#also first official gifset after the hell that was final week ! ! !

[deadpoets]

— dodie, one last time please (demo)

[what-breaks-my-heart]

DanHwa Couple: Happy Ending versus Sad Ending

Note: I did plan to publish this post in conjunction with the last day of Run On Week when I came up with the idea for this post but I never thought this post would eventually be this long so I’m not going to ruin it for everyone 😂🙈

Previously, I’ve touched on the main theme of DanHwa’s storyline - goals & dreams.

Before I continue, I wish to extend my heartiest gratitude to @belsmultifandommess for taking my gif requests specifically so I could include them in this post ❤❤❤ You can click on “GIF by belsmultifandommess” to view the full sets from which the gifs I’ve included in this post were sourced. If you haven’t already, give some love to those beautiful gifsets.

This is going to be one hell of a long post so hydrate yourselves, get some snacks, prepare a box of tissues if you are a softie like me, and buckle up.

Previously in my series of write up on DanHwa storyline...

About Seo Dan Ah

Seo Dan Ah, Her Little Brother Seo Tae Woong, and A Planned Coup in Seomyung Group

Goals & Dreams - The Main Premise in the Live of Seo “Rapunzel” Dan Ah

Goals & Dreams - I Need You to Cooperate with Me

I have to be honest. The finale left me with so much feelings that made me struggle to understand how DanHwa’s storyline was concluded. There have been various takes on the conclusion of their storyline and I cannot totally disregard each of them because they do make sense in a way.

After seeing the preview for the finale, I did pose a question whether Young Hwa would agree to cooperate with Dan Ah’s potential goal to stop seeing each other, while still holding on to his dream of not breaking up with her.

As I was starting the finale, I saw the episode description on Netflix and giggled at how the storyline of DanHwa was described.

Mi-joo’s work gets a director noticed overseas. Yeong-hwa and Dan-ah achieve their own goals. Seon-gyeom officially becomes a sports agent.

Earlier, I did a write up about how Dan Ah was plotting a coup in Seomyung Group. Later in the finale, it was revealed that all along, she had been waiting for her father to pass away so she could take back what’s rightfully hers. I stand corrected. Dan Ah sweetie, I should have thought better than slandering you 🥺

True enough, she needed Tae Woong’s support in the coup, but she didn’t say the situation might call for him to turn against her because she wanted him to come clean about his paternity, but she said it because she knew how the bastard ‘older’ brother would blackmail Tae Woong into voting for him for the position of the successor in Seomyung Group by abusing his power and influence in Seomyung Group. I bet he was the one who started the rumour about Tae Woong’s paternity in order to control Tae Woong.

However, Dan Ah needed Tae Woong’s support as one of the major shareholders so that she could obtain enough support to be in a position of power in Seomyung Group. And thanks to his support, Dan Ah was promoted as the youngest Vice President of Seomyung Group. Yes, she was not yet wielding the power as the Chairwoman of Seomyung Group, but being a Vice President of Seomyung Group was itself a shorter-term goal, or a milestone towards achieving her dream of taking back what’s hers - her title as the rightful heiress of Seomyung Group.

Just like what Young Hwa - bless his young, optimistic yet immature self - told Dan Ah when she first came to his college after he kept crossing the line; if a dream seemed impossible to be achieved, focus instead on shorter-term goals while working towards chasing that dream.

By the way when I think of it, it was never made clear if the ‘older’ bastard son was appointed as President of Seomyung Group. Imagine if he was, because it wouldn’t be surprising, but he could never have things done his way because Dan Ah would keep having his ass handed to him by convincing the board room just how stupid his ways were.

Anyways, the way the story of DanHwa was concluded could be open to various interpretation, and I now believe it was intentionally done so. Why?

Exhibit 1

Young Hwa telling Dan Ah that his new goal was to watch her from a distance neither too far that he could not see her, nor too close that his field of vision would be blocked, so that he could always see her wherever he was.

He did so by asking her to just stay where she was. Of course the moment he said it, my alarms were buzzing because of how the story had compared her to Rapunzel living in a castle.

It was when Young Hwa looked “Seo Dan Ah” up on the internet when he later realised that he had forgotten how Dan Ah had been living in a castle that a peasant like him could never even dream of entering, since she was Rapunzel.

Exhibit 2

When Young Hwa and Dan Ah finally met again in front of his painting at the gallery, Dan Ah said that she was going to make that day to be her real birthday, before Young Hwa was finally able to wish her happy birthday.

These lines did seem rather out of place, but when I think more about it, it was Dan Ah cooperating with Young Hwa’s goal for both of them to celebrate her real birthday together.

This was in contrast to when she said her birthday was far away. This to me, seemed like both a literal and figurative remark.

In the literal sense, she was not sure at that point in time if they could still see each other when the day would eventually come.

Whereas in the figurative sense, celebrating her real birthday would symbolise a celebration of her successfully claiming her rightful title as the heiress of Seomyung Group - which seemed like a stretch to her at that time because she didn’t know about her father’s health condition.

But when they finally met again, she realised that there was someone who cherished her and kept her inside his radiant heart. And this person wanted to celebrate her real birthday with her because her being born was a miracle (just as other birth), because she was healthy, and because she was seeing him.

And he wanted to celebrate her real birthday with her as a way of expressing his gratitude to the heaven for all of these.

But ultimately, Young Hwa wanted to celebrate Dan Ah’s real birthday with her to get her heart in return.

And when Dan Ah decided to make the day they finally met again as her real birthday, it was symbolic that instead of obsessing over her dream of getting back her rightful title as the heiress of Seomyung Group which might require her staying in her castle, she finally gave her heart to Young Hwa, even though she was desperate to keep her heart intact due to her health condition. Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s poetic in a way.

And when she made the decision, it was symbolic to her accepting living with a fake birthday as long as someone truly cherishes her, because it may be fake, but her feeling was otherwise as real as it gets.

Exhibit 3

When the four besties met up and discussed about endings, Young Hwa told the group that his happy ending would be living well, giving birth to children like a rabbit with the person he loved (no joke that’s exactly what he said in Korean, hence the look of disgust on Dan Ah’s face).

And when he asked Dan Ah about what she wanted as her happy ending, he also asked if they could share the same happy ending, claiming their love would last forever (ah, the pure innocence of first loves).

