#even when she tries. Her growth is continually arrested by them.

[strewbi]

So we know Louis is continually trapped in the emotional experience of grief over a beloved family member, and whenever someone he cares about seems like they’re leaving in some way that nerve gets pulled.

I don’t know Lestat’s business

And Claudia, I don’t know what her human life was like but the period surrounding her death was a moment of acceptance of her coming death, and then joyful wonder and love for these two angels. So eventually those angels prove themselves to be fallible it’s like her god dying in front of her, or a realizing a parent doesn’t know everything. She kills her gods mentally, before she does it physically, and then it’s as natural to her as eating. I think maybe that blend of philosophical acceptance on top of discovery, and then the betrayal and death of that wonder is her nerve that gets pulled.

If the sanctity of her life is fallible and there’s nothing she can do, fine, oh shit there’s more to know. —>There are angels and powers and more must be discovered about their limits. —> their limits are that they are just men, and men are killable.—> There is a wide world of people who know more and more discoveries need to be made and surmounted and eaten—oh the extra hunger is part of the rush of discovery, the curiosity is a hunger.

She’s leveling constantly, and it would have been fascinating if she had continued growing. If for her, the last human died with Charlie, what would happen to her if the last vampire died with someone else?

[sage-nebula]

There has been a lot of speculation about how Jinx and Ekko will interact in the upcoming season, and as someone who both loves the tragedy of timebomb, but also loves both Jinx and Ekko individually as characters and wants to see them both respected, I want to speculate on how they might interact in the upcoming season with particular focus on Ekko, and how their interactions in season two can be handled while treating his character with the dignity and respect that he deserves.

So, with that said: Let's start with what he know about Ekko and how he feels about Jinx, and how that might inform how he interacts with her in season two.

Ekko did have a crush on Powder when they were kids, as one of his quotes from the card game says: "I used to have a crush on you, before you started talking to the gun." We know from the "Enemy" music video that they were childhood besties; they jumped on beds together, rode around on that circle bike mocking enforcers together, et cetera. And we know from their fight on the bridge that they played a game together involving Ekko's pocket watch and Powder's toy guns, that they then recreated in their actual fight. (And that while Powder always won as kids, Ekko won in their rematch as teens, because his growth and development wasn't arrested like hers.)

But we also learned something else on that bridge, from Jinx herself.

"Well, look who it is. The boy savior!"

Jinx says this in a mocking tone. In a Reddit AMA, we learned that there was originally going to be a flashback showing Ekko trying to save Powder from Silco, believing her to have been taken hostage / kidnapped. Powder, however, refused to go with him, telling him, "Powder is dead." This is why she mocked him on the bridge with the title "boy savior": Jinx was mocking Ekko for trying to "save" her from Silco. She was twisting the knife that she wanted to be with Silco, that he couldn't save her like he intended.

And how do we think that made him feel?

There's a reason that Ekko was so insistent to Vi that Jinx wanted to be with Silco, that she worked for him voluntarily and didn't want to leave. It's because he knew that from firsthand experience. He tried to get her out of there, and she not only didn't go, but she still mocks him for trying years later. She was his best friend in childhood, the only one he had left after Benzo, Vander, Mylo, and Claggor died (and Vi was arrested, but he thought she was dead too), and she essentially spat in his face, rejected him in the harshest way possible, and continues to mock him for even trying to rescue her, for even trying to still be there for her after they had lost everyone else.

And then, on top of that, in working for Silco, she also ended up killing a number of his friends in the Firelights. (Well, we know that she at least for sure killed the pink-haired girl; I don't think we know for certain that she killed others, but I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.)

Suffice to say, Ekko has more than enough reason to raise his hand if someone asked, "Who here feels personally victimized by Jinx?" It's easy to see how Jinx has been traumatized and hurt, because we saw everything that happened to her; but Ekko also suffered traumatic losses, had no idea what happened to Powder the night everyone died, but he cared about her so much (even setting aside his crush, he just loved her as a best friend) and put himself in danger to try to save her, only to be rejected for no reason he could understand, then continued to be mocked for it years later while also losing his friends to, if not Jinx directly, than to the man she works for and decided to see as a surrogate father. Ekko lost everyone in that same night, too, for reasons completely beyond his control, for reasons he probably still doesn't understand or have closure on. And I'm not saying that Jinx needs to open up to him about her trauma, but I am saying that I don't think that this would make her very attractive to him as a romantic partner or even a friend at this point.

(As a side bar: I don't think that Jinx ever felt true malice toward Ekko. She did him dirty by mocking his attempt to save her on the bridge absolutely, and cutting ties with him after Silco took her in is a lot more complicated and messy than we have time to get into right now, but to try to tl;dr it . . . I think that Powder saw Silco as her only lifeline. He was an adult who took her in, gave her a home, and was promising to be her family. He also, crucially, didn't know her as the person she was before. Ekko, on the other hand, was a child who did know who she was before. So Powder felt she had to cling to Silco and push Ekko away for her own sake. But -- and this is headcanon on my part -- I do still think she cared about Ekko as her childhood bestie, and I think this because Ekko is still alive. I think that Silco would have killed anyone who would cause Jinx distress, even at that early stage, and Ekko definitely would have triggered Jinx's psychosis (albeit by accident) by asking about Vi and the others. And I think that Jinx/Powder, caring for Ekko, would have told Silco not to kill him, saying something like, "He's not worth it, he's just some guy, let him go," or something of the sort, to make Silco back off. Something that would make both Ekko and Silco think she didn't care, when she did. So I don't think Jinx ever hated Ekko, or held true malice toward him. She was absolutely out of pocket and mean with that taunt on the bridge, but I don't think she was ever actually malevolent toward him.)

So, what do I see possibly happening between them in season two?

Well, if we remember how their fight on the bridge concluded: Ekko was winning the fight, and was essentially beating Jinx to death when he got a really good look in her eyes for the first time in years and realized that Jinx = Older Powder. That made him hesitate long enough for Jinx to pull a pin from a grenade, intending to die and take him down with her. (I think it might have been Amanda Overton who stated that Jinx "does not have a healthy fear of death," and that she wanted to take Ekko down with her because he was the only one who never left her? Which is truly funny considering how he tried his goddamn hardest to stay with her and she actively shoved him away and then mocked him for trying to stay with her literally right before that fight lmao. But that's our mentally ill girly at her finest.) Ekko, of course, saw what she did and escaped enough to not die, but to still be wounded. And Jinx would have died had Silco not taken her to Singed, and, well . . . we all know how that turned out.

So, season two.

From the trailer, we can see that there are at least some people in Zaun who see Jinx as a revolutionary figure. Some have pointed out that the mural looks like it was made in the style of Firelight art, with some speculating that perhaps it was even Ekko himself who painted it. Given all of the above, I really, really, really doubt that it was Ekko himself who painted it. In fact, I would actually be pretty upset with the writers of the show if they did make Ekko the one to have painted it, because I feel it would be a disservice to his character. Again, quick recap:

Jinx rejected him soundly when he tried to save her from Silco / reconnected her after everyone else in their lives was killed.

Jinx continues to mock him for this to his face years later.

In working for Silco, Jinx helped pump Zaun full of shimmer, which actively harms the very people whose lives Ekko wants to make better.

In working for Silco, Jinx has killed at least one, though probably more, of Ekko's friends in the Firelights. (Silco's other employees have also undoubtedly killed them as well and, again, Jinx still aligns herself with them.)

The big revolutionary act that others in Zaun are hailing Jinx as a heroine for is blowing up the council tower, which is bringing the military might of Piltover down on Zaun, guaranteeing bloodshed that I highly doubt Ekko wants. He wants change, but not like this.

It simply doesn't make sense for his character for him to have painted the mural. More likely, there are some Firelights who see what Jinx did as "the base violence necessary for change," believing in her "cause" over Ekko's -- not realizing that Jinx didn't do what she did because of a grand, overarching cause, but because she was lashing out as a result of the sustained agony the system had been putting her through for her entire life. She isn't going to be leading a revolution in season two; she didn't ask for that mural to be painted and she isn't going to be raising a flag. She'll be raising hell, no doubt, but not a flag. That's not who she is. The person painted in that mural isn't Jinx, not really, and Ekko knows that better than the actual artists.

Instead, I see Ekko as being in a sort of 90 / 10 situation regarding Jinx. 85% of him still feels all of the negative feelings he had about her regarding everything in the past six or seven years, plus her recent murder of the pink-haired Firelight, attempt on his life, and blowing up of the council tower that brought the Enforcers down on him. (Because don't misunderstand, he doesn't care about the Pilties in the tower, but he does care about the innocent Zaunites that are about to get murdered by the Enforcers who are going to blow apart the undercity's streets looking for Jinx.)

But then 10% of him is going to keep thinking back to that moment on the bridge, where he looked into her eyes close-up for the first time in six or seven years, and realized that Jinx is Powder, just older, and be just wracked with sorrow. No, he doesn't want to date her. No, they can't be friends when she's doing all this shit. She's literally killed people that he cares about. Her actions have resulted in the deaths of innocent people and she doesn't seem to give two fucks. (Again, not the Pilties, but the innocent citizens of Zaun that the Enforcers are now killing, and yes Piltover and the Enforcers are choosing to do that, but the reason why they are choosing to do that does matter, and if other Zaunities can hail Jinx as a hero for it, then he can call her out as a fucking dumbass for it, too.) But Janna, he wishes she wasn't doing this shit. He wishes she wasn't like this. He wishes things could have turned out different. Why didn't they turn out different? Jinx is Powder. Powder is Jinx. So what went wrong? When she left that night, why did she come back under Silco's wing? Why did everyone die, with Vi in jail? What happened? Was it his fault? Could he have stopped it somehow?

But there's not enough time to think about that, and it doesn't matter when here, in the present, she is like this and she is doing this shit and it's not his fault that she, here and now, is like this and doing this shit. He's not responsible for her. And she made it clear she didn't even WANT him to be in her life, so -- !

It's messy. It's messy and tragic and painful, but since when are the relationships in Arcane anything but?

The point I'm getting at here is: I don't think that Ekko will be supportive of Jinx. And if they work together at all, I think it will be with gritted teeth on his part, out of forced necessity. Or more like . . . it seems, from the trailer, that Jinx and Sevika may be teaming up to take down the chembarons. (I say "may," because the idea of Jinx and Sevika teaming up is still very hard for me to believe. But like, Sevika has Jinx's gun, and her new arm looks like it was made by Jinx, and we also see Jinx standing at the other end of the alleyway when Sevika is fighting one of the others so like . . .) We also know that the distribution of shimmer hurting Zaunities is something that Ekko doesn't like. So it is possible that Jinx and the Firelights could potentially work together in order to take down the other chembarons, with Ekko seeing it as a "the enemy of my enemy is my ally" situation, and Jinx agreeing to those terms while also, in her way, still viewing Ekko as "the one who never left" and thinking, hey, maybe we could start over.

As with everything else in Arcane, I fear it can only end badly for her.

It's also possible that, because of that moment they had on the bridge (and because of Vi's insistence to Ekko that she could talk Jinx down), Ekko could use this temporary truce to try himself to talk Jinx down again, to talk reason into her to some degree, especially now that Silco is dead. He might see it as an opportunity, a sort of, "Now that he's dead you don't have to work for him anymore, you can start over." Which, again, would end badly because Jinx herself is the one who killed him (by accident), and he was the one who gave her the affirmation of unconditional love that she'd always wanted, and as such his death is something she deeply regrets and would not appreciate hearing lauded as a good thing. So again, yet another thing in Arcane that would go horribly wrong. Still, I could see him potentially trying that avenue if in fact they did work together. Not as a romantic or "let's be buds again" angle, but in a "it would be better for everyone if Jinx stopped killing people" angle. (And then, you know, maybe after years of no murders and less hostile behavior, maybe then they can be friends again.)

Of course, that would never happen, but I think that would be Ekko's thought process nonetheless.

Bottom line here is, if Jinx and Ekko do end up teaming up, my hope is that Ekko's feelings and character are respected. So far, the Arcane writers haven't given me a reason to think they won't respect him, thankfully, but I still wanted to put it out there regardless. Ekko's trauma and how the tragedy of arc 1 impacted him is often overlooked, particularly since he is one of the more well-adjusted members of the cast (especially on the Zaun side, good god), but he still was traumatized and hurt horribly by what happened and he deserves to be treated with as much respect and dignity as anyone else. He certainly doesn't deserve to have his character or motivations pushed aside or forgotten just to prop up Jinx.

But those are just my thoughts. Everyone else is free to have their own. :)

[sufandomgirl]

Hell's Belles Fanfiction Part 1

[A/N: This was actually my first Hell's Belles fanfiction, long before Gabriella was even thought of. Speaking of, she will appear, but this isn't a prompt story. I simply put the prompt in because it reminded me that I wanted to expand my fanfiction. Anyways, enjoy!]

{The brunette woman walked up to Penny's desk, fully expecting to be course corrected.}

Penny: Welcome to the Hellp Desk--I am...really mixed in my feelings from the impromptu send-off party that was recently hosted in honor of my friend and co-worker, Ruggy's reincarnation. We're all very proud of her for her growth and earning her chance at it. We all miss her, though. How may I help you?

Woman: Oh, congratulations to your friend. I didn't understand it, but it sounded like a big deal and a good thing. Anyway, hi, I'm here to address a mistake. The people at the Front Death-k were trying to send me to Paradise, but my husband when I was alive told me that I needed to come down here and be punished for my actions until he could forgive me for my insubordination from Heaven.

Penny: (looks down at her desk) Well, that explains why I don't have a file for you. Um, tell me, what's your name? We use only first names down here.

Woman: Oh, my name is Desiree.

Penny: Okay, and um, out of curiosity, were you married to Christian man who told you that you needed to obey and serve him, no matter what you thought or felt and/or were you perhaps were part of a church that taught you that from a young age?

Desiree: Yes, I was in both. I had an eight-year-old son with my husband, John and remember sending him away with his grandparents in the park right before I felt a burning pain in the back of my head and woke up at the Front Death-k. You see, I'd just found out about John's affair, and I always felt that he was threatening our son. I was trying to leave him, without the support of the church or our community, but with my parents' because even though I knew that I deserved my husband's violence, our son didn't.

Penny: (eyes wide; looks at Judy)

Judy: (looks at Desiree; sighs) Oh, sweet pea.

Lily: So, back up, what made you feel as though you deserved the abuse?

Desiree: Well, simple, I disobeyed the word of God that was taught by my church, I acted independently of my husband, even though I knew it was wrong, and I tried to leave him.

Lily: What church did you attend, by chance?

Desiree: Oh, it was the Designated Gospel Church. DGC, for short.

Sharkie: Hey, Mom, isn't that that new cult that's parading as a religious denomination to commit tax evasion?

Lily: (typing on computer) It is. Desiree, honey, I'm so sorry you had to get sucked into that, but that cult is getting a lot of publicity after your murder. Check this out. (reads) 'Pastor of cult calls for institution to release man arrested for abusing and publicly killing his wife on the grounds of religious practices'. Pastor Ulysses, to be exact.

Judy: Isn't Greg already preparing for his arrival down on Level 9, Penny?

Penny: Yeah, he's super excited. He gets a certain kick out of punishing religious leaders who abuse their power. (turns back to Desiree) It's really not your fault. We deal with corrupt church teachings and clergy all the time. Their victims like yourself do usually come down for therapy on Level One or Two, but usually come out ready for their Paradise. If not, they sign up for reincarnation to try again at life.

