#all of this to say tho if we don’t get an on-screen kiss in s2 i WILL riot lmao

[eroticwound]

Okay so, I’m still getting through the new season but I need to see if I’m the only one who feels the Claire/Carmy scenes this far are kinda a retcon of last season?

Like, putting stupid shipping discourse to the side, one of the main criticisms of that subplot was that there was too much telling and not enough showing of how their relationship progressed as Carmy avoided the renovation. We saw them drop off the liquor license documents, go to the house party, first kiss, Carmy making dinner for her after talking to Fak about whether Claire is actually his girlfriend, and their love scene. Then there is friends and family, where Carmy is freaking out about everything and he inadvertently tells Claire their relationship was a waste of time (meanwhile Claire just said she loved him, which I don’t doubt)

But, according to the new scenes, they spent a lot of time together seemingly as a couple during those few months, as Carmy was clearly infatuated with her in those moments. So I guess my main confusion is — when the hell did all of this happen? Were those scenes before or after Braciole, because at that point Carmy doesn’t actually think of Claire as his *girlfriend* but obviously likes her a lot. Those new scenes scream “they were fully into each other and with mutual affection for each other” and definitely would’ve made me more convinced of their connection — rather than be told by every other character in the Berzatto clan all throughout s2 about how great Claire is for him. Because I never actually *saw* the effect she had on him — we only see it now that Carmy has pushed her away.

So far Claire is haunting the narrative (Carmy), sorta like Mikey in s1. But all of this new info has only made me more confused about the timeline of events and the significance of this romance subplot, rather than provide clarity for why an ongoing conflict is occurring.

i mean, carmy was said to be unfocused and away from the renovation, and that was because he was with claire. everyone says this. syd is especially annoyed by it, because carmy can't spare enough of his attention for the bear, and things are getting dropped. to your point, most of this happens off-camera, but that ep where he fucks off with claire to the post office and the party very much illustrates that.

the thing about the bear is that the first season carmy was solidly our main character, and then second season transitions into more of an ensemble show. there are some incredible pluses because of this, like an entire episode with marcus in copenhagen or richie staging at ever (tho i have issues with forks). however, by dedicating more screen time to fleshing out our ensemble, the show has to dedicate less time to carmy's plots.

and claire as a character and her relationship with carmy are the biggest casualties of this. a really clear example of this is when we follow syd during her food crawl in sundae, instead of sticking with carmy who ditches syd to help claire’s uncle(?) move. i'm sure a scene where we see carmy help claire would have done a lot of work to flesh out her character and their relationship more. but the writers had different priorities, and i am so happy they went with syd on her food crawl instead. that was some great syd character work, and a beautiful ep in general.

claire is not involved with the restaurant, but she's thee focus of carmy's arc second season. there isn't any cause for her to be at the restaurant, and they don't spare any scenes for claire to interact with our ensemble of characters. they only way they can include her in these scenes is to have characters talk about her.

now, how this translates for claire is that she felt very two dimensional, because she only exists in the story in relation to carmy and their (tepid, imo) love story, where they are mostly talking about him or the restaurant. it feels like she spontaneously spawned into the story, and all the characters know of her, but the audience isn't shown how they know her. we have to be told. repeatedly.

as for your timeline question, i think carmy was spending a loooot of time with claire from sundae onward. i think carm was confused about claire being his girlfriend before bolognese (assuming you meant bolognese s2e8, not braciole s1e8) because he's never had a gf before. he’s basically been a food monk most of his adult life (not to say he’s never fucked… tho i am personally in the carm is ace camp). he doesn’t understand the nuance. both the feelings and experience are exciting and bright (and so scary). it’s all new for him!

so the carmy/claire scenes this season did not feel like retconning to me. they really felt like more of the same. which was still bad, imo.

and ugggghhhhhhhh this explicit haunting theme this season felt.. like way too on the nose. like everything with claire, they have to make it obnoxiously explicit because there’s not enough time to flesh it out in a satisfying way. like did they ever have to tell us mikey was haunting everyone in season 1? no! they showed us that. but like their shoehorned love story s2, they have to keep telling the audience directly.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

List of my favorite Violetta episodes

It’s hard to determine a single favorite episode in this long show, as many storylines carry over different episodes. So! I decided to make a list of all of my faves. I might like some more than others, but nonetheless it’s the ones I love to watch more than the unmentioned eps.

1x07 - This is the episode that originally got me into Violetta back in the days. I saw that Junto a ti performance and became obsessed immediately. I also think it’s the turning point, as the first 6 episodes were more or less just ”get to know the characters” eps.

1x10 - YES IT IS BECAUSE OF THE FRANLETTA AMIGA SCENE SHUT UP I may not remember anything else in the episode right on hand But if I rewatch it I know I’ll also like most of the other scenes.

1x13 - Francesca coming over to Violetta’s house for the first time?? Vilu being awkward about it yet also so excited that she has a friend?? Also the real start of the audition arc 💜

1x35 - OH I KNOW THE LINES FLUENTLY IN THE SWEDUB I watched this so many times back when Violetta was on Netflix. I think it’s my most watched S1 episode. It has it all. Leonetta post first kiss and Violetta being all excited and giddy. When she tells her friends they kissed and her friends get so excited. Germán choking when he hears Leon and Violetta are dating. TOMAS SUFFERING!!

1x40 - The rush I feel when Violetta runs from the wedding and goes to the theater and performs!! Such a thrilling mid season finale!

1x55 - Students protesting Gregorio and singing in front of the school! I love the revolting children arc

1x68 - Junto a ti performance! Almost time for the reality show finale! Don’t like the ending tho

1x72 - Vilu finding out Angie is her aunt and now they can finally begin their real aunt and niece relationship 💜

1x80 - NOTHING CAN BEAT THE VIOLETTA S1 FINALE

2x01 - THE FIRST EPISODE OF S2 MAKES ME FEEL SO MUCH. God I feel so warm inside just thinking about it. It’s so good.

2x06 - Maybe it’s mostly because of the Franletta scene but all of the first 10 eps of S2 are bangers

2x15 - Leonetta being in the middle of their small dating era for a while, before shit hits the fan <3

2x25 - The gang at the party, performing and dancing! Violetta being at home and Diego coming over with a clown nose! THE FRANLETTA CHEEK KISS

2x33 - VIOLETTA WANTING TO GO TO FRAN’S PARTY BUT SHE CAN’T BECAUSE SHE NEEDS TO WORK :(( AAAAAAAA SHE LOVES HER FRIEND SO MUCH also we see the Codigo Amistad mv in this <3

2x42 - This episode is so goddamn funny we got Violetta losing her voice and her friends helping her to hide this from everyone. I also love sleepover eps a lot

2x51-2x52 - FRANCESCA GOING TO ITALY AND THEN RETURNING!!! FRANLETTA REUNITING!!! I so love everyone saying goodbye and then the episode afterwards everyone is so happy!!!! It’s so fun!

2x61 - Every fucking scene of this episode makes me laugh seriously go watch this episode

2x64-2x65 - This is only for the karaoke shenanigans alone

2x67 - LEONETTA’S TURNING POINT THEY’RE GETTING CLOSER AGAIN AAAAA

2x72-2x75 - Madrid plot Madrid plot Madrid plot Madrid plot Madrid plot

3x28 - Singlehandedly one of the few funny Roxy arc episodes. Also Ludmila thought Franletta were making out in the aquarium

3x30-3x31 - All the scenes at the wedding are so fun <3 and Ludmila and Violetta being stepsisters

3x35 - I love the show they put on <3

3x48-3x49 - The Franletta reconciliation arc <3

3x64 - Leonetta being absolutely silly and stupid and it’s so funny

3x77 - Priscila’s last episode! Everything starting to wrap up slowly! CAMILA AND NATY SUPPOSEDLY KISSING OFF SCREEN!!

[danothan]

im hoping i didnt misread your tone reading the tags and you do want to hear violyn shippers out but if u were /gen the reason that they appeal to me so much is the fact they are very different in every single way down to how they were raised but at the same time they are very similar with their motivations and goals in life they both want to help people and do good and while they certainly have quite a few hurdles to jump over they work together well and clearly trust each other very much despite their contrasts and differences and how they do have to jump a few hurdles to have a strong bond and might not click instantly but that doesn't mean the potential isn't there. also yeah youre right im a basic bitch and like tropes when ur a lesbian you gotta settle sometimes when it comes to rep. anyway hope u enjoyed the rant because it was a struggle to not make this longer

yes i was being genuine! i like getting other ppl’s perspectives, esp if it’s on smth i don’t understand. warning tho, i get pretty negative and definitely wordy underneath the cut

i think “potential” is the keyword here. i get the whole oil vs water metaphor in concept, but the execution leaves more to be desired. like you said, they’re fundamentally opposed in their upbringings and values. i mean after all, the first scene in arcane is the destruction caused by enforcers, ending on a shot of young vi glaring at them as she’s being carried away from her dead parents. that’s the kind of thing that sets the tone for the rest of the show, so it makes me wonder why we never feel the weight of that trauma after act 1. you’d think being wrongfully imprisoned for 6-7 years would make vi’s resentment grow even MORE, but i feel like she’s just toned down from her younger self if anything. before, she’d have a shouting match with vander over his betrayal of making deals with enforcers. couple episodes later, she’s teaming up with an enforcer herself? what changed?

i feel like they don’t have many shared goals either, esp not anything to bond over. so far all they really have in common is that they want to find jinx (for very different reasons) and they want to stop silco, which isn’t very romantic common ground lol. i’m not even sure i’d agree that they have the same motivation to help people bc vi is completely out of touch with the current political state of zaun and pretty much only has tunnel vision for finding her sister. and while caitlyn definitely wants to help people, she isn’t willing to listen to vi or ekko’s criticisms bc she gets too defensive over the idea that she might be part of a corrupt system. they’re barely ever on the same page

you say they clearly trust each other despite their differences, but i don’t think they should given this history. OR, if they did, it should be like my bookclub partner said and have vi fall headfirst into the relationship. and if this were to be the case, it would have to lean into vi’s emotional immaturity + lack of experience and give caitlyn growth + more awareness of their situation. but neither of these options happen, so caitvi toes the line without being able to commit to either side. it makes their relationship feel inconsistent and trivial to me

my bookclub partner and my sibling also brought up separate but enlightening points on the portrayal of their dynamic. f0r mentioned how they would be generic and frustrating to watch if the main conflict of their relationship was internalized homophobia, so it was a good writing choice to not include homophobia/sexism as a part of their society, and i agree with this. it’s an overdone trope used in place of actual substance, fantasy bigotry being a 1-to-1 with the real world just feels lazy. then my sibling noted that even though they technically don’t use this particular trope, their dynamic still carries the same story beats. their struggles and resistance towards each other feels subjective instead of being based on core themes of the story, like it’s a personal issue or a difference in personality and not the fact that they represent opposing sides of a class war?? this is why i don’t get what the big deal is over their break up. it felt like forced tension bc i wasn’t all that convinced they were in love after a few days, not to mention the breakup didn’t even last, so narratively i don’t see the point of having them separate if they were immediately going to get back together

again, if you’re going to use the oil vs water metaphor, lean into their differences. it shouldn’t be brought up when drama calls for it (“what, you don’t have parents?”), it should be the foundation of all of their interactions. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, jayvik represent the oil vs water metaphor better with the way external forces play into the difference in their values and create a divide between them despite their history and compatibility. hell, i feel more of that zaunite vs piltovan conflict between cait and jinx bc at least jinx’s trauma is written into their interactions

it almost feels like they’re having fun on their secret mission until vi remembers she’s supposed to hate cait. it’s the whole forbidden lovers trope that doesn’t actually feel forbidden bc there are no consequences for them being together. everything is just inferred because, well, they’re supposed to be opposites! so of course they’re on-and-off! but drawing conclusions from character fun facts is not the same as seeing those elements being purposefully utilized. this is what i mean when i say shippers have to rely on speculation. ultimately, caitvi is an underdeveloped on-and-off relationship that doesn’t commit to being either enemies OR lovers. it just feels like a messy high school love story in the middle of more interesting politics, found/unfound family, xenophobia/classism, magic, drugs, and terrorism

it’s a shame you say you have to settle, especially in a show like arcane where they don’t pull their punches for heavy and nuanced subjects. i feel like they set the bar too high to settle for a basic shipping trope. the other relationships in this show are intrinsic to and enhanced by the plot, and vice versa: you know they love each other but external forces play into their personal values and dynamics. caitvi deserves the same complexity and chemistry given to these other relationships

and for the record, i like both characters individually. i can see myself enjoying their relationship as it gets more developed. i think they have a lot of good moments in the show. but as of right now, based on canon only, caitvi is the weakest part of arcane’s writing

[mcd-ms-rants]

the s1 post as promised :)

here u go

STUFF I DIDNT LIKE IN MYSTREET S1:

• This is probably the only season where Aphmau does not act like a literal child so props for that

• Also I liked the ‘Don’t tell mom!’ episode cuz Ro’meave supremacy

• k I’m gonna stop telling the boring stuff here’s the actual start

• Ok so at this point mystreet was basically a sandbox roleplay of mcd characters in a modern day setting which is NOT A BAD THING but it did lead to a lot of mcd references, whether it was Garroth and Laurance changing into their mcd forms or Zane somehow brandishing his sword from thin air. Again, NOT A BAD THING but it did make it a bit weird especially after the whole ‘mcd and mys are related‘ plotline s4 onwards

• Dante should not have had a crush on Aphmau like no hate if you ship it but the way canon dealt with it he never stood a chance. once again no hate :)

• Aarmau was a bit rushed in my opinion, tho it isn’t so evident. but the fact that Aph just unquestioningly gets closer to Aaron doesn’t sit right with me. just like mcd s1 it feels like she’s just going off a script, which she technically is but it isn’t supposed to be that evident. I would’ve liked Aphmau to question her relationship, tell aaron that she needed time or to take it slowly. They couldve still gotten together at the end of the season with a much better narrative. I dont exactly focus on ships involving aphmau that much but even I can appreciate some well written slowburn. which this was not. let’s not get into the age gap in pdh THAT WAS NOT OK but I’ll elaborate on it in a separate post otherwise I’ll just keep ranting about it here

• Garrance literally kiss on screen and nothing happens?? I don’t exactly remember what happened after it cuz I haven’t rewatched in a while but I’m pretty sure that they just went back to normal :/ (correct me if I’m wrong tho!!) is this queerbait? can I call this queerbait?? can we not have queerbait please?