Dan Ah then argued that she even faked a coming out to her family specifically because she did not want to get married, so sharing the same happy ending with Young Hwa like what he imagined would totally be out of the question.

Exhibit 4

DanHwa official Before poster

I’m sure many of us didn’t see this poster before the drama started airing. To be completely honest, I was not anticipating for this drama to air. There I was, minding my own business, when I saw gifs and screencaps from this drama’s first 2 episodes suddenly showing up on my dash. And then I read the usual caption spam by @dangermousie​ for those episodes and those caption spam actually piqued my interest.

You could see a sense of giddiness in this poster, as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse with each other. For those of you who don’t read hangul, the lines highlighted in this poster read as below:

“Don’t keep crossing the line.”

“But you came to see me because I crossed the line.”

DanHwa official After poster

And on the day the finale aired, JTBC released this official After poster. In this poster, both of them were portrayed to be lost in their own thoughts, no longer giddy and teasing each other.

Again, for those of you who don’t read hangul, there was only one line highlighted in this poster which reads:

“Don’t get sick, my first love.”

Special shoutout to @its-chelisey-stuff for highlighting the differences in these two posters in a post of its own.

Exhibit 5

After everything was said and done, the two of them kept hanging out together and seeing each other. They even went as each other’s plus one to the premier of Yook Ji Woo’s movie, Killing Day. And it was a public setting where people could gossip about them going together too, so it was clear she was not bothered by the possibility of people gossiping about it.

So with these 5 exhibits, it was clear that the drama was intentionally sending us viewers mixed signals about the conclusion of the story of DanHwa. But what exactly should we take from this intention?

Now, let’s talk about Young Hwa. Our precious little crybaby goof ball. We’ve seen lots of movies (or Young Hwa (영화), geddit??) with happy endings. Some gave us sad endings, but those sad endings were not unrealistic.

Throughout the drama, we could see the growth of both Dan Ah and Young Hwa since they first met each other.

In the beginning, Young Hwa told Dan Ah that he was too busy with what was in front of him (life of a college student coming from a small town in the rural area) that he never got to have a dream. When he finally had one, i.e., to not break up with Dan Ah, he gave her the assurance that he would make that dream comes true. He even tried delaying their breakup as soon as he realised that she would be breaking up with him. Not breaking up with Dan Ah was Young Hwa’s first dream ever, but he eventually learnt how hard it was to chase his dream.

But going back to the episode description, why did Netflix say that both Young Hwa and Dan Ah achieved their own goals? I’ve argued earlier in this post how Dan Ah’s appointment as the youngest Vice President of Seomyung Group could fit in this narrative. Young Hwa’s goal to keep watching Dan Ah from a distance neither too far nor too close could arguably fit in this narrative too.

I know, I know, the irony of me spending so much time thinking and talking about the ending is clear to me. But to me, the whole story of DanHwa was cleverly concluded. If we go back to episode 7, Dan Ah expressed her regret that she let go of her dream to play professional soccer (I much prefer the word ‘football’ but Koreans use the word ‘soccer’ so I’m sticking to it for consistency purpose) so easily and that she was still looking forward to having chances to kick the ball every now and then.

Later on, Dan Ah disclosed to Young Hwa how desperate she was to make time for her to go running to him despite time being of utmost importance to her, and how she desperately wanted to grab onto the little time she managed to make to be with him.

We also saw how despite being so desperate, she had initially tried to resist her urges to just run to him. Because to her, she could not afford to be distracted from running towards her dream. But she eventually ran towards him and gave in to her feeling nonetheless, albeit timing herself so she wouldn’t forget about her dream altogether.

I personally believe that their relationship would keep on going the same way it had been going - them chasing after their own individual goals, them cooperating with each other to make sure their individual goals would be achieved, Young Hwa keeping Dan Ah deep inside his heart with more subtlety just like how his painting evolved from a big drawing of Dan Ah to the silhouette of Dan Ah hiding in his painting which was displayed in Seomyung Art Gallery, while Dan Ah grabbing onto what little opportunity she would have to spend her time with Young Hwa, even if it was only for a short, sweet moment.

They might live the rest of their lives together, or they might not. But what Run On managed to tell me is we should not be too obsessed with our endings which may or may not be far away from us. Instead, we should focus on what’s right in front of us.

Instead of obsessing over our dreams and happy endings which may demotivate us if we keep stumbling onto boulders while chasing our dreams and happy endings, we should focus on shorter-term goals. Because who knows what great opportunities and sweet moments are standing right in front of us, waiting to be grabbed, if only we allow ourselves to cherish them and in return, being cherished ourselves.

And that to me, is the biggest takeaway from the story of DanHwa.

[ablindingsupernova]

Thoughts on QotS 5.02

Continuing my trend of posting late but I’ve been busy enjoying all of the lovely gifsets...

I’ve been waiting for James and Teresa to interact and boy did this episode deliver.

- THE LOOKS. So much passes between Teresa and James with just a look that sometimes the actual conversation is superfluous. Still, Teresa finally coming to talk to James, to thank him for coming. James’ face when she tells him that he should go, right after he says that the Russians are animals. That was a gut punch but as always, James respected her wishes.

- Pote thanking James for saving Kelly Anne! I was wondering whether we would get that and it was a nice surprise. Their whole exchange was terrific, particularly the last bit about Teresa needing James, because duh. And I love that it came from Pote because he knows James and he knows what James means to Teresa. She’s surrounded by people who would protect her, but Pote knows that James is the only one that’s going to get through to her. 

- THE KISS. I nearly screamed when I saw Teresa lunge for James. I mentioned in my previous post that I doubted we’d get anything like this this season and I was thrilled to be proved wrong. Even when she’s full on Queenpin, James gets past her walls. And while I’ll forever curse the ringing phone, the intensity of that scene and the one on the roof was all worth it. So much angsty goodness. And as others have mentioned, Teresa’s line ‘maybe in another life’ sounds so much like foreshadowing and not even in a squint and you’ll maybe see it way. With the official Twitter and Instagram accounts both posting about them, I feel very confident that the ending we get will be a good one. 

- And as others have also mentioned, the use of mirrors in this episode. It was too frequent not to mean something. James and Teresa’s conversation in his room, the horror show in the motel room, James and Teresa’s conversation in the bar- Teresa may be the Queenpin but she still has that humanity in her. Teresa’s reaction to what happened in the motel room, the blood bath only visible to the audience in the mirror’s reflection. I’m curious to see if this is something the show will run with for the remainder of the season.

