...though why throwing any character progression...uh what's with her and Claire??? Are they gonna expand on the last 6 years??? Why 6 years??? Hello??? Anyway, her plot is passable so far. Not best, but....not S3 which is a win

Victor: Only solid 7/10 because he's really hitting me-core. Only characterization I'm kinda on board with. Actually, yeah, have Victor living a really moderate life at a bar. I think he should take you another instrument that isn't the violim. Though not a fan of how they're depicting his powers. I liked the more ethereal powers. Though no on Victor having failed relationships. He needs an awkward cute romance like Sissy? WTF was with that whole beginning? Like...anyway.

Five: 2/10 I don't hate it. But it is the worst five plot thus far IMO.

Ben: 5/10. Actually, I do think Sparrow Ben would be arrogant enough to be in Crypto. I don't like Sparrow Ben, but his depiction tracks. Still wish we could...have OG Ben........Second thought, hate Sparrow Ben. Though whatever, love interest, okay.

Lila: ...1?/10 I feel like the one person who didn't like Diego x Lila, and didn't think she'd settle down. I like a QPR with her and Five. However--How they're handling this? Awful. Also, her powers????? No more mimic. Boooooooooooo.

Klaus: 2/10 I wanted them to go angst with Klaus' immortality, but...ughh. Compulsive cleanliness and over anxiety about common fears is a legitimate way paranoia can develop...as a person with those kinda issues, but they do not depict them in any. Like I'm going to be honest, when you do have those fears to that level...you aren't sober or if you are...you're not looking well. But forget all that crap, why couldn't we have whatever story was Klaus bonding with Allison and helping raise Claire. Why was that the plot we had to be told about rather than shown????$

Other thoughts:

-Gene and Jean are like...10/10. Solid villains. Love em. Costume, actors, quirks--great.

-OH. My. God. Can Reginald stoooooop being a character.

-Music and set designs are a 10/10, costumes this season and apparel is a 2/10. What are some of these looks????

-Uh...The plot is kinda...feels like a fanfic that the author continues after 6 years, half-assed and wings, and has no love for the source material. Some parts seem so lazy. The stakes feel weak. There's traces of a great story...buried in there.

Overall, my theory for what happened: Umbrella Academy leaned into its comic book elements in the worst way possible. For that to have worked, a cohesive and fully fleshed out plot would need to be in place first then followed by a style of editing, composition and mise-en-scene, and then characters can play into cartoon styles.

The editing and filming have not changed between seasons. There's no style. Actually, they've gotten worse. The camera angles are painfully standard. If you wanted comic book, that camera needs to be at some different angles, but no, 3/4, eye level, always capturing same length. Whoever directed this? For shame. You don't use the foreground. You don't use the background. Everything happens on the same level and has the same amount of presence on screen. It screams "no time for flare, let's just get this done!"

So many of the BTS/production elements feel...rushed. If that wasn't the case, if this didn't have a painfully short filming timeline and they didn't have severe restraints compared to the last seasons...than...no one had any love for the series anymore.