• IM SORRY WHAT WAS KC’S CHARACTER. She was so nice in mcd. she worked well as a side character and her writing was done well in my opinion. WHAT HAPPENED HERE. This girl is literally a walking aarmau advertisement. I get it you wanted to promote the main ship but at least don’t ruin her character for it. I don’t really like her mys version for this reason and I prefer to use my hc version (tho this goes for all characters) Please give this girl some actual character development. by the end of this season all we know about her is that her name is kawaii~chan, she likes pink, she loves ships, yay aarmau is sailing, don’t get in the way of kawaii~chan’s ship!! Name ANYTHING ELSE THAT WE KNOW ABOUT HER LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE

• I really don’t like how some potentially triggering and more serious themes were joked about here. You can make it a comedy show without making serious topics funny. Travis makes perverted comments that I feel really border on sexual harassment at times, Katelyn keeps punching Travis every time he speaks and if that isn’t anger issues idk what is, Garroth and Laurance literally stalk Aphmau multiple times when she’s out with Aaron and KC has a goddamn aarmau shrine in her basement. The first time I watched it, it slipped past me but the second time I really looked at it and said why do we need THIS to make a show funny. • The story of Zane becoming Aphmau‘s friend was literally him taking a cat version of her home on Christmas and tearing up when she (somehow??) gave him her sweater. what was he even going to do with a cat-sized sweater?? How was THAT the good deed that turned her back into a human?? How was it going to help him?? I get that magic exists in this world and this incident can definitely be a part of their friendship story...but don’t make it the ONLY part of their story. youre telling me that THIS is the reason he’s willing to turn himself into a relic in s6 amidst all the blood and death and chaos??

• STOP BABYING ZANE HE‘S A GROWN MAN. I HATE it when Aph keeps cooing at him in a baby voice, especially since I hc him as autistic. the way he’s written really makes me feel that he is autistic and this ruins it

• once it’s revealed that Zane likes mlh, most of his screen time is just focused on that. He has other aspects of his character too which are never really shown and this makes him so one-dimensional which is ironically the same problem his MCD counterpart had. GIVE HIM DEVELOPMENT PLS

• Lucinda is like the ONLY character who has their shit together. good for you girl <3

• WHERE DID JEFFORY GO?? I really liked his character and we never see him after s1...in fact we barely see him IN s1. he keeps zooming in and out and then he just...stays out forever. for the record, WHERE DID BRENDAN GO?? He was like in three episodes and then he just dipped MORE MINOR CHARACTER REPRESENTATION PLS

• MORE VYLAD PLS. I get it he’s traveling the world but Aphmau is literally god so don’t say that it’s not doable

• Showing Katelyn actually recognizing her anger issues would’ve been great, and maybe joining therapy or taking a group lesson or even doing meditation would’ve been such a great development to her character and would’ve paved the way for much healthier interactions in s2. she would not have been able to fix them completely since these things don’t just go away in one day, so the s2 talk between her and Travis would still happen but it would better in my opinion (and I’ll elaborate more on this when I do a rant for s2)

• Can we have more nb and lgbtq+ representation in general?? this point is gonna be in every rant I make istg it needs to be said.

ya umm this is all that I can think of rn

thanks to everyone who follows me and even those who liked and reblogged my posts!! Your support means the world to me <3 <3 <3

[vaguely-concerned]

R-r-r-rewatch thoughts for The Mandalorian S2 Ep2

(or Chapter 10 as they seem resolved to call it)

- can I just express my joy for a moment that in one episode we get peli, the answer to my pleas for female representation in the ‘sketchy middle aged car mechanic’ niche, and a female alien designed with no consideration towards sexiness. (I mean I’m sure there’s someone. There is always someone somewhere on the Internet, is the bitter truth history has shown to us. but it’s not the intention behind the design haha)  

- they do take great pains to deliberately show you boba’s armour several times both in the recap and in the episode itself, so never despair he is very likely still on his way onto our screens once more

- this dude holding the baby hostage wanting specifically the jetpack in exchange is the one (1) break this whole episode gave din lol 

also the Patented Mando Finger Curl of Stress while he talked softly and calmly to not promp this asshole to make a sudden move... the most endearing character tic, I love my space cowboy dad so much 

- fun continuity detail: din is all out of whistling birds now, and you can see it here!

I wonder if he could still use the same mechanism with different ‘ammo’, it’s just not as effective? from the way the armorer spoke whistling birds seem quite rare and it would be an inefficient use of beskar if that’s the only thing it can be loaded with

 - I love how after the last episode, a 50 min epic with a bunch of original trilogy significance and impressive technical achievements and exciting character reveals, I was like ‘yeah okay I suppose that is quite interesting’, and this mess/comedy of inconveniences is the thing that fully makes my brain tip into the obsessive ‘BABY AND DAD SHOW!! BABY AND DAD SHOW!!!!!’ mind state lol

- ah the traditional ‘mando trudging slowly but steadily through the desert’ montage we all love to see (I hope this is going to be a Thing for the second episode of every season from now on) 

Also I assume his suit has some sort of temperature regulation built in and that’s how he didn’t, y’know. die under the blazing desert sun

-

CAT FIGHT CAT FIGHT man I love the jawa. also mando doesn’t even glance over at them, really emphasizing how he’s like. done with this entire day (and it’s all barely even getting started din! i’m sorry)

 yodito’s look in this scene tho... he’s like ‘we’ve Seen some shit lady’ (actually I think he’s staring at ‘dr mandible’ like O___o. it’s been a long day for a lil boy) 

you get to see dr mandible’s cards a few times, so I assume anyone who knows the rules of... sabacc? probably? could figure out beforehand that he was in a bad spot. (the star wars fanbase is one of those where I KNOW the rules exist somewhere, and I know people who know those rules exist too)  

- that sound the baby keeps making -- the ‘boo-a’, sometimes with a p-sound at the end -- if that’s the precursor to him saying any variation whatsoever of ‘dad’ or ‘papa’ or ‘baba’ or even ‘buir’ or anything, I will die. I will sink to the ground in a heap and never get up (the way he keeps seeking out gaze contact with the helmet and seems perfectly satisfied with it too... fasdhfaskdjhl my FEELINGS)

- it seems confirmed in this ep that the mandos who died on nevarro did so while holding off the enemy so the rest(probably especially the children) could get away; some of them appear to have escaped. which I guess is a small relief

- 

frog lady stepping out of the shadows and into our hearts

I like that her firm nod after Peli translates ‘her husband has seen them’ lets us know she understands... basic? is that the common tongue thing in star wars there’s just so many to remember across fandoms lol? perfectly well, even if she can’t speak it. 

- mando might be running low on ammo for the pulse rifle, if the fact that he hasn’t replaced the missing cartridge on his... bandolier belt thingy is any indication

ETA: actually ignore me this has been a thing since the literal first episode of the show my brain just had a hiccup lol

- so baby seems to use a little bit of the force to pull the eggs towards him -- I wonder how often he ‘taps into it’ or if it’s always ‘on’ in the background for him. if so I guess there’s no wonder he’s so hungry (but also... kid you can’t end this lady’s entire family line like that one cat who singlehandedly made extinct a whole species of bird! D:)

- din so rarely gets openly angry, he just gets passive aggressive and grumpy. and that’s probably not the healthiest way to deal with things but I love him

- frog lady reacts so strongly to when din sends the ping when nothing else woke her up, I wonder if she can hear more frequencies than a human

- 

hello darkness my old frieeennnddd

- 

proof nr 1508 that din does not starve this baby you guys, he even has his own little tray just the right size for him! as it happens the baby simply seems to prefer eating things that are... still alive in some capacity. which, uh. maybe they can invest in some form of non-sentient crickets or something for him to hunt down and.... oh dear

- 

Look how they massacred my boy

By the way I finally managed to put into words why the Razor Crest -- and particularly the way it keeps getting beaten to hell and back and patched up again --  is so symbolically important and meaningful to me in this show in this post over here! it’s always a great relief to me when I can finally understand what the hell I’ve been going on about all this time and this was one of those lol

-  honestly if it weren’t for frog lady and (more importantly) the baby I think there’s a slight chance din would’ve gone ‘well I had a good-ish run of it for a while there’ and just let the ice claim him haha   

- “Why don’t you come over here and give me a hand. Make yourself useful” This is the one time in the episode I think he crosses the line into just being a dick for a moment (but noticeably the baby isn’t just a little hurt at this reaction, he’s clearly surprised and confused, which means this really does not happen often. after the time mando’s been having recently I guess a moment’s snappishness is understandable haha. he does follow up right after with being much more responsive and attentive when the baby toddles away from him, so it feels like it’s going to be okay)

also the ‘boo-ap’ sound is there again when he’s trying to get din’s attention. just sayin’ 

when din comes over to see the footprints baby makes a declarative little meep like ‘see??? I did tell you!’ haha

- it is very funny that mando is using all his technology meant to track down dangerous bounties in the grungy depths of the criminal underworld... to find a naked lady just chillin’ in a hot spring 

- 

cue the ‘father is evil?’ memes fsadfda. actually the funniest thing about this moment (apart from the fabulous finger acting) is that din actually snatches a few eggs out of the baby’s reach more subtly right before, and that baby only whines for ALL OF ONE SECOND before he goes to sniff around for other food possibilities fkadfhjkds. from my experience with human children he’s a lot less prone to tantrums. yodito doesn’t get mad, he gets even 

- baby running towards din through the hatching spiderlings like ‘DAD I FUCKED UUUUUUP’, din’s little strangled ‘ngh’ sound as he picks the baby up and watches all the creepy crawlies come out... *chef kiss* impeccable 

(that little ‘ngh’ and the soft shocked ‘ah ah AH!’s from when he goes flying at the beginning of the episode... pedro pascal and his voice work for this character gives me so much life. in some ways din has this sort of dignity and grace and in other ways he uh extremely doesn’t. he gets to be cool but also vulnerable in ways a lot of male main characters don’t and it’s probably why I love him so much) 

btw here is that moment when din moves to hold the baby tightly against him with both hands as the big spider appears, because it gets me right in the heart... it such an instinctive thing of holding on to the dearest thing you’ve got before something bad is about to happen

fdsafhsdakjlfhsdkjlhfsdajhf oh my god the baby is clutching din’s finger with his little hand during the chase!!!! 😭😭😭

this FUCKING SHOW has just WEAPONIZED putting in small details everywhere to convey the love and tenderness and attachment felt by a little muppet doll even where only weirdos like me will frame by frame their way through the video to see it I am so MAD

- frog lady going ‘fuck this’ and bounding along is  e v e r y t h i n g 

- din is an amazing shot, though, he doesn’t seem to miss a single one in this whole scene (then again there’s something to shoot at basically everywhere one can take aim so lol)

-

baby hiding behind/half hugging din’s boot as he tries to get the doors closed hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can’t breathhhhheeeee 

honestly every single one of the baby’s proximity seeking behaviours in this ep has me on my knees 

- it’s very unfair to play the heroic happy mando music like everything is going to be fine and then have a huge fuck-off spider drop down from the ceiling and break it off mid-tune, the mandalorian, you have trained me in certain ways and now do you betray me??? how can I trust again

- the camera work in the scene with the new republic guys gives such a good sense of the discomfort of being judged from on high by someone or something you can’t really see -- the glare of the lights blocking out everything in the shots from din’s pov makes it feel like a tense interrogation (the new republic dude who is actually dave filoni has such a look of fondness as he watches din tho it’s kind of sweet)

- ...oh no I think baby was actually considering munching on that dismembered spider leg YODITO NO JUST EAT YOUR KRAYT DRAGON BABY

- hngh this is a weird filler episode and it has my entire heart. I suspect we might get some episodes of a more stationary baby between active ones like this -- you can tell a little bit in this episode that especially having him running around fast is quite difficult to have look natural, they likely save that effort up for when it best serves the narrative  

[aangfanclub]

liveblog s2 ep14: the tales of ba sing se

ok it is safe to say we had a LOT of feelings abt this episode. possibly the most any of us have ever had 

[abby, immediately: oh zuko. baby

levi: EVERY TIME HE’S ONSCREEN

abby: I LOVE ZUKO]

toph and katara yes!!! ladies!! we love to see it

dskjdsfjk HES SHAVING HIS HEAD WHAT A CUTIE PIE

[abby: oh look at that she pinned her hair loops back! that means they’re pinned in the back not the front

me and levi: YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE PINNED IN THE FRONT??

abby: I DIDN’T KNOW]

toph has SO much hair omg

toph has such gremlin energy sdflkjsd we love to see it

oh no baby!! imagine someone scrubbing ur eyeballs someone help toph

like a CLOWN??? that was so MEAN TOPH GO MESS THEM UP

sdjksdf YESSSS

toph said you know what would be a good one? yeeting you into the bottom of the lake

yes!!!! girls supporting girls!! this is the SWEETEST we love to see it

ohh are we just getting little snippets of everyone?? this is so interesting

iroh just be knowing things for real

where did iron get that instrument?? did he steal it just now???

aww I wish iroh would sing to me like that,, i’d never be sad again

earth bending soccer??? this is so cool omg

[me: iroh be ZOOMING

levi: yeah he got jets

me: don’t say jet in this household

levi: oh right sorry]

WITH  T H A T  STANCE SJKDLDSK IROH JUST CAME FOR THAT GUY’S WHOLE CAREER HUH

is this just a day in the life of iroh?? this is what he does every day???

this is truly iroh’s world and we’re just living in it

abby: iroh said if you’re gonna mug someone here’s how

iron just did a speedrun on his muggers redemption arc djksffjkl

STAN IROH! THATS ALL WE CAN SAY IS STAN IROH

ohh oh oh no honey,,, he misses his son so much we are all crying nooooo

[me: his soldier boy didn’t come home :(((

levi: soulja boy?

Abby: >:( ] 

ohh aang babey

[abby comments on how she can’t believe aang shaves his head and we’re forced to confront the fact that this whole time she thought he just didn’t grow hair or something]

he said my zoo is nasty and broke kjdskjsfklsd

aang buddy WHAT

abby: you’re friends with TWO animals why did you think that meant all animals

CABBAGE MAN NOOOO DSJKDSF cabbage man is the one who needs hope

THIS is a day in the life of aang???? he just be causing chaos?? sjkkldfdkljs

aang does NOT have the braincell this episode lol

ohh the whistle!!! if appa is here somewhere he heard that,, appa come back we miss you

justice for cabbage man!! cabbage man deserves better!

aang i’m sorry but what are you even doing my dude. why is this what you decided to do today fjksdfla

oh brother can EARTHBEND!! We respect aang in this household

WOAH WHAT THIS IS SO COOL OMG AANG WE LOVE YOUR ZOO

Ok fine aang i take it back. I support you and your zooing endeavors this is a valid thing to do with your day I have to admit. again, no choice but to stan aang

[the words ’the tale of sokka’ appear onscreen and we all erupt in cheers]

abby: he just be boomeranging all around for real

is sokka about to find a girl?? I feel like that’s what’s gonna happen and sokka bud that’s just not what you need I have to say

ksfdkjl this is what this is,,, sokka just wakes up every morning and Loves Women huh

[levi, paused on a frame of sokka: now THIS is baby. you guys see zuko for one split second onscreen and go “BAAAYBEEY” but THIS is what baby really looks like. I have nothing against zuko but every time he’s just walking down the street you guys go “BABY!”

me: yes!

abby: and we’re right!

levi: okay but I just don’t understand why zuko’s so baby!

me: it’s because he needs a hug! tell me you don’t look at that boy and say he needs a hug!

levi: so does iroh!

abby: yes but iron’s like, okay with himself. zuko is straight up NEVER having a good time and is convinced that he’s worthless and has to earn love bc his father is straight garbage

me: and sokka is, like, doing okay. he has the gaang. he has some self-esteem. “baby” is kind of related not only to how baby you are but also how much babying you need. zuko needs a LOT of babying.]

