#his conflict with his father which he speaks of as betrayal & you know. more than a century of being buried alive. undead. whatever.

[tortoisesshells]

This is perhaps premature, but I've gotten through to 214 & while Barnabas has gotten some heavy-duty foreshadowing, talked up as a force of inscrutable malice and evil, haunting the narrative as a disembodied heartbeat- thusfar, he's mostly been strangely charming, flirted with people who may or may not be his direct descendants, and monologued about home construction and evil in The Old House at Vicki. I know it's coming, but.

[novaursa]

Visenya or rhaenys x half-brother reader (Like orys baratheon). Reader is like her paramour or smtn :)

The Bastard Kingmaker

- Summary: You and Visenya share a secret that Westeros will never know.

- Paring: male!reader/Visenya Targaryen

- Note: The reader is another bastard son of Aerion Targaryen, and Visenya's half-brother. Orys and the reader share the same mother, so, they are brothers. This short story goes along with theory how Aegon was unable to sire children, and both Maegor and Aenys are basterds. (there is also a theory about how Visenya conceived Maegor through blood magic with Aegon, which would make a lot of sense) In any case, I love this theory because it makes all that Targaryen propaganda of being blood of the Conqueror hilarious.

- Rating: Mature 16+

- Tag(s): @sachaa-ff @alyssa-dayne @oxymakestheworldgoround @literaturedog

The air is heavy with the lingering scent of your recent union inside your chamber, the warmth of Visenya’s body still pressed close to yours. Her hair, silver as moonlight, spills across your chest as she rests her head against you, the rise and fall of her breath steady and calm now. You trace a finger along the curve of her shoulder, feeling the strength beneath her smooth skin, marveling, as always, at the duality of her—both fierce and tender, a warrior and a lover.

Her hand drifts over your stomach, tracing idle patterns on your skin. "I should not linger," she murmurs, but there is no urgency in her voice, no desire to leave. Her tone is soft, almost wistful—a side of her she reveals only to you in these rare, stolen moments.

“Stay a while longer,” you say, your voice low, a quiet plea that you know she cannot grant. Her duty, her place, is at Aegon’s side. But here, in this hidden corner of Storm’s End, she is yours, if only for a brief time.

She sighs, a sound that is more a breath than a word, and you can feel the conflict within her. Her duty to the realm, to her brother-husband, pulls her in one direction, but the bond you share draws her in another. You tilt her face up to yours, your thumb brushing her cheek. “When will I see him?” you ask, your voice rougher now, a hint of desperation seeping in. “When will I see our son?”

Visenya’s eyes meet yours, and you see the promise in their depths before she even speaks. “Soon,” she whispers, her lips brushing against yours as she speaks. “I will bring him to you, I swear it. Next time, when I come on Vhagar.” Her gaze hardens, the steel of her resolve shining through. “Maegor will know his father. He will know where he comes from.”

You nod, your throat tight. It is not enough, not nearly enough, but it is something. The knowledge that the boy, your son, carries your blood, that he is the true heir, not the fragile, sickly child Rhaenys bore. The thought is a bitter comfort, and yet it is all you have.

“I want to hold him, Visenya,” you say, your voice a fierce whisper. “I want to see him grow, to teach him what it means to be a Targaryen.

“You will,” she promises again, her fingers threading through your hair, her touch soothing. “But we must be careful. Aegon… he would not understand. He would see it as a betrayal.”

You laugh, a harsh, mirthless sound. “Aegon has never understood anything about us, has he?”

Visenya’s eyes narrow slightly, and you feel a flash of guilt. It is not Aegon’s fault that he cannot sire true heirs, that he is more king than man, more conqueror than father. But that does not change the truth. You are the father of her son, not him, and it is your blood that will carry on the Targaryen legacy.

She lifts her head, her gaze steady, unflinching. “We must protect Maegor,” she says quietly. “He is the future of our House, the true future.”

You pull her closer, pressing your forehead to hers, feeling the strength and warmth of her, the unbreakable bond that ties you together. “I will protect him,” you vow, your voice fierce and low. “I will protect both of you. No one will ever harm him, or you.”

She smiles then, a rare, genuine smile that softens the hard lines of her face. “I know you will,” she whispers, her lips brushing against yours in a kiss that is both a promise and a farewell.

