#but i’ve just never liked how the fandom talks about elena because it seems wrong and unfair

[vitrisimbre]

something that sticks out to me about carolena and is one of the reasons why i don't ever like the ship much is because it feels like caroline is a bit resentful towards elena and acts as a mouthpiece for the audience that doesn't like elena. like that part where she's like "liam is performing surgery on sarah and you found a way to make this about you?"

i'm biased i guess because elena is my favorite character in tvd, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but i never found her to be selfish like the audience started saying over the years. the only time it felt that way to me was the scene where she and damon were arguing about their relationship while they were in the prison world with a limited amount of time to get bonnie out. they should've been driving to meet bonnie halfway, but instead elena was trying to more or less flirt with damon. but there's a lot of things about delena that i don't like, because the ship usually results in choices/scenes like that where the show is almost entirely about delena to the point it sacrifices characterization of other characters. to me i think that was ooc of elena and a result of poor writing that started going downhill when delena became canon

but earlier in the show, she was always trying to die for her loved ones, prevent them from having to make hard decisions... she stabbed herself and slit her throat while she was still a human and felt human pain just to outsmart original vampires for the purpose of keeping her loved ones safe

so i just never thought she was selfish besides that one scene in the prison world that frustrated me. but it felt like caroline thought that about elena, just like the audience, and it was always unfair to me because caroline is maybe the last person who should be judging someone for centering themselves to begin with… 😭 she had a real issue (like it was one of her canonical character flaws) with being frivolous and self centered. she grew and by the end of the show she was a generous person and a very kind mother. but i just wasn't a big fan of her interactions with elena

the part in season 6 where elena is trying so hard to party with caroline and cheer her up but caroline just tells her everyone is gone (i.e, stefan is gone because he was out of town and ignoring caroline’s calls because damon died) and elena goes “but i’m still here, care 🙁” but then caroline says she knows and walks off anyway always made me sad

[andreal831]

What are your overall thoughts on Katherine Pierce? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you talk about her.

My personal opinion: Everyone always says she did terrible things in the her 500 years and make it seem like she had a choice in the matter, when she really didn’t. She didn’t have a choice in general regarding the direction her life went, she would be hunted by Klaus.

I think majority of the things we see her do is justifiable or can be explained: it was for survival. If the protagonists gang doing immoral things for survival is justified, then why can’t Katherine? Speaking of protagonists, I absolutely despise the fact that she’s the villain when characters like Damon or Klaus do so much worse.

You're not going to like this one.

I don't talk about Katherine Pierce very often because I'm just not a fan.

I'm going to preface this by saying this is just my opinion and it doesn't mean liking Katherine is wrong. People tend to get offended when I don't like their favorite characters or ships, but it's just my opinion.

This is going to need some TW: SA/Rape

For me, I have a few deal breakers for characters and one of them is SA and rape. I know there is a lot of debate in the fandom about Katherine and Damon, but I've said it before, what Katherine did to Stefan is rape. She took away his autonomy and continued to have sex with him multiple times. No wonder when he turned into a vampire he hated her. I could never just move past this. I get a lot of what she does is for survival, but that was not. I can justify a lot of behavior because I think people can be pushed into situations where they do terrible things, but what Katherine did to Stefan has no justifiable reason.

But I can put that aside and talk about her as an overall character.

To me, Katherine had more of a choice in her life than a lot of the fandom gives her credit for. What the Mikaelsons and her own family did to Katherine when she was a teenager was beyond awful, but it doesn't blanket justify the next 500 years. Just like what Mikael did to Klaus doesn't justify the next 1000 years.

I would be more likely to feel more sympathy for Katherine if we saw any kind of evidence that she was living in fear for 500 years of Klaus. But we just don't see that. During the time she is supposed to be running for her life, we see the Mikaelsons hanging out in New Orleans never once thinking about her. Now we can insert some headcanons and say that the Mikaelsons had their network of vampires out there hunting Katherine, but we don't see that from Katherine's perspective either.

When she meets the Salvators she is just hanging out with them. I won't even get into her problematic relationship with Emily right now. But the Katherine we meet in the 1800s is acting like life is all just a game and inserts herself between brothers just for fun. The show just needed to spend more time showing her running or even just showing that Klaus even remembered she existed. To me, Katherine could have just settled down somewhere and stopped causing havoc and been safe. Much like Klaus from Mikael.

Katherine is the only person to know that she had a child and there was a possibility of more dopplegangers. Seeing as how she treated Elena, I'm honestly surprised she didn't seek out her doppleganger sooner to turn her over to Klaus. I personally headcanon that's why she ended up in MF. She was tracking down her ancestor to trade them for her own freedom and got distracted by the brothers.

I do think there is a lot of misogyny in the fandom and Katherine does face a bit of it. Her and Damon are essentially the same character and I have definitely seen her criticized for things that Damon is applauded for. But at the same time, I think Elena gets it a lot worse because of Katherine. Katherine is not a girls girl and is constantly making misogynistic comments. She criticizes Elena for the exact same thing she is envious of Elena. And it's not like Elena had some blessed life that Katherine missed out on. Elena also lost her entire family. I do think Elena had more of a support system, but that is in spite of Katherine's best efforts. Like Elijah points out, Elena was "fated to live the same life that [Katherine] endured" and a lot of that was because of Katherine.

To me, I think they needed to let the villains be the villains and that was something I appreciated with Katherine. Because, yes, she had a tragic past, but no, she didn't need to do a lot of what she did. The fact that half her motivations throughout the show was just trying to get Stefan back or ruin Elena's life made her more of a villain than a protagonist. What she did to Stefan, Elena, Mason, Caroline, etc. makes her a villain. I once saw someone say she only kills when necessary, but the scene at the party where she so easily kills a teenager to prove a point to Stefan makes me disagree. Much like all of the villains, she kills without reason or care. I wish they had gone more into her dark past to really cement her as a villain, but I actually like that they never redeem her.

I love a good villain and even more so when it's a woman. But, like I said, Katherine just went to far with Stefan and I can't look past it. I also didn't find her Stefan obsession that compelling. Or her hatred of Elena. I liked the season when she grows close to Nadia and when she did try and help Stefan with his PTSD, but other than that, I didn't find her to be a compelling character. Although, I absolutely love her entrance into the show. It will always be iconic.

Thanks for the ask! I don't get a lot of them from TVD so it's always fun to talk about!

[zodiyack]

Back

Requested by anon: Will you do a story/ one-shot about either Elijah or Klaus’ wife, and they’ve been trying to find her for while because of betrayal or something and they finally find her?

Pairing: Niklaus Mikaelson x Female!Reader

Warnings: Slight angst?, fluff, swearing

Words: 1,015

Summary: (See Request)

Taglist: @matth1w​, @redspaceace-writes​, @fandom-puff​, @darling-i-read-it​, @simonsbluee​, @jenepleurepasbaby​

Masterlist | The Vampire Diaries Masterlist | The Originals Masterlist

MYSTIC FALLS, SOME TIME AGO

“Are we sure we should be doing this?” Caroline whispered. She’d seen what Klaus did when he was mad. Not that she was afraid of him, it was Y/n she was afraid of. She actually liked Niklaus’ wife, but doing this would be stabbing her in the back, and stabbing her in the back would mean she’d have to face her wrath if she were to ever wake up.

“Klaus can’t, and won’t, do jack shit. He’s all bark and no bite...pun not intended.” Damon snickered.

“I’ve gotta agree with Damon on this one.” Caroline glared at Elena. It really seemed like Stefan, Matt, and her were the only ones who genuinely liked Y/n. But why? What’s not to like about her...aside from being the wife of their worst enemy. “She’s married to him. She must be used to this, right?”

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

“No! Not you too!” Caroline exclaimed, widening her eyes at Stefan with shock.

“I’m sorry. I like her, but I agree, if this makes Klaus powerless and weak, it has to be done.”

“How would it make him weak?”

Stefan sighed, “His wife. She goes missing and is our bait, he can’t hurt us or else he’ll never know where she is.”

“You do realize you’re going to make it worse by having two grudges to face?”

“How so?”

Caroline rolled her eyes at Damon’s doubt but indulged him in her explanation. “We’re betraying Klaus. That’s one stab in one back. And we’re making his wife temporarily die and hiding her at that! That’s two stabs in one back, and another stab in a different back.”

“What’s with all your metaphors, blondie?”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes again, and paced ahead of the group. Whispering to herself, as if Y/n could hear, she apologized and shrugged off her fear. “I’m sorry, Y/n. It’s the only thing we can do. I hope you understand.”

NEW ORLEANS, PRESENT DAY.

Klaus slammed his fist against the table. It had been years since the Mystic Falls betrayal. That’s what Rebekah called it anyways. Elena and her group of friends had taken the one thing Klaus loved, the one thing that loved Klaus. Damon and the others were always telling him he didn’t know what it was like to be loved, but his wife assured him that he didn’t need to prove anything.

Now, she was gone. He didn’t know whether they’d stabbed her with the white oak stake or if they daggered her or something, but she was gone, that was the one of the only things they could establish.

“We’ll find her, Niklaus. I give you my-”

“Word?” He flipped the table with a growl, “You give me your word that you’ll find my wife? She’s gone, Elijah! She’s been gone! Where was your word then?”

Elijah simple nodded. It infuriated Klaus even more that Elijah expressed nothing but a neutral expression. “Niklaus. Yes, Y/n has been gone for some time, and for that I am sorry, but you must understand, I couldn’t give you my word then be-”

“Because what?!”

“Because, brother, we didn’t know she was alive back then.”

Klaus froze in place. “What?” He felt the anger leave his body and relief take over. Over and over again, he asked himself if he’d heard Elijah correctly. Hope, once lost, returned.

“She’s alive. Caroline Forbes has confessed. She refuses to talk to you, as you’re a little on the murderous side,” Klaus scoffed yet held a smile, one of which Elijah returned, “but nevertheless, she knows Y/n’s health status, as she and Stefan are still in on at least that part. However, she’s been compelled to forget.”

“Damn it.” Klaus allowed himself to have hope, but he should’ve known something was wrong. Every time it was too good to be true, there was something off. “Do we have any information on her whereabouts? Like anyone who knows?”

“I’m not sure. She mentioned other people getting compelled as well, but even if that is true, we’re immortal, Niklaus.”

“Yes? Get to the point!”

“We have thousands upon thousands of years to live. We have an entire earth to pursue. I promise you, brother, I will not rest until Y/n is recovered, healthy, and by your side once again.” Elijah clenched his jaw after speaking.

He despised the betrayal just as much as Klaus, and not only because he is a man of his word. Y/n was his sister-in-law, whom he loved as a part of his family. Everyone knew; mess with one Mikaelson, get the rest. Any harm against a member of the family was a harm against all of the family. 

“We’ve found her, brother.” Elijah smiled as he hugged his brother tightly. After many agonizing years, months, weeks, days, and minutes of searching, they’d finally found her.

“We need to leave then. Right now.”

“He’s already got that covered, Niklaus.” Klaus stilled, almost looking like an actual statue. A chuckle he swore he knew filled his ears and brought the tears he’d been hiding to his tear-ducts. “My guess is that he got the strategy for such from you. I mean- Forcing witches to free me? Did you two switch personalities while I was gone?”

Klaus let out a chuckle of his own, turning and surging forward. He held Y/n close to him, practically suffocating himself in her shoulder while inhaling her scent. “Is it true? Are you really here?”

“Yes, Nik. I’m here, my love, and it’s all thanks to Elijah.” She giggled as her hand cupped the back of his neck.

Klaus shivered as Y/n’s fingers brushed over the hairs on the nape of his neck, a feeling he hadn’t felt for far too long. A squeal escaped her when Niklaus connected their lips in a familiar longing dance.

“I’ll leave you two to catch up. But, don’t forget, Y/n, we all miss you and would love to talk to you.”

“Thank you, Elijah.” Y/n didn’t have much time to respond, Klaus already initiating hugs, kisses, and everything else he could think of. She was glad to be back.

[malereader-inserts]

Mask of Timidness

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries  Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x Male!Reader Summary: You hide behind a mask that Elijah wants to see the real you Word Count:  1,196 Request: @marc-isthename​ “ Also like, lowkey, i wanna request a kinda shy(?) reader keeps distance with Elijah to avoid being rejected but He notices it and stuff happens. This is a request that fully and completely depends on whether you want to or not cuz that’s what I can think of at the top of my head “

It’s not you were deathly afraid of Elijah because he was a vampire and you were merely just a human being. 

You were deathly afraid of Elijah due to rejection.

Of course, you were naturally, at heart, a shy person. So, it really goes against your nature to act upon something that takes a lot of mental preparation. You prefer to be a background character, really. You couldn’t handle being the main character, sometimes, not even in your own story. If any of the Mikaelson ask Caroline, Bonnie or even one of the Salvatore brothers about you; they usually say something along the lines of:

“Oh, he’s just shy, that’s who he is.”

“(Y/n)? Shy, little, harmless (Y/n)? Just leave him be, that’s how he likes it.”

Elijah had noticed that you weren’t afraid of him or his family due to their vampirism. In fact, surpassing the getting to know stage, you were very comfortable around Klaus and Rebekah. Even, Kol, which Elijah had heard you were the most intimidated by him as well. So, Elijah doesn’t get why you’re avoiding him.

Elijah enters Mystic Grills, next thing you’re leaving because you have things to do. You’re in the Salvatore house and the Mikaelsons enters, Elijah has never seen a human move with such pace. He wonders what he has done because it’s obviously him at fault. After all, you’re not like this with his other siblings, you’re not like this with your friends who are also vampires, even Bonnie who has proven time after time that she can be a terrifying witch.

