#also if you hate on marina ill kill you.

[jel-jel-jel]

"Maybe you'll meet someone just as interesting as you."

[gemsofgreece]

OK some things about Greece's Marina Satti results and we're done with this

JK I am not done with Marina I love her but we're done with the circus Marina was in, for another year

So, she is a perfectionist but I hope she will soon understand how much SHE SUCCEEDED. And it will look like a love delirium but no I am not being biased.

Marina Satti got 11th place. Missed Top 10 by one. She was basically killed by the juries.

In the televoting she won 8th place. So she was in the top 10 of all people's votes. She was also 8th in the votes from the Rest of the World, which is a big deal in my opinion.

I won't be mad at the juries because their voting overall made sense in many ways and we were aware that Zari was a not jury-friendly song in any way. It had zurna, it had rap, obviously juries don't go for this stuff. So, it's okay. We knew that.

BUT Marina Satti got 8th - 11th place:

By singing exclusively in the Greek language.

By singing in an entirely Balkan, eastern melody during a year that a lot of the Balkans and East Europe had withdrawn from the contest.

By kinda rapping / reggaetoning, which is generally hated in Eurovision.

By doing exactly her thing, despite knowing how much she would be fought by certain people.

By knowingly choosing the very risky song instead of a ballad and a typical dance song that she also had available as options.

By not trying to be "understood" and get sympathy votes.

By being given a tiny budget from the Greek delegation, much smaller than any previous years including to last year's NQ lame tycoon nephew entry. So GD gave a famous artist like Marina much less money than to those small unknown kids that had gone before her. WTF

By being hated for her song and her (genius) music video and a large percentage of the population writing in English and asking foreigners to not vote for her and blaming her for insulting Greece, Greek culture etc (HINT: No she did not insult it and a blog called gemsofgreece tells you that so relax) and insulting her, her morals, her family, her father's descent and her talent relentlessly for three months

By the unprecedented thing of the freaking SHOWBIZ of the country making openly insulting attacks against her and her song. Like, seriously, there were FAMOUS celebrities going on TV and calling her song "cat vomit", a fashion designer (before her dress choice lol) saying she should go to Eurovision naked because there's no other hope for her to get votes. I am serious. You might say, oh, she must have done something. NO. Guys, no. She has never said or done anything wrong to any celebrity in the country as far as I am aware. She was attacked by musicians, fashion designers, TV shows and honestly nobody knows why. It's a different thing to not like something than to get a polemic position openly as a celebrity against another famous person. This has never happened before, I don't remember anything like this. Celebrities shitting on another artist's effort out of nowhere, especially in advance. To put it simply, now that Marina will have to return to Greece (poor thing), she has good reasons to sue half the country.

By losing her father one month ago.

By getting pretty ill during the semi-final, losing her voice and being administrated medication every three hours.

By suffering chronically from severe anxiety, which is why she refused three prior propositions from the Greek delegation to represent the country.

Well, by receiving a new massive wave of hate from people from or supporting Israel and the Greek government controlled media and press, who all started a fierce campaign against her the last two days before the final. The reason was that she showed intentionally boredom / sleepiness during the time the Israeli contestant was speaking. Make of that what you will, I am only presenting the facts of how her placement was formed here. Many Jewish people wrote they had voted her in the semi but now they wouldn't. I believe because Israel is an eastern country, probably several people of Jewish descent voted for her and then all those votes were lost. It's no matter, I am just explaining that she would probably otherwise be 7th in the televoting, 10th overall. Here we analyze if Marina succeeded her goal, we don't nitpick for Eurovision's sake.

And as you see, she succeeded. With all the odds against her, with a LOT of people hating her and making her life harder and her effort impossible, with the loss of her father, she succeeded in her vision. Bring back Greek language, the eastern sound and having the world dance with it. Shoutout to Armenia who also succeeded in this and made top 10, the song was a little more conventional. Let's be real, Satti achieved all this with a VERY difficult song. The definition of a difficult song and in a little known language. Nothing else, just congratulations to her and I hope she realises all this and does not let her trademark anxiety and perfectionism get the better of her. Also, she really created an international fan community with this and I think there are good things coming for her in the future :)))))

PS1: Odds had her 8th-10th place but they underestimated the juries and the last day's hate she got. In general odds were not very successful this year.

PS2. No worries Greek and Cypriot televoting exchanged the 12 points again :D

PS3: to the ageist haters who wondered why she looks 20 though she is 38, kitties reach her age and you will be crying to look like her

PS4: Marina’s 8th place in televoting was the best placement since 2013, surpassing Amanda and Stefania with the English jury friendly songs 😃😃😃 Greek delegation take a bloody hint

[ygsunflower]

I know I’m not the first one to notice this, but Carina is a lot more laidback with Maya- She’s comfortable with letting Maya speak for her both in serious (at her visa interview) and non-serious (here at the bar letting Maya order her white wine) situations, or at least allowing Maya to take charge first.

At first I did not like this character “change” at all and I blamed it on the inconsistent writings on Carina’s character between when she first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and when she moved to Station 19. However, as we see her appearing more on both Station 19 and Grey’s (only occasionally), and as she started to have more storylines apart from Maya and their relationship, I kinda appreciate her different personalities (for lack of a better word).

When Carina DeLuca was first introduced on Grey’s, she was this straightforward, no-filter fireball of a sexy Italian goddess. She was extremely confident and firm about her profession and her sexuality. Yet she has a soft spot for her brother. And we also see her almost losing her usual confidence and fieriness in front her father. She was never afraid to speak her mind, but when she was with her father, and later on her mentally-illed brother, she almost became too scared to speak up and be firm with them. I’m not a mental health expert/psychologist, but from what I saw, Carina has the tendency to shrink her ego and be extra soft to those she loves. I don’t think it’s uncommon for people, but it’s just a more obvious trait for her. Anyways, this is the justification I made to understand Carina’s different personalities with Maya and everyone else.

She loves Maya deeply, so she feels comfortable enough to shrink her ego. It’s not about Maya dominating her in the relationship, but more so about Carina feeling safe to let Maya take care of her and she doesn’t feel like she has to constantly putting her feet down and be firm. But I cannot draw this conclusion until the S6b of Station 19 and Grey’s S19b. Before this two half seasons, we did not see much of her as her independent self. But now we get to see her having her own storylines. The abortion clinic storyline and her running this trauma here on Grey’s showed us the good-old confident Dr. DeLuca is still very much present.

Her scenes in 6x07 of Station 19 even proved my previous point on her trusting her loved ones to make the call for them- once she got yelled by an obviously unstable Maya, she no longer considered this Maya her safe place. She immediately switched to her stern doctor voice to Maya and took back her trust in Maya to make any decisions. Carina did not back down as her last resort to try saving her wife from essentially killing herself.

In terms of her fun and almost rambunctious side of personalities, even though we don’t see her as excited Dr. Orgasm again (wasted potentials if you ask me, both the actual research topic and her overall mannerism during that storyline were gold), we still have the fake abortion clinic comedy and her scenes with Vic and Dr. Lewis are always fun. Her comedic side now is just toned down which I can accept. (Props to Stefania, I love her little physical comedy acting for Carina.)

That to be said, her personality trait of being extremely soft around her loved ones also made it easy for her to get walked-over by her loved ones… Both her father and Maya, as much as I hate putting Maya next to Carina’s dad, they abused and took advantage of Carina’s love and softness around them when they were in a mental health crisis (a longggg crisis). Her love to them made her tongue-tied in front of them and almost turned her into a slight pushover… And that’s why this second half of S6b has been great for Carina’s character- A slow burn Marina recovering road allows us to see Carina realizing the downside of her “weakened heart” around those she loves. After repeatedly getting hurt by her loved ones, Carina is finally burned out this time. She lost her strengths to pick herself up from the pain caused by her loved ones and keep loving them. She is so hurt that she’s scared of not surviving the next pain. She still wants Maya and she is still hopelessly in love with her but she needs Maya to win her back despite her instincts to forgive her again and again. She needs to see Maya’s changes to regain the courage to comfortably let go of her rationale to love Maya fearlessly again. What makes it worthy for Carina is that this time her love is changing, for the better. Maya is healing and she apologized to Carina. And the difference between Maya and Carina’s dad is that Maya now listens to Carina and respects her needs. Despite their downs and heartaches, Carina is still able to feel safe enough to spill all her fears to Maya.

This long rant is just to say that with the past few episodes of Grey’s and Station 19, we finally get a holistic understanding of the character Carina DeLuca. Rather than inconsistent writings, with simultaneous appearances of both Dr. Carina DeLuca and loving wife Carina DeLuca on 19 and Grey’s, her different personalities are explained and demonstrated well. These seemly contradicting personalities now make her more human and endearing.

[riptidecoric]

Re-intro

Heya! We’re the Riptide system, a 15 y/o white-bodied polyfragmented DID system of over 100 alters! We’re introject, protector, and symptom holder heavy! We’ve known we’re a system for slightly under a year now, and a lot of things have changed during that time. We only speak English right now, but we want to learn Japanese, French, and Chinese in the future (I still hate french people BOO FRENCH PEOPLE /j)

We collectively go by Riptide or Rye, and they/them if referring to us plurally, he/they if singular! Our Singletsona ID is transmasc genderqueer + queer + aroacespec. Some of our current frequent fronters are Childe, Venti, Haven, Aether, Tal, and Rosaria.

We’re ND, severely mentally ill, and physically disabled. We’re autistic, schizophrenic, maladaptive daydreamers and have ADHD, OCD, Tourette's, NPD and BPD traits. We also have C-PTSD, major depressive disorder, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, acrophobia, and conduct disorder with limited prosocial emotions. We don’t know what’s wrong physically but are currently waiting for our next doctor’s appointment to start doing labs to try and figure it out.

We’re currently a freshman in highschool, and we’re taking our district’s math class below pre-calc, the name is all fucky but it might be the equivalent of algebra 2 or algebra 3-4 + statistics and geometry, theatre design, art I, graphic design I, and just basic classes otherwise (English, physics, social studies). Our favorite class so far is math & theatre design.

We’re all atheists, agnostic, or pagan. Some of our fictives also believe in source religion, and there may be a few other exceptions. Many of us dislike Christianity due to what I believe to be obvious reasons, and also the fact we’ve had religion focused OCD around Christianity despite not believing the religion. We don’t dislike most Christians, we just have some inherent distrust! Talk about organized religion in general makes us uncomfortable, so please avoid it where possible.

Our political beliefs are all leftist (with shitty exceptions like Luna), but some of us are in different branches of that and most of us are just anti-capitalist. I think Venti, the most political of us, considers vespself a communist, but ly never seems to have the time to research where hy is within that.

Our common introject sources are Genshin Impact (we have almost the full cast I think), MCYT, and our original characters! We also have introjects from various other media and places, such as the introjects of our friends, MHA, and PJO. We also have some song introjects!

These are some of our interests!

Key: Special Interests Permafixations Hyperfixations Normal

Games: Genshin Impact, Cookie Run Kingdom, Dead Cells, OMORI, Minecraft

Shows+Movies: My Hero Academia, Yuri On Ice, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Little Pony, Troll Hunters, Voltron: Legendary Defender, The Promised Neverland, Ever After High, Girl Meets World, Project MC^2, LEGO Ninjago, IT (newer ones, 1&2), various shit Netflix horror movies, Luca, and we’ve watched pretty much every Pixar movie and a lot of DreamWorks stuff to my knowledge.

Books: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Ranger’s Apprentice, PJO + HOO, Magnus Chase, & Simon vs The Homosapien's Agenda

Some favorite bands/artists: Paramore, MARINA, P!atD*, The Front Bottoms, The Decemberists, McCafferty*, Isaac Dunbar, Ricky Montgomery, Peach Pit, Glass Animals, Cage the Elephant, Waterparks, Mother Mother, Lovejoy, and Penelope Scott!

