#had I never played those I never would have played all the spinoffs

[probablygayattorneys]

Happy four year anniversary of one of the

If not the single most

Important and influential moments of my entire life

[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake: Bоnus Stаge (spoilers!!)

Love For Love's Sake (Love Supremacy Zone): bonus stagе is a short spin-off story from the author of the original novel, released in June 2024 (after the drama series). It's about 19yo Tae Myungha (from Game World) being transferred into the future and him slowly realizing how 29yo Myungha has been living happy 10 years with Cha Yeowoon and friends.

I promised to keep talking about it and thank you, guys, for enabling me xD Before translating bits from chapters, here's the full summary of everything that happened in this story – for those of you who are not that patient and don't fear spoilers :] I'll put them under more anyway so those who don't want to read the summary won't read them accidentally!

Warnings: suicidal intentions

Let me know your thoughts about this spinoff *д*

Love for Love's Sake: Bonus Stage (summary)

"If your life was a book, what would you want it be about?" "How would the first chapter begin and what sentence would be the last one?" "I wish it was about love."

19yo Myungha (so before canon timeline) is playing games in PC cafe. He doesn't really have money but wants to spend time so he wouldn't have to live it

On the crossroad, he sees a child running before the signal changes, and he jumps to save them but instead of getting hit, he feels like falling. He sees sunbae who pushes him. Message [World has been changed] appears.

Myungha finds himself in the arms of a handsome man who knows him - but he doesn't know this man. Myungha runs away but the man is faster.

[Mission: Make Tae Myungha happy.] [Reward: Memory] [Clear until (0%) ♥♥♥♥♥] [Penalty: Can't return to the original timeline]

Myungha is diagnosed with amnesia. He should be 29yo now, so he just goes along. Yeowoon decides to start over again and introduces himself.

Yeowoon and Myungha have been living together for 6 years and dating for 10 years. 19-Myungha is shocked to know this.

Ahn Sia, Kyunghoon and Sangwon immediately run to check whether Myungha is okay, 19-Myungha is shocked that people worry about him and they've been friends for 10 years.

Yeowoon asked if Myungha would hypothetically date him - just to make sure - but he still wouldn't let Sangwon in before others come (he's sooo jealous)

Sangwon finds younger Myungha a lot of fun, Yeowoon wants to fight with him. Others come, so they try to figure out what's happening.

29yo Myungha is a teacher respected by kids. The girl in his class wanted to kill herself so she went to the rooftop, Myungha ran after her but ended up falling down, and Yeowoon caught him (19-Myungha)

Sia is a shopping mall CEO and a popular influencer now, Kyunghoon does photography/filming professionally, Sangwon introduces himself as 'the one who Myungha rejected when he was 18yo'.

Everyone wants to have chicken and beer but 19-Myungha is a minor so they have chicken and cola and a group sleepover at Myungha/Yeowoon's house :]

Yeowoon tried to sleep with Myungha in one bed but eventually ran away to the living room, flustered.

They all decide to do a trip down the memory lane, since Myungha is "having amnesia".

Yeowoon is a gold medalist now, and many kids go to Shinyeop school now because he made it prestigious.

They visit old Yeowoon's house, and Yeowoon quietly tells him they had kissed here for the first time (on the stairs) 19-Myungha is flustered because he feels feelings that he doesn't know the source of. But he never had his first kiss, never thought about ideal type or love so he's can't stop thinking about it. He tried to take Yeowoon's hand but ran out of time.

After this trip, in the car Myungha clears 20% of his mission and sees flashbacks from the 10 passed years: how they were grilling meat at the rooftop, how they played at the sea.

Yeowoon went to the store to get ice cream, while Myungha and Sangwon were left alone waiting. Sangwon told 19-Myungha about precious memories with him (dogs!), how he was his first love and he kept regretting what if he made a different first impression on Myungha – and now he can.

So he asks for one more chance to start over but gets rejected because Yeowoon was faster once again. Sangwon accepts that his first love is finally over and walks away.

Yeowoon says he likes Myungha more anyway, but 19-Myungha doesn't know it so Yeowoon says he'll teach him. They go to amusement park (closed again) by the sea.

Myungha insists on going to the popular cafe, Yeowoon is hesitant but doesn't reveal the truth until Myungha meets his mom there. Yeowoon takes him away in a hurry as 19-Myungha wants to talk to her in anger. Myungha cries. He thinks if he didn't have Yeowoon next to him now, his mom's reaction would be his last straw.

Mission is cleared to 40%. 19-Myungha sees 18yo Yeowoon crying and being comforted by "him".

19-Myungha thinks the person Yeowoon fell in love with is nothing like him, so he runs away. Yeowoon catches up with him.

Suddenly, they meet his fans. 19-Myungha is confused to learn he's quite popular and has 100k followers on his YT channel where he's been posting vlogs for 10 years (Yeowoon made him do it). He's used to being widely hated as a Crazy Dog, and not widely loved.

19-Myungha doesn't want to restore memories because he doesn't want to return to his original timeline. But he also feels acutely that 29-Myungha is a very different person from him. So he openly tells Yeowoon about the game mission, and Yeowoon believes him.

They return home, and 19-Myungha notices that Yeowoon still cherishes him like they were new lovers and not 10yo couple that usually feels like a family. Yeowoon was testing his reaction to skinship. Myungha calls him to sleep and teases him for having dirty thoughts.

19-Myungha is scared to sleep because he fears to wake up from a good dream. Yeowoon comforts him, while Myungha teases again and asks whether he's going to kiss. Yeowoon responds he'll wait until Myungha does it himself, like the first time (I guess, it's a bit different from drama?)

In the morning, Myungha learns that his grandma is still alive in this timeline and is in the hospital with injured leg. He rushes there and cries a little seeing her alive. He pleads her to come live with them but the grandma is like 'wtf this kid gone insane'.

His memories are cleared until 60% and he remembers time spent with his grandma.

19-Myungha watches videos on "his" Youtube channel and he sees what kind of life 29-Myungha lived and what kind of person he was. He finds they weren't actually that different and he could become him. He sees how liked he was and what kind of person younger Yeowoon was too.

They go to get groceries, and suddenly 19-Myungha is surrounded by kids that claim he's their homeroom teacher. Yeowoon saves him from awkwardness, it seems like they don't know Yeowoon and Myungha are dating. The kids say that their entire class will always love their teacher Myungha, and 19-Myungha understands why he chose this job.

Mission is cleared until 80%. He sees flashbacks from teaching kids, he still keeps in touch with the ones that left. 19-Myungha starts to smile.

But he still doesn't want to go home, he's also scared that original Myungha comes back and he will disappear. He doesn't want to leave.

Yeowoon tells him he'll be waiting for him even if he goes back to his time. He tells him to return and find 18yo Yeowoon, because he exists there and he will definitely like and choose Myungha.

Myungha is overwhelmed with feelings and goes to kiss Yeowoon. This time he's the inexperienced one.

The timeline written down by Myungha: "First meeting at 19, first fight at 20, living together at 23, passing teacher's exam, Yeowoon breaking the world record, Myungha becoming homeroom teacher, having 5 anniversary trip".

Last 20% are still missing. He's waiting for Yeowoon to come home, he returns with the cake and flowers. It's their 10th anniversary today, so Yeowoon insists he still has to celebrate, despite the situation. Myungha feels bad that he always forgets about anniversaries.

Yeowoon proposes to Myungha. He gives him his wedding plan and prepared funds.

Myungha laughs (while Yeowoon is annoyed :D) and gets positive buff, as he falls in love. [Mission is cleared until 99.9%]. He witnesses more happy flashbacks.

Because it's legally difficult, Yeowoon still wants to get married. Myungha tells him if he proposes again in 10 years, he'll accept. And teases him for being in such a rush to speedrun the relationship.

He remembers all memories from 10 years of their life and love together, he tells Yeowoon 'of course' and finally decides to return home and meet Yeowoon in his own timeline.

But Myungha is scared because there's still 0.1% to fail. He remembers the sunbae who pushed him before the world has changed. He wonders who that was.