You weren’t afraid of danger, Elijah had concluded, but afraid of him.

He wanted to talk to you, without terrifying you deeply. But, there wasn’t a way to get you alone and talk to you without it seem like he was going to murder you. Elijah found his opportunity when he had found you studying at the Grill, you were by yourself - not even Matt was on shift to save you. You seem to be engrossed in what you were doing.

Elijah approached you, knocking on your table causing you to look up. Your eyes widen, you almost froze on the spot but Elijah’s warm smile melted the ice that was beginning to freeze you.

“Is this seat taken?” He asked, motioning towards the empty seat in front of you.

You shook your head, “By all means...”

You had no way in escaping without being rude, and you didn’t want to come off as rude. He sat in front of you, his smile trying to calm you down - but you know he can hear your heart racing as you looked back to your laptop screen, hoping he’ll just get up and leave.

“What are you working on?”

“Oh,” you mumbled, timid, “Just work for college, that’s all.”

You shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, that was a thing that Elijah liked about you - the shy boy of Mystic Falls. It was the fact that despite you being terrified of messing up just the simplest things and rather keep to yourself - you have a personality not many people get to see.

After the layers of shyness, Elijah is welcomed to see a boy who was very intelligent and very passionate in his works, his learning, his hobbies. There’s a fire in your eyes and tornado in your heart, begging for a destruction of art. It’s why Klaus likes you a lot, you can understand art, you understand the beauty of things. It’s Elijah loves you a lot, because whilst his brother focused on the beauty of the bigger picture, you, on the other hand, was satisfied in seeing the beauty of the simple things. 

“I often forget that you’re older than Elena and such,” Elijah nodded, listening to you, watching you tense up.

“Not that much older, just a year,” You replied, you cleared your throat and sat up straight. 

“May I ask, what do you major?” Elijah asked, his head tilting to the side. 

“Classics, I’ve always favoured the mythology - lets me escape the reality we face,” You replied, a small smile on your face appeared, “Plus, I get to learn about the arts and literature of Greeks and Romans - What’s not to love about it?”

Elijah beams further as you spoke, you realised you were about to ramble as you felt a blush within your cheeks, sinking into your seat. Hoping maybe if you sink enough, Elijah will stop talking to you.

“(Y/n)?” He says, slowly and there was a calming tone within the way he had spoken your name, “I am...”

There are a dozen words you could describe. Handsome, caring, compassionate, drop dread gorgeous, intelligent, but the word he had said took you back.

“...scary?” Elijah finished, he had never seen someone shoot up in the seat so quickly before, “I was just thinking since you have always seemed to avoid me.”

“No!” You exclaimed, “No, of course not, in fact - as much as you are an original vampire who shall be feared, you are the least of the family that scares me.”

“Then why do you avoid me?” Elijah finally came asking.

You should have known this question was coming, you had spent a week before fantasying about your life with Elijah if you have any courage to ask him out then another week, hiding away and avoiding Elijah at all cost to save you the lasting embarrassment when he inevitably says no.

“I’m not avoiding you,” way to go (Y/n), nice one in lying straight to a Mikaelsons’ face, “I have no reason to avoid you.”

“Oh, I just simply curious that’s all, as to why my siblings often talk so highly of you when I barely see you,” Elijah commented, “I’d like to know you more, (Y/n), you are simply extraordinary in what you are - I hope you are aware.”

“That’s where you’re wrong Elijah... I’m just me, simple.”

“No, you’re more than that. And I think you’re worth knowing, so please tell me why you have been avoiding me. Have I done something to upset you?”

Your shoulders slump in defeat, “I like you, Elijah-”

“And I like you as well.”

“No, I mean, in child’s terms. Like like you, Elijah.”

“Oh-” Elijah had not realised that escaped his mouth as you looked at him with tightly closed lips, looking anywhere but him as you made an attempt into making yourself small, “Well, I also, like like you.”

You snapped your head at him to look at him, Elijah was concerned you were going to give yourself whiplash, “You do?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I? I’ve said it before, you’re simply extraordinary. I see the passion in you, you’re handsome, you’re intelligent. There is a person behind the mask of timidness that I’m dying to know, to love, to cherish. Please allow me to do so...”

“Are you sure?” You asked, in a small voice, “What if you don’t want me anymore?”

“Absolutely not, my dear,” Elijah reassures you, “There’s a fire in you that keeps me warm. It would be a mistake to let that go.”

[procrastinatorimagines]

Our Little Secret

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Series: Our Little Secret

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 6 //

Part 7 // Part 8 // Part 9 // Part 10 // Part 11 // Part 12 // Part 13 // Part 14 // Part 15 (Final)

Pairing: Y/N Gilbert x Klaus Mikaelson

Characters: Y/N, Klaus, Elena

Word Count: 1,132

Warnings: none

Request:  Can i get a imagine where the reader is elena twin sister and in a relationship with klaus please and thank you

Summary: Y/N Gilbert caught Klaus’ eye the moment he arrived in Mystic Falls

Klaus’ attention had made you uneasy at first, though you couldn’t deny your attraction to him, he had an air of mystery that just pulled you in. Your twin sister, Elena, hated it, scared that Klaus was going to use you to get to her. That’s what you thought at first too, and it had taken a lot of wooing from Klaus - late night visits, flowers, paintings - for you to realise he liked you for you, and not because of your sister. It wasn’t something you liked, being jealous of your sister, but Elena had always been the more popular one, and after your parents died and you’d both been thrown into the world of the supernatural, almost everything was about your sister.

But Klaus saw you for you, he didn’t just see you as Elena Gilbert’s sister. After a few of his visits you started to see a softer side of him, he almost seemed nervous around you, aware of what he had done and worried that is all you would see of him too. So you spent your time getting to know each other, who you both really were, and as Klaus told you stories of the past millennia you felt some walls come down around him as you leaned in, captivated by his every word.

This was what was happening tonight, months after this had first began. You and Klaus were sprawled out on the roof of the school, a top of a picnic blanket, an expensive basket of food by your feet that Klaus had most likely compelled from one of the more upscale restaurants in town. Klaus was telling you about the stars above you both, and how they had got their names, you knew he was imagining what it would be like to paint them when he returned home for the night.

“I’ve never really paid much attention to the stars. I guess I always liked them, but you manage to make them sound like magic.” You laughed.

“When you’ve lived as long as I have you find there is beauty in all things,” Klaus grinned, turning to look at you, “some more than others.” You blushed and looked back at the sky, cursing his charm. If your sister or your friends ever found out that you and Klaus had been sneaking around there would be hell to pay. You’d told yourself so many times that this time would be the last time, but that damn charm kept you coming back again and again. Klaus knew how he made you feel, and he took great pleasure in reminding you.

“I could paint you amongst the stars,” he said, “bathed in moonlight...” His hand when to your leg and you bit your lip. His touch was always softer than you expected, and it had been scarily easy to forget what horrible things those hands had done when they were on you. When he touched you it was like you were the only two people in the world. He turned to kiss you and you kissed him back, lost in his embrace as he wrapped his arms around you, drawing you in. 

You broke away, a little out of breath, and looked into his hungry eyes. He shifted his weight so that he was nearly on top of you when he froze, head shooting to look at the roof door you had propped open when you arrived. He jumped away from you as Elena and Caroline came onto the roof.

You jumped up too, smoothing down your hair and fixing your clothes. Caroline’s face was one of shock and your sister’s one of anger as they surveyed the scene on the roof, the blankets, the food, the half drank bottle of wine, even your nicer than casual dress you had spent over an hour deliberating.

“What is going on here?” Elena asked finally, breaking the silence. Klaus actually looked speechless, possibly for the first time in centuries.

“How did you even-” You began, but Caroline cut you off.

“I was you two sneaking into the school.” She explained and you pulled the sleeve of your dress back up your shoulder in embarrassment. You weren’t ashamed of what you were doing with Klaus, but you had known it was wrong, and that there would be consequences when the two of you were found out. 

The look of disappointment and concern in Elena’s eyes was nearly unbareble as the said: “did he compel you?” You shook your head, looking to where Klaus was stood a few feel away, the hunger in his eyes had gone but there was still desire there as he looked back to you.

“I care deeply for your sister.” He said at last and even given the circumstances, you felt a flutter in your chest.

“The hell you do, you’re just using her to get to Elena!” Caroline exclaimed protectively. 

“Whatever you want from me Klaus, leave my sister out of it.” Elena continued. You fully understood the sentiment, they were just trying to protect you, but they didn’t know the real Klaus, and they were treating you as if you were a child.

“I’m right here you know. Stop talking about me like I’m not here.” You spoke up, earning and impressed looked from Klaus. “This was my choice.”

“Why?” Elena asked. “You know what he’s done-”

“And you know what Damon’s done.” You interrupted. “But you still manage to look past it everyday to see the good in him, we all do really.” Elena didn’t really know how to respond but Klaus looked grateful for a second, before his usual cocky bad boy attitude surfaced.

“Well, it seems you all have a lot to discuss. Don’t be too angry with her love, I am irresistible.” He winked at you and he was gone, as was the bottle of wine.

“There really is more to him than the Klaus Mikaelson you know.” You tried and Elena sighed.

“I don’t know Y/N. After everything that’s happened since he’s arrived in Mystic Falls...” She trailed off.

“I know, and I get that you’re angry, but these feelings I have for him are real, and everything I’ve done has been of my own free will. Give me a chance to explain who he really is?” You pleased, grabbing your jacket from where it had been discarded on the roof as Caroline headed for the door.

“Let’s just get home. How about we talk about it in the morning?” Elena decided, putting her arm in yours as you got closer. 

“Okay.” You agreed, heading back into the school. You turned to look back as you did, and saw Klaus watching you from a nearby building. Whatever the morning brought, you couldn’t bring yourself to give him up.

[callonpeevesie]

I had a talk with Ally earlier and it reminded me of some of my initial thoughts on Elena and the music ban so I figured I'd talk about that a little. I haven't read any of the Coco books, I'm just working with things I've learned from the fandom. So please let me know if I'm wrong with anything.

Elena's attitude to the music ban is a compelling topic mostly because it's so extreme. Was Imelda extreme? Yes. But taking her circumstances into account, her actions can very much be explained. Héctor leaving broke her. Considering she was headstrong and independent, which was unexpected of women of her time, she probably got a lot of "men don't like that". When Héctor left she probably started to believe that even he didn't like that. Enough to give you trust issues for the rest of eternity. So she turned her back on him by bottling up her feelings, and built her entire life and legacy on the assumption that Héctor had willingly left her, driven by anger. It was probably the only way she could have coped emotionally and financially on her own.

As for the music ban, she must have done it because music hurt her, since it was connected to Héctor's leaving. But it's also a popular-ish headcanon that she heard Ernesto's version of Héctor's songs sometime and thought Héctor had sold their songs to him. I find that plausible. It would explain her giving up all connections to music to avoid further pain like that, and also to protect Coco from that pain. And honestly, it would have been hard for her to not accidentally hear Ernesto's songs, what with Ernesto being so famous and Santa Cecilia presumably being so proud of him.

Coming to Coco, it has been talked about why she never put up Héctor's photo or why she never told anyone about him even though she loved him, or why she never defied the music ban. She was Elena's mother, after all, she must have had authority over her. The easiest explanation for why she never put up his photo is that she didn't know he was dead and she didn't want to think he was. He was only 18 years older than Coco, he could have been alive for all she knew. As to why she went along with the music ban (even though she didn't strictly follow it) and didn't talk about Héctor, it was likely because it hurt Imelda too much and possibly hurt Coco too.

Now, why was she so strict? I feel like it's like how religion gets distorted through ages, or how any rules are sometimes taken for word and not in spirit. Imelda banned music from her own trauma and to protect her family in her eyes. Her methods may have been wrong but it was understandable. Coco didn't really do anything for or against the ban. But Elena, who probably heard about the origin of the ban directly from Imelda, took her word for law and turned it into the extreme thing we see in the beginning of the movie.

I think it's interesting that Elena seemed to be even stricter than Imelda regarding the ban. I'm going to link a post about this in a reblog because apparently tumblr hates links, but Imelda didn't flip as badly as Elena would have done when she found out about Coco singing and dancing in secret. That is probably why Miguel actively rebelled against the ban and Coco never had to. They both loved music but it feels like Miguel had it so much worse than Coco when it came to hiding it, not just because Miguel was more into music than Coco, but also because Elena's regime was much stricter than Imelda's regarding music.

I don't know much about Mexican culture so please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read, family and respecting your elders are very important. Elena likely grew up with Respect Your Elders™ which is common in so many POC cultures, including my own. Coco grew up with it. Elena's children grew up with it. It might possibly have played a part in how such a ridiculous ban stayed in place for so many generations. No one questioned their elders. But the emphasis on not questioning can sometimes be toxic for children by not giving them a voice and forcing them to go along with things they don't want to, as it was in Miguel's case.

It's also pretty obvious that Elena respected Imelda very much. Miguel says "Abuelita runs our house just like Mamá Imelda did." From how Elena looks at Imelda's photo and asks her what to do with Miguel, it's apparent that she looked up to Imelda for guidance. So of course she took her word for law. Then in the absence of Imelda, the music ban became even more extreme, the way it often happens with rules being misinterpreted and turned into dogma. Elena didn't dispute her grandmother and her children and grandchildren were expected to do the same. The matriarchs in Coco are inherently extreme, but other than that, Elena didn't do much with the ban herself. All she did was take Imelda's rules and enforce them with double viciousness.

