#but now i feel like a human!! with wants and feelings and the drive to do things!!! holy shit

[mindmelter]

A Better Marcus Than Marcus

It all started when my sister’s boyfriend, Marcus, did a complete 180. The guy used to be your textbook finance bro—straight-laced, all about stocks, cryptos, and protein shakes. He was also the type who’d casually flex his "intellectual superiority" at family dinners like he was the human embodiment of a TED Talk nobody asked for.

Then, out of nowhere, he turned into this fun, carefree dude. He started to grow his hair and beard and constantly walk shirtless, showcasing his unfairly perfect pair of pecs and set of abs. He even tattooed his arm—something I would never expect from him. It wasn’t just a change in style; it was like he had become a totally different person.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Then it hit me—my sister’s ex, Dylan, a scrawny hippie who could’ve been the poster child for essential oils and “love, man” vibes. Dylan and I had gotten along great back in the day, mostly because he shared a little secret with me: a drug. No, not this kind of drug. This stuff could turn anyone into a bodysuit. Yeah, you heard me. One hit of this thing, and you could empty someone out, leaving behind a perfectly usable, skin-tight vessel. Thanks to him, I solved my bullying problem at school by wearing the jock leader's body.

Then, one day, Dylan disappeared from our lives after my sister dumped him. No warning, no goodbye, nothing. I thought that was the end of it. Turns out, it wasn’t.

Fast-forward to tonight. We’re having a family dinner at my parents’ house, and Marcus is here, all smiles and carefree vibes, making dumb jokes with my parents. It was the perfect chance to test my theory. I waited until everyone was distracted with dessert and pulled Marcus aside to a quiet corner of the house.

“I need to talk to you,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice low.

He cocked an eyebrow but followed me. Once we were out of earshot, I didn’t waste any time.

“I know you’re not really Marcus,” I said, crossing my arms. “I know it’s you, Dylan.”

For a moment, he just stared at me, then a wide grin spread across his face. “Took you long enough, bro,"

He opened his robe even more to show me his muscular body, looking like he was showing me an outfit and not another man's skin, “Yeah, it’s me. Poor Marcus never saw it coming. Injected this asshole with the stuff after he dropped your sister at your house, and bam! Marcus went to bodysuit city.” He chuckled darkly. “I’ve been living my best life ever since and with the love of my life."

I’ll admit, I wasn’t surprised. But hearing it confirmed still left my mouth agape.

"So, what now? You gonna rat me out to your sister? You wouldn't do that to good old Dylan here, would you? Not after I helped you turn your jock bully into a bodysuit. I even helped you out at faking his disappearance, I had to drive to another state to get rid of that bodysuit."

I smirked. “That depends. What’s in it for me?”

Dylan—or Marcus, I guess—laughed. “Alright, how about this: I let you enjoy Marcus’s body anytime you want, as long as you keep your mouth shut.”

It was a twisted offer, but let’s be real—I’d had a thing for Marcus since day one. The chance to have him, even under these bizarre circumstances, was too good to pass up.

“Deal,” I said, extending a hand.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, bro,” he replied, shaking my hand. Before we could head upstairs, my sister caught us in the hallway.

“Where are you two going?” she asked.

Thinking quickly, Dylan—Marcus—flashed his charming smile. “Your brother wanted to show me his collectible…uh…vinyl record collection. Said he’s got some rare finds.”

She bought it. “Wow, bonding over music. Finally. I’m proud of you two. Don't take too long, we're going to have karaoke." She leaned forward to give Marcus a kiss and walked away.

As soon as we were in my room, the facade dropped. I locked the door, and he turned to me, that sly grin back on his face. “Alright, bro,” he said, taking off his already unbuttoned white shirt and letting it fall to the floor. “Let’s see what you’ve been fantasizing about.”

I immediately pushed him down onto his knees, grabbing a handful of his long hair to assert control. “You’re going to start by sucking me off like a good slut,” I whispered.

His grin widened as he complied, reaching for my pants and pulling them down. His warm mouth quickly wrapped around me, and I let out a satisfied groan as he worked his tongue expertly. Once my cock was slick and throbbing, I pulled him back by his hair, forcing him to look up at me.

“Get on the bed, on all fours, now! You're my secret boyfriend slut now,” I ordered. He obeyed, taking off his pants and crawling onto the bed completely naked with his huge ass waiting for me. It was the sight I've been dreaming of ever since my sister introduced Marcus.

I walked over to my desk and turned on some rock music to muffle what was about to happen.

Climbing onto the bed behind him, I gripped his long hair tightly as I positioned myself. Without hesitation, I thrust into him hard, using his hair as leverage. Dylan moaned as I filled Marcus' ass. This wasn't our first time together. When Dylan was wearing my hot bully's body, he let me fuck him as a final revenge before he dumped the bodysuit in another state.

Marcus' back arched, and he let out a muffled moan, the sound drowned out by the loud music. I didn’t let up, pulling his hair like reins as I pounded into him mercilessly.

I leaned down on his back as I filled Dylan's—Marcus' ass with my cum. “You make a better Marcus."

[revelboo]

Revel im coming to your door step begging and pleading for anything Bee related, one shot, hcs, smut fluff WHATEVER..just give me whatever you want and I'll DEVOUR IT. I'm on my period and hella emotional and i burn through all your fics so fast i just- UGH 😭

on another note i hope you're having a day far FAR better than me and just good over all, love you! n thank you!! 🫶🏻

Sure! Fluff and 18+ Mass displaced mech scenario 🌶️

Earthspark Bumblebee x Reader Scenarios

Comfort

• “You’re being quiet today.” There’s no judgement in his soft voice and you appreciate that so much. Just like he hadn’t complained when you’d caught his hand and pulled it to you, encouraging him to drape it across your middle. Enjoying the heat of his touch. Laying back against him under an apple tree and letting the sun warm you, you tip your head back against his heated chassis. “Everything okay?” Like he’s afraid he’s done something wrong and and you smile up at him.

• “Just a little off today,” you say, a hand resting on top of his. He’s been around you long enough to understand that for a week or so a month, you might be quieter than normal or even snap at him and feel immediately bad about it. And that you’re too embarrassed to talk about whatever it is. So he’d asked Dot and she’d told him. In excruciating detail what the problem most likely was. Giving him a lesson on human reproduction that he hadn’t really been expecting. Or particularly wanted.

• Tracing little circles on the back of his hand, you ask him for a story and he tells you about before the war. About a city that’s gone now, destroyed in the fighting, but that he remembers with such longing in his voice that your own chest aches. Relaxing against him, you let his touch and voice soothe away the discomfort and distract you.

Smut

• Warm palm sliding up your spine as you lay on your belly, legs dangling over the edge of the container he’d bent you over, your body’s humming where he’s been teasing you for what feels like forever. Can feel his erect spike leaving a damp trail against your inner thigh as he bends over you, mouth peppering soft kisses against the back of your neck. And he shifts against you, the head of his spike sliding so close to where you need him as he presses a soft bite against your neck, sucking and nipping the spot until you know he’s trying to leave a mark. Something he’d become obsessed with after finding out how easily he can mark you. “Bee, please,” you whimper, down to begging as his spike slides against you. Right there when you’re aching for him.

• Humming softly as his mouth slides to a new, lower spot, he reaches between your bodies to grip his spike and slide himself against your slick heat just to make you whimper again. Hurting to be inside you, but wanting to take his time with you. “You’re so wet for me aren’t you?” He growls, finding you and slowly driving deep. Smiling when you wiggle as much as you can in the position you’re in, trying to get him to move while he just wants to savor this. The feel of you wrapped so tight around his spike. “Tell me what you need.”

• “Fast,” you manage, resting your cheek on an arm and feeling his servos grip your hips. The first deep thrust a sharp snap of his hips before he’s growling against your neck, mouth and denta teasing your shoulder as moves inside you. Keeping you pinned where he wants you. Optics shuttering as he listens to the sounds you make. Those little gasps and moans, the wet sounds of his spike pumping inside you. Feeling you begin to squirm, trying to push back to meet his thrusts and he pins you better just to make you whine a protest. “Bee, please.” Squirming a hand under you to play with you until your hips are bucking, until you cry out and tighten on him. Fisting his spike so tightly and he keeps moving, hips snapping until he shakily catches himself on his forearms to keep from crushing you. Hips still rocking urgently as he fills you, pressing deep and groaning against your skin and fighting the urge to spark you. Every time it’s a little harder to resist and knows he’s going to have to have the discussion with you eventually. Because he wants it so bad. Wants to claim you so thoroughly you’ll never need anything but this, him.