*These bands/artists are notably problematic and I don’t support their shit actions, nor the shit actions of anyone else on this list, I’m just aware of these.

To read/play/watch: May the Best Man Win, The Song of Achilles, Six of Crows, Trials of Apollo, 3rd Magnus Chase book, most of OMORI (on start of day 1), YTTD, DDLC, Danganronpa, season 4 & 5 of MHA, Saiki K, Akame Ga Kill, Black Clover, Fairy Tail, some of Jujutsu Kaisen, Squid Game, and Steven Universe. + Any suggestions you guys have! We’re a lot more likely to play games or read books than watch anything

And yeah that’s pretty much it! There’s some more info about our boundaries n DNI and such in the !! Read !! highlight on our profile! Have an awesome day! Feel free to ask questions or say hi in the comments!

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

Roman's Angst Playlist

So recently, I decided to do an angst playlist for Roman followed by Logan. I might do one for the other sides in the future. Also if you don't have Spotify and want me to make it a youtube playlist then please let me know.

So im going to explain why I chose certain songs and why I think Roman would listen to them when he feels sad.

Okay I saw this as a tik tok audio used for Virgil Cosplay but when I listened to the lyrics it (no pun intended) screamed Roman.

If you listen to the lyrics closely it details exactly how Roman feels. He feels denied of being himself.

"You wanted me to show more interests

To always keep a big bright smile

Be that pinky little perfect princess

But I'm not that type of child."

That just exactly seems like what he forces himself to be to keep the others happy. He feels like he has to be perfect.

Pft so why this of all Disney Songs, Mel? Well, im glad you asked. I would have chosen I Will Go The Distance if it wasn't already on Roman's plus it's too subtle, we're looking for songs that openly state Roman's issues. Reflection is perfect for Roman and a lot you artists in the fandom agree with me. It perfectly represents how Roman doesn't feel good enough for the other sides.

This song perfectly represents how Roman feels about Patton. He is constantly risking it all to gain Patton's approval but he never gets anything in return from the father figure. I'll do a full analysis in the future.

You know I had to put Hamilton on here and burn definitely replicates perfectly how Roman feels after svs redux. This song also represents how Roman feels about Janus as you forget how badly Janus treated Roman during the original svs and can lying be good.

I'm sorry I had to put one song about feeling like a monster. Roman hates his flaws and his mistakes. This song is perfect as like if suggests Roman hides his demons.

Slight language warning here but I had to include this song. Roman constantly tries to look out for the others and change for them. Yet they're holding the gun, it perfectly represents how betrayed Roman feels especially by Thomas and Patton. He made self-sacrifice and they don't defend him after the moustache comment so he thinks they agree with Janus. He thinks all of his friends have betrayed him after how much he tried to change for them.

Please don't cry but I added this song because I think this is Roman insulting himself. He feels like he's such a rude bully and that he never makes the others happy. He's essentially telling himself you're going to rot in hell because all you do is bully the other sides.

A less subtle version of Broadway here I come so yeah it fits.

Pft apparently everyone in the fandom once said this suited Virgil well not anymore. This pretty much probably somes up all of Romans feelings after he sinks out during pof. He like the fandom is probably villainizing himself. I don't think Romans gonna join the dark sides but unfortunately, I think he will try to duck out without everyone noticing. After that comment from Janus, he's blaming himself for everything. Trapped in self-loathing till the next episode.

So I've reached the audio limit so ill have to link the next few songs.

https://youtu.be/cRTjksM3YAs

Here me out change the lyrics from man or muppet to good twin or bad twin. Roman is going to be reflecting a lot after pof.

https://youtu.be/1rfSHisyHdc

Due the old man on the throne telling Roman he probably shouldn't be so mean is Patton. Also it just suits Roman more than Remus for some reason.

https://youtu.be/sENM2wA_FTg

It just suits Roman because he doesn't want to change who he is.

https://youtu.be/ulJXiB5i_q0

Your gonna kill me but imagine Roman singing I dreamed a dream straight after the original svs. Roman feels like especially after svs redux that all of his dreams have been taken away from him.

https://youtu.be/Rl3ELiPXFRo

First comes the blessings of all that you dreamed but then comes the curses of diamonds and rings. Who can you trust?

All of these lyrics scream Roman-like im sorry that every single imagine dragons song suits Roman. Like if I'd been irrational this playlist would have been just imagine dragons songs.

https://youtu.be/SL_YMm9C6tw

Like how could I not include this one on here, Roman has constantly been told by Logan that his dreams are stupid.

https://youtu.be/mw5VIEIvuMI

Like ever since getting into this fandom this song has a whole different meaning to me instead of just calling this a female power ballad I keep relating this to Logan and Roman pleading to be listened too. Ahh please get Roman and Logan to sing this as a duet Thomas.

https://youtu.be/8v_4O44sfjM

No caption made it just feels like Romans heart.

https://youtu.be/w6g1yQV0dIY

Roman feels lost this is going to be his battle after he stops blaming himself every time Thomas has a problem.

https://youtu.be/r5yaoMjaAmE

Ok, this does suit Logan but it also suits Roman. Despite how mean he can be to cover up his insecurities he is still offended by the others biting back.

https://youtu.be/JFYedt-KnB0

Now the last song is if only from the first descendant's movie. It perfectly represents Roman's inner conflict, after Patton and Thomas giving up on him he doesn't know what's right and wrong anymore.

Ok so that was my Roman angst playlist and I hope you enjoy it I put a lot of hard work into it.

@roman-sanders-appreciation-blog @misconceivedcapricorn @royalprinceroman @roman-appreciation-central

@princemesscharming @prince-romansanders @princessglittermageline

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&reading: Thu., Mar. 25, 2021

Commemorated on March 12_by the new calendar

The Monk Theophanes the Confessor (818)

     The Monk Theophanes the Confessor was born at Constantinople into a pious and reknown family. the father of Theophanes was a kinsman of the Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741). Three years after Theophanes was born, his father died, leaving his family under the care of the emperor himself. Theophanes grew up at the court and became a dignitary under the emperor Leo the Khozar (775-780). His position obliged him to enter into marriage. With the consent of his bride, Theophanes preserved his chastity, since in his soul matured the desire to assume the monastic form. Visiting upon a time with his spouse at monasteries in the Sygreian district (Asia Minor), Theophanes met the perspicacious elder Gregory Stratitios, who predicted to Theophanes' wife, that her husband would merit the crown of martyrdom. Awhile later the spouse of Theophanes was tonsured a nun in one of the monasteries in Bithynia, and Theophanes accepted monastic tonsure under the monastic elder Gregory. With the blessing of the elder, Theophanes built a monastery on the Island of Kalon in the Sea of Marmara and secluded himself in his cell, being occupied with the transcription of books. And in this occupation Theophanes attained an high degree of mastery. Later on the Monk Theophanes founded yet another monastery in the Sygreian district, at a place called the "Big Settlement", and became its hegumen. The monk himself took part in all the monastic tasks and for everyone he gave example by his love for work and effort. He was granted by the Lord the gift of wonderworking: he healed the sick and cast out devils. In the year 787 at Nicea was convened the Seventh Oecumenical Council, which condemned the heresy of the Iconoclasts. The Monk Theophanes was also invited to the Council. He arrived dressed in his patch-tattered attire, but he shone forth by his God-inspired wisdom in affirming the dogmas of the true Orthodoxy.      At age 50 the Monk Theophanes fell grievously ill and right up to his very end he suffered terribly. Situated on his sick-bed, the monk toiled incessantly: he wrote his work, "The Chronographia", – an history of the Christian Church covering the years 285-813. This work even up into the present has remained an invaluable source in the history of the Church.      During the reign of the emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), when the saint was already well up into age, the Iconoclast heresy made a comeback. They demanded of Saint Theophanes that he accept the heresy, but he firmly refused and was locked up in prison. His "Big Settlement" monastery was put to the torch. In prison for 23 days, the holy confessor died (+ 818). After the death of the impious emperor Leo the Armenian, the "Big Settlement" monastery was restored and the relics of the holy confessor were transferred there.

© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

The Monk Simeon the New Theologian (1022)

     The Monk Simeon the New Theologian was born in the year 946 in the city of Galata (Paphlagonia), and he received the basic secular education at Constantinople. His father prepared him for a career at court, and for a certain while the youth occupied an high position at the imperial court. But at age 25 he felt the draw towards monastic life, and he fled his house and withdrew to the Studite monastery, where he entered into obedience under the then reknown elder Simeon the Reverent. The basic ascetic deed of the monk was the unceasing Jesus Prayer in its short form: "Lord, have mercy!" For greater prayerful concentration he constantly sought out solitude, and even at liturgy he stood separately from the brethren, and he often remained alone at night in the church; in order to accustom himself to mindfulness concerning death, he would spend nights in the graveyard. The fruit of his fervour was a special condition of ecstasy: in these moments the Holy Spirit in the form of a luminous cloud descended upon him and made oblivious to his sight everything surrounding. With time he attained to a constant high spiritual enlightened awareness, which was especially evident when he served the Liturgy.

     In roughly the year 980 the Monk Simeon was made hegumen of the monastery of Saint Mamant and continued in this dignity for 25 years. He set in order the neglected management of the monastery and restored order to its church.      The Monk Simeon combined kindliness with strictness and steadfast observance of the Gospel commands. Thus, for example, when his favourite disciple Arsenios killed ravens which were pecking away at moist bread, the hegumen made him tie the dead birds to a rope, and wear this "necklace" on his neck and stand in the courtyard. In the monastery of Saint Mamant for the atoning of his sin was a certain bishop from Rome, unrepentingly having murdered his young nephew, and the Monk Simeon assiduously brought him around to good and spiritual attentiveness.      The strict monastic discipline, which the Monk Simeon constantly strove for, led to a strong dissatisfaction amongst the monastic brethren. One time after liturgy, the particularly irked among the brethren pounced on him and nearly killed him. When the Constantinople patriarch expelled them from the monastery and wanted to hand them over to the city authorities, the monk obtained pardon for them and aided them to live in the world.      In about the year 1005, the Monk Simeon handed over the hegumen position to Arsenios, while he himself settled nearby the monastery in peace. He composed there his theological works, fragments of which entered into the 5 volumed "Philokalia" ("Dobrotoliubie"). The chief theme of his works – is the hidden activity of a spiritual perfecting, with struggle against the passions and sinful thoughts. He wrote discursive instructions for monks, – "Practical Theological Chapters", "A Tract on Three Forms of Prayers", and "A Tract on Faith". Moreover, the Monk Simeon was an outstanding churchly poet. To him belong the "Hymns of Divine Love" – about 70 poems, filled with profound prayerful ponderings.      The teachings of the Monk Simeon about the new man, about the "divinisation of the flesh", with which he wanted to replace the teachings concerning the "mortification of the flesh" (for which also they termed him the New Theologian), – were difficult for his contemporaries to assimilate. Many of his teachings sounded for them unacceptable and strange. This led to conflict with Constantinople church authorities, and the Monk Simeon was subjected to banishment. He withdrew to the coasts of the Bosphorus and founded there a monastery of Saint Marina.      The saint reposed peacefully to God in the year 1021. While still during his life he received a gift of wonderworking. Numerous miracles occurred also after his death; one of them – was a miraculous discovery of his image. His Life (Vita) was written by his cell-attendant and disciple, the Monk Nikita Stethatos.

© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

Isaiah 6:1-12 

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 

2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 

3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 

5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” 

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 

7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” 

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 

9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 

10 “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.” 

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, 

12 The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

Proverbs 6:3-20 

3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend.

4 Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

5Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler,

8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—

11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth;

13 He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers;

14 Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord.

