#and the only reason i kept watching after season 6 was because of him | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

locke-esque-monster · 2 months ago

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I got real nervous they were doing Lila x Five really early in the season. It wasn't even explicitly stated, it was just a feeling from how they were setting up and framing things. Lila disagreeing with Diego and going to talk to Five. Lila keeping secrets from Diego that Five knew about. The tension of Five covering for Lila to Diego. Lila's dissatisfaction with her relationship with Diego and asking for a break. Without actively being romantically into Five, it kept setting up the narrative for Lila to leave Diego and Five was all tied in with what she was going to as an alternative to Diego. Add that to the promo pics with them together - even having watched it later and avoided spoilers I had a real bad feeling where this was going long before 4x5. (Or at least avoided until I already had my theory - my phone helpfully suggested an article days before I got to 4x5. I was not pleased to say the least.)

But there's a lot of reasons I take issue with this pairing and how it was done, so Christ, I guess let's get started:

Five explicitly stated in season 3 that Lila is not his type.

Five murdered Lila's parents. Sure, on the Handler's orders. But you think it's easy to have a romantic relationship when you know those hands killed your parents (aka my biggest critique of Tony/Bucky shippers in the MCU).

Five is indirectly responsible for the Handler's death. He saved everyone but her when he time traveled back. Sure, Lila was upset with her, but this woman raised her. She's got to have some complicated feelings about that and Five is all wrapped up in them now.

Five also had a weird relationship with the Handler, where she was a little flirty with him, which was all kinds of uncomfortable. Lila briefly mimicked this in season 3, which was even more uncomfortable. It's unclear if this was deliberately copying her "mother" or not. But adding Five and the Handler's complicated relationship on top of the other issues means there's a whole carousel of baggage to unpack here.

Five has always seemed kind of annoyed or tolerant of Lila, which extended into early this season. It's maybe a hair kinder at the start of season 4, but definitely not where it should be if there's potential here. It'd be one thing if they were friends after 6 years, but their relationship hasn't substantially changed at the start of this season to suggest otherwise.

If you have to do an all musical montage to show 2 characters falling in love, I'm sorry, you're not doing this right. That's telling, not showing. These characters have had tons of interactions to build off of. If you can't do that, then you're effectively saying that you have no foundation for this relationship.

Also, if it takes 6 1/2 years of being each others sole companions under adverse conditions for you to get together - maybe you shouldn't be together. It's one thing if it's treated like "Finally" or "Oh I didn't think you also felt this way". It's another if it's like it's a new idea entirely - that suggests loneliness and a desire for companionship and they're you're only option.

Five's history includes him having a pseudo-romantic relationship with a mannequin when he's left alone in the apocalypse at 13. The next time he's separated from his family for years he's with Lila. I'll allow that it makes sense he developed feelings for her specifically because of his history. That said, that makes this a wholly unhealthy relationship when he has a history like that. Lila is filling a gap Five's psyche has clung to before in similar harrowing times.

Frankly, the fact Lila was first looking for excitement out of her home life and is now upset she can't get back to her family isn't a good headspace either. (I'm also deeply frustrated that Lila feels trapped at home. Lila is so capable and she has a buttload of family members who apparently can take their children on a whim during all this chaos. You're telling me she couldn't have found a better outlet to work on their marriage or get some freedom before it got to this point of lying to Diego?)

Five is volatile and Lila is unpredictable. They're nothing but a menace to practically every other character they meet, including each other. But once they're a couple, they're perfectly pleasant the whole time. I don't buy it. The only fight they have is when Five lied to her. I'm not saying they can't be sweet. But this is all sweetness. For me to buy this couple they need to lovingly bicker. Instead, they've both had personality transplants.

So they decide to go back to the greenhouse after 6 years 5 months and 2 days. Five admits to having the book 5 or 6 months on their 7th anniversary of being lost. Let's be generous and assume they kissed within a couple days of getting to the greenhouse, because they look reasonably settled. That means that best case, Five decided that after being in a relationship for less than 2 months, he was going to throw his whole family away and run away with Lila. That is a hell of a lot of commitment for a short relationship.

And keep in mind, it's not like their family is safe. Last they heard, they hadn't solved the Cleanse. So they're either actively in danger or dead. Five - The man who spent 45 years trying to save his family. Who survived decades in the apocalypse alone (minus Delores the mannequin) and murdered his way through time for the chance to get back and save them - is going to let his family die for a 2 month relationship. I call bullshit.

Also, I will give Five credit that he tried to stay on task during the fight with the Cleanse. He only seemed to fight in retaliation for Diego - he actively looked towards the fight at least once before Diego pulled his attention. But you're telling me he's ready to keep fighting Diego and is threatening to kill him over Lila? That his powers only work correctly after 7 years of having them back because Lila begged him? I once again call bullshit.

And Five was going off to mope alone and never come back and potentially let his family die from an active threat, all because Lila didn't pick him? That is not the Five I know.

I also feel like we maybe did all this arc to get Lila to the point where Five has to convince her to stay because no one else could even if she hates him for it, but still get her family on the train to get the planned ending. And that feels very clunky and I hate it.

Outside of plot lines - it is a bit disturbing to me that we're pairing up an actor whose barely an adult with a woman 15 years his senior - practically old enough to be his mother. This is a aside from the fact he's a what, 71 year old man internally at this point and Lila (if we assume even living at the commission she's a similar age to Diego) is in her early 40s by the time she kisses a physically mid-20s Five. There's so much about that I am not okay with I don't even know where to start.

I also hear the writers wanted a romance for Five. First, okay, then have a longer season. Develop a character for Five earlier on in the season or the show you can pair him with. God knows with that history and age issues it'll be tricky. But also frankly - why? Why does Five need a romantic love interest? He's been fueled by the love of his family and that's done so many impressive things out of love for them. Not everyone needs a romantic love of their life to find happiness and it feels very heteronormative (is that the word I want?) that we need to have that for Five. Give Five an apocalypse-free world and his family alive and then we can see what happiness he can find.

#anti lila x five #tua critical #lila pitts #lila hargreeves #five hargreeves #tua #tua spoilers #tua s4 spoilers #tua s4 #tua season 4 spoilers #tua season four spoilers #tua season 4 #tua season four #umbrella academy #the umbrella academy

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cloveroctobers · 1 month ago

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SAVE YOUR BREATH — Armando Aretas [October Prompts] 🧡

A/N: This was inspired by the show FROM and this fic has a slight crossover with the show that I squeezed into this plot. I initially had no plans to take it further than a certain symbol. I was supposed to end it there (while also keeping this short) but I kept writing lol! If you haven’t watched you should for this season especially! Also loosely inspired by Midnight mass 🫣 & just know picking songs that fit the spooky vibe or fall aesthetic is also a job y’all 😆

S/N: If you’re a reader who’s been impacted by the hurricane(s) I hope you and your loved ones are safe during this difficult time! 🫶🏽

PROMPTS ARE FROM HERE & HERE + I’m using: "Give me one good reason not to kill you." "I'm immortal, so…it's actually not possible." + SCENARIOS — 6. Visiting an apple orchard.

SYNOPSIS: in which Armando wants to avenge your death but your attempts to make him let it slide, brings on a new level of danger he’s not all that prepared for.

🏷️: @violetmuses + @believeinthefireflies95 + @nobodygetsza

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧

Giving Armando space wasn’t really effective since he can still feel you hovering, whether you were behind him lounging against the wall and slicing up some apples to eat while you kept quiet for the most part, or just you simply letting your ghost eyes chill through him.

He’s been on his computer for weeks and didn’t want any help. Any wink of sleep he got was not something he allowed on his own, he’s been functioning off caffeine and eye drops to keep him going trying to track down your killer. Mike’s been telling him to let him handle it, since there was a part of Mike that knew Armando would be back to his old ways, especially after losing you. Now that Mike was slowly building something with his son, he didn’t want Armando to throw it all away. Which definitely brought off heated energy because who was Mike Lowrey to tell Armando how to get justice? Armando had his mother to thank for that, even in death, she was still controlling his life. It has been months since he was on the run and since you played a part in his hiding, that meant you had to serve time, whereas Mike pulled a deal for Armando to work for AMMO that would amount up to the added time he needed to serve, You got the short end of the stick.

No shock there—and to make a long story short, you gave as good as you could in prison but Armando’s mother had it planned that if something were to ever happen to her, she had people that would take you out as well, since she had this unhealthy jealousy when it came to you and Armando.

Nothing ever become of you and Armando but she saw it before you two ever had the chance to fully explore.

So when Mike had to deliver the news of your passing, Armando felt like what was left of him died.

Your relationship with his mother was also very complex. Isabel Aretas was the one who stole you from your own family at just eight years old. Nothing Isabel did made logical sense, you would think that the one person that made your child happy, you would still want your child to have some sort of happiness so that they wouldn’t be alone right? Wrong. Isabel strived to be the only one in her son’s life, out of some unresolved issues and because your bond with Armando was also strong, she wanted to take that with her as well.

It took time but it happened.

In her mind, this would make Armando the deadliest kingpin there could ever be. It builds character, which was her excuse for masking her love as manipulation. When you got away from her, you wanted Armando out too but that resulted in many things with Isabel calling you a, “ungrateful bitch,” and Armando being too blind to see how Isabel was going to get them both killed.

She almost succeeded.

“I think you should just let this go, you’re able to start this new life now. Even if you hate it, maybe it’ll be worth it.” You tried to tell Armando, who wouldn’t bring his red eyes away from the screen.

His brows furrowed as he harshly clicked around on his mouse, “No. I won’t. I’m doing this for us.”

“It’s not going to bring me back.” You state, “Karma will get them one way or another.”

“I don’t have faith in that.”

But he had the answers!

“Well maybe you should have some faith in me.”

“Maybe if you minded your business, you wouldn’t be where you’re at.” Armando snapped, which caught you off guard.

You wouldn’t make excuses for him.

That was low and he knew it because his eyes clenched not long after those words escaped his lips. “I’m sorry—

A gush of wind was all that he heard, which means that you actually left him on his own. It was for a minute too, he kept calling out to you like a crazy person in his apartment as the days went on but you wouldn’t break. Sure he was persistent but you were also very stubborn and didn’t mind making him sweat it out.

There was no way he tried to shift his mother’s actions and deem them as your fault. She took you from your family as a child, causing an accident where you couldn’t remember the last eight years of your life—only the new image the Aretas’ built—killed your father instantly in that accident, left your mother in the hospital with a lengthy recovery just to worry herself into sickness and die not knowing if you were ever safe, made you believe you were living with the Aretas out of false pretenses, made everything so squeaky clean that for years you couldn’t find any true history of your past life, tried to mold you into her one of her many soldiers, continued to lie to about not only you but Armando’s upbringing, and gaslit the both of you once those truth’s came to light.

Isabel was taken out of the game first but at least you were able to go out with a smile on your face, Mrs. Aretas couldn’t say the same.

When you did return, it was when Armando found out the whereabouts of your killer. She was free from jail, ironically five months after your murder—the system pinned it on another inmate—and would be down at the apple orchard with her little family.

“Arman…this isn’t a good idea.” You appeared behind him, as he’s flicking the collar of his leather jacket up after sipping into it.

He scoffs, “Appearing from the shadows today? After you literally ghosted me? is rich I have to say.”

“And I had every right to. This vengefulness is making you sick, haven’t you learned this yet? What is it going to take for you to get it through your thick ass skull, huh?” You follow him as he opens the secret compartment in his room that contained all of his weapons.

You were positive Mike did not know about this stash. Armando probably shouldn’t have any of this kind of weaponry in this temporary home Mike had him set up in. Regardless, Armando was smart he wouldn’t just take these handouts since he knew they came at a cost and had numerous bunkers over the globe. If he wanted to be gone again, he could be.

“You need to get out of my way,” Armando says to you as you simply cross your arms after he comes back out with a case.

You tilt your head, “or what?”

With swiftness, Armando pulls a knife that looks awfully familar as he shoves it right underneath your chin, “Give me one good reason not to kill you.”

Flashing your pretty teeth at him with your arms still folded you respond, “I'm immortal, so…it's actually not possible. Is it genius?”

Armando blinks, “doesn’t mean it still won’t hurt?”

“…that’s the thing, you don’t want to hurt me. You want to hurt everybody else.” You reason, which proves to be right as Armando rolls his eyes before removing the blade from your cold skin.

Sighing Armando puts his back to you, “I really don’t have time for this.”

The sarcasm is heavy in your tone, “Sure but you have time to execute a murder in front of who knows how many people and children?”

“No need to worry,” Armando smirks, “I’m the better shooter anyway.”

Huffing you follow Armando as he starts making his way through the apartment, making sure he has everything before closing the door in your face. Of course you throw your hands up before walking right through the wall to follow the man down the hallway. If he was going to do this, then you were going to be right beside him trying to get him to change his mind before he actually got to the orchard.

It was funny really, Armando going to the one place you loved being. Something you could never explain, you always loved apples since you came into Armando’s life. Apple scented things, favorite fruit and snack were apples, loved baking anything that had to do with apples—not that you had that much time to do that either catching bodies and all but in your sprinkle of free time you did. This was only explained once you knew your background, that you weren’t from another place in South America but North. You had grandparents who owned a farm and were still looking for you after your parents passed.

Your parents were in debt to the wrong people.

The Aretas, so they took the one valuable thing and that happened to be you.

Now here you were not getting to enjoy the sights of the orchard because Armando was out for blood. In your honor. Past you who was just doing these things because you knew you could, would be proud but once you got away from the dark of this game, living the life you could have? Changed how you viewed the world. It drastically changed again once Armando Aretas showed up at your door.

“What are you looking to accomplish by doing this?”

Armando sighed as he opens the car door, “I went over this already.”

“Okay…so what are you going to tell Mike and Secada once they find out?” You inquire as you appear on the passenger side, “The first person they’re going to look for is you, you know that right?”

“I have an alibi.”

“Don’t say something lame like visiting my mausoleum all the way in Massachusetts…knowing you can’t leave the state alone.”

Armando goes quiet which lets you know that was exactly what he was planning on using. He hated having you be one step ahead of him and it showed. The blank expression he shot you, had you snorting into your hand and with a shake of your head you start to comment before Armando interupts.

“Save your breath.” Armando mutters

Moving the seatbelt with a sigh, so you can free your braids you say, “no, I don’t think I will. We went long enough not speaking after you disrespected me by playing the blame game.”