You hold her close, savoring the feel of her against you, the way her body fits perfectly against yours. But all too soon, she pulls away, slipping from the bed and reaching for her clothes. You watch her dress, the graceful movements of her hands as she fastens the clasps of her armor, the way the firelight plays across the silver scales.

When she is fully dressed, she turns back to you, her gaze lingering on your face. “Next time,” she says softly, her voice a promise that you hold onto like a lifeline. “I will bring him to you.”

You nod, watching as she strides to the window, her cloak billowing out behind her like the wings of a dragon. And then she is gone, the sound of Vhagar’s wings beating against the night sky echoing through the chamber.

You lie back against the pillows, the scent of her still lingering in the air, the memory of her touch still warm on your skin. Next time, she had said. You close your eyes, imagining the moment you will finally hold your son, the weight of him in your arms, the look in his eyes when he sees you for the first time.

You will wait. For as long as it takes, you will wait. For her, for him, for the future you will build together.

[nthspecialll]

We have all seen the edits and drawings of Dutch with "I'm your man" by Mitiski, more specifically with the lyrics "you believe me like a god, I betray you like a man," but it is not just those lyrics that fits Dutch and practically the entirety of the gang.

(Warning I am not a huge Mitiski fan so I will just take the lyrics as they are without any deeper meaning and compare them to red dead to give them a deeper meaning)

While the whole "you believe me like a god" might make it sound like the "me" also sees themselves as a god as well or at least superior to the other party, that is not the case.

"You're an angel, I'm a dog

Or you're a dog and I'm your man."

This part hints at confusion between standing of the two parties. The "I" isn't sure about what their position is with the other party, either the "you" is an angel and themselves a dog, someone lesser, something lesser, or the "I" is a man and the "you" a dog. The "I" never put themselves as something eternal, they never claim to be unworldly or godly, instead they willingly put themselves underneath the "you" and only above them in the same way a man would an animal, a dynamic that while it might hold love also is clear on who is in control.

Dutch and Arthur's dynamic is constantly changing. On one hand, Arthur is a workhorse, the one Dutch sends our for his dirty work, the one Dutch knows he can control and make him do anything, on the other hand we have their family dynamic of Dutch saying that Arthur means more to him than what a son would and acting as if he is the best thing ever.

"You believe me like a god

I'll destroy you like I am."

While the "I" never sees themselves superior, the "you" puts the "I" on a pedestal, making them their god and the "I" takes advantage of that and destroys the "you." This is similar to Dutch and Arthur. Dutch was not a good man ever, while he and the others did do their Robinhood act, they were never good men, they killed, they robbed and they ruined, but Arthur saw Dutch as a god or a father more than a mere mentor and Dutch ruined Arthur for that in the end.

"I'm sorry I'm the one you love

No one will ever love me like you again."

The "I" knows they are bad, they know they are ruining the other and they know that they will never get the loyalty that the "you" gave them again. While this might not seem like Dutch and Arthur, it very much is in the end.

Dutch in the end when Arthur is dying seems angry, frustrated and conflicted, because while he is seeing his son dying, he knows there is something he does not know. While he feels angry that Arthur did what he did, he never did think Arthur was a "betrayer", he thought John was, he thought John was talking to the Pinkertons and had convinced Arthur that Dutch was bad. He felt sad that Arthur was dying because of John and his manipulation and he knows he will never find the loyalty Arthur gave him again from anyone, and he is right, even in 1911, he has yet to find someone like Arthur.

"So when you leave me, I should die

I deserve it, don't I?"

I am of the firm belief that Dutch spent a long while alone after Arthur's death because the newspapers while talking of him, do not mention another gang, only the old one, and in red dead one they speak as if Dutch's gang is fairly new which would also explain why the Agents were suddenly able to locate him, because he became active again.

This could be to lay low, or it could be because he was thinking over what he had done and what had happened, and considering how much Arthur meant to him it wouldnt be strange to say he might have spent some years in self hatred or pity.

"I can feel it gettin' near

Like flashlights comin' down the way

One day you'll figure me out

I'll meet judgment by the hounds."

This is where it gets a bit more tricky because I believe the "you" changes here, where "you" were Arthur before, it can now be seen as John.