Desiree: That can't be right! Pastor Ulysses told me that God would scowl upon me for helping a Muslim and Pagan avoid shaming from a fellow church member and accepting my lesbian sister and her trans son. My parents left the church because they wouldn't support them. I was already married to John and continued speaking to them despite his wishes. This caused him to strike me for my disobedience. It only got worse when I kept in contact with an ex-communicated friend who disagreed with Pastor Ulysses sermons of obeying men and such.

{The Hellp Desk stare at her, wide-eyed.}

Lily: So, amidst this...enlightening conversation, do you notice any...recurring themes about...Ulysses and John that may or may not contribute to your view of your actions? Clearly, you didn't agree with them, which was fine, but then when you were judged and sent to Paradise, did you ever question that maybe they could've just been trying to manipulate you? I mean, why send your son to your parents unless you knew what they were doing was wrong?

[gunmetal-ring]

I think a big problem is that sometimes we refuse to acknowledge our favorite characters are flawed and yet thats why we love them. Real people are flawed. Thats what makes the characters realistic and multi-dimensional and thats why we love them. This is much longer than i anticipated lol

Eddie can be a real asshole, on purpose, and kind of intimidating. Yes he has a heart of gold but that doesnt change the fact that he is not an uwu sweetiepie to everyone he comes across from moment one. Thats what makes his interactions with chrissy and dustin (and even steve, to an extent) so meaningful - bc he simply Is Not Like That with anyone else. Its a layer to his personality that he doesnt not easily share. Yet hes also genuinely snarky and sarcastic and kind of a dick, and a coward, too. He runs from danger and puts other people at risk/in danger/hurts other people because of it. Sure its justified at times but it doesnt change the fact that being mean and a coward is a character flaw. It doesnt make him a bad person. It makes him realistic.

Chrissy doesnt like being vulnerable. Shes self destructive. She doesnt open up to her friends or family or her boyfriend that loves her. Shes walled off and lies to them and tells them everything is fine. She would rather dissociate/do drugs than try to solve her problems. It doesn't make her a bad person. It makes her realistic.

Flaws dont mean "a thing that ruins this character" or "a thing we should hate about this character" or "a thing that makes this character a bad person" or anything like that. Flaws means "a thing that makes this character imperfect" and "a thing that the character needs to change in order to show growth and character development." We can all agree steve is flawed - he was a dick in high school. But he changed, stopped being a dick, and he acknowledges that he has been working on himself to become a better person when he tells nancy hes still in love with her. A redemption arc = a character overcoming their shortcomings and genuinely changing for the better.

Eddie is a coward. He hurts other people with his cowardice. Yes given the fact that he is wanted for murder its understandable that he would run, but it doesnt change the fact that his cowardice hurts orher people.

Chrissy was murdered in his trailer. He chose to run rather than call the cops - and had he called the cops, yes he would have likely been arrested, but then he wouldnt have been held responsible for freds death bc he likely would have been in custody when fred was murdered, and he probably wouldnt have been blamed for patricks death either since they wouldnt have been hunting him and therefore wouldnt have been around him when patrick was murdered. But instead, he ran, and left Wayne - who loved him more than anything and likely saved him from a horrible childhood and raised him as his own - to find Chrissy's horrifyingly tortured body.

Eddie ran, and therefore put The Party in danger of aiding/abetting "a criminal" and they could have been arrested for that. He indirectly caused their parents distress too.

Thats why eddie bravely playing to distract the bats, and then bravely charging headfirst ALONE into the swarm of bats is his redemption. Had he refused to play to distract the bats (like a coward) he probably would have prevented The Party from being able to kill Vecna. Had he ran from the bats and went into the real world to save himself (like a coward) the bats either would have gotten into the real world, or they would have doubled back and killed steve/robin/nancy.

So he played loudly to distract the bats and explicitly stated that he did it to avenge Chrissy as well as to protect steve/robin/nancy so they could kill Vecna - growth from how he left her to rot and for Wayne to find her, and growth from how he continually put The Party in danger by running. He cut the sheets in an attempt to protect dustin and tried to lure the bats away to protect steve/robin/nancy - same thing, growth from how he continually put The Party in danger by running. He stopped running and so he stopped hurting other people with his cowardice. Even though he knew it would be putting his life in danger.

And then he told dustin he loved him - growth from his assholery. Even (semi backhandedly lol) complimenting steve and (begrudgingly lol) acknowledging that steve is not the person Eddie thought steve was is growth too. Avenging chrissy was also a little bit of growth like this too, altho obviously not to the same degree bc he was open and vulnerable and kind to her almost from the get-go, but he was apologizing for not trying to help her w her problems and instead try to make money off her bc it was easier.

Chrissy didnt get a chance at a redemption arc, but the fact that it seems like everyones headcanon is that had she lived, she would have been able to open up and overcome her self loathing and self destruction. Shes not a bad person for being mentally ill and a victim of abuse. But character growth mandates that she would have addressed her problems and worked on herself bc refusal to address her problems rather than really truly ask for help - bc obviously she wasnt rly opening up to mrs kelly - and do the scary, difficult, emotionally draining work.

Idk. Character flaws are good. All the other characters on the show have flaws - its what makes them interesting and multidimensional and realistic. They arent bad people for being flawed. They arent villains for being flawed. And handwaving them away is doing them a disservice imo.

[bigassheart]

I’ve seen a couple posts about how everyone was wildly out of character and totally inconsistent this season and I’m just like... were you guys paying attention? 

1. Luther

Arguably the biggest shift in character between the two seasons, but it makes sense. Luther spent a year fending for himself and thinking his entire family was dead. 

This is the first time in his life that he had to hold down a job and actually live on his own. It was literally his first time living out in the world among anyone other than his family, and you can see in his reactions with the other characters from that life (the boss, his landlord, those kids that idolize him, and the waitress) that it has really mellowed him out. It has allowed him to be more normal, despite being very much not normal. You can see the way he’s so much more comfortable in his skin. Literally the only times he looks uncomfortable is when he’s fighting people, shirt off and body on full display. He’s still not comfortable with that, but he’s not trying to hide under huge overcoats anymore. He has people in his life who accept him for being a little weird, but really do treat him normal. 

So is he a little less uptight and mission focused? Yeah. Because he can finally see another life, and it’s the life that he honestly did want in season 1 but felt like he couldn’t have because he was number 1 and he had a responsibility to his dad, his family, and the academy to be the leader. Having a year on his own frees him of all that. 

But he also spent all that time thinking his family was dead and feeling so guilty about it. You can see in his very first interaction with Vanya, where he suddenly feels that responsibility again. He brings a gun, not knowing what’s going to happen and, despite what he told Five, he absolutely does still have that lingering feeling of responsibility. But then he sees Vanya and she’s not a threat and everything he has been holding in for the last year comes out. Because he does feel guilty as hell for what he did to Vanya, but also for the fact that his actions pushed her into causing the apocalypse. He spent a year with the knowledge that he did that and thinking that his family was dead because of his actions. 

He’s willing to listen now because he spent a year living in a world where his actions killed his whole family. And now he finds out that that didn’t happen and he has a second chance. Of course he’s going to take it! 

2. Diego

In the first season, Diego finally admitted that he wanted to be close to his family and that he cared about them and wouldn’t leave them again. He confronted the guilt about leaving, which he had previously denied. He realized the difference between revenge and honoring someone’s memory. But despite all that, he never confronted the reason why he, a grown-ass-man, wandered around the city as a leather clad, mask wearing vigilante. 

So when we see Diego show up in 1963, that’s still who he is. He wants to be that hero and he finds an answer for how to be that hero in the first several minutes that he’s there. So he takes it. I mean, what else is he going to do? His family is gone. Maybe they’ll show up again. Maybe this is it. Either way, he’s on his own like he was before, so he’s got a duty to be the hero he has chosen to be. 

And then he meets his dad again. Everyone keeps telling him he has daddy issues, and they’re right. He absolutely has daddy issues. He’s still trying to simultaneously prove that he’s good enough for his dad, but also doesn’t need Daddy’s approval. Except he does need it. He still desperately craves it and he feels gutted when his dad denies him that approval, even falling back into the stutter he had as a kid. 

Now, despite the way we joke, Diego is not dumb. He is so observant and he makes some of the most poignant statements about his siblings and the way they see the world. He sees the people around them and he understands them, but he has never been able to completely turn that gift inwards and see those same things in himself. In this season, Lila breaks through all that and he finally sees himself in her at the end. 

“Do you know how hard it is to trust people when your whole childhood was bullshit manipulation? Then why would you do that to me?”  

Diego sees himself in Lila, in her failure to break away from her mother despite the fact that he knows she wants to. In the final episode, he sees that she is just like the rest of the siblings, but she doesn’t have to be. None of them have to be stuck with their daddy issues, because they have each other. They can support and care for each other. It’s the last step of the growth he started in season 1, moving beyond his tendency to define his life and his family through their father. 

3. Allison

Throughout season 1, Allison struggled with whether or not to use her powers, but it was all centered around getting back to her daughter. When she appears in 1961, that motivation is effectively removed. She thinks everyone else is dead. She thinks that she is stranded in the past and that she will never get back. She finds a group of people to support her and before long... she finds her voice again. 

It’s no coincidence that Allison’s first spoken words in the series come right after she gives Ray that pamphlet with a bunch of added notes. She finds her voice in the civil rights movement. She finds her power there. She finds a way to help change the world, to change reality, and she does it without her powers. 

This is something she struggled with through the entirety of season 1, feeling inadequate for using her powers to get what she wanted, not knowing if anything was real or earned. Now she has the chance to earn everything without those powers and she is thriving. 

And then she is forced to use her powers again. It all turns out fine, but now she’s showing off and experiencing all over again how good it feels to have power. She spent two years in a world where she was denied equal treatment, where she could be arrested and assaulted for any reason those with more power came up with. And now she feels that power... She doesn’t have to wait for people to give her respect. She can demand it. But the pain is still there, and it’s not enough to just be respected, because these people have hurt her. They almost killed her husband. They have used their power to cause pain to her and all those who look like her time and time again and now it’s time to understand what it’s like to be powerless, to be hurt and to be unable to stop it and... 

And it’s scary. It’s scary to have that much power, to see how you could become the kind of person who uses your power to hurt others. And she knows that her power has hurt people she loves and suddenly she’s right back where she started. 

Only not entirely. 

She doesn’t shy away from her powers in the final fight. She is obviously still finding that balance and I would expect this struggle to continue for her in future seasons. Power can be addicting and Allison’s power is so strong. She knows the danger there, but she also knows that sometimes it’s needed despite the danger. 

4. Klaus

Klaus is an addict. He finds obsessions to bury himself in to avoid dealing with reality. In season 1, he buried himself in drugs and booze. When he shows up in the 60′s, he finds a new drug to bury himself in: adoration. 

Klaus is so impulsive and it’s not difficult to connect the dots of how one thing leads to another until suddenly everything is out of his control. Honestly, that’s the story of Klaus’s life, no matter where he goes. And then something changes. He gets tired of his cult and leaves. Except... that’s not really the reason. 

After all this time, Dave is still the love of his life, and he knows he has an opportunity. He knows where Dave will be at this one time and he knows exactly what he has to change to keep Dave alive. 

He also knows that Ben is going to have thoughts about this. 

I know some people were disappointed that there wasn’t more Klaus and Ben bonding this season, but it makes sense that there is tension there. I think a lot of that tension comes from Ben’s circumstances, which I’ll discuss later, but Klaus is also not responding to that tension well. 

They are fighting more than ever (not that they ever didn’t fight in season 1, where they spent much of their time being snarky to each other and Ben literally punching Klaus in the face for being an asshole), but the fighting is about something new this season. Ben wants his own life and Klaus is not in a position to give Ben what he really wants. We also learn that he has been carrying around this guilt for the last 17 years about forcing Ben to stick around as a ghost. He forced this half-life on his brother and now that it’s not enough for Ben, Klaus doesn’t want to deal with it. So he avoids and deflects and snarks and we see the toll on their relationship. We see it in the way he tries to deal with his plans around Dave entirely on his own. He focuses so much into that last ditch effort. He’s already in such a low place before this, so when that fails, we see him snap. We see him give up and crumble. And Ben falls back to his old role, trying to save Klaus from himself. 

But the tension isn’t gone and Klaus’s guilt isn’t gone. We see it again when Klaus finally agrees to let Ben possess him. Klaus has always been afraid of his powers and being possessed is just as terrifying a thought as being surrounded by the dead. And yet he gives Ben that chance. It’s the last good thing he can do at that point. 

I do wish we had gotten more closure for Klaus and Ben’s story. I think Vanya’s reveal could have been given a little more time, but that’s not really a problem with inconsistent characterization, so we’ll save that for another post. 

5. Five

OK, who would argue that Five was out of character or inconsistent? He’s obsessed with stopping the apocalypse, is willing to cross a lot of lines to save his family, and constantly frustrated by his family’s failure to go along with his plans. This is textbook Five. 

What I loved about this season was that we got to see Five finally meeting his father again. They interact as two adults, not as a child trying to find away to become his own person, frustrated by a lack of trust from his father. It allows Reggie to see Five in a different light and to actually provide advice in a constructive way, something he has almost never been able to do when viewing them as his children. But despite outward appearances and despite the fact that Five is a grown man, he still sees his father the same way he always has. He doesn’t register Reggie’s advice as advice. He hears that he’s striving beyond his abilities and that maybe he can only travel in seconds. He hears his father telling him he can’t handle time travel. That’s why he doesn’t try to actually take the very good advice until the very end.  

An old dog can still occasionally learn a new trick and Five proves that true. 

6. Ben

As I mentioned earlier, Ben is chaffing at his ghosthood. Maybe it’s because Klaus has been sober enough to keep Ben around solidly for 3 years. Maybe it’s because Ben is no longer spending all his time trying to keep Klaus alive and sober. Or maybe it’s the fact that he has finally found someone that he actually wants to spend time with. Whatever the reason, Ben wants to be alive this season. 

Again, as I mentioned, that’s causing some tension. Ben doesn’t want to be tied to Klaus, but Klaus is ignoring that because he feels so guilty about it. Ben doesn’t want to admit that he was too scared to go into the light on his own, so they’re at a bit of a standstill. 

And then Ben gets the opportunity to be alive again, if only for a while. And in a lot of ways, it’s wonderful! But it’s not the same as being truly alive. 

So when the time comes, when he’s faced with that light again... he’s not afraid. He knows that it’s time to move on. He knows this isn’t where he should be, but he also got the chance to be there for his family. He misses them, but he got to talk to Diego and Vanya. He got to save Vanya. He got to save Allison and Diego and Klaus and Luther and Five and the whole world! So while he would have stayed, he’s not sad about leaving anymore, and he’s not afraid. 

7. Vanya

OK, she was a little out of character because... you know. She had amnesia. 

But aside from erasing her past, the amnesia allowed us to see Vanya without the anger and resentment that plagued her for all of season one. Vanya was always someone who was kind and loving, someone who cares enough to leave peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches out for a missing brother for years. Someone who knows the pain of not being seen and who will always take the time to truly see other people. She’s someone who wants to love and to be loved and to protect those she loves. 

That was all here, with or without the memories. And as soon as the memories came back, so did the guilt and fear about what she had done, what she had become, terrified of what was inside her in a way that she was not when her powers first surfaced. But Ben is used to being afraid of what’s inside of him. He knows she’s not a monster and is the perfect person to explain that to her. And this time around, she has experienced the love and care and attention of her siblings (and Sissy) to back up those words. That’s how she finally accepts them as truth, how she finally accepts her power as a part of her. 

