#also meg's I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SHOT ME

[sapphicsapphiresunset]

1x21 Salvation

Oh hey Pastor Jim and Caleb. Oh. Bye Pastor Jim and Caleb.

It is funny that these characters that are implied as pretty important to the winchester boys growing up show up to just instantly die.  Except Bobby. At least we have Bobby. 

And then John’s all like ‘blah blah blah you should’ve called me bout Sam’s visions” and then Dean’s like, “dude. seriously?” and then I’m like, “dude. seriously.”

[bumbleblurr]

LITERALLY THO like i hate how tfa bumblebee is reduced to a “so random! 😝🤪” only silly idiot prankster kinda guy when like. He’s smart! He’s caring! Yes he can be silly and yes he can be a bit reckless but he loves his friends and he can figure out how to care for them (like where he and bulk are comforting sari 🥺) and also figure out the best strategy to defeat whatever villain of the week is there! TFA bee means so much to me and i am also so excited for earthspark. Continuities where bumblebee is not the kid appeal character my beloves

LICHERALLY !!!! Like I love Bumblebees silly fun nature thats why he's one of my favorites ever, BUT IT DOESNT MEAN he can't be more than that.

Tfa in particular bothers me bc like. It's my fav bumblebee bc he has more bite and spunk (due to being based more on hot shot), but then. They never. Truly take him as seriously as other characters (except maybe bulk but that's bc hes also not taken seriously,)

which is so absurd bc he has some Legit shit going on with him that should fuck him up!! His whole career, his dreams, got flushed down the toilet bc he was unfortunate to have an instructor that doesn't like him and doesn't give him a chance (except when he did 1 singular time and then he immediately sent him to space repair duty for doing the noble thing and taking the fall for bulkhead)

And he doesn't get over this. He is still depressed about it when he says to Longarm "at least one of us achieved their dreams" in like the saddest tone ever (I think it's literally the saddest line delivery bee gives in the entire show) and he talks abt how no one believed he would amount to anything in the trial of megs script reading.

I'd argue his general behavior reflects this too (though idk how intentional it was), bc hes always like attention seeking- approval seeking. He wants to appear to Earth like he's a hero so he can feel successful (and that still went down the drain bc the humans started hating the autobots later)

But do they ever take time to address this issue and sympathize with him? No <3 instead they act like bee has no issues at all, to the point it's like "wasp is suffering so much, bumblebee wtf is wrong with you. YOU CANNOT RELATE TO LOSING EVERYTHING you just can't. nothing bad has ever happened to you. Go play videogames you stupid motherfucker" not that wasp isn't suffering but cmon. don't act like bee didnt have his entire career fucked over like it's not a serious thing

Not to mention as you said he has multitudes to him, he's caring and compassionate! He's quick witted and has lots of skill! He's not just a bumbling fool- Sentinel is wrong about that! (His assessment of ppl is not rlly accurate at all btw, he called bulkhead "bulk and no brains" when that guy is literally the leading expert on space bridge tech)

I am rlly excited to see earthspark bee bc its like. I think he's going to have the same kind of wise-cracking spunk tfa bee has BUT he is in a mentor role now. So there's a good chance he won't be reduced to being a silly jokester, bc he has to have some seriousness to teach (and thus the writers will treat him more seriously) also there's already those earth bots that are probably going to fill up that kid appeal role anyway

tldr: I love tfa bee's personality but I think his writing is lacking bc it doesn't take him as seriously as other characters, and I hope earthspark bee takes what's good abt tfa bee but gets better treatment from the writers

[televinita]

How many library items do I even have out? Let's find out together!

Books ready to return: 2

Books I need to review before returning: 3 (Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands; Carrie Soto Is Back; The Lily of Ludgate Hill)

CDs: 1 (1989 Taylor's Version. I'm not ready to hear it yet. but I would like the option to do so without Spotify ads. or streams tbh)

Aaand that makes 13 items left, very good. In absolutely no order because I'm just trying to make sure I know where they all are...

1. Cheap Old Houses - Elizabeth Finkelstein: a beautiful coffee table book, apparently based off an Instagram that I (per usual) have never heard of; I am almost done but have been simply luxuriating in the photos. Currently gazing at it on BookOutlet like "$15 is reasonable for a brand new copy of such a large and 5-star book I definitely have space for actually."

2. Another Good Dog: One Family & 50 Foster Dogs - Cara Sue Achterberg: I got about 60 pages in and am loving it, but it was SO GREAT! that I had to pause and put more middling books in front of it to process; been trying to get back for 2+ weeks. That said, when I finish it...

3. One Hundred Dogs & Counting - Cara Sue Achterberg: ...when I finish the above it'll be on to the next one! (maybe? or maybe I'll want to save this 2nd shot of joy for the future)

4. The Break-Up Tour - Emily Wibberley and Austin S.B.: this has taken WAY too much time and effort to get my damn hands on. And then I didn't even read it fast! I started and then got distracted, and only yesterday managed to get up to the halfway mark. At least the request list has cooled off so I will be able to renew it.

5. The Haunting - Natasha Preston: just stocking up some reliably good YA horror for when I really crave those in the summer. This is literally an I-love-cheap-thrills situation.

6. The Joy of Falling - Lindsay Harrel: a random impulse checkout because the cover was pretty and it's about 2 widowed sisters-in-law training for an ultra-marathon in New Zealand that their late husbands had been planning to do. Thought it might serve as exercise motivation.

7. Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid: will this suck me in as fast as Carrie Soto did? I dunno, but this is the one I was originally more interested in, so let's see if this is the year we find out.

8. Heirloom Rooms: Soulful Stories of Home - Erin Napier: Speaking of coffee table books I was looking at on BookOutlet, this popped in the "you may also like wheel" and I saw the library had it instead. "a collection of essays walking us through every room in her home, telling the story of a family’s life, of the days that made their home the place she longs for when she’s away. We learn about when they became the new owners of Erin’s dream house from childhood in downtown Laurel, Mississippi, and explore the beautiful homes of family, friends, and projects past in photographs." YEAH!

9. The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer: I forgot to re-freeze this hold so it came in at the WORST possible time. I've been waiting on this since January and refuse to be rushed or read it if the timing isn't Perfect, so instead I'm gonna be the jerk who keeps it 3 full weeks just in case I get to it; the waitlist remains at 50+ for 7 copies. My ace in the hole is that certain books are WAY less popular in the county next door, where we can dual-register, and they also have 7 copies but only 14 people waiting.

10. Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity: nonfiction from 2013 that I've been vaguely meaning to read someday. There's only 1 copy left in the system so I checked it out while I was at that branch, but 99% sure I will NOT be getting to it this round. 20 days til my renewals max out.

12. DVD: Northanger Abbey: the JJ Feild spiral I have been trying to find time for since March is clearly not happening right now because WOW Ryan Gosling spiral time instead. But I can't stop believing until my renewals run out, in 3 weeks.

13. DVD: Third Star: see above. somehow holding out more hope for this one, if only because Survivor has hella reactivated my Male Friendship radar, despite these being extremely different types of men. ...just noticed my renewals on this max out in 4 days, oops.

14. DVD: Ghosts (UK), season 3: I was on a hot watching streak and then I abruptly shifted gears to watch the U.S. version's third season instead (because I was too lazy to fight with our Blu-Ray player that throws a fit every time we tell it to play a DVD instead of its favorite format), and now I don't know how to get back in the groove. But I won't give up until they make me! (9 days from now when my renewals max out)

[aspenmissing]

𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 (𝙿𝚝 𝟸)

In the warehouse, John pulls up in his truck, gets out and checks the antique gun, then takes out rosary beads and a flask of holy water. He starts looking around and sees a tank on the roof. John is jogging along an alley, stopping to check the pipes that run along its walls and then continuing.

==

At Monica's house, Sam, Dean, and Y/N sit in the Impala, the Colt between the two boys. They watch through the window as Monica and her husband finish dinner.

"Maybe we should tell 'em it was a gas leak. Might get 'em out of the house for a few hours."

"Yeah, and how many times has that actually worked for us?"

"Yeah," Sam thinks some more. "We could always tell 'em the truth." Y/N just looks at Sam for a long moment, one eyebrow raised.

"Nah!" The three say in unison.

"I know, I know. I just... with what's coming for these folks."

"Sam, we only got one more, and you know it, all right? We gotta wait for that demon to show itself, and then we get it before it gets them." The three look back at the house for a while.

"I wonder how Dad's doing."

"I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up."

"I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up." They kept watching the house.

==

John is standing on the roof next to the tank. Meg appears in the foreground. She slowly looks around then up at the water tank. John is not there. She moves inside. John is hiding behind the tank. He checks the coast is clear, then climbs the ladder. He opens the lid, holds the rosary up, speaks in Latin, and drops the rosary into the water.

==

"This is weird," Sam says.

"What?" Y/N asks.

"After all of these years, we're finally here. It doesn't seem real."

"We just gotta keep our heads and do our job, like always," Dean says.

"Yeah, but this isn't like always."

"True."

"Dean, Y/N...ah... I wanna thank you."

"For what?" The two say in unison.

"For everything. You two always had my back, you know? Even when I couldn't count on anyone, I could always count on you two. And ah... I don't know, I just wanted to let you guys know, just in case."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you kidding me?" Dean says.

"What?"

"Don't say just in case something happens to you. I don't wanna hear that freaking speech, man. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?"

==

Meg stands in the middle of the room. She hears a creak and turns. John is walking towards her. He stops a few feet away.

"John, you made it. Too bad, really. I was hoping to kill more of your friends."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"I can see where your boys get their looks. Oh, that glare, now I know where Y/N got that from. Though I must admit, considering what they say about you, I thought you'd be... taller." John just stares at her. "Well, aren't you the chatty one. You wanna get to business? Fine. Why don't you just hand over the gun?"

"If I give you the gun, how do I get out of here?" John asks.

"If you're as good as they say you are, I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"Maybe I'll just shoot you."

"You wanna shoot me, baby? Go ahead. There’s more where I came from." Another guy walks out of the shadows.

"Who the hells that?"

"He's not nearly as much fun as I am, I can tell you that. So, I suggest you give us the gun." John stares at the other demon for a long moment, then back at Meg.

"Now!" John hands over the gun to Meg, but first, she checks it out. "This is the colt?" John nods. She hands the gun over to the other demon. "What do you think?" The other demon looks at it, pointing at the wound. "You shot me! I can't believe you just shot me!" The other demon looks at John.

