#and i thought maybe a rewatch would help. no. maybe i'm stupid

[willgrahamsleash]

i have fallen into a hole of hannibal sotl retellings and i VERY BADLY want to write my own but i've read so many of them at this point i don't know if i could produce anything original

[rcmclachlan]

sentences saturday sunday

I was tagged by @beanarie and @leashybebes yesterday and @firehose118 and @zeraparker today. Thanks, y'all!

I've been struggling to write over the last couple of weeks (not that I've really had the time to sit down and actually make the attempt), but I started fucking around with something on my phone a couple of days ago. Not sure if I'll continue it or if I'm just vibing with another idea for an alien invasion canon AU that will desert me like all the others.

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"Romania? Who goes to Romania first when Los Angeles is right here?"

Tommy doesn't answer. Even if he did, he'd have to somehow talk around the fist he's had pressed to his mouth for the last two hours. His knuckles are so white that Buck isn't sure there's actually any blood left in his hands.

Ever since Eddie called them out of the blue around 1:30 in the morning, waking Buck from a dream in which he was trying to escape a dollhouse that was guarded by fire ants with peacock tails, he's been glued to the television in the living room. Every channel is showing the same thing: an enormous something hovering in the sky over Calafat that is unlike anything Buck's ever seen.

It looks like a stack of lenticular clouds made of mercury, rippling like someone's skipping stones across its surface. Maybe it's a crosswind. Maybe it's some sort of magnetic field helping to keep the thing afloat. Maybe it's some sort of frequency communicating with the tiny pointy ships that drift idly around the craft the way oxpeckers flock around elephants in search of parasites.

Buck would be a liar if he said he never thought about life elsewhere in the universe. Despite the fact that Chimney thinks he'd never heard of Steven Spielberg until he and Tommy made Buck watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he grew up watching E.T. Although it didn't have nearly as much of an impact as Ancient Aliens did. The documentary lived in a perpetual state of rewatch on the Buckley family TiVo until he left for college. He devoured every conspiracy theory YouTube had to offer during his downtime at the ranch.

One of the customers he made approximately 200 pink squirrels for in Peru had a UFO sighting story that Buck made her retell every time she came to the bar with her scandalously younger husband. It was obvious what she'd seen had been someone coordinating drones in the desert, but every time she told the story, it grew more and more outlandish until, by the time he was packing up to go to LA, not only had she seen a UFO but she'd made first contact just outside of La Quinta. 

He's fallen down so many Wikipedia rabbit holes that he truly understands that the requirements for complex life are many and often coincidental, which makes earth exceedingly unusual as far as anyone's aware. But he's also taken Chris to the Griffith enough times to have a good grasp on how just big the universe is. The idea that they're alone in the great vastness of space is not only improbable, but arrogant. And stupid.

Although if they ever found evidence of extraterrestrial life during his lifetime, he expected it to be something like weird microplankton in Europa's subterranean ocean that he'd read about in a NASA press release, not watch it drop out of the sky live on channel 5 while Chris Schauble keeps fumbling whatever it says on the teleprompter.

"Where do you think they're from, though? God, can you imagine how long it took them to get here? Maybe they're part of some intergalactic consortium thing. Like, the Space U.N. Maybe they're here to invite us to join," Buck muses, texting another fifty exclamation points into the 118 group chat, where the memes have been coming in hot and fast. Chim had been on top with the Will Smith one until Hen obliterated them all with the claw machine aliens from Toy Story.

He looks over at Tommy, who's still doing his best impression of The Thinker. The actual statue has probably moved more than Tommy has in the past two hours.

"Hey, you good?" He's not really expecting an answer. He hasn't gotten one the first dozen times he's asked. Checking in every so often just seems like the polite thing to do at this point. "Seriously, though. After you made me watch that movie where what's-her-name goes on a beach walk with her dad in space, I figured you'd be thrilled about this. Maybe they're here to build one of those machines. Maybe we're all gonna go surfing on Vega."

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Tagging @geddyqueer, @liminalmemories21, @setmeatopthepyre, @alchemistc, @screamlet, @dadvans, @harmless-variety-of-garden-snake, @newtkelly, @epiphainie, and @station18908

[semicolonsspace]

Stubborn Brat

Warnings: none, it's fluffy. (Cutesy and shit)

Valentine's Day. The worst holiday ever to be made to mankind.

Every year, it never fails to disappoint me.

No one will ask me.

I push out of my self-deprecating thoughts and go to my last class; My free period. During my free periods I go to the lacrosse field to read, but today, the lacrosse team was out there practicing for the big charity game that's coming up. "Hey, Sti," I yell as I wave as he runs toward me. He was out of breath, sweaty hair matted to his forehead. He looked hot, and I always teased him for it. I smirk at him, "Oh my bad, I didn't not Mister Hottie was out to play today," I joke. 

Stiles rolls his eyes and points to his water bottle. It was a Mets bottle with the printed signatures of the team. I had gotten it for him years ago when I learned he liked them. I was 10, and I saved up and got him it and asked him to be my friend. He immediately accepted my offer and jumped on me screaming that I was the best. 

I grab the famous bottle and toss it to him. He squirts the water in his mouth and some on his face. "Thanks" he mumbles before wiping his face from water and sweat. So, what's your plan for this stupid Valentine's Day?" 

I glare at him in response. I plopped my body down onto the bench, and I couldn't help but notice his eyes watching my breast. Great day to wear a deep V-neck, I thank my morning self. "I was hoping to hang out with my best friend," I say in a teasing annoyed voice. I was talking about Stiles. "But it seems he doesn't want to," I add feigning annoyance, teasing him.

Stiles laughs and playfully elbows my side. "You know you're the only person I'd like to hang out with today, you brat," he chuckles, with a playful grin. He sits down with me, placing his bottle back in his bag. Then he pulls my body toward him. I laugh and lay my head on his shoulder. "What do you want to do today?" 

I blow a raspberry and look at him. My eyes had a playful glare to them. I knew we couldn't do what I wanted to do, mostly because I was too scared to tell him that I liked him. "I have no idea." I think a bit before adding. "Maybe we can watch that princess movie you talked about yesterday."

"The Princess Bride?" he asks as he wraps his arm around me with a content smile. "Sure, I'd be more than happy to rewatch it with you. However, I think this movie is more of a date movie. You don't have any boyfriends you could watch it with instead?"

I glare at him and then sigh. I squint my eyes after a few seconds. "You know damn well I don't have a boyfriend, Stiles," I grumble. I take a breath before adding to that. "My standards are too high and I'm pretty much a nobody," I laugh. I poke his side and ask him something. "What about you? Do you have anyone you wanna ask to be your Valentine?"

We laugh together as he shakes his head. "I'm in the same boat as you, honey," he sighs breathily as he wraps his other arm around me, ultimately scooting me closer to him. "If I could ask anyone it would be you."

As he says this he glances down at me with weary eyes, his brown doe-like eyes staring straight into mine. I shudder. All of a sudden my mouth runs dry. Did he just say what I think he just said?

After that brief pause, my eyes widened. "Really? You'd ask me?" I choke out. A beat of silence goes by, I fill it up with more words. "Well, what's stopping you?"

Stiles gives me a hearty chuckle, the famous curve of his lips returning. He glances at Scott in the distance and Scott gives him a thumbs-up with a cheeky smile.

Stiles sighs and moves hair out of my face with his slender fingers. I couldn't say anything more. I couldn't bring myself to do so. He had always moved hair out of my face, but this time it felt different. More intimate. I want him to do it again.

"You're my best friend; I don't want to mess it up... I couldn't bear losing you."

I think for a moment, my emotions being displayed on my face: anxiety, excitement, relief, and hope.

"Why don't we make a promise? That whatever happens... if it doesn't work out, we will work it through and continue being friends?" I ask softly. Hopeful. My voice cracked as I spoke with such anxiety I never thought I could experience.

Stiles' mouth runs dry in return. After a second he nods his head once. "If you promise to sell be my friend, no matter what, then I would be happy to ask you to be my valentine," he reiterates softly.

"Even through ash and dust, Stiles. I promise," I answer immediately. I smile cup his face into my small hands and kiss his sweaty forehead. "You aren't getting rid of me. I did hard work to be friends with you... I had to beg for weeks to get my uncle to give me a copy of his Mets signatures. Then get that on a water bottle. I didn't do that for nothing," I smirk playfully.

Stiles hums happily and returns the forehead kiss. I gush, blood rushing to my face as he began to speak. "You were always a stubborn brat," he chuckles, wrapping you in a tight hug. I feel his heart beat quickly, his breath quickening as he holds me in his arms. This is a core memory, I thought as I stared back into his beautiful brown eyes.

"Now I'm your brat," I whisper nervously.

"My brat," he hums deeply, still hugging me tight. "You know you're really cute when you act like a brat?" He asks as he leans his head against mine. He loosens his hug before squeezing a few times to show affection.

"That's because I'm me and you just think I'm cute, regardless of the way I act," I voice in joking confidence as I flip my hair in dramatic.

He laughs, rolls his eyes, and glances at Scott that was on the field. I glance at Scott as well. "True; I think you're cute whatever you do. Especially when you're angry. Basically... you're cute when you're being a pain in the ass as well," he teases as he rubs my lower back reassuringly.

"Me being a pain in the ass makes things interesting and you know it!" I blurt laughing loudly, causing a few people to stare.

"Eyes off her, Lahey," Stiles Barks angrily.

"Yeah yeah, I know, she's yours, blah blah," I hear in the distance from Isaac. "I heard the conversation," he grumbles as he waves his hand to get Stiles off his back.

"Are you going to be more protective like that? If so, let all of it go because that was hot," I say honestly, a smirk on my face as I continue to watch Stiles glare at Isaac walk away. Stiles was taken aback and slowly turned his head down to me. "Of course, you would like that, you practically fangirled when Kylo Ren had a temper episode."

I cut him off with a scoff. "He is hot and you know it, Kyle Ren and Annikan are two beautiful men that me and other women would gladly kneel for!" I explain in a loud whisper. There was no way I could scream that without people judging me.

Stiles shakes his head with a smile. "What if I said Leia is hot, hmm? Or Rey?" He asks sassily.

I stand my ground and agree with a hum. "I would agree with you, those two women are also very hot." He looks at me for a second, opens his mouth, then snaps it shut. I shrug at him with a "Don't ask, I don't know either but I stand by what I said" face.

"STILINSKI, GET YOUR ASS BACK ON THE FIELD AND STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF IN FRONT OF THAT GIRL," Coach screams across the field.

I giggle and whisper in Stiles' ear. "I can kiss you to show him you aren't embarrassing yourself if you'd like." He nods immediately. "Cheek or lips?"

"Lips," he says with heart eyes. I stand quickly and pull him up.

"STILINSKI," Coach yells again.

I take a step closer to Stiles, grabbing his hands and interlocking them. I stand on my tippy toes and lean up to kiss him. Multiple eyes were on me, and I was nervous, but as soon as his lips touched mine there was nothing. Nothing but me and my best friend.

I pull back with a smile, my lips wet from the kiss. "Go practice, soldier," I laugh at his hearty expression. He salutes, "Yes Sergeant," he yells.

"I'm not in Rotc anymore, dipshit," I laugh. He shrugs and pecks my lips a few times, humming between them and going back for more. I mess up his hair and shove him off. "Go practice, dummy!"

After practice, Stiles came running to me and squeezed me so tight I struggled to breathe. "Alright strong me, I need air," I struggled to speak. He let me go, apologized and kissed my face everywhere. "I missed my girl," he whispers to me.

"You were just here like 30 minutes ago," I laughed, kissing his cheek back briskly.

He gave me a look like I was dumb. "You just gave me the best kiss of my life and told me to go; our first kiss, to be specific. Of course, I'm going to miss you. I'd miss you if I didn't see you for 10 seconds," he shrugs, leaning his chin on my shoulder.

"You're a dork."

"And you're a brat."

"Brat tamer."

"Nerd."

"Dumb-head."

I gasp at him playfully. "You take that back! I am not a dumb-head," I exclaim with a playful hurt pout.

Scott walked passed us saying: "Yeah, that was uncalled for, Stiles." Scott had a playful grin on his face and Stiles shoved him before returning to hug me.