15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.

16 These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:

17 A proud look, A lying tongue,

18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,

19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep your father’s command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.

[blorbosexterminator]

AND I am back. Once again on this lovely day to give my review for the EPISODE 24 so, here we go :

Agustin is squinting his eyes at him, as Sergio keeps muttering that Agustin has in fact done what he just mentioned he did and which both of them have known for years. 

Federico is 99% dead?! Damn, what is Sergio's gonna do?! Make it 100% ? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

(I got a feeling that Federico is the kidnapper or atleast a very important lead to them)

Btw, WHO IS FEDERICO?! Tatiana's alive husband?!

(Look at me, hoping like a moron she aint dead

My dog : Yep, total moron 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Me :

Me : NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR BITCH-ASS OPINION, YOU DUMB-FUCK DONKEY!!!! 😡😡😡)

Martin, my darling, my sweetheart, my poor angel. Nada, some help? Atleast gimme some tips, bruh, come on, you cant desert me like that. Not when I need to help someone 🙁🙁🙁

since, drunk, the last idea he got was that Laura turned out to be completely insane and kidnapped Andrés to marry him

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Martin, honey, stop drinking. This getting out of hand 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. But then again, Andres is so hot poor thing keeps on doubting.

As Roci said in one of the tags, his wives deserve the highest civilian award for putting up with him.

(Although, I just had a frisky thought. What if Sergio wanted Andres away from Martin, not because he cared bout his hermano but......😳😳😳😳😳 *whispers loudly* he wanted Andres all for himself? In *frantically looks around* INCEST WAY?!)

(Calm down, my deranged mind, you went too far 🤣🤣🤣)

Who knows, it could be the professor he punched in the middle of an exam once. Martín doesn’t think he has forgiven him.

Mood, bruh, such a mood 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 NO, OMG 😆😆😆 I didnt do it, but I do kinda have a beef with my Organic prof. I'll go off tangent again, so tell me if you wanna know the story.

He sent Silene in disguise to collect the cctv from the nearby shops and streets. His own cctv has been disabled since the IT bitch ruined it, Martín will kill him when he gets them back.

I think if and only IF Silene finds something good, her % of redemption will increase.

(Raquel s2e7 deja vu, I see what you did there 😏)

And Martin about to go John Wick on anyone & everyone. I tell ya Keanu Reeves will be crying when he sees Martin go nuts. I am willing to bet he'll pull a gun on the poor milkman, who just wanna do his job 😆😆😆

So he calls Bogota, with a little (not that little) handwritten list in his hand with the names of people he thinks he might have ruined their life in the past. 

Martin : Okay, I'll just take out the list and

*the paper rolls out the door, travels around the world for 5 times and comes back while going over top of Everest and bottom of Marina Trench*

No, it’s because when he hated Martín, he had always hated him openly. If he wanted to hurt him, then he’d just try to stab him in the middle of the living room.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Bogota, did Tatiana have any family?”

“No, who of us did, Martín?”

“You literally have 7 children and 7 ex-wives.”

COMEDY GOLD, NADA 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Those kids are ungrateful bastards, if I fall dead tomorrow they would just run to see what they’ve inherited.”

Aka THE PLOT of 70% Indian Telenovas 🤣🤣🤣. Also this line alone has so much soap opera vibes 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

He has no choice but to go to fucking Sergio Marquina. And if it’s his wife, then even better. Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer. 

For fuck sake, Martín, Ive been telling you from last 2 ep

Stop. Blaming. Raquel.

Also, 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 damn, these 2 assholes cant keep away from each other. Nada, are we sure these 2 married the right people? As much I am a Berlermo ship stan, this here is just smth else 😆😆😆

Uh-oh 🙁 this asshole son of a bitch just poked the mama bear. And if ANDRES of all people narrows his eyes at you, You are, quoting Martin from last ep, truly, utterly, entirely, thoroughly and wholly fucked.

“Do you know him?”

“Oh yes, a childhood friend, I stole his pencil once and he never forgave me. Have you heard this Paula? Don’t steal your friends’ pencils, they will never get over the betrayal. You could steal the teacher’s ones though.”

“Why did you steal his pencil?” Paula asked seriously, with a delirious tone, and too tired to even move her head upwards. Raquel is gonna kill every single person involved for doing this to her daughter.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sassy Andres = Best Andres. Words that should be written with GOLD. Wisdom passed onto generations

Poor Paula 🤣🤣🤣 I just imagine this in some other situation :

Andres : *saying smth smth*

Paula : *taking notes & asking questions*

Raquel after seeing her daughter :

Look what you made me do

🎶But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time

I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined

I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

Ooh, look what you made me do

Look what you just made me do🎶

(Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift)

I am telling you Nada, by the time Raquel will be done with everyone, Uma Thurman will cry buckets because no one, okay?, no one can compete with A MAMA BEAR RAQUEL MURILLO.

“Poison is a woman’s choice of weapon, Anibal. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Again, words of wisdom. Only time hes not being a misogynist.

Also, Andres, my dear, are you speaking this from experience?

(Why do I think that Martin got Tatiana killed cause she poisoned him and Martin had to watch Andres fight for his life in hospital?)

“He won’t say anything, Mama. He’s the one who kidnapped grandma with Silene!”

Is anyone gonna listen to her? Or do I need to bonk Raquel myself? 🤦‍♀️

“Silence!” she screams. “I need to know everything that happened, if we’re getting out of here alive.” 

FINALLY!!!! SOME COMMON SENSE!!!! WE THANK THE LORD FOR MERCY!!!

And as for me, its time for me to say goodbye and goodnight (Cause its quarter to 12 rn in my watch)

AND ILL SEE YALL TOMORROW 🤗 BYE!!! 🙋‍♀️

I'm back as well! And we've finally caught up with each other.

Valid reaction. Sergio is also slowly going insane. Love that for him.

He's hoping he could. We all know this family has beef with that last one percentage.

(we'll see👀👀👀)

Hope is all we got at this point afabgs.

Now, now, don't speak to him like that. He has valid criticism.

I'd help him if I could, but alas (lmfao no, I do love them suffering)

Same recommendation. But he just, poor boy, could nothing to think of. So might as well be Laura. (also fair, who knows, maybe Andrés gets constantly kidnapped and forced into marriage)

Definitely, she's 100%. I really don't know how they do it.

Avsnsjsvjshsjs all theories are valid. Maybe Sergio does want Martín or Andrés, who knows what goes in the head of that fucker.

Seems like an interesting story! I never got along with my chemistry teachers. (Got one once to tell me that he's still not kicking me out of class only because he feels bad for my parents that they have to deal with me and they'll be the ones who will have to deal with the mess lmfao.)

Yes, have some faith in her!

100% accurate. Martín is this close from just shooting random people in the supermarket because they also could be the ones who kidnapped Andrés.

HAHAHA YES. This is exactly how the scene went.

We stan honesty in this house.

So happy you found it funny!!

I can confirm! Like 70% of all Egyptian drama as well.

I don't think he's hearing you well. But afnajscsgsh SAME. Okay look, now I really understand show runners with super homoerotic ships that they refuse to make canon. You try and make two male characters hate each other so much for plot then it slips and gets homoerotic.

Totally agree. This guy isn't making enemies with the right people (they are all dumb, but also none of them have anything that even resembles a moral compass)

Totally agree. This guy is honestly super amusing to watch and it's mainly because he's incapable of taking any situation in life seriously.

This family is really iconic. (love the song agsnsg) but also like Raquel would basically tell her after writing done his notes just put the title on top: things to never, ever, do.

I believe you! They really fucked with the wrong dumb family.

I mean, he's still a misogynist. Maybe some of us really like dagger, has he considered that?

That's as valid theory as any right there.

Hopefully Raquel will finally start listening to the child!

Raquel is the only one with a semblance of common sense.

Hope you had a good sleep! I'll see you tomorrow!

[highkingfen]

I think ill get hate for that but....

I had to rewatch season 3-4-5 cause my hubby was THAT behind and binging them together, I can say that season 5 wasn't as bad as people said it was. 

I mean season 3 is the best of all the 5 seasons, but season 4 started strong and we clearly see when the writer discovered Jason was leaving and were trying to find a way to make it worth in a narrative that was all about Q. this is why the last three episodes of s04 is... yeah no. Lets not talk about that its just bad and there is a lot of problematic things. 

Now don't get me wrong. Im pissed they killed Q and even more that the gang didn't try to bring him back. But knowing that Jason was not coming back and they had to work with that for s05 too, it felt... good for what they had to work with. 

I love that Eliot and Alice could talk about their grief with one another, how they both were in love with Q and that Alice had even a slight opening in the idea of polyamory (Which Q and El had done previously with Arielle). I love that Eliot was scared to talk to Margo about his feeling because he saw how much she had grown emotionally while he was gone and he was not prepared to meet her there (until 

I ADORE the moment where El goes to Josh for help because he knows that he will listen for what the moment is and not thinking that he is only talking out of the trauma of the monster (Im sorry Margo but girl you drop the ball there). I love that Julia refused to accept Penny’s need to protect her because he lost another version of her. Her calling him out on his BS and reminding him that she wasn't that Julia was good. I love that they broke up. I love that, they were in a complicated part of their relationship but they wanted to be there for HQ. I loved that Julia snapped on Penny when he told her she should stop grieving the way she was. I love seeing Alice and her mom doing another thing than yelling at each other. I love Zelda being scared to leave the one secure place she ever knew and learning to rebuild herself while building Kady’s confidence up. I love the moment where they all hold and tell Eliot they believe in him as another timeloop finish because there were several time in the show where they didn't believe in him. But this time they did and I'm proud of them. 

I am proud of Kady admitting to herself that being in recovery is hard even after 3 years, I am proud of Alice to admit that she is scared of being weak and do not know how to rely on others, I am proud of Fen for stopping to worship Margo and becoming more of an active voice, while acknowledging that she should not rule the New Fillory, I am proud of Marina who, instead of pretending to be someone else, stood up to her girlfriend. Sometime loving someone is not enough if they dont love you for who you are but who they want ou to be. 

Ok I adored the couple and the aura of fear around it. but then it was freaking ruined by “them wanting a family”. What hetero non-sense is that? Especially when adoption is a thing. I think there was more to that than having a family at least I hope. I also thing the Elphias was planned to be the main villain of s06, It would have been neat.  Maybe joined by the couple? Idk... This whole part is my one big EH out of the season

As for Charlton, I am not their number one ship but I like the idea of it. Knowing that their relationship was going this way, I notice a LOT of hint of Charlton falling for El more and more during S05, it started with him being just there for him and then getting kinda jealous. It was neat and less out of the blue than remembered it. Sometimes, rewatching helps to understand and I think CharltonxEliot is one of those times. If El cant has Q or Seb, I'm happy he is getting at least someone who is ready to listen to him and accept his flaws. And I am pretty sure when they will find back new fillory and margo and el will be reunited (in the etherial season 6) margo will kick his butt about it. 

Season 4 started strong and became a mess and Season 5 tried to get back up from the rumble and was starting to build a solid foundation for a new thing. A new fillory. New magicians. One without Q. Was it perfect? Fuck no. I could write an essay on many many many things they did that was wrong and even harmful for some of the viewers, but I loved season 5 despite its flaws. 

[freshlyjuicedbeetles]

Commodore Norrington x Reader Fic! Chapter 3

Title: The Same Water

Genre: Romance, Supernatural

Rating: General Audiences thus far.

Warnings: Mentions of trauma, drowning, and racism.

Summary: Commodore Norrington washes up on the shore and you must find out why.

Notes: I intentionally kept the main character ambiguous (but female) so readers can fill themselves in!

James and I got up early the next morning to head down to the marina. The sky was a dazzling pink only an island could produce.