He sees himself talking with sunbae, who asks him what is happy life to Myungha and if his life was a book, what would it be about.

"If your life was a book, what would you want it be about?" Someone is asking next to me. "...love. I wish it was about love." I wished that this thing, which was so common that I could hear about it everywhere but have never really felt it, could exist in my life too. The sunbae smiled quietly. "I just decided on a title".

Sunbae tells Myungha that humans are made of stars and apologizes that he was so late. He asks him to live the way he wants to.

He pushes him again. Message [The world has been changed] appears.

29yo Myungha wakes up next to Yeowoon and immediately goes to hug him. He finally feels like his soul and body are perfectly aligned, and he remembers how lonely he was when he was 19.

He tells Yeowoon they'll go see stars on their honeymoon trip. But first, they want to take a trip to Taiwan and the grandma is bitter they're not taking her with them because she's convinced they're gonna secretly get married there. But Myungha and Yeowoon want to get married in Korea.

[Mission: Make Tae Myungha happy is completed with 100%]

29-Myungha goes to meet the girl in his class who he saved on the rooftop. They both talk about how they don't want to die anymore and they should never give up. The girl also says Yeowoon suits him well, and Myungha promises to invite her to their wedding.

[END OF THE GAME.]

[LOADING]

19yo Myungha gets back to his conscience on the street, as someone asks him if he's okay. He is surprised to see Yeowoon, while Yeowoon is displeased that Myungha knows his name since they never met before.

Yeowoon walks away, but Myungha starts running after him.

[ENTERING THE LOVE SUPREMACY ZONE]

That's it 🥺 Of course, there are many amazing and touching moments in the story itself but I wrote down the main points. Aren't they precious?!

Tag list: @pickletrip @bunni-bun @illuminutiae @kaleidoskuls @delesaria-blog @maybe-boys-do-love

[gladiatorcunt]

i LOVED your latest modern!coryo work, i wonder if he ended up convincing sejanus into a threesome…? 👀 or do you think he’d be too possessive to actually go through with it

CW: mlm with mentions of eventual polyamory, non con “sex tape” sharing/non & dub con unhealthy/unethical methods of starting a poly relationship, this doesn’t really talk about sejanus also being dark but you have to trust me (what if HE’S the true mastermind??? you don’t know)

Thank you!!! And that’s funny, bc the sej mentions are always a double edged sword bc when i write them i’m all “😈”, but i do have to say that it’ll never happen in my canon main modern!coryo au. He’s way too possessive and won’t even say shit during sex like “i bet you’d like it if people walked in on us and saw you being a whore hanging off my cock.” because even just the thought gets his blood boiling. Like you know it’s bad if he won’t even do any fake alpha male dirty talk.

So it’s more of an au to the au if that makes sense lol. And i could see it starting with Coryo sending one of your videos to Sej instead of you and saying that it was an “accident.” There’s the saying about birds of a feather, so i don’t imagine Sej as a goody two-shoes or anything in this spinoff au. He’s better at hiding/ignoring certain parts of himself and maybe he’s more hesitant to “be the bad guy” but Coryo knows his best friend isn’t as naive as he comes across. They wouldn’t be friends if he was.

I think that in this spinoff, Coryo would pursue the reader because he did genuinely fall in love at first sight like in the canon au but he also wanted Sej to see what happens to guys who actually go for what they want. He didn’t see the same lust and hearts in his best friends’s eyes that he had (Sej also looked at Coryo that way but 🤫) so Sej’s involvement in Coryo’s decision to go after you wasn’t personal.

But then they’re walking on the way to class one morning, and the blush on Sej’s face combined with the way his hands played with the hem of his shirt told Coryo everything he needed to know. The read receipts also snitched. He watched the video, to this day Sej still won’t admit if he actually jerked off while he watched it. That’s what Coryo wanted, he couldn’t name a specific instance in which he noticed how Sej looked at the two of you, but he gradually became less oblivious. And when the two of you would cuddle as you came down from your orgasms during a passionate night, he would picture a third body tangled up in the sheets. More warmth, more limbs. He could almost taste the sunlight shining on yours and Sej’s faces in the morning that he’d get an uninterrupted view of because he always wakes up the first.

So the test was successful, and Coryo would bet his inheritance on his next test having an even better outcome. The test being him caressing Sej’s shoulders until the brown eyed boy dropped to his knees and mouthed at Coryo’s bulge through his slacks. He’d run a hand through his curls and say that there might be some left over pussy slick from you on his dick if Sej wanted a taste.

The next step would be getting him to taste those juices straight from the source while having Coryo in his ass and hearing him make out with you above him. Then they would DP you, obviously.

faetreides 2024. don’t forget to reblog if you enjoyed!

[vidalswife]

Open Fire

Word Count: I.8k

— pairing: agatha harkness / wanda maximoff, post wandavision, pre aaa.

Summary: Its been months since Wanda Maximoff defeated Agatha Harkness in Westview and left her powerlessly trapped in a fake persona. What happens when the brunette witch somehow escapes, finding Wanda in her seclusion. An even bigger question, will Wanda team up with her to accomplish the end to Agatha's plan, and if so, what will happen as the two get closer?

author's note: this chapter does not contain any pg13+ material. however in the future of the story, there will be mature themes, so if you are a minor i advise you not to interact. on another note, i wrote this beginning to a fanfiction while waiting for agatha's spinoff to release. i am aware my fic has been stolen and published on another platform, however it is my writing, as you will see, parts of it were edited out. if you would like proof of ownership i shall surely message you. it will not be based on the show, but possibly could have elements of it! and in order not to spoil the plot i will leave it at that. <3

The redhead smiled at the knock on her door, expecting a hiker or a mountaineer to be waiting for her, she called out a quick "I’ll be right there", rushing to grab the refreshments she typically offered to those passing by.

Ever since she left Westview, since defeating Agatha, she’d been in the mountains of Slovakia. A small cabin was all she needed, it had a room, a kitchen, a small area with couches. It wasn’t perfect, but it was hers. She crafted it on her own. She had finally reached the full potential of her power, at least she thought she did, and she used it to start anew. She did not want to be found, and she didn’t need anyone, but still, when hikers or tourists came around, she enjoyed the company. She would bake them pastries and bread every now and then. Agatha taught her to bake, but then again, Agatha taught her a lot.

When Wanda was growing up, she didn’t learn to bake or cook, but the witch she left behind in Westview taught her so many lessons about living in a mortal world. She’d hated her, for the most part, but there were so many things in her new life she had to credit to the brunette with mad curls.

As she placed the bowl of freshly baked bread upon the table, and the lemonade in a pitcher to the side, she checked her hair in the mirror planted on the wall, when she was satisfied, she opened the door.

And with a sudden flush, in the very instant, her heart sank, and she slammed the door.

_________________

It couldn’t be happening, I mean Wanda knew she couldn’t play keep-away forever with the other woman, but it sure as hell seemed like the best temporary option.

She turned with her back against the door, closing her eyes and exhaling a stress filled sigh.

”Now, is that any way to greet an old friend?” said 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 voice. Even though there was no mistaking who owned the captivating tone, Wanda wished that when she opened her eyes, she would wake up, and she would somehow be in a dream.

But alas, when she did open her eyes, reality hit the redhead like a semi-truck.

Standing in front of her was Agatha Harkness, the now powerless, crazy, curly haired raveness. The ‘evil’ witch she had defeated some time ago.

Wanda instantly resorted to using her magic, sending magical cuffs around the woman’s wrists, to which Agatha simply chuckled, “I’m starting to get the notion this wasn’t as pleasant of a surprise as i had hoped.”

”Oh, really? You think so?” spat the ginger, a soft hand now palming her forehead. She figured the witch would return one day, rise again and try to get her powers back. However she never figured it would happen only months later. She may have been the most powerful being to exist, but there was no doubting the strength of the other witch in the room, or anyone she could have used to free herself.

”Wanda, dear, these cuffs aren’t necessary” she reminded, hinting that she no longer had powers.