In 1911 John is hunting down Javier and Bill, something Dutch no doubt knew and heard about, while he might have hoped to be able to defeat John, he would have known that John would come for him and he would be able to "see him come near" as he kills off the two others. Dutch knows one day John will be his end, one day John will figure him out and he will have to face the consequences of his actions.

"People always gave me love

Others were never to blame after all."

This is quite obvious how it comes to Dutch, they gave Dutch everything, they gave him their lives to lay if he so wish and in the end it was not their fault that the gang split up. No it was not Micah's fault, while Micah did manipulate, he never forced Dutch's hand, even without Micah Dutch would have lost himself down the road, it was in the end Dutch's fault.

"You believe me like a god

I'll betray you like a man."

John loved Dutch, maybe even more than Arthur, after all John is often seen as Dutch's son while Arthur is seen as Hosea's, not just by the fandom but the characters as well. We see characters call John Dutch's golden boy and his pet. It was also Arthur who had to convince John and truly let him see what Dutch was doing, to let him know that the concerns he had were true.

Dutch removed the noose from John's neck when John was twelve, saving him like a miracle, yet Dutch shot at John in the end like he was no one special, just another man to be put in the ground.

[biggsodorcitystories]

any tugs and ttte headcanon you have and their angst

That's a very BROAD ask. I'm not 100% certain if the following is exactly the answer you want. I'll be honest, I think it would be too much if I gave you every headcanon I have, so I'll just pick a few angsty ones that I haven't really shared. If you want any specific character headcanons, it might be easier to ask for then outright - I would be happy to share!

TTTE:

Flying Scotsman, for all his bluster, has a lot of unresolved trauma from his time hiding in America and from the loss of his siblings. When he returned home, he became convinced that Mallard wanted to take his position as public head of the Gresley family (officially, this is actually Gordon), and the two are no longer speaking. He also has an irrational jealousy towards Henry, not only for 'stealing' his position of Gordon's brother, but is also convinced that Henry is trying to take control of the family. Without the support system of friends and family, Scotsman has no way of handling these issues until he is forced to after a mental breakdown.

Spencer's position as a private engine has made him a figure of scorn outside of Sodor. Private engines, though benefitting from the security of their status, are looked down upon by engines on the mainland due to their limited workloads and better variety of routes. Years of being shunned and told he is a 'toy' or 'pet' engine, who has no understanding of hard work, has made Spencer's early life a very lonely one, and he struggled to form many relationships as he had no idea how to behave until he was able to spend more time on Sodor.

Though he would never admit it, Diesel is terrified of being sent away from Sodor. During recent visits, he has discovered that most of his friends have been scrapped, and he knows another failure will result in his own last trip to the scrapyard.

Thomas has developed an attachment to Edward, whom he had been assigned to by Sir Topham Hatt I, which was a common practice for broody engines and orphan engines. Unfortunately, he left them together for too long, resulting in Thomas imprinting on Edward. Though he is much improved, Thomas wants nothing more than than to become Edward's son for real, which is why he tried dating Lady.

Big Mickey is the son of Big Mickey from TUGs, but became nonverbal after the death of his father, and was unable to speak until he had been on Sodor for many years. He has a very rational phobia of military vessels and vehicles, which render him immobile.

TUGS:

Hercules, though he has become an expert in masking them, has very serious attachment issues. In particular, he is overly attached to his grandfather, Captain Starr, to the extent that he gets jealous when one of his siblings seems to be getting more attention than he is. This is due to the emotional neglect administered by his father.

Zorran took great pride in his status as a family man, working hard to provide his wife and five children with a better life. However, he learned that his wife had been cheating on him with multiple partners when she left him for one of them. In an attempt to save face, she tried to spread rumours that Zorran was an abusive husband and father due to being in an inappropriate relationship with his sister, Ziva. Although none of this was true, and was quickly proven to be lies, the betrayal hit Zorran hard, causing him to lash out at his fleet, in particular his nephew Zip. He is slowly trying to put his life back together, and currently has full custody of his eldest son, Zane.

Zebedee is dealing with the agony of being forcibly separated from his wife, children, and family after almost killing his ex brother-in-law. His two youngest sons are almost strangers to him, and missing the milestones of their (and their siblings) childhood years is especially hard for him. He is currently conflicted about his position within the Zero fleet, for fear that his sentence may be extended due to the fleets legally questionable connections.