[tj-dragonblade]

[Fluffbruary FIC] Without Warning Something's Dawning (Listen)

Fandom: The Sandman Pairing: Dreamling Rated: T Word Count: 659 Tags: Fluffbruary, Fluffbruary 2025, Human AU, Rich Guy Dream, Mechanic Hob, scent, feelings contemplation, mild Dream-typical angst

Notes: Coming out of left field, we have a surprise fluff entry in the Turbo Lover universe! My brain saw 'green' and 'grey' and went straight to the clothes left on the couch last time around. 'Anticipation' is always an easy theme with this AU as well. Title of course from the Judas Priest song that I named the series after and Dream really ought to take that parenthetical to heart.

Fluffbruary 2025 Prompts: Day 4: green | grey | chess Day 5: anticipation | nonsense | mail

Summary: Dream wanders through his thoughts about Hob

On AO3

It is late afternoon by the time Dream gets to the clothes left in the drawing room. Hob had spent the morning with him lounging in the sunny bay window of the breakfast nook, resplendent in the skimpy teal green dressing gown Dream had gifted him, animatedly discussing literature through the ages. It was a delightful surprise to discover this commonality between them, that Hob was excited to debate the merits of Shakespeare and expound on his favorites from Byron or Chaucer or Austen or Marlowe, and morning had passed into the noon hour before Dream realized it.

Reluctantly then he had retrieved Hob's original clothing from yesterday, from before they had picked up the suit, and once Hob was dressed Dream had driven him home in the Porsche. Or rather, Hob had driven with Dream in the passenger seat, watching how naturally he handled the damned temperamental machine, admiring the flex of his arms and hands as he shifted and steered and sneaking glances at the bright joy in his face.

It warms him even now, back at his quiet and empty house, the Porsche back in the garage, to recall the way Hob had glowed with delight, the grin he sported the whole drive, how right he looked settled in the car that Dream had never felt any true pride in until now.

He likes that Hob is happy driving his car; more specifically, he likes that driving his car makes Hob happy.

He likes making Hob happy.

Hob's happiness brings him happiness.

And he is happy, now, gathering last night's discarded clothing from the green velvet couch, reminded of how it came to be scattered about. He still aches in all the right places, a lingering and welcome memento of their tryst. Hob is so good to him, so giving, indulging anything Dream wants and everything Dream asks of him, with enthusiasm.

They match so perfectly. Dream is forever grateful that he found his way to Matthew's Motor Repairs when the Porsche's clutch went out; Hob is truly the best thing to happen to him in a very long time.

He smiles, picking up Hob's silk shirt, remembering how perfect the vibrant dark teal-green color had looked on Hob, how it burnished the warm tones of his skin and set off the silver threads in his hair—just as Dream had known it would. He drapes the shirt over his arm and lifts the grey suit jacket, shaking it out, bringing the lapels to his face and inhaling. Hob's cologne still clings faintly to the fabric, intertwined with the scent of Hob himself, and Dream feels a rush of anticipation for the next time that he can take it in first-hand, that he can twine himself into Hob's arms and bury his face at the base of Hob's throat, breathe him in, bask in the warmth and the strength of him. The thought curls soft in his stomach and he lets it settle, gathers Hob's trousers and his own rumpled clothing as well, sets it all in a pile. He will have it all delivered to his laundry service to clean and press and return, that he might dress Hob in his lovely ensemble once again, show him off on the town again, bring him home and strip him out of it again.

Hob, he knows, will let him do all of it willingly. Will participate joyously, with warmth and enthusiasm and that beautiful smile, with that bright sparkle in his eye, with heady delight in fulfilling Dream's wishes.

He is more than Dream deserves, and surely Dream will not be able to keep him forever. All things fade; once upon a time he had thought making Alex happy was the key to fulfillment, after all.

But he will keep Hob as long as he can, in whatever way he can and bask in their mutual happiness for as long as he can make it last.

= Started: 2/3/25 Drafted: 2/4/25 Posted: 2/5/25

Previously in the series, in case AO3 is down: Customer Service With Every Nerve Alive Loyalty Rewards Program Shift to Overdrive Love Machines in Harmony

[rubyin-wonderland]

Bloodlust

opla!Sanji x vampire!reader

Summary: A thirsty vampire finds an all too willing neck to drink from

WC: 2.6k

Warnings/tags: blood, classic vampire tropes, biting/blood drinking as intimate acts, Sanji's a little too okay with the situation, the closest I've gotten to writing smut I fear, woo vampirism

The raw burning in your throat was all you could think about. There was an ache in your stomach, and every beat of every heart around you caused you another pang of pain.

You sat, practically hunched over in solitude. Your blood supply ran out days ago and you had yet to eat anything since.

Starvation could not kill you, but it sure felt like it. You could barely think straight, every thought lazily dropping off as you tried ever so desperately to focus on something, anything, for longer than a minute before another stab in your gut.

You could smell it distinctly when you got this hungry. You could smell it in their veins, through their hearts, into their arms and toes and heads. You thought about the taste, so inviting, so fresh and delicious you could just suck one of them dry-

You stood up straight. That snapped you out of it for a second. You would never drink from your companions. That would be a betrayal you could never face. And yet, it seemed so tempting.

Maybe you could just stay in this closet, locked up until you docked once more, then you could go and prey on some local animals and be good once more, replenish your blood supply, and everything would be fine.

A heartbeat approached you, a body full of blood, red and warm and metallic and tempting.

There was a knock and you tried to look normal. Acceptable. Like you did not want to find an artery and tear it from a throat to satiate the burning in your systems.

Another knock. Short, sweet, and delicate. A voice rang out from the other side.

Your name was called, and you sighed, knowing you could not stay locked up forever.

"I know you're in there!" Sanji called, not quite understanding how badly you wanted, no needed him to leave. The smell of his blood was driving you mad. You needed to satiate it.

You open the door, which only intensified the harsh sensation in your stomach. You wanted to keel over.

"Sanji," you could hardly get the words out. "I need to be alone right now."

He did not seem to understand that your problem was not an emotional one. Instead, he stepped forward. "What is it? I can help. You shouldn't have to suffer on your own."

You stood still, trying not to inhale too deeply. "That's not it. Please leave me alone."

He did not. "I can help." You perceived the offer differently from him. Maybe he could help, but you refused to let him. You were not allowed to drink from your crew. You had sworn.

That night, when they had found you perched over a bleeding carcass, they had seen something in you. Something that you had not seen yourself. Humanity. They had loved you, taking you in and letting you feel normal. The only condition, one you had agreed to, was that you could never feed from humans, especially nobody from the crew.

"Sanji, I'm fine." You glared at him, trying to communicate that you needed to be alone.

"What is it? Please tell me." He begged. "I can't stand to think of you suffering by yourself."

You held back a noise of discomfort, his heart was beating faster. "I'm..." You tried to get the word out without scaring him. "Hungry. There's no blood left." You refused to look at him as you confessed, eyes lowering to the floor.

"Oh." You debated looking at him. He sounded less worried about your situation than you expected. Under his skin his heart beat faster, the only indication that he was scared by that information.

"Oh?" You repeated. "I'm a vampire and. I'm starving. You should be scared."

"I'm sorry. What can I do to help?" He seemed genuinely concerned.

"You could spare an artery." You mumbled jokingly, knowing you would never dare.

"Okay, where?" Sanji asked, rolling up his sleeves. You shook your head, realizing the offer he was making. "No. Sanji stop. Nothing. There's nothing you can do. I'll survive without it."

"I'm the chef. I can't let one of my crew starve." He said dutifully.

"Sanji I can't drink from you. Not from the crew." Sanji shrugged. "I won't tell them if you do. I give you permission to drink from me."

You shook your head, backing away. "Sanji. Leave me alone. I can handle this."

He looked at you earnestly. "Let me help." "No. Go back up to the deck."

You watched multiple waves of emotion washing over his face. He looked down, pushing his sleeves back down his arms. "Sorry." He seemed sheepish now that you had refused his offer full stop.

"I'm sorry." You said through gritted teeth, ready for the scent to distance itself again.

"If you ever need to, I'll do it." Sanji offered before he left, his heart pounding.

You shut the door but the smell lingered. Metallic, red glory. You could handle it. You were around these humans every day. You had smelled their blood almost consistently since they picked you up. They had provided you with food so you would not feed off them. They trusted you not to.

Still, seeds of doubt sprouted in your mind, burying roots and growing thick. Your carnal hunger needed to be dealt with. It always did.

How long until it became impossible to ignore? Until you needed to feed and the subject of your feeding was less than cooperative? What if you grew too hungry, unable to stop until their heart had no more blood to pump? Perhaps it would be easier to nip the problem in the already blossoming bud. To cut your losses and drink from your willing crewmate. You had to admit you had been morbidly curious to know what they tasted like.