“Here she is, Seaclusion! Don’t make fun of me. My dad named it.” James got a chuckle out of the other punny names of the neighboring boats.

We climbed aboard, and James inspected the vessel, fascinated by hundreds of years of progress.

“Here,” I said, tossing James a life vest and securing my own.

“What is this?”

“It’s a life jacket. It’ll help you stay afloat if you fall overboard.”

“Ingenious!” James said in awe as he put his on.

“Oh, and these,” I said, digging around in a compartment by the wheel. I pulled out a pair of old aviators and sunscreen. “To protect your eyes and your skin. Though you’re probably already riddled with skin cancer from living in the Caribbean unprotected for years. Keep an eye on that freckle behind your ear.”

James touched the freckle self-consciously.

“You know how to swim, don’t you?”

James rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Of course I do.” He put on the aviators and dang, he looked good. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of interrogation with him. He had an intimidating air about him that he could turn on and off.

The engine roared to life, and the beginning cords of ‘The Real Thing’ by George Strait played on the speakers. James looked overboard to the motor and rudder underwater.

“I’m sure you have better sea legs than I do, but you might want to take a seat,” I said, gesturing the rows of seats on the front deck.

“Hold on!” I said and came up to speed, pulling out of the marina. James was pushed back in his seat by the motion, not expecting a boat to go that fast. I wanted to show him what ships were like nowadays. Even over the rushing wind, I could hear him laughing with glee.

We sailed to the other side of the island with dolphins in our wake. How lucky was I that I lived somewhere where dolphins were so accessible!

I turned down the speakers, “This is Pier 21. Our cruise ships dock here, and on the other side are the shrimp boats that supply these restaurants first.” Large pelicans lazed around the docks and boats, hoping for some fish scrap from the sailors. James wasn’t paying attention; he was gazing at the Elissa like a starved man in an oasis.

“What is this glorious creation?” James stood as we idled.

I smiled, “That’s the Elissa. A little after your time, but I’m sure you can sail her just as good as anyone else on this island.”

The Elissa was a tall ship from 1877. After many different roles in life all across the globe, she was moored in Galveston.

“Is she still functional?”

“Oh yeah, she goes on one big sail to Europe once a year. She’s mostly a teaching vessel now. And next to that is a yacht. Some restauranteur owns it and has a staff to keep it ready around the clock even though I’ve seen him use it like five times.”

“Is it common for laypeople to own such vessels?” He asked, finally pulling his eyes from the Elissa.

“Here on the island, yeah, pretty much everyone has a boat. They’re still quite common on the mainland, depending on how close you are to water. I’d say a boat is definitely attainable to the upper-middle class.”

“You mentioned a ‘cruise ship’?”

“Yeah, they’re huge ships that can hold thousands of people who sail for vacation. See that huge thing over there?”

“Is that a ship?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yep, let’s get closer.”

We were dwarfed by the cruise liner. James looked up in disbelief as we buoyed in its shadow. “Galveston is a port city for cruise liners, bananas, farm equipment…Oh, and you need to see this,” I said as we turned and sped into the open water.

“I think you’ll like this,” I said as we pulled up next to the wreckage of a rusted and splintered ship.

“I am perplexed, yes,” James answered.

“This is the Selma, and it’s totally made out of concrete, or mortar, I guess is similar.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Yep.

“Surely, she never saw the open ocean.”

“It did actually. Until it was damaged, and it was far too costly to repair due to war, and it was scuttled.”

James looked to the horizon, “Why are those ships not in the harbor?” Container ships always loomed in the distance of Galveston Island.

“Again, costs too much but also because the channel isn’t deep enough.”

“Are pirates a concern?”

“I’ve never seen a pirate in my life. I guess pirates were your version of terrorists,” I said.

James thought, then nodded, seemingly decided the word was correct.

“Unfortunately, we still have a problem with terrorism, plus pirates as you would know them. Instead of big ships, they run around on jet skis or dhows today. They’re mostly a problem in the Indian Ocean and around that area.”

“So, they’ve been cornered…”

“What? Down boy! You want to go pirate hunting? Well, unfortunately, pirates are actually looked upon favorably as of recently.”

James looked at me like I’ve grown two heads, “Especially here. I guess people like the freedom of just going wherever you want to and forget that they were actually terrorists. Not that piracy is now legal or anything.”

“And what are those machines in the distance?”

“Oil rigs. They dig oil from the earth, and we use it to power just about everything. Crews live on them for weeks at a time. Usually, there are less parked here, but the price of oil has dropped, so companies don’t need as many.”

Container ships and offline oil rigs loom in the distance of Galveston Island. It’s almost like the giant guardians that protect us.

“Do you want to try?” I asked, gesturing to the wheel.

He looked hesitant at first but quickly accepted. “The wheel is the same as it ever was, this is the accelerator, how fast you want to go, the kill switch if something goes awry…” I explained. James and I then switched places, but I stood behind him in case something happened. I could tell he was uncomfortable with the proximity to another person and a woman, but when we got up to speed, he looked like a bird who could finally fly again. I almost didn’t have it in my heart to ask him to surrender the wheel.

When we got home, there was a package at my doorstep. My heart started to thrum when I saw it was from the police department. I hurriedly tore it open when we got inside. The contents of the box smelled like mildew, salt, and brine. It was James�� uniform. I pushed it to him as I read the letter that was on top of it. It was a standard form letter saying they were closing the case due to insufficient evidence that there was nothing out of the ordinary about the uniform.

James held the uniform in his hand. “Do you have a fireplace?” He asked.

“Why?” I asked.

“It makes me ill.” He replied.

“You don’t want it?”

“It’s a mark of failure, both personal and professional. I would think it best if it was gone.”

“I have a fire pit.”

“Splendid.”

Later that night, Jericka came over, and we started the fire. James unceremoniously dropped the heap of clothes in the fire and sat down with us around it.  Jericka and I drank while James abstained.

“To new beginnings,” I said, raising my bottle of Ziegenbock. James nodded, watching the fabric burn.

“You know, there are probably costumers and historians who would have dove in there for that uniform,” Jericka said.

“So…what happened? Before you died?” I asked.

James was silent for a moment, composing his thoughts. “I can pinpoint the exact day when everything changed. An idiot pirate sailed into my port. To attempt to capture him, my men and I sailed through a hurricane. Only a handful survived, and I resigned in shame. I essentially became a pirate myself for the time, drunk, and destitute. Then, I meant Davy Jones.” James leaned forward, the fire casting shadows on his face, almost making his sharp features look hawk-like.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“I am. He is something of a grim reaper of the seas. I was stabbed by one of his crewmen. That’s all I remember.”

“You sailed into a hurricane?” Jericka asked, “And you made it all the way to Admiral?”

James scowled. “I had no choice.”

“But what’s so wrong about the uniform, or being called Admiral?”

“I didn’t earn it, nor was it through the Royal Navy. I worked for the East India Trading Company, who were no better than pirates themselves when I was an admiral. I took the post out of necessity, greed, and selfishness. I was only serving myself, not the Crown, not the people. I was no better than a pirate as well. I much rather be called commodore if you have to address me by title.”

Jericka gave a low whistle, “Then I’m sure you heard of Galveston before.” She took a drink from her bottle.

“Was it a pirate’s den?”

“Oh yeah, Jean Lafitte owned the place.”

“Lafitte? I have heard of him. I always seemed to run into a sun-drenched lunatic named Jack Sparrow.”

“He sounds like quite the character.”

“He was. If Lafitte settled here, I must be in Campeche.”

I snapped my fingers. “I never thought of that! That’s like Galveston history 101!” I said to Jericka.

“Well, I know where I’m at, so that brings some more comfort,” James said.

“Okay, Commodore,” Jericka said, “Tell us about yourself.”

James looked like we just asked him to explain nuclear physics.

“Pets? Did you have any pets?” I asked.

“Well, I had a horse named Scout back in the Caribbean.  I think she tried to kill me once.” James said casually. “And there were coconut crabs all over the fort I was stationed at. They stole everything.”

“A horse? Tried to kill you? And crabs stole your stuff?” Jericka asked skeptically.

“No one believed me! Even then!” James said adamantly and gestured wildly as he told the story, “I swear this horse was calculating, and she hated me. How would a horse know to stop right below a hanging lantern so my tricorn would catch fire?”

“Maybe you should have been paying better attention…” I said gently.

James started to speak, but thought better, “Fair enough.”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Jericka said excitedly, “We need to take him to Pieces of Ship! Down on Mechanic street!”

“Excuse me?” James asked, not believing his ears.

I laughed, “It’s a shop that sells parts from ships; maps, flags, wheels, bells, you name it.”

“No, Mrs. Norrington, huh?” Jericka teased as James stoked the fire. She winked at me.

“Close, but it wasn’t meant to be,” James said, looking down for a moment.

“Yeah, everything I’ve read about you never mentions anyone,” I said. I was noticing I was relieved when I found out James never married. However, by his wording and the tone of his voice, there was someone he wanted. Jealousy tingled at my nerves.

“I appreciate time for forgetting such a blunder.” He gave a small, defeated smile.

“Sweetheart,” I said, “I think you need to see a therapist.”

We burst out laughing.

By the end of the night, we were laughing incessantly. I felt like we became friends with James at that point.

[fl-oralfawnarchive]

Weird asks thing: 6, 18, 28, 32, 60, 62, 63, 84, & 85! Sorry I didn’t copy them all here, I’m on mobile, and just remembering all of the things I wanted to ask was hard 😅

ahh so first off no need to apologize at all! the way i see it, you put your effort and time into giving me the opportunity to answer questions, i can handle the rest! :)

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

either boho or grunge!! depends on the day and how im feelin

18. ideal weather?

cool but sunny, with some wind! i also reaaaally like fog!! but i don’t get too much of that where i live

28. five songs to describe you?

Season of the Witch-Lana Del Rey, Move You(SSSPII)-Anya Marina, Gold Dust Woman-Fleetwood Mac, Dust My Shoulders Off-Jane Zhang, Anchor-Mindy Gledhill (this was sooo hard to narrow down😅 so there are def more)

32. top five favorite vines?

i hate to disappoint but i was not an avid vine watcher at all! i didn’t ever have the app. BUT the “road work ahead, i sure hope it does!” is one that i remember bc it killed me😂 OH and the “mah berries” guy I think his name was gio something? all those vines were 👌🏻 quality

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

ooo probably an anime where i got to be magical!!! something like Interviews with Monster Girls probably 😅

62. seven characters you relate to?

Linda Belcher(Bob’s Burgers), Arnold Shortman(Hey Arnold!), Jack Hodgins(Bones), Penny Whitewall(Major Lazer animated series), Fluttershy(MLP:FIM), Zoe Benson(AHS: Coven/Apocalypse), Rinko Yamato(My Love Story!!)

63. five songs that would play in your club?

Aerosol Can-Major Lazer, Time Flies-Mac Miller, Who Dat Boi-bbno$, Lentra & So Loki, Gees- Mac Miller, Country Grammar- Nelly (these all have some nasty language so click at your own risk😅)

84. podcasts or talk radio? 84. barbie or polly pocket? (i noticed there are actually two 84s on the post so here’s both!)

podcasts, and hhnngnfnfngf this is so hard because i adored both barbie and polly pocket when i was a bio kid. i guess if i had to choose, barbie! mainly bc people customize the dolls and they’re just soo beautiful

85. fairy tales or mythology?

mythology for sure! i was never too big into fairy tales

thank you soooo so so heckin much for asking all of these!! they were so fun to answer! and ill definitely be asking some in return!!☀️☁️💛

[fortunatenax]

tagged by:  @origcmibird​ technically tagging:  @fastestboyalive @pyroteched @serialhost @preservive @timesmark @assassincraft and whoever else wants to!!!

