#and alllll of it just feels like a cope to get out of recognising that all of our diets have an impact on the world n people around us

[cruelsister-moved2]

its just weird bc with energy usage or whatever, we recognise that telling someone to turn the lights off and not overfill the kettle is a distraction from the unfettered consumption of big industry etc, but when it comes to food suddenly you people are like no no it’s the consumption of tofu that is the real issue here!! I’m so sick and tired of this debate because whether or not you eat meat, as leftists and as people with any care for the environment, we should be united in recognising the harms of industrial animal agriculture.  and at a certain point the choices of foods to get mad at in particular start to just come off like an appropriate outlet for your discomfort over someone else eating differently to you. why is it always soy and quinoa and never corn and wheat?? at a certain point you have to acknowledge that all of us consume plant products, and vegans/vegetarians are a very small proportion of that. plant agriculture is perhaps as ethically and environmentally fraught as animal agriculture, but that means we should desire to improve both, rather than NEITHER

[sixmorningsafter]

Chapter 14 Review - Intimacy and evasiveness in equal measure

Thank you so so much for this chapter; you are freaking awesome. At this point, your fic is longer than most PhD thesis. You’re completely bonkers, in the absolute best way. Please never change. Seriously, the level of interactivity in this fic is such fun and thank you for encouraging that. Some of the recent fancasts have been beyond amazing.

Gabi: “the level of interactivity in this fic is such fun” - you mean how I take fifty fucking years to respond to reviews that legitimately make my life!?!?!?!?! THAT LEVEL OF INTERACTIVITY!?!?! LMAO, gurl, can I just say before I dive into any of this that this review literally made me go back and edit some parts, that’s how helpful it was, and yet here I am, answering it an entire CHAPTER LATER!? For some reason the feedback for fourteen was really slow at first and then all of a sudden like 10 giant reviews came in at the same time, and I just took way too long to get around to all of them and kept answering the short ones first (because they take less thought/time), and then once I was done answering the short ones I was drained because I’m weak and wouldn’t survive the winter. BUT HERE I AM. Ten years later. Ready to friggin go. LET’S DO IT.

Firstly, I can’t believe you stopped before the Steroline sex! Rude. I would have been devastated (melodramatic OTT much) had you not given us one of the best SC kisses ever. Honestly, I think I might have sighed a little out loud. And after Stefan’s stupid assed, jealousy mental meltdown, Caroline demonstrates exactly why he has no need to be jealous in one sentence - “Damon could do all those things without it once being intimate.” It’s really obvious that ‘intimate’ is a mental thing for Caroline, I loved watching the switch click in Caroline’s mind from non intimate to intimate. Oh Caroline - you poor silly girl, you’ve got it bad!

Gabi: So, the plus side of answering this once 15 is already up is that I don’t have to feel bad about blue ballsing anyone anymore, muahahaha. Steroline sex is officially up and out there and there’s no taking it back now. Re: 14, though, love alllll of these insights and the particular moments of theirs that you choose to compare and contrast. They’re both stupid levels of in denial here, but the good news is the end of 15 and hopefully the majority of 16 is a bit of a new era for them - one where they actually try, I don’t know, communicating? It’s going to be wild. 

The part where they are watching YouTube videos together and eating Caroline’s secret food stash (naughty Caroline keeping treats from the other inmates of 2B - tsk, tsk) was very sweet and surprisingly intimate in it’s own right. I love how they have elements of easy friendship that they don’t even seem to recognise. I’m very interested in how their sexy timez are going to go because they could be hot, sweet or kind of silly/jokey or maybe all three. I think it’s going to get intimate whether Caroline likes it or not; Stefan may even bust out some of his Disney Prince romance vibes. I’m so intrigued as to who their third wheel could be.

Gabi: I really enjoyed writing that scene for exactly that reason - that somehow, these two super awkward people with a bunch of confusion and tension between them keep finding themselves in random moments of easygoing camaraderie, and all it really takes for that to happen is time and/or a distraction. I’m trying to hint at a possible future for them that doesn’t have all of this drama, that’s actually driven by a genuine enjoyment of spending time together and light-hearted banter and a warm hum of affection, but their poor coping/communication skills from their past experiences are just getting in that way of it. And hahaha, re: sexy timez, now you know! Disney Prince romance vibes definitely happened and Caroline, well... had some conflicts with it. As for the silly/jokey thing, I wouldn’t rule that out just yet for future scenes.

I know you are trying to achieve balance between your characters. At this point, I feel I know a lot about Stefan, Bonnie and Caroline, but with Damon, he’s still a mystery.

I both love and hate that we don’t know more.

Love - because I know you are being all clever and writery and keeping it from us on purpose. That having us see Damon through the other characters’ eyes is a clever way of 'revealing’ titbits without revealing them. Even Damon’s internal monologue is super evasive and kind of shallow (compared to Bonnie’s about him which was downright hilarious and completely nuts especially the hitman, Bonnie the world’s most boring mark lmao).