Some of the things she did were not justified, especially breaking Miguel's guitar. It was especially messed up for the effect it had or could have had on Miguel. He was right to protest and he was definitely right regarding music. If the ban hadn't been lifted, he would have grown up to resent his family. But now that I've written this out, Elena's attitude to the music ban doesn't seem as extreme as it initially did, at least to me. Most of her attitude came from her culture's and the Riveras' emphasis on family. Though she did wrong things, she was doing what was expected of her first as a granddaughter and later as a matriarch.

[firelxdykatara]

I've read your thoughts on the noncon kiss between K/ataang (and I agree 100%), so I was wondering what your thoughts were on when Damon kept on trying to kiss Elena even after she rejected him?? (Also, I'm genuinely asking! I actually ship Delena, but this has just always bothered me.)

I suppose the simplest answer to this question is ‘I hold vampires with dodgy morals who began the show as villains to a different standard than I hold the heroic protagonist of a kid’s show’--because the fact of the matter is, Damon began the show as a villain. (And, not that it makes much of a difference, but I genuinely do not remember Damon trying to kiss Elena again after finding out that she was wearing vervain in the third episode--with the exception of the first episode of season 2, which was absolutely a horrible moment and I’ve never denied that. So where did he ‘[keep] on trying’? Genuine question, bc it’s been a while since I saw the early seasons of the show so I could be forgetting something.) Damon was unequivocally a villain and a monster in the beginning of the show, and his road to become a good man was long and not at all linear, and he was never going to be the Hero, because that’s just not who he is. (Which is ok, because not all good people have to be.)

The way the EIP kiss is presented, with absolutely nothing bridging the gap between that and Katara making out with Aang in the finale, it makes it seem like she figured out her feelings for him because he crossed her boundaries, rather than coming to that conclusion because she actually had romantic feelings for him and had worked through them on her own time. Aang makes his feelings her problem, without even asking her how she actually feels about him, and reveals that he assumed they would be in a relationship by now (because of the last time he kissed her without her consent, something that he phrases as mutual when it very much was not). This is especially an issue because it’s a children’s show, and this could very well be some of the target demographic’s first concept of consent in a romantic relationship--so the fact that there wasn’t even an attempt to point out that what Aang did was wrong and why, nevermind allow Katara to actually work through her feelings on screen, is a big problem, and when this gets brushed under the rug by Aang/Kataang fans it seriously bothers me.

By contrast, Elena was able to work through her feelings for Damon on her own time. He killed her brother at the beginning of season 2, unquestionably one of his worst actions in the entire show, and he had an arc where he began to realize that he actually cared about what he’d done--he actually cared about her, and was in love with her--and did everything he could to make it up to her. Crucially, though, he never actually made his feelings her problem, once he came to terms with them. He told her that he was in love with her, but then he compelled her to forget it so that she wouldn’t be burdened with that knowledge--and he backed the hell off. He didn’t even ask for her to forgive him until he was literally dying. And he accepted when she said that she still needed time--time he didn’t have--and didn’t actually push the issue until he was so delirious from the werewolf venom and in the middle of vivid hallucinations that he couldn’t control himself.

Elena kissed Damon at the end of season 2, thinking he was going to die--this was 100% initiated by her and unprompted by him, and it was her saying both ‘I forgive you’ and ‘goodbye’, because she thought he was about to die. (And he would have if Katherine hadn’t shown up with Klaus’ blood.) The next time they kissed, you could actually compare it to the Kataang surprise kisses--because when Damon kissed Elena in 3x10 it was unprompted (though she held the kiss and did not react negatively to it, unlike Katara who looked upset at the pre-invasion kiss and got angry at the EIP one)--but the important difference here is that Elena herself phrases it as a mutual kiss later on when she is talking to Stefan and wants to be open with him.

And the real crux of the matter here is, Elena’s feelings are always front and center in her relationship with Damon. She initiates most of their pre-relationship kisses--2x22, 3x19 (where she nearly fucking jumped his bones lmfao), 4x7--and the one where she didn’t is a kiss a kiss she describes as mutual, and as something she needs to confess to her ex-boyfriend to keep all her cards on the table. (Actually, I just went back to refresh my memory, and she doesn’t just say ‘we kissed’, like Damon said to Bonnie the next day. She says ‘There’s something I have to tell you. And it’s not because I feel guilty that it happened, it’s because I feel guilty that you don’t know. I kissed Damon.’ And then Stefan goes on to punch Damon because of it, because that doesn’t have any gross implications at all, but I’m not gonna go into that bc this isn’t an ‘I hate Stefan Salvatore’ rant. Yet.)

Elena chooses who she wants to say goodbye to in the season 3 finale. Elena chooses who she wants to be with in the beginning of season 4 (because, whatever she felt for Damon [and she owns those feelings and admits to them multiple times without prompting], she never had closure with Stefan, and she needed that before she was able to truly move on), and she chooses who she wants to spend the rest of her existence with after that.

Elena’s choice is crucial in her relationship with Damon, in a way that Katara’s never is with Aang. And I’m not trying to pretend that there aren’t a lot of elements to Damon and Elena’s relationship that aren’t questionable (he’s a 172-year-old vampire with a lot of murders in his past and a history of being a monster pre-redemption, and she’s an 18-year-old girl when they start dating), but again the difference there is that I have different standards for a) enemies-to-lovers relationships vs friends-to-lovers where they are on the same side from the start, and b) vampires vs Kid Heroes, so I’m going to have different expectations going in, and am probably going to react with more distaste to actions in one that might be comparatively tame, but still read very differently in different contexts.

It’s 100% understandable to have a line in the sand re: sexual violence/rape, but there are still vast differences in what is considered ‘par for the course’ in a show like TVD vs one like ATLA. In TVD, compelling humans is normal, and almost every vampire has had sex with humans under compulsion, so when this is brought out as some mark against Damon and only Damon, it makes me wonder why some fans hold him to a completely different standard than literally every other vampire on the show (possible exceptions being the ones who get turned during the show--although Caroline compelled Matt to forget she was a vampire and then continued her relationship with him sooooooo). Not liking TVD because it has issues with sexual violence/how consent is addressed when half the cast can take away the other half’s free will? Very valid. Not liking Damon, specifically, for these reasons when stanning characters like Stefan, Katherine, or.... p much any other vampire on the show???? Not so valid. 

Annnnd I’ll get off my soapbox now lmfao. I still have A Lot To Say apparently, and some day I’m gonna get into why the TVD fandom has such a weird relationship w the show’s issues with consent (like why Stefan and Katherine stans will call Damon a rapist while ignoring that their faves are also rapists by the very same metric), but I think that’s a bit beyond the scope of this ask.

[disneymiraculousefandomsblog]

That’s okay! There’s nothing wrong with liking more than one ship! People are free to like whichever ship they want, as long as they don’t get too carried away, which, unfortunately, it seems like many people in the fandom have. I’ve seen some people who like Gabelena and Eleteo so much, they ignore that Gabeomi and Carteo even happened. I love shipping, but I hate it when it gets to the point where canon relationships are ignored.

Yeah I can understand your point of view on that too. I haven’t really been into the fandom of Elena as much as I have been in TTS, I’m a huge fan of Elena when the show came out. That’s the whole reason why I created this blog in the first place heh🙂.

But then TTS came out and kinda steered me away from the Eoa fandom heh😅. I only recently went back because both my shows TTS and Eoa are over I got back into the Eoa fandom after it ended. I know kinda late for that heh 😅. As for the ships I know a lot if people can get carried away by ignoring certain ships or hating certain ships others like.

That’s why I myself don’t like talking about the ships I like because I don’t want people to argue or start sending hate asks to me about it. (I’ve gotten a lot of hate anons before for my ships).

Aww thank you! Well there’s a whole lot that I caught when I see these two dorks together. I’m not sure if this is the picture your talking about, but if it is I mean just look at them. You can tell they do have crushes on each other, from this scene I get that they are both super shy about telling each other how they feel.

Also you can tell in this picture that it’s kinda awkward at first because I think Mateo really liked Elena, but since she never said anything that she had feelings toward him Carla was the second one he actually in my view really liked. I think they would have a really good relationship because they both know Magic, they both fight in a way, they are both shy and have a hard time showing their feelings.

honestly I don’t think any of them expected to have feelings for each other, but things change and the future is not predictable. These are my thoughts on the ship which I really like and I can see why Disney confirmed this ship, but I also really wish they would have confirmed it with Elena but oh well.😅

[aladygrieve]

Merlin/Arthur Fic Rec

** - Favourite

FANDOM CLASSICS

Castle (The Rules by Which We Live) by kickflaw Word count: 16,200 Summary: Merlin knows that getting off fastest when he’s got some BDSM porno playing loud on the computer doesn’t mean he’d really like to be that bloke, gagged and bent over and bound. Right? Notes: Modern AU and the best BDSM I’ve ever read.

Destiny That Darkly Hides Us by Nympha_Alba Word count: 63,000 Summary: It’s 1913, the practice of homosexuality is unlawful, so is the practice of magic. When Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Emrys meet as Cambridge undergrads, they’re both hungry for a real and true connection without secrets. For a short time they believe they may have found it. But war breaks out and separates them, and it seems unlikely that they will meet again. After all, what are the odds? Notes: Includes reincarnation!

Drastically Redefining Protocol by rageprufrock Word count: 46,000 WIP Summary:In which Prince Arthur meets Merlin and all hell promptly breaks loose. Notes: Modern AU in which Merlin is a chain-smoking med student and Arthur is the womanizing Prince of Wales. Includes several companion stories.

**The Student Prince by FayJay Word count: 145,200 Summary: A modern day Merlin AU set at the University of St Andrews, featuring teetotal kickboxers, secret wizards, magnificent bodyguards of various genders, irate fairies, imprisoned dragons, crumbling gothic architecture, arrogant princes, adorable engineering students, stolen gold, magical doorways, attempted assassination, drunken students, shaving foam fights, embarrassing mornings after, The Hammer Dance, duty, responsibility, friendship and true love… Notes: Because really, no rec list is complete without the novel-length jewel of the Merlin fandom. It’s plotty, beautifully written and perfectly in-character, and is especially dear to my heart now that I’ve actually visited St. Andrews. I highly recommend the podfic, as FayJay is an incredible reader.

REINCARNATION/FINALE-COMPLIANT

Hold My Heart Until it Beats by ingberry Word count: 1920 Summary: Arthur dies and waits for Albion to need him again. But most of all he waits for Merlin. Notes: Great use of the Arthur waits trope.

**Hopeless Wanderer by Magnolia822 Word count: 18,500 Summary: Merlin has been wandering the world for hundreds of years alone; one day a young blond man moves into the flat upstairs. But does Arthur remember? Notes: Still my all-time favourite reincarnation fic.

I Keep Going Over the World We Knew (Over and Over) by Mellacita Word count: 51,100 Summary: When Merlin Emrys is sent on a ‘round-the-world assignment, he begins remembering a life of magic, dragons, and kings. To make matters worse, a strange woman starts stalking him along the way. And that’s before he even meets Arthur Pendragon, whose answer to climate change is going to save the world. Because apparently just saving Britain won’t be enough this time around. Notes: Plotty and intricate and very, very cool.

Let Your Heart Hold Fast by Acavall Word count: 3000 Summary: Merlin waits for Arthur’s return, and the only way to hold on to his memories is to write them down. Over and over, again and again, as history marches by. Notes: Works interesting historical references into the reincarnation deal.

Never Let Me Go by LadyVader Word count: 3500 Summary: Merlin has walked the world for a long time waiting for his friends return. Notes: Great use of the rest of the characters.

Now I Will Unsettle the Ground Beneath You by nu_breed Word count: 42,300 Summary: Merlin’s dreams have always fuelled his art, but they’ve always been abstract and removed from reality. Soon after he meets Gwaine, he starts to see vivid images of a past full of death and magic and love for a King who was ripped from him. Things only escalate further when he spends a weekend in the country with Gwaine and meets his group of friends, which includes aristocrat and It Boy, Arthur Pendragon. Merlin soon realises that no matter how hard you try, one thing is certain, you can’t fuck with destiny. Notes: Merlin’s dating Gwaine but he and Arthur can’t keep their hands off each other. I love it.

Old Love, But in Shapes That Renew and Renew Forever by leopardwrites Word count: 3500 Summary: People accept that an old man might live alone. People understand that he might have lost the greatest love he has ever known. Notes: Fics that deal with old!Merlin are never not going to be gut-wrenching.

CANON ERA

A Bet by juxtapose Word count: 1100 Summary: In which the Knights stumble upon a private moment between the Prince and his manservant, Leon is uncomfortable, and Gwaine decides to make a bet. Notes: All the knights are fantastic in this one.

The Accidental Seduction by Ras Elased Word count: 9000 Summary: Arthur’s a bit dim and a prank goes horribly awry, but in the end this works out to the benefit of all involved. Notes: Almost unbearably adorable.

**Finding Home by riventhorn Word count: 7860 Summary: When Gaius retires, a new physician takes over, one that quickly kicks Merlin out of his room and takes it for himself, Arthur finds Merlin sleeping in the stables..and it’s winter. Notes: Good old-fashioned hurt/comfort with a dash of fluff. Probably my favourite canon-era fic.

**Fools of Us All by adelagia Word count: 11,100 Summary: Merlin accidentally makes everybody in Camelot fall in love with him. Everybody except Arthur, that is. Notes: Cute, funny and very in-character.

Freedom Hangs Like Heaven by derryere Word count: 9000 Summary: It’s happened five times and they don’t talk about it. Notes: The unresolved romantic tension will end you.

