#all of these were started before episode 9 btw

[heartsforseo]

Skincare with the strawhats

A/n: I'm somewhere on episode 500 in One Piece. And looking back at my valorant post... I really did Franky, Jimbei, Chopper, and Brook wrong. But uh... I'll try to do better :D!! Btw this excludes Chopper cuz...how?

⭑Luffy, I'd say wouldn't understand much about it. I mean, he probably knows and have heard a bit from Nami and Robin but that's that.

⭑When you first explained it to him, he was half-listening, so he was a bit shocked when you sprayed some water on his face.

⭑Would think of it as a fun game and splash some water onto you too (your clothes sadly got wet :[)

⭑When you start adding some cream onto his face he found it funny and started making weird faces.

⭑Over some time, he'd actually start liking it and would start expecting one every week (and maybe even every day)

⭑And even if you guys were to do skincare every day, he'd either fall asleep or cause some ruckus. No in-between.

"Hey, Y/n!! Can we do the skinmare thing again??"

"It's skincare, Luffy, and yes."

⭑Overall, 6/10. He's not the worst, but there is definitely better.

⭑It's either Nami who will bring it up or you.

⭑She's the best to do skincare with since she got everything. Like everything

⭑Would prolly make you pay when you use one of her stuff (w/h or w/o permission)

⭑Would actually give you a piece of advice on what or what not to do though.

⭑While doing skincare, Nami will tell you gossip about the crew or from the last island.

⭑If you get on her good side, she might give you one of her equipment.

⭑Would secretly charge you money for all the wrongdoings you did though. And an extra 10,000 berries because you asked her to do skin care.

"Alright Y/n. This session would be 96,000 berries."

⭑Overall, 9/10. Definitely one of the best. con= -1 because she charges after skincare. Pro= You guys will now have skincare every week.

"No."

⭑You have to convince Zoro numerous times (and maybe even guilt trip him) just so he'd say yes.

⭑He'd be embarrassed at first and try to stay quiet (he doesn't want the lovesick cook to see him with a headband on and foam on his face)

⭑He's blushing so hard from embarrassment so be nice to him. It's also a good opportunity to tease him.

⭑Although too much teasing would opt to make him leave. Unless you ask Sanji instead or tell the crew what was happening to Zoro, that would make him stay back and listen.

⭑While doing skincare, he'd let you take the lead (considering he doesn't even know anything about it) and would only let out some grumbles and whines.

⭑After skincare, he'd look himself in the mirror and touch his face, noticing how smooth it was.

⭑He'd then look after the skincare and would ask you about it for more. He won't say it again though, so you better have good ears because he'll be all muttering.

⭑Overall. 7/10, he's very quiet and wouldn't do much unless you say so.

⭑Sanji would beg for it every. single. day

⭑And you finally had enough and said yes.

⭑Now before entering the bathroom, you can already smell the rosy perfume outside.

⭑WOULD have everything and anything. Maybe even more than Nami's skincare collection.

⭑He'd know what type of face skin you have AND the type you use. So it was no surprise when your essentials were already out.

⭑He'd beg give you assistance 24/7 while doing skincare

⭑He'd also ask you if you're feeling uncomfortable, having fun, and would ramble on about some new recipes he's learned.

"I hope you had fun today Y/n. I'm looking forward to the next."

⭑Overall, 10/10. He knows what you need and what you like. He also think of your situation/feelings, and that itself makes it 10/10 already.

⭑Ussopp would fly over the moon when you asked him.

⭑He'd gladly accept it and tell you he had a lot of experience in skin care (which isn't technically a lie since he knew some of it from Kaya)

⭑But of course, he'd still be scared and shaking. What if you didn't like it? What if you don't wanna do skin care with him again?

⭑He'd be rather stiff at first. Scared to disappoint you.

⭑But minutes later he'd start to cool down and come back to his normal self.

⭑Now every time you both will have skincare time. He'd have a bunch of stories saved up only for you.

"Oh Y/n! I have another story for you later."

⭑Overall, 9/10. He's really fun to be with and is def one of the best to do skincare with.

⭑You'd have to ask Robin to join you

⭑She never really thought of doing skincare together unless you bring it up.

⭑And you really know when to pick out the dates since she was so stressed at first T~T)>

⭑Being around a chaotic and childish crew could really stack up stress.

⭑But a simple skincare could really help it get out.

⭑Robin really much appreciated what you did. Especially when you massage her face and shoulders.

⭑It isn't only one-sided. She'd help you out by giving some advice and ideas when she sees you frowning at your own face. Even giving out some compliments.

"This has really helped out my day, Y/n. Thank you very much."

⭑Overall, 9/10. Really nice to hang out with, and would crack a dark joke once in a while.

⭑Franky would definitely say yes and strike a pose.

⭑He'd know a lot of this from Mozu and Kiwi and would sometimes buy them the products that they wanted.

⭑And since he's basically the crew's shipwright, he had definitely tried to recreate the product the stores have.

⭑But wait. It felt itchy when you tried it? Don't worry, he made a new one already. One that you'll definitely find lovely.

⭑You don't like how he designed it? Don't worry, he made an even bigger one with a design you'll like.

⭑Brook is jumping in joy and is asking to see your panties.

⭑Until he realizes he's a skeleton.

"Yohohoho! I'm really exci--oh..."

⭑Overall, 7/10. He's good for emotional support...I guess?

⭑Lastly, our good man Jimbei.

⭑(I only saw Jimbei a few times due to Impel down and Marineford so uh...)

⭑I'd say that skincare never really crossed his mind. I mean he IS a fishman after all.

⭑But once you told him about it and how it can help you relax, he decided to take up the offer.

⭑He's probably embarrassed and just standing dumbfounded. What was he gonna do?

⭑But dw since you helped him </33

⭑AND OMG HE TIED UP HIS HAIR INTO A FULL BUN?!?!?!?!? AHHHHHH (I'm fangirling DD:...i'M SORRY JIMBEI WS SO COOL)

⭑But back to the story. I'd say he really enjoyed that. AND OF COURSE HUGS!!! HUGS ARE VERY MUCH NEEDED!!!

"Thank you for this, Y/n. I very much appreciated it."

⭑Overall, 7/10. He's pretty much quiet and doesn't know what to do. But the silence is really comforting.

A/n: AND OH MY I FINISHED IT!!! I STARTED ON THIS AT 2 PM AND NOW ITS 5 PM HUHU!! ENYWAYSSSS I HOPE YLL ENJOYED IT, LOVE YALL MWA

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

How can you fail at so many things?

This is what keeps going around in my head. I think we all collectively relaxed the first time Day went in for surgery and it didn't work. Back when we were still holding to the "in p'aof we trust" tag like it was a lifeboat.

This show was a weird one for me even before the last 3 episodes, because although I like Aof, I was not a jimmysea girlie. And then this show had the hard task to pull me in, despite that. And to say Jimmy carried it for me is an understatement. I wrote at the time that the third episode was when the show shifted for me and it was all Mhok.

So to see a character being so betrayed by the very people that created him is such a heartbreaking thing to witness.

I'm not gonna talk about the fact that Day can see. I'm not gonna mention the fact that this is a truly disconcerting way to portray people that you claim to have consulted in the making of this work. I'm not gonna talk about the fact that making Day see is irresponsible work. I'm not gonna talk about the fact that the last image we see of this show is a giant neon sign that says "forget everything you saw before".

I'm just gonna talk about Mhok.

After episode 9 I wrote this:

I'm tired of the healing of Day journey. 9 episodes of this. I know it's a bl and it's all about the couple. So where's Mohk's journey? I know he's his caretaker but outside that, in the overall storytelling, talk about an unbalanced relationship.

This is not a "I was right moment" btw. This is a "wow I can't believe it got even worst than I thought".

Just like @lurkingshan commented at the time, we still had time for a shift. There was still an opportunity to connect the threads, to give his character his due. Because giving him one nightmare is obviously not enough. With that said, I never thought Mhok could be even more betrayed.

Because the message of this episode was that Day did nothing wrong and so Mhok needs to be the one on his knees to ask for absolution, when he committed no crime. They really have this boy believing by the end that he deserved what he got. They have him saying that he did pity Day. That he was thankful for the pain he got. That he deserved his sentence. Because that's what it was. A 3 year sentence. And by the end he was still the one asking forgiveness from his jailer.

It's heartbreaking to me that in a story that had so much going for it, could get it all so wrong in the end. Because if this started of as a story that could have deeper meaning, connection and a message and characters worth portraying, in the end there's nothing. Mhok was a prop and Day was a waste of an opportunity to say something real about people that are so often under represented.

It's heartbreaking and infuriating that in the end, Day's blindness was nothing more than a giant plot device for 2 people to meet and fall in love.

[dear-ao3]

Can I ask for a translation on what happened in Vegas?

what didnt happen in vegas!

-carlos sainz ran over a drain cover that was not welded down 9 minutes into the first practice session. it ripped a hole through his car basically (he narrowly avoided getting royally and permanently fucked up by it) and he got a 10 place grid penalty for fixing said car

-toto wolff, the mercedes team principle, said very emphatically that carlos deserved this penalty. carlos did not in fact deserve this penalty because it was not remotely his fault.

-probably out of spite, carlos managed to finish the race above both mercedes cars

-back to practice 1, it was redflagged 9 minutes in after he crashed and it took nearly 7.5 hours for them to fix the track because they had to check all the other drain covers

-practice was already late to begin with and reportedly at 1am ish they kicked all the fans out who had bought tickets because it was "too late"

-tickets btw were over 1k USD

-practice two started sometime around 2am and didnt finish until nearly 4am

-yes, people were driving cars at over 200mph at 2 in the morning, jetlagged to hell and back. idc if you're a professional, that sounds dangerous

-the announcers were descending into madness the whole time and during practice two i think tried to talk about oceans 11 but fucked it up

-there was also the sphere. the sphere was relatively unhinged.

-the drivers didnt get back to their hotels until after the sun rose that day. and they had to race again that night

-oh also it was fucking freezing and when its freezing the cars don't work cause the tires don't warm up and the brakes don't warm up

-tires also warm up best on corners, high speed ones. the vegas track had mostly all low speed corners and really long straights. not ideal

-the pit lane exit was also smack in the middle of a really tight turn. which they would be exiting onto on cold tires with cold brakes.

-also the track looked like an upside down pig

-practice three was normal until the very end when alex albon crashed into the wall. no one was allowed to do practice starts because the session was red flagged and not resumed.

-the most notable thing to happen at qualifying was that both williams cars (which are basically tractors) managed to place p5 and p6 on the grid. especially interesting considering that logan sergeant has placed dead last in qualifying for the last several races.

-also both mclarens were at the bottom. this is not super relevant or particularly interesting but i was upset about it.

-ferrari went p1 (charles leclerc) and p2 (carlos sainz), but sainz had a 10 place grid penalty for fixing his car that had a literal hole through the bottom, so he started p12.

-weirdly, sir lewis hamilton and checo perez also started pretty far down the grid.

-anyway onto the race.

-there were so many safety cars. literally on the first lap the whole back half of the grid rammed into each other.