RULES:   share 1 - 5 pieces of music - popular songs, soundtracks, or other musical arrangements - that represent your muse.   they can be an aesthetic, mood, or an event in your muse’s life.   explain, briefly.

        ECHO — gumi // crusher-p .

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON CAN SOMEONE TELL ME PLEASE WHY I'M SWITCHING FASTER THAN THE CHANNELS ON TV I'M BLACK THEN I'M WHITE NO SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT MY ENEMY'S INVISIBLE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT THE TREMBLING FEAR IS MORE THAN I CAN TAKE WHEN I'M UP AGAINST THE ECHO IN THE MIRRORECHO I'm gonna burn my house down into an ugly black I'm gonna run away now and never look back

       this is very much a song that i’ve used to contextualize some of fel’s responses to trauma- especially given that she bottles a lot of things up inside. it’s also pretty fitting to say that at the very beginning of everything, when i first took fel up as a muse, this song was her general being beneath the tired calm- she’d been planning a lot of things that she never got to act on, and thankfully never will now that she’s in a better place. but healing’s not linear and sometimes the panic and anxiety and the need to destroy the things that hurt her come back swinging.

         ARE YOU SATISFIED  — MARINA.

High achiever, don't you see? Baby, nothing comes for free They say I'm a control freak Driven by a greed to succeed Nobody can stop me 'Cause it's my problem if I wanna pack up and run away It's my business if I feel the need to smoke and drink and sway It's my problem, it's my problem if I feel the need to hide And it's my problem if I have no friends and feel I want to die

              this could be described as the constant playback in the back of felicity’s mind- she’s learning to take it easy, but she’s always been incredibly driven and craves success and frankly it can be a little self destructive sometimes. she also has her own unhealthy coping mechanisms that she keeps secret because, well, it’s her business not yours. honestly MARINA has a lot of songs that apply to fel scarily well, but this is one of the top ones for her. it applies to both her perfectionist attitude and drive for something more and the excuses she makes to destroy herself to get it, but it’s also reminiscent of her telling herself that it’s not necessary.

        HYMN — kesha.

This is a hymn for the hymnless, kids with no religion Yeah, we keep on sinning, yeah, we keep on singing Flying down the highway, backseat of the Hyundai Pull it to the front, let it run, we don't valet Sorry if you're starstruck, blame it on the stardust I know that I'm perfect, even though I'm fucked up Hymn for the hymnless, don't need no forgiveness 'Cause if there's a heaven, don't care if we get in This is a hymn, hymn, hymn for how we live, live, live This is a hymn, hymn, hymn for how we live, for how we live

              if echo is part of fel’s trauma, hymn is part of her healing. this is very much a celebration of the imperfect, of living life and loving it and accepting the good and bad- and growing from it. this is fel finding love and acceptance in her friends and in herself, her traveling and learning and loving. this song is both fel at her friends, and her acceptance of herself as everything that she is, in it’s gentlest form (which is what she needs, really- she’s always been too hard on herself).    

         KILL THE LIGHTS —the birthday massacre.

And after midnight we're all the same No glass shoe to bring us fame Nobody to take the blame We're falling apart Every story's a waiting game A flower for every name Their colors are paling In the falling rain

              honestly this song as a whole is very much fel’s aesthetic on multiple levels. it feels incredibly cynical, a mockery of fairy tales, but a few lines hint at hope- and a few hint at lost hope on the other side of things. and i’ll be honest, that suits her a lot- she’s in a better place but she’s still a mentally ill, jaded, depressed trauma victim after all. the song also itself is about being disillusioned with life the singer’s own choices- but where the singer keeps going with it because she feels she has no other choice in life, fel broke out and is making things better.

        CAN’T SLEEP —k.flay.

My mother told me that the world has got its plans I wanna hold em til they burn right through my hands Don't ask me questions cause I'm tired of confessing And I know that it's not much to say but I swear that I'd like to change I can't sleep, I hope I stay awake Cause I've been running, running, running all day Long nights, no peace, I feel like everybody's eyes on me I can't sleep, I can't sleep I can't sleep, I can't sleep I can't sleep, I hope I stay awake Cause I've been running, running, running all day Long nights, no peace, I feel like everybody's eyes on me I can't sleep, I can't sleep I can't sleep, I can't sleep

              i feel like this song is a combination of fel’s drive to succeed, her need for movement or action or just doing something somehow, her inability to really care for herself, her coping mechanisms, her slight paranoia and her zest for really living life now that she’s free and healing. it’s a bit messy, honestly, but its born out of both good and bad- her desire to live, and her unhealthy mentality alike. she wants to get out there and do things, wants to see what she’s missed and make sure she doesn’t lose out on anything else because of cruel adults!! she wants to be a better, different person! but also she feels a little bit like others judge her for what she’s lost out on, and it makes her uncomfortable and she hates it. (and this is not without basis, many people respond poorly when she mentions not having seen or done something before.) but there’s also a lot of uncertainty in the lyrics because while the singer is trying to keep up with a normal life, there’s always questions about everything- their future, their life, everything- and it makes them uncomfortable. this song really is about a lot of things- and almost all of them do apply here to felicity.

[keeloves]

MY Top 10 Worst Male Characters

 Keep in mind this just my personal opinion! I would love to hear your thoughts but please keep them civil and respectful. Kicking off the list at number 10

10 Jake Salt (Famous in Love)

Don’t get me wrong he is super cute/hot but ugh he freaking irks me! First of all he treats girls like crap, he is emotionally needy and as Paige put “Nothing is ever his fault” He slept with Lexi to try and get his script published into a movie. He slept with her for several days and when once he realized that wasn’t happening he got pissed off blamed her and then he ghosted Lexi. Yeah, I know what an asshole. He confesses his “love” for Paige at a press conference right after Rainer had a severe melt down. Then once he gets with Paige he treats her like crap and is emotionally abusive. He doesn’t move into the house she bought, he didn’t stick up for her when she said no to shots but instead helped pressured her into doing shots of tequila and she ended up getting so drunk that she ended up missing her screen test and he didn’t defend her when she was being ripped to shreds by a producer guy. Skip to like 5:28 and watch until 7:16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYMVnvjcfpY&t=7s This video was made by my dear friend @disneyfanforever3 This clip pretty much sums up why I can’t stand Jake. I am so happy Paige called him out on his bullshit.

9. Sinbad (Sinbad from Legends of the Seven Seas) 

First of all he doesn’t deserve to have this movie named after him because he is a terrible protagonist. He speaks disrespectfully to women, and just ugh! He is okay letting his friend Proteus die for a crime he did not commit and and Sinbad would run off to Fiji fully knowing his friend Proteus that he has known since CHILDHOOD would be dead as long as he can run off to Fiji. Proteus said to Sinbad while taking his place “I know you would do the same for me” and Sinbad’s reply is “No I wouldn’t” like ugh dude you aren’t that loyal! So Marina is the real hero of the movie. In fact I go a little more into detail on why I hate Sinbad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhD6mbhLJpY&lc=z23iz1vpsv3kyla3xacdp430q55un5sqk3m3zmlonvhw03c010c

8.Oliver Queen (Arrow)

I have ranted on him several times so I will try to keep this brief! He is a womanizing manwhore. He serial cheated on his girlfriend Laurel with basically every woman including her sister Sara. He did nothing to make the situation better. This pic I used of him is him flirting with Sara at the Lance family dinner and this is the moment where I wanted to punch him in the face! Ugh god he is the worst. He cheated so much that he fathered a child. He abandon Thea after she got out of the Lazurus pit all so he could play house with Felicity and he constantly goes back and forth on his no kill rule. Oh and this Oliver is a knock off version of Bruce Wayne and he is a complete 180 of who he should be.

7. Mon El (Supergirl)

I hate Mon El so much! He lied to Kara about who he was on Daxam yes I know Kara was judgmental at first but Mon El just planned to keep her in the dark the entire time of their relationship. He owned slaves and did nothing to correct the issue he just chose to stay with Kara. He called Kara his kryptonite which is something that can kill her literally so bleh! He disrespected Kara at every moment she tried to help him. He beat up another Aileen for money and he is so selfish. In fact how here is Kara chewing out Mon El’s ass out! Its very satisfying like “Paige Townsen Nothing’s ever your fault speech to Jake.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnHZInGzQ4w

6. Moses Puloki Dance Teacher (Lilo and Stitch)

A while back I made a list of my most annoying cartoon characters and he is number one on the most annoying cartoon characters list. I put him on this list because he is an adult who lets Mrytle get away with bullying Lilo. He sees it happening before his very eyes and he does nothing to stop it and instead it always Lilo’s fault. He never asks for Lilo’s side of the story and he just assumes Lilo is at fault when she beats up Mrytle. At least that is how it feels. I have never once seen him say anything to Mrytle or her possy that follow her around. To me he is my least favorite character from Lilo and Stitch and it makes me wonder why he is a teacher in the first place.

5. Thomas Humprey aka Humps (Orange is the New Black

He is an abliest piece of shit. He caused a fight all for a stupid bet. He gas lit Suzanne Warren aka Crazy Eyes and she said repeatitly she didn’t want to fight. The other gaurds are terrible because they went along with is bullshit and because of him this Suzanne beat the hell out of this other woman who also appeared to be mentally unstable because the other woman was insulting Suzanne. Suzanne beat up this other woman so much that this girl was bleeding and her face was bruised up. Two other inmates had to get Suzanne off of this other inmate. Yet all Humps did was laugh and said “Well I just made $20 bucks” Suzanne is left to cry and feel ashamed for something he started! He is so terrible he makes Pornstache look like a saint.

4. Pablo Money (Famous in Love)

He is emotionally and phyically abusive He stole Jordan’s IPad and accused Tangey of cheating. He treats Tangey like an object to be had and he kicked the door of the room where Tangey was hiding. He is possessive,manipulative and ugh! I also put him on the list because he treats my favorite character on the show like shit.

3. Every Itteration of Harrison Wells (The Flash)

I have gone on ar ant about why I hate this character so I will kep this brief as I can. The only Wells I will put up with are The original Earth 1 Wells Eowells (Season1) and Harry Wells. This character is boring, he is played out and he is just there to take up space and be a boring whtie character that Cisco has to play glorified baby sitter too. EoWells is terrible because he killed Barry’s mom, he killed Cisco and when Cisco remembers EoWells laughs in his face. Harry is awful, he faked an illness to guilt Wally into not moving in with Jesse knowing full Well that is how Francine West (Wally and Iris’s mother) died. He chokes Cisco, he also breaks Cisco’s things and never offers to fix them and he is just an ass wipe. The rest of the Wells are annoying because we don’t need anymore Wells and Sherloque Wells has annoying accent.

2. Ezra Fitz (Pretty Little Liars)

I have also ranted on him a lot as well so bare with me. He stalked teenage girls, he got with Aria knowing full well she was going to be his student and knowing she was underage. He framed Spencer for something she didn’t do and because she was on to him. He stole her files and gave it to Aria which by the way is illegal to do. Then again what does this man care about what law he breaks he is all ready guilty of statutory rape, stalking and violating privacy. He hooked up with Alison and he should have gone to prison but instead he gets to live happily ever after with Aria. He ends up marrying Aria. Yeap that’s right folks he married the girl he groomed and stalked and manipulated. He even trapped her on a Ferris wheel. 