The Greater Bond by ravenflight21 Word count: 15,500 Summary: When Arthur is kidnapped by slavetraders, Merlin has only one option: to buy him. Playing Arthur’s master has its drawbacks – but it also has extraordinary compensations. Notes: Fabulous trope that also includes fancy dress. What more do you want?

**A Heavy Heart to Carry by ThursdayNext Word count: 12,561 Summary: When Merlin is captured and injured, Arthur must face up to his own feelings for his manservant as well as the many secrets he discovers are being kept from him. Notes: I think this might have been the first merthur fic I ever read. It’s Cold Outside by ionionie Word count: 2500 Summary: Merlin and Arthur get trapped in a cave on a freezing cold night. How do they stay warm? Notes: I’m such a sucker for this trope it’s actually sad.

**Meteorology by fayhe Word count: 4600 Summary: Character study with spot-on cameos from Uther, Morgana, Gaius and even Kilgarrah. Notes: Best Gen.

So That I Might Be Where You Areby cherrybina Word count: 4600 Summary: When a spell goes wrong, Merlin and Arthur are linked together in an unusual way, which leads to lots and lots of UST. Notes: Not kidding about the UST, which works surprisingly well. **Stars Above, Stones Below by Destina Word count: 46,800 Summary: After the disastrous end of his betrothal to Gwen and the regret of his offer to Princess Mithian, Arthur swears off finding a wife until he’s ready to wed. When Merlin offers himself to Arthur as bedmate, Arthur suggests they hand-fast in secret for a single year of mutual pleasure without obligation. As their year together unfolds, and secrets and betrayals unravel around them, Arthur and Merlin learn there is no such thing as uncomplicated pleasure. Everything they thought they knew can change in the span of a single year. Notes: Another one of my absolute favourites. Winterbloom by Shinybug Word count: 6200 Summary: Deep in the woods in the frozen heart of winter, a careless comment leads to a redefinition of Arthur’s relationship with his manservant. Notes: Emotionally-constipated boys shivering in the cold will always be one of my favourite things.

MODERN AU

A Change of Pace by kianspo Word count: 54,600 Summary: The one in which Arthur works in finances and his suits are various (two) shades of grey, Merlin works in advertisement and has no boundaries whatsoever, Morgana drinks rum, Mithian stages a coup, Agravaine is aggravating, and Elena’s house is amazing. Also, Andy Warhol is mentioned in vain, and Arthur and Merlin fall in love in Victorian era style. Notes: In which Arthur has a structured, ordered, boring life, until Merlin comes along.

This Silly ol’ Dance is Perfect for Two by SlantedKnitting Word count: 80,500 Summary: Arthur is young, gorgeous, talented, and captain of one of the best football teams in England; his life should be perfect. But he can’t keep a girlfriend for more than a few months, and it’s not just because he isn’t ready to settle down. When his most recent girlfriend dumps him, he has a rough night at the pub and has to be dragged home by his neighbour, Merlin. Merlin is an archivist, a Ph.D student, and he hates football almost as much as he hates Arthur. They both have their own reasons for not wanting to spend time with each other, but after that disastrous night, remaining silent neighbors doesn’t seem like much of an option anymore. Notes: Plotty and original. Wicked Game by winterstorm Word count: 42,400 Summary: Arthur’s the King of Camelot…nightclub. He can pick and choose who he wants, and he does – often – no promises and absolutely no repeats. The night he chooses Merlin might just be his undoing. Notes: Slight age difference.

[incomprehensiblelentils]

I did not actually post about the SHIELD finale besides my bingo card yesterday because I was very tired lmao so here is my roundup of thoughts!

tl;dr 7.5/10, mostly pretty emotionally satisfying, the best My Little Pony/Care Bears episode I’ve ever seen, I will miss this dumb show, Skimmons forever <3

Someone appears to have sat the writers down and said “look, here are all the things you did wrong in season 2, a lot of them were super racist and make you look bad” and they went “ah fuck whoopsie, we can totally make up for that” and then...they kinda did????? like one of the things I hate most about this show is the Jiaying plotline, it’s very bad and racist and I’m not just saying that because it’s Dichen. But like...they gave them a whole emotionally resonant plotline where Daisy and Jiaying got to talk and like kinda make up??? and she died which sucked but I’ll take what I can get. SHIELD SAID JIAYING RIGHTS

KORA!!!!!! oh my god Kora is literally just Kara all over again and I don’t care, I LOVE this. I love that Daisy was like “ok you’re being super annoying but I still don’t want you to like die or whatever ‘cause you’re my sister, so I’m going to point out your shitty Nazi boyfriend is shitty in an attempt to get through to you.” AND THEN KORA LISTENED AND LEFT HIM. IT WAS MAGICAL. I was absolutely sure that Kora was on the express bus to Fridgetown and then she just didn’t die and she and Daisy get to be sisters now and it’s so beautiful!

Jemma just straight-up being in Dollstate was the funniest thing to me. I did Notice that Daisy was extremely acting like her handler, which was cute for the ten minutes this went on or whatever.

On that note, can’t believe that SHIELD continues to be a better Star Wars than Star Wars. See: Daisy floating in space Leia-style, Kora being turned from the Dark Side with love.

I cannot believe that the writers were like “how do we tie up the Chronicoms plot? We are going to CARE BEAR STARE them into being our friends!” It is so wildly stupid and charming and optimistic and I love it so much.

I also love that the entire thesis of the show is literally “the real Agents of SHIELD was the found family we made along the way.” ENDGAME WHOMST, SAID AGENTS OF SHIELD. WE ARE HERE TO BE A FAMILY NO FUCKING MATTER WHAT. FAMILY MEANS NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND. OR FORGOTTEN AT THE BOTTOM OF A CLIFF. (Daisy was not left at the bottom of a cliff, but still.)

Daisy gets to lead SWORD with her sister and her manfriend!!!!! That was lovely and a perfect ending for her. I’m so proud.

I also really warmed to Sousa over the course of this season, because when he first showed up and they were like TIME FOR ROOOOOMANCE I was like “ah shit here we go again” but actually, no, he’s totally fine. He’s just Victor from Dollhouse and his entire purpose is to be supportive and sweet to his ladyfriend. This is fine by me. I rescind my former statement that Robbie Reyes is the only man good enough for her, Daniel Sousa is also Lentils Approved™.

I have one (1) significant qualm and it is that Leo Fitz is a sentient piece of cowshit who was perfectly willing to hide out in a time pocket for YEARS and play house while the world was burning around him. He saw no problem with this and felt no guilt, unlike Jemma, who is a human being and felt guilt. I hate him so much and he should’ve gotten brain cancer and died. I am pretending that is what happened. Also, I’m fairly convinced the baby was his idea, not Jemma’s. We stan a relationship with mind control and reproductive coercion!!!!

The baby was REALLY cute though. Much like Morgan, it’s not her fault that her daddy’s a shithead.

I also feel cheated because I wanted to see Mack and Elena have kids!!! Like that’s obviously going to happen or at least they will adopt Flint and I got none of these things and I am annoyed about it.

I think Melinda’s ending is a little dumb, but mostly because if anyone deserves to retire, it’s her. I hope Andrew is still alive in this timeline.

I want a spinoff about the adventures of Mack and Elena, SHIELD Power Couple. I just think that would be cute and she, Piper and roboDavis seem like they’re having a great time.

VICTORIA HAND CAME BACK we literally cheered we were SO HYPED

Oh also Daisy spent the entire two episodes dragging the shit out of Deke and then he stayed behind in the past just like I wanted him to and we never saw him again and he never got anywhere near kissing Daisy HA HA HA HA HA.

IMPORTANT EDIT: Daisy and Jemma are two of the last to log off the call at the end of the episode and they promise to contact each other about a particular thing and then Daisy winks at her. SKIMMONS LIVES BITCHES

anyway! this show was weird and made me mad and sad a lot but unfortunately I love it and have built quite a lot of my fandom life around it, so uh. So long, you weird little superhero show. <3

[imaginefan]

What they do the piss you off and how they get you to forgive them. TVD/TO fandom preference. Matt, Damon, Tyler, Jeremy, Stefan, Marcel, Vincent, Kol and Klaus.

Matt

Matt was working hard to fix Mystic Falls after everything that had happened there and you seemed to take a backseat when it came to everything, so when you cooked dinner for the third time that week and he missed it, you didn’t even feel like eating yourself, you left everything as it was deciding that you were going to face it in the morning. Matt came home late that night and the moment that he saw the state of the kitchen he felt bad when he cleaned everything up before going to bed

The next morning you were woken by the smell of something cooking in the kitchen as you walked in you were surprised to see that Matt was still there “Good morning beautiful.” He smiled as he walked over. “What’s all this?” You asked. “I’ve missed dinner 3 times this week and I’m sorry, I’ve been working so hard on fixing Mystic Falls that I ruined our home.” He answered. “It’s not ruined.” You dismissed and he smiled softly. “You're too forgiving.” He warned. “Only for you.” You smiled as you leaned forward pressing a kiss to his lips.

Damon

Damon never meant to make you feel the way that you did but with you being human you always felt like he’d end up upgrading you for someone better. You were a good hunter but you were human and that meant that you were going to die while Damon was not and he would eventually look for someone who could stay him forever. When Elena was turned into a vampire you felt like everything was going to change, he was spending more and more time trying to figure out everything with her that you found yourself alone.

You stopped trying to find Damon after a while deciding that if this was going to be the end of it then you were just going to accept it pack up and leave, after a couple of days you decided that you needed to ask him, you could live in limbo like that, you rung him but he didn’t pick up so you left a rather angry message “Hey Damon just wanted to let you know that I’ll be leaving so, would have let you know in person but it seems that there are better people to worry about anyway see you around.” You ended the message and started packing.

A couple of hours later Damon appeared in your room “what do you think your doing?” He asked. “Leaving.” You answered. “Why?” He asked. “Because then I don’t have to watch as you fall in love with someone else.” You answered flinging your bag over your shoulder. “I’m- Wait what?” He asked. “Bye Damon.” You waved behind your back. Before you could get very far Damn pulled you back to him. “The only person that I’m falling in love with is you,” Damon said. “Oh yeah, you expect me to believe that?” You asked. “What is the matter with you?” He asked. “Surprised that you noticed considering how much time you’re spending with Elena.” You muttered. “Are you leaving because you're jealous?” He asked. “No Damon I’m leaving because I know that she’s a better fit for you, you know she looks exactly like a previous girlfriend and she can live forever just like you.” You shrugged. “It’s logic.” “No this is not logic, logically I don’t want someone that reminds me of someone that hurt me and logically we can talk about the living forever thing when the time comes.” He answered. “I’ll stand by you no matter what you choose.” He promised as he pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Give me a chance to show you.” And just like that he won and your bag dropped to the floor, he deserved a chance to make up for that mistake.

Tyler

Tyler was someone who could annoy you without even trying so when you found the one thing that got you was the way that he treated people and every time you told him to stop but it really got to you one day when you just got sick of telling me “What is wrong with you?” You asked. “Me? He was in my way.” He complained and you rolled your eyes as you stepped in front of him. “What are you doing?” “Now I’m in your way are you going to move me the same way?” You asked folding your arms over your chest. “There are more enjoyable ways of moving you,” He teased leaning down, you ducked out of the way and walked towards your class. “See you after class!”

You didn’t wait around for Tyler you made your way home on your own that was when he realised that you were really angry with him when he got home the first thing he did was ask his mum what to do, she told him to get you some flowers and apologise.

When he knocked on the door holding the flowers you rolled your eyes “Flowers don’t make everything better.” You said as you leaned against the door frame. “I know I shouldn’t have pushed that guy out of the way, I’ll do better I promise.” He said as he passed you the flowers. “You better because the next time that something like this happens you won’t be able to apologise.” You warned, “oh and I need you to apologise to the guy you pushed.” “Babe-” “Don’t babe me. It happens or this means nothing.” You said smiling before closing the door and he rolled his eyes and smiled before heading back home.

Jeremy

Jeremy was pushing you away whether he knew what he was doing or not it still hurt you that he thought he could talk to his sister’s friends more than he could talk to you, so you just continued working you stopped chasing after him, you stopped messaging him, you waited for him to find you if he wanted to that is.

You were shutting down The Grill after your shift when the door opened “We’re closed.” You said as you looked up, your eyes widened a fraction before you went back to cleaning the bar. “You have to get out of here,” Jeremy ordered and you looked at him and frowned. “The first time that you talk to your girlfriend in weeks and you're trying to order me around?” You asked as you continued working. “(Y/N) please.” He begged and you looked at him, It was then that you saw the crossbow in his hand. “Jeremy, what the hell is going on?” You asked. “Something bad, look you just need to get out of here, I promise I’ll explain everything once it’s safe.” He promised. “When’s that?” You asked crossing your arms. “Tomorrow, I promise.” He said and you looked at the door. “Fine but you better.” You glared and he nodded.

Later that evening there was a knock on the door, you opened it and Jeremy stood there you leapt forward hugging him and he wrapped his arms around you pressing his face into your neck “I’m sorry I thought that I was keeping you safe.” He confessed. “Start from the beginning.” You said as you pulled him into the house.

Stefan

Stefan is pretty impossible to fight with but there was one thing, Stefan was constantly putting everyone else before himself and that concerned you but he never seemed to listen to you, so you decided that you were going to try and talk some sense into him yourself.