-then! terrifyingly! lando norris ran over a bump in the track on lap 3 or 4 i don't remember and spun several times before ramming into the wall. he sounded not ok on his radio but he got out of the car. eventually they ended up taking him to the hospital, he is quite fine but it was still a terrible crash

-his teammate, oscar piastri, seemly got possessed by someone or something, possibly lando himself, because he had a very impressive race until mclaren decided to use the worst tire strategy possible (as in, pit him in the last 10 laps to change his tires when this was largely avoidable by all accounts). he could have ended on the podium potentially if they hadn't fucked him up. still, he ended 10th and got the fastest lap and as a result the track record.

-there was also another episode of French Civil War at alpine when they told esteban ocon to stay behind his teammate, pierre gasley, and he said no !! and passed him for funzies

-charles leclerc also got possessed by something, possibly his own bad luck, because he managed to finish p2 after overtaking checo perez on the last lap.

-the same checo perez whos f1 career has been basically dead for half the season

-also lance stroll weirdly slayed

-despite starting high on the grid, both williams managed to finish out of the points

-surprisingly there were only 3 DNFs and 0 red flags

-this is surprising because of all the tire and brake issues that people thought there would be

-unsurprisingly max verstappen won. what was surprising was that he sang viva las vegas over his radio afterwards, especially surprising considering that he spent the whole weekend shitting on the race, saying that the track was terrible, he hated it, and that the fans should burn the place down for getting kicked out on practice 1 day and only getting a voucher in response

-related to that, the fans sued f1 over getting kicked out

-someone thought it was a good idea to put max charles and checo in the back of a rolls and film them driving to the podium. it was incredibly memey.

-there was definitely more that happened but this is all i can remember right now

[momowoah]

Okay but I really think that the worst part is that this is season seven. Unless they're planning to turn 9-1-1 into the new Grey's Anatomy the chances of us being already in the final half of the show are huge. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any drama, but the characters should've started to go forward, and yet nearly all of them feel stuck in the same place they have been for several seasons. Or should I say 2-3 seasons?

tldr: all/most S7 storylines were either useless in the long run or recycles. The only characters who had storylines on the good side of the scale (as in, they helped the characters develop and move to a new place in their lives) were Maddie and Chimney (and maybe Buck but he's on thin ice). All the characters are back to the same place they were in s4/s5. It's probably TM's fault. This shouldn't be happening in a 7th season.

(really long post under the cut but worth it imo)

Bobby and Athena had a whole seven episodes for their storylines and yet it didn't significantly change anything about them or their relationship. The doubts of how they are when they're at peace that were brought up in ep1 ended up not being addressed at all. We started the season with what was supposed to be this huge thing in their relationship and it was just never brought up again! Instead they put bathena through distress again just for the sake of being dramatic. And while I'm extremely glad we got Amir and think there were several high points in his storyline, what difference did it make in the long run? Yes, it brought up interesting things to Bobby's storyline, such as more insight into his childhood and the chance for him to explore another side of the fire he caused, but is it going to change anything? No! Bobby will be reinstated in S8 bc that's just how these things go, and I doubt they'll put any effort to continue the survivors storyline. I'd bet it'll just be ignored in the next seasons.

Hen and Karen have been trying for YEARS AND YEARS to adopt a child and they just can't let them! As a wlw, do you know how awful that is to watch? Seeing them fail time and time again and have their family broken up once again just because??? It was one thing with Nia, she got a happy ending, but that wasn't the case with Mara. The best thing for everyone involved would be for her to stay with Hen and Karen, but they blew it up. I know she's with Madney, but it's not the fucking same. Why do they have to go through this again? Why can't they finally get the family they've spent years fighting for? Why can't the drama be about anything else, why does it have to be about failed adoptions? I've seen this enough times before. Why not let them be able to adopt???? Why? I'm genuinely upset abt this btw, probably more than about anything else that went down.

Buck got to finally come out and it was great but instead of taking it as an opportunity to let him grow into himself they just threw him right back into the hamster wheel of dating people who are either not fully into him or who he's not fully into. (if you like bt probably skip the rest of this paragraph but I'd also be upset about how they're handling them if I liked the ship bc I liked the previous bt and they did something similar to them lol) Tommy's behavior could be explained away at first, but I feel like time and time again the show goes the extra mile to make him uninterested in Buck or just straight up an asshole to him? Instead of taking the small opportunities of portraying them as a healthy happy couple they just consistently screw up their relationship? They're not the couple I support but even then I wanted them to be good together bc I want Buck to be happy, and yet all we get is this?

I don't even have words about Eddie, especially considering what rg has said about him destroying his life and possibly reverting back to military no emotions mode next season. WHY CAN'T HE BE HAPPY? We already saw him break down, WE'VE ALREADY HAD A STORYLINE ABOUT HIM REBUILDING HIS LIFE, but happiness is boring so now he has to ruin his relationship with his son too right? It just pisses me off how they go about his character sometimes. I liked that they were bringing back the Shannon storyline because he was supposed to be able to finally move on, but this wasn't about that. No, it was about retraumatizing Eddie and Chris and splitting them up at a time when they should be leaning on each other and healing, because Chris has also been suffering with the Shannon stuff. We saw it in fucking ep 1. Don't even get me started on the Marisol stuff because idek why she was there at all. Literally don't get it. We had an off-screen breakup anyways. She wasn't relevant at all to anything that happened. Why was she even there? I'm genuinely asking. The only Eddie arc that has some positive potential for next season is him dealing with his relationship with religion (especially if they tie it to the military and the way he lives his life for others' expectations), but tbh I don't trust them not to fuck it up.

Finally, I don't have complaints about madney, except for why tf was Maddie so absent this season? The wedding episode was all about Chimney (who was also maybe kinda missing tbh), and although I love him and his backstory and the opportunity to see Kevin again, I really wanted it to be about their relationship, since it was their wedding, yk. Dispatch was also severely under utilized. We did get the 7x07 Maddie plotline and it might've been bc it was a shortened season but yeah, I'm still not that satisfied.

So, we have all the characters stuck in places they've been before. More specifically, in the place they were in season 4/5. Bathena relationship problems followed by a life threatening situation? Check. Henren struggling with adoption? Check. Buck getting into what was supposed to be a good relationship only for it to end up going really bad? Check. Eddie struggling with relationships and his mental health going to hell? Check. Madney in a good place with a new child and about to have an awful fucking time? Hopefully just check for the first part. And you know which question this makes me ask? It's whether Tim Minear is just reverting everyone to their s4 state out of spite for the seasons he was away. And even if it is a genuine attempt at getting the show back on the track he wanted out of good intentions, it still sucks, because it doesn't change the fact that it is just a repeat of old storylines. I actually complained at this before the show even aired, but (iirc) I ended up deleting my post because I thought that I was just overreacting. Guess what? I fucking wasn't, bc that's EXACTLY what they did.

Now, going back to the start of this post, the reason why all these storylines suck so much is not that they are bad. It's not even that they aren't original. No, it's the fact that we're doing storylines that belong in the fourth or fifth season of a show in its seventh season. Even the Gerrard plotline, which is new to 9-1-1, feels like it came too late, because the split up crew/villain captain storyline tends to happen much sooner in procedurals, and for a reason. Besides the fact that this was never really a big bad type of show and I don't get why they are making it one all of a sudden, and ignoring the fact that Gerrard being brought back as captain, especially to the 118 of all places, makes no fucking sense, that kind of plotline is one that it's obviously always temporary. No one believes he'll still be the captain by the end of 8A, much less by the end of the season. He'll hardly survive the first 3-5 episodes. That's ultimately a filler storyline. It helps the show go on for longer, it might even help in the development of a couple characters, but at the end of the day it doesn't change anything, which appears to be a recurring theme when it comes to 9-1-1 storylines.

The reason I have a problem with this is that we don't need a filler storyline, because no one knows whether the show has the luxury of taking its sweet time. Yeah, it has a huge audience and it is doing good numbers, but it is still a fucking money pit that was already cancelled once and it's unsustainable on the long run. It might not end that soon, but is it honestly going to reach season 14? Does anyone truly think that we've only seen half of it (or less) so far? Because I don't. Not many shows make it that far, and there's a reason for that. We have three huge names who are extremely important to the show. What happens if they get tired? What happens if someone gets a better offer? What happens if we're still revisiting old storylines when that happens? Do we get an incomplete story or a rushed one?

The show should be moving forward, even if there are no plans for it to end soon. We have the drama of the huge disasters 9-1-1 loves. We have the drama of the cases. We have a myriad of new possible dramatic storylines for the characters that show development without being too final. Athena could have so many different job related storylines (from moving up in her career to abandoning it), and her and Bobby's storyline from the beginning of the season about being boring together can be played in a good and dramatic line. Henren and Madney have a whole world of parenting issues that they could go through. Buck and Eddie both still need either an endgame love interest (whether it's each other or not) or to get to the point where they are fine not having one, and we have all of the relationship trouble that comes with that. This show can give us new things, storylines that are good for the characters, without losing the dramatic factor (which, if I'm being honest, would not be a deal breaker for me). Yet, it refuses to, and probably not for a good reason, because it comes down to either Tim wanting to rewrite history or just trying to drag this show for as long as possible (which apparently he only knows how to do by refusing to make the characters happy). And you know what? I'm fucking mad about it, and I think you should be too.

Btw, this is not to say the whole season sucked. We got Madney and Henren together multiple times which was great. We finally got Bi Buck. There were several amazing acting moments for both the main and recurring actors. As a standalone season, it was good. It just doesn't work when you look at the bigger picture.

[undertheorangetree]

How to Improve HOTD S2

This is truly just me feeling frustrated with the second season and screaming into the void. Feel free to ignore it I wrote it at 10pm in a hater spiral and probably have some information wrong

1. Shift away from the Alicent vs Rhaenyra thing and highlight Aegon vs Rhaenyra. It would be hard when zero relationship had been established in season 1 but after Jaehaerys’s murder it would have been SOOO easy to shift the focus of Team Green on to Aegon and make him really want to take Nyra down.

2. Speaking of Nyra I’m begging them to give her some agency. Her son was MURDERED. She spent TEN DAYS SEARCHING FOR HIS BODY. She should’ve been ready and raring to go to war at the end of episode one!! She should be doing everything she can to destroy those who took her baby boy from her!! Instead they had her crying about going to war and no one taking her seriously for 5 episodes. Let her be morally grey I’m begging you she is not a saint nor should she be

3. Introduce Ulf and Hugh WHEN they claimed their dragons. No one cares about their lives yet. Regular viewers don’t know who they are. They can talk backstory once you’ve shown why they’re important

4. While we’re introducing characters GIVE US SOME TIME WITH DAERON. Non book readers have no idea who he is. Establishing his place in Oldtown, the fact that he has a dragon, the dichotomy between himself and his brothers all would have been GREAT to see before they started throwing his name around.