He briefly glances over at you, hand tightening on the wheel, he regretted saying that to you, “I didn’t mean any of it, amiga. I was in my head and when I’m in my head—

“You don’t listen,” you finish with a sharp nod, “which is why I’m telling you that this a bad idea.”

He blinks, “is that a immortal feeling or something?”

You laugh again, “I don’t…think that’s a thing? It’s just natural to not want you to end up, you know? Dead.”

“Appreciate that but the only way I get to move on, is if I do this.”

“Until something else feeds that desire to kill again.”

“We’re always going to be killers, though.” Armando replies, “whether you like it or not in death or life. That’s just what we were made to be.”

“And it’s sad that you can’t see that you can be much more than this.” You tell, “Maybe someday you’ll see that.”

Armando hums, “Are you supposed to be my guardian Angel?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that amigo.” You rest your head back against the headrest, “you did say we were killers and I don’t think murders get to hold angel status.”

“Icarus was a fallen Angel though.”

“Touché.”

A small silence falls over the car ride while being surrounded by the busy life style of Miami. To find quality farms required traveling a good distance so Armando appreciated the silence, to gather his thoughts together. He could have gotten there faster if he purchased another bike but he was very limited now being underneath everyone’s eyes.

With the way Armando drove, it felt like less than over an hour where the palm trees started to fade and the grass roads become more prominent. He’s getting off the exit and there’s a lot less traffic around this area, which worked in Armando’s favor since you knew he preferred to go for the silent kill but if it had to get rowdy he could handle that as well. If there were kids there, which you hoped there wouldn’t be many, you prayed that they would be leaving the site before Armando got into position.

“Would you look at that,” Armando pulls your attention away from the passenger window, “Lime green jeep gladiator, we’re just in time.”

You deeply inhale, sitting up in the passenger seat while Armando keeps his distance, “get the case ready.”

“No.”

The dark haired man with the thick facial hair cuts his eyes at you, “fine. Take the wheel, then.”

And his eyes told you not to argue with him, as he twists to the back of the vehicle to grab said item.

“There’s witnesses.” You state, letting go of the wheel as Armando plops the case right into your lap.

Armando nods, “I’ll aim for the tires, make it seem like they got a flat.”

“…do you know if their kid is with them?”

“I know how to aim,” he argues, moving one hand to the case in your lap to unlock for his gun of choice along with a silencer.

Which didn’t answer your question.

He’s getting ready to roll down his window, your eyes go into slits as a black Escalade cuts you two off. You hold onto the arm of the door as Armando tries to swerve to the right as the Escalade also break checks him.

“Arman,” you start, it’s a feeling that felt like the rolling of waves in the beginning of a storm but warm and you haven’t felt warmth in some time.

He’s slamming on breaks himself, that you feel your toes curl just waiting to slam into the gladiator. Yet the gladiator is off to the left in front of the Escalade that’s attempting to shield your view of the car.

“The hell?” Armando questions and you feel your breathing halt.

In front of you was a tree blocking the pathway to the orchard.

“T-This is it. This is what I tried to warn you of.” You say with shaky breath as you glance to meet Armando’s eyes.

There’s a furrow in Armando’s brows, trying to decipher what you were saying to him. He’s caught off guard by you as he’s yanked out of the driver’s side. You feel a pull to your right, which made you frown because why could you feel this touch when it didn’t belong to Armando?

You’re shoved to your knees beside Armando who’s trying to move the hands that hold him, away until a gun is placed to his temple. The doors to the gladiator are opened, revealing your killer and her wife, who quickly grabs hold of their five year old son.

“No. This isn’t right. I killed you.” She pointed at you, still keeping her distance behind what you and Armando believed to be her bodyguards.

Armando keeps his head still but his eyes move to peek at you.

“You can see me?” You whisper before looking around at your surroundings, “…we shouldn’t be here.”

Your killer laughs, “no, you shouldn’t.” She steps forward, eyes are harsh as she glared at you before shushing her partner while she moves in closer, “did you two come here to kill me and my family? Big mistake.”

Armando shakes his head while admitting, “not your family, just you.”

You wish you could have shushed him in this moment too.

There’s a film of gray that spills over the sky followed by the rustle of trees. You don’t feel safe and not just because everyone can suddenly see you now. Where you resided when you weren’t with Armando, allowed you to see many things you still couldn’t explain. Perhaps it took time to make sense and you didn’t have anyone that worked as a guide. In essence this was just like life.

No answers and just winging it.

However you’ve seen this scene plenty of times before. The getting stuck by a road blockage, always a large tree with vehicles trying to find a way around. It was a cycle before they arrived to the town.

“The town.” You inform causing all eyes to turn to you, “we need to leave, now.”

Your killer huffs, “you keep saying that. You want to leave so bad, here.”

And with that she snatched the gun from one of her bodyguards and aims right at you, firing the gun. At least for this death, you don’t even feel it but you can only imagine how traumatizing this must have been for Armando.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

Waking with a deep gasp that feels as if it’s been punched into your chest, you jolt upwards.

“Whoa, you’re okay.” Armando’s voice is heard to the left of you, his hand rests on your thigh covered blanket.

Your eyes are wide while they connect with his dark ones.

A woman’s voice remarks next, “holy shit! You weren’t lying…and there’s no bullet wound, not even a scar.” Her thumb swipes over your forehead, which you slap away.

“Sorry.” She raised her hands in surrender, “I should introduce myself, I’m Kristi. Armando brought you here in hopes that you’d come back to life. He uh, proved me wrong about you being dead since apparently you were already dead?”

You flick your eyes back to Armando who takes hold of your hand and that’s when you notice they’re stained, “that’s right…”

A click of a gun is heard next, making all eyes turn to a dark skinned man in a blazer.

Not this again!

“Boyd! I don’t think that’s necessary.” Kristi tries to reason.

Boyd scoffs, “I think it is. Sure we get visitors but not ones like her. So you’re gonna tell me the truth and not what I want to fucking hear, are you one of those things because I’ve been waiting to trap one?”

Armando quickly moves to stand in front of the bed, blocking this Boyd guy’s view of you, “Even if she was whatever you’re accusing her to be, why would she tell the person that has a gun pointed at her?”

“That’s fair,” Boyd shrugs, “we just like to have some sort of answers in this fucked up town.”

“Join the club,” you laugh, “since I died, nothing has made much sense. And now I’m back alive or at least somewhat? In this place I’ve only had visions of?”

Boyd starts to lower his gun and shares a glance with the wavy haired woman, who introduced herself as: Kristi.

“…I think we have a lot to discuss before we let you two freely roam the town.”

Armando glances at you from over his shoulder as he speaks, “the town…is that the official name of this depressing looking place?”

“It’s easier to call it as such.” Kristi informs.

Armando realizes that you’re more connected than you let on.

“Sorry about this,” Boyd says as he cuffs Armando who’s confused, “we found some bodies that don’t belong here, along with a young boy who needs looking after, and it’s obvious you were all together and involved in some shit. So I’m going to have to separate you two while we get some more information.”

“Are you fucken serious?” Armando gruffs, “we’ll talk, we have nothing to hide but it seems like you dumbasses do.”

“Yeah alright, wise guy.” Boyd roughly turns Armando around, “I’ll be back before night falls to have a chat with you.” He explains as he shortly looks at you before turning to Kristi, “Make sure she doesn’t leave your sight.”

Armando snickers, “good luck with that, my amiga walks through walls for fun.”

Only that was something you understood, a small smile appearing on the corner of your lips as Boyd and Kristi share a frown, before Boyd leads Armando away from your sight.

“Don’t worry, Armando is in good hands with the sheriff.”

You snort, “that actually exists in this make believe place?”

Kristi pulls up a chair beside you, pulling her stethoscope from around her neck, “unfortunately this place isn’t just in your head.”

A growl rips through your stomach just as she’s scooting forward to listen to your heartbeat and breathing, “When’s the last time you’ve eaten?”

“Immortals don’t really get to eat. We just taste.” You answer.

Kristi nods and pushes back, disappearing behind a curtain for a moment before returning with a piece of a fruit, “Well try this for a change.”

You take the apple from her and wipe it against your sweater with slight laughter. Holding the red fruit towards the light, you bring it to your lips and take a bite. The crunch is almost as satisfying as its taste and your eyes close while you chew. “Honey crisp?”

“I…actually don’t know.” Kristi says, “Food has just gotten better around here…But something tells me I should trust your instincts.”

You smile and breathe in as Kristi places the tool against your chest before moving to your back.

“Tell me something…I have a feeling that your boyfriend—

“Save your breath if you’re trying to hint at shooting your shot at him.” You dismiss.

It’s Kristi’s turn to laugh, “oh no…um…just trying to make conversation. And my fiancée actually works here with me. She’s doing inventory but you’ll probably see her later since I’ll be hiking sometime tomorrow.”

You nod, “Hiking? Armando and I aren’t really hiking people. We grew up in Mexico City where rural wasn’t what we were really used to but he wanted to go to the apple orchard today.”

Kristi hums, “doing some good ol’ apple picking huh? Never would have guessed.” She finished with a laugh.

“Guess we can be full of surprises.”

Kristi sits back in the chair, “you can say that again…there’s no heartbeat when I listen to your chest but there’s a sound when I listen to your back.”

“A sound?” You press.

“Like…a whirling sound?”

You tilt your head to the side, which makes Kristi stand and hand you the end of the tool to place into your ears, raising one arm so the wire can travel underneath your arm, she stretches the stethoscope to place at your back.

“Breathe in for me.”

You do.

“Then out and listen,” Kristi continues to instruct.

Following through again, you exhale all the way out awaiting the sound. The whirling sound, that sounds like wind in a snowstorm. A force against the quiet that has no thudding like a normal heart would and it’s so eerie that you know Kristi can’t explain it either.

Taking another bite from the honeycrisp, you continue to listen while you breathe as you normally would and it’s still there every time you exhale. The season you left behind was autumn in a humid climate, you originally passed in late spring, and now as you got into the town and from what you can see from the window, winter was approaching.

Perhaps your heart was the timer for this town?

“Well…” you say around chewing, “either we’re going to be clueless for a while or I’m going to be answer to saving everybody’s lives. Let the party begin, chica!”

Kristi takes the medical device back and plops back down in the chair, offering a small smile. She didn’t know you yet or the guy you came here with but part of Kristi felt like maybe things will start to become a little bit clearer.

So she saved her breath and hoped.

How much more hope can someone have in a place like this?

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

Back at the station, Boyd is pacing in front of the jail cell he’s holding Armando in.

Boyd summarized, “So you kill people for a living?”

“I did.” Armando’s monotone was off putting as he sat comfortably in the jail cell.

Boyd shakes his head and corrects, “you do. You stopped for a little bit because you had no other choice but then relapsed at the sake of your…your girlfriend? Wife? Fiancée?

“My family.” Armando rectifies while Boyd didn’t see the difference or really need the specifics.

“Are you some sort of serial killer?” Boyd quizzes, finding Armando demeanor to be too at ease.

“No. I’m many things but that.”

Boyd’s eyes are in slits as he spits out, “Are you unalive too because there’s no way you didn’t get injured while taking four people out?”

Armando raises his hand, “just more blood to scrub. The real person we should be worried about is her. I told you she was murdered in prison months ago and has been haunting me ever since. Now we get to some fucken fallen tree in the road and everybody but me can see her? That sound right to you, sheriff?”

Boyd laughs, “oh you’re gonna learn very quickly that nothing in this town is right.”

“She said she had visions of this place before in spurts.” Armando reveals with his elbows digging into his knees, “And how she never wanted to be here, how she feared that once I didn’t need to see her anymore this is exactly where she would end up. That some type of power was telling her this would be her eternity and I guess mine too if I didn’t get my shit together.”

“W-what does that mean? If you died? We’re not dead. She maybe but we’re not.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s gotta be missing signs of us. People looking for us. We’ve all been gone too long for there not to be.” Boyd mumbled to himself but Armando feels as if he isn’t too sure.

If that is the case, then that means Mike is probably losing his shit right about now.

Armando inhales and sits back, “looks like we got a lot to learn about each then, right sheriff? And I think the first person you actually want to start with…is her.”

Boyd doesn’t doubt that since Armando didn’t hold anything back. He quickly learned that the man was in his late twenties, had heavy resentment for both of his parents, especially the one he just learned was actually his parent and was now stuck working with him to pay for his crimes, which he’s been trained to basically be a killer with the friend beside him, and had no issue turning back into that person but was it worth it?

“Why do I feel like you’re about to throw her under the bus? If she’s family then why stab her in the back?”

Armando shrugs his shoulders, “It’s not stabbing when you do research and hold your cards close. I know what she is but I don’t know much about this place, only she does. Which is why I’m telling you, you need to let me out of this cage if you know what’s good for you.”

Boyd held Armando’s stare and it only took a few moments for him to believe a complete stranger, which is not something he usually did.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

When they get back to the clinic, they’re greeted at the door by Kristi who waves them in with a finger to her lips. A frown appears on Boyd’s face as he stops by the door while Armando pushes his way by. He stops at the doorway where a blonde reaches for his shoulder to stop him.

From where they stand, he can see you sleeping on your side. Apple rind fallen from your fingertips, as a white as snow singular wing is arched up and out from your shoulder.

“That’s new and I don’t get out much.” The blonde whispers from Armando’s left.

He folds his arms and turns to meet Boyd and Kristi’s eyes with raised brows.

‘Told you so,’ is written all over his face as he moved to step into the room but the blonde, who touched him again tries to get him not to move any further.

He looks at her hand and then at her face.

She suggests, “I think we should give her some space. Until she’s alert and we see how she reacts, if it’s still out.”

“Marielle’s right, That’s not a bad idea.” Kristi observes.

Armando shrugs Marielle’s hand from him, “how long has she been like that? She normally doesn’t sleep…because she can’t.”

“Not long.” Kristi tells as she glanced at Boyd whose face held complete stress, “Maybe we should get Kenny down here or even Sara?”

Boyd immediately shakes his head, “No to Kenny. We don’t need to bother him right now, we can handle it.”

“You don’t know that, sheriff.” Armando disagrees with a humorless laugh.

“Well, thanks for your load of fucking confidence, Armando.”

“I’m just saying.” Armando leans against the doorway, eyeing you again while crossing one leg over the other, “we…mainly her might have just changed the entire game.”

Boyd clenched his fist and stalked out of the clinic to swing at the air and let out a string of curse words.

Armando rolls his head to look at the two women who peer at the direction where the sheriff walked off too. It was so quiet over here that everyone heard his frustrations.