“Stefan?” You asked as you walked into his room where he seemed to be hiding. “What are you doing?” “Nothing just tired.” He smiled as he reached pulling you to sit on his knee. “Maybe you should just rest up for a little bit.” You suggested. “We don’t have ti-” “I’m sure that everyone can survive without you for a few days.” You muttered and he sighed. “We talked about this,” He said. “I still think you need a break.” You said as you attempted to stand up, his grip tightened on you stopping you from leaving. “We’re not going to fight about this… How about a couple hours?” He suggested. “It’s a good start.” You nodded.

Marcel

Marcel saw himself as the most powerful vampire in New Orleans and that meant that there were things that he didn’t have to tell you and since you came after Davina, you didn’t know about her, you were curious about how he was keeping the witches in check but you had no idea that it had anything to do with a girl. The Mikaelson’s were the reason that you found out but you wasted no time confronting him.

“Marcel!” You yelled as you walked into the courtyard “I need to talk to you!” “What's the matter?” He asked the moment that he saw you he knew that there was something on your mind. “You want to tell me about your 16th-century princess in the church?” You asked. “How do you know about that?” He asked. “The Mikaelson’s told me all about her.” You answered. “You’ve been talking to the Mikaelsons!?” He asked. “They’ve been talking to me.” You shrugged. “I told you they were dangerous!” He glared and you shook your head. “Don’t try and make this about me.” You glared. “Explain!” “She was one of the harvest girls, she was really scared I took her after they tried to kill her, I’ve just been trying to keep her safe and in return, she’s been helping me pinpoint when and where magic was being used.” He explained. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” You asked. “I… I don’t know.” He answered. “Please promise that you’ll stay away from them, you know they only told you this to tear us apart.” “Of course I knew that I had no intention of leaving you, I wanted you to understand that if I ever find out that your keeping secrets again it will be far worse for you.” You said and he nodded moving forward to press a kiss to your forehead. “Never again.” He said.

Vincent

Vincent pushed hard. He wanted you to be able to keep yourself safe when we wasn’t around and sometimes he pushed too hard and you were left with a nagging teacher instead of a loving boyfriend.

“Vincent no one even uses this spell anymore!” You complained as you rolled your shoulder, you’d been trying to perfect it for hours but something just wasn’t right. “There are still coven’s that teach it.” He dismissed and you groaned. “But not my one.” You argued. “You need to be stronger.” He said and you glared. “I’m not strong enough for you?” You asked. “Maybe you should go find someone else.” You attempted to walk past him but he stopped you from leaving by grabbing your wrist. “You know that’s not what I meant.” He said and you rolled your eyes. “That’s what it feels like.” You muttered, Vincent sighed pulling you into a hug. “I just want to be safe.” He said “I just want to be sure that you’ll be here no matter what happens.” “Then just say that next time.” You scolded as you finally brought your arms up to return the hug.

Kol

Kol was ruthless and sometimes the force that he used was unnecessary, you tried on many occasions to explain that to him and that what led to the argument that you were having now, you refused to talk to him.

“(Y/N) please open the door!” He pleaded he didn’t want to barge in that was the reason that you were angry at him but it was getting hard to keep his cool. You, however, were waiting to see if he was going to keep his cool, you desperately wanted him to prove that he could. “Please I’m sorry, I know you're right, I need to learn how to talk about things but I’m so used to no one wanting to listen, please I need your help to make it better.” “You promise that you're going to try?” You called back making your way towards the door. “I promise.” He said and you nodded. “If you're lying you’ll never see me again.” You warned as you opened the door but he only smiled finally seeing your face.

Klaus

Klaus had made you a part of his plan without telling you anything, Marcel had kidnapped you to use you to bait Klaus and Klaus used to opportunity to take back his city and now as you stood in front of him you were fuming.

“So what you're telling me is that you knew they were going to take me?” You asked and he rolled his eyes. “Let’s not be dramatic love.” He muttered and you frowned. “No! You don’t get to do that to me! I am the one that sticks with you no matter what you do, I love you no matter what, you went and got some random werewolf pregnant but I’m still here!” Klaus had the good sense to look somewhat guilty and even worried when you turned away from him. “Where are you going?” He asked. “For a drink.” You answered as you pulled away from him.

An hour later he came looking for you and you were a little tipsy, he managed to convince you to come home “you know all I want to know is if you love me or not.” You muttered as you laid down his eyes landed on you but you were already asleep. The next morning you woke up to Klaus bring you breakfast, you smiled as you sat up almost forgetting what happened the day before. “This is the start of an apology.” He said. “Oh, what else do you have planned?” You asked. “Wait and see.” He winked before giving you the breakfast “now eat up.”

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

Please tell me more about Autistic Syd, I thought I was the only one who had this head canon, I just can't place why I do

Hi!! I need to make more Syd gifs but for now, this one works for everything Syd related tbh because I love it.

Okay, I guess this is my excuse to finally write a meta for Syd. :) First off, all of this rambling about my headcanons for them has to come with the giant warning that because we don’t have a ton of information about Syd except through their relationship with Elena, I’m well aware that this is conjecture and hunches and I can’t always point to specific aha! evidence as to why I interpret them the way I do. In some cases it really is as simple and as complicated as ‘I’m on the spectrum and this thing feels like me, ergo Syd seems Autistic too but you won’t exactly find the thing in the diagnostic criteria.’

Okay, so what do we know about Syd? They’re big into social justice, nerdy fandom, and Elena. They’re also not super good at reading nuanced or complicated social cues, a potential Autistic clue. A lot of what we see between them and Elena when conflict arises is that they either expect Elena to know what they mean even when they’re not expressing it very clearly (Benihana’s), or they misunderstand Elena’s behavior and from it draw the wrong conclusion (the cookie, the lockdown). Now, granted, miscommunication happens to neurotypical people too…but it’s definitely an Autistic flag for me, especially when you can see it in Syd compared to Elena, who is also a social justice and fandom nerd, but who trips herself up in other ways (usually anxiety and inexperience).

What about social norms more broadly? We know that Syd is homeschooled, though we don’t know why. It could be their parents’ choice for all kinds of reasons, or it could have been decided that homeschooling would be the best way to educate Syd and/or their brother for reasons having to do with the kids. We don’t know, because we know nothing really about their home life. Either way, Syd is a loveable weirdo but capable of getting along with others, including new people. They may approach socializing in an unconventional way (see Alex and the zombie video), but they clearly make online friends well enough and seem fairly comfortable among groups of people (like Elena’s family).

It’s impossible to tell whether their quirkiness makes homeschooling a good fit for them, or if being homeschooled helped make them quirky. But I’m not willing to rule out the possibility that Syd’s parents chose homeschooling to support their Autistic needs and sensitivities while they were growing up. The reality is, older Autistic kids aren’t always the media cliches you see of people who rock in a corner and don’t respond to others. Everyone’s different, and a lot of us develop strategies to pass as somewhat neurotypical, or as close as we can manage…and especially those of us assigned female at birth (which it seems like Syd was) who are less commonly diagnosed than Autistic boys, we can get really good at it. I spent my entire school career being considered a freak–overenthusiastic, incapable of controlling my emotions and thoughts, different from everyone else in a thousand tiny ways that nobody could have pinpointed but everybody recognized–but nobody ever thought I might be developmentally disabled. I navigated things well enough that I was just ‘weird.’ With a caring and supportive home environment that also doubled as school, Syd might have reached the same place by the time they were sixteen.

Also, while Syd is comfortable around Elena’s family and in public places like the school dance, they seem pretty introverted too. Faced with a party, they’re more likely to dive into a magazine or escape to the balcony as they are to make small talk. Their interactions with Alex, one-on-one, seem much more comfortable, but that may be because they already have the established common ground of Elena that makes it easier for them to engage in conversation. Introversion also does not automatically equal Autism, but being Autistic can look a lot like introversion, in a social context. I hate small talk and tend to be quiet at parties until I find one person I actually want to talk to, and then I tend to be very animated and never shut up. Sound at all like Syd with Alex, once talking to Elena fizzled out?

Something I’ve found to be true in my own experience is that Autistic people, who have to learn social norms that come easily to other people, are capable of seeing them for the arbitrary boundaries they are. The fact that gender is a social construct is something that’s always made perfect sense to me, because as a society we make all the rules up–and the less sense they make to Autistic people, the more aware of that we are. Breaking them is a choice, rather than some kind of defiance of a perfect higher order. In other words, if Syd is Autistic, that might have helped them become as comfortable as they seem to be in their own skin and identity, accepting their nonbinary nature rather than feeling the need to fight it.

Syd definitely fits the Autistic traits of having specific interests and being logically oriented. They’re not especially rigid or obsessive about them, though, that we see. Their reasons for not telling Elena their sexual history before they’re in the hotel together follows Syd’s own internal logic, whether it makes sense to anyone else or not. And they have some intense interests, that span a range of geeky fandoms. But we don’t see any narrow focus and deep well of knowledge about one area. I certainly know from personal experience that fandom can be a special interest, and if we knew more about Syd outside their relationship with Elena, we might learn that they do have one passion that they’ve spent years fixated on. The big ask shows us that they’re creative in an eccentric, enthusiastic way, which always gets my attention for potential spectrum qualities.

We don’t see any obvious sensory issues with Syd. They don’t show any unusual sensitivities to foods or clothing textures, loud noises, etc. They do have a slightly unusual voice, a little flat in tone with less expressiveness, which can be an Autistic trait.

One other trait that codes Syd as Autistic is their relationship to honesty. Unlike Elena, who sometimes lies, Syd is persistently honest. The traits that make them unusual, even ones that might seem unflattering, they are nothing but upfront about. And they’re trusting, taking others at their word as well. After knowing Elena for months and never once hearing about or meeting any of her friends, they completely believe her lie that she’s popular at school, when other people would have been naturally suspicious. This could be because they are young and in love and want to see the good in the world around them…or it could be because they tell the truth and expect the same from everyone else. When you go from ‘likes to believe that people are honest’ to ‘never even considers the possibility of lying as something people could do,’ that’s a significant spectrum quality.

Now, honestly, based solely on what we see of Syd in canon, are they Autistic? It’s kind of impossible to tell for sure. We just don’t know enough about their home life and how they are when they’re not with Elena, to say with total certainty one way or the other. If they are Autistic, they definitely only display mild traits on the show. No repeating words a lot, stimming, avoiding crowds or small talk, etc. But since every Autistic person is different, and lots of spectrum kids grow up with behavioral therapy support now and learn much better coping mechanisms than I did at Syd’s age, it’s entirely possible they could be Autistic even without showing more intense, ‘classic’ signs in their limited screentime.

So personally, I like my headcanon that Syd may be Autistic. Because whether they are or not, they are definitely a giant, wonderful nerd–and the kind of character I would enjoy sharing a common experience like Autism with, when it’s so often portrayed on TV in ways that are hurtful or unrealistic.

tl;dr Syd definitely has some traits that could be read as Autistic; we don’t see them enough to know for sure; I claim them as one of ours anyway because they’re awesome so I say you can too, if you want :)

[i-got-that-fandom-kinda-love]

A to Z favourite TV show challenge! Or # to Z?

# - 30 Rock (Liz Lemmon! This is just all kinds of hilarity).

A - Ally McBeal (there's not enough of this on Tumblr btw. I loved it before I understood it - my brother watched and I followed. And then I watched again and I loved it more) / Arrow (so years ago I started watching this because of Tumblr. You guys were obsessed with Olicity and I was too even though I hadn't watched the show. So I watched it. Thank you for ruining my life btw) / Accidentally in Love (Asian Series, sup, @netflix - thanks for getting me addicted to Asian series - I liked them before but now it's just there and begging to be watched AND I CAN'T HELP MYSELF - YOU'VE ADDICTED MY MOTHER TOO).

B - Brooklyn Nine Nine (best thing to happen to me, thank you Tumblr - the nine nine fandom. Also started it a couple years ago and fell in love hard. This show makes me laugh no matter what and it's pure and I love it so much. It's really a show I needed because when I watch series I get really emotionally involved and certain shows leave me so stressed that I have to take a break and all I can watch is comedies for a few weeks. Or months. Depends on how big my heart break was. B99 always makes me laugh and feel lighter). / Buffy the Vampire Slayer (another one from my childhood, you know when you're too young to really understand but old enough to remember it? So yeah, my brother got me hooked at a young age and the addiction stuck. Because I've never been able to forget Buffy. And I've recently been rewatching it with my mother - she too is a bit addicted).

C - Charmed (Original series, not reboot - I haven't even watched the reboot. But yes, Charmed. I remember being up til 10PM on a Monday while I was in primary (middle) school just to watch it. Halliwell sisters are another drug I never could kick - Leo was one of my first ever crushes - my very first crush was Shahrukh Khan and if we're ever talking Bollywood movies he'll be all over that post).

D - Doctor Who (Okay! I only started watching from season 5, again cos NETFLIX - the Doctor and Amy Pond - man, just lock me up in the TARDIS and take me away already. ALSO one of the series that broke my heart enough that rendered me incapable of watching any other series except comedy).

E - Ek Hazaroon Mein Meri Behna Hai (Hindi series; my sister is one in a thousand - I assume it's the name because that sounds better in Hindi than one in a million or billion. There's something about Hindi series that sucks you in and tortures you until you're on the brick of exploding from suspense - the build up is both infuriating and renders you unable to tear your eyes away).

F - Friends ('Cause it's been there for me and how can I not? Again, childhood. Also. Heroes get remembered but legends never die. And I've watched every episode like a gazillion times and laugh just the same - I think even more 'cause I know what's gonna happen. I'm one of those people). / Fairy Tail (Anime. Magic. Friendship. Friendship. Friendship. It's one of those rare shows that has a lot of characters and manages to make you love each one of them. I found it after high school but I love it to bits).