THEY CLAPPED FOR HIM SDFLSFJKFDJF

remarkable oaf dsjkfd SOKKA

is he about to haiku battle this girl?? is that what’s happening????

levi: this is like civilized rap battling

[we absolutely lose it and applaud wildly every time sokka completes a verse]

he’s getting kicked out for saying a haiku wrong??? dsflksda this is the funniest thing that has ever happened to sokka ever

levi, once sokka’s tale is over: THAT WAS SO SHORT. THAT WAS SO SHORT

abby: it is time for my little zucchini.

[abby and I instinctively yell “baby” at the screen as soon as zuko appears. levi has a point.]

oooo that girl just be making eyes at him for real

bro she just asked him out??? “he’d love to” IROH DSKLKLFSJD

HE COMBED HIS HAIR OMG SFJDJKSLDJD WHAT WE’RE LOSING IT ZUKO WHYYYYYY OH NO OH NO

oh thank goodness. girl Knows zuko rocks the scruffy look

oh zuko is so uncomfortable sdkjffd he SCREAMED this is not my gf and she did not bat an eye omg

zuko what??? the circus??? honey you’re so stupid

oh zuko nooooo. do not. not after you got mad at iron for warming his tea!!! zuko DO NOT

[intermission in which we all sing I see the light from tangled]

SHE DID THE DEBBIE RYAN HAIR THING JDSKFKLFGJ

[intermission in which we debate whether zuko can see out of his burned eye and whether the marks on his scar are beauty marks, additional scars, or artistic accents he drew on himself]

he gave her a coupon???? zuko?????????

ok I am not convinced this man is straight i’m gonna be real with you. this girl kissed him and he said I have to leave immediately dkslksdfajs imagine

KDFDSKJ HE CAME HOME AND HID IN THE CLOSET

aww he said it was nice :)))) we love zuko having a nice time

THE TALE OF MOMO YESSSSS

ohh its appa!!!! oh is momo dreaming? I think momo’s dreaming :(

abby: am I gonna cry about a lemur today? I didn’t think so

ohhhh is momo gonna find appa??? momo find appa!!! momo pls!

someone should give momo a gun honestly

dsjksdfkj momo’s got moves tho!! boy got thrown into a dance ring and immediately pulled out the sickest moves u can imagine

[levi: i’m sorry is momo carrying that panther??

me: momo’s carrying this show are you surprised]

YALL DO NOT TOUCH MOMO

dsfjkdajklsda momo said BYE

Abby [while momo is saving the panther cat things] : momo aang taught you too many morals. put some back

wait do they know where appa is??? where is appa?? OH THAT’S HIS FOOTPRINT

WHERE IS APPA???? that’s the end??? we still didn’t get appa back noooooooo

Final thoughts: incredible episode so many good moments. But we just want appa back :(

[gra-sonas]

Do you think the shows taken it too far in terms of malex not being together because the fact that people are having to ask actors for their opinions tells me it's being shown to the audience as hopeless. I think they've had Michael choose M*ria one time too many and driven in the nail a bit too hard. Balance is needed!

Has the show taken it too far? Not an easy question to answer.

Casual viewers, people who actually enjoy M/M, and some Malex shippers would probably answer with ‘no’.

But there’s a growing number of people (I consider myself one of them) who feel like the show’s taken it too far. Which is understandable imo, fans of queer ships are naturally an anxious bunch. We never have the luxury of knowing for sure that our pairing will make it in the end (apart from that, we don’t just want Malex together at the end, but that’s a different point).

And so far there’s a severe imbalance when it comes to Malex. And it’s more than one.

Imbalance I: Echo vs Malex

I don’t want to make this a competition, but I’d like to point out the differences between both relationships. I don’t want Echo to have it worse, but I definitely want Malex to have it better.

With Echo, no one ever has to truly worry that they are not it, that they won’t end up together - you know that watching the first scene of episode 1x01, the way they look at each other and say each other’s names. There’s no doubt whatsoever that they are the show’s OTP.

Kyle and Jenna were in the picture for a bit, but neither was ever actual competition, and Max/Liz/Kyle or Jenna/Max/Liz were never actual triangles that were explored in earnest. And even when Max died, it was clear he’d come back.

When he came back ‘evil’ it was handled in one fight. When it turned out he had Liz!amnesia, him and Liz got an entire episode of falling in love with each other all over again. I’m not saying that they don’t have problems to overcome, or that they don’t deserve to be happy, but in comparison to Malex, they’ve had it fairly easy (by TV drama standards anyway). Apart from that, there are no alternative relationships presented for either of them to pick.

With Malex, we got a mostly tragic love story that’s lasted for over a decade already, despite them having experienced a brutal and homophobic attack on the day they got together initially. And over the course of S1 they showed us, that their love is cosmic. 

But no matter how clear it is on screen in every scene how much they LOVE each other still, that ‘the pieces want to be together’ regardless of trauma and years apart, a potential relationship’s been painted as ‘too complicated’, ‘too painful’, ‘toxic’, and burdened with too much trauma and bad memories to be a viable option from day one.

So, whereas Echo did get more than one shot at being in a relationship, got love declarations, happy kisses and dates, Malex got half a shot at being together between 1x01 and 1x03 and have been broken up since.

Imbalance II: mlm vs m/f

On top of that, they were thrown into an actual triangle, with one of Alex’s (alleged) best female friends even. An mlm relationship deemed too complicated and ‘toxic’ competing against an m/f relationship lauded as ‘easy’, a ‘breath of fresh air’, and something that will finally allow Michael to be ‘happy’.

We saw Alex’s friend go behind his back even tho she’d told him, had she known about him and Michael, the no-good-Texas-rounder would’ve never happened in the first place, and now that she knew, she promised him it would definitely never happen again.

She didn’t keep her promise tho, invited Michael to kiss her, kept pursuing him, and ultimately he started ‘parking in her lot’ a couple weeks later (not before ‘ending’ things with Alex for the umpteenth time tho, while casually informing him about the fact Michael would be moving on with Alex’s friend - a fact he clearly hadn’t known about before).

“Best friends who?” - She didn’t talk to Alex about entering a relationship with the guy she knew Alex still had feelings for and felt hopeful about for months, and when she finally came to talk to him, she didn’t even apologize, instead Alex was the compassionate and understanding Gay Best Friend™, and gave his blessings. Clean slate for m/f and the gay seal of approval. Awesome.

And to really hammer it home that Malex won’t happen anytime soon, the gay man was roped into a threesome by his female friend with the man she knows he loves. And, you’ve guessed it, it ended with Michael picking her over ‘too complicated’ with Alex yet again.

These are all writing choices made in favor of the m/f relationship,  while the gay character's been left in the dust over and over again, and the mlm relationship's never been considered an option.

Imbalance III: Michael vs Alex

Halfway through S2, they finally introduced a new love interest for Alex. A man picking up on his reluctance to kiss in public (which he easily and correctly interpreted as lack of enthusiastic consent), respecting Alex’s boundaries without throwing a fit, and being okay with Alex not having it all figured out right from the start. An actual breath of fresh air...

But of course Alex can’t just be ‘happy’ like Michael, who gets to play caring boyfriend, casual kisses and domestic-y moments included. Nah, Alex has to work twice as hard to even get to kiss the new guy, bc there’s a severe case of childhood abuse anxiety and internalized homophobia he has to overcome first.

Smooth sailing and a relationship for one, queer trauma struggles for the other.

* ~ *

Is anyone still surprised that Malex fans are losing hope, or flock to ForIex instead? Even those of us who believe that Malex are ‘endgame’ in some nebulous future (I’m still one of them) are losing hope because we see Michael pick someone else over Alex again and again, and the magic of their cosmic love fades and dulls every time he does.

Also, what kind of endgame are we actually talking about? The kind where they are finally allowed to get together at the very end of the show, making viewers go through an endless parade of will-they-won’t-they situations for seasons on end? I don’t think many Malex fans would stick around to see that happen, especially not when the show keeps treating Alex like a burden and leaves him sad and alone in almost every episode.

So yeah, there’s no balance imo, and the longer Malex are kept apart, and the longer the show keeps telling/showing us that Michael will always pick someone else over Alex, hope for Malex to find a way back to each other will dwindle, until one day there’s no hope left.

[raquellmurillo]

After the heist I want Raquel to pack her bag and get some money as Lisbon and leave Sergio ...She should stay with her family in some paradise.Monica will also join her ... They both should focus on raising their children and casual dating with guys..And sometimes Rio , Helsinki uncle will visit them .

That’s actually such a cool idea! I love Sergio and Raquel, don’t get me wrong, but above all, I love consistency lol 

Why not? What if Raquel tells him that after her talk with Alicia, she has realised that because of her love for him, she has neglected her daughter and ruined her future. Because lets face it, if Raquel is on the run, her daughter is too. 

And, I know the show never really mentions this... but Sergio is like... a criminal. I know he’s meant to be the ‘good guy’ and all, but he also goes around hiring, what, the Serbian mafia? (Who are those people???) Has a lot of money, buys a shit ton of stuff on the dark web... If the police can’t track him, the mafia’s running that shit-show can. His wealth isn’t built on an empire of people to protect him.... what is one kid with a billions of euros with no protection, living as an outcast to a criminal organisation looking for easy money? Doesn’t that just sound like a target??? It’s easier to take one person down, than a well built up ‘empire’ of people lmao - okay, if he hid away etc. but not go around making purchases like them army trucks... because as soon as he starts his heist, the people who he purchases those things from are gonna tie the two ends together... If Alicia can track him, what is finding him to an organisation with more hackers than he has??? 

Back to the point, Raquel isn’t the ‘weakest link’, both her and her daughter are ‘weak points’. If Sergio ever pisses off any of the probs very dangerous people he is working with... the main targets are gonna be the people closest to him. Back in the day when he was a petty and poor criminal, well, didn’t really matter. Now, however, things have changed.

Raquel has given her life up to be on the run not only from the police, but like, a large proportion of the criminal world. She is never going to be safe, nor is her daughter. By association she has condemned her family to, well, to some probably not fun situations in the future.

But like.... ignoring all of that.

I totally get you; love is love, I do ship them, but who said their love story had to be conventional; say she came to visit him at the end of s2, told him that she would meet up with him here and there, she would come to live with him, but in 10 years time or so, when her daughter is grown up enough to take care of herself and her decisions won’t impact her. That money might’ve bought Sergio freedom, but the moment Raquel leaves her life for it, its gonna cause her problems, ones which money won’t be able to fix. She’ll never be able to let her daughter go to school without fearing that she might say something, be recognised. She’ll never be able to have the freedom Raquel had when she was young. Her childhood might be carefree playing on the beach, but purely through association she’ll always be on the run from the police, interpol, the other criminals out there who feel like getting a few billions for, basically free, having to take down a person, not an empire. I get financial security, like totally. But its not exactly too great if the price you’re paying for it is your personal security.

And look how much more fun s3&4 would’ve been if Raquel was still part of the police... darn that would’ve been so amazing her in terms of character development, as she’d really have to decide whose side she was on. (obvs with a different plot) - acting as a double agent type thing, to alongside Sergio, make sure no one was hurt etc. 

... she is safer not being with Sergio. If Sergio truly loved her, he wouldn’t be with her. I know, I know, that’s so controversial of me to say, but I’ve seen it been done in masterpiece style on screen. I had never seen a better ship been written even though I didn’t get a single kiss! Both of the characters acknowledged they loved each other but were in an environment in which them being together would end in defo at least one of their deaths. Their love for each other was greater than any sort of sexual desire; keeping one another safe was a priority, even if it required sacrificing (very unfortunately for the audience) the desire part. It can be done. 

Love can be either selfish or selfless; I think, from the way things have been written, Sergio is more Andres’ brother than one could’ve imagined. He loves her, but not enough to resist his temptation, to ruin her, destroy her life, risk her life and her families. It sounds hella dark, but when you think about it, it sorta is. Because it is wrapped up neatly and nicely and Sergio is all cute... because she loves him and goes after him, blindly. Because however much Alicia’s dialogue about Raquel’s taste of men was written to obvs make the audience disagree with her about Sergio’s case..... darn nobody is perfect, but come on. Denver lost his father in the last heist, Sergio’s brother was shot (ik he was dying, doesn’t that make it worse for Sergio tho? The last months with his brother in paradise, lost?) but there’s one hella completely different reaction. And then we have the scene in which Raquel tells him he is just trying to avenge Berlin; does vengeance have a higher value than love? Is the whole Berlin thing not enough for him to be like, “actually, putting people that I love at life threatening risk, really isn’t a great idea”...??? Rio will eventually be arrested, and tough luck, ya know. Why put the rest of his team’s life at risk? idkkkkk His true love for Raquel will be shown in lcdp7 when he plans a heist to avenge her? WHy for the love of god is she in the bank? 

Damn right, Raquel should pack her bags up and finally find a man who is not so willing to harm her. No one said love or the character had to be perfect; I’m a true believer that love requires sacrifices, and Raquel has sacrificed a lot for him... you’d think he’d have the decency to at least not go ahead with the heist ya know. Sergio might be a bit socially awkward, but he’s not fucking dumb. I hate how people seem to think that because he hasn’t had much experience in relationships, he won’t know what he is doing... firstly, when does anyone have any sort of idea of what they’re doing in a new relationship with a new person? It’s all new, and it’s always a learning process ya know. Secondly, Sergio has enough brain cells to lecture Andres about getting married to someone knowing he has very little time... he knows enough to acknowledge that what his brother is doing, isn’t exactly too fair on his wife - which is fair enough; ya know, ‘best three years of her life’ and then she drinks herself to death from the heartache in the year following that? Very hard situation, tbh. Andres is being fucking selfish, but darn, turns out there is something in these genetics...

disclaimer: I still love Serquel, but damn I love my analysis, (I am being very picky today lmao) and if they keep this writing up, they’re gonna keep pushing me to make such unconventional findings. Never before today did I think I’d come to a conclusion that Andres and Sergio are similar in terms of ‘love’... but darn, under the cute dialogues and all the rather radical decisions of the screenwriters point towards very dark threads. 

Saying that, if you’re gonna write something like that, have the balls to actually explore it. Don’t make Raquel the ‘love interest’; consequently follow the choices through and make Sergio the nut job who put her back into the bank. Maybe even write it as him idealising the idea of his love for her... maybe the trap in their relationship is as Alicia said, Raquel idealising these guys, but Sergio also idealising her. 

