#They're good at acting to make sure the prophecy never happens

[evarace]

Within A Time

"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, hourglass is almost up."

Just a bit of my Alchemia Story backstory for my YOME/Shikuro. This has obvious spoilers, especially Main Quest Pt. 1 - Chapter 96, and also aware that this comic is for school group activity, but I chose to solo. There's not much of coloring for printing purpose and deadline. I feel like I could've done more, but well, that will be future me problem if wanting to revise it. Have angst Valentine's Day! Also might gonna post YOME speculation too... if you guys want me to. (Where are the voices, Asobimo? I miss them) Song: by x0o0x Lyrics by Rachie

[violettathepiratequeen]

How could the Shanshu Prophecy NOT have been about Spike in Chosen?

The Prophecy states that a vampire with a soul would play a pivotal role in the apocalypse, and would be rewarded with becoming human when that happened. This was introduced in S1 of AtS, where it was also explicitely stated that the vampire in question isn't named, just that it's one with a soul. And since Angel was unique in that way, naturally it's assumed that he's the one they're referring to (but then why not name him if he was the only one it could apply to hmmm?) Wolfram and Hart took the extra step of research to learn that it was unclear whether the vampire would play a pivotal role on the side of good, or the side of evil, so they tried their darndest to get Angel on the side of evil through all five seasons.

But, hello? Angel has had a soul for a hundred and something years. And he's been through an apocalypse or two, first with Buffy, then on his own show. What's he been doing all this time? Which apocalypse are we talking about here? Lindsey claims the apocalypse has been going on all around them in Season 5, but the Buffyverse has always had clearly marked events signalling the end of the world that had to be prevented. The world being a mess is NOT an apocalypse in and of itself.

And then another vampire gets himself a soul, that could only have been forseen in prophecy, because he decided on his own to go and fight for it. After getting said soul, the First Evil immediately latched onto Spike and started grooming him, manipulating him, and brainwashing him into killing people. Random bystanders at first, probably testing to see if it could work on Buffy and her friends.

So Spike could very well have been on the side of evil in S7, if he didn't work so hard to resist the First's influence, if he didn't ask Buffy to help him, if he didn't break through his trigger. Or hell, even if he'd left town.

And then Angel is handed a mystical amulet and some info meant to help with whatever is going on in Sunnydale. He hands it over to Buffy and offers to be the champion in question, but she says no, and chooses Spike instead.

I'm not gonna get into the whole Spuffy side of this, haha, but S7 was about Buffy choosing Spike, every single time, in every aspect of her life, in love, and in battle. And this universe did originate with her, so she ought to be the one to determine this, within the confines of the show, anyway.

Spike takes it willingly, they both know he's probably going to die, Buffy does try to get him out of there when she sees he IS dying, and he stays, giving his life so that she and everyone else can live. His soul powers the amulet, his love sets their hands aflame, and his heroic act bathes him in sunlight before he's destroyed.

In the battle against THE FIRST EVIL. If I was gonna pick which apocalypse the Shanshu was talking about, I would choose one that had a villain called THAT. Plus it's Spike's first apocalypse with a soul, so that would also make sense that it's the one the Prophecy is referring to. No resting on his laurels for THIS vampire.

Except, instead, he dies and shows up on Angel's show disoriented and alone and without Buffy and with a complete 180 personality, battling with Angel on who the Prophecy is about, and you'll notice the show never does answer that question. Because Spike objectively makes the most sense. But it's not like they could make Angel play second fiddle ON HIS OWN SHOW.

No, what they should have done, is let the finale of Buffy cross over with Angel properly. Not just a cameo, but bring the whole Angel crew in, so that anyone watching the show would be forced to watch that specific episode of Buffy just to keep up with the story.

And Spike should have Shanshued. And Angel would have been disappointed, sure, but hey, he's BEEN human before. And he didn't like it. He even got a ring that made him impervious to harm. And he didn't like it. He loved Cordy more deeply (and more recently) than he ever loved Buffy. So it's not like he's really waiting for her anymore. Plus Cordy is part demon now, so Angel doesn't have to worry about not being enough for her. (Oh yeah, they should have brought Cordy out of her coma for this ending, to make any kind of cohesive sense).

But Spike... Spike was always more human to begin with. He may not have ever thought becoming human was on his bucket list, but he didn't think that about a soul either, until the time came where he needed it. He would LOVE to take Buffy out in the sun, and grow old with her, and give her the family and white picket fence that she's always secretly wanted and didn't think she could ever have. He would have still died, the same way soulless Spike died the minute he got a soul, but without all the heartbreak the canon ending gave us.

I'm partial to the stories where the Shanshu means some vamp powers like extra strength and healing remain, but those are just semantics.

As a cherry on top it would prove to anyone who's ever called it into question, and I include Buffy and Spike themselves on this list, that it's not that Buffy wants normal, nor is it that she wants a demon. She loves Spike for who he is, demon or not, human or not, but the soul and humanity would have helped him be the best version of himself, a man worthy of loving her and living with her, and after all the battles they've fought in their relationship to get here, it feels like it would have been kind of a sign that someone out there gives their blessing on this pairing. And Buffy could have said she loved him and chosen him AGAIN, in front of everyone, including Angel, and that would have been our endgame ending. (Though... to be honest if the comics still happened after this and Spuffy broke up at any point I would have been betrayed in a whole different way.)

And that's how BtVS could have ended. Angel could have gone on to have another season more or less the same, without any Spike or Buffy or Shanshu to speak of. And it could have ended EXACTLY the same.

The writing was literally so perfect and set it up for Spike so beautifully and unexpectedly. It wouldn't have even had to be a slap in the face for Angel because a. neither show was afraid of disrespecting a character at any point, and b. if it had been done on Buffy's show, it would have been less of a blow and made more sense, that Angel went back to BtVS to watch this unfold, where he wasn't the main character anyway. The Prophecy introduced on his show was really intended to be in service to hers, as any spinoff show ought to be.

Plus the episode title Chosen is such a beautiful one that has so many double and triple and quadruple meanings that one more would have been awesome.

So yeah. Those are my thoughts on the Shanshu this fine evening. Obviously many, many Spuffy fics (including my own) have given it to Spike or Angel or neither, all with their own reasons. And of course there's lots and lots of opinions on whether we would even want that for Spike, or if Spike and Buffy would want it.

But I think it just needed to be spelled out that from a writing standpoint, this would have made the most sense, and why.

[blitzwhore]

Stolitz, and their fear of rejection and sense of worthlessness turning into a self-fulfilled prophecy.

Blitz—

Does anybody love you, Blitzo? / No.

Eventually everyone goes...

Stolas only cares about having a rugged peasant raw-dog him into his mattress. It's nothing... You know. It's nothing else.

I'm going to die alone, aren't I? Just a wrinkly, old, withered waste.

Royal demons don't give a shit about guys like us. They're all the fucking same.

Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to fuck you. You make that really clear all the time.

But you don't want to do things alone, Blitzo.

I mean, Stolas is just a loud, thirsty bitch who loves feeling the thrill of being dicked by the lower class. It's a novelty to him.

And then he'll call me and try to see how my day was, and he'll pretend to care about me, and comment on my photos, and laugh at my jokes... /Oh well that's definitely your clue right there that it's all bullshit / I know, right?!

It's all my fault. I'd hate me too. I mean, I do hate—

You're going to die alone. You're gonna die alone, Blitzo.

[My worst fear has come true. He couldn't possibly want me. This has to be a joke. He's selfish and an asshole, just like the rest of them. He's trying to get rid of me; that's the only explanation. I'm just a broken toy he's finally gotten bored of, just like I knew would happen. He won't even fight for me, and why would he? I could never be good enough for him. It's happening again. I'm being abandoned by someone I care about. I really am going to die alone.]

Stolas—

Would he want me if he was free? And if he's only here as a prisoner, what kind of monster does that make me?

I mite b bsuy / I wouldn't want to bother you!

You see... I seem to have found myself with, um. Feelings for him. And I'm not sure if it's a mutual thing.

Dearest, I know better now, I must give you this choice.

I'll save us both before we grow cold.

What's between you and I? Just a comfortable lie.

I'm sorry it's a bad time yet again, Blitzy...

He deserves the choice to stay or go.

So I'll grant you this mercy, this bind on our souls needs to end...

Next time you come over, maybe we can talk about what happened at Ozzie's? / Y? / I'm sorry! Nevermind, it's not a big deal.

What's left for me and my broken heart if I cannot have you? Unless it's me, and no matter what in this world I could give, it's not enough to get through the walls you've conjured up to live...

I'll believe him, and not the voice that says I'm not enough.

I'll fucking die alone if this goes bad!

[My worst fear has come true. I truly am not worthy of being loved. He's rejecting me— no, mocking me for even thinking he could ever want to be with me if he didn't need my book. I've been taking advantage of him all this time, all the while believing we had something real and being naive enough to think he could love me back. I am a monster. And now that he can, he has chosen to leave me. So now the least I can do is quietly let him—the only person I have ever wanted and felt alive with—go. I really am going to die alone.]

[sentientgolfball]

OOH THATS MY SPECIALTY U HAVE NOOOO IDEA

Aether, who's pack eventually welcomes him back with, seemingly, open arms. Who bring him back into the fold with so few issues. Just a little bit of hesitance, after a while.

But... He's waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for them to yank the rug out from under him. Hates how he feels - like they're just luring him to relax, so they can get their revenge.

He's scared. Hes on edge and tense and he hates it. This is what he wanted. He wanted to come home, but... Is this home, still? He loves them! He really, really does!!

At the same time.... He's picking up shifts at the infirmary more often. Longer hours, overtime. He's scared.

He's waiting for them to come after him, or maybe even realize they don't actually want him.

And maybe it never happens. Maybe he has a nervous breakdown, and that's what causes him to retire. He can't handle it anymore, mentally. Waiting for something that never comes. And he has to sit behind, retired for his own good, and watch a new quintessence ghoul be welcomed into the pack so eagerly. Take his place, his role in the band, in the pack, and realize maybe he's a self fulfilling prophecy. He was scared they'd get rid of him one day and have a shiny new ghoul instead, and now there is one.