Overall, there are things that I wish this season spent more time with, but there was nothing that I felt was out of character or wildly inconsistent. The characters still struggled with all the baggage from their shitty childhood, their fear of their powers, and the guilt in their past. Some struggled in new ways this season and some continued old struggles that had never fully been resolved. The season felt very different than the first, but it still felt like the Umbrella Academy. It was a good mix of new and old and a good mix of feel-good moments we have all been waiting for and frustrating and sad moments that just come with having a complicated family. I loved this season. And now, I’m going to go re-watch every episode. 

[chainofclovers]

Grace and Frankie 7x1 - 7x4 thoughts

Meh? Like...I love them so much, but...meh?

(I did enjoy this line about brunch.)

I really loved season 6 of Grace and Frankie. I thought it was well-paced, largely very well-acted, generally well-written, and it culminated in a massive moment of character development for the title characters, who, having spent years growing closer and being there for each other when others could not or would not be, finally articulate to each other that they are the primary person in each other’s lives. Platonic gal pal soulmate BFF emotional support witches 4 lyfe!

I know progress isn’t always linear, and in fact is very rarely linear, but after a moment that significant, you’d think the writers on this show would maybe come up with some more interesting things for these characters to do than spin in circles?

@bristler and I watched on Friday night, and just this morning over breakfast had a good conversation about the first four episodes of the new season now that they have settled in our brains a bit. We concluded that the writing (often noticeably clunky, like the dialogue is responsible for more narration than usual) and the tone (aggressively wacky) feel really off, especially compared to the prior season. I think we diagnosed the big issue, which is that Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are by far the most talented actors on this show (if you disagree, fight me in the parking lot) and it feels surprisingly unfortunate that their characters have, to this point in the new season, pretty much figured out their perspectives on each other. No matter how people feel about Grace and Frankie’s sexualities, the whole show has been about them finding each other and getting in deeper and deeper, and it’s less interesting to watch other characters have realizations about that than it is to watch Grace and Frankie having realizations about themselves. If the title characters are now limited to reacting to other people’s actions, and the title characters are played by the best actors on the show, the whole show’s gonna suffer. And is suffering, very much so, at least for these first four episodes. I’m definitely still excited for the final twelve in 2022 (twelve! I cannot believe this season will have sixteen eps!), but I’m pretty disappointed so far.

Stuff I Loved:

The family brunch. These families have been entwined for so long, and the backstory for this particular brunch was so fun (even though I didn’t care for the effects they did to depict Grace and Robert 25 years ago; there was no need for a visual flashback in the scene). I love that Grace hit Frankie with a wiffle ball bat. I love that the two couples realized some of the emotional reasons behind their decisions to lie to each other about Bud’s Bunny and about M’Challah. I love the way Jane Fonda sounds uttering the phrase “Bud’s Bunny” with little to no irony. I love that Grace is able to recognize and articulate just how deep and miserable her anger issues were, albeit with the continued help of her omnipresent martini, and that Frankie told her she’d now make up a holiday in order to spend more time with Grace. I really, really hope Frankie does exactly this at some point in the remaining episodes of the season. I love that Grace is generally a pretty good person now, with aspirations of being a delightful person. I love that she and Frankie don’t have it in them to stay angry with each other, and I love all the evidence that they really, really talk to each other about everything now.

Frankie talking to the man at the office (I don’t remember who he was supposed to be? A toilet manufacturer? I didn’t mention this before, but I actually got pretty high while watching?!? Believe it or not, this was the first time I smoked pot and watched Grace and Frankie at the same time despite having enjoyed both activities on their own for quite some time. I would recommend the combo! And I think I still pretty much got what was happening) about paying for the toilet parts with candy. This whole subplot with the money laundering was absurd and not that interesting, but I loved this particular scene because it was finally evidence of some really thoughtful writing. The concepts aren’t enough! You have to write them into good dialogue! And the whole cash/candy thing was a moment of dialogue that only someone as hilarious as Lily Tomlin could pull off. Which she did, IMO.

In a show about super messy people, Coyote has stayed sober this entire time. He is sober, employed, in love, and preparing to buy a full-sized house with his partner. He hasn’t murdered anyone in his family. Hasn’t even attempted murder once.

In 2017 or whatever, Grace Hanson would have been furious about Frankie using obscure Beatles references like a treasure map when hiding the cash. But here in 2021, she cooperates and even gets in on the fun. The writing is very unsubtle this season, but that did feel like a reasonably subtle moment that shows how good of a partner she is for Frankie. (Platonic, of course! So platonic. Female friendship, amirite?)

Stuff I Did NOT Love and Felt Incredibly Negative About:

Brianna. I can only conclude that June Diane Raphael has decided she’s happy with playing a character whose primary role in life is to be hot and mean. She succeeds at being hot and mean, but I have reached my limit with this character. I realize we’re only a quarter of the way into the season, but I don’t think I can take another arc about her learning to compromise only to reveal to Barry that she never intended to compromise at all. At this point, it’s both abusive and boring. How?! The Grace/Brianna parallels aren’t interesting anymore, because one character has grown and the other is stagnant. I get that Brianna was raised in an emotionally stilted environment by two unhealthy people. But I think it would be very cool if she could learn something from her mother at this point. Grace has put a ton of effort into dealing with her “rabbit-killing, mad-at-the-world anger.” She’s put a ton of effort into figuring out what makes her happy, what she wants her life to look like. She’s even started accepting her age and abilities without shame. And that growth is believable; Grace is still short-tempered and she still slugs back way too many martinis and she struggles to articulate certain things, but she’s grown into a truly lovely human. And while, as a daughter with a mother, I can absolutely attest to the fact that it can be difficult and uncomfortable to learn lessons from one’s mother, Brianna really, really should. Grace spent decades letting anger and shame trap her in a small, miserable life. Brianna—and even Mallory, who just seems like a vapid idiot this season—are traveling that same path, but there’s someone right there who could really help, maybe even more than Frankie helped when the Hanson girls were first growing up.

The arraignment. The scene might’ve been salvageable if it was filmed from Grace’s perspective, and filmed to reflect how surreal and improbable it all was. But speaking of non-linear progress, this scene erased everything Nick Skolka has done to put himself in my good graces (LOL) over the past couple seasons. I mean, I tried, man. I even wrote fic about Nick, Grace, and Frankie making a genuine effort at polyamory. But the arraignment is so emotionally manipulative, such a slap in the face of everything Grace has worked for, and while we’re certainly “supposed” to feel the weight of the moment, I mean, it’s not like we’re supposed to be like, “Oh, cool, we’re in a rom com now! This is adorable!” it still felt bad and unearned and slapdash.

And I want Frankie to process these things with her! Frankie seems so happy to have all this information about Grace and how Grace feels, but I want to see scenes in which we can gain an understanding of how Frankie actually feels. Hearing Frankie talk to other people about how Grace feels is interesting, but it’s like there’s no room in these episodes for us to learn anything new about Frankie herself.

Grace’s transitional wig. Is so. Bad. It is. Such a. Bad wig. Oof. I mean, I like what they’re doing with Grace’s hair from a plot perspective, although (see one bullet up) I would really like to get more of an understanding of what’s happening in Grace’s head, not just on top of her head. And gosh, Frankie would be a really good person to talk to about this in a conversation that lasts longer than 30 seconds. But the wig! She’s in a wig in all four episodes, of course, since Jane Fonda went grey and cut her hair short before they started filming this season. The wig for episodes 1 and 2 is fine; it’s a good approximation of Grace’s typical hair, and of course we know that canonically Grace’s hair isn’t 100% her own hair anyway. But the wig with grey roots looks so weird. The part that’s growing out doesn’t look the same as the hair on the wig from 1 and 2. And the grey roots look like a yarmulke. I cannot wait to get to the point in the season when Grace goes all the way grey.

(One more thing about the hair. I can’t let it go. I paused the show while we were watching to rant, but I’m not done.) I had the great privilege of seeing Jane Fonda in person at a protest in 2019. She is an insanely beautiful human. She was growing her hair out and it was partially dyed blonde and partially grey. It looked really cool. I am not ashamed to say I spent that day learning many things about the climate crisis and about Jane Fonda’s hair. Having seen her in real life with her real hair looking that fucking great, I just have a an extra-large grudge against everyone involved in that horrible wig. The wig is necessary, but it didn’t have to be this bad.

What Do I Care About Now?

I am pretty intrigued by the way Grace threw out her real age in a conversation with Nick and Elena. She has nothing to fear anymore! She’s so chill about aging! What could go wrong? I assume that Nick and Elena maneuvering for Nick to be on house arrest in Grace's house specifically has to do with the fact that Grace is 82. She’s gonna find out that Nick is allowed to be with her because she’s ancient and helpless and the court took pity. Or something like that. She’s going to feel betrayed on top of feeling stifled and overwhelmed by Nick’s presence. I want to see where this goes for sure.

Other than that, and other than the fact that I really do continue to believe this show is moving in a direction in which Grace and Frankie will choose each other, I feel very whatever about this whole thing. I love this show and I will always appreciate this show for giving me some incredible characters to spend years of my life writing about, and for bringing me some pretty amazing friendships. Speaking of those friendships, yesterday @ellydash and @telanu and I were talking about some of the incredible TV we’ve watched recently, like Ted Lasso and Hacks and Fleabag and Killing Eve, and how great it feels to watch beautifully written TV crafted by writers who are profoundly—organically yet intentionally—attuned to even the most minor character’s rhythm. The disappointment of these first few episodes of the new G&F season feels like a mild disappointment rather than a sharp heartbreak, and that has a lot to do with being deeply invested in other shows that could also go in all kinds of different directions but with writing I fundamentally trust.

Also Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are my forever faves and my appreciation for their performances and general awesomeness onscreen and in life is undiminished. So that’s pretty cool.

[mcmusing]

One of the ways White Collar stands apart from other law procedurals and television in general is the consistency of the protagonists in regards to personality, growth, relationships, etc. It flubs up certain details. Such as when and how Neal had that trusting partners-in-con dynamic with Matthew Keller and where Kate fits in for them to be in a triangle with her. And how on Earth has Mozzie not met Keller until season one or two? Yet Keller talks as if they all knew each other way back in the day. But that's a lengthy post for another time.

Starting with Family Business in season four, the show becomes.... strange. This is due to the forced elements ushered in with James. Peter and Mozzie went from finding this hobo supremely suspicious to pushing for Neal to give him a chance. Keep in mind this is quite possibly Peter's most protective season towards Neal. And conveniently for the last episode, Mozzie continues not trusting James. I also just realized we never get June's take on any of this yet she or Cindy had to be the ones letting him up to Neal's apartment. Why would beautiful, physically vulnerable little Cindy open the door for some hairy vagabond? Especially when no one was home with her until Mozzie and Neal showed up. Dude had a gun! She's not some naive rich girl, either. She comes from a crime lineage, too!

Okay, let's dive all the way in here.

From baseballs to slingshots. Peter, stop making other dads look lame.

Also, love the reminder that Neal likes working with Peter, not the law.

Season Four Papa Peter

Brass Tracks

The sad thing about this episode is that it starts off well with Peter and Neal working together with all animosity vanquished. After the cardiac arrest of Peter almost being assassinated in his car, I get uncomfortable to the point of, not exaggerating, feeling close to violated.

Look, I get it. Peter almost died and his wife is obviously frantic. But El ordering Neal to lie to Peter's face made me sick. Neal not only did NOT want to do it, Peter knew it right away and blamed him for it. Neal's already been through the ringer this season and El guilt trips him into deceiving Peter. Chill, I don't hate El, but after this straight through season six, she's weird and wishy-washy to watch. She tries to get between Neal and Peter except for when she's randomly making Peter sound like the bad guy. Everything negative in their lives is Neal's fault yet Mozzie can do absolutely no wrong in her eyes. Neal has always been respectful and appreciative towards her, but he's the metaphorical stepchild. At least when Peter stepchild-ed Mozzie in season five, that was more justified. It sucks because El was the *one* non-nagging wife in a crime procedural

What's worse is the events that go down in season four really aren't Neal's fault. Though he endangered himself doing so, he tried to keep everybody out of his search for answers. When he found out about James, he wanted nothing to do with him, but everyone goaded him into getting to know the deadbeat. James betraying everyone and framing Peter for murder? NEVER would have happened if Neal had not been pushed by his actual loved ones into harmonizing with the hobo! All he wanted was to finally confront his past and all it did was leave him in an even worse mental state.

Points for Papa Peter, though. Not even El's interference and sabotaged brakes could keep Peter from helping his boy.

Empire City

I've only seen this one once. Blah, blah, blah, Mozzie's a cabby this week. Peter has to sneak around precious El to stay on top of things with Neal. Because this lame little scavenger hunt for an evidence box is soooo much more dangerous than a bomb-attached submarine, almost starting an international incident to save an innocent American, multiple gunmen, Keller, and trying to escape an island loaded with bounty hunters, right?

Shoot the Moon

Only saw this once, too. I can't even enjoy the juxtaposition between the Burkes and the younger couple. El acts recklessly and finally admits to making Neal lie to Peter. Yet again, she is the one person Peter never holds accountable. That's what infuriates me. Not protagonists doing wrong, but facing no real consequences or feelings of shame for it.

The Original

Yay, another uncomfortable episode. Another woman is to blame this time. I know Hughes' replacement isn't meant to be liked but I cannot stand this fake smiling, condescending, bureau butt-kissing wench. She strikes a particular nerve with me because she's obviously younger than Peter yet she has the nerve to speak with superiority towards him. I. Hate. That. I HATE elder disrespect. I'm not saying blindly follow everything they say, but that needless backtalk?!  So glad this shrew only stuck around for two episodes.

Speaking of White Collar invading a-holes, hairy hobo comes back. On the phone, James only cares about his freedom, never asking how Neal is doing through all of this insanity. Ugh, those wannabe 'heartfelt' moments between them. Calling Neal 'kiddo' and going 'atta boy' when Neal submitted a perfectly replicated sculpture. First, Neal's- EXCLUSIVE- nicknames are James Bonds and Sundance and his- EXCLUSIVE- terms of endearment are Peter Pan, Cary Grant, and comrade. And that look on Peter's face as Neal explained about chicken sexers? He showed 10x more pride without speaking compared to James' empty words.

Did Neal want any part of this relationship or was he just being compliant with his elders' bad advice? Even when they're friendlier, he can't mask his hostility towards this dude. James asks why Neal doesn't paint his own stuff and Neal resentfully tells him he can't do originals because he doesn't have a real name to attach to them. A very sad reminder as to why the concept of truth is so foreign to Neal. When James tries to get him to go behind Peter's back, Neal abruptly snaps that Peter is his real dad. In the next episode, Neal shares that tidbit with Peter himself.

In the Wind

Lord, help. Neal refers to James as 'Dad' in this episode more than once. This poor baby us swimming in the Stockholm. Writers, just put up signs that say James Sucks and Peter Succeeds. This worthless hobo can't get Neal's girlfriends right. Kate is the one who DIED in the traumatizing explosion, you barely-blue-eyed buffoon! Peter has a whole ratings score sheet on Neal's girls. He goes all suspicious/disapproving parent on anyone but Sara (I love you, Alex!).