1. Damon Salvotore (The Vampier

Ugh just thinking about him makes nauseated. He is abusive, manipulative and he ruined hi brother’s life and stole his girl and he is part of the reason why I have a hard time getting into the show. Damon is a serial rapist and serial killer. He raped Caroline, fed off of her and terrified her. He kills people Elena cares about just because she isn’t giving him what he wants. Man if Damon wants something he better get it now or else. I bet he is terrible in bed because three girls have bragged about how good Stephan is in bed and Damon only brags about himself. I say he is terrible because if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have to compel girls to sleep with him. He killed a pregnant woman this means he also killed a baby. He has no remorse for any of these things and he just relies on Elena to change him. The only time I can deal with him is when he is around Bonnie! Ugh I hate this character! He needs to trade places with Stephan and now the fact that Delena have kids together make me want to throw up my insides because it makes my skin crawl knowing Damon would father a child. Plus I think Ian Somerholder though he seems nice is not all that great of an actor.

[arrancxr]

Henlo, I just discovered this blog and have been binging thru it like crazy lmao I love the way u go super deep into a characters pyche and how they act? I live for those kind of in depth examinations on behaviour, it's so nice ahh I'm v curious about this girls of virtue story?? If it's gucci, could u give out some general lore about the story? Like maybe some info about the world its set in, race descriptions?? General story plot/themes? Go wild 🤘

Henlo anon I love you for sending this~  (๑・ω-)～♥” I live for writing character analysis/development too, and while the Hollows will always be precious to me, there’s something extra fun about having my own characters to play with o3o I have another GoV ask waiting, and I intend to make that one the more simple, spoiler-free answer. Thus, what I’m writing here will have major spoilers for the story.

And it’s going under the cut in case anyone wants to avoid those~ (｡’▽’｡)

THE WORLD OF FOG

The world that Girls of Virtue is set in is called the World of Fog. It’s an alternate dimension parallel to our world, known as the “real world” within the story, and it is one fucked up place. The World of Fog itself is a parasitic dimension that draws creatures known as subconscious beings out of humans and into itself. It then feeds on the energy and life force of those beings, eventually draining them to the point where they fuse with the world itself. The World of Fog is very literally built on corpses, and while the ever-present fog hides it from the eyes of its inhabitants, the reality is terrifying. 

When subconscious beings have been drained, they lose energy and slow down, slowly entering a near-comatose state. When they’ve reached the point where they can no longer move, they start to merge with their surroundings. This process is slow and horrific, and it ends in a still-living subconscious being fused with whatever it was near, slowly sucked into the World of Fog itself to become a permanent energy source. For reasons that I’ll explain in the next section, this effectively kills the human that they were attached to. 

The World of Fog is a creepy, miserable place devoid of color and life. The only living things in it are the subconscious beings; there are no animals, and few living plants. The world seems to be endless, but the only thing resembling civilization is an abandoned town that springs up the middle of nowhere. The town is rotting and in terrible disrepair, but it’s the only real shelter available, and thus, what the Girls of Virtue call their home. 

SUBCONSCIOUS BEINGS

The only living things in the World of Fog are mysterious creatures known as Subconscious Beings. These beings are the physical manifestations of the worst parts of humans. They’re the hateful, violent, and unstable sides of people given a life of their own, and they’re dangerous. 

Since the World of Fog feeds on the energy of these beings, it’s drawn to the strongest negative forces. Thus, very few neutral or positive beings are formed. Each Subconscious Being is tied to the human that they originated from, and if one side of the connection dies, the other will as well. However, Subconscious beings are much tougher than humans. They’re stronger and faster, more agile, with supernatural regeneration levels and some forms of telekinesis. Their abilities vary by individual, but generally, the worse the human that the being came from, the stronger the being is. 

When Subconscious Beings are formed, they lack their human memories. They don’t know who or what they are, beyond a name that they can call their own. The current group of Subconscious Beings is lead by a vicious monster called Judgement, who considers herself to be the god of the World of Fog. While not directly said in the story, Judgement has killed all of the Subconscious Beings that were still in the World of Fog when she was formed, in order to leave only herself as leader. From there, she’s carefully selected the followers that she sees as useful, and disposed of any new beings that she doesn’t want to use. 

By extension, Judgement has been the death of many humans in the real world, who’s bodies would have shut down when their subconscious was killed. Judgement herself is the strongest being to have been formed, and is easily powerful enough to kill all of the others combined. She’s a monstrous tyrant, and one who considers herself a god. 

PLOT DETAILS

Judgment has the unique ability to open gateways between the World of Fog and the real world. At first, she’s only able to do this when she has an object to hold the gates open with, and the gates themselves are temporary but as she grows stronger, she’s eventually able to hold the gateways open on her own, with no anchor needed.

The plan that Judgement has is to enter the real world and kill the humans that she deems unworthy of life. Judgement seeks to destroy, and she uses the group that she’s assembled-- the Girls of Virtue, as she ironically calls them-- to cross into the real world and wreak as much havoc as they can. However, her plan is threatened when the newest arrival to the World of Fog, Beginning, a being who’s clearly out of place, decides that she’s going to stand up to Judgement. Beginning is kinder and more human than any of the rest, and her kindness is the one thing the heartless girls aren’t prepared to deal with. 

Beginning spreads discord throughout the Girls of Virtue, confusing and bewildering the girls who only know how to respond to hate and violence. All the while, she seeks to know who she is, and why she was brought to the World of Fog in the first place, when she so clearly doesn’t belong. 

In the end, Beginning regains her memories of her human self, and with her true name, Change, goes on to reveal to Judgement and her followers the true nature of what they are... and exactly what their world is doing to them. The girls’ panic leaves the World of Fog off balance, and when the ever-present fog finally lifts, they all see the true, horrifying nature of the World of Fog. Through tearing apart their twisted worldviews, Change forces the girls out of the World of Fog and back to their human selves, thus saving both them and the real world that they were set on destroying. 

Change wakes up as her human self when the World of Fog collapses, no longer having any living beings to sustain it. The only problem now? The Girls of Virtue are loose in the human world, with physical bodies and all of their memories intact. And Judgement is among them. 

THEMES/MEANING

The story itself is very, very personal to me. I’d have to go into a lot of detail to explain it all, but the short answer is that the whole thing symbolizes the struggles of mental illness, and the road to living with and recovering from the worst things that your brain can throw at you. 

The Subconscious Beings represent a distorted view of one’s self; the way that we see our worst parts as defining us. Their traits are the ways that our minds turn against us, and many of them represent symptoms and struggles that mental illness brings. Judgement herself, the leader of them all, is the force that thinks itself to be god, the voice that tries to tell us that we’re unworthy of life and love and happiness. Judgement is the dark, destructive nature of the illnesses that torment people. 

Thus, the story is one of positivity and recovery. Change is the force that allows us to heal and move on; the person choosing to face their demons and fight for the life that they want to live. Through facing and accepting the Girls of Virtue, she grabs them by the shoulders, and just like her name suggests, drags them towards something better. Even Judgement is bested by the will to see reality and break free of the voice that says that you’re better off dead. By breaking down the World of Fog and returning the Girls to who and what they really are, Change destroys the distorted perceptions that allow them to make the world-- and themselves-- suffer. 

There will be a second book at some point, featuring the Girls’ human selves and their recovery. That book will also feature Marina (Change) and Adora (Judgement)’s dynamic evolving from what is was as Change and Judgement, to something positive and healthy. 

I could go on for a lot longer, but this post is already pretty massive... >.> Thank you so much for the wonderful questions, anon!!!

[pendragonfics]

Crackers, Wine, and Good Company

Paring: Natasha Romanov/Reader

Tags: female reader, bisexuality, new years eve, kissing.

Summary: A shy scientist who works with Bruce Banner falls hard for Natasha Romanov. Natasha Romanov, bad-ass Avenger and kick-ass agent, also falls for the other woman. Sick of them not doing a thing about it, the team does something about it.

Word Count: 1,991

Current Date: 2017-12-31

The best part of working in a lab, was not the fact that you could work also on your own scientific things. Well, it’s a great fact, and you did that, quite often. But no. The best part of working in a lab was that you could do your job, and not talk to anyone else. In your high school yearbook, you’d been voted most likely to live alone (as a joke), and best introvert (for real). It was a miracle that you’d even been selected from the graduating class to work alongside the Avengers themselves, but still, it happened, and as a scientist, and as a very shy person, it was amazing.

You worked alongside Dr Banner, and Dr Cho, and on the odd occasion when she breezed into town, Thor’s ex-girlfriend Dr Foster. But three people who talked to you were enough for your quota, and you did your best to keep to yourself and do the best work to aid the Avengers in their quest to better humanity.

That was until you saw Natasha Romanov.

You’d seen girls before, oh boy, yes, you’ve seen girls before. Girls with perfect hair and rude tendencies. Girls with long legs and sarcastic comebacks. Girls flirting the bi-curious line and running back to boys after a kiss. But when you saw the ex-Agent, your eyes grew wide, pulse grew fast, and you turned heel and walked the way she was not. In that zero point zero two second lapse, you saw how incredibly gorgeous she was. Hair so straight, could give a paper cut. Smile so perfect, it could kill a man. Eyes that could probably do that too.

You ran back off to your lab, the results for Mr. Stark still in hand, and heart racing faster than ever before in your life. If she was the Black Widow, then, well, you’d be a caterpillar. Prey. Your experience of dating girls in your life made you practically vowed off love, and as a woman whose heart went to men and women, that meant something. Being publicly dumped and humiliated one too many times did that.

But Dr Banner caught on to it.

“Tony said he didn’t get the atom-based Vibranium blaster theory paper last month,” He said, pushing a scuffed pink mug of terrible coffee toward you. “And the report on the improved arrows for Barton yesterday.” You cup the mug in your hands, unable to look at your co-worker and friend. “I thought I gave them to you to pass on.”

You mumble something, and then, realising it was too inaudible, say, “I got distracted. Sorry.”

Bruce pulls up a stool beside you. “Distracted? You’re the best scientist I have here – you helped me calculate the differentiation between the X-Gene and that of an Inhuman.” He places a hand near your own, and says, “Is everything okay?”

You nod. “Y-yeah. Just…I don’t want to be a runner anymore. If that’s okay with you.”

He cracks a smile. “Sure, ________. You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, I’m not a monster,” he chuckles, and taking a sip of his mug, pats you softly on the shoulder. “I got results back from the forensics, and you wouldn’t believe what the alien material found has traces of…”

---

Natasha Romanov was not an idiot. She also was not the brilliant scientist who worked with Banner, who she was curiously intrigued about. Every time she saw her (h/c) hair tied back to satisfy the lab rules, her bright (e/c) eyes behind the safety goggles, Nat wanted to ask her to coffee. It had been a while since she found herself falling for a woman, not since her childhood friend Marina. But when she saw her fleeing every time they locked gaze, Natasha decided to ask about it. She was a former agent, a former assassin, and if she could not have a chance at the person who made her heart go pitter-patter, then it was not worth it.

While training, she asked Clint. He said he didn’t know a thing about her, and then after she finished him off with a roundhouse kick and pinned him down with his arms behind him, gave up and said to try asking Tony for more information, since he was the guy who hired people.

So, she did. But when Nat rounded the corner to Tony’s suite, she was met with the sight of him and his fiancé Pepper in a compromising position. She turned heel, and decided to ask Steve instead…only to remember he’d taken Bucky and himself to someplace in the wilderness to escape the fireworks and whole shebang with New Years Eve. She understood. PTSD was a bitch.

Tired of walking around the facility like a moron, Nat decided to take the fight to where the source was – she was no Sherlock Holmes, but she was smart. If her mystery girl was a scientist, worked with Dr Banner, and wore one of those insufferable yet adorable lab coats, she’d be in the science wing of the facility. She met gaze with Bruce rounding the corner, and stopped him from going any further.

“Hey,” she said.

He nodded. “Hi.”

Nat chewed the inside of her cheek. “I heard you have a lab assistant.” She muttered, scuffing the sole of her boots upon the floor. “Came to welcome her.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “________’s been here for almost two months, Natasha…” he scoured her face for evidence of any ulterior motive, and found he couldn’t read her. “and since when do you just drop into the labs?”