“Is he always like that? And he’s a sheriff? You might need to check his blood pressure.” Armando mentions while Marielle shakes her head at him and Kristi rolls her eyes.

“You’re strangely calm about this, guy with the bloody hands. You should clean that up by the way.” Marielle says.

Armando unfolds his hands to look at the stains and moves into the main area in search of a sink. “Someone’s got to learn how to not lose their shit and I have a hunch that it’s not that many people around here.”

Kristi defends Boyd, “Okay Mr. Calm, we’ll see how long that lasts once you see what the night brings.”

Armando gives a wicked smile to the two women as he shakes out his damp hands, “I’ve seen plenty in my twenty-eight years and I’ve never been afraid of the dark.”

And with that he moves, despite Marielle’s protest, to sit right beside you, almost keeping guard of you this time around.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧

Continue with my October anthology prompts here.

#Spotify #armando aretas #Armando Aretas x reader #October prompts #spooky prompts #bad boys ride or die #bad boys for life #bad boys #from epix #from mgm #boyd stevens #kristi miller #Marielle Sinclair #queued

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canonicallyobserving911 · 8 months ago

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Buck & Eddie: Two emergencies in 7x1 illustrated Buck hasn’t dealt with his death

It appears the first call with the older onery couple and the second call with the burned car relate to Buck’s death and they seem to illustrate how he’s not over it yet.

These are my OBSERVATIONS and INTERPRETATIONS of two scenes included in 7x1 and other people’s may differ since everyone consumes and interprets media differently.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

Before I delve into this, I have to mention that I don’t think Buck’s over his death yet. Does he want to be? Yes but the fact is he hasn’t dealt with it and the first two emergencies in 7x1 alluded to it.

For those who read my post about my frustrations surrounding the fact that TM (showrunner) said Buck was tired of talking about death and he just wants to be happy (linked here), I’ve elaborated on why I believe he hasn’t dealt with it yet in this post. I found two things in the first episode of season 7 that seems to prove my theory associated with the way TM might be saving Buck dealing with the fact that he ACTUALLY DIED in season 6 until after 7x6 airs since that’s Maddie’s wedding and the Buckley parents are scheduled to return.

I live blogged during last week’s episode but while doing so, I noticed so many things that I wanted to expound on but I wanted to analyze them first to see how they connected to previous seasons and episodes. I watched the episode three more times for multiple reasons but mainly because I wanted to make sure I understood all the callbacks, hindsight, metaphors and foreshadowing. This post will not include everything I found because it’s a lot but I will do several posts to cover the others.

While Buck and Eddie were in the locker room talking, Buck said all ND wanted to talk about was his death, it got boring after a while and he didn’t know why he thought dating a dEaTh DoUlA was a good idea. Eddie responded, “Well you had just died” but then he said something else that caused me to pause because it was JARRING. He said, “Welcome back to the land of the living Buck, you were missed” (more on this topic below).

Be clear, I’M GLAD SHE’S GONE AND I WISH THE SHOW WOULDN’T HAVE SHOVED THEM INTO A RELATIONSHIP. If she would have helped Buck with the fact that he died like she was supposed to then all that screen time spent on whatever they had in season 6 could have been used to SHOW how he arrived at a point of just wanting to be happy at the beginning of season 7 but the audience didn’t get that. The truth is, if he wasn’t opening up and talking about it (it’s likely he wasn’t since he’s not in therapy) then of course it got boring for him because he was doing what he always does, avoiding dealing with his own issues by trying to fix everyone else’s. Reminder, he’s the guy who likes to fix things except for when it’s his own problems. He avoids them the same way he avoided moving on from AC in season 2 which equates to the way he avoided talking to TK for a week so he wouldn’t have to break up with her at the end of season 5.

Also, Buck hides his true feelings and he said so in 4x2 when he was in a FaceTime therapy session with Dr. Copeland. He said, “How I hide my true feelings from others”. Additionally, in 6x15, he told Eddie, “The truth is I am different. But I feel like I have to be the same old Buck, mostly for the sake of everyone else.” These two statements he made along with the way he avoids things further substantiates the fact that Buck is hiding the way he really feels about his death and he’s pretending to be happy.

IMO, the first and second emergencies in 7x1 the 118 was dispatched to appeared to show where Buck is mentally. I’ll start with the chair and the car metaphors in this post because they’re the ones I couldn't forget when I watched live. After my initial viewing, I kept wondering why the man in the first call was not only sitting in a reclining chair but he was ALSO TRAPPED IN IT. Additionally, I couldn’t get over the fact that Buck and Eddie were the only two on the scene of the second call with that burned car. Not only was the car destroyed from the inside out; it was the question the owner of the car asked Buck that I couldn’t forget. The chair and the car are the two items I’ll expound on in this post to illustrate how they relate to Buck’s death and I’ll include my opinion to explain how they might relate to what could possibly happen with him before the end of the season.

Call #1

Do these two GIFs look familiar?

They should because Buck and Abe are both sitting in arm chairs that are suited for only one person and they mirror the way Buck’s life could end up if he lives it the way other people want him to instead of him living it the way he wants to. The darker color in the suede of Abe's chair is similar to the color of Buck's leather chair. Also, Abe's chair is outdated but he still uses it so he doesn't have to deal with Edna.

In 7x1, Abe just wanted to be at EASE with his life while sitting and relaxing in his chair but his wife wouldn’t let him. He was trying to watch TV but she kept knit picking at everything he was doing. She was doing the whole “pay attention to me or else I’ll force you to do it and make your life a living hell while I'm at it” dynamic and it was annoying AF. They had been married for more than 30 years and they never had any kids but they were also miserable. They hated each other and it appears they were in a marriage neither of them wanted to be in. After the 118 arrived, Edna said, “He loves that chair more than the loves me”.

Furthermore, they had a couch in their home but it was just sitting there which means ABE REFUSED TO SIT ON IT WITH HER. He told Chimney the fighter jet should have put one of them out of their misery.

Was the depiction of their relationship reminiscent of one from season 5? YES!

In 6x1, Bobby told Buck he needed to take inventory of his life so he could be at EASE and when he did, he sat in his chair but at the time, since he had already given TK the boot, he didn’t have to worry about her doing to him what Edna spent 30 years doing to Abe. If Buck would have kept on clinging to TK, then that could have been his fate. TK was shallow and wanted all the attention on herself the same way Edna did and she proved it with her raggedy and immoral journalistic behaviors. She had planned to throw the 118 under the bus in 2x6 but she didn’t get the chance to do it then since the LAFD’s lawyers were more powerful than her news station’s lawyers. However, she jumped at the opportunity to do it a second time in season 5 when she didn’t have anyone to stop her.

Abe’s relationship with Edna gave the audience a future flash forward of where Buck could end up if he follows what some GA viewers want him to do. Before he died, in 6x2, Lev told him his life went by in a blur and it was the reason he went to the happiness convention with his friends. Abe chose the life he felt like he was expected to live with a wife and a house too but based on the way he was acting; it clearly wasn’t something he would have chosen for himself. And he was so far from being at ease that he was miserable.

Additionally, Edna was a combination of every woman Buck’s ever dated. She was older and had red hair which coincides with AC. She didn’t care about what Abe was doing because she wanted him to do what she wanted which coincides with TK and also, she had red hair. She was frustrated with him and what he was doing which correlates her to AM, reminder she didn’t like Buck’s job which is the reason why she left him with a cast on his leg after the ladder truck explosion. Finally, ND was fascinated by Buck’s death the same way Edna was fascinated by the fact that Abe might not be ok. She cared more about the chair being out of her house than she did about his well-being. Their lives were miserable but instead of ending their relationship, they clung to each other just like Buck and TK did in season 5.

IMO, the couple represented the life Buck would have if he follows the path some people in the GA want him to. Believe it or not, there are still viewers who want everyone to do things the way they did them, i.e., get married, have a house, have kids and work a job until they die and instead of wanting Buck and Eddie to experience the true love they clearly share to flourish and grow, for WhAtEvEr ReAsOnS, they’d rather they stay in relationships with the women who wronged, abandoned and ignored them. It appears they're choosing not to see how much they love each other and they would prefer them to “stick it out” in relationships with people who clearly make them miserable.

Reminder, in 6x15, Buck told Eddie, “I still don't know how to act. I am different but I feel like I have to be the same old Buck, mostly for the sake of everyone else” and I’ve always believed he was saying that directly to the audience. It was aimed at the women who wanted him to keep waiting around for AC or those who wanted him to stay with AM because she had an adult conversation with him before she dipped. Then there are those who wanted him to stay with TK because she was career driven (that’s a bunch of BS because journalists can be driven in their careers without being immoral, vindictive, callous or using people to get popular by writing a crappy book) and then there are those who wanted Buck to stay with ND (I know this may be hard to believe but there are posts that indicate “he knew what he was getting into when he dated her” 🙄). Like seriously, they wanted him to stay with her because in their minds, she was perfect for him but haven’t all his girlfriend’s stans said that? They have and the question they should ask themselves is, why haven’t any of Buck’s relationships worked (related post linked here and here) instead of acting like the women who treated him poorly deserved to stick around. Also, Buck’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode the same way that dummy bomb would have if it had gone off. However, just like on the call, Eddie’s going to be there for Buck but it’s unclear when or if he’ll be able to stop it from happening.

Call #2

The burned car was still smoldering but it was also hollow and charred to the core. IMO, it was included as a call that only Buck and Eddie were allowed to extinguish as a way to illustrate how it’ll take both of them working together to repair Buck’s charred, burned and smoldering insides. Reminder, in 6x10 he was struck by lightning and he died which means he’s probably feeling hollow on the inside and I think he feels all cored out just like that burned car. While they were in the locker room, it appeared he was ready to talk to Eddie about the way he feels which is the reason why he may have invited him to go out so they could be alone and he could speak freely. But he backed off when Eddie mentioned “Big date” and reminder, Buck was the one who assumed Eddie had a date with M (more on this below) but Eddie was talking about Chris' date.

After Eddie left, the audience didn’t see Buck leave so apparently, he went somewhere but who knows where since he wasn’t shown again until the next time they were at work. If they had gone together, it would have been a date but IIRC, other than the poker date in 6x13, every time Buck and Eddie hung out in the past, they were at Buck's loft or at Eddie’s house. Additionally, Eddie admitted he’s a nester which means he’s ok with them staying in like they did when they played video games and drank beer in the past. The one time they went to a bar together in 3x11 doesn’t count as a date because the rest of the 118 was there with Albert. I think Buck was extending an olive branch and trying to let Eddie know he needed him the same way Eddie tried to let Buck know he needed him before his breakdown in season 5 but when he finally broke, Chris called Buck and he came running. I’ve always wondered how it will play out if Buck breaks down while he’s alone in the loft and I have an idea of how it will happen but I haven’t decided if I’ll post it on here.

When they were done, the car owner asked, “Is it a total loss or is…?” and Buck responded, “Uh… not total.” then he smiled, held up a pine tree fragranced car freshener, which is symbolic of an actual family tree because of the ROOTS, then said, “Have a good day”. Buck’s biological family roots are about to come into question AGAIN (related post about the Buckley parents other deep dark family secret linked here) and guess what? When they do, it’s going to rock him to his CORE and the only person who’ll be able to help him is EDDIE! Buck’s not a total loss as the phrasing in the scene alluded to and Eddie KNOWS that! However, Buck will need for Eddie to tell him that over and over again until he starts to believe it.

I think the confrontation OS mentioned that’s supposed to occur between Buck and Eddie will be in relation to Buck’s self-worth and how he views himself. There are a lot of people who want to move on from the fact that Buck died and rightfully so since he along with the viewers had to endure an entire season of him not dealing with his issues. But the truth is 9-1-1 hasn’t moved on from it either and even though TM said Buck’s ready to find happiness, the fact still remains that Buck hasn’t dealt with the reality of his own death.

IMO, he will find happiness when he’s in a relationship with Eddie and reminder, Eddie’s the one who’s always trying to encourage him. He did it in 7x1 too after Buck said, “You don’t want him to end up like me” but Eddie was quick to respond, “You didn’t end up like you”. It was soft, pure and so full of love that it took Buck’s breath away.

Now be honest, would AC, AM, TK or ND have said that to him? The answer NO!

I stand by the things I included in a previous post because Connor and Kameron are supposed to return some time around or after 7x5 and that’s when I believe the proverbial $hit regarding Buck’s self-worth will hit the fan since it’s likely they’ll have some devastating news for him about the baby. Then the Buckley parents are set to return for Maddie’s wedding and nothing good ever happens to Buck when they do so it's looking like a trifecta of bad news for Buck (related post linked here).

Other than the time he spent talking to Chris at Eddie’s house, Buck was only shown at work during the entire episode and I believe that was on purpose. It’s unclear when he’ll be shown in the loft again but when he is, that could be when the audience sees he’s not doing as well as he’s trying to get people to believe. It’s likely the way he really feels about the fact that he died will be shown and if he feels like that burned car… it’s not going to be pretty or pleasant.

Eddie KNOWS Buck’s not doing well but he’s not going to push him to talk just like he didn’t in 6x12. He’s going to wait until Buck’s ready then, he’ll have the heart-to-heart talk with him the same way he always does. Reminder, Eddie takes care of Buck (post linked here) while Buck listens to Eddie and makes him talk (post linked here). In 7x1, Eddie said, “Welcome back to the land of the living Buck. You were missed” and I kept wondering why he phrased it like that but then I realized it’s because he knows Buck hasn’t confronted the fact that he died but he’s not going to push him, he’ll wait until he says he’s ready then Eddie will be there to take care of him like he always is.

Make no mistake, Buck’s happiness is with Eddie but he thinks he’s off limits since he’s “dating” M (please understand I don’t think Eddie and M are "seriously dating" and that's based on RG's responses about the character of M in his interviews. I’ll do a separate post on it explaining how the show and the actors have explained it in so many words).

TM used two BOLD contrasts in the first episode, a chair and a car, to show Buck has to deal with his death and it’s likely he'll continue to include these types of metaphors until he does. Also, TM's comment about Buck being tired of talking about dying seems to be a bait and switch and he's trying to get viewers to look away from Buck’s death so they’ll forget he’s been hiding it, then they’ll be blindsided by it when he finally breaks. Reminder, after the Madney wedding, there will still be 4 episodes left in the season and what exactly will TM fill them with🧐?

