#but oh boy i hope rogue becomes a long time romantic interest. one of those canon just cant erase

[electric-rabbits]

A lot can be said about the Doctor and Rogue's kiss, and if it is or isn't a first for the show, but there's no denying one thing: Russell T. Davies puts his money where his mouth is:

After years of insinuations, throw-away lines, kisses that conveniently only happen once one of the characters changes their gender (looking at you Missy. I love you I miss you but come on), and, especially, after all of the wasted potential of Yas and the Doctor, where both actresses were fully on board with a romance and the text seemed to support it but they didn't even get a kiss, my man Russell did it in, what, 4 episodes?

Congrats to Doctor Yaoi, you will always be famous

[thevindicativevordan]

Why isn't Nightwing a bigger deal? He has all of Batman's skills and Superman's faith in humanity and is arguably the most beloved hero in the DCU, but most people seem to know him either as the leader of the N̶o̶t̶ ̶J̶L̶ Teen Ttians or just Robin.

Thank you for asking me about Nightwing, I've been wanting to write a piece about him for a while now. The short version is that everyone who claims Dick becoming Nightwing was him "moving out of Batman's shadow and becoming his own man" is completely wrong.

Dick Grayson is a fantastic character, someone who saved Bruce Wayne in-universe both by forcing Batman to grow up a bit, and the countless times he saved Batman's life as his partner whether as Robin or Nightwing. Dick saved Batman in the real world as well, hard to believe but Batman was actually in danger of being cancelled due to poor sales early on. Enter Robin, a young daredevil audience stand in the creators hoped would get kids interested in reading Batman. And it worked! Sales on Batman doubled once Robin showed up which is crazy to think about, but Dick Grayson has always been a popular character. Cartoons like Teen Titans, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Batman only helped grow his audience.

Character-wise, Dick Grayson really does fill a number of crucial roles in the DCU. For Batman, Dick is proof that Batman is a positive force. Meeting Batman helped change Dick for the better, helped him heal after his parents died. With Dick, Batman can take comfort in knowing that yes, he has made a difference in the world for at least one orphan boy, which is all he wanted when he lost his parents himself. To the wider DCU, Dick is a friendly face who convinces others that Batman is competent and not a complete asshole. He took this kid in, trained him to be one of the best heroes the DCU has seen, and did it all out of the kindness of his heart. That someone like Dick can confront the evils of Gotham and not break means there's still hope for that city. As Robin, Dick has led the Titans and is an icon in his own right as The Sidekick, the original, the one every other Robin is built around copying or contrasting. The one all other superhero sidekicks are drawing on as a basis. As Robin Dick Grayson is very much on Batman's level.

Just not as Nightwing. As Nightwing, Dick has been a second rate Daredevil which means he's a third rate Batman (fully prepared to get hate for this but I've read and enjoyed the Miller and Bendis DD runs so I feel entitled to my opinion). A typical Nightwing run tends to go like this: Moving to Bludhaven (which is Gotham... but WORSE!), Dick Grayson usually enrolls in a pointless job we don't care about in order to provide some meaningless soap opera drama that doesn't go anywhere. Patrolling the city as Nightwing, he fights a variety of bad guys who are usually rather lame and unthreatening, with his big bad being a Kingpin knockoff called Blockbuster. Villains are fought, long running plotlines are set up, then everything is abandoned because it's Batfamily event time, and Dick has to run back to Gotham in order to play sidekick again. Usually his involvement is completely superfluous and it would've been better if the writer had gotten to opt out. By the time we finally get back to Nightwing's solo plotlines, the audience has usually ceased to care and the run gets cut short.

That's how Nightwing has been since the New 52 at least. Anyone who thinks that's "becoming their own man" is out of their mind. Dick is so thoroughly in Batman's shadow that he got shot in the head and spent a longer time as "Ric" which everyone fucking hated and sold like shit, than he did as Agent Grayson which was extremely well-received. Reiterating: Ric went on longer than Grayson because of a fucking Batman plotpoint Tom King wanted where Bruce was sad and cut off from the Batfamily because of Dick getting shot. Not just calling out King either, how many times was Kyle Higgins Nightwing run derailed because of Scott Snyder's crossovers? Or how about that entire run getting dumped to the side because Johns wanted to out Dick during Forever Evil, a Justice League/Lex Luthor story? DC has repeatedly made their contempt for Nightwing clear, he's Batman's sidekick still in their eyes, and he serves whatever story role the Batman writer wants.

Hell his best stories tend to have been the ones where he's not Nightwing. He was Robin in a good chunk of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans run. Morrison really showcased his depth as a character when they wrote him as Batman, their time with Dick under the cowl was actually one of the first Batman runs I ever read, and no Nightwing run has ever matched it in terms of quality in my humble opinion. Scott Snyder's work with DickBats also was a high point for the character, showing Dick as competent and examining his relationship with Gotham and the Gordons. King and Seeley gave him one of the best comic runs with Grayson, a series where he wasn't even a "superhero" technically! When it comes to actual pre-New 52 Nightwing runs that are highly recommended where he *is* Nightwing, there's Chuck Dixon and uhhhhhhh... Tomasi's brief run before Dick became Batman? It's not exactly an overwhelming list.

Look there has been good work done with Nightwing, I'm not claiming there hasn't been. Tim Seeley wrote a great run with Nightwing Rebirth. Seeley fleshed out Dick's Rogues Gallery with cool new ones like Raptor, he brought back old foes like Dr. Hurt (why oh why couldn't you have brought back Flamingo too?), he gave Dick's world some character it solely needed. Bludhaven under Seeley is pretty much the only time I've really felt like it lived up to being Dick's city.

The problem with fictional cities is you have to put in the work to give them the character of real cities. You have to make the cities feel like characters in their own right. Gotham is the best example of this, it's a character all it's own, one that tells you a lot about Batman and his cast. In contrast Bludhaven is usually one of the worst. Any place that wants to claim to be worse than the city that is built over the gate to hell and gets wrecked every other month by the Arkham freaks has to really put in the work to compete. Simply put, Bludhaven typically fails utterly. There's nothing about it that makes you really buy it's worse than Gotham, I mean does anyone really think Nightwing's Rogues wouldn't get their lunches eaten by Batman's? No, no one genuinely buys that. When Bludhaven claims to be worse, it just comes across as tryhard, an attribute that does end up telling you about Nightwing in unintentional ways.

So Seeley didn't do that. Instead he created a city built for a hero like Dick Grayson. Someone who is bright and flashy, but does have an element of darkness to him. Someone who loves the spotlight, but often uses it to obscure. Seeley turned Bludhaven into Las Vegas, and that was the fucking best concept for Bludhaven I have ever seen, it makes so much sense. Las Vegas is the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and isn't that the perfect city for a hero who got their start working in the circus? Isn't the aesthetics of the gleaming casinos, the glamorous sex appeal of the performers, and the spectacle of the shows, all being used to cover up the seediness of mob bosses meeting backstage perfect for Nightwing? It's so utterly unlike New York City, yet Las Vegas is still dangerous, it's got a crime culture all it's own. Seeley used it to great effect, as did Humphries during his brief run, and I will always be pissed that DC didn't continue to use it. That should have stuck around and been the definitive look for Bludhaven.

How Seeley's take on Bludhaven was treated feels like a small scale version of how Nightwing in general gets treated. Whenever creators pitched ideas for him, if editorial thought there was potential to break big, they asked for those ideas to be repurposed for Batman instead. Anything big or good gets repurposed for Batman or tossed to the side so Nightwing can go back to his default: having irrelevant adventures in a city that is supposedly worse than Gotham but can't live up to it. Just like how Nightwing is supposedly better than Batman but never gets to show it. Goddamn it's so frustrating seeing his potential get wasted like that.

The Nightwing book should be one of DC's most ambitious books in terms of storytelling. You can go from traditional superhero stories, to romantic soap opera, to spy stories, to crime noir, to horror, to cosmic adventures, and ALL of them would fit because Nightwing is someone who has a foot in both Gotham and Metropolis. He's got friends everywhere on every team, and has been a hero longer than most Leaguers have at this point. No reason DC should still be afraid to let him loose and insisting on hewing close to what Dixon established almost over 30 years ago is only holding him back. At the very least get him some better Rogues, why the hell didn't he get to keep Professor Pyg? That's Dick's villain not Bruce's! Bullshit that they didn't let Dick keep him. Hopefully Flamingo comes back, with a slight revamp I think he'd make a great reoccurring Nightwing Rogue.

Luckily it does look somewhat like Nightwing fans have reason to be optimistic. While Taylor isn't to my taste, DC clearly views him as a "big" writer, and that they put him on Nightwing says a lot. Taylor has been selling well so far, so hopefully he gets to tell his story, hilarious that even he lampshaded having to write Dick running over to Gotham for another tie-in after Taylor's big opening arc was all about Dick committing himself and his money to Bludhaven. Scott Snyder is apparently working on a Black Label Nightwing book which will explore how he's a different detective than Bruce. The Gotham Knights video game has him as one of the main stars, and while Titans is... controversial, it's one of the most popular streaming shows and Dick is the main character. There's a lot of content coming that features him in the starring role, and that will only help his star rise further.

For the first time in, well, ever it feels like DC may be serious about elevating him. Time will tell if it pays off, but I for one choose to be optimistic that the 2020s will be a turning point for Dick Grayson where Nightwing becomes hugely popular in his own right. Not just as Batman's sidekick.