[amillionmillionvoices]

(I'm sure someone will have already asked but) Doctor Who? PS: Ily hope you're having a nice night

Aww thank you love! I am having a lovely night, thank you! I hope you’re having a good night too! <3 

Favorite episode and why

Me: [slams fist on table] HUSBANDS!! OF !~!! RIVER!!! SONG!!!!! RIVER!!! BEING!! BADASS!! RIVER!! CENTRIC!!! RIVER!!! BEING!! IN CHARGE!!!! 12!!! BEING JEALOUS!!! PINING!! VULNERABILITY! VALIDATION!! BEAUTIFUL SPEECHES!!! TWENTY! FOUR! YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rachael: [also slamming fists] HUSBANDS! For obvious reasons. 

Funniest/crackiest/it’s-terrible-but-I-still-love-it episode/scene

Me: I think I’m gonna go with Vampires of Venice. It’s not OBJECTIVELY good, but it’s Helen McCrory and space vampires and Rory dropping truth bombs and “let’s not go there” and Amy and Eleven nerding out and Casanova owing the Doctor a chicken I just. Delightful. 

Rachael: The Unicorn and the Wasp. I fucking love that episode. 

It’s-terrible-and-I-hate it episode/scene

Me: I really hate the Robots of Sherwood, The End of Time, Love & Monsters, and virtually all of s2 except for the episode with Sarah Jane because she is lovely and The Girl in the Fireplace. 

Rachael: Honestly I really hate the Waters of Mars. They’re creepy and 10 is a dick. (But also I don’t like Clara or Rose.) (Also Love & Monsters!! I retract what I said that’s the worst one!!!) 

Best episode/scene for my favorite character

Me: OKAY I CAN’T ANSWER THIS WITH ONE SCENE OKAY BECAUSE ALL OF RIVER’S SCENES ARE AMASZING AND I LOVE HER MORE THAN I LOVE AIR OKAY SO

- Husbands: JUST THE WHOLE EPISODE

- TATM: “The wrist is pretty bad too” YOU TELL HIM BB I’LL HOLD UR FLOWER

- SITL/FOTD: When she die i cry

- TIA/DOTM: When she’s talking to Rory in the tunnels!! When she flirt with 11 while killing Silence! When she bust out of the TARDIS and scream “They’re Americans!” When she on screen!!! 

- TOA/FAS: “I lied”! “I’m a complicated space time event throw me in”! “you. Me. handcuffs.”! USES THE DOCTOR AS A TAXI SERVICE 

- TNOTD: “He left me, like a book on a shelf. he doesn’t like endings.” DRAG HIM

- TWORS: TELLING THE DOCTOR OFF ON A GIANT PYRAMID WITH A THINGIE SHE MADE BC SHE’S BRILLIANT AND TELLING HIM TO SHUT HIS FACE FOR 5 MINS SO SHE CAN MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER I’M

- AGMGTW: “WELL THEN SOLDIER HOW GOES THE DAY” the most epic roast + peptalk ever 

I will think of more later and come back to edit this post with every single moment she is on screen k 

Rachael: HUSBANDS

Best episode/scene for my favorite ship

Me: ALL OF HUSBANDS. EVERY MOMENT OF HUSBANDS. ALSO: 

- TATM: When she slap

- TNOTD: THAT KISS THO

- SITL/FOTD: “you and me time and space you watch us run” i am in pain ur honor 

Rachael: Husbands! The Kiss in TWORS is also good. The scene in AGMGTW when he finds out who she is!

Best episode/scene for a particular supporting character

Me: I LOVE Amy in Amy’s Choice and The Beast Below so much. And I love Idris in The Doctor’s Wife. And I love Rory in A Good Man Goes to War. And I love BILL in EVERYTHING. Also Nardole when he’s harassing the Doctor lol.

Rachael: Vincent and the Doctor and The Doctor’s Wife. Also Partners in Crime! Donna is excellent. (Companions aren’t really supporting characters but we just went with characters that aren’t River lol)

Best episode/scene for a character I don’t usually like

Me: I don’t like Clara much but I love the Rings of Akhatan so I’m gonna say that one. Missy is also the only incarnation of the Master I can stand. 

Rachael: I like Rose in the episode with Sarah Jane Smith. 

Most visually beautiful or interesting episode/scene

Me: Vincent and the Doctor is beautiful, SITL/Forest of the Dead, THAT LENS FLAIR in The Eleventh Hour, The God Complex, The Girl Who Waited, Smile - I could keep going the cinematography is often really good!, River’s face

Rachael: Vincent and the Doctor, TEH, The Pandorica Opens, The Impossible Astronaut (that scene where River shoots his stetson!) 

Most emotionally affecting episode/scene

Me: HUSBANNNNDS + FOTD + TATM + AGMGTW + River’s FAce On My Screen AFFECTS ME

Rachael: Forest of the Dead

Most powerful use of music in an episode/scene

Me: MURRAY GOLD IS A GODDDDDDD. + FOTD, AGMGTW (reveal), when they play the SITL theme in Husbands I died and did not recover, also the song in TATM when Amy and Rory jump and when Amy says goodbye is ouch. + I Am The Doctor is a BOP

Rachael: MURRAY GOLD IS A GODDDDDDD + FOTD, AGMGTW (reveal)

Episode/scene that changed my perspective on the show

Me: I tried to watch it from the beginning (with 9) a long time ago and couldn’t get into it and then my friend sat me down and was like “Listen. There is a hot space archaeologist you need to see. Trust me.” And I did. And my first ep was SITL/FOTD and I never recovered. 

Rachael: The first season that i started watching from the beginning was S5 so I started with Matt Smith 

Episode/scene where the acting stands out

Me: OKAY SO. I was gonna list a bunch of River moments but honestly just ALEX KINGSTON ON SCREEN STANDS OUT. + Matt in The Eleventh Hour + The Doctor’s Wife + The Rings of Akhatan and... basically everything else Matt is wonderful. Also Peter in Husbands, Return of Doctor Mysterio, Twice Upon a Time, and all of S10. 

Rachael: Anything with Alex Kingston OBVI + Karen Gillan in The Girl Who Waited 

Overall best-written episode

Me: Ayyyyyyyyyy so many good ones! Maybe The Doctor’s Wife? Or SITL/FOTD? Or The Eleventh Hour? The Pilot? Time Heist? Fugitive of the Judoon? The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances? 

Also Husbands shut up it’s good.

Rachael: There’s so many good ones! ^^^^^^^

[ send me a tv show! ]

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

hey CJ since we’re getting ep4 next week, can you list all of your possible theories/predictions for episode 4 ? how the episode will start, how it will end, deaths, scenes, and what not :)

*deep inhale* 

buckle in

it’s a long one

You know what I’ve noticed? We haven’t had a single walker death, have we?

Marlon killed Brody, AJ killed Marlon, Lilly killed Mitch [😭], Clementine killed Abel, Louis killed Dorian, AJ killed Lilly/ Lilly killed James, we’ve blown up who knows how many delta soldiers but…

No one has died from a walker bite or walker attack, and we haven’t had to deal with a bite victim in our group.

Which… is weird, right? Just me? All three of the previous seasons had ‘em.

S1: Girl in the motor-in, Doug/Carly, Duck, Brie, Lee

S2: Pete, Sarita, Carlos, Nick, Luke, Sarah

S3: In all of the endings, Kate, David, and Gabe [and Javi, if you count the fake-out ending] can be killed by a bite/turned into a walker. [Also Conrad can die to the walkers in one of his many deaths]

So… s4 gives us?? A bitten Abel?? But it’s determinate and he lives anyway?

This just kind of makes me think that we might get one in episode 4 since we haven’t had to deal with it. Then again, they might just be going for the whole “humanity is more dangerous than walkers” thing, but for the sake of argument…

I don’t think Clementine will be canonically bitten like Lee was. By that I mean she may get bitten if that’s what prompts one of the endings. Same thing with AJ.

I’m thinking that one of the kids might get bit, and I’ve narrowed it down to Tenn and Minerva.

Tenn because I feel he would be the most tragic and it could really show us what kind of AJ we’ve created.

Maybe AJ’s super cold and just… shoots Tenn before anyone gets to say goodbye because “what do you do when someone’s bit?” and it doesn’t really affect him all that much even tho he considered him his friend.

Or, maybe AJ’s legitimately heartbroken that his friend is bitten and doesn’t want him to die and we see our kid just… cry over his friend.  

Or maybe there’s a happy [?] medium where AJ’s upset but he knows what has to be done, so he says his goodbyes, lets everyone say their goodbyes, and then whoever [most likely Clem] puts him down. 

As for Minerva, if she survives the explosion, might get bit as some sort of “redemption” by saving Tenn or whoever.  

Lilly / James Endings

So, I’ve already discussed the whole Lilly vs James choice in previous asks so I’ll just summarize my best guess as to what they may do as far as the outcomes. I think with this choice, we may be choosing our final antagonist.

[spare Lilly] I doubt they’ll just kill her off in the explosion because she’s fucking Lilly and the devs said they’re straying away from choice payoffs like that.

I think she’ll be “missing” as in when we wake up we may not see her [unless she is there and attacks us and we have to escape her again] and she’ll gather up any delta survivors to get revenge and possibly take AJ [assuming they’re going for the s1 parallel of kidnapping a child] and then we’ll have a final battle with her.

I’m hoping it’s by the barn so that we can bash her brains in with the salt lick like WHY ELSE WOULD THEY SHOW IT TO US?? 

Lemme look her in the eye while Clementine holds the salt lick over her head and say, 

“Larry bled like a fucking pig, and so will you.”

Fuck Lilly jfc

[shoot Lilly] Again, I doubt if we save James that he’ll be killed off during the explosion, but we’ll get separated. 

after an intense escape scene and I think we’ll meet up with some of the group [Louis/Violet, Aasim, Omar] but no one else is accounted for but there are too many walkers drawn in from the explosion to stay put and look.

Clementine might send everyone back to the school while she searches for AJ because I don’t see her just assuming that he made it back without looking. But, when we get to the school be to find that [hopefully] everyone made it back okay [more or less] except AJ and James.

Which prompts a “Oh shit, we have to go find them!”

Whether they’ll go through with the ‘kidnapping’ part of it, I dunno, since it’s been pointed out that James doesn’t really seem like the type unless it was for some extremely drastic measure.

We might have to justify our actions to him and explain why we told AJ to shoot. 

I said before that part of the choice [James vs Lilly] might be to let James die a friend and thinking AJ’s saved, or prevent his death and watch him turn on us. But, I dunno. Either way’s heartbreaking.

AJ + What becomes of him

I agree with a lot of people when they say that we won’t be influencing his choices next episode and he’ll make his own decisions based on what we taught him. 

This is a little worrying because I’m not the greatest parent… after all, I shoved Abel through the window, let him attack Dorian, told him to shoot Lilly…

But! I didn’t kill the walker couple [what good that’ll do I dunno], I let him know that killing Marlon was wrong, didn’t give him dibs on Abel, I didn’t torture Abel…

I’m just eager to see just how much it’ll affect how my choices shape him because I don’t want to it be just one or two things.

Deaths

Honestly, I think it’d be cool if everyone was determinate. 

Imagine the combo of endings that could produce.

I’d hate it because I don’t want my kids to die, but at least if they were all determinate then I could possibly save them all, right?

Unless we get an A vs B choice again in which case PLEASE DON’T

I keep thinking of scary combos like

[save Aasim] vs. [save Ruby]

[Save Tenn] vs. [save Willy]

[save Willy] vs. [save Aasim] 

[god looking at these makes me think of those fanmade ending screens that are all over reddit and I don’t like it]

I know that if they throw ANY of these at me I’ll just be stuck there, staring at the pause screen gripping my controller to the point of breaking it and trying to not scream. 

Also, I list those ones because I don’t think we’ll have another [save Louis] vs. [save Violet] choice because at this point it’s a little pointless? It’s a shitty choice for the player to make but… it’d be easy, too? Depending on which route you’re doing? Like, I���m not going to pick Louis for all three episodes then suddenly be like “Nah, gotta save Vi” because??? 

I think my choice is pretty obvious at this point, game, c’mon. 

But, if that’s not the case, I’ll list who’s most likely to die down to least likely:

Omar [sorry buddy, you’re on all our lists and I hate it]

Minerva

Tenn

Lilly/James

Willy

Aasim

Ruby

Louis/Violet [betrayed]

Louis/Violet [saved]

Clementine

AJ

Tho I hope Omar lives to the end so he can turn to the camera and flip all of us off for talking shit

Gimme that romance 

I know we just took down [or did we…?] a bunch of sick delta raiders but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get to smooch Louis again, okay?

After all this shit, I’m gonna need to see some romance with Clementine and her bf/gf [or bromoments if you friendzoned them]

Let me hug AND kiss Louis. 

I think we deserve it at this point.

Also, he’s pretty messed up from shooting Dorian [OR YA KNOW LOSING HIS TONGUE]

And gimme angst with Violet. I’ll try not to get pissed off this time around since I’ve got a better understanding of her character after taking time to process it. So long as she doesn’t hurt anyone [and I doubt she will] then we’ll be fine. 

Long post, but there are some of my thoughts. 

Maybe once the trailer comes out I’ll have more ideas and predictions, but for now, that’s all folks.

[slashtakemylife]

Sheith was NEVER meant to be canon

First of all, I will NEVER EVER discourage a ship, I welcome all ships, heck send me right now a message about sheith HC and I'll encourage you and even HC with you as well

But please, Sheith was NEVER in any point supposed to be canon and yes I've seen and read a LOT of theories and let me tell you, you all need to watch all of captain america's movies but that comes later, first here's some arguments

Brotherhood: Yes I know you get this argument a LOT but the Brotherhood (TM) story line is extremely common

The Hobbit (Bilbo and Thorin) Sherlock, both movies and BBC (Sherlock and Watson) Merlin (Merlin and Arthur) and my main base Captain America (Steve and Bucky) I'm sorry I can't bring you child shows because none come to mind right now

All this shows and even more, show a bond between males that go beyond friendship, become brothers, even stronger than blood but also these guys are actually the most popular ship in their franchise and it's no surprise why, even Queerbaiting comes from here because they KNOW people are invested in them and deliberately make scenes that encourage people DESPITE knowing they will never follow through, so you are not new, the first or even the last

The Beard

So it comes a point were this male/male relationships are so close you begin to think, hmmm, I wonder if there's more? Could it be romantic?! And at this exact moment content makers pull out their trap card, The Love Interest!

Nothing a seldom developed female character can't fix, right? They can add a female character and push her solely for romance (since they don't actually know what to do with a female character, wtf do vaginas even do?) with a few character development moments and also to show like, No they are not gay, look at this happy HETERO couple!

Now is the moment were I confess I am a rabbid Adashi shipper, YES I will protect my son Adam from ANYONE and right now I'm gonna tell you the real deal, the absolute tea of my boy Adam!

Adam is a freaking Beard

So yeah, when S6 ended, it also came to a point were they realized things had gone way to gay and considering how they had hyped LGTB, they knew now was the time to deliver and put an end to a romantic Sheith with the respective Beard (Acxa I think was considered to be Keith's beard but maybe they cast it out later on?) but wait! Ohhh f*ck, we forgot Shiro was gay, uh oh, that means Shiro's beard is a guy, yeah, remember that boy Adam back from when we were doing S2?