"Give me another kiss and I'll think about taking it back," Stiles smirks down at me. Scott raises his eyebrows and covers his eyes.

I laugh at the two dorks. I cup Stiles' chin and guide his mouth to connect with mine. Once again, I forgot that other people were near. I only realized that there were people near when I heard some of the lacrosse team members cheer for Stiles. I pull back with a smile, breaking into a laugh at the childish team members I've grown to be familiar with and adore. "Shove off Greenburg, Johnson, Garcia, Austin, you too, don't think you're hidden behind the bench," I laugh, using the member's name.

"You're not allowed to call him Austin, it's Vaught."

I roll my eyes at Stiles and glance back to Austin. "Vaught, shove off." I then look back to Stiles and ask with sass, "Better? Pretty boy?" He nods quickly and pecks my lips, humming with approval and kissing it again and again. "Stiles!"

"I'm sorry," he laughs. I smack his ass, something I do all the time. He squeaks in and runs with Scott as well as his team members who were waiting for him to go to the locker room. I watch him laugh and jump on Scott's back. A few of the members jumped on his back as well and ended up dog-piling. "Boys! Go shower, y'all stink!" I laugh. A few of them laugh and call me mom and I just flip them off.

This was fun to write. And so cute as well. I hope you enjoyed it, I love y'all babes! <3<3<3 Happy Valentine's Day!!!

[sycamore55]

Chapter Four- We Were Born To Die

Vi x f!reader

Contains: events of ep 3 s1 arcane (SPOILERS), some dialogue is quoted directly from the show, established relationship (friends to lovers slowburn in previous chapters), reader is Ekko's adoptive sister/benzo's adoptive kid, vi and reader as teenagers, lots of angst

WC: 3.13k (It's a bit shorter w/ less romance stuff)

Trigger warnings: vivid descriptions of violence/death, blood, fire

Summary: You had finally found a source of hope for the future. It could have been just another night. But before you could even realize what was happening, everything had changed.

A/N: hello and welcome to all of you gorgeous humans. This is part four of my Born to Die series. Previous parts are all up on my blog if you are interested. This is a bit of a shorter chapter, partly because there's less going on and partly because I'm insanely burnt out rn. This is based on episode 3 of season one, so I'm sorry and good luck in advance (if it makes you feel better I had to rewatch it before writing this so I'm in pain too)

previous part here <-

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That night at the shop was eerily quiet.

Hardly any customers came in at night, and as it got closer to closing, you blinked in and out of daydreams. Each time your mind wandered, you always circled back to Vi's promise. Her words lingered on your mind, and you couldn't help but wonder why she had said all that.

Of course it was really sweet. And it was really nice to hear. But something about her urgency seemed off to you. She would've told you if something was wrong, though. Right?

Maybe not. The more you thought about it, the more what-if's ran through your mind, like tornadoes. If something was wrong, Vi probably would have told you, yes. Unless she didn't want you to know.

But why wouldn't she want you to know?

You knew how fiercely independent Vi was. But not with you. Never with you. Sure, she could be guarded sometimes. She was strong. Probably one of the strongest people you knew. But that didn't mean that she wasn't soft as well. And you knew she was capable of being vulnerable and open with you.

From what you had noticed, anyway.

You drummed your foot anxiously on the floor. The silence of the store was starting to become borderline uncomfortable. It was uncommon for you to be alone there, yes, but not unusual.

But that didn't make the queasy feeling of dread in your stomach any less there.

You were pulled back into reality when you heard the breaking of glass nearby. You felt your heart speed up a few beats, before slowly settling back down.

People in the alleys were always fighting or breaking bottles. Once again, nothing unusual there.

So why did everything feel so.....ominous? Like something bad was about to happen and you knew it.

You brushed off the thought. It was stupid anyways. There shouldn't have been anything for you to worry about.

Suddenly, you heard the heavy thumps of boots, and people running on the cobblestone streets outside. You looked up, but your view through the small window on the door, couldn't see much. You cautiously approached the door, reaching for the lock.

As you got closer to the window, you could see the figures of two people. You immediately recognized Vander and Benzo, but that didn't answer any of your questions. The looks on their faces, however, stopped you in your tracks.

Benzo was standing outside a building next to the shop, with his arms crossed, looking up and down the alley. Occasionally, he glanced inside, to where you assumed Vander was. You could hear Vander's voice, but couldn't exactly make out what he was saying. All of a sudden, you heard another voice. Vi's voice.

She shouted as a door slammed. You heard what sounded like banging a wall, or a door. Or something like that.

You unlocked the door to the shop, and were about to go outside to see for yourself what was going on, when a gold flash from the other side of the alley caught your eye.

Enforcers were walking down the street. You quickly ducked as they passed the shop, paying no attention to you. Their eyes were fixed forward, and your heart sunk as you watched them walk toward where Benzo stood.

Shit, you thought. Then, another realization hit you.

Where's Ekko?

The pit in your stomach stretched out. You knew he was most likely with Powder at the Last Drop, or somewhere around. But something bad was clearly about to happen, and you had no idea if he was going to be safe.

A few seconds later, flashes of other people flew past the window. You couldn't make out details, but you saw the enforcers rush back outside, ordering them around. Benzo rushed outside too, and the enforcers had Vander in handcuffs.

In the blink of an eye, something struck. A flash of electric purple passed by the window, and in less than a second, one of the enforcers lay on the ground with a bullet in her head.

You gasped, covering your mouth with your hand to stay silent. Blood was splattered all over the stones. You could only watch in horror as the other enforcer, Vander and Benzo looked around. Benzo picked up a pipe.

Another man stepped out of the shadows. Even from a distance, you could make out the bright shine of one of his eyes. They were all close enough for you to make out their exact words now.

"Silco?" Benzo gasped. His expression hardened. "You animal. Go crawl back into whatever hole you came out of!"

"Benzo, stay back!" Vander called to him, but Benzo stepped forward anyway.

"You never did know when to walk away," the man, who you supposed was Silco, sneered.

"Wait-" Vander began, moving forward to stop him, but his hands were still cuffed, and Benzo kept moving forward. He lunged, and in an instant, the same flash of electric purple slammed into him.

"No!" Vander shouted. Benzo's blood coated the floor as his body slumped over. Vander sunk to his knees.

You had to bite down to keep from screaming out. Your entire body was violently shaking. Tears were pooling in your eyes, and the beat of your heart was the only sound in your mind. You sank down to the floor, clutching your arms. Your nails dug into your skin, deep enough to draw blood. All you could do was hold your head in your hands, and desperately try to breathe.

---

The tears had dried on your face, and the shaking in your limbs had subsided slightly. You were still sitting on the ground inside the shop, hugging your knees. Your heartbeat had settled back to normal now that the immediate danger was gone, but that did little to stop the blood rushing through your head.

Get up. Get up.

The thoughts swarmed your mind. You knew you needed to get up, and go outside and....

And then what? You couldn't help Benzo. And you weren't sure if you could stomach to see him like that.

Benzo was dead. Your dad was dead. Gone. Taken to a place he couldn't come back from.

The tears rose to the surface again, threatening to spill over your eyes. You clenched your arms tighter, reopening the newly formed scabs.

All of a sudden, you heard a soft cry from outside. Your head snapped up as you recognized the voice. Ekko.

Slowly, with weak legs and shaky hands, you pushed yourself off the ground. Through the specks of blood scattered on the glass window, you saw Ekko outside, standing over Benzo's body. His hands were clenched in fists by his sides, but you could see how badly they were shaking.

You quickly unlocked and opened the door. Ekko was standing alone in the alley. The first thing you noticed were the tears rolling down his face. His head snapped up, and when he saw you, he quickly ran toward you and hugged your waist tightly. You could feel just how much he was trembling. You felt the part of your shirt where his head was buried grow wet.

"B-Benzo....he's...." But Ekko couldn't finish his sentence. You knew how it ended. You hugged him tightly, your breath coming in short, shaky bursts.

Over his shoulder, you finally worked up the nerve to look at Benzo. You had to quickly bite down on the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from crying out when you saw his body laying on the street.

It was just too hard to see him like that. All you could do was close your eyes and block out the voices screaming in your head as you held Ekko.

As your eyes closed, you heard a soft thumping from somewhere to your side. When you looked over, you saw a small window, smeared with blood, by your feet.

Vi, you remembered. Fuck.

You pulled back, holding Ekko's shoulders firmly, and crouching down to meet him eye level. "Ekko, look at me."

He quickly wiped his eyes, before looking up to you.

"We're gonna figure this out. I just need you to be brave for me right now, okay?" He nodded, wiping the last of his tears away. "You didn't see it, did you?"

He shook his head as more tears pooled in his eyes. "I s-saw....they took Vander too. A-and Benzo...." The knot in your stomach flipped and slammed back down as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry," you whispered. "I'm so sorry you had to see that."

How were you so calm? Truth was, you weren't. Internally, you were panicking. You had every reason in the world to panic right now. Your father was dead. Yes, you wanted to be emotional and hysterical and loud. Okay, you were already incredibly emotional. But you still had your feet firmly planted on the ground, and your head screwed on straight.

You knew that you needed to stay level-headed. For Ekko.

"Ekko, listen to me," you said as firmly as possible. "I need you need to stay with me. We gotta get Vi out, and then we're gonna make a plan. But you have to promise me that you're gonna listen to what I say. Okay?"

He nodded his head slightly, sniffling. "Okay. I promise."

"Okay," you sighed. "We're gonna be okay. Promise." You gently squeezed his shoulder. and stood up. "Stay with me. I need to get Vi out."

You held onto his hand tightly as you made your way around the blood on the ground carefully. The door creaked as you pushed it open and entered the room. You noticed a hole in the stained glass, and broken shards all around the ground, as if someone had punched a hole in it.

Vi probably had, if you were being honest.

You turned the lock in the other door, and softly pulled it open. Vi was sitting, slumped against the wall, with her head in her hands. Her head quickly snapped up, and you could see her eyes soften as she looked at you.

She stood up, pushing off the wall. You stepped toward her slowly, before all the emotions and exhaustion hit you all at once. She lunged forward to catch you as you practically collapsed in her arms.

"B-Benzo..." was all you managed to stammer out. You buried your eyes in her shoulder as she held you tightly. You felt tears of her own drip onto your shoulder.

"What about Vander?" she asked quietly.

"They took him," Ekko answered softly, appearing by your side. "I heard them. They said they were taking him to one of the old warehouses by the docks."

Vi pulled back to look at the both of you, but didn't let you go fully. Although her cheeks were also stained with tears, she didn't hesitate to reach up and wipe yours away.

"We're gonna get him back," she said firmly. Your eyes quickly shot open.

"What?" you whispered. "Vi, you saw that thing. You're gonna get seriously hurt at the very least."

"I have to do this," she sighed.

"Then I'm coming with you," you decided.

"Me too," Ekko chimed in, in as firm of a voice as he could muster up.

"No, you're not," two voices ordered in synch. You and Vi looked back at each other.

"I can't let you do this alone-" you began, but Vi cut you off, her hold on your shoulders growing tighter.

"Listen to me," she begged. "You're not going. Either of you," she added, looking pointedly at Ekko.

"I need you to stay safe. Go back to the tree. Stay there tonight, and when we get Vander back, we'll meet you there. Vander will know what to do."

You grasped her arms tighter. "What if you don't make it back?"

She sighed softly. "I will. You just need to stay safe."

You pressed your forehead to hers. She cupped your face in her hands. "I can't lose you," she whispered shakily.

"Me neither," you whispered back. You stayed like that for a few moments, as if it was the last time you were going to be able to hold her like this.

Eventually, she pulled back, and raised her hood over her head. "We'll meet you tonight. Stay safe. Please."

"Please be careful," you pleaded. She nodded grimly. She stared at you for a few more seconds, before exiting the room. You watched her leave with baited breath, trying your best to ignore all the possible outcomes that were breaking through the flood gates of your mind.

"Come on, Ekko." You tried to make your voice as steady as you could, as you took his hand. "We have to go."

---

You and Ekko moved silently in the dark.

You stayed crouched low and kept your hold on his hand tight. Both his and your trembling had subsided, but the shock of what you had just witnessed lingered. So did the gnawing, deep feeling of grief.