It would be a temporary solution, and one you would need to do quickly, before you were no longer capable of controlling yourself.

Your stomach stabbed itself once again, and you decided that it was worth the pain to not hurt anyone. You would be docked again in two days. You could go two days more without blood.

You started the timer in your head. Forty-eight hours, less if you considered it was almost dinner and you were expected to be docked before lunch.

Your thoughts kept slipping back to Sanji. His offer. Was he really willing to do that for you? To offer his neck to you, a bloodthirsty vampire, without any signs of fear?

It confused you. You had companions before, several centuries worth, and only a spare few of them had ever sat still, with no signs of resistance whenever they offered you their blood.

And speaking of your companions, there was a fear buried within you, reminding you of those you had failed. The people who had trusted you after you had gone thirsty for too long. The people you had trusted, had loved, drained as a result of your ever present and ever dangerous hunger.

You briefly imagined Sanji in that position, dead, covered in his own blood, still pouring weakly from the teeth marks you had dug into him.

The myths about the healing power of vampires were just that. Myths. You were unable to reverse damage you had done. Your only option was to turn them, a cruelty you refused to enact. An eternal lifetime of bloodlust and fear, hidden from the sun, living alone, or with somebody you were bound to kill, feasting on animals, never fully satisfied unless the blood was flowing.

You could not turn someone, forcing them into that life. It was unfair. In the past, you had just let them die. If Sanji was willing to let you drink, he would have to know that too.

The smell intensified, another knock. "Dinner." Someone called. You could hardly identify the voice through the door.

"Coming." You strained, making your way to the meal.

It had been steaks for dinner, and you were presented with the very last ounces of blood drawn out from the meat, although it hardly did much. If anything, it made your hunger stronger, knowing that you could be satisfied much more than that, if you would only give up your humanity.

Dinner finished without your knowledge, as you tried to block your senses, wanting this tragic tale to be done with.

You felt a hand on your shoulder. "Sanji." Your tone was warning. His hand remained. "I want to help." He insisted.

"I've killed people before. After being hungry for too long. I'm dangerous, remember?"

Sanji laughed. "Dangerously attractive, perhaps." You turned to face him, after scanning the room, making sure it was empty.

"You are risking your life. I won't be able to heal you afterwards. You'll be dizzy, confused, bleeding, and I won't be able to help."

Sanji nodded. "I want to do this for you. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes?"

He stood up straight. "Where do you want me?"

Avoiding the innuendo, you carefully guided him to a chair, deciding which place would be the best to bite him.

You would not find a large vein, else the bleeding would be too intense, but a weak flow would just prolong the process.

You saw Sanji instinctively stretch his neck out, ear to his shoulder, exposing skin for you to bite, tucking his hair behind his ear and carefully pulling his shirt collar away. "No. Not there." You shook your head. "I'll get your arm."

He began to roll up his sleeve before hesitating. "Am I going to get bloody?" You raised your eyebrows. "Obviously you are."

"Wait." He instructed, and you watched as he began to undress in front of you, starting with his blazer, setting it carefully on the island before unbuttoning his nice white shirt. It felt excessive, but it was less laundry to do, so you said nothing.

"Are you ready?" You asked as he sat down again, shirtless. One last painful squeeze in your stomach urged you forward. Sanji got comfortable in his chair, allowing you to take his arm, and bite down.

The second your fangs pierced flesh, you sensed the tension you had been waiting for. Every muscle went rigid, trying to keep himself from squirming or trying to push you off as you drank.

His blood tasted delicious, like everything you had wanted and more. It was more satisfying than any other human blood you had tasted.

Your eyes stayed firmly shut, but you heard the muffled sound that escaped Sanji's mouth, a cross between a gasp and a groan, which drove an excess amount of blood to his face.

You were nowhere near satisfied before you detached from him, worried that he wanted to back out from your deal.

You wiped your chin, eyes fixated on his bleeding arm, which he took a while for him to cover up.

"Are you okay?" You asked, hasty, hoping you had not hurt him badly. "Why?" He asked softly, a question for just you and the secrecy of night to hear. "What?"

"Why did you stop?"

The question pulled at your stomach. Was he ready to give away more? Was he disappointed that you had stopped?

"Do you want me to keep going?" You asked, eyes flitting to the various other places you could bite, Sanji's eyes watching yours as they traced over his body.

"Yes."

You swallowed. "Tilt your head to the side." An order. He obeyed. "Since you want it so bad."

You could see the vein. It was so easy to pierce, now flowing with an elevated amount of blood due to the adrenaline in his body.

You stood behind him, hovering over the area for a second, your one hand holding his shoulder steady, the other at the top of his head holding the hair at his neck out of the way, a practiced position.

"Please." His voice was strained, and fueled by his word, you bit down again.

The bigger target had won you a better prize, your drink far easier to consume, so easily given up. You could see Sanji holding onto the chair, knuckles whitening as you drank, heaving breaths as he felt you taking the life out of him.

He made a variety of small noises while you drank, repressed, but all heard by your ears. You heard the soft grunts, the caught breaths, the gentle moans he tried to stifle. It was hurting him alright, but he hardly seemed bothered.

In fact, the poor man seemed to enjoy it.

You finally stopped, pulling away and putting pressure on the wound, not wanting him to bleed out. Lucky for him, your punctures were not big enough to cause a real problem. You just needed them to scab over.

In the meantime, with your hand pressed firmly against his neck, you reveled in being full. The pain in your stomach was seeping away by the second, and you felt stronger. Human blood had not been a part of your diet for some time now.

"Are you alright?" You asked Sanji, who was still breathing heavily in the chair, head lolling a little, only held in place by your hand holding his neck.

"Yes." He said quickly. He was shaking a little, and you decided to get him a snack, something to fuel his body as it recovered what you had taken from it.

You checked his neck, giving him a towel to press against the wound as you rifled through the fridge.

"You might want to clean your face." Sanji advised. You turned to look at him. "What?" "My blood." He looked a little shy. "It's dripped a bit. Lovely colour on you though."

You scoffed at him, taking some fruit out of the fridge and setting it down on the counter, offering it up.

"You know," Sanji pulled the cloth away from his neck, the would no longer bleeding. "That wasn't bad at all."

You raised an eyebrow and moved to the sink, turning on the tap to rinse your face, drops of pink landing below.

"No? Not even the bite?" "I'd say your bark is worse but I like both quite fine."

You laughed. "That's good. You're smiling again." He observed, standing and walking towards you. "How are you feeling?"

You took the cloth and dampened it with water, trying to clean the blood off his neck, dabbing carefully to avoid reopening the wound.

"I'm much better. I haven't felt like this in ages." You tilted your head to the side, considering something. "Thank you. I am indebted to you." Sanji shook his head. "No, I could never. Whenever you need, I will be ready."

His excitement was clear. "My blood is yours." You looked at him, standing there in front of you, flushed and looking giddy. You hooked an arm around him, pulling him close, and kissed him on the lips. For a second, he was frozen, before his body regained movement, arms snaking around your shoulders, squeezing you as he kissed back.

Your hands moved, carefully assuring that he was okay with everything your did, hands tracing up and down his sides, one coming up to tangle in his hair.

A vampire and a meal. Unconventional, but you hardly cared. Your lips moved against his, an action that somehow felt better than drinking from him. Another long suffering hunger, finally satiated.

He pulled away first, arms still around you, his hair messy. "Oh love," you nearly melted at the nickname. "You are magnificent."

You resisted the urge to close the gap between the two of you, letting him speak. "You make my heart race in your presence, my blood flows just for you."

"Kiss me again." You ordered. He was more than happy to oblige.

[summerongrand]

7x04: Darkness Falling

(ICYMI: read my 7x03 recap here)

Chenford

The Kojo scene is meant to parallel 6x08, showing-not-telling just how far Chenford have come. 6x08 was beautifully executed—painful in the best way—like an excruciatingly haunted version of Rascal Flatts’ What Hurts the Most. 7x04 was not. One of these days, probably over the summer, I'll write a full psychoanalysis meta of Tim in that 6x08 scene.

The star of 7x04 is Kojo (duh). He senses Lucy before she even knocks. He listens to Tim’s gentle command to “stay”—at first. But the moment Lucy leaves, he whines, like, “Hey, Mom, I’m your dog. Remember me?” He doesn’t chase after her, even though we know he wants to. Melissa’s out of character ad-lib about the butt scratch (she confirmed this was her, not Lucy) was a distraction that pulled focus from Lucy, but that’s on Kojo’s scene partner, not him. Kojo did his job perfectly. Also Eric Tim sitting on his couch? Hot as hell.