- The conversation on the roof. I know I should be pulling my hair out at Teresa pushing James away while keeping him close, but I LOVED IT. And I think everyone expected that we were going to get something like that. As much as James can get past Teresa’s walls, she’s not going to just let them all down right off the bat. Not after everything she’s been through. James’ acceptance of her decision seemed weird at first but after thinking about it, it’s very much in character for him. He can’t argue the point- Teresa made it clear that they can’t be together so that’s that. And he’s always respected the women in his life and this is no different. Pushing her would almost certainly result in her sending him away and being there for her, keeping her safe is James’ number one priority. 

- I don’t know what’s up with these Russians but I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of them.

- Boaz. Boaz, Boaz, Boaz. Just as Teresa has the Judge right where she wants him. Just as she FINALLY emerges victorious in their little war and has New Orleans to herself, Boaz blows it all to hell. After the exchange in the bar last week, I thought maybe Boaz was playing the long game, provoking the Judge to attack and for Teresa’s hand. I should’e known better. Boaz doesn’t exactly have great impulse control. 

- A baby Pote on the way! I was pretty excited about this but after the previews for 5.03 I’m reining my enthusiasm in a bit. I don’t know what those scenes were about but with this show, there’s usually another shoe waiting to drop right around the corner. 

- I’ve missed Marcel and I’m glad we’ll get him back next week. 

I know we’re only two episodes in but we only have ten total and I’m pretty happy with what we’ve gotten so far. I wish we had a longer season, especially since James was absent for S4, but if the rest of the episodes are as satisfying, then I’m going to complain. 

[uraichievents]

So here we are! UraIchi Week 2018 will take place:

Monday, May 28, 2018 - Sunday, June 3, 2018.

What is UraIchi Week?

Basically, it’s a week-long event to promote the Urahara Kisuke x Kurosaki Ichigo ship. There’s no sign-up, it’s just for fun, and everybody’s welcome to participate. Hopefully by the end of the week, there’ll be plenty more works for UraIchi shippers to enjoy. What I want for this event is just for UraIchi shippers to enjoy new material, maybe chat a bit, and hopefully add some life to a somewhat dead rarepair that I happen to adore.

What kind of stuff would be accepted for this event?

Fics, fanart, graphics, moodboards, gifsets, fanmixes, and playlists are all welcome. Headcanons and meta too. So long as it’s focused on UraIchi, pretty much anything goes. The pair itself can be written romantically or platonically, pre-relationship or established, basically anything you want so long as it involves these two idiots.

Posting:

For those of you with Tumblr, you can tag your stuff with #UraIchi Week or #UraIchi Week 2018 in the first five tags of your post. I’ll be tracking those two tags so I’ll see it and reblog it to this blog. (If it’s been a couple days since you posted and I still haven’t reblogged it, something probably went wrong, Tumblr’s not always reliable, so just shoot me an ask about it and I’ll reblog it.)

For those of you with AO3, I will create a collection a day or two before the event starts, and you’ll be able to add your work to the collection when you post. (I’ll toss up a notice for everyone once the collection is up.)

Discord:

If you want to chat about headcanons or meta or just random stuff, join Discord! There’s already a a few people lurking so you don’t really even have to wait for the event.

Submissions:

If you’re nervous about posting something for UraIchi but still want to get your work out there, I will open submissions on Tumblr before the event, and you can send it in for me to submit anonymously.

And finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. After looking over all the votes, I’ve compiled two or three themes for each day of the week. It’s your choice whether or not you want to make a fanwork that includes all the themes of that day, or a fanwork for each theme, or a fanwork for just one. You can make something for each day of the week or just one or two. Likewise, you are fully welcome to create fanworks based on any genre or AU you can think of. The official themes are only suggestions. WIPs are perfectly okay too.

Themes

May 28: Day 1 - Time Travel | Dimension Travel | Fix-It

Probably to no one’s surprise, Time Travel was the most popular choice of all the themes. I’ve combined it with Dimension Travel and Fix-It, but of course, you don’t have to include all three in the same fanwork. Prompts with Ichigo travelling back in time, or Urahara during his assassin tenure travelling forward to Ichigo’s present day, or both of them dimension-hopping to a world where the Gotei 13 is in the middle of a civil war, all fit into these categories.

May 29: Day 2 - Soulmates AU | Daemons AU | Wings AU

Also probably to no one’s surprise, Soulmates came in second. I’ve thrown Daemons AU and Wings AU onto this day too since they’re similar enough to combine if you wish (or not if you don’t). Here you could find soulmates with matching soulmarks, soulmates connected by a red string of fate, or soulmates who can only see each other’s wings. Or maybe you want to explore an inverted AU where Urahara and Ichigo are not each other’s soulmates but their daemons spend an inordinate amount of time together anyway and refuse to be separated. Anything related to any of these three AUs goes!

(I’ve also included these two links to some soulmates AUs you can use: here and here.)

May 30: Day 3 - SOMETHING!Ichigo and/or SOMETHING!Urahara | Creatures & Monsters/Supernatural Elements AU

Feel free to go wild with this one. Soul King!Ichigo? Let’s see what he does with the world. Arrancar!Urahara? He’d never work for Aizen so maybe when Ichigo storms Hueco Mundo, he ends up saving a half-feral monster from the dungeons, and God help any Shinigami who suggests putting him down like some kind of rabid dog. Or maybe you’d prefer a whole universe of supernatural creatures. Vampire!Urahara and werewolf!Ichigo? Angel!Ichigo and demon!Urahara? World’s biggest cliches right there but they’re cliches for a reason.

May 31: Day 4 - Mutual (or Not) Pining | Alternate First Meeting and/or Getting Together | Outsider POV

Day 4 is more slice of life than the rest. Meet-cutes or love at first sight, Urahara pining away after an oblivious Ichigo, or Ichigo determinedly courting a confused Urahara. Or maybe you want a glimpse of these two idiots from another person’s perspective. Maybe Zangetsu and Benihime get together to try and make their wielders fall in love. Maybe Ichigo and Urahara have been together for a while and eventually their friends begin wondering when those two became close enough to share whole conversations with a glance. Or maybe the Soutaichou has had it up to here with Urahara making things explode because he’s too busy moping over what he thinks is unrequited love to get his shit together enough to actually do his work, so he sets his entire military organization with the task of getting two of the most stubborn morons to have ever lived together. They’re all at least several hundred years old. It can’t be that hard, right?