Will Buck finally deal with the fact that he died this season since he didn't in season 6? Who knows but based on the chair and the car, it appears his process of dealing with it has just begun.

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #the buckley diaz family #buckley diaz family #911 on abc #911 abc #911 meta #911 spoilers #911 speculation #911 season 7 #911 season 7 speculation #oliver stark #ryan guzman #anti natalia dollenmeyer #anti bucktalia #anti taylor kelly #anti bucktaylor

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bloodyshadow1 · 3 months ago

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it's really weird that they didn't make Supercorp a thing, I say this as someone who watched season 2 and then stopped after the comiccon incident. maybe they refused to make it canon in the show because it was a middle finger to the toxic supercorp fans, and there were a lot of them. I wouldnt' even mind since the second crossover event made me leave the supercorp fandom in disgust, you know whne many of them cheered when and alternate version of Jimmy, a black man, was murdered by Nazi green arrow, because the writers had him get together with Lena, it was bad. Maybe there are other reasons but it's still just strange when you make their relationship the heart of the show and don't have them get together..., it's just weird.

Once upon a time was weird like that, their show had Emma, Regina, and Henry, Emma's biological son and Regina's adopted son, not to mention the fairy tale bullshit that connects the two of them, only for them not to get together.

But with Supercorp, it was something that developed naturally, neither of them had any chemistry with the men the writers tried to pair them up with, and it was horrible writing when they were together. Yet Kara and Lena's 'friendship' kept getting center stage in the series.

season 2 lena was abducted by the daxamites because she was brilliant and had been tricked into bringing them to earth. She's going to be forced to marry Kara's boyfriend because of his mother wanting her as a daughter

season 3 a huge part of the season was Lena and supergirl's relationship breaking down, though she was still friendly with Kara. She bought Kara's job for her and despite Lena getting together with James, the writers never tried to develop that relationship.

season 4 Lena is again a huge part of the story since Lex is the real big bad of the season. The big reveal of Kara being Supergirl to Lena is what was supposed to propel the next season's plot. After she shoots him he makes sure to reveal that Kara danvers is supergirl because he knows that nothing would hurt Lena more. You know her completely platonic friend lying to her is what sets her off the deep end to become a villain.

season 5 their relationship is what drives the plot completely now since Lena is going full villain mode. The writing isn't good, but the writers also couldn't stop the two of them from having chemistry.

Hell, the writers had to be aware because the entire 100th episode was about Kara and Lena's relationship. The entire premise of the episode is Kara getting to see clips of what would have happened with her relationship with lena if she told her she was supergirl at different times or just stayed away from her. Almost every time Kara tells her, there's stress in the relationship and things get worse, but they're all about Lena, 5 separate timelines and Kara can't think of anything she would rather change with her life than try and make things wright with Lena. By the end, the episode is supposedly telling us that Lena is a lost cause, but I don't know it wasn't that good of an episode to begin with. It doesn't change that the writers decided to focus on their landmark episode to focus on Lena and Kara's relationship

By the end Lena realizes that she was tricked by lex and joins the good guys, Kara is pissed at her for what she's done, but they eventually can work together again. When lex sends Kara to the Phantom zone Lena is distraught, more than anyone else, even Alex who at least had Kelly for comfort

Season 6 is about getting Kara back and finishing the show. They kill off Kara's temp love interest and Lena is shown to be so desperate to save Kara that she's willing to go farther than Alex, her loving sister, to get her back. Even at the end of the series, the last scene of two characters on screen having a conversation of the series, is between the two of them at a lesbian wedding, where they're in tears talking about how much they mean to each other and hug.

it is bizarre that the writers didn't have the two of them get together given how much the series was driven by their relationship. Like I said, if it was a middle finger to toxic supercorp fans I would understand, but as an aspiring writer, not even a shipper, I feel insulted about how the supergirl writers just tossed aside the perfect natural relationship in the show.

I don't want to keep going much longer, but thematically Kara and Lena were one of the best relationships in the show. The actor's chemistry between the two of them was better than almost every relationship in the show, especially with any of either of their romantic partners. I dont' know, like I said I left the fandom pretty early and the shows been over for almost 3 years, but it still just baffles me.

#supergirl #kara zor el #kara danvers #lena luthor #karlena #supercorp #supergirl meta

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salemoleander · 1 year ago

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I think what you osserved about Cleo and Lizzie is a result of many factors.

Gender is of course one and a major one at that but it cannot be the only one as both Pearl and Gem have much more fandom characterization. Pearls characterisation especially can be attribuited almost entirely to Double Life.

There is also the factor there are a lot less females then males in the mcyt scene and that has always been a problem. But this means that there will always be way more discussion over man because there are so much more.

We should also consider that Lizzie did have a lot of characterisation back in the Empires s1 days that has been swept under the rug as she became inactive for long periods of time, she had a characterisation but this characterisation didn't even apply to the life series because she was never in it like the others, she missed 3rd life, Double life and Limited life which definitely didn't do her any favours. Mumbos characterization on the other hand still existed because he was much more active and when he was in hiatus his fellow Hermits kept reminding us about him... But Lizzie kinda dips for a while and then comes back and is never really mentioned.

Cleo always had the problem of being simplified as either chaotic arsonist, doting mother figure or talented artigian with dark humor... It's been since the 2020 that I have seen people discussing about her characterisation being basically cut down to one of these 3 personality instead of actually giving her actual personality. This was because newbies at characterization back in season 6 usually put either her or Stress as the nurturing mom friend in fanfiction who then other newbies took as inspiration and it kinda stuck around in a loop.

In a way one would need to analyze this problem at the olden days of minecraft content but then we would be here for days.

Putting most of my response under a cut because it got LONG.

To start, I will point out that "this is the result of many factors" and "in a way you'd need to analyze the origins of this, but we don't have time for that" are extremely common & toothless reasons to derail talking about misogyny (or any other -ism).

I do not think you are intentionally replicating that, but anytime an immediate response is "well it's not really ____-ism, and it's so complicated we could never hope to unpack it," that maybe isn't a useful addition to the discussion.

"[Gender] cannot be the only [factor] as both Pearl and Gem have much more fandom characterization"

I agree that gender is not the only factor, but I think going "well SOME women aren't as affected by misogyny so clearly it can't just be misogyny" is inaccurate. Also, if you look at Pearl and Gem's characterization - Gem is pigeonholed to a very particular type of cutesy fighting-princess role, akin to many YA protagonists of late.

Pearl does have more complex characterization from specifically Double Life, but the majority of analysis & attention only started going to Pearl after she won. As DL was airing, much more attention was paid to Desert Duo Redux and Team Rancher and Impdubs etc. I also think the fandom has taken to holding up Pearl as a token and going 'but look, we can write women! Look how many emotions she has. She's sad and likes murder and dogs."

I agree, it has been a problem forever (I've been watching MCYT since 2012. I watched Cleo & then False join HC. Believe Me, I Know.) But you'll notice my critique wasn't [All Life Series Dudes] are talked about more than [The Much Smaller Number of Life Series Women]. My critique in my post was 'if Lizzie's death happened to a man I would see more posts about that other hypothetical person" - comparing 1 person to 1 person.

We should also consider that Lizzie did have a lot of characterisation back in the Empires s1 days that has been swept under the rug as she became inactive for long periods of time, she had a characterisation but this characterisation didn't even apply to the life series because she was never in it like the others, she missed 3rd life, Double life and Limited life which definitely didn't do her any favours. Mumbos characterization on the other hand still existed because he was much more active and when he was in hiatus his fellow Hermits kept reminding us about him… But Lizzie kinda dips for a while and then comes back and is never really mentioned.

So this paragraph is definitely where you lost me. Your point seems to be 'Lizzie had characterization in S1 of Empires, and we're forced to borrow it because she's so inactive since then, there's nothing to pull from'. Allow me to share a screenshot of her series playlists here.

Let's leave aside the question of why people would pull from Empires S1 characterization when Last Life happened in the middle of it, and would evidently be a more logical place to pull from for Life Series characterization.

She had a whole Afterlife series, and she wasn't inactive after that! She had only 6 fewer episodes in S2 of Empires than in S1. It is patently ridiculous to claim that Lizzie is just so inactive and absent her Empires S1 characterization is necessary to fall back on, when Mumbo has better characterization despite vanishing for an entire calendar year to go biking. That is sexism.

Cleo always had the problem of being simplified as either chaotic arsonist, doting mother figure or talented artigian with dark humor… It's been since the 2020 that I have seen people discussing about her characterisation being basically cut down to one of these 3 personality instead of actually giving her actual personality. This was because newbies at characterization back in season 6 usually put either her or Stress as the nurturing mom friend in fanfiction who then other newbies took as inspiration and it kinda stuck around in a loop.

I'm glad you agree it's a problem! I can definitely see how that problem originated, but I've seen new fandom members for the Life Series - who don't watch HC or read HC fic- duplicate the same problems. I think at some point it's less a fandom-specific issue than a replication of the social division of women into Virgin, Whore, Bitch, or Mother categories, with no ability to imagine women complexly outside of those boxes or continuums.

This fandom seems to think moving the women in and out of the 'Bitch' box is the same as complex characterization*, and we've all just kind of gone 'okay' because the other option is nothing about any women at all. But we can and must do better, because I have to believe we're capable of writing and paying fandom attention to women as people.

*This is where DL Pearl generally falls to me, and why I am dubious of claims that she's well characterized. I think much of the fandom equates cruelty or sadness with good writing/interesting characters. But she's still fundamentally defined by the questions "How nice or mean are you? Are you in a relationship or alone?"

#salem tag #fandom criticism #life series #slsmp #secret life #lizzie #cleo #salem meta #I was trying to stay open minded by you absolutely lost me at the lizzie is inactive so we have to make her a sister bit

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lemotmo · 6 months ago

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:( Thoughts on Ryan (love him) saying buddie isn’t happening in the nicest way he possibly could?

Hey Nonny!

Okay, I'll be honest. I don't know how to feel about this article. It's all over the place and a little confusing.

First and foremost, I love how Ryan shares this beautiful message of inclusivity and acceptance. He is so well-spoken and I just love him for that.

Second, I've been in this fandom since season 1 and I've been rooting for Buck and Eddie since season 2. Both were very heavily queer-coded and their natural chemistry was amazing. It has since come to light that bi Buck was supposed to have happened in season 4, therefore we can conclude that queer Eddie would have also happened eventually. In my eyes Eddie was even more queer-coded than Buck.

I never ever expected Buddie to go canon in all those years. I was more than happy to live in Buddie fanon-land. No worries about canon. I even almost gave up on the show itself after the season 6 finale because of the horrible writing, but I mustered the strength to keep watching.

And then season 7. A breath of fresh air. The atmosphere between the actors was different, there was this sense of anticipation and joy among them.

The first Ryan and Oliver interviews came out, gushing about all things Buddie and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They were actually talking about the ship I loved so much. They haven't stopped talking about Buddie ever since. Even the article mentioned above is, in essence, still about Buddie.

And then the show began. The first episodes were stellar. I loved the cruise episodes so much. And then 7x04 happened. Buck came out as bisexual and for the first time in all those years in the Buddie fandom, I realised that there would finally be a chance for them. I didn't vibe with Tommy, still don't to be honest (I don't like him all that much), but I accepted he was there for the time being. I didn't quite understand why everyone was so happy with Tommy, but I stuck it out anyway.

Then there was the Marisol situation that was handled as comedy when it turned out she was a nun once and Eddie had so much catholic guilt he couldn't have sex with her anymore. Strange storyline, but it was a great introduction to Eddie's Catholic guilt.

Everything in the narrative, all the nuances, all the dialogue, all the strange and questionable choices they keep making on the show, keep pushing Buck and Eddie together. Tommy and Marisol only appear when the narrative needs them. They are there to serve the plot.

Ryan didn't completely shut Buddie down. He kept a window open. I have to believe there is a reason for that.

I don't have inside information and I can't see the future, but as for now I'm still firmly on the Buddie train, destination endgame. I have to believe that there is a chance for them. I have to believe that they will get there eventually. I have to believe that Eddie will be free as well someday, free to be who he is. I also don't see either of them ever being as happy with Tommy or Marisol as they could be with each other. Them ending up with Tommy and Marisol would be deeply unsatisfying endings for me after 6 years in the trenches.

If, by the end of season 7, they have doubled down on Buck/Tommy and -god forbid- Eddie/Marisol, I will be disappointed, no lies there. And I'll probably wait out s8 for a while, see what the tone is and where they are going. I couldn't stay away for too long, because I love all the characters so much. This is a great show, even without my Buddie-glasses on.

Yeah, if canon Buddie isn't in the cards in the future, I'll go back to my little Buddie-fanon corner of this fandom. I lived there for 6 years. I can do it again. Happily so. Worry free.

But for now, there are still 4 episodes to go. No doubt they will be filled with great characters, actions and Buddie-moments. I'm choosing to focus on that for now. This show isn't over yet.

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #nonnies galore

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thenameisgul · 6 months ago

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The thing with Castiel is that he had a lot of storylines that had potential to develop, but were cut short for whatever reason I don't understand: like Godtiel, humancas. For example, with humancas, an entire season could be devoted to exploiting that, it could be a separate storyline unrelated to Sam or Dean, he could meet other angels and have to solve problems himself. etc. But no, they abandoned it after a few episodes, for what? to make Dean not look like an asshole for abandoning Cas when he was most vulnerable, so as not to divert the audience's attention away from two brothers? I have a feeling the writers kept Cas/Misha around because of his popularity with fans, but never gave him the status he deserved for a character with so much potential and importance to the story line. I'm only in ss10 and heard that Cas is treated even worse in the later seasons, I don't know if I should continue watching or not.

if there's one thing I realized pretty early on when I was finally watching season 7 after a decade long break, was that in the Supernatural universe, there was no other character that was as interesting and multifaceted as Castiel.

The second thing I realized was that it was not a very good thing for the showrunners to have a supporting character be like that when your entire show revolves around two brothers.

The reason they killed off Castiel in early season 7 was because they wanted the show to go back to being about Sam and Dean and with Apocalypse over, they didn't know what to do with Castiel. But clearly, he was too popular and they brought him back because the network itself told them to bring him back.

Now, a good writer would've been able to find a balance to keep Cas' story relevant and entangled with the Winchesters, as they did in season 6 but with Kripke leaving the show and new management in the writer's room, that didn't happen.

I almost, almost get it? Like, you have your story, you have your lead characters and people love them but suddenly you bring a supporting character who becomes an instant fan favorite, who's, debatably, a lot more interesting because of the history you gave him but never intended to explore and now he's sticking around so you just don't know what to do to make him not take over the narrative? You make him weak.