"It's a fake." He throws the gun away. Meg also turns to look at John.

"You're dead, John. Your boys are dead. Your daughter is dead." John backs slowly away.

"I've never used the gun. How could I know it wouldn't work?" Meg advances.

"I'm so not in the mood for this. I've just been shot."

"Well then I guess you're lucky the gun wasn't real."

"That's funny, John. We're going to strip the skin from your bones, but that was funny." A noise of gas escaping distracts Meg for a split second, and John runs into the other room, locking the door and going down a hatch into the alley he was in earlier, lined with pipes. Meg and the other demon kick open the door and follow. John reaches the other end and turns on a tap. Water starts gushing over the floor. The other demon, now in front of Meg, pauses, then continues. As he walks through the water, his feet begin steaming, and he jumps backward, yelling, "Holy water, John. Real cute." John takes off.

==

"Dad's not answering," Dean says, holding his phone to his ear.

"Maybe Meg was late. Maybe cell reception's bad."

"Yeah, well." The radio starts chattering with static.

"Dean, wait. Listen." Sam rolls the dial on the radio, hearing more static come and go. The wind picks up, and the light in the house flickers. Dean turns to look at Sam, Y/N doing the same. "It's coming." The three jump out of the car.

==

John makes it back to his truck to find all the tires slashed.

"Damn it." He runs around the side of the building.

==

Dean uses a card to slide the lock on the front door and opens it, and they enter silently. As they approach the lounge, Sam first, then Dean, Y/N is confronted by a man, who swings a bat at her head – missing and smashing a lamp instead.

"Get out of my house!" Y/N quickly closes in and grapples with him, grabbing the bat. "Get out of my house!"

"Please, please. Mr. Holden, please." Y/N easily takes control, swinging him against the wall and holding the bat across his throat. Dean walks over.

"Be quiet and listen to me. Be quiet and listen. We are trying to help you," Dean says, sharply.

"Charlie? Is everything okay?" Monica asks from upstairs.

"Monica, get the baby!"

"Don't go in the nursery!"

"You stay away from her!" He struggles to get away from Y/N. She backhands him, knocking him unconscious, and Dean puts him over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Upstairs, Monica, in her nightgown, pushes the door to the nursery open. A dark figure stands over Rosie's crib.

"What are you..." The figure raises his hand, and Monica is flung back against the wall. Sam races up the stairs and along the corridor as Monica slides up the wall and onto the ceiling. He enters the room, and the dark figure turns to him, yellow eyes shining. Sam hesitates, frozen and staring.

"Rosie!" Sam raises the Colt and pulls the trigger. The demon disappears into smoke. Monica, screaming, falls to the floor.

"Where the hell did it go?"

"My baby!" Monica stands, trying to move toward the crib, and is caught by Sam. "My baby!"

"No, wait!" Monica starts fighting Sam to get out of his arms. "MY BABY!" Y/N runs past them to the crib.

"Take her and go!"

"Rosie!"

"Come on"

"My baby!" Sam forces her out of the room.

"Y/N's got her." Y/N quickly wraps the blankets around the baby and pulls her up as the crib explodes into flames, and she races out of the room.

==

John runs down a dead end and stops, looking around and gasping for breath. He grabs for his phone, but as he raises it, he is flung against the wall, losing his grip on the phone. He hits the wall, groaning in pain. The male demon appears as John begins to slide up the wall and stands in front of him, smiling.

==

The nursery window explodes outward, flames shooting out. Monica appears from the smoke-filled front doorway, guided by Sam and Dean. Both are coughing. Holden staggers up from where he was lying on the grass.

"You get away from my family."

"No, Charlie, don't. They saved us." Y/N runs out to join them, holding the baby. Monica begins to cry. "I mean, they saved us." Monica takes the baby from Y/N, and her husband puts his arms around both of them. Monica turns to the Winchesters. "Thank you." A devastated Sam, Dean, and Y/N turn back to the burning house. The demon is silhouetted in the burning nursery, standing completely still, and Sam starts to go back inside.

"It's still in there!" Dean and Y/N grab Sam.

"Sam. Sam, no." Sam struggles.

"Dean, Y/N, let me go, it's still in there."

"No. It's burning to the ground, it's suicide," Y/N says.

"I don't care!" Sam yells.

"We do!" Dean shouts. The three look back up as the flame rises again, and the demon disappears.

===

Back in their motel room, Dean paces while holding the phone to his ear, listening to it ring out. Sam sits on the bed, Y/N next on a chair at the table, and Dean becomes frustrated.

"Come on Dad, answer your phone damn it." He hangs up. "Something's wrong." Sam stares at the wall, giving great bitchface. "You hear me? Something's wrong."

"If you two had just let me go in there, I could've ended all this."

"Sam, the only thing you would have ended was your life," Y/N says.

"You didn't know that," Dean walks towards the bed.

"So, what, you're just willing to sacrifice yourself, is that it?" Sam stands up.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're damn right I am."

"Well, that's not going to happen, not as long as we're around." Dean gestures to himself and Y/N.

"What the hell are you talking about Dean, we've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've even cared about."

"Sam I wanna waste it. I do. Okay? But it's not worth dying over."

"What?"

"I mean it. If hunting this demon means getting yourself killed then I hope we never find the damn thing."

"That thing killed Jess. That thing killed Mom," Y/N stands and walks over to the two.

"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone, and they're never coming back," she says. Sam totally loses it, grabs Y/N and shoves her hard against the wall. Sam looks angry and upset.

"Don't you say that, not you! Not after all this don't you dare say that." Dean was about to get him off but Y/N stops him.

"Sam look. The four of us... that's all we have... and it's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together, man... and without you, Dean or Dad..."

"Dad," Sam says upset. He lets go and hugs her. She takes deep breaths and hugs him back, stroking his back. Sam has tears in his eyes and looks to Dean.

"He should have called by now. Try him again." Dean raises his phone.

==

John's phone sits on a bench, ringing. Meg wanders over and picks it up. She looks at the screen, smiles to herself and answers.

"You three really screwed up this time."

"Where is he?" Dean asks angrily.

"You're never going to see your father again."

[marvelousm]

Sparks Of Love

pairing: female teacher x male teacher

Word Count: 736

Reading time: 5 mins.

A/N: I wanted to write one of my favourite teachers at school, falling head over heels for another teacher.

If you have story request or an idea for a story, feel free to send it my way. I'm open to writing to your ideas! Enjoy the read! 😊

"So you're telling me, that he actually let you borrow it?!?"

It's the first week of December and as usual, I sat down at the coffee table in the teacher staff room with some of my other teacher friends I've met in college a few years ago. 

As we ate our lunch's, we were discussing about which it the hottest  male teacher at the school, until the topic got switched to borrowing stuff from them. 

"Yeah, Mr. Cashol is a very nice teacher; I borrow things from him all the time" I said, with a confident smile.

"Really? He always says no whenever I ask to borrow something" replied my friend Megan, who teaches the same subject as me; Science.

"Well maybe it's because you forget to return his and my stuff most of the time" I said, standing up from my seat and started to pack away my empty lunch containers into my lunch bag.

"That's true, I do forget sometimes; But you're the only teacher in the whole school who lets you borrow his things".

"So? It's not a big deal---".

"Rose, this is a BIG deal. He has a crush on you".

As soon as Megan had said this, all of the teachers in the room shot her a shocked look, as if this was a secret that everyone agreed on with Mr. Cashol not to tell me.

"Wait, what?"

All the teacher's gazes shifted to me, to see how I will react to the news.

"Scott Cashol likes me? And all of you knew about this?"

They all slowly nodded their heads silently at me.

"Unbelievable" I mumbled before I finished packing up my lunch bag, placed it under my teacher desk and grabbed my black briefcase.

"Where are you going, Rose?"

"To my science classroom, Meg" I replied, as I walked out of the staff room and into the busy hallway of students.

Wow, I can't believe that he has a crush on me. Scott and I always have been very close friends since the first year of high school together, but I haven't noticed the way he looks at me or realized that he cares deeply for me I thought, as I walked down the hallway and into my science classroom. 

I set my bag onto the black counter and began to unpack my things.

I am going over to his place tonight, so I could ask him about it then.

(Time skip to Rose and Scott sitting up on the ledge of the flat rooftop of his apartment of that night)

"And then the soda sprayed up into the kid's face!" I said, laughing as I told the funny science experiment story to Scott, who was also laughing too.

For a couple of minutes, we both laughed uncontrollably, without realizing that I rested my head on his left shoulder. 

Still laughing, Scott leaned his had against mine.

After taking a breather, we both watched the snowflakes as they gently fell over Manhattan.

As I watched the snow fall, I could feel the warmth of Scott's breath on the right side of my face, making me realize how close our faces were together. 

We always have these kind of moments together, but we've never went any further and make them mean anything.

However, tonight's random romantic moment feels like he's actually making it mean something. 

I looked in the corner of my eye to steal a glimpse of Scott and he caught me. We locked eyes for a moment, before I looked away, blushing as I lifted my head off his shoulder.

"Hey, Rose?"

I turned my head to look at my colleague.

"Yeah, Scott?"

"I've been trying to find the right moment to tell you something important since we graduated high school, But I wanted to tell you when the time was right. I feel like right now is the time and I'm not sure how will you react to it..."

I could tell he's nervous.

I took his trembly hands in mine.

He only gets this nervous when he has big news share; whether it's good or bad.

"I'm listening"

Scott took a shaky hand and rested his palm on my left cheek, before leaning closer to me.

"Rose, I-I-I like you; I've fallen for you".

As soon as he said that, my cheeks grew hotter, indicating that I liked him too.

He grinned at me, blushing back before he pulled me closer to him by the waist. 

Then he pressed his soft warm lips on mine, warming me up on this chilly night.

The end. 

I hoped you enjoyed the story!  :)

-MarvelousM

[artsy-hobbitses]

Starscream for the character ask?~

First impression

You're fucking annoying I hate you please die.

Impression now

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CRAWLED YOUR WAY INTO MY HEART YOU HORRIBLE WONDERFUL, STUPIDLY DEEP FIEND WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE.