Butch risks his reputation and freedom for his Sundance again- I can't believe he had on Neal's anklet. Why he referred to James as Neal's family I will never know. Peter was friggin mentored by Kramer and refused to let him take custody of Neal. He never even met Taylor yet got put off by Neal saying he was excited to work on his case. Peter shot Vincent Adler with no warning! Just thought I'd list the older males who had actual chemistry with Neal. Oh yeah, throw Billy Dee Williams in there, too. You know what? We're putting all the black dudes in. Jones, all two scenes of Hale (burn, Keller, burn), and Byron. It's a sin and shame that Neal shares more personality, fashion sense, crime style, and desire for peaceful domesticity with June's late husband than his simp sperm donor.

Oh, even more forced genetic comparisons. We get it, blue eyes. James acts like he has Melissa Sue Anderson's sky blue peepers. Height? What height?! James is 5'10 and Neal is 5'11- wow is that pathetic. James can't even do Peter's underarm comfort tuck. Standing next to Mozzie doesn't make Neal tall. He's an oompa loompa next to Peter.

One thing. Neal wanted James to do one thing- not kill anyone. This effin’ hobo psycho…. Nothing about this ending makes sense. Neal and Sara were together this whole time? In the tape and present, Ellen believed James’ innocence yet her evidence proved otherwise? What was the point of ANY of this?! This SOB James…. Almost hit Neal. As the kid desperately pleaded with him to exonerate Peter. How did two selfish, self-absorbed, weak-willed lumps of garage provide chromosomes to the Nealy?!!!!

It genuinely amazes me that Neal isn’t suicidal after this. He’s worse now than when he started this season. His father really was the villain all along and in trusting him, Neal’s real father was taken from him. This is on top of Neal feeling responsible for Ellen’s death and El guilt-tripping him. Funny enough, none of this is Neal’s fault. Every time he did things honestly, bad resulted. Thank God for the enduring love between Neal and Peter, even when tension lurks between them and people try to pry them apart.

As additionally risqué as TV and film try to be, such content lacks originality and maturity. They just want to cater to the lowest common denominator. Pretend sex and dramatic clichés are synonymous with adult edginess. To have a program stay afloat for five years dependent entirely on a small, consistent cast and the ****platonic**** love between the two main leads is a feat I doubt will be achieved in my lifetime again.

Hope this wasn’t too much of a downer 💞

[rexeipts]

Monday morning rewatch thoughts:

I am in my feels, very angry at this episode.

Annie had little to no story so skipping her this time around.

Ruby & Stan:

- Stanimal trying to get the girls to strike was great, and I want to see him (not Beth) run the strip club so bad. I hope that is the storyline they take us down.

- Ruby and Stan once again are king and queen of communication. These two are such an excellent example of healthy and happy marriage.

- Ruby biting a lime at Stan’s replacement gave me life in the montage

Beth & Dean:

That’s who Beth gets paired with this week. Dean. Not Rio. Because that’s how mad I am at her.

- Dean on the bike ride scene was once again far too long and wasted precious screen time. I forced myself not to fast forward through that scene. And you know what I noticed? Dean literally compares being sexually assaulted in prison to being someone’s wife on a honeymoon and being forced to have a baby put inside you. Because that is how Dean sees his fucking wife and marriage. Literal other convicts sexually assaulting someone in prison is like them thinking you’re their wife on a honey moon. Let that fucking sink in. And no, I don’t think that was intentional characterization by the writers. That is just existing as a metaphor these writers chose to use while trying to continue a Dean redemption arc.

- Dean leaving the hot tub when the other guys were shitting on Beth for being a buzz kill was an attempt at showing “growth”. But it’s not. It’s fucking table stakes. See above mention of non consensual sex being like a wife.

- How Beth does not realize this is another of dean’s idiotic schemes and poor money decisions is beyond me.

- I am relieved only in that Beth looked upset after getting Rio arrested this time. Good. Be upset. You had a choice. I’m so mad at Beth right now. I’m honestly starting to think she deserves Dean.

- Beth, honestly you think Rio would hurt your kids? Then why turn him in? You’re so scared of him then why risk it? Choosing him would have meant protecting your kids if you look at it factually, he threatened your family if you turned him in. Like she’s just dumb at this point? The writers have characterized her as dumb. Did she conveniently forget season 1 when he got out? I mean for real? Do these writers even watch previous seasons?

- Beth being with Dean literally undermines all feminism about the show. I have said that before and will say it again. Dean is a cancer on this show’s fun. Pun intended.

- Beth uses her sweet housewife voice on Nick. Literally everyone but Rio. And she literally flirts with Nick. You’re literally married Beth. Divorce Dean before you flirt with yet another person.

Rio & Nick:

- Baby Rio looked like Rio I thought. Him drawing a boxer was heart breaking. Because he literally wanted that his entire life. The last flashback scene made it seem like he wanted it for money. Nick tells him he doesn’t need boxing because they have a way to get money now, but Rio literally wanted boxing from childhood. And Nick ripped that away from him. Nick gave him no choice. Not because he wanted him to learn a lesson, because he wanted to use him. Rio is Nick’s designated fall guy.

- Rio = good egg, Nick bad, better be fucking FORESHADOWING FOR RIO GETTING SOMETHING NICE FINALLY THIS SEASON. At least the writers told us that pretty openly.

- The champ champ champ now all makes sense

- Who is Rio’s coach and can we please have a cheesy storyline where the coach is the only one to ever be on his side

- What is he having them print for? The girls point it out like why does he need all of that?

- Him telling Beth he does need her? No he doesn’t. That was actually a very sweet line. The way he looked at her, he’s in love with her guys. Like his face said yes I need you because I can’t seem to give you up. He doesn’t need her for money. It’s unfortunate they chose to dirty it up with him threatening her family.

- Rio grows from the ashes. He is the designated fall guy who rises from the ashes to be untouchable. Hence Phoenix I guess. Sure.

- I actually like Nick being in the show. First because I’m mad at Beth. But mostly because he is the only character introducing a new dynamic. He is the only thing that’s not repetitive. The only fresh storyline. And he’s already making her talk about Rio. But also, would it fucking kill either of them to say the man’s damn name? But also I like the actor and think he’s pleasant to look at on screen, sue me.

- Oh look, Nick, another man telling Beth Rio is too dangerous for her when she LITERALLY SHOT HIM. Do you all REALIZE SHE IS NOT A DELICATE FUCKING LAMB.

- I am no longer convinced that Rio had a plan all this time, not after rewatching the car scene. It seems like Rio was ready to kill her, mostly because he doesn’t know another choice, and Nick pointed out the obvious. Unless Rio is playing Nick. But truth be told, Rio threatening her family was ooc. And I’m holding on to the fact that he said family, aka Dean Annie Ruby who he has threatened before, and she took it to mean kids. I’m also holding on to the fact that Rio puts on masks. He puts on cold gang banger mask, he tries to manipulate and find new ways to incentivize beth. If you look at it that way, as him trying to get her to choose him rather than a plot of trying to get her to turn him in, it’s heartbreaking. He is so desperate to get her to pick him he literally pulled out his final option. His only remaining incentive that he hasn’t tried on her. EDIT: UNLESS Rio is playing Nick too. Because now? SS trusts Beth. And Nick trusts Rio. Nick thinks Rio and Beth aren’t on the same side. That Beth turned Rio in and Rio’s murderous over it. And Rio can use Beth to take Nick down without Nick seeing them coming. I hope they’re going for that. Because that would be genius. And would really be Rio 100 steps ahead, and would make the whole episode make sense in terms of his characterization.

- The arrest scene was heart breaking. The complete betrayal in his eyes was so sad. As others have stated, choosing to slam him on a table, while yes it is realistic to how he would likely be treated in the real world, was not necessary. He wasn’t resisting and was literally just standing there. Idk why the writers feel the need to be “realistic” in some moments and not in others. Poor choice. But what I did appreciate was him staring at Beth. Like she was forced to face him this time. With his face shoved against a table while she stands there being cuffed gently. She did that. She didn’t see him arrested on tv. She didn’t run away after shooting him. She had to stand there in his gaze looking at the betrayal on his face. Good. I’m sorry but she deserved it. She needs to face the damn consequences of her actions. Sorry I’m upset with her RN.

- At this point I believe Rio is in love with Beth. And it seems the writers are actually pushing metaphors and moments that make us sympathize with Rio and see Nick as the bad guy. I do think Beth will eventually get there/realize her feelings for Rio later this season but it might be too little too late. Time will tell.

Promo/Thoughts going forward:

- I like Phoebe and don’t mind her being around

- Rio and Beth on a bench again is good news to me. On the same bench.

- Idk if it’s a time jump but Rio comes in with a fresh hair cut, new wardrobe, and a tan looking like he just had a hot girl summer and is feeling great, over his ex, and is ready to fuck shit up.

- I want to see Rio remind Beth that she betrayed him personally. I want her to have to face that. It’s not just she betrayed him professionally. I want to see him reject her, I want to see her flirt or bat her lashes at him and him to be like nope sorry. Just for a minute though like just one episode lol. And only because I think it will make her realize her feelings for him.

- Beth and Rio v Nick please. Just give us something fucking new.

- These writers had an amazing path they could have gone down of the housewife partnering with a gang banger. It would have been fun, plenty of comedic gold available, and plenty of options for conflict between them and with external forces. And instead they chose this. I feel sometimes like this show would have been way better if it wasn’t on NBC. This story, this chemistry, belonged with writers who would realize its potential. That’s what I find disappointing.

[ao3bronte]

when chaos reigns [the sirens come to play]

A Merman AU. (Rated T with some suggestive language.) Now on AO3! READ PROLOGUE - PART 2 HERE!

[Part 3]

Covid-19 forced a lot of people to stay stuck in their homes until they inevitably went mad and uploaded cringe videos of themselves dancing to Blinding Lights on TikTok. But Adrien Agreste, having been unable to leave his underwater ivory tower since the mysterious disappearance of his mother, really doesn’t know any different. 

“Final question. Who was the fifth king of the Sea of Okhotsk?”

Slumped against his seagrass cushion, Adrien sighs into his palm. “The Sea of Okhotsk doesn’t have a king. They have clans and elders.”

“Excellent,” Nathalie Sancoeur responds, wordlessly motioning for him to stop slouching. “I think that concludes political history for this evening. Onto diplomacy—”

“Can you give me a minute?” Adrien tries not to give away his intentions as he glances through a porthole. “I think Father is home and I’d like to greet him.”

Nathalie raises a brow. “He won’t change his mind, you know.”

“Didn't we just talk about erosion?” With a firm flick of his tail, Adrien makes his way towards his usually barred bedroom door. “It works on rocks, so why can’t it work on him?”

“Your father is not a rock, Adrien.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Adrien murmurs under his breath, leaving anyway. He snakes his way through the narrow halls of his palatial home towards Father’s atelier and hopes he doesn’t miss him; he rarely sees Father at all these days...sometimes it feels like Adrien hardly knows him at all.

Especially when he’d announced that Adrien was going to mate with his betrothed, whether he liked it or not!

“Good afternoon, Father.” Adrien straightens and bows his head in greeting, swallowing painfully as his father peers down at him from his pedestal. “I’m thankful that you made it back home safely.”

His father sighs. “If you’re here to argue with me once again—”

“But Father!”

“You are NOT getting out of this arrangement! I already told you!”

“Please, Father. Hear me out—”

“I have no intention of letting you leave this kingdom,” his father rages, slashing his hand through the water with enough force to shake the entire structure around them. “Everything you need is right here where I can keep an eye on you. I will not have you outside in this dangerous world.”

“It's not dangerous, Father. I'm always stuck in here by myself. Why can't I leave our home? Why can’t I explore the Ligurian Kingdom and make friends just like everyone else?”

“Because you’re not like everyone else! You are my son! You are the heir to my—” his father stops himself and pauses to gather his composure, his eyes ablaze with discontent. “Adrien, the kingdom of the Tyrrhenian Sea is relying on me to unite our families. You don’t want to disappoint an entire kingdom, do you?”

Adrien’s shoulders cave. “No.”

“Then don’t continue to disappoint me. Return to your studies immediately and do not trouble me with this matter again.” His father turns and ushers him away with a shoo of his webbed fingers. “Nathalie, where is the sentimonster you promised for the administrator? M. Damoclès has wronged me for the last time.”

“It will be finished this evening,” Nathalie responds, her fingers gently toying with the enamel brooch hanging from her neck. 

“When I hired you as my assistant, you assured me that you could complete tasks on time.”

“I did.” Nathalie flicks her crimson tail in irritation. “And I will continue to serve your interests in a timely fashion. Is there anything else I can do for you at this time, sir?”

The imposing interim leader of the Ligurian Kingdom simply pinches the bridge of his nose. “That is all. Ensure Adrien’s bedroom is secured immediately. And get on land as soon as possible to finish your spellcasting; I didn’t hire a sea witch for her to rest on her laurels.”

“Of course, your Regency.”

~

“You’re not going to tell on me, are you?”

Nathalie tries not to smirk as her sheepish charge continues to wriggle his way through the barred porthole in his bedroom. “That depends entirely on what you plan on doing with your freedom, providing you can get your dorsal fin uncaught.”

“I’m—” Adrien grunts, desperately trying to shimmy his backside through the stone barricade. “—I want to go back to where you took me before!”

Nathalie quirks an eyebrow as he finally manages to free his dorsal fins and slither outside his bedroom relatively unscathed. “Humans are not to be trifled with.” 

“Says the sea witch who can transform into one!”

“My Miraculous doesn’t exactly work underwater.” Nathalie explains, raising a sculpted brow. “I don’t suppose you plan on visiting the grotto?”

Adrien nods in earnest. “The flowers are out and I wanted to see them again! And there aren’t any humans there, so I’ll be fine!”

Flower pollen, of course, is like catnip to merpeople. One whiff of the stuff and it’s Boogie Nights for anyone with a tail and a propensity for caterwauling sea shanties. 

“Be back by nightfall.” Nathalie tells him, having orchestrated this escape since the very beginning. She watches him swim away as fast as his tail will take him none the wiser, and grazes her nails down the curved edges of her Peacock Miraculous, the likes of which holds the immeasurable magic of a mermaid on a mission that will surely bring the Mediterranean to its knees.

[Part 4]

For all of Marinette’s near compulsive need to prepare for things ahead of time, it can be assumed that she is most definitely not prepared to find a merman scooching his body up on shore like a sea lion and shoving his face into an oleander bush. 

And her screams of shock and horror most certainly confirm it.

“Aaaaaauuugh!!!!!” Marinette, having just crawled through a small cavern to a grotto to investigate the golden gleam, falls flat on her face yet again. “Oh my god! Oh my god!”

The merman, equally as frightened, shrieks and rolls backwards as ungainly as one can when you’ve just been caught shoving your face into an oleander bush. She catches a brief glimpse of his face — speckled and smeared with golden pollen — before he promptly flings himself back into the sea.

Marinette is horrified. Astounded. Dumbfounded! Merpeople are impossible to find and even more impossible to survive! And she just—it was right in front of her! Green and gold and—she saw it! With her very own eyeballs! It was there! Huffing flowers! 

For the second time in almost as many minutes, Marinette sits down and stares dumbly at the waves.

Merpeople kill humans for fun...and she just survived! Holy crap!