You kept your guard up, and stayed on high alert. Your heartbeat pounded in your ears as you moved between alleys, always checking in dark corners and over your shoulder to make sure you weren't being followed.

You sighed to yourself with relief when you made it to the first tunnel. The only sounds made were the splashes of your boots in the water that had settled at the bottom of the tunnels.

You glanced at Ekko every few minutes to make sure he was hanging in there well enough. Every time your eyes met his, he straightened up a bit, pressing his mouth into a firm line. Despite how strong he was being, you could see how much your brother was hurting, and your heart ached for it.

When your gaze finally landed on the tree, you sighed, heavier this time. You heard Ekko let out a small breath of relief as well. The two of you settled beneath the trunk of the tree. Ekko didn't drop your hand, and he leaned on you.

"We should be safe here," you whispered to him. "Vi and the others will be here with Vander later, and we'll make a plan then. Okay?"

He nodded softly, his eyes growing wearier. "When are they gonna be here?" he asked you, with a small tremble in his voice.

"I don't know, buddy," you sighed. "Sometime later tonight." You paused for a few moments, carefully studying his expression. "Are you okay?"

He looked up at you, the tears that he had wiped away forming once again in his eyes. "I don't know," he admitted. He leaned his head into your shoulder, and you quickly wrapped your arms around him.

"Oh, Ekko," you whispered. "I'm so sorry. Today was really hard. But I'm so proud of you for staying strong." You felt fresh tears soak your shirt, but that was the least of your concerns.

"I w-want my dad," he wept into your shoulder.

"I know. I know you do," you murmured, rubbing his back gently. "I'm right here, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

You held him as he slowly calmed down, wiping the tears away.

"Try to get some sleep. I'm gonna wait up for the others." You felt him nod into your shoulder, but he made no attempt to move as he began to drift off.

You couldn't bring yourself to sleep. You waited and waited for Vi. But she didn't show up.

Your anxieties spiraled in your head. Flashes of visions your mind had spun were all that you could think about; visions of Vi being hurt, or worse. Thoughts that something bad had happened to her, or Powder Mylo or Claggor. You didn't sleep a wink that night.

The next morning, when Ekko woke up, the two of you went down to the docks where Vander had been taken to see if they were there. You were extremely cautious as you moved through the Lanes.

The sight that met you at the warehouse was that clearly the aftermath of a fire. The building was charred and damaged, and some parts had collapsed in on itself. You guessed that the rain had most likely put it out the night before.

Mylo, Claggor, Powder, and Vi were nowhere to be seen. You and Ekko searched, all around the building. You didn't find them.

You did find Vander.

Ekko barely saw him. You quickly shielded his gaze from it, but you couldn't pull your eyes away from his body. You audibly gasped when you noticed the purple tint to his skin, and the bright purple flashing from his veins.

What the hell happened? Where was Vi? Or Powder, or Mylo or Claggor....

You didn't have any answers. And the gnawing feeling in your stomach was back, telling you that not everything would be okay this time.

"What are we gonna do?" Ekko whispered. You desperately wanted to tell him that you had an answer, and that everything was going to be okay. But you couldn't.

Everything that day was a blur. It happened too fast for you to process, and moved too slow to ease your pain. Only bits and pieces stuck out to you.

You holding Ekko as he cried into your shirt, a few of your own tears escaping along with his.

Wandering around for what felt like hours trying to find something to eat.

A sick feeling in your stomach that just wouldn't go away.

Flinching each time an animal moved in the bushes, or something made a noise that could have been someone coming for you.

Waiting until Ekko had cried himself to sleep to let yourself exhale.

Then breaking down. Holding your head in your hands as you quietly sobbed.

When you closed your eyes and focused hard enough, you could almost taste her last kiss, or feel her hands on your body.

But it was your hands wrapped around yourself now. The sick feeling in your stomach only worsened as the realizations hit you one by one.

Vander was gone, and with him, you knew the careful balance of peace kept in the Undercity would shatter.

Benzo, the man who had cared for you when no one else had, who you considered more of a father than anything, was gone.

Vi was gone for good. You'd have to accept that.

You still had yourself and Ekko to take care of. But despite everything, you were stuck. Stuck on the memories of the past, and all the good things that were stripped from you all at once.

But it wouldn't change anything. All you could do now was silently curse yourself for the naive hope you had put in the possibility of something better.

You should've known. Nothing that good could last.

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

End note: hi....if you're still here, are you mentally well? Anyways part 5 will hopefully be out in a week or so, and it will be post timeskip, and I'll make it up to you then I promise 🙏 ily all ty for reading!

tags: @laviannasfanfics

comment a red emoji to be tagged in the next part!!

[paper-daisy]

Like many of us I'm doing a TWD rewatch, looking for all those pre-relationship moments, and a great little one in 4x01 is after Michonne arrives back at the prison -- there's a moment where Daryl tells her "Glad to see you're in one piece." HOWEVER, when he says that he turns to look directly at Rick. Who in turn quickly looks away, almost bashful.

You can just imagine what Daryl had to put up with, with Rick in those early days. So I had to fic it.

Rick never said the words aloud. He never outright said, "I'm worried about Michonne. I hope she's okay. I hope she comes back." He was never that obvious. But to someone like Daryl, a man naturally of few words himself, it was clear as day that their fearless leader was never fully relaxed whenever that smartass/badass - who was more than capable of taking care of herself - wasn't safely tucked away behind their walls.

But what Rick would say when she was gone was - "There was a herd moving south, right?" Where Michonne had last gone hung unspoken between them. And when Daryl answered Yeah, Rick would just place his hands on his hips and nod, jaw tight, as he scanned the perimeter of the compound as if waiting for someone to magically appear.

He would say - "There's a lot more bandits out there, roaming in packs. Isn't that what you said?" A grunt and a shrug from Daryl, and Rick would nod like they'd just had a conversation and go back to his farming, digging the shovel into the dirt with a bit more force than necessary, making a point to not look at the fence. They hadn't heard from Michonne in two weeks.

He would say - "Nights are getting cold," while standing outside at the communal kitchen, plate in hand, his gaze always drawn to the barely visable fence line. Daryl had hummed in agreement, fighting the urge to tell him that Michonne should be fine as she had pilfered his poncho, something Rick already knew.

And on one strange occasion he said, "Do you think we should get some more ... art? In here?"

This had stopped Daryl in his tracks. "What?"

Rick shrugged, perhaps a little sheepishly, but continued. "We have a library, potted flowers, even some toys and things for the kids. This is our home now. Thought ... maybe it could use a bit of ... brightening?"

Daryl just starred blankly. "You want me to, what? Bring back pictures?"

For a moment it looked as if Rick was about to finally say what was actually on his mind, before he instead gave a rueful smile and waved his hand in the air as if to dispel the conversation. "Nah, nah, never mind. It was just a thought."

He walked away, leaving an utterly perplexed Daryl behind who simply shrugged and went on his own way. It was only later that day as he passed by Michonne's empty cell did his eyes fall upon that weird colourful cat thing, the one that looked like it was about to start a fight. It was such a stupid, useless thing but Daryl remembered how Michonne had presented it to him with an air of triumph, as if it was the most gorgeous thing in the world. He didn't get it.

Did Rick really think that if he made the place more art-filled, Michonne might want to hang around longer? he wondered, then immediately dismissed the idea. Well, clearly not because he gave up before he started. Like with other things.

Only once had Daryl said the unsaid thing.

Almost everyone was asleep. Well, Carl was hid under his blankets reading comics and there were low conversational sounds coming from some darkened cell, but for the most part things were quiet.

And they were kept quiet by an exhausted Rick, pacing back and forth with a fussy Judith, bouncing her non-stop so her cries wouldn't awaken the entire community. He'd nodded to Daryl, who in turn took a moment to ask if he needed help putting Judith to sleep tonight.

"No, thankyou" said Rick tiredly. "I think she's pretty much worn herself out by now. Should be sound asleep soon."

"You too."

Rick sighed. "Yeah. I just ..." He shifted Judith a little, "Even when I do get to bed, I can't seem to stop thinking. Thinking of plans for the future, for the people we have in here. The people we bring in. How to protect everyone inside these walls. Keep our people safe despite ... well, despite everything." Rick looked at Daryl as if he might have the answers to those questions he hadn't quite asked.

All he could do was shrug. "We just try. Trust that we all know what we're doing. Lookout for everyone here. Not much more we can do, is there? Future don't care about anyone's plans."

Rick didn't look totally reassured, but he still smiled slightly as Daryl's efforts. "Yeah. I just worry, is all."

"I know." And as Daryl passed by he gripped Rick's shoulder and muttered, "Shouldn't worry so much. Michonne'll be back, all in one piece. You'll see."

And the man had the audacity to look confused, stuttering out, "Yeah, I know that, but - but I wasn't talking about Michonne, specifically. I'm not worried about her. She can take care of herself, I know that, and she always comes back, it's just ... with everything ..."

As he trailed off Daryl eyed Rick critically for a moment. He really thinks he's selling it, he thought, before giving a soft grunt that was akin to laughter and wandering off to bed, leaving a somewhat disconcerted Rick behind, gently bouncing a sleeping Judith.

And the very next day who should come riding through the gates but one Michonne, smiling, baring gifts and all in one piece, as Daryl made sure to point out to Rick, who's ears suddenly went bright red as if Michonne might somehow be able to figure out that they'd been taking about her just that night before.

But she didn't notice. She was too caught up in her almost obsessive search for the Governor and already planning her next venture out, unaware of Rick's barely suppressed disappointment or of the sigh that Daryl kept clenched behind his teeth as he tried to subtly talk her out of another long run. It wasn't her who was stuck with Rick and his wordless pining.

Because it was pining, even if he never said nothing. If they were in school Daryl might've suggested he pass her a note.

When she had quickly offered to go back out again with the rest of the scavenging party - even though, as Carl had said wistfully, she'd just got back - and Daryl could do nothing more than give Rick a comforting pat, grimacing slightly as the man's expression said exactly the same thing his son had vocalised.

God, this was going to wear thin soon.

Ah well. Wasn't like they had TV anymore.

[technicolorfamiliar]

The Spy in Black Dir. Michael Powell 1939

I was going to combine this and Dark Journey in one post, but I ended up writing way more about The Spy in Black than I thought I would. I'm so, so glad I came back to this film. Rereading my initial thoughts after my first viewing, I realize clearly missed a lot because I was too hyperfocused on Connie being the way he is. But I did rewatch Dark Journey recently, and ended up liking that movie a whole lot less the second time around, so I'm not really in any hurry to post about it.

...

The Spy in Black feels worlds away from the grand, technicolor masterpieces of Powell and Pressburger. Despite the whole final act taking place at sea with the U-boats and battleships firing at one another, the film doesn't come close to the opulence of what are perhaps The Archers' most well-known and beloved films. The Spy in Black is minimalist by comparison, and yet it doesn’t feel out of place when considered among their other works.

Set mostly in the Orkney Islands, a damp and cold feeling permeates the film. That's something The Archers are exceptionally good at as filmmakers -- creating a multisensory experience for the viewer just through their visuals and sound design. Whether it's their wind battered Himalayan monastery in Black Narcissus, or the ever present rain and closeness of the sea to the little schoolhouse in The Spy in Black, Powell and Pressburger films are undeniably immersive. Atmosphere and a sense of place are key defining factors in their films even in this, their earliest work together.

The filmmakers also of course were aware of Conrad Veidt's prestige and wanted to make sure the look of the film paid homage to Connie's past work. There are scenes with deep, angular shadows for Hardt to disappear into and creep out of like in Caligari or Orlac. The title of the film has been bugging me, but now I think it's not so much about what Hardt wears as it is about him lurking in the shadows. (There's also a cute story about Michael Powell and Connie's first meeting where Powell was more than a little star struck; I believe he went on and on about Connie's deep blue eyes and his purring voice, which is understandable.)

The writing suits their actors so perfectly. Compared to Dark Journey where everyone is so painfully British when they aren't supposed to be, there's something in the writing and direction that differentiates the nationalities in The Spy in Black. So even Marius Goring, who is British as can be, when playing a German naval officer isn't quite AS British as Sebastian Shaw and Valerie Hobson, if that makes any sense. It's a subtle difference, but there's something about the performances in this film compared to Dark Journey that allow for a greater suspension of disbelief.