5. More screentime for the younger generation! Helaena lost so much of her arc due to them removing her fall into madness (which I’m not mad at btw) but showing her grief would’ve still been nice. Baela is ride or die for house targaryen and that’s about all we’ve seen from her, plz give my girl some agency. Rhaena is angry about being cast aside and that’s got so much meat for character motivations but EVEN THE WRITERS ARE IGNORING HER AND GIVING HER ONE 30 SECOND SCENE EVERY OTHER EPISODE. Jace is also being done dirty, they should be establishing reasons why we should care about him and why he’s such a good heir before the battle of the gullet (which in an ideal world would’ve been where we ended season 2 but).

6. ENOUGH WITH THE HARRENHAL ARC!! The first few scenes were fine but now it’s just repetitive. Daemon wanting to be king in his own right came out of nowhere and will have zero consequences when we all know Nyra is just going to take him back when he’s done pouting. He’s literally just wandering around Harrenhal like a freak. That arc needed 3 episodes at the absolute max to establish the castle and Alys and the river lords and then he should’ve come back. I hate him but they’re wasting his character.

7. Aemond turning into a super villain?? After we established he regretted what he did to Luke?? Trying to take out his own brother for power is fine and I support you if that’s what you want king but maybe give us some more context other than “brother bullies you in front of his friends”?? Maybe my sister was just mean but that’s an average sibling experience as far as I’m concerned. It would have made more sense with the characterization they had already given him if Aemond had been given no choice but to burn Aegon in order to save him and take out Rhaneys and Meleys. The 180 into anime villain felt way too abrupt (like dany going mad sorry)

8. Alicent and Cole………… as much as I fly the Alicent is gay flag it could’ve made sense if they didn’t just immediately beat us over the head with it. We were immediately thrown in the deep end of them having a sexual relationship with zero context other than “everything you feel for me… as your queen” PERHAPS GIVE US SOMETHING MORE. I actually would have loved Alicent reclaiming her sexuality after 20+ years of having to fuck her rotting old husband but they went about it the wrong way.

9. Speaking of Alicent, I feel like they truly do not know what to do with Alicent. They took away every ounce of agency she could have had in order to make her a victim and now they don’t have anything for her to do. They just keep taking everything from her in a way that just shoves her character in a box while also trying to maintain her as one of the main characters?? It’s just all very odd to me

10. In that same vein, I feel like they don’t really know what to do with ANYONE honestly. Game of Thrones also had a big cast following multiple locations but somehow juggling between them all felt much cleaner than it does here. It’s as if they lose track of their characters and forget about them so they throw in a quick 30 second scene to be like “btw they’re still here!!”

11. I need more character interactions. Aegon/Helaena. Daemon with his children. Just people you expect to have some kind of relationship. I don’t think any of those characters have ever actually had a significant interaction with each other which feels absolutely WILD to me but

12. STOP WITH THE TEAMS!!! STOP IT!!! There is no good guy and bad guy here and there shouldn’t be. It’s a monarchy, a whole ass empire that has its roots in an even worse empire. None of the Targaryens are good. They aren’t gods. Rhaenyra has been completely screwed over due to the patriarchy but being a victim doesn’t make you a good person. She’s still sacrificing the country for her birthright. Let her be evil, morally grey, ANYTHING is better than her pushing against common sense in order to seem like a good guy. Aegon and co as well shouldn’t be portrayed entirely of super villains and victims. They’ve also done a shitty thing but at the very least give us some nuance no one is entirely good or bad.

13. This is nitpicky so it’s at the end but it’s called house of the DRAGON. I wanna see more rider/dragon interaction. I shouldn’t be introduced to a dragon the same episode it’s maimed (Sunfyre). You shouldn’t be telling me one of the main characters has a dragon when we haven’t so much as heard her speak about it (Dreamfyre). If a bond is so important between a dragon and it’s rider I want to see that bond

• IN THAY SAME VEIN why was vermithor letting nyra and daemon get all up in his grill?? They’re bonded dragonriders they’ve got their bestie, he doesn’t. Shouldn’t he have lit them up for that?? What makes them so special?? He’s barbecuing Targaryen bastards left and right but these two get a pass?? Why??

And now for some general overall complaints🫶🏼

1. Fix your pacing I’m begging you. They could have made 8 episodes work if they had let us move through the plots faster but instead there’s so much dead air. After Jaehaerys was killed we should’ve been FLYING through plot points. Two child murders are enough to declare a war started, but we still hadn’t seen any battle until episode 4 and then it stalled out again. Harrenhal doesn’t need this much screentime. You don’t need to hint at Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer for 3+ episodes. We don’t need to hum and ha about going to war for 4 episodes. There should be fewer long shots of the actors faces simply reacting and more SPEAKING. More PLOT. MORE OF ANYTHING TO MOVE THE STORY FORWARD

2. Stop repeating information. Characters constantly beat you over the head with the same information over and over again. One character will tell a person something then a second character tells that same person almost the exact same thing an episode later it’s like no one proofread the script.

3. Why are you having your actors use giant words in order to sound more period accurate?? You don’t need to repeat lickspittle every five seconds. You don’t need to use gainsay or comportment. I promise your audience knows it’s a medieval setting, put the thesaurus down you sound like an idiot

4. It’s almost totally inaccessible for non book readers. I watch with my mom and sister, neither of whom have done any research about ASOIAF but have seen GOT, and I’m constantly explaining shit to them. The showrunners rely too much on people having read them that they don’t explain anything. I know Helaena has a dragon, but they don’t because NO ONE HAS MENTIONED IT BEFORE!! BY THE SECOND SEASON!!

5. This is just a me thing but I would’ve LOVED more regional costuming. We got a hint of it with Sabitha Frey wearing a headpiece when treating with Jace and I love the idea of each region having their own specific fashion trends. The costumes are fine, some are even great, but most are lacklustre and feel too fantasy to me. I’m a history girly I want to see more hoods and headpieces and different shapes in the dresses etc etc.

Despite all this there are still some great scenes!! Aspects of this season were awesome and I think the first two episodes in particular were really strong, there is just so much lost potential this season and it has been really disappointing. I’m still gonna be sat for the finale this week but I hope that they really up their game in season three

[oreo102]

Yaz is cool as fuck and people don’t appreciate her enough, a very long ramble

TLDR because this is so long: yaz is really cool and a compelling character and not enough people talk about how good of a character she is, both with and without the doctor, enough

In the first episode we learn as soon as we meet her that yaz wants to help people. She is tired of getting parking disputes and wants something more serious, and after meeting the doctor immediately starts helping her even if she isn’t supposed to be, and later it’s implied (I don’t think it was ever confirmed?) that she originally became a cop because one helped her when she had ran away/was suicidal, maybe?

Throughout season 11 we see her be the most empathetic/caring (episode 3 with the racism Ryan specially was facing, episode 6 with her grandma’s first husband, episode 7 with dan from kerblam, 8 with the kid who’s grandma was killed for “being a witch”, 9 with the blind kid), and is also very loyal almost immediately (“more of the universe.. more time with you!” “No. I’m with you, whatever happens” and more I’m forgetting)

She also has a very similar sense of justice to the doctor, practically immediately and comes to share her view on a lot of topics (she was hesitant to take the gun in TPOTD, she wrote wwtdd(which is adorable btw) on her palm, she defended Tesla, stands up to the master, once again more I’m forgetting probably)- hell, when seperated from the doctor without instructions/for a long time she takes 13s place as leader

Circling back to loyalty: she spent 10 months obsessively trying to find the doctor, she slept in the second tardis, she probably (I think it’s implied?) neglected her own health, social life, and job (if she still had one at this point) just to obsessively try and figure out how that tardis worked, to figure out how to get back to the doctor

And that was after she walked into a portal to an alien planet, not caring about danger because it’s what the doctor would do if it were one of them (she was already half way there by the time Graham finished asking who was going first, walking quickly and had a very determined look on her face. I really do believe if it had come down to facing the master or cybermen she would’ve to ensure 13s safety), which btw, is one of my favorite scenes in the show

And then s13. Gods I think I could talk about yaz in season 13 and those last 3 specials for days. A) Dan is more her companion than docs, let’s be very clear- they spent 3 years trapped in an unfamiliar time together with yaz acting as the leader (see above about her taking on the Doctor’s role when the doctor isn’t there to)

She handles 13’s outbursts and venom astonishingly well through the whole series but esp in s13, when she is double guessing her identity and even more unwilling to share than before, like it’s downright elegant that yaz is able to ignore 13s jabs sometimes, cuz personally I would’ve thrown hands. Although she doesn’t let the doctor walk over her, she doesn’t just accept the bullshit, she argues with the doctor quite a bit (telling her she is fully at fault for the situation at the beginning of s13 ep 1, telling her to stop leaving them all the time, shoving her when she shows back up after the 10 months)

As mentioned before the “what would the doctor do” being written on her hand is a really good touch and it does well to show just how much yaz looks up to 13 and how much she loves her (a very much amount, like infinitely)

This is getting very long so I’ll try to wrap it up somewhat quickly. Anyway, I really love yaz’s coming out scene (although I detest Dan outing her), it feels very natural and is filled with a lot of great emotions that we don’t see her have very much- like, she cries! Yaz, while shown having emotions, isn’t shown sad very often (which considering she was depressed as a younger teen and might still be, could just be her repressing those emotions) and is shown as scared much less, it’s nice to see those emotions on display

Speaking of emotions on display: “stop leaving us” is one of my favorite scenes/lines. Getting to see just how anxious yaz gets when the doc leaves, just how much she hates being separated from her, is a really nice insight to how she thinks- the doctor has already left her twice before (neither times were her fault, though) so who’s to say it won’t happen again? Easier to stay by 13 than to be crushed by her disappearing without warning

(Also side note but after that the two don’t separate much/if at all, showing that the doc did genuinely listen to her)

I’ve heard people say that they didn’t enjoy Legend of the sea devils that much but personally I love it- both because holy shit they’re so gay, but also because it again demonstrates that yaz is genuinely so smart and capable and there’s really no wonder 13 fell for her so hard (because she did. 13 fell so hard) I also like that this episode shows that the two play off each other and trust each other a lot, even if they aren’t always in sync

And finally onto the power of the doctor! Yaz’s best episode by far and my favorite of the entire series!

Yaz. Is. So. Fucking. Amazing. In this episode. She really shines so much which is saying a lot because she usually shines anyway. She looks so ready to punch the master if only he’d give her a reason, ready to shoot him (maybe not fatally… maybe) if he threatens the doctors or her own safety

She openly defies him, she leaves him stranded on a planet and if not for the plan she might’ve never came back for him, she flies the tardis! All on her own! We can assume that the doctor helped teach her but how much of that knowledge is from those 10 months? (I like to think that the first time yaz helped fly it was completely by accident)

Do the doctor holograms share knowledge? Cuz if not, that implies that she figured out it can change interface on her own and used it in their/her plan.

She saves the doctor! Multiple times! Runs out towards a fucking laser to make sure she’s safe (another favorite scene), she flies everyone home while the doc rests and recovers, she is just so cool in this episode!!

And honestly, I hate her ending. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic that she survived, really truly fantastic, if they had killed yaz I’d have balled my eyes out and sworn doctor who off for a second time, but her ending? No.