Marinette keeps one eye on the watery mouth of the grotto and the other on her surroundings. She never would have spotted the grotto had she not performed the act of becoming a human pancake back out on the main beach; the entrance to this cave is so small and so hidden that Marinette wonders if anyone has ever discovered it before. It’s about the size of a lorry and covered in moss and spindly vines that meander up towards the small window of sunlight at the top. The limestone walls are strangely warm here, radiating heat and spurring the growth of the plants that are blooming as if it were summertime. Even the sand is different here; startlingly white with speckles of black and grey, the tiny shoreline creeps down into a cerulean underground cavern alight with bioluminescence.

It’s magnificent, but she’s not safe here. “Are you still there?”

Marinette nearly enters cardiac arrest when a mop of golden hair suddenly pops up from the vibrant depths. He heard her? Can he understand her?

The merman blinks. “Uhhh… I…”

“Are you waiting for me to leave? Because I can leave,” Marinette says, pointing towards the tiny crevice she’d just crawled through, “But then I’d have to take my eyes off of you and then you could drag me into the ocean and drown me and then my grandmother would be looking all over for me and then the police would have to come here and try to find my dead body and my parents, they’re stuck in Paris because of the coronavirus and—”

“—No, no! I was just trying to—” The merman disappears under the water for a moment, only to emerge at the edge of the beach. “—I didn’t mean to scare you! You scared me!”

Marinette screeches and scurries backwards to create some more distance between them. “How do you know how to speak French?!”

“How do you know how to speak Nereid?”

“I asked you first!”

“Well, I don’t speak French. I speak Nereid!”

“What’s that, merman language?”

“Yeah.” The merman cocks his head. “What’s French? Human language?”

“Well, for some humans, yes.” Marinette crosses her arms across her chest and narrows her eyes. “Wait a minute...are you making fun of me?”

The merman flashes his gleaming set of triangular teeth just long enough for Marinette to notice that he has not just one row of razor-sharp teeth in his mouth, but two. “I wouldn’t dream of causing a commocean.”

Marinette’s nose wrinkles at the pun. “Now you really are making fun of me.”

“I mean, maybe.” The merman winks. “It’s kind of fun seeing you turn pink. Is that a human thing too?”

“I’m not turning pink.” Marinette harrumphs, turning her shoulder away from him. “And humans turn pink because...because they’re warm. I’m just warm, that’s all.”

“It’s probably because of your...” The merman gestures to her raincoat and jeans. “Do you need help getting out of them?”

With all of the poise of a particularly erratic squirrel, Marinette simply splutters. “What?!” 

“Well, you must be trapped in them or you would have taken them off already. We get stuck in your human garbage all the time, it’s awful.” The merman opens his mouth and taps against one of his larger teeth with his fingernail. “Here, I can cut them off for you if you want—”

“You’re not coming anywhere near me with those things!” Marinette recoils, scooching towards the oleander bushes on her bottom. “You could rip me apart!”

“I’m not going to kill you!” The merman exclaims with a huff. “Besides, if I was hungry, I’d have eaten you already!”

Marinette’s eyes nearly bulge out of her skull. “You eat people?!”

“Sometimes.” The merman shrugs as if it’s no big deal, “Haven’t you ever had human fingers before? Crunchy, yet satisfying.”

“No! That’s disgusting!”

The merman’s straight face dissolves into laughter at Marinette’s expression of utter horror. “Now, I’m actually making fun of you!”

“Well, it’s not funny!” Marinette grabs a handful of sand and hurls it at him, dusting his face and hair. He continues to giggle at her expense and Marinette has had just about enough of him. “Stop it!”

“Sorry!” The merman grapples to get himself together. “I just wanted to show you that I’m funny, I swear! I've never really been out on my own before and I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”

“Joking about eating people is not how you make friends,” Marinette grumbles, still keeping a wary eye on the merman before her until the implications of his words catch up with her ears. “Wait, you don’t have any friends? How come?”

“Father doesn’t let me out of my home...ever.” The merman rubs the back of his head nervously. “I kind of escaped to come see the flowers, which is how I met you!”

“Is...is that normal for merpeople?” 

“To come see the flowers? Yeah, we love flowers!”

Marinette shakes her head. “No, I meant the ‘being stuck in your house’ thing. Why don’t you...you know, swim around and, uh...talk to people?”

“It doesn’t matter.” The merman waves her off, looking a little uncomfortable before turning his attention back to her. “What does matter is that we can be friends! Would you like to be friends?” The merman shimmies forwards with excitement and thrusts his hand right under her nose. “I’m Adrien! Pleased to make your aquantance.”

Marinette looks at his outstretched hand and hesitates. “You’re not going to pull me into the water and drown me, are you?”

“I’m not a dolphin, you know, I have manners.” Adrien huffs, hoisting himself further up onto the sand bank. “See? Only my tail fins are in the water now, I couldn’t pull you in even if I tried.”

Marinette carefully reaches out and gently clasps his hand, revelling in the strange texture of his skin. He cups his other hand over hers and she mimics the gesture, smiling a little as he squeezes his fingers and then shakes once before letting go. “There. Now we’re friends!”

“I don’t know about that,” Marinette says, still keeping a wary eye on the merman in front of her. He settles back down on his elbows and Marinette’s eyes are drawn to his chest as he brushes the granules of ivory sand from his sides, his muscles clenching at the movement. “You’re a merman and I’m a human. We aren’t supposed to be friends.”

[NEXT PART]

[crypticfandomtrash]

Wammy’s House Headcanons 2

There were several other kids besides A and B in the Successor Program before it was reformed. Their codenames were C, D, E, F, X, and Y. The first program went from May 20, 1995 to June 10, 2002. A and B both joined at the start. They were both 12.

C’s real name is Chusi Nehoitewa. He is Native American, hailing from the Hopi tribe. He speaks English and snippets of his ancestral language. His parents gave him his name because his mother saw a snake and a flower. Chusi means “snake flower”. His birthday is September 12, 1985.

He is about 5′7 in height. He has tan skin, black hair, and brown eyes. He has decent strength and musculature because he works out sometimes.

His parents died when he was 13 because the room’s ceiling collapsed. He was injured when he tried to save them. His injury stunted his growth and left some scars. 

Chusi was taken to Wammy’s not long after the tragedy and joined the “old program” immediately in 1999. He dropped out due to the pressure after only two months. He did not rejoin even after the reform, choosing to study biology instead. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, he is 18-19.

D’s real name is Domeka Izaguirre. He is Basque and is from the larger part Basque Country in Spain (the other part is in southern France). He speaks the Basque language (Euskara), Spanish, and English. His birthday is March 4th, 1987.

He is 5′9 and a half (as of pre-timeskip Death Note). His hair is dark brown and his eyes are green. He’s somewhat skinny. He is a femboy and enjoys crossdressing. 

His father died when he was 14 and his mother could no longer afford to take care of him because she had two other children and had to maintain the farmhouse. After some time in the local orphanage, he was taken to Wammy’s. Domeka joined the program in early 2002, when he was 15.

While he started the Successor Program before its reform, he joined towards the end of the “old program” and didn’t develop serious mental health issues. After the program was reformed, he continued to be a part of it. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, he is 16-17.

E’s real name is Elspeth Abernathy. She is Scottish. She speaks English and bits of Gaelic. Her parents were arrested and jailed for running a blackmarket when she was 9. They were not abusive. She was put in foster care and bounced around because she was difficult to deal with. Wammy’s took her in a month before her 12th birthday. Her birthday is May 8th, 1986.

She is 5′3. Her hair is ginger and her eyes are blue. She is decently muscular because she often gets into fights.

Elspeth joined the Successor Program when she was 14 (which was in 2000). She is skilled in lock-picking and similar things due to her upbringing. Because of that, she can think like a criminal, which is a useful skill for a detective and 

While she was not diagnosed with a disorder, she does have anger issues because she witnessed organized crime violence. They got worse during the “old program”. She quit the Successor Program after it was changed and resumed regular classes. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 17-18.

F’s real name is Fruzsina Kurucz. She is Hungarian. Her parents were quite poor and sometimes resorted to pretty crimes to make ends meet. She started stealing when she was 5 and earned a negative reputation. Her parents lost custody of her when she was 8 because of their criminal history. She speaks Hungarian and English, though her English is still rough. Her birthday is January 20, 1987.

She is 5′4. She has brown hair and amber eyes. Due to a birth defect she has an extra finger on each hand. 

After being transferred to two foster families, Fruzsina was sent to Wammy’s when she was 10. She joined the Successor Program in 1998, a year later. She excelled at first, but the stress made her irritable and she started causing trouble with B and E. Her grades began to drop as a result. She quit entirely after A committed suicide.

She doesn’t know what she wants to study or do for a living, choosing to cause trouble just like she did when she was in the program. The orphanage’s staff worry that she is going to end up in jail. As of pre-timeskip Death note, she is 16-17.

X’s real name is Xander van Herten. He is Dutch. His unknown parents left him at an orphanage in his town. The name of the town was assigned as his surname since nobody knows who his parents are. He speaks Dutch and English, which he started learning when he was brought to Wammy’s. His birthday is July 17, 1984.

He is 5′11 (pre-timeskip). He has blonde hair and blue eyes. His most noticeable feature is a big birthmark on his left leg. He is pretty burly and strong.

His orphanage contacted Wammy when he was 10, asking if they could send him to England because of his ADHD. It was agreed and he arrived at the Winchester Wammy’s the next day. Xander joined the “old program” in 1998, when he was 14.

When the program was reformed after the A and B incidents, he chose to leave it and play sports instead. Football (known as soccer in my country, although I call it by its proper name) is his favorite sport. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, he is 19-20.

Y’s real name is Yuliya Smirnova. She is Russian. Her mother was a prostitute who gave her up as soon as she was born, though there was a note that gave her name and surname. Her father is unknown and was probably one of her mother’s clients. She speaks Russian, English, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. Her birthday is August 2, 1984.

She is 5′6 and three quarters. She has blonde hair and brown eyes. Her features are soft and pretty. She isn’t thin or voluptuous, being rather average in body shape and weight.

The poor conditions of the orphanage where she grew up gave Yuliya a rather bleak view on life. Quillsh Wammy visited Russia when she was 6 and noticed her plight. He took her back to England and her life drastically improved. She made friends and became a much happier child.

She joined the “old program” in late 1998, when she was 14. Learning languages is easy for her and she started taking several classes. While she was affected by the strict standards and pressure of the program, she stayed when it was reformed. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 19-20.

[sokkastyles]

Mai: The truth is, I guess I don’t know you. All I get is a letter? You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart.

I’ve seen some people say that Zuko was in the wrong here because what he does by breaking up with Mai via letter is the equivalent of breaking up via text message. The show tells us that Zuko broke up with her via letter because he didn’t want to get her involved for her own safety. However, there's another layer to it.

This is the equivalent of breaking up with your girlfriend via text message if you and your girlfriend were part of a violent terrorist organization and your entire relationship was founded on being part of that organization, and your girlfriend was best friends with your sister who is second in command of that organization. Oh, and the reason you broke up was because you realized that you did not believe in the ideals of the organization anymore, and literally had to defend yourself from being killed in order to leave. Zuko's not just protecting Mai here, but himself. His whole relationship to her is part of a life where he was abused and leaving the relationship is something he needs to do to realize his own agency. That's not Mai's fault, but it is what it is.

Not only is talking to Mai about this putting her in danger, but Zuko has every reason to believe, given all of his previous interactions with her, that she would not have responded well if he had had a conversation with her about it, that she would see his defection as traitorous and that his life might be in danger, considering how she reacts in this scene and won’t listen when Zuko tries to explain his motives. Zuko has changed his views of the fire nation, but Mai hasn’t, and their conflicting values are shown throughout the time they spend together. And Mai might be getting fed up with Azula and definitely a victim of that relationship, but as of “Nightmares and Daydreams,” which was the last time Mai and Zuko spoke, Mai was still a close confidant of Azula, as evidenced by her casually mentioning a war meeting that Azula brought up that Zuko did not even know about. Zuko has every reason to believe that when push came to shove, Mai would choose Azula, her childhood friend, over a boyfriend whose ideals she does not share, nor does she understand. Which might not have been true, but Zuko spent most of the relationship with her unsure of what she wanted from him and whether she actually cared about him, and given his history of abuse, and hers, I can definitely see why he would think that.

To be fair, I think part of the reason that Mai is so blindsided by it is because Zuko doesn’t try to talk to her about it, because as I said before, Zuko throughout his relationship with Mai was trying to be what he thought he should be. It’s hard to blame him for that, though, considering that Zuko’s whole fire nation identity is tied to being conditioned by abuse to believe that who he really was wasn’t good enough. Because of this, he tends to not handle personal confrontations very well and has a fear of rejection. It took incredible bravery to stand up to his father, but in some ways I think it was easier because he was no longer looking for affirmation from his father. A confrontation with Mai would have been harder in this respect because he still cares about her. When she reads his words from the letter aloud to him, he’s literally hiding his face from her and curling in on himself. I understand why Mai wishes that her boyfriend had “looked her in the eye” when he broke up with her but I also understand why he couldn’t, and forcing the confrontation in this way is not going to help the situation.

He’s also sitting in an interrogation chair for added symbolism.

Which brings me to the fact that when this confrontation happens, Zuko has been arrested and imprisoned by Mai’s uncle, who expressed to Zuko his desire to punish him for breaking up with his niece. Then Zuko is dragged into an interrogation room while screaming “I didn’t do anything!” with no idea why he’s being brought there (other than the warden threatening him for breaking up with his niece.)

Mai says she knew that Zuko was there because her uncle is the warden, and given that in “The Boiling Rock, Part 1″ the warden recognized and spoke to Zuko personally after he was caught, we can infer that Mai’s uncle took the information of Zuko’s whereabouts either straight to his niece, and then Mai told Azula, or he told Ozai/Azula and Mai agreed to go along for the ride to pay a visit to her ex boyfriend. So that she could save him from imprisonment, torture, and/or death? No, so that she could yell at him. Which actually confirms that Zuko was right not to tell her when he was going to leave the fire nation.

I said before that I do not mind at all that Mai was sent to track down Zuko before book three. Childhood friends/crushes/acquaintances to enemies to lovers makes for some very interesting story conflict. (And we were robbed of getting to see Mai and Zuko actually fight each other somewhere during book two, which would have been a cool fight, as well as possibly fleshing out their relationship by including some dialogue about how these two characters feel about seeing each other again for the first time after three years.) But what matters is how people treat each other within the bounds of a relationship, so Mai going along with Azula to capture her ex who will either be a) dragged back, and this time with no chance of going back as an ally but as a prisoner, or b) killed, because she’s pissed at him for breaking up with her is not very compelling if the writers want us to believe in this relationship. It's hard to blame her for her and Zuko's bad relationship because Zuko entered into the relationship based on the lies he was telling himself about who he should be, but that also doesn't mean that the relationship should continue or that it would make sense that it would. And even in this scene the show is using her in the ways they use Azula and Ozai, as someone Zuko has to leave behind in order to become the person he is supposed to become.

He has to physically lock her in the cell to get away from her. Which as I also said before, is one of the few times he is active about the relationship. And when he does, he looks her in the eye.

...And walks away.

It’s not necessarily that I think Mai is a bad person, it’s that even in this episode, which is supposedly her redemption, she’s presented as an obstacle to Zuko’s growth as a character, which does a disservice to her character as well especially when we are supposed to believe they should end up together. The show never really seems sure about what they want her to be.

She also seems to think that she gets to define the terms of the relationship, but that he doesn’t have any say at all. Remember that in “The Beach,” she broke up with him. He was being a jerk but he also told her that he felt she didn’t care about anything (which really meant that he felt she didn’t care about him), and that wasn’t addressed at all. She decides by the end of the same episode that they’re dating again without either of them resolving their issues with each other.