In case you don't remember, here's some history, Shiro was supposed to die back in S2 so that Keith could rise into the BP, in an interview, JDS and LM said that S7's Adam flashback was supposed to happen in S2, so those scenes were prepared beforehand, they were actually going to show a gay Shiro and then he was going to die but since they didn't want to do the BYG trope, *cough* bullshit *cough* toy sales and Shiro being Very popular *cough*, they let Shiro live, be the BP and also help make a storyline were Keith goes with the blades instead of immediately into BP and also create this amazing brotherhood that would guide both their characters (the only reason S6 gets a pass is mostly that emotional, visually beautiful fight between Shiro and Keith)

But then as I said, it reached the point were it was way to gay and the beard was needed but unfortunately, the beard was gay and honestly they didn't want to spend too much time on the gay, luckily all they need is a beard, nothing more so here VLD tried to be sneaky with these easy steps:

Put Shiro's gay beard

Get brownie point for the rep they promised

Kill Sheith in the process

Also kill Klance since it's stablished Shiro is he only rep

Kill the beard as well since we don't actually want to put a whole gay storyline, we only need to stablish Shiro as gay

Success!

This is very VERY clear in how they justified Adam's death by saying it was tragedy, war and loss, specially when they mentioned that Shiro is the rep, no one EVER made an intention to give Shiro a full GAY romance in ANY way or with any character, but their plan went to shit when everyone (rightfully) called out their BS so they needed a quick fix specially with the coming S8 which was probably mostly done

Why didn't they just make Shiro marry Keith? Their relationship was very developed it was a very easy step, in fact! We have clear evidence they cut out big Sheith moments and interactions and deliveratedly added more Curtis in the BG to justify the ending

If they had prepared a Sheith canon finale it would've saved their ASS, all they had to do in S7 was say 'there's more rep to come!' And be done with the controversy and you are right, ot would've been a slow build relationship

I wholeheartedly believe they cut Sheith scenes and added more Curtis, I do, but here's why, S8 was mostly done, they had done their LGTB duty and S7 should have all the rep the fandom needed, things were good, we could forget that pending and move on with the finale, then the fandom exploted (rightfuly mind you

So VLD had to fix this, they knew S8 also had Sheith PLATONIC moments since they thought they were safe, we were supposed to know this was a friendship, not a relationship, that was the point of the beard! But the beard and the rep both failed (you mean an ambiguous scene and later kill the SO doesn't work? *pikachu face*)

They cut Sheith platonic moments, made klance open ended, used the deus ex machina card for Ezor and Zethrid and rush a Shiro wedding

Look I'm an Adashi, my ship IS canon but one is dead and the other married off, if they had added Adam at the wedding it would've also felt awkward, this Shiro friend that we barely saw is now married to him? Only if you know their true relationship would you understand but it would also feel out of the blue (they did broke up) specially since their scene felt final and not a petty dispute or a misunderstanding but a really sad but necessary choice, none were in the wrong

So I understand the canon and the behind the scenes as to why this happened, but that doesn't mean I'll stop shipping them (F*ck VLD, I'm he captain now) I choose to drown in fanfiction but I won't hate or belittle Curtis because he really is a backgroungd character that got roped into this but people like him, so respect him, his relationship with Shiro and their shippers

So back to my Captain America, I chose this pairing because they went through the same, in Cap 1 there was a balance between the friendship between Steve and Bucky and the slow buildup of Steve and Peggy so while you could definitely ship Stucky if you wanted, the clear canon was Steggy, what happens in Cap 2? The Stucky relationship gets more screen time and the developing romance Staron is very little (non-existent) so when we get to Cap 3 were Cap goes against everyone FOR Bucky, well #GetCaptainAmericaABoyfriend was trending, why? Because The Beard, Sharon as a character and Staron as a couple was so underdeveloped that we all felt wierd with that kiss, sure we knew it was going to happen and that there was something there but suddenly in our faces? People felt comfortable with Stucky because it was more developed that the actual canon relationship, if they had actually made an effort to flush out Sharon and her relationship with Cap, I think it wouldn't have feel so akward, it doesn't help that we repeatedly get reminded of Peggy so they never really pay time to poor Sharon (Yes I'm a Stucky but if a female is done right I can accept her because I actually love Steggy as well)

So Sheith went through the same, they coded their relationship a certain way and failed to separate the romance and bromance, it's never fun to be the obligatory love interest to push away that gay sh*t, Lance actually went through thos since S8 has him mostly worry for Allura

So this is a long rant so thanks for reading

[fordarkisthesuede]

At the Brink of Midnight - Chapter 9

*Arrives two days late with Starbucks* ‘Sup, guys! σ( ▼∀▼)σ These past 96 hours have somehow filled me with a weird chaotic energy, and I pumped out the longest roller-coaster of a chapter I’ve ever done in such a short amount of time!!! Thank you, whoever sent all the writing vibes my way!!!! ★>d(,,･ε´-,,)⌒☆ I’m sending out strong vibes to everybody in return! *May you get hit by the writing bug and have the opportunity and energy to completely translate your ideas to printed words!*

Buuut a big note before we get to the good stuff:  I realized too late that the original events of S2 take place in Spring. Like…April. I was writing all of this with the thought that S2 took place in fall; I mean, the characters can wear a leather jacket or a couple of layers comfortably, so I thought “yeah that sounds like early autumn”. Nope! So that means that for this story’s timeline, everything gets shifted into where it should be. On the downside, that means I had to go through and edit all the bits where it said “it was totally spring, you guys”. On the upside… IT’S NOW OCTOBER!!!!! THE SPOOKY SEASON THAT COMPLETELY FITS WITH WHAT’S GOING ON!!! And coincidentally, it’s my favorite time of the year, so I love writing about it even more! I get to add in a thing here and there about the spookiest time of the year, so I’ll have a nice list of what those little changes are uploaded here soon if you don’t feel like re-reading the whole thing. A re-read isn't necessary though, just keep in mind that the humid air of rainy spring in the city is replaced with chilling fronts and even more cloud cover than usual. Why am I bothering with this? Because I’m a stickler for keeping with canon as much as possible and I feel like an absolute fool for not remembering what goddamn time of year it was to begin with. (I mean, I went so far as to download all of TeamFourStar’s play-through because I watched it so often, you think I'd remember to go back and watch the very beginning once in a while…)

Anywho, thank you all again for your continuously loving support!!! 

♡~(ɔ ˘3˘)˘⌣˘ c)

Important Spoiler Tags: drugs (mentioned), swearing, canon-typical violence, electric shocks (mentioned), torture of flowers, flirting, almost an excessive use of emoji, crying, romantic dirty thoughts

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Read on Ao3 or continue below:

Chapter 9:  Grapevines

Bruce Wayne couldn’t remember the last time he’d conducted a meeting from his home office. It wasn’t as if he didn’t use it – the desk surface had hardly any dust settled on it and two empty coffee mugs he’d forgotten about on two different occasions just happened to be stacked behind the monitor – but it felt strange, like a lot of things did lately.

He knew part of the reason for that was watching houses down in the Batcave right now. Knowing he wasn’t alone in the house was comforting, but knowing there were two cops outside the Manor’s front door just waiting for a chance to grab his best friend-cum-houseguest was not, and knowing that they were both close to being thrown in hot water was even less so.

He figured the other reason he felt strange was because he was slipping back into his old habit as if it had never been shelved in the first place. He had time to kill before the video meeting started, so he’d been scouring for information on “Pam”, Jonathan Crane’s ‘old friend’.

There were a few Pamela’s in Gotham, but only one fit within Crane’s age-range and attended Gotham University at about the same time:  Pamela Isley, a forty-four-year-old former botanist with a record that ran the length of his arm. Theft, assault, threats, and attempted poisonings all done in the name of extreme environmentalism and social activism were sprinkled in her history before and after her days as a researcher, and according to GCPD records, she was now suspected of running her own drug-ring under the moniker of ‘Poison Ivy’. (Bruce found several recorded instances of people claiming to be Poison Ivy, most of whom were already arrested.)

Bruce would’ve wondered why on Earth she hadn’t been thrown in prison when she made a bomb-threat at a wealthy businessman several states away nearly a decade ago if he hadn’t seen her mug-shot from back then. At thirty-five, she looked every bit as beautiful as a top-billed Hollywood star, with natural orange-red curls cascading over her pale shoulders and ample bust in chemically-tamed waves, flashing the camera a come-hither stare that made it look like she was trying for a part in a high-budget porn flick rather than standing in front of a height chart for her criminal record. Pamela’s charges were mysteriously swept under the rug.

The latest photo he found of her reminded him a bit of those ‘cougar’ dating ads he’d seen – the older Pamela was blowing a kiss to the camera with a mocking look in her dark green eyes. Bruce glared at it. There was little doubt she was using people to cover for her constantly, and when she was in trouble, she managed to wriggle out of it with her looks.

Not this time. She was friends with Dr. Jonathan Crane, and that meant she wasn’t going to get out of this unharmed. The second his virtual meeting was over, Bruce was heading towards Toxic Acres, and hopefully the wounded Crane would still be there to see Batman’s fist hit his –

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts at the buzz of his phone. A message from the BatComputer…?

I’m bored :/

Bruce blinked down at the screen. John had found the emergency messaging system. Of course he had. He was just grateful that the encryption software on his phone was still up to date. Just what else did John poke his nose into down there…? (There was the chance that John would see files he shouldn’t, but Bruce kept those under a thumbprint encryption. He shouldn’t even entertain the thought.)

Stake-outs are usually pretty boring.

It wouldn’t be so bad if you were down here tho! :)

Bruce hovered his thumb over the keyboard, unsure of what to say. The feeling was kind of mutual, if he was being honest; having another person around on a stakeout would at least keep his mind wandering into the worsts of what-ifs and double-checking every last security issue…

No movement on either houses btw. Been reading Crane’s docs in the meantime but it’s DREADFUL!!! I feel like I’m reading a sleeping pill… =_=

You finish your WE stuff yet?

Meeting’s not for another 20 minutes. Been looking up stuff on Crane’s “friend”.

Oh??? :o Do tell!!!!

Bruce couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm.

Pamela Isley, former botanist w/ criminal rec., mostly extreme protest kind of stuff. Good chance she’s the head of a drug-ring that moved here a couple months ago; their leader goes by “Poison Ivy”.

They went to college together, but Pamela moved back here recently.

hMmMmm…. That means no burning the place down if we’re stuck! Bad fumes everywhere xP

Bruce focused on the word “we’re”. He hadn’t been planning on bringing John along. He wanted him safe, at home, where no one had a chance of seeing him and he wasn’t put in harm’s way…

Oh!!! You’ve got a bunch of sticky electro-shockers around - do you mind if I tinker with them? :3c pleeeeaaasssee?

What are you thinking of doing with them?

Making one BIIIIIG shock-bomb, of course! ;D I can wire them together so the shock spreads evenly in the space while it’s discharging.

Bruce reconsidered bringing John. He was still learning to curb his impulses, so being outside in a fighting environment would be a serious gamble, but... Maybe that could be their advantage, too. Bruce made a mental note to go dig out the spare bullet-proof vest from his closet’s secret panel.

You can do that?

I played around with making something like it before, but……well, you know.

Time + supplies for that project were low att. I figured I could always go back to it later anyway.

Bruce felt like his heart had deflated and swelled in such a short time that it hurt.

I mean I’m fine with throwing knives around too but I figured that would be less discrete ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

He’d been thinking of different methods of entering the “house”. Most of them featured a silent slip-in and as little combat as possible, but he knew that there would likely be some muscle around to stop any would-be intruders, and getting a quieter jump on them would certainly be helpful. He would certainly be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed that John had thought that far ahead even back then.

If you think you can get it done within 1.5 hours, then yes.

Ha ha ha with these supplies I can get it done in like 40 mins! >:3 just you watch!!!

Btw have you seen the news?

Not yet. Why?

I was on the morning edition! At least they used a good pic ;D

But also saw a guy getting fished out of the harbor. Your handy-dandy invasion software said he’s a registered Ryde driver.

I told you not to fiddle with that.

Sorry, but I only used it the once! Promise!!!

Bruce sighed through his nostrils.

Besides I thought you’d want to know. Think Crane stole his ride and dumped him by the docks? :v

Probably. I can get the plate from up here to verify. DO NOT TOUCH THAT PROGRAM AGAIN.

Yes sir ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Bruce wasn’t sure if that message was supposed to be flirtatious or mocking.

The incoming call from Iman Avesta stopped him from responding. He figured it had to do with John’s escape and the extra security added at Wayne Tower this morning, but why was she calling him now, rather than several hours ago?

“Iman?”

“Hey, Bruce. Hold on a sec – there we go, now we can both -”

“Bruce, what the fuck?” Tiffany asked over the line. “Are you at home right now?”

Bruce almost sighed at the attitude. “Yes, Tiffany, I’m at home, in my office.”

“Uh-huh. I keep getting alerts that your basement’s messaging system is being used. Care to explain that?”

Oh. Of course. He’d forgotten Tiffany had linked her phone to that, too. It’d just…been too long, he supposed. (She couldn’t read them, though, could she? He was fairly sure it didn’t give out mass-texts unless prompted.) “…where are you right now?”

Iman responded instead. “We’re in your second office.”

“…the line’s secure?”

“Of course.” Iman paused, and Bruce knew his new CSO was choosing her words carefully. “I’m guessing you have John Doe in the Batcave?”

“Yes.”

“Bruce, did you fucking break him out?” Tiffany asked with no shortness of impatience.

“I rescued him,” Bruce said firmly. “I know what you’re thinking, and I have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to say, but listen:  I had no choice but to take him with me. One of the doctors working at Arkham has gone rogue – he’d been doing experiments on patients, and I have a feeling he’s going to continue them on civilians. I need to find him before then, and John has been helping me.”

“Helping…? You’re not bringing him in the field with you?” Tiffany said disbelievingly. “After that psychopath almost killed us?”

Bruce could still see Joker running at Tiffany, knife in hand, his psychotic breakdown in full force. He could still see him being smacked against the railing, sheer madness played over his long, bloody face as he desperately fought to stab what was his hero.

But John and Joker were as much the same as Bruce and Batman were, and they were constantly changing.

The Joker in the Batcave wasn’t the same one from Ace Chemicals.  

“I know what John did,” he answered, trying to breathe even as something wanted to hitch in his throat, “and I know how far he’s come since then. I know you both regret-”

“No, I’m not listening to this right now,” Tiffany scowled, her voice fading in the middle her sentence like she was leaving the room. “Talk some sense into him.”

Bruce heard Iman’s voice call after her, and then nothing for a beat.

Iman sighed. “I’ll talk to her. But Bruce,” she started seriously, “Tiffany isn’t the only one worrying about you. Six months can’t possibly cure everything wrong with a man whose spent his life in an asylum.” He could practically hear her chew over her phrasing. “I need to know… If John goes too far – if he shows signs of regressing…or just becoming more volatile – I need to know you’re going to put your foot down.”

“I’m more than capable of handling him, Iman.”