Cas couldn't have stayed the badass, powerful angel who's lived for a millennia because then that'll require the show to have villians even more powerful than that to be any competition and that leaves the Winchesters irrelevant.

So they tamed him down alot, which in itself wouldn't have been such a bad thing, especially if they went with the human!cas arc for longer like you said but to do that would've meant they couldn't use Cas as an easy way out of all winchester's problems and they needed that too so 🤷‍♀️

My main problem with all of that, mostly comes from the fact that, and I may be wrong here, but it seemed like the writers actively resented misha/castiel for being popular. Like he was, in misha's words "a foil to the boys" and while the writers couldn't let him go because the show would lose ratings, they actively diminished him. The random demeaning comments about Castiel from other characters, especially, from dean seemed a little too pointed. Not to mention how the producers actually publicly said 'misha wasnt a good actor' when he's literally one of the best actors on the show!

So yeah, if supernatural had better writers, or atleast if they kept hold of the good ones (because there were some good ones) they could've given Cas and the show a better story.

I hate to say it but they did it to Sam too. Sam was such an complex character but they just stopped trying after a while with his character. So I guess it was a theme with these writers.

And as a Castiel fan, its frustrating, I gotta say that. But you know what the best part is? that no matter what they did, how dumb the storyline they gave him he still came out as the most interesting character every time. So there you go.

So I'd say watch the show, its really good when it gets good or maybe just open Misha's page on Supernatural wiki and only watch his episodes if that's your thing because tbh, you wouldn't miss much if you left the rest. lol

#supernatural #castiel #destiel #dean winchester #misha collins #spn #sam winchester

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idkyourleastfavoriteartist · 4 months ago

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SEASON 6 SPOILERS OF THE DRAGON PRINCE!!!!! Also I'm just gonna say this post is LONG (overall thoughts,rewrite?) I'm not a actual writer so take evey thing with a grain of salt. It's fine if you disagree or even dislike my opinions and (kinda) rewrites just be nice about it please and thank you!! (Also this has really bad grammar it's not that deep if it's not perfect)

I overall felt that this season was really good and it's one of the shows strongest!!!! I don't want it too sound like I'm complaining because that's not the case because I really enjoyed this season so don't take like that please. Let start with the positives I really liked the scene where Soren shouted at Viren in the jail (as he should loved that reunion). Rayllum finally got back together loved that for us. I feel like the darker atmosphere the show really works and I couldn't be happier about it. Corvus is so lovely him and him having too babysit Soren is so fun too watch. Learning about Callum's dad and Claudia's/Soren's mum was really interesting and was nice too get info on them. I'm really happy about how better the animation is getting better each season with it being a overall higher quality. Literally like 90% of this season I liked.

The only questions/slight problems I have is that I personally don't understand how Aaravous wanted Viren too kill sir sparklepuff (he calls them THIER child) so him being a grieving father doesn't make sense too me especially with the fact that Viren at first didn't care about sir sparklepuff, it was only when Aaravous said it was their child, like sir do you want Viren too live?????? Like what was the reason too humaninse sir sparklepuff if Aaravous didn't see them as a actual being with feelings and if goes against his plans that he made to control Viren to get him out of his prison??????? (I actually like his back story because of how it relates to the themes of love in tdp but in a way which is so similar but so different to our main cast).We all knew that Viren was gonna be redeemed well I felt it coming. But it should of been handled better because due to Aaravous for no reason making Viren feel bad for sir sparklepuff just so Viren could have a situation too get on the dark magic bad high horse didn't really rub well on me. I would of made Viren care about sir sparklepuff without Araavous input so it will make more sense that he wouldn't want too kill him and his redemption feel more earned despite Araavous who only made the being too finalise the spell to keep Viren alive(idk if it makes sense but too me it does) then have the "I'm over with dark magic and you" speech. With Araavous backstory I would of liked more that Araavous did have rebellious feeling about the power structers with elfs and humans (he felt it was unfair that elves get all the power and how rude elves where to humans despite them just wanting too learn too use magic) and he teaches a little bit too much leola but she tooked his teachings to other humans when she should of kept quite then being punished death after that he would go villain mode. I like the idea that Aaravous is evil but tried too keep quite until leola because he felt like he owed her the truth which led too her death and years of terror expanding on dark magic with humans till he went to prison. (that's my rewrite I don't really do stuff like this so if it's bad just understand where I'm coming from and give me positive input please☺️)

I also kinda felt that cladiua leaving Terry just for her to come back too him in the same episode is felt abit rushed but it's only 9 episodes so I understand why they did all in the same episode. (I would let that stretch for another episode so it's more impact full).

ALSO WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO REALLY WANTED TOO SEE A VIREN AND AARAVOUS REUNION 😭😭😭😭😭 Maybe it's just me because they were one of my favourite dynamics in the show (mostly through season 3 and abit in season 2) so not seeing the communicate sucked abit. I like the ideas that are in this show but only wish they would be expanded more and fleshed out abit more.

#the dragon prince #soren #tdp #aaravos #the dragon prince season 6 #the dragon prince discussion #discussion #professional yapper #rant #tv shows #Animation TV show discussion #Low key this is just pure thoughts don't take too serious please

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gale-gentlepenguin · 1 year ago

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Gale’s Top Ten: Least favorite episodes of Miraculous Ladybug (as of season 5)

With Season 5 finished and my posting of my top 10 favorite episodes, it’s time I crank the meter the other way. Now some rules

1. Like always this is my personal opinion, and if you liked these episodes, that’s great. I would love to hear your reasoning

2. I will be judging them SOLELY of what was shown in the episode, not by any leaks that came out before or after. I’m solely judging on what is seen and confirmed

3. Word of warning, I will be pretty vicious with my critiques. Also profanities will be thrown.

Now before I go into them, I should give some congratulations to some episodes no longer in my bottom 10

Captain Hardrock: You are still a lame episode, but not the worst you are actually decent in comparison to some of these.

Stormy weather 2.0: Clip shows still are awful, but there are worst things

Frozer: In the grand scheme of things this episode really wasn’t important and there are worst character writing

___________________________________________

10.Sole Crusher

Revisiting this, it really isn’t a good episode for ML. I don’t know what was more Shoehorned in, Zoe’s character arc of replacing Chloé or the lucky charm.

It also makes little sense that Marinette would be the one pushing for Zoe considering her experience with Chloé and her family (especially after Season 5 revealed her trauma).

Now Zoe isn’t a bad character, but she will always be seen as the replacement Good bee, and she deserves better writing.

Honestly it could be argued Queen banana should be here, but that episode is too much of a s***post that I get more enjoyment out of it. This is trying to play this straight and it don’t feel right.

9. Qilin

This episode has a some things going for it, great akuma design, decent action. But it also has a ton going against it. It’s in a series of episodes I like to call “Thomas’ gets political” and I will tell you this, he sucks at it.

I would try and explain further but I am aware I would butcher the topic, all that should be said is, racism tackled poorly and Marinette says she will pay for a ticket that her mother didn’t deserve to get in the first place.

Also the animation looks off in the episode, it just looks so bleh.

8. Migration

Remember that whole reveal that Luka knows both Ladybug’s and chat noir’s identities and how he kept that to himself?

Well that FINALLY gets addressed. And are Ladybug and chat noir mad at him? No. No consequences for him.

The whole episode acts like he is such an important character but this is one of 2 episodes he’s in where he has more than 2 lines.

Then he gets to travel the world with his dad because monarch found out he knows.

Kagami got akumatized twice and she knew Ladybug’s identity, step up your game Luka.

Also the fake out with Rose was bulls*** and everyone knows it.

Also the entire episode had everyone but Luka lacking brain cells.

I don’t rank it lower because while it annoyed me greatly, there are worse offenders on the list.

7. Animaestro

Astruc complains for 22 minutes that nobody cares about him anymore.

Also Marinette teams up with her bully which after watching Derision, WOULD BE THE LAST thing she would do.

This is the worst example of the Creator calling out the audience, There are other episodes like this but this one is the least entertaining. And if the ending of season 5 is concerned. “I’ve seen your writing, so I can FUCKING CRITIQUE IT YOU ARROGANT PIECE OF…”

Okay, I’m calm. Point being. It’s his call out the critics episode and it sucks

6. Furious Fu

I HATE Su Han.

He is a worse version of Fu in every stretch of the imagination.

The episode where Su han shows up and starts making demands is stupid. The only thing he has going for him is his fighting style which he never teaches the two people that could have needed it!

The episode isn’t lower because despite Su Han’s impact, he really doesn’t do much and he is just there to be a nag later on. Also Fu’s akuma looks dope as hell and gave Fu some slack.

5. Feast

So remember how Su han showed up in the last episode. Well he and all the other guardians were gone for over 100 years because they lost to a 4 Foot blue dog made by a hungry child.

This episode isn’t as bad as the others as a stand alone, but knowing the lore makes it sound so completely stupid. Like Fu was HAUNTED by his past and we find out it was because he was hungry when training and the guardians COULDNT handle that? All trained to fight miraculous users should they go rogue, couldn’t beat ONE DOG. The mysterious order is incompetent as heck.

It’s just so stupid. Also Fu was acting irrational af over all this didn’t help.

4.Reflekdoll

I want everyone to know how massive this is, Reflekdoll is no longer my least favorite episode.

For anyone that follows me, my SEETHING hatred of this episode is well documented.

I won’t go on about how the tropes were horribly done or ignored, how off the banter was, or even how stupid everyone is this episode. Because I’ve discussed it in length.

I will simply say, Thank God there is Passion, so if people want a GOOD kwami swap episode they can watch that one.

3. Miracle Queen

I’ve talked about this episode to death on here. But really the only flaws with it are the last half of the episode.

The drama of the first half is great. But the ass pull of a memory wipe, the clear degradation of Chloé’s character, and just the simple giving up of Hawkmoth, he could have easily still won if he pushed a bit longer. The ending was depressing but also a clear example of how the writers put themselves in a corner with no way out.

The only thing that makes it worse is Fu’s replacement (Su han) ends up being a worse teacher.

Also considering how they spent season 4 quickly getting Marinette and Adrien out of the relationships with the love rivals, even they realize it was a dumb call.

__________________________________________

2. Ephemeral

Hey, let’s make an episode to explain why Adrien can NEVER know his father is the villain.

This episode is the go to justification of the writers on why Adrien will always be sidelined. It was also the unofficial reveal of the sentimonster theory before it was said pretty much outright in season 5.

The worst akuma design. Marinette gaslighting, gate keeping chat noir at its worst.

Gabriel wins and gets his wish.

And none of it mattered and no one remembers it except I think Sass. So it was pretty much pointless.

Not even the ladrien and cute reveal could save it.

And don’t even get me started on how pointless and avoidable it is.

It’s almost funny because despite how pointless this was, it’s still better than number 1.

1. Re-creation

So many cool concepts, great designs. Marinette dropping a piano on Gabriel. So many great things. But it also had some flaws, like having Adrien sidelined, and the focus on heroes from the specials for practically no reason. But all of that could be forgivable if the ending lands…

It really shows how an AWFUL ending can fuck up everything.

Imagine having 5 seasons of fighting to stop a villain from getting the miraculous to make the wish only for him to WIN! Yes he wins. He gets to make the wish, you know the wish that was said should NEVER be used. Of all the stupid, asinine, Shark Jumping BULL SHIT. Who the fuck APPROVED THIS HORSE SHIT?!

So he gets his wish, and he gets a statue HONORING HIM. What the fuck? Adrien, who was ABUSED now sees his abuser as a hero and EVERYONE THAT KNOWS THE TRUTH IN HIS LIFE IS HIDING THE TRUTH FROM HIM. Nathalie, Marinette, Felix, Kagami. Even PLAGG!

And the whole utopia crap, everything is just perfect now, because the villain got what he wanted.

That’s a great lessons for kids! (Blatant Sarcasm)

But let’s really dig in, the ending left a LOT of things vague. And hilariously ALL OF THE POTENTIAL OUTCOMES ARE SHIT.

1. Emilie was revived and Nathalie got healed.

So Gabriel gets everything he wanted from the wish, justifying everything he did and he gets treated like a hero and another person hiding the truth from Adrien. Marinette knows everything that brought this about and is keeping that from Adrien, but is justified slightly because it could encourage Adrien to try and get his father back with a wish. Also brings up the question of who took Emile’s place.

2. Only Nathalie was healed.

Gabriel ended up with Emilie like he wanted, gets treated like a martyr, Adrien is technically an orphan, Marinette is knowingly lying to him about his father and Adrien continues to get Gaslit.

3. Emilie is revived, Nathalie is healed, and memories were altered

Gabriel’s wish basically shaped EVERYTHING how he wanted, meaning he is still in control of Adrien’s life even in death. Even his own wife. So while this removes Marinette covering for him intentionally, it just means Gabriel was so much worse.

4. Nathalie’s healed and memories altered

Gabriel gets to be with Emile and has shaped Adrien’s life even in death. Everyone basically puppeteer by him as he died. Sure he’s dead but he also retconned for his redemption, which is bullshit.

Now there are people that defend this ending/potential ending.

I’m sorry but, unless they revive Gabriel and he gets exposed, Adrien finds out the truth, and he gets held accountable for his actions. I can’t feasibly imagine this ending being good.

The writing staff aren’t going to do Anything about this, they are just going to move on to Lila as the main villain and say the Agreste plotline is over.

If they Do, do something, I’ll happily take back my words and alter my view of the episode but right now.

It’s one of the WORST season finale’s I’ve seen in my life.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ml critical #ml writer salt #Gale rants #Gale’s top 10 #ml spoilers

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harlstiel · 1 year ago

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Ships with Stiles that I enjoy | RANKED

1 : Stisaac

Stiles/Isaac

My favorite. 10/10. The DRAMA, but also the shared trauma, they're perfect. Sure it's a BIT toxic but it's a guilty pleasure, what can I say.

2 : Stalia

Stiles/Malia

Only lower on the list BECAUSE Malia should've had SO much more mental development before going into a relationship. But they were cute, 10/10

3 : Stydia

Stiles/Lydia

Only third because of how FUCKING LONG IT TOOK. AND HOW LITTLE WE ENDED UP GETTING. Jeff Davis can go suck a wrinkly dry hairy testicle. Still 10/10

4 : Stira

Stiles/Kira

HEAR ME OUT. They would geek out so much together its NOT even fucking funny. They're both socially awkward nerds that ramble and I live for it. 10 out of fucking 10. Prefer Malira tho...