I do not think she should’ve stayed with the doc, I believe she loved (romantically, she’d love every doctor platonically but) 13 only, she’d be traveling the stars with 14 or 15 but I think over time she would’ve slid into that grief, that the doctor is still there but hers isn’t. But just having to go back to normal life? Go back to her family and job and life? That’s bullshit

Graham and Ryan got the psychic papers, yaz could’ve too (which btw that’d make a fun spin off I think), or she could’ve gotten the doctors coat (which would’ve been the cutest thing ever), or even her sonic! (Least likely) but- nothing? Nothing? No!!

She and 13 should be allowed to be immortal space wives together (with river, maybe) and nothing bad should ever happen to them

[thedeviltohisangel]

not sure if you’re still looking for blurb requests but what about bucky talking in his sleep about cass and the boys giving him so much shit for it? love your writing btw

All The Things I Did (Interlude): Four Times They Speak About Each Other And One Time They Spoke To Each Other

a/n: ok i for some reason really put cass through it in this. i guess it was her turn. BUT one of these is an episode 9 breadcrumb and one of these is a post-war baby breadcrumb. happy to discuss any of these in greater details//answer any q's about these little snippets. loving our little sleepovers so those will be continuing and interlude requests always open. see you all in my inbox!

tw: miscarriage

One: Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of, His And Mine Are The Same

Cass was restless on the forest floor. Her sleeping bag wasn’t keeping her warm in the cold German night, the fire merely embers and her heart unsettled.

“John. I’m sorry.” They hadn’t separated in England on the best of terms. She hadn’t meant anything she had said to him. Hadn’t really taken this mission to Berlin just so he could see what it felt like to worry about someone. Had tried to apologize before  she left but hadn’t been able to find the words. “Don’t leave me. Please.”

Her nightmares were plagued with images of planes falling from the sky and parachutes drifting over enemy lands. “No, John, wait!” She couldn’t let him get on that plane. Couldn’t let him get on without knowing she wanted all the things he wanted. A future and a forever. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I’m sorry. I promise.” Cass couldn’t make the nightmares stop. It was the emotions of this assignment and the emotions of learning that she was in love with John Egan. The emotions of realizing one wrong move and he could be gone from her life forever. One wrong move and she could be the one that never made it home to him. “I love you, John. Please. I love you.”

“Almost woke you up last night. You sounded like you were in pain.” They were staking out a compound on the outskirts of Berlin, Cass peering at it through binoculars. “Have something to do with that pilot who looked liked he wanted to kill me for sharing a drink with you?” 

“I’m good, Will. But thanks. Sorry for keeping you up.” The last thing she wanted was to discuss John with him. Yes, John had wanted to kill him. But not just because of the drink they were sharing. 

“For what it’s worth, you’re here because you’re the best. You’ll get home to him.” That was, if she hadn’t burnt it all down.

Two: To Live For The Hope Of It All

It was just the two of them. It was a sunny day and he had taken her to the wildflower field. He was laughing and smiling and she was glowing and blushing. 

“You’re dangerous. Making it so I could get used to this. Want to get used to this,” John whispered as she leaned forward to tuck a flower behind his ear. “How do I look?”

“Like a prince,” she teased. “Very handsome, Major.” He leaned forward and captured her lips with his own. 

“I love you, Cass.” She beamed.

“I love you, too, John.”

It was the laughter of Gale Cleven that had Bucky’s eyes fluttering open. Cass was nowhere to be found. He could hear rain pattering outside. There was nothing warm and loving about the rows of beds that held less and less men every day.

“What’s so funny?” he groaned as he turned towards his friend. 

“I love you, Cass. I love you, I love you, I love you.” John’s cheeks flushed fire engine red and he thought about suffocating himself with the bedsheet. That might be easier. “You actually say it or you still just dreaming about it?”

“Maybe.”

“She say it back?” Gale asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Maybe not.” His friend chuckled. “I’m not rushing her. She shows me how she feels. I don’t need her to say it.” 

“Bucky, if you look at Spook like a lovesick puppy one more time-”

“Thanks, DeMarco, you can go back to sleep now.” A smattering of chuckles echoed. 

“We don’t mind listening to you practice saying ‘I love you,’ Bucky, but if you start practicing loving her there might be some issues,” yelled Curt from the other end. 

“Anyone who knows Bucky knows he needs no practice.” 

“No one makes that fucking joke in front of her, understood?” The last thing John needed was Cass hearing he had slept with the entire nation of Greenland or whatever version of events the men were concocting in their head.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just be sure to invite us to the wedding.” 

“Major has it all planned out in his dream world, boys. Don’t you worry,” Buck joked. Unlike the others, he had truly gotten a sense of the two of them. He had a pretty good idea where it was going. 

“Hell of a woman, Bucky. We are happy for you. All ribbing aside.” Of course Crosby was the one to get sentimental on him. 

“Tell her we say hello at your flower drop in the morning!” A few others chimed in and asked to be included.

“Good night, boys. I love you.” John figured it was better to take the piss than to fight it.

“Name your child after me!”

Three: If There’s One Thing I Am Sure Of, I Am Sure That You Have Always Belonged With Me

In her dreams, everything is as it should be. John is flying but always comes home to her. She travels to the furthest corners of the world and talks to the most intriguing people but she always comes home to him. A home that they have built together and plan to fill with laughter and love. She had cried herself to sleep with tears of frustration too many times to keep track of, the reminder that she had failed echoing constantly. 

“John! John!” She heard her own screams and her chest ached at how they must have sounded to John. At her last glimpse of him trying to reach her. Crawling towards her with his last vestiges of consciousness. It would haunt her the rest of her life. 

“Captain Egan?” She jolted awake and looked around. She didn’t recognize the stark white walls and the rows of empty beds. “We heard you screaming, ma’am. Is everything alright?” Ah, yes. Hospital.

“When can I leave? I’m feeling much better.” 

“You had a miscarriage, Captain. You need to rest a little while longer.” There was that word again. It was all anyone had been whispering about when she woke up hours ago to blood between her legs. 

“I didn’t even know I was pregnant! What I need is to be discharged so I can go back to work.” Cass wanted to point out that without John around, without her husband around, it wasn’t worth being upset about. What she needed was to get him out so they could do it all properly. Do it together.

“It was most likely that very attitude that led to this outcome, Captain.” That was a sentiment she could not bear. That her unwavering dedication to bringing John home might have cost them this. Their most sacred wish. 

“Please don’t say that, Doc.” Cass was held together by sheer determination. The belief that she could figure it all out on her own. That nothing was impossible because she had her head on her shoulders and her wits about her. “I have a plane waiting for me in the next few hours. The most precious thing in the entire world to me waiting on the other end. I need to go.” Just the other day she had been in Wisconsin. Looking at baby photos of John and asking for his mother’s cake recipe and promising his sisters he really was a chivalrous gentleman. She needed the time between now and her arrival in Germany to pretend nothing had happened. Push this entire thing into a box. John could never know.

Four: The World Was Black And White

She watched the men warm their hands by the fire without blinking. There were only a few scattered around the abandoned brick factory and she had found a spot to sit close enough that she still caught waves of heat. Really, she was more focused on the man whose head was in her lap. 

John was sound asleep, her hand smoothing over his hair hypnotically as he breathing evened out and he even cracked out a snore. Cass wasn’t sure when the last time he had slept was. They hadn’t been able to for the past day and a half. Imagined he hadn’t really since he arrived at the camp all those months ago. She was happy to stand guard.

“Cass…Cass, don’t.” She glanced down. His eyes were still closed but the peace was gone from his features. “You can’t be here.” 

“John? John, baby, you’re okay. You’re okay, I’m here.” 

“Not real. Not real.” Cass bit her lip as her eyes began to water ever so slightly. 

“You know, he asked for you in his sleep almost every night.” Gale was watching them. She thinks he looked a little sad. “He spent all day angry and defiant then at night, he just wanted you.” 

“Gale-”

“As soon as you get a chance, you take his hand and you run.” Gale had watched John deteriorate before his eyes. Had watched life breathe back into him when he got a letter from her or on the rare occasion she was able to meet him along the fenceline. Those normally held him over just long enough until the Germans did something to piss him off. 

“Not without you.” Cass wasn’t going to budge on it. There was no chance John would leave Gale behind. No chance she would either. He was family. “You have a wedding to attend.” He smiled.

“Bucky says you two are greedy. Might have a second one.” She smiled the way she always did when someone brought up her future with John. Made her want to wake him up just to kiss him. 

“The first one was perfect. We just want to be able to take our time. Share the moment with the people we love.” Time. The thing they had been chasing this entire war. Cass felt it slipping from her grasp with every step through the German winter. At least, if it all ended, she was with John again.

Five: You Are My Favorite Thought

John was a light sleeper these days. His desire to protect the woman he was wrapped around and the small bump that his palm was placed over leaving him attuned to every creak and groan. 

He had been downstairs making some breakfast when he had heard her scream upstairs. John had scaled the staircase in two strides and skidded to a stop in front of their bedroom to find her pensively looking in the mirror. 

“Spook, everything good?”

“Better than good. I popped!” His brow furrowed as he padded over to her gently. “Look.” She turned to the side and the sight spread a warmth through his chest. There was most certainly a bump. Yesterday, it hadn’t been there but today it was. A baby. 

“Looks like we’re having a baby.” He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around so his hand rested on top of her’s over the bump. He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “You happy?” Her initial reaction had been one of excitement but now, watching her in the mirror, her eyes were drifting to a far away place.

“Of course. It’s what we’ve always wanted. What kept me going when…” Sometimes, she still had trouble talking about Europe and all the things they had gone through. “It’s just a little overwhelming.” He twisted his fingers between hers and squeezed gently. 

“That’s why you got me. Tell me how much you love my broad shoulders all the time. They can handle whatever you need them to.” But Cass wasn’t sure if they could handle her betrayal.

His gut was telling him something was wrong as she moved in her sleep to rest her head on his chest. That something inside of her was eating her up. That he wanted to fix it but he couldn’t until she told him what it was.

“John?” She was awake, her eyes filled with emotion as she looked up at him. In her heart, she felt like he knew. Like she shouldn’t have to tell him, he should be able to understand without words. But it wasn’t far to him or to their child. The one they had lost or the one they were preparing for. 

“You can tell me anything, Cass.” No matter what it was, they would work through. They had seen each other at their lowest and knew who each other was at their core. Nothing could ever change the love he had for her. The love he had for the life they had created. 

“I’ve been keeping something from you. Something awful.”

[mephistopheleswasrobbed]

I'm back with episode 4 of Peaceful Property and our boys are starting to be quite solid, so let's go!

1

They're not fighting anymore this week (although I suspect they might bring that back next week when things get personal for Peach) but they're still doing their good old couple bickering.

(I wish to personally congratulate whomever came up with this line. It's perfect.)

2

Pangpang's commenters are also still shipping, though they were mostly preoccupied with criticizing her and the government, this week.

3

They keep just being around each other. Sitting closer than neccessary, standing closer than neccessary.

They clearly find comfort in each others presence and constantly seek it out, sticking together for large parts of this episode.