“Please, Bruce, I’d rather not have to pull you off another broken pipe lodged in your kidney.” She paused, and Bruce let her continue, feeling the scar in his side twinge at the painful memory. “I know you care a lot about him,” she resumed in a softer tone, “and I know you trust him. But if you doubt him at any time, you need you to step back and re-evaluate your choices. I don’t want him to regress back into the Joker.”

That was a different Joker, Bruce wanted to say. He knew that wouldn’t sound the way it should. “I promise I won’t let that happen.”

“Good to know,” Iman replied, sounding somewhat relieved. “This doctor you’re hunting – is there anything we can do to help?”

Bruce shot a look at the clock in the corner of his monitor. He didn’t have as much time left as he would’ve liked before his virtual meeting started. “Tiffany can fill you in a bit, I had her help searching Arkham’s records before. Can you run a plate for me? I think Dr. Crane is running with a stolen car; I’ll send you the details in a bit.”

“Sure. We can check traffic cams for it, too, if you’d like.”

“If you would. And the second I have anything concrete on Dr. Crane, I’m sending Tiffany the details – I need her pull as Oracle to get the word out to the GCPD before anything happens. They’ll listen to their number-one informant more than a vigilante coming out of retirement.”

“…you’re…?”

He could almost see the shock in her face. They’d had a short discussion about his alter-ego when he decided to quit the first time; she’d been incredibly understanding about the whole thing. It was almost as if she’d seen it coming.

“Are you sure?”

He was as sure. She didn’t know about the instincts broiling underneath his surface every day. She didn’t know he never really stopped being half of himself. She wouldn’t know or really understand that he just shoved it all down and aside like he did so much else just to get through things. “I don’t have any other options at this point.”

“…you know you can count on us if you need the help.”

“Of course I do.”

“Right. Well, in the meantime we’ll keep the fort over here running as smoothly as possible.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good luck.”

The line went silent, and Bruce pulled his phone away, catching a glimpse of three unread messages.

Sorry, buddy, I was just kidding around, you know? Ha ha

Bruce???

Hello???????

Sorry, had a phone call and couldn’t reply. It’s fine.

Seconds ticked by, and Bruce began changing out of his black t-shirt and into his button-down. It wouldn’t do to appear as a CEO in anything less than a proper suit. He could leave the jeans on, at least.

“Oh! Uh…sorry, Bruce…”

He felt his heart stop for a second. That was definitely John’s voice, even though it crackled slightly from the speakers. The monitor didn’t show anything out of the ordinary. John must have been using the spy-camera feature on the Batcomputer; it was linked to most the devices in the house, and Bruce’s webcam was no exception. He’d almost forgotten it had a loudspeaker function, too.

“I didn’t realize you were…um, changing.”

Bruce glared at the webcam’s lens. “John, what did I tell you about fiddling with the Batcomputer?”

“…sorry. I was worried when you didn’t answer me.”

He sounded genuine, at least. Bruce could easily picture him running upstairs to find him, if there wasn’t a chance he would’ve been seen. “I answered you a minute ago. I was on a call with Iman,” he stated plainly, fixing the buttons on his sleeves.

“…oh, ha ha, there it is! Uh, I guess I’ll just…go, then…”

Bruce almost questioned why John was sounding nervous and distracted, but it wasn’t until he saw the webcam light wink off again that he realized his shirt was wide open, the scars littering his torso half on display from the waist up.

Thankfully, no one was around to see Bruce bury his face in the palm of his hand for a moment, feeling like his face was on fire from first and second-hand embarrassment.

It didn’t last long. Bruce took a few deep breaths as he fixed himself up, and dialed into the meeting with a fixed expression of calm, firmly ignoring the heat that had settled in his stomach that threatened to go lower at the thought that John was bound not to forget any of that.

Driving the Batmobile in full gear again was certainly something else. Bruce felt the weight of the Kevlar body armor press against his limbs as he sped down Gotham’s twisting alley streets, no one any the wiser that the Wayne’s red sports car was hiding Batman behind it. The city’s CCTV signal was scrambled with the flick of a switch as he came into driving distance of the alley’s camera, making him almost untraceable.

He’d given the Honda Accord a head-start; it couldn’t go nearly as fast as the Batmobile, and Bruce had to find a spot to safely change before going to go pick John up from his drop-off point, and the post-working-hours traffic had already gotten its usual early start. It was a slower drive than he’d like it to be, even with Bruce’s shortcuts.

The setting sun was completely obscured by a dark overcast. It made the orange streetlamps glowing over the decorations sitting here and there in windows and doors even more energetic, like every corner of Gotham was slowly growing with the energy of Halloween.

Bruce clicked the communicator in his cowl. “John, are you there yet?”

Silence for a few seconds, and then a rustling noise. “Sorry, I had to take this off for a bit. What?”

“Are you there yet?”

John giggled slightly. “Oh, yeah, I’m here. Just waiting on you, pal.”

He was already at the meeting point? How did he get there so fast? “You put everything back where it was supposed to be?”

“No, I stripped the seats and threw everything into the garbage,” John grumbled with dripping sarcasm. “Of course I did, it’d be rude not to put Jerry’s stuff back. What do you take me for?”

“…I’m just making sure you didn’t forget anything.”

“I didn’t.” There was a loud slurping noise, like the last of a liquid being sucked from a straw.

“John, where are you right now?”

“In the alley, waiting for you.”

“Did you make a stop?”

John giggled, a little louder, but not at all nervous. He was enjoying himself. “What can I say? Going out on the town with you like this makes me thirsty,” he said with a strange purr. “Besides, no one bats an eye at me when I look like this anyway.” He paused. “Well, no, I’ve gotten some eyes on me, but, uh, I think they’re more the appreciative type. I guess ZZ Top was kinda right about the sharp-dresser thing.”

Bruce felt his brows knit together. “You’ve always looked sharp,” he said truthfully, turning down a narrow alley.

“Yeah, but not thousand-dollar-suit sharp. There’s a difference! Plus I think this bullet-proof vest makes me look a little bulkier than I actually am.”

Bruce spotted him leaning against the graffiti-covered wall, a Burger Lord cup in one hand and a plastic orange bag in another. Just how much time did Bruce lose while he was changing?

John tossed the drink in the dumpster and practically jumped into the car, shoving the orange bag behind the driver seat and slamming the door shut as Bruce switched off the communicator. He took one look at Bruce’s questioning glower and gave a nervous sort of grin. “Hey, don’t look at me like that, there’s something in there for you, too.”

Bruce almost asked what, but decided that a lecture on keeping a low profile and not taking money from his house’s various hiding spots would have to wait. (Though he supposed whatever John got wasn’t expensive. He was quite frugal, and it wasn’t as if Bruce couldn’t afford to buy John whatever he wanted anyway.) He concentrated instead on heading down the twisting path towards Toxic Acres. At least the traffic over there was a hell of a lot lighter.

“Hey, when you drove me to the Batcave, did you go in fourth gear, or third?”

He wasn’t sure why he asked, but he honestly couldn’t remember. He just recalled putting his foot to the floor and keeping his eyes on the road, occasionally reaching over to check John’s pulse. “I wasn’t really paying attention to that; I concentrating more on driving as fast as possible.”

“Oh – so you didn’t know you could punch the shift down into third whenever you wanted? It was so fun! I can say I literally punched it out of the Batcave!” He laughed. “I’m guessing you can’t do that in this car?”

“…I’ve got paddle shifters.” They were starting to travel into the more deserted road leading into Toxic Acres. Bruce took a sharp turn onto the hill with the broken Do Not Enter sign, and checking that no one was behind him, flipped the switch to shift the car into armored plates and pressed the wheel-paddle for a lower gear.

They flew down the road with a whirring whine of the engine, John’s notorious excited laugh mixing with it, and Bruce allowed himself to smile a little at it, knowing his own little joyful thrill wouldn’t last very long.

John was soon tapping his fingers together in some kind of rhythm as they passed by more empty houses, Bruce moving a little slower to keep his eyes out for trouble. Sitting close to the river on the outskirts of the city, they were originally meant to be a long neighborhood for the middle and upper class to build their lives, but as the unemployment and crime rates rose, the place became abandoned. It didn’t help that the piping structure to carry water there had been faulty, making either lead poisoning or unfiltered dirty water a prominent problem and giving the section of Gotham its nickname.

“How do we know which place is the botanist’s?” John asked, his green eyes scouring the houses in front of them.

“I sent out another drone earlier for some aerial shots. There’s a place with camouflaged green-houses in the back on Aster Place.”

“Wow, you did that before I left? That was fast…”

“It was a quick job. I’m not picking up the other drone until later.”

They turned the corner onto Aster Place; the road would dead-end in a while, but Bruce knew the house wouldn’t be situated at the end.

“Oh, there’s the spot Jackie got shot at!” John pointed ahead. “I wonder if there’s a bloodstain left…!”

Bruce tightened his grip on the wheel. “We’re close.”

It was oddly quiet out there. There was no other sign of life in what was a hot-spot of criminal hide-outs. Bruce turned on the thermal vision in his cowl; a lot of the houses were actually empty for once.

Except for one. 1801 Aster Place. There were a group of people scattered around on the bottom floor and what appeared to be a lot of heat-lamps running on the top floor. If one of the people in the group wasn’t Pamela Isley, then she might have been holding up in the basement…

They left the Batmobile out of sight down the road, and Bruce and John moved swiftly behind the backs of the houses in the chilly night air, the taser bomb safely in John’s coat pocket; John was surprisingly quiet, only humming a familiar tune here and there. (Wasn’t it the theme from that old spy-thriller…?) Bruce managed to quiet him with a look, and John mimed locking his mouth shut and throwing the key away.

Two unknown people were standing in what used to be a kitchen; three more people were up in the front room of the house. There were no security cameras to be seen.  

“Stick close to me,” Bruce whispered, the modifier in his cowl deepening his voice. “We go in through the back window, take out the two in the kitchen quietly and throw the bomb up front so we can cuff the lot. If none of them are Ms. Isley, we find the basement.”

John gave him a thumbs up, pulling out the riot baton he had hidden away. (Bruce had still not remembered when he or Alfred bought that, but vaguely remembered stashing it in the towel cupboard with some other emergency gear. He wasn’t surprised John found it.)

The bathroom window’s locks weren’t difficult to break. They looked like they had been broken several times already. Bruce slid the insect screen up and slipped in through the thin opening feet-first, twisting his limbs just right to softly land on the floor. He had to help pull John through the rest of the way after he smacked his head on the bottom of the window; thankfully he hadn’t made any noise, but he did give Bruce a strange look as brushed himself off where Bruce had gripped his sides.

Bruce didn’t have time to think about it.

The two people in the kitchen stood in semi-darkness, watching through the patio windows with rifles leaning against the wall. There wasn’t so much a bare bulb to give off light. Bruce figured their eyes might have adjusted to the dark, and signaled John to follow as he crept up behind the two goons.

“I dunno, with all the hype surrounding episode four, you just know those guys are going to mess up somewhere. Remember when they decided to let Celestyne drop to his death back in season one?” The one with dreadlocks asked.

“Oh, come on, that was just to test the game’s limits. Besides, Celestyne couldn’t die; I don’t think Jane can, either,” the second person responded in a higher voice with a casual shrug.

“Dude, you know the game’s gonna make her a villain in the end, though, right? She might die…”

Bruce was ready. John was gripping the baton with a widening grin…

“Are you kidding me? They have her affection meter up so high I’m surprised the game doesn’t have a dating opt-”

Bruce slammed dreadlocked goon’s head into the wall just as the baton crashed down on the other goon’s skull, little smears of blood marking the plaster and paint with a satisfying crack.

John clutched the collar of the goon he’d struck, gripping the slightly bloody baton a little harder in his other hand. He seemed to be thinking.

Bruce took a zip-tie out and cuffed the goon’s hands behind their back, and wondered just what John was staring at until he’d turned the person around and caught a glimpse of them in the light of the window.

They were both women with little tattoos of vines creeping along the back of their necks.

If Bruce guessed right, those were ivy leaves on the vine. Poison Ivy had a loyal gang.

John zip-tied the wrists of the woman he’d struck and patted the part of her head that wasn’t wounded. “Sorry,” he whispered as if she would hear it. “Lauren’s ex,” John mumbled, gesturing to the woman on the floor as if he knew Bruce had raised his eyebrow at him.

Bruce simply swept onward, spying the door for the basement. There was a light on in the front room, and three women who looked like they could be professional boxers of different weight categories were sitting in different areas. One was sharpening a knife at the table, and another was cleaning a semi-automatic rifle as the third kept watch over a monitor showing security camera footage; three looked to be by the greenhouses (Bruce recognized the Foxglove variety growing in one under an opening in the glass, sitting next to something that looked primeval), and two were watching over the plants upstairs (marijuana, by the looks of it) and in the basement.

There was a figure in the last screen, working over a row of potted plants with low lamps. A zoom-in with Bruce’s lenses showed long red hair.

Bruce felt a hand on his shoulder, and John crept ahead him, the taser-bomb in hand: it looked like a mass of the sticky-bombs grouped together, colorful wiring connecting them all like some kind of net, and before Bruce could do or say anything, John threw it into the living room, where it tumbled into the middle of the floor.

The group began to shoot out of their seats in a second, and in the next the ball seemed to expand like a geometric toy, the wired tasers being thrown in the air with a flash before smacking people and surfaces alike as they discharged. All three people fell to the floor in trembling heaps, and John dashed out and started to cuff them, Bruce close behind.

The electric bombs were safe to touch now that they had fully discharged, so Bruce had no qualm about stomping on the lightly-burning sections of carpet underneath some of them to prevent any spread of fire as he pushed them aside. The bulkiest goon wasn’t quite down for the count; she was still conscious.

She yanked John off her fallen comrade by his shoulder and threw him into the table’s edge. Bruce threw a Batarang at her arm just as she was about to punch, and John gave a swift knee to her stomach as she flinched.

She fell to the floor with a louder crash and a grunt, pulling the Batarang out from her arm and letting it drop to the floor. “You fucker…” She said, glaring up at John before looking over at Bruce, her eyes widening as he approached with more Batarangs at the ready. “B-Batman…?”

“Yup! He’s real,” John said playfully before smacking the side of her head with the baton. “And so am I,” he added with a growl. He decided to tie her wrists behind the nearest table leg. “I hate not being able to call myself Joker like this… Really sells it better.”

Bruce felt his heart twitch at the name. “You can call yourself that, if it helps,” Bruce said gently, tying the monitoring-station woman’s wrists together, “Just not to people’s faces.”

“Kinda defeats the point,” John grumbled.

Bruce shot a look at the security monitor – Pamela Isley didn’t seem to have heard anything. Still, precaution should be used. “Let’s go,” he said plainly, sweeping out of the room with a swish of his cape.

John tucked a hand into his pocket and followed.

The basement stairs were carpeted and quiet, but Bruce was careful to walk on the outsides rather than the middle. Spiders had clearly made themselves right at home in the damp corners of the walls, and he had to duck to avoid getting the tips of his cowl’s ears stuck in one of their webs. A soft sort of click was heard behind his back, and Bruce figured John had gotten out his grappling gun.