When Mai betrays Azula to save Zuko, I initially thought that the reason she did it was because she realized that she loved him and was willing to save his life even if it meant sacrificing her relationship with him. That caring about him didn’t necessarily mean she was entitled to a relationship with him. “I’m saving the jerk who dumped me.” This fits nicely with the themes of the fire nation plotline, Zuko realizing his own agency to become a better version of himself (instead of becoming a worse version of himself to please his father or a pretty girl), and the theme that you can’t control other people, that love is better than selfishness, that permeates Azula’s story and also extends to Mai and Zuko, who both try to control each other at various points.

Then she came back in the finale and announced to him that they were back in a relationship and he was not allowed to break up with her ever again, so there goes that, I guess!

[johannas-motivational-insults]

Demons Plot Synopsis: Arc 1

Some chapters are more plot heavy and/or emotionally intricate than others and have much longer summaries, as I’ve tried to include the most relevant information to follow the plot and character/relationship growth.

Notable flashbacks are summarized in italics after the main chapter plot, including the character’s approximate age at the time. (The Horde doesn’t do birthdays, so they all change “age” at the same time regardless of actual birth date, but it’s not like Adora or Catra know their real birth dates anyway.)

Spoilers for Demons ahead!

Arc 1: chapters 1-6 (How Catra ends up locked up in Bright Moon)

Chapter 1: Unmasked (a.k.a. My mostly accurate prediction of Catra/SW’s season 2 dynamic)

Catra is woken by nightmares the morning after the Battle of Bright Moon and decides to visit their source: Shadow Weaver. She goes to the prison seeking validation and answers about why she was treated the way she was, but Shadow Weaver simply antagonizes her. She mocks Catra’s need for validation and her attachment to Adora, predicts she will fail quickly as second-in-command, and tells her she’s weak. Catra decides to show some strength by repaying some of her childhood abuse in the form of a beating.

Chapter 2: Shreds (a.k.a. Scorpia is best bug)

When the revenge beating fails to make Catra feel any better, she goes to the gym to release some energy and emotion. Scorpia finds Catra on the verge of a breakdown and suggests they move to the boxing ring, but unfortunately her attempts at camaraderie accidentally trigger some trauma responses. She tries to assure Catra that she would never hurt her like Adora did, but this only makes Catra feel worse as she realizes she’s using Scorpia and Entrapta and that she’s not the good person Adora thinks she is.

[6 y/o] Shadow Weaver draws out the prelude to a beating, blaming Catra for bringing this upon herself but assuring her too sweetly that it’s for her own good.

[4 y/o] A terrified Catra apologizes desperately to Shadow Weaver as she drags her to the prison by her ear, promising to be good. Shadow Weaver asks if she wants to be punished for lying as well, says there’s not a shred of goodness in her.

Chapter 3: (Not) My Fault (a.k.a. Adora, honey, please stop)

Meanwhile, Adora is in a great deal of pain after the scratches Catra gave her in the battle become badly infected. When Glimmer and Bow’s arguments that she needs to rest fail to convince her, Glimmer enlists the help of Queen Angella, who orders Adora back to her room. This causes a fight between Adora and Glimmer that turns nasty when Glimmer refers to Catra as an animal and Adora rebukes her language, which to Glimmer feels like Adora defending the person who attacked her home. Adora blames herself for the attack because Shadow Weaver always made her feel like Catra’s actions were her fault, and Glimmer and Bow try to convince her otherwise and urge her to prioritize herself for a change.

[15 y/o] Adora approaches Shadow Weaver about Catra’s strange, withdrawn behavior after she was sent away to train with senior cadets for several days and came back covered in bruises. Shadow Weaver says Catra deserves what she got and chides Adora for allowing Catra to become a distraction. Adora tries to get answers out of Catra, but Catra continues to hold her at a distance. Adora concludes that this is her fault because she kissed Catra in secret earlier that week and Catra must not be interested in her.

Chapter 4: Discipline (a.k.a. Ding dong, the witch is dead)

Back in the Fright Zone, Hordak attempts to bond with Catra and urges her to use her resentment to drive herself but to be disciplined in how she expresses it. Hordak sentences Shadow Weaver to death and sends Catra to the prison to collect her, prompting one final showdown between the two.

Shadow Weaver tells Catra this won’t make her feel any better and Catra assures her it isn’t about revenge, and if it was she’d be getting tortured. Shadow Weaver laughs at that assertion and tells Catra she only did what she needed to to teach her how to behave, and that Catra as second-in-command will soon have to do the same. Catra swears she will never be like her, but Shadow Weaver manages to make her snap and scratch her across the face. Catra storms out, faced with a new realization that Shadow Weaver manipulated her into pushing Adora away so Adora would believe Catra was disgusted by the kiss.

In the throne room, the Force Captains attend the execution and Hordak is disappointed by the fresh scratches on Shadow Weaver’s face. Catra is conflicted, torn between sympathy for Shadow Weaver and a thirst for revenge, but in the end Shadow Weaver’s death gives her no satisfaction, just as predicted.

[15 y/o] After finding out about the kiss, Shadow Weaver assaults Catra and threatens to send her away if she allows any more advances from Adora. It turns out Catra wasn’t training with senior cadets, as Adora was told, but locked up in the prison.

Chapter 5: Dislikeable (a.k.a. Superpal Trio fluff for the soul)

Days later, Catra continues to suffer from nightmares and seeks solace in the Superpal Trio. A careless remark by Scorpia and lack of tact from Entrapta cause her to lash out, but she apologizes to keep them on her side and appease her own guilt. They attempt to comfort Catra, which she pretends not to like, but end up overwhelming her with too much touch.

Scorpia interrogates Catra in private until she admits she’s restless because she knows now that there was a huge misunderstanding between her and Adora and thinks maybe if Adora had known how she’d felt she wouldn’t have left. Scorpia suggests Catra go to Bright Moon to tell Adora, clear the air and throw her off her game at the same time. Catra says that’s a dumb idea and teases Scorpia for her budding affections for Entrapta.

[9 y/o] Shadow Weaver grudgingly patches Catra up after a fight and berates her for causing trouble even though she didn’t start it. Shadow Weaver tells Catra she brings this upon herself by being so dislikeable and that even Adora doesn’t want to be friends with her, she just feels sorry for her.

Chapter 6: Vulnerability (a.k.a. Shit hits the fan)

Catra returns to Bright Moon the next night, a mere week after the battle. She attempts to sneak into the castle but is apprehended by Glimmer, who takes her to Adora because she thinks Adora needs closure. Adora convinces a reluctant Glimmer to leave her and Catra alone so they can talk. Catra reveals that Shadow Weaver is dead and Entrapta is alive, shocking Adora and sparking a fight about Adora’s betrayal in Thaymor and her failure to protect innocent people in the past, Catra in particular.

Catra is angered when Adora seems saddened by Shadow Weaver’s death, claiming Adora has no idea what Shadow Weaver did to her, and Adora agrees but says that’s Catra’s fault for never telling her. So Catra tells Adora what Shadow Weaver did to her after she kissed her and also admits she would have kissed Adora back if she could have. Adora is surprised Catra wanted her and Catra tells her what Shadow Weaver said before her death, that that was by design.

Adora tries to rightfully deflect blame for what happened to Catra back to Shadow Weaver, which pisses Catra off. She also reveals that she knew things were unfair but she felt powerless to stop it other than by overcompensating and sucking up to Shadow Weaver. Catra explains that that made her feel like Adora thought she deserved the abuse, which horrifies Adora. Catra accuses Adora of giving up on her after she defected and Adora realizes she might be right.

Catra realizes she’s reduced Adora to a puddle of guilt but doesn’t actually like it, so she attempts to comfort her. They share a mournful, desperate kiss that spirals out of control. They both lose their shirts, Catra quietly apologizing for the wounds on Adora’s back. To accommodate said wounds, Adora puts Catra on her back and starts lavishing her with kisses, but allowing such intimate touch from and ceding control to this person who hurt her sends Catra into a panic attack and she has to stop.

Glimmer teleports into the room just as they share another tender kiss, blinding them with a sparkle bomb so guards can rush in and arrest Catra. Glimmer defends her decision to Adora, saying she has to protect her kingdom. Adora tells Glimmer she’s selfish and a bad friend and threatens to never forgive her if any more harm comes to Catra. Glimmer says Catra probably deserved her past torture and Adora punches her in the face. Glimmer teleports away and Adora breaks down, realizing she’s hurt and alienated both her best friends.

[elizabethemerald]

Water Heals; Chap 4

AO3

Today was another of Katara’s visits. Azula felt like she was getting better at telling the days apart, and keeping track of the weeks as they passed. Katara had said that she would bring a guest this week. It would be the first time she had seen someone other than Katara, her brother, or the staff since she was admitted to the hospital. Azula had promised to be on her very best behaviour. 

She smiled her own private smile when the door to her room opened to show Katara, though she kept her face otherwise schooled. As a princess of the Fire Nation she wouldn’t let herself show all of her real emotions to outsiders like Katara’s guest. 

Behind Katara entered her brother, Sokka. Katara has talked quite a lot about her brother and what he had gotten up to recently. It would be interesting to meet him face to face, and for once, not on the other side of a conflict. 

It certainly seemed like peace was suiting him well. Sokka still had the build of a swordsman, though now he was really hitting his growth spurt, he was going to be tall, possibly even taller than Zuko. He had a slightly nervous air about him, though he was masking it well. He smiled a wide, easy smile upon seeing Azula. Her spine stiffened for a moment, fearing he was smiling because of her bonds. Before she could snap at his insolence he clapped Katara on the shoulder and took a seat. Perhaps he was just in a jovial mood?

Katara took the seat next to her brother, returning his smile. Azula felt a hint of color rise in her cheeks. Katara’s smile never failed to bring some warmth to her face, and set Salmonflies fluttering in her stomach. For some reason Sokka’s smile widened, his earlier nervousness dissipating. 

“So Azula!” He said. Azula was suspicious of his friendliness, but she supposed Katara had brought him along first for a reason. “Katara’s told me a lot about her visits with you. How have you been liking them?”

Katara had side eyed him at this question, but Azula felt their mutual companion was a safe enough conversation topic. 

“Her visits continue to be the highlight of my time here. Even at my most dower Katara’s smile brightens my day.” Azula said stiffly, as if she were giving a report to the war council. Her eyes flicked to Katara, and she couldn't help but notice a faint blush dusting Katara’s cheeks, her eyes down cast as she fiddled with her hair. She decided to quickly change the subject, not trusting Sokka not to stray too near sensitive topics. “And how about yourself? Katara has kept me informed on some of the inventions you have made.”

“Oh she has!” Sokka immediately pulled a sketch book out of his satchel. Azula leaned forward as close as she could to look at his drawings. Some of the sketches seemed almost infantile in quality, but as she was able to parse the information she could see he was trying to figure out a way to trap a fire bender’s lightning, so it could be used to power other inventions. “You see, if I can make this work we can create other things that could wildly improve life for the people of the world. I’m just trying to find some way to replicate the lake of Chi a fire bender uses to control and redirect lightning. Though its really hard to get a hold of some lightning to test my theories.”

“It should not be that hard to get.” Azula said with a smirk. “Would you like a free sample?”

Before he could respond Azula took a deep breath, pulling on her own lake of Chi and spat out a flash of lightning. Sokka jumped back with a yelp as the lightning flashed wildly around the room. Without the use of her hands to control and direct the lightning, she didn’t have any where near the control she usually did. She released the rest of her breath as a short pant of blue flame. Lightning bending was far harder than fire bending without hands. 

Katara jumped up, water flying to her hand from the pitcher in the room. Azula couldn’t help her flinch, still battling the fear that Katara was going to turn against her one day and try to kill her. Instead of forming a whip the water around her hands glowed with a strange light. Azula watched, her eyes wide in awe, as Katara used the water to heal any slight mark Sokka may have received. 

“That was rude Azula!” Katara said. Azula couldn’t help but feel a rush of guilt. She had promised Katara she would be on her best behaviour. She couldn’t stand the idea that Katara would take this as a sign to stop visiting her. 

“I’m sorry Katara.” Azula said, her eyes down cast. 

Katara was about to reply in her usual huff, but Sokka, now settled from his surprise, spoke. 

“You know Azula, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you apologize to literally anyone. I didn’t think you knew how to.” HIs words, heavy with sarcasm were at least a game Azula knew how to play. 

“I prefer to reserve my apologies for those who mean the most to me. Not water tribe peasants like yourself.” Azula said, putting her nose up in mock disdain, though she met Katara’s gaze, attempting a small joke based on their first conversation. Katara’s smile showed that the joke had landed, and again there was a dusting of a blush across her cheeks. “Though I guess since the war’s over, I should make right with those I can. Is there anything I should apologize to you for?”

“Suki.” 

With that single name, Azula felt her hard won control slipping. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. She had taken great pleasure in ensuring she was imprisoned and in making sure her incarceration was as unpleasant as possible. 

“Do you know what happened to her?” Azula asked, her voice sounding lifeless and mechanical even in her own ears. All she could remember was defeating Suki and shipping her off. 

“Yeah, me and Zuko broke her out of the Boiling Rock.” Sokka said. His voice sounded like it was coming from a cave. 

The Boiling Rock. The start of her fall. She had tried to kill her brother again there. Mai and Ty Lee had turned against her there. Not only had they shown their true colors but she had shown hers as well, first by trying to kill them, then by having them arrested. From there she had known that there was no one she could trust. Eventually everyone would betray her. And she deserved it. She was a monster after all. 

Azula was fading fast, her grasp on the moment slipping as her mind spiraled into the memories of her many failures. She was only distantly aware of a rapid yet hushed conversation between Sokka and Katara. They were probably discussing how to punish her for imprisoning Suki. 

“Did Katara ever tell you about the time I drank cactus juice?” Sokka said. The surprise of the strange sentence shook Azula from her dark spiral. 

“Isn’t cactus juice…” She was trying to focus her brain on the bizarre statement. 

“Hallucinogenic?” Sokka laughed. His laugh was loud. Different than Katara’s soft laugh. “Oh yeah it is. I spent a few hours absolutely out of my mind. I remember seeing a giant mushroom that I was sure was going to be my friend.”

Azula felt a crooked, broken smile creep up her face at the idea. 

“Or there was the time Toph trapped me in a hole in the ground. It felt like I was stuck there for hours. I promised to give up sarcasm and eating meat if I was able to get out. That didn’t last very long.” He said sarcastically. 

Her broken smile crept higher on her face, feeling less broken and more natural. 

“How about the story when me and Katara got sick, I spent the entire time thinking I was an earthbender! Then guess what the cure was?” He didn’t wait for Azula to guess instead continuing on excitedly. “Sucking on frozen frogs! Aang had to go fetch them while we were resting in our sleeping bags!”

Azula could see Katara’s own smile creeping higher on her face as her brother brought back some pleasant memories from their time traveling the world during the war. Azula could feel her own smile grow, a soft huff coming from her nose at the thought of Katara with a frozen frog on her face. 

“Oh or the time we tried to convince those guards that I was an earthbender!” Katara said. 

“That was a good one! Especially because that one guard thought that Momo was the earthbender! Not the brightest guard.”

“Can’t forget the whole adventure in the secret tunnel! I thought you would have a handprint on your forehead from facepalming for a week!”

Azula let out a short bark of a laugh. She felt more herself, like her mind was back in her body where it belonged and less like she was going to start sobbing. 