Favorite moment

Weirdly enough, him calling out Coptimus every chance he got in IDW 2005, because no one else fucking would ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Idea for a story

In a universe where he didn't die and Megatron actually crossed paths with him again (Maybe during that shitty Unicron arc), I would have loved to see them again, with both of them having demonstrated visible growth from the last time they saw each other and having to work with each other through the most gritted of teeth. Maybe there's a situation where Starscream and a badly injured Megs end up together alone, no one else around, and it's a case Who You Are In The Dark, with Starscream aware that he could kill Megatron here and no one would be the wiser for it (and even if they were, he's sure many would thank him). He refuses to, which surprises Megatron, and Megatron surprises him by saying something along the lines of "TBH I would have shot me" and apologizes to Starscream sincerely before what he believes are going to likely be his last moments, only for Starscream to help him out because lol you really think I'd let you die, nah bruh, we're doing your sentencing proper.

They have a proper talk about the toxic relationship they had with each other, as Megs is imprisoned pretty much facing his cell after all is said and done. It's not therapy and far from making Starscream OK with what he's been through, but it's a start.

Unpopular opinion

I like all of the political shit he got into in Cybertron. I imagine it's not what a lot of people signed up for, but I found it super fascinating.

Favorite relationship

Him with Windblade. Had a lot of potential that wasn't met and gave an excellent exploration of his inner motivations, also it was great to see him thinking about someone else for a change. They could have been good for each other in another universe. Team Windscream all day long. Also the friendship he accidentally builds with Bumblebee.

Favorite headcanon

Lover of cats (once he finds out TC adopted a dog) who constantly gets his ass handed to him every time he asks to spar with Windblade to make up for loss after loss (which he's weirdly alright with), actually quite a pro in chess because of course the fucker would be.

[damonjuicyscock]

To The End (Chapter 15: Strange News From Another Star)

Pairing: 90's Damon Albarn x Reader (Damon is just mentionned in this chapter, but he'll be coming back soon.)

Warnings: Language, some spelling mistakes ? Angst (this is sad af)

Summary: You are Damon Albarn's ex girlfriend. You're pregnant, and you don't know whose child it is. This whole chapter is about Reader's pregnancy.

Words: 2638

A/N: Hello lovelies, here's chapter 15. It's almost the end of the fan fic but don't worry, another one is coming soon, and to keep you waiting while I'll be writing the first chapters, I publish some juicy one-shots just for you !

Enjoy !

“Give me all your stuff until I can't get up Watch the whole world freeze, counting tin cans in our sleep Submarines diving deep I don't believe in me, I don't believe in me All I've ever done is tame, will you love me all the same? Will you love me though it's always the same? They say it's no game There's strange news from another star I'm lost, I'm lost There's strange news from another star”

February 1998-London:

4 months. I was almost 4 months pregnant. I didn’t know I would have a baby when I overdosed. I was absolutely not ready to be a mother. But I already had been through a lot, and I didn’t see myself having a miscarriage or abort after this.

I stopped taking drugs at the moment I knew about the baby. During this rehab, I was living at Jessica’s. She could watch after me and she wanted to. But it felt awkward because Jess had a family, and I wasn’t a child. And we both agreed that I couldn’t go at my parent’s place, I didn’t want them to know I had been on drugs.

Except Jessica, no one knew I was pregnant. And…it started to show. I had no choice but to tell the others now.

So we reunited at Graham’s place with Noel, Dave, Thom and Alex. Yeah, since then, I was in touch with Thom.

*

- So Y/N, what do you have to tell us so urgently? Dave said

I took off the vest that was covering and hiding my growing bump.

- Surprise. I said neutrally

This had the effect of a bomb.

- Yer wot? Noel said

- Oh…How m… Alex tried

- Almost 4 months Alex.

- Ok, so we’re going to be uncles then?

- 4 of you yes. But one of you may be the father.

Noel whitened, and the 4 other boys turned to him.

- What the fuck Y/N?! Graham said, stunned

- Okay, stop panicking guys. I have two things to say.

- It’s dead hard not to panic Y/N, after what you said. Noel answered

- Please, just listen to me guys. Okay… so first, yes, Noel and I shared an evening together after I broke up with Damon. I know it’s bad, okay? But Noel, know that if you’re this baby’s father, I won’t ask anything to you. Because I don’t want to break your couple with Meg, but also because I intend to raise this baby alone.

- You told me ye were on the pill two days before it happened ! He said

- Yeah, well heroin, cocaine and alcohol made me forget that I was taking it. From what the doctor told me, I stopped taking it between the end of August and the beginning of October. But nevermind, as I said, I won’t ask anything to you, and I won’t tell anyone. And here we come to the second point, and Gray, Alex, Dave, Thom, listen carefully.

- We’re listening. Dave answered

- So, if Noel isn’t the father, Damon will be. And the thing is I’ll only know it when I’ll give birth because I don’t intend to ask for a paternity test, and I don’t want to have anything to do with him. But you have to promise something. You have to promise not to tell him anything. Because as I said…

- Yeah, you intend to raise this baby alone, we got it. But Y/N…You ask us something quite hard! Thom said

- Listen guys. You’re here because you’re my closest friends, even my best friends, that’s why I told you. You have the right to know before you see me ready to pop. So please, just promise me.

- I promise. Noel said first

- I promise. Thom said, ill at ease

- Okay, that’s your choice and I respect that, and even if it’s Damon’s baby, he’s clearly not ready and not able to be a father. I promise. Alex said

- I promise. Dave followed, agreeing with Alex’s words

I looked at Graham. Yes, I know it was wrong of me to ask them this, especially Graham who was Damon’s other oldest friend, but also mine. He hesitated.

He rolled his eyes.

- Okay, I’m in. I’ll be the uncle. But I’m not only doing this for you, but because of the same reasons that Alex mentioned.

- Thank you a lot for understanding you five. And Noel?

- Yeah?

- Don’t panic.

*

When I came back at Jessica’s place, she came towards me with a cup of tea.

- Come on, let’s sit on the sofa and drink this. I have something to give you.

- I’m not thir…

- I promise you’ll need it.

I followed her instructions and sat down on the couch, she handed me an envelope.

- What is that?

- Damon came here while you were at Graham’s. He asked me to give this to you when I would see you.

- Does he know I’m living here?

- I’m not daft Y/N, I’m not going to tell him.

- I don’t want to read this.

- Do you want me to read it to you?

- No, yes, I don’t know. Yes, do it so we can end this once and for all.

- Okay…She said as she opened the envelope

- Oh god…

- You ready? She asked, holding the open paper in her hands.

- Yes.

She cleared her throat.

- “Y/N, my love. I don’t know if you will accept to read this letter, but if you did, thank you. I know I fucked up, and nothing can justify what I did, and I know you can’t forgive me. I understand. I would just like to see you or talk to you once more. I have so many regrets, and you didn’t deserve what happened. I miss you so much, you can’t imagine how. If you ever want to meet me, ask Jess my number, so we can call. And if you don’t want to see me ever again just like you said, know that I’ll still love you…To the end. Tenderly, your Damon.”

Jessica looked at me just a few seconds before I bursted out crying. He knew how to always reopen the wounds, even though, these ones would never close.

- Why is he trying to hurt me? God… Why is he doing this to me? Why can’t he just leave me alone?

- Because he loves you.

- If he really did, he wouldn’t have cheated on me, we would be married by now, and happy! And that’s not the case!

- I know Y/N, you didn’t deserve that. Do you really think the wound will never heal?

- Yes. Especially if the baby is his.

- Auntie Jessica will be there.

- I know that what I asked you is…

- No Y/N, not to me. He’s not ready for this and after what he did, I understand you don’t want to tell him anything.

- Seems like when he wrote this damn song, he already knew we were doomed.

- Which one?

- To the end.

*

April 1998:

Already a year that I had my takotsubo and that he broke what we had. After his letter, I decided to remain silent. I had other things to think about.

I was waiting in the waiting room for my name to be called. I would discover the baby’s gender.

- You were really not forced to come with me you know? I said

- I know, but even if you’re not going to claim anything, and the fact that he or she might be or not be mine, I’m still your friend Y/N, and going alone to an echography is not cool.

- Thank you, Noel.

- Which gender do you think and hope it is?

- I don’t know and I don’t care. I’ll still love this little fella no matter what.

My name was called, Noel followed me in the echography room.

- Mr Gallagher, are you the father? The doctor asked

- No! He’s just a friend accompanying me. I answered for him, nervous

- Okay. Let’s start.

She spread the cold blue gel on my growing belly and began the echography. I already heard my baby’s heartbeat and it was more than moving to me. I had a life, growing inside me.

- Do you want to know the gender?

- That’s one of the reasons I’m here. I answered

She moved the probe around my belly to give an answer to her own question.

- Congratulations, it’s a little girl.

- Congrats Y/N! Noel said

- Thank you mate. Is she fine?

- She is! She is healthy and strong. Did she already give her first kicks?

- She did. And it can hurt.

- Yes, it can be painful sometimes. Don’t hesitate to let her know you’re here.

- Oh she already does! And everyone thinks she has multi personalities because of that. When Liam told me you would be good together before meeting Patsy, he was right! Our kid was right!

- Fuck off Noel! I said laughing

This made Noel smile.

Noel, Thom, Graham, Alex and Dave tried to make me love life again, and to make me laugh and smile. They all knew how broken I was inside, but they also hoped that this baby would fill the void that Damon left.

I moved back to Supernova Heights, Meg and him not wanting me to be alone while pregnant, and I wanted to leave Jessica alone with her family. When the baby will be born and would have grown a bit, I would move in Noel’s apartment. He kept it. They were so sweet and so kind.

*

A week and three days later, at night, I was listening to the radio with headphones on, while reading the last Rolling Stone magazine. Until…

“Tonight we’re receiving the Britpop band Blur, they will sing a few songs live after a quick interview. They’re with us! Hello guys!”

- Oh god no. I mumbled

But I don’t know why, I let the show on the radio, listening carefully, and heard his voice. I missed it.

“So Damon, it has been said you and your long-time girlfriend Y/N broke up recently, hope you are doing fine?”

“I’m trying to heal, she was my fiancé, and you know…things happen…”

- Yeah you fucking cheated on me you bastard.

That’s where I received a kick, I thought what some kind of sign.

- Seriously? I said, looking at my bump

And then, another one.

- Why do you decide to kick now? I don’t even know whose daughter you are! You may not be Damon’s you know? What am I supposed to say? Yay because you kicked while he is speaking. You never heard him before this, how is it even possible? Oh, and fuck me, I haven’t met you yet and I’m already talking to you like you were already here! You know what? I’m gonna change on another channel hoping for some Led Zep or something.

Yes. I really had a monologue with my stomach. As I said, I changed the channel and stopped on Live Forever by Oasis. She kicked again.

- Okay, maybe I was a bit too extreme in my words. So you like both Oasis and Blurthen, huh? You’ll be like me then, even if I don’t really listen to Blur anymore and you know why.

I was now caressing by stomach, to create some more connection with her.

- I already love you little one. And I don’t know how I’m going to call you. I’ll think about it.

*

July 31st 1998:

It was a hot summer night; I was naked in my bed, and I was trying to sleep but it was hard.

Being 9 months pregnant during summer was HELL.

My pain would soon be relieved. Because the real pain started around 3am. Painful contractions every 7 minutes. I tried to manage alone at first. My water didn’t even break yet. But it became unbearable.

I tried to put some clothes on alone. After successing, I started crying. Meg probably heard me because she came in my room. I didn’t even have a cradle next to my bed yet.

- Y/N, are you okay? She asked

I was breathing heavily, trying to calm the pain.

- Yeah, I didn’t want to wake you up.

- No you’re not okay, I can see it. Is it time?

- I think so.

- Don’t move. I’m gonna wake Noel.

*

Back to Princess Grace hospital, but this time for a beautiful thing: giving birth. They all came when Noel phoned them. Even Liam was there. Jessica and Meg stood with me in the delivery room. I had never felt such a pain, except when my heart broke. And here she was, an hour and forty-nine minutes after.

They put her on my chest for the first contact. She had powerful lungs; she was crying like her life depended on it.

They took her away to wash her and take her measurements.

I didn’t have the time to take a proper look at her yet. But one thing was sure: She was mine and I was ready to kill for her.

*

They brought her back to me, and I was conducted to what would be my room for a few hours. Graham and Thom stood with me, and when they both fell asleep on their chairs, I saw my baby girl move in this hospital cradle. She was hungry.

I took her in my arms and learnt how to feed her. During this time, I analysed every trait of her beautiful face. She looked just like him, she was as beautiful as he was.

I decided to call her Mina, after Dracula’s character.

Yes. Her name was Mina, and she was Damon Albarn’s daughter.

But this, he wouldn’t know.

*

February 1999:

- Glad to see you back! Graham told me

- I’m happy to see you too, Mina seems to do as well! I said looking at my almost 7 months daughter, who was smiling

- How were your parents? It’s been such a long time since I last saw them.

- They’re both planting things in their garden, making things, creating… They were looking after Mina when I was working. Now she has a place at the daycare.

- And I’ll pick her sometimes when I can.

- Of course Gray, you’re her uncle.

- Where are you living now?

- In Noel’s apartment. There’s enough place for us both.

- And what’s this new work you found?

- I’ll be working in a record company.

- Which one?

- Not EMI if it’s what you’re wondering. I’ll work for mute records as a producer’s assistant, being Damon Albarn’s ex-girlfriend and knowing some people has advantages.

Graham took a giggling Mina in his arms.

- She looks more and more like him. He said

- I know. It’s like I’m living with a baby girl version of him.

An awkward silence settled in.

- She’s pregnant Y/N.

- Huh?

- His new girlfriend. She’s pregnant.

- Why are you telling this to me?

- Because you may want Mina to be close to their child.

- I have to think about it first. It could be dangerous.

- If you say yes, I’ll convince Damon to put his child in the same school as Mina. I’ll find a reason. I’m sorry for having to announce such a thing.

I looked at my feet, chuckling sadly.

- This is something that had to happen one day Gray. I’ll deal with it.

[parkers-gal]

Hi! How are you?

First I wanted to say that I love your writing and I wanted to ask you if you could write something about Tom and maybe the boys reacting to the 34+35 remix mv please? It's okay if you can't

Thanks and have a good day or night 🙃

love youu <3

requests are open

—

“Didn’t Doja leak her verse a few months ago?”

You’re seated on a loveseat facing a large TV that’s planted on the wall. Harrison and Harry have taken the couch, Tuwaine sitting in an armchair after bringing out a few beers. Tom is rubbing the back of your hand and your knuckles with his thumb.

It’s release night. Again.

Tom won’t tell you why he’s so excited to see this music video, because it’s merely just another collaboration with powerful women. But, he loves your positions era. He loves how comfortable you are with being sexual in your music and in your videos. He also knows that the entirety of this video might just be you in lingerie, an opportunity he can’t pass up.

Currently, you’re watching your Q&A countdown, which was pre-recorded with Tom in the room. He’d nearly laughed a total of seven times during your takes. Needless to say, it took longer than expected to film.

“Did you go searching for leaked shit?” Harrison replies with a scoff, Harry’s eyes widening. Tuwaine and Tom gasp dramatically, and you try not to laugh at the encounter.

It’s a rule now, to not go online to find leaked content. Last time it happened, Harrison had stayed up until three in the morning searching youtube to win a bet. He’d lost miserably after the news broke that he cheated.

“No! But it was all over my timelin-”

“Yeah, sure.” Sam sneers at his twin, and they end up slapping each other on the arms. Tom chuckles deeply, the sound reverberating through the air, and you can’t help but join him.

Before you know it, the video countdown has officially reached zero, and your voice rings through the air. A scene is displayed on the television: you’re laying on a lounge chair by the pool, and suddenly Doja and Meg are beside you too. You’re wearing sexy clothes, and Tom just knows you’re powerful in this one too.

When the luggage carrier scene comes, you hear Harry gasp. You laugh at his expression, and you can tell he’s probably trying to focus on how the camera is moving and focusing, rather than the girls twerking.

“I cannot believe you actually got to sit on one of those things.”

“Yeah,” Harry agrees with Tuwaine, rolling his eyes. “Last time we tried that, we got kicked out of the hotel.”

You blink in surprise, but laugh nonetheless.

“This is- this is the scene from your Instagram post!” Tom cheers excitedly at the staircase scene where you’re laying there, just as you were in your pictures.

“Yeah.” You laugh.

“I can’t believe you got to work with the Megan thee Stallion.” Harrison gruffs in his seat as he watches her twerk again. You can’t help but laugh, but you have a surprise for him, so you won’t tease him too much.

“Is somebody jealous?” Tom grins, shoving his shoulder jokinging. Harrison grumbles a “no” in response and the two of you birth laughter, loudly.

To everybody’s surprise, Harry starts rapping with Doja Cat. He’s watching her, of course, but he’s hitting every word with a rasp in his voice. Tom’s jaw drops below sea level, and you laugh, still impressed.

“Damn, Harry!” Tuwaine raises his glass of beer. “Show off.”

Just as the verse ends, your hand comes into the shot, and you hear Tom’s breath hitch. You’re speaking into the call-machine, and the mention of baked Alaska makes him blush with a chuckle.

“I cannot believe you actually included that.”

“What was that?” Sam inquired.

“We were in a restaurant,” You started sharing the story, and Tom groaned in response. “And I was talking to the waiter about baked Alaska, but I'd obviously forgotten what it was called. And Tom was so sure he knew, that he yelled ‘baked Alabama.’” When you finished the story, Tom’s head was in his hands in embarrassment.

Your attention is turned back to the TV when Tom gasps. It’s the scene he’s most looked forward to: the bed & room service scene. You’re eating licorice and dancing on the bed while Meg sings her part.

Harrison points at the TV in shock when he sees you sitting on the vintage television. Harry’s mouth drops wide open when he sees Meg in the marbled bathroom. He’s internally freaking out, and externally getting redder by the second. You have a feeling him and Harrison are really big fans, so you make a mental reminder to give them their gifts later. You’d gotten them personally signed records, courtesy of Meg of course.

“Aww,” Tom pouts. “That was so cute.” He’s visibly softening as he watches you and Meg sing “34, 35 we can sixty nine it.” You giggle, head tilting in thought.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “You’re really pretty, y’know.” He’s cheeky but shy about the compliment, and you bring him closer for a goofy hug.

“That’s a lot of champagne, you know.” Sam eyes you and the TV with a knowing look.

“Yes, yes, thank you for hooking me up with it.” You give him credit. The chef of the family he is, so you were sure to jump at the opportunity for some local help. It made work during the pandemic a little easier.

“Yeah yeah.” He smiles, waving you off. You’re grateful, though, even if you play it off coolly.

“And thank you, mister.” You hug Tom tighter as his brows furrow.

“For what?”

“For telling me which set looked best.” You smirk at him, and he rolls his eyes.

“Don’t out me like that.”

“Gross.” Harry sticks his tongue out, sipping a beer in disgust at the couple.

“Don’t ‘gross’ me,” You sass him. “I have a present for you, but if you’re gonna be a brat about it-”

“No, no, no, no.” He rushes out, setting his cup down as he leans forward. “What’d you get me?”

“Well…” You reach behind you, grabbing a bag before two vinyls emerge. They’re the first and only copies, as you had not planned on releasing a vinyl copy for the remix. “They’re personally signed.” You carefully hand one to Harrison and one to Harry. Each has a message from both girls, and Harrison and Harry squeal in delight.

“Where’s my present?” Tom pouts. What comes next only makes him grow redder.

“I’m wearing it.” You smile cheekily. “Think you can wait a few hours?”

His eyes go wide as he nods feverishly. Luckily, he doesn’t have to wait too long.

[daydadahlias]

2, 8, 13, 20, 30, & 38 for the fanfic asks? -megs 💙

Hi Megs!! This is a LOT. Thank you for asking!!!!

2. What character(s) do you find the most difficult to write for? Why?

Answered here <3 (It's Michael)

8. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered stories?

Okay so... my sweet spot as a writer is about in the 20k range. I'm notoriously an over writer and so that's a pretty,, good length for like a day-long read, you know? Something that feels fairly long but that won't take you more than an afternoon as a reader to munch on. Most of my work is one-shots so I feel like... I have to say I prefer one-shots lol. I do love writing multi-chap stories though, even though I don't have many. But a one-shot is like... It takes a week/couple days to write. It takes a day for people to read. It's not bite-sized but it's not... over-filling or overwhelming. Yeah, I like one-shots of 15-30k.

13. When did you start writing fanfic?

... do you really wanna know?? I guess I'm gonna go back to the very beginning. Not my ao3 days but before that. Because I really started writing fanfic on Quotev when I was twelve. I think my first fic was... Oh geez, now I have to go find it. Alright. I hate to admit this on main. The first fanfic I EVER wrote was on Quotev. It was published on April 15, 2015. I would be twelve. It was a Supernatural fanfiction. And it is quite literally called "Supernatural: DeanXReader." Now I feel the need to clarify, 12 yo Jess did not know what romance WAS (hello aro ace identity) and I can guarantee you the "X" is used VERY liberally. Dean and Reader were just friends. They never touched. They never kissed. They were literally just homies. But I said "ROMANCE!" bc I didn't know that,, wasn't romance. If that makes sense. Yeah <3

20. What feedback makes you the happiest to hear?

THIS. is hard. Uh... Ok. I really enjoy,,, overall commentary on a story?? Like when someone takes something out of a fic and fosters it into a dialogue with me. One of the people that does this the best is Miki ( @ashtonhours ). I really adore the way she interacts with my work in our dms. Because she makes me sound a lot smarter than I actually am haha and I appreciate that!! And I tell you who really blew me away recently with a compliment was Em ( @redrattlers ). The kind of stuff I want to elicit when I write is a feeling of... honesty?? If that makes any sense. So whenever I get feedback that a story sounds "real" or "human," I get very very excited.

30. Do you write down all your ideas? What makes you decide to write one versus the other?

My notes app is... oh it's a mess. It's bad. I write down,,, so much bullshit. If I get even a sentence of an idea, I'm slapping it down. And so my notes app is just a graveyard of disjointed plot bunnies and one-liners and unused titles and... yeah, it's a mess. I write down everything. I do like a lot of what I have in my notes though and I do end up incorporating most of these fragmented ideas into fics! But also sometimes, I have no idea what they mean.

38. What story of yours are you surprised that people liked as much as they did?

Lmfao a lot of them. I think the main one that shocked me will always be Risky Risque. It's one of my big three and I just... fucking hate that fic with such a fiery burning passion. Because the characters are flat as boards and it lacks depth and I just don't believe it. Nothing about the story feels true. But, people like it!! A lot, actually. Which I hate lol but what're you gonna do, y'know?? I can't control audience perception. I wouldn't want to. People are totally allowed to like it but I very much don't think they should.

from fic asks <3

[enviedear]

🧸 for your pick of HP boys + how they are when drunk/at a common room party 🤎

And congrats on 555!! ☺️

OMG I LOVE THIS IDEA !!!!

okay so i think i'll pick....

draco ↘︎ some nfsw (just a mention of the deed)

he'd be such a pretentious ass at a party before he got drunk. but the very second he's trashed... well, he's trashed. he's be the type of drunk to need to constantly move. one minute he's doing shots with theo and two minutes later he's playing beer pong with pansy. i feel like he'd always tell his friends how much he loved them when he's drunk, and then also insult them ??? like he'd totally be like "blaise you're always there for me, i don't know how i could ever repay you... also when you're tired you get a lazy eye and it's really fucking frightening to see at 12 pm every night."

in accordance to having a partner during said party... he'd be super into taking them to the dance floor. i feel like draco could be a certified white boy. so like i imagine some pretty okay dancing. he'd be the guy in the dance circle who'd have a random rotation of people dancing with him. and once he figured the night was ending he'd take said partner back to his room. draco is a firm believer in drunk sex.

blaise ↘︎

this mf OWNS the aux at every single party. even the gryffindors know that they can't compare. blaise wouldn't be the most into drinking i feel, if he drank, i think he'd be into "girly" drinks. i think he hates the taste of alcohol and always tells the plug to get him "shit that tastes like juice" i also think he'd be the man at every party he went to. he's the guy that takes care of the girls and kicked out weirdos. i feel like at one party, he'd have accumulated pansy, ginny, hermione, and cho's drinks. and everyone just sees him holding all of these with the girls right by him, just having the time of his life. draco would get jealous because of this.

if he a partner i think he'd want to do whatever they wanted. probably, really into dancing just like draco BUT this mf is beyond down to SCREAM the lyrics to all these songs. i can see it now, blaise smirking at his partner before, "HOES TRYNNA CALL ME A SNAKE, SHIT I GUESS I CAN'T RELATE, CUZ A BITCH SPIT A WHOLE LOTTA VENOM!" big meg fan, blaise. if draco is certified white boy at parties... blaise is a certified hot girl. he's gonna make sure all his friends and his partner feel comfortable a sexy at a party. he's just... that man.

harry ↘︎

party loner until someone gets him drunk. i feel like his party bestie would be dean. while seamus and ron are playing beer pong,, the two of them are in the corner drinking STRICTLY butterbeer. i also feel like once harry was drunk enough he'd join ron with beer pong. he'd be so competitive. "yeah fucker, i DARE you to try and make a move like that!" and "you throw like a grandpa, quit now."

[igarbagecannoteven]

MEGS I LOVE THIS ASK GAME!!!! I have so many i want to ask but I dont want to make you write,,, a thesis. oh my god how do i choose

10!!! 19!! and for 20, is there any TYPE of fic you wanna try this year?? (ik you like to play around with the boundaries of fiction) (ie. song fic, chaptered fic, long one-shot, fic with no dialogue, only dialogue fic, texting fic, etc)

hi jess thanks for stopping by!!! also please never worry about making me write a thesis i love talking about my own writing skdhflkjdsjfl

10. do you have a goal for this year for your writing? any word count? a genre you want to mark off? i mean i'd really love to finish my 24 fic project, so the goal is to at least to get close! i'd be happy with,, maybe reaching 20? 17? somewhere around there lol. and i have a bunch of genres/tropes i'd like to check off, really i'd like to explore as many different concepts as possible (as opposed to falling into a pattern and writing a bunch of very similar fics)

19. what’s a struggle in your writing you’re going to overcome this year? i really struggle with writing "getting together" fics, so i'd like to learn how to master that better. i'd also like to officially crush my bad habit of comparing my writing speed to other people. i'm not a fast writer and i take several drafts and that's okay! i've just got to convince the mean corners of my brain that lol

20. (freebie) is there any TYPE of fic you wanna try this year? i love the examples you have listed bc i want to try almost all of those! i really do love to experiment with types of fic since i believe that's one of the strengths of fanfic is there's so much flexibility! i have several song fics in the works (hopefully i'll finish at least one lol) i have a tentative three chaptered fics (two of them are going to be very short for chaptered fics but i'm still counting them) and one of them will almost certainly have no dialogue! i tend to rely a lot on dialogue so i really want to write multiple fics without any just to prove to myself i can! i'd also really like to try to write an all dialogue fic where it never signals who the two people talking are just bc i read a fic that didn't say who the pairing was (which of course i can't remember who wrote it/what it was called now lol) and it was such a cool concept! i'd also love to write an epistolary fic! (and maybe i have multiple ideas for that format. just maybe) so really an easier question would be what type of fic do i ~not~ want to write lol

[orange-waterfalls]

Cell Block Tango, Ft. One Wilford Warfstache

ty @executiveespressodepresso​ for the request

A/N: I KNOW, I know. It took a long time. A really long time. 2 weeks is actually not that long but I GET IT. I’m done though! I am finished, I have completed one(1) fic, and I can rest easy now. I’ve had a bit of trouble with these types of fics before, mainly I just didn’t know how to write them. But I figured it out! Maybe. Sorta. I dunno, I kinda like it... ANYWAYS uh song bumps the rating up to a T, but there’s not really much else. You perform a song for Wilford after a long day! That’s it. Also Talking about Feelings at the end because I was feeling Angsty and wanted some Plot. It’s a long one dhwukcgfeywf anyways enjoy!

Word Count: 3.0k

Performing the Cell Block Tango for Wilford

You plopped down onto the living room couch and sighed. What a day! What a great, awful, stressful day. You loved Wilford, absolutely, but the man could be a handful.

You weren’t sure how it was possible for someone to have so many bullets in one gun.

In any case, you had to stop him from KILLING PEOPLE for a while before getting to come home. 

You didn’t have the emotional capacity to be mad at this point. You really needed to wind down.

First, you should make dinner. Last time Wilford stepped foot in the kitchen the whole house went up in flames. You grabbed your phone and called to order take out. 

You rubbed your eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. You shook your head, knowing if you fell asleep Wilford might kill the delivery person. You went to the bathroom.

You turned the sink faucet on and splashed your face a few times. You looked in the mirror at your soaking-wet face. God Wilford was so difficult to deal with. Well… he’d gotten better… but he still had a long way to go before you could even consider taking him anywhere. If he wouldn’t pull a gun on all the therapists you took him to maybe he’d have gotten a little better in the time that you knew him.

Now that Wilford was back on your mind, you thought of a way you could maybe relax.

You walked back to the living room and looked down at the phone that you’d thrown on the chair beside the couch. You looked up, not seeing Wilford anywhere. You took a deep breath, and decided you deserved a little performing. As a treat.

You pressed play on the song when you found it, and you stood up. You stood with your back to the music, facing the wall.

"Pop. Six. Squish. Uh-uh. Cicero. Lipschitz," you said quietly. "And now, the six merry murderesses of the Crook County Jail, and their rendition of the Cell Block Tango…"

You began moving your arms in rhythm to the song. A smile twitched at your lips. This might’ve seemed a bit silly to anyone else, but luckily, you were alone. Right?

Yes, Wilford went to go see Dark. You were absolutely, 100% alone.

In fact, you were so sure that you were alone that you didn’t hear Wilford walk into the room. He saw you… dancing? Were you dancing? He didn’t think you danced. You didn’t seem like the type to dance. He tilted his head to the side a little, about to ask what was happening, before hearing the music play from the phone and closing his mouth. He decided to stay quiet and just… watch. 

The music began speeding up and you started to get really into it, moving around a lot. As the chorus got close, you turned around, only to find Wilford staring at you. He was standing in front of the couch, near your phone. You stared back at him, the heat of embarrassment rising in your cheeks. You prepared to shamefully walk away, to avoid him by taking a shower or saying you had to run to the store, to make sure he said nothing about this to you or anyone else.

But, Wilford seemed to have other things in mind.

Seeing you watch him like a deer in headlights, he thought there was something he should do in this situation, something to make you more comfortable.

With that in mind, he plopped down onto the couch, respectfully folding his hands in his lap, and looked at you expectantly.

Was that the right decision? Too late to take it back now. Hopefully it was.

You blinked for a moment before you got the memo and started moving again. You felt your skin burn in the still-present embarrassment as you continued your… well, it wasn’t quite dancing. Something along those lines, maybe. You expected Wilford to talk, laugh, comment, make any noise at all. But he just sat, watching you. You looked at him, nervous. He smiled brightly at you and you remembered that this was Wilford, dammit! The man loved you and would never wish any harm on you, physically or emotionally. And that’s when you decided to put a little trust in your boyfriend, and started to sing right as the chorus started up.

“He had it comin', he had it comin', he only had himself to blame… If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same! Pop! Six! Squish! Uh-uh! Cicero! Lipschitz! Pop! Six! Squish! Uh-uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!”

Wilford nearly got whiplash when you started to sing. Since when? Could you do this? You had never? You were also quite good, so… why didn’t he know? 

You started getting more exaggerated and “angry” with your movements, which made Wilford smile. You looked like you were having fun(which you were) and he was happy about that. He also appreciated the few lyrics he processed over the look of joy on your face taking full control of his mind. He could relate to it, at least a little. He wondered if that’s why you liked the song…

He then realized that it probably wasn’t, but he liked the thought nonetheless.

“You know how people have these little habits that get you down? Like Bernie. Bernie liked to chew gum. No, not chew: pop! So I came home this one day, and I am really irritated and I'm looking for a little bit of sympathy. And there's Bernie, laying on the couch drinking a beer and chewing. No, not chewing: popping!” You were waving your arms around while telling the story, and got this angry look on your face at certain points. While making the face, you pointed at Wilford accusingly. He frowned at first, before remembering you were acting. And, damn, you were good at it! "So, I said to him, I said, "You pop that gum one more time..." And he did. So I took the shotgun off the wall and I fired two warning shots... into his head.” You made a fake gun with your hands and fake-shot at Wilford. He leaned back on the couch, put on a surprised look, and laid a hand over his chest, playing along. You smiled at him joyfully before going back to singing.

He bit his lip to not laugh, as you might’ve taken it the wrong way. He was just very… happy. And entertained with what was happening.

“I met Ezekiel Young, from Salt Lake City, about two years ago, and he told me he was single, and we hit it off right away. So, we started living together. He'd go to work, he'd come home, I'd fix him a drink, we'd have dinner. And then I found out. "Single," he told me? Single, my ass. Not only was he married, oh, no, he had six wives. One of those mormons, you know? So that night, when he came home from work, I fixed him his drink, as usual.” Wilford got a bit distracted at this point, just by you. Everything you were doing. The dancing, the acting, the singing, the smiles… you looked so happy. He wondered why you didn’t look like this more often. He wondered how he could get you to look like this more often.

He’d heard someone talk about karaoke at the store one day.

Could he do that? Could he buy a karaoke machine? Would you want a karaoke machine?

“You know... some guys just can't hold their arsenic.” He was snapped back to reality,(ope, there goes gravity) when you ruffled his hair harshly at the last line. He looked up at you again and found you were still smiling. He automatically smiled back.

“Now, I'm standing in the kitchen, carving up the chicken for dinner, minding my own business. In storms my husband, Wilford, in jealous rage.” You accidentally said “Wilford” instead of “Wilbur”. Who could blame you, honestly. To save it, you started acting like you were talking directly to Wilford instead of just a make-believe audience. Wilford, on the other hand, panicked a little when you said his name. It wasn’t the same name as the song said, so… what? He then came to the conclusion that you just wanted to get him to pay more attention. 

"You been screwing the milkman," he says. He was crazy and he kept on screaming "You been screwing the milkman." And then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times.” You leaned towards him, got up in his face, and grabbed and shook his shoulders. Wilford just kind of… sat there and took it, since he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He nodded a few times as well, seemingly a bit intimidated by you. It took much of your willpower to not break and start laughing at him.

His cheeks dusted a light pink because of how close you were getting to his face. He nearly leaned forward and kissed you, but caught himself. You were performing and he had no right to interrupt.

Still, your lips looked awfully kissable… 

“If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same!” 

You had to mentally prepare yourself for the Hungarian part. You took a breath to lower your heart rate and told yourself that even if you messed it up, it was fine. It was just Wilford.

“Mit keresek én itt? Azt mondják, a híres lakóm lefogta a férjem, én meg lecsaptam a fejét. De nem igaz. Én ártatlan vagyok. Nem tudom, miért mondja Uncle Sam, hogy én voltam. Próbáltam a rendõrségen megmagyarázni, de nem értették meg.” You had to suck in a breath and miss a few lines to get your brain back on track. “Uh-uh! Not guilty!” 

Wilford was thrown completely off guard at the Hungarian and he stared at the phone. Where the hell did that come from? More confusingly, when he looked back at you, you seemed to be keeping up with the words, for the most part. Did you know Hungarian? Did you just know this part? You slipped up a few times but, hot damn, it was impressive.

You had this sad, innocent look on your face the whole time. One that made him wanna get up and hug you. But he didn’t because he knew that you were fine and you were acting and he was gonna let you finish this wonderful performance of yours even if it fucking killed him, goddammit!

Okay, he was being a little dramatic. Even so.

“My sister Veronica and I had this double act, and my husband Charlie traveled around with us. Now, for the last number in our act we did these twenty acrobatic tricks in a row. One, two, three, four, five, splits, spread eagles, back flips, flip flops, one right after the other. So this one night before the show, we're down at the hotel Cicero, the three of us boozing, having a few laughs. And we ran out of ice so I went out to get some. I come back, open the door, and there's Veronica and Charlie, doing number seventeen: the spread eagle! Well, I was in such a state of shock I completely blacked out, I can't remember a thing. It wasn't until later, when I was washing the blood off my hands, I even knew they were dead.” You decided you kick your leg up a little both times you mentioned spread eagles. Wilford shook his head, a little dumbfounded. He understood the implications in the song, and his face flushed darker. He wondered if you did too, because it just seemed like you did it for fun. In any case, he coughed into his hand quietly, as to not make you worry. 

You look at Wilford, a bit confused, but he just gave you a thumbs up for you to continue. You smiled and kept doing what you were doing, not noticing how flushed he was.

“They had it coming, they had it coming, they had it coming all along! I didn't do it, but if I'd done it, how could you tell me that I was wrong?”

Wilford watched in utter fascination at how you were moving. If he didn’t know better, he’d say you choreographed this.

Well… he didn’t know what you did when he wasn’t home.

But you moved fairly fluidly through dances and you seemed to be on-tempo, even if the dances seemed random.

Random does not mean unplanned, he reminded himself. 

He was also a little distracted from your dancing by the song, because it was making him feel emotions he wasn’t sure existed. He was determined to memorize your every move, however, so that would just have to wait until another day.

“I loved Al Lipschitz more than I can possibly say. He was a real artistic guy, sensitive, a painter. But he was always trying to find himself. He'd go out every night looking for himself, and on the way he found Ruth, Gladys, Rosemary and Irving. I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive... and I saw him dead…” You stood pretty still for this part, since the song was almost over and you were feeling pretty tired. 7 minutes didn’t seem like a long time, but it’s different when you’re working out.

You did pace a little bit, while keeping your arm movement to a minimum. You felt your heart beating due to the exercise and also the anxiety of your boyfriend watching you. 

You did make a last-second decision to boop his nose when you got to the last word. This made Wilford blink harshly and look up at you with a pout. Before you went back to your original spot in the room, you gave him a little kiss on the nose. That made him grin from ear to ear and dig his fingers into his legs. You bit back a chuckle and started up again.

“They had it coming, they had it coming, they had it coming all along! 'Cause if they used us, and they abused us, how could you tell us that we were wrong? He had it coming, he had it coming, he only had himself to blame! If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same!” You kept dancing the same as you did before, even though your legs were starting to burn, and you were having trouble keeping the same fluid movements. Some of them became a little more jerky and forced than you wanted them to.

Wilford noticed this and brought his arms up a bit, leaning forward in case you needed help. He figured you wouldn’t, but he didn’t want you cracking your skull open or anything.

He’d be very upset if you did that… 

“You pop that gum one more time! Single my ass. Ten times! Miert csukott Uncle Sam bortonbe! Number seventeen: the spread eagle. Artistic differences…” You did all your previous movements for each woman’s line. Which included: The shotgun, throwing both hands above your head, getting in Wilford’s face, wiping a fake tear, kicking your leg, and shrugging, in that order. You were very out of breath and a bit disoriented, but that was okay because there was only a little bit left!

“Pop. Six. Squish. Uh-uh. Cicero. Lipschitz…” You ended the song by walking directly in front of Wilford and falling to your knees in front of him once you were sure the song had ended. You breathed heavily, feeling the tiredness from the day and the dancing catching up to you. You were about to ask Wilford “So, how bad was it?” before he slid to the floor and wrapped his arms around you. You froze, not knowing what was happening.

“You were fantastic,” He whispered. Which you thought was very strange because Wilford couldn’t speak lower than a yell, in your experience. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“Wil, what’s happening?” You asked, still out of breath. He squeezed you a little tighter.

“I just… wanted to show love to my partner?” He said hesitantly. You scoffed and hugged him back.

“Do you feel guilty because you embarrassed me?”

“Yes…”

“Wil, you’re fine, I promise.” You chuckled. He sighed and sat back. You looked at him and frowned.

“I…” He ran a hand through his hair and avoided looking at your face. “I… know I’m not the easiest to deal with and… I… I wanna… make you feel comfortable…”

“You do make me feel comfortable!” You took his hands in yours.

“But every time I’ve looked at you today you were always scared or angry!” He argued. You closed your mouth, not really having any argument.

“Mm…” You hummed.

“I… wanna… get better. I wanna be better. For you.” He grumbled. You smiled and twisted yourself around so you were sitting between his legs with your head resting on his chest. He laid his chin on top of your head. 

“I think you’re perfectly fine.” You sighed.

“I don’t wanna be perfectly fine, I wanna be perfect!” He whined.

“Well, that’s an impossible goal.” 

“Then… I wanna be perfect… for you.”

“That’s a better one.” You looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back, feeling a warmth spreading through his chest. You were listening. You understood. 

And you loved him.

“Am I a good boyfriend?” He asked.

“Of course you are.” You snuggled into his chest.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked softly as he could. You squinted at him as he gave you his very best puppy eyes. You gave in, and gave him a peck. You could feel his arms waving around as he tried to decide what to do with them. Eventually, he placed them on the sides of your neck. You pulled back after a little and he stared at you adoringly.

“Don’t you look at me like that…” You warned.

“I love you…” He sighed and wrapped his arms around you, squeezing you tightly. You squirmed, trying to get out, but he didn’t move.

“Wilford…” You whined. “Lemme go! I ordered food!”

“Ok, I’ll let you go when the food shows up!” You huffed and let your body go limp as you succumbed to the hug.

You should’ve just cooked something.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 5 for the first time. Random thoughts.

Episode 1: Well...that dinner got dark. From what other fans have told me apparently Glimmer gets a lot of hate for her decisions during the series and I just find that odd. I was more annoyed with her in the early seasons where her actions were more harmless simply because she had no patience and wouldn't listen because of her immaturity. Season 4 and here though? Even her most reckless and risky actions have at least been fueled by the genuine desire to keep people safe during a very hard situation. Even here, yeah, she tells Prime something it's very bad for him to know but he was going to have Adora and everyone else literally murdered before her eyes if she didn't. I can't really be mad at Glimmer for making a bad choice when it flows logically and fueled by the desire to keep the people she cares about from being slaughtered.

I don't think we've ever seen Catra this completely at the mercy of another person before, save maybe for Shadow Weaver when she was a child. She has nothing to offer that Prime doesn't already possess. Nothing he wants that he can't get for himself. Her relationship with everyone these past few seasons have been either "I'm your commander and you have to do what I say" or "You are my commander and here's the reason you have to keep me around". This time she has nothing to protect herself behind and the only reason she's still around is because Prime might think of a use for her later.

I love having Scorpia on the heroes' side.

Episode 2: That ending though.

I think what helps elevate Entrapta for me and keeps her for being annoying or irritating is that the show really sells that she just genuinely has trouble understanding why she should/shouldn't be doing certain things. It's not stupidity or even pure self-absorption, she just struggles with people and social ques while machines and science is a lot more straightforward. Heck, she was probably able to bond so well with Hordak because work together in the lab was them meeting on a common middle ground she could understand and relax in. The way she's trying to overcome the issue to help save Glimmer reminds me a little of Mob from Mob Psycho 100, feeling a little frustrated in not understanding something that she knows she should be.

Episode 3: Anybody else get a Disney's Hercules vibes at the end there?

Catra: "Besides, O Oneness, you can't beat her! She has no weaknesses! She's gonna kick your...!"

Prime, smiling: "I think she does, little sister." [Strokes Catra's hair] "I truly think...she does."

This episode really sold how completely isolated Catra is. With the sole exception of Glimmer, she's in space, no idea where exactly she is, onboard a ship filled with nothing but Prime and hundreds of cultist clones. Throughout the entire series we've seen Catra push everyone away and now that she's in a situation where she is almost well and truly on her own with no power, freedom, or authority, she seeks out the one other person around to find any sense of comfort in. Despite everything, Catra doesn't like being alone.

Little child Catra lashing out because she didn't want Adora to have any friends other than her kind of reminds me of Glimmer and Bow during the Princess Prom episode. I imagine it's the same mentality. Growing up in isolation, even if in different forms, and finding only that one person they feel thay can really lean on, there is that fear that they'll find someone else they like more and start caring about them less, or even outright stop. The difference is Bow set Glimmer straight, assuring her he'll always be her friend no matter what but he's not going to be just solely dedicated to her. Her fear was understandable but she was not respecting him as a friend either. Adora never really had that with Catra, one because she was much younger and less mature than Bow, and Catra was probably all she had too, to an extent. As we saw season 1, she was always trying to look after her, even when Catra needed to take responsibility for herself. Bow is not Glimmer's keeper, while Adora too often was that for Catra, so Bow and Glimmer have a better foundation of mutual respect while Adora and Catra's dynamic has been really screwed up for a long time.

Kind of tying into that, despite all that's happened between them, the minute Adora hears Catra's in distress she starts panicking and tearing up. The last time they saw each other they were very much enemies and Adora was done reaching her hand out to her. I suppose you could make the argument she's really been hoping all this time that Catra would finally do the right thing for once, just probably didn't expect it to be like this.

Prime better not mind wipe Catra like he did Hordak.

Episode 4: See, calling the heroes the rebellion now makes sense since they are rebelling against the established power, which is Prime.

Love that trick with the reflections, where you can sort of see/sort of can't see She-Ra. A nice little tease for what I imagine will be a big reveal later.

I really like that explanation for what Bow's going through. Last season's finale was the last he'd seen Glimmer and was desperately trying to save her, and he's been consistently worried for her since then. Now that she's safe he's starting to let himself process his other emotions towards her, and I totally get it. It's hard to be mad at someone when you're also terrified over what might be happening to them, even if your anger is justified. While I get why Glimmer last season did what she thought she had to, it was still a big risk that Bow warned her about and she didn't listen, putting them all in danger. This situation and Glimmer's words is a very mature way of handle this topic. He's not wrong for being mad and it's not a contradiction to what we've been seeing from him this season. Humans and emotions are complicated.

Episode 5: SHE HAS PAAAAAAAAANTS!!! (I will miss the cape though)

That almost makes up for them cutting Catra hair. Seriously, that mane was beautiful!

But boy, speaking of Hercules, that return of She-Ra definitely felt like Hercules emerging from the pool of souls to save Meg.

With the one clone being disconnected from the hive mind and having a breakdown over it, that does make me wonder if Hordak has been connected to it. Wasn't he deemed a defect because Prime couldn't connect to his mind? I suppose it's possible that flaw was corrected. Clearly Prime can take over minds other than just his clones, like with Catra. But if he could do that I'm wondering why he just didn't when Hordak was first created and he instead cast him out to Etheria.

Was Catra purring at the end? I swear there was a sound that sounded like purring.

Episode 6: Assimilation is easily one of my biggest fears in fiction, be it zombies, Borgs and Cybermen, Get Out, the freaking Sapphire Dragon from Xiaolin Showdown that scared the hell out of me as a kid! Just the concept of having your free will and autonomy completely ripped away from you, potentially with you still being aware but unable to do anything about it, is horrifying! At least with Prime's chips the process is reversible.

Anyway, in lighter plots, I kind of love Wrong Hordak. He's really funny. I feel bad that he's being deliberately misled, but he really shouldn't be following Prime anyway, so...

I do like that Adora is being a little more tough on Catra. She needs kindness, yes, but she also needs honesty and discipline, the kind that has actual love and care behind it, unlike what she got from Shadow Weaver. Adora is genuinely trying to help so Catra needs to stop acting like a brat and LET HER HELP.

Episode 7: Catra was definitely purring.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume people probably ship Scorpia and Perfuma. Not that I have any problem with that. It's like the Midoriya/Todoroki ship; I don't ship it myself but I totally get why others do. It's a relationship based in mutual respect and one of the characters having a significantly positive effect on the life of the other. As long as the shipper themselves is not horrifically toxic, I don't care.

Also, I don't think I've ever been so intimidated by Mermista before than I was with that one shot of her in silhouette, just before the reveal she was chipped.

Episode 8: Okay, I definitely love Wrong Hordak. Just that realization of his. "Horde Prime...lied to us..." There's just something about it that's so full of character. Obviously he's a brainwashed clone but he was truly devoted to Prime and just to find out that he would keep something so big from them, from the hive mind that's supposed to be so open to him and each other, it destroys everything he ever believed in. It's hilarious to watch him prepare to lead his brothers in a revolt against Prime.

I assume magic is Prime's "weakness" in that he himself cannot control it. Obviously he can control magical beings like Spinnerella and have them use magic but magic itself is too free and too powerful for him to contain and fully fight back against. He's all about order and stillness and magic is basically chaos.

Episode 9: I like to believe the mushroom kingdom they saved is a Mario reference.

Something I like in hero stories is "the power of a name" or "the power of a symbol". Something as simple as Superman's S-shield can have so much weight and meaning behind it just because of the person it's tied to. She-Ra isn't just a powerful warrior to the people of Etheria, she's a hero of legend. We saw it touched on even back in season 1 how much Adora returning She-Ra to the world meant to everyone. She-Ra to them is a symbol of hope. If they have her on their side, then they believe they might be able to win and with that ordinary people can find the strength to fight too. It's something I think the Green Lantern put best with how the Blue Rings of hope supercharge the Green Rings of will but lose a lot of their functions when the greens are not around. Hope is useless if you don't have the will to also act, but in turn hope can give people the will to act. The more hope they have that they can win, the more they will fight to win.

That was the nerdiest comparison I've ever made.

Episode 10: I appreciate a good bad dad joke and that's why I can't approve of "punderstand". It's too much of stretch to flow well. "Ruined" was good though.

I'm less surprised that Scorpia's been chipped and more that she's even alive. She was at the bottom of the ocean when the roof broke and she's a scorpion woman. I don't think water is a very friendly element for her. She's even commented on how good the desert was to her.

I wonder her She-Ra mode is not working for her simply because Adora is exhausted; mentally and physically. I don't think she's ever used the form this continuously before, and she's been doing it without the First Ones' sword that she has experience with. Her new sword and its transformations may be made out of her own energy for all we know. And then there's just the emotional toil of having Catra back in her life while it feels like more and more of the world is being turned against her.

Episode 11: Oh, I'm definitely shipping Hordak and Entrapta.

I think Re:Zero has spoiled me on dark magic. While Micah with his dark magic is a threat, in this show and many others dark magic basically just equates to "spooky, evil, bad stuff" magic that isn't that different from most other kinds of magic other than being either harder to control or more geared towards causing harm. In Re:Zero, dark magic was DARK. It felt unnatural, like a perversion of how their world's magic is supposed to be and that it didn't belong in this reality. Micah's dark magic is basically "I'm attacking you with shadows, oOoOoOo so scary!"

Not really surprised Catra left. She just got Adora back and now she's potentially about to let herself die. Perfuma said it best, letting people in and letting herself be vulnerable is hard. Caring about Adora and watching her die would be a huge blow, so Catra would rather curl back up into her shell and block out Adora again than have to risk taking that hit.

Episode 12: I keep saying it but now having them right next to each other, yeah, Mara's She-Ra outfit is better than Adora's. I don't know, there's just something grander about it. Anyway, on topic, I'm a big fan of superheroes and legacy and all that and I really like Mara's words to Adora. All she did and sacrificed was so that others, especially the next She-Ra, wouldn't have to do the same. It doesn't matter how noble and heroic it is, tragedy is tragedy and anyone who knows that kind of pain doesn't want anyone else to have to go through it.

I'm not surprised by the love confession between Glimmer and Bow. I felt it could go either way with them either hooking up or just staying really good friends, but that in itself is a sign of how good and natural their friendship is. I can easily buy how it would evolve into something more between them. The situation they're in probably helps. When Glimmer was taken they both thought they might never see each other again and that fear and worry probably caused them to reevaluate how they feel about the other. They've been clinging to each other since getting back, as every day could be their last. Something like that is naturally going to push two people together.