5 : Sterica

Stiles/Erica

Low-key wanted this to happen for a bit. Maybe not permanently because I always saw the both of them to be more bisexual types but they would've been cute. Also I can't remember where the whole "Batman" "Catwoman" nicknames came from but it is my only life support rn. 9.5/10

6 : Sterek

Stiles/Derek

My favorite blorbo Derek Hale. I didn't get the hype with this ship when I first started watching, but then I kept seeing things in this show that made me wonder, "Jeff, was this intentional?" Bc they're so very gay with each other. Alas, age gaps are an iffy thing for me personally due to my own personal traumas, but I still love them. 9.5/10

7 : Stora

Stiles/Cora

Cute, could've happened, not mad that it didn't, but def a wasted opportunity on Jeff Davis' part. Solid 8/10.

8 : Stanny

Stiles/Danny

This was definitely more of a humor thing but I liked the idea of these two together from the get-go. In my opinion, there was definitely a little crush on Stiles' part and I love that. 8/10

9 : Sciles

Scott/Stiles

I changed my mind about this one because I went down a rabbit hole of Sciles and Allisciles stuff and I just. You read a fic so well written and see the most beautiful piece of art and all of a sudden you're binge reading every. Last. Fic in the tag, yk? SOLID 8/10

(Their parents are also an otp of mine. Noah and Melissa are perfect together and the best thing I've ever experienced)

Reasons

For not including other ships.

Steo : I am a Thiam shipper through and through. And Theo did things to Stiles that doesn't even make enemies to lovers valid in my opinion. IK he got a redemption arc and he was being manipulated since he was a child but STILL. I love Theo but he's not the one (for Stiles, anyway🤭).

Any ship with him and an adult ; ie, Peter, Chris, Parrish etc. : Do I even have to explain this one? I mean REALLY?

Stiam : They are like Mother and Child to me and I will take that to my GRAVE.

Stackson : Last season-T.W. Movie Jackson MAYBE but early seasons Jackson was a toxic mf who loved NOBODY but himself based on how he treated Lydia.

(Pointed out by a commenter) Stallison : I actually never knew people shipped this and didn't know it was a thing until now. After this was pointed out, I began to see the appeal and I read some Allison/Scott/Stiles fics and now I'm hooked. (Wish I knew about it beforehand tbh 😅)

Pretty sure I covered evertyhing, but if I missed someone, let me know!

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cassandraevans · 7 months ago

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I'm too much of a coward to reblog your long Anti-Eddie/Pro-Shannon post, but I just wanted to say thank you 😭🙏 I feel like it's so hard to find anyone who's willing to be Eddie-critical in this fandom, so it was a breath of fresh air to see you ranting about it.

I honestly didn't care much for the Eddie/Shannon relationship (I have a hard time caring about most Eddie plots TBH), but the way that Shannon was treated never sat right with me. And it got SO much worse after watching Eddie Begins, too!

Eddie willingly chose to keep leaving his wife and child. He was an absent husband/father by choice, but he always tried to act like he was forced into making that decision (which is SO manipulative & such a victim-mindset). Also, the way that he talked to Shannon in those flashbacks was such a red flag. I get that overcoming toxic masculinity is part of Eddie's character development throughout the show, but he was really scummy in the past, and it sucks how people try to brush it under the rug and excuse his behavior.

But he wasn't any better to her in S2 either, like you said. He kept her and Christopher apart (for completely selfish reasons), he used her for his own pleasure (which is the yuckiest part of it all I think), and there was just the biggest, most hypocritical double standard known to man.

Anything that Shannon did wrong, Eddie did worse tenfold!! And she had valid reasons for what she did. He was just a self-centered prick.

Shannon and Christopher deserved so much better-- from Eddie, the narrative, and the fans.

Hey thank you. I think you put it more precisely into words then I did. I'm on season 6 right now and in ep 16 he says he only proposed Shannon because she was pregnant, this man was never in love with her, but at least he married her when she was pregnant but I can't help but think she may have been better off never marrying him. I had a crush on Eddie when he was first introduced and wanted and was rooting for him but after learning about his deliberate choices as the episodes went by, man I don't even know when it turned to pure rage against this man. Now I've seen some spoilers that I don't want any elaboration on but if he's going to be paired with Buck than he better fucking earn it, I will not tolerate any bullshit he pulled with Shannon with Buck. If it is/does become canon, Eddie better treat my Buck like a fucking prince. 😤 (no spoilers please)

#911 eddie #911 show #911 spoilers #athena grant #bobby nash #chimney han #christopher diaz #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie 911 #maddie buckley #buck 911 #buck's gonna buck

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popculturebuffet · 2 months ago

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Next up for Warner Bros Animation, favorite character from the 2002-08 half of the Kids WB shows with: Mucha Lucha, Ozzy & Drix, What's New Scooby Doo, Xiaolin Showdown, The Batman, Johnny Test (this oughta be interesting since it aired on three different networks with varying seasons of quality with seasons 1-3 premiering on Kids WB, seasons 4-6 being produced for Cartoon Network, and the revival seasons being produced for Netflix), Loonatics Unleashed, Tom & Jerry Tales, Shaggy & Scooby Doo Get a Clue, and Legion of Superheroes? I skipped Coconut Fred since everyone and their mother despises that show (one of the worst of all time).

Jesus Christ that's a lot. Also look given some past entires here, Coconut Fred is being kept on the grounds that it shoudn't be forgotten just for being horrible. like da boom crew which I thankfully haven't seen. So anyways..

Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island: I saw it at the time and it.. sure does exist. It's a half hearted spongebob ripoff. I'm talking about it because it did exist but don't have much else. Maybe I shoudl've left it out but i've let worse shows have an entry. This is just.. ntohing.

Mucha Lucha: IT'S A WAY OF LIFE! Senior Hasbena who just had a fun voice and a great early spotlight episode. The show itself is one I need to revisit but is awesome as hell, having a nice respect for luchadore culture while also being pretty nonsesically fun. While I would love a full on wrestling action series, this one was still good fun and needs ot be avaliable to stream in some fashion.

Ozzy and Drix: Drix if only because he was my faviorite in the movie. This series feels.. unecessary. It's not a bad idea but both frank's state at the start and Ozzie and Drix ending up elsewehere make it feel like the first film didn't matter and it feels weird to just.. not keep the setting. If they wanted kid plots, Frank has a daughter. That gripe aside the series was ... eh. Not terrible, but nothing really super special either.

Xiaolin Showdown: Jack Spicer. The boy, the myth the legend and Danny Cooksy's best role by a wide margin. A fun villian who was laughable enough to never get boring and stick around long after he'd been outclassed by newer big bads. Xiaolin Showdown is one of the best cartoons of this era, one of the best of this action show block and one of the best. I rewatched it in college and was amazed it held up so well. The show is genuine about our four heroes working, said four heroes while having familiar archetypes for the most part, are great characters who are a load of fun to watch and the format of the showdowns is engagin: while it does usually lead to some form of fight the contest format adds a nice wild card to it: our heroes can end up in a game where telling the truth is the only way out, a soccer match for OMi's soul, or a battle royale with all present. IT's a wonderful show I wish would get a proper revivial. And no Chronciles dosen't count, chronciles can go fuck itself.

The Batman: Another one to revisit and i'd say clayface as the twist of him being someone batman knew and trusted is utterly guttnig. I gave up on this one early for petty reasons depsite having most of the toys: I hated what they did with mr freeze and felt it couldn't compare to btas. Time has passed and with the later seasons adding some nice swerves i've accepted the show is it's own thing, trying to be a more action oriented shonen to forge it's own identity from the more moody btas. And it did apparently get better and better as it went and having seen a later episode or two casually , I can agree. Plus I admit to loving the touch of having batgirl join up before batman. Also the movie where he fights dracula is fucking dope and wel lworth your time.

Johnny Test: I'd say the twins for being usually hilaroius. As for the show.. it's eh. I used to hate it

But I now see it as an okay show that had some fun bits, and what I saw of the revival, as sadly short lived as it was, was better. It's still not AMAZING, but it wasn't the mindless garbage it got labeled as either. Nor a dexter's lab ripoff.. I do think they took some inspriation from it clearly, I mean look at the twins... but when you look at the cast none of them really match up to dexter's aside from the twins, whose crush on gil and age diffrenate them just enough. It's not an amazing show but it's hate was overblown.

Loonatics Unleahsed: Look the base concept of "The looney tunes as superhero: could be fun. I have a batman daffy and superman bugs on my desk as I type this. They did skits of the kind. The problem is lonatics wanted to be batman beyond with looney tunes and it never worked as a kid and dosen't work now.

Tom and Jerry Tales; I love tom and jerry but i've barely seen this.

Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue: The timing on this one as good as i've been watching through this on and off with @jess-the-vampire recently. I don't really have a faviorite. As for the show itself it's overhated like the last two entries and honestly.. it's okay. It's nothing amazing thus far, trying to be venture bros by having henchman 2 be an obvious ripoff of 21. Which wouldn't bother me if they did it right but instead he's just annoying. That being said it's still not a terrible series: the theme song is terrible but the show itself is solid, having intresting sometimes bonkers plot and shoudlnt' be vilified for breaking formula. It may not entirely work.. but I can respect TRYING something new an dhope go go mystery machine is a better version of this.

Legion of Super Heroes: Bouncing Boy: this series kept his goofy powers but also what works: someone who badly wanted to join the legion, never gave up and then threw in his reboot self's pilot skills and flsehd out his perosnality.

As for the show i'm a big legion of superheroes fan and this show is part of what brought me to the clubhouse. It's a slick show that nicely merges the two continuties it had to work with: the pre zero our one from the silver age and beyond and the reboot that helped ground things (The third reboot, yes three and there was a fourth long after, was just happening around this time so only star boy being black made the cut from there), while keeping the silver age namesan dastetic from before.

The result is a fun show that loves the legion dearly, has a great cast of characters and despite being made to have a teen superman show dosen't let clark overshadow everyone else: he's the lead.. but most of the main cast get a focus episode over the course of season 1. I"ll admit season 2 isn't quite as good as due to executive mandates the female cast is sidelined in places and imperix is a boring villian, while superman x, superman but EDGGGYYYYY just isn't that intresting. But season 2 isn't all bad with some standout episodes, the addition of chameleon boy and a truly chilling arc with brainy and an old friend I won't spoil for those who haven't seen the show. This series is a little seen gem that needs more love.

I realized as we worked on this I almost forgot something important, a series that begs for the spotlight so..

What's New Scooby Doo: We're comin after you, we're gonna solve that mystery. This is a hard one as the gang is reinvented well but i'd have to go with Fred, whose goofiness begins. After the great prequel that was pup named scooby doo and the success of the live action movie, What's New was a reinvention of the franchise in an odd way: it goes back to the gangs old actors , minus grey delise making her debut as daphne, and old style of writing thigns but updates it in a way that dosen't feel too dated now: sure the gang does extreme sports, but it's not to rocket power levels and fits for Daphne.

This series also cements fred and daphne's new roles going forward, roles that helped keep the character fresh despite the dozens of films and handful of series to come. Fred was dialed back from teh conpsiarcy theroist of pup, but instead became the bumbling tourist, a tad awkawrd in places and a tad over excited in others. It added nice layers to him besides solving mysteries and bullying his best friend and it left the door open for him to get reinvented a lot. Daph meanwhile, got a welcome reinvention that let her fit into the classic gang better: like her pup counterpart she often uses fashion, her wealth is more displayed (if not used as a fucntion) but her friendly nature and willingness to get into things (or easliy getting into activties she hated at first), all debuted here.

What's New is a fun series: shorter than you'd think, but having watched it about twice with jess , it holds up really well, combinging the usual formula with some fun hyjinks and creative setups. Sometimes it was bonkers, but it was a solid return to form that let the series experiment more with the next few, and deserves more credit for helping codify a lot of the modern franchise.

#legion of super heroes #shaggy and scooby doo get a clue #scooby doo #xiaolin showdown #ozzy and drix #what's new scooby doo #mucha lucha #the batman #johnny test #loonatics unleashed

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bucky-fricking-barnes · 2 years ago

Text

Tangle

Title: Tangle

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: Slight angst and mentions of depression, post-NWH

Summary: Several years after his memory is erased from the planes of existence, Peter lets himself fade into the background of another holiday season.

A/N: For those who aren’t from there, the “T” is a nickname for the subway in Boston. This fic is also part of @foreverindreamlandd‘s Winter Wonderland Sleepover. As always, thank you for reading and supporting me. I hope you enjoy! Dividers are by @firefly-graphics

Slush sloshed around Peter’s boots as he trudged through the streets of Boston. He’d spent most of his day holed up in the library studying for his engineering class. His watch read 6:00, which meant that he only had an hour to get home, change into his work uniform, and head to the restaurant for his shift. If he was lucky, the T wouldn’t be as packed as it was the night before and he’d actually get there on time tonight.

Somewhere up ahead, carolers sang in four-part harmony, something about snowflakes or candles in windows. Their voices clashed with the bellringer at the corner in the opposite direction, worsening the headache that had been creeping up on Peter since hour three at the library.

Peter kept his head down and his hands in his pockets as he walked to the station. All around him, the crowds surged, buzzing with excitement, but he just couldn’t feel it, not this year. The holidays had always been something he’d looked forward to. He’d spend weeks making plans for winter break with MJ, Ned, and May until every moment was crafted to be as enjoyable as possible. The plans usually went out the window once break actually arrived, but thinking back, it was the time he’d spent with his family and friends that he’d really enjoyed, not the plan itself. Years ago, Mr. Stark had taken him out for dinner. No one had been able to know about it, of course, but it had been one of the highlights of that Christmas. It had gotten him into the holiday spirit more than anything else.

He had no reason to travel home for his Christmas break this year, even though most of his classmates were. He didn’t have the option, really, because his boss had scheduled him to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas. Even if he was able, however, Peter wouldn’t have gone back to Queens. There was nothing there for him now except the memories he’d made and a lot of pain. Three years had passed and grief still ripped through him with every thought of his life in New York, both good and bad. Lately, he’d had to bury himself in working and studying to keep from getting caught up in the memories of Christmas past. They were an ever-present knot in his stomach, like the Christmas lights he and May would have to untangle every year.