Wanda's brow furrowed, her eyes flooding to the sight of the cuffed and powerless brunette in her living area. She wondered about removing restraints, questioned the probability that Agatha knew other ways to harm her, and she figured it was best to keep them.

”Listen doll, I haven't come to harm you, I've come to help you.” she spoke, and Wanda slowly inched closer, tilting her head as her lips parted, in an attempt to suggest something that would not come out. It was like the woman read her mind, one of the powers she had was the ability to manipulate, interact with, and read minds, but that had only been with those in Westview. . and there was no way she had power again.

”How did you know what I was thinking, Agatha?” she said, tone cruel and interrogative. With the settlement of these words, she was inches from the other witch, her expressions clearly showing some form of confusion and anger combined. Agatha loved playing with the gingerette’s mind. It was almost an impossible thing to avoid.

”Wanda Wanda Wanda” she spoke, a long pause shadowing the calling of the woman's name. Wanda noticed how intently the witch was watching her, observing her, studying her. With a smooth and subtle smirk, she began to speak again, “You can’t ever make things easy for yourself, can you?” Agatha slowly began to move, raising her hands from behind her back, which were free from wanda’s cuffs, almost as if they had never existed.

Wanda stood lifeless, frozen and in shock. Slowly she began backing away, realizing that this meant 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨.

”How did you–” she was cut off by a hand raising, a dim and small light of purple emerging from tan fingertips. Agatha whispered an incantation, flicked her wrist, and Wanda was forced upon the door, unable to move.

The witch inched closer, smirking at the woman’s confused look. “You're so. . dull. thinking you could take away 𝘢𝘭𝘭 of my power, and keep me trapped in your silly little persona?” she chuckled, “It took less than a week for me to break the curse you put on me, less than a month to gain some of what I lost. . I could’ve killed you, you know. I've been watching you, Wanda.” The redhead shivered at the thought of just dying, no warning, to the hands of Agatha Harkness, albeit. It made her think of Pietro, how he was dead, and never coming back.

”Oh, but don’t worry, I have bigger plans for you” she spoke, closer to wanda than ever before. Wanda had conflicting feelings towards Agatha. They had shared a friendship, of course, when Agatha was Agnes, and Wanda was “evil”. No matter the details, the two witches had built a rapport with one another. An unspoken understanding was present, so Wanda believed her when she said she wasn’t 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 planning to kill her.

”If you really want to help, with whatever twisted, fucked up idea you have of what I ‘need’, let me out of this hold.” Wanda shot a smile at the brunette, and Agatha simply tilted her head in consideration, before repeating another incantation.

The binding yet blinded force was now constructing her body, pressuring her more into the door. She yelped, wincing at the pain. Part of her wanted to use her magic, but she had learned it would do no good the last time she tried.

Agatha had a devilish smile on her lips, one that Wanda knew too well.

“Please” she winced. The older woman only chuckled mischievously, before flinging her wrist left.

As the redhead felt the force upon her body release, she sighed. Part of her wanted to run up and punch the other witch, mainly for imposing on her life so soon into her newly found peace (for the most part). Wanda instead shot an angry look at the brunette, and Agatha replied with an obvious smirk and a raise of her eyebrows.

”I'm sorry to have wasted you a trip, but I don’t want any help from 𝙮𝙤𝙪, and I never will” she remarked, walking away from the essence of the woman, to her kitchen counter. She grabbed a pitcher out of the fridge, pouring a glass of cold water. It was risky turning her back on such a powerful person, especially after refusing an offer, but there was some form of trust she felt, something unexplainable that she only felt with her.

It was quiet for a moment, until finally she heard the heels softly embracing the wood floor.

click.. click.. click.. click.

They stopped, and Wanda dismissed the notion of turning around. She could hear the smooth breaths Agatha took, so close. Wanda's hand clutched her glass, she planted the other on the counter.

Agatha's arms went past Wanda's waist, and she laid her hands over both of Wanda's. The younger woman reveled in the touch, it was the only human contact besides that of talking that she’d had in months. Agatha's body was pressing into her back, and she sighed into the touch. Her awareness of the situation only grew as she felt the woman’s lips brush along the skin of her neck.

The scarlet witch had always felt.. something when it came to her mentor. Her feelings about the woman were uncharted and complicated. She felt both comfort and edge, like she was safe but not secure. And to have her hands on her own, even if not interlinked, it got Wanda’s mind racing, as well as her heart. Heat flushed to her cheeks as she realized that the raveness could probably hear her heart beating.

”𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧” Agatha whispered, her voice husky and low. Her lips were close to the redhead’s ears, and a soft moan escaped Wanda's lips. She felt so many things, so much confusion at why the things Agatha said made her want to lean into the woman and let her take control. Whatever great things the brunette had in mind were probably wicked. . but when Wanda turned her head and looked into those brown eyes, she couldn’t say no. She tried, opening her mouth to refuse and tell her to leave, but nothing came from her lips.

This made a smirk run onto Agatha’s face, and she held the eye contact that the redhead initiated. At the notice of the woman's still hanging lip, she softly inched her own lips closer.

The witch had always intimidated those around her, and it was no different with Wanda, except the contact was far more intense, and almost like a battle for dominance. Agatha’s lips brushed against the gingerette's, and Wanda’s head tilted to the side, if they were to kiss, the angle would be perfect. Wanda wanted that, she desired it as she desired the air in her lungs. She closed her eyes, waiting for the embrace, when Agatha softly hummed. The brunette pulled her lips away, and found the dip in Wanda’s neck. A soft, but hot kiss was planted on her neck, and the younger woman’s head leaned back. With a smirk, Agatha took the glass from Wanda's hand, and backed away from the woman.

She took a sip from the glass, winking at her ginger witch.

”Don’t be a fool, Wanda” She playfully remarked, setting down the glass beside the redhead, and retreating from the woman.

Wanda had never been so confused, yet had so much clarity in her life. She didn't want to let Agatha stay, or help with whatever she desired, but those lips, those hands, that voice.. they clouded every piece of rationale in her.

Come tomorrow morning, Wanda Maximoff would team up with Agatha Harkness, and no one would know about the moment they had shared that night.

[tyrantisterror]

A couple months ago, one of the kids at the daycare brought in a D&D starter set and asked me to DM a game for him and some of the other kids in my class. Now, I had considered doing this in the past, but written it off for a variety of reasons, mainly asusming it'd be a couple days of chaos before the kids get sick of all the math involved and lose interest. But if a kid broaches an idea and others seem on board, I feel it's kind of my duty to at least try it.

So far my assumptions have been... mostly correct? Like, 70% of my predictions have come true, it is chaos, ten-years olds are the most murder-happy murder hobo PCs you could possibly imagine, and they've really been pushing my improv skills to their absolute limits with the choices they've made (and the constrictions I have on me as a daycare teacher). But they haven't gotten bored with the math, and they absolutely love playing the game still, which is nice. I like it when my students are passionate about something.

Anyway, I bring this up because seeing how children play with D&D canon has made me realize one critical fact:

D&D needs a Mons Game spinoff.

Kids love monsters. This is not my bias, it is something that has been categorically proven to me in my four years of working at a daycare. Every kid loves the idea of weird, impossible creatures, and they love the idea of befriending a whole horde of those creatures even more so. One of my kids in the daycare D&D campaign is making it his goal to find and tame every monster he can find in the kid-friendly monster manuals I bought for the class. He wants a Tarasque and a Bullete and an Owlbear and on and on and on, and keeps proposing tactics for capturing them based on his time playing Ark: Survival Evolved, a game where you can tame dinosaurs and mythic beasts while trying to survive a wild world full of danger and obstacles.

And it turns out that, while the mechanics of D&D don't support this, the philosophy of how its settings are structured according to those mechanics does. D&D is filled with hundreds of wild and imaginative monsters, all with distinct appearances, habits, adaptations, and environmental needs. The need to make the "dungeons" part of D&D interesting has required it to build really interesting monster ecosystems, and, much like mons games, the need to keep players buying new content has resulted in them building a vast library of creatures, because selling $50 books containing a slew of new monsters is a pretty guaranteed way to get money. D&D may not be a mons game, but it's accidentally made its setting perfectly suited to be one.