"I'm sorry, why are you at my door asking me that?"

"Come on!"

Tim’s line is all of us wondering why Lucy is even at his door. It’s a tongue-in-cheek way to force a moment between them without actually showing any real progress. The show hasn't done the work to establish that Chenford are at a place where Lucy would just show up at his house, and I’m not going to fill in the gaps with interviews or my imagination. That’s their job—both the writers and the actors. As someone who strongly identifies with Lucy, I’m disappointed in how she’s being portrayed.

Like, you’re telling me Lucy couldn’t just pull Tim aside at work for this conversation? That she chose to have a conversation about confidential police matters in front of his open door where his neighbors could hear? And Tim Bradford of all people doesn’t have a security camera? Come on. I get that Lucy values Tim’s advice—that’s always been clear. But he’s also tainted. He broke up with her to protect her from being tainted by him. So why is she coming to his house? And why is he letting her? If he truly cared enough about her and her career to end things (because “you have more to lose than Angela”), then he wouldn’t let her do this.

If I were delulu enough, I'd see this as the same sleight of hand flirting that parallels 5x21:

"Do you mean do I miss you already? No. I'm fine."

"You are such a jerk."

They missed the mark on this if that's what they're going for.

Illuminating polygraph tests

All of the takes I’ve seen focus on this line as subtext for the “Do you love me?” moment, reading it as Tim’s way of affirming that he still loves Lucy. But I see it differently. I believe the "Do you love me?" question from the polygraph test was Lucy’s way of testing the validity of the setup. Tim put the test together himself—it wasn’t conducted under any official capacity where it would have been vetted for false positives and negatives. The point wasn’t for Lucy to find out if Tim loves her; it was to gauge whether the test could accurately detect deception, particularly in the context of undercover work.

Look, the UC Lucy storyline isn’t over. I loved some of Lucy’s UC personas (Juicy) and I didn't love others (Jamie). There’s a low-priority sociocritical analysis of Jamie I’d love to write up at some point, but for now, it’s on the back burner. Point being, UC hasn't gone away. It showed up briefly in the shortened S6 and in 7x01, Grey brings up Lucy’s UC aspirations before assigning her a rookie.

The illumination Tim speaks of? I think it's about UC. And we’ll likely see one or both of Lucy and Seth going UC in 7x07, with this line acting as a throughline from Grey’s mention of UC in 7x01. I think something will happen in 7x06 that will cause the UC conversation to reappear.

Feeling's mutual.

Let’s get one thing straight: Kojo sent Lucy the birthday card, okay? He just needed a little help. Kojo doesn’t have opposable thumbs, so Tim had to write it for him (though, to be fair, Kojo signed it). Kojo can’t drive yet—he’s three in human years, and you need to be at least sixteen for a license in California—so Tim had to drive him to Lucy’s apartment. Kojo also doesn’t speak English, so duh, Tim had to translate “feeling’s mutual” for him. Let’s be clear: this isn’t Tim saying he misses Lucy. It’s Tim saying Kojo misses Lucy.

Joking aside, "feeling's mutual" is a sign of progress on Tim's part. I would have liked to see it delivered with more softness-not necessarily to the extent of I am now (although that would be nice) but somewhere in the middle of what we got for feeling's mutual and I am now. Tim's guard is up, and I think Eric was intentionally playing it that way. Tim has always been a complex character, due in no small part to Eric's microexpressions. That doesn't mean Lucy needs to lean into it.

Ordering food.

Lucy doesn’t look like she’s leaving anytime soon (and that’s on her). She clearly loves Kojo—Tim knows it. He’s just trying to be a good host. There’s nothing more to it on his end. But Lucy? She suddenly realizes just how comfortable she is at her ex’s place, and now she’s scrambling to screw her head back on again. She closes the door as if to say I'll see myself out and don't follow me to my car. Again, why even show up at his place in the first place?

Lotus necklace

This is Lucy’s first time wearing it. It’s part of her culture and symbolizes new beginnings. That said, I doubt there was any of that intention behind it. Julia, the costume designer, doesn’t seem particularly attuned to Lucy’s culture, and from what I can tell, she likely just chose something that looked similar enough to Tim’s necklace while still being distinct.

What hurts the most

What bothers me most about the Chenford scene is that it didn’t have to be this way. Their relationship had issues—built partly on lies—but the partnership and trust are still there. I've mentioned several times that I have no issues with Chenford as partners. The show messed up how they got together, fine. So take a step back, rebuild what needs rebuilding, but you don’t have to tear down the entire foundation. You're messing with natural soil at that point.

Lucy probably had a key to Tim’s house at some point—maybe she still does. I'm sure she's slept over there plenty (and then some), maybe even has a drawer and closet space. But she knocks now because it’s not her place to just walk in anymore.

Tim

My blorbo. I need you to heal and get back together with Lucy Chen when you're all healed, okay? She'll continue putting out your spot fires but you need to do the work. I need you to do the work. The writers have turned you into a piece of work and that's not okay. You're not a piece of work. You're a masterpiece.

Lucy

My other blorbo. Why is she playing B&B hostess to her ex's ex (Rachel) and her ex's wife (Bailey)? With all the kid talk between Bailey and Nolan, why not stick Bailey with Wopez or Jayla who actually have kids and live in decent sized homes? She can bond with Wes/James over being a LEO spouse.

Nyla

Why did Angela and Nyla even separate in an unfamiliar space where they are literal targets because flashlights in the dark? Nyla injected with a paralytic (and dirty needle?) and beaten was all kinds of fucked up and difficult to watch. That was one of the worst things to happen to any character.

Nyla doesn't need to be strong all the time and I'm glad Angela saw through that at the hospital. I can't wait for her to shine this season.

Wopez/Wesley

Someone give him a hug. Del Monte's a dick for talking about how attractive Angela is but it puts things into perspective for Wes, it showed Wes that he's overreacting. His feelings are valid but the Detective crushing on Ange did so in a therapy session. He wasn't hitting on Angela. There is a difference.

Wes guilt tripping himself over Novak. Angela consoling him. Wopez love.

Miles

Miles is layered like Tim is layered. This guy's putting up a front because he's hurt. His fuck ups and cockiness are part of his baggage. His facade is fading though and I have a feeling we'll see the real Miles soon. His last scene with Tim was chef's kiss. He's starting to understand Tim four episodes in just as Lucy was breaking down Tim's walls early on (clocking him as calculating not cruel in 1x04 and in 1x07 calling him weird and DEAR Method incarnate, stealing his money clip).

Bailey

Nothing against Jenna Dewan—she's talented—but the conditions she’s working under hinder her ability to truly shine. The character feels underdeveloped and, at times, shoehorned into the story rather than organically fitting in.

In her scenes with Lucy, Celina and Wade, there's such a focus on her as if the others are there to 'serve' her. Lucy serving Bailey a hot beverage was likely just a blocking decision to justify Lucy being on FaceTime with Nolan, but Bailey expecting Lucy to bring her luggage? Ick. Rachel's unemployed and doesn't have anything better to do. Ask Rachel. And while I can understand Bailey getting territorial about another woman in her home, the moment she realizes it’s Celina, she just doesn’t care. Not even a thank you.

Don't even get me started on Wade. I'm more upset at how Nolan treated Wade than I am at Bailey. He is your Lieutenant and your Watch Commander. Mid Wilshire is his house and you do not disrespect Wade Grey in his house. You want someone to babysit your wife? Fine. Ask Smitty or Wrigley. Don't ask Wade like you're owed. He's dealing with a corruption scandal and even if he weren't, he doesn't have time for your primadonna drama.

Seth

He gets his own section this week. I'd put his name under Lucy's because his storyline is related to hers, but he doesn't deserve it. Under Bailey you go, Seth. While many in the fandom are cooing at him like he's just a baby, I've hated him since the beginning.

On top of my inkling, Lucy Chen has repeatedly been screwed over by white men in her career. I have a bad feeling he's gonna continue to be a liability on Lucy's career. She already got dinged by Grey in 7x02 and by Grey and brass in 7x03 because of him.

On top of his lying and taking advantage of her empathy, there's the narcissism. When Lucy tells him to put his phone away, he gives some bullshit sob story about his test results and dejectedly says “okay” as if it's Lucy's fault. He doesn't put his phone away, she catches him in another lie with his Google Alerts, proving again that his word is useless. She needs to set better boundaries with him—a simple “What did I just say?” would make it clear she’s not here to coddle him.