And it's funny! Maybe not as obviously funny as Contraband, but The Spy in Black has some really finely crafted comedic moments that don't feel out of step with the rest of the film. It's not a comedy by any means; it's a drama with room for humor, kind of like real life… just with better looking people. When Hardt is wrestling his motorbike up a hill and is startled by a bunch of sheep, he baas back at them! It's a little moment that feels random at the same time it feels relatable. And it humanize Hardt, who doesn't really need the help -- he's already at this point in the movie completely endeared to the audience (or should be if you have a heart and eyes to see him). Most of the humor in the movie comes from Hardt being put in Situations.

The whole butter thing is so delightfully stupid. They establish Hardt early on as a foodie and a glutton, if only because he's been deprived of good food for great lengths of time. So when he arrives at the schoolhouse rendezvous and is checking each room to make sure it's safe, when the camera catches him in closeup staring with extreme intensity at something off screen. We're to think he suddenly sees something dangerous. The camera cuts to Miss Burnett/Fräulein Thiel/Mrs Blacklock looking confused and concerned. The music builds dramatically as they cut back to Hardt who is creeping towards the table. He reaches down, grabs something, the music crescendos, he lifts the thing to his face -- it's a giant block of butter.

It's delightful, it speaks to anyone who loves food, or at least just to me. Hardt then proceeds to eat most of the butter and, like, half a ham before collapsing but not without first lighting what are clearly supposed to be post-coitalesque cigarettes for himself and Thiel. Even though they spend most of the middle of the film flirting like goddamn pros, sharing a decadent meal is the closest they get to anything explicitly sexual.

Production began towards the end of 1938 and the film was released in the spring of 1939. While England didn't officially enter the war until the following fall, one would have to imagine the threat of conflict was making the general population anxious. The Spy in Black is a WWI film, set in 1917, but unlike other cinematic narratives of the 1930s centered around past wars, this film doesn’t really go out of its way to glorify the military or present a particularly nationalistic story. All the characters are heroic, all the characters are flawed, none more so than the man at the center of the film, Captain Ernst Hardt, a German U-boat captain. The balls they had to make a film with this kind of protagonist at this time. Yet the film doesn't claim to make any kind of sweeping judgement, positive or negative, about Germans. It seems more likely that with the war looming, Hardt is less of a statement about Germans in general and more like Dark Journey's Von Marwitz: both characters seem to be informing the British audience that this outsider, Conrad Veidt, this man you mainly know as a screen villain, is a good man. He's one of us, it seems to suggest.

This film, perhaps uniquely for its time, focuses on the individuals rather than the nations they represent. It seems more focused on how each of the main characters are personally affected by their actions. While the acts of espionage are played out with slick intrigue, by the end of the movie Hardt and Mrs Blacklock are both full of regret. Everything they've done has done little more than lead to the deaths of people who had lives, families, people who loved them. No amount of honor and devotion to one's country in wartime can wash the blood from their hands. In Mrs Blacklock's case, I don't believe her heart was really in it. She breaks down on the captured ferry and says, "You’re in the hands of a man who cares nothing for his life or yours. And it's all my fault. I forgot we were at war, forgot that war means that it kills every fine, decent human feeling." And Hardt himself, for all his good intentions and humanity extended to his prisoners on the ferry, loses every one of his crew, men who may have been the only people he truly cared about in the entire world. And having lost them, having not been able to protect them from the fatal depth charge that struck their U-boat, he has nothing left to live for. The machine of war, or more accurately the psychology of war, claims Hardt as yet another victim. The real villain of The Spy in Black is not the German naval captain nor his men, but rather the war itself. The Spy in Black is at its heart, under all the sexually suggestive dialogue and clever cinematography, an anti-war movie masquerading as a standard espionage thriller.

Valerie Hobson apparently was hired to replace Vivien Leigh and, honestly, thank god. A hundred thousand Vivien Leigh fans would swarm my house with torches and pitchforks if they ever read this, but Valerie Hobson is a better actor and more charismatic, SORRY. She has more range and better comedic timing than Leigh (who went on to do Gone With The Wind anyway, so good for her I guess). Val is maybe more fun in Contraband, but I love that she and Connie got on so well, on screen and off, with each other and with Powell and Pressburger that they all got back together to make a second film. Watching The Spy in Black again, Contraband definitely feels like the more self-indulgent film, but I don't care. And here we get to see the beginning of that collaboration, see the sparks fly as Val and Connie expertly handle the dialogue and direction. I love their dynamic on screen; Hardt deferring to this woman that he thinks is his superior, the way she corrects his English (which was something Val did to Connie in real life that adorably carried over into the film), the way she barks at him to pick up his motorbike and go to bed, the way she looks at him at the end of the film with heartbreak in her eyes but can't bring herself to apologize or say anything at all. UGH. UUUUUGGHHHH. She and Connie have so many great moments together in this film, it's impossible to pick a favorite.

(Powell and Pressburger dared to put Connie and Val nose to nose and have him say to her, "It is evening and I am grown up, " knowing full well what this would do to unsuspecting audiences, only to -- just one year later -- go "hold my beer" and make give him even worse lines in Contraband. GOATed.)

Connie genuinely seems like he's having 10x more fun on this film than Dark Journey. For one thing, he's welcomed back to England after a couple flops and a stopover in France with a more interesting, more fully realized character, one where he's allowed to bring in more of his own opinions and creative choices. Captain Hardt feels more like a real guy, he's less perfect than Von Marwitz. On this rewatch, I realized I'd forgotten how gruff and grumpy Hardt is (which, like Andersen in Contraband, I chalk up to him being hangry). As captain, he's no-bullshit but endures lighthearted teasing from his shipmates. He's allowed to have a friend! Schuster and Hardt clearly have history, they aren't new to one another, they speak (comedically) in unison, after all. I mean, Hardt brings Schuster a block of butter later in the film! That's real friendship.

Hardt makes it known that he loves food, even simple things like bread and butter. This may have more to do with the military rations being beyond bad than a pre-existing character trait of Hardt's, but it gives him color and humanity. And Hardt is just as smooth as the Von Marwitz; when the fiancé of the real Miss Burnett shows up and sees the medal ribbon on his uniform, Hardt slyly and proudly states that it's the "Iron Cross, second class." And when Miss Burnett's fiancé assumes Hardt must be a prisoner of war, the Captain replies, slowly drawling his pistol, "No… you are." And all with the most perfect, calm confidence. He's a Bad MF, no lie.

So many interesting little things get revealed about Hardt pretty early on in the film. There are multiple exchanges about cigarettes being unavailable and someone offering him a pipe to which he says, "I never smoke a pipe." (As far as I see it, and I'm not complaining, but one of the only character differences between Hardt and Captain Andersen in Contraband is that Andersen does smoke a pipe lol) There are a handful of possibly queer coded things they throw in too: Schuster finds it humorous that Hardt would be reciting poetry in the dark to the lady spy he's to meet, to which Hardt says, "You think it's so funny, you know what you can do with it!" And earlier, when someone is looking for the captain, they're told, perhaps with an implied wink, that he might be found at the Turkish baths. Then there's the whole thing with Hardt literally pulling the cigar away from Schuster's mouth. I'm not saying definitively that Hardt is bi… but isn't he, though??

He is ultimately a reluctant spy; when he receives his orders to meet the German agent in Scotland, he's more annoyed than excited. He grumpily accepts his orders, but as a decorated military officer, doing spy stuff is beneath him. He insists on wearing his uniform even at the schoolhouse when he's supposed to be in hiding, because if he should die in service of his duties, he'd rather meet his end as Captain Hardt, not as an assumed identity.

Hardt is so wrapped up in his identity as a military officer that it ends up killing him. His end is tragic, nearly Shakespearean. He is not without honor, in fact he's positively full of it. He seems born and bred to follow orders, to whatever end they may have. And yet he is not a bad man. He commands authority but does not wield it with cruelty. He tells his crew to shoot any of the prisoners on the captured ferry who make noise, "with one exception" for a crying infant, and he allows the prisoners to escape on the lifeboats when the ship is sinking. Hardt cannot stop his own men from firing on the ferry, what they think is an enemy ship -- they have no way of knowing Hardt's taken over command of the ferry. Even his desperate and helpless cries and signals can't carry over the water to reach them in time. As the ship slowly sinks and everyone, including the ferry's original captain and crew, disembarks, Hardt elects to stay behind -- as his U-boat's commanding officer and with his entire crew lost and his captured ship sunk, Hardt makes the decision, in his mind the only decision, to die a captain's death at sea. The last time we see Hardt in closeup, he has tears in his eyes. We don’t see him drown, but we watch as an abandoned lifejacket floats across the frame. It's heartbreakingly tragic; we've gotten to know him, maybe even love him, over the course of the film.

I know I'm going on and on about this one, and I'm almost done, but I have a few more things to say.

People loved to get on Connie's case for his English pronunciation and his supposedly heavy German accent, but he sounds amazing in this film. He plays up some German pronunciation of certain words for comedic effect (Exhibit A: "Bütter"), but his natural accent is so inoffensive here (not that it's ever that bad, even in Rome Express or FP1 imo), and it sounds like he even tried to play it down even more than usual. And if I've said it once I've said it a hundred times, he's such a fucking master of vocal delivery. Hardt's voice sits almost in the same pocket that Von Marwitz's does but Hardt is allowed to be more expressive in his range. I feel like I have a whole separate post in me strictly about Connie's use of his voice. He's a master technician vocally, and yet for as studied as his film speaking voice in English may have been, it never sounds to my ears anything other than effortless and natural.

To wrap things up: Powell, Pressburger, Connie and Val Hobson really are the dream team. The Spy in Black is yet another movie I immediately wanted to watch again the second it was over. It's a 10.

[sparkanonymous]

The first episode of Season 3 came out on YouTube, so it's time for my annoying notes again!

⚠️ Spoilers for Dragons Rising S3 ⚠️

I hope the new episodes come out quickly for the English version. I'm very intrigued to see what happens.

Reminder: These are my initial reactions. I may be stupid or forgetful, especially since it's been a while since I've watched the first two seasons. If something I say is wrong or if it's clear I missed something, lemme know!

The Missing

I know Labo is just for the kids, to have like... a funny character to watch, but I do find him annoying here. Mostly because he makes the obvious reactions that are supposed to be made, and they try to make it seem more funny.

Whoa, Fugidove front and center on the screen?

I don't really know why Sora was so confident her baking was good. As far as I'm aware, she didn't really help with the baking, or at least didn't help make the filling. Did she just think, "Oh, that's easy! I can do that!" without checking if she actually could? Either way, she should've at least tasted the first pie she made and went from there instead of assuming it was good.

Ah, imagining your boyfriend but being rudely interrupted by your brother making an annoying noise. Peak sibling duo here.

I kind of wish that they would just skip the recap. This will be super annoying on rewatch because I tend to binge, and getting to the recap episode (being this first episode of the season) is gonna be a slog to get through again. Yeah, they're adding some new things here, but do I really need to be reminded that Arin's gone or the Jay's without his memories? That was a whole thing at the end of season 2 and the middle of season 1 respectively.

I do like that Cole got to spend a bit with Lloyd to comfort him. It's nice to see. Also, first mention of Geo and the Finders! I can't wait for them to be mentioned throughout the whole season.

Ooh, we get to see more Frak!

Did Mr. Frohicky's VA change?

The way Frak turns with the weight of his head is very interesting. I don't remember any of the Hypnobrai or species with longer necks doing that in previous seasons.

Aw, c'mon, Sora. Frak is really fun! I hope they become besties, too.

Great, more awkward cuts between different plotlines of the story. My favorite... (Personal taste seriously ruins watching experience.)

Of course Sora's pie tastes like rubber, being a sort of mechanic.

OH COME ON, Zane's first appearance of the season, and he just HAS to mention he's a nindroid. Zane knows what tastes good, so it doesn't matter if he has taste buds; he would know Sora's pies taste like ass. Also, he better express some sort of emotion, especially whenever Pixal comes back. That's his life partner!

Aw, Zane immediately thinking of Pixal and talking about how smart and attractive she is...

... Frak, is there something you'd like to tell Sora? Are they gonna be more than besties? Honestly? I can see it. But does every ninja have to be paired with another character? I kinda thought Sora would be single. Maybe Arin will be the single one?