[guileheroine]

a morning in may

Lyra begins an important day with an unplanned visit to the Botanic Garden. / A His Dark Materials ficlet written for the 2020 Just Married Exchange 🌼 / 1.5k / ao3

At first, Lyra’s soon-to-be-groom had wanted to get married on Midsummer’s Day. At the instant of his suggestion, Lyra had known that that was going to be the one exception to her rather nonchalant approach to this whole wedding business. If he was surprised to see Pan stiffen halfway to the butter dish - to see Lyra’s face become strange, instead of supplying another nod of assent or amiable shrug - he didn’t show it. And he knew not to probe, and the rest of their afternoon passed like an easy breeze.

That was something she truly liked - alright, loved even - about him.

Today the sunlight was pouring like it was already mid-morning, and even if she had slept at all, Lyra thought she would probably still have woken at the crack of dawn. She was glad to see that Pan, at least, had gotten some rest for the both of them. The moment he was up, she leapt out of bed and threw on a linen scrap of a dress, sparing a brief glance to the much fancier one that hung portentously from her wardrobe, Coptic cotton trimmed with yards of eyelet lace.

She was out before she knew why. The High Street was deserted: the kind of silent emptiness under blaring yellow sun that never failed to remind her of Cittagazze, even though she had since travelled to many a sultry city where the streets cleared out by midday.

The only warden at the Botanic Garden was dozing in his uniform. Not wanting to wake him, Lyra crept down Rose Lane instead and swung over one of the fences, following Pan’s lead. The floral cocktail that enveloped her as she did was buoyed by the cooked air of the morning, and as she walked she went over the order of the flowers for the ceremony in her head. Then she stopped and breathed deeply when a new smell entered and dominated the notes - a shrub that she always passed on the short walk to the back of the garden. One Midsummer’s Day many years ago, Lyra had swept some of the fallen flowers on her way to the bench, had gone to sleep talking to Will, and awoken after dark, steeped in the scent. She searched for the plaque amongst the overgrown leaves the next day, and it said the flower was Indian jessamine.

Lyra crashed onto the bench. Then she sat up straight, her clammy hands fisted in the linen of her dress. And then, she wiped her hands and straightened her skirt, scuffing her foot against the leg of the bench. Now that they were here, the point of their coming could only stare her head on with an expectant sort of bluntness.

There was no reason for Will to be here today, so she really had come all for herself, as grim as that admission felt. Whatever, she knew that. Lyra exhaled, one hand cradling Pan as he burred in her lap.

“Will. I know it’s not Midsummer’s Day. But I’m getting married today.”

Once she reached a certain age, Lyra had become aware that she should expect to start hearing more cloaked questions about ‘her thoughts’ on marriage - if not a few outright proposals, whether on the asker’s own behalf or that of some eager acquaintance. Her college friends had learnt not to ask, having long cast Lyra - usually with a bit of disdain or envy, it had to be said - as someone too flighty for anything more than dalliances with foreign rogues (or local ones, who may as well have been foreign to the well-heeled St Sophia’s girls.) Funnily enough, very few of her more settled friends made mention of her romantic entanglements, probably because it was a subject too awkward to broach for the stodgy male scholars that this cohort mostly consisted of, many of whom were themselves bachelors, if not proud ones.

Amongst all her scholar friends, it was Hannah Relf - quite uncharacteristically considering her proud bachelor status, Lyra had thought, not a little miffed - that had nudged her gently about some boy she knew, a few years ago. She told Lyra that they should meet, and a little about what he did. “He’s new in town, that’s all, and he has some literary expertise that I thought might interest you,” she eventually stammered, once Lyra’s indisposition to the idea had been made apparent. She had plenty access to literary expertise of all kinds, thank you very much.

Maybe Hannah just thought Lyra was lonely. And when that thought finally occurred to her, walking home from Walton Street, hunched against the cutting chill, Lyra’s indignant gait loosened a little.

Anyway, that was how she first heard of Cador Bowman, though she didn’t meet him until a few months later.

That spring Lyra was reading about Celtish legends, obsessively following that call that sometimes came over her - when a subject of inquiry felt both familiar and strange, and gained an elusive, unquenchable appeal as a result. Lyra had come to collect a rare volume at a specialist bookstore down St Clement’s, and she had come herself in the rain rather than ordering it sent because she heard the store was operated by a Cornish folklorist of some repute.

It was only during a lull in their conversation about magic mist, as he flipped through the frighteningly papery pages with a practised balance of speed and caution, that Lyra’s thoughts found a moment to fall into place.

“Oh! Are you Hannah’s fairy guy?”

He was fairly startled at that, and his doe daemon furrowed her brow at Pan, but he confirmed that he knew her. After a few more stormy evenings in the bookshop discussing all manner of legends near and far, Lyra was fully prepared to whisk him off on some escapade where he might put all his knowledge to good use - this curious man whose curiosity could match hers, who treated wild rumours with the casual reverence that Lyra always knew, even before all her adventures, was the correct way to treat them.

“It’s like he’s been touched by something,” Lyra said, slinging her bookbag over her shoulder on one of those early days. She liked to think of herself in the same way.

“Yeah, by you,” Pan snorted.

Lyra was surprised to find that she didn’t bore of him. There was nothing dangerous about Cador Bowman, but he accorded the thrill of danger the utmost respect (even if he only liked it in theory) - something that made Lyra feel surprisingly understood.

She realised that he felt understood in turn when he brought up the topic of marriage one day. They were eating their lunch by the river while they planned a winter trip. He refused to be ashamed of his own tactlessness, though Winnie, his daemon (Lyra and Pan still could never remember how to pronounce her full Cornish name), pulled as far from them as possible, practically disappearing over the bank on her bony legs.

All this she recounted to Will on the bench.

“You would like him,” Lyra said. “He reminds me of you in some ways, quite a serious person all told. Not quite as brave - I’ve never met anyone as brave as you, Will - but, oh, he’d be the first to admit it...” She found herself laughing, flush with affection for both the boys in question.

“Anyway, it’s lucky we settled on today, because it’s not going to be fair weather for long…”

She told him about how she had it on the Gyptians’ word that half a year’s worth of rain would be upon them before the month was up. It was important to Lyra that they deemed the day she chose an auspicious day. As she spoke she remembered she still had to go collect the bells she wanted to wear in her hair - a Gyptian wedding tradition she had tucked in her mind ever since that furious week where she thought she might actually marry Dick Orchard one day. That fancy obviously passed, but she still wanted the bells... and she’d probably better hurry if she did.

It was odd to feel her mind straying, struggling for more to tell. On her usual trip to the garden, she had so much to say to Will. Maybe it just wasn’t the same, knowing that over in that world his own attention wasn’t hers today in the same way.

She’d be back next month, and then she could tell him how the wedding had actually gone.

Lyra found herself wondering, like she had many times, though she didn’t say it aloud: did Will ever want to get married -- had he already done so, perhaps? Did he have someone?

Unlike all the times before, she realised that she hoped he did. Not because it would assuage any remorse on her part, but truly because he deserved it - the same tentative anticipation she was awash with, now that she had voiced her choices to him.

“So that’s it, really. Wedding, this afternoon. I can’t say for certain that I know what I’m doing with all this but... I just wanted - I needed - to tell you about it, to make sure you were a part of my day today. And also to say that I’ll always love you, but I know you know that.”

On her way out of the garden, Lyra surreptitiously snatched one of the Indian jessamines off the bush, pocketing the flower for her bouquet.

[tyrantisterror]

Oh Fuck I’m TV Troping: A Short & Incomplete List of Bad Girls

Since that whole post about Bad Girls and Compassionate Male Heroes kinda blew up and the discussion just... isn’t stopping, I’ve been thinking of this trope a lot and uh, I guess I’m gonna list a bunch of examples of it since I’ve kinda been doing it already and it’d be nice to have them all in one spot I guess.  Gonna put a cut because even though I don’t want to make a huge list, I still think this is gonna be long.

4 Tried and True Bad Girls -  the following fit the archetype as I roughly defined it here pretty much to the letter.  Of course, the thing about archetypes and tropes is that you don’t have to hit every single detail to still “count,” but it’s good to have a baseline.

Jessie

A member of an international crime syndicate, a notorious thief, and a recurring antagonist for the hero, Jessie from Pokemon is an excellent example of the Bad Girl trope because if you remove female pronouns while describing her, she basically fits the stock Bad Boy traits to a T.  Aggressive and arrogant?  Check.  Prone to violent outbursts?  Check.  Intensely jealous of people who seem to have it easier?  Check.  Hidden tender side and tragic backstory?  Check.  Also she’s one half of the greatest romantic couple ever portrayed in fiction - and her counterpart is a compassionate, sweet-natured guy to boot!

Ryoko

I’m not going to fill this up with anime examples (though I probably could - Bad Girls are much more common in Japanese media), but I couldn’t resist including Ryoko, because she’s not just a Bad Girl - she’s a PIRATE, which, if my grandma’s collection of romance novels was anything to go by, is an incredibly popular occupation for a Bad Boy to have!  More than that, she’s a space pirate, the plunderer of countless worlds, wanted by the space police force and considered a villain of legendary power.  More than that, she can wield store brand lightsabers, shoot lasers out of her hands, and even spent a good chunk of time as a mummy!  Ryoko’s personality is pure Dashing Rogue, the Bad Boy Girl who’s definitely a scoundrel but, maybe, just maybe, the kind of scoundrel who’s got a good heart.  She definitely pines for love and an amount of stability, though she doesn’t want to stop traveling the stars as a boozing adventurer who gets into the most ludicrous scrapes.  Everything about Ryoko plays up the ideas of a Bad Boy romance with the flair for drama and fantasy that a space opera can provide, except the Bad Boy is a girl and the sweet ingenue heroine is a boy.

Ryoko is who you wish Jack Sparrow would be.