Zug is extremely lonely, and it is largely his own actions that have caused it. Due to his habit of snitching to Zorran about their actions, Zebedee is very cautious and short with him and Zak has actually made serious physical threats if he sees Zug hanging around them. Though Zorran has made use of Zug's snitching, he still has no time for the Estonian switcher, and Captain Zero is no better. Zip is the only one who is kind to him, but Zug has noticed that the others are much nicer to Zip, so how long will that last?

Grampus has developed agoraphobia after an incident in the Great War (WWI). He is alright in familiar environments, such as around the port, but is prone to panic attacks if he goes much further than Dem Der Rocks unless he has a specific task to complete.

Sunshine, like his twin sister, was the victim of maternal neglect due to their mother's mental health and bullying due to their lack of a father. However, Sunshine suffered additional abuse from bullies while protecting his sister. This has begun to take its toll, and now they have a family and the security they never had, the cracks are beginning to show...

I hope this is in line with what you wanted. If you want any individual character headcanons, please ask again!

[akkivee]

rambling about the tdd manga because i can lol:

the entire thing sure did reinforce how convoluted chuuoku’s schemes are lol all that just to test run and create the drbs bruh 😭😭😭

the line at the end where ichijiku and otome are discussing how much more poignant the battles are because they brought them together and then forced them to fight is all sorts of fcked up y’all 😭😭😭😭😭😭

anyway from the beginning lol the mic otome uses is a different mic from even just the next chapter, i wonder if it’s just an non-finalized design or an early iteration of the mic???? like rio has a prototype mic and this is not that lmao. aaaaah but rio’s might be military grade prototype and otome has the version rei presumably finalised on his own???? a different version altogether???? hmmm 🤔

nemu is 16 in that first chapter and ichiro is 17 which would mean all the territory disputes, fixes, and mozuku’s plot to usurp mcd took place in a week lol hypmic’s timeline is SHAKY

(the official timeline helps this a little actually lol)

(maybe)

kuukou, swinging red flags from the beginning making fun of ichiro’s mom lol, also fcked around making fun of samatoki’s dead father and found tf out lmao

kuukou is an entire menace in the tdd manga i see why i had a hard time telling myself not to like him when he first showed up lmao

that theory kuukou might have some sort of brain damage wound up slightly reinforced when kuukou remembered sasara reused an old joke when he seemed to have forgotten that sasara is not funny by the time they reunited lmao he has a great memory in the tdd manga

(that joke sasara reused was only in samatoki’s presence too so kuukou also broke some sort of dimensional wall lmao)

speaking of sasara!!!!!!

ikeBOOBkuro????? really????? and then he had that dumbshit d🍆ck joke he made in dod the clowns DO NOT have rights!!!!!!!!!!

lol tho every time i read these early chapters with sasara, aramaki-san’s track 3 sasara always comes to mind lol like mcd sasara was intimidating actually that’s exactly why track 3 sasara is like that 😭😭😭😭😭😭

hmmmm are the special forces or whatever that tried to hijack the hospital jakurai worked at the same as rio’s special forces???? i’ll have to keep that in mind reading bbmtc manga lol

I STILL BELIEVE JAKURAIS WAVE TECHNIQUE WAS THE VERY FIRST ITERATION OF THE HYPNOSIS MIC TECH

still a little pissed mcd vs nb was the first drb in structure and symbolism (forced conflict created by a higher ruling power used to gain/reinforce power by said higher power and wound up entertaining the masses) and yet sasara and kuukou were booted out of the narrative like that

there was a moment where i Almost Almost considered that ramuda had started to consider bringing sasara and kuukou into his plans in chapter 11 based on how pissed he looked after ichijiku told him they brainwashed them. it’s more likely that ramuda’s mad another ‘him’ died more than anything but it’s nice to consider lol

the terrorist scene where nemu and the baby yamada bros got kidnapped is still insane btw

iconic samajuto first(?) meeting lol lemme just handcuff myself to this man who is already listening to me said juto lmao

NEMUS NERVES OF STEEL FR AN OLD MAN THREATENS BODILY HARM TO HER BUT LITERALLY NOBODY IS SCARIER TO HER THAN HER FATHER SO SHE NEVER FLINCHED

JIROS FIRST BETRAYAL ITS NO WONDER HE STARTED ADOPTING SOME OF ICHIROS SELF PRESERVATION LESSONS

THE FACT SABURO BLOCKED NEMU OUT FROM HIS MEMORY SO LIKELY THIS ENTIRE KIDNAPPING????? PLS PROTECT THE CHILDREN HE HAS PTSD YALL AT 11

and what was UP with that orphanage director in the first place???? who do you choose: money grubbing, child labour exploiting for hoes orphanage director or murderous, gets off on torture and sells children for their superiority complex orphanage director

like WTF????