G - Gilmore Girls (I remember the first time I watched this as a kid, Rory and Lorelei were sitting at Luke's diner and chatting about something and I though they were sisters. I was at my cousin's house and I just couldn't stop watching them. Loved it ever since. And it's strange how a randomly watching TV can just change your life - 'cause you know, I obsess) / Gossip Girl (at first, I'd watched it because Kristen Bell was the voice of Gossip Girl. And I needed anything related to anything Veronica Mars. And then I naturally loved it like everybody else. Also disappointed at who GG really was. So yeah.)

H - How I Met Your Mother (At first I really, really loved it, now though it's not so high on my favourite list but it does still make me laugh - cos Barney. The final episode was so disappointing). / Hannah Montana (because if I was 13 or 16 this would have made the list. And I still love the show. My heart swells everytime my bestie sings True Friend to me. I still love Hannah Montana music okay).

I - iZombie (Rob Thomas. He's the reason I tried it out. Liv is the reason I stayed. Also Ravi. And also Major. Okay, dude, characters and plot is right on point) / Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon (Hindi series; what name do I give to this love? Its unnecessarily complicated but gosh those complications kept me on edge, staring at the screen, waiting for those idiots to realise the truth. Opposites attract. Hate to love to hate to love. They did it so well).

J - Joan of Arcadia (okay so I remember really loving this when I was younger - I haven't rewatched it as an adult but I feel like I'll still love it. I mean, come on, what if God was one of us?)

K - Kim Possible (Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me? Ultimate cartoon. Hands down. Second best is The Life and Times of Juniper Lee - she's basically the cartoon Buffy - the Chosen One - though it's hereditary instead of random? And also more fun and less heartache 'cause it's a cartoon).

L - Lucifer (Man, Lucifer. You got the guy telling everyone he's the devil and they think he's talking in metaphors? It's just hilarious to me. Detective. Romance. Snark. Supernatural. Also, Hello, Adult Tom Welling - can I even describe how excited I was to see him? Smallville, man).

M - Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir (One of the few new cartoons that I watch and love. This is just so cute and the love square is just so cute and everything is just so cute. And like we need cute stuff in our lives. Frustrating cos how oblivious can one be but also why you so cute Marinette Dupain Chang and Adrian Agreste aka Ladybug and Cat Noir)/ Malcolm in the Middle (Childhood. Childhood. Childhood. I'm not the middle child but I relate).

N - Naruto (Anime. Okay, childhood yes, also teenagehood and adulthood. Guy's been with me through everything, believe it. This show just means so much to me and I'm thankful that I got to grow up with him. Thank you, Kishimoto).

O - One Day At a Time (THANK YOU, NETFLIX! This is just one of the greatest shows on right now. I love comedy. I didn't expect it to be so emotional too. But damn it gets you right in the feels. My brother claims I'm exactly like Elena and our nephew is like Alex. I honestly don't mind. Elena is badass and strong as hell.)

P - Psych (It's just awesome? It's clever, it's funny, Shawn and Gus. The dramatics in extremely serious situations will never not make grin like a mad woman. Also private investigation shows seem to a weakness of mine. ) / Parks and Recreation (okay I never thought I'd like a mockumentary kind of series but this happened and proved me wrong and I just love this show and it's characters). / Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara (Hindi Series; the pain of love is sweet and loveable. When your parents set you up with someone and you're like no way in hell and they're like okay but they you become best friends and fall in love and yeah. The name says it all, really). / Pinocchio (Asian series - one of the more complicated ones but I simply just loved these characters and actors to bits after watching it).

Q - Quantico (it's not really one of my favourites but I couldn't think of anything else and I do enjoy it. Priyanka Chopra has always been a fav since forever - Bollywood was life before I was even old enough to understand English - but it's because of this that I can understand Hindi without needing subtitles).

R - Rizzoli & Isles (who wouldn't love a show with two best friends kicking ass in the work place). / Revenge (I watched it cos I liked Emily from Everwood but the story was so intriguing and I just got addicted. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen). / Refresh Man (Asian series - officially my favourite Asian series of all time - again, thank you Netflix. Also ever since I've loved both Aaron Yan and Joanna Tseng and I'm on a mission to watch everything they've ever acted in - do you see my obsessing tenancies?).

S - Supergirl / Supernatural / Suits / Smallville (Okay! There's too many shows that start with an S. Smallville was my gateway into the superhero show - movie - comic obsession. And also I'm getting tired of commenting on everything).

T - The Good Place / The Office (US) / The Flash/ Teen Wolf (also too many with a T!)

U - Ugly Betty

V - Veronica Mars (of all time!! Man, again, random TV viewing = life changing TV show that sticks with you forever and Veronica Mars has definitely affected me way more than any other show. I couldn't get it out of my head ever since 2007! I waited for every Thursday just to watch it and naturally Thursday became my favourite day of the week - not Friday like normal scholars - nope. I think it's the way that it ended that contributed to my obsession - so much questions left unanswered and to a 12 year old girl the most important thing is of course that LoVe hadn't officially gotten back together. My mind wrote and rewrote endings and scenarios. Then I discovered fanfiction. And then I started writing. Veronica Mars made me a junkie but also helped me discover my passion. It's not just the show that makes it my #1 but the journey it's taken me on while it was on air and especially when it was off air. ALSO THE SHOW IS SIMPLY AMAZING EVEN WITHOUT ALL MY EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT - also one of the shows that I started watching and then my brother got hooked onto it).

W - What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? / Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo/ W: two worlds apart (all Asian series - OKAY, NETFLIX IS BLAMED FOR ALL OF THIS)

X - Is there anything but X-Men? I wouldn't really put the series on my favourite list but I do watch the X-Men cartoons and I have enjoyed it so imma let it be.

Y - Young Sheldon (Too smart for his own good Cooper.) / Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (Asian series - okay, this one can't be put on Netflix. It's the first Asian drama series I'd watched because of a manga that I loved).

Z - Zoey101 ('Cause there's nothing else I can think off and I enjoyed it when I was younger. I remember putting 101 after all of my usernames for everything).

So when I thought of this I thought I'd put one name for each alphabet but it didn't work out that way 'cause I obsess over everything.

I would love to get to know more about everyone's favourite shows. I'm tagging based on the Tumblr likes thing (also on my @marshmallowatheart account) and also urls I remember seeing often on the activity cos I wanted to tag as much people as possible. I'd have been cool if I could have went with the a - z for tagging but it's not working out like I wanted so next best. (Also if I didn't tag you and you wanna do it, please go for it, I'm really into this).

Anyone who wants to do this can and whoever doesn't want to it's cool! It takes time to think especially when you have to pick between things so if you want to, add as many as you like. You don't have to add comments on it if you don't want to, I just got carried away! And then got tired.

@poppy-in-the-woods @risssaar @stephaniecatlover @ihaveathingformeninwaistcoats @write-to-feel @mediocre-mee @jenilyn2000 @lalacristina18 @cainc3 @mrskissytaylor @anilcadz91 @elliebear75 @troublescout @hanitjemars @susanmichelin @cheshirecatstrut @firedragonmon

[captainwhogotthecanary]

ClexaCon: Day 1

Okay, Let me attempt to do something like organize my thoughts here. Photos will come later, ones that come at all; mostly there are professional photos, videos, and gifs available of the noteworthy moments, and I intend to reblog a lot of those later. In the meantime, my photos are on my phone, and the Tumblr app is eating anything I attempt to post with photos.

So. I’m going to try to do this chronologically because it’s how I tried to organize my brain, and I feel clearer than I have in a while. Panel titles or events in bold. Fandom and personal stuff is included, multishipping probably rampant because I just want my faves happy, alright???

Under the cut because long. Day 1 only because long, and because by time I got near the end of typing this, it was after midnight and I was getting less coherent.

Exploring Gender through Cosplay

As often as I cosplay, mine are fairly casual, and I’d never actually gotten a good chance to attend a cosplay panel of any sort with a clear mind. This was pretty awesome, all the different things you can do to change not only the costume but also your appearance, really make the cosplay work. A lot of the sentiment/message besides the practical application stuff was just “have fun, don’t be an ass, think about the character.” All good advice.

One of the panelists was visibly uncomfortable with his cosplay during the panel. It was understandable, but he looked great anyway and still gave great information and asides and personal experiences, and I’d love to see him do a panel where he’s more comfortable.

One Day at a Time

Okay, so one of the things I LOVE about this con and haven’t seen at the couple others I’ve been to is the intro videos. For each of the big panels, they’ve played a video beforehand, about the pairing or the character. If you’re rusty on the details, it’s a great refresher, and if you love the character or pairing, it’s just fantastic to watch. I believe they included these and the actress reactions in the official videos they’ve been posting. They’re great, super shippy, and I’ve teared up or cried at more than one.

ODAAT is one of the ones that made me teary, because it touched on Elena and her Papi and then how happy she and Syd are and just...

Emotions, y’all. I’ve got them.

Anyway, it was great. Isabella seemed pretty comfortable speaking, very aware of her presence and her platform. Sheridan was a little more like Syd, a little awkward and a lot geeky (like most of my favorite people, let’s be real). My takeaways from this panel were basically just that they both love Schnider and working with his actor, and that I ship Syd and Elena even harder now.

An executive producer got a call during the panel, and Isabella thought maybe it was about being picked up by a different network, but it ended up being Rita Moreno calling in, which was fantastic except how disappointed Isabella was. Not that she was unprofessional or pouty or anything, just there were a few moments of almost being able to FEEL how much this cast wants the show to keep going, and how much they love each other.

Avalance

Omg. I mean, okay, if you’re following me, you should probably go watch both Avalance and Nyssara panel videos. They’ll do a much better job of relaying anything factual than I will, so I’m mostly focusing on my reactions.

My reactions started with that damned intro vid, because holy hell, Sara and Ava are hot, and have awesome chemistry, and they’re both smart and strong and amazing and I am so, so, so not straight.

Uh. Where was I.

Highlights for me, in no particular order.

Okay, usually celebs look like people in real life, like real people or like their characters. Caity Lotz is MORE attractive in person than she is on tv. HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE

Jes is kinda amazing as a person and actress and I intend to watch everything she’s in after this weekend. She cares deeply, which I know she shares with Ava, but unlike Ava who hides behind the professional shield, Jes just seemed so warm and real and disbelieving of how much people like her. She was having a very emotional day because she’d lost someone she cared about, and when she shared that, I doubt there was a dry eye in the room. The depth of her feeling was almost palpable.

Jes kept reaching out and touching Caity, who was much more physically reserved just in general. Caity is very obviously more familiar with the con circuit, which doesn’t mean she doesn’t care or anything! Just, how many of these could any living person do while still caring deeply and genuinely about every person they talk to? I suspect people have to distance themselves some eventually. Caity wasn’t cold, just more reserved.

Katrina interrupting was the best thing ever. It’s been giffed already. Go find it.

I loved hearing about the tango, about navigating a situation where there are two women who naturally want to take the lead. The lines blurred between where they were talking about themselves as actresses navigating a scene and their characters as people navigating a relationship, and it felt very real and lovely. Hilarious, too, because of course everyone in the Arrowverse (excuse me, Beeboverse) is gorgeous AND smart AND funny.

I’m glad they’re not really broken up I guess? The actresses seemed a little unsure because they filmed a lot of different takes with some differing implications, but they’re not on board with the “on again, off again” thing any more than I am, which is good. On is good.

End of the panel, people sitting behind us (oh! chronological order! I made a friend waiting in line for the ODAAT panel and we’ve mostly stuck together this weekend. She’s not LGBT and hasn’t watched any of the shows but she loves PEOPLE and is trying to learn and has had a lot of cool life experiences. Anyway. If I say “we” or “us” I probably mean me and friend, unless otherwise specified.)

Uh. Right. So. The people sitting behind us were like, “Hey, do you two want tickets to Cocktails for Change?” At first I thought she was trying to sell them, and I already knew I couldn’t afford that, just like I couldn’t afford the Caity/Jes/Katrina photo op I wanted (not complaint, just statement of fact! I got to go and I got to buy the photo op with Caity and I got a hotel room for a couple nights). Then she clarifies that she and her person (I’m gonna go with that when relationship isn’t clear. But oh, the number of happy wlw couples there was just amazing, and at some point I defaulted to assuming anyone there together was together, which wasn’t accurate, but it’s what I was seeing and delighting in and WE NEED MORE REPRESENTATION and omg keep a single train of thought, Kita). The two of them had bought two extra tickets they couldn’t use, couldn’t refund, and hadn’t been able to sell, so they were offering them to us so that somebody would enjoy them.

OMG. Like, who does that? What level of awesomeness to gift two separate $250 tickets to complete strangers??

I helped friend navigate the transfer process and helped her create an eventbrite account, and then we had the tickets, at which point I actually believe it was happening. And then AND THEN

Because clearly that wasn’t enough

they said “oh, we can’t make the trio photo op today, do you want it?”

Do

Do I

DO I

I still can’t believe they were for real, with that level of awesome. I checked like probably way too many times to make sure they were SURE because

yeah. Made my entire year, at minimum. 

Photo Ops

Got the photo op with Caity first. I’ll do pics separately after I scan them; they’re particularly glossy or something and my cell phone is doing a horrible job. So I go in dressed in my femme Snart cosplay, have enough presence of mind to ask (or point? I may have only managed pointing) to stand on her right side because I wanted to be able to hold the cold gun in my right hand.

“Hey, Cold,” she said to me.

HEY COLD

SHE RECOGNIZED WHO I WAS DRESSED AS OMGGGGGG

and did I mention fucking gorgeous beyond belief and amazing to boot? 