Pamela Isley was bent over a row of exotic-looking orchids posed under heat lamps, dabbing something into the center of a blue orchid’s petals. Bruce saw several troughs full of hallucinogenic mushrooms sitting on the other side of the wall.

“There you go, my darling,” she cooed in a honeyed voice, acting like she was carefully painting the center of the flower, “You’ll soon be the belle of the ball…”

Bruce eyed the electrical box on the other side of the room. It wouldn’t do to drown the place in darkness; he’d be able to see, but John wouldn’t. The best bet was to tackle and restrain her.

Or…

Bruce took out his own grappling gun, and aimed it at Isley’s collar. One click, and it snagged her shirt with practiced ease.

“What the-?!”

Pamela Isley was suddenly dragged yelping through the air at an angle, smacking hard into one of the tables and spilling several unusual potted flowers to the floor.

Bruce grabbed her and threw her to the concrete floor, standing over her with several Batarangs in his hand as John cackled beside him.

“Jonathan Crane,” Bruce growled out, “Where is he?”

Pamela Isley sat up, shock written all over her face as she processed exactly what happened – it quickly morphed to a steely stare. “Batman,” she said slowly in a sweet voice, “I thought you were an urban legend,” she continued, wiping the corner of her mouth where a dribble of blood leaked out. “Do you always treat a lady this way?”

Bruce dragged her up by her collar and threw her against the wall, keeping her at arm’s length. “I know he bought plants from you today. Tell me where he is.”

“Or what?” She taunted, smirking widely at him. “You think I haven’t been knocked around by men before? I’ve been in whole worlds of hurt, honey.”

There was the distinct sound of the grappling wire rushing through the air, and then an enormous crash – John had taken out one of the mushroom tables, the fungi now breaking and bouncing against the floor it the scattered in the dirt.

“Whoopsie,” John hummed, a wide unnerving grin on his face, “butter-fingers.”

Isley looked rather taken aback, but the expression quickly warped into a mocking glare. “You think destroying my inventory is going to intimidate me?”

John shrugged, leaning back against a table and knocking over a several small tropical plants with a slide of his hand, shattering the clay pots and sending the plants scattering to the hard floor.

That definitely got her attention; her face paled slightly and there was tremble in her. “Stop that!”

Bruce glared at her, mentally thanking John for his quick thinking. “Tell me where Crane is and I’ll consider stopping him from tearing this place apart.”

Her dark green eyes glared at him with a slow-boiling dislike. “Let me go first.”

Bruce did a very quick once-over; she didn’t seem to have a gun holster on her, and she was definitely a lighter build than the rest of her gang. Knives were still a possibility. He decided to let go, keeping a Batarang between his fingers just in case as he stepped just out of her reach.

Pamela dusted off her green turtleneck. “I don’t know where he is, and I don’t care. He bought a few of my flowers and left,” she said, crossing her arms.

John laughed, fingering the leaves of the blue orchid she’d been attending. “With a hole in his shoulder? You didn’t even offer a band-aid for that?”

Pamela was closely eyeing the plant in John’s hand. “What if I did?”

“I know he’s a friend of yours, Isley,” Bruce growled. “You’re the only one who could know what he’s planning.”

“I told you, I don’t know,” she stated, “and I don’t care. I’m not his mother.”

“I can see why you were paying such close attention to this one,” John hummed, fingering the petals with a gloved hand. “It’s so pretty. You put a lot of effort into keeping all these, huh?” He grinned at her, almost looking like his usual self. “It’s not just some financial scheme for you, is it?”

“Of course it is,” Pamela stared at him, trying to keep her voice level; Bruce noticed her eyes kept flicking slightly downward, like she was watching the plant. “I breed and sell rare plants to collectors on the side.”

“Oh good! So this won’t bother you!”

In a swift move, John cut the blossom off the stem with the bowie knife one of the group upstairs had been sharpening.

The blossom fell to the table, and Pamela Isley looked as if she’d seen a ghost.

John picked up the blossom. “Let’s see – she’s honest,” he said playfully, plucking a petal from the stem, “she’s not!” He pulled another.

“STOP IT!” Pamela shrieked, making to rush at him – Bruce pulled her back and pointed the tip of the Batarang at her face. She glanced at it fearfully, but then looked back at the flower being torn apart in John’s hand, and it looked like she was watching a child die before her eyes.

“Stop that,” Bruce instructed; John hummed and held it still. “Talk, or my partner and I crush every plant in this place.”

Isley stared at the flower in John’s hand. “I… I don’t know what he’s planning,” she said quietly, her voice cracking slightly. John only touched the tip of a petal before she spoke again – “But-! But I know… He’s building something. He didn’t say what, but he asked for some muscle - I hooked him up with some of Maroni’s old boys.” She shut her eyes and took a breath before glaring at John like he was a complete monster. “I hope the lot of them tears you limb from limb.”

Bruce forced Isley’s hands behind her back and zip-tied them. “Down on the ground,” he growled, pushing down on the top of her head. John pointed the grappling gun in her face with a smirk; a good insurance if she decided to try and elbow Bruce in the face.

Pamela shot them both a hateful glare as she knelt down, and it didn’t waver as her ankles were tied, too. “I won’t forget this,” she spat.

Bruce sent off a message to Tiffany regarding the coordinates of “Poison Ivy”’s headquarters from his gauntlet. He knew she’d get the word out before he could even get back in the car. “Tell it to the judge,” he taunted, leading the way out of the basement, not missing the sparkle in John’s eyes as he followed, the severed, torn orchid blossom having been carelessly thrown at Pamela Isley’s feet.

John gathered up the sticky bomb device before they hustled back to the Batmobile, and it wasn’t until the doors closed that he spoke, and when he did it was in a tone Bruce would almost call revered.

“So, what do we do now, partner?” He asked, a definite glow on his face.

“We go look at some of the Maroni gang’s old haunts and see if we can find anyone recently hired,” Bruce said, the voice modifier in his cowl now disabled. He glanced at his recent text messages:  one from Tiffany giving the ok on Poison Ivy, and another from Iman with the last known location of the stolen Ryde car. “After we look into the motels in the red-light district. Crane might’ve stayed there.”

John laughed to himself, but for once he didn’t share the joke; instead, he pulled out a packet of jerky from the plastic bag he’d brought along. “I knew this would be a long night,” he said cheerfully, as if he was really looking forward to the whole thing.

It was well past one in the morning when Bruce arrived back home through the front gate, the Batsuit stowed away and the plates flipped back to red. The two patrol officers were only somewhat surprised to see him arrive back. Naturally, they reported nothing new, since John had been dropped off in the Batcave first.

Sore muscles were nothing new to Bruce. The old strained climb back up to his bed was just as annoying as ever. He honestly didn’t feel like he wanted to sleep, but after following several empty leads over the city and bruising a few heads alongside John, he did admit that he was physically exhausted. He knew lying down was better than nothing, and he still had to go to work in several hours like he didn’t have a double life. At least he wasn't starving, thanks to John thinking ahead and buying him protein-and-carb-filled snacks.

He forced himself to go through his usual nightly routine, despite the temptation to just flop into bed and lay there. He looked at the bruises on his back and ribs from where John had struggled against him under the influence of Crane’s drug, and decided not to bother putting the bruise-away cream on them, nor on the new ones forming on his shoulder from where one of the former mobsters had hit him.

When he did finally collapse onto the master bed in nothing but his boxer-briefs, his brain still decided to chat away at him.

There were no leads as to who exactly Isley had hired for Crane. Bruce cursed himself for not trying to work the specifics out of her. At least he knew she was arrested for drug possession and manufacturing, as well as smuggling illegal fauna.

There was no word on the whereabouts of Jackie Lant. Her car was missing, and she’d called into work sick. Her apartment hadn’t been visited in the entire time Bruce had his drone’s eye on it, and neither Tiffany nor Iman had seen anything when they looked into Jackie’s friends’ places, either. All Bruce knew was that she hadn’t called an ambulance to fetch her from Toxic Acres, that she hadn’t been admitted to a hospital, and that there was no sign of her body either in the Acres or in the Gotham River.

She was alive, somewhere, and Bruce didn’t know what she was going to do next. He hoped she was just going to lie low until he caught Crane.

Jonathan Crane was nowhere to be found. His house was still empty. He didn’t seem to be staying at any of the motels – or hotels – around the red-light district or its surrounding streets, and nothing had come of a quick credit-card check. The Ryde driver the GCPD fished out of the River that morning had been shot in the head, and his car was so common that if Crane could’ve switched the license plate with anything and been completely invisible. They’d done a quick search of the warehouse district and found no sign of him there, either.

Bruce had the nagging feeling that he wasn’t going to find Crane until the doctor reared his head.

The billionaire rolled onto his stomach, shoving the anxious thought away as he pressed his cheek further into the plush black jersey pillowcase. There were a couple more places he could check tomorrow…

The bedroom door creaked, and Bruce’s eyes shot open, a second away from grabbing the billy-club under his pillow – he could see John’s messy hair in his dark silhouette.

“Bruce? You awake?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“…can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Bruce noticed he closed the door behind him. Like he was planning to stay there.

That definitely put a new light onto the situation. A tense thrill was building in his shoulders as John deigned to sit on the edge of the mattress, his back to Bruce.

John was only wearing his Arkham-regulated pants, and the pale white of his bare skin almost shone in the light streaming in from the window. Bruce saw several bruises forming, one of which was from where he’d gotten grabbed by the shoulder by a Poison Ivy goon, and several more where he’d gotten knocked into.

“…I don’t think I can sleep in that guest room,” John sighed. “I mean, I tried my usual methods of sleep induction, but… It’s too big…and empty. I’m really not used to that.” His voice came out quieter and more contemplative. “I know it’s weird, but do you mind if I sleep in here?” He asked, turning halfway to look right at Bruce.

He felt trapped. If he said no, at the worst John would sulk, and at the best John wouldn’t get any sleep, and that was definitely worse for his mental health. John had mentioned before about how regular sleep cycles were supposed to help with that.

If he said yes, though, he’d know he was sleeping next to John, and there was the tiny worry in the back of his head that John might…try something. Or at least roll over too much.

“I promise I’ll stay over on my side,” John muttered, not tearing his eyes away.

“Alright.”

A sweet smile stretched on his face. “Thanks, Bruce. You won’t regret this.”

“If you keep talking, I might.”

John giggled as he slid beneath the covers on the far side of the bed, flopping one of the extra pillows down between them. “There – a no-roll barrier,” he said as if he had to explain the concept to Bruce.

It did not escape Bruce’s attention that John had decided to lie facing him and rest his arm on top of the pillow. John had pulled the covers up to just underneath his armpits; Bruce could see John's sharp collarbone and the lean wiry muscle of his chest. (Bruce made sure not to look for more than a moment's curiosity would allow.)

God, John’s face was actually his for the first time that whole night. Bruce had gotten used to seeing it in the natural makeup, but it was almost a relief to see it in its normal borderline-luminescent white. He looked like the man Bruce knew.

Acid-green eyes stared at him, flicking slightly and growing soft. “I…did want to talk to you about something, though. If it’s okay.”

“I suppose I’m still awake,” Bruce said in an attempt to lighten the tension in his arms. “Sure.”

“Do you ever…look back on something, and think about the worst thing that could’ve happened in that situation?”

He didn’t like to admit it, but he had. Usually in his worst moods, he’d think about how everything could’ve gone wrong. He’d usually think about everything he could’ve done better, too. “I try not to, but…sometimes, yeah.”

“I’ve been thinking about our fight a lot, lately,” John confessed, “At Ace. I used to think about it a lot when I got recommitted, but… You started visiting me,” he said softly, a light smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You remember when I told you I thought I’d messed things up for us?”

“Yeah.” It was Bruce’s first visit to John. He never forgot the sheer hopeful joy on John’s face upon seeing him. It was practically engraved in his memory.

“Ever since I started sessions with Crane, I kept going back to that night. He always tried to weasel my worst secrets out of me,” he said with a low scowl, “but when he started using that…toxin on me… I kept…thinking about what could have happened back there. I… I know I almost killed you.”

The sheer pain reading in John’s eyes was enough to make Bruce want to wrap his arms around him. It was beautiful and raw and honest, and Bruce found himself holding stock still, almost captivated by the expression.

“I kept seeing it. Over and over – it was like I could see myself throwing you over the railing or-or stabbing you, or...” Bruce saw tears welling up as John clenched the pillow between them. “I don’t want to come close to that again, Bruce,” he managed to say, his voice starting to hitch. “I don’t… I don’t want to kill you.”

Bruce threw his pride away and grabbed John’s hand in his. “You won’t.”

“You…you don’t know that,” John said with a light sob. “If…if I…go back to how I was… If I mess up...”

Bruce squeezed his hand, feeling the soft skin twitch under his fingertips. “I won’t pretend you’re perfect,” he said, honesty seeping through every word, “but I know you, John. I know you’re not going after Crane out of revenge, like you did with Waller. You reached out to me for help – but you were already trying to find a way to stop him without resorting to just stabbing him with the nearest shiv.”

John sniffed, a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth like he was almost smiling. “Yeah…”

“So you’re not the same person you were then, are you?” He soothed with a supportive smile. “Even if you feel you are going backward, I know it won’t be to that same point.”

“Maybe…” he said with another sniff, looking more serious. “But Bruce, you know there are things I can’t ever really stop, right? The auditory psychosis is pretty much going to stay with me the rest of my life,” he started, clutching Bruce’s hand back, “and I’m not going to lie here and pretend my pulse wasn’t pounding a mile a minute when we were fighting those mobsters out there.” He sported a small knowing grin at him. “You know what that’s like, though, don’t you…”

(Yes, he did.)

“…you know what’s funny? I used to think one bad day could turn a person completely upside down.” John managed to stroke his thumb against Bruce’s knuckle, sending a little shiver over the skin, and Bruce wondered if John knew how incredibly intimate that gesture felt as he stared softly at him from the pillow. “Especially after Waller came to town… But…I never really thought things could go back up after it. I guess it just…takes a while.”

Bruce knew there was something right in John’s line of thinking. It only took one day to turn his life on its head, and he felt he knew, despite John having no memory of his life before Arkham, that something similar had happened to him. “Well…they say time heals all wounds.”

“How much passed before yours started to heal?”

He almost didn’t want to answer. The truth was that he wasn’t sure at all if he was ever going to fully heal, despite knowing what his parent’s really were. Maybe it was because he knew the terrible truth about them that they wouldn’t ever heal right. Maybe he’d always have that miserable note in the background of his life.

“…I’m still healing.”

“I didn’t say you stopped, buddy,” John chuckled with a knowing look. “Still…got good days and bad days, huh?”

“Feels like it, yeah.” Today…was definitely more of a mixed day. Looking at John across from him, though, all honest and open, and thinking back to how it felt to fight alongside him again, and investigate with him, with that warmth and instant familiar comfort between that never faded away, he almost felt like he wanted to call it a good day. “Today might have tilted things right-side up.”