And what a money-maker that would be! Skew it more towards a child audience in tone, use simpler mechanics so kids can hop into it without spending, say, three solid weeks of afterschool daycare time crafting character sheets more or less one on one, and you'd have a game that would easily hook a younger audience while planting seeds of interest into the bigger game.

Of course, there are already indie TTRPG mons games, and I imagine some of them are actually good, but unfortunately they're not exactly easily obtainable on a daycare teacher's budget. And, you know, they wouldn't let you make a team of a bulette, an otyugh, a gray render, and an owlbear.

But then again, Wizards of the Coast continues to be absolute bastards, so maybe this idea is too good for them. Which makes it a good thing they're never going to read this blog post.

[lol-jackles]

tumblr /jenmishperceiver/747567018487726080/i-think-if-anything-put-the-final-nail-in-the> I've seen this assumption before and imo it's spin: Jensen said repeatedly that he told the group he wanted to think about the script, went home TO HIS WIFE and said he was uncomfortable, who then suggested calling Kripke, ect // In all the retellings, I've never actually seen it said Jensen fought with the writers OR EVEN TOLD THEM and Jared he was uncomfortable until AFTER he'd changed his mind to agreed

Bitter Destiel shippers are those kinds of people who fall for IRS telephone scams.

You're correct, Jensen never said in any of his retellings that he fought with writers nor did he tell them or Jared he's having a hard time "digesting" until AFTER he talked to Kripke and was convinced by Kripke that "Carry On" was the right ending for fans. You know, the real fans who watch the show for what it really is: Sam's hero journey with his beloved brother, Dean.

That said, while you're correct that it's Jensen's job to sell the concept, he has also been pitching a Dean-led spinoff for years. Remember his "dream" (X) that he pitched during the SPN press junket?   I didn’t side-eye his PCA campaigns or his pursuit for Dean-centric storylines, but I did raise my eyebrows at his ballsy move to publicly pitch his post-Sam projects in front of Jared and Misha. What does the jenmishperciever's Anon say about that? Hummm?

Actors are always pitching their project ideas, they're just a bit more subtle about it. I'm certain Jensen had hoped the "dream" would catch on with the fans and they would campaign for it. Except not even AAs were down with the idea. Casual fans even less so. Lucky for you I saved the screenshot from the article:

Reading through jenmishperciever's Anon's self-soothing fanfiction is like watching bread grow old right before your eyes; same delusions we've seen for the past 12 years. Blame Jared for playing Sam who was in the way of a fake fetish ship from becoming canon that Less than 1% of the SPN audience ships. Said Jared's drunken arrest (I refuse to call it a bar fight, it was a group hug gone wrong) could have threaten the ENTIRE filming of the SPN final season while ignoring Anthony Starr's drunken arrest, which by the Anon's logic, would have threaten the ENTIRE filming of The Boys.

Lol they still pretend to believe that Kripke gave the SPN rights to Jensen when Kripke is SUEING WB over profit participation over SPN.

The only thing Jensen cared about with his SPN spinoff was lens crafting, which was why The Winchesters was a Shein version of an AU fanfic. Remember when Jensen told TW cast “don’t fuck it up for me”? After 15-20 years, Jensen is used to lead actors/Jareds doing the heavy lifting in carrying the show and being leader of the cast and crew and he benefitted from the sweet spot as #2 on the call sheet i.e. the good guy who is friends with everyone.

If Jensen keeps trying to be in charge of SPN projects, SPN fans’ reaction is going to be the same as today Marvel fanboys’ reaction every time they hear Kevin Feige’s name: “What did you did do this time you Son of a Bitch!? What train did you derail this time?”

Since Supernatural ended 4 years ago, the bitter Destiel hellers and AAs are stuck in a time loop of step 1 through 4 of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression). S tep 5 is acceptance, which is long delayed due to Jared’s continue success i.e. Walker in it's 4th season and #1 scripted show for CW.

[copaline]

WIP Wednesday is here!

It's that time again! WIP Wednesday is upon us!

@man--eater (Yeah I know you don't go here but you did it to me!)

@i-prefer-base-twelve (I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THAT KIDS AU)

@punedrr (Girl I know you got something!)

@ancharan (Loved your fic and your art!)

Besties, you have been tagged!

No pressure to share but I'd love to see what you have! And as always, if you see this and want to join in, please do! Consider yourself tagged by me! The banner is free to use!

Anyway! As you may or may not know, @punedrr and @mask-knife-is-scarecrows-girl straight up failed as my impulse control and I started a little one-shot spinoff of Horror Vacui called The Dealer and the Oracle!

It's a fix it fic that answers the question "what if someone had rescued a young 1982 Model Ford as he was being tortured by Bill"! Here's a little snippet of the upcoming Final Chapter:

It was surprisingly easy to get into a daily rhythm.  Fiddleford took to Jheselbraum just as Leaf knew he would.  Peace, calm, stability, that was the gift of the Axolotl. The Oracle was an extension of his will, a universal constant, a healer, a seeker of order, in a word: Unswerving. If Bill was a raging inferno, Jheselbraum was the ancient forest sheltering the lost and watching the centuries drift by. Her very presence was soothing, and the longer Fiddleford remained in the cabin, the more his mind healed and his real personality shone through. He was brilliant in his own right, but also thoughtful and given to manic creative bursts. Leaf often came back from her excursions to a new robot or mechanical creation built in the spur of the moment. Leaf now understood why he and Ford were friends. If someone could fix the toaster by making a tiny clockwork welder, and smile at you while presenting his creation like a little piece of sunshine, how could anyone resist?  Leaf had fully expected Fiddleford to hate Ford, or at the very least resent him. However, all the anger he had melted away when he saw the bruises under the bandages. Although Leaf did her best to keep to herself, she saw the worried looks and the softness with which he held Ford’s bandaged hand. There was something in those moments that felt familiar. It was the ache of a person mourning an echo of what could have been.  She was sure he was blind to it and didn’t have the words to describe it, but Leaf knew what it was. He was mourning a dead path, a possible future that no longer existed and would never come to pass. Leaf paused for a moment to observe them from the doorway, before walking away.  Possibility beckoned and they all had their part to play. Leaf had, of course, introduced herself to Ford during one of the few times he had been awake. He had looked at her blankly, without a hint of recognition in his blue eyes. Their effervescent dreams were truly forgotten. Moreover, he stared straight through her and locked eyes with Jheselbraum. His paths shimmered in the Oracle’s presence and Leaf had merely smiled before excusing herself without him noticing.  His attention was elsewhere. His muse now had a rounder face and seven eyes. Good.  It made it easier to fade into the background. And so every morning, Leaf woke up, walked by Ford’s doorway without disturbing him and fled down the hallway as though there were still a Neverwere snapping at her heels. The world was far more bearable once she put some distance between herself and that bedroom. The promise of a fresh cup of coffee certainly didn’t hurt. She poured herself a mug and breathed in the scent.

[youmakethelight]

Just so y'all know, I could give a flying fuck about the ship anymore.

Idk man, it just is not my concern anymore. I don't think I'm even gonna think about it again unless some genie in a bottle miracle comes along in maybe a few years idk. I just don't see it getting fixed, but never say never I guess.. but I honestly think it's been killed. And by that, I don't mean bc of if canon will or won't happen. I just simply don't care about it anymore.*

Maybe I'll still be able to go back to the flagship and enjoy the ship there, but, idk. It's feeling pretty tainted. And I'm pretty sad about that bc I never finished my rewatch before the spinoff decided to take my joy away.

And I feel the same way about my love for daryl. Obviously I loved him, but this spin-off daryl ain't my guy, and that has, again, tainted flagship daryl. I just can't go back without being reminded of where we got taken. Pretty bitter about that ngl, bc flagship daryl and flagship caryl were comfort characters to me. OH. WELL.

I held on pretty hard, I really did. I didn't want to let go. But, in daryl's flagship season 2 voice when he picks up carol on his bike from the burning farm - "I ain't got all day". I just simply do not have time or the will to be loyal to those stories if the people responsible for them aren't gonna show that they give a fuck about me wanting to watch their work.