And the calls are sparse. Tour is hard, he knows that, and even if Sunny stayed behind too, it .... Feels like they call her more than him. And when they do call him, they seem eager to chat about tour, about fans, about his replacement ghoul, and Aether's room tired to chime in often. Too tired to say he just wants to talk to them, instead of being talked at. That he wants to tell them about something he saw earlier, an update about the general gossip. Or that he just wants to lay in bed in silence, on call with them, and just know theyre on the other end of the line. So far away but right beside him in bed.

The same jealousy never rears its head. He's resigned to his fate. That he's surely going to be shuffled out of the pack, slowly but surely. Doesn't think he can confide in anyone.

Wants to talk to Omega about it, but .... But he's worried Omega might look at him wrongly again. Might take it as a sign that Aether's going to hurt someone again.

He's just tired. He misses his pack.

......

Or maybe the other shoe drops, hes silently retired from the band, his duties at the infirmary are slowly but surely eased. Initially he thinks it's because someone noticed he's been struggling a bit.

Well.... At least until he notices how everyone's starting to pull away again. How they aren't spending as much time with him, they aren't calling him when they're on tour as much, even Omegas keeping distant.

And then, one night when his call isn't picked up for the nth time, when he leaves a voicemail he isn't sure will be listened to. Just asking about tour, checking in, offering some gossip, maybe a teary ask of "what did I do wrong this time?" When there's a knock, and Omegas there and......

And Omegas in full uniform..... Mask and everything. And..... Oh. That's what this is. Asks to just make a call, one more call. Hoping it's picked up, when it isn't. Leaves another voicemail, tries to act normal, tries so hard to pretend he's not staring his mentor down with betrayal and hurt, says goodbye and I love you, and then hangs up and puts his phone down.

Follows Omega. Doesn't argue, doesn't plead his case, just follows him. He knows it's inevitable.

OHHH MY GOD THAT LAST LINE HIT A LITTLE DIFFERENT MOTH I CANT EVEN LIE WAHHHHH

[tonydaddingham]

im borderline animalistic where the 40s scenes are concerned and i have a lot of feelings about them that deserve a thorough run down now that we've had more delicious🍲 content🍲 and im in full fledged soup mode

ive talked about a lot of these different bits in different posts but i feel it's a good point to pull them altogether and build on them now that we've had more content, so yeah a lot of this will just be me repeating myself

major kudos, thanks, and my eternal soul goes to @theeminentlyimpractical (prev @lalie-go), im convinced someone visited them in the night and bestowed them the true gift of prophecy that in this instance has been the equivalent of pouring kerosene over the dumpster fire that is my brain rn,,,,,, and they're much smarter and more observant than me and that needs celebrating

✨inhale✨

so ive always been intrigued by the juxtaposition of the 1941 church scene and then the 1967 bentley scene from my very first watch of s1 because their tones are so polar opposite to each other.

you have the church scene (specifically the aftermath) which is so tender and revelatory and hesitant, but like in the same way that a baby bird takes flight for the first time. and it's almost voyeuristic in that you literally see the moment where aziraphale realises that he's in love with crowley. that moment is so deeply personal and vulnerable that it's almost painful to watch through the metaphorical keyhole.

it's a huge development moment for many reasons, but for me specifically bc i think aziraphale is somewhat convinced that he's the only one in on this giddy little secret, so he's a bit flirty and heart-eyed at crowley, but whole-pussy convinced that it's just a cutesy lil secret and he's really subtle and crowley won't cotton on.

then we have the bentley scene in '67, and it's so bloody cold, and awkward, and stilted, and almost hurts to watch - it's voyeuristic in a very different, bare way, in that we see aziraphale so closed off from crowley, but unable to help himself in getting involved because if he doesn't, crowley could end up getting seriously hurt, or wind up dead. and that's unthinkable, so aziraphale placates crowley with the holy water (because crowley will just simply get it another way), and controls the situation that way.

in fact, the whole scene is about aziraphale being in control - of the conversation, of the tension, of the entire emotion of the scene - and is in such contrast to the church scene where we see aziraphale as close to out-of-control as we've seen him so far, at least at that point chronologically. crowley attempts to weedle aziraphale into engaging with him, and aziraphale somewhat releases a little, mollifies him with the offer of a picnic or a dinner at the ritz...

and crowley latches onto this, onto this small chance that aziraphale is giving him, almost like he's trying to comfort aziraphale by offering, or trying to make amends for something. but aziraphale is back in control, never having really lost it, and closes off any opportunity of moving forward. he's regretful, we can see that on his face, but he needs to make space for himself, give himself room to breathe - like he's been suffocating.

now we come to what happens between these two points. i thought that something happened during the Dinner of '41, but now im not so sure. this is because it transpires that we have entirely separate scenes in the 40s era apart from the church and the dinner. but starting with the Dinner of '41, we see that aziraphale is coy, and employs his signature look-look-away mannerism which honestly i think is his biggest tell when it comes to crowley.

crowley is so chilled and relaxed in that scene - leaning back at this candlelit dinner, seemingly in his element, as if his inner monologue is just willing him to Be Cool™. im almost wondering if he's observed this candlelit dinner, and how aziraphale's acting, and is interpreting it as aziraphale just being grateful for saving him and his books, and wanting to make up after the holy water argument, no way does it mean anything more than that. but let's face it, crowley has been besotted for literal millennia and will take anything he can get, any scraps aziraphale cares to throw him.

and now that we know there's further 40s content in the form of the windmill theatre, and aziraphale's magic act. there's a few things to remark on that set the scene (once again the vast majority of which stems from lalie so all apollo memes are to be flung their way thanks)

we know that aziraphale performs a magic show at the windmill theatre, and is accompanied backstage by a well dress older woman and vaudeville/burlesque-style dancers

that woman is played by dame siân phillips, and neil alluded that georgia tennant was in discussions for a role which she ultimately turned down as she didn't feel she was the right fit for someone with that amount of historical importance - which points very firmly to this being the same role, and that role being laura henderson (owner of the windmill)

on a similar historical note, the windmill's theatre manager was vivian van damm (advice: read up on him, he was a genius as concerns finding loopholes in indecency laws at the time), who was VP of the London magician's club, and "held charity shows at the Windmill Theatre"

we know that on the set, along with aziraphale being in his magician's outfit and crowley in his 40s outfit, there were extras dressed up in period-appropriate military uniforms

the opening sequenece shows a bus with "Wings for Victory" on the side. WfV Weeks were campaign weeks in the UK during ww2, starting in march 1943, where each county (US translation in case it gets confused: counties in the UK are almost like states in the US) was essentially set with a target to raise money for the war effort (specifically RAF i think?) and would have competitions with each other to raise the most.

so i feel at this point it can be reliably surmised that WfV was running, a couple of years after the Dinner of '41, and aziraphale (probably having fallen in love with magic after coming across this magician's club of van damm's), get roped into doing a WfV performance at the Windmill.

where is crowley in this, you ask? well he could very well have just seen aziraphale advertised as an act, or if they're still on good speaking terms aziraphale may have simply told him. i feel though that is almost an unspoken hobby of aziraphale's, judging by the crowley s1 reaction to aziraphale liking magic, and ordinarily crowley wouldn't be caught dead discorporated going to a magic show.

now a couple of years previous, we hear glozier say to crowley, "anthony j. crowley! your fame precedes you". but why? why is crowley famous? it doesn't strike me as quite right that crowley is a secret agent or anything, however much a bond nerd he is. but it is the kind of area where i could imagine crowley gets caught up in... so what if he has a job in the heart of soho as (and stick with me here)... a bouncer?! think about it - working hands-on in a sordid, seedy theatre (at least that's how he would spin it to hq) but gets to be outright fiendish to any patrons getting a little too frisky? i think it's PERFECT but whatever-

in any case, i feel like this would just be one of those brilliant coincidences where aziraphale and crowley have an it's always sunny moment, a hilarious double take at each other in the theatre, but aziraphale is quickly whisked off to get ready and get on stage, but not a moment before my boy absolutely bricks it as he's about to go on (this screenshot seriously sends me each time it's so funny). i truly believe that a lot of dutch courage was drunk and a lot of miracles were employed that night haha

so fast forward post performance, and we get this utterly adorable shit being cutesy in his dressing room, congratulating himself on a job well done, spinning around in his lil feather boa, adrenaline (or whatever the angelic equivalent is) pumping, heart racing, just being a complete diva. its aziraphale's world and we're just living in it:

and then crowley comes in, still completely bemused as to what he's just witnessed, and maybe not expecting to encounter an incandescent, bubbling, and probably bladdered af angel spinning around in a fluffy feather boa dancing his approximation of the can-can. aziraphale whirls around, "CROWLEY!!! DID YOU SEE ME?! 💃", and starts blathering about how it all went and how it was so nerve wracking but once he got in the swing of it it was perfect and amazing and oh crowley did you see it, did you see me-

all the while getting crowley (who btw feels like he's just stepped into the twilight zone and not quite sure what to do with himself) totally covered in feathers and, and-

now idk if i feel like anything zesty happening between the two of them would be hugely out of character. and it probably is, and ive probably just provided the fodder material for about a thousand fics, but look if im right in this, im never shutting up about it as long as i fucking live-

what if then aziraphale in his alcohol-fuelled joy just leaps at crowley? huge smothering hug, feather boa and all, and is just essentially vibrating with the happiness and pride and whimsy? and he does that coquettish look-look-away thing that he does? and crowley - oh, crowley my baby boy - knows he should probably slam that pause button because this angel is utterly soused and definitely is not thinking straight... but just wants to soak up how happy and flirty aziraphale is right now? yum up another scrap tossed in his direction, but potentially misreads it all a little bit wrong, and try to take the next step? and aziraphale-

aziraphale very quickly sobers up, entirely miracle-less, and just gets the tiniest bit (see: fucking horrendously) spooked? WOAH this is a bit beyond where i wanted to go? no crowley, we can't do this? i can't do this? im still an angel and im not ready for this?

and someone walks in - it's not aziraphale's dressing room after all. we know from the opening sequence that there's a box in the theatre (which i think is just the artistic depiction of the dressing room scene, not an actual box), from which we see a figure lurking behind aziraphale just as they pull away...

im fully aware that this is completely theoretical and equally improbable but huns my purpose on this site is to provide unhinged commentary as content gets released and ill be DAMNED if anyone says I don't deliver ✨

is this what happens? that there's a very hurried, guilty shuffle away from each other, a very deliberate effort on aziraphale's part not to look at crowley, and a hasty and frightened exit from aziraphale just as crowley is about to apologise? he only just got his angel back after the holy water tantrum, and he's already pushed him away again, by going too fast?