John laughed, a genuine, humored one that was almost infectious. “Now I know I’m rubbing off on you; that sounds like something I’d say!”

John slipped his hand away and turned to lie on his back, still chuckling to himself. The warmth still burned in Bruce’s palm, and he found himself reluctant to pull his hand away at all.

John turned to him once more, an all-too-familiar affection shimmering brightly in the green depths. It pulled Bruce in and made him feel like he should inch close enough to feel the warmth and security it promised. “’Night, Bruce.”

“Goodnight, John.”

John turned over, leaving Bruce to stare at the bruises forming on his shoulders. There was the terrible temptation in his hands to shove the pillow between them aside and wrap his arm around the man’s middle so he could lean into that pale, battered back and bury his face in a head of soft, green hair.

There was a worse urge, one so vivid it almost made Bruce’s head spin – he could just reach out and touch the bruises, feather-light, and trail his fingertips down the curve of spine until it arched with a pleased shudder, and Bruce could follow that trail with his mouth as far as John would let him.

Bruce turned his head away, the memory of John’s lips on his coming to the front of his mind, and he shut out the mental image of repeating that kiss right then and there, telling himself that he really shouldn’t feel that way towards someone who desperately needed support, nor to his best friend who he’d left scarred in more ways than one, and certainly not someone who was both.

It had been a long time since Bruce shared a bed with someone, and far, far longer when he shared one with someone he didn’t have sex with.

He hoped that was all it was. Just the bed’s memory getting to him, and nothing else…

Notes:  Super-sexy-plant-person-in-her-late-twenties Ivy is OUT. Cougar-aged-mobster-botanist Ivy is IN! >:) 

I really wanted a different Ivy. I’m tired of the young, uber-sexy walking plant-human-hybrid that’s immune to all toxins and diseases; plants get diseases, too, and she’s so plant-like she should have some kind of physical humanizing weakness! It’s much more interesting to have a human who’s just built up an immunity and uses her babies for weapons and business; I kept her serious environmentalist trait, though, because while I dislike the anti-hero thing she’s got going on lately and would love to see her as a straight-up villain again, we do have to relate to her somehow, and her love of nature is always going to be a good part of her. Since Harley’s older, too, I figured it would be alright if they had a ten-year gap between them, so when Pam eventually goes to Black Gate one day, they’ll be pals. ;)

And Bruce you complete fool!!!! You should’ve kissed him!!!  Why do you do this to yourseellllfff? D:

I'm sorry it took so long, but as you can tell, I had a lot to work on, and I’m doing my best to write the next chapter as quickly as I can while this nutty energy in my brain is still fresh. I’m trying to keep with my weekly schedule, but I hope you guys are okay with having a gap day, as appears to be the habit now. ( ._. ) I mean, no one yells at me or anything for being late, but I aim to please with my work, and part of that is being consistent. 

I shall continue to try my hardest! (*｀へ´*) 彡3 See you next weekend!!!

[cicinicole-14]

13,14,20,23,28,30

13. what is a misconception you had about lgb people before you realized you were one?

um firstly, that bisexuals were a thing. I didn’t really know about that. and then like also that bisexuals don’t have to be 50/50. sometimes its 60/40 or 99/1 and thats okay. and also that, you don’t have to identify as anything. also that compulsive heteronormativity is a thing. I was drowning in it because I grew up in the south at a christian school and being gay is an abomination. and I was expected to grow up and while my parents never pushed the “grow up and marry a nice man” on me, they implied that id get married one day and have a family in the traditional sense. um, also, you aren’t obligated to come out to people and also you don’t have to come out to anyone or label yourself at all. and its okay if you don’t figure it all out right now. I thought you had to figure everything out and label yourself. hell fucking no you don’t n its great because I identify as bi right now, but I watched @sydsliftingface’s coming out video a few days ago and she said something that really has stuck with me the past few days and it was really important so I’ll touch on that. “theres a difference between that you could continue to kiss boys versus wanting to kiss boys” and I think thats really important because I’m kinda having another awakening to the fact that maybe I’m more gay that I originally thought huh? idk… come back to me on that… but that quote was really important to me and I’d like to thank her for that.  

14. what is a piece of advice you would give to your younger self

everything will make sense. and you will go at your own pace. and you won’t realize the impact that one thing had on you until months later and hey remember your best friend that you thought of sometimes and didn’t know why? that was an actual crush, sweetie. and its okay to like girls too. also just like hey, everything will make sense. it will click. it takes time and whatnot. but you’ll be okay and you’re accepted. my friends that I’ve come out to have all been supportive and like I’m so happy now. things are really great in this aspect of my life. school? not so much… but we’re surviving. 

20. favourite gay ship (canon or not)

ugh fuck me theres too many. sanvers tho. like I think were going to go a little deep here for a sec. I’m going to say calzone and sanvers because listen up y’all. when I started watching grey anatomy in summer of 2013. calzona was the first wlw ship I had ever seen on my screen and it really opened my eyes to hey, lesbians/bisexuals exist and its ok to like them. and then with sanvers, I didn’t really realize it but I ended up watching supergirl s2 in like a day, and since that day (few days after it had been released on Netflix) I had just in the back of my mind been thinking more and more about my own sexuality and the way Alex had come out etc. and I came out later that July (I watched the show in may btw) ad like come November when 3.05 aired, It hit me how much that Alex/sanvers story really impacted my life and I didn’t expect that and was actually really upset by the breakup even tho I had prepared for it, knew it was happening etc. but like emotions can really fuck you up, y’all. 

23. have you ever been in love?

no. I’ve had feelings for someone, but never in love. 

28. are you out? if so how did you come out

I’m out to my friends, but my parents/family do not know. I don’t plan on telling them. I came out/accepted my sexuality right before I left for college and haven’t really gotten to assess how they really will feel about me being bisexual. so like. I’m closeted for now. 

as for friends. I texted @only-freakin-sunflowers and @unicornshepherdess. they were the first to know, and I posted a thing on tumblr, and came out to them because I knew they wouldn’t judge me at all. they were the first to know because I knew I didn’t have to be afraid to tell them. then, I planned on telling my best friend chelsey next, at home over Christmas break. that didn’t end up happening. the night of my sisters wedding I was a bit intoxicated with my best friend autumn who I’ve known since I was 2 and I didn’t plan on telling her next (she was last on my list) and we got to talking about sexuality or something (idr I was drunk) and I came out to her and she hugged me and I then knew it was all gonna be okay and then I spilled beer on myself fun times. then It was around finals week (nov 27th to be exact I know this bc I came out 7/27, 10/27, 11/27 and then sometime like 12/29.) I was face timing chelsey about Elle mills coming out video she had just posted and I was like “hey, chels, Yano how Elle came out to the world? well I’m coming out to u, I’m bi” and she just was like “awe Cecil I love you” and it was good. I told her I planned on telling her in person but I figured that moment was a good chance. and then when I got home she was actually with me and I told Claudia. @unicornshepherdess gave me a book for Christmas called “this book is gay” and I made Claudia read the back that says “this is for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans, undefined and even the straights. its for everyone!” and I told her to read that (I was pointing to it) word. and I was like hey thats me, I’m bi! and she laughed and hugged me. it was a nice moment. but anyway that was it. 

30. what is a piece of advice for people who may not be in a safe place to express their sexuality

first off, I feel like you’ll never end up feeling 100% safe at all. but just know that you aren’t alone in that feeling. I am literally scared out of my mind at the prospect of telling my parents or them finding out. and tbh, I doubt they would do anything, they’d probably just hug me and laugh and tell raunchy non-offensive jokes and grab me a beer, but that nagging “but what if they hate you, you know they’re going to look at you differently now” is in the back forefront of my mind all the time and I’m scared. its terrifying. also that you need to accept yourself first completely, before you think about trying to come out in an unsafe space. 

my advice is that its okay to be scared, because you are not alone. 

so, we got real deep on these questions, but I would like to thank you, nonnie. I think I needed these tbh. 

[gra-sonas]

You have probably already said it, so you can ignore me if you want to but, if you could write s3, what would you like to happen regarding Alex's storyline? What are your wishes? The best case scenario?

If I could write S3, I’d definitely skip the whole Forrest thing. I have nothing against Forrest, I just don’t think it’s necessary for Alex to date someone else to be/get “ready” to be with Michael. Neither do I think it’s necessary for Alex to date someone else until Michael is ready to be with Alex. 

Instead I want Alex to spend time with his friends. First and foremost Kyle, bc we’re going to ignore that dumb 2x05 statement they made Alex say for whatever reason and let them have great friendship moments throughout the season.

Then I want friendship scenes between Liz and Alex. Scenes where they actually talk. And if Rosa’s around, I want her to join the conversation.

A new friendship I need like air is Alex and Isobel. Her snark is a perfect match for Alex’s snark. I want them to have coffee dates at the Crashdown and go to Planet 7 to have some fun (not hooking up with anyone, just enjoying being queers in a queer space). Isobel could also be a great mediator between Alex and Michael (without MEDDLING tho). She’d just know enough about both of them to nudge them in the right direction occasionally and encourage them to talk, and ultimately to give a romantic relationship a shot.

Then I want Alex to spend time with Greg. They’ll need time to reconcile and mend their relationship after way too many years apart. A common goal for them would be to get Flint back from the edge of being a Manes man (I still want that redemption arc for Flint *grabby hands*).

I can’t really say anything about Clay, the fourth Manes brother, but I hope he’s a good person and will also reconnect with Alex.

Then there’s Mindy, Alex’s mom. I want her to return to Roswell and I want to know why she left in the first place, what kept her away for so long, and what she knew about Jesse. If possible, I want Alex to get a hug from his mom. ❤️

Finally there’s Alex’s friendship with Michael. More than anything I want them to finally TALK, and have real conversations about them and the past decade. I want them to talk about all the things that hurt, but also about the moments that were good, the moments that made them love each other so much, even a decade mostly apart couldn’t change that.

At some point (roughly halfway through S3) it would be enough with the talking tho. There’s only so much you can talk through over and over, if they want to move on, they have to truly forgive each other. Mutual forgiveness combined with the promise of leaving “their” pain in the past and the commitment to not ever use any of the old pain to hurt each other going forward.

“Could we both stop keeping score” is what Alex wrote in his song to Michael, and once they both feel like they can do that and let the past be the past, I want them to get together. And from there on out I want them to be together, in a committed relationship that won’t be broken up again, not in S3, not at any point after that.

After a decade and 2 seasons of misery, Alex and Michael are owed happiness, domestic bliss, dates, a million kisses, and a dog. And we deserve to see a HAPPY queer couple on screen for a change. Enough with the fake TV drama and queer trauma porn that still way too many writers consider “entertainment”🙄

Anyway, my wishlist got rather long, and it’s unlikely that all of this is going to happen (at least not on the scale I’d like to see it). Apart from that, the show’s not called Malex (big mistake imo :P ), and I want character development for the other characters just as much as I want it for Alex and Michael. 

I want real friendship moments between all of them. I want them to actually work together for a change. They teased a Scooby gang dynamic for S2 and that never happened. Make it happen in S3. Don’t introduce a million new characters (Covid would make that difficult anyway), don’t invite everyone back from S2 (*cough* Steph *cough*) instead focus on the core cast and the supporting characters like Arturo, Sanders, the Manes brothers, Mindy, Michelle, Mimi, and the Evans’.

What I also want is for Liz to be the clear LEAD of the show again. S2 took that away from her and that was not okay. I want ONE big mystery they’re trying to uncover over the course of 13 episodes, and after an entire season of little to no answers and revelations, I want answers in S3. About the aliens, their home planet, the war, the Alighting. I want to know who sabotaged the UFO and made it crash. I want to know more about their powers. At its core, RNM is also a sci fi show, just make use of that and tell us stories about aliens, please?

[gra-sonas]

We are all talking about Malex in s03, but how do you think they are gonna do it right? And has Vlamis ever commented about it? If I were Alex, it would take me lots of time to build the trust in Michael tbh.

It’s impossible to say what they’ll do, and whether we’ll think it’s done “right” (that will differ from person to person anyway, some will love it, some will be okay with it, others will hate it, can’t please everyone xD). 

I would hope, that most of the season will revolve around Malex becoming friends - in the sense that they spend time together and TALK (dear god, LET THEM TALK FFS, I’M BEGGING YOU, CHRIS). 

I also want for Michael to heal and grow a lot more than he was allowed to in S2 (petition for Michael to spend time with his other friends, like Liz, maybe add Kyle to the mix, why not let Rosa and Michael have a conversation where Michael realizes a thing or two about addiction...). 

And then I want them to get together before the season ends. I don’t want one single kiss in the finale that seals the deal of them being together, and then we’ll have another endless hiatus to get through before we get to see them as a couple. I want them together around ep 8-10 (or even earlier, I’m not picky) and then see them be a couple on screen for the rest of the season.

I know that Covid will likely complicate things, and since neither Tyler or Vlamis can have real life partners living with them in Santa Fe for 7 months that could double as Alex and Michael whenever they’re about to film intimate scenes, I hope they can find another solution. 

(Sure, we thought of a “solution”, it’d be roomies!Vlamburn, but it’s not something we could possibly “demand” of them. It’s a lot to ask, but maybe they’d be okay with some kind of “extra co-quarantine” at the end of the regular filming period, and when it’s clear they’re both healthy, they could film all intimate S3 Malex scenes in a week or two???).

Vlamis is a sucker for drama, he’s said something along the way that he'd like for Malex to get together, and then it’s all getting ripped away from Michael again. I fundamentally disagree with that idea. He can get his drama in other ways. Alex and Michael have been through hell several times over, and I’m just absolutely and one million percent DONE with more queer trauma porn for them.. 

Rip Isobel and Max away from Michael or whatever, but once Alex and Michael are together, THEY ARE TOGETHER! No more bullshit “will they/won’t they” games, no more breakups, none of that. I’m so unbelievably tired of shit like that bc every TV show these days serves us the same crap (or kills off the gays right away, that’s still a thing occasionally 🙃) and it’s so absolutely NOT entertaining and enjoyable to watch. 

I think, the audience has lost more faith in Michael during S2 than Alex. The writing really didn’t do Michael any favors in that regard. I absolutely want Michael to make it clear that he loves Alex, that he wants Alex, and that he wants to be with Alex. Forever. Personally, I don’t need him to “grovel” tho, I don’t need him to beg and work for several episodes to make Alex believe him.

IDK, I blame pretty much all of what Michael did or didn’t do on the writing last season, insofar it’s easier for me to forgive Michael, pet his curls, and tell him it’s not his fault (because it really isn’t, he’s been done so dirty :( ). xD

IDK, I just really want both of them to talk. It’s so long overdue that they have a real conversation about them. About the shed. About the time when Alex left (for the first time). About the lost decade. About everything that’s happened since Alex came back (minus any and all talk about that episode, please erase 2x06 from every conversation on the show forever!).

Anyway, that’s basically what I want and hope will happen. But who knows what the writers will serve us, what they think is “entertaining”, and for how long they’ll make us wait to see Malex happy.

Best would be, if they just listened to these three ⬇️