Sora is so real for that. Like, an exploding pie is helping Zane figure out what happened to Arin. That makes no sense. But it is funny and adds to the dry humor with Sora's exasperation.

"-If you call that baking-" "Please stop talking." Sora being embarrassed and annoyed is probably the funniest thing so far. I love stuff like that.

Kai is insane lmao

Whoa, vengestone mention?

Frak, don't believe in someone called "Intelligent George".

Why isn't Zane trying to freeze the puppet?

Ooh, the pretty sword.

Frak is so silly <3

Magically appearing tracks. My favorite...

Lmao Nya pretending like she was just gonna ditch Kai and Wyldfyre.

Wow, they made those wanted posters pretty quickly, especially with all of the fire still set around the place.

How the hell were those two able to run after having their life practically sucked out of them?

Aight, I enjoyed seeing everybody, but Zane is kind of disappointing already and it's only the first episode. I was hoping they would stop treating him like that, but I guess the writers got too exhausted giving all the personality to Kai, Nya, Wyldfyre, Sora, and Frak. Lloyd was kind of sidelined, which I find a little weird, but I'm sure he'll get a lot more focus these coming episodes, especially whenever Arin shows up on screen again. I didn't see Jay, so I'm assuming he's more of a solo act than with any of the evil groups. Maybe he'll be added to Forbidden Five after one of the five gets shoved out, or he just joins and makes it the Forbidden Six. Otherwise, he kind of just looks like a fanboy, which would kind of be funny and show that Jay is really still somewhere in there. I am also disappointed that we barely got any Cole and nothing more than a mention of Geo and the Finders, but I kinda feel like they aren't gonna have much to do this season.

[aurae-rori]

aventio detective au?

I MIGHT toss superpowers into this like how bsd does because I was rewatching season 1 through edits and then I realized that there is SO much potential for aventio as detective partners. Now, before you scroll, hear me out- I'm not going to copy from bsd, I'm definitely going to be taking my own spin on this, because what kind of author would I be if I didn't? Anyway, let's get down into my actual idea so that I'm not just rambling about the random details.

Detective partners Aventio - Dr. Ratio, who does logistics and banks on his knowledge, and Aventurine, who relies on his gut and good luck to find the heart of cases. Aventurine, who goes out to bars and talks to people, manipulating and scheming his way into getting information, an invaluable member of this agency that is amazing at what he does, yet annoys the shit out of Ratio.

Dr. Ratio, yes, a doctor, still in this au - who hopes to give criminals knowledge by capturing them and then speaking to them, set them straight with new ideas and philosophy. Dr. Ratio, a detective, and yet still a helper of the common people, getting through the nitty and gritty in order to bring new light to people who thought they would only have to steal and kill to survive. Dr. Ratio, who does not only believe in justice, but believes in helping others, and who has to sit down after his words cannot reach yet another 'mediocre' mind with a drink. This job is a hard one. Going out and speaking to people and picking up on details and helping the survivors who had to witness the horrors of situations is never going to be easy, but he is nothing if not a persevering man.

Aventurine, who grew up abused and taken advantage of in the slums of the city, who grew up being the crime that he now gets rid of - knowing that these people, sometimes, are just what they have to be, and yet, he does his job in hopes that maybe, his companion, who saw the hope in him, can set alight hope for others. Aventurine, who pushes through his bad habits and holds children who suffer in the aftermath, seeing a reflection of himself from the past. Aventurine, who vows to save the people - saving them, so that maybe, the child inside him can be salvaged as well.

Also, lots of drinking together and smoking. This is a fucking hard job, but they have one another, and they go out onto the field and stop stupid shit from happennig. They banter, they have childhood trauma, they kiss while being idiots, their coworkers help them stop cases, and maybe, MAYBE, I will give them superpowers.

[manchesterau]

thank you for offering this!

could you write a fic of them getting ready for the brits together? i just rewatched the red carpet outfits vid, and they're down bad 🌈😊

"My bowtie has gone all wonky," Phil says.

He looks down at himself with a frown, twisting each end this way and that. It's a lovely piece of fabric Dan found for him, all silky and stiff in just the right ways. Dan's also got a matching one on, and when he told Phil only just twenty minutes ago with a slight smile on his face, Phil couldn't help but match with his own goofy little grin.

If only the damn thing would sit right on his neck. He huffs, pulling until it's too tight on his neck, and he has to strain to get it back to how it was. From his peripheral view, Dan peers up at him from his spot on the bed where he's been scrolling on his phone without his trousers on. He's been tasked with making sure their car arrives on time to pick them up and whisk them away to the red carpet, but Phil knows he's been scrolling around on Twitter instead and anxiously hoping the rental place the BBC sent is on its way. Phil has been tasked with making sure he at least looks somewhat presentable tonight, and if he can't get this stupid bowtie to look right, it'll be an epic fail.

Dan huffs, "Maybe if you stopped fiddling with it, it wouldn't look all wonky."

Phil ignores him and continues adjusting it until Dan gets up with a sigh, walking over and slapping Phil's hands away. He resists the urge to put his hands on Dan's waist, a compulsion that comes so naturally to him he hopes he remembers what to do with his hands while they're out in public with everyone watching. Instead, he reaches up and fixes the splinges in Dan's hair and wonders idly why he isn't wearing his earrings. It would go wonderfully with his outfit tonight, some fancy thing he got gifted from some brand he can't remember the name of. A lacy button-down that Phil would have never thought he'd go for even a year ago. He looks good tonight, the suit jacket is a bit too small but fits on his shoulders just right, and his identical bowtie sits in the middle of his neck, not at all wonky looking.

Phil wishes they were taking their clothes off instead and putting the bed behind them to good use. He tells Dan this and receives a snort and eye roll in response.

"You suave sexy motherfucker," he says, moving off his bowtie to massage at Phil's shoulders. "If we're not too drunk when we get I am going to suck-" He gets cut off by his phone ringing. A string of curse words leaves his lips as he answers it, and his 'I am talking to a stranger, this is so awkward please' help voice fills the room.

Phil leaves Dan to it and walks up to the mirror. His bowtie isn't all weird looking anymore. The bows are a little big, but he understands what Dan was going for when fixing it. He makes sure his fringe looks alright and turns just in time to see Dan struggling with putting his trousers on.

He's hopping from one foot to the other as he fumbles out, "The bleeding car is down stairs, and I'm just standing here dick out trying to help you with your bloody tie!"

Phil stops himself from laughing, rushing around to where he's shoes are and squawking when the car out front honks. The nervous jitters he usually gets before these things start to make there way into his stomach, but as he watches Dan stumble around trying to put his shoes on and make sure he hasn't popped any buttons from his flailing about, all the worry and anxiety leaves his body and is replaced with something more settled.

Tonight, they have to be YouTube sensations and BBC employees, Dan and Phil. They have to entertain celebrities and try not to fall on their faces in front of all the cameras and very important people they're not allowed to talk to. Right now, though, they just get to be Dan and Phil. They laugh as they windmill about the room, trying not to trip over each other in a game of who can get out of the door the fastest.

Dan wins, rushing down the stairs and out of the house with his laces untied and shirt untucked. Phil follows quickly behind him, his bowtie all askew.

_________________________________________________________________

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[eisforeidolon]

Hi! Sorry if i'm bothering you but i needed someone to talk. About what happened recently with Destiel and Misha and the fans that believed in the things he said. I am new to Supernatural fandom, but i loved the story in an instant, thanks to Sam and Dean and their unique relationship. Then i became interested in Jared and Jensen too and i think that if Sam and and Dean are the heart of Supernatural then Jared and Jensen are the soul of the show because to me no other actor could have played Sam and Dean like they did. Now, returning to what i wanted to say i am really TIRED about Destiel, some Destiel shippers and especially Misha. I know he said some stupid thing about how CW is homophobic and how Destiel would be canon if they weren't homophobic. I don't ship Destiel because sincerely i don't see romantic love between Dean and Castiel, but this doesn't make me an homophobic person. His words are said with malicious intent. He also said some thing about how Jensen is attracted to him. I find this disgusting because he says this things only for his Destiel fan, knowing that his words are lies. Also Jensen not being there can't reply to his lies. Like i sad i'm new to Supernatural but some Destiel are making the experience in the fandom a constant war. They say that if you don't ship Destiel you are homophobic , that if you don't ship Destiel you are not a true Supernatural fan and the most stupid one... They say that Supernatural is about Dean and Castiel and their love. This make me really angry because Supernatural is about Sam And Dean, how they care for each other,how they save the world again and again and how they hunt monster and ghost and other things. But to me Supernatural is the unique love story of two brother and how they did everything to protect each other. I ship Wincest, but When i say love story i mean that Sam and Dean are Platonic Soulmates in Supernatural and even the show always remind us of that. I don't understant how Misha can say this thing without facing consequences because his words feed some Destiel fan that became hateful like him and whose mission is hating people who don't think think like them. Sorry for the long post and for the horrible english but it's not my first language. Sorry if i bothered you but i needed someone to talk to because sometimes i feel like leaving the fandom because Destiel hate and their war against everyone. I hope you will always have love and kindness in your life.

You really don't need to apologize for anything.❤️ You aren't bothering me and your English is fine - maybe not perfect, but hell, neither is mine some days! Thank you for the lovely sentiment, and I wish you the same - and that you do what is best for you in regards to this sometimes dumpster fire of a fandom.

If it helps, you're absolutely not alone. I've been in this fandom for years now, and some days it's sheer stubbornness against hellers obvious attempts to browbeat and drive everyone else out that keeps me here. They didn't get to take over the show through being loud and obnoxious and they don't get to monopolize the fandom by doing the same - and they can be butthurt forever over it.

I actually didn't mind Dean and Castiel as a ship at first. I'm always interested in what people take from a canon and then create entirely outside of it, and I read quite a lot of fanfic. Even then I was baffled by shippers insisting it was a thing in the canon, though. There was a brief period where I wondered if I'd somehow missed it, because I'm not generally really looking for romance stories and there were so many posts that were so insistent? So I actually did a rewatch focused just on Dean and Castiel's interactions - and came away with the impression they weren't actually even as good of friends as I'd originally thought, let alone anything like interested in each other romantically. The more I thought about it and the more meta I ran across and actually considered the details of? The more obviously baseless it was. I mean, some of it really is just genuinely so stupid it's hilarious. Cake. Bacon. Negative space. Widower arc. Bisexual lighting and/or plaid. But even the theorizing which wasn't absurd on its face? Always looked silly in comparison to how much more obviously and easily it had meaning in relation to the main story that plainly actually existed instead.

Meanwhile, I kept seeing more and more of those posts you mention insisting anyone who didn't ship it was a homophobe and they really pissed me off. Even if Dean and Castiel were a canon couple who spent half of each episode doing couple things and saying I love you back and forth instead of the entire show revolving around Sam and Dean's crazy tangled up lives with Castiel occasionally wandering in and out of the background with some angel nonsense or whatever? Not shipping it would not make someone a homophobe. Shipping is very subjective and any individual pairing can not appeal to any particular fan for a million and one reasons that have sweet fuckall to do with how they generally feel about LGBT+ relationships. Attempting to bully people into supporting a single very specific fictional relationship by trying to make them afraid of being branded a bigot if they don't is ridiculous as hell, regardless of how canon or not it is. How absolutely fucking disrespectful to all the people who have to deal with actual homophobia versus just being butthurt they can't force two particular fictional characters to kiss. It's so goddamn juvenile I can't even.

The longer I was in fandom, the more brain dead and divorced from the show the meta claiming Dean and Castiel were going to hook up any minute got. The more annoyed I became at all the absurd stereotypes about masculinity and sexuality they would parrot as gospel truth if it could "prove" Dean was into dudes and eventually the angel. The more obviously transparent their every cry of ~*homophobia*~ was when they tried to turn every real life LGBT+ issue and every canon LGBT+ character primarily into proof and/or justification regarding D/C. They're a bunch of entitled shitheads who not only feel like they should get to dictate what SPN is despite hating basically everything it actually was, but who are perfectly fine with co-opting serious real world issues to try and do it. I have no beef with normal D/C shippers who aren't assholes to everyone and mad at the show for not bringing their fanfic to life, but I can't stand the pairing at all even in a fandom sense anymore.