Anyway. She’s also smiling much bigger in my pic with just her than in the next one, when I didn’t have my gun, and I like to think it’s because she still thinks fondly of snart. Captain canary 4eva. Another thing on Saturday I’ll get to in my next post, equally small but equally “omg yessss she still ships it” to my mildly obsessed brain.

Obviously, after they took the pic, I walked blindly in the wrong direction and would’ve walked smack into the makeshift wall if the volunteers hadn’t steered me in the right direction. I don’t usually get star struck, but if it was going to happen, it was going to be with Caity Lotz, so it wasn’t actually a surprise.

Round two, trio photo, and I ended up between Caity and Katrina, who draped herself on my shoulder as she often does for pics. I’ll get to Katrina more for Day 2, but she just seemed very at ease, maybe the most comfortable person in any given room.

After photo ops I practically ran back to my car while still trying to recover, checked into and got settled into my hotel room, changed shoes (omg, as good as those boots are for a couple hours, after ten hours and two miles and lots of standing, my feet STILL hurt day+ later), and then headed back to the venue.

Cocktails for Change

So this was cool just to exist in a room with the celebrities (the theory behind the event and the price tag being you get to interact). We (friend and the people who gave us the tickets and a 5th potential friend we picked up while waiting in line) got to talk to an actress from Wynona (which I apparently badly need to watch. my to-watch list doubled this weekend), and then friend got Jes to agree to come over. That made me love Jes even more because her handlers kept trying to get her to go a different direction after she talked to one table for like half of the time, and Jes pointed at our table, strong and confident and I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE I SAID I WOULD.

I mean, idk what she actually said, but that was her not-subtle body language.

It had to be terribly frustrating for the handlers, who, even though they only got her to three tables total, did a better job with her than they did with most of the celebs. However, I wanted to applaud Jes.

Most of the celebs kept to themselves, or to their partners. Dot was like 5 feet from me for a good 20 minutes, and my inner gleek was ecstatic. Amber Benson was only a few feet farther for about the same amount of time. For her, I actually tried to go say hi, but she was absorbed in conversation with someone else and I didn’t want to interrupt. We made eye contact, though, so that was cool. Katrina, meanwhile, kinda starting circling and then was just like “Nah,” and she went and sprawled on a chair at the side of the room, again the most comfortable looking person there, and just let everyone come to her. Which, honestly, probably would be my recommendation if they change things for this event next year. Clearly, steering the talent to different tables isn’t working, so maybe steer the attendees instead.

Still, it was awesome, and I went back to my room and freaked out about OMG HOW IS MY LIFE THIS AWESOME before crashing hard.

Which I’m gonna do again now. Day 2 post tomorrowish.

[sulietsexual]

not gonna lie i'm super surprised you don't consider delena to be abusive in any way. however, i think it's great that you didn't let other people's opinions sway your own judgements, which can be hard to do when you go into watching a new show where everyone seems to have similar opinions. i know you're probs bored of answering tvd asks, but if you have time would you consider writing WHY you don't think delena are abusive and why you like their dynamic? thanks :)

Okay, before I get into my answer (which will be rambling and long and probably not make sense to anyone but myself and possibly @we-pay-for-everything because we seem to have similar takes on Delena) I need to clarify that when I say that I don’t find Delena abusive that doesn’t mean that I think it’s a good or healthy ship. There are a lot of aspects to Damon’s behaviour and to the relationship which make it a pretty unhealthy ship and I would never try to pretend otherwise. But I don’t feel that Damon is abusive towards Elena (even if he does cross some lines) nor do I feel that the ship is abusive as a whole. 

I was caught in a very abusive relationship when I was younger and while that by no means makes me an expert on the subject it does mean that I tend to recognise and identify abusive behaviour in fictional characters and react badly to said characters. I don’t react the way I normally would to an abuser when it comes to Damon in regards to Elena. 

Now, I make this distinction because there was a relationship of Damon’s which triggered my reaction to abusive relationships and that was his early relationship with Caroline, which was textbook abusive. Caroline was raped by Damon and compelled to be under his control. He emotionally and verbally abused her by calling her names and telling her she was worthless, he controlled her by compulsion, made her do things she didn’t want to do, separated her from her friends and caused her to feel extreme trauma and fear. She was terrified of him and he made her feel unsafe, while at the same time she felt that she was attracted to him and that made her hate herself. Damon was Caroline’s abuser and treated her appallingly. But he doesn’t display this same behaviour with Elena.

Damon never rapes Elena. Her never compels her in order to physically take advantage of her (with the exception of an early Season 1 episode where he tries to make her kiss him and this is more an attack on Stefan than Elena and he never tries this again). In fact, the one time he does compel Elena is to make her forget his declaration of love because he recognises that she is with his brother, that his brother is the better man and that it would be unfair of him to put her in a position which might make her uncomfortable and divided. That’s pretty much the opposite of abuse.

Damon doesn’t physically harm Elena or threaten her the way he did Caroline. He doesn’t make her fear for her life, he doesn’t emotionally abuse or manipulate her and, as said before, he doesn’t force himself on her or rape her (physically or by compulsion). In fact, when he discovers that she’s sired to him he refuses to even kiss her until the sire bond is broken, recognising that it would be wrong to be physical with her when she has no agency. Again, pretty much the opposite of abuse. He tries to break the sire bond to set her free, not wanting her to be compelled to be with him.

Now, none of this means that Damon didn’t display some pretty shitty behaviour at times or that he never crossed lines or didn’t hurt Elena or that he was even good for her. He encouraged her to feed and kill when she became a vampire, knowing that she would feel torturous guilt over it, he allowed her to feed from him without informing her of the intimate nature of vampires drinking from one another, he turned off her humanity which allowed her to become a ruthless killer. Even before that he crossed quite a few lines such as walking around naked in front of her, lying in her bed and letting her think he was Stefan and the aforementioned attempted compulsion to get her to kiss him. But, for me, none of this constitutes abuse as none of it truly victimised Elena or traumatised her in any way. Damon’s a shit person, a bad influence and an enabler but he’s not Elena’s abuser.

Before I started watching TVD there were two incidents which I constantly heard about which antis would use to prove Damon’s abuse - the fact that he snapped Jeremy’s neck after Elena rejected him and the fact that he forced her to drink his blood so she would come back as a vampire after Klaus fed off her. What I didn’t have was the context for either scene and once I did, both scenes became vastly different to what the fandom had convinced me they were.

When antis talk about Damon snapping Jeremy’s neck because Elena rejected him, they seem to fail to take two very important factors into account - one, that just one or two episodes before, Jeremy had expressed a desire to Damon that he wanted to die, because he wanted to feel nothing, because the world was too awful and feeling nothing was better than feeling something. Damon even parrots this back when he is about to kill Jeremy and even though Jeremy has since changed his mind, Damon is so deeply identifying with what Jeremy said previously that he’s almost killing himself through the act of snapping Jeremy’s neck. He’s killing someone who, in his mind, wants to die and if he can’t give himself that freedom, he’ll damn well give it to someone else.

Secondly (and this is more important as it directly ties into Damon and Elena’s relationship and dynamic) I firmly believe that Damon snapping Jeremy’s neck was in response to Katherine rejecting him, not Elena.

Damon has always loved Katherine and always desired that she love him back, something which she did but would never admit. Earlier in the episode in question, Katherine and Damon engage in physical intimacy, during which he practically begs her to admit that she loves him, telling her that he will leave everything and everyone behind for her and be with her forever, if she will just give him what he’s always wanted - an admittance of her love. Katherine refuses and twists the knife even further by saying that it will always be Stefan, not Damon. 

This devastates Damon, to discover the woman he loved and longed for for over a century never felt the same way. So he gets drunk and goes to Elena, not to confess his love for her (because I genuinely believe that he doesn’t actually love Elena at this point) but to use her as a Katherine substitute, to somewhat desperately try to prove that someone could choose him over his brother. And - again this is important - he doesn’t react badly until Elena says the exact same words as Katherine “It will always be Stefan”. Hearing the same words which Katherine said and already in a very heightened state of emotion (remember that it’s canon in this ‘Verse that vampires feel emotions at a much more intense level than humans) Damon kind of snaps (no pun intended) and he takes it out on someone whom he believed wanted to die. 

I don’t see this as abusive towards Elena as A) she wasn’t the person harmed - Jeremy was and B) this wasn’t a response to her rejection. Was it a horrible and completely effed-up thing to do? Sure but no one’s denying that Damon’s a horrible and effed-up person. In fact, this isn’t the last time he snaps someone’s neck because he’s pissed off (poor Alaric). And Elena is rightly angry at him for a decent time afterwards. But, again, this action doesn’t victimise Elena it victimisies Jeremy and it wasn’t Damon trying to force Elena to love him or him reacting to her rejection and as such I don’t think it counts against the relationship. Also, given that, like, two episodes later Jeremy’s trying to get “Big Brother” advice from Damon, I think it’s fine that Elena eventually forgives him, given how easily Jeremy - the actual victim - moved on.

Now, regarding Damon to force Elena to drink his blood. First of all, I find it very interesting that no where did I ever read or discover that Stefan also forces Elena to drink his blood with the intention of turning her into a vampire, and he does it in just as violent and forceful a manner as Damon - possibly even worse given that he does it at the site of her biggest trauma and then threatens to drive her off a bridge, the same bridge where her parents died. And he does all to piss of Klaus. He threatened to kill the woman he supposedly loves just to get revenge on Klaus. 

Damon, on the other hand, is trying to save Elena’s life. I’ve seen a lot of antis saying that Delena shippers shouldn’t use that as an excuse but my response is why not? People do crazy, stupid and reckless things when someone they love is in danger. Stefan agreed to follow Klaus and kill countless people just to save Damon’s life and no one is running around screaming about that. What Damon did by feeding Elena his blood did cross a line and took away her agency but he was desperate and trying to keep someone he deeply cared about alive at whatever cost. I don’t really understand how anyone could fully fault him for that.

As for why I enjoy the dynamic, maybe because it’s just so interesting. Damon and Elena have a connection from very early on in the series. Elena is one of the first people to actually see and acknowledge Damon’s emotions and losses. She expresses sympathy towards him when she learns that he also loved Katherine and Damon’s expression when she does says it all - he’s never had anyone consider him before. Everyone has always focused on Stefan, no one has fully considered Damon’s suffering. But Elena does.

There’s something dark and twisted about Damon and Elena. You can see how much she’s drawn to him, even when she’s with Stefan and, as Rose points out in Season 3, Damon challenges her and her worldview. He pushes her and brings out darker, more emotional responses in her. When she becomes a vampire, he is the only one to allow her to give in to her darker, vampire urges. One of my absolute favourite scenes in the whole series is Damon and Elena feeding, getting high off blood and dancing. It’s seductive and dark and oh so very vampire-y. I love that Elena can give into those darker urges with Damon, even if it’s not necessarily good for her.

Wow, that got really long. Hope it was coherent and cleared things up for you!

[ograndebatata]

Prisma headcanons

Well... here’s a bit of a variation of headcanons as far as series goes, if still keeping in touch with the general theme (by which I mean I’ve temporarily switched from headcanons on characters from Elena of Avalor to a character from Sofia the First, while still keeping the theme of villains). 

So... I’ve chosen to tackle Prisma this time around.

As I mentioned in my last headcanons post, I don’t think I’m the best at coming up with headcanons for villains, as I struggle with the balance of making them ‘ultimately pity worthy’ and at the same time ‘clearly in the wrong’, which is, in my personal opinion, how the average villain should be if you want to make him or her three dimensional and not entirely evil.

To those more coming over from the Sofia the First fandom, please note that my headcanons can stray into dark territory, including things like deaths in the characters’ pasts and heavily implied or even explicit violence.

This one is also a bit different in that it involves some, shall we say, bad parenting (and unlike other instances of it, it comes from biological parents rather than adoptive or step parents). I’m not absolutely sure it crosses the line into abuse, but I’d say it very likely does. I welcome any feedback on that matter should you wish to provide it.

At any rate, reader discretion is very much advised when reading this.

To those who still want to do so, please check below the cut for my headcanons on Prisma.

Prisma

No chip off the old block

Like all crystal-makers, Prisma was born in the Mystic Isles, the realm where all of magic originates. Her father Littrow and her mother Iolite, were Crystal Masters of great renown, and her sister Azurine, about four years older than her, already showed signs of being a promising Crystal Master in her own right, with some saying she could be even better than her parents.

But if their expertise on that field was said to be top of the Mystic Isles, the same could not be said about Prisma’s.

Granted, the start of her life was not the best ever. While most throughout the Mystic Isles liked Prisma, finding her a clever, sweet, well-mannered and cheerful child, even if her appearance did not favor her in the least. Granted, they knew she was not to blame, but there was something about her chalky complexion combined with her auburn hair and her pale cat-like eyes that made her look unsettling, even as a child. That wasn’t helped by the fact her parents held quite the reserve of judgement about her, thinking her demeanor was just too cheerful and bubbly, not proper for a Crystal Master in the least. Also, she seemed to ask too many questions, and had a bit too much curiosity about things they would rather not talk about. She would also be too reluctant to study certain subjects and too eager to study others for their taste. Azurine had been much better on all those aspects, with a far more proper demeanor and far more willingness to obey her parents and far less tendencies to question them. And, while they wouldn’t say this to their daughter, they too couldn’t help but be a tad put off by her icy feline eyes, even if her character did not match them in the least.