(SIGH EDIT: so i guess the above paragraph does happen but it's got me wondering if the people that interrupt them are glozier and harmony fresh off the national express coach from hell? idk it still kinda fits? tentative but plausible (lmao this sums up my approach to gomens speculation, tentative but plausible))

[haleingstorm]

I JUST READ THROUGH YOUR Safety's an Illusion (Fate's All Chance) FIC AND ITS AMAZING IVE LITERALLY HAD IT OPEN ALL DAY AND JUST READING AND REREADING IM IN LOVE YOU ARE SO AMAZING!!!! YOUR WRITING IS AWESOME AND ok to calm it down a little, i love what you did with ares, because it always bothered me too that he was so brash when logically he shouldnt be!! and he got bewitched by kronos and then they never mention it? (to be fair percy wouldnt care to find out) i love that you included others like will, katie, etc usually i feel like people only focus on percy, annabeth, etc i like that they are part of it and have their own things going on (i am. FASCINATED with will vs apollo cabin and pollux vs castor and mr.d, can i ask, what are these characters/camp in general thinking about the sudden change/closeness between the time travelers and will apollo w/ prophecy start investigating to figure things out?

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much :) it's always wild when people talk about rereading my fics. It's unbelievable to think of them being that good!

I'm glad you - and so many other people are enjoying what I did with Ares. I never felt satisfied with the pjo canon interpretation so I decided to give my own little spin on it. Explain why some of these actions were happening

I loved being able to explore all these different perspectives and relationships. Pollux has a special place in my heart now even though I really didn't intend for him to have such a huge role within the fic. His chapters practically wrote themselves!

The short answer is... They haven't really connected it, honestly children make friends within days so a lot of people just assume they've gotten oddly close all of the sudden. Nobody has quite put two and two together that it has something to do with how weird they're acting. It doesn't help that Percy(the only newcomer) is off on a quest so nobody can see the way they look to him for orders, which might raise a few eyebrows. Apollo has not gone through his character development yet so he's just not paying that much attention to his kids besides making sure they're still alive. However Pollux has definitely sparked his interest (which will be revealed in an alternate POV scene im working on right now).

[liskantope]

I just finished rereading Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the first book of which I'd read quite a few times over the years (it was always and still is my favorite) and the third book of which I had probably never read a second time, after reading it for the first time as a teenager. I had little to no recollection of a lot of major plot events in book 3, in fact, and felt like I was reading some parts of it for the first time. All in all, I found the third book to be better, less of a slog, and less unmanageably over-ambitious in its scope than my impression had been when I had most recently read it half my life ago. In fact, while I'm not uncritical of many aspects of the book, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it tied together the whole trilogy, both in terms of character arcs and the established physics of Pullman's universe (or parallel universes).

One thing that's more striking to me now about the third book, though, is how in several ways it's a little ambiguous whether Pullman is retconning something rather than revealing a new layer to the plot or a character's motivations that he had deliberately hidden in the first book.

[A major book 1 spoiler and mild book 3 spoilers below.]

One example of this, which I think was most likely deliberately planned, is Asriel appearing at the end of book 1 to be on the Church's side in wanting to exterminate Dust (at a climactic moment in which he is revealed to be ruthless if not downright evil in other ways, and is locked in a sweet embrace with our main villain Marisa Coulter), and then in book 3, by which time it's been clear for a good while that Asriel is plotting against not only the Church but God himself, Asriel explains to Marisa that he was only pretending to want to get rid of Dust because he thought she'd "prefer a lie".

Another example, that I've wondered about ever since I first read the trilogy, is the fact that it's stated early in book 1 that Lyra is prophesized to commit some great betrayal that will have profound consequences, and with the twist at the end of that book, I (and probably most other first-time readers?) assumed that betrayal to be her unknowingly leading her best friend Roger to his doom. But then it's explicitly stated in book 3 that the betrayal is her choice to leave her dæmon behind at the entrance of the Land of the Dead. I can accept that this makes more sense in some ways (it was an action taken in the light of full knowledge, unlike what she did to Roger), but it kind of makes less sense in other ways (Will did the same thing along with her, even if he didn't have an external dæmon), and I enjoyed explaining it through the book 1 twist a lot more.

A third example, where I feel much more sure that Pullman just changed his mind, began with a scene in book 1 when Lyra is visiting Dr. Lanselius and is given a quick task to do outside, and while she's gone Lanselius discusses a devastating prophecy about her with the Gypsy characters that are in the room, emphasizing that all will be ruined if Lyra knows anything about the prophesy. A similar sort of scene happens later in the book, when Lyra is asleep in the balloon and Lee Scoresby has such a discussion with Serafina Pekkala. And in both of those scenes, I was kind of rolling my eyes and thinking, "If it's crucial to the fate of the world that Lyra not know her destiny, they're being awfully incautious here, given that Lyra could be just outside of the room or only pretending to be asleep." And then, as it happens -- now remember, I knew book 1 fairly well but had forgotten even many of the major plot events of book 3 let alone most of the dialogs -- in the chapter "No Way Out" of book 3, Lyra reveals that in fact she was standing outside the door during the Lanselius scene and so overheard part of the prophesy, and this is used to guide her motivations. This certainly vindicates my kneejerk reaction of thinking the characters were acting very recklessly in that scene, but the interesting question is, had it occurred to the author that they were acting recklessly, and at the time of writing book 1 did he have in mind that Lyra was in fact secretly outside the room listening?

[sunnywalnut]

That just reminds me about how Warrior Cats attempted to make Neurodiverse/disabled characters part of a new age kind of prophecy in "Power of Three" which. As an autistic kid? I loved Dovewing. Because she reminded me of myself. Always overwhelmed because of her ability to hear EVERYTHING all the time. And her family and clanmates were always like whoa!! You're so cool!! Can you hear this? What about that? And she was always like... Sure? I guess? I mean it genuinely hurts my ears, but yeah I can. And in my little kid brain, I felt seen.

Because yes. Her "disabilities" were helpful. However nobody even thought to ask her about how it affected HER. This ability was GENUINELY referred to as a "super power" against her will (which. If you don't know. Is extremely fucking common in the autism community specifically with well meaning allistic parents).

And I know plenty of autistic people besides myself who headcanon her as autistic because of this.

And that's just ONE example I can think of off the top of my head. But that was also well over eight years ago when I was a child.

I wasn't familiar with X-Men or other "disabled" characters in media. Mostly because they just didn't interest me. I didn't care for the repetitive fight between good and evil. I liked fluffy animals with personality.

So to me, this opened up my whole world. Which is what representation is supposed to do.

But what happens if the only characters you see that are like you have to serve some sort of purpose? And what if that purpose is always fixing someone(manic pixie dream girl)? What if that purpose is always putting aside your personal problems in order to help other people(Dovewing)? What if your purpose is only ever to be smart and crass(Sheldon Cooper, Shaun from The Good Doctor)?

Because instead of being a regular nuanced character who, yes, is disabled, but has other things that they bring to the table, you find a whole surplus of characters and movies and shows singled out AROUND having a character with disabilities.

It's never "this is our main character. A smart girl who struggles to make new friends but does her best anyways:) she has her two best friends that have been with her through thick and thin since middle school and her hobbies are old books and looking at antiques. Also she happens to be autistic :)"

But it's ALWAYS "this is our AUTISTIC main character. She's smart because she's AUTISTIC and she struggles to make friends because she's AUTISTIC. She has ONE friend because she's AUTISTIC and they take care of her because she's AUTISTIC and they're embarrassed when she acts AUTISTIC. She has special interests because she's AUTISTIC and one of them is trains. Because she's not like other girls. She's AUTISTIC."

Like yeah man. We love representation. We love things that tie to them as characters. We love character quirks and we love realistic takes on people with disabilities.

But disabilities are just that. Disabilities. They disable us.

We're not always gonna be useful. We're not always gonna be smart. Or concise. Or overly kind enough to the point you can infantalize us and think it's okay. If a character has a cane, chances are they're NOT going to rig it to be a sharp shooter with lightning bolts. Cause they need that shit to stand. Not every disability aid needs to ALSO be a weapon. And not every disability(especially mental) needs to be a "superpower"

Like you can HAVE a disabled character who's super power is completely different than their disabilities. It's possible. Needs workshopping, but possible.

You can have autistic characters who are extremely smart and also good in battle.

You can have physically disabled characters and put them in mech suits without them actually being parts of their actual bodies.

You can have disabled characters building robots to attend to them throughout their day while also letting them have human friends.

Disabled people are incredibly smart and resourceful. It comes with the package of having things constantly be a struggle.

But those struggles look different for everyone. It's not one size fits all, even if they're all under the same diagnosis.

And that diagnosis is not a box for them to fit into.

It's a step to help them to climb higher so they can reach new things.

And it should be treated as such.

Recently I watched this tiktok about writing disabled characters and one of the tips was that your character's disability needs to have a plot point/purpose in the story.

As someone who's disabled, let me explain why I don't agree.

Now obviously if you want to add that plot aspect go ahead (within reason and respectfully) but I don't think it should be required.

Because it's not accurate. In real life, there's not a plot point/purpose of me being disabled. It's simply just how I exist. My disabilities don't serve a purpose. It's just how I am.

And I think that implying that disabilities need to serve a purpose goes down that slippery slope of "your disability is only acceptable if it benefits something somehow" or "this disabled person is only valid because their disability can help others in some way, be exploited maybe"

You wouldn't say this about any other trait. Or at least perhaps you shouldn't. People who have certain traits or other aspects of them are literally just existing, not to serve a plot point.

[stoicforestsss]

Why do people force women to have pap smears, especially when they tell them they are reliving shit. What would happen if I said this during one, but, of course, I ain't going to a gynecologist. I won't be speculum gang raped.

"Can I touch your boobs now?"

"Yes, mommy. Stick it in me! Baste me like a turkey. Yesss."

*moans loudly so people in the other rooms can hear*

"Fuck me more. Yes. Ouch. So rough."

*moans"

*mmmoooaaaannnnnnnssss*

"I'm gonna cumm-" while they finger.

Yeah they'd be uncomfortable right? It's like you have to be submissive to them. They're an authority. They tell you when to get naked and they tell you when to do what. Then you both go about your days. They get rid of the only thing I had that protection from - that was strangers touching me.