She shook her head, hating the fact that two years ago she had a fling with the guy, and still had to work with him even though it was most certainly over. “Ugh. Never mind.” She turned heel, and walked off, the echo of her heeled-boots clip-clopping away.

---

Bruce rounded on you after he talked to Natasha, interrupting your mid-afternoon meditation. You’d almost finished, but he pressed pause on your phone. Now you’d have to start all over again. Opening your eyes, you were met with the familiar head of curls, and an unfamiliar look on his face that looked like he knew something you didn’t know. Well, he was in his late forties, he defiantly did know some things you didn’t know.

“I know why you didn’t deliver those files to Tony,” he said, sitting before you on the floor. He wasn’t barefooted, like you, his shoes were on your yoga mat. You winced internally. “You have a crush.”

Your eyes grew wide. “What? How? No. No!” you gave it all away just like that, and to prove it, your face grew red. You hung your head. “Dr Banner, I’m – I tried to be professional, but I’m just not good around people, and Mr. Stark’s office is all the way around the other –,”

He chuckled. “I know you’re shy, ________, but Natasha is only human too.”

If it were possible, your face grew even redder, and hotter. “Please, please don’t tell her.”

Bruce frowned. “Tell her? Geez, I’m trying to help you here, not be cruel.” He places a hand in yours, and says, “She all but told me she likes you too, ________. Caught her walking in here, and she gave it all away.”

You look up. “She’s just so pretty, I can’t even get words to come out when I see her,” you tell him. “I’m twenty-nine, not nine, and this isn’t Elementary school and she isn’t one of the girls in grade ten who outed me for being bi.” You blurt out. “I’m an adult! I should be better at this!”

Bruce nods. “If it’s any consolation, I too am terrible at relationship stuff. I didn’t get a real chance with Betty until after I became the Hulk. Sometimes it takes a while for people to get to the right place.” He consoles you, and withdrawing his hand, goes to stand. “I mean, not everyone is a Tony.”

You laugh at that, but really, you’re just sad that it isn’t true.

---

Natasha is a very, very intelligent woman. She can calculate where a man will be by his gait, even if she’s outside a building. She can shoot a gun with her foot. She can also, apparently, be lured not by the evils of her past, but a co-worker, and that is where she is right now. A very smart woman, stuck outside the facility on a balcony, wearing less clothes than what one requires for the middle of winter.

She watches as Clint walks away through the glass of the door. She calculates how much force it would take to kick down the door, but does not attempt it. It’s the Avengers facility, everything is reinforced. Nat huffs, and turns to see the view from the balcony.

“Oh – hi. Hey.” Her eyes turn to the person who spoke. It’s ________. Her hair is loose, and she’s wearing clothes ill-suited to the outdoors. Her face is red, like every other time it is that Nat sees ________, except, this time, it’s so cold out that it does not quite show. “I would have thought the person to come rescue me from out here wouldn’t end up being locked out too.”

Nat raises an eyebrow. “You got locked out? Barton?”

________ shakes her head, rubbing her arms for warmth. “No, Dr Banner. Said he left data out here for our experiment…I’m an idiot.”

Nat harrumphs. “I’m an idiot too. Clint said he parked the Quinjet on stealth-mode, and couldn’t remember where.”

________ laughs at that. It’s a small laugh, like a chuckle, but to Nat, it’s the most beautiful thing she’s heard, and she has also heard people pardon her for her terrible past before becoming an Avenger. But then ________’s laugh ends, and instead, she speaks with a solemn tone, “I – I’m sorry for running away from you every time I saw you.” She apologises, voice small. “I’m not that great at people skills, and, new people, and you’re really pretty –,” she claps a hand over her mouth, and groans, “sorry…”

Nat smiles. “Well, I think you’re really pretty.”

The door opens, and stepping through, Wanda Maximoff holds a platter of assorted nibble foods. Literally stepping through the metal of the door, Vision holds a bottle of sparkling juice in one hand, and champagne in the other. They place the items on the table, and Nat and ________ watch in silence, amazed that all it took was that confession to get someone to come out. But then, instead of letting them go, Vision pulls out a couple of heated blankets, and glasses, and takes his leave.

“Hey!” ________ cries out, seeing those two locking the door behind them. “What –,”

The watch on Nat’s wrist read four digits. 23:58.

“________, I don’t know about you, but I have no New Years Eve plans, got given a whole lot of food, a warm blanket, and are hanging out with a cute girl,” Nat says, sitting at the table, looking out over the expansive grounds of the Avengers facility, the beautiful forest, “I’m staying out here.”

________’s eyes widen. “It’s new years’?”

Nat laughs at that, and tugs the wrist of the scientist who had earned a place in her heart. “Yeah, it is. C’mon, sit, let’s eat crackers and drink wine and watch terrible fireworks.” ________ yields, and sitting beside Nat, they share a blanket, and both nurse a glass of bubbles. “Have anyone in mind for a new year’s kiss?”

The loud bang! of a firework hisses to life, spraying the stars above with patterns of golden and red lights. ________’s breath hitches, amazed at the sight, and turning to Nat, cradling her face with her hand, she says, “I think I do.”

Nat believes the year ahead will be the greatest. ________ knows it will be.

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S5 Watchthrough Episodes 14-17

(Trigger Warning: The episode Ethics contains the theme of suicide. While I will try to not go too in-depth, as it is part of the episode I will be discussing it. If this topic makes you uncomfortable or is triggering to you even in the slightest, please skip the section of the watchthrough. Thank you)

Conundrum: So we have us an amnesia episode. Who’s the poor individual who gets hit with it? Everyone! Yes, some weird scan thingy causes everyone to lose their memories. They still know how to perform their jobs and all that, but otherwise, they remember zilch. I’m kind of mixed on how they did it. Overall, they are intelligent and calm about the situation, which on the one hand feels unrealistic. You’d expect far more panic and tension if you suddenly found yourself on a ship among people you don’t know. On the other hand at this point even without their memories, they’re probably used to weirdness like this (the S4 episode Clues had a similar thing happen) and it’s kind of refreshing to see people handle a situation without becoming paranoid assholes. Also… they make some kind of awkward Troi/Riker/Ro love triangle. Troi has some familiarity with Riker due to their past, which makes sense… but why add Ro to the mix? The only time they really interacted outside this episode was Ro’s intro, where Riker was a hypocritical asshole who made her take her earring off. They really don’t seem to agree and I guess the writers went ‘well they argue… so it must be love’! Which… no, going with this with Ro makes zero sense and it really makes it feel like Riker is playing both women, which both feel OOC for him, and even taking amnesia into account makes him look worst. Why does S5 want me to hate Riker? Otherwise, it was fine. Just kind of eh. Again we kinda sorta did this plot already (differently but still) and it doesn’t become hard to figure out who the one behind this is when you realize that they’re the only one getting prominent screentime who isn’t a pre-established character. Still, it’s just alright, but yeah that love triangle nonsense, while by no means the worst I’ve ever seen, really was unnecessary. 2.5/5.

Power Play: In this one, Troi, Data, and O’Brein get posessed on an Away Mission (Riker almost did as well, but it flew away before it could posess him). They take Ten-Forward hostage which includes Worf and Keiko, and later Picard. This had to be fun for Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, and Colm Meaney since they ge to act all evil… though Spiner’s already done it with Lore, but still XD So it was fine. It was tense and had some disturbing moments like Posessed!O’Brein forcing himself on Keiko. Dear God I hope the Enteprise has a counselor (aside from Troi since she was partially involved in this) cause neither of them deserved that. It was also scary to see Data acting like… well, Lore pretty much. Seeing Riker, Crusher, Geordi, and Ro trying to figure out how to save them without anyone getting killed was also interesting, it’s the first time we’ve seen a hostage situation like this in a ST show (Space Seed in TOS kinda counts, but that was an entirely different scenario and was more ‘hostile takeover’ than ‘hostage situation’). That’s honestly all I’ve got/ IDK, S5 has just been painfully average thus far where none of the episodes have been particularly bad, but only like… three so far (Ensign Ro, Disaster, Unification) have kept me interested. Maybe that’ll change here soon bu it’s just like ‘…it’s fine but I feel nothing otherwise’. 3/5.

Ethics: I again point to the trigger warning above. The episode contains the theme of suicide (though it is NOT carried out) so if this topic at all is uncomfortable/triggery, please skip this section. So what happened? An accident has left Worf paralyzed. Crusher has called in a neurologist while Worf, believing that he can no longer be a warrior in his condition, wants to be killed. Needless to say, we’re dealing with some heavy stuff in this one. We kind of have a similar thing going on as in Half a Life where Worf wants to die as according to his Klingon beliefs, his life is over since he is paralyzed. He asks Riker to help commit it as he’s his friend and naturally Riker is appalled at this. Picard breaks it down for Riker and that while we don’t understand it we should respect it… but again we’re talking about assisted suicide. I get what Picard is saying but just… no. The episode makes it clear that we’re supposed to be conflicted, however, and in the end, Worf decides against it due to both an experimental procedure and because Riker uncovered that Alexander would be the one who’d have to assist in the suicide if Worf did it. Needless to say, Worf ain’t letting that happen. It does make Worf’s feelings clear, however. His anger, his fear, it’s very hard to watch Worf in such a state. The neurologist, Dr. Russell, offers him a procedure that may work… but it’s a procedure that is still in the experimental stage and turned down by Starfleet Medical. Needless to say, Crusher’s not exactly happy with the idea of using a medically untested procedure on one of her patients… but to be fair, Worf has refused all other treatment and the use of implants and with suicide the only other option, I can see why Russell would be willing to offer. But at the same time, it does come across her just using this as an excuse to use said treatment which also has plenty of risks on said patients life/further well-being, and Crusher telling her off repeatedly is very satisfying especially at the end when Worf almost died due to her, and she seemed more concerned with noting it than what her actions caused and said that Crusher was jealous. Yeah, Russell sucks. It does bring up a lot of medically ethical questions, however: is it right to use an experimental procedure on a patient when all other options have been turned away or are available? Especially when said patient is suicidal or when it comes to said patient's beliefs? I side with Crusher at the end of the day especially since Worf is very lucky to have survived/recovered his mobility afterward, but the questions are still ones to point out. Then there’s poor Alexander whose on the verge of losing his father and Worf not wanting him to see him like he is and… God yeah. Just as I complain about the lack of impactful episodes, this one comes in. It’s a very tough episode with everything going on with Worf, the theme of medical ethics, and it’s heavy on the emotions. IDK how well I can say that the episode portrays it, but it certainly hit hard and brings up a lot of questions for the viewers. It certainly reaffirms how much I love Crusher XD 4/5.

The Outcast: /sighs/ Okay… how to go about talking about this one? In this episode, we meet a species of aliens that don’t use gender identity, and if they show signs of identifying as male or female, they undergo ‘treatment’. One of these individuals is Soren, who identifies as female and falls in love with Riker. So… there are many things that this can be associated with, but this was made as a gay rights episode. Now… let us remember when this was made. S5 was airing during the early ’90s. This was not a good time for gay individuals. We were very much anti-LGBT+ in those times and the AIDS epidemic where they were scapegoated as a public menace still being rampant didn’t help. In many ways, doing this episode was a bold move and I can respect them for at least is trying to tackle the topic seriously. If there’s any franchise that you’d expect to tackle these kinds of issues it would be this one. But the question is does it hold up 30 years later? Well… unfortunately, no. First, if they really wanted to get the gay rights message across… why was Soren played by a female actress? Maybe it was the only way they would have been allowed to do this, but because of it, it keeps a heterosexual angle that causes the message to be lost. We also don’t have any regular/reccuring characters as queer which would be pretty important to have in this episode. Considering that TOS took the risk with making PoC equal to white people at a time it wasn’t at all welcomed, TNG not doing so with LGBT+ individuals is rather unfortunate to put it nicely. Not to mention it sticking to standard male/female stereotypes as the norm when breaking them down to Soren, as well as Worf’s sexist/bigoted comments. That’s no even going into other identities such as transgender and non-binary. I’d really like to know what they think of this one considering the themes. As I am a bi/demisexual cis woman and this was meant to be a gay rights episode I will look at it as such and from that POV, the episode does not at all look great in a modern light.