Seth disrespected rank and a direct order from his TO. When Miles disrespects rank, he gets reprimanded by both Tim and Lucy (you're not fit to breathe the same air ... darlin'). Seth gets none of that. I'm tired of white men getting preferential treatment on this show.

Then there’s his incompetence—he can’t even measure distance correctly. On top of that, he’s outright rude to Miles, like he has any room to be a dick. And that “Whoopsie” moment? Straight-up Criminal Minds unsub behavior.

Other thoughts

Kevin Zegers is always welcome on my screen. Much like Lucy fangirling over Vampire Cop, I had a crush on him back in the day.

Tim's new home has enough wood and trinkets to appease all the fire gods. It should've been sacrificed in exchange for all the other homes that burnt up in last month's fires.

I did not care for Novak but at least we got Angela recruiting those sorority girls to the LAPD out of it.

Hulu doc? Okay, Alexi. The Rookie's big on Hulu. We get it.

Where is Rachel?

CHP stereotypes fully confirmed by me 💁‍♀️

[photoniccyclone]

Crack Theory: Zym Will Be the One To Save Claudia

Sounds crazy right? But here me out, I may be huffing some major copium right now and it requires some other headcannons to come true but when you think about it... this could be a really cool thing for them to do.

Zym can talk now, which means he's gonna need to be a charatcer and do character things, what better way to do that then take a crack at saving Claudia and bringing a new perspective the others didn't? Picking up where they failed?

In order to be saved now, after all the damage that's been done to her, she's going to need two things in my eyes.

A lot of empathy. Those who try to save her need to have sympathy and empathy for her situation and while not agreeing with what she did, have the understanding of why she did them and what she's going through, and have the ability to be patient with her and help her when she's struggling. This is going to be hard for a lot of the cast. Rayla definitely can not do this because she just downright hates her (she spent the two year time jump trying to kill her) so she's out. The rest, their emphathy has been spent potentially after their failed attempts to save her, which were, not very successful for a variety of reasons i.e tricking her with a fake mom (diabolical) or straight up making her feel gaslit. (I'm referencing the "I think we have different bone feelings" it's important to note that I don't think Soren was gaslighting her because he truly believed in what he said, but to someone like her, it can come across as gaslighting.) Or not giving her the time of day, but that's not the point. The point is that the rest of the cast feels they've done all they can, even Soren feels that way, remember he begs Terry to let him kill her! While we don't know where Zym stands on this, we can start to sow some doubt in his mind about the dragaang's methods. This will not only help explain why Zym wants to try and take a crack at saving Claudia but also help develop him into his own character who isn't just Ezran 2.0. Maybe him and Ez can even have a disagreement over this at some point! Wouldn't it be cool to see an argument or a bit of a temporary falling out between these two? Zym has been shown to be extremely emphathetic so far, similar to Ezran and has a chance that he could feel like he could bring something new to the table that the gang hasn't tried before which I will get into later. (ANNNNDDDDD, if a certain headcannon holds true he might be perfect for the job)

A proper addressing of Xadia's crimes. Yes, she's definitely going to need this. What Xadia did in the past drives a lot of her character, maybe not as much as family but it's a huge motivator, and it must sting really hard when her own brother contradicts everything with "I don't have the same bone feelings". It could easily be going through her mind right now like "Are you crazy? after everything they did to us your just all lovey dovey with them? Like it just didn't happen?". Someone is going to need to acknowledge what happened, clearly and definitively and also apologize for it and deliver the promise that they will make sure it will never happen again. Now... who better to deliver this message to her than the literal King of The Dragons himself who literally has the power to make it never happen again? Could this cure her instantly? No, maybe not... Claudia is hurting badly and the scars run deep, but that could be the beginning to set off a chain reaction that Zym could help her through by instilling point 1.

Now, if a certain headcannon comes true which could make narrative sense, it would just make this all the more powerful. You know how Ezran is an empath with animals? Like he can basically talk to them to an extent and can also feel their pain (novelizations), what if Zym is the same, but for humans and elves. This is not entirely baseless either, other than providing cool symmetry it would also explain why Zym is able to communicate telepathically with Ezran to an extent. It's two empaths connecting to each other. If Zym has this power, he could potentially understand what Claudia feels on a deeper level then anyone else because he literally feels it too, and thus would easier be able to empathize with her making point 1 all the more plausible.

And on top of everything... I just feel it would be really sweet. I love Zym, I love Claudia and seeing Zym be a character by performing something so monumental and helping someone who clearly needs help would just be... kinda heartwarming to me if done correctly. That's why it's a crack theory at the end of the day. There's not hard evidence and it relies on some assumptions, but do I want it to happen? Absolutely?

But hey, if you disagree, that's fine too! :)

"But Claudia is pure evil and I want her to burn."

I disagree on that but to each their own, fine If you want that too I guess lmao.

[fandom-susceptible]

I've had a lot of thoughts of my own on this topic and I've posted about it just a few minutes ago, but yeah, I'll add onto this because I have thoughts specifically about this analysis too.

So, I do have one small disagreement, which is that I don't think Ezran was burying the hurt when he found the shadowhawk arrow. He says he'd bandaged it and let it heal, and I really think they meant it that way, because that's a narrative statement, not in his thoughts or dialogue. Grief never goes away, obviously, and the pain of losing Harrow will never be gone, but the wound can heal, and I think that's all they meant there. It's not raw and open anymore; finding the arrow just scraped at it. I will come back to this in a minute though.

As far as Rayla's perspective goes, I do agree with what you said, but I also think an important part that keeps getting left out of this conversation is that she is not human. I keep seeing people applying human values and human perspectives to her character, and it happens within the show too (Callum calling her prideful for wanting to stay at the Storm Spire in Season 3 is a prime example of this), because she's so sympathetic to the humans that they forget that she isn't one of them. She is coming at this situation from a very different cultural background.

Her culture, for one, does not see death as an end. Harrow has just moved on to the next phase of his spirit's cycle. Death is a more merciful end than what she was granted for helping Ezran, so while she knows Ezran is human and doesn't outright accuse him of betraying their friendship, it does sort of make sense that her instinct would be to feel betrayed. In her culture, standing by her family and her people are more important than life itself. She's already betrayed those values once to save Ezran and Zym, in a way that resulted in her banishment and, according to Chasing Shadows, her death, culturally speaking. Ghosts aren't just banished, literally her identity as a Moonshadow elf is considered to be worse than dead by her own people, even her name is banned, and she's been grappling with that for years. Now, she has the chance to stand by her father, to finally do something that aligns with both her wider world values and her cultural ones, and Ezran has become an obstacle. She's also well-established as being less than careful with her words when she's distressed.

Callum's role in this also rings very true to me. I see the point about how he maybe shouldn't have led with calling his brother a jerkface - but as an older sibling, yeah, that tends to be how you get the little shit's attention if they're being particularly assholish. Heavens know my brothers and I have said far worse. Whether it's the best approach is highly debatable, but as a writing choice, it felt really good to me because it made the brotherly relationship feel very real in that moment, especially since that's a word we've already seen them use.

Overall, I agree with pretty much all of the OP's points about Callum's arc here, but I'd like to point out that he's falling prey to the same thinking as what's left the fandom startled by Ezran this season. He describes Ez as "not himself" and is convinced the anger will cool with time, and I just don't know if it would have. I'll get back to what I think Ezran actually needed in a moment, too. Callum has tried to talk Ezran down and make peace between them at every turn, even promising Rayla he wouldn't drive a wedge between them to help her, and I do think that people who call him a doormat for Rayla are missing that bit. He didn't just betray Ezran, he betrayed Rayla's trust as well, even if it was to help her in the immediate moment.

Callum also explicitly makes sure to tell Ezran, even while he's defending the elves' retreat, that he will always be there for him as a brother. All Ezran has to do is ask. He is leaving because he cannot stand by Ezran's actions as a king, which I think is a really important distinction to make, and I think it's a driving force of what helps Ezran forgive him later. It's one of the bits of evidence that will eventually build into Ezran realizing he's working towards a mutually assured destruction plan rather than one of peace, and I just don't think Callum could have gotten that message across with a less drastic reaction. He's also not abandoning Ezran on his own; Ez is a fully realized king with Soren, Corvus, the Council, Zym (who he also identifies as a brother) and more to support him emotionally.

Speaking of, I do actually want to point that out about this whole situation as well, is Soren's role. He mentions that he wishes he hadn't seen the elves escaping, but his loyalty outweighs his sympathy. I think it's also very important to why Callum was willing to leave; because he and Soren have come a long way, and Callum knows he's leaving his younger brother in very capable hands. Soren is also an older brother, and one who takes a very personal joy in being one and helping Ezran have moments of just being a kid. Callum knows that.