Faith

Faith was introduced as a second Slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was the result of magical shenanigans that suddenly rendered the whole “there can only be one slayer at a time” rule kinda moot.  Ok that’s an extremely abbreviated summary and it’s really more complicated than that but I can already feel the non-Buffy fans falling asleep so let’s stay focused.

Since Buffy is, y’know, the main character, Faith was brought on to be her foil - an example of what Buffy wasn’t, but possibly could become.  And since BtVS was a horror dramedy, Faith wasn’t a GOOD alternative - she was, explicitly, Buffy’s dark counterpart, from her brunette hair to her heavy and darker makeup to her rad leather jacket and, as the show frequently said, “slutty” wardrobe.  Faith was more violent, more sexual, and more apathetic to others than Buffy was, and holy fuck did the show just hate her for it.  Almost every character in it treated her like shit, with her sexuality in particular being a sticking point for many of them.

Faith is particularly interesting because she differs from Buffy (and the female cast at large) in almost the exact same ways that the show’s main Bad Boys, Angel and Spike, differed from its male characters - more violent, more sexual, darker clothes, etc.  But while Angel and Spike get a great deal of sympathy from the narrative, Faith... didn’t.  I mean they kinda sorta gave her some eventually, but most of it played out in the spinoff Angel, and the other characters continued to hold a grudge against her.  Faith isn’t just an good example of the Bad Girl trope - she’s an example of how the reaction to Bad Girls differs from the reaction to Bad Boys, despite them being almost exactly the same.

Vriska Serket

OH FUCK IT’S HOMESTUCK

Ok, everyone still hates Homestuck, so I won’t belabor this point, but Vriska Serket, who is infamously the most divisive character in the entire story, is absolutely a bad girl.  Arrogant, ruthless, abrasive, with a tragic backstory, a desire for both compassion and redemption, and a truly ambitious schemer, she ticks so many boxes and OH SHIT SHE’S ALSO A PIRATE.  Like Faith, Vriska was in a story that had a lot of examples of Bad Boys too, and while the fandom fucking HATES Vriska, her Bad Boy counterparts are nowhere near as divisive, with one of them being extremely popular despite being a clown who murders people.  The other one explicitly wants to commit genocide, literally saying almost exactly that, and is also far more well liked.  WHY IS THIS?

But enough of the homestucks!  Let’s move onto some...

Borderline Bad Girls - these ladies don’t fit the trope quite as neatly, but I still think they capture the jist, or at least used it as a base before experimenting in different directions.  They are, at the very least, closer to the Bad Girl archetype than its sibling tropes, the Badass Heroine and the Femme Fatale.

Jessica Jones

I’m just gonna talk about the Netflix incarnation of this character, as I have not read the comic books featuring Jessica Jones and thus cannot comment on them.

The only real strike against Jessica Jones is that she isn’t a supporting cast member, like pretty much all other Bad Girls are.  She’s the protagonist, the titular main character.  That’s a unique honor for a Bad Girl to have!  Otherwise, she fits - hard drinking, abrasive, rude, surly as hell, but with a tender heart, a tragic backstory, and a desire for redemption.  Hell she’s even wearing the Bad Girl leather jacket.

Morrigan

Ok, we’re straying a bit far here, but I’m going to try to make a case here.  Morrigan’s rudeness and abrasiveness isn’t quite as bombastic as the standard take on the Bad Girl trope - she actually phrases things very politely and speaks very softly most of the time, and is generally cordial to people when they are cordial to her.  It’s the content of what she says, rather than the way she says it, that sets most people off.  There’s also an odd naivety to Morrigan’s interactions that isn’t immediately noticeable because her vocabulary is so, well, verbose.  She doesn’t make the “ill tempered thug” impression most Bad Girls make when they’re first introduced - she instead comes off as very sophisticated yet oddly ignorant of the civilized world, which is a very different starting point for a Bad Girl.

BUT!  Morrigan’s character arc follows the rough path of a Bad Girl.  She verbalizes a lot of callous and cruel ideas about the world when you first meet her, giving the impression that she is some sort of sadistic monster.  It’s done in a very different way than the standard Bad Boy/Bad Girl, but it has the same effect - you are led to think this girl is a Bad Person very early on.  And yes, to some extent she is - but, just like any other Bad Boy/Bad Girl, her actions later on show that’s not all there is to her, that, even if she isn’t aware of it, there is a loving core to Morrigan - she wants to be good.

Like most Bad Boys/Bad Girls, it’s eventually revealed that Morrigan’s childhood situation was NOT GREAT, and that she has been the victim of abuse and some very bad parenting.  A great deal of her wickedness isn’t inherent to her, but something she was indoctrinated into - and, in TRUE Bad Boy/Bad Girl fashion, love, especially romantic love, makes her doubt her view of the world.  It begins to break apart, and she gradually learns, to her confusion, horror, and eventually, hope, that there is another way to live - a better, kinder way.

One might argue that Morrigan doesn’t fit the Bad Girl trope, but another villainous female archetype instead.  For instance, one might say she is instead a Femme Fatale, since she dresses all sexy like and whatnot - but Morrigan doesn’t really seduce people all that often in the narrative.  Early on in the first Dragon Age game you have an option to ask her to seduce a guard, and Morrigan not only reacts in disgust, but instead horrifies the guard into letting you by instead (because Morrigan is great).  The only time she does seduce someone is specifically to keep the main characters from an otherwise inevitable death via a dark magic ritual - and yes it does feel ridiculous to type that out, but 1. it makes more sense in context and 2. I think the ridiculous circumstances of this seduction kinda illustrates why it’s not really a core character trait of hers, which is why she doesn’t fit the Femme Fatale mold.  Likewise, while one could say she fits the idea of a Vain Sorceress... well, other than being pretty and using magic, Morrigian really doesn’t.  She’s not motivated by preserving her youth, and doesn’t really seem to care much for traditional beauty standards at all if her conversation with Leliana is anything to go by (though she does meet them anyway because, well, Video Games).  Morrigan doesn’t really fit any villainous female archetype perfectly, but if we accept her as a Bad Girl, she makes for a particularly interesting example.

Hexadecimal

Straying further!  Like Morrigan, one might be tempted to put Hexadecimal in the Vain Sorceress or Femme Fatale archetypes instead, but again, like Morrigan, she really doesn’t act like either of those two despite being a sexy lady who uses magic for villainous ends.  Instead she’s defined by being the sort of superhero/action adventure cartoon variety of “crazy,” which isn’t based on any real mental illness, but rather an excuse for her to cause a lot of mayhem for no real reason.  Unlike most “crazy” villains, though, Hex’s insanity is treated with sympathy by the narrative and the main hero - while most people would be willing to write Hex off as someone they’d rather live without, Bob, the hero, continually tries to reason with her and help her overcome her madness.

Most people wrote her off as a lost cause, but the hero showed her compassion.  There’s smackings of a Bad Boy in that.

As the show goes on, Bob’s compassion for Hexadecimal is repaid with her own affection, and she slowly turns from villain to hero out of a desire to not only keep Bob safe, but make sure he’s happy - and she comes to realize he can’t be happy without the people he loves.  Hex becomes a truly tragic and noble character towards the end of the show, as she knows Bob will never reciprocate her romantic affections but still remains on his side anyway, even saving the lives of people who argued against saving her.  A villain who seems like a frothing mad dog, only to be turned into a hero after the compassion of a hero makes them realize the value of human life?  That’s is SUCH a Bad Boy arc.  Hexadecimal may not fit some of the aesthetic trappings of the Bad Girl archetype, but her arc fits it perfectly.

Harley Quinn

When she was first introduced, Harley Quinn wasn’t a Bad Girl so much as she was, like, the perky love interest of a bad guy.  She wasn’t given enough focus and agency in the narrative to really fit the Bad Girl archetype.  However, in recent years she’s been retooled a bit to work independently of the character she was designed to orbit, and as a result she may be our second example of a Bad Girl protagonist.  She’s a supervillain, or at least was, and was in league with one of the worst at that.  She’s loud and aggressive in combat, has a big bombastic personality, and revels in living an anarchic lifestyle.  But, as her solo series shows, she does have a good heart deep down, adopting stray dogs and helping out fellow weirdos who have been left behind by a world that doesn’t give a damn about them.  Harley Quinn is and has always been defined by her desire to be loved, which is very much a Bad Girl sort of trait - especially since that desire often leads to her acting out, just as most Bad Boys and Bad Girls act out because, ultimately, they haven’t been shown enough love.

Plus a lot of her modern designs add a leather jacket, and it just seems that once a girl wears a leather jacket she has at least a 70% chance of being a Bad Girl.

Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee

I had no idea where to put these ladies and whether or not they fit this archetype, but I felt they had to be noted because they’re very well known examples of complicated female villains who don’t fit the Femme Fatale archetype at all, which in turn makes them feel like pretty good candidates for Bad Girl-dom.  Azula probably fits the archetype the closest, though you don’t see her desire for compassion until VERY late in the series (where she is, sadly, too far gone to get her redemption).  Mai comes in close second, though her sullen demeanor oddly fits the Badass Heroine a bit better.  And then Ty Lee... Ty Lee... I mean she’s like an even sweeter and kinder Harley Quinn, she hardly even counts as a villain except she works with the bad guys... I don’t know what we do with Ty Lee, guys.  Ty Lee’s just her own thing.

[voyages-extraordinaires]

C:R ~VE~ Chapter 25

The next morning, Nemo and I decide that it would be a good time to get Impey to try and alter the transmitters so Cardia can speak with the party at Steel London.

I try my best not to make eye contact with her... though I’m stabbed by guilt when I notice the deep bags under her eyes.

When we find Smith, she doesn’t even need an explanation. She proudly escorts us to the transmitter room to show off the technology that they use to keep in contact with Steel London.