Just don't go. Don't be degraded and disrespected by shitheads. Go if you want. Don't feel the need to go. Unless there are kids in you I guess.

So yeah, everyone who's female now that American reproductive rights are dying next to the women with septic babies slowly killing them. Yeah. Let's just insert things into people and touch their boobs when those people are telling us they have sexual trauma. Ok. It's fine. And we'll act like dicks. What are they going to do? Not get birth control? Not get std testing? Go to holistic care providers?

Use the website Nurx for birth control. Don't go to the health department or the in-office. Start boycotting them. Shit.

Remember men aren't required to get those tests. They aren't pressured into it at an early age. They aren't coerced into it for medicine. The medical industry is doing this to you only. The medical industry purposefully keeps the collective hive mind of women's medical needs at a medieval minimum, while men get the advanced pain killers and respect. Men get pain killers. You don't. Don't go to people who hurt you. You're going to demand respect and walk out when you don't get what you want.

Another thing you're going to do is you won't submit to victim culture. Uber sends me emails about empowering women with Uber by adding more protections and ways to contact people and record audio and footage. How is that telling the actual people who have never been told to behave to be good? It's not all men, but by God, American society sure as hell can't teach men to have respect for shit.

It starts with the indirect criticism of "stop wearing that, you're distracting Michael" and it turns into "I can tell you what you do with your body, since I view you as a yummy, preppy, sexy, feeble, in need of protection, baby machine. Get on the table so I can force you to have this physical, you sexual beast. I can't force your boyfriend to go through anything like this year after year."

You're going to speak up and say when you're hurt. You're going to say when people are disrespectful. You will fight for the things you need and want and the people you love and you will not let people take away your rights. Also, let's put away the baby voice that society teaches you to do and put on that big, booming voice you learned of when your mom was upset with you. That voice is what you should use. Tweak it a bit, but the whole "I'm a pretty little airy head voice fairy" voice makes you sound submissive. Present yourself as not submissive and instead dominant, and the stereotypes people have about women will cease to be reasonable.

Don't become the fulfillment of their prophecy. Don't submit to things you don't consent to, men too. It's not just men, but society has a lot to learn about teaching men to respect others and women being strong. Hell, it's like this society slowly beats the strength out of you. Don't lose it. Ever. It's a deeper issue than what your worry is. It's what the next generation of humans will believe. It's what you need as people, in juxtaposition to how being so pro-life makes someone fine with a death penalty for an abortion and jail for miscarriages, say no to the witch trials. Forcing women to have someone check for HPV when they don't want you to is a witch trial when men can go around spreading everything like candy and not even know.

I'm joining them.

[silveryinkystar]

Gonna hijack this post for a bit because the mechanics of Force visions is something I find actually fascinating in SW media (I was just going to leave this in the tags and it got way too long oops)

From a Doylist perspective, Force visions are a reference to the self-fulfilling prophecy trope, especially in Anakin's case. It's textbook Greek tragedy levels of "trying to avoid your fate only ends up causing it," which makes sense since the prequels are designed to replicate the structure of a tragedy, ROTS especially so.

But if we look at it on a textual level, there's something really interesting going on about just the way Force visions are presented, i.e. in the form of little flashes of the near future which are mostly visual. (part of this is obviously to give the effect of "visions" to the viewers, but there's some textual evidence that it's how the characters also understand their visions - Ezra and Ahsoka come to mind) It's a little bit meta in itself, so not 100% Watsonian, but it does help us understand more about how visions work.

So we have the future being pushed to these people in fragments of visual scenes - in Ahsoka's vision of Padme getting attacked, for example, she sees the chaos following the attack but not Padme actually dying. There's a sort of foreknowledge that's implied, of the possibility of her dying, but it's not actually confirmed - what we're told is basically, "hey, Padme's going to be in a potentially fatal situation soon, and it's causing chaos." The letter of this vision does come true, but we don't know if the spirit of it does as well.

By "spirit" I mean the literal essence of the vision - is it warning Ahsoka that Padme's about to die in that attack, meaning she had to intercede and therefore eschewed that future? Or was the vision presenting her with the chaos and just saying that it could go either way, and that Padme would survive because of her interceding anyway? There's not enough detail to be sure - which I feel is exactly what the Jedi try to say.

Kanan says the same thing to Ezra, to be careful, but doesn't dissuade him from acting on his vision - which again follows the letter rather than the spirit of what he sees. I'd say that as bad as the consequences of following the vision were in the immediacy of their actions, they did oust an Imperial double agent who could have caused so much more chaos for the Rebellion instead.

Ultimately, we never actually find out exactly what the visions say. Maybe they do happen as they're presented to Jedi, or maybe the futures presented are all subverted while being mapped out visually in the same way. But it's this uncertainty that the Jedi warn against! There's never empirical evidence of what's going on, and we don't really learn much about how visions actually work beyond this breakdown.

What fascinates me is that we, the audience, are also pulled in into the same level of mechanical awareness of how Force visions work as the characters - it's as ambiguous to us as it is to them. Which means that as much as we can say, "X did the wrong thing by not listening to Y's visions," or "Y shouldn't have acted on their visions," we ultimately don't know which of them was the "correct" way things would happen, or even if there is such a thing implied at all. (note that "correct" here doesn't mean "good" or "bad", but more like "foretold" or "predestined" in an unchangeable way)

Also interesting is the fact that the Force is never straightforward about things that may happen in the future - the only other form of foresight that we see that comes anywhere near as close are "bad feelings", which also don't actually tell you anything meaningful about what's going to happen, only that something is. Just a little food for thought ;)

The jedi often insist that they are only shown possibilities in their visions of the future, not certainties; while I'm inclined to trust them on that, I don't remember ever having read or seen a work where the visions did not come true, even if not as expected.

Ah sorry. The question was meant to be whether you know about an instance of force visions that don't come true.

Hi! This is an interesting question because it's not always clear what counts as a Force vision, what is weird Force fuckery (like Ahsoka's future vision of herself from Mortis--that vision never came true, but does that count as a vision?), and what's something else. But of the ones that we know are Force visions, in top level canon (movies + TCW), they generally all come true because there only a handful of times they happen and most of them happen in ways that are not accurate to the events of the vision. (The thing is, it's a franchise that has to keep its audience's attention, wasting time on a vision that has no point to the plot is not a good way to spend your limited amount of movie time or your 22 minutes per episode!) So, it's not that the Jedi are saying, "Yah, just go ahead and ignore a Force Vision." (unless it's billed as a dream, not a vision, that's a key difference) but "Be careful, because it's only a possibility and often times acting on it can be what brings it about or makes it worse than in the first place." But ultimately if you're writing a story that's exciting to a reader, what writer is going to include a Force vision that never happens? That would feel very unsatisfying! XD So, because the Jedi are shown to be reliable narrators on the Force in the major ways (like the Force 100% works like they say it does, via Lucas' commentary about it), this is one of those things you just gotta trust what the material tells you, in my experience.

[freckledbastard]

angsty dinluke au where luke gets impregnated via the force like his grandmother shmi but, well...good luck making din believe that because qui gon and obiwan? they're jedi they might be bewildered but at the end of the day they're like sure why not this kid can literally be the offspring of the force itself this may as well happen

but din? that man actively tried to avoid being one of the main characters of star wars he'd have NO idea what the hell was going on and you know what? he'd probably think luke was fucking with him when he says "it must be the will of the force" because to din, that just makes it seem like luke respects him so little he couldnt even give an honest answer as to the father could possibly be?

or maybe, din thinks faintly, somehwere behind the rage and heartbreak, there were just so many potential candidates for the other parent that luke can't even pick one big oof

meanwhile luke is PANICKING because uhhhh what the fuck how why what?? he's devastated over din leaving him especially since he can't actually explain it!!! hes never slept with anyone before him and din had been planning it and slowly working up the courage to be that intimate with one another (especially since din had once whispered to luke that he wanted to completely strip himself of all his armour when they finally made love but such an act of courage took time), so how? howmst????

the force ghosts are able to explain it, but they don't find out until long after din has broken it off with luke and left. anakin wants to try and murder din (surely being a pure child of the Force allowed him leeway such as killing someone still living) but also he doesn't want to leave luke alone for a second and then there's the bitter understanding of how hard it can be to believe something like that, because even within the jedi it was completely unheard of, he at least had the advantage of a prophecy on his side to validate his existence, was the force trying to forcefully bring balance to the universe by creating more force sensitive beings???

it's a nightmare for everyone involved, and Sides Are Chosen and Tears Are Shed long before they can finally clear the air (whether or not that's just before luke gives birth or potentially years after)

[pumpkinstep]

I finally read sky and Jesus christ what the hell is happening. it seriously feels like they're using a lack of communication and willful ignorance as a crutch this time more so than usual. it's super frustrating that this newest arc seems to completely ignore any of the established events all of the clans share and throw it out the window entirely.

you'd think after all this time, moons upon moons, season after season, of starclan constantly beating it into the clans that they should stick together and be close to one another, they'd be less wary of eachother. especially after uniting to solve a huge conflict only like what 3 or so months ago? it really doesn't seem like it was that long ago. like say it was maybe a year or so ago, it still doesn't make sense. clan life doesn't move on so quickly that that span of time would be ancient history.

yet every cat seems to talk about it like that. they all talk about the whole dark forest shit like it was hella long ago.

I also think it's super weird that starclan admittedly refuses to do anything, especially since the whole of starclan rarely ever decides to agree whole heartedly on what to do with the living, so even if a majority of them decided to stay away, surely there would be some who would go against the larger will of starclan like spottedleaf and yellowfang did in the past.

Nighthearts chapters are annoying, squirrelflight is dead inside and I don't think she and bramblestar are mates anymore. sunbeams chapters are super unnecessary and I feel as though this arc would have seriously benefitted from having a one cat perspective instead of continuing to go with the split perspective thing.

it certainly feels completely out of character for the whole of thunderclan to start acting like they're the most important cats in the forest and the best clan of all despite the fact they let an imposter lead them and do horrible things without question. honestly it says a lot about brambles character, his leadership, and relationship with his mate that no cat so much as questioned him when he started acting out.

it's also super weird that they put so much importance on Firestar in the clan. like I get that undeniably he was one of the best leaders of his time but like you never see that importance and pressure to fill his paw prints carried through the rest of his clan.

literally bramblestar was raised by firestar and we never see him struggle with being another firestar. we never see him struggle with the knowledge he has to fill the power vacuum or void or whatever fire left behind with his death.