(also: that extra bb tdd chapter is fcked up too you know mozuku only told ichiro about that first director wasting funds because he wanted to replace him with his associate 🤬)

the face nemu makes when samatoki starts kicking her kidnappers while they’re down help 😭😭😭😭😭😭

in the final tdd bonus, they adapted jakurai’s story he told to dohifu during their championship celebration and used that story to show jakurai had already been slowly awakening his ability. so i think it’s incredible smic didn’t suffer from hearing loss after slamming sticks into their eardrums lol maybe that’s where sensei’s ability started forming

kuukou in chapter 9: man check out all these cute girls!!!! 😁

kuukou in the nb drama track: why tf would you pay to talk to women????

(very unrelated instances lol but hilarious out of context tho)

kuukou and sasara going home in the same direction gave them time to talk and get to know each other and i wanna know what their conversations were about soooooo bad bro 😭😭😭😭

mcd/nb break up Did Not Happen I Do Not See It 😑

that moment where samatoki tells nemu ichiro’s kindness is his weakness because he saw ichiro’s breakdown over kuukou leaving him is— it’s kinda— 😭😭😭😭😭😭

yotsutsuji is an unsung mvp in this manga lol look at all the legwork he put in managing territories and finding intel

tdd was the group ramuda made and it was the group he made for himself but it was never his in the first place 😕

but if yotsutsuji never found out ramuda’s secret, or here; if yotsutsuji didn’t manage to send jakurai an email about it, idk if rmjk would have separated???? like what was the plan for jakurai??? ramuda said jakurai was his nirvana so i guess until chuuoku forced it, kp likely would have stayed together huh?? 🤔

ramuda: chuuoku kidnapped your brothers ichiro!!!!!

ichiro: AGAIN?????

me: damn took the words right out of my mouth lmao

samatoki’s beef with ichiro came from the lies they had nemu tell samatoki but like,,,,,,,,,,,, i kinda wanna know how the damage would have shaped if nemu hadn’t been brainwashed and went on her own will,,,,,,,,,,,

like ichiro admitted he likely would have done the same thing as samatoki but that hurt and betrayal at that moment……..????? well ig it’d go the same way in the end lol

chapter 9 had a conversation with rei and otome where rei praises her son for having balls lol so dice was on the run by 18 and making a name for himself lol i need to keep that in mind for a certain few chapters in both fpmtr runs

i thought it was interesting the battle that brought japan under tdd took place in osaka lol

also came out of this experience wondering once again when did ichiro get his hypnosis ability lol like ramuda already had his jakurai’s developed throughout the story, as did samatoki’s on the dl, but ichiro????

also came out of this very concerned for what this story has in store for nemu again lol like the way rhyme anima put focus on what she could possibly do as well as the end of this manga having otome and ichijiku musing her ability and skill might rival ichijiku’s 🤔

ooooooh and that kp bonus chapter!!!!!! ramuda had jakurai suffering under that waterfall lol like he was about to contract hypothermia after a little bit and ramuda ‘reasons’ it’s good training for taking hits without being knocked out SO YOU KNOW WHO REGULARLY TRAINS UNDER WATERFALLS FOR HOURS AT A TIME WITH A FOCUS BASED ABILITY HARAI KUUKOU—

[initiumseries]

i just got home from seeing ATSV and immediately went to see if you posted a review and i’m so happy you did! i agree with all of your points but i just want to focus on a couple. like for one, i also liked the detail of miles finding community with gwen and peter in the first movie and then having both of them betraying him/lying to him in the second film because it just says so much. like how white allies may have the best intentions but they always have this latent paternalism that always make them faithful to the institution (in this case the spider verse). and like you said, i also love that it’s the Black spiderfolks are the ones rejecting the institution and helping miles liberate himself from “the canon” which is a concept that i find so fascinating.