The evolution of my feelings on Misha followed a similar path. I liked Castiel well enough as a supporting character and I didn't actively dislike Misha, though after I'd seen a couple of panels where his answers were flippantly irreverent or unnecessarily raunchy, I wasn't really much interested in him. Then, over time, at the same time Castiel's character was more and more blatantly just eating up screen time to give J2 time off, he started getting worse and worse about ship-baiting. He'd act like everyone behind the scenes was talking about D/C - but then they (Jensen and Bob Singer most notably) would say that was untrue. He'd slyly hint about upcoming scenes in a vague way to imply D/C and then it would be something else entirely. He'd tell shippers about things that had been pointedly removed because they could seem leading and that was not the authorial intent, but without pointing out that was exactly why they were excised. His stories would change when he got a bad reaction - he went from saying he shipped wincest to pretending he'd never heard of it, he went from claiming Jimmy was going to appear in the original Roadhouse finale to it being Castiel, etc. Then there was framing horsing around with Jared as if he was a victim and not a participant and the incredibly inappropriate objectifying sexual comments about Jensen and Dean. All of which caused the fans falling for it to loudly and angrily attack everyone but him while they kept buying his ops/books/cameos/whatever. No matter how blatantly he queerbaits them and how upset they get over it and take it out on everyone else, he does not stop. He's an ungrateful creepy narcissist who will throw literally anyone or anything under the bus if he can get a buck out of it. Who also will proclaim he doesn't want to co-opt LGBT+ causes when he's desperately trying to keep his career on life support doing exactly that in the most skeevy, backstabby way possible.

Jared and Jensen put their hearts and years of their lives into this show bringing Sam and Dean to life, episode after episode, week after week, season after season. Telling an important story about platonic and familial love that you really won't find anywhere else.

Misha and the hellers have spent years trying to co-opt that to their own ends out of gross entitlement. They deserve each other, but the show and its actual fans don't deserve to have to put up with either of them. Unfortunately, we have the fandom we have, not the one we deserve.

[neodreamgirl]

SEUNGHANNNNNN NOOOOOOO

I'M SO PISSED WHAT THE FUUUUUCK

This is insanity!!! I was on weverse just YESTERDAY and I was screenshotting the crazy comments and posts made by ot6 because they were so laughable. How you gonna take THESE BITCHES SERIOUSLY?

I have so many words I don't even know where to start like what the fuck

I was so excited to start stanning again! Now, I had to delete their most recent music off of my apple music. I rewatched the siren dance practice of when Josh Price was teaching them the choreo. It's one of their most memorable behind the scenes videos. This shit is so sad. Oh my goodness...

When I was on weverse, I noticed that if you scroll down the feed you'll see 5 ot7 stans, and then 2 ot6 stans. How the hell does one make the decision to kick him out because of a minority? I'm so confused. The other 6 members are in Madrid (I think). Who did Seunghan deliberate with about this?

I understand if he saw all the hate and decided it was time to go. I understand, I do. He's the one receiving all the hate but this is not his fault. The psychopaths are at fault here; never him nor RIIZE. I can't even fathom the impact this has had on his mental health. I genuinely am hoping that he still sees his worth as a person. I genuinely hope he understands that these people are crazy and that he is the victim. He is not the villain and he genuinely has so many supporters that want to see him thrive in this life and the next. But I just feel like he was probably pressured to leave

Listen...All this deliberating for the past 11 months and not one conversation about how to deal with the inevitable backlash? Are you kidding me? Please be so fucking serious. HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING, if seunghan approached management about leaving the group, they had to sit him down and tell him that they got him. That they understand the hate can be disheartening, discouraging, and distasteful, but that they will handle it. They would look for resources that will help him mentally, take away social media access from him so that he doesn't see the hate, talk about how they gradually plan on integrating him into the group. If he wishes there could be any accomodations, they'll grant them. They needed to tell him that they don't want to let him go so easily because they believe in his talents, potential, and rightful spot in RIIZE. They had to make him feel worthy. They had to encourage him to deal with the backlash because he wouldn't be dealing with it alone. They would hire more security so that when they go out at airports and such, he can feel safe. Management had to reassure him that there will be official statements made defending him and if legal actions must be sought, then they will FUCKING SEEK THEM. I DON'T GET IT. I feel like they forced him to leave idk

DAMN. THE OFFICIAL SM ACCOUNT COULD HAVE RELEASED A STATEMENT SAYING THAT THEY STAND TEN TOES DOWN ON WHAT THE FUCK THEY SAID BECAUSE SEUNGHAN BELONGS IN THE MOTHERFUCKIN GROUP AND ANY SHITTY UNWASHED BOOTY CHEEKS HAVING ASS BITCH THAT GOT SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT CAN REFER THEIR COMMENTS TO SM'S FUCKIN LAWYER. THE FUCK YOU MEAN. I'M SIIIIICK AS HELL. SICK TO MY FUCKIN STOMACH

What kills me is that the 6 other members wanted him integrated into the group. They wanted to work with him. They wanted to experience idol life with their BROTHER. The mf they trained with for YEARS. This is soooo unfair. I literally cannot believe this shit. All you stupid bitches that were against the boycott and made assumptions that maybe we ot7 hoes were wrong about RIIZE wanting Seunghan back can kiss my fuckin ass. This is your fault, too, by the way. You're a stupid ass bitch. What the hell made you think these niggas didn't want him back into the group? What the fuck made you think they thought this was fair? Speak INTO the mic, bitch.

A lot of you were not willing to fight for Seunghan. Maybe you thought it wasn't that big of a deal, which is odd considering his circumstances, but you're a bitch. I'm like 10000% sure that boycotting the group would have done him and his FORMER members a whole lot of good. A lot of you were too pussy....I would like to think that perhaps I'm wrong and that the only reason you continued stanning was because you had hope he would return and that their management wasn't unfair trash. I don't know...

OT7 BRIIZE...we have gone THROUGH it this past year. Like I am so sorry that we had to go through any of this nonsense. This is absolutely insane. The emotional rollercoasters from 2023 after his hiatus was announced. Articles having to be deleted, edited and re-released without his name. That shit happened about 108912 times. The random sightings of him this year looking at the messages we left him, all while the company nor the members mentioned him. The random spaces the members would leave during their performances. The videos of the members reading RIIZE IS 7 signs and reacting positively going viral online like what the fuck. Also, I can't help but feel like this isn't over...

I don't know...Am I trippin? Seunghan has so many supporters I highly doubt that those that can afford to send trucks and shit will stay quiet. Many people actually find this whole situation extremely unfair. It's not even because it's seunghan but because this is literally awful. People have been very vocal about how the handling of this situation was pure shit...that's not going to stop now. Many non-BRIIZEs have commented about how Kpop companies always side with the K-fans and never pay attention to international fans. Many of them applied that opinion to this situation in particular. They're not wrong, either. I saw that some weird ass SM employees were on a message board where they can post anonymously. They said they were against the integration of Seunghan in the group because of the backlash they would receive, but the backlash was strictly from Chinese and Korean fans. But those people were only a select few. Many Chinese and Korean fans like Seunghan just as much as western fans do.

Why do I feel like RIIZE is going to do something? Wonbin spoke up but his post got deleted. There are some recent airport pics where they look absolutely distraught after this announcement was made. This is what I mean when I say this isn't over LMAO. I think this will only get worse. Kpop is no longer just a cute little niche thing in Korea. This industry reaches overseas. These idols are slowly finding their place in the western market because as we have seen through the success of BTS, western award shows are starting to award kpop music. There is a place for them here.

I wouldn't be surprised that if the reaction of OT7 BRIIZE sends RIIZE into a hiatus. As I was thinking this, I learned that some people have been making comments about RIIZE disbanding to prove a point to these crazy fans and SM. I don't know if they would actually do that, but I doubt that they're going to just let this happen.

I actually genuinely believe him leaving was a bad idea lmao I'm not just saying that as a fan but because too many people already thought the situation was unfair. In his defense, having so many people talk crazy to you would be enough to push anyone to get away. However, the people he spoke to about this failed to realize (like how is your brand RISE and REALIZE and you fail to rea--nvm) that the idea of him leaving or getting kicked out was the reason for the controversy in the first place. People didn't want to see him go on a freaking hiatus what the fuck made you think they would want to see him permanently leave the group? Are you stupid...this is what I mean like if he was genuinely trying to protect RIIZE's brand, the people should have told him that leaving will have the opposite effect. They should have encouraged him to sing and dance with his fans and fuck the haters in the ass.

We can all expect this to get more coverage. Expect 14232 trucks and banners sent to SM. Expect statements after statements. Honestly, you could even expect him to be integrated into the group again. That's how fucked this company is. With enough backlash, this could happen. I'm so serious.

[karatekels]

WARNING: SPOILERS WILL BE COMING! 🚨

So, as we all know, part 1 of season 6 is dropping tonight! It's looking like midnight my time, and because I am a large baby, that is past my bedtime.

I'm going to be binging the episodes early tomorrow morning, and posting my ranting rambling thoughts here - maybe I'll just use this post? - the way I did for the first five episodes of my rewatch.

I will hide them under a cut, and I don't plan on posting anything about the new season outside of this post for a week or so.

Basically, if you want to avoid spoilers: read with caution!

Episode 1: Peacetime in the Valley

…God I really love how they do music on this show.

Okay this peace better die real fucking quick because I’m annoyed.

CHOZEN IN A SHORT ROBE, NOW WE��RE TALKING.

Looking at this newspaper clipping, I wonder if we’re supposed to care about little details or if they just didn’t really care and it’s completely random. If it’s NOT random, I have thoughts:

Why is the photographer who took Terry’s mugshot only named by their initials. Anyone know a B.T.?

…okay, looking at the column on the left, this had better be a joke. CLOWN MURDER?!

And then the article itself is cobbled together. Unless this is just a fake newspaper as a plant, then this is pretty week bud.

Coincidentally, if you or any other showrunner would like to hire me to write fake newspaper articles for your show or movie so that people like me don’t tear you apart online, I am available!

Okay so Tory and Robby are clearly still together, and the only thing that isn’t complete peace is Kenny and Anthony only looking at each other from a distance?

DANIEL’S SMUG SMILE AS THE COBRA KAI LOGO GETS THROWN AWAY GO FUCK YOURSELF SIR.

Amanda YES, bring up Terry getting the charges dropped!

Kreese vs. US Marshals eh?

Stop talking about my man without showing him, Daniel.

Oh good, already tension between Daniel and Johnny’s views on things.

OH JOHNNY LOOKS GENUINELY DEVASTATED THAT THEY DEMOLISHED THE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE.

…wow we really are just forgiving Benedict Penis Breath for some reason, huh?

IT DID NOT TAKE AWHILE FOR YOU TWO TO TALK AGAIN, ROBBY. YOU LITERALLY JUST HAD A FIGHT AND THAT SEEMED TO FIX EVERYTHING??

…Johnny wants to use fire on the children? I can think of a couple that can be guinea pigs *cough*KYLER*cough*

Ohhhhhh… Daniel picking Chozen over Johnny isn’t gonna end well. What if instead we got rid of Daniel and Johnny and Chozen hung out.

– insert Sekai Taikai exposition here –

And the new name of the dojo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis… I MEAN, WE’VE ALL BEEN CALLING IT MIYAGI-FANG FOREVER.

Of course Daniel is angry (I mean it is a stupid picture of Mr. Miyagi but still)

…Chozen going against Johnny here really doesn’t check out. But I am here for a Chozen vs. Johnny fight.

The worst double-date in history! WHO CARES IF SHE DOESN’T WANT TO LEARN MIYAGI-DO??

Robby, don’t you dare speak ill of the precious Kenny/Silver mentorship dynamic you JERK.

Daniel (and Chozen) being so dismissive of Johnny’s feelings makes me sad

Oh DIP OMINOUS TEXT MESSAGE GOOD THING YOU BOUGHT THAT AXE.

Tory looks so sad and I hate it. Eat your waffle cone, Miguel.

Robby why in the hell would interrupting the game make Kenny want to listen to you? Also lmao look who’s taller now Kenny grew like 2 feet.

HI SHAWN. …Being ominous in an arcade is great.