Maybe I’m just far too nice and should be harsher on this, and I’m not gonna lie I’m horrible at addressing these things so I apologize if any of this came out wrong. But between this and The Host, it’s clear that the show was ill-equipped to handle LGBT+ topics. But at the same time, back then even considering addressing the topics in any way would have been risky. I do believe that there was a good faith effort and maybe in some ways, it helped when we improved later. It’s always hard to say if people should tackle topics they don’t understand or not. Naturally, it’s rage-inducing when they get it wrong, but it can also open the door to getting people to learn and to improve. Maybe this was needed in the ’90s and they did it the best way that they could, and maybe the fact that we can look at it and go ‘we know better’ is a sign that we’re better than when we were 30 years ago… or again, I am far too nice/too much of a doormat and I give the benefit of the doubt way too much. People who are more knowledgeable/know how to address this far better than I have here have likely done so and I’d encourage others to read more into those perspectives. Regardless, the episode overall is okay I guess. I certainly felt horrible for Soren at the end as she’s taken to undergo ‘treatment’ and Riker trying to help her get out of it. Her speech, wanting to just be treated as a person and not be treated as horrible due to who she is during the trial did really hit me and is why I think that the show did mean well. If she wanted to identify as female and be with Riker, she should be free to and then how she was forced to conform to her society’s views at the end when Riker tried to save her, it’s just... hard to watch. I wish that the ending was more optimistic/hopeful but I can’t say that the message wasn’t loud and clear. It very much reflected society at that time, and in many ways it’s still relevant today concerning how society treats those deemed outside the norm. But it also has issues due to the execution as I already mentioned, and I can only hope that Modern Trek (Discovery, Picard, soon SNW) and whatever they do in the future are/will be better at handling these kinds of themes because there’s no excuse to get it wrong in today’s time. 2.5/5.

I hope that I addressed things properly concerning the last episode. But it’s now done. We have nine more to go for the season. Let's see how it turns out.

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Seven

-Finally, after three years of watching mostly one episode a week, I have finished my re-watch of all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (season seven trailer)! I am thrilled to present my final entry here chronicling my adventures with the crew of the Enterprise! For the final season I was able to slightly bump up my viewing habits and mostly stuck to watching two episodes a week, and thus I was able to make faster progress on this final season! Somehow, my horrendously outdated Samsung Galaxy S7 phone has managed to barely limp along this entire journey with me, and the gloriously awful pics featured throughout this article are courtesy of that wonderful device. -Season six wrapped with an enticing cliffhanger to “Descent” where Lore managed to work some sinister sorcery to recruit a squadron of Borg and hack into the code banks of Data (Brent Spiner) in order to recruit him to join his cause. Season seven had a great kickoff to resolve this new threat, and had a satisfying conclusion at putting an end to Lore once and for all. I would rank “Descent” on the higher end of TNG two-part arcs, as the Lore/Borg/Data combination proved to be an intriguing antagonist to see how they would be dealt with.

Picard is ready for combat on the left, while falling ill on the Enterprise leads to crew members tripping with some wild illusions on the right! -I was a little bummed to see a complete lack of appearances from Whoopi Goldberg in her role as Guinan in the final season. I am presuming it must have been scheduling conflicts as she has always been in high demand, especially around this time just a couple years after her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost. Whoopi would return as Guinan in two of the four Star Trek movies based on TNG cast.

-A pair of recurring characters that did return for their final episodes this season are Michelle Forbes as Ensign Lt. Ro Lauren and Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher. Ro is fresh off tactical training for an important undercover mission that conclusively decides her fate with Starfleet as she would never appear in another Star Trek series or film again after this. According to my research I was surprised to learn it took a last minute agreement with Forbes within a week before filming to get her to reprise her role as she was starting to distance herself from the brand after initial plans to make her a mainstay on Deep Space Nine fizzled. Wesley Crusher’s final appearance had a better payoff in “Journey’s End” where during a vision quest he finally is deemed ready by a previous guest character, The Traveler (Eric Menyuk), to join him on a mystical journey to see Wesley fulfill his supernatural potential. I had no idea they were going to payoff these vague promises The Traveler alluded to in Wesley way back in season two, so big props to the cast and crew making that happen! -Other past recurring characters returned, but only to see them casted in middling-to-disappointing episodes. This is the case for Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) in the head-scratching “Genesis” episode that has the Enterprise staff fall victim to a virus that de-evolves them into various primates. The love-or-hate mother of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Lwaxana (Majel Barrett), has a major sendoff in her final episode where we learn all about her tragic backstory.

-Speaking of mediocre episodes, season seven has a bit more than previous seasons. A two-parter sees Riker and Picard go undercover to form a fake mutiny to sniff out a Vulcan double agent, and while it is not terrible by any means, the whole arc seems bloated and the second episode feels unnecessary. “Phantasms” is as bizarre as the dreams Data (Brent Spiner) has in the episode, but Data later has a redeeming character episode in “Inheritance” where he meets his mother…..then later hits another stumble in “Thine Own Self” where his radioactive experiments causes a planet’s population to become seriously ill. I will give season seven the benefit of the doubt for the noticeable bump up in lackluster episodes because several of the bonus interviews own up to this and attribute it to the cast and crew being spread thin with the final season of TNG, the second season of Deep Space Nine and being in pre-production of the first season of Voyager and the upcoming movie with the TNG crew, Generations. -The holodeck’s sendoff in TNG, “Emergence” is a decent affair that sees the crew go aboard the Orient Express to solve the mystery of how the holodeck becomes self-aware. The episode had a few promising moments, but could have been better. While I enjoyed the quality of holodeck episodes overall in TNG, from what I understand the holodeck episodes greatly suffer going forward and falls victim to holodeck malfunctions and sexual fantasy tropes.

Worf once again has a strong set of character-focused episodes this season. You have not lived until witnessing Worf adopt a cat for an episode, and experience a birthday party time-loop. -Worf (Michael Dorn) has one of the strongest slate of character episodes this season. Seeing Worf being a curmudgeon at his birthday party was pulled off to perfection! “Homeward” is a feel-good family episode where Worf resolves his rocky relationship with his foster brother, Nikolai (Paul Sorvino). The best Worf-centered episode is saved for last where he trains Alexander (James Sloyan) in the arts of becoming a Klingon warrior with the help of a mysterious Klingon friend.

-A couple other episodes that made strong impressions on me this season are “The Pegasus” and “Lower Decks.” In the former, Terry O’ Quinn of Lost fame, appears here as a higher-up from Starfleet to track down the lost USS Pegasus, but Picard (Patrick Stewart) eventually discovers a grand cover-up that has an enticing way of finding the truth of what Quinn’s character is hiding. “Lower Decks” is entirely focused on the background Ensigns and ancillary characters like Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake). The last couple years saw the streaming service, Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) launch a Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series with the very same premise, and if you are a fan of the cartoon, you owe it to yourself to track down this episode as its source material. “Interface” and “Bloodlines” are both strong episodes dealing with long forgotten family members. The former has Geordi (LeVar Burton) risking his life with prototype tech to save his mother (Madge Sinclair), and the latter deals with Picard’s surprise of finding out he had a son (Ken Olandt) from a decades-prior relationship.

-Now to the moment of truth, it is time to cover the final two-part episode, “All Good Things…” The series finale naturally focuses on Jean-Luc as he finds himself constantly time-warping between three different time periods to solve a new challenge bestowed onto him by none other than Q (John de Lancie). I loved how they brought it back full-circle with one of the time periods emanating from the same setting as the original pilot episode of TNG where Q puts the then-newly assembled Enterprise crew on trial. The cast and crew hold nothing back for the final episode with an enthralling narrative as Picard pieces together Q’s final challenge, and has an emotional final scene where after seven seasons, Picard finally joins his crew for a round of poker. -Here is the paragraph with my obligatory kudos to the countless hours spent remastering TNG in HD for the BluRay set. I am not a video-phile and cannot immaculately explain with the proper tech verbiage on how they did it. All I can say is the staff painstakingly made it look like they shot it today, and it does not have any of the old fuzzy standard definition effects that would happen when forcing an SD resolution onto an HD set. Just watch this indicative video that overlays the remastered HD transfer over the SD version to see for yourself. I will also give yearly props to the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation which chronicles every individual episode of TNG and has served as the best supplementary listening material to get the most out of every episode for me. The podcast took a hiatus during the pandemic, and only recently picked up again and are only a couple episodes into season seven as of this writing, so I will pat myself on the back at catching up to them when I was nearly a season and a half behind them when I started from the beginning of TNG.

-You guys know I love covering the bonus features, and season seven of the BluRay is absolutely jacked with them with previous bonus interviews and specials, and all new HD extras. According to my notes, it all added up for just over five hours of bonus materials, and that is not including a handful of commentary tracks on selected episodes. Going over each and every piece of bonus content will kill me, so instead I will highlight the handful that I got the most out of: -----Captain’s Tribute (16 min) – Stewart gives loving testimonials to the cast and crew. A lesson he learned from a dialog with Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton was a key takeaway here. -----In Conversation: Lensing ST: TNG (42 min) - This one is a new HD extra aimed at special effects enthusiasts where a roundtable discussion with camera operators and directors of photography reunite to talk shop of the many highs and lows of on the set production. While a fair amount of trade vernacular went right over my head, they provided ample context and their enthusiasm for their craft is irresistible!

I know it is asking a lot to dive into the many hours of bonus interviews, but nearly most of it is incredibly insightful and well worth your time! -----Starfleet Moments & Memories (30 min) – Awesome feature showcasing the camaraderie and humor between takes that indicates a true sense of friendship among the cast and crew. -----Closed Set: Tour of Real Enterprise (11 min) – The Okundas give a private, narrated, tour of the Enterprise filled with fun facts like how the set for sickbay gained a reputation among cast and crew as “nap-bay.” Every person should have their own nap-bay! -----Journeys End: The Saga of TNG (45 min) – Original 1994 TV special hosted by Jonathan Frakes celebrating the end of an era. ----Sky’s the Limit: Eclipse of TNG (89 min) – Three part special with part one primarily focused on the cast and crew having a lot of projects on their plate the final year and lovingly throwing shade at Picket Fences for stealing their Emmy award! Part two interviews various directors of episodes about their process, and Seth McFarlane shares a special moment he had with a fan on how the show saved their life. The third part interviews a lot of the cast on how they felt the show wrapped, with a couple highlights being Sirtis not being fond of the Worf/Deanna courtship, and Patrick Stewart remarking when asked about future projects that he would consider them, but thought they would ultimately be unnecessary. This was obviously recorded several years before Stewart would return as Picard in the current Paramount+ series, Picard.

-Suffice it to say, the extra features do not disappoint! As I foreshadowed above, there is an apparent dip in quality this season overall compared to the high bar set from seasons three through six, but I will cut the cast and crew some slack since they were seriously overworked during the 1993-94 season. There are still many excellent episodes though as I dissected above, and a terrific series finale that puts the best damn bow they possibly could on the TV series. Thank you so much for joining me on this ride over the past three years and bearing with me on my never-ending entries covering the series. If you missed out on previous entries, click here to see all my previous season recaps of The Next Generation, or click here to continue my journey with TNG crew with my reviews of all the Star Trek motion pictures.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap 2018-19 TV Season Recap 2019-20 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2 Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld - Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5