i LOVED the plot twist of him being the original anomaly. and i also loved how the betrayal of gwen/peter coupled with his whole fight with miguel made him more confident in himself and who his parents raised him to be. and him ending up in the wrong universe just makes so much sense because he’s always been a character who is in flux. like he’s spider-man but he’s an anomaly and therefore ostracized by the other folks. obviously the conflict between miles the boy and spider-man the hero, then, there was pull he felt from his uncle versus his father, him trying to find balance within his two different cultures, and even just regular growing pains of him beginning to understand the difference in living in the interiority of his family and finding himself out in world. and the movie ending with him literally being in the wrong universe and facing the shadow version of himself is A LOT. SO good. and i agree that i wish we had gotten to really be in head rather than gwen’s. i would have love to have been fully emeshed in the emotional roller coaster that is miles throughout the film.

i still have a lot of feelings to process and i agree that i definitely need to see it a second time, but it was such a beautiful film. i feel it reminded me of why i fell in love with comics and superheroes when i was younger and was such a palette cleanser from the mcu. thank you so much for your review!

"miles finding community with gwen and peter in the first movie and then having both of them betraying him/lying to him in the second film because it just says so much. like how white allies may have the best intentions but they always have this latent paternalism that always make them faithful to the institution (in this case the spider verse)." -exactly! It's SO typical, something most of us have experienced before. And it's so great that these Black folks he doesn't even know come in to help him out because that's what you do, it's the right thing to do, and I think it's important that the older BW was more aligned with the institution, but felt torn between doing what she believed was right, and what was required of her, which really REALLY speaks to the older generation. I see that with my parents. There's this belief that the institution MUST be right, why else would it exist? And the young people who are willing to take the risk to flout the rules to do what they believe is right, even if it's hard (ie. Spider-byte hesitating). I do like that idea too! Them helping free him from "canon" can also work into the idea that they're freeing him from the "institution" of Spiderman. I think an anon mentioned it on here and I saw on twitter, Miles was specifically made to reflect the racist hate he got, and Miguel was meant to embody that irrational, hypocritical bigotry, and that's why he goes OFF so quickly on Miles, because he doesn't "fit". He's not white, his Dad didn't die, he hasn't experienced any other related canon event etc. So he shouldn't be spiderman. But that's hypocritical because Miguel himself doesn't entirely fit the bill. But that's the point, it's holding up a mirror, and I really love the DETAIL of that (if it's true, it's unverified but it's a great idea).

i also loved how the betrayal of gwen/peter coupled with his whole fight with miguel made him more confident in himself and who his parents raised him to be. and him ending up in the wrong universe just makes so much sense because he’s always been a character who is in flux. - you know, I'm not sure that he was confident when he left. I think Miguel going off on him like that really shook Miles up, and may have shaken his resolve. He hesitates a lot when he's talking to his mother because it's such a big step. I personally suspected that Miles having to face off with Prowler!Miles would actually be the thing that strengthened his resolve in who he is and the fact that he could always go home, and that there's strength in who he is. I say that only because when those voices were replaying back in his head, his mother's advice was only a small part of that. I can't remember if it was the last thing, I don't think so, but it was the quietest voice which I think isn't accidental. Especially seeing as how Prowler!Miles is SO different, and less "straddling two worlds" because his father is dead, you hear it in how he rolls his Rs and his hair etc. I'm so curious to see how this plays out! I'd be happy for it to go in a completely different direction than I've thought of.

obviously the conflict between miles the boy and spider-man the hero, then, there was pull he felt from his uncle versus his father, him trying to find balance within his two different cultures, and even just regular growing pains of him beginning to understand the difference in living in the interiority of his family and finding himself out in world. and the movie ending with him literally being in the wrong universe and facing the shadow version of himself is A LOT. SO good. -agreed! I thought those were wonderful details, because that's so much of growing up? I related to that a bit being a third culture kids means going through something similar, the dominant culture of living in Canada, the culture you grow up in at home, and never quite fitting into either of them, but you spend your teen years leaning into one or the other just trying to find your place in the world, and couching all that in with him being Spiderman, and what kind of hero he wants to be along with what kind of son...so SO good!

i would have love to have been fully emeshed in the emotional roller coaster that is miles throughout the film. - sigh. Same. I'm hoping the next movie we finally just get to be in Miles' head for more of the movie.