But so anyway now I'm just leaning all into carol and melissa mcbride. She was already getting pretty hot and heavy (if you're as deep in this fandom as I got iykyk) in my brain. But since I've lost daryl and I've lost caryl, I'll just give all of what I had for them to carol and melissa. And tbh, she more than deserves it.

What a load of shit.

*Even if canon does happen, like it's not caryl. sooo... why would I care? If daryl isn't daryl, it's not caryl is it lol?? Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus can kiss, fuck, declare love, all the romcom shit.. idc.. bc norman isn't playing daryl when they're doing that?? That would just be carol fucking a guy who sort of looks like daryl but is actually a shell of him and you know what - that's depressing.

So anyway bye to that. But thank you melissa mcbride and thank you for giving me carol peletier. Fucking queens.

[honey-beann]

Beautiful Ruiner, Damn My Ashes (18+)

RK900 x Reader (NSFW)

Note: So like I mentioned prior to posting this, this same fic with a few edits made to it and a few things removed was posted to one of my other blogs early last month. It was originally written as a Nines x Reader that I edited to make that post, so this is the unedited original. I hope you enjoy!

Synopsis:

Pure smut, lustful, carnal, sinful smut lol

I left a little easter egg that allows this to be read a spinoff part of the Ruiner Ruination series, but this isn't necessarily cannon at all (although it eventually may be, I haven't fully decided yet if I'm being honest).

Chapter Content Warnings:

NSFW

Pure filth

Angst

Word Count: 1,757

He panted heavily, his chest heaving as he groaned out in both anguish and pleasure, the feeling of your nails raking down his back somehow splintering him and bringing him to life all at once.

God, you were ruinous.

The way you looked up at him when he touched you like this, filled you like this, was addictive, life altering, something he could not live with nor without.

You would be the end of him,

And oh what a cruel and beautiful fate that would be.

The crescents of your nails stamped permanently into his synthetic skin, your voice the last thing to play before his ears, and your body beneath his the final thing his eyes would ever see,

How could he dare to argue with such a lecherous demise? Such a fruitful lust, as long as it culminated in him seeing the stars that played behind your eyelids when you finally came undone for him.

So beautiful,

So heartbreaking,

So necessary,

So incredibly ruinous in Every. Single. Way.

The end of all ends,

The beginning of all beginnings,

Your body, your pleasure, you.

He felt guilt begin to build in his chest as he watched you, brushed the hair out of your face and behind your ear as you whimpered pitifully beneath his body, helpless to his never ending barrage of fulfilling thrusts as he penetrated you to the hilt

over and

over

and

over

again.

He growled harshly at his own uncontrollable thoughts,

His own uncontrollable needs,

And quickly took your chin between his thumb and forefinger, watching as you opened your eyes to meet his familiar, cold gaze.

But he was so struck at what he saw within those eyes that his hip-bruising voracity waned, and his own orbs widened in surprise,

There was hope there, pride, joy, and something else he could not put his finger on,

Or rather, something that he did not want to put his finger on.

But, no matter,

They were rather occupied at the moment anyhow.

Busying themselves with your neck, your hair, and with the act of pushing your fragile, fidgety hips against the mattress in order to render your struggles futile.

But those eyes of yours,

So beautiful,

So shiny even in the dimmed light of his bedroom, where only the dying white bulb of his bedside lamp and the moon could light his path to salvation,

(to you).

He was awestruck as he gazed into them.

There was silence in his mind for a few moments, as he stared down at your body, at the place where the two of you were connected as one, despite everything he had done, and everything that he had not.

But then, noting his slowed thrusts and sudden lack of urgency, you mewled for him in a way that made his mind race, those claws of yours moving from his back to his hips to pull and scratch at them, causing them to stutter before speeding up once more.

Surely you would kill him like this, oh beautiful ruiner, damn far more than his soul, but even his ashes to Hell for the thoughts you caused him to have,

Of your body all but crushed beneath his own as he pushed himself inside of you, body shuddering as he squeezed his gray eyes shut and prayed for release from the torment and torture that needing you like this caused him.

Of the way that your face looked as he did so, mouth slightly ajar in that way that always had him stuffing three fingers down your throat just so he could feel you moan and cry out around them.

Of your hands as they grasped at him as if he were the only thing on earth, the only one you craved, and oh if only he could bring himself to believe you could ever need him in the way he did you, then maybe, just maybe, this beautiful and carnal suffering could come to an end...

But he was far from a fool, and more than anything else he had ever faced, you had completely and utterly destroyed him.

He was ruined for anyone save for the woman who was laid out beneath him, that was for certain.

And all of his feelings for you, the hatred, the annoyance, the fondness, the admiration, and that one other thing he had seen in your eyes...

They made it so hard to focus, so hard to forget, and he couldn’t help but wonder what else he was doing this for if not that.

Why was he buried within you, gasping for air, pressing his sweaty forehead against your own and almost smiling, if not to forget?

Did he not do this to distract himself from his growing fear and uncertainty? And if he did then why was it not working? Why did you have him considering all of these things that caused him such turmoil while he was buried so deep inside of you that he could hardly recall his own name,

(The name that you had given him, so perfect on your lips...),

And how was it that he was still so close despite that? Your tightness damn near driving him to madness even as he was all but brought to tears by his own inner musings.

He could not force himself to answer those questions, but he could bring himself to push them all away, and drown himself in you,

And so he did.

Nines began to thrust his hips into yours even harder, his finger tips digging into your ass and thighs with bruising force as he lifted you towards him for better access, desperate to be connected, and desperate to be whole in a way he had never truly understood.

You gave him all that he could ask for and more, and he hissed when he felt you press closer, your ankles locking around his hips as you squeezed your thighs tighter to his body, your head falling back in what he knew

(prayed)

was bliss.

You always looked so heavenly when you came undone for him, tightening and quivering around his length helplessly.

Such a perfect sight to behold, such beautiful damnation, as if you were made solely for his eyes to see,

Or maybe as if he were made solely to see you.

Oh how he wished he could be something more than what he had been predestined for,

How he longed to be yo-

He could not allow himself to finish that thought.

And he did not have to.

Cursing, gasping, growling, Nines came deep inside of you, his hands shaky as he lowered you to the bed completely a few seconds afterward, slowly severing the connection between your bodies.

It was cold all alone, so cold when he couldn’t feel you, that he had half a mind to bury himself inside your heat once more, and just forget about the outside world.

But before he could, you spoke, confusion in your voice as you raised your hand to his face to brush some of his perfect hair away from his eyes.

“Nines?”

You asked softly, and your voice made him shiver far more than the coldness of this lonely world outside of you ever could.

“Yes?”

He replied lowly, as if afraid he would frighten you away if he spoke too loud.

“Why wont you kiss me again?”

Nines inhaled sharply as if struck by your words, and he allowed his gaze to sweep over your form slowly as his mouth began to form a response,

“I can’t, it wasn’t fair when I did before. It wasn’t real, it was just hungry, and cruel, and I won’t do that to you again. I am a lot of things, Little Mouse, but I am not a monster."

His words were spoken more to reassure himself than you, and he knew that, but even so he looked towards you to find your reaction, and the sorrow and everything else, unchanged from before, that could be found within your eyes was very nearly too much for him to bear.

Especially that unnamed emotion, the one that made his stomach clench with dread.

You raised your fingers, adept and nimble, familiar and haunting, to his face once more, this time framing his cheek and stroking it gently with your thumb as you spoke, sympathy so evident within your tone that it should’ve made Nines angry,

But this time it only hurt.

“Oh but Nines,”

You murmured, and he panicked as your familiarity started to fade, and that emotion he could not, would not, name, began to bleed away from your gaze,

“If that’s true, then why are you in here instead of being out there in the real world?”

Ice cold fear clutched at Nines' chest as your body beneath him vanished, your warmth replaced with an oh so familiar nothingness that made him want to weep for not just what he had lost, but for what he had never even had the opportunity to lose in the first place.

