#but genuinely i do not think anyone was fully expecting what we actually got

[fearsomefive]

Seeing DT17 fan designs of April, May, and June that were made before The Last Adventure is so funny now because it just makes me picture how all those artists reacted during that episode

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?

That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.

But there is a constant exception.

Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.

And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.

On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.

He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.

More importantly:

1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"

2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.

3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."

4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.

5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.

Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.

Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.

His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.

Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.

[jennaimmortal]

Musings on OFMD Season 2

I’m feeling a bit sad today for the OFMD writers. After rewatching S1 & 2 a couple times, it’s become blatantly clear to me that Izzy’s arc this season was a very obvious love letter to both Izzy fans & the great Con O’Neil. Izzy was very clearly written to be an obstacle to Ed’s healing & personal growth, a snare that Ed needed to be freed from, albeit with plenty of nuance hiding under the surface. It would have been much easier for them to kill Izzy off while he was still the toxic, abusive, sadomasochistic terror of S1E10.

Instead of taking the easy route, though, the writers flipped the trope on its head! They utilized every bit of the potential buried beneath Izzy’s super fucked up shell. This season Izzy got

• a fully fleshed out redemption complete with terrible consequences of his 1x10 actions

• a realization of the possibility of another way of thinking & existing that he’d spent all of S1 running from & trying to destroy,

• genuine love & support from his crew mates which he was actually able to accept,

• exploration of the long abandoned softer side of his nature,

• an apology from Ed w/o first offering one of his own,

• a powerful, devastatingly poignant speech that mentally demolished a new nemesis, and finally

• a beautiful, meaningful death in the arms of the man he’d dedicated so much of his life to, known that he was truly loved by him & completely accepting of the fact that Ed’s love was not in the form he’d always hoped for.

It was so much more than we could have hoped for, and was very obviously done in service to the MANY fans that had fallen in love with Izzy even after S1, as well as to give Con a storyline worthy of his immense talent. Considering the face that Izzy was never going to end up becoming the show’s third protagonist, it was more than we could have hoped for!

OFMD has two protagonists, Stede & Ed. All the secondary character narratives that haven’t directly involved Ed and/or Stede have been icing on the cake, but the cake has always been the Gentlebeard love story. I feel like some people forget this, expecting them to treat the secondary characters as if it were an ensemble show instead of a show with leads.

Izzy’s arc really was an amazing gift! The writers gave us this incredible journey for Izzy this season, and what did a disgraceful number of people do? They attacked David directly, insulted the entire show, the writers, & other characters, even wishing actual harm & misery to other characters or even to David himself!

While I know that comparatively speaking, the percentage of show fans who reacted this way was relatively small, it was still an astounding amount of hatred & vitriol thrown at the people who had obviously worked very hard to give Izzy fans something beautiful to hold on to after his inevitable death. Much of the discourse honestly shocked me, considering the fact that OFMD isn’t even an adaptation of another work.

When fans get angry at shows written as adaptations of books, it’s a bit more understandable for them to have extreme reactions. They’ve had certain ideas and headcanons about characters they’ve felt very strongly about for a long time. It can be really jarring & painful when expectations like that aren’t met, the characters or plots are taken in totally different directions, or even excluded entirely.

OFMD, however, is an original creation. This is David Jenkins’s story. These are David Jenkins’s characters. He knows his story, his plotlines, his characters far better than anyone else does because they came from HIS brain! So while we as fans can have our own interpretations & head canons, they are always going to be at risk of being proven totally wrong by the ACTUAL canon.

One of the worst aspects of fandoms, in my opinion, is the way people become so proprietary over the story & characters, insisting that their own interpretations & theories are the only correct ones, which is exactly what happened with Izzy. Fans’ individual & collective interpretations, theories, hopes, & other head canons became concrete & true in their minds. So much so that when the actual story didn’t meet those expectations, so many of them lashed out in some truly unpleasant, sometimes hateful ways.

My only hope is that the rest of the fandom’s love, appreciation, constructive criticism, heartbreak, pain, joy, & excitement has been enough to drown out the deluge of vitriolic comments directed at David & the other writers.

If you stuck with me through this unintentionally long diatribe, thank you! Maybe take a moment to give the writers some comments or replies on social media, showing your love! I know I will!

[1moreff-creator]

Do you have any Teruvid headcanons??? If so... *Grabby hands* 🥺👉👈

Hey! Man, Teruvid, huh? Well, I have to be honest and say I don’t know if I fully grasp what the dynamic would be like, but I’ll see what I can do! Non-despair AU as always, just to keep consistency with my other ship posts :v Or, perhaps a better term would be "non-killing game AU"; it's hard to imagine Teruvid without despair lmao.

CW: Toxic relationship, gaslighting.

How this relationship would start is hard to imagine, really. Especially outside the stress of the killing game. Teruko never believed David’s cheery persona was real, so she didn’t like the guy from the start.

However, outside of the killing game, David wouldn’t be actively trying to kill anyone, and Xander and Teruko would probably still be friends, so it actually works out better than expected. Presumably, the way this works outside the killing game is that David eventually realizes Teruko doesn’t believe his façade and chooses to start dropping it around her, eventually enjoying her company just because he doesn’t have to keep up a tiring act. Teruko doesn’t like him at first, so I imagine it would be David confessing. Something like, uh...

David: We both know no one will ever love us the way we are. And we won’t love each other either, and this is going to end horribly.  Teruko: Then why the hell are you even asking? David: It’s for your benefit, you know. More than anyone else, you must be well aware your luck will ruin any relationship you ever have. Teruko: … David (fake smiling, stars in eyes): But most of them will try to be optimistic, won’t they? Thinking themselves above your luck, wishing that if they just try hard enough, this time, it will work out. How hopeful~. Teruko: … And? David (smirking): And that just means it will hurt them all the worse when it all comes crashing down. And you'll feel even more miserable after all's said and done than you did in the first place. That wouldn't happen with me. Not that I'll let you, but you wouldn't care if you hurt me anyways.

Yeah I can’t see this relationship being healthy in any way lmao.

Like, they hate each other even together, that’s the Vision of Teruvid shippers right? They would both be miserable the entire time it’s happening, since they both reinforce the worst and most damaging views the other holds. If the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker can’t even inspire himself to think things can get better, then Teruko has no reason to believe they will. And if Teruko never tries to change despite hating her life, then that confirms to David that people can’t change. The relationship is held together by the illusory comfort of confirmation bias; neither has to challenge their worldviews like they would in a relationship that genuinely made them happy, so they feel at peace in their shared misery.