“Ohh, this baby will be fun to work with!” Barbicane rolls up his sleeve. “Nemo, hit me with the transmitter paired with Aouda-chan’s.”

I begin to follow Cardia over to watch him work when Smith touches my arm. The look on her face is conflicted, like she’s having trouble forming the words she feels she needs to say.

“Look, I don’t know the details about Professor Aleister did to you, but... I’m sorry,” her voice is quiet and vulnerable, different from her usual boisterousness. “He saved my life. I never would have thought that he’d be capable of this!”

I shake my head. “Don’t apologize.How could you have known? Smith, we would never blame you for this, so please don’t apologize.”

Smith gives me a weak smile but then slowly looks down at the floor. “I trusted him, you know? I... I looked up to him...”

Nemo claps a hand on Smith’s shoulder.

“Ohhhhh, my stuuuudent!” he takes a deep, dramatic breath. “This pain in your heart-- I know it well!”

“Huh?” Smith looks up at Nemo with a confused expression.

“You feel betraaaaayed, right? Lost! Without your guiding light! It was the same for me, yes... without my precious sensei... allow me to pass on the gift that was given to me then! These! Simple! Words!”

He throws his head back and points triumphantly at Smith.

“You... are more than Aleister’s shadow! It’s your time to step out into the suuuuuuuuuuun! The child muuuuust surpass the parent, such is the way of sciiiiiiiiience!”

Nemo’s voice increases in volume as more passion is poured into his words.

"My student-- you are not alone! This island that you discovered is a Holy Laaaaaaaand! Though Aleister sewed the seeds, you were the one who cultivated and tended to it! Now we all walk the same path together, all treading towards new knowledge and new ideas, a beautiful horizon indeeeeeeeeeeed!”

Smiths’s eyes widen, and she puts a hand to her chest as though she had been shot. “Nemo...."

She looks up at him with tears brimming in her eyes. “Nemo-sensei...!!!”

I quickly take a step back so I’m not in the path of teacher and pupil embracing each other. Oh, boy...

As they hug each other, both in tears, I can’t help but smile. Looks like Nemo finally gets to be ‘sensei’.

“If all you can do is regurgitate botched quotes from Aleister, then you probably shouldn’t attempt to dole out advice!”

Nemo and I whirl around to face the very familiar voice.

Barbicane stands up, grinning. “Ha ha! Got this baby working like a charm for me! Hey, Finis, how are things in Steel London?”

“It isn’t as noisy as usual, which is nice,” Finis says with a sigh. “Now, more importantly, where’s my sister?”

“I’m here,” says Cardia. “I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well, Finis.”

“Of course I’m doing well, honestly...”

A light laugh comes through the transmitter. “Don’t be like that, Finis... he was actually quite worried about you, Miss Cardia.”

“Saint!” Cardia beams at the sound of his voice.

“Criminy, you’re all so intent on wasting time with unimportant things. Don’t come complaining to me when Fogg pitches a fit.”

“Finis, don’t blame your foul mood on my wife!” this time it’s Aouda who laughs, and Nemo jumps over to the transmitter like a hyperactive grasshopper. Luckily for everyone who wanted to hold a coherent conversation, Barbicane is able to keep the transmitter away from Nemo.

“Hey, I want to talk to Cardia-chan, too!” This time it's a voice I had never heard, a young boy’s.

“Della-chan, it’s good to hear your voice,” says Cardia. “Have you and Van been able to make a lot of progress?”

“Not as much as we would have liked... but the situation you’ve wound up in is of particular interest to me, so we came back,” another voice I don’t recognize, this one deep and cool.

“Woaaah, Van too?! San-chan, how many people have you crammed into that mansion of yours?” asks Barbicane.

“As soon as Finis arrived with Fogg and Aouda, we sent word for the rest of the group to join us,” says Saint. “For the time being Van, Della, Fran-- (Saint pauses here in anticipation of Nemo’s excited shrieking)-- and Lupin are all staying here. Impey, you shouldn’t need to worry about your companions for long.”

“So... so many people...” Nemo sniffs loudly. “So many people... all here to help meeeeeeeeee?”

There’s a very quiet sigh that I recognize as belonging to Dr. Frankenstein. “I’m fairly certain that most of us are here for Cardia and Impey’s sakes... o-oh, I apologize, Miss Aouda.”

The general clamor of reminiscing dies down when Finis says: “Ah, so the peacock has strut back in.”

“Oh, everyone’s all gathered together? I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long!” a charismatic voice pipes through.

Cardia straightens up, her eyes sparkling. “Lupin!”

I perk up. So, that was the voice of the famous gentleman thief.

“Cardia, it’s been too long! I hope Impey hasn’t been giving you too much trouble,” he says.

“Oy, Lupin--! You greet your partner like that after all this time--?!”

I can practically hear Lupin smiling over the transmitter.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun here,” says Cardia. “Everyone’s very nice, and we’re all working very hard. Actually, I’m very glad that everyone’s around, I wanted to say something important...”

“Hm? What is it, Cardia?” asks Della.

“I’m...” Cardia takes a deep breath, then smiles. “I’m going to be going on the voyage with Impey and the others.”

The silence on the other end of the transmitter is so astounding that Barbicane ducks down to make sure it’s still working.

Saint’s the first one to speak. “A submarine voyage... my, how romantic.”

“Perhaps, but... by ‘the others’, do you mean...”

Frankenstein’s voice is cut off by Nemo plucking the transmitter from Barbicane’s hands.

“Of cooooooooourse! Cardia-chan will be in myyyyyy custody beneath the waves, so you have no need to worry!”

There’s a beat of silence, and then everybody on the other end of the transmitter begins to protest at once.

“Sister, have you lost your mind?!” asks Finis. “There’s no way I can agree to that!”

“He’s right,” says Frankenstein. “There would be no way we could guarantee your safety, Cardia.”

“Hey, hey, I’m going to be there too!” Barbicane points to himself, even though no one can see it over the transmitter. “Don’t count me out, I’ll make sure our princess is safe!”

“It’s-- It’s not that I don’t trust you, Impey...” Frankenstein continues.

“No, we definitely don’t trust him,” says the man that Barbicane called ‘Van’. “Cardia, do you remember the training I gave you?”

“Of course,” replies Cardia.

“SHE ISN’T GOING TO NEED TO USE ANY OF HER TRAINING ON ME!” Barbicane protests loudly.

Among all the clamor, one voice rises to silence the rest. One voice speaks calmly.

“A submarine with Impey and Nemo, huh...” says Lupin. “... Is the Lady of Science there? Professor Aronnax?”

I jump when I realize that he’s referring to me, of all people, with such a romantic name. ‘Lady of Science’... I could get used to that.

I shake my head to stop a self-indulgent smile from crossing my face. Now isn’t the time for daydreaming!

“Yes, I’m here,” I walk towards the transmitter, and Nemo passes it to me with a flourish and a knowing grin. “Just ‘Aronnax’ is fine. I’m not a professor anymore.”

“Oh? That’s a shame, the ‘rogue professor’ has become quite a popular character back home,” says Lupin, a laugh in his voice.

“Back home...? You mean Paris?”  my eyes widen.

“Of course,” says Lupin. “The professor who left her world in pursuit of forbidden love with a mad scientist!”

“W-What...?” I feel my cheeks redden-- with anger. “That’s what they’re saying about me?! That I left Paris to chase after love?! I left Paris for a love, all right, a love of BIOLOGY! If they’re going to spread stories about me, the least they could do make my focus on my research!”

“Haha, sorry, sorry! But a romantic heroine is much more sympathetic, don’t you think?”

“Huh?” I raise an eyebrow.

“A professor, exhausted after being bound by society’s expectations, stands up against the powers that be in order to save the man she loves! Pretty catchy, right?”

Frankenstein speaks softly against Lupin’s grandiose speech: “It’s just a little difficult when the story’s love interest terrorized London in a gigantic battleship...”

“ Arsène Lupin... it sounds almost like you might have had a hand in crafting these stories,” I murmur.

“Of course!” I can practically see him gesturing grandly. “While Fran tries to reach Victoria’s senses and Saint tries to influence the aristocracy, it is up to me to light a fire in the hearts of the people!”

I hear Lupin step forward and pick up the transmitter. It feels like he’s speaking only to me despite the others being with us.

“Pauline Aronnax, as someone honored enough to live in those hearts as a beloved outlaw, I’m glad to call you a comrade. The story might not be the exact truth, but the ‘heart’ is still there! You feel it too, right?”

I find myself putting my hand over my heart despite myself.

“That ardent heartbeat... whether it awakened in the search of knowledge or in the search of love, no one can deny its power. When our stories come to a close, people won’t remember what made our hearts begin. What they’ll remember is what we do with the power it gives us.”

“Our stories... my story entwining with his...” I whisper.

I am alone with Lupin’s words and the heart thumping in my chest.

“T-T-That’s sooooo beaaauuutiiffuuul----!!!”

It’s Nemo’s loud wailing that pulls me out of the gentleman thief’s spell.

I shake my head to clear it and put a confident smile on my face. “Lupin, you certainly do have a way with words! Very well, then, I’ll leave my reputation in your capable hands.”

“Then I will make sure you live in the hearts of the people forever, Professor! Victoria will find an uprising on her hands if she goes against Paris’ new darling,” says Lupin.

“Just... can’t you add a little bit more of my research to it?” I laugh nervously. “I mean, can’t that be part of my motivation? The pursuit of knowledge is very romantic!”

“Well, I think that settles it,” says Lupin. “Our princess will be safe with the professor.”

“Uh, Lupin?” I try to interject. “My research?”

“And how would you know that Sister will be safe?” Finis’ voice is low and dangerous.

“Because the professor is in love,” replies Lupin.