I also noticed it's even stranger when you consider a good majority of thunderclan currently are directly related to him as well. he has paws in every single facet of clan life there, they might as well rename it fireclan.

it's just annoyed that this is suddenly a big issue and focus in the clan now even though his legacy lives on in the form of like 20 something direct blood relatives in a clan made up of like 30 something cats.

I'm getting off topic but just about the whole starclan thing.

why the hell are they suddenly being so vague? like if anyone had learned anything from previous conflicts and their solutions, collaboration and clear direct communication is more important than anything, especially since what happened before. honestly I'd argue that it'd be more interesting to have a perspective of a starclan cat to better outline the conflict left unresolved there after the ashfur incident. how cool would that be? it would make sense to, it would heavily accentuate the dread and helplessness of the river clan situation just as it did with goosefeathers and shadowsights tragic efforts.

I feel as though we've gone too long with being open and connected with starclan now to pull back and turn around. why not lean into it? build up starclan culture and look more into where prophecies come from or how they receive them. hell I'd be okay if they kept that vague if they'd just lean into all the way and let us see starclans conflicts just as clearly as we see the living cats since they're all so strongly connected.

it's a serious mess and I don't see this book having a good ending. I'd like an arc to have a resolved conflict for once that doesn't bleed into the other arcs. like let's just wrap up this messy ashfur nonsense and move on. the series needs to end all together at some point and I'd rather it concluded sooner rather than later before it gets any worse.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

hey! I've seen a bunch of posts on how HPSC is slightly corrupted and all, could you explain if you understand this? They're (die hard villain fans) usually using this as a justification to slam the heroes for raiding the army. I'm quite confused sorry

I’d be more than happy to, friend! I have a strong feeling it’s going to be a key detail in the story moving forward so it’s good to go back in reviewing everything we know now; plus, it gives me the perfect chance to offer up my theory that ropes in Aizawa, Midnight, and Present Mic. Buckle up, though, because this gets a little long.

The HPSC tells heroes what to do.

The Hero Public Safety Commission is a pocket of the Japanese national government in this universe, sort of like how the FDA is in America.

It’s important to note that HPSC is a separate entity from the heroes. They’re the ones giving out licenses, disciplining rouge heroes, overseeing hero training, acting as liaison between heroes and law enforcement, organizing cooperative efforts with multiple heroes across different regions, and managing the general image of heroes with events like the Hero Rankings Billboard.

Heroes have to obey directives given by the HPSC and hero schools have to align with guidelines set by the HPSC, but heroes don’t usually get a say in these decisions and often only get to complain about how things are done and are stuck doing it anyway. If someone is caught heroing without a license or not in hero uniform, you can be fined and/or jailed. If a hero doesn’t keep up with paperwork or runs off and does their own thing they can also be fined and have their license suspended. If a hero goes AWOL or completely flips out they can have their license permanently taken away and be jailed.

It’s actually even more important to note that way heroes are allowed to operate and answer to the government is actually closer in line to a militia than a police force. In fact, while heroes are allowed to make arrests and use their quirks, they are more restricted in what they can and can’t do on their own than the police. If a hero wants to work with other heroes on an investigation, they have to use the private network (administrated by the HPSC) or communicate in person. In the case with the Shie Hassaikai or looking for Kurogiri and the LoV where police cooperation was necessary to carry out the investigation and bring in the gang right away there was no choice but to be transparent with the HPSC.

However, the HPSC doesn’t have to be transparent with the heroes.

They require heroes to give up all their information to keep working as heroes, but they don’t have any accountability for themselves and have notably dodged scrutiny up to this point with public backlash almost always falling on the heroes who have little to no say in how they run things.

Starting back at the beginning of the series with the USJ incident, it understandably garnered massive media attention - it should have. Dozens of unknown, random two-bit villains poured into the most secure, prestigious hero school in all of Japan undetected and resulted in the serious injury of two teachers and could have included the students as well if All Might had not been there to fight and subdue the inhuman monster - the Nomu - who had up to that point had never been seen before.

It’s not unreasonable that UA initially got the blowback from this as it could have been chalked up to complacency causing a lapse in security that the HPSC absolutely wouldn’t have been accountable for. It’s treated like a one-off event and despite investigations going nowhere on it, it’s ultimately downplayed and checked out in the background while continuing with the Sports Festival in high spirits. However, things get worse.

After passing their semester exams the Hero Course first-years head off to do practical training in the mountains with a hero team named the Wild Wild Pussycats. Remember, because this is a hero training initiative between a school and a hero team, the HPSC is likely involved at least on some administrative level in regards to granting permission and securing the patch of mountainside to use even if this detail is not acknowledged in the series. Despite efforts to only include the staff, teachers, and heroes involved word somehow still gets out - resulting in more student, hero, and teacher injuries, and most importantly the kidnapping of one of the students.

This can no longer be swept under the rug. A lot happens in the secret hideout raid revealing lots of stuff with the plot, including All-for-One’s direct involvement, but it doesn’t add anything more to our notes besides the fact UA is once again blamed and heroes are thrown under the bus instead of the organization overseeing them.

Fast forward to the Provisional License Arc. This is the first time we see the HPSC acting explicitly. It’s noted that they passed significantly more students this year than previously. Yokumiru Mera, the tired proctor, is overworked. The HPSC has a reason to urgently pump more students into the “working force” now than it had before, though at the moment it’s written off as a result of All Might’s retirement.

During the Shie Hassaikai arc the only suspect detail we get is the fact that the raid on compound is inexplicably compromised, and somehow the yakuza knew the heroes and police were coming. We’ll come back to this and to the leaks in UA again later.

Skipping the remedial courses and school festival arc, we get to the Pro Hero Arc. Big lights, pomp and circumstance, and a massive powerful Nomu attack that nearly kills the freshly crowned #1 Hero. From this point forward, what we get of the HSPC is mainly through Hawks and his experience with him. After the fight, we get a flashback of the President of the HSPC herself telling him to ignore civilian casualties in his mission to infiltrate the LoV, that he has to do it solo, and that he can’t tell anyone. Briefly in the next chapter he says that despite his objections he can’t actually tell them no.

Hold up!

Did a government agency just tell a hero to secretly get in with the villains no matter what, and when he objects and asks whether he’s just supposed to ignore collateral damage in the process is told, “You can and you will”?! (That’s a verbatim quote from chapter 192.) I thought this agency was supposed to hep people and keep them safe!

We get smatterings of interactions between Hawks and the HPSC, and though we don’t get anything from there side we’re getting that every questionable or deplorable thing Hawks does or needs to get on the LoV’s good side is acknowledged and endorsed by the HPSC. “I’m in contact with the shady guy who loosed that monster in the middle of the city with no warning. He wants me to kill the other top hero who just recovered and to join the definitely-dangerous doomsday cult, and maybe THEN he’ll let me in on what’s going on.” Ok, sure. Nothing morally questionable about any of that...

Jump to chapter 267. Up to this point, this note about Hawks’ past has been hinted at, but is here finally confirmed with a chilling detail. Kids who enter hero work may get special coaching by their families when they’re young, but the threshold for entering formal government-regulated training isn’t until 14/15 years of age in the last few years of their education. Chapter 267 shows a little Keigo Takami no older than about 8, at best, being told by the HPSC that he doesn’t get to call himself by his own name anymore. From now on, he’s going to be a hero, and only a hero, and it’s going to long and hard. Back in 192, two mysterious figures promise the same boy, shown at the same age, that his family will be taken care of.

Whatever circumstances led Keigo’s family to end up in the situation they did, they accepted an offer from a government agency, the HPSC specifically - you can see their headquarters in the flashback - to take away their very young son, take away his identity (and implicitly his family), and groom him to be government tool for the rest of his life - a commitment he had no true say in and that he could not understand at the time.

And it gets worse.

Endeavor works with the HPSC regularly as all heroes have to, but his relationship with them and what they’ll let him get away with gets put into greater question the longer we look at it. He turned to eugenics to create a hero he couldn’t be and surpass All Might for the sole purpose of satisfying his own ego. He bought a girl from her family and forced her to have his kids, then subjected those kids to cruel training - passing over each one until he got to one he felt he could work with -, beat his wife as well, and some kind of action he was involved in lead to the death of his oldest son. While the domestic abuse could be hidden, the death of his child cannot. What’s more, shortly after (very shortly if timelines add up), his youngest son received a permanent burn scar on the heat-resistant side of his face and his wife was locked away in a mental institution for a decade.

And the HPSC never bats an eye. They could take away his license. They could call the police. They could have exposed him to the public or at least ordered an investigation. But they didn’t. On some level they knew, and they did nothing.

But it might be even worse.

I skipped over this detail chronologically, but it’s the linchpin for just how corrupt the HPSC might be if all this lines up. Looking at the Endeavor Agency Arc, we get a seemingly random confrontation with a guy called Starservant (chapter 243) who prattles off a prophecy about the Dark Lord returning and his Dark Stars conspiring against humanity which will bring the world to ruin. He calls out Endeavor specifically as the shining light that beckons the darkness, but this sounds an awful lot like the deranged wailing of some crazy old man, right?

Let’s jump over an entire series now to the spin-off serial Vigilantes. This series takes place in the same universe at an earlier point in the timeline of the main story - and take an extra little note that there’s an underlying subplot about unusual drugs meant to enhance quirks (that often result in mutating the user) and that someone may be using them to clandestinely run experiments on humans from the shadows. 

In chapter 59 we get flashbacked to Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic’s childhood experiences at UA, and we’re also introduced to Oboro Shirakumo - their fellow classmate and dear friend. We get a few chapters establishing their relationships and their goals and dream for the future until chapter 63 where things make a drastic turn in tone. On what should be a routine hero training exercise as third-year seniors a giant, monstrous villain shows up and attacks while the UA kids are escorting a class of preschoolers around town.

In the scuffle, though Aizawa is able to single-handedly come out victorious, in the fight and debris Shirakumo is struck in the head by falling concrete as he tries to lead the children to safety and dies on the scene. Go back to main series, chapter 254-255, the villain Kurogiri is detained but the police are having no luck questioning him. They get a sliver of a lead and call in Present Mic and Eraserhead to interrogate him, and it’s confirmed that Kurogiri was a human experiment of Doctor Ujiko - the mad scientist bio-engineer responsible for the Nomu and outspokenly faithful servant of All-for-One - created from the corpse of their dearly departed Oboro.