They were this close to cuddling on that couch while the others were doing their own stuff. (And Home is truely not disproving the bi allegations with the way he's sitting? here)

Even when Peach cooks, Home, instead of helping/bothering the others is, of course, sticking with Peach (and racking up the ghost's energy bill)

4

Peach laughs at Home's stupid joke. That's like THE ultimate sign of a crush (or so I'm told).

5

In general they're so touchy this episode.

Starting off by holding hands when running from the alledged ghost.

(Btw, can we talk about the way Home looks at Peach here, because damn)

And after Peach injuries his ankle they get even touchier. Home is immediately the one who keeps carrying Peach around but even when he's not doing that they've got their hands on each other,

he's got a hand on Peach's back,

or an arm around his shoulder.

Through all of it Home's so gentle with Peach. Very sweet.

(And don't think I didn't catch your hand when you were checking on Peach ('s peach), Home!)

6

Discussing Pangpang's recent behavioural changes while casually fighting over a blanket. It seems they have taken her comment about them being the parents to heart. Also Home is the one who brings it up which goes to show that he's really been paying attention, trying to learn about his new companions just like shady uncle told him to in ep 2.

Appropriately, their fight ends with them sharing the blanket, so.

7

They're both so protective of the other this episode.

Peach especially. He's so far been mostly cowering behind his sister or Home, but this episode he kind of takes on the role of protector. He is, after all the only one who has experience seeing ghosts, so now that the other three are seeing a "ghost" for the first time and are quite distressed by it, he steps up to take charge of the group. Deciding when to leave situations and making sure everyone's safe. Notably he physically pulls Home (and only Home) along to run away TWICE this episode. The first time in the aforementiond hand holding moment and the second time when they run away, shortly before the shelf incident.

Home gets his turn to be protective after Peach gets hurt. I've already discussed how he immediately takes it upon himself to carry Peach around and sticks to his side for the rest of the night, but he's also not about to just let it go that Mr. Magician hurt his man, even after he tells them his (admittedly very sad, even my reservations about Foei couldn't stop me from shedding a couple of tears) sob-story.

(Sure Home, "friend")

8

Peach has become somewhat of a chaotic-rich-boy handler.

They're functioning as a team now, complementing each other and Peach is here to bring the level-headedness when Home get's a little too worked up. Cause if Home is going to listen to anyone, it's Peach.

9

They have achieved the crucial step in relationship closeness of nonverbal communication.

(this is admittedly where still images can't fully capture my point but trust me bro, it's happening) (also admittedly, there's no exclusivity here. Some nonverbal communication is happening between many constellations of their team this episode, showing that they've all gotten closer. But it's an important milestone in their relationship nontheless so I'm bringing it up)

10

Home notices Peach shaking when cooking and he's worried about him. (He had already witnessed the shaking last episode when Peach was making noodles in their office so he knows it's a pattern and not a one-time thing) It is in fact his biggest worry right now, as we find out when he's talking to Kan on the phone, and Suradech in the bath for some reason.

Speaking of that scene, he does get a little flirty with Kan over the call but even he admit's he's joking.

What he's not joking about is that he's happy that their group has clicked and from what we see this episode and the fact that he goes immediately back to worrying about him, I think it's safe to say he's mostly thinking about Peach when he says this.

In the first place, there was never really any major problem between anyone else, so it truely is this newfound closeness between Home and Peach that brings harmony to their little family.

11

Of course, while her brother and Home are off in their own world, Pangpang sticks with Kan. She is unfortunately a little too busy with her own insecurities to get much flirting done this week, but you can't convince me she wasn't a little turned on by Kan when she threatened to sue the "ghost".

12

Again, this week we leave the episode with a little nugget of extra Home and Peach sitting very close, bickering and flirting in the credits.

TayNew's chemistry is coming through in full force in these moments. I'm half convinced the director told them to just be themselves when they filmed the end credit bits.

[cherryblossomsandhydrangeas]

I know a lot of the fandom see Ainosuke as having been an abusive boyfriend to Kaoru (100% valid take btw, for obvious reasons), but I really don't. I personally believe that the two may have had a sweet teen romance- they have been compared to Reki and Langa after all- and that things were probably okay before Adam started searching for his Eve (technically cheating) and then leaving everything in shambles.

Another reason I believe this is because of the end to episode 9. Kaoru is shocked that Adam would do that to him, showing that while Adam has been violent to his other "lovers" in the past, him being physically violent towards Kaoru is new.

It is entirely possible that Ainosuke was verbally and emotionally abusive, and Kaoru was the type of victim that argued/screamed back, fought, etc. (because he isn't a doormat, despite how some fics may portray him) but I just never saw it that way. Kaoru is the one who questions Adam the most out of the adults, who talks back and is visibly angry or annoyed with him. Kaoru is one of Ainosuke's biggest critics but also wants good things for him. Shadow is too far removed from the situation to have any sort of relevant emotional response, Joe seems to have mostly moved on from Adam, not letting his bs get to him, and Tadashi is his enabler due to his conditioning.

Side Note: If I hit someone upside the head with a blunt object and they proceeded to look at me like this:

I'd either finish the job or run for my life because that is a person out for revenge.

I personally view Ainosuke and Kaoru as being a tragedy, that they could have been happy together if things went just a bit differently. They actually have some things in common, have been shown to be equals, and have an interesting dynamic to boot. (Ainosuke's relationship to Kaoru is actually the best thing about his character in my opinion.)

Thank you for the ask!

[lolkitkatbar]

Sorry y'all but this episode was the WORST murder drones episode EVER :(

Strap in folks. This is gonna be one LONG complaint...

(Sorry for the bad screenshots. I'm so fucking tired idgaf) SPOILERS UNDERNEATH THIS LINE GIRLIE! I REPEAT! SPOILERS UNDER THIS LINE!

Okay, positives (Don't worry. There isn't much) First of all, animation is GREAT. A bit zany and exaggerated but definitely not BAD. Voice acting is great. Cyn is great, Music's good....uh, Nuzi?...yeah that's it

Okay so we start off with Copper-9 exploding and the teacher giving zero fucks. I thought that was pretty funny. Then we see Uzi in space, currently tweaking out until Nori just basically spells out how to defeat the solver. There is no realization about how they can defeat the solver, it's just given to them. And no real reunion scene with Uzi and Nori. Sure they meet each other but there is NO closure. They act like they've been together for YEARS! Why doesn't Uzi freak out about meting her mom? Why doesn't Nori freak out about seeing her daughter? Or bring up N? Or how her life is? I get we're on a time crunch but COME ON!

Then N just swoops in to save Uzi. We kinda just skip past his reaction to Uzi's sacrifice which is a disappointment. He just says that he was mad about that and that they'll talk about it later, but they never do. It's just brushed over and done with. Then the solver comes in and throws them into space and then they're falling and burning up and then Nuzi becomes officially official.

As a Nuzi shipper, I should feel happy. My favorite ship was just mentioned of course, but it feels so shoe horned in and rushed. I was hoping it would have a bigger impact but it's just shoved in there without a celebration and the abruptly ends because Uzi want to slap a demon

You might also notice that it's been four minutes and SO much is happening in such a short amount of time. This will be a problem for the ENTIRE episode

Next we cut to J, Thad, Lizzy, and Khan and holy shit I am SO upset because they do NOTHING with them in this episode! They were setting them up for a fight but now everyone is just laying on the floor and doing jack.

Also SURPRISE, J is evil! Did you want more J screentime. Did you want her to be important to the plot or even have the SMALLEST redemption arc by the end? WELL TOO BAD because J being evil is all you're getting before she's kicked into the void forever :)

V also comes back and she has befriended the sentinels. I don't think anyone really believed she died. She basically just fights J and realizes how horrible of a person she is. She then says sorry to N for lying to him and stuff. That's cool. Don't exactly have anything to say on her. She's a good part of the episode but she suffers from underutilization like the others

Something something hot drones. Something something NxUzixV canon (My Uzi's Bi headcanon is REAL! YIPPEE)

Then they have an admittedly good fight scene. I have to say tho. There are a LOT of times where it seems like the characters are actually going to die and then the story just doesn't let it happen like some twisted game of hot potato and it gets annoying after a while. (Like when Cyn pulls out their hearts and stuff)

Then N and Uzi make up a handshake mid-fight and it just...stops the momentum of the fight. IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO MAKE A JOKE IN THERE THEN JUST DON'T MAKE A JOKE!

Then Uzi just...kills the solver? Or at least Cyn? Not because of something she did btw, but because Cyn went too crazy with fazing around and shit. ARE. YOU. SERIOUS! This character has been set up to be a strong a challenging foe and she just DIES because of an OOPSIE!? It's Doll's sudden death all over again but somehow WORSE. But of course we have to make Cyn's death rushed! WE ONLY HAVE 20 MINUTES IN THIS DAMN EPISODE!

And then Uzi, like, eats her heart? And then solver is just...inside her? And there's no consequences? It's just treated as a cool accessory? Holy shit this episode was rushed

Nori saves Khan from dying. I thought they were also going to have a heartfelt moment or something. All sobing. All tears. But no. For some reason Nori gets nervous about seeing her hubby again and runs off (Honestly if I was a fleshy spider heart, I would be nervous too). Then Khan calls the flesh heart hot because he's a freak

And then....that's it. They go back to the school like nothing happened. They don't really adress that the world is currently broken, or that N, V, and Uzi still got that dawg in them (Solver). They're all just like, YEP! THAT'S THE END OF THE STORY NOW!

N says that Uzi's his girlfriend, V and Lizzy are shown to be friends even tho we've only ever been TOLD that they're friends, We get a cut away to Doll's dead body that only makes me sad they didn't do more with her, and V gets turned on by N's anime drawings, the end.

Oh yeah, and there's an after credit scene of Uzi looking miserable, probably still having issues with the solver, so clearly not EVERYTHING is resolved by the end of this season. Uzi having to battle with the Solver inside her body is a cool concept and NOBODY can tell me that Liam was TOTALLY going to do another season with this premise, but then by episode 7, decided to stop mysteriously

Okay, not part of the episode but N's merch don't make no sense. V and Uzi's make sense because they have something that is related to what they did in that episode. V fought against the sentinels. Uzi got corrupted by the solver and dragged into the hole. But N's stand shows an event that happens in episode 2. Yes! EPISODE 2! At first, I was confused why this was but it's probably because unlike the other 2, N did nothing significant in this episode except get beat up and have panic attacks. (I did feel bad for and sympathized with him the whole time ngl). But I guess getting beat up and having panic attacks wouldn't make a cool stand now would it.

Yeah, all in all, I'm disappointed. So disappointed that I might just make a fanfiction rewritting episode 8 for myself and then make it canon out of spite. Honestly the lowest ranked episode for-

Wait

Hold on

CAT V PLUSH!!!!!!!!!!!????

NEVERMIND Y'ALL THIS EPISODE WAS AWESOME 10/10!!!!

[tiltingheartand]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @hearteyestommykinard and @desert--moonchild <333

How many works do you have an AO3? 34.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 132,535.