I'm glad you're going to see it again and enjoyed my review! It's a film soooo rich with details, we probably won't catch everything even on the second watch but who cares, that's part of the fun. I think this time I'll watch into the spiderverse first, and then I'll probably post another review after I see it again too!

[supersexyactioncomics]

kermit the frog voice So in the seminal 2010 cartoon series adventure time there are many examples of the battle between chaos and order. On the side of order we have abraham lincoln, a great unifier; grob-glob-god, the hint is in the name that he is a manifestation of the abrahamic god; and of course prismo, sweet precious prismo. On the side of chaos we have forces such as magic man, whose a really really nasty piece of work; and the lich, the ultimate manifestation of chaos. But the text is more complicated than this simple battle between order and chaos - there is this ongoing post modern obsession with figures of false order: the most obvious of course being the 'earl' of lemongrab, an abomination created by princess bubblegum who uses dungeons and his title to present as a figure of order but all he does is shriek unpleasantly. Who can forget marceline's father of course. A businessman and a father he must represent order but no! He is a demon and a vampire! Can you even imagine a more frightening combination. He even violates the sacred trust between father and daughter by eating her fries- sobbing sorry I'm just getting emotional it's such a powerful betrayal. There is also princess bubblegum herself, she's a princess but also a woman, and the realm's constant conflict is caused by this fundamental flaw. She cannot fully embody the masculine role of protector king which is why the land of ooo needs finn, the redeeming hero with the shining sword! You can see in the later seasons she becomes a sort of stalin-esque tyrant. She has her Banana guard, a clear reference to the KGB, maintain terror in the citizens. You know there are people on tumblr.com who believe that Stalin was a trans woman- don't laugh, its a very reasonable theory. How else could such an organized society be so chaotic. It's helen of troy! It's like the french saying goes "Cherchez la Femme", it means "when there's trouble, look for the woman". I learned that from fallout new vegas. It's the name of a perk that turns your character into a lesbian - or I suppose some kind of lesbian heterosexual if you also took "Black Widow" - I'm sure the LGBTs community has a name for that. Speaking of spiders it's also a voice line in overwatch uttered by the despicable 'widowmaker' a woman who murders her husband - the greatest possible manifestation of chaos! She murders the robot dalai llama too! Now these two texts are clearly in conversation with one another and it proves that not only is widowmaker this devouring wife who destroys men but she is also, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a lesbian. And all the rule 34 overwatch hentai made in source filmmaker of tracer and widowmaker I've seen is canon.

[sailforvalinor]

If Charlie had lived, how do you think he would have taken Mac and Rose's relationship and eventual marriage?

That is an excellent question, and kind of something I think about a lot.

Honestly, as much as I believe Mac and Rose are much better suited for one another, I think there is a world in which Charlie gets his life together and marries Rose. Probably in this situation the accident never happened at all, he managed to resist the temptation to drink with his friends, and he left with Aunt Clara to go see his father and managed to mature in the two years he was there.

This isn't the world I like though. I think in a world where Charlie lives but Mac and Rose still end up together, Charlie still falls to temptation, but the accident doesn't prove fatal, and he eventually recovers and still goes to see his father for two years. I think the Mac and Rose plotline would play out almost exactly the same--Mac falls in love with Rose via her letters, but is trying to hide that fact because of Charlie. In the original, he tries to hide it because he believes that Rose loved Charlie and doesn't want to speak too soon, in this case, he believes that Rose loves Charlie, he knows for sure that Charlie loves Rose, and assumes that they are engaged, or at least have some sort of understanding. It might feel like a betrayal of Charlie to some degree, especially considering his whole thing about his "romance beginning by looking after other girls' lovers." The revelation is probably even more earth-shattering in this case, and thus he probably goes to even more pains to hide it, but of course, it comes tumbling out anyway.

Rose in this version would feel even more conflicted. While we know that she is not in love with Charlie at this point, she at least considers romance a possibility if he can become a man she can respect, and Mac's confession would throw all of this into turmoil. We know from the text in the original that Rose begins to realize subconsciously that she is in love with Mac in the month or so after the initial rejection, but pushes those feelings aside out of fear that they aren't to be trusted, like her feelings for Charlie. In this version, we have the added complication that Rose would fear that Charlie would see it as a betrayal, and that he would lose the incentive to make a better man of himself and fall into ruin again. It would take her awhile, but she would probably eventually have to realize that a) the responsibility for another man's morality does NOT lay on her shoulders, and b) she is, in fact, in love with Mac, and they are much more well-suited for one another than she and Charlie are. She is assisted in coming to this revelation by Phebe, or Uncle Alec. (Or maybe even Archie, that would be fun. Rose and Archie's friendship is one of my favorite things.)