Daniel preaching balance when he’s simultaneously…Daniel is infuriating.

…Chozen alcoholism subplot? ANDNO KUMIKO?! BUT I SHIP IT SO HARD!

Oh Johnny really brought the axe huh?

OH MY GOD STINGRAY I’M DYING.

Shawn your child brother is starting high school please do not take him to a strip club.

ROBBY WHY WOULD YOU APPROACH WHILE THEY HAVE BATS.

WE DON’T WANT TO FIGHT, he says while joining the fight!

…am I Stingray? “Because it’s awesome” – I WILL BELIEVE IN COBRA KAI FOREVER.

And he appreciates that Amanda is a smokeshow.

Don’t you dare disrespect ponytail dude, Shawn Payne.

Did the prison system actually help Shawn? SHOCKING.

Daniel being the bigger person? Only took HOW MANY DECADES?!

…so we’re calling it Miyagi-Do? Even though it’s not just Miyagi-Do? THIS IS DUMB.

We don’t get to see how Kreese got to Korea? REALLY?!

Episode 2: The Prize

NICK! YAY TERRY BACKSTORY! (Also Barrett yay but I mean… TERRY)

Kreese defending her is so cute OH MY GOD SHE’S IN THE AIR CHILL OUT GRAMPS.

Oh good, sewage in the cooking pots.

Not a real talk about money on this show! Oh, we’re cutting away?

…Why did we linger on that one student when Kim said “Silver is gone now”? Am I just looking for hope where there isn’t any?

I’m sorry, how old is this man going to be now? HE LOOKED 80 IN THE LATE 60S.

Does Amanda just dress like that everyday? Daniel is a lucky man.

I would watch an entire YouTube series in the vein of Trixie & Katya’s “I Like to Watch” that’s just Chozen watching reality shows.

“Your incompetence is why I must stay alive” is a brutal fucking line.

Kyler and his gaggle of 45 year old college freshmen. Or just Brucks.

…please think Chozen and Johnny are a gay couple, Mr. Realtor. Okay no, but Johnny blowing this up pretty spectacularly is pretty great.

Why do I feel like this is going to culminate in Kreese stabbing Immortal Kim because he’s “worthy of taking control”?

OR THE SNAKE COULD BITE HIM UMMMM.

As someone who has been in university in some capacity for like a decade, this… was not my experience. Though watching Kyler get shit on is kind of fun.

OH NO DUTCH REFERENCE. HE’S STILL IN PRISON THOUGH THAT’S GOOD.

Deus ex Johnny-fan ftw!

NOT HALLUCINATION NICK MARINI!

…Okay, so we are just gonna double down on the homoeroticism with men being each other’s weaknesses? I mean I’m here for it.

Frats have always seemed so stupid to me, with hazing and shit. Even for morons like Kyler. Never thought I’d see the day where I’m rooting for Kyler but I guess here we are. DESTROY THE DOUCHEBAGS. (Though how is anyone getting into college with this ASSAULT)

American tourist loses mind in cave, talks to snake. Film at 11.

Kyler acknowledging he’s a moron? I’m here for it. NO NOT ANOTHER FRAT COME ON.

LMAO Johnny insisting he has a job – AND IT WORKS HE JUST STARTS SELLING CARS.

Amanda is right though, what’s in the briefcase, Johnny?

Kim Da-Eun is gonna JUMP Kreese’s bones istg

Episode 3: Sleeper

Chozen freeloading is hilarious

“Chicks dig me” as a response to possibly having a daughter is crazy.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?!

…the cobra is still in your dealership, Daniel?

“I’m a girl dad” – Johnny Lawrence, 2024 (or whatever year this is supposed to be I can’t remember)

…okay this episode is called Sleeper and we’re seeing that same student we did in the last episode when they said “Silver is gone now” DID TERRY HAVE A BASTARD CHILD AND NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?!

You tell ‘em, Devon.

Lol “LEE, CALL YOUR DAD, YOU’RE HANDLING THIS PROBLEM AT YOUR HOUSE.”

Please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character

Got a lot of mystery boxes in this episode, huh?

…”we can have a girls’ night,” says the 50-something year old man to the 3 teenaged girls he isn’t related to. I do love his relationship with Devon though. It’s a shame she’s going to die in a freak karate accident so that Johnny can name his daughter after her.

THE HORRORS LOCKED AWAY IN A HIDDEN COMPARTMENT ARE THAT HE WAS A BOXER?!

…oh and he beat the shit out of people.

AND HE CHANGED HIS NAME?! OKAY SHIT’S GETTING INTERESTING.

Lmao the Ouija board fakeout

Yeah good Daniel, leave your dolled-up wife in the shady gym.

OH MY GOD JOHNNY PLEASE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

Kreese is really just trying to make a bunch of killing machines (or at least one, anyway), huh?

The Big 3 weren’t lying when they said they were going all out this season with the fights.

Also is Kreese just fine with the snake bite? He’s fine?

Oh noooo, Mr. Miyagi wasn’t a perfect human I’m SHOCKED.

Johnny is SO happy they’re fighting I love it – OH NO BOOOOOOOOOO PEACE. Go get matching tattoos or something you dorks.

Oh no Daniel, is your perfect worldview crumbling? Was surrogate daddy not as perfect as you thought?

YES, CHOZEN. WHAT DID HAPPEN IN CANCUN?

Nooo Chozen don’t leave even if it is for Kumiko I’LL MISS YOU.

Yes, let’s end the episode on “girls are easy”

Oh no wait, more Daniel mourning the loss of his innocence

Were the rumours right? We’re going to Spain? LET’S GOOOOOOO – wait how are they going to afford everyone going?

And we’re down to six – Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory… Kenny/Demetri/Devon?

Episode 4: Underdogs

Hawk thinks patriotism will earn him a spot? God I hate that mohawk.

“Each and every one of you has a shot, even though many of you are either our children, close enough to be our children, or are our clear favourites”

SHUT UP DEVON IF ANTHONY GETS PICKED I’M GOING TO KILL SOMEONE.

Johnny assuming he’s as good as a partner at the dealership is KILLING me

THANK YOU FOR TELLING HIM NO ABOUT ANTHONY, JOHNNY.

Why is Daniel so against them… actually earning their spots?

Hi Mike!

Lol flashback – but why not show Terry?

YES DEVON MY QUEEN.

AWWW, Penis Breath is so happy with his new name.

SERIOUSLY? ANTHONY?

If Anthony makes it I’m killing myself.

Devon speaking up for all neglected minor characters everywhere.

What in the actual fuck is going on. Go away Yasmine you suck. OKAY BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF DEMETRI’S HAPPINESS. …maybe her dumping him would’ve been better she is the WORST.

Binary Bros. will be the couple with the drama this season.

This capture the flag game seems fun but Mike can’t look at everyone at once…

I mean your son IS going to bleed and get the shit kicked out of him, Daniel. Wake up. No? Gonna keep feeding him your bs? Cool.

Barnes has quite the craftsmanship.

JOHNNY VS MIKE LET’S GOOOOOOOO… but away from the saw please.

HEY HE SAID THE THING.

…we’re really just gonna call each other bad boys with a straight face?

Okay Devon, enough with the negative self-talk. You’re sounding like me.

NOOOOOO Binary Bros. are fighting!

Kenny is kind of cocky af and I hope he doesn’t get it.

Smart move would’ve been to go up top and see if you can spot the flag…

OH WE TOOK KENNY OUT WITH A CHEAP TRICK…that’s not funny.

Oh SHIT Demetri is being an asshat. Why is NO ONE asking bout Hawk?

MAN now Devon has to feel bad because someone else chea– OH MY GOD IT WAS HER.

Episode 5: Best of the Best

Why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous

Oh look Kreese has come for a visit.

And yet another blonde champion has turned against Kreese.

OH MY GOD, DEMETRI SHUT UP.

Robby you lovestruck little fool it’s adorable.

I really love Terry (duh) but Johnny is 100% my favourite Sensei.

HEY LEAVE THAT CANADIAN DUMMY ALONE, EH?

What about your worst impulses, Danny Boy?  S H U T    U P   and appreciate your hot wife for once, Jesus!

…Carmen is going to go into labour in this episode isn’t she.

AND there it is! Nope wait, false alarm. Everybody go hug Miguel.

NO NO NO DON’T BE DEAD NO NO NO

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT

HER FIST WAS CLENCHED – WAS IT KREESE?

Why does Sam and Miguel’s relationship seem so focused on beating Robby and Tory? While Robby and Tory seem actually into each other?

Daniel you suck, you hypocritical, self-righteous twat.

This is some mighty fine acting, Miss Peyton List. Best crier on the show since Xolo!

JOHNNY YOU HAVE A BABY ON THE WAY CAN YOU NOT YANK THE STEERING WHEEL.

…he’s right though. SHUT UP DANIEL.

Okay but Johnny this is really stupid you’ve sold cars for four minutes.

LMAO “YOU’RE FINALLY LEAVING HIM” GOD AMANDA LISTEN TO JOHNNY HE’S RIGHT.

Johnny gonna embrace boxing with the students? Daniel can’t really say anything about it not being about Mr. Miyagi then.

She kept… the bottlecap… I AM NOT OKAY.

You did not try, Daniel. Shut the fuck up. I’m mad at you. Go away. Get your head outta your ass.

You don’t get to know everything about anyone, Daniel. Especially when you’ve got your head so far in the sand you can’t even come to grips with who YOU are.

Amanda go find Tory. GO FIND TORY, AMANDA.

Okay there’s Tory. USE THAT MOTIVATION, ROBBY.

Can Robby get a decent haircut for once please? He’s a cute kid, his head deserves better.

Good for you, Robby. (Also why do I feel like he’s going to change his last name to Lawrence once the baby is born and then they’ll all just be one big happy sappy family)

I’m sure that Tory seeing both of Sam’s living and supportive parents there won’t screw her up at all.

Oh that’s gonna be Tory’s therapist or something for Amanda isn’t it UH OH.

YEAH YOU NEED TO STOP THE FIGHT.

OH SHIT. Not Danny striking first.

FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH WITH THIS KUMBAYA SHIT.

…Kenny’s gonna be mad about that – oh wait he’s not there and I’m sure it’s going well for him.

Not the bloodstained headband.

…Hawk really kept the dumb mohawk for the tournament huh?

Tory and Kenny gonna be fighting for Korea with Kreese?

(Why is Kreese there? This is televised? The police??)

LET’S FUCKING GO TORY.

[penny-the-pissed-poltergeist]

RWBY Volume 4 Episode 10: Kuroyuri rewatch thoughts

.And starting with the only character who didn't get a part of their story last episode, Oscar.

.I'm 100% sure the reason leaving doesn't feel awful to Oscar is because the reincarnation curse is already mixing both Oz's and his brain

.Why doesn't Oz have something set up so he can get resources when needs to post reincarnation? Maybe taking out the CCT took something like that out the equation.

.Hazel was really like

>Shows up out of no where

>Helps some random kid by denting a whole ass ticket machine with bare hands

>Gives slightly ominous advice > Refuses to elaborate further > Leaves

.Hazel seemed so cool before learning his stupid ass backstory

.This scene makes me wish he hadn't already been shown under Salem earlier, they should have kept him mysterious

.Kuroyuri itself is creepy and the ambience in it's first scene is great, but already having seen two destroyed villages this season lessens the impact a bit

.Hey look, a bike. Mistral having something that only exists in a modern setting for once.

.Baby Lie is so cute :3

.An and Li Ren are both really interesting even if we get only this flashback. An is the most underrated RWBY MILF who said that?

.One of the swords on the stand Lie goes to is clearly based on the buster sword and I like that.

.The very small child trying to buy saké is inherently very funny.

.I love 2D cakes that have my future logo on them for no reason too, Lie! (shout out to the cat bread)

.Ren and Nora's kid models look fine to me, but these comically evil bully kids looks so off, they didn't have a standard model for slightly older kids and you can tell.

.Adopting baby Nora as my own my little dashie style.

.I realized Li just added one letter to his name for his kids name, and Tai hacked off part of his name for his kid. It's just funny to me.

.I really like the scene between Jaune and Ruby here, god Ruby's been through way too much.