3. What fandoms do you write for? at the moment, just 9-1-1, although i have a feeling as soon as i rewatch the sandman i’ll feel a renewed urge to write in that fandom too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? let me in before the rainy season starts again (7337) i want to believe (3878) colliding with forever when you speak (3191) clouds the size of oceans outside and above our heads (3186) the symphony of what we are (773) (all five of these are for the sandman, btw. all dreamling.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why? Why not? so the thing is that i want to be the kind of person who responds to every comment, but they build up and then thinking about answering them makes me anxious so i avoid them, so more build up, so i get more anxious … it’s a whole thing. and i try not to get to the point where my hobbies feel like assignments? so.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? we were warm until we went to hell, with characters from star trek (2009) in the universe of repo! the genetic opera. it’s, uh. about as cheerful as the source material. (... i.e., major character death.)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? i’m dying not to hurt you, a haven fic in which i said “fuck that” to the MCD in the penultimate episode, and in which i got the ot3 from the show together. finally.

8. Do you get hate on fics? not so far (fingers crossed).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? until a few months ago the answer to this question was “no”, but then i … started writing smut. apparently. it’s all been bucktommy so far (and probably will continue to be, tbh).

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written? well considering the answer to #6 is a crossover …. anyway. not my only crossover. i think maybe the "craziest", just in terms of which media were getting mixed, is the sound of her wings -- a crossover between mash and the sandman (the comic series; this fic was written in 2006).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? no (again, fingers crossed).

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? i have not!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? no, although i help people brainstorm sometimes (or get help brainstorming). also, it's not quite fics, but i was in a bunch of text-based RPGs on LJ and DW in the long long ago.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? what a horrifying question to ask, thanks! uh. right now, probably bucktommy; ask me again in a year and that answer might change.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? i have concerns about finishing the thing i'm calling "the frequency AU", solely because it's. a lot of plot. and i have a severe tendency to get myself bogged down in details that literally nobody else gives a shit about, to the point where all writing ceases. (... actually, i'll include "hob gadling vs the wraith" here too, for the same reason.)

16. What are your writing strengths? i'm pretty good at getting characters' voices right, i think, both out loud and in their heads (i write almost exclusively third-person limited).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? scene transitions. establishing scenes, so that the thing i have pictured in my head that i'm trying to get into words is accurately conveyed to other people in a way that i don't leave a big piece of information out. where to end scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? hasn't really come up for me actually? i feel like if it ever did i'd just end up going the "italicized words, and then "in [language]" after the italics" route, both for my sake and the sake of the readers.

19. First fandom you wrote for? sailor moon, the dic dub. thank god geocities is gone.

20. Favorite fics you've written? this one's a really tough call actually! i think probably a cross between we'll dance this fading life away (stargate sg-1) and the physics of this second sight has led me here (the librarians), because i was trying to write the both of them for such a long time and i'm really happy (and proud of myself, honestly) that i managed to finish them both.

tagging (with zero pressure!): @miriellesandthegiantpeach @mooshkat @26-cats-in-a-trenchcoat @smallandalmosthonest @dadvans

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Disappointing Doom

Feb 2023 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) ep 12fin - Them openly dating and flirting with each other (finally) while keeping it “secret” was hilarious. No surprise they got outed tho. The whole “coming out homophobic teacher” sequence was very extra but suited this show. And ending with prom could not be more YA. Plus smiley kisses! 

CONCLUSION?

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that was Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.  Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but this is me: I ADORE this shit. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favorite GMMTV offering to date. 9/10 (could go as high as 9.5 on my more forgiving days) 

Bed Friend (Sat YT, GaGa & iQIYI uncut) ep 2 of 8 - I’m ending my week with this one these days. I feel like this is an EXCELLENT life decision. King’s pining is WBL levels of EPIC. Uea’s ma may be the worst ma in Thai BL (and that’s some stiff competition.) Ah getting tested together, such a right of passage. I like King a lot, his attitude, life philosophy, the way he looks an Uea, everything. This show is GREAT. 

Bed Friend extra sexy bits explained:

YouTube has the cut version with slightly less sexy content (this is what I’m mostly watching). 

GaGa ALSO has the cut version, BUT they have “extra clips” with the uncut content, you’ll need to find and watch them separately. 

iQIYI has the uncut version with the above mentioned extra sexy bits integrated back into the full episode.

Okay? 

Okay.

Moonlight Chicken (Weds YT) eps 5-6 of 8 - The break up btw Wen & Alan was really hard to watch, both actors are so good. Speaking of good actors, where did GeminiFourth come from? Seriously? I love these characters almost as a much as TinnGun. Heart’s parents are EVIL. Told ya they’d kiss as this couple bf TinnGun. Back of head wrap ‘Kiss’ tho, haven’t seen one of those from Thailand in ages. Old school. And then Khaotung just broadsides us with PAIN. This is such an aces show, but it is A LOT. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) ep 11 of 12 - More cute BF intercut with agony. Holy role reversal dad butler! Otherwise a somewhat lackluster ep 11 of DOOM as dooms go, but I’m okay with that. 

Chains of Heart (Sat iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 - This is a suspense thriller about smugglers, amnesia, and lost love. Haii is good (and gorgeous) in the lead but the story is choppy, disjoined, and confusing. May be intentional, bad writing, or the captions being particularly bad (or all 3). It’s an interesting and different start. Not good but interesting. It reminds me a little of Manner of Death only with better action sequences. But I’m not sold on it because MoD had MaxTul, and this... does not. Ep 2 did not improve matters. When Ken & Lue flirt it’s fine and the Thai food bits were fun. (Kao Soi is one of my fav northern dishes, I’m sad he didn’t get to finish it.) At the funeral, why are they all texting when it can be traced and they could just be talking to each other? Honestly, everybody behaves like an idiot in this show. So I guess this is a revenge narrative? I’m so confused. They pretty tho, so I’ll keep watching because I am weak, but if you can wait, I think this is one that’s gonna be better as a binge. 

Our Winter (Thai & Korea YT & TikTok under ThaiMiniSeries) eps 1-7 of 14 - TutorYim microseries, told in vertical (TikTok) shorts. (Thanks to the BL spies for reporting in.) Cute Trope snippits but Korean is HARD to understand with a Thai accent. I’m not watching it with Eng subs and I’m not wild about this style short form but still - cute. Funny how they styled TutorYim so that they look slightly Korean - wardrobe and makeup wizardry. 

Hit Bite Love (Sat YT) ep 6 fin - Degrassi Junior BL concludes in a very soap opera way, with new characters and new/extra drama. Trigger warning on the original trigger. The investigating cop was super hot tho. Can we give him a BL? Also I liked the final scene makeup tons. But honestly what a total mess. I don’t know what i just watched and neither does it. 3/10 (sorry babies)  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) ep 9 of 10 (or 17&18 of 20) - Kind of a filler ep and lackluster for a penultimate DOOM installment. But the HIStory franchise gets this way sometimes. 

Jack o’Frost (Japan GaGa) ep 2 of 6 - I’m finding it a bit dull. 

It’s Airing But ...

My Beautiful Man 2 (Viki & Gaga) - Because there are only 4 eps, I’m waiting to binge this.

Boyband ep 2 of 10 - Stopped airing on YouTube, and only available in Thailand & Japan. Not sure if they’re working a distribution deal or just fucking with us. 

Destiny Seeker (Tues WeTV ) 10 eps - it’s not on any WeTV I can get ahold of. Bad Buddy the pulp rebirth meets Japanese handsome host club action. FairyGodBLer came through for me, but I’m collecting to binge just in case. It’s my new policy with the grey stuff. 

Cafe In Love (Thai) 10 eps on Ch3+ - Thai pulp, about trying to save a coffee shop. Same as above. 

Gossip

Thailand’s famous gay pink milk comes to Oakland, CA, USA. This amuses me greatly. And yes, next time I’m in the area, I’ll probably try to hunt it down.  (What is Pink Milk?) 

Kim Ji Woong is doing fine on Produce 101 5 Boys Planet. I agree with the pundits that he’ll likely make it through. (Yes, I think he’s a better actor than idol, and yes, we will mostly lose him from BL if he goes all in with whatever group results from this.) But does that matter when Peak Time is also airing? No, because Peak Time is MUCH better and more interesting show and it has Karam (Happy Ending Romance) fucking KILLING IT. You all know I love Leo’s voice but clearly VIXX-euphoria distracted me, because I had no idea Karam was such a stable vocalist. He’s insane and it’s fun to watch a 2nd gen fucking SERVE it up (have you ANY idea how hard Mirotic is to do LIVE?). 

In case you missed it 

Viki has acquired the airing rights to Advance Bravely. We can’t expect it to be much altered, but at least it will be legally available, and one hopes the subs will improve.

Viki added The Eighth Sense to their upcoming KBL roster, new one to me. “A university romance about the confusion often felt by college youth regarding life and love.” 

KBL A Shoulder to Cry On AKA Comfort the Boy coming to Viki, March 13. (MUCH anticipated by me, this is a high school set hurt/comfort delayed by OMGEA X scandal.) This will be the first BL to star idols from the same group! Fingers crossed it’s good because this is a group that definitely needs BL’s support. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

02/28 = Tin Tam Jai (Thai Gaga & iQIYI) 10 eps - Adorable Tin has a life-long dream to marry an older boy in his neighborhood, Park. Same production co as Coffee Melody & Ai Long Nhai. I'll likely binge it.

03/01 = The Promise, (Thai WeTV) 10 eps - friends-to-lovers, follow up to a previously aired miniseries Phupha | Nanfah. Because of this and the WeTV platform I likely won’t bother.

03/02 = All the Liquors (Korea Gaga & Viki) 8 eps - Liquor company rep and party boy Han Ji Yu buts heads with hot chef Park Ki Hoon, who doesn't drink.

03/02 = Heesu In Class 2 (Korea unknown prob Viki and/or Gaga) - A gay(er) version of Sex Education. I’m still not sure this one is actually happening. 

03/03 = A Boss and a Babe (Thai YouTube) 12 eps - ForceBook in an office set boss/employee rom-com. 

03/04 = Love Syndrome (Thai unknown prob iQIYI or Gaga) 10 eps - trailer, violent, hot/cold, hurt/comfort, amnesia. (Stars Frank formerly of FrankDrake.)

Full list of upcoming in March 2023 is here. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post. (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

That tentative hand GOT me bad. 

I love it when a character call’s out another character’s main characteristics. Very meta. (Moonlight Chicken.) 

OMG hot cop! 

Make up game ON POINT. 

(Hit Bite Love.) 

SO GOOD. (Bed Friend) 

(last week)

Current Kpop(ish) earworm? SHAUN & Jeff Satur - Steal The Show, you should watch it ALL THE WAY to the end, just trust me. Have I ever led you astray?

No.

Don’t answer that. 

[presidenthades]

Once again, I am doing a series of my behind-the-scenes thoughts for The Golds while I do light edits for formatting, typos, and continuity. Here’s Chapter 8!