Finally, to circle back around to Ezran, I don't think that he buried his feelings about Harrow's death. That said, I do think that his background including his father's death and taking the throne far too young heavily affects his reaction to having his home destroyed. What happened in Katolis was terrorism, a mass murder and destruction that would shake anyone, and it challenges everything Ezran has been fighting for since Harrow's death. From Ezran's thesis of forgiveness and how all violence spirals, the attack on Katolis is senseless, because there was nothing recent to trigger Sol Regem's revenge - which is why his anger gets turned on Runaan, because Runaan also challenges Ezran's beliefs about violence.

Rayla defends Runaan in the early seasons by saying "It's a job" about assassination, and Runaan himself in Bloodmoon Huntress says "I kill people. I don't judge them." That puts him in a very different category than say, Zubeia, who acted out of grief and rage, or Pyrrah, who retaliated against an attack on her, or Harrow, who acted out of personal grief, or even Avizandum, who acted in defense of his people, or even further back, Viren and Harrow and Sarai and Annika and Neha who acted to save theirs. All of them made choices driven by emotion, by some variation of love, whether it be living love or grief and anger. Runaan isn't like that. Runaan just takes without personal bias, which challenges Ezran's whole worldview and puts him in the same category of senseless violence as Sol Regem.

And that's why I think Runaan's tearful apology and confession in the end actually got through to Ezran, and why I don't think anything less than the breakdown with Callum and that confrontation would have done it. Ezran needed to see that Runaan has values and reasons, even if they're not good ones, and that he's willing to lay them aside to prevent further bloodshed. Rayla knew, of course, but she's been making a point to avoid the topic of their fathers since Season 1, and we've seen no evidence she broke that habit, so Ezran doesn't know Runaan the way we do even through her. I think it was less about Ezran needing Runaan to take accountability (we certainly haven't seen that from Zubeia) and more that he needed to know that Runaan wasn't the exact sort of threat he's supposedly meant to combat. Andromeda, one of the other assassins, explains in Bloodmoon Huntress that sometimes they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that a person brings more pain and violence into the world than they do love, and that's when their death becomes more valuable than their life. Ezran made his peace with that very concept during this season because of Aaravos. He imprisoned Runaan at first due to his own values against murder, but he still didn't understand why Runaan could do what he does. I think the final confrontation with Aaravos, coming after him with the Nova Blade, was Ezran's turning point and why he's able to understand Runaan's choices in the end. I don't think a confrontation earlier than that would have worked out - not with Callum as a mediator. (Soren or Amaya, with their backgrounds a soldiers, might have better luck.)

Also, I want to briefly touch on Runaan's behavior during all this too, because he surrendered himself to this consequence. He took one look at Soren, most likely recognized him, and knew it wasn't a fight he could win, so he didn't bother trying. He also is notably nervous about their escape, but goes along with it because like Rayla, he isn't human, and his cultural values drive him home more strongly than his personal choice to take the punishment he's being given, because he's only just begun the mental deconstruction that continues to drive him throughout the season. His cultural values got challenged by his love for Rayla in Season 1, and seeing the consequences of those actions in Katolis started his whole worldview to crumbling. But that's only just happened at this point, so when given the chance by Rayla, he goes for it, clutching at his dedication to his home and family as a shred of stability in the worldview he's just had broken apart. But he never once defends himself, physically or verbally, against Ezran's accusations or the soldiers, which is pretty telling.

So all in all, I agree that it was a complicated situation, and none of them were wholly right or wholly wrong morally. I do think it was actually pretty well in-character for all of them individually.

Season 7 Conflict between Ezran, Callum, and Rayla: Who’s Right and who’s wrong?

Or perhaps...

I feel like this has been a topic of heavy debate across the fandom and I guess I wanted to share my own perspective on this as well. I wanted to try to dive in and explore each of these characters’ stances on things, since in my opinion, each of them had valid points. Long post ahead!

Starting with Ezran, we’re all mostly used to him being an innocent, kind and sweet cinnamon roll that’s so quick to forgive others who have wronged him. And it’s not just us, but even the characters in the show too, which in some cases can be used against him (which I won’t get to here since this isn’t the point of this post). But I’m mentioning this here because this is major trait of his that we saw being challenged this season.

Well, I would argue maybe even since season 6:

Which not gonna lie, that was both surprising but also very satisfying, especially after all Viren has done in arc 1, especially in season 3, you could argue it was well deserved, and even Viren himself saw that. But getting back on topic, I feel like we start to see a more vengeful side of Ezran this season, especially after the trauma of having his whole kingdom that he’s ruling, his own home, be completely destroyed.

This itself was traumatic enough to change Ezran completely, especially after finding out that it was Sol Regem that destroyed it in a matter of minutes. And not only that, but also seeing Runaan, the very assassin who ‘killed’ his father that same day, lead him to push all the blame onto him. That everything changed since the night Harrow was ‘killed’ by him and Ezran was eventually forced to pick up the burden of being king and live through all of this.

Now I get that there’s alot of people in the fandom pointing out the hypocrisy of “how come he forgave Zubeia, who was the one that sent Runaan to kill Harrow, but he couldn’t forgive Runaan?” Which I would argue narratively, that is the point and it was something called out by Callum. I do personally think that perhaps, if Ezran may have crossed paths with Runaan at some point before the destruction of Katolis, he could have had a different response? Not necessarily saying it would be positive but perhaps, not as vengeful or angry?

I also wanted to point to something interesting in the short story Deep Below, which is set right before season 5 in the storm spire when he went to get the siren stone:

The screenshots above are on Ezran’s reaction to seeing the shadowhawk with the red blood ribbon that confirmed Harrow’s ‘death’ and the emotions he felt. But not only that, it also felt like he chose not to let himself properly deal with that anger and instead bottled it up for the sake of keeping the peace that he fought so hard to keep. But of course all of that came tumbling down after the destruction of Katolis leading up to the immense change in Ezran’s behavior. We see him letting out all of bottled up anger once he saw the assassin who was involved in the direct killing of his father that lead to the complete change of his life.

Now moving onto Rayla, I think it’s important to remember that for over two years, she had no idea what happened to her birth parents or Runaan but only that Viren had something to do with their disappearances. Then by the end of season 4, she received the coins that contained their spirits and since then, it’s become one of her primary goals to free them, even if she had to set that goal aside for the sake of saving the world. Then getting to the end of season 6, she was forced to let go of her birth parents after she finally reunited with them after many years, just so that she would let them be together in the afterlife, while choosing to bring back Runaan so that she can finally reunite him with Ethari.

Now I know that ideally, she shouldn’t have brought Runaan with her to Katolis, but because she made a promise to Callum that she wouldn’t leave without him again and Runaan was still recovering and more desperate than ever to reunite with Ethari, she couldn’t leave him on his own. I also think it wasn’t the best idea to let Runaan walk around freely in Katolis but I’m guessing none of the characters were expecting Ezran react in anger since they were mostly used to him being so forgiving.

Now we get to the next episode where Rayla, who was finally able to bring back one of her parents, has had that parent taken away from her once again. We see Callum trying hard to convince her to be patient and give Ezran some time to process everything that’s happened and that he would eventually forgive Runaan. But then we get to the council meeting where things get especially heated.

While I do think that Rayla didn’t bring it up or address this in the best way, I do think she made some really valid points:

And I know many people in the fandom have been arguing that Rayla was 'unsympathetic' towards Ezran but honestly, I think an argument can also be made that no one was sympathetic towards Rayla wanting to bring her family back together except for Callum, and I will talk more about him in detail later.

I also think another important detail we need to remember is that when it comes to this conflict, there’s a major power imbalance here. While yes, Ezran is a traumatized 12 year old kid dealing with the destruction of his kingdom and seeing the face of his father’s killer, he’s also the king who has the final say in everything. It’s his words and his orders against anyone else’s objections that get followed. He also has the backing and loyalty of the council, crownguard and all of the Katolis guards too, while Rayla only had the support of Callum in this situation.

And because of how things went at the meeting and seeing how Ezran wouldn’t listen to her and forgive Runaan right away, she decided to break Runaan out, despite Callum trying to convince her to be patient and give Ezran more time, to which then she responds:

Which then Callum fully accepts her decision and even offered to help (which again, I’ll talk more about later). But while the ideal thing for Rayla to do was to be more patient give Ezran time to do the right thing, which he eventually did at the end of the season, it’s also understandable why she couldn’t stay patient. Because after years, she finally has the opportunity to reunite what remains of her own family again.

Now I get to my last point, Callum. Despite seeing a lot of hate being directed towards Rayla and Ezran for their different stances, from what I’ve seen, I feel like Callum has been getting savaged a whole lot by different parts of the fandom, despite being caught in between both sides and torn between two people he loves. I feel like more people are willing to look at the complexity of the situation when it comes to Ezran or Rayla, but when it comes to Callum, his stance is more often reduced to: “he’s a terrible brother who betrayed Ezran because he doesn’t sympathize with him” or “he’s a doormat for Rayla who unconditionally worships her even at the expense of others or the greater good” while leaving out so many details, events and aspects of his overall character. Now I’m not saying that Callum handled things perfectly with Ezran and nor am I saying that he wouldn’t do reckless and crazy things for Rayla, but I feel like there’s so much more to him that just gets heavily ignored.

So as I’ve said before, Callum was caught in between rising tensions between Ezran and Rayla. While he did support Rayla and wanted to help her reunite her family, I just think it’s wrong to say he was “unsympathetic” towards Ezran because:

And that to me isn’t what unsympathetic looks like. Not to mention he kept trying to convince Rayla to be patient and give Ezran time, and even when Rayla went to break out Runaan, Callum still went and made an attempt to talk to Ezran. And like I don’t think it was right of him to call his traumatized brother a jerk face when he went to talk to him lol, but we know how Callum can be when he gets frustrated, and he even apologized immediately and changed his tone afterwards. We then see Ezran open up to Callum about how his life completely changed after Harrow was ‘killed’ and he was forced to take up a heavy burden at a young age. While ideally I do think that Callum could’ve verbally expressed more understanding towards what Ezran was feeling and dealing with, I do think he made a valid point when he brought up that Ezran forgave Zubeia despite her being the one who sent Runaan after Harrow. Now getting to my next point, this scene in particular:

What he said here made me think back a lot to arc 1, particularly, some of the stuff Harrow said in his last conversation with Callum:

And some things he told Rayla when she told him about her mission to avenge Avizandum and the dragon egg that was initially believed to be destroyed:

I also thought of some of the things Harrow told Callum in his letter:

And lastly something he said to Rayla in season 3 in their conversation after looking at Avizandum's stoned body:

I think it’s important to remember that yes, even Callum himself is aware of the violent cycle between the humans and Xadia and actually wants to end it. And while yes, Ezran grieving Harrow’s death and feeling so much anger towards Runaan was completely valid, I truly believe that Callum was also motivated in trying to convince Ezran to not take part in this cycle of vengeance. The very cycle that killed their mother, that lead Harrow to kill Avizandum in vengeance, which he himself even regretted and recognized was a mistake that lead to Zubeia sending the moonshadow assassins to kill him. And this was something that he brought up to Callum in both his last conversation and his letter, hoping that Callum and Ezran would break this cycle and not repeat his mistakes. And this was what Callum was attempting to do with Ezran, having even reminded him that this was the cycle of violence he was fighting so hard to end. And it did seem that Callum was getting through to him, and I do think that if their conversation didn’t get interrupted by Soren calling out and maybe in a short amount of time, Callum would’ve succeeded.

Of course next thing we see after Rayla and Soren’s duel along with Corvus’s intervention, was Ezran approaching them with a bunch of guards and he had no hesitation in ordering them to attack an outnumbered Rayla and Runaan. It was only in this situation, when literal violence was about to escalate, that we see Callum fully take Rayla’s side and go against Ezran. Not having succeeded in getting through to his brother and seeing that he was still set on getting his revenge, was when Callum decided to step down as high mage and leave with Rayla and Runaan.

Now I’ve seen a lot of people criticizing Callum for leaving his traumatized brother in this situation, which like, yes it was a betrayal at a bad time and it hurt Ezran a great deal. But I also think it’s important to keep in mind that if Callum were to have stayed behind, he would’ve been arrested and have not been able to do anything or even help Ezran in any way, especially with Ezran later becoming hellbent on building weapons of mass destruction, even with Zym becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and hardly listening to anyone aside from Aanya. In fact, I think this would’ve lead to a far bigger strain on their relationship and less of a likelihood to reconcile and repair the rift created between them.

But anyways, this is my opinion on this whole topic. I personally think there wasn’t one person in this that was entirely right or wrong in this situation, each of them had valid stances that just all came clashing together and lead to this massive fallout. But I’m glad that in the end, they were all able to work it out and be able to reconcile things between them. And I know I made this super long but I guess I just wanted to dump out all my thought here.

Anyways, what do you think? Anything you wanted to add on to this?

[triglycercule]

can the mtt commit more crimes that just murder please i know theyre the MURDER time trio but ppppleasse,,,, please,,,,,,

they'd be terrible to be next to on the highway. horror's going 160 mph amd has long past gone over the speed limit. dust's out for BLOOD and by blood i mean your tires. he's somehow sniping those round rubber wheels from the high moving vehicle with the precision of a master fruit ninja player. if your car explodes or flips over in the process that's not his fault. and then to make matters worse for everyone on the highway killer's in the backseat scratching up the doors and windows of your car with a knife everytime horror gets close to another car and oops he accidentally just disfigured your face also did i mention theyre all drunk during this

ok so theyve all got the classic face WHY DONT THEY ABUSE IT!!!! horror gets to do a little paper mache to cover up his head hole and then wearing glasses. killer i dont know what the FUCK he can do to get rid of his perpetual tears but let's just pretend that theyre conveniently gone for now. and then all dust has to do is put down his hood! anyways identity theft is cool. imagine how much they could totally fuck up classic's reputation with this. set up fake tinder profiles and then scam people for their credit card info/free dates (while ordering every expensive thing) and stealing wallets. walking into various grillby's's around the multiverse and telling terrible jokes. like ACTUALLY bad jokes. and then of course just being a huge piece of shit at the bar. god theres so many things they could do pretending to be classic. which one of us is hikaru looking ahh except the only difference between the three is the color of the stains on their clothes (either gray (dust) black (killer) or red. well faded red (horror))

ROBBERY!!!! ROBBERIES PLURAL!!!??? train robbery gas station robbery bank robbery GOVERNMENT robbery (what would you rob the government for?? documents??? idk) anyways. mtt robbing a train except its just a really shitty plan and they dont know jackshit about what theyre doing. killer's taken over the conductor's cabin and now he is booking it. how fast are trains allowed to go idk but the maximum. anyways meanwhile horror's on the tracks fucking up the rails with his strength or whatever (listen i know he's weak but picking and choosing what hcs i believe in is my art) and dust is there to teleport him away before the train crashes into him and turns him into a trolley problem victim. and then of course that shit doesnt fucking work and the train just ends up flipping over and catching on fire or something (killer survives because of course he does he's killer). and then in the end dust just has to flip the entire train over and they just stroll into the part that actually HAS the money

and then they go out and get ice cream. sometimes the murderers need to take a break from murdering and just do NORMAL crime yk???

[silentsockfeet]

with the obvious addendum that act 3 isn’t out yet and we can’t form true opinions until the show’s officially done, i’m still really feeling like it could have maybe benefited from a third season. they’re hitting all the right plot points and those moments are full of really intense emotion, but everything in the middle feels so underwhelming in comparison and so much of it still feels rushed to me. idk

[rileys-battlecats]

was trying to figure out why I feel so Wrong rn and I think it's because I didn't follow my usual daily routine like At All and now my brain is freaking out. woke up at a vastly different time, had entirely different tasks throughout the day, took a nap at a weird time (to make up for the fact I had about 3 hours of sleep last night), zero human contact for the past 15 hours, and ate different food from usual (various leftovers from social events/thanksgiving, instead of cooking for myself like normal). and before I really realized that these were all things that were Bad For My Brain I was just wandering around my house like "why do I feel like garbage?? I've literally been outside so much today my brain should be happy"

ANYWAY here's to me not remembering I have issues with unstructured living because my days have been so similar for the past 4ish years that I straight up Forgot that things being too different too fast makes me crazy ✌️

[simgerale]

me after attempting to get back into sims and realizing i had a lot more to do than play the game

[revelboo]

couldge we get some nsfw tfa bulkhead crumbs, maybe? 👉👈

Rolling these into one scenarios post cause I’m over 100 asks again already 🤣

More Assorted Scenarios 🌶️

18+ Mass displaced mechs 🌶️

The mechs do have both, but can shift the plating protecting their ‘bits’ independently. If one of their humans is actively exploring down there, they’ll figure it out. Though Knockout and Breakdown, Tailgate and Cyclonus, and Chromedome and Rewind’s humans are going to figure it out very quickly. Some mechs would be down for letting their human play with whatever they want (Swerve, Skywarp, or Bluestreak, though he’d be absolutely mortified about it and an awkward mess the first several times), while others would require some coaxing (TFP Megatron)

TFA Bulkhead

• “This okay?” He asks, servos grazing your hips in a barely there touch. ‘Bulkhead, please,’ you whisper, hips up. Can feel the head of his spike slide against your inner thigh, branding you with heat before he’s gripping himself and pressing inside you. “You’re sure about this?” His insecurity normally adorable, but right now it’s just frustrating. And you push back against him, sucking in a breath at the faint burn of his spike stretching you, sliding deep. “Slow down.” One of his massive hands slams down beside you, servos clawing the concrete floor.