Speaking of, the most common intimate interaction is venting to each other about whatever bullshit they got going on, be it unfortunate events or Speaker business annoyance. Now, neither is particularly good at giving comfort, but they’re also both bad at receiving it (they don’t understand the concept that people can feel genuine affection towards them, of course), so they settle on just… not comforting each other. Just a simple “sucks” after a long rant, or even laughing at each other’s misery, but again, illusory comfort in being able to vent out their issues without having someone actually worry and care for them, because they don’t know how to handle that.

Other than that, lots of just cuddling while doing random shit. They’re both horrendously touch starved, so they never stay physically apart if possible.

That said, though, they’re not very public with their relationship. Obviously; if Teruko never seemed to like David, then they’re suddenly together, that’s gonna raise a few eyebrows. And David still tries to keep up the Speaker persona outside his one on one interactions with Teruko, a persona that Teruko dislikes due to its disingenuity, so they never really hang out in the presence of others.

Their closest friends know, except none of them actually realize that David’s persona is a lie. They think they’re keeping it quiet not to attract attention to Teruko, given David is a public figure and all. Because of that, they actually think they’re good for each other, thinking that David’s optimism and Teruko’s pessimism balance out to be pretty functional. This fundamental misunderstanding of their relationship makes David and Teruko both feel even more alienated from their friends, which feeds into the codependency. They need each other, because they’re the only ones that get it.

Indeed, this is a serious “they would make each other so much worse” situation, I can’t see Teruvid in any other way. Unless they both get some serious therapy, and even then, the way I’ve described the relationship, it would fall apart if either of them were any more stable. So, uh, yeah.

I kinda struggle to come up with much more than this for these two, so I hope that was okay! Thanks for the ask!

[jq37]

FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha. 

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD. 

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week.  The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing. 

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.  

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year. 

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly. 

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads. 

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.  

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.) 

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too. 

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year! 

[nalyra-dreaming]

I can't stop thinking about how IWTV spent a LONG TIME in pre-production hell until it only actually got made VERY SUDDENLY once Anne Rice died. I think there's a correlation.

Those of us who have been around long enough to remember what Anne Rice was like about Lestat know she was hyperfocussed on him much more than any of the other characters.

I think this affected production. I think she might have been indecisive and controlling, and possibly unable to fully commit to letting a team play with her vision. I think that would have really ground casting and other creative processes to a standstill. I don't know, I just know how it felt.

I remember READING ABOUT a Vampire Chronicles series for about ten years or so and thinking it would never happen because she'd never let anyone have Lestat as fully as is necessary for a series unless she was show runner herself, but that wasn't going to happen because she was a writer, not a show runner, she was old, and she couldn't decide on how to best do her characters justice, and didn't trust anyone else.

- (maybe understandable, given as she originally wouldn't watch the IWTV movie, and QotD was objectively an awful adaptation) -

I stopped caring because I didn't think it would ever happen, and if it did I expected it would be the Lestat Show and nobody else would be more than supporting cast.

Aaaaaaaand then pretty much as soon as she was dead it seems like they SUDDENLY got greenlit for everything, like yes start rolling, Sam come out of hiding, period change is approved, 1900s NOLA go go go!!!

I'm asking because I genuinely don't know what Anne Rice ever knew of the actual series, and I feel like the long pre-production period was kind of tied to her not being entirely down with it?

Hey!

Soooo... Anne knew. Christopher knew / knows, too.

Both likely signed an NDA I would assume.

This show has a history, as you point out, and I talked about it (ages ago) here (with links):

(Do read @cbrownjc's excellent addition that is linked in there, too!)

And this history likely resulted in an NDA when AMC bought all rights... and did not use Christopher's script. Imho.

So Anne knew I bet, and if she hadn't been so (fatally) ill then, she would have come to adore the show I think. Because, as you know, she also hated the movie, and the casting, and and and... and ultimately, she loved Tom Cruise's Lestat. And so on.

I mean, it was a very personal thing for her - as we all know she modeled them on herself and Stan and Michele... and throughout the years and the decisions wrt fandom and fanfiction and so on that always came through.

Anne knew, unfortunately she died just when they started filming.

But, you know... I bet, if she were here, she would see it as a handover of Lestat to Sam. Because everybody keeps saying he is possessed, and I can only agree :))))

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if you answered this before but do you plan on watching S6 of Miraculous ?

I'm not sure. I'm certainly not planning to watch it as it comes out, but I may watch it once it's streaming. While I'm clearly quite critical of canon, I did genuinely enjoy a lot of things prior to season five. Little moments and character interactions that made it worth watching the individual episodes even though the overall plot kinda sucked. It was a good blend of entertaining in the micro and bad in the macro, making it something enjoyable for my partner and I to watch and then talk about.

Season five wasn't like that. There are a mere handful of good moments and most episodes gave me nothing of value, so I'm very hesitant to give canon more of my time. This is extra true because season five ended the show's first big arc, making it a really good off point as I'll fully admit that seeing Gabriel's ultimate fate was a draw for me. Now? There's really nothing left to look forward to. I no longer care about the canon square, Lila is one of the most obnoxious villains ever written, and both of our "leads" have been character assassinated into characters I don't really want to watch, mostly because they're not allowed to learn and grow, but they have the kind of character flaws that desperately need them to learn and grow for their characters to stay engaging.

Marinette's issues are pretty obvious, but Adrien was done equally dirty, just in the exact opposite way. It's really hard to get excited about for a male lead who isn't strong enough to make it to the final fight after five seasons of promising that it was "us against the world." Especially when every other character was able to overcome the nightmare dust! At least Marinette is doing things and talking to people even if those people aren't necessarily the people she should talk to and her actions aren't the ones she should be taking. Adrien just keeps sitting stuff out and doing nothing to change his situation because one of his big flaws is his passivity and it's aggravating! He's supposed to be an action hero!

And before anyone rants at me about victim blaming, please remember that this is a story and Adrien is a fictional character who - as best I can tell - isn't even intentionally written as a victim. While he is one in terms of what actually happened, the story does not seem to view him as one so I don't think his writing is some active choice to rep victims and, even if it was, I'd still have issues with their choices.