(Full disclosure, I learned that TGC can sing around the time I started writing this series, and that definitely inspired singing artsy Aegon. I am still distraught about his band going “on a break.” 🥺)

For this chapter’s title, I picked the Mother lyrics from “The Song of the Seven” because it’s the childbirth chapter. The moment we’ve all been waiting for!

Joff’s hand is bandaged at the beginning of the chapter because she’s been messing around with the glass candle. Of course her loyal assistant Daeron knows about it, and he doesn’t entirely approve of her methods.

BTW I often cringe when people in fantasy stories casually cut their palms for spells and such, because your hands have a lot of muscles and nerves, so it hurts a bunch and takes a while to heal. I thought about having Joff take blood from a different body part that isn’t used all the time. Then I remembered the point of blood magic in this universe is pain and sacrifice, and I could see the magic refusing to accept blood from someone intentionally trying to avoid pain, and it only works if it hurts. So here I am, using the trope that I used to always complain about 😅.

Despite everything, Jace would not approve of Elinor’s hand being cut off, so people have been avoiding telling her.

Jace thinks Gyles is suffering at Dragonstone, but this is actually an improvement! He used to make a heckton of pies at the Red Keep, but now he only has to cook for one person. So he’s getting paid the same to do 1% of his usual workload, and he gets to be creative since he has to change the menu every meal while ensuring Jace eats a balanced diet.

Luce dresses extra neatly and arrives early so people don’t suspect she was canoodling with Aemond the night before, but this is so out of character for her that Jace notices.

During breakfast, Luce tries to play it cool and ignore Aemond while he stares at her. They had this exact same dynamic in Chaoter 9 of the Handbook, during the post-wedding breakfast. They really need to coordinate a better system when they have something to hide 🤪. (100% inspired by Aemond’s intense staring during the show when he looks at pretty much anybody.)

If Aegon and Aemond get to have sibling telepathy, so do Jace and Luce.

Luce’s rose garden reference is a callback to Chapter 1, when it’s mentioned that Aegon got handsy with Jace pre-wedding while Daemon was stalking around the hedges. Technically, Jace and Aegon were already married for years because of the elopement, and that’s how Jace justifies letting Aegon take liberties. He was already her husband so why not? 😉

Absolutely nobody expected Jace to serve as chaperone, but she blames herself anyway (as usual). If everyone wasn’t so worried about Jace’s health and if the trip preparations weren’t so hasty, I’m sure Alicent or Rhaenyra or Daemon would have insisted on sending an actual chaperone with the group.

The Episode 8 last supper bit where Jacaerys pathetically punches Aemond, who isn’t fazed at all, inspired the scene with our Jace smacking Aemond with a sandal (la chancla!). In this universe, however, Aemond can’t retaliate because Jace is a pregnant woman. He has too many chivalrous notions to strike a woman (and nobody would let him anyway). Luckily for Aemond, our Jace isn’t very strong either.

Baela has been corresponding with Cregan the last few months. Not so frequently that it raises eyebrows, but often enough that they’ve gotten to know each other better. She definitely sent a letter of condolence after Sara died, so she’s expecting a response. Unfortunately, Cregan is not reacting well to his sister’s death, and it feels like the latest in a series of Starks getting screwed whenever they interact with Targs. Jaehaerys and Alysanne made the Starks donate land to the Night’s Watch who neglected it, Jaehaerys showed mercy to rebels which led to Walton Stark’s death, Rhaenys arranged for a Stark daughter to marry Ronnel Arryn (who was usurped and thrown out the Moon Door; his wife and children probably weren’t spared either), and there are probably still some complicated feelings about Torrhen kneeling to Aegon I. Now the Northmen probably feel the Targs caused Sara’s death too, so Cregan, who is also grieving, backs away from Baela and arranges to marry a Northern girl.

Rhaenyra deliberately omits news of the Baratheon betrothal in her letter to Jace. Like everyone else, she’s trying to reduce Jace’s stressors.

Aemond’s letter has the king’s personal seal. He’s confused why Viserys would bother writing to him.

Aegon’s letter is most likely from Alicent, and it mentions something about the Baratheons. I don’t think Alicent explicitly reveals the betrothal, but there’s enough detail that Aegon figures out something is fishy. He has a good poker face when he chooses to use it, so Jace can’t tell what his reaction is.

Aemond leaves because he wants to yell at Viserys, and Luce follows to stop him from getting in trouble. They’re gone all day because they stop somewhere along the Blackwater to argue about what to do, and eventually Luce convinces him to come back to Dragonstone. When they return in the middle of the night, Aegon sneaks out to get the details from them, and that’s when they all agree on a cover story to tell Jace.

Aegon is constantly checking Jace’s pulse because he’s worried about her anxiety 😮‍💨.

Luce is trying very hard not to cry during her convo with Jace. Normally Jace is the first person she confides in about this sort of thing, but she can’t right now 😢.

Jace has a PTSD flashback, and she instinctively/inadvertently uses grounding techniques (mostly centered on Aegon) to get out of it. Westeros doesn’t have much psychological understanding or vocabulary, so I imagine a lot of conditions/symptoms get swept under the category of “madness.” Jace doesn’t entirely know why her brain and body are acting the way they do, so she worries she’s losing her mind.

I’m not a doctor so don’t quote me, but based on my amateur internet research, stress and trauma during pregnancy can cause preterm labor, and Jace has experienced a lot of stress and trauma. I was determined for Cheeseball to be born healthy, so I made him born around 37 weeks/3 weeks early. Not too early, but he’s cutting it close in a world without NICU equipment. I also read that babies born early are likelier to be breech, presumably because they’re on the small side.

Pregnant women sometimes begin “nesting” when the baby is imminent, so Jace spends the morning organizing the baby knits. And the baby might be less active than usual right before labor, which Aegon notices.

Joff is using her little hourglass to time Jace’s contractions 💀.

Jace is telling herself to be brave because “a woman’s battlefield is in the childbed,” or however the saying goes.

Why does Joff know so much about different types of fire? Because she and Daeron were trying all the different ways to light the glass candle on fire 🔥.

Rhaenyra still has unresolved trauma from Aemma’s death, so she decides to keep Aegon from the birthing chamber out of fear that he would make the same choice as Viserys if something goes wrong. When the maester and midwives are debating what to do, Rhaenyra thinks, “of course we’re saving a Jace, she’s my daughter, we aren’t killing her in the hopes of a male heir.” She overcorrects in the opposite direction as Viserys, not realizing she’s acting kinda similarly by taking the choice from Jace. By Westerosi standards, Rhaenyra is also overstepping because the expectation is it’s the father’s right to decide, certainly not the baby’s maternal grandmother’s right. Alicent thinks Aegon deserves to be in the room and have a say in what happens, so she fetches him regardless of Rhaenyra’s feelings.

I did a little reading about the history of childbirth (skip this bullet if you might be squicked by details, though I’m not going to be graphic). A child in breech has always been a big concern but isn’t necessarily fatal; it has higher odds of being injured in the birth canal, or being strangled by the umbilical cord. If the baby really does get stuck, there are ways to extract it to save the mother, but the baby almost certainly dies (and it’s quite awful how they take it out). And historically, the mother was actually chosen over the baby quite often until some church reforms happened and pushed for the baby’s survival via C-section, which had very high odds of killing the mother. So I have a lot of conspiracy thoughts about whether Aemma really was beyond saving in Episode 1, or whether the maester just told Viserys that so they could try to get the baby 🧐.

I feel like Jace could have convinced Aegon to pick the baby…and then Aegon would spend the rest of his life depressed and drinking himself into an early grave 😔. If he were somehow forced to remarry and have more kids, he would be Viserys 2.0 and favor Cheeseball over any children by his second wife. Thankfully, that didn’t happen in this universe!

I know people have a lot of questions about what Joff did with the candle, but I have to save a lot of that info for future fics! Just bear in mind that like it says in the fandom wiki, glass candles are supposedly able to give its wielder visions and dreams. I also gave the candle some qualities as an arcane focus, like in D&D. Oh, and I read on a fan forum speculating that the glass candles might be like palantirs from LOTR, so there’s that. And here, Joff uses Aegon’s blood for the ritual because he’s the baby’s father, so there’s a strong connection she utilizes to coax the baby out.

Joff puts out the candle right before the others come into the room, so nobody except Jace and Aegon (and probably Daeron) know that anything magical was involved.

During the Middle Ages, birthing rooms were kept warm and sealed because they were afraid a draft/the cold would be bad for the mother and baby. But Jace is both a Targaryen and a Velaryon, and she wants to hear her dragon and the sea, dammit.

“The sun wishes to meet the sun.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist making a pun with sun/son.

Royal and noble women overwhelmingly prefer using wet nurses (partly as a status symbol, partly so they can get back to conceiving more heirs quicker, partly so they can focus on other duties). But the ASOIAF-verse does have examples of royal and noble women breastfeeding (see some of the citations on that page if you want to dig in), including the original Queen Rhaenys. So Jace breastfeeding her child is very unusual but not unheard of. And I wanted to give Jace the psychological benefits of breastfeeding, since she’s been in a shaky mental and emotional state.

Babies and children die super easily in the pre-modern world. Just look at how many of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s kids died super young! It’s why Aegon’s second nameday was such a big deal in the show; he survived infancy, which was the most perilous time. That’s why Jace knows that despite producing a son, she and Aegon will be expected to have more kids. It’s too risky not to.

Since we’re already bringing in LOTR with the palantir vibes, I decided to add some One Ring vibes too. Aegon senses some bad juju from the candle but he’s not magically inclined at all, so he shrugs it off. Jace isn’t super into magic either, but she’s mentally and emotionally vulnerable so the candle taps into her weaknesses more easily. I’ll probably flesh out the system more in the future Joff fic.

The culture of chivalry and courtly love seems to be strongest in the Reach. Daeron picked up on the art of giving flowery compliments while he was there. Unfortunately Joff doesn’t care about that sort of thing.

Daeron knows the candle isn’t entirely “good,” but he’s too used to following Joff’s example and doing whatever she wants. This is probably going to be part of his character arc.

Aegon, in his best Ron Swanson voice, to Dragonstone’s gardeners: “You may have thought you heard me say I wanted a lot of roses. But what I said was: give me all the roses you have.”

The lyrics in Cheeseball’s song convey the sentiments that Aegon wishes he’d heard from his father growing up, and now Aegon is ensuring that Cheeseball hears his own father say/sing those things every day 🥹. And Aegon makes sure to put both Targaryen and Velaryon references in the song to commemorate Jace’s family.