June 1: Day 5 - Crossovers | Fusions

I personally wasn’t too surprised that a good chunk of votes went to Crossovers and Fusions. Fancy a Hunger Games AU fusion with the Gotei 13 making up the Capitol, Urahara as a mentor or a stylist, and Ichigo as a volunteer tribute? Or maybe a Pacific Rim AU fusion with Ichigo and co. signing up to fight Kaiju. How about a crossover with Naruto where Ichigo and Urahara find themselves in the Naruto world and they end up rebuilding Uzushio? Or maybe you prefer a crossover with Harry Potter where Urahara is hired as the new History professor and Ichigo the new Defence professor, and holy hell - as they discover - there’s a lot of shady things going on in the Wizarding world.

June 2: Day 6 - Canon Divergence | For Want of a Nail AU | Ichigo vs. Gotei 13 | Apocalypse AU

Post-Winter War, Ichigo never regaining his powers and leaving town as soon as he graduates? Pre-Turn Back the Pendulum Arc, Urahara starts receiving anonymous letters about what Aizen is up to and manages to prevent Shinji and the others from becoming Visored? Aizen wins and ends up bringing about the apocalypse? The Shinigami ‘cleaning up’ and ordering the execution of all non-Shinigami after Aizen is defeated? Give me all the what-if scenarios here.

June 3: Day 7 - Colours | Single-Word Prompts

To be honest, neither of these two themes had a particularly large amount of votes but I wanted to reserve one day for prompts geared more towards artists and those who maybe write better with specific word prompts than general AUs. So, Colours are pretty self-explanatory - pick a colour and make a moodboard or put together a gifset of UraIchi moments. Of course, writers can also work around this - a dozen red roses delivered to Ichigo’s doorstep one day, or five times Ichigo gave Urahara a different green hat and the first time Kisuke stops wearing one around him.

As for single-word prompts, there were people who wanted to come up with their own words, but also people who asked for me to come up with a list for them, so I’ve decided to include a google doc with a list of words here. You can click through or not, it’s up to you.

And that’s it! I hope everybody will have fun with this! I really want this to be a success so get those creative minds in gear and start preparing for the event. Two months actually isn’t that long. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone will come up with when the time comes! And feel free to send me an ask if you’re confused about anything.

[orionsangel86]

13x01 - Episode Review - Part 2

"Nougat Winchester” and narrative mirrors in 13x01

It has taken me forever to finish this part of my review to the extent that we have already had another episode before I finished it! But rather than curse my inability to focus I’m gonna press on and complete this before I start my 13x02 review.

Ah Jack, Jack our little nougat Jack. The way the fandom has embraced you is very touching. The internet screams of “PROTECT HIM” certainly show that Alexander Calvert has done an exceptional job of “pulling a Misha” and making us fall in love with him by the end of his first scene. I was not expecting that one bit. 

I’ll be honest and say that over the hiatus I haven’t paid too much attention to him. I did read some of the meta and speculation that @tinkdw and others put out there, but it was never really something I focused my thoughts on. I figured he would be another character that would test the team free will dynamic and would be a good avenue for the writers to comment on the concepts of nature vs nurture. I remember reading some speculation once the episode titles first came out about “The Scorpion and the Frog” and anyone who knows that story knows very well that the title itself foreshadows Jack going darkside – to his own potential destruction. (The scorpion, in carrying out its own “nature” and stinging the frog that carried it – not only doomed the frog, but doomed itself as well.)

Jack has officially won me over though. He was a charming innocent and funny character, and I think his interactions with Clark brought a lot of light to an otherwise terribly angsty and painfully heart breaking episode. (#bringbackClark2k17)

But what really blew me away was how both Jack AND Clark were such OBVIOUS mirrors for Dean and Cas and to a lesser extent to Sam. It amused me to no end. Therefore this review will focus on those mirrors, and what they mean. 

Long post under the cut

Jack is a narrative mirror of Team Free Will

This is the important thing to remember. He is all of them, and will have aspects of all them characterised into his personality as we continue to get to know the character in the coming episodes. 

I am sure that there are already thousands of words of meta on this topic (since I’m over a week late to the game) but I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring anyway.

The most obvious mirror we get from Jack is for Castiel. I have said already that Castiel was all over every single scene of 13x01. That Dabb didn’t want the audience forgetting him for a second. (thank you Dabb you wonderful man). I have already seen the many gifsets floating around comparing all of Jack’s “Cas” moments to the original famous Cas moments in the show - and we know that this carries over into episode 2 as well. 

Firstly, we can see immediately in the way Jack is dressed that he is coded as a Cas mirror:

Look at the tan jacket, the pale blue shirt, visually he is already a mini Cas. Remember they could have dressed him in ANYTHING. They chose a tan Jacket and pale blues. They chose these colours because this show has a visual library and certain things always mean certain things. Put someone in a tan coat or jacket and they are a Cas mirror. This is how these things work. 

(the bulls horns hand symbol does however have Lucifer connotations which ties him to his biological father whether he likes it or not - but more on that when I go on about signs and symbols).

Probably the most “Cas” like moment in this episode was this one:

(x)

Poor baby is just as literal as his dad:

(x)

But there are many more. The constant confused expression for starts:

(I’m still waiting for the moment he actually does the head tilt as we all know it’s coming)

The scene with the candy was delightful - and gave him the fandom pet name of “Nougat Winchester” which I have stolen from Lizzy as my new tag for him because its so fitting.

(and we like you sweetheart)

(on that note - I did find it interesting that Jack isn’t able to answer the Sheriff when she asks him for a last name. Surely he knows his mother’s name was Kline? Why didn’t he give her that? We were all calling him “Jack Kline” over hiatus, but now it doesn’t seem like its the case - personally I think this is because he will indeed get “adopted” as a Winchester and will use the surname at some point in future - probably in front of Lucifer causing a hell of a lot of anger. God knows the show has pointed out enough times over the past season that Castiel is a Winchester - leading to mainstream media giving him the last name:

Why yes I did add my destiel adjacent quiz results to meta about Jack. I have no regrets. :P

Anyway, as I was saying Jack is a huge Cas mirror, and his adorably gluttonous love of candy was a call back to:

Perhaps we can once again talk about angels and addiction and how this may affect Jack? Because they really don’t have the self control that human’s do (even though Cas was affected by famine at this particular moment).