Either way, Miraculous is not the type of show that is here to give us deep character analysis. It's a rom-com superhero show for kids and that is the type of content I tuned in to watch. I was here for Ladybug-the-smart-badass and her faithful, flirty hero partner, but the show is giving me nothing on either front. Ladynoir was barely a thing in season five and I don't think we got a single Ladrien moment. Those relationship dynamics were my two biggest draws. My third tier dynamic was Adrienette and even that failed me because they didn't even give us Marinette growing up enough to be the one to ask Adrien out because, as stated above, the characters are not allowed to grow because that would mean that the episodes have to be watched in a specific order and it leads to terrible writing choices.

I've honestly given the show way more time than I ever planned while running this blog! I didn't expect it to get popular enough where I'd go away for a week and come back to over a dozen asks! I just wanted to vent about season five for a bit because the writing was just so incredibly bad that I needed an outlet to stop stewing over it. I've found that writing a thing down and throwing it into the ether is a great way to get my brain to move on and stop thinking about it, thus the blog.

[theshiftingwitch]

hi i hope you’re well! i asked a couple others this question but i was curious about your input! :

i was wondering what you think about people saying loa is a scam? ive manifested things such as green eyes that people would comment on how they were changing and longer lashes. and much more other things. i thought since getting this proof i’d finally believe fully and be able to finally manifest more things i want. but im so frustrated i read someone saying how metaphysical stuff is all fake which obviously they’re allowed to have their opinion but im sensitive lol. also, im pretty sure the CIA did studies on metaphysical stuff and found evidence that it is legit but also it didn’t always work/show evidence. but also im pretty sure someone said decades ago how they’d give a large amount of money to anyone who shows proof of any metaphysical powers within a controlled environment. but no one has done it yet. i also have literally astral projected but a part of me is like oh it’s just my brain playing tricks on me. or like with shifting i always see flashing lights and feel being touched and hear things i scripted to hear once ive shifted. but i also heard that symptoms dont mean anything :/ i was curious if you had any advice please? sorry if this is a lot of word vomit lol! 🤍 thank you!!

Surprisingly, this isn't the first question I get about the law assumption being a scam. You can go on my blog and search other articles where I discussed this particular topic if you wanted to see my opinion.

I understand doubt. Even master manifesters who have shaped their entire realities according to their own will still have doubts and fear. That is part of the human experience. If we were meant to be fearless, all-knowing creatures we would not have come here to experience humanity as a whole. The fact that you have already manifested green eyes and people actually saw the difference in them and commented on them and you still doubt your own power is such a typical, expected experience that I have heard of many times.

You are sensitive to other people's opinions and point of views because you still don't believe in your own powers. Because let me tell you something, if you knew that you manifested your entire life, if you got your dream body, your dream hair, your dream person, your dream house, your dream job, and you got it all out of thin air only by the power of your imagination, you would not give one single fuck about what anyone else is saying, especially people who do not believe in the law. The only way to fix that sensitivity is to work on your own power. Keep manifesting. From small things like rainbow cars and red butterflies and black ice cream, to big things like people texting you out of thin air or being asked out by every guy or girl you see or being famous overnight. The only way to grow your power is to use your power. Think of it as a muscle. The longer it goes without being used, the more useless it will become.

As for shifting, feeling like you're being touched and hearing noises you scripted you would hear once you shift are not in fact symptoms. Symptoms are tingles across your body, flashing lights behind your closed eyelids, dizziness and feeling like you're falling... Feeling like you're being touched, hearing noises, smelling things... Those are all signs that you have shifted. It is what most people in the shifting community call a mini shift.

And now, let's address the whole CIA debacle. Most of the documents that we know today like the getaway experience, have been an experiment that ran in the 80s 90s or the early 2000s. And only were classified years if not decades later. So let me ask you this, if the CIA had actual genuine proof of manifestation, of the law of assumption, of shifting, of astral projecting, of us being the universe having a human experience and everything that that entails from powers that we know and don't know of, do you actually think they are going to let us common folk know about that power?

The power that be, the people that are leading the world, they want us to be subservient. They want us to be powerless. They want us to be stuck in a state of not owning up our own powers and not knowing what we can do. How else would they remain in power? So instead of giving all of your attention and time towards agencies and entities like the CIA and NASA and whatever else, turn that time and energy inward and focus on yourself because that is where your true power lies.

In a world where celebrity culture is so rampant, you have people like Jim Carrey and Ariana grande and so many others telling the public that they have manifested everything that they have now. Ariana grande manifested her dream role in wicked and Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $1 million dollars and said that he was going to cash it one day through acting. And they both got exactly what they wanted. And yet we still think that it's just a trick, or a coincidence, or pure fucking luck.

At the end of the day, you'll have two choices. You either listen to everyone else's opinion and limit yourself to their limiting beliefs. Or you decide fuck it I'm going to try and I'm going to do whatever I want and I'm going to see where this experience takes me. Because what the fuck do you actually have to lose? In 10 years, you can be wherever you want to be and have manifested everything you want, or you can be 10 years older and wondering where you went wrong.

Happy manifesting ❤️

[humbledragon669]

S1E6 – The Very Last Day of the Rest of Their Lives P2 - from the dissolution of the Horsemen to Sunday (the very first day of the rest of their lives)

OK, cool. Nuclear holocaust avoided. That means that everything is going to be just fine and dandy now, right?

Oh, bloody hell Crowley, why’d do you have to be so pessimistic (realistic) all the time? I was taking my cue from the nice soothing music that this was time to relax. Well, before we go down the doom and gloom route again, let’s take a quick look at Crowley’s choice of words here, shall we?

Nothing’s over.

Hmm. Strange thing to say. Or is it? Remember this?

What if.. what if… this little speech from Crowley isn’t just referring to Armageddon? If he is in fact well aware that there were things that were said on the bandstand that need to be addressed? That he does not accept that he and Aziraphale are through? And that they are still going to have to be very careful about spending time together? His expression when he points out that Heaven and Hell are still on opposite sides conveys an air of disbelief that the angel could actually be naïve enough to believe that the avoidance of this particular Armageddon would fix everything.

After all, if Heaven and Hell are still desperate to get at each other’s throats, that means that he and Aziraphale are still expected to be pitted against one another, doesn’t it? You have to feel a bit sorry for the angel though, he genuinely does look like he thinks things are absolutely tickety-boo now.