“It seems traveling with the Avatar wasn’t all hard work and battles.” Azula said. Her voice still sounded a little flat, but it was coming back to her regular tone. 

“It was a lot of work. And there were some things that are going to be in my nightmares for years.” Sokka said, his tone more serious than it had been since he arrived. “But that doesn’t mean it was all bad. Aang’s a fun loving guy. He wouldn’t let us stay to serious for to long.”

“When we first met him, he immediately wanted to go penguin sledding!” Katara said, her smile now her usual full faced and spirit-blessed smile. 

The conversation continued, Sokka carrying most of it, for the next hour or so. By the end Azula was exhausted from the social interaction, but she was happy. Sokka had caused her first genuine laugh in what felt like months, though she couldn’t tell exactly how long it had been. Katara had also seemed to enjoy having her brother there. She fell into good hearted bickering so easily with him, her smile brightening up the entire room, causing even more Salmonflies to buzz wildly in her stomach and a warm feeling to fill her chest. 

When it was finally time for Sokka and Katara to leave for the day, Azula stopped him. He stood at the door, Katara behind him in the hall looking over his shoulder. It took Azula a few moments to gather her words and force them out. 

“Sokka… I’m sorry.” The words felt painful as she pushed them out past the lump in her throat. She wanted to apologize for everything. For the harm she had caused during the war, for the harm her people had caused, even for throwing lightning at him just today, but she couldn’t get all those words. He seemed to understand the enormity of what she apologizing for and gave her a solemn nod. “Please tell Suki...I’m…”

“I will.” He nodded again, that same seriousness from earlier in his voice. 

With that the two Water Tribe siblings left. Azula was exhausted. Her body drained like she had fought for the entire afternoon. However her mind felt like it was fully active. They had given her much to think about. 

She had been inclined to dismiss Sokka, as a non bender, and as an oaf, he was never the same threat that Katara was. However he had clearly earned his place among the Avatar’s closest. He was cleverer than she had ever given him credit for, and he had the ability, almost uncannily, to switch between lighthearted and serious at a moment’s notice. She would have to think more about him. About his ease in forgiving her. About his inventions and ideas. 

Thinking of Sokka was significantly harder considering something else occupied her mind. Katara’s smile. Katara had seen her slipping, had noticed her reaction to the mention of Suki and the Boiling Rock. She had encouraged her brother to joke to offset the tension and help ground her back in her body. Katara had seen her, and seen through her, and some how still visited again and again, and still smiled and laughed with her, not at her, but with her. It was a lot to think about all at once. 

[anon-e-miss]

Prompt type thing? Jazz and Prowl with a none standard(for you) character as their sparkling + a cat.

“What are you hiding, Springer?” Prowl asked. The sparkling held the box behind his back and tried to look innocent, Prowl did not buy it.

None of this was easy. In fact, raising Springer was proving to be the single most difficult task of Prowl’s life. The sparkling’s conception had not been Prowl’s choice. He had put the pieces of his psyche back together following the botnapping, the rapes, and the arrest of Mesothulas. There  had been no mention of the rape at the trial. Prowl had never report it. He had not given any mention of their past dealings to save his own reputation. Knowing Mesothulas would be in spark containment for millenia for his other crimes had been enough. The mega-cycle he had learned that Mesothulas had escaped had been the worst of his life and it had been a long time before he had found some semblance of peace again.

That peace had been shattered when, as part of an investigation, Prowl had stumbled upon the mad scientist’s new lair. Though they had both been surprised to so the other, Prowl had recovered from his shock first and had managed to dodge the spiderbot’s web and restrained him instead. As he had waiting for enforcers to come, Prowl had found a stranger CR chamber in the centre of the lab. In it, he had found a sparkling. That close his spark had known. It had taken everything in Prowl’s power not to purge. Mesothulas had revealed then the purpose of the botnapping, and the repeated rapes of his frame and his spark. The scientist had wanted to kindle a sparkling in him. Knowing Prowl would never allow it to come into existence he had stolen from his spark, and attached it to his own until he could put it in a synthetic growth chamber, and construct a frame.

Had Springer been allowed to develop remotely normally, he would not yet have even emerged but Mesothulas had adapted a CR chamber and had programmed it to act as something as a giant forge. Ostharos, as Mesothulas had dubbed his creation, would step out of the chamber when the process was complete and he was a grown mech. Mesothulas had called him his most perfect creation. Enforcers had come and had taken the freak away. Prowl had been left to decide what to do with the mechling in the CR chamber. Killing the sparkling had been out of the question, though Prowl most certainly would have aborted the mechling as a newspark if he had ever had the chance. He had concluded that the best thing he could do have the chamber hidden away and when the mechling was a mech grown Prowl could register him as a cold construct. No one, mechling included, would need to know of their relationship.

That had been his plan. It would have been his plan still if Jazz had not become involved. The clever operative had taken advantage of Prowl’s emotionally vulnerability to wheedle the truth from him and he had written his own plan. He had suggested Prowl open the chamber and to take his creation and raise him himself. Prowl had first laughed, and then crashed. Jazz had stayed with him, with them. When Prowl had come around Jazz had asked him if he would ever be able to stop thinking of the mechling? No. Would he not feel powerless when the mechling or mech was Primus only knows where with Primus only knows who? Yes.

With the seed planted, Prowl had been able to consider any other option. With Jazz standing with him, Prowl had opened the CR chamber. Large, light blue optics had little up the solid mechling’s round face. They had stared at each other, maybe for as long as a bream. Prowl had lifted the mechling up, startled a little by the weight of him. It made him wonder what frametype Mesothulas had once worn. The mechling did not take after Prowl at all. Then again, Mesothulas had built this frame from scratch. There was no knowing what he might have looked like if his frame had been naturally forged. Prowl had expected to feel some revulsion when he had held the mechling, but as Springer, as he would designate him, had wrapped his arms around his neck and their sparks had sinced to each others, Prowl had felt only love. Six quartexes in, Prowl still loved the clumsy little thing. That did not make learning to be his originator any less of a struggle.

“Springer...”

“Meow!”

“Oh no!” Springer exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Prowl chased after the sparkling as he chased after the cyber kitten. “Stop, Springer. You’ll scare it if you chase it.”

“I’m sorry, O’gin. I found it under the stairs. It was shivering and wet and I just wanted to help it get warm.”

“It’s alright,” First a sparkling and now a cat. “We’ll see to him.”

The kitten darted into Prowl’s office, and climbed up the back of his chair. It was easy for Prowl to pluck the frightened and fiesty little ball of teeth and claws from the warn mesh. He held it carefully, so to contain its claws, and examined it... She, at least Prowl thought it was a she, was skinny and dirty and shivering with cold. He stroked the kitten’s helm and she let out a sweet little pure. A kitten might be good for Springer. She would teach him responsibility and to mind his strength. It was as good an excuse as any. The reality was Prowl had a difficult time just telling the mechling no. Prowl felt better about his decision when his creation was happy.

“First we need to give her a bath, Springer.”

“But she’s already wet.”

“The residue from the acid rain could cause her to develop a rust infection. We’ll get her clean and then dry her off. We will need to get her toys, and a berth.”

“She can recharge with me!”

“She may well choose to. Come on, you can help me.”

Jazz found them a few joors later, sitting in the couch. The kitten was recharging in Springer’s lap, as the mechling was cuddled up into the crook of Prowl’s arm. Springer was petting the kitten he had designated Bolt and watching a cartoon while Prowl was going over a report from Tactics. He enjoyed this more than he had  ever imagined he would. Prowl was a cold construct himself, thus he had never known the concept of a family or close kinship. Cuddling with Springer might have been the best part of having the mechling in his life.

“I come bearin’ gifts,” Jazz said. “A scratchin’ post, some toys, ‘n fuel. How’d ya talk yer o’gin into gettin’ ya a cybercat, Springer?”

“I found her, Geni. We gave her a bath so she didn’t get rust and O’gin says she can recharge with me if she wants to.”

“I think she’ll be happy to share yer berth. I brought dinner, Prowl. I figured I’d save ya the trouble.”

“Thank you, Jazz.”

That was the other change that had come with Springer, Jazz. Prowl had been unable to handle the responsibility of making a home for his creation on his own. Jazz had offered to help. He had taught Springer to call Prowl o’gin instead of the more formal origin or originator. The sparkling had gotten to calling Jazz geni and neither mech saw cause to correct him. In every way that counted, Jazz was Springer’s progenitor. It was what Prowl wanted to be true. As Jazz walked around the couch to bring the toys to Springer, he paused to brush a kiss along the corner of Prowl’s mouth.

This was also new. Their arrangement had started out completely platonic. Jazz had offered his help because he had seen that Prowl was overwhelmed with his new responsibilities and Springer was a little lost. He had no memories of anything beyond waking up to see Prowl. Just as Prowl had needed to learn to be an originator, Springer had needed to learn to be a sparkling. Jazz had been integral throughout those early mega-cycles when he had spent his mega-cycles with Prowl and Springer as they had gotten a feel for each other, and then his dark-cycles in his own habsuite. Lately he had been spending most dark-cycles here as well, with Prowl, in his berth.

Springer was delighted by the bounty. Bolt woke up, no surprise given the commotion and swatted at the little fluffy want Springer waved for her. The toys were a hit, so was the cybercat. Prowl smiled as Springer tested each toy with the kitten, and proclaimed the wand her favourite. It might have been his favourite because he could use it to play with her, unlike the small toys she chewed or the balls she chased. As Prowl watched Springer and Bolt play, Jazz plucked the datapad from his digits and place a steaming mug of pressed energon into his servo.

“Rest that beautiful processor of yers,” Jazz said. He in the armchair, holding his own mug.

“Mmm, thank you,” Prowl said and he savoured the smell of the potent fuel. “Was your mega-cycle productive.”

“Ran some exercises wit the rookies. A couple might have potential for Ops.”

“You have a good optic for talent.”

“Thank ya, Prowler.”

Jazz would be moving in on the ornend. Springer would not likely notice any difference. His genitor had always left after he had sung him a lullaby, and returned early to ensure he had a good breakfast ready. Prowl had lived his entire life on rations. No cold construct had access to a kitchen in their barracks. Thanks to Jazz he had discovered fuel could be for more than just energy, it could be for pleasure as well. He was discovering favourite fuels. There was a jar of rust sticks on his desk that Jazz kept full because he knew Prowl liked them. He cared. There was no question that Jazz wanted him, and had had him a few times now, but Jazz’s desire for him was different than Prowl had experienced before. He did not desire to possess Prowl as others had but to honour and to love him. It continued to be a novelty.

As he did every dark-cycle, Jazz sang a lullaby to Springer after they read him a story together. Bolt curled up on the pillow next to Springer’s helm, just as he had hoped she would. Prowl pulled the blanket up over Springer’s shoulder and gingerly kissed his helm. As they slipped out into the hallway, Jazz pulled Prowl slowly into his arms and kissed him sweetly. He was so kind and so tender. Prowl wrapped his arms around Jazz’s waist and returned the kiss. Slowly, they slipped apart, Jazz was holding, stroking Prowl’s palms with his thumbs. This was about the time when Jazz would return home.

“Stay the dark-cycle?” Prowl asked.

“I can’t think o’ anythin’ I’d rather do.”

[contagiousprincess]

i defy you, stars- Chapter 1

“From your first cigarette to your last dyin’ day”

Two households, both alike in dignity

(In fair Verona where we lay our scene)

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;

Whose misadventurous piteous overthrows

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

The fearful passage of their death-marked love

And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours traffic of our stage;

The which, if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend

-William Shakespeare

The Whispering Woods were once tangled growth, full of creatures and plants alike waiting for their chance to claw to the surface. The soil was fertile and the air was sweet, but the area was crowded. The so called “whispering” was the noise of the wind pushing and squeezing it’s way through the brush and tightly woven tree trunks. Or, according to legend, it was the noise of the wildlife twisting, changing, moving to confuse lost travelers. 

No one was quite sure how the first people managed to make their stake along the banks of the river that ran through the heart of the forest and emptied into the ocean. But they imagined that they had to follow the forest's rules, because otherwise they would have been eaten up and spit out like the bugs that crawled along the skin of the ground. However they did it, those people weren’t alone for long.

Soon enough, another group came to compete, on the other bank of the river. The two different clans of people could have cooperated, learned to help each other, and survived to tell the tale to others. But just like the wildlife and fragrant trees before them, the two seemed determined to push the other down to reach the top, drawing lines in the silence that separated them. 

Where before, the forest was one giant, breathing body, a new word was introduced to the area: border. They fought for control of the harbor and the trade route along the river, but they were so evenly matched that no one ever won, instead locked forever in an endless stalemate.

So, the two groups began a bitter rivalry. One that continued for many, many, many years. Long after a bridge was built, connecting the two sides of the river for trade (though neither group would dare suggest it was necessary). Long after The Whispering Woods no longer whispered since the trees were gone and the wind had grown hot and stale. Long after the bugs and skin of the earth was replaced with cobblestone streets and alleys. So much long after, that now when asked what they were fighting over, the groups could not even remember, only that if the Horde and the Alliance ran into each other on the streets, someone would walk away badly hurt or worse. 

And this was how on a particularly sweltering hot day, six people almost died.

“Did you just flip us off?” Though most of her thick hair was pulled into a band beside her face, Mermista brushed the remaining pieces of hair out of her eyes, as if to make sure she was seeing clearly, but her dark eyes and thick eyebrows were dangerous, daring anyone to mess with her.

“And what if I did?” Lonnie catcalled, the sound ringing through the street. She was shorter, but stood tall, her boots planted firmly on the street with her hands on her hips. The braids on her head framed her face and softened the defined lines, but there was nothing soft about the way her mouth curled as she taunted the other girl.

“I’d tell you that if you apologize for it, we won’t beat you into a stain on the street.” Mermista stood shoulder to shoulder with Sea Hawk, who might not have been the sharpest tool in the box, but could fight just as well as the next guy. His dorky mustache and dumb boot and bandana combo seemed harmless enough, but he had a tendency to burn down anything in his path. Literally.

Lonnie considered this, and turned to Rogelio, who was broad and as mean as nails, visually and physically intimidating. “Do you think we would get arrested if I flipped them off again?”

“Yes,” Rogelio said simply. A man of few words, so when he used them, it was prudent to listen.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” Lonnie looked Mermista up and down and called, “I didn’t flip you off, but I was flipping someone off! Now, why are you still here?”

“You picking a fight?” Rogelio said. 

“Me? Pick a fight? Never,” Mermista said, eyes flashing.

“Watch it,” Rogelio grunted. 

“Now why would I do that?”

“Because Shadow Weaver is behind you!” yelled Lonnie, suddenly. She pointed, fear flashing across her face. Mermista and Sea Hawk spun around wildly, craning their necks, but they were only met with the normal hustle and bustle of the harbor. 

Lonnie busted out into laughter, doubling over and eventually having to sit on the ground to catch her balance and breath. She held her stomach, tears running down her face as her laughs echoed through the street. 

Mermista and Sea Hawk turned around, faces red and now so furious, sparks practically flew off of them. Sea Hawk unsheathed his sword and started towards them, but his friend grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, but he still strained against her.

“Oh, we got ourselves a comedian, huh?” Mermista drew her sword and faced them. “Personally, my favorite joke is the one where we pummeled the two Horde scrum into dust and they got washed down the river. The punchline always gets me.” 