“Please at least attempt to make a little sense,” Fogg finally speaks up.

“Just think about everything we’ve been told- from Aouda, that Conseil guy, and even you! The Professor is in love with the very idea of this journey. She would never let anything jeopardize it.” 

“Besides, I think you all are missing something very important,” I add. “I’m quite fond of Cardia, too. There’s no way I would let these two get away with anything indecent.”

“M-Man, Polly-chan, that’s cold...” Barbicane mumbles.

“How cruuuuuel of you to include your beloooooved scientist in there---!!” Nemo puts a hand to his head and dramatically leans back in anguish.

I can practically hear Finis sulking through the aether.

“Finis...” Cardia takes the transmitter from me, addressing her brother with a gentle voice. “You should know better than anyone that I can handle myself.”

Eventually, I hear Finis sigh. It’s probably the best consent we’ll get out of him.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I have a question,” asks Smith. She steps up to the transmitter, looking around worriedly. When nobody objects, she takes a breath. “Honestly, up until a little while ago I never thought about questioning it, but.... why would Professor Aleister go to all this length for a submarine?”

Everybody is silent, even Nemo.

“Finis,” I ask. “He worked under you, right? What do you think?”

Finis scoffs. “Aleister did what I needed for him to do, and that was that. I didn’t bother with useless questions, and neither did he.”

“...Van?” I hear Frankenstein ask quietly. “Do you have any ideas?”

There’s a deep sigh.

“I’ve been thinking about it myself. It seems out of character for him to be after something like a submarine,” he says.

“If he specifically wanted a submarine capable of crossing the Atlantic, that means he plans on going a great distance,” says Frankenstein. “But for what purpose...?”

There’s more silence, until Lupin speaks: “Well, that’s our job to find out, isn’t it? Leave Aleister to us!”

“Haaaa ha ha ha ha!That’s riiiiiiiiiight! If our precious friends help us, then nothing is impossible!”

Nemo’s saccharine words silence me. Though I’m not sure how many picked up on it, or how many even wanted to pick up on it...those words were nothing short of his cruelest sarcasm.

They’re his strange way of reminding us-- me-- that we have to prepare for the worst.That we might not ever be able to go back. That we might always be on the run from Victoria, or that we might always be evading Aleister’s games.

I quietly reach over and take Nemo’s hand, choosing to respond with a touch instead of with words.

Cardia and Barbicane chat happily with Lupin and the others, pausing every now and then to let Nemo shriek at Frankenstein.

It’s a good half-hour before the call begins to wrap up and we say our goodbyes. It’s obvious just how much Cardia means to the gang, each of them wishing her well on this journey. They also each threaten Barbicane in great detail, and reference the harm that will come to Nemo if he even looks at Cardia the wrong way.

“Professor.”

I straighten up when I hear Aouda’s calm and cool voice. “Yes?”

“Have you found the happiness that you were looking for?”

I remember when she asked me: “What do you think will make you happy now?”

I had replied, “I want to be with Nemo and Barbicane and the others.”

I look over at the slouched scientist idly looking over the controls.

“I have.”

[shaykeijser]

a cw tv rant

i owe a lot to the arrowverse, dctv, and cw tv in general. the first show i ever really got into is izombie, which was after the flash i believe. izombie introduced me to the flash, then arrow, then legends of tomorrow, then supergirl, and so many other cw shows. so just know that i'm really grateful for all these shows. however, the treatment of some characters really grind my gears. so let's get this started. 1.) thea queen thea queen is without a doubt, my favorite arrowverse/dctv character. she is smart, funny, and strong as hell. i mean, this chick died. now about her strength: remember when she went rogue for a bit and trained with her biological dad malcolm merlyn (may he rip, i don't know for sure if he is dead and he shouldn't be bc he's a lot better of a villian than damien darke #oops) for a hot minute? that was her journey to becoming a kick ass hero. during the scene when she sparred with malcolm, she beat him. she beat the guy who's one of ollie's greatest enemies. sure it was a sparring match but she's such a skilled character and the writers be sleeping on her. stop introducing new characters (I LOVE THE NEW CHARACTERS DON'T GET ME WRONG) and work with what you've been building for so long! give her a good storyline this season! like roy harper, her being a kickass aunt to william, maybe even run for mayor or something in politics after ollie's term is over?? i don't know what but she should have some title in government or run a business because this chick knows what she's doing if she's given a platform. 2.) laurel lance so regardless of who you ship ollie with, laurel was a great character. i don't really know what to say bout her because they killed her and everytime they've brought up her coming back on lot it gets shut down so i know that won't happen. yeah it's great having katie cassidy on as black siren but ??? why did they kill her just to bring her back a few seasons later? to eliminate the other possible love interest oliver has? that's a bit dramatic. but yeah she just deserved better. 3.) ROY HARPER sorry that i yelled, i just miss this boy :(( i also love colton haynes and love to see him wherever i get him. david said that we'll see him this season so i'm just hoping that in the episode when we do, the feedback is so positive they bring him back right there and then. oh and for him to get with thea! they're my mom and dad man. 4.)maggie sawyer ok so this rant involves the fandom as well. to the sanvers shippers who think alex did the wrong thing: you obviously don't care about alex as much as you claim you do and don't want what's actually best for her bc she fucking wants kids and her walking away from maggie, the first woman she openly was in love with, was so incredibly hard for her and this woman doesn't deserve any hate for doing so. i have't seen many sanvers saying this but if you do?? i just don't get it?? that being said, what the writers did was such a shitty thing. i don't even want to get into it because supergirl every week gets less and less appealing. so people can be mad at how the breakup was handled and written, but alex danvers did the right thing. maggie sawyer letting her go was also the right thing. doesn't mean that the whole situation isn't a shitty thing. 5.) lowell tracy i don't know why i am switching fandom gears but they're all dctv/cwtv sooo. BUT YES THIS MAN DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE LIV DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SAY I LOVE YOU TOO. it's been over 2 years and i still can't talk bout him without getting teary eyed i'm sucha pussy. same with drake. 6.) joaquin desantos he was just a serpent boy who fell in love with a preppy boy :(( but i don't really get why he was written off (if the actor had to leave correct me) because it's not like they don't have serpents who do bad things on the show. and yes, maybe kevin wouldn't have wanted to be with someone who did all of that shit but i feel like kevin's mature enough to be open to sitting down and talking through all of joaquin's reasonings for doing those shady things. like that talk i'm going to ~assume~ betty and jughead had because if they didn't talk about jughead being a serpent and him lying to betty and whatever betty did, they're gonna be toast for realz this time. 7.) cheryl blossom she's still on the show but what the fuck was that drawing of her and josie like we had a beautiful possible romantic relationship growing between them and now everyone's like o_O i don't get the point of this post it's really messy and is gonna be an ass to tag but whatevs. also this is all my opinion so if you disagree with any of it, that's a-ok! except if you think that alex should have stayed with maggie. then you suck booty hole.

[lemoncakepanda]

My top 25 NaLu moments! (Part 2)

Okay, let’s continue this! Here’s part two for my favorite NaLu moments. Part 1 can be found here, if you’re interested in seeing the numbers 25 through 16. Now let’s move on to 15 through 6 (yes, I decided to extend it, it’d just get too big). Thanks a lot to everyone who read this, I love y’all. Also, once again, there are spoilers here for the current arc. If you haven’t caught up to it yet, it’s best if you don’t read this. Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Part 3 is here.

15. “To protect our future” (ch. 317).

There are two Lucys here in this moment, and they’re both with a loving look in their eyes and a soft blush because of Natsu. If that doesn’t say something about NaLu, then... Anyways, this is a fan-favorite moment, even some of those who don’t ship it thought this moment was really sweet. Because it’s one of the sweetest, most pure moments in the entire series. As you can probably tell from the previous list, I love Natsu comforting Lucy; I love this moment here even more because it’s the first time (as far as I remember) that we see him comforting her physically and intimately. Natsu was so, so, so sweet to not have a single doubt about what F!Lucy said, simply for the fact that she was Lucy. And when he realized she was in a hard moment, he bent down and pressed his forehead tenderly against hers, reassuring her that they’d be able to stop that future from happening. Many people say this moment was sweet, but isn’t special because Natsu and Erza also had a moment like this (which was very sweet as well), but I don’t care, because Natsu’s the one who initiates the contact here. He’s even craddling her head to bring her close to him, which I thought was adorable. And this must’ve brought so much relief/pain to Future Lucy’s heart, because she lost her Natsu, and then there he was, her source of comfort, giving her hope. Bonus special here, our present Lucy watching the scene and blushing because she’s overwhelmed by how sweet Natsu is to her.

14. “You sure know how to make a girl worry” (ch. 507).

I know many people were disappointed when this chapter came out, because many expected Lucy and Juvia to be the ones to stop Natsu and Gray instead of Erza, but I was one of the few that actually liked how Mashima handled things that chapter. Erza’s a sisterly figure to Natsu and Gray, and it was nice to see her stop them, to then Lucy and Juvia show up and give support to her boys (I thought it was a nice change from friendship to romance, Erza and then the girls). And man, was it amazing to see Natsu falling to the ground and then Lucy catching him, with her arms around him and (most likely) crying out of relief. And then he breathes in “Lucy...”, he must’ve been so relieved as well. He thought she had died, and then there she was, right behind him, holding onto him, safe and breathing and alive. That was a beautiful scene, with the classic back-hug NaLu moment, and it’s also really nice that even after he passes out, Lucy’s still holding him and even carries him back to where Porlyusica is.

13. “Beautiful” (omake 182.5).

C’mon. I mean, COME ON! Natsu gave Lucy a freaking tree as a present, just because she was sick and couldn’t see it for herself (kudos to Happy too because he probably helped Natsu by cheering him on). I mean, that’s just too much love, man. I don’t know if NaLu will be canon confirmed, but I’ll say this: it’s my headcanon that this was the moment Lucy realized she was in love with Natsu. I mean, that’s the kind of thing boyfriends do for their girls, and you can see just how amazed she is, especially when she finds out what her boys did for her (tho she probably already knew). And Natsu, my boy, being a tsundere and being afraid to get caught... so cute... but really, this was a beautiful gesture. The anime adds a special touch to this, where they show Natsu feeling really bummed at the festival because Lucy couldn’t be there with them. It’s a beautiful episode, and this is a beautiful omake, and it’s really romantic, in my opinion.

12. Lucy gives Natsu body warmth (ch. 514).

Call it fanservice, call it Hiro Mashima being a pervert, I don’t care; to me, it’s Lucy and Happy doing everything they can to save Natsu, and in Lucy’s case, putting aside her shame of being naked to help the man she cares so much about. And the way it’s drawn, it’s just so beautiful, and soft, and pure tho after the 3rd time looking at this it looks like they just finished doing the deed, and it’s a panel that’s just there, it’s not a huge part of the chapter, but it’s there, and it had most of NaLu fans on tumblr freaking out because that’s how amazing this panel is. But really, the meaning behind of this is what makes this moment so special to me, and why it’s placed on this position in the list. Lucy constantly slaps/kicks Natsu because he gropes her, or because he breaks into her house, or because he’s acting stupid, but in the end, it’s Natsu. She’d do anything for him, even if it embarrasses her. That’s how much she loves him, no matter if you see it platonically or romantically.

11. “I said stop it!” (ch. 17).

Here you have one of the oldest NaLu moments ever, which is also their first back-hug. It’s not really a special moment if you look at the meaning, or at the panel itself. But guess what, it’s what got me shipping them. Seriously, I didn’t ship it from the start. I watched them interact, and thought they were funny together, but that was it. And then this moment in special came, and I was like “oh” for a few seconds, and then Natsu looks back at Lucy with a weird look on his face, and she’s kind of blushing asking “what”. And I was like, “Ooooh, there’s something here, isn’t there. This is totally gonna be a thing; I’m so going to ship this”. I wasn’t a part of the FT fandom back then, so I didn’t know if NaLu was a popular ship or if it was just me who thought they worked nicely, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized there were over 40k people who shipped these two, like I did. This scene is what actually started this ship for me, so that’s why it’s here.

10. “This I promise you” (ch. 425).

From here on, in this list, things stop being carefree and funny, and we go down to a path of pure angst, because apparently I’m a masochist. On this moment here, we have one of the best NaLu panels ever, because holy shit, this is a heavenly art right there; I love it so much, I use it in almost every manga edit I make. As we all know, Natsu and Lucy’s relationship was a bit weird after the 1 year timeskip, with Lucy trying really hard to be okay, but part of her was still wounded because Natsu left without her; just as Natsu was trying really hard to make up for what happened, and to repair their relationship. Not too long before this moment, Lucy said something about people who get left behind felt really abandoned, and Natsu simply looked at her, knowing she wasn’t okay. In the following chapter, we had them going to look for Gray together, and suddenly Natsu turns to Lucy, pulls her really close, looks her in the eye and promises he’ll bring Gray back; which in my opinion, was his way to say he’d fix everything, he just needed her to trust him that he could do it. And Lucy’s a celestial wizard, so she values promises a lot, and that’s why Natsu has her so close to him. It’s a really bittersweet moment, but beautiful nonetheless, because let’s face, we all love seeing those two with their faces super-close, it just makes you wanna push those two together. But really, I thought Mashima captured really well in this moment how they were both struggling with everything that had happened and was happening.

9. Natsu’s reaction to Future Lucy’s death (ch. 324/325).

I told you it was about to get angsty. Heartbreaking as Future Lucy’s death was, what actually broke my heart was everyone’s reactions to it, especially Happy’s (*sobs eternally*) and Natsu’s. I mean, Natsu literally watched his best friend, his partner, a woman who’d already suffered so much and was trying to save everybody, die. And worse, she died protecting the Lucy from the present, the one Natsu couldn’t protect; this fact here is just heartbreaking. And the guild-mark scene... man, that was just a low blow. He acted so “yeah I don’t care” when she showed him her guild mark, and then we see this moment, and he’s remembering it, and we realize he actually was paying attention to her. And when Future Rogue attempts to kill Lucy again, Natsu just snaps. Ain’t no way he’s gonna let that happen, not after this, not EVER again. He swears there that he won’t let anyone steal Lucy’s future. That he’ll protect it and he’ll protect her. And the line “you took away something precious to me right before my eyes” just adds more pain to the heart, because this is Natsu saying loud and clear, while in tears, that Lucy is someone precious to him. Because like Happy said, no matter where she is from, Lucy is Lucy, his friend and he loves her. I’m sure it’s the same thing for Natsu.

8. Natsu thinks Lucy’s dead (ch. 504).

Look... *breathes in* I don’t care if he’s never said it out loud... Natsu loves Lucy, okay. She is SO special to him, and we all know that the future he was talking about in the previous chapters, he wanted her to be in it, whether as just a friend or as something else. And at this moment right here, right before he snaps and kind of becomes E.N.D., he believes that that future got taken away from him. He went berserk with Future Lucy’s death, imagine how he felt when it was his actual Lucy who “died”. That drove him so mad, so heartbroken, to the point where he lost it, and started the E.N.D. transformation. And the second panel of this is just f*cking rude, look at him craddling her body, pressing her forehead to his, trying to get her to wake up, with tears running from his eyes. If you pay enough attention, you’ll see that he’s shaking. These two really deserve a happy ending after all this, you know...

7. “I’m going to protect Natsu no matter what the cost” (ch. 501).

I know many people have complained about this last arc; indeed, it’s not a perfect arc, it has flaws, but we have to admit something: it’s been a really kind arc to the NaLu ship so far. As someone who loves seeing girls promising to protect the boys they love, I almost had a heart attack reading this chapter. My girl Lucy was such a badass fighting Brandish, even though she knew Brandish was stronger than her, she still tried and threw her everything, because she was willing to do anything to protect Natsu. She didn’t even want to fight Brandish, but this is how far Lucy’s come; this is how far the NaLu ship has come. Lucy doesn’t care how, but she has to win this, because if she does win, Brandish said she’d heal Natsu. Lucy doesn’t care what happens to her, as long as Natsu’s safe *cowers in a corner in fetal position and cries*.

6. "Let’s continue our adventure” (ch. 337).

*puts sad OST to play while writing this* Fairy Tail, the eternal adventure of Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia and Happy... like I mentioned before, Future Lucy’s death was heartbreaking. Despite this, what brought me just as much tears, was her reunion with the family she grew to love and lost. And who’s there to take her hand and take her to their eternal adventure, of course it’s Natsu, the one who introduced her to everything, the man who changed her life and gave her a home and family. Keep in mind, this was Future Lucy finding peace. This was her heaven. All she wanted was to see everyone again, and she did, and just like in the beginning, Natsu’s the one to pull her along and bring her to an adventure. After so many sadness and hurt, Lucy could finally be with the ones she loved again. And while this is more of a Lucy moment, it’s still heavily NaLu, because like I said, this is her heaven, and Natsu’s the one who brings her to it.

[victorineb]

Fic Recs Mega Post

More fic recs for you fabulous fannibals, this time round there’s rare pairs a-plenty, actual devil Will Graham, and a fabulous Pacific Rim crossover AU

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Volume 1 by @fragile-teacup (fragile-teacup (Mrs_Gene_Hunt)): So what are the chances that Will and Hannibal emerge from the Atlantic with all their issues resolved, finally a stable unit, murder husbands for life? Pretty much none, right? Certainly, in this beautifully-written post-TWotL fic, there is still a massive amount of that typical Hannigram miscommunication, obfuscation and downright stubbornness that keeps our boys from their happy ending. None of which is made better by Hannibal keeping Will sedated while he recovers from his injuries, or by sequestering them in the house of the one person guaranteed to drive Will out of his mind with jealousy… Centred on that dinner hinted at by the post-credits scene in TWotL, this winds the tension between Will and Hannibal (and Bedelia) to a fever pitch, in an absolute riot of bitchiness, resentment and pining. And then busts everything wide open when Will just can’t keep his emotions under wraps any longer…

Tomorrow, More Sun by @shiphitsthefan: Beardogs (Nigel/Lee) is a new pairing for me but it took precisely five paragraphs of this fantastic fic to make me fall in love. For those who aren’t aware, Lee is the Hugh from the infamous “I like bears” gif, and more specifically is an adorable ball of sass and joy who loves wine and is suffering from terminal cancer (but don’t worry, this is very much not an angsty story). Anyway, our tale begins when Lee is suffering from the worst post-chemo effects of his life and, desperate for relief, begs his dealer – a certain formerly very bad man from Bucharest – to drive out in the snow and provide him with a hit. Now, I mentioned the part where Lee likes bears, right? And there’s no-one more bearlike than Nigel – even “New Nigel,” who’s had to reform his ways (a little) as a result of the bullet in his brain landing him in a wheelchair – and Lee is, unsurprisingly, infatuated. There follows a charming and romantic tale of getting high, telling wicked jokes, and maybe, just maybe, falling in love (but definitely getting the best shag of either man’s life).

To Fuel Your Radiance by @fancybedelia (GoldenUsagi): Mischa Lecter should have died. Should have… and did, except that her brother made a deal with the devil. Hannibal’s soul in exchange for Mischa’s life. Some forty years later, the devil pays Hannibal a visit (disguised as a rather handsome, blue-eyed man named Will) in order to see what he’s done with his life. And, as is the Hannigram way, a mutual interest quickly turns to something much more twisted and obsessive. The brilliant thing about this AU is that, despite being a devilishly sexy (literally), self-assured, phenomenally powerful version of himself, Will is still Will. He’s not some malevolent, flamboyant devourer of souls, he’s still conflicted and weighed down by the nature of what he is. Which leaves Hannibal to take up the role of tempter (yes, even to the Devil himself), drawing Will into killing with him (which, admittedly, takes much less effort with this version!) and falling helplessly in love with the beast that emerges.

Ugly by @slashyrogue (nightliferogue): We as a fandom should be immensely grateful to count slashy as one of our number. She turns out a frankly staggering number of AUs and rare pair fics (in addition to her wonderful Hannigram works) and they are all, without exception, imaginative and beautifully written. Recently she’s been writing a lot of Basic Chickens and this, her most recent (at the time of writing) might be the best yet. When Elias finds a strange, black egg in amongst the chickens, his superstitious brothers order him to smash it, fearing it contains a demon. Elias (of course, this is Elias) refuses, and tends to the egg until it hatches, revealing a small, black, winged monster, which Elias decides to keep,  christening it “Ugly.” Which is all well and good until it turns out that Ugly also sometimes takes the form of a man (quickly renamed Adam) whose determined seduction of Elias has worrying, potentially dangerous side-effects. This is Basic Chickens with a brilliant supernatural twist and the story is sexy, sweet, constantly surprising and very, very much worth your time.

Stricken by @crossroadscastiel (peacefrog): So say, instead of landing on the rocks at the bottom of that cliff, Will and Hannibal instead land in a completely different universe, one where everything seems to be the same, except that they’re not dead from their horrifying injuries. Seems like a win, right? Oh, except there’s the little issue of Hannibal suddenly producing slick and the pair of them needing to shag like bunnies every five minutes or they’ll explode. Yep, the boys are not in Baltimore anymore, they’re in an omegaverse, Hannibal’s in heat, and if they can stop knotting each other’s brains out for long enough, they’re going to need to have a serious talk about feelings. Wanna bet how well that turns out? This is such a fun exploration of the omegaverse concept, with our intrepid murder husbands utterly baffled by what’s happening to them and how they can deal with it. It’s also sexy and sweet as hell – if you’re not into a/b/o, give this a shot, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t change your mind.

Ananta by @unicornmagic (canis_m): A what-if fic, with the what-if in question being ‘how might things have gone, had Hannibal not rubber-stamped Will back into the field but instead recommended he receive further treatment. Oh, and asked him on a date while he’s at it.’ Well, in this ‘verse, it means Will stays away from murder scenes while Hannibal takes his place, that Will starts therapy with a certain blonde ice-queen, and Will has to navigate the beginnings of a relationship with Hannibal while contemplating when he should reveal that he’s asexual. This is a beautifully-paced, patiently crafted exploration of the complex relationship between these two characters and the ways in which they fit together with each other unlike with anyone else. Will’s asexuality is written with grace and sensitivity, as the writer explores the other, less obvious intimacies that he and Hannibal share. If you need something lovely in your life, read this.

The Best of All Possible Worlds by @desperatelyseekingcannibals (TigerPrawn): Mortimer (from Hysteria) is one of my favourite Hugh roles, so I’m always delighted when the adorable, slightly bumbly doctor turns up in a fic. And this one is so much fun, pairing Mortimer with Galen from Rogue One (via some timey-wimey shenanigans that land Galen back in ye olde England) and developing a very sweet romance between the two, even as they try to figure out how to get Galen home. These are two of the most decent characters in the madancy back catalogue and they work really wonderfully together, Mortimer’s eager earnestness nicely grounded by Galen’s steadiness. Plus I was very pleasantly surprised by how much chemistry the characters have together – not to put to fine a point on it, but they’re wicked hot XD. The rare pairs phenomenon is truly the gift that keeps on giving and this is one of my favourite ships to come out of it, please do hop on board and prepare to be totally charmed.

A Way to Live by @sugarmaus (Sugarmouse): Hannibal Lecter is in the market for a new slave. He goes through them quickly, always on the lookout for some elusive something that even Hannibal doesn’t seem able to define. When he spots Will Graham in the dealer’s catalogue, he thinks there’s a chance he may have found it, and when he sees the man in the flesh he is almost certain of it. But Hannibal soon learns an important lesson: Never Underestimate Will Graham. And so begins a complex, high-stakes game of shifting identities and hidden desires between master and slave, with Hannibal’s rigid control slipping further and further as he loses himself to his fascination with getting inside Will’s mind. Essentially an AU in which Hannibal can buy and dispose of murder interns instead of influencing them via therapy this is a sharp and intense character study of our darling cannibal. Hannibal’s ennui and loneliness are front and centre here as he both strives to gain control over Will and hopes that he will not be able to. It’s fascinating, compelling, intelligent stuff, with more than a few surprises up its sleeves.

Fais Do-Do by @moku-youbi: Will is on the run. He has lost control and shot a man, and now he’s tasted blood for the first time and Jack Crawford is on his tail. Which is how he winds up staying at The Little Bear Inn, owned by Mischa Lecter and currently being run by her brother while she is unwell. Of course, this is an establishment run by the Lecters, so nothing is quite as it seems and it may not turn out to be the safe haven Will is looking for. Even if Hannibal is unexpectedly easy to talk to (and not too hard on the eyes, either). Then again, Will’s got some secrets of his own, and we all know what happens to people who underestimate Will Graham… This is a really fun trip through some classic horror tropes, stylishly fusing a Hitchcockian vibe with supernatural elements as Will’s paranoia grows in the face of the Lecters’ strange behaviour and the threat of Jack hunting him down. It’s atmospheric, sexy, and thrilling – old-fashioned horror at its very best.

An American Empath in London by @legohanniballecter (MaddyHughes): In this (very slight) Sherlock crossover AU, Jack loans out Will to Scotland Yard in order to aid them in investigating a series of horrific murders involving Tory politicians (seeing as their normal consulting detective recently jumped off a roof…). Except here, Will hasn’t met Hannibal Lecter, not until he sits next to him on the plane to London, that is, though it doesn’t take long for the pair to become intimately acquainted. Yeah, ain’t no slow burn around here, and Will finds himself in a strange city, attempting to deal with a case that frustrates him, a police force that doesn’t understand him, and an intense, overwhelming attraction to a man he barely knows. Not to mention that Hannibal’s up to his usual tricks: murder, manipulation, and winding Will Graham up to see how he goes. Two years in the making, this densely-plotted, highly intelligent case fic also features some seriously intense Hannigram, with its trademark mix of sexual tension, blood and mind games turned up to the nth degree. I highly recommend giving it a shot – once I started, I found it nigh-on impossible to put down!

And Do Abominable Things With Grace by @thedancingwalrus-blog (The_Dancing_Walrus): I love and adore Pacific Rim, let’s get that out of the way. That said, it’s not exactly the subtlest movie ever made and I always kind of wished they’d done more to explore the concept of drifting. Well, wish granted and with Hannigram into the bargain in this fascinating crossover AU. Set sometime in s2, after Will’s mistrial but before his release, things diverge sharply from canon when Beverly and the FBI arrest Hannibal for his crimes. And then leave canon in the fucking dust when the first Kaiju arrives and Will and Hannibal are kidnapped by the government to be used as guinea pigs in the development of drift technology. Of course, it turns out that fusing the consciousnesses of two people like Will and Hannibal – who are pretty much inextricably bonded from their first glance anyway – has some interesting, and not altogether pleasant, side-effects. This is a genuinely stunning piece of work, playing with POVs and levels of consciousness to portray the invasive intimacy of being forcibly mind-melded with another person and written with a lyrical, experimental style that is both effective and highly memorable. It also has one of the most interesting, insightful depictions of the relationship between Hannibal and Will I’ve had the fortune to read – by turns sad, hopeful and endearing, and never less than utterly beautiful.

Caging the Beast by Vulcanmi: How many have us have begged pleaded wondered how things might have gone if Will had called off his Mizumono dinner plans with Jack and Hannibal? In this AU the stupid idiot our intrepid empath does just that, and, having realised that he doesn’t want to live in a world where Hannibal is behind bars, sets about constructing one in which he can tame the beast and put it in a cage of his own. His decision sets everybody on an unfamiliar path but while some things change (no Florentine jaunt for Bedelia this time), others just can’t be avoided (Mason still needs to be someone’s bacon, and Will and Hannibal still dance around each other like a pair of nervous teenagers). Or put off forever, as Will’s growing awareness of the nature of his feelings for Hannibal shows. Many Mizumono fix-its focus on the murder fam running off together and trying to avoid capture. This takes the opposite approach, keeping everybody in Baltimore with the inherent dangers and tensions that involves, extending the game between Will, Hannibal and Jack, even as the former two inch their way towards true Murder Husband status. It’s a fascinating reframing of canon, retaining many elements from s3 but with Will and Hannibal acting as a team and a family. I lost count of the number of times I sighed “If only…” while I was reading this – if you still dream of what could have been that rainy night in Baltimore, this is definitely the fic for you.