So why is Jack a mirror for Cas? Well this is probably the first clue:

I screamed the first time I watched this moment. I think we all expected it to remain subtextual. We all know that this season will explore the role of fatherhood and how it affects each character, but this was so much more than we were expecting. Jack is a Cas mirror because he has majorly imprinted on Cas from the womb. He is first and foremost a Cas mirror because Cas is on his mind from the moment of his birth, and this reveal confirms it. Every question of “Father?” that he says so ominously in the first part of the episode is directed at Castiel. It is Castiel he was looking for, not Lucifer. 

I did say that Castiel was in every second of this episode, forcing the audience to continuously remember him and his importance - and this moment made me jump for joy. 

The way the episode continuously plays with the audiences expectations is really interesting. They want us to assume the worst of Jack, but each time he surprises us by delighting us with some adorable Cas like thing. Jack says “I’m hungry” and we are supposed to feel uneasy about that because just 2 seasons ago we had another very hungry powerful child who fulfilled her hunger by eating human souls. We are supposed to worry about Clark in that moment, and to follow the Sheriff down the darkened halls and flickering lights terrified of what Jack has done - but he is sitting there cross legged on the floor with Clarke surrounded by candy wrappers and proclaiming how much he likes nougat. Its a lovely moment and it forces the audience to change their minds completely. 

When Jack reveals that he thinks Cas is his father, our reaction is much the same as Sam’s, but we fall for him just like Sam does, and it sets the season up nicely because for once the audience is NOT supposed to be on Dean’s side here. (I’ll talk about this more in my review of episode 2 where it is more relevant but basically, we are supposed to feel sorry for Dean because we know that he isn’t seeing things clearly. We are supposed to root for Jack and be on Sam’s side in all this, and to see Dean as a character shrouded in a deep grief and anger)

I love that they made it textual that Cas is the father. (major flashbacks to 11x06 right now though)

“Jenny, he is not ready to be a father!”

I’ll continue jumping for joy over this as the season goes forward, but for now I want to talk about how Jack is also a mirror for Dean. Because he is and it again, wasn’t subtle. 

(x)

A young boy on a quest to find his father, to have to accept the death of his mother right at the start, and who is forced to grow up far quicker than he should? Yeah that sounds about right. 

Whilst Dean and Jack seem at odds with each other from the start, they are both set up as mirrors in their joint grief for Castiel. That heart wrenching moment at the end of the episode where Dean is wrapping Castiel’s body for the pyre comes only moments after we get to see Jack’s own grief for his mother so touchingly portrayed as a grip to her covered foot. Both Dean and Jack are only shown touching the feet of those they lost, there is probably some deep symbolic meaning to that linked to Christ and washing the feet of his disciples or something but I’ll leave that meta to someone far more versed in bible lore than me. 

We know that in episode 2 the Dean parallels get much stronger, with Dean being the second Winchester (after Cas) that he imprints upon. I’ll talk about this in my episode 2 review, and instead leave this here. Jack is Dean for his grief, and his ties to humanity, and how he has been robbed of his childhood. I am interested to see how they go about keeping Jack innocent. He is in the body of a man, but his mind is still so childlike. I hope that he becomes a symbol for Dean’s own innocence in a theme started in 12x11. 

Finally, the one touched on the least in episode 1 but probably the most significant to Jack’s own arc going forward - Jack as a mirror for Sam.

What so far is probably the least obvious in terms of mirror’s is actually the most obvious in terms of story lines. There is a reason Sam so desperately wants to believe in Jack, believe that he is good and can do good things. Because Sam has been in this situation himself. 

Sam’s entire early series arc was about fighting the darkness inside himself, fighting against his own dark powers that came from a place of evil, and resisting Lucifer’s pull. Sam’s been there. So of course Sam is rooting for the kid. Sam and Jack have the biggest connection in terms of their connection to Lucifer. Sam immediately tries to see things through Jack’s point of view. Yes, he’s not as tied down with grief and anger as Dean is - Sam hasn’t just lost the love of his life (though the deancas parallels to SamJess are very strong throughout 12x23 and 13x01 as well).

Sam still has hope, because he see’s himself in Jack. He knows he managed to resist that dark power, and he has faith that Jack can to. I expect the Sam/Jack mirrors to come through far more strongly in episode 3 when we see them interacting together without Dean there to cause conflict, so it will be interesting if we get to delve more into Sam’s past and trauma this season, as it’s about time the show focused on his issues around Lucifer.

Clark as the exposition for Cas’s return... among other things

I could talk for hours about Jack and everything he stands for, but right now I just need to add this about Clark, because boy did he pull focus. In an episode so heavy with grief and full of reminders of Castiel as well as establishing Jack into the audiences mind, Clark comes out of no where and almost steals the show (almost). 

When we are introduced to Clark only 5 minutes into the episode, he is mucking around with the menu changing every item into something ‘butt’ related. I could meta on this but tbh its so very on the nose that I don’t think it’s needed. You all know exactly what Burgers and Butts are making us think of. Its juvenile but its hilarious (my personal favourite is the salty butt combo - a bit of salt is a good thing especially in destiel fandom!).

So skipping past those obvious jokes, what interests me most about Clark is this:

“He’s fired me like seven times... and I keep coming back.”

Look at this face! Dark hair, Blue eyes, extremely charming? Hello Cas mirror!

also:

4x22 - Killed by Raphael

5x22 - Killed by Lucifer

7x01 - Killed by returning the souls (Dean thought he was dead before he healed himself)

7x02 - Killed by Leviathan

8x02 - Left for dead in Purgatory

9x03 - Killed by April

12x23 - Killed by Lucifer

At this point in the show, Dean has watched Cas “die” seven times. I don’t think the above was an accident. 

The fact that Clark then says “Around here, I’m untouchable” is kind of hilarious. Since Clark later gets stabbed with an angel blade - AND SURVIVES.

However for the rest of the episode, Clark is so much more of a Dean mirror, to Jack’s Cas mirror. Clark shows Jack his humanity. He makes Jack happy enough for his powers to make the lights flicker (honestly if this doesn’t make the whole grace orgasm blowing out the lights head canon real I don’t know what does). He feeds him candy, jokes around with him, and is generally such a playful and charming character that we can’t quite help but associate him with Dean.