As a side note, I got a little hung up on Aziraphale’s interrupted line here:

It’s as I’ve always said, at bottom…

Is it me, or is there no linguistical situation where that combination of words makes sense? The scripted line is actually a slightly amended line from the book:

If you take the trouble to look, deep down inside anyone, you’ll find that at bottom, they’re really quite…

I mean, the original makes a little more sense, but not really, or at least not to my mind. “Underneath it all” or “at heart” would make sense sure, but “at bottom”? Feels weird to me.

I can fully appreciate Crowley’s reluctance to try and relay the tale of the dissolution of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to an ordinary human when he’s challenged by Anathema, but what I find interesting is Aziraphale’s storytelling. Setting aside the fact that explanations are clearly part of the role that it is customary for the angel to play when it comes to his and Crowley’s involvement (for that, see the expectant look that Crowley sends his way when Anathema won’t take no for an answer), why does he start “in the beginning”? I know Crowley said it was a long story, but 6000 years long? That’s a bit of an understatement. See, I can’t help but feel like Aziraphale is actually launching into the tale of him and Crowley, and that he sees this non-Armageddon simply as part of their own story. Notice how he sets himself and Crowley up as the main characters from the very start (not to mention the attempt he makes at flattery, calling the demon “wily”)? And if you didn’t notice it, Madame Tracy certainly does:

The fact that Aziraphale launches into the story so quickly, and at such a fine level of detail, I find myself wondering if he (or in fact, they) have actually spent time constructing this story in the event that they ever are asked about their relationship. Or indeed, if he has already told that story to someone else before. I’m sure that we as the audience know that his timing and understanding has fallen pretty wide of the mark here, just like Crowley does.

Isn’t this just adorable? Crowley could have told him, shouted at him even, to be quiet, even to shut up, but instead he takes control of the situation (you could almost say he was rescuing Aziraphale from making a fool of himself…) in a way that conveys a great deal of familiarity and kindness. I suspect that this is a moment, similar to him saying “nothing’s over” earlier on, where the things he doesn’t say to the angel are much more poignant and revealing than the things he does, non-spoken communications between this pair being the running theme throughout the show that it is.

Side note on the soundscape that accompanies the arrival of Gabriel and Beelzebub: we can hear the typical miracle noise as Gabriel appears but there isn’t one to signal Beelzebub’s arrival. I do rather like the noise that’s been chosen to represent the closing up of the earth that she emits from though – it’s like a cross between a crackling file and a creaky door. Feels very apt.

Quick question: how does Gabriel know Adam’s name? He didn’t know which of the children was the Antichrist at all in the first place, never mind any of their names.

I feel like Gabriel’s assertion that “you can’t just refuse to be who you are” is a pretty obvious reference to two things. Firstly, the running theme that to be human is to have free will. Gabriel’s insistence that Adam has no free will suggests that he does not consider the child to be human in any way at all. Secondly, that he does not accept that Aziraphale or Crowley could be anything other than what they are expected to be by others. With those two factors in mind, I find it interesting that this is the point at which Aziraphale chooses to speak up, and I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that anybody that misses the expression of blind panic on Crowley’s face as the angel steps forward really isn’t watching properly.

The demon shouldn’t panic though, because Aziraphale has a plan. Which he desperately tries to communicate, again without words, to Crowley:

If that’s not a massive indicator that this pair being able to communicate without words, I don’t know what else you need. At the very least it makes clear that they can understand the subtext that is being sent their way. And hasn’t Aziraphale stumbled across the most amazing loophole here? Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the bind he manages to put Gabriel and Beelzebub in and start with the definition of ineffable (which, until watching this show, I didn’t know).

So, the very fact that the Ineffable Plan, by its very definition, cannot be expressed in words, means that it cannot be the same as the Great Plan, which has not only just been described by Beelzebub, has apparently also been written down somewhere. Genius, Aziraphale, really. And his point really hits home once he’s joined by Crowley, whose presence fills in all the gaps of credibility that the angel has. It’s another instance of us being shown how they work so much better together as a team because they complement each other perfectly. And they know it:

We’re being given a clue that the situation is de-escalating here through the music, which is a replaying of the “Man with a Harmonica” styling we heard earlier in the episode, except this time it’s less prominent, slower, and less heavily orchestrated. It signals to us that the stand off is resolving, not in a mass of fire and flame but more like a tyre with a slow puncture. The music also serves to underline the moment of comic irony from Crowley and Aziraphale with their gleeful acceptance of the “blame” for putting a stop the war (as if that was something to be ashamed of).

Whilst we’re on the topic of sound (again), I just want to say that the noise we hear Gabriel and Beelzebub disappear makes me giggle. I think it sounds like someone, maybe even a child, making a fake retching noise. No idea why I find this so funny.

Quick note: Anathema really needs to work on her consistency of information that she holds to be true:

NEWT: Perhaps it’s a volcano. ANATHEMA: There aren’t any volcanoes in England.

Well, it wasn’t that long ago that you were Newt told you the same thing about tornadoes, and look how that turned out.

So, Armageddon was avoided but now Satan’s on his way to kick some butt. That about sum things up as they stand? That’s certainly how Crowley sees it, and he is all out of options for any of them. But here’s where things get interesting for us.

There is only one thing that Crowley needs to do in what he likely believes are going to be the last moments of his existence – look at Aziraphale and tell him, in as few words as he possibly can for time purposes, that he values him. And for the record, I am of the belief that “that was that” is not a reference to Earth, or even to his own existence, but to the relationship that he and Aziraphale have shared. Stings a bit that line if you consider that to be potential subtext, doesn’t it? What stings more is the realisation that Aziraphale, still holding out hope that they can fix the situation, is doing something that he has been doing for Crowley for a long time – being Crowley’s hope as well as his own. He is, in an incredibly beautiful way, bringing light to Crowley’s darkness. And he is fully invested in their partnership here too:

We can’t give up now.

Not I, or you. We. Did I get any of you with that light into darkness thing? Maybe I’ll have you with this instead.