Chapter 9 commentary here

[hrts4wonu]

“이상한 왕국” : spoilers

translation: the strange kingdom

you grew up in a small village, in a kingdom ruled by an evil queen who's time will soon end which was being celebrated by your peers. but, little did they know, another kingdom has arrived not to celebrate along with you all, and instead end the innocent lives of the people who live in this kingdom. the large, thick concrete walls that circled the kingdom crashed to the floor and fires were spreading everywhere. nobody else had escaped in time, you think. for days, you ran and ran and ran. far away from the kingdom that you thought was safe forever. 'what was i thinking? there's no forever, just like what my mom said.' you say to yourself as you crash to your knees, tired and barely having enough energy to run anymore. your eyesight was getting blurry the more you ran, and you brushed it off like it was nothing. you finally found the energy to run again after resting. your stomach was grumbling and you were in pain; nobody else survived except you and you were just running away from all of it. just as you were about to stand up, you fall to the ground losing your consciousness. and before you knew it, a kind-hearted prince approaches your figure and yells something out loud to the people near him that you just couldn't find the energy to pay attention to. 'fate' you thought before completely closing your eyes and fading into the dark abyss. when you woke up the next day, you were in some sort of bed. you gathered everything inside of you to stand up and walk— which, you couldn't quite do because of your exhausted legs and the wounds on them. the same prince from yesterday approached you worryingly and places you back on the bed, “what happened? are you okay?” he utters in such a panicked yet loving voice. you shook your head no in response. “another kingdom.. attacked ours.” you add to your nod, looking away with a frown. and from then on, you and the prince had become great friends; you now lived in the so called ‘isanghan wang-gug’ or in english, ‘the strange kingdom’

tags. seventeen, royal au, ex ruler reader / yn, ot13, colonized village, kingdoms, fantasy, fairytale

warnings. violence (not quite), smut, slowburn, harem, seventeen x reader, arguments, swearing, sparring, unprotected sex (don't do this), overstimulation, tying up / bdsm, forced marriage, etc. (tell me if i missed anything!)

a/n: hey, starlings. kim here<3 this royal au is not inspired by anyone (i'm serious btw). this idea originated from the time where i used to play minecraft and i just all of a sudden went like 'oh my god, what if i make castles for seventeen? like an entire kingdom?' and i did. i wasn't able to technically finish it due to the fact that my minecraft wouldn't open anymore and yeeahh.. anyways, i made my own lore for it but instead of sending it to my friends i wanted to post it here on tumblr instead ^_^

-👑-

RELEASE DATE : January 1, 2024 - January 13, 2024 (between those dates)

UPDATES : every 2 weeks / 1 month

MASTERLIST ;

MEMBERS & INFORMATION:

#1:

#2:

SEASON 1: The Journey Begins

ep 1:

ep 2:

ep 3:

ep 4:

ep 5:

ep 6:

ep 7:

ep 8:

ep 9:

ep 10:

SEASON 2: Eye Of The Evil

ep 11:

ep 12:

ep 13:

ep 14:

ep 15:

ep 16:

ep 17:

ep 18:

ep 19:

ep 20:

SEASON 3: Equality's Dead

ep 21:

ep 22:

ep 23:

ep 24:

ep 25:

SEASON 4: The Hurricane

ep 26:

ep 27:

ep 28:

ep 29:

ep 30:

ep 31:

ep 32:

ep 33:

SEASON 5: Roses, Wine, & Assassin 8

ep 34:

ep 35:

SEASON 6: Hidden Secrets

ep 36:

ep 37:

ep 38:

ep 39:

ep 40:

ep 41:

ep 42:

ep 43:

ep 44:

ep 45:

SEASON 7: One Last Glimpse

ep 46:

ep 47:

ep 48:

ep 49:

ep 50:

a/n 2 : i might do more but for now, i will try continuing this and finishing all 7 seasons in 2024. i'm currently going to start with the first episodes now and might make the release date earlier than what i want it to be or maybe push it back to a later date.

[x-lucifera]

So I've seen Boom

Just so you know

SPOILER ALERT

My thoughts on Season 14 Episode 3:

First of all, why is it numbered as 4 on Disney+? It's so weird. Specials are 0, or "specials".

There are subtitles in my language to this. That's an improvement to most previous seasons I had to make subtitles myself if I wanted to show the show to somebody else.

And also I just found out there is Polish dubbing made to this. Like... WHAT?! It was uncomfortable to watch... Even for this exactly 15 seconds before I noticed it.

Oh, and I have finally seen this "Disney+ Original" - I laughed so hard I woke up half of my neighbours xD

About an episode - it felt better than previous ones. Singing took me off guard again, even tho it seems we have musical-ish sequence in every episode so far. Which is interesting. But also weird.

Again, I have a problem with the timeline, so if someone could explain this issue, I would be ever so grateful. We met Vilengard again and this is set about 3000 years in the future (based on Ruby's calendar age). But didn't Nine blow the factory up at this point? Because we know he did, and there was supposed to be a banana plantation. (Bananas! Bananas are good!)

I didn't like this thing with Canto. First, he shot Ruby without any question - after I finally started to like her, ffs. And then they had 3 minutes to bomb blow up but they had this oddly long talk... I mean, lovely, love in the middle of war (*cough* with an empty planet *cough*), but the timing was so weird. And this whole sequence... Well, I cringed a bit.

I love the fact that in this season we have hugs back. I love the hugs. I missed it, there were too few hugs previously xd

The Doctor looks absolutely FANTASTIC in his new outfit, but when do we find out his Outfit (TM)? So far there is nothing connected to him. 9 had his black leather jacket and heavy boots, 10 long swishy coat, pinstripes suit and too many shirts underneath (on more than one occasion), 11 with his bowtie (that was absolutely cool I don't care what people say!! ... I also started wearing one, cuz why the hell not), 12 and this lovely magician-like piece with red accents, 13 and her beautiful sky blue coat (btw I want it so bad), 14 and his too-tight blue-this-time suit, and 15? What about 15? We are 3 episodes into the season c'mon! (And I found out there is 8 episodes?! So it's almost half-season)

Was it rushed? I don't know. It didn't feel like it much. At least not to the point with Canto. After this weird situation, it went really quick. Oddly quick.

I liked the message of this episode, even tho it kinda came out of nowhere.

The overall rating is 8/10 for me. On to the next!

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 9 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

Lily loml🌻

Bro

The triplets 1st podcast is today

I’m so excited

It seemed awesome already from the trailer last week

I knooow

Kinda mad if it's every monday bc it’s my closing day

Sucks to be you

I love my day off even more now💃🏻💃🏻

Jk i’ll wait for you to watch it tonight like you do for the other vids

Thanks bestie😞

<33

Also the fact they’re gonna have guests is really cool

I really can’t wait to watch the first one

I know they probs have a few episodes recorded

But i hope it won’t be too much work for them now

Ye

3 vids a week

Esp nick who has to edit

Nick our king >>

Fact

Btw i might be home a bit earlier bc the café is kinda dead rn

Just the old couple that comes weekly and they’re almost done

So you won't wait much for me to watch the podcast

Yayy

The one together for 50 years?

I love those old ladies, they’re so cute

Fr and they always leave a huge tip

We don’t deserve them😞

Anyways see you in an hour or so ig

See you soon🫶🏻

When Alex put her phone back in her pocket, the “old ladies” as described by Lily were getting ready to leave. When they reached the counter, they both gave the blonde a sweet smile as one of them pulled out a bill from her wallet.

“The chocolate cake was delicious as always, but did you guys change anything?” One of the ladies asked.

“Yeah Lily did!” Alex knew that her friend would be excited to know that someone had noticed. “She tried adding some chocolate shavings before putting the cake in the oven.”

“Now I’m going to have a hard time deciding which one I like most, but it was as good as the usual recipe. You'll tell her that it reminds me of how my mum would make it”.

Alex couldn’t help the smile growing on her face. The couple had never once been rude to her and her other coworkers when they would come. Lily was always glad when they would compliment her food and it helped improve her self-confidence as chocolate desserts were basically the only thing Lily had mastered. Alex was really happy that she would be able to pass on the message to her friend.

Alex was finally able to close the café after the happy couple left and because the day had been a slow one, she had had time to clean little by little so that she didn’t have much left to do now.

~~~

When Alex arrived home, Lily was waiting for her on the couch. The TV was already set up on the Cut the Camera YouTube channel and some snacks were waiting for the two girls on the table. Alex told Lily to start the podcast as she would just be grabbing a can of Dr. Pepper in the fridge. As Lily did so and clicked on the video, the first out of many “Good morning Campers” from Nick Sturniolo could be heard in the house.

The podcast first started with Nick, Matt and Chris talking about looking alike, which is something that never bothered them much as they know that their viewers are easily able to differentiate them – even Lily could do it without problem by now.

As they then mentioned the fact that some pairs of best friends sometimes looked more alike than them, Lily and Alex exchanged a quick glance before laughing. Even though they had been friends since middle school, they had barely anything in common regarding their physical appearance.

The podcast kept dwelling on growing up as triplets, regarding the impact it could have on their friends but also the annoying comments they would always get from people. However, as they were mostly talking about the negative outcomes, they decided to start listing the positive aspects of growing up with two other people. Nick, Matt and Chris all agreed that being a triplet was the same as having built-in friends who were here for you at all times.

A couple of minutes later, Chris highlighted the support he always felt from his brothers and that the three of them being on the same page is something they all feel lucky about.

Then, as the topic of constant comparison was being tackled, Lily and Alex were quietly listening. The two girls felt very close to the triplets in the way that they were learning about their struggles. Them being so open about it was an opportunity to understand how the Life as Triplets was. What hit the hardest was the moment when Matt summarised the small conversation by explaining that no matter if it's about similarities or differences, people still find a way to compare them.

The podcast eventually finished on a more light-hearted tone as Nick, Matt and Chris were laughing about their high school experience when someone would meet one of them without knowing that they were a triplet. This would lead to them pretending to be one another just for a two seconds conversation in the hallways – and then at the end of the day, debriefing who came up to talk to each of them.

“I just loved it so much, oh my god!” Alex exclaimed as the video ended.

“Me too, like– I absolutely adore the Wednesday and Friday videos but this type of content is so refreshing I don't know”, Lily agreed with her friend. “I feel closer to them, make it make sense I guess”.

“I get you don’t worry, I know we’re gonna have another perspective of their lives and they’re gonna enjoy giving it to us as much as we’re gonna enjoy learning about it.”

“Exactly like…” Lily thought for a few seconds, “an inside point of view of not only the Sturniolo Triplets but simply Nick, Matt and Chris as people, just individuals. This is what they're trying to make people realise, they're not only triplets – even though that's a bit of their brand I guess – but they are also their own person.”

The two girls were just really excited to see more of this new project from the triplets, although Alex had to share some semi bad news:

“However, I have no idea if I’ll have the motivation to watch an hour of podcast every Monday when I come home from work”.

“Oh yeah, I understand”. Lily put a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder while trying to find a solution. “Just pick a day and we’ll catch up at that time!”

“I mean, I might not even watch it weekly if I’m honest so– I won’t mind and it might actually be best that you watch them whenever you want like when they come out if that’s what you prefer and I’ll postpone my ‘watch podcast sessions’ until I have enough attention span to listen to them for a whole hour”, Alex explained.

“If that’s okay with you yeah I’m fine with that”, Lily let out a smile. “We’ll still have to discuss it obviously”.

“Of course”, Alex immediately agreed. “Lots of new info we’ll have to talk about!”

What they didn’t know yet is that watching the next podcasts on their own would finally enable Lily to choose her favourite triplet as she would realise that one of them might be a bit too relatable for her taste, and maybe a tiny bit too attractive on camera.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad