#either way I think she'll get her revenge and survive but lose something in the process that she can't get back

[poolsidescientist]

We know that Master Eiji lost his sight in a fire. We've been lead believe that Mizu's actual mother died in a fire. I wonder what the chances are that it was the same fire?

[raayllum]

I'm torn with Claudia. The humane part of me wants her to stop walking her dark path before she destroys herself completely and find some measure of peace. The fucked-up part of me wants to watch her to lose it and go on the warpath and cause lots of chaos. Is that last one wrong to hope for?

Not at all! I do think we'll see her warpath arc next season, since as Ezran stated/foreshadowed

We all want peace and we all want love. But violence tests us. In a twisted way, it converts us to its cause. Because pain and loss feel so terrible inside, you want to hate. You want to hurt someone else.

Given that Rayla cut off her leg and the trio cost her the chance to save her father's life (since if/when Viren survives, I don't think Claudia will know for a while), I think she'll start chasing Revenge. (Which may lead to even more fracturing with Terry, as "I always believed in you because you had a reason" but we shall see...) And then maybe Soren and Viren will work together to try and bring her home, but maybe only in s7 - so who knows?

But yeah, I don't think ever wanting characters to go through "negative character development" or "fail" means we don't like them or don't understand/sympathize with them. Too often, I think, fandoms can have a tendency to moralize, well, everything, but in this case the choices writers make regarding their favourite characters, i.e. "This Bad Thing happened to Character A so therefore the writers hate them / are punishing them."

And don't get me wrong, I've definitely seen shows where a writing team just did not know what to do with a character, so they just heaped tons of pain on them and/or under utilized them, and who is shown on screen with discussed/processed trauma vs who isn't is definitely a discussion worth having, because none of that exists in an apolitical or aracial space.

However... by no means is the "punishing" angle what's happening all the time, either. What I think it comes from is like, some base assumptions and also a lack of literary understanding for some key aspects I'm gonna do my best at articulating clearly:

1) Operating under an assumption that if you like a character you should only want 'good' things for them, and for them to be a 'good' person, because you are also a 'good' person. This doesn't seem super moralized on the surface, but it explains a lot about "how could anyone like that villain" or offense to "how could anyone want that character to fail" and it's like, idk how to explain that failure and therefore conflict and tragic figures are Just Interesting, Brenda, even if they aren't your personal cup of tea. (I say, as a diehard Macbeth and literary Judas enjoyer lmao.)

2) Ignores catharsis and tragedy as elements of storytelling / as its own desirable genre. Sometimes, you want to watch a thing where you know the whole time everything is going to go horribly wrong for certain characters, or all the characters, and that's what's fun about it. The desirable outcome for every story or character is not a happy ending, nor are all characters or stories built for a happy ending, either. It can be upsetting, of course, when a character we like doesn't get the (happy) ending we hoped for, but that isn't necessarily always the same as a bad ending, y'know? Substantially bad things happening to a character doesn't always mean a narrative hates them; a focus on them is still a focus.

All of this to say: I don't think it's wrong at all to want, or be interested in, Terrible Things happening to a character. It's a thought experiment like any other, and pushing characters to their limits, revealing how they respond under intense or painful experiences - whether than pain is physical, emotional, or something else entirely - is fun and interesting. There's a reason there's are entire genres for Horror and Drama and tearjerker films after all.

Like I've been waiting and wanting for Claudia to snap and become a fully fledged villain since S2 because it was very clear to me just how much she was already Skewed in S1 and S2 made it clear to me that, unlike her brother, she would not be getting on a better path any time soon. Sometimes mess and hurt and mistakes is more interesting than healing, and sometimes it's the opposite (and those things aren't mutually exclusive either).

Like going into S6, I want everyone to Fail so badly (except, arguably, Claudia - who still isn't going to be getting what she actually Needs - and Aaravos, who's going to get exactly what he wants). Watching how characters and their relationships can fall apart, how their own consistent flaws and patterns, can lead them to make awful but understandable mistakes? That's my shit. And getting to see how they do, or don't, come back from that in the season, and in season 7? Chomping at the bit, I'm so excited.

I also don't think that hoping for another end, though, is worse than being excited for a tragic end, because while tragedies are about sadness, they are also - at their core - about Hope that maybe it won't end badly this time. If a tragedy cannot provide catharsis to a viewer, for some reason, then they are still fulfilling their purpose in nurturing hope and indignation in the face of perceived unfairness - that a character could try so hard and still be doomed; that we ourselves often take on tasks that feel insurmountable, that we can take on what looks like a losing battle and still, somehow, win. And maybe we don't - maybe they don't. But tragedies, if nothing else, teach us resilience and the merit of telling a story when you already know how it ends, and the skill of it lies therefore entirely in the execution (sometimes literally).

Basically: hope for whatever you want for whatever character you want, even, or especially, when it's 'bad'. It's what we've always done for a reason.

[checkingoutforheroes]

I’LL CATCH YOU

Part 2

Natasha x reader

Flufffffff

Y/n: That’s all I needed. Thank you Clint!

Clint: You’re welcome. Hey, where are you going?

Y/n: Find Natasha.

Clint: Nuh uh. You gotta help me feed these chickens and take some of eggs for breakfast first young lady.

Y/n: I don’t know how to feed them!