Hate - because I am such an impatient spoiler seeking nut bag, I need to know everything! Look honestly though, if you had told me before this started that I would actually be interested in Damon as a character himself, not as Bonnie’s boyfriend or Stefan’s brother, I would have scoffed at you. See Gabi, this is the power you wield. Use it wisely! Mwah ha ha.

Gabi: SOOO it was definitely still in the typical evasive flashes-of-insight format that Damon’s PoV tends to operate in, but I think 15 hopefully gave you a little more of what you were looking for regarding him? His guard was forcibly down for a bit, and his head went more into his complicated relationship with his mom, and part of the reason why I didn’t tie his panic attack fully up in 15 was because I’m carrying that arc into 16. There’s definitely aftermath, there’s definitely Bonnie the Hufflepuff making him feel unsettling things and think more about his life, and there’s also some Kai/Damon stuff that’ll have echoes of Damon/Tyler. So much more Damon ahead! And GURL, you don’t even know how happy it makes me to hear that re: ‘if you had told me before this started that I would actually be interested in Damon as a character’. That’s like the biggest compliment to me for some reason, like it gets me so hyped, so thanks so, so much for telling me! It’s tough to get people to like characters even when they’re blank slates, so getting someone to actually come around to someone they weren’t about before is like YAAAAAAS. 

In all seriousness, Damon didn’t deserve the kicking he got from Stefan in the opening scene. Sorry Stef, that was uncalled for even if Damon did start it. While this scene was all about Stefan’s pov and his reactions, Damon’s evasiveness is totally in character. Even though he’s oh-so-not-bothered, Stefan’s assessment of him has to smart a bit. I hope these two crazy kids work it out. I need my drigh!brotp back together. (Quick aside about Stefan – I hope at some point, he’s going to fess up that it wasn’t about Damon, Bonnie, Caroline or even Elena. It was about his own feelings of insecurity. It’s like Bonnie’s rampage of self-destruction as the person most hurt by this is himself. It’s actually very canon Stefan.)

Gabi: He definitely didn’t deserve it, and I wanted to write it that way because I wanted to show that Stefan, like everyone else in this godforsaken headache of a story, is a flawed character who gives into emotional reactions and insecurity sometimes and acts out. Like I really wanted to make it clear that Stefan was in the wrong there, and I really wanted to do it at Damon’s expense because at the shallowest of glances, Damon would be the guy you’d assume can be asshole sometimes and Stefan would be the guy you’d label as the patient, understanding saint, and 14 chapters in, I really wanted to flip that. As harmlessly trolly as Damon can be to Stefan about Caroline, turns out that Stefan is the one who drew first blood between them, you know? And I think you’re totally right about the oh-so-bothered-but-not-really thing re: Damon - he’s been called terrible things his whole life, so he’s learned how to let them slide off him like butter, but even butter leaves a trail, you know? They definitely add up to a perception he has of himself that’s probably darker/less flattering than it needs to be, and Bonnie absolutely confronts that in 16. She’s kind of like, ‘hey, newsflash dark and twisty, you’re a good guy’. She has a little speech I’ve written out that I really like. Lots of feelsiness coming in 16, man. Including Stefan insights and realizations about insecurity!

I’m still super interested by Damon’s two identities. Are the two different dates of birth significant? Him not mentioning anything after Bonnie fessing up to poking in his wallet - evasive much? So he doesn’t take his Fell ID out normally? I need more details, here, stop trying to kill me.

Gabi: lololol, got a little more of this in 15! I’m not sure how much was obvious from the story because Damon’s thoughts about his past always come out super jagged when I write them (and obviously I know the whole thing ‘cause I’m making it up, lmao), but I think I gave enough to kind of explain why he had that ID on him? Maybe?

Bonnie telling him all about her sex dreams had him speechless and I loved that. Yes, he was very much – that’s ok Bon, sexy daydreams are fine, but I still think there was an element of him being chuffed about it. That was really cute; I liked that his reaction wasn’t to grab her and lay one on her - she did that instead (oh Bon, you saucy minx). I loved their kiss, so hot; I really like their connection, it has a more brutal honesty to it than Steroline’s. By that I mean that Caroline lets Stefan get away with more introspection because that’s what suits her, whereas Damon pushes Bonnie to lay out her soul for him because he really wants someone to do it back to him, deep down. I may be over analysing this and be completely wrong.

Gabi: LMAOOO, ‘you saucy minx’ - she really is. And Damon is all about it. And no, you’re 100% spot on in your analysis of the two ships, assss usual - I think that’s a brilliant way to put it. Damon doesn’t wonder as much about Bonnie because he pushes, in more ways than one, till she gives him answers. He’s confrontational. Blunt. And Bonnie needs that, because her insecurities and problems are so deeply, deeply entrenched into her that they’re basically covered in layers of cement. You can’t slowly uncover that, you need a jack hammer (vs. for Caroline and Stefan, the wounds are still a little too fresh and shallow for a jackhammer to do anything except make it worse. They need the gentle discovery). Damon’s a bit of a paradox in that he’s either 100% blithe and flippant and dgaf, or he’s 100% blunt and real talk, and generally he uses the first mode to evade and the second mode to investigate. Problem is, Bonnie’s a bit of a jackhammer herself, and I think 15 was the beginning of the tide shifting to Damon being the one under the spotlight. And we’ll see how he likes that moving forward. Payback’s a bitch.

Did I detect that Damon might have a slight bird phobia? A dove in your shower is never good, but he seemed more than a little nervous. Also how is his hand doing? Dr Bon needs to follow up her patients better. I am kind of surprised how prompt he was for Kai’s dinner. Does Damon have immaculate time keeping? Or he is genuinely terrified of Kai? I guess I’m kind of struggling to find Kai scary, a bit loopy, somewhat odd, but I was really surprised that Damon would be scared of him (I have blanked out the crossbow in his face episode). We know he can handle himself in a fight (thank you for that Caroline) and he’s survived that gunshot as a child. Damon strikes me as being hard as nails (except around Bon) - Kai should be a cakewalk. Does he recognise something in Kai that he might have experienced in his past? Chapter 15 should be illuminating - I really hope we get plenty from his pov. I can’t wait.

Gabi: You did and it was totally unintentional. I actually went back and read over the way I’d written it after this feedback and totally got the same vibe (it was meant to be humorous but definitely came across as a little deeper than that), so thanks so much for pointing this out! I did a few little edits that I think put forth a more accurate picture of both the bird reaction (annoyance, bafflement, Damon in general being a growly diva) and his immaculate time-keeping (which was definitely supposed to be the focus more so than any actual fear of Kai, which, lmao, I think 15 makes pretty clear doesn’t exist). I think I could maybe argue that getting attacked by a dove in the shower could carry a bit of trauma from his basement-with-rats days, but even so, he’d hide that, so. Edited and more accurate thanks to bomb feedback!

ANYWAY, THIS IS ONCE AGAIN 600 YEARS LATE but oddly, it was kind of fun answering it with 15 already written? In any case, I’m so friggin’ sorry it took me this long to respond, and your feedback, as always, is one of my fave things about writing this fic because it’s always so hilarious and insightful. Thanks so, so much for this review, and hopefully 15 delivered the things you were after and 16 will deliver them even more. LOVE YA, BABE!

[billpott-s]

thoughts on the xmas special - DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS

before I read everyone else’s reactions I just want to get my “untainted” reaction down

first of all the MUSIC, goddamn every time they played the bad wolf/rose theme I was about to DIE (especially because I’ve just been rewatching s1/2 so) oh my god, how perfect and emotional though especially because I think I read somewhere that murray gold is also leaving which ????? how do they expect me to cope

not sure how I feel about the whole bill not being bill but still being bill thing? I mean, I accept it and it still was emotional but… still no closure for bill. also it doesn’t make sense but what else do I expect from a Moffat finale lol (like she would have to be dead to be in the system thing buuuuut she remembers heather rescuing her soooo her restoration isn’t from that death? idk (edit: just realised that im not confused by this any more because she doesn’t age because she’s made of water. obviously. so she could have died after living a long life and still look 20 something ok im good now lets move on)

although idk how this death technology thing really is supposed to work within this universe lol because how many characters have died and come back to life… like just take rory for one example. but it was cool plus the reference to new earth and the year 5 billion was pretty cool since I just rewatched new earth

but obviously I loved seeing her again and it is in a way, her, emotionally and I love her so much and she should have had so much more TIME

bill and the 9th doctor live together in my “I’m emotional about these characters not having more time on the show” headspace

speaking of which CLARA oh my god. I was sort of expecting it but then I forgot that I was expecting it and I was SHOOK ok, and I guess that means she does die in the end after her one second of eternity (I need to rewatch s9) which is ok I guess

but idk does it sort of ruin the emotional impact of hell bent now that the doctor does remember her? like didn’t they have the whole forgetting thing for a reason.. or is it ok because he’s not 12 anymore so they won’t have the hybrid but then again, the doctor would still love clara just as much

idk my sort of unrealistic prediction would be that clara would show up just as a cameo/side character within the story (like I thought maybe as a nurse because ww1 setting (and the obvious play on doctor/nurse) ), and the doctor wouldn’t recognise her but she would say goodbye to him and it would be super emotional for the audience without taking away the impact of s9 idk I feel a little conflicted about it

obviously I should be writing for this show

and nardole! remember before series 10 I was so eeeehh about his character but I teared up honestly, I did not expect to see him again. guess he’s also confirmed dead

can’t really remember the ending of s10 but does that mean the cybermen just destroyed the whole ship. honestly that episode had such potential its criminal that it was left unwrapped like that

ok thoughts on stuff thats not my babies coming back

the opening with the 60s footage was SO COOL even though we’ve already seen it it’s just SO COOL

shout out to rachel talalay for being a directing GENIUS how do we deserve her… @chibnall if you do anything right you won’t let her go

I haven’t seen any first doctor because I’m a fake fan who’s only seen like… 15ish classic doctor who stories - so I didn’t really have that much emotional attachment to him apart from what he means as a symbol to the show, and ofc an adventure in space and time which I do adore

I enjoyed him, for the most part… I mean it was interesting to have the thematic parallel between them

I was worried about the whole “sexist jokes” we’d been hearing about before the episode and yeah they were kind of cringeworthy but also not as bad as I’d expected… could have been a lot worse but still totally unnecessary and unfunny in my opinion

at least Bill put him in his place what an icon

I liked that the episode was more character focused than plot… obviously it needed to be and the themes worked with the “plot” but I can’t help but be annoyed at plot holes

like if there was a giant database of every human ever in the year 5 billion then why does the doctor not know about it

hmmm

but a lot better than moffat’s other regeneration episode tbh like I never need to see the time of the doctor again in my entire life

the christmas armistice scene? I HAD CHILLS OH MY GOD it was so powerful and I had tears in my eyes

just beautiful and heartbreaking and touching. wow.

also shout out to mark gatiss for not being as terrible as I thought he would be because I was not excited to hear he would be a main in this episode but he played it really well

then for some reason out of alllll the threads of 12 and moffat era who the one they decided to bring back was rusty the dalek??? ok maybe not what I would have done

although in some way I guess if you remember that episode from three years ago and how it sort of foreshadowed the 12th doctor’s characterisation, “you would make a good dalek” and all that jazz it does fit thematically???

idk I thought… a weird choice but ok

low key wanted amy and rory to show up via the glass people of death (like not a realistic expectation at all since they never knew twelve but it is the end of the moffat era we’re celebrating here so maybe??? sadly not)

overall a beautiful farewell to the twelfth doctor. a perfect fit for a character based episode to end his story on this show. I’m going to miss him so much but he had a wonderful last episode that he deserved

probably the best regeneration story since parting of the ways? maybe even the best regeneration story from new who (i just have a very special emotional connection to 9) (and I haven’t seen any classic who regeneration stories please don’t hate me)

can’t believe its been four years since i was bawling my eyes out at matt smith’s regeneration. I did expect to cry a lot more but maybe I’m just better at my emotions now??? also even though I’ve probably come to love 12 more, 11 was my first doctor so there’s that

(wait til I rewatch doomsday though because the tears will be FLOODING. I’m up to army of ghosts/doomsday on my new who rewatch but wasn’t going to do that to myself today lol I don’t hate myself that much)

JODIE!

wait I forgot twelve’s last speech

IT WAS SO GOOD OMG

the bits from the other doctors… so beautiful

tbh I can’t really remember it because I am the worst but I’ll probably have more coherent thoughts when I rewatch this (WITH SUBTITLES) tomorrow

strong accents can ruin the emotional moments a little unfortunately

JODIE OMG

rachel talalay is a blessing ok THAT SCENE WAS FILMED SO WELL. the ring falling off her hand

their hand??? how do we refer to the doctor now idk i guess they both work

JODIE IS SO TINY IN PETER CAPALDI’S GIANT ASS COAT

i hope she is swamped in it for the whole first episode of s11 omg comedy gold

when she looks into the reflection and says “brilliant” IS THAT GONNA BE HER CATCHPHRASE

I feel like 10 said that a lot??? hmmm

I LOVE HER SO MUCH ALREADY SHE’S ONLY SAID ONE WORD

HOW CAN I WAIT UNTIL WHENEVER S11 STARTS

she FELL OUT of the TARDIS???? is she ok

commentary from my family - dad: why is the tardis rejecting her? brother: because she’s a woman now

IM SO EXCITED FOR SEASON 11 OK

overall? I really enjoyed it, I had a few quibbles (mostly my usual but that doesn’t make sense which maybe you have to leave aside when you’re watching this show), the character stuff was almost perfect and just, such a good story. will miss 12 greatly but out of all the new who doctors he’s probably had the most solid run from start to finish in terms of consistent quality and this was the perfect ending for him.

p.s. pls let chibnall be the type that likes nostalgic cameos because I don’t know if I can handle a clean cut between eras, this is my first time because I only started watching in 2012. but I’m so keen for season 11.