Here’s the kicker, though, in Japan they don’t often bury their dead. Funerals next to never include an open casket - the loved one is cremated first, their ashes placed on an funeral shrine with their picture, and the loved ones mourn there. That means Ujiko needed to get to the body before it was cremated - which requires some fast work; but that’s not even the worst of it. Jumping one last time to chapter 270, Ujiko recognizes Mic as a friend of Shirakumo and boldly admits the entire time he was after Aizawa for his quirk.

That attack more than 10 years ago was premeditated. This goes back a long ways. How did he find this information - about their quirks and their movements and where to find them? How did Ujiko get the body out of the morgue without anyone catching him? Could it be the same way his fellow servants of All-for-One were able to get into the USJ? And the Training Camp? And the Yakuza raid? All-for-One has a lot of connections for his faithful servants to move about freely in this world of heroes despite every effort being take to stop them. 

Somehow, these shining lights can never seem to outrun the dark no matter how hard they try, as if there’s a conspiracy against them. But a conspiracy of that level would have to come all the way from the top! If you wanted to get poetic about it, you could even say the stars themselves are conspiring against us. But that old man was crazy, right? If he wasn’t crazy - if he was right at all - then no matter what way you slice it:

This is bad.

[cassieschaosdimension]

Here is the second installment in the redemption arc of Draco Malfoy.

The First Class (with the Gryffindors; I'm basing this off of the books and it's a fic so...)

He woke up after the feast in the Slytherin common room. Draco grins to himself running his hair through his unruly hair then he turns his head and it falls.

Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Zabini were sleeping around the room. How is he going to avoid them as he goes to breakfast?

It was especially hard not to wake up them meanly, but Draco wanted a clean slate where he could be himself without feeling smothered. He tried to be as quiet as possible. He doesn't want Nott and Zabini to ask questions. He may have had to grow up with them, but he doesn't have to be nice to them. Father might be furious at him, but mother said he should just be himself and it would all be fine.

Putting on his uniform and robe, Draco thinks how proud his father will be to see he's in Slytherin just like his parents were. He's always gravitated towards mother; she wasn't as harsh as father and made sure he was taught to be himself. At least she was the one who wanted him to be happy. Father only wanted Draco to become a mini Lucius and as much as he loved his father, he did not want to become just like him.

Tiptoeing out of the dormitory he shudders at the thought of turning as mean, heartless, and cold as his father. He never wants to be like that. He wants to bring light and happiness in the world because his father sucks it all up. Draco doesn't remember when he was allowed to laugh and smile.

Pushing open the heavy door, Draco runs into Marcus Flint, Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch House team.

"Hey Draco! Nice to have you finally here! Come on, let's come down to breakfast and stuff our faces before class." At the word class Flint rolls his eyes. Draco is shocked. He didn't realize Flint was disrespectful! The professors gave up any hope of a social life to teach them! The least they could do was respect them, but Flint didn't.

He tries to get away and go see where the people he met yesterday on the train are sitting. Glancing around until he spots them he grins. The grin slides off his face faster than a dementer closing in to perform the Kiss. They're at the Gryffindor table like he expected, but it still hurts.

Hmm, Hermione seems to be off to the side from everyone. He enjoyed going head to head with her on the train. (NOT DRAMIONE NOPE PLATONIC PEOPLE!!!!) Not many people could do that and survive. He wanted to be good friends with someone like her even if she was Mu-Muggleborn. He was going to have to get used to calling them by their proper names, not what his father always called them.

Harry and Ron looked thick as thieves already and it had barely been a day! Sitting down at the Slytherin table, Draco wishes he could have a friendship like that. He had hoped for that on the train, but Neville had squashed that flat. Poor Neville looked absolutely terrified when he heard his name!

Draco was sad as he saw the smile fly off the face of the round faced boy Draco thought would be nice when he introduced himself. Maybe the letter he wrote to his mother would have some answers.

The hooting of hundreds of owls suddenly fills the cavernous Hall. His owl, Talon, soars down to him. The giant parcel dropped in front of him seems to be filled with sweets and cakes. Among the cakes, he finds a folded letter. His mother must have placed this when she sent Talon off again. Bypassing the edible goodies the poor house elves must have been forced to.make for him, he goes right for the letter.

Dearest Draco,

I am hesitant to respond to you in case your father intercepts this, but I have placed this in your parcel instead of sending it with Talon separately.

The boy's name is Neville Longbottom yes? Your concern is welcoming, but the story is chilling.

This was before you were born in early 1980 and Snape has overheard the Divination professor utter a prophecy. Yes, Draco. The prophecy which changed our world forever. He was still very much in love with Lily Evans, who married James Potter earlier that year, and the prophecy scared him beyond comprehension.

He was scared it meant Harry and went to the Dark Lord to beg for the release of Lily Evans as he knew she would never leave Harry to die. But unfortunately, that was not so as you know and the Potters were killed leaving behind a little boy not much older than you were at the time.

Aunt Bella went to the Longbottoms that night and she tortured them for the whereabouts of the Dark Lord because she wanted to know where he went. The Longbottoms were tortured into insanity and left a one year old son, Neville, behind to be raised by his grandmother.

Draco gasps at this part. He knew aunt Bella was twisted, but not to that effect. He felt sorry for Neville and wants to apologize, but not in front of all of these people. He doesn't want to embarrass Neville. He'll read the rest of the letter later, he got his question answered. He'll have to thank his mother later for risking that information.

Draco, putting the letter into his pocket after folding it, digs into the hearty breakfast with relish. The rest of his dorm mates are down by this point. He glances at them out of the corner of his eye. Crabbe and Goyle are pigging out as per usual. Nott and Zabini are turning up their noses at the breakfast. Draco shrugs and goes back to eating.

Soon breakfast is over and he has his first class. Draco is excited because it's Potions and Snape teaches it.He walks alone having declined company. He wanted company, but not the company that was offered.

He was told by Flint to walk towards the Common Room and then turn left and he'll reach Potions eventually. Surprisingly, Flint gave him the right directions. When Draco walks in, the room glass silent. Sauntering in, Draco sits alone hoping Neville, Harry, or Ron will sit with him. The more people that aren't them that scramble in, the more dejected he feels.

By the time the boys arrive, all of the seats around Draco are filled by Nott, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle. Draco wants to bang his head against the table in frustration. How on earth is he supposed to apologize for his aunt's behavior if he's never alone?

He tells himself to think of the happy days when he was allowed to be himself and play with the house elves. He had loads of fun with them and he learned amazing lessons from them. Draco thinks of all of the sweets and cakes he was taught in secret as soon as he turned eight. His mother allowed it because he was happy, but anytime his father was around he had to act like him.

A bang at the back of the classroom jerks Draco back to the present. Time to act he tells himself. He's going to loathe it, but until he can explain it to the others he has to act like this. He doesn't want Snape to report to his father that he's not acting like he's supposed to.

Snape's black robe flaps behind him as he makes his way to the front of the room. Draco has to keep from laughing at the sound. Every time Snape takes a step, the robe's hem smacks against the floor. Others aren't even attempting to hide their giggles.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor! I suggest if you don't want more points taken Mr. Finnegan, you will stop laughing. As such, you will receive detention tonight. You will be notified about your detention by Professor McGonagall. The same goes for the rest of you! Now, shall we commence to be introduced to the subtle art of potion making?"

The rest of the Slytherins are sniggering and jeering at the Gryffindors so Draco does it too. He feels absolutely wretched about it though. This is not who he is. Why did the Hat put him in Slytherin again?

The discussion with the Hat was interesting. The Hat told him he would do well in Gryffindor, but he asked to be in Slytherin because he didn't want to be disowned by his father. He didn't understand what his father was doing was wrong until he was eight and started to have to sneak around with the house elves.

Three years later and he worries about the house elves when he's not there. His mother can't protect them from his father's wrath all the time. Snape's voice carries out into the cavernous dungeon and Draco forces himself to listen intend of thinking of things that will make him cry. His father says crying is for the muggleborns, muggles and blood traitors like the Weasleys. Draco doesn't understand why the Weasleys are blood traitors though. The family is a pureblood family?

Oh well. Snape is now interrogating Harry about Potions ingredients and he doesn't answer. Draco knows the answers, but he has to pretend to be indifferent. Hermione has no problems with it. Her hand shoots up each time Harry says he doesn't know. She's brave he thinks to himself. Snape only knows one side of himself. He wishes he could show his true colors, but he's too afraid of his father to even think of it.

When Snape snaps at Hermione, Draco wants to defend her, but again, his father holds too much influence at Hogwarts. No one else defends her either. Is it so hard to defend your own House mate against a teacher?! Then again it is Snape and Snape is terrifying. That's the only reason Draco can think Neville isn't defending Hermione.

The rest of class is like that and Draco wants to cry for Hermione. She takes it like a pro and she must have gotten this treatment at her muggle school. He feels sick to his stomach. No human, or any creature for that matter, should be treated that way.

He wants class to be over so he can apologize to Hermione, but she runs out the door as soon as the bell trills. Draco grabs his books and stuffs them in his bag intent on following Hermione to see if she will let him apologize for what happened with the train and Snape. All he needs is for someone to give him a chance and he will be the most loyal friend they would ever ask for. All he wants is a real friend that isn't with him for his money or influence.

Walking to his next class he thinks about the apology he's going to make to each of them if he ever gets the chance.

Three days later and I'm finally done with the second installment! Enjoy! Please be honest in your opinions, I don't mind!

[ziracona]

Ohmygod I want like all of ur headcanons they're all so good. Oml. Would it be okay if I settled on meg headcanons or Dwight & Jake hcs? God you write them so well it makes me so happy

Thank you so much! <3 I know you asked this like this morning, and sorry about that, but I had a lot of fun answering it. Ended up doing Meg. I’m not sure if you want general, or post-ILM so I just kinda did some of both? And got carreid away, haha, it’s gonna go mostly under a read more. :’-)

Meg’s mom did a great job taking care of her growing up. Meg had a hard time making and keeping friends, because she’s full of energy and passion and also very ADHD, so she has a big personality and will talk all the time about what she loves and is a whole lot (in a good way). But a lot of people growing up did not enjoy that about her. Meg wasn’t great at shutting up and acting or lying or falling into a role to get kids at her school to like her, and also just didn’t understand why the rest of them would do that, and didn’t mesh well. With each time she was not accepted, she got a little bit more bristly and ready to defend herself, and it kind of became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It wasn’t like she never had any friends, but she never had any close ones, and a lot of the ones she did have kind of dicked her over for someone else, or moved on, and that was rough. Plus, her dad left her when she was a baby, she was poor, she was loud, and she was Bi. This gave kids a whole lot to bully her for. And they sure did.