But if Prisma’s parents had their reservations, her big sister loved her dearly from the first time she laid her eyes on her. Prisma, in turn, loved and idolized her older sister, though she responded to her parents’ reservation with a rather healthy measure of wariness. Azurine was sad at what the relationship between her sister and their parents was like, but did her best to make up for it.

Things grew worse Prisma was seven, and her parents had her making her first crystal, as per tradition of all Crystal Masters. While crystal-makers are very long-lived, they age at about the same rate as humans for the first two decades or so of their lives, and their art is to be started at as young an age as possible.

As Prisma had been excellent at the theory in the classes she had already been getting (even with her reluctance for them), both Littrow and Iolite had high expectations for her first crystal. And both had them nearly-shattered once Prisma put her first crystal to use.

Both her parents had been expecting something spectacular, such as an Aqua Crystal, or a Ventus Crystal.

But instead, it turned out to be an Energy Crystal.

Even Azurine was shocked by that one, although unlike her parents she made the effort to smile and compliment Prisma on such a well done crystal, given that it was a technically perfect Energy Crystal.

But her parents were less understanding. Energy Crystals had very little practical use, because as their name would suggest they could only shoot blasts of what could only be described as ‘energy’ - beams of ‘solid light’ that damaged or even destroyed what they hit. Worse, they tended to be sought after by human magicians who would normally use them to wreak havoc in the living world, or even, on a few rare occasions, be used by evil crystal-makers themselves.

For the first time, Littrow and Iolite truly made Prisma sad. She couldn’t understand what was so bad about her crystal. She had worked hard on it, and while she hadn’t been expecting it to destroy the boulder she had used it on, surely crystals like that would be useful for something. Azurine was quick to reassure her that it meant nothing - the kind of crystal she had produced did not change who or what she was  - but her parents undid that right away.

Both were in agreement that they simply would not have a maker of Energy Crystals in their family. The gossip it would cause, the damage it would bring to their reputation… it simply could not be. Their younger daughter simply had to have some other crystal-making talent somewhere within her, and they would bring it out if it was the last thing they ever did.

One can say they certainly tried. And to her credit, Prisma did have the intellectual capacity to understand how other kinds of crystals were done. But there was something else at play, something her parents knew and which Prisma herself also learned soon enough.

A crystal-maker’s ability was genetic to a great degree. When it comes to their personal ‘brand of magic’ one is overall born with it. It can be strengthened and practiced, but it can’t be ‘actually’ changed. Azurine had been born with more than one brand of magic, but Prisma only seemed to have the ability to make Energy Crystals.

Sadly, her parents kept refusing to accept that. And as they kept trying to change what could not be changed, the gulf between them and their younger daughter only grew.

At first, Azurine didn’t mind. Sure, it seemed like Prisma needed help, but a lot of people throughout the Mystic Isles needed help with things. Once she had been helped, surely she would be better.

But as time kept passing, and Prisma only looked like she was getting worse, Azurine started to feel sorry for her and did her best to cheer her up, doing fun things with her to compensate for the strain of her so-called studies. They would go on walks through the many isles, study crystals, create many kinds of crystal contraptions (their best creations were the crystal locks) and Azurine would tell Prisma stories. And unlike her parents, she would actually answer Prisma’s questions to the best of her knowledge.

Prisma treasured the time spent with her sister… but as they both kept growing up, and word about Prisma’s lack of talent got out, far too many people started throwing comments about how sad it was that she couldn’t live up to her sister’s potential.

The best that could be said was that the other residents of the Mystic Isles did not have as many problems with Prisma’s Energy Crystals as her family feared, even if they did use them to bring up how talentless she ultimately was.

Publicly, Prisma acted sweet and bubbly and cheerful and like it didn’t bother her in the least.

But in private, at every chance she got, she would take one of her Energy Crystals and use it to blast at things to relieve her frustration.

It largely worked at first.

But as she grew older, it stopped having effect. And other following events did not help in the least.

Distancing and banishment

As time went by, Azurine started having a more active role in crystal manufacture and maintenance, thus leaving her less time to be with Prisma.

Her parents, however, kept dedicating themselves to her day and night, bent on bringing some kind of talent to create crystals that weren’t Energy Crystals out of her.

After a great deal of work that took up literally years of their lives (Prisma was already twelve by this time), they did manage to teach Prisma to make Terra Crystals, and while they were of a very basic sort, it was enough for them to be sure they were on the right path, and thus keep at their efforts.

But the task of creating Terra Crystals was too difficult for Prisma. They were so distant from her natural talent that even making one left her extremely tired. And Terra Crystals were still the simplest sort to make - all the others were even more complex. The idea scared her so much that she literally trembled in fear at the idea, because  she knew her parents would keep at it.

For the worst possible reasons, they never got the chance to do so, as months after Prisma finally managed to force her magic to produce Terra Crystals, a wicked witch named Illura invaded their home Mystic Isles, planning to steal their trove of knowledge on crystals and use it for her purposes on the Ever Realm - purposes they could all guess were not good, given the kind of foul power they could sense was boosting her already great inherent magic.

Azurine pointed out that there was no way she would be getting out with what she sought, as the Protectors would be arriving shortly even if she managed to defeat all four of them, which would be difficult as it stood, but Illura pointed out that she had left a little something behind to handle that problem. It took no tactical genius to realize that she meant a magical barrier.

And worse, she had brought along some similarly boosted humans, although they were not boosted to the same degree she was.

But Prisma had an idea. Perhaps the kind of barrier she had made could be broken through with her Energy Crystals. Thus she asked her parents and sister to keep Illura and her soldiers busy while she tested out her idea.

To her dismay, as she left, she heard her father shouting “Don’t do that! I forbid you!”. For once, she ignored his command and went on with her plan.

The first attempt did not go well. Blasting directly at the barrier with the energy from her crystals did nothing to it but strengthen it. Prisma counted herself thankful that she had only blasted a little amount of energy, otherwise it would be even more difficult to break through.

With that first step out of the way, she analyzed it to the best of her ability, and realized that Illura was using several metal rods she had installed in concrete places to sustain the barrier. And to prevent the Protectors from handling them, she had configured them so that the barrier would be outside them. As Prisma and her family were crystal makers, they should supposedly be unable to dismantle the metal rods.

Prisma knew she would be taking a risk with what she was about to do, but it was their only chance. Gathering herself, she aimed her Energy Crystal at the closest rod, and fired it with as much strength as possible.

To her relief, it worked. The metal rod shattered like a toothpick under the energy impact, and she felt the barrier weakening right away. Bolstered by her success, Prisma ran around and sought all the metal rods, and blasted them with her crystal. She succeeded in her task, but the effort was so intense that she had passed out.

Once she woke up, she made her way back to their damaged home, and learned that the Protectors were able to get through once she brought down the barrier, and Illura had been killed, while her soldiers (at least those that had survived) were simply sent back home, as they, besides being boosted, had also been brainwashed.

Unfortunately, she had brought down the barrier too late, as her parents ended up being killed.

Prisma didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, those had been her parents. On the other, she couldn’t remember a specific time when they had loved her for what she was. Ever since she could remember, they’d always had some sort of reservation with her, and she could see the clear differences between their interactions with her and the ones with Azurine.

She was sad about their deaths, but not in the way Azurine was.

At first, Prisma’s instincts were to comfort her sister, but upon seeing how all the Protectors were already taking care of that - and how no one at all seemed to have spared any thought for her, the first seed of bitterness was planted within her. Not even Azurine coming to check on her after the initial shock had passed and thanking her for bringing down the barrier did anything to change that.

And as the years went by, her bitterness only grew, for even though she had proved that her Energy Crystals did have their use - after all, without them, the barrier wouldn’t have been brought down - no one cared. All who wanted magic crystals went to Azurine, all who had praise to give only gave it to Azurine, and more than a few made disparaging comments about her.

Once more, Azurine did try to comfort her, saying that Prisma was her little sister and she loved her no matter what, and pointing out that if not for Prisma, the Protectors couldn’t have gotten in, they all would have been killed, and who knew what Illura would have done. And after all, what mattered the most was that Prisma knew she had done it.

But to Prisma, it was easy for Azurine to talk when she was the one who got all the attention and credit and praise. Just for once, she would like to be respected and loved and seen as talented.

And in a very ironic twist, Illura gave her the means to do so.

For whatever reason, she had brought along the notes she had collected on crystals, which had things even Prisma and Azurine hadn’t known about. Upon studying them and improving on them, Prisma was able, after almost twenty years of work, to build an enhanced Terra Crystal, with which she could create the most powerful crystals that had ever existed, something that Azurine could never hope to match.

It did have the unfortunate drawback of draining the isles she would make her crystals on… but Prisma was past caring about that. If they had never cared about her, she wouldn’t care about them either. The only thing that bothered her, if only on a subconscious level, was that she had to cheat to get that far.

And in the end, her plan failed anyway when Azurine managed to get the Terra Crystal away from her. And worse, by losing her enhanced Terra Crystal, she ended up losing her magic too. Somehow, she had put so much of herself into the crystal that its loss lead to her looking by and large like a regular human - her chalky skin became a dark tan and her auburn hair a dark brown. Only her eyes remained the same.

But even with her powers gone, Prisma managed to escape to the Ever Realm, vowing that someday, she would achieve her goal.

Wicked whiles

It turned out Prisma had been severely underestimating what she would need to do to achieve her goal. While getting to the Ever Realm from the Mystic Isles was easy enough, the other way ‘round was much more difficult. She made several attempts as the years went by, but none got anywhere close to success. And not having her powers to help put even more of a dampener on her attempts.

But one attribute that had not been stripped away by the loss of her crystal was a crystalmaker’s long lifespan, so she did have time to wait and plan. As she could sense her crystal had not been destroyed, she was also motivated to find a way.

And eventually, about a hundred years after her escape, Prisma did have a chance to return to the Mystic Isles when she ran into two princesses from Enchancia, one of which had an amulet that could summon unicorns.

Despite some minor hiccups, her plan worked out, thanks to her appealing to Princess Amber’s desire for a personal amulet. But when Princess Amber and Princess Sofia managed to come back and Princess Amber looked past her own desires and at the common good, destroying her Terra Crystal. And this time around, Prisma was captured by the Protectors and put in a cell.

Unfortunately, they put her in the cell closest to the Locket of Vor, something Prisma had heard stories about since her childhood, about how its power was terribly incomparable to anything in any realm. She didn’t know the whole story, as her parents had been adamant they wouldn’t share it until she was old enough to not have nightmares. All she knew was that Azurine, after hearing the story for the first time, looked as pale as Prisma had when she was still in her full Crystalmaker form.

Prisma assumed that Azurine was just unduly sensitive, and surely the locket could not be that dangerous. But she also assumed it would be more than enough for her purposes.

And with the help of a strangeling named Twitch, she was able to obtain it. She got surprised to find a spirit inside it, but she didn’t complain, especially upon learning how the locket could lead her to the Wicked Nine, objects that also were unbelievably powerful. With all those, Prisma knew she could reach power even further beyond than when she’d had her enhanced Terra Crystal.  

Her attempt to get the first one (the Falcon’s Eye) failed, but Twitch did bring her a Necessi-Key that she was able to use to get out of jail. Her attempt to get the second one (Maleficent’s spindle) also failed, but she was able to use her Necessi-Key to get away from Princess Sofia. Then, her attempt to get the third one, (Grimhilde’s crown) succeeded, and she was even able to get a weapon and a raven named Wormwood for a second animal ally out of it.

And Wormwood was a helpful ally indeed, happy to teach her anything he could about human magic, just as long as she would use it for evil. Prisma was not sure she could learn such things, given how she had lost her powers with her broken Terra Crystal, but it turned out human magic was different enough that she could indeed learn it. She even managed to learn enough that, though the Protectors were able to take Grimhilde’s crown away from her, she escaped.

She even started entertaining the thought of simply continuing her studies of human magic and get back where she was through that, which she believed would be possible. But the spirit within the locket put a stop to such ideas, reminding her just how far she could get if she absorbed the power of the Wicked Nine.

Eventually, Prisma was able to make her way back to the Mystic Isles, and release the power of the Wicked Nine. But it didn’t take her long to realize just what she had caused, once the spirit within the locket took a semi-corporeal form and dove into her body, to use her as a source of possession and put her plan into action.

In a second, she understood just why her parents would not share the full story about the Locket of Vor with her. There was so much darkness in that tremendously foul old spirit that it just about made Prisma petrified with terror. There was literally nothing there but joy at the horror and sadness and grief that she caused to anything and everyone. And a primary source of enjoyment to her was Prisma, even after what she had done for her.

Within Vor, Prisma did everything she could to break through and call for help, but it was useless. She could do nothing but be a silent partner as Vor unleashed her destruction.

In the end, she was released when Sofia used the sheer strength of her love to banish the spirit of Vor forever… and released again when Sofia’s friends pulled her out of the amulet, unwittingly dragging her along.  

Now aware of the kind of horror she would have been unleashing, Prisma surrendered to the protectors, ready to meet her punishment, whatever it was.

In the end, she had quite a surprise when Azurine, upon seeing her, rushed to hug her, shouting how relieved she was to know that she was alright and that she had been so worried.

Upon such a display, Prisma could do nothing but return the hug and cry like a fountain in a mix of fear, relief, and joy. And that night, for the first time in around a century, the two of them sat down and talked, and the broken bridges between them started being rebuilt.

Of course, Prisma still had to wait for quite a few years before being allowed out of jail. And once she did get out, she had to do further work before earning her complete freedom.

But by the end of it, she could genuinely say she was happier than she had ever been her whole life, even with the marks of everything she had endured and made others endure.