Yet Another Hannigram S1 AU (series) by @coloredink: Fans of intense, complex, drawn-out conversations between Will and Hannibal (which is… all of us, right?) will be in heaven with this two-part series set sometime post-Tobias Budge in s1. Both instalments see the boys thrust into close living quarters and exploring the powerful but confusing nature of their relationship. In and built a little house that we could live in, Will takes Hannibal up on the offer of using his vacation house for a week, on one condition: Hannibal comes with him. There follow seven days in which two solitary men begin to realise they might not want to be solitary anymore, and tentatively negotiate how that might work. By contrast, there’s nothing tentative in follow-up a tower to broadcast all our dreams, in which Will and Hannibal have to pretend to live together as a couple in order to draw out a serial killer. The pretence soon gives way to something else, but when you’re the Chesapeake Ripper, deciding you want a boyfriend comes with extra complications… This series is a beautiful riff on some favourite tropes, the second instalment in particular playing on the “fake date” with brilliant results. It also lets us see a charmingly domestic version of Hannigram, investing time and care in building up the relationship without sacrificing the dark and twisted aspects of their story. And really, does it get any better than domestic fluff with a bit of murder on the side? Nah, didn’t think so…

As ever, if there are bad links, or I’ve misattributed anything, let me know and I’ll fix it lickety-split. Happy reading, lovely fannibals!

[ofstagsanddoes]

celebrity au in which they have a very very public rivalry which involves twitter rants, fandom wars, tabloid articles stirring etc. until they're photographed holding hands and the internet has a meltdown

Okay so literally months ago (I’m awful), I was challenged with this prompt for the @jilychallenge coordinated by @hmionegrangr and my partner was @lamelylimes (who wrote me this glorious piece you can check out here). Needless to say, college work got away from me and I didn’t finish the piece on time BUT I did promise to finish it, so finish it I did. (Albeit very, very late. I hope you enjoy it). 

October 17th was the day they officially broke the Internet.

To be fair, the rivalry had started out as just that- a rivalry. She was competitive, and he was arrogant and that had lead to a fair amount of interweb war mongering.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                   Wow. I just love when I’ve beaten @quidditchjames’ offensive record but women still get paid half as much as men.

James Potter @quidditchjames                                                                             wow i just love when my records are beat by flukes

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                   Numbers don’t lie, babe.

James Potter @quidditchjames                                                                               listen. we’re gonna play a match against each other and then we’ll see who’s the real record holder

James Potter @quidditchjames                                                                               we’ll even do it for charity- all proceeds going to @witchesandwizardsforequality

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     It’s on like Donkey Kong.

James Potter @quidditchjames                                                                               i’m going to pretend i got that reference

And so it was determined; the match would be played and the rivalry would be settled. But of course that wasn’t the end of it.

THE DAILY PROPHET GABS, GOSSIP, AND GLAMOUR: STARS BANTER LEADS TO CHARITY MATCH

19/10/1979

Has James Potter waved his wand over the wrong spellbook?

The nineteen year old player for Puddlemere United has had a long time rivalry with fellow chaser Lily Evans of the Wimbourne Wasps. Interestingly, the two played together during their time at Hogwarts; Evans started the sport in her seventh year, with Potter (captain at the time) teaching her the ropes. The boy, like most of the world, wasn’t expecting what was in store for Evans, however, as she came out of nowhere to score a spot on one of the most competitive teams in the nation. Evans has gone on to become one of the best players in the sport, inciting a rivalry between the two former teammates.

Recently, the teen broke Potter’s offensive record, sparking a debate on Twitter between the two about who was the better player. The pair also discussed how women Quidditch players are often payed less than their male counter parts despite, as this new record proves, their comparable skill level. This led to the two starlets deciding to play a charity match where the proceeds will go towards Witches and Wizards for Equality- a foundation which promotes the equal pay of all genders.

The Twitter banter has lead many to speculate on the two’s romantic prospects- could we be witnessing a super couple in the making? The pair doesn’t seem to think so, however, as seen in Evans’ tweet from Tuesday:

Jacob Throne @jakeythrone                                                                                    @lilyevansofficial behind all this banter are we seeing a romance budding between you and @quidditchjames?

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     @jakeythrone I wouldn’t keep your hopes up, buttercup.

IQBS.COM: INTERNATIONAL QUIDDITCH BROADCASTING STATION LIVE STREAMING AND ONLINE ANNOUNCER TRANSCRIPT

Marcie Bendenberg: Well, Wendy, this isn’t something you see every day.

Wendy Lawrence: No, Marcie, it certainly isn’t, and that’s why so many members of the wizarding community have tuned in to watch today’s matchup between two of Quidditch’s hottest young chasers, Lily Evans of the Wimbourne Wasps and James Potter of Puddlemere United.

M: Yes, the two actually got in an argument on Twitter over who was the better player and agreed to play a match to settle it once and for all. All proceeds sold from tickets are to go charity, and it looks as though we’ve got a sold out crowd here.

W: It’ll certainly be an interesting match to watch, and for our viewers at home it’s important to note that this will not be a regular game of Quidditch. Instead, the pair will play each other one on one for five minutes, seeing who can score the most goals within that time period. What do you think of this matchup, Marcie?

M: Well, you know that I’ve always been an Evans fan- she’s a straight, no nonsense type of player that get’s the job done, but I will say that she’s got her work cut out for her. They both have that drive, that same innate level of talent, (and I think we can both agree the same competitive edge), but Potter plays with a sparkle that’s unparalleled in the sport as of now and that could bite Evans in the butt.

W: Then again, where he’s flashy she’s blunt and to the point, and I think that is oftentimes more effective.

M: Very true as well, I suppose we’re soon to see how it all plays out as the pair takes the field.

W: I’d like to take a moment to thank our sponsors for this match: Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion: “Two drops tames even the most bothersome barnet.” Sparkbucks: “The only way Wizards drink coffee.” and our charity for this event, Witches and Wizards for Equality.

M: Let’s play some Quidditch!

W: And, right off the bat Potter has the quaffle and is streaking towards the goal but…oh, that had to hurt, Evans knocks him hard in the shoulder and he drops the ball into her waiting hands.

M: And you know, she’s able to push him around so much in the air not because she is heavier than him, but because of the broom Potter flies on. Although the Nimbus Three Sixty is an exceptionally fast broom, it is lacking in the defensive departments. On her Comet 1000, Evans has a greater balance of speed and power, and this evens up the playing field greatly.

W: We’re seeing a lot of back and forth here, neither making much progress towards either set of hoops. Is this what you expected?

M: Honestly, we’re seeing some great Quidditch right here. You get this matchup between two of the best players in the nation and of course you’re going to have some what of a standstill. Now, eventually that standstill will break and-

W: Evans gets out of the tussle and heads towards those golden hoops. She chucks the quaffle towards the right one and…SCORES! Evans-10 Potter-0

M: Uh oh, though. It seems as if this has ignited a fire under Potter; he’s playing with more vigor than before!

W: Yes, this is definitely the player we’re used to seeing. Showy, but singleminded. He and Evans are diving and weaving around each other now, and it almost seems as though they’re…yelling at each other instead of playing Quidditch. That’s a new one.

M: Certainly. Especially as the clock shows that there are only sixty seconds left in the match; Potter needs to score!

W: Oh! But instead it is Evans who emerges from the altercation with the quaffle! And she’s racing towards the goal posts, Potter right on her tail. She’s got her work cut out for her, because, yes, Potter’s beaten her there, but will he pick the correct goal post to block? She chucks the quaffle and Potter’s diving and OH!

M: The quaffle careens into Potter’s head, sending him off course and crashing into one of the goal posts. That’s not good. He looks unconscious right now, the Mediwizards are flying onto the field.

W: But the quaffle did go in, and the score stands Evans-20 Potter-0, and this certainly- oh…oh my.

M: That was…unexpected.

W (laughing): Love does come to us in the most surprising of ways, doesn’t it? That’s all from us here at IQBS, we hope you enjoyed the brief commentary of the match. [Still giggling] Signing off for now.

THE DAILY PROPHET GABS, GOSSIP, AND GLAMOUR: YOUNG LOVE ON AND OFF THE PITCH

30/10/1979

On Friday night, all eyes were tuned to James Potter and Lily Evans as they played a Quidditch match to decide the better player. One expected to see a great game between the two exceptional players, which they got. The two young chasers battled so fiercely that only twenty points were scored in the five minute time allotment; both of those shots belonging to Evans.

However, the unexpected part of the evening was not the Qudditch playing itself, but rather the events that transpired afterwards.

During the last shot of the game, a rogue quaffle hit Potter in the head, causing him to crash into one of the goalposts and be knocked unconscious. Evans, instead of pausing to take in her game-winning shot, let out a yell and streaked down to catch Potter in her arms before the Mediwizards were able to get to him. An uncharacteristic show of affection between the two rivals? Perhaps. But even more surprising is what occurred next.

As the Mediwizards lowered him down to the ground and set about examining him, Evans was crying and crying, talking about how she hadn’t meant to hurt him and how he was such an idiot for trying to defend a goal so close to the posts and hadn’t he always told her that was foolish? The Mediwizards got him revived and all, and as soon as that boy opened his eyes Evans planted a big old kiss right on his lips.

Naturally, the internet has blown up at the idea of two such promising stars (and aforementioned rivals) falling in love, but there has been no word from either as Evans travelled with Potter to St. Mungo’s for further examination. With #lilypotter trending now on Twitter, who knew Quidditch could get so saucy?

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     James is fine; he has concussion but is expected to make a full recovery in time for Puddlemere’s next match.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     He wants everyone to know that he’s grateful for all the well wishes and he loves you all dearly.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     Also, he concedes that I am once and for all the better player.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     I’m being forced to reveal that he never said that and never will admit that.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     (Even though it’s correct.)

Jamie Bowler @jamieb23                                                                                         @lilyevansofficial WHAT’S UP WITH THE KISS????

Suzy Pemby @suzy.q1                                                                                             @lilyevansofficial the kiss???? what did it mean???

Marcie Bendenberg @marciebendenberg.official                                                    Honestly. We’ve got to know.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     What can I say.

Lily Evans @lilyevansofficial                                                                                     The boy has beautiful lips.