• Groaning, his hips jerk against you and you brace yourself when he begins to move. Wanted to take it slow this time, but as you make those sounds and push back to meet his thrusts, and he loses control. Servos gauging into the concrete on either side of you as he thrusts inside your wet heat. Afraid to touch you in case he accidentally gets too rough, because even mass displaced, you’re so small. Gripping his spike so tight. With everyone sharing the same space, he’s trying to keep quiet as he claims you, but you’re not making any effort at all, crying out for him. Encouraging him. Sari and Bee are at least out at a drive in movie you’d brought Sari a ticket for.

Skywarp

• “Primus, wait,” he groans, hips lifting as you run your fingertips along his inner thigh, tracing seams and dipping to stroke sensitive mesh. “Wait.” Ignoring him, you run the pad of your thumb over his plating. Know this one shifts to free his spike, and teasing the bottom edge of it with a fingernail has him making that sound suspiciously like a whimper that you love. He’d promised to behave. Keep his hands to himself and let you explore him. On your knees between his spread thighs, you press your mouth against his plating and he starts swearing, voice cracking as he swaps to his own language.

• You’re trying to offline him. Tip of your tongue sliding against the seams of his plating. Fingers touching and dipping to find mesh. And groaning, head back, he lifts his hips and shifts his plating to free his aching spike. Not even aware that he’s shifted all of his plating until you make a noise and touch him. And he’s arching again as those warm fingers cautiously stroke along the inner edge of his valve. “I won’t lose a finger if I touch you here, right?” You ask and he’s begging you to please touch him, aware that it’s a broken mix of your language and his, but you get what he wants. And one of your hands is gripping his spike, mouth sliding along the length of him as you press your thumb inside him, exploring. And you are trying to offline him, warm mouth moving against the head of his spike as you stroke inside him.

Hound

• Fingers fisting in the grass over your head, you’re momentarily dazzled as a cloud slides away from the sun. Tossing your head back, you can’t even care that you’re going to have leaves in your hair as his mouth slides against you, glossa tunneling inside you again and again. And you grab onto his helm, hips bucking on a breathless cry as you come apart, his head lifting, mouth pressing against your hip. Before encouraging you onto your hands and knees and shifting to cover you. Rutting against you with a growl as birds sing in the trees.

Trailbreaker

• Mouth brushing yours, your jaw, your neck, anywhere he can reach, Trailbreaker groans as you roll your hips. Tightening on his spike with a breathless cry, shuddering and going still before you’re moving again. Straddling his lap, riding his spike. Cupping your cheek as he tips your face up, you tighten on his spike, movements becoming more urgent. Mouth exploring yours, his other hand slides over your hip. Making up to you with gentle touches after your last argument. Wants to do better for you, cut back on the engex. He’s not had a real reason to try in so long, but he wants to for you. And you’re trembling around his spike, mouth opening against the corner of his mouth as you come apart. Servos threading through your hair, he groans and rides it out before rolling you under him, hips rocking urgently. Too close to make it last as long as he’d like and your thighs are trembling against him, mouth open. “I can’t, please, I can’t,” you’re moaning, head back as he drives you to that peak again. Fills you again.

Sunstreaker

• Mouth brushing your jaw as he shifts against your back, spike hard again like he hadn’t just fragged you until you were an incoherent, whimpering mess, he runs the tip of a servo over your bottom lip. And you make a little noise of protest when he lifts your thigh enough to bury himself inside you again, your head pressing back against him when you arch. “Sunny,” you whimper, using Sideswipe’s nickname for him and startling a laugh out of him at the way you tremble. Content to just let you warm his spike for now as his servos run lightly over you. Enjoying the quiet with his brother out on patrol, not having to take turns with you. Not having to share your attention. Able to really relax with you in his arms. Hips lazily rocking against you even though he’d intended to let you get some rest. Wondering what it would feel like if you touched his spark while he was thrusting inside you.

Sideswipe

• Laughing as he catches you around the waist and pulls you into his frame, mouth closing on your neck and denta biting down hard enough to sting, you gasp. Growling playfully when you smack him and he bends you over the little human sized berth he’d convinced Wheeljack you needed. You’ve never actually slept on it, but mass displaced, it puts you at the right height. Pleased you’re naked already even though he can scent Sunny on you. “You been fragging Sunny? Taking good care of him?” He growls, servos finding you and stroking until you’re bucking your hips as he splays his other hand against the middle of your back to keep you pinned. Driving two servos inside you and thrusting them lazily as he rocks himself against your hip. Until you whimper. Slipping his servos free to make you moan a protest before his spike is stretching you and he groans at how you feel wrapped around him. “Gonna be so good for him, aren’t you? Let Sunny spark you.” Hips pumping, his optics shutter. Losing himself in the feel of you, needing to remind himself that there’s a line he can’t cross. That you’re for Sunny. To help heal him and this is all he can have of you.

[outfoxt]

alright new plan:

- go home

- laundry

- shower

- finish packing*

- "sleep"

- get up

- finish packing for real

- monster energy ?

- airport

- get home

- goof off (shower perchants)

- dinner

- tv/game

- BED

[windor-truffle]

if I had a nickel for every sidequest involving Sophie and the death of a child/childlike humanoid I'd have... wait 5 nickels?? jesus christ Sophie I'm so sorry 😟

[thecrimsonjaguar]

its fucking time baybee

Alright. Alright. FUck. Oh my fuck. I have time now to sit down and process fionna and cake. god fuck. holy shit.whta the fuck , ive been so busy and ive finally caught up and. god what the shit

FUCK

DAMN IT ALL GOD FUCKIGN FGUIGT5BFEWIGTRFTHY

god fucking damnit i KNEW it was going to tear my HEART out we're not even FINISHED YET THE SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

uuuguhuhuhuhuhuhuh i need to be coherent. ok. ok.

I planned initially to talk about the episodes individually but fuck that,

So Simon is very suicidal. like. oh god I know we saw it in the original series but here it's on another level. He doesn't *just* want to die. He wants to put himself through an experience he considers WORSE than death for the rest of eternity. like. hell man. hes not ok

and like. i've mentioned it before but simon's just so. nice, yknow? He's kind. he's good. You can see he wants to be a good person and that part of him is like, slowly being drawn out again. He's so damaged and stuck in the past that he ends up hurting people around him. he made a little girl cry. He tried to talk about it with marcy, we know he's not okay with his behavior. and then with the candy queen, he's sees that she's nuts and he is immediately talking about helping her. He's trying to give her the kindness and help that he was denied for so long.

(and it makes me think about Ice King, right? Like, remind me, has anyone, and I mean ANYONE, ever approached IK and genuinely, earnestly asked IK for real help? If a little kid asked IK to please save them, would simon's kindness shine through? would Ice King help?)

And i'm genuinely nervous about what's to come. I imagine at some point it's going to hit F+C that the crown and Simon do NOT mix. And it's going to probably be a rude wakeup call. but what about after that?

Like. we didn't see Simon in the afterlife. We've all been theorizing about that for a bit but since we know for a FACT that simon is aging, then I imagine something is going to happen to him that keeps him from the deadworlds. and i'm putting a lot of trust into the show because it's really good so far so if something strange and cosmic DOES happen to simon, i have faith it will be good.

but like!!!! i kinda don't........ want that?? I want him to live in his OWN reality and make peace there, so he doesn't get separated from marcy. (The Simon and Marcy relationship is pretty much one of my favorite, if not the favorite, thing i love about AT. If something does happen to simon, I want him to have some way to stay connected to marceline.) And I want him to still be friends with Finn and I want him to make it up to that little girl he hurt. Im nervous he'll end up leaving and while we might get some of that, will everything get resolved in a satisfying way???

probably (hopefully) i'm being paranoid. This show is great so far. I think it can handle simon for a while longer. and i think if something weird does happen to simon, i can enjoy it.

i got more thoughts, but this post will do for now

[buryam-soul]

Two bowls of buryam and a mug of teh tarik after a walk is the key to feeling alive again, apparently