He was so lost in the darkness, with nothing and no one there, and he called out to you for what felt like hours with absolutely no response but his own voice echoing back at him, reminding him of his sins, and his atrocities born from emotions he had not been designed to feel, but had acted upon regardless.

He awoke from his scheduled stasis gasping for air, his thirium pump pounding in his chest cavity as he sat up quickly, looking around for someone in his darkened bedroom, the only light being that of the moon, which poured in past his open curtains.

But you were not there,

And you were the only one he would ever search for, whether he would admit that to himself or not.

He was completely alone, and the world was cold again, outside of you.

There was nothing to do now but lay awake and remember your warmth while ignoring that feeling of guilt as it grew stronger and stronger inside of him, because deep down, he knew

He would never find that emotion in your eyes anywhere outside of his own "dreams", which were really just his own imagination combined with the memories he wished he could simply be rid of entirely,

But he could never bring himself to let the feeling of you beneath him go,

Even if you were not his to dream of in the first place.

“Beautiful ruiner, what have you done to me?”

AO3 Link

[wow-its-me]

Empire of Death opinions and takes

(Sorry if you disagree I’m not here to argue)

1. I didn’t like how the episodes were split up, the characters turning into dust should’ve been the end of episode one instead of the beginning of episode two. I didn’t feel any emotional build up to the characters “deaths” because I knew it would be fixed very very soon. I think we would’ve felt it more if there was more build up to it and we had more time to stew on it.

I also think that the spoon thing would’ve worked better as an opener, but they probably would’ve had to split it into three episodes for that to make sense

2. I really love that Sutekh was there since the 70s and not since the salt line like we all assumed

3. 🗣️ ‼️🔥🗣️SHOUTOUT OODS SHPERE 🗣️🔥‼️🗣️

4. Melanie. Was. Annoying as fuck. in this episode. I love Bonnie Langford and think she did great with the material she was given. I usually love Mel, but she didn’t do anything in this episode other than kinda stand on the sidelines and point out the obvious. It was extremely clear that she was only there to be a vessel for Sutekh because otherwise she had no reason to be in any of those scenes

5. Ruby dropping the computer REALLYYY GOT ME that scene had me at the edge of my seat, I loved it.

6. Loved the outfits but was a bit confused by them. Why? Is? 15 dressed like a PE teacher??

7. UNIT Spinoff??

8. I really really love that Ruby’s mother is completely ordinary…. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SNOW THEY NEVER PROPERLY EXPLAINED THE SNOW the reunion had me crying though

I get why she said it I do really get what she meant but I didn’t like how she referred to her bio mom as her “Real Mom” like Carla’s your real mom too

9. Ruby and her birth mom reuniting is going to eventually mirror Doc reuniting with Susan, why would they talk about her so much if she’s not eventually coming back, next season or the one after

10. Let’s loop back around to UNIT, cause I have things to say about Morris. The actor who plays him does a great job, but again I feel like the writers didn’t know what to do with him in. I do hope they’ll actually give him some shit to do in the potential UNIT spin off. Also does UNIT follow labor laws???? Isn’t he just 13??? 

11.

“Clever Boy”

Ms. Flood has Somthing to do with Clara??? WHOS MRS FLOOD????

[clonebrainrot]

So I came across an article it was basically Dave Filoni talking about how he does endings

The important quote is

I think that in some ways you want each season to have a feeling of an ending. But in a lot of what I’ve done, I don’t like hard endings”

And this is very true. Look at Rebels, the clone wars and to a lesser extent the bad batch. Although I think a wholly separate post can be made a very long one on Dave’s influence and or lack thereof on the bad batch. It definitely fits into no hard endings.

But I also think you need a hard ending eventually. Sure you could theoretically keep making things with the characters, but eventually I as the creator of stories like to end them. Due to my poor writing skills I have never written my fanfiction down, but while I was younger say between the ages of 8-15 I would verbally tell my friends my stories. The point is. While I am not a writer I have been known to tell a good story. And eventually any good story needs an ending.

But Star Wars currently thrives off the no hard endings rule. Because they always return to the characters.

It’s why I think I have continued to get more and more disappointed with Ahsoka’s continuing story. There were times you could have had great endings for the character such as Twilight of the apprentice.

Hell a hard ending doesn’t even need to be death. Take the bad batch as an example. While the no hard ending rule definitely applies to characters such as Omega, Echo, Rex, Emerie. It does feel like the ending we got for Crosshair, Wrecker and Hunter was the hardest ending we have gotten in Star Wars in a long time. And I am completely happy with that fact.

A story needs an end. Now of course this is my opinion, but if you keep doing soft endings you’ll eventually get to the point in a decade or two where you grow tired of the character and just stop following it up.

Hard endings are important for a story because it means it’s done.

Now I have a feeling many of you may disagree with me. I want to stress though I am not saying soft endings are bad. I liked the bad batch and TCW and rebels. All three shows have soft endings. I am saying following a show up with another soft ending after another soft ending. And then never doing a hard ending is a bad idea. Because eventually you run out of the story and you just end it forever on a soft ending. And that in itself isn’t satisfying. It’s why I personally prefer shorter fanfiction. Or completed fanfiction.

Doesn’t mean I won’t read long stories. I do. But a part of me gets bummed when there is no ending because a creative abandoned it. In the Ahsoka movie Dave has a fantastic opportunity to do a hard ending. Do I think he’ll take it? All signs point to no.

Again this may just be me. But my point here is I do think you should have a general hard ending in mind for characters and plots. And I honestly don’t think Filoni does. Because he likes playing with the characters so much. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong.

Maybe this is why I like the ending of Revenge of the Sith so much. Because while it isn’t a hard ending. In many ways it is a hard ending for those characters. Padme dies. Anakin for all intents and purposes dies and the man Obi Wan was is buried deep down. It’s a hard ending for who those characters are.

Just my two cents.

Also this doesn’t reflect my opinion on spinoffs. I think that’s a wholly different debate.

So I think soft endings are fine as long as you do have a hard ending in mind eventually.

[desultory-novice]

So, I recently played Kirby's Star Stacker on NSO, and...

Well, I now understand why this version never released in North America (I want to send the screenshot soooooooo badly!) 😂

Ah, yes! Sorry about having media asks turned off! After some of the horror stories I've heard, I just didn't consider it worth the risk.

But yes!

I love this image so much! Actually, I love so much about the adorable little cutscenes in Star Stacker! Meta Knight without his mask (...and gloves! You can see his little orb hands!) doing his darndest to still look like a cool tough warrior as he stands on the tallest possible hill (not that tall) and says "We shall meet again!!"

...Meta Knight... Oh Meta Knight... /positive

Now, then I assume there were probably many factors involved in Star Stacker not coming over to the west. It was released quite late into the SNES's lifespan for one, a year before the console was discontinued in NA. And it was a "remake" of a game that may not even have sold all that well the first time...

I hate to say it (especially as someone who values story and characters in video games) but an added "story mode" was almost certainly not considered a "selling point" to make it worth anyone's investment. Unfortunately, video games were still sold on their edginess to the teenage boy market in those days and a pastel-themed block matching game isn't getting any backing...

Grr...

Sorry. Just remembering how many good games my generation missed out on for stupid reasons. Games that I consider the best the system had to offer: Live a Live... Secret Treasure of the Rudras... Trials of Mana... Tales of Phantasia...

Ahem...

BUT the fact that Kirby and friends canonically go drinking at a bar if you lose probably didn't win it any points on its localizability and would have almost certainly caught the eyes of the VERY fierce, VERY determined censors of those days!

Of course, the funny thing about this is the bottle Kine is drinking from actually reads "Ocean Water" and is NOT alcohol! NoA wouldn't even have had to censor it, just translate it and you're clear!

...Although I'm sure if they had, rumors would have persisted for years that in "the original" Kine was actually drinking booze!

Maybe it wouldn't have mattered though, because Coo certainly looks ready to hit the hard liquor lined up on that shelf. ^_-

Actually, looking closely at the image, all the triangle motifs, I wonder if this is some kind of Dedede-themed Bar & Karaoke establishment? Seems they didn't bother rebuilding it after Kirby's infamously destructive singing voice wrecked the place!