There are a couple of things to say about this little stand Aziraphale makes for himself, and I’ll leave the one that always makes me feel like there’s something in my eye until the end of the paragraph. This demand from Aziraphale that Crowley is the one that finds a solution to the problem is a strong indicator, as has been discussed before, of the demon always being the one to save the day. It’s part of his role, given to him by Aziraphale, and one that he happily plays because he enjoys rescuing the angel. There is, of course, a lovely subtext in this that the “bad” one is actually the hero. The fact that Aziraphale picks up the sword here (no longer flaming now – is that to do with intent of the bearer?) is a clear sign he’s giving Crowley that he knows he’s not getting out of this situation without making some compromises of his own. Despite the fact that the sword was his originally, the idea that he’s picked it up with the intent of using it to fight offensively rather than defensively goes against his gentle nature. It’s meant as a message to Crowley to show that he means business. And it does the job – we can see Crowley registering the out-of-character nature of the action and rallying himself a little to try to replicate it. Lastly, there’s that threat:

Come up with something or… Or, I’ll never talk to you again.

Except. Except. It’s not really a threat, is it? Let’s have a quick look at what the original script had down for this line:

Come up with something or… Or, I’m never going to talk to you again.

It’s a very subtle difference. But it makes it a lot clearer that this isn’t a threat – it’s a statement of what will happen if they don’t find a way out. This isn’t the angel throwing out the only thing he can think of to say out of spite, it’s him spelling it out for Crowley the real consequences for them. And you can see how frightened he is by the realisation of it:

The stage directions at this point are pretty clear about both the intended effect of those words, and the resulting action that are to take place:

Crowley nods. That one hurts. What the hell. Crowley snaps his fingers … and time stops.

Obviously there was a bit of scope creep on the mechanism for Crowley stopping time between the script being written and the end product. Interestingly, this stopping of time appears to take Crowley a lot more effort than the previous instances we’ve seen him do. It’s also missing the trademark noise that has accompanied this particular brand of miracle (the popping noise), but there are some elements of the more generic miracle noise underneath the epic-sounding choir in the soundtrack. This is the first time we’ve seen Crowley also transporting himself and others to a different place whilst time has been stopped, and we are given no explanation of where this place is. The script suggests it’s all in Adam’s imagination, or possibly Crowley’s. If it’s Crowley’s I can understand why both he and Aziraphale now have their wings, as it would help convey to Adam that their intentions are good. If it’s actually Adam’s imagination, that would suggest that he himself has pictured them with their wings, which would further suggest he is aware of their true nature, despite this never having been addressed (at least in the series, there is a line in the book that spells this out a bit more clearly – “I know all about you two.”). Interestingly Aziraphale’s sword is flaming again now (which would pose some questions depending on who is responsible for that – Aziraphale? The person whose imagination they’re residing in?) and it’s only now that Crowley chooses to adorn his glasses.

Despite the perilous nature of the situation, Aziraphale still manages to have not one, but two realisations of his own in the time bubble. Yes, that’s right I had said two. The first of those is something he has been winding his way inevitably towards for most of the season – that he can see that the virtues of being human make for a better being than one that is solely of Heaven or Hell. That realisation is quickly followed that the realisation doesn’t just apply to Adam but to himself and Crowley too. Not onboard? Check out the knowing glance he throws Crowley’s way when he delivers the line:

He knows that, morally at least, the pair of them are both much closer to being human than angel or demon now. I suspect he also knows that the admittance of that is both a compliment to Crowley and an acknowledgement of something that the demon has known for a long time.

I do not think it a coincidence that Adam is pictured with an angel on one side and a demon on the other in both this and the previous scene (on the tarmac): that image has been the stereotypical image used to depict a conscience for a very long time. What I do find interesting in this particular representation of that is that both the angel and demon are there in order to support the human they are tasked with helping, and that they intend to work together.

Side note: Crowley uses the tyre iron from the Bentley to restart time. Again, I find it interesting that this instance of him stopping time appears to be quite a strain for him given that previous (and future) instances will be easily started and stopped with the click of his fingers.

Really quick side note (just in case you didn’t know): Satan is played by a certain Benedict Cumberbatch, though you’d struggle to recognise him beneath all the CGI.

Ah phew, Satan has been dismissed just like the Horsemen. Perhaps it was just a necessity of shooting that Crowley and Aziraphale were stood so far apart prior to Satan’s dismissal, but they certainly don’t waste any time before they’re standing together again.

Either way (and I choose to believe they made a conscious decision to stand together), it would have been difficult to get this shot if they’d still been standing eight feet apart:

It’s a shot we all deserved – Crowley smiling (actually smiling!) whilst Aziraphale gazes lovingly into his eyes.

Quick note: Aziraphale does not wipe the top of the bottle after Crowley has been drinking from it before taking his own swig (this interaction is slightly different in the script, where Aziraphale passes the bottle to Crowley instead, and actually does wipe the bottle top before he does so). Also, where has that bottle of wine come from?

Just a few lines ago I wrote about how there was no time wasted between these two in coming back together. Well, now we see Aziraphale wasting no time in returning to flirt mode. This cheeky side-eye he gives Crowley when he tells Lesley that he’s been sitting on the sword is priceless:

Or how about this once-over he throws over, with the cue word from Lesley being “wife”:

And Crowley does appear to have noticed – he turns his attention to the angel at the first chance he gets, disguising the turn of his head as him simply following Lesley’s departure.

Prior to Aziraphale’s discovery that his bookshop has actually been burned down, there’s a moment where you can see him physically deflate with disappointment that he and Crowley are going to be apart.

You can see how difficult this is for him to say – he doesn’t actually manage to say the whole sentence until his second attempt at it. I can’t help but feel like this is a nod to their break-up on the bandstand – whilst he said what he did with honest intentions, it’s all come back to bite him in the ass now that the World hasn’t actually ended. It feels to me like the subtext here is along the lines of “I understand if you don’t want to be around me”, but I also feel that this is him fishing for a rejection of this idea from Crowley, like he’s really desperate for him to say “no, don’t be so ridiculous, all is forgiven��� (no pun intended. Well, maybe a little bit of pun intended). You can see him waiting for the verdict, albeit in a very blurry fashion, in the foreground of the shot. It’s pretty heartbreaking that not only does he not get what he’s looking for, but that Crowley has to deliver the soul-destroying news of the bookshop being gone for the second time, which he does in the kindest and most compassionate way that he can. It’s at this point that he offers his apartment as a place to stay for. My question about this little section is this: had Crowley, mistakenly believing that Aziraphale knew he couldn’t go back to the bookshop, already assumed that the angel was going to stay with him that night? I think that’s highly likely. There is the tiniest flicker of a smile from Aziraphale at Crowley’s offer, and why wouldn’t there be? Crowley’s invitation suggests that things can be worked out between them, that he hasn’t completely bolloxed things up with his declaration that “it’s over”. He also looks pretty devastated when he realises that it’s probably a bad idea to take him up on the offer.