Meg’s a fighter, though, and didn’t take shit—she got into trouble a lot, and was mad, because (as y’all who’ve been in the American education system at least know) the faculty never cared if she’d shoved someone because they called her a slur, or said something shitty about her mom, or that she’d punched someone because they’d followed her out of school to say nasty things about her, or that someone else had shoved her, or poured something on her book, or provoked her first. Didn’t even care if it had been four on one, or a guy had come up and fake asked her out to make fun of her in front of his friends—didn’t care about any of what was being done to her, or that she’d just been defending herself. The worst they ever did was talk to the other students, and that just made them want revenge and didn’t stop jack shit. Because of that, she really started to resent faculty and got a huge rebellious streak. She used to get in trouble all the time, before joining track, at her mom’s suggestion. Then, finally, really for the first time ever, even if she didn’t have friends, she had a pack, and that was something. Team didn’t have to like her, they still worked together so they had some kind of a bond and couldn’t just flip, and their track teacher would care if things got nasty, because it lowered performance. Plus, she had natural talent, and a bunch of energy, so it was an ideal fit.

Childhood was all still pretty damn rough though. I wouldn’t say she was miserable all the time or anything, but she was constantly tired of it all. There were some good parts, though. And she had some casual friends she was pretty chill with. Even a kind of almost girlfriend her last two semesters (although that was not exactly the world’s most stable relationship either. Still, not all bad.) While she wasn’t ever tight with them, there were several people at school who thought she was really cool too, because not only would Meg always defend herself, she also was ready in a heartbeat to throw hands for anyone—especially someone weaker or smaller than herself—she saw getting shit from classmates. She was a roaming vigilante of school hall fury by 10th grade, and had earned a certain amount of respect and fear, and a pile of detentions and reprimands, and parent-teacher conferences where her mom chewed out teachers and staff for ignoring the parts of all this where her daughter was getting bullied. Meg used to actually love parent-teacher time, because she got to watch her mom rip people she hated apart, and it filled her with glee to have somebody else fight for her.

Even with school all sucking, Meg had a pretty good childhood basically exclusively because of her mom. Her mom had to raise a kid as a single parent when Meg’s dad abandoned them while Meg was still a baby, and it wasn’t easy. She worked full time when Meg was little as a postal worker. That was unsustainable, though, with how life was going and her wanting and needing to actually be physically present in her kid’s life, so she ended up finding employ as a ghostwriter, and switching to that. It was almost exclusively terrible and ridiculous romances she would get a fraction of the pay and no credit for when published, but Rachel Thomas found a way to make that funny and enjoyable both to herself, and her curious little daughter who would waddle up to her and ask all the time what Mommy was doing and to hear her stories. She would pick safe bits and read them as silly and funny as possible to amuse Meg and feel okay about what she was spending all her time on, and it worked. It made the work enjoyable, when otherwise it would have felt tiring and worthless. Rachel got to be happy with it instead.

She always worked super hard to give Meg a good life, even with very limited resources. She taught herself how to do things like use pencil dust to check for fingerprints when Meg was super into Nancy Drew books as a kid, and how to pick locks, and then taught them to Meg. Meg loved growing up in that house, because her mom was the best. She was always ready to hear about whatever fascinating new thing Meg had discovered, or to pick up a toy sword and go have an epic battle in the backyard as people they’d made up to be. She passed on a love of movies and music and dancing, too, and because she knew that life was rough for Meg, even as a young child, Rachel always went out of her way to make holidays huge productions. Got one really cool present that always had to do with whatever story Meg was the most into usually, and a lot of fun little ones to go with it, so she could open a whole pile of gifts even though the only one who was ever there to give her any presents was her mom. Meg kinda just grew up thinking of holidays like that because of her, and did as big productions for her mom too (to the best of her age-relative ability).

It was super hard on Meg when her mom got sick. I mean, I think it would be on anyone (who had a positive relationship with the parent, or probably even a neutral one), but she took it really hard. She’d been super excited about finally getting out of her hometown and going to college on a track scholarship she’d worked incredibly hard for, but then this had happened, and of course she’d come back to look after her mom. It was really awful though. She wasn’t sure if her mom would survive. At first, the situation had been like, go to college, or go home to help your mom get better, but she realized after a little while with a sinking feeling that it was starting to look like something else. Like give up on your one chance at being able to pay for college, or come home to watch your mom wither away and die while you can’t do a fucking thing to stop it. Her mom had always been a strong and fun and full of life person, so much like Meg herself, in a lot of ways, and she got sick so fast, and so bad. They even looked a lot alike—not just in biological features, but they kind of dressed similarly by nature, and Meg’s mom had also always kept her bright red hair long and liked it like that. Sometime when Meg was little, she’d called her mom’s hair a “fire mane,” older Meg could only assume because she’d been reading picture books about horses, and her mom had loved that and teasingly called it that forever after. The second night after she started chemo that her hair started to fall out, Meg got home to see her shaving her head in the bathroom, because it had been coming out in clumps she hadn’t been able to stand the way that felt. Meg felt heartbroken, and went over to join her and took the scissors on the sink and started to cut hers off too in solidarity, but her mom stopped her and begged her not to. Meg cried and told her she wanted to do it, and her mom comforted her and kissed her on the forehead and asked her to please keep it for her, so that when she got better, she could look at Meg’s as inspiration for what she wanted to get back to. Meg finally agreed, but it was really hard. Harder still to watch her getting weaker and weaker until she just couldn’t do any of the things she used to. And then one day her mom’s doctor had come back and told them he was sorry, but that treatment was failing. She could try a few experimental avenues, and there were people to contact, she could keep trying this in case there was a change, but that she probably only had another year at most to life.

It had been beyond devastating. Meg hadn’t known what to say. Or how to think or cope. She’d just walked out of the hospital feeling shellshocked. And when they’d gotten back in the car, her mom had asked her to pull over at a Wendy’s, and bought them both frostys, and Meg went through the motions, and parked in the lot. And when they were there, her mom had started to eat hers slowly with a spoon, and looked her in the eyes and said, “Don’t worry, Meg. I’ll get better. I promise.”

And Meg had looked up and seen she meant it somehow, even with what they’d just heard. And her mom had said, “You know me. I’m a fighter.” and that had been true, so Meg had sniffed and nodded and said, “Me too. We’ll try all the options.”

Her mom smiled at her and they ate their one dollar treats and went home to research, but Meg had still kind of believed it, because she always believed her mom. She’d had hope then, that she might not die. Even as the weeks went on and she got sicker. And then Meg went for the one jog she didn’t come back from.

Meg and Dwight were the first two to really band together. They survived a trial together and made it to the same fire, and Dwight just unloaded like a whole plan to start systematically picking up other people they met, and theorizing about leaving with them to make it to the same fire, and banding together to survive better, and Meg was kinda ‘no thoughts—head empty’ because she was exhausted from trying to outmaneuver the Nurse, and he was talking so fast and she hadn’t listened at all to the first few lines and now she was playing catchup, but she’d been like, “Oh. Worm I guess?” and agreed. Meg kinda thought Dwight was a pushy little dumbass, and he kinda was, but she also kinda liked him, and waaay faster than Jake did. Meg’s an extremely loyal person, so even though unhooking her and helping her out, or giving her a tool he knew she was better with than he was was just good strategy, Meg’s heart went “Friend saved me” and kinda kept it, so she didn’t mind “New friend is also annoying and full of himself and kind of a douche.” I don’t think she really noticed his change in behavior at first. Just one day like, a month after he’d started working hard to be less of an ass, she was sorting a new toolbox post-trial, and he paused by her and was like, “Hey! Great job in the trial today. Sorry I messed up your escape during that chase—I misjudged how fast he was and thought you’d have time to hide. You really saved us with that last-second chainsaw dodge getting the door open. –Oh here, I found these in a box and I’m still pretty shit at flashlights, but I saved them for you,” and gave her some batteries, and she was just like, “Cool. Thanks. And it’s fine—I almost tripped right over Claudette’s hiding spot yesterday.” and then when he was like halfway back to the fire she was just like WAIT A SECOND and sat bolt upright and stared at him and was like, Didn’t you used to be kind of pretentious and inconsiderate? When did this change??? And was never totally sure, but was pretty jazzed about it. She also remembers way less well than Jake, Ace, or Claudette that Dwight did used to be a loser. If someone else told her that she’d be like, “Oh yeah…huh.” but she’d never really think of it on her own.

This is kind of more a Dwight one than a Meg one, but one of the specific events that was a personal changing point for Dwight was back when it was just the OG four, before even Ace had joined, they had a hard trial with Trapper and Meg was really down. Everyone passed out before Dwight, because he was trying to plan and stayed up, and he noticed Meg having a nightmare and after a minute woke her up because she looked so scared, and she thanked him and then was quiet and just sat there, looking miserable. After about ten minutes he decided to ask if he could do anything to help, and she said she was afraid to go back to sleep, because she thought she might just pick up where she’d left off, and then hesitantly asked him if it was okay if she came over by him, because she thought it might help. He was super surprised, but said yes, and she came over and lay down beside him and leaned on his chest fell asleep. And it felt really nice that someone would seek him out for comfort, and trust him to watch over them. The first time they stayed at the same fire, she’d given him a look and said, “Promise not to come over here while I’m out if I take a nap?” and warned him she was a light sleeper, but she hadn’t even jokingly reminded him of anything like that now. She just trusted him. It made him want to be worthy of that and a lot more.