Clint gives 2 buckets at you: You are an Avengers Y/n. You’ll figure it out. I have to shower my fish.

Clint goes back inside his house alone.

Steve: Clint, where’s Y/n?

Clint: She’s feeding the chickens in the barn.

Natasha: You trust her with your chickens?

Clint: No, I trust my chickens with her. Relax, those chicken not going to eat her alive. 

Tony: Y/n in a barn feeding chickens. That’s something new. You got cameras in your barn right?

Natasha chuckle: Tony... Come on.

Tony: What? It’s going to be such a positive impact on our little fans. Headline: Miss Avenger With Nature. I bet it’s cute. 

Wanda: Breakfast ready! Where’s Y/n?

Tony: She’s enjoying the nature. 

Wanda: I’ll go get her. You guys eat first.

Clint: Maybe just let her. I just gave her the birds and the bees talk. Let’s give her some time. *wink

Wanda understand: Ahaaa... Okay. 

Meanwhile in the barn

Y/n open the door: That's... That's a lot of chickens. They're just chickens Y/n. Stay calm & feed the chickens, collect their eggs. I can do that.

You see the eggs but you didn't have something to put it in so, you just put it in your pocket. Luckily the pockets are big enough.

4 chickens running out of the barn and you are trying to chase them because being your idiot self, you didn't shut the door back after you entered. Not putting the bucket down, now the whole chickens running out of it chasing you.

Y/n screaming: Aaahhhh!! Get a way from me! Shuuuu!! Stop chasing me!

Y/n: Oh man! That is so not cool! Urghhhh, great. Now I have to get more eggs. You're lucky I don't choke you. *stare at a chicken.

In the house.

Steve: what's that sound?

Tony laughs: God I got this on camera!

Maria to Clint: How long you think she'll figure out to put down the bucket?

Clint: Have some faith in her.

Tony recording: Agent Hill, say something for the fans.

Maria: And that kid, is something that Y/n will get revenge for. Clint's chickens.

10 minutes later

Y/n walks into the house: Here we go. Farm fresh eggs for breakfast!

Wanda laughing: Oh God Y/n. What happened to you?

Y/n: Wait. Why are you and Natasha cleaning? You guys already had breakfast?! You all couldn't wait??

Steve chuckles: Doll, we've waited.

Tony recording: Eventually we need to get on with the rest of our lives.

Y/n glares at Clint: 'Shower my fish', your ass.

Maria: Which mission I put you on this morning? Did the mission success or go long way to the south?

Clint: Covered in eggs and feathers, it is a successful mission.

Y/n: Ha! Ha! So funny.

Wanda: Did you put eggs in your pocket?

Y/n sigh: N.. Yes...

Wanda: Oh sweety, why? It's okay, I've saved you something to eat.

Natasha: Do you want me to help you clean up?

Y/n: No.

Natasha: Oka...

Y/n: Actually, I have something to talk with you.

Natasha: Okay.

Wanda: Guys, can we go outside? We need to teach Clint's fish to walk. Come on, let's go!

Steve: Clint have fish too? Wait, walking the fish?! Is that a thing now?

Tony: Can we just go grandpa? I left the camera on recording.

Natasha: Come, sit here.

Y/n: I... It's okay, I don't want to get these eggs on Laura's chair to. You can seat.

Natasha: You're standing, then I am too. What is it that you want to talk about?

Y/n nervous: Hokay! Clint and I have a little talk earlier and it made me realized something. I know and the whole team knows that I am the most clumsy person in the team and it freaked Maria and Fury out a lot!

Natasha smiling: But you survived.

Y/n: Yeah, because of you. And Tony, Steve, Clint, Wanda. I owe all of you guys so much for being alive right now.

Natasha: We are a team Y/n. We take care of our own. You're only almost two years in this job. You still have a lot of time to work on and getting better. Everyone in this team had lost somebody who meant something in our life. I don't think we can handle another loss.

Y/n: You're right. I don't think I can too. I have been falling a lot, almost my whole life. Hell I fell in the barn less an hour ago. Trust me, I'm going to murder Clint's chickens one day.

Natasha giggles: I can tell. Maybe be more careful next time, ya?

Y/n: That's the thing. That, I can handle. The falls, I can just walk it off but, I can't help falling in love with you.

Natasha: ...

Y/n: It's a... It's stupid, I know. Clint said I have nothing to lose, that I will not get the answer if I don't ask. He also told me to get off my own ass. It's cool though, no need to be awkward or anyth...

Natasha: I'll catch you.

Y/n: What?

Natasha: I'll catch you if you fall Y/n, because I already fell, for you.

Y/n: I know you guys are watching. Wanda, can you fly one of those pan and knock my head so I know that I am not dreaming or under influence?

Natasha: No need Wanda. I can do it. Will this next thing I'm gonna do will tell you that this is real?

Y/n: Depends. Are you going to stab me?

Natasha pulls y/n to kiss: Even better.

Tony: We should celebrate this. Party at the tower tomorrow!! I'll get Thor.

Steve: Congratulations you two.

Wanda: Awww you guys finally did it. You know I can hear you guys months ago. Your thoughts were so loud.

Clint: The tension between them was too high either.

Maria look at Tony's camera: And that kids, is how your Black Widow and Y/n is an item.