Episode 13: So...are there any plans for a season 6? Or a comic continuation like Avatar and Korra got? Because this was a good finale...buuuuuuuuut I feel there are definitely some things that needed a bit more exploration.

This is typically why I like stories with epilogue endings, especially those set some number of years in the future. Little glimpses of what everyone's doing now, allowing the audience to fill in for themselves what happened in-between. There's nothing wrong with this episode but it does just kind of...stop. They beat Prime. Everybody's cheering and happy. Adora suggests they bring magic back to the universe. And...that's it. We don't see anything more. No aftermath, no post-war, nothing. We end on the moment of victory, and while it's not a bad moment it leaves the ending feeling a little incomplete.

It kind of feels like the writers either really had to rush to the ending to make the 13 episode deadline or simply didn't want to address whatever happens with Catra and Hordak now. With the bigger threat of Horde Prime it makes sense why everyone puts aside past issues and works together. But now that the crisis is over, naturally everyone would have to address everything the Horde had done to Etheria for years with Hordak and Catra leading it. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Catra loves Adora, I believe Adora loves her, and I believe Catra wants to be a better person. It's not like I'm saying she needs to be locked up or executed. But she did cause a lot of damage and put Adora especially through hell, and just because Shadow Weaver is the one who screwed her up so bad doesn't mean she doesn't have any responsibility for her own actions. So it just would have been nice to get even a little bit of lip service to show that Catra would be trying to right her wrongs from this point forward, instead of just "Prime's gone, everyone's happy, bye!" At least with Entrapta she seemed to genuinely not understand why what she was doing at the time was wrong and Scorpia, like Adora and Huntara, defected from the Horde to do the right thing despite it being even more part of her upbringing than anyone else. I can't even imagine what happens with Hordak now.

Don't get me wrong, this is far from the worst I've ever seen a redemption handled. I haven't read/watched any of Boruto outside of the movie and Gaiden tie-in but I've read all of Naruto and there is no reason that Orochimaru should just be walking around and casually talking with people after all he's done. Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga built an entire theme park to try an murder Yugi and his friends and they bring it up like twice after that arc. Kylo Ren turning back to the light was one of the potential paths for his character, so that made sense in TROS, but they essentially did "He died heroically and therefore totally redeemed himself for every terrible thing he's ever done."; basically a cop-out. Catra's alive and can at least potentially still own up to her actions and work to redeem herself. And I love Steven Universe, but kind of like with Catra nearly killing everyone (including herself) via the unstable portal, fans have naturally pointed out that the Diamonds enslaved and committed genocide on multiple planets and really faced no consequences for that other than "Stop it". Catra's not at the gold standard of redemption stories, which for me is probably Zuko and Endeavor, but she's far from the bottom. I think the best way to describe it is that Catra had as good, if not better, reasons for being so bad and screwed up as Zuko did, just as good step-up for turning good as Zuko did, but she didn't have nearly as much payoff afterwards to make it feel like a full journey like Zuko did.

But enough about all that. Love the basically goddess She-Ra Adora became. Given the emphasis on healing powers with She-Ra we've had, I'm guessing that's essentially how she destroyed Prime. She purified Hordak and Prime was basically an infection within him. I like when heroes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat but I also when there's an implication towards the villain that "Wow. I never stood a chance." She-Ra's power just dwarfs his. Full potential realized by Adora and he was just gone.

Also I don't know how I forgot that Prime could jump into the bodies of his clones but his possession of Hordak got me. I genuinely couldn't think of how he'd survive after Hordak shoved him off the edge (set free by the power of love!).

And even if the ending feels a little incomplete, the episode itself still did well with my emotional investment. I was gripped by during Catra's confession and the tension within the heart.

Season 5 and overall series verdict: I'm very glad I saw this series. Even though its ending falls a little short for me, this was still really good. Seasons 3 was probably my favorite overall but this story had a very good flow to it. It steadily built up bigger each season, with Catra and Hordak being really compelling villains driving the whole thing. Not that Prime was bad. He was a genuine threat and his cult of clones is a good creepy concept. He's just not as good as the other two. I'm sure part of what elevates him up is because I'm thinking of the JL director's cut but Hordak really is just better Steppenwolf. Everything that worked about that character, Hordak is that to an 11.

Given how I've talked about her more than any of the others, Catra is probably my favorite character. Just the damage that girl has been through. I always understood why she was doing what she did, even though there was rarely a moment I'd agree with exactly what she was doing. Again, it's one of the reasons it feels like the series just kind of ended. There's a lot to be seen with Catra's character now, a lot that can be done, and it just feels like a shame to really not show any of it. This isn't a fault of SRPOP itself because so many series, especially animated and anime, are guilty of but it always bugs me when a series ends on two characters hooking. Relationships are interesting, I'd argue more so than the build-up to them, but no writer ever wants to actually explore them after the hook-up. I never cared about Korra and Mako being a couple but I still found their relationship as a couple more interesting and character building than any of the will they/won't they build-up to it. And I actually like the idea of Adora and Catra as a couple. It's a big reason why I'm so happy the Harley Quinn animated series got renewed for a third season, as it otherwise would have just ended on a hook-up between two characters who, like Adora and Catra, love each other but have had a complicated dynamic for a while. I believe Adora and Catra love each other, but they've got a lot of stuff to work out and I want to see that! Catra's got abandonment issues and that in turn caused her to be unhealthily possessive over Adora. Just seeing the two of them try to work through that alone would be fascinating.

Like I suspected early on, Scorpia's my favorite supporting character. Entrapta's a decent 2nd. Took a small dip when it seemed like she was joining the Horde over feeling abandoned by the princesses when they thought she was dead but that picked back up once it was made more clear "Oh, okay, you're not being petty or stupid. You genuinely don't understand." It made her a more interesting character, and I love her and Hordak's relationship.

Least favorite characters...probably Sea Hawk and those three former Horde friends of Adora and Catra. I never hated them but I never cared about what was happening when they were on screen. They fill out the world a bit, they drive the plot, they're not wastes of space, they even get some laughs. There are just so many other characters in the series way more interesting than them.

Biggest surprise for me was definitely Glimmer and Bow. I never thought I'd dislike them but the best friends characters in series like this can kind of go one way or another with how relevant or deep they are. Glimmer especially I was surprised how much I was invested. She really grew a lot as a person throughout the series and I thought the dilemma over the Heart of Etheria was a good one.

Honestly there's a lot more I could talk about but I have only so many words and my thoughts are a jumble right now so I'm going to leave it at that. I will say I really appreciate how supportive you all on this Reddit have been. It's something I hate about some other fandoms I'm in where they basically are so toxic that they make no one else actually want to watch/read the thing they're fans of because they can't help but associate it with them.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/o2p6wq/going_in_blind_watching_season_5_for_the_first/

[castielstiddies]

This is my application letter for the Destiel Clown Club

Alright so I’m catching up to 15x19 from like halfway through season 15 and I need to tell you guys why I’m so goddamn sure that destiel is gonna be endgame and cas is gonna be alive in the finale.

1) In 15x13 Destiny’s Child Cas asks Jack to almost kill him so that he can go to the empty and speak with out old friend Ruby about the Occultum. Naturally she fucking hates it in the Empty and wants Cas to help her escape. She says:

“You're clearly connected, Castiel. Just try.” - And I don’t know why people haven’t been going off on this one piece of dialogue, maybe because it could just be about the deal Cas has with the Empty. But my clown-ass theory brain thinks it’s because Cas has some sort of sway with the Empty or at least Ruby believes this to be so. But Ruby believes that Cas can help her to escape the empty.

Later on, as Meg!Empty is torturing Cas, they say: “Baby, you can't just traipse in and out of here. It upsets the order of things.” - But we know that this is exactly what Cas does, he upsets the order of things all the time. Even the first time he was trapped by the Empty he barely lifted a finger and he easily annoyed his way out. The Empty says,”you can’t just traipse in and out of here” but that’s exactly what Cas is doing which “upsets the order of things”.

Now here comes an amazing piece of forshadowing that I believe will happen in the finale. Dean begs Jack to bring Cas back to life and it works. Need I say more?

I’d just like to also add as a side note that everytime they’ve completed a spell that is against Chuck’s plan or against Billy’s plan they use Cas’s grace or power in some way?? It just really ties home that Cas is never accounted for in these ancient “plans” and I believe that he is the main reason that the Winchester’s have been able to defeat so many of these big bads. (My knowledge is only up to 15x16 and some tidbits of info from 15x18 and 15x19 so this is just what I’ve noticed)

Okay so that’s just some stuff I noticed from 15x13 that I think we haven’t talked about enough honestly. So here’s where I’m gonna properly clown for a bit:

In the finale I think Cas is going to find a way to defeat the Empty from the inside as Dean begs Jack to bring him back to life. As Cas defeats the Empty in a very Cas way he will unleash all of the angels and demons from within. Castiel did exactly what Ruby wanted. Now since Rowena has a pretty strong hold on the demons in hell we shouldn’t be too worried about her being overcrowded or overwhelmed by the sudden surge of demons. I believe in our queen. But what’s most important is that the angels will be revived. It’s always constantly been that heaven can’t function bc there’s not enough angels but this would solve that easily. The world will be balanced once again.

The angel who was never meant to disobey orders, who was never meant to even be a part of the Grand Plan has been the one who balanced the Earth once again.

And then he runs up to Dean, dips him and kisses him in front of everyone as we zoom out to see Team Free Will 2.0 finally free at last and there’s rainbows in the sky and there’s birds singing and it’s the perfect ending as we see the shot fade to black and the credits roll.

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So obviously it’s not fully fleshed out bc I haven’t watched up to 15x19 yet but omg I’m so excited for the finale there is no doubt in my mind that Cas is gonna live and we’re gonna get some romantic destiel. Also I love Cas with my entire heart idk if you can tell, but I would also love for Jack to be the one who breaks the Empty bc it makes more sense since he’s God and everything but I just love how poetic it is to think about Cas bringing balance to the universe I love that.

Anyway, I’m just gonna leave you with this image of the Season 15 Title Screen which inspired this post:

[Screenshot by me taken from here]

So clearly this is meant to be the black goo from the Empty, but it’s on fire. Almost as if it’s being destroyed by something, or someone.

[I used this amazing site for the transcripts of the episodes and I highly recommend it since we’re all probably gonna dabble in some theorising before the finale IN 2 DAYS!!!]