Crowley’s not taking no for an answer though, is he? And he wants to make sure that his message is getting through to Aziraphale loud and clear - his assertion that they are now on their own side is really his way of saying “I forgive you”. Well, Aziraphale does get the message loud and clear – he sits beside on him on a virtually empty bus and, we are led to believe, holds his hand. And I do choose to believe that’s exactly what happens – you can actually see Aziraphale’s hand reaching down towards Crowley’s, which looks as if it’s rested on his knee or thigh.

I understand that there was a Tweet at one time where Michael potentially confirmed that this had happened, but I have been unable to find it. And on that delightful Aziracrow bombshell, I think I’m at a really good place to wrap up this part, not least because I can create a banner from noticeboards from the next scene to start the next section instead of making up my own banners. As always, questions, comments, discussions: all welcome. See you next time 😊

[gayboysteve]

Genuinely why do people think Steve can't be a fully actualized person and a love interest at the same time? Do you guys just passively consume media without, like, paying attention? Steve has been his own fully developed person since season two. We don't need to know ever detail of his life to know who he is as a person. We know the moral fiber of his character and the strength of his will. We know he loves passionately and will do anything to help. We know he's a catty bitch that doesn't get along with his dad.

Not... everything has to be shown to us for Steve to be a real fleshed out character. There are definitely places where things fall flat (letting him even feel pain after his many beatings or torture of being eaten) but being a love interest is not one of the things where the Duffers have fucked up on him. Besides Nancy, he has the most character development out of the teens and he has an actual character arc that's been percolating since season one.

You don't need to ship Stancy or like it. That's not necessary. I personally wasn't a shipper until recently (though I never hated it like some people, I've just always focused more on the Steve and the kids or Steve and Robin) and I have to say it makes a lot of sense in the scheme of things for the love triangle to be reignited. Steve and Jonathan are not just contenders for Nancy's love, they both represent something for her journey and her picking one of them will be indicative of the path she's taking. Steve's speech about learning to crawl forward wasn't just about him, that was a display of what Steve's character can offer to Nancy's character as a romantic partner. The ability to learn to MOVE ON. TO CRAWL FORWARD.

Nancy as we know is still trapped in her grief from Barb and while Jonathan has helped her get justice from that tragedy he never helped her move PAST the pain of it. One represents moving forward, and Jonathan sadly this last season, represented regression.

Personally, I think it's Jonathan more than anyone that needs to not be in a relationship. It hasn't ever seemed to make him happy. I don't think Jonathan will ever be happy until he's allowed to get away from his family a little bit. The parentification Joyce did to him really fucked that boy up and he needs, in my opinion, to focus on himself more than anyone.

Nancy has expressly stated before that she doesn't want to be alone! Steve has expressly stated he wants love and romance and a family! They're still young they can work out their future later, why can't they find some happiness in coming back together stronger and more fully self actualized? More mature and developed? I think it actually makes for a very fitting end from a narrative standpoint which is, honestly, what convinced me to switch over to the ship in the first place.

Neither Steve nor Nancy have ever been reduced to just love interests. Even in season one when Steve is explicitly introduced as only a love interest, he actually has his own character arc going on. All following seasons Steve and Nancy (whether dating, broken up, or flirting) have all had plots not related to their romance. No one is being reduced to just a romantic interest. Unfortunately, poor Jonathan is the one that got that treatment. He's the one that needs to have something devoted to just him; something that isn't just being a brother or a boyfriend. Giving him a friend was a step in the right direction. Let's give him a dream now and not just something that we hear from Joyce. A real dream from Jonathan's mouth. Because all we've heard from him are the things he DOESN'T want for the future.

Also Stoncy supremacy anyway. Let all three fuck nasty.

(Let's not bring up the whole six nuggets things. I highly doubt Steve is actually going to expect six children from his future partner. It was a reference to the party. It was him lightening the mood and trying to bring some levity to a serious, and frankly, terrifying, situation. It was him trying to make Nancy laugh while laying his heart on the line. He's not expect six literal children.)

[angeart]

Boatem Circus.... Thoughts cycling through my head about your Wonderful au. These thoughts might not make sense but. You're cool!

I think what breaks me the most (at this moment) /pos is that Scar, when he built up the circus with his own two hands, after coming from wherever he had come from, had to teach himself how to bring salvation to others. How to show others safety and warmth and show them that things would be okay. He had to teach himself first how to take care of others. And then after elegy he realizes that everything he taught himself can be like- applied to him, too, because he's not alone anymore and the others are gonna show him and teach him and save him and it's so 🥹 love. Found family. Yummy.

(Also while I'm here 👉👈, am I allowed to ask who the very first person to join Scar's circus was or is that like spoilers-?) hope you have a lovely night and day

boatem circus!! 💕

you are so very right about scar. he didn't have other people show him kindness, but he still decided to extend it to others. he had to learn, and by doing so, he wasn't even aware he's teaching the others too!

and gosh when they turn it around on him 🥺 my heart.

found family!!! i love boatem circus crew found family so so so much.

you are allowed to ask! it's not a secret or a spoiler or anything! it just genuinely wasn't something i had figured out, but your question prompted me to go bug stiff and i think we got it now :3c ...

the order in which people joined the circus*:

scar > impulse > gem > jimmy > ren > pearl > cleo & doc (separately but at around the same time) > mumbo > joel > grian > [events of elegy] > skizz > tango > ???

... so. impulse. our beloved impulse was first.

he was running away from some people and he hid at where scar was building stuff. and scar came across him, with his typical "well hello there :J"

and impulse was scared! and he could've lashed out with fire in his fear. but— he didn't. (he is a teddy bear and genuinely doesn't want to hurt anyone, ever.) (there might be a backstory buried there that makes elegy so much worse :3c just saying)

he wasn't used to people regarding him without fear. he wasn't used to being just... accepted. or to be allowed to stay anywhere. he actually fully expected that's what the rest of his life will be: endless wandering, being chased off, forever running away. and yet.

and yet.

scar offers him a place to stay. so easily. as if it didn't cost him anything.