A wave of heat hit the center of his chest and Peter stepped back, forced into the person behind him by a body against his front. The woman grabbed onto his shoulders, shouting a much-too-loud apology into his ear as she tried to regain her footing on the slippery sidewalk. Instinctively, Peter’s hands went to her waist, holding onto her through her wool coat even as her cup of hot cocoa seeped into the fabric of his favorite sweatshirt.

“I am so sorry,” she apologized again, this time clutching the lapels of his open jacket. After a second, she released him and stepped out of his grasp, taking in the damage she’d done. The woman winced, then met his gaze. “I’m sorry. I slipped. I can give you money for dry cleaning, that looks expensive…”

Peter shook his head and forced a small smile. “It’s not, and it’s fine, really.”

“I know, but I—” She groaned. She looked pained, like she was the one wearing the piping hot hot chocolate. “I just feel really bad. I’m trying to be a better person, you know, with the holidays and all that, and this kinda ruined my streak.”

Unable to help himself, Peter snorted. The woman frowned and froze, looking a little offended. He lifted his hands in an apology of his own.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but it ruined your streak?”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah, it ruined my streak. I’ve gone three whole days without knocking someone over.”

It was endearing how upset she was about the whole incident, but it was hard to have any kind of conversation in the middle of a city sidewalk. Peter didn’t want this to end, so he reached out for her elbow and gently guided her towards a storefront, away from the flow of traffic.

“Three days, huh? I must be bad luck,” he replied, sticking his hands back into his pockets. His chest was warm from the hot chocolate, but his fingers were freezing. He needed to buy a new pair of gloves. The old ones had gotten frozen to a fire escape last night after he’d tried to stay warmer while stalking out a bodega. He’d spilled water onto them without realizing and the gloves were completely destroyed by the time he got himself free. Peter made a mental note to improve the fabric of the suit next time he remade it so he wouldn’t be as cold. Each winter he’d spent here seemed to be colder than the last.

The woman shrugged with a small, shy smile. The Christmas lights in the window beside her lit up her face and Peter could’ve sworn that he knew her from somewhere, but then she shifted and the shadows moved, and it was like she was a completely different person.

“You’re not so bad.” She paused, smiling at him for a moment longer before pulling her gloved hand from her pocket for him to shake. “I’m Y/N.”

“Peter,” he replied, shaking it. He stuck his hands back in his pockets right away. “I think I owe you a new hot chocolate.”

“You don’t owe me anything, but if you really want to give me something, you could give me your number.”

He blinked. She was still smiling and from the brief time since he’d met her, he hadn’t sensed anything dishonest about her, but it was weird having someone being so forward with him. The only people who had been upfront with him lately had been angry customers, and the only thing they wanted from him was his resignation, a refund, or new food. The knot in his stomach relaxed just a little.

“My number?” he repeated, unsure if he’d actually heard her correctly.

She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, if you want. You just… seem nice. And you’re cute.” She shrugged and glanced towards the people walking past. A little girl with her hair in two little buns was pulling her dad down the sidewalk and her smile brightened as she watched them pass by, then disappear down the street. Y/N looked back at him. “I’ve been trying to find someone to go with me to this Christmas thing for work, but all of my friends are busy. I thought about dating apps but… I don’t know. There’s something about you that I can’t place, but you seem like an honest guy.”

“Wait, so you’re just inviting me to this thing even though you don’t— Sorry.” Peter quickly stepped away from the door to another store, moving into Y/N’s space. She didn’t back away, she only smiled at him and nodded for him to continue. “Even though we just met?” he finished.

Y/N shrugged again. “I guess. It’s just ice skating and hot chocolate, it’s not anything fancy. There’ll be lots of other people there since it’s a public rink. The only reason I’m really going is because our boss is nicer to us if she sees us at company events once and a while. I’ve gotta hit my quota for the year.”

Again, Peter snorted. She had a thing for setting little goals for herself, it was cute.

“Are you laughing at me, Peter?”

He froze, his smile instantly wiped off his face. The small smile she tried to hide, however, was enough to tell him that she’d only been teasing. His heart cracked a little as a memory of MJ and May’s teasing slipped past his usually ever-present defenses, but he managed to keep up appearances long enough to dig out his phone and hand it over. She traded with him and he quickly typed himself to her contact with red, frozen thumbs.

“I’ll text you later, okay?” she asked, and he nodded. “Bye, Peter!”

Y/N disappeared into the masses, leaving him standing alone in front of the Polish deli. Inside, the lights shone warmly down onto the customers and employees alike, and the evergreen garland bordering the window screamed that it was almost Christmas. The weight of it all didn’t feel so heavy now, however, and he found himself smiling a little when laughter from the two men behind the counter echoed even out onto the street. String lights blinking beside him in the window reminded him once again of his recent lack of cheer, but the knot in his stomach didn’t feel as tight anymore. He had room for a little celebration now. Ice skating and hot chocolate sounded like the best way to do that.

His watch beeped and Peter groaned. He didn’t need to look to know that he was going to be late for his shift. His pay would be docked again. It wasn’t the first time, and he’d get by without the money, but he needed his boss to like him. He didn’t want to work at the restaurant forever, which meant he needed a good recommendation. Every stepping stone was important, even if he didn’t like it. All he needed to do was stay on this one until one of his internship applications was accepted.

A week later, Peter waited on the edges of the crowd at the outdoor ice rink. The speakers blared Christmas pop music overhead, but he’d tuned it out as he people-watched. He’d gotten to the ticket booth earlier than he’d expected. Thankfully, there was an open spot on a wall nearby that he could lean against until he was supposed to meet Y/N.

“Peter! Hey! Sorry, am I late?”

At the sound of her voice, he straightened and turned, searching for her. When he finally saw her pushing her way through the people loitering outside the entrance, he shook his head.

“I was really early,” he reassured her.

She finally popped out of the crowd and into the empty space beside him, smiling. “Okay, good. How long have you been standing here? It’s freezing out!”

Y/N was decked out in the same winter jacket as the first time they’d met. She’d added a beanie, scarf, and a different pair of gloves now that Boston’s winter weather had really bared its claws. Peter shuffled a little, tucking his hands back into his pockets. The cold bothered him less than some, but tonight it bit at him like it had teeth. Even so, her presence was like a warm beam of light, and just joining her made him feel a little more optimistic about the days ahead. He wasn’t sure how she made him feel better without even doing anything, but he didn’t care.

“Not too long,” he replied, though it had been almost an hour since he’d arrived. He hadn’t wanted to be late, and he knew that if he’d gone home after his shift he’d fall asleep. His boss had been ruthless since he was late again last week.

Appeased, Y/N nodded and looped her arm with his, pulling him towards the entrance to the rink. “I have to admit,” she said, glancing at him as they joined the end of the line, “I’m not actually good at this.”

“At what?”

“Ice skating. I haven’t been in years, not since I moved here from New York.”

Peter paused, pulling his gaze away from the skaters he’d been watching to focus back on her. “You used to live in New York?”

Y/N nodded, smiling a little as she hummed in confirmation. “Yeah, I grew up there. I moved here for college, but I ended up withdrawing last year. MIT just wasn’t for me.”

He smiled back. It was the first real smile he’d had all day, and it felt good. Life’s burdens suddenly felt a little bit lighter knowing that they have something in common. The knot unraveled even more.

“I grew up in Queens,” he told her. “You?”

Her smile grew wide as the line stopped, and she let go of his arm to face him fully. “No kidding! Me too! Where’d you go to school?”

“Mid—”

“Midtown Tech?” she finished, grabbing his arm again with both hands. “Me too! Wait, when did you graduate?”

The lump in his throat returned and Peter swallowed thickly. He tried to keep his face neutral, but he felt his jaw clench against the tears that welled up in his eyes despite his best efforts. He looked away from her then, staring back at the rink bordered by string lights and families crowding around the benches.

“Um, I ended up just getting my GED. There was a lot going on my senior year and I just…” He trailed off as the lump choked him, and Y/N’s grip on his arm turned gentle.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.”

He nodded, grateful for her empathy, but a little embarrassed nonetheless.

“I graduated three years ago,” she chimed in. “You know, that year with all the Spider-Man and Mysterio stuff? I remember that everyone’s projects that year were about that. Someone even started a club to try and figure out his identity. It was crazy. It did get old after a while, though.”

So that was how he recognized her. She’d been in his chemistry class. Y/N had been the girl who always sat by the window, first by choice and then by instruction. They’d never talked, though he’d always admired the projects that she did.

Scoffing lightly, Peter forced a small smile. “That sounds crazy. That’s the year I dropped out. That must’ve all happened after I left.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Y/N’s voice was soft and she didn’t say anything more as the line moved up again. They were next, and when they reached the booth, Peter reached for his wallet. Money was tight, but he knew that May would be chewing him out if he didn’t at least offer to pay.

Y/N shook her head at him and turned to the teen behind the counter. She handed him cash and he passed them their skates without another word. It was odd that they had to pay for a work party, Peter thought, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe she had to pay to bring him as her plus one, and he didn’t want to make her think he was ungrateful that she’d paid. He wanted this to go well.

Once on the rink, Peter realized that Y/N truly hadn’t been lying about her skills. While he hadn’t been skating since he was a kid, it felt a lot like swinging from one of his webs, and he picked it up after only a few minutes. Y/N, on the other hand, wobbled and tripped her way around each lap. She didn’t improve even after several trips around the edge of the rink.

“I’m really sorry,” she laughed as he carefully guided her with both hands.

Peter skated backwards, his senses on high alert as he helped maneuver her around the other couples and the kids skating at full-speed. “It’s okay,” he answered. She almost fell again, but he helped steady her, crouching down with her as she regained her center of balance. “It’s not your fault they chose ice skating. Have you seen your boss yet?”

“Who?” She glanced up from watching her feet, met his eyes, then looked back down again as one of her feet started to turn out a little too far. “Oh, right. Um, no, I haven’t seen her.”

“We could take a break. Maybe she’s by the hot chocolate stand.”

Her expression was nothing but relief and he laughed as she let go of his hand to hang onto the thick wooden wall. “You’re an angel, Peter, truly. An angel sent down from heaven.”

He laughed and after a moment, he switched to skate beside her and continued leading her around the ice until they reached the exit closest to the small snack bar. After taking off their skates, they made their way over and joined the line. Peter stayed quiet so she could focus on looking for her boss, but Y/N simply checked the time on her phone, pulled out her wallet, and looked ahead at the menu.

“Any luck finding her?” he finally asked.

Y/N ducked her head down, suddenly interested in aligning the ends of her scarf, and Peter felt suspicion tighten in his chest. “Huh? Oh. Um…”

“Y/N?” he prompted, and she sighed.

“I lied,” she replied, lifting her head. She winced and clutched her phone and wallet against her coat, drawing in and away from him. “I’m really sorry. I don’t actually have a work party here tonight.”

All of Peter’s senses dialed up to high alert and he frowned, glancing around. “Then why ask me to come with you to one? Why invite a complete stranger to a fake party? Is this just for fun, so you can tell all your friends and laugh about me later?”

“No! No, I would never laugh about you, Peter! You’re great, I just–” She let out a frustrated growl and stepped forward as the line moved, then quickly shook her head and stepped out of the queue. Peter followed her as she pushed her way through the crowds toward the edge of the cordoned-off area. Y/N stopped near the barrier of evergreen trees that separated the temporary ice skating rink from the rest of the city.

She turned to face him, sighing heavily and dropping her hands to her sides. “You were cute, okay? And I really wanted to ask you out on a date but I had just spilled hot chocolate all over you and I panicked. I made up a story in the hopes that it would make you feel bad and come out with me instead of saying no.”

Peter stared at her for a moment, his hands shoved in his pockets, then looked around. This area of the rink was less crowded. A trash can near the corner of the makeshift cafe and an unoccupied picnic table dulled the Christmas cheer, making the world feel a little colder, a little grayer, and Peter suddenly felt a little less like being out and about. If he hadn’t been so excited for the date with Y/N, he would’ve gone home and studied some more to distract himself from the holidays. He had friends from class, sure, and people that he talked with at work, but his past and his present made it hard for him to celebrate like he used to, like he wanted to. The knot tightened again, slowly tangling around itself and making his stomach clench with grief as he tried to find the words to say.

“So you wanted a sympathy date?” he finally asked, his voice quiet.

Y/N fervently shook her head. “No. No! God, no.” She held her gloved hands up, her phone still held against her palm with one thumb. “No, I wanted a real date with you, Peter. I just don’t normally ask out strangers and my mind went blank. I didn’t even really process what I’d said and done until after we’d gone our separate ways. I am so, so sorry. If you want to go home, I totally understand. I’ll buy you a hot chocolate and whatever else you want and we can part ways and you’ll never have to see or hear from me again.”

Her embarrassment wasn’t subtle and, ironically, Peter felt his gut twist with sympathy of his own. He understood what it was like to not know what to say or do. He felt that way all the time—most of the time, actually. He stared down at his shoes for a minute. The slush created by the outdoor heaters has left a wet shine on his boots, and he’s thankful that May raised him to buy a good pair of shoes that would keep up with all his walking. His feet would be cold and sore by now if she hadn’t drilled that thought into his brain.

“I think I’ll take you up on that hot chocolate,” he said after a few moments, and Y/N nodded. Her eyes were glossy with tears and Peter could see the reflection of the string lights on the evergreens in them. His stomach dropped a little further. The knot rolled to the bottom, heavy and filled with too many twists and turns for him to unravel alone.

“We should get back in line then,” she murmured.

Peter nodded, following her. They joined the end of the line, keeping some distance between them, and both of them kept their hands in their pockets as they stood together in silence. All around them, the cheerful activities continued on, but the joy didn’t quite reach Peter’s heart.

Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer and he turned to look at her. “Do you want to go for a walk after this?”

Y/N lifted her head, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. “What?”

“Once we get our hot chocolate,” Peter nodded towards the cafe, which was now only a few feet away, “Do you want to go for a walk? One of my co-workers said that there’s supposed to be a bunch of cool lights nearby. It’s supposed to be one of the best light displays on the east coast. It won like four Guinness World Records.”

She blinked, frowned, and then shook her head. “Wait, you actually want to stay? You’re not just going to go home after all this?”

Peter shrugged. He didn’t know how to explain everything going through his head. It would take too long and reveal too much, and he’d never talked to anyone about what had happened at the Statue of Liberty all those years ago. So, he’d start with the small stuff: work, classes, Christmas. Hot cocoa. Christmas lights. Midtown Tech and New York City.

After a moment, Y/N nodded, her expression still slightly unsure. “Okay. I’d like that, Peter.”