...Man, there is something so utterly charming about the SNES era of Kirby! Star Stacker plays right into DL3's watercolor pencil artstyle and I love it and miss it, on occasion.

Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but I hope that our next Kirby game is not a big expansive mainline title but another "full-bodied" spinoff. Not a contentless fluff spinoff, like Dream Buffet or the 15 minute mini-games of the 3DS entries but something a little more comfy and fun, like Epic Yarn or Rainbow Curse! Something where you can have a bunch of characters reunite to do something silly and ridiculous like play competitive puzzle-matching or bubble-wrap popping (...or Air-Riding...) and pretend like it is serious business(tm)!

[zahri-melitor]

I don't know if it's just me but it feels like alot of the points people use to criticise Tim are things that can actually be seen with early Damian writing. The too smart, dangerous, over-competent and slightly murderous character doesn't really fit Tim as a character even though he's ascribed to that and criticised for it but it can easily be seen with Damian.

I don't hate Damian as a character, but I get what you mean about it being tiring that DC keeps pushing him to the top of the totem pole especially since the way the do that is by making other characters seem incompetent and by ignoring other characters. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Cass, Barbara or Tim have been on the Justice League but Damian as a teen younger than them technically is/was?

Oh boy. Late response on this, but I've been playing with it for a while.

Starting with the last point first: Tim’s actually the only one of those three who hasn’t been on a main universe Justice League at any point.

Barbara was a member of the JLA after the Morrison reboot for quite a while between 1998-2000. She’s also got the tendency to pop up in JL stories and events as one of the computer folk helping maintain their systems. She’s certainly more focused on her OWN team and I don’t think she’s ever been a member as Batgirl, but as Oracle? As Lian Harper says in Titans #1 (1999), she’s secretly running the League.

Cass was a member of Justice League Elite, a morally ambiguous Justice League spinoff coming out of one of the more confusing JLA arcs. She was placed on the team undercover as ‘Kasumi’ by Bruce essentially as a spy. In tone it feels like DC trying their hand at a The Authority ripoff before they gobbled Wildstorm up. Is it a good series? No, but it does mean Cass has been on a Justice League team with Wally, Ollie, and a bunch of Z-listers you’ve never heard of. (Someone is now going to defend oh Manitou Dawn to me and while I DO like her, she's a Z-lister, sorry)

Digression aside!

I think a lot of the time when people are arguing against a character, they are frequently complaining about the flanderised, fanonised version of that character that they trip over in fic all the time more than the character on page in comics. Not always! But those do tend to irritate people more.

In terms of "what people want to argue fanon Tim to be, Damian already is" sort of? I mean there are multiple fanon versions of Tim, but yes, "too smart, dangerous, over-competent and slightly murderous" is a common one among people who want to really insist Tim killed lots and lots and lots of people in Red Robin #8 (a reading I do not subscribe to). It is equally an okay but not great description of Damian, in that I would mostly place even early Damian as 'dangerously violent' not 'murderous' by BFTC.

I don't think it's great in terms of complete accuracy for either of them, but yeah, if you boil things down, it's closer to Damian's actual character than Tim's.

In terms of DC pushing them: yeah, Damian by being THE Robin between 2009 and 2019 or so got a solid editorial pitch as a central character, because 'Robin' as a title has that extra cachet outside of intense comics nerd circles. There were events and storylines that centred his position as The Robin, but equally it comes out in basic things like...which characters are prioritised to appear in anthologies! If we are writing a Batman Christmas story, let's have it feature Bruce and Damian, or Bruce, Dick, Damian and Barbara. And so on.

Now whether Damian's getting prioritised over every other 'kid' of the family is a murky discussion - there's a place for the conversation that certain writers in particular had a tendency to focus on Damian being Bruce's biological kid, over and above the adopted children - but generally it comes and goes in waves and with what stories are pitched. It's very clear when you read comics that some writers just like using particular characters more than others. There's often stories written where to make the story work, someone has to be left holding the idiot ball or being needlessly aggressive, to provide conflict, and writers who do this obviously have to choose someone to do it for them. If a story is centring Damian, generally he isn't going to be the one who finds out he's wrong after providing the conflict. If it's centring say Tim, then Damian might be used to push the narrative forward. And when a writer does like one character more than another, they might choose the one they don't intend to write often as the one who gets stuck being idiot ball.

TL;DR: on some occasions Damian might be being prioritised. On others he isn't. He got a lot of spotlight to himself during the 2010s; that's been more balanced since then (honestly Dick has been the one hogging spotlight for the last few years, if anyone).

[sparlax]

My thoughts on the leaks and the bizarre stories.

Tbh I believe the really weird human x Pokemon stories in the leak are either a major translation error or straight up fake/exaggerated. I've played every mainline game and more than half of the spinoffs.

So when I read those stories I was honestly kinda horrified. Like, the most edgy a mainline Pokemon game has gotten was that drunken old man who blocked the way to progress in the Japanese version of Gen 1. Sure there was also tongue in cheek dialogue across the games, casinos, smoking in certain trainer models and some dark themes sprinkled around.

But nothing comes even remotely close to this.

I had a long conversation with my best friend about these and she mentioned Yokai stories. Now, I only know a few and I am aware that they can get pretty damn dark. So if these are not fake, I can imagine they are meant to be interpreted like Yokai stories. What this means is that they aren't meant to be taken at face value. Certain things are metaphorical or have double meanings. Especially when I read the Slakoth story I could sense it had a sort of moral attached to it by the ending.

All this being said.. I hate how the leaks were obtained. Many low level employees had their information leaked and I can barely fathom what punishments might be being dished out for them. Obviously Game Freak and Nintendo are not the kinds of companies that like to show behind the scenes material. So if these leaks never occurred these beta sprites, cut content and other material would have never seen the light of day ever.

The stories in particular really affected me negatively. When I was younger I was somewhat interested in Pokemon creepypastas and scary romhacks (Lost Silver my beloved) but as I grew older I sort of lost interest in dark pokemon related stuff. Especially when it comes to older gens before the 3ds era I feel a sense of nostalgic comfort. So when I read these stories I felt a whole range of negative emotions; Frustration, confusion, skepticism, sadness and so on.

I highly doubt Game Freak or Nintendo will ever publicly acknowledge the leaks. They will never say if the stories are real or fake. There are probably several NDAs that the writers have to sign that prevent them from talking about decade old games anyways. And besides that everyone has an uncle who works at Nintendo, so unless a major known writer or developer does an interview, we cannot trust any random person online who tries to validate or invalidate the information in the leaks.

[ncisfranchise-source]

“This is a story I don’t tell. This is the story… of her.”

With those few words from Mark Harmon’s narrator Gibbs, CBS‘ NCIS: Origins (airing Mondays at 10/9c) raised millions of eyebrows and got people looking at the prequel spinoff in a whole new way.

“Her,” the camera made clear, is Special Agent Cecilia “Lala” Dominguez, played by Mariel Molino (whose previous TV credits include Promised Land and The Watchful Eye).

“The story [Gibbs is telling] is largely about Lala,” NCIS: Origins co-showrunner David J. North affirmed for TVLine. “It’s about a lot more than just Lala, but she is certainly a centerpiece of this story that we’ve never known, about how Gibbs became Gibbs.”

TVLine spoke with Molino ahead of the season about Lala’s origins, her dynamic with each NIS team member and her 1990s Julia Roberts mood board. Plus, via a Friday email exchange, she teases the mysterious untold story she finds herself in the middle of….

TVLINE | Out of all the agents there at the NIS office, your character is the most… what? Ohh, that’s a good question…. My character is probably the most observant.

TVLINE | In one of the early character descriptions, it said Lala has a dark sense of humor. When we meet Lala, there’s a very macabre scene around her, and she actually tells Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell), “Reminds me of when I was little.” [Laughs] She definitely has at times a dry sense of humor and a dark sense of humor, which I love. I myself will definitely seize any opportunity to use humor, but hers is a bit more sarcastic, for sure.