I love how Clark’s mum the Sheriff tells the police officer that “There’s no such thing as weird, everyone is normal in their own way” because isn’t that just a massive shout out to anyone who is slightly ‘different’? All of us who identify with this show about the ‘weird’ things because we are a little bit weird ourselves? Whose to say what is normal and whats not? 

What I love about this line is that it backs up my claim that the show is trying to prepare the audience in a way for things they may not expect... especially the part of the audience that watches for macho men, guns and death - the Republicans, the dudebros, the right wingers, the assholes who think that to fit in in this world you have to fit into some idealistic little box. Well, believe me this show has a few surprises in line for those people. I can’t wait for it to all come to a head.

Team Free Will 

Ultimately, what 13x01 has shown us is that Jack is a combination of ALL of team free will. He is his own person of course, but he shares elements and traits with all of them. I think it’s so fitting that so soon after Dean’s memorable speech to Cas in 12x19:

“You, Me, and Sam, We’re just better together. So now that you’re back, lets go Team Free Will”

In which Dean brought this term back for the first time in canon since it was used in 5x13, do we now have a character who is the embodiment of all three of them. For me, it seems that this was intentional and that Dean’s words really were the truth - that once Cas comes back, all three of them will be able to save Jack from himself, along with any other nastiness that comes their way. It is my absolute belief that the moral of season 13 will be that Dean, Sam and Cas need each other, and need to work together in order to defeat whatever evil comes their way. Jack is proof of that. How he mirrors all three of them, and is at this point in time, internally divided:

He has Cas’s innocence, naivety and endearing curious nature, as well as his angelic power.

He has Dean’s humanity, his desire to be good, and a need to reach out to people and bond with them.

He has Sam’s inner darkness, linked to his emotions and leading him to question his own monstrous nature. His struggle between his own inner good and evil. 

When these three sides of him conflict, it will cause problems. Just like how conflict between Dean, Sam and Cas is usually the primary cause of disaster in the supernatural universe. Jack’s fate, and his ability to control himself and his opposing sides, is intrinsically tied to Team Free Will themselves coming together and actually working as a team once again. 

And I bloody well can’t wait to watch this story play out. 

[wearethegladiators]

BUCKLE UP KIDS BC THIS SHIT IS WAY TOO LONG BC I HAVE 0 SELF-CONTROL: A LILY EDITION

Lily is trapped AF. She is an important figure of the Muggleborn Resistance/one of the branches of the Muggleborn Resistance… She’s quite a powerful player because she managed to secure allies… pretty much everywhere (hello Wynona, hello les deatheaters). BUT her branch is very cult-like (yes, this is canon, I thought this through and through promis). It started most likely when she helped a bunch of them to escape from a Mudblood Camp (which was mostly accomplished thanks to/with Sacha but I guess he would try to avoid the spotlight??) Then she was captured a bunch of other times, always escaped, was almost killed a bunch of times, always survived (just Lily stuff). (Also the fact that she disappeared on a crusade for months after the virus to find the muggle survivors and buried/burnt so many bodies… Imaginaries, you know). And that kept on going. At first she thought this was bullshit, she’d make fun of Fury and the bunch of other people treating her like a Wanheda. But then Aron died, and THAT changed everything. Because the building of the Muggleborn Resistance, like you said, it was all for people like him. And every fucking thing Lily did, it was all about him first and foremost. Before her people. Before anyone else. And failing at it, losing the purpose she had for years?? She almost gave up. But then they were these people telling her she survived for a reason, she was meant to do something, she was the queen of the dead of whatever bullshit… Well if she ever met an oracle confirming that, she’d accept it. There HAS to be a reason why SHE survived when everyone else around her is… dead, brainwashed, gone. So she played into that. And Lily, while being an atheist, has always strongly believed in fate and destiny. So in the long run, she’d buy it… Would come to believe she is the only one capable of saving her people from going extinct, and would take drastic measures to prevent it from happening. She has to have a reason to keep going, and so do the people around her because they fucking suffered so much. So that’s what she does – sort of brainwash herself. That’s how she survives, but that’s not how she may live.

 Random bullet points and further ranting:

 ·         CLARIFICATION 1: I’ve seen you were confused by some stuff I mentioned like the “Fenugreek drama” which makes sense because I’ve never explicitly spoken about it mdr. But basically, the idea is that Fenugreek got injured during a battle, pretty badly. Healers managed to “bring him back” but he was just done. He did not want to keep on fighting. So he begged everyone in the room to end his suffering and no one was willing to do it because he was a kid. And finally Lily stood up and she did it. (Sung The Parting Glass while doing it because hey, remember Fenugreek was Irish too). That’s the moment when things started to go ugly with Aron.

·         CLARIFICATION 2: Lily thought Aron was dead right after she was saved by the Rebellion so I need to check but… mid-1998? Sullivan had caught her and tricked her/her memory into thinking they had killed her brother (he officially did it because they needed to “stop” Lily (mdr the deatheaters thought Lily was a hell of a threat at that time remember) (and the Rebellion was just like “humpf nice kid, how did she survive tho”) ANYWAY it was his way of “stopping” her without killing her) (what a bitch, is he dead btw) (I think so). So after that she had a few weeks/months of being batshit crazy, always running away, having edgy/suicidal behavior, and ultimately savagely killing a deatheater. That’s when she decided it was too much, and since she felt something was wrong with her memory she went to NZ and found her family safe and sound :’) and brought back to the UK :’)

·         NOT RELATED BUT CANON: Lily’s ancestors were Vikings. Warriors, explorers. And overall nice people. Btw can we have talk about this? http://www.irishsurnames.com/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?name=evans&capname=Evans&letter=e PEACE. SINCERITY. WOLVES. So anyway long shot I’m sorry but………….. What if Lily’s and Nathan’s ancestors already crossed paths on the sea????

·         NEEDS MORE THOUGHT: Lily is a FREAKING GOOD Occlumens. And she uses it way too much. And it’s messing with her mind, her health, and pretty much everything around. Definitely weakens her a lot but she can’t stop. (Also because of what happened when she let down her guard and thought Aron was dead). But the whole Josephine plot….. Makes me wonder if she could not have one such moment again, because she’s frankly exhausted. What if someone takes advantage of it? What if someone attacks her in what is supposed to be her greatest strengths?? HOW BAD WOULD THIS BE???