[prapaiwife]

I know with the Japan Lita scenes when it comes to prapai and sky it will probably be less than the amount of scenes to show sky's trauma as so in the OG version. But something I see is a lot of people saying that they feel like in the original that they dwelled in it too much or pay too much attention to it all. And on one hand I get it because for some is triggering and it's like a lot to handle and in that case you do what's best for you and you protect yourself and you just don't watch it. Or people will say the opposite of like well the author does this because she likes to exploit her characters who are in these type of situations. And I don't think by any means that's her intention with that but that's another topic. But with sky story I often found a lot of people saying that they didn't understand why he's being difficult still he has a good guy like he's showing that he's being genuine to him. And even though prapai had totally changed his whole motive of you know admitting that he did want to sleep with sky again the first time they were able to meet again. Sky had to see his actions more so than his words because anyone can say anything that was all good to you but their actions don't add up to it. And so when we saw sky kind of go back and forth with him for a little bit it wasn't surprising to me and it wasn't just him being difficult just to be difficult and the scenes that we have seen like the heavy abuse that he has suffered. Although it was very I guess you can say not enjoyable obviously to watch because it's just not in those ever situations. It was there to see the actual visibility of what this has impacted on Sky's life and his relationships. And for some watching obviously got the memo of like this actually being very serious and more so than just sky being difficult just to be difficult and mean. I can understand that the scenes were even a little bit uncomfortable. But I think in a way it was meant to just to show again the absolute realism and horror of it all. I'm not expecting the Japanese version to obviously show it and they don't have to. But I just sometimes think people will see those scenes in the original one and say it was all too much in the sense of like we didn't need it. And I feel like if we didn't have it will people have actually understood sky enough. Idk at the end of the day I think obviously if you are one that is not able to watch those scenes you shouldn't and shouldn't feel like you you need to put yourself through it. But the same time I think the scenes being there just to be in there wasn't the case for the heck of it. Some people can't fully see the picture when it's being painted in front of their eyes.

[captainlynxx]

Gay month (the finale)

Post 30/30

The results are in

I fully expected Ianto to win this. They genuinely wrote his sexuality so well and most of the major flaws were “fixed” in EU content.

I’m surprised that Tosh got so many votes, outside of Mary, Tosh never showed actual interest in anyone other than men, and her brief relationship with Mary was in no way good representation imo

I expected nothing more from Jack, I don’t think I need to elaborate.

I’m also shocked at Owen’s results. I do not own a single one of his big finish audios so maybe I’m missing something, but the only time he’s shown interest in a guy was using alien pheromones and seemed like a last resort (not to mention it was in no way consensual)

I thought Gwen would at least get one vote but it seems like I was mistaken, her representation was shocking though. Justice for my bi queen Gwen Cooper.

With Suzie, I am in severe denial. That is (somehow) a straight woman and I have to admit that to myself at some point.

John got votes, I think his rep was subtle and maybe not in a good way but also what can you expect from a side character. It very much seems like “here is an lgbtq+ character, we won’t expand.”

Now for other, I think 99% of the people who voted other were voting for Angelo and I honestly have to agree my guy was a religious gay guy in the 50’s (or whenever the fuck it was) and they SHOWED IT. Angelo is amazing.

I love this comment because a common thing with the people Jack dates is that he’s usually the first guy they date, the awkward coming outs are perfect and i live for them. If not then there’s still some sort of conversation concerning sexuality and I respect it.

[thesecrethistori-an]

Omg hii I saw you answering a bunch of peoples uni questions and you were so nice at answering- so here's mine too!!

How do you improve your social life in college, in just socially anxious and like I know all the generic advice but it's still tough

Like I have friends but it isn't like glamorised fun you know, we hang out- I like them but it's not "crazy" like I don't go to parties with them, or go out with anyone that often? Like is that weird? I feel like I want to change that but I don't know how to?

Hii!! Thanks for your question!! I love this because it has really forced me to think about how I relate to others and how I've struggled to find my people

It's genuinely hard to socialise in a way that isn't just checking the boxes but that actually is fulfilling. It took me years and it was sometimes exhausting (ironically the pandemic helped me solidify my friend group)(then I moved to a different country and distanced myself a lot from my Spanish friends, which is something I haven't fully resolved yet).

I'll just throw in some ideas:

You genuinely need to be interesting: do not fake a personality but reflect about your offline identity. You befriend people that you find cool/funny/intelligent. People that can hold a conversation. You cannot expect your friends to be just an entertainment. Friendship is exchange ;)

If there are student clubs in your uni, join one. It doesn't need to be the thing that interests you the most, it could be something you're curious about. There, if people hang out after their meetings... Join! And if they don't? Honestly, choose two of your favourite people, propose a fun hangout that is simple (board games bar if you like that, drinks, coffee, visiting a museum) and pitch it to the rest of the group. Chances are everyone is looking for an excuse to socialise!

You can try different clubs: first year I joined a feminist association, a photography club and an mun club... I ended up only staying in the mun club and some of my best friends rn (even after I moved out of the country) I met there!

Related to this: it is irrelevant how cringe your classmates/other people/friends from outside think a club is. It's not the point, the point is having fun! I know mun is extremely cringe and I couldn't care less... I learned so much thanks to it and I met so many wonderful people (and a bunch of assholes ofc)

If there are no student clubs: test the waters. When I moved from Spain to Czech rep I was super frustrated because the student life dle internationals was very poor, especially if you didn't want the usual Erasmus activities (nothing wrong with them, but I was looking for stable connections, not just friends that will leave in 6 months). Then a weird "club" opened applications and I just applied... And got selected! Basically it wasn't even a club yet, just a group of 3 girls who were in the same situation and had the brilliant idea of creating a student club fulfilling what they felt was missing! It is now a huge success and our activities really have improved the experience of other international students. Sometimes it's about taking action;)

It takes a lot of alone time to find your people. I made "friends", similarly to you, when I first moved here and 6 months in it was obvious we were not really tight. It's okay, some friends are for grabbing a coffee and that is also important, but we all crave real connection. The more people you meet, the more you force yourself to approach people, propose plans, invite them for a coffee, for a study session, for a new activity, the easier it will be to find a group you like!

Don't indulge in loneliness for too long. My friends here took months to invite me to join their group chat because they just thought I genuinely was okay with meeting them very casually (they thought because I was pretty chill I must have a real friend group elsewhere — I didn't and if I'd been less shy I'd been surrounded by this wonderful group months earlier).

Don't limit yourself to people from your degree, even from your uni. I love "mixed" student clubs because they allow you to meet the wonderful people that study around you and who you would never meet otherwise!