TVLINE | When I was on-set, the prop guy did say that the series-opening crime scene was one of the wildest he had seen in his years working on NCIS shows. I have to say, we were blown away, getting to act in this house that was basically burnt and reconstructed on a different space on the lot, outside, and yeah, it was pretty grizzly. It does a really good job of introducing Gibbs as this perfect person who could shed some light onto this specific crime.

TVLINE | Where does Lala hail from? San Diego. She’s a local girl. I’m also from San Diego, and it’s funny because when I auditioned, the producers thought I was from New York. They were like, “You know, we’re going to have to work on the accent and make sure it’s from San Diego….” I was like, “Wait, no! I’m from San Diego!”

TVLINE | Where does Lala rank in terms of seniority on the team? She outranks everyone except for Franks (Kyle Schmid), obviously. She’s kind of like his right-hand agent when we meet the team. She’s a little bit above Randy (Caleb Foote), which is only because of time; she’s just been there longer. And because Gibbs is basically the probie, she also outranks him.

TVLINE | With which characters or characters would you say she has the most specific dynamic? She has a very clear dynamic with Franks; they can have a lot of tension. I see it akin to the daughter or son who wants to always impress Dad and at the same time questions their authority and their judgement. She sees Franks as someone she looks up to, but he also frustrates her in a lot of ways, with how he makes some of his decisions.

She also has a very familial dynamic with Caleb’s character, Randy, one that is relaxed, more comfortable. And she really looks to Vera Strickland (played by Diany Rodriguez) as a role model — as a woman, as a female agent, and as a friend — so she goes to her for advice.

TVLINE | It was said early on, when you were first cast, that Lala and Gibbs’ story would be “filled with sparks.” Have you seen that evidenced yet? We’ve seen a spark, but I wouldn’t say it’s romantic thus far. [Chuckles] I think these sparks that are happening as of right now stem from tension and essentially frustration.

TVLINE | He challenges her? She challenges him? She challenges him. She believes that he’s not ready for this job, and she really questions his judgement. I think there’s a little bit of insecurity there because she sees that he is a really smart, really sharp guy who in a way is kind of coming to take her spot. There’s a bit of potentially mixed feelings, in terms of what his position or rank will end up being. Again, I expressed this familial relation with Franks, but [with Gibbs] it’s like when there’s a new sibling who all of a sudden gets all this attention. It’s difficult for Lala, and we have to remember that this is 1990s, in a male-dominated field.

TVLINE | I was saying to the showrunners that two interesting things at play here will be the technology — other NCIS shows have conditioned us to expect a fingerprint to be ID’d within seconds — but also, as you said, male-female dynamics of the 1990s, which were wildly different. Wildly different. And I can tell you, even as an actor, it’s kind of a struggle trying to be tough, and direct, while also being compassionate and understanding yet fearing that that might come up as a weakness.

TVLINE | Because back then, a “tough” woman was labeled a b-i-t-c-h. Exactly. And if you show more “female characteristics,” then you could be labeled as not tough enough for the job.

TVLINE | When did you learn that the story Gibbs is telling us is an untold one, about “her” aka Lala? And do you know why it’s gone untold, or only have theories?   I learned that the story that Gibbs is telling was about “her” when I read the pilot. It was a surprise to me, too, and definitely something that piqued my interest in the character. Since then, [showrunners] Gina [Lucita Monreal] and David [J. North] have given me a little insight into where things are going and I can say that she is someone who will impact Gibbs’ path in a major way. They are going to learn from one another and have to learn to trust each other despite their differences.

TVLINE | Before we go, what’s the most 1990s thing you’ve gotten to wear so far? Apart from my beeper, which sits right on my hip [Laughs]… I’ve tried to incorporate a lot of texture. I’m a big fan of Julia Roberts and her style in the 1990s, and she used a lots of vests with blouses or shirts underneath, so that’s something that has been on my mood board since I started creating this character. And fortunately, it’s one of the costumes that was well-received by our creative team. It’s on the posters, so I’m excited about being able to implement something about her style that’s also professional and wearable in this setting.

[that-left-turn]

Saw your post about advertising revenue going down. Subscriptions to AMC for Q1 went up while TOWL was airing. What are your hopes for TBOC drawing in new audiences for AMC? Do you think Caryl is a big enough draw and if not in its current state what needs to change?

Subscriptions going up while TOWL aired was good (for AMC). The question is if it's fans of that particular show dipping in and then dropping off? AMC can't appeal to the larger TWD fanbase for all the spinoffs. They've slimmed down, so they need to find ways to grow those individual audiences and they need to retain them for the longhaul.

The appeal of TBOC is in the lead characters and sadly, not the story. Zabel hasn't done his homework (which an incoming showrunner should do): he has either only watched the montage and final scene of the flagship show, or he's relying on what other EPs have told him about the characters and their arcs. That's why he thought Ezekiel was Daryl's friend, since he was there to see Daryl off in the series finale.

Contrary to what you'd believe from looking at the fandom and the loudest screaming individuals, Carol resonates with the general audience, so seeing her again will probably draw curious viewers, but will they stick around? It depends largely on how her character arc is handled and also, her relationship with Daryl. They have natural chemistry, which the show should capitalize on as it comes with a built-in audience.

Will it, though?

From what I know about TBOC, Carol and Daryl's individual arcs merge at the end of block 2/beginning of block 3, so 204-205-ish. That means half the season has them separated. That's not ideal for a show where the main appeal lies in the relationship between the leads (whether romantic or platonic). Their emotional drives appear uneven, from my limited view of the beats, which might also be a viewer deterrent.

I think AMC needs to go all-in on canon once the storylines intersect—especially as it looks like we're in for some heavy nunbaiting—to at least get some good word of mouth and maybe draw back parts of the audience who've given up on the show. There were people who stopped watching TWD in S7-8 who came back after the original Caryl spinoff was announced. Having a loyal core audience is vital, so the studio needs to insure that those viewers are invested and engaged.

The show also needs a story engine. The escort mission in S1 had little urgency, beyond Daryl looking for a radio, and the actual meat and potatoes of the external plot was nondescript. Laurent was said (prophesied, really, by a Buddhist monk) to be the new Messiah who will "save humanity." It's very fuzzy on the details and not in a way that implies mystery. It screams of hand waving. The show has to draw in horror fans with a season arc that services the genre.

Caryl fans would watch for a good emotional arc and the GA should be treated to a well-conceived external plot. If you can cater to both of those demographics, you can grow the audience (because people tell others when they like a show) but it hinges on tight storytelling. You have to have an actual detailed plan and not a vague idea of where you're going—pantsing might work for a novelist, but never for a screenwriter. There's an A story, a B story and you may have a couple of runners, for the season as well as individual episodes, so a TV show requires organization. (And I'm getting off-topic here, so I'll leave the logistics at that.)

I'm not confident in TBOC based on what I know of Zabel's writing in general, his management of S1, his statements to the media and what I know about TBOC. I think the show needs a redirect into a different subgenre and some fresh ideas that showcase McReedus playing off each other and Caryl being thrust into the unfamiliar (both to the characters and the audience)—we need to see something new while the characters stay in-character to tether them to the character development already done on the flagship show. (And now I've written 'character' so many times that the word has lost all meaning 🙈)

Zabel played loose and fast with Daryl's backstory in S1. Fans are invested in those details and if it's made it to screen, the showrunner can't ignore them to shoehorn the already well-established protagonist into a plot involving new characters. He shouldn't love his own original creations more than the actual main character. All of these things give me pause as to Zabel's suitability as a showrunner for a show that already has a preexisting ecosystem.

That said, it looks like the show is getting delayed to a fall premiere, promo seems to be on a hold and the season finale may still be in post, which could be signs of AMC fixing problems and/or changing direction.

Sorry the answer was neither short nor succinct, but I hope it gave some clarity regarding my thought process. Obviously, like everybody else, I have ideas of what I'd do to increase ratings, but I'm not the person in the hot seat 🙃 I'm waiting for the panel at Tribeca to see what I can decipher from the inevitable sell speak.

It may be a long summer for us.