 ·         NEEDS MORE THOUGHT: SACHA. I always thought of him as a sort of mini-Aron… (and so did Lily, for a while). But you know what Sacha really is? A mini-Lily, struggling not to become everything Lily is at the moment. And Lily, as blinded as she is atm, she can see that. She can feel that. And she’ll be willing to fucking protect that. She won’t be a perfect friend because she’s… she’s fucked up, tbh. Damaged to a point that may not ever be fixed. But she’ll try. She’ll be that one person to tell him to never, ever give up on his brother (even though she may fail at providing him with the support needed to do so). She’ll make sure he does not have to do the fucked-up shit/get his hands dirty. But even more so…. She could use him as her moral compass? Like she has her personal “circle” of counselors if you will (most of them being fanatics :’)) but gradually, she’ll end up turning to Sacha. Because she can see herself in him – everything she used to be, everything she wishes she still was. And speaking to him is like speaking to an older version of herself, a better version of herself. I really want Nathan to be the one helping her out of this mess but… This could certainly help. If Sacha tells her something’s wrong, she’ll listen. She may not seem like she is, but she will.

 Finally, I don’t know if you can tell but I’ve been getting A LOT of Nathalily vibes lately. They’re like BROTP ENDGAME YO. There’s definitely angst in there. Lily’s almost exclusively with the Muggleborn Resistance now (she stuck with the rebellion for a while because Aron literally refused to follow with the Muggleborn Resistance and stayed with the Rebels mdr). As you said, the Rebellion and the Muggleborn Resistance have different endgoals and they must sometimes clash, which means that LILY AND NATHAN CLASH. Also the Aron drama must have damaged their relationship somehow (I’m sorry bitch but because of Bellarke I can just SEE Lily slapping Nathan in the face, and the only way she would resort to this would probably be Aron-related). (Also remember that in the Excidium verse Lily had literally LEFT Nathan’s movement because she disagreed so much with it and what he was becoming) (and remember on the CB of les Ames Mortes when Nathan literally ATTACKED Lily to show her how unprepared she was to face the war) (THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN ANGST GNNNN)

But, my point is, even though their relationship might be complicated, even though they’re in conflict sometimes (what if they literally find themselves on opposite sides mdr) (I mean with what you said I could see some Resistants being AGAINST the Rebellion), they’re just ALWAYS THERE for each other. Like there’s a super sensitive thing to do and Lily just goes like “yeah, ask Nathan” without even thinking because!! she trusts him so much!! no matter what!! And everyone’s like “really????” and she’s looking at them like “wtf idiots”. Idk, like the unconditional trust and the unconditional love and the unbreakable bond is still here no matter what? She would come under a minute if she heard he was in trouble, and she would put her life into his hands without even having to think about it. Am I making sense??? And they need to have an emotional retrouvailles sequence with a running!hug and shit. Nathan also needs to help Lily out of this mess hihi. OR Lily could give up all this bullshit when Nathan goes “””dark”””?? Because it was not just Aron her priority – it was her brother, and Nathan’s just that to her.

(Also I’m a sucker for Lily/Nathan saying they’re each other’s brothers and sisters and everyone being like YOU DON’T HAVE THE SAME BLOOD. YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE THE SAME SKIN COLOR. AND SO WHAT BITCH)

Anyway so I’m emotional, I don’t know if you could tell

(Regarding the last gifset: I mean, Lily’s a badass survivor, she’s incredibly luckily and shit. But Nathan plays a big part in her survival over the last few years, both physically and mentally, that we need to acknowledge :’))

[electricbluebutterflies]

fairytales got nothing on us, babe

Ice Mechanic canon-divergent AU. PG13-ish (implied smut & implied character death). Also on AO3. Inspired by this gifset by @likcoln.

The widowed queen paces the throne room alone, one two three four five six twirl, constantly moving to keep from falling. She’s worn the same flowing red dress for over a week, the color of blood and mourning a beautiful contrast against her warm brown skin since the day of her husband’s pyre. In another week, according to tradition and her most trusted advisor, she will officially ascend to the throne in her own right. Until then, she’s got plenty of thoughts to drown in.

Raven kom Azgeda may have been born an outsider, but she’s given over a decade of her life to the clan she now calls her own. She’s earned her place on her own terms, not just as a treaty queen. She’s not ready to face this on her own, but she’s got no real choice in the matter.

Over a decade with her love before he was taken from her. More time than most of the people she knows got. Nowhere near enough.

“I’ll do it,” Raven says. She’s twenty, headstrong, and plays by no rules but her own. Her presence at council meetings is still new, her position only temporary until a proper replacement can be selected for Sinclair’s old place, and-

“You don’t have to,” Abby counters. “You’re valuable here, Raven. They don’t expect quite that much of a sacrifice.”

“Good, because that’s not how I see it.” Raven’s got about half of a plan now, and building fast. “I’m giving myself as a token of faith. Does that sound enough like political bullshit to be acceptable?”

No one really has anything to say after that. What Raven wants, Raven gets. And if what Raven genuinely wants is a political marriage and a separation from everything she’s known up to this point, no one’s brave or stupid enough to question her on it. Her life, her choices, her loss. Just like always.

The one problem with Raven’s brilliant plan - there’s always a problem somewhere, but rarely on this scale - is she assumes she’ll be paired to someone on about her level. She’s proved wrong three days later, when the Azgedan delegation descends on Arkadia and the terms of the situation are fully laid out.

Instead of being pawned off on some lesser diplomat as she’d assumed would be the case, Raven is to become a queen. Freaking awesome.

After a longwinded explanation by several people whom Raven highly doubts have any idea what they just signed up for, she’s left alone with her soon-to-be-husband to get acquainted. This, Raven can deal with. She’s not so sure of Roan as a person, but her eyes work fine and the man is objectively gorgeous. Hey, at least she’s gonna get regular sex out of this. She could do so much worse.

“You’re not what I expected,” Roan says as the door shuts on the sterile Arkadian conference room.

“You wanted prettier?”

“I’m not sure at what point you checked out during the conversation about arrangements and logistics, but... your people speak very highly of you, Lady Raven. They say you are quite skilled with your hands. And yet you want to leave them. Why?”