Be politically active: I believe this is something all of us should do. The current political climate calls for action and joining social movements will help you be part of a bigger community of people that share your values. Test the waters before you fully join (I didn't stay in the first feminist group I joined because a few meetings in I started to see red flags)

Conclusion: it's very hard and takes time and effort but there's always hope. Start small and be at peace with temporary loneliness. It gets better 🩷

[candywraptor]

Hello! I just found your "gentlemen prefer blondes (but I'm not classically trained)" fic and I love it so much. I'm sorry if you've already answered this but how do you guys work on it together? My friend and I tried to write a fic together once a long time ago and it got really messy and we stopped because it was too hard to make it fit together. How do you and @frostbite-fable (sorry I just picked you to send the ask to but it's to both of you) write so your story and characters stay so consistent?

Hello! :DD

Thank you for the ask and it's a very fun question!

First of all, I'm very glad you're enjoying blondes! ^__^ I hope you like the things we have planned for future chapters! I think I've said this every time but I am so excited for the things that are coming.

As for your question. . .I think Frost and I's situation is a little unique in that we were previously married (genuinely) and therefore we are used to working together very closely. I'm not sure I could do a project like this with absolutely anyone else (and with a lot of this content, I'm not sure I'd want to!). That also means I have pretty easy access to her if I have a question or need clarification regarding what to do with Lucifer - which brings me to a point that I think may be one of the biggest reasons we can keep the characters in line:

We have complete and total control of the character we write. I'll use myself as the example. If I am starting a chapter and I need to refer to Lucifer, I ask Frost what he's doing in that moment or has been doing since the events of the previous chapter. If Lucifer is actually present in a scene, then me and Frost are actually in the document working together and writing in real time. Anything Lucifer says or does is Frost, not me - any dialogue is written by the one who writes the character and actions are dictated by them (but not written out - that's the job of the chapter author). If we need them to go in a different direction than where we're headed naturally, we can reconfigure some dialogue or how they approach each other and we figure it out together.

This is possibly the most fun thing on the planet and I live for these sessions.

It is also really challenging. I have to read my previous chapter and remember the headspace Alastor should be in before jumping in to work with Frost in hers. Not writing out how Alastor feels (he's very introspective) before responding means that I'm working a little more blindly than I prefer. When I write Alastor, sometimes his response is different than what I expected so not being able to work through that means I need to be very careful with him in Lucifer chapters. It also means I can't explain why he did or didn't do something that may seem out of place.

And Lucifer is terrible at paying attention. A lot of what you can get out of Alastor in Frost's chapters are subtle but the sad, wet, pathetic man-child doesn't notice shit. And he sure as hell doesn't think about anything, either. It is no mystery why he's a disaster, truly.

Switching perspectives can also be jarring so I tend to start my chapters right after Frost is done with hers so I can transition as smoothly as I possibly can but no matter what there is a gap of time. I think I find that to be the most difficult part - Alastor goes through growth that I didn't get to explore as fully as I wanted since I didn't write it.

So the short answer is that we're very comfortable with one another and we're very involved in each other's chapters. We also worry only about the character we write so it isn't on us to determine what the opposite one might do or think - someone else keeps track of them.

Frost is going to hop in with her own take on everything but I wanted to thank you again for this fun ask! :D

And thank you for reading blondes, too, I'm very happy that you like it! <3

P.S - Fun fact. You would think we favor the character we write but that isn't the case. Lucifer is my favorite of the two and while I absolutely like Alastor, knowing so much about him (this version) and hanging out in his head make him less appealing than Lucifer who I know much, much less about. I shit talk Luci because that is my job but I adore him - to the point of infatuation, really, so take from that what you will.

[gilly-moon]

Ask meme. 001 with ships Black Ice and Pompous Pep? 👀

Already did Blackice, so I'll do Pompous Pep for this one!

when I started shipping it if I did:

I was definitely having thoughts about them when the show was still airing...

my thoughts:

This is one of those ships that I think I'm more...particular about than some other fans of it. Or maybe my preferences aren't as in line with the broader headcanons, idk. I guess we'll find out in this ask game

What makes me happy about them:

They fall into that beautiful category of 'rivals who are forced to occasionally rely on each other' and I EAT THAT SHIT UP. But on a more sincere note - even if they'd struggle at first to connect, I like to think that they're willing to hold each other accountable to their flaws. They have no hang-ups about calling it out when one of them fucks up, but they both (Vlad especially) could benefit from some vulnerability and honesty like that.

What makes me sad about them:

Not sure there is anything tbh???

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Ok this is where I might be getting into some unpopular opinions but I'm really not a fan of the over-exaggeration of some of Vlad's characteristics, like making him extra flamboyant or shallow or leaning SUPER hard into tropey-single-bachelor things (typically for the sake of humor). I get he's literally a cartoon villain, so feeding into his tropes is kind of expected, but as someone who came to like Vlad because he's actually got some genuine emotions under his flawless suit and ponytail, I really don't vibe with those more 2-dimensional interpretations of him. I enjoy him for his pathetic side as much as anyone else, but there's a limit to everything for me. Also any fic where Danny grows up and gets super tall or beefy is...not for me. That boy is a beanpole and he always will be.

things I look for in fanfic:

If it's written by @9haharharley1 (kidding but totally not kidding). I tend to gravitate either to the ones where they're established and toe the line between sincerity and 'we were rivals once so the mockery can never die,' OR ones where they're still rivals and Vlad manages to catch Danny off guard and has some fun. Also, topVlad/bottomDanny exclusively.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

Outside the realm of pompep, I think Vlad just needs to remain single and remember how to have friends. Maybe him and Skulker can elevate their business partnership to something more. Danny...needs to go to college and learn some things about himself imo. Him and Sam really don't feel like they'll last, but maybe if he did some exploring in college he'd find someone to be with.

My happily ever after for them:

I'm not sure I can fully imagine one for them? Not in the sense that it couldn't happen, but I just really like living in the part of their relationship where they're still imperfect and growing together and figuring out how to fit their lives together. Looking beyond that is...not as interesting to me, I guess.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

I could see it either way, tbh. Danny sliding over to be a big spoon to steal Vlad's warmth, or curling up as the little spoon when he's needing to feel safe/protected.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Sparring - they know the other can take it if they get serious, so it's a good mutual challenge and way to let off steam. Maybe stargazing if they're feeling extra peaceful that night.