[ I want to do more bc I’m super into Meg rn, but my word count is shooting me dirty looks so ima do 2 real short post-ILM Meg and call it a night—happy to do more or your Jake-Dwight sometime though. <3 ]

Tapp helps Meg take courses and study up, and gets her certified as a PI, and she actually does really love it. They work cases for cheap for people who need help, and do it together, and it’s very rewarding. That’s not the most sustainable full-time job, but Tapp’s got a little money saved, and David’s…David. Plus, collectors will pay weird money for realm merch sometimes, and Min is…scarily. Worryingly good, even, at finding those people to sell to. So she also has a lot of time to do other things. She can’t exactly do track like she did, but she does long-distance runs for charity, and has fun, and gets to go visit her friends all the time. She loves being able to say she actually is a private detective, and feels like she’s come full circle from being the little her who loved Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie books so much. She’s able to help her mom, too, so her mom is able to actually spend time writing the kinds of things she’d like to, for once, and Meg’s super happy for her and still spends a bunch of time with her, often her and Susie, who her mom took to really fast, together. Meg loves to ambush Susie with gifts when she’s working on stuff and make surprise visits to drop off a drink or something, and thrives on the embarrassed-happy Megggg look on her face if she pulls off flirting in public just right. Sometimes Susie will come with her and Tapp when they’re working to try to help, or just to spend time, especially for the like, long research parts of the job. Meg also makes sure they see Michael Tapp a lot, and that Tapp takes time off to do fun stuff with her and his other friends. She is still definitely trying to get him with her mom. Or Jane when Jane’s there. Or her mom and Jane. Sometimes Ace is in the mix when he’s there. And it all ain’t subtle. It’s rough out there being Meg’s even vaguely parental figure. :’-)

Like Tapp promised, he and Meg get a dog. A retired K9 whose handler died a few years ago, and been retired when that happened because it was old enough it had been set to retire that year or the next, and it took the loss of its handler very hard. With its handler gone, it was open to adoption from other force members or retired ones. It was an old dog that had been alone for a long time, still missing someone dead, so sad looking. Outlived his best friend. Tapp had checked the database on impulse alone when starting to work on honoring Meg’s request, and seen it, and wanted badly to take it home. He’d been kind of nervous asking Meg about getting it though, thinking she would want something that would live longer, but she’d jumped at the chance and been really happy. The German Shepherd had been named Partner, because that had been the sense of humor his handler had, and Meg thought it was cute, to always be saying, “Come on Partner,” to a dog. He had been really sad looking when they’d gone to pick him up. Lonely in the back of a pen, nose between his paws, watching people go by, and hesitant when they’d gone inside. Quiet, all the way to the car, and the whole drive home. Just sat in a seat, looking out the window, no matter how much Meg petted him or talked him, or Tapp did, and then they’d gotten home and taken him inside, to a bed and a food bowl and water dish, and he hesitantly ate, and then started to wag his tail a little. They took him out to the yard after to play and he finally got it, and it was like seeing a totally different animal. He got excited, and barked for the first time, and ran around pretty fast for an old dog and would come press his forehead against their legs while wagging his tail, like he was hugging them, in a way Meg had only seen dogs do a few times. He is now a very happy pup who likes to hop up on the couch and put his head in people’s laps and watch them lovingly while they watch tv, and sometimes puts the old skills to good use if he’s in the mood to walk around and lend aid to a case.

[themclisseconnection]

Our Yacht is Sailing!

What's going on??? Over the past two years, the Earth got hotter, the plants grew taller, your pets grew up, someone you know got engaged or got married, some of you graduated from school and started a new job or a new business venture, reached a new milestone and some of you also joined a new fandom. How many books have you read? Did you learn how to cook? Did you transfer to an unfamiliar city or traveled to a different country? Were you able to maximize your talents, skills and productivity? Hopefully, yes. Hopefully, you were able to discover more about yourselves, just like McCoy and Elisse.

A ship on a yacht? Is that even possible? With McLisse, it is. A yacht— not too big, not too small, private and romantic. McLisse likes to keep it that way.

The photo reminds us of an unforgettable chapter in a Wattpad novel. It's like a lovely scene from a romantic movie. At first look, it seems too good to be true but once it sinks in, you'll go from "It's too good be true" to "It's so good and it's so true." Its caption gave us all the feels since McCoy used one of the fandom's most treasured words, ALWAYS. "ALL WAYS" added more depth to it. Joy, peace, warmth and security are written all over their faces. The post conveys an extraordinary feeling of freedom, a sense of contentment and infinite bliss.

The recent events, losses, madness in the government (grrrrr!) and the global pandemic somehow became our wake-up call and encouraged us to be more expressive, thoughtful and proactive. The pandemic also taught us to take a good care of ourselves and our loved ones. We only have one life to live so we should stop all our doubts and fears from getting the best of us. We should let happiness in. Right here, right now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mccoy De Leon (@mccoydeleon) on Aug 30, 2020 at 11:12am PDT

Yes. A good news dropped in the middle of a pandemic. It immediately became a symbol of hope for many of us who are slowly being eaten up by skepticism, animosity and hopelessness. We suddenly have a special reminder that things can get better in time. McCoy didn't just post to give a hint that his heart is at peace. He literally shared his joy to us. Every "finally" we encounter in the comment section stresses that they had been holding it in for the longest time.

The comment section is full of good vibes. Their celebrity friends, co-actors, the staffs they've worked with and the bloggers who consistently root for them couldn't help but express their happiness upon seeing the photo. Anyone could tell that they're genuinely happy for McLisse. The crying emojis, red hearts and words "SA WAKAS" and "FINALLY" definitely made a strong statement.

OUR STORY

It's no secret that McCoy had worked on several movie projects with new love interests and he even started a new business venture while Elisse landed as one of the leads in an afternoon TV series. She also got busy with her business.

McLisseians still expressed their support even in their solo projects. Every one clinged to hope and pride was set aside. We wanted them to feel that we are not just here for "kilig." As McLisseians, we knew that a part of us would always root for them even if they already stopped rooting for us. It was painful to hear them talking about us in past tense but we knew back then that deep down in our hearts, our love for them will always be stronger than our ego as shippers. We couldn't lecture them about love. The heart has a mind of its own. We could only check on them from afar and hope that they would be happy with whomever they'd end up with. It even came to a point where we had to let go and let God.

The super loyal, persistent and ever generous McLisseians continued to see the good in every opportunity. We completely understood that every opportunity they received would help them gain more knowledge and experience. Maturity took over. Each one of us learned to focus on the bright side of life with the vision that their new setup would benefit both of them. They would surely come out as better actors in the industry.

McCoy's post got many people saying "Sana all" but to be honest, McLisseians also had our own "Sana all" moments. We had so many what ifs in our list. McLisse's journey as a love team was quite short compared to others. We had to deal with multiple rejections, cancelled guestings/tours and media play during movie promotions. We got to see them acting with different partners and live with the thought that they aren't each other's first on-screen kiss. HEHE AT LEAST, MAY REAL-LIFE KISS. Ch0ur not ch0ur. Every shipper's dream is to collect many firsts and create more memories with his/her ship. Bittersweet, that's how we call it. McLisse had their own record of life-changing firsts but let's not forget that McLisseians had the privilege (Privilege!? Let's think positive. HAHAHAHA) to experience both reel and real pain earlier than the usual. The unimaginable transition and all the intentional shunning also disheartened us at one point. Sana ganito, sana ganyan. Sana maging okay na sila. Sana po mapagbigyan. It was a never-ending struggle of staying positive in the midst of chaos.

Their love team was slowly dissolved. They broke up and eventually got linked to different people. Right there and then, we knew that we had to know our place as shippers. In our hearts, we firmly believed that we could still make a difference.

McLisseians transformed into prayer warriors who fervently prayed for peace and reconciliation every single day. It was hard to see everything falling apart. We had to endure all the sudden changes, disturbing articles and heartbreaking announcements. We lost both reel and real, we had nothing to hold on to except one another, our faith and our belief that one day, they'll be able to face each other again with a smile.

2020. We started the year full of hope and it's safe to say that McLisseians had been waiting for this moment to come. McCoy kept on saying in his past interviews that they wanted to build a strong foundation first before hinting or confirming anything so we had to go along with it. It came naturally. Our GCs were filled with scoops and rumors. Some people had seen them going out again. We were ecstatic but our first instinct was to protect them. Wag mo ipost!!! Bawal! Ang kulit! Eh pero nasa FB na rin eh!?! Admin oh!!! Hayaan na natin sila, low-key muna tayo. 😂

We used to have petty fights over those things. We prayed a lot for things to get better but we never thought that "better" would mean McCoy and Elisse taking a risk and finally choosing each other again. Honestly, we were okay with them being friends after everything that happened but apparently, they're not okay with that. HAHAHAHAHUHU.

We were infuriated by some nasty articles and insensitive people. The world tested our patience. At times, we would think "McLisse, umamin na nga kayo please. Daming mema, mga kuwento na nakakainis at nakakagigil." It was really disappointing how some people took advantage of their situation. They even assumed that the two didn't reconnect at all. We patiently waited for interviews and other venues where they can freely express themselves. Nacancel TWBA dahil sa lockdown!? May interview? May digital presscon? Sana maghint na sila o magbigay kahit konting clue. McLisseians were hopeful at the very least.

(I had to keep all the excitement to myself. I respected their decision to stay in private so I just waited for a concrete proof/a fearless move from either one of them. And McCoy... Grabe. McCoy's post just blew my mind.)

McLisse is friends with every fandom. It's also nice to see other fandom appreciating our loyalty and our efforts. They would often commend us for sticking with McCoy and Elisse even if they had to part ways as on-screen partners. McLisse's recent update has become every fandom's glimmer of hope.

McCoy and Elisse were apart for quite a while. They went out with other people but eventually found their way back to each other. Love is indeed a verb. It's something that you keep on doing. You show up. You fight. You stay. McCoy and Elisse were able to get to know themselves more. They were able to realize the value of each other more than ever. McLisse will have more days together than the days they spent apart. Maaabot na nilang muli ang kanilang mga pangarap nang magkasama. *sobs*

The future isn't as scary as it seems. Optimism has found its way to us. We just know that we trust McCoy and Elisse so much. All the heartaches in the past inspired all of us to be indestructible. Tough times turned our fandom into one of the toughest fandoms out there. Their CHOICE put back all the pieces together. Mareng Kyla's prophecy was too powerful. Love really led them back to us.

McCoy and Elisse will always have each other. (OMGGGGG. IT'S REALLY TRUE,,, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M WRITING THIS LINE,,, /CRIES IN THE CORNER/)

McLisse will always have us. Always... All ways. ♥️