“Big world out there,” Raven shrugs. “Maybe I just wanna see more of it.”

In classic diplomatic-bullshit fashion, there are two wedding ceremonies. The first, held in Arkadia the day before the delegation departs with Raven in tow, is the most stressful hour of her life. No, more like six hours - her friends and acquaintances decide she needs a proper sendoff, and there’s a party afterwards. Alcohol flows as quickly as words, and by the time she finally gets away from everyone, she’s exhausted like she hasn’t consciously been in years.

She leans her back against a metal wall, glad to be alone, and then suddenly she isn’t anymore. Roan’s beauty is softer in firelight, and Raven doubts she’ll have any trouble getting used to seeing it constantly.

“You won’t be able to run like this next time,” he murmurs, moving to stand next to her but not even reaching for her hand. “They’ll be too curious about you. It might last days.”

“And if they’re disappointed?”

“They won’t be.” There’s a certain confidence in Roan’s voice, suspiciously like an actual feeling. “I’ve seen some of your work, Raven, and you’ve already saved the world once. If anything, my people will love you.”

“And what do you think of me?”

“I think you’re beautiful and more than anyone’s ever seen.”

Raven reaches out and entwines her fingers with him. “Great, you’re a badass and a romantic.”

“Just saying what I see. Problem?”

“Nope.”

And sure enough, wedding ceremony number two is stressful. Not just because of the cultural disconnect or the language barrier, although those suck too, but because approximately five seconds after Raven officially becomes a queen, the weight of everything she’s done recently crashes upon her and oh. hell. no.

“I need air,” she whispers to Roan. He’s growing on her as a person - he was a perfect gentleman on the several-day trip up here, he’s got latent caretaker instincts that she just might fall in love with someday, and most importantly, she trusts him enough to ask him for a way out.

“Can you get through a few more minutes here?” he murmurs, clearly worried and not hiding it anywhere near as well as he thinks.

“Probably. Why?”

“If we depart after a few more formalities, everyone will just think we were especially excited to... consummate the marriage.”

And make that one more thing Raven can’t handle right now. “If you have any expectations on that front, I will kill you. Are we clear?”

“Completely. The only thing I ask is that, for the sake of preventing rumors, it’s best if we sleep in the same room tonight. But there’s a lovely chair in your room - you haven’t seen that, I don’t think, I’m not sure - and I will be fine and-”

Despite her current mental state, Raven laughs. “You’re nervous around me. I like that.”

After that, well... after that, Raven’s life calms down a bit.

Sure, she’s constantly being exposed to new things and some of the cultural quirks are just weird, but as an outsider, she’s more than allowed to think that and even say so on occasion. As the treaty queen, as most people call her, she gets a previously unknown amount of freedom. And oh how she intends to use it. She asks questions about infrastructure and is eventually introduced to an eclectic group of people who, under her vague guidance, have the potential to bring the city back to its former glory.

The ridiculous amount of walking sucks, but she deals.

And really, it’s not like this marriage thing is all that bad either. She’s not expected to deal with Roan all that much, just play arm candy at the right times. But over time, she starts to actually like him. If nothing else, she figures, she needs a friend in this zoo and her options kinda suck to begin with and everyone else is vaguely scared of her. Roan, on the other hand...

Well...

“Do you actually like me?” Raven asks one afternoon about six months into her marriage. She’s taken to pestering her husband when she knows he’s busy reading reports or something equally boring, and the little chats that result are the highlight of her week (though she’ll never actually admit that to anyone). She likes being treated as an equal, not some goddess who fell from the sky like she’s pretty sure half of Azgeda thinks she is - most of ‘em still don’t like Skaikru as a whole, but they’ve collectively decided Queen Raven is an exception and she’s thankful for it but goddamn sometimes it’s overwhelming and-

“Why do you ask?” Roan replies after several heartbeats too long.

“Because I can’t fucking tell, and... I just wanna know, okay? Is that enough of a reason?”

Fluidly, in that graceful catlike way of his that should not be anywhere near as hot as she thinks it is, he closes the space between them and gently kisses her. From what little Raven’s been able to figure out, Roan’s not keen on physical affection, and that plus his ridiculous concept of boundaries with her means she’s lucky if they even hold hands as a public display. But this... this is want, pure and simple, and she’s here for it.

Before he can give some kind of justification, she loops her arms around his neck and pulls him down for a much more desperate liplock.

“What was that?” he murmurs when they break apart just enough to breathe.

“Finally found the right moment,” Raven laughs.

Years pass. Lives are formed. Love blossoms. Raven thrives.

She will always be defined as the treaty queen, simply because it was the first title her people gave her, but she gains their trust and loyalty. Under her guidance and careful planning, windmill generators bring the city a little closer to the glory it might have had before the bombs fell. A scientist in a culture used to valuing warriors, Raven occasionally has to fight to be heard and obeyed, but as time passes, it becomes easier.

Easier still is her domestic life, a warm blanket of a thing that wraps around her and makes her feel safe. Slowly, she falls in love with Roan. He falls much faster, but grants her space to decide her feelings on her own terms. He worships the ground she walks on but expects nothing in return, and it’s the sweetest thing she’s ever known.

A little less than a year into their arrangement, Raven slips into her partner’s bedroom late at night. The door between their separate spaces has merely collected dust until now, but she’s feeling lonely and wants more than their occasional stolen kisses. She wants everything, all at once, desperate and-

Before her husband has the chance to fully process the intruder, she speaks. “Just me. That okay?”

“What do you need?” he asks, almost playful.

“Too much space in my bed,” Raven laughs. “Mind if I curl up here instead?”

Roan makes space for her and helps her find a comfortable position beside him. “What else do you want, darling?”

“Everything.”

He shifts to cover her and kiss her, and she knows in her heart that she will never again feel lonely as long as she has this.

But all love stories end somewhere. This one, ten and a half years after it began, on a hunting trip on which the king is shot by mistake by a close friend with bad eyesight and worse aim. It’s an accidental death in the purest sense, but still a tragedy.

Upon hearing that her lover is no more, that he died before anything could be done, the queen sheds her ice blue gown in favor of the deep red mourning dress that has sat at the back of her wardrobe since shortly after she took her current title. She knew this day would come, and she is thankful the circumstances are so benign, but that does not lessen the pain.

In another week, Queen Raven will officially be given all power over her people. Until then, she mourns.