Lonnie finally started to rise from the ground, and pulled out a dagger. “I’d like to see you try.”

Rogelio turned toward her, drawing his sword, and quietly said “Don’t forget that parry maneuver we’ve been working on. It’s all in the footwork.”

“Not the time, Rogelio! We have bigger problems, like a princess and her big fat mouth!”

At that, Mermista released Sea Hawk, and the four lunged towards each other. As soon as the clang of metal swords started to echo through the city, a young male voice could be heard yelling for them to stop. 

After a minute passed with no avail, an arrow careened over the group's heads, making a horrible screeching noise and catching their attention for a moment. Taking advantage of the opening, Bow pushed his way into the center, driving them apart. A top notch archer, the dark-skinned teen was well respected in the Alliance. He wasn’t necessarily the strongest, but agility and cleverness kept him on his toes, as well as alive. 

“Everybody back up! Do you have any clue what you’re doing?!” he screeched, desperately holding his hands up in a feeble attempt to keep them from colliding again. He finally managed to wrest Mermista’s sword out of her hand and pushed her and Sea Hawk away from the Horde teens. 

“We stand on thin ice as it is,” he said to the two of them. “Whatever the Horde trash did to provoke you isn’t worth it.” Raising his voice, he called, “They aren’t worth any of your time.” He gestured to Lonnie and Rogelio with Mermista’s sword, glaring as he did.

Lonnie opened her mouth to defend herself, but she was interrupted by another member of the Horde. 

Scorpia was tall and extremely buff, making Rogelio look like a prepubescent boy. Her shock of white hair on top was cropped close to her head and her eyes, normally kind and warm, were furious and focused. Scorpia, drawn by the sounds of fighting, had started running over seconds ago but now was faced with the sight of Bow pointing a sword at her two friends. 

She stormed in front of the two and stared down Bow, who paled upon seeing her. 

“Threatening my friends, Bow?” She towered over the other boy, and he craned his neck to see her. “Hope you had fun, because I won’t let it happen again.”

“I was trying to get them to stop fighting, Scorpia!” Despite their difference in size, he set his jaw and didn’t back down.

“With your sword drawn?” She scoffed.  “A likely story! You Alliance brats are always so high up on your horse, yelling about peace, complaining about the fighting but then you come into our territory and attack us when we mind our own business, and I, for one, am sick of it.” 

Bow began to speak very slowly and deliberately, as if explaining something simple to a child. “I. am. not. attacking. anyone. But if I was, it wouldn’t be much of a fight,” he smirked. 

Scorpia, enraged, drew herself up to her full height, and faced him, head on. “Lets have at it then,” she said, voice deadly even. 

Bow hesitated, and then knocked an arrow and drew it. “Fine with me”

Scorpia charged at him, leaping towards his head with her bare hands. Bow quickly ducked and rolled underneath her, coming up behind Scorpia on one knee. Just as her feet hit the pavement, he released his arrow. The arrowhead fractured in midair and split, shooting out a web, the delicate filaments of wire and carefully placed weights searching for a target to ensnare. 

The web slammed into Scorpia’s shoulder, biting into her skin and pulling her down, but only managed to wrap itself around her arm, fortunately for her. Unfortunately for Bow, Scorpia grabbed hold of the web and began to swing it, transforming her trap into a weapon. 

She advanced on him, taking the weighted net with her. Bow tried to back up and pull another arrow, but she closed in on him, taking advantage of his lack of close range weapons. She swung the web at him, and he ducked the first time, narrowly avoided the second, but on the third she feinted towards his head, changed course and then used her net to sweep his feet out from underneath him. 

Bow fell flat on his back, his head hitting the ground with a sickening thud, and Scorpia towered above him. She raised the heavy weights above her and started to bring them down on him, but a shout stopped her cold in her tracks. 

A small crowd of citizens had gathered, circling the group, but they during the fight began to chant something that completely baffled the six enemies. 

“Down with the fight! Down with the Horde! Down with the Alliance!”

The racket grew and grew, gathering almost all of the citizens not affiliated with either the Horde or the Alliance. The cacophony reached its peak when a horn call sounded and the crowd cleared a walkway and silenced. They stared up in awe as the 3 most powerful people in Whispering Woods strolled in front of them: Hordak, Shadow Weaver, and Angella. 

Hordak was muscular but not overly so. He walked with an odd gait, and his greasy black hair and beady eyes that were almost red were disquieting. But he radiated power, and as he walked the citizens bowed. Hordak was the Prince of the Whispering Woods, and he would be obeyed. 

Shadow Weaver was the leader of the Horde, one of the feuding groups, and Angella was the leader of the Alliance, the other. The two were both tall, but the similarities ended there. Shadow Weaver was lanky, and had long dark hair. She was clothed in deep red, and wore a mask covering her face. Even though her eyes couldn’t be seen, anyone who felt her stare grew anxious. Angella, on the other hand, was willowy, with long, bright hair. Her face was kind, but sharp. This along with the circlet inlaid with a pearl that sat on her forehead, immediately gave the impression that this was someone who was to be listened to and obeyed without question. 

The Prince strode in front of the other two, but they stood as far apart as possible, shooting each other with dark looks that made the citizens uneasy. Hordak, commanding the attention of every person in the street, sauntered up to where Scorpia still stood over Bow. Without saying a word, he flicked his wrist and Shadow Weaver and Angella untangled the two and dragged them as well as the other four to opposite sides of the circle that the crowd had formed. 

“Citizens!” Hordak boomed. “I have heard countless complaints about the feud which has led to this incident.” He sneered as he said it, making the fact that the enemies had almost killed each other seem as insignificant as childhood tomfoolery, and in a way, it was. “This ancient grudge has interrupted trade, caused countless injuries, and endlessly fosters riots and unrest amongst my people. It is high time for it to break.”

Angella and Shadow Weaver began to stammer, no doubt trying to pin the blame on the other, but Hordak simply held up his hand and they fell quiet. 

“I recognize that I cannot control the… feelings of my citizens.” His lip curled. “However, something still must be done. The city cannot stand with its people constantly fighting in the streets. So, my decision is this: whichever of you causes any more disturbance in my city will pay for it with their life.”

The crowd broke out into anxious murmurings, and the feuding groups began to protest, but Hordak held firm.

“I have made my decision. Now all of you go before I regret not ending you all here and now.” He leveled a glare at both groups and the citizens, who hesitated but began to disperse. Hordak turned his gaze to the women who led both groups and called out to them. “Shadow Weaver, follow me. Angella, I will speak with you later.”

The Horde and Alliance members all hesitated for a moment. 

“Was I unclear? GO!” roared Hordak.

With one final glare at each other, the two groups broke apart. Shadow Weaver fell into step behind Hordak, Angella led her Alliance towards the other side of the river, and Scorpia took the Horde members in the direction of their manor.

None of them noticed what was left behind. As they all meandered away, muttering darkly about their respective foes, a clear mark of the fight remained. Though no one could say exactly who it belonged to, it didn’t really matter in the end. 

A singular smear of sticky, scarlet-red blood stained the cobblestone street, seeping into the cracks in the mortar, already beginning to dry in the sweltering hot sun. 

notes: hiya! im katie and the idea for this fic basically mugged me in the middle of the night and i had to do something about it. this is just a teaser i think theres like a part two of chapter one but it was bulky and i wanted to post something bc why not. im not quite sure what im doing with this fic but i dont care im having fun lmfao. ive never written any fic before so be nice or i will block you i dont give a shit! this will probably go up on ao3 as soon as i can get an invite so for now this will live on tumblr yee haw! anyways lmk what yall think but only if its nice kk byeeee xoxoxo

[doux-amer]

The reason Wandavision ultimately was a big disappointment was that it didn’t say anything new or add any depth to Wanda. Some people have argued that we shouldn’t have expected much because this is the MCU we’re talking about, but I hate that logic for two reasons: 

Marvel is using the Disney+ series to expand upon characters and plots that they couldn’t/didn’t get to explore in the films

This dismisses the existence of MCU works that have, while dealing with the trappings of being a blockbuster/studio film or “just” a superhero film or show, tried to go beyond that with their stories and characters

You can’t ignore Marvel’s goal with D+ nor can you paint all the works with the same brush.  

This was Marvel’s opportunity to give a side character who has been given such shoddy writing the growth she sorely needed. We didn’t get that. Wanda is very much the same person she was in Age of Ultron; we still barely know anything about her besides the fact that she’s powerful and traumatized. She is very much defined by that. Who is she outside of that? Who is she outside her grief? Why, for instance, does Vision love her so much? We know why she loves Vision. In fact, I’d argue that the star or at least the heart of Wandavision was Vision because we learn more about him and see him grow. 

There’s no movement, either positive or negative, here. Wanda continues to behave the same way, never learning or truly being shaped by her actions for good or bad in any significant way, and the MCU refuses to commit to making her anything. She isn’t a good hero. She isn’t a good antihero. She isn’t a good villain. They want to make her someone complex, but we’re left not understanding if we’re supposed to root for her despite her troubles or see that this is a troubling evolution towards emotional and moral corruption. Is she a messy hero? Or is she a sympathetic villain?

As a recap, here’s what we’ve seen of Wanda and why I’m saying she hasn’t had any meaningful growth:

Wanda volunteers for Hydra. You know, Nazis? If you want to quibble about whether they’re “technically” Nazis, whatever; they’re still a terrorist organization, and Wandavision explicitly states it as such. Here was a chance to address the awful decision Whedon made, but we get a white woman nonchalantly excusing her voluntary involvement with the world’s most famous terrorist group with a blasé “We wanted to change the world.” This is the most we get from her about this.

Wanda mentally violates and assaults the Avengers. She forcibly traps them in their worst nightmares. She coerces Bruce into transforming into the Hulk against his will, ripping him of his agency and sanity. When Bruce confronts her about this later in AoU, she straight up refuses to apologize. Wanda has yet to apologize to any of the Avengers.

In her thirst for vengeance, she decides to use the Hulk to hurt innocent people, most of whom are black, in Johannesburg. The only reason people aren't killed is that Tony tries to get people out of harm's way, get Bruce away from civilians, and help Bruce regain control before subduing him when he fails. We never see Wanda thinking about what she did in Johannesburg.

Wanda knows Ultron is evil and follows him, standing by as he hurts Helen Cho, yet another innocent civilian POC. She only cares about Ultron’s destructive nature when she reads his mind and realizes he wants to commit global genocide. Wanda is also arguably one of the Avengers most responsible for creating Ultron. Without her, there is no Ultron. Without her interference, we get Vision. We don’t ever see her grappling with her culpability. This is not the case with the others who made Ultron.

Wanda therefore plays a huge role in the destruction of her home country of Sokovia and the countless resulting deaths including Pietro’s. We see her sad, but we don’t see any guilt. We don’t even see survivor’s guilt.

Because she can’t control her power, Wanda commits manslaughter, killing innocent black people in a Lagos hospital. Other than seeing her react in horror at the scene and turn away from the video that Ross shows later, we don’t see how this impacts her or the way people treat her as an individual. She’s briefly detained under house arrest, essentially grounded, a logical response to what happened. 

Despite the damage she caused, she flees the compound with Clint to the airport even if Clint doesn’t give her a valid reason for doing so, not before slamming the person she cares about the most, Vision, through dozens of feet of concrete and earth.

Rather than seeing Wanda be reluctant to use her powers after learning she doesn’t know how to control herself, we see her chiding Clint for being soft and taking it easy on the other side. The Avengers are doing that because they’re fighting against their own teammates and friends; they’re acting to escape or subdue. She doesn’t care if she gets people hurt while trying to stop them as evidenced by what she says to Clint and her actions thereafter. 

Wanda takes a whole town hostage and mind controls them. All of the people whose identities she wipes and whom she turns into her puppets are in extreme pain. While what occurred happened instinctually rather than as a deliberate, conscious choice, she becomes aware of what she’s done at some point (Dottie’s cry for help, Wanda’s refusal to listen to Jimmy’s message, Monica breaking free of her conditioning, Vision bringing it up, etc.). She doesn’t let them go. She refuses to believe that they’re in pain even when she’s told that. Only when she’s backed into a corner does she let them go. She then never apologizes or even speaks a word to them. (It doesn’t matter whether or not she thinks they’d accept her apology; you don’t apologize on the condition that you’re heard and forgiven. You do it because you should, even if it doesn’t change anything for the people you hurt. She only apologizes to the one person whom she knows will accept her apology/be lenient on her.)

When Monica starts to remember the real world, Wanda gets hostile and slams her through multiple houses, past the ends of town, and through the reality boundary.

When Vision becomes aware of the problem at hand, she repeatedly gaslights him and tries to control what he can/should and can’t/shouldn’t do. She gets upset when he doesn’t act the way she wants him to. She doesn’t apologize to him beyond saying she should have told him earlier which is only part of the problem.

Wanda tells Agatha the difference between them is that while Agatha did what she did intentionally, she didn’t. This isn’t true.

What Agatha says about Wanda is true; she’s cruel. For the third time in a row, Wanda decides to violate someone’s mind and control them. She essentially murders Agatha, even if it’s bloodless and reversible (and she only says she’ll reverse it if she wants to use Agatha).

After the fight is over, she decides to leave Westview rather than face any consequences or help clean up. She leaves the Westview residents with all their trauma and the destruction of their town without a word to them.

In the post-credits scene, she has fled the country and is isolated in a remote cabin, reading a book she doesn’t understand about concepts she doesn’t understand instead of seeking help when she has a terrible track record of self-teaching or understanding her powers.  

When you put all of this together, everything screams “villain,” but as I said, the writers refuse to come out and say that she’s that. They refuse to say anything, and maybe you can argue that they don’t have to make it clear right this moment. You can argue that Wanda should be allowed to be messy, just like many other characters in the MCU are. 

The thing about that line of reasoning, though, is that those other characters who are messy? The writing acknowledges that, and we see them deal with the ramifications of their actions and they’re held accountable to them. We see them apologize. We see them try to be better people. We see them work to make up for their mistakes or sins. We need to see Wanda do that if we’re supposed to see her as a hero. Or if she isn’t (and there’s nothing wrong with that! Wanda doesn’t have to be a hero, and in fact, she could be a compelling antagonist or villain which can be exciting), well, she still needs to face consequences. 

She doesn’t. She is, by far, the uncontested champion in getting away with what she does; yes, we get some handwaving for certain things other characters do, but no other character has nearly all of their deeds and behavior ignored to the extent Wanda does. It’s extremely frustrating to see. We keep seeing a cycle:

Wanda is full of anger/vengeance and/or grief. 

She acts from a place of trauma and prioritizes her desires. 

Something bad happens.

Often, it’s something she didn’t mean to happen or she didn’t mean to go that far.

She’s horrified or sad.

Very occasionally, she gets a slap on the wrist, but it’s so brief and doesn’t actually change anything that it might as well not have happened. Most times, it’s as if she never did anything and the story never brings up what she did again (unless it’s to show how she’s sad or powerful).

She doesn’t do anything. She does the same mistakes/crimes again. Wash and repeat.

It’s so unbelievably vexing and tiresome. Despite all my issues with Wanda up until Wandavision and, most importantly her casting, I wanted to like Wanda, whether it was as a hero or villain or someone in between. BUT WE GOT NOTHING NEW. I don’t know anything about Wanda even now beyond “vengeful, sad, powerful white woman who is traumatized and clings to family because of that”! This is the SAME EXACT THING we’ve been dealing with since the beginning, and it’s so frustrating. Wanda deserved better.