.This is probably the volume were angsty Jaune is at his most tolerable, he's still annoying sometimes but he's not a complete asshole yet.

.Holy shit An dying was a shock.

.I don't have many notes on the rest of the flashback, but how Ren semblance unlocks makes me question if it full on repress emotions alongside masking them. Because Ren goes from crying his eyes out to confident and heroic real fast.

.The main reason I don't have notes is because that scene is just good in a way I have trouble commenting on.

.I know some people who would say the Nuckelavee keeping trophies is a sign a human level Grimm intellect but some octopi are know to collect shells of past food and lots of corvids love their shinies.

.The cave itself is quite chilling but it really makes you wonder how it took this long for Nuckes over here to die.

[gloriousburden]

Hey!! I just wanna say your takes on Loki are super refreshing to read, and they cleared up my mind a little! Maybe this sounds a little stupid but I got so confused after rewatching everything (+ watching the series and I feel like that was the breaking point xd) and since I didn't read anything nor any opinions I was. Just lost in these jambled thoughts because I couldn't figure out Loki's character well since he just feels so... so different after Avengers/TDW and I really couldn't tell wtf was going on with him for a while until I sat down and deconstructed everything since it was so bad?? Maybe it's just me and I'm slow but I seriously never had that experience with a character I fixated before and I can't tell if it was because how badly Loki was handled by his writers or it's just me being scatterbrained or both 😭

Anyway thanks again this isn't anything new just wanted to let you know,, your/others takes in your posts are the ones that resonate the most with me and I feel less alone lol when I read some of them on other platforms it's either too much shipping or just... things that don't really make sense to me xd

So yeah, there's no take here, but thanks if you read!! You don't have to answer 🫰

Hello! I am so glad to hear that I could help. I know that feeling all too well, and it’s exactly why I started posting on here. Watching each weekly episode of the series as it was coming out was torture. It was like a punch to the gut every single time that they belittled Loki, mischaracterized him, hinted to the romance with Sylvie, had him consistently forgive the characters who treated him like shit, and took it all in a direction that… had absolutely nothing to do with Loki.

I fell in love with Loki’s character around 5 months before the series came out, and everyday I mourn what the fandom used to be despite the short amount of time I experienced it the way it was. Of course there was mischaracterization, but never was it as widespread as this.

In all honesty, the series turned me off from liking Loki for a hot minute. It disgusted, angered, and saddened me so much. I lost the ability to enjoy watching or interacting with anything related to Loki because I was reminded of it all each time. I remember watching the finale feeling complete fucking shock and a sense of dread. On top of all that bullshit… there’s going to be a season 2?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I took comfort in the shared reaction and negativity Loki TikTok (at the time) had to it lol. What annoyed the shit out of me also was people beginning to ship Lokius/Sylki. You saw what both of those characters did to him, why ship them? the shipping bullshit is the worst. What happened to people liking Loki for JUST BEING LOKI?

I had that same confusion. How could this be Loki at all, but especially Loki after the events of THE AVENGERS?! This couldn’t even be Ragnarok Loki, so how could it be Loki DIRECTLY after/during his most villainous? I just kept thinking to myself.. Loki is intelligent. He is strong. He is more than what they represented him as. And he never deserved any of that. He is playful, of course. But he is not a buffoon who lets others walk all over him. He doesn’t deserve to be the laughingstock in a series that was supposed to uplift him. No other character was “humbled” in their own series like this.

Like you said, you’ve never had this experience with characters you’ve been fixated on before. I felt the same way. I had many favorite characters who were killed off, yet their deaths weren’t as brutal to me as the character assassination Loki was put through. I think I posted something along the lines of that. That all of this has made mourning Loki’s actual death in Infinity War so… weird.

The next months or so, I tried getting back into loving Loki. Which as you can probably tell… it worked. But I was still so disgusted by the series. I would pace around my room thinking of Loki rants in my head, and I’d write them down in my notes app just thinking… ‘well that doesn’t fucking add up.’

What helped was knowing there were others that shared the same feelings that I did.

I began lurking on this side of Tumblr, reading everyone’s posts (and even masterlists) of reasons why the series was so fucking garbage, and how it did absolutely no justice to Loki’s character.

It helped me realize and identify the reasons why the series upset me so much. It also helped me learn more about Loki’s character in general, to which I fell more in love with him. It helped me feel less alone, and I wanted to voice my own opinions as well. I felt so lost, and I really wanted to connect with others who felt the same.

Eventually, I began posting my own rants as well as following a bunch of other OG Loki fans who primarily focused on Loki’s character before the series (as well as before Ragnarok.)

These were people who understood Loki, and loved him as much as I did. I found community, and everyday I am so grateful for everyone here. I was (and still am) heavily fixated on Loki, and the mischaracterization would irk me so fucking badly. The lack of love for Loki for who he is, outside of ships and fanon, hurt me. He means a lot to me even if he is just a fictional character. I see myself in him.

So… long story short, it really means a lot that I could play a part in helping you out with your own confusion and feelings of loneliness through all of this bullshit. It’s the same thing I went through a few years ago. Wanting to help as well as wanting to connect with others who felt lost and hurt like I did, was why I started posting on here. It’s a bit of a full circle moment for me lol.

Other platforms are DREADFUL. I think I’ve said this on here somewhere before, but Pinterest has a lot of OG Loki content, and I find it easier to avoid the series related stuff. I recommend checking it out if you haven’t. Also… I HIGHLY recommend using the google search Before:Year feature helps so much!! It’s pretty fun to see a lot of the first reactions to Loki’s character, as well as the outdated memes ���😭😭 OG Loki fangirls paved the way!!

It really is a peculiar ass situation. My favorite character has been killed off, an alternate version of him was revived, and it’s all complete misery. What REALLY annoyed me though was people just accepting it.. Like what? Really? This is Loki to you?

Thank you for this, and I’m glad you feel less alone. I hope that you continue to find community within this side of Tumblr. It’s all I ever wanted for anyone who stumbled across my blog. So sorry for the long ass response LOL

[itslouisan]

Special for mootie: my headcannons on @imaginary-grandpa Prime!!

(btw mootie take my opinion as a grain of sand in a dessert cause it's just silly things I thought when rereading the blog jvj- btw like this is one of my fav asks in Tumblr and just wanted to y'know..talk about it and give my mootie support cause they create amazing stuff)

-based on this ask I hc that Prime curious to what Morty enjoyed started watching Morty's cartoons and even present Morty some that he watched as a kid, maybe gifted comics too (clearly he was talking aboUT Ben 10 so I imagine the Ben 10 comics as some gifts) I also imagine the 2 watching some 2000's CN shows like courage the coward dog (Morty would be TERRIFIED and cling to Prime's arm while he is just vibing eating popcorn) or Codename: Kids Next Door and just make stuff together based on the shows, it became a habit for Prime to gift these to Morty (sometimes even summer IF he feels in the mood)

based on this one I think Summer and Prime have this complicated dynamic, clearly Summer cares for Morty and is protecting her lil brother WHO CLEARLY IS NAIVE (which hey as a easily kidnapable kid, relatable) I imagine in the first weeks or months Summer would be SO ON GUARD and just silently judge Prime and give him looks that she'll jump on him and bite him.

OK this will sound stupid but THIS made me think, hey based on "Tales from the citadel" (rewatched this weekend with my dad and it's A FAV of mine) we know there's variants to universes so there could be a Prime dimension A, B, C etc; what if, Prime just killed the other Primes to a level or just let them fuck off cause y'know, whatever he doesn't care, and in exchange, he goes to this reality that C-137 didn't found due to being an obscure timeline and WAY in the past, this way he'll have a safe reality just like his original in every sense but without wife guy knowing and thinking there's only one Prime dimension, now abandoned. OR I'm just overthinking and the whole ask is BEFORE canon Rick and Morty, literally years before C-137 reached Prime dimension and what we are seeing is an alternate reality he CHOSE to come early to get his leftover shit-- well i'm probably just overthinking but eh, it's fun to imagine shit

I'm focusing more on the image here but my note is: I like to imagine Prime comes over either in the morning when Beth is out and Jerry is well, being jerry, and since morty is really young prob he doesn't go to school yet and wouldn't need to go to a daycare due to jerry being there + Summer, but I think he could come late into the night when Jerry and Beth are asleep and just sound proof the garage, the kids stay up all night with Prime and sleep in the morning/noon. As for the image, I already commented this on a reblog but, Prime actually looks happy in those pictures, which makes me wonder if something happenned between him and diane in the first place on the past, BUT idk if i'm JUST overthinking (look i'm autistic with a hyperfocus, I look for detail onto the tiniest shit ever) but in the one with only him and diane his smile looks a bit unnerving, maybe forced? Anyway clearly Prime got angry when talking of being replaced, or when we bring up Diane, so I'm just guessing he didn't kill her JUST to kill her, something else had to happen.

*cough* I need to actually see this happening in the blog *cough* but it kinda makes me think if Prime even thinks he is toxic in any way cause well, clearly he feels something for these kids and family, remembers stuff with Diane and Beth and doesn't just fuck off, perhaps, just like C-137 he would consider this "irrational"? idk I just like to think Prime every single night after coming back to his place alone runs a hand in his hair and thinks wtf is wrong with him to want to come over again

idk, silly but he made the costumes, Summer helped, he is into crafts but would never admit

just to finish this, SUMMER BULLIES HIM AND JOKES HE IS LIKE A CAT JUST TO GET HIM MAD. IDC, SHE MADE IT ON PURPOSE AND GETS WHAT I'M SAYING.

[soapywankenopy]

PJO Rewatch

Ep3 We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

-The Minotaur horn being kept in the attic instead of Percy keeping it with him. At first, I didn't like this change (I didn't really have a reason for not liking it). But now that I've thought about it, I really like it. I think it shows how uncomfortable Percy is with his new situation and seemingly new powers (so uncomfortable that he keeps the reminder of his mom's disappearance somewhere he'll never see it). But the horn being kept in the attic also shows how little agency he has right now, something that is rightfully his is being kept somewhere else. Who knows if he had a say in that? Or maybe I am reading too deeply into that, idk.

-The oracle speaking through Gabe's image is not something I like (it spoke through Gabe in the book but Percy makes a point to say that it's not speaking in Gabe's voice and is very spooky). It's very goofy in the show. My theory is that a version that was closer to the books was too scary and Disney asked to have it toned down. Who knows if that's actually what happened, but that is my theory.

-'Someone who wouldn't hesitate to push me down a flight of stairs.' Perfect foreshadowing. Also, Chiron knows FOR SURE that Annabeth would push someone down a flight of stairs (she tried to later on, so he was correct)

-Percy and Grover (my boys!! ♡♡♡♡♡) I hope they get more screentime in coming seasons than they did in the later books.

-Grover Underwood you will always be famous ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ my goat son

-"I think they're Canadian, maybe... or from Chuck E. Cheese" those are drachmas son (to be fair, i probably would've thought they were chocolate)

-"You told me you'd be on her side no matter what." Uhghhrhrhhdghhhhrr Percy saying that to Luke? I'm going to die

-"Her satyr protector tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen" my poor boy, he still feels so guilty about that. It's not your fault Grover! Blame stupid Zeus...

-"I don't think you should just get to decide we don't vote." "I'm sorry to hear that." YES THAT'S MY ANNABETH !!!!

- "Our voting system's broken." Percy. It's perfect. Walker, you ARE Percy Jackson.

-"We don't need help. We're fine." Yes, hubris is definitely her flaw. On a side note, I've always admired that her flaw is hubris and not something more stereotypically "girly." I think too often girls in media have to be 'perfect', and it's not true to life. Annabeth is very talented and formidable, but she's not perfect, and that's great. There is a great lack of complex and flawed female characters (and then when we do get them, people tend not to receive them well, which is another tangent altogether).

-I like the way they handled Medusa's story in the show. I love the emphasis of the fallibility of the gods. But I'm glad that even though you can sympathize with her, she's still an obstacle. She's embittered, and she's trying to take her revenge on the gods through their children, so in the end, she's actually doing what they do, taking revenge on innocent people. I really like this section of the books (especially how they slowly figure out where they are) but I don't mind so much that they changed it to make room for this. It emphasizes that the gods can and DO make mistakes all the time, and is paving the way to Luke's arc.

-Yeah I liked it more this time.