“Me too,” he replied.

The knot loosened.

Thank you for reading! If you liked this, please consider reblogging my work so that others can enjoy it too.

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savagewildnerness · 4 months ago

Note

25 and 33!

Thank you for the asks!

25: Fave season and why?

This is actually a very difficult answer for me! Both as I don't hugely prefer one season over the other and as my experience of watching each season was really different!

I adored Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles from a child and teen and was excited to hear the show was being made... but I am also always equally terrified when any thing I love is adapted.

Sidenote: I saw a play on stage - a production of Amadeus a few years ago, a film I'd watched obsessively as a child... and I was initially excited it was going to happen and booked (1) ticket... but when it got close I felt like "I don't want to go! I'm not excited anymore because what if I hate it and then I not only hate it but it ruins my memory of the film I loved?!" Anyway, I saw the play and adored it so much I ended up seeing it like 40 times or something, LOL... I still wish I had a time machine to experience that play live again now. They incorporated live musicians (not dead ones hahahahaha) on stage too and OH MY, HOW I FELT THE MUSIC ALONGSIDE THE EXQUISITE ACTING. Oh, how I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed even watching it for the 35th time!!! I share to compare...

So, with IWTV - I knew it was happening, but I didn't follow production of the show and I didn't follow when it aired in the US. Every so often I kept thinking *When is this show coming to my country, because I *do* want to watch it* and eventually it arrived in Autumn 2023...

But even then, I went into it, thinking "Maybe I'll hate it." My predominant feeling before watching was FEAR. Not excitement or curiosity. Fear.

Then, Lestat watched Louis as Louis pulled a blade and put it to Paul's throat and in that INSTANT I felt "THERE IS MY LESTAT!". I didn't even think it. I felt it in my blood and bones and soul. And what with wondrous Jacob too, I was sold. Like ugh - the church at the end of episode 1. The music. Oh MY! But I was way past the era of the initial online excitement or chat around the show. I just binged the whole series till episode 5. I actually then found episode 5 incredibly difficult... and it was worse because by episode 4 into 5 I had fallen so in love with the show and, since it wasn't too long ago, I can clearly remember myself sitting, watching episode 5 and getting to the end of it and thinking. Oh. It is RUINED. I do not even want to watch any more. And it was a few days before I could bring myself to watch the rest of the series.

Of course, I watched the rest of the series. But I actually needed to rewatch the whole series then one time, after a few week's break before I could truly enjoy episodes 6 and 7 in full. I really did find episode 5 in S1 that hard.

So, with S2 I'm obviously here with you all, utterly addicted! I watched in a very different way - able to discuss episodes afterwards and immediately process things with this wonderful community!

Hmm... I would say that I like both seasons relatively similarly, but for different reasons:

S1 - I think overall, the resonance of it as a whole works better for me, and obviously the delicious chemistry of Sam and Jacob; Lestat and Louis and the Romance of Louis' immortal turning, bookended with the Gothic Romance of Lestat's murder is Shakespearean exquisite beauty to be. And Lestat's speech on the balcony, speaking Anne Rice's words... I just adore it SO much. Like UGH. My heart - with Lestat knowing Louis plans to kill him, but not truly believing he will until the second it happens, because he could never do such to Louis and surely Louis can't either... but then of course he must and Lestat's acceptance of it as an act of love and mercy from Louis. Vibrate my soul!!

S2 - I just love the poetry of S2. The poetic writing in episode 1 and the music in E1 - the way S2 began was just so beautiful to me. I cried a lot more during S2, often as I found DreamStat unbearably moving and/or poignant (either in and of himself or in his relevance to and what he expressed from Louis... and in E1, towards Claudia.). The You & Me scene - scenes like this where there is such exquisite acting taking place without even the need for words to articulate it. Lestat's letter; when Dreamstat vanishes. Assad's Armand also often made me cry. In the Louvre! The ache at the heart of Armand wherein he has so much love to give truly, yet doesn't understand how to be loved or how to love and so this pure love instead twists into the most terrible, terrifying thing, like a knotted tree! Also S2E5. S2E5!!! OMG what perfect TV! And I adore in an abstract sense how utterly Anne Riceean that episode is, despite being mainly created for TV, with not that many of Anne's actual words in! (And I adore Jacob doing takedown of Lestat using Anne's words, especially that they used the bit that truly would wound Lestat most from the books - when he calls Lestat's playing emotionless!!!!!)

So in terms of emotion, I would give S2 the edge. In terms of overall arc, I would definitely say S1. I'm going to say it: I know a lot of people loved E7 & 8 the most in S2 and as you can tell by my 100-plus gifs, I adored the Loustat reunion... but The Trial didn't fully work for me. Which isn't a negative comment. It isn't that I didn't like it. There's just so much I don't understand about it. Which is fine - Louis doesn't understand the trial in IWTV... yet there is more feeling to The Trial in the book of IWTV from what he sees in Lestat - things he hasn't described before... Whereas here - I don't understand fully why or how Lestat is in Paris; how much is his own free will (before and after the trial); I don't fully understand Armand's feelings and motivations and desires. I don't understand what, if anything has gone on between Armand and Lestat. I don't fully understand Lestat and Armand's feelings or motivations or drives and so then it is hard to fully feel from it all. I also thought we'd get a lot more answers regarding memory with all the memory is a monster hints and it felt like all that was opening up in S2E5 only to... just not really happen much more or go anywhere big enough for me after that...?!

Yeah... a super-long answer to this question, in which I didn't really answer the question...

What do you all think/feel? I'm curious!

33: Any hobbies?

Well I guess I use music in my work, so we can't call it a hobby, but I have never done any personally creative thing with music and do not in any way consider myself a musician, so I do love to try to be creative musically, alone, as a hobby if I can drag myself from the pit of *you are an awful human who ought not exist* I obviously love film and TV and I love going to the theatre. I love to read. I used to be a dancer, aged 3-18. I really miss that. I don't dance now. I did ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, Romanian, modern and Scottish dancing!

I actually think there is something to be said for doing hobbies you are terrible at though! Then you can try to find the joy in a thing as you did when you were a child, with zero expectation, as you still have the skill level of a child too! I did like to draw as a little child (only till age 8-ish and that's where my skill-level ended) but I always hated painting, even in school. I was scared of paint and how you can't control it! Sometimes, now though, I find it fun to paint. There's no expectation as it isn't something I can do. But I really recommend to anyone to try a hobby you're terrible at - it can be freeing.

Pretty embarrassing to share this when there are so many actual INCREDIBLE artists on Tumblr (I am in awe of you all), but I'll share it in order to truly show you I cannot art and also to say - do these things - it can be the truest escape. Like, if I try to create music, I know enough to know how terrible what I am doing is. But I know I am terrible at art and that is FINE! It's just for fun!

Say hello to my wee ghost in the sky friend! This was actually inspired by the film A Ghost Story. Actually, you know, Daniel Hart is the creative involved in Interview with the Vampire whose work I have known the longest! I first heard (& ADORED!) his music in the film Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Anyway, that's more than anyone ever wanted to read on these two questions, I'm sure!!!

#ask savage wilderness #interview with the vampire #anne rice #amc interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #the vampire lestat #amc iwtv #iwtv amc #iwtv lestat #iwtv louis #louis de pointe du lac

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footballxixstars · 2 years ago

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I think some german readers are happy now since you‘re okay with writing about Florian Wirtz :)

He posted a Story on Instagram where he‘s on vacation at the moment, so maybe one where it‘s your first trip together and he randomly says thank you for supporting/encourage him during the last months because of his bad injury

Take your time with writing if you have to do some researching first! :) I think he‘s a very calm and chill guy

This Is A Thank You • Florian Wirtz

The season has been a tough one for both you and Florian. Florian had unfortunately got an injury in March, a cruciate ligament rupture, meaning that he has been out ever since and to make it even worse it was his first major injury. He’s had little injuries before that have kept him out for a game or two at a time however this was the first time he was going to be out for a prolonged period of time and even miss half of a season. The fact he was missing so many games was making Florian feel really uneasy because so much could happen during that time and he can’t do anything to alter what happens. The person who starts the games because Florian is out may do amazing and then Florian no longer has a position within the team or when he comes back he may no longer be as good as before his injury. There are so many things that can happen during this time so obviously, Florian is going to be uneasy. He has no control right now.

During that time you were his absolute rock. Whenever he was down you’d always be the first to talk to him and find various ways to cheer him up and distract him from football and his injury even if it was for an hour or so. Anything was better than him pouting about his injury for months upon months. It felt like you were the only person that he would listen to and even talk to about his struggles so obviously you were his rock during this whole ordeal and you never minded that. What made your support even better for him was that the two of you had only begun dating in September of the previous year, so 6 months before the injury occurred and you were still there for him. You hadn’t once walked away when he was really upset and doubting whether he would be able to come back or when he would sometimes get angry at you for no reason just because he was scared. You were always there for him.

From that moment he knew that he had to do something huge to thank you for all of the support and encouragement that you gave him. From that moment he knew that you deserved the world and so much more that he couldn’t give you but he was going to try. Whatever his brain could come up with he was going to do. You deserve to be spoiled and that is exactly what he is planning to do.

“How about going on a trip?” Florian asked you one day. At first you were confused because you thought that he couldn’t travel far because of his physiotherapy and all that but when he started to explain to you that he could do it online and as long as somebody was around to watch him and help him if need be then his trainer said it was fine. After some consideration and verification from his trainer, not that you didn’t believe Florian but it was nice to get verification from a professional, and as soon as you did you agreed to go on this trip with him. Why not? It’ll be a lot of fun to go away with him for a couple of days and just relax, especially after the past few months which have been a really tough time for the both of you.

After that conversation nothing else really got said about the trip except from Florian telling you dates so you could be ready and get the days off from work. You trust Florian to pick a good place and a place where you are both able to relax whilst he can carry on with his physiotherapy too. A place where there is nice food, both restaurants and things you are able to cook yourself, a place that has nice scenery around, that you won’t get bored of and can just enjoy, a place with nice weather, to relax and just take in the sun. There wasn’t a lot that you wanted and you trust Florian enough to pick a decent place for the both of you. Would that be a mistake? You are yet to see.

Slowly the day crept up and before you knew it you were on a plane flying to some remote destination that Florian had picked out. You were excited about it as it was your first trip away together and it was just the two of you too. It would be nice for Florian to be able to take his mind and not focus on the injury which was getting better day by day and it would just be nice for you to get out of the country for a little bit. Whether it is only a couple of days or a couple of weeks, any time will be nice.

And it was nice. He had rented this nice place for the both of you where there was a private pool and only a short walk away from the local market and shops and beach too so it was localised and easily accessible for Florian to walk even with his injury. Along with that the small place that he had rented had its own private gym too so Florian could do his workouts without being bombarded by people or feeling rushed too. It was a good pick. A very good pick from Florian and you can see yourself allowing Florian to pick the place of your next holiday together.

“Can we go out for a meal tonight at one of the local restaurants?” Florian asked you and he sounded pretty nervous about it too.

“Of course,” You stated, quite excited by that idea. It would be nice to go out and around the local area and eat some of their cuisine to try it out. It’s always fun to try new foods and you were excited to get out of the villa for a couple of hours with him. It would just be different than sitting inside and cooking for yourself or just heating up pre-made meals for Florian. A nice little date for both of you and you did get dressed up for it. Not a lot but just enough to know the difference between your usual wear and the fact it’s a special occasion so a little dressed up yet still comfortable. It was going to be nice.

Florian had picked out a lovely local restaurant, just a couple minutes' walk from the villa which was perfect considering Florian’s injury. The scenery around the place was absolutely stunning. It was the kind of scenery that you would never find in a touristy location or the hustle and bustle of a city. (Not that the scenery is bad in major cities or touristy locations, it’s just different and a change). It wasn’t modernised like the majority of the world is nowadays as it was clearly still in the original building and maybe a few structural bits were added to make sure that it meets the safety standards but it was still the original building which was built hundreds of years ago. Along with that, the inside wasn’t modernised either it matched the outside aesthetic wonderfully. It was a really lovely place and you’re glad that Florian managed to take you here for a mini date. Hopefully the food is as nice as the place looks and if the busyness of the place is anything to go by then you’re certain the food will hold up to your expectations.

The atmosphere around the place was calming just what you want it to be like when you go out for a romantic meal with your other half. A lot of other romantic restaurants are hectic so this one being all calm was nice. Even though it was quite busy, thankfully Florian put in a reservation, it still had a calming atmosphere and it wasn’t loud so you were able to talk to Florian without having to raise your voice at all. If there's one thing that you’ve noticed since dating Florian it’s that he’s good at picking locations for dates.

The two of you constantly talked and laughed together only stopping when the waiter came over but as soon they left the conversation sparked up again. It was always easy to talk to Florian about literally anything. If or when there were silences between you it was never awkward it was comfortable and that was something that you loved about hanging out with Florian since the beginning. The silence would never last very long either since you or Florian would come up with something else utterly random to have a conversation about and even if the conversation topic was one neither of you really understood or were into you still managed to converse in conversation with each other because it was highly likely the other person was into it and you both want to learn about each other's interests and hobbies. Even after dating for a few months there were still many hobbies and interests to learn about each other so those are easy conversations to start up. This time it was Florian’s turn to start one up. Not that you take turns.

“I just want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me during my injury,” He started off by saying to you. As he was speaking he was trying to think of the perfect words then but he quickly realised there were no perfect words for it. There were no words to describe how thankful he was for your support and encouragement through the tough months. The holiday was one way to thank you but he knows that you deserve more than that and he will give you more than that.

“I love you and this injury has just made me realise how much and how lucky I am to actually have you by my side,” Florian continued but this time staring at you directly in your eyes and not anywhere else letting you know how truthful he was being. To let you know how much he really does appreciate you and everything that you have done for him, especially during this difficult period. He just knows that without you by his side it would’ve been so much worse to deal with so he had to thank you. This was only the beginning of the thank you, he’d thank you more a bit later and then again properly when he is fully healed.

“I love you too,” You whispered back leaning over the table, so Florian didn’t have to strain his injury anymore, just to place a kiss against his lips. There was no need to thank you for anything because you were doing what you should do for the person you love when they’re hurting and injured. It’s just the basics but it did feel nice to feel appreciated by him. You were going to take it all in and enjoy your first holiday with Florian. Your first holiday alone together. Hopefully the first of many.

———

MASTERLIST | MORE WIRTZ

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