I think Mac would still go away in this version, but not this time in order to work to make Rose love him, but to distance himself from her so he doesn't cause her any more pain. I'd imagine he probably ends up doing much the same thing though, and their love story would resolve in much the same way as it does in the book. However, I think it might take Rose a bit longer to come to the revelation that she's in love with Mac, and when she finally does, she writes to Charlie immediately--she doesn't want to make him think that she's been toying with him all this time.

Now, to come to your original question--how would Charlie react? I think, worst case scenario, after overcoming his shock that Rose could love Mac of all people, the Worm, he becomes very bitter. We know he has an attitude of feeling like everything he wants in life is owed him, and his losing Rose despite all his sacrifices could be ugly. I don't see him completely backsliding in terms of his drinking habits out of spite or anything--at least, I don't think? Perhaps his instinct is to relapse, but his father limiting his access to alcohol (which I'd imagine he'd probably do with some encouragement from Rose) prevents him from doing so. At any rate, he wouldn't answer Rose's letter, which makes his eventually homecoming rather tense. A confrontation between him and Mac could be really interesting, because while Charlie would be feeling angry and betrayed towards Mac, I don't imagine Mac would be very angry in return--just kind of sad. Until Charlie implies that Rose owes her love to him in some way, that is. To be honest, it would be a bit cathartic to see Mac smack some sense (metaphorically) into Charlie, because, oh boy, he could do it if he wanted to.

(Worst WORST case scenario is that he backslides completely, but to be honest, I don't see this as very likely--I think his accident and near-death experience would have scared him enough and really shown him how destructive that lifestyle was.)

Now, best case scenario? His time with his father helps him mature enough that by the time he receives Rose's letter, he's still sad, but understands that she doesn't owe him her love--that's why she wouldn't let him make any promises. Maybe he comes home a changed man and eventually finds love elsewhere. Or maybe, a la Laurie, he meets a another girl while abroad and marries her, and brings her back to America with him without telling Rose.

However, this feels a little optimistic. Here's what I think is the most likely scenario: Charlie reacts in the same way as he does in our worst cast scenario, he feels resentful and betrayed by Rose. He goes home, intending to make her feel just how bitter he is--but then he sees Rose and Mac together, and stops dead. He sees how perfect they are together, how happy Mac makes her--he never made her smile like that. And all at once, he puts all his love and resentment and pain quietly away and goes to greet them with a smile. Because despite everything, Charlie truly did love Rose--and in that moment, he realizes that Mac brings Rose a joy that he never could. Perhaps he eventually finds another woman to pledge his undying devotion to. Or perhaps, as his Uncle Alec felt for the Rose of yore, "his first love would be his last."

[ruinedsam]

More thoughts on John's journal, specifically how it presents the Stanford fight. I find it really intriguing what it did there.

This got long so more under the cut.

So it always sounded like there was one blow out fight in which Sam revealed he'd go to Stanford, John gave him the ultimatum and Sam left. In the journal it's actually more complicated than that. Sam told John and Dean that he was going to Stanford months before his graduation, in March. Fighting ensued where John told Sam that if he leaves he shouldn't come back. But Sam didn't leave until after his graduation, in August. Imagine what these months must have been like, the tension as John's ultimatum was hanging over them, John hoping his ultimatum would make Sam cave in, Dean torn between feeling betrayed and hopeful, and Sam probably stewing in hurt and anger. Every conversation, every interaction they had must have been so loaded. Someone please write a fic about this!

What I find very interesting is what John has to say about the initial fight:

Sam told me and Dean today that he is going to Stanford. I told him that if he goes, he better stay gone. I think Dean would have taken a swing at him if I hadn’t kept my cool. Barely.

Obviously we can't trust John here about keeping his cool because we know from Sam and Dean that there was a raging fight between Sam and John, but Dean's volatile reaction really rings true to me and it speaks to my beliefs about John and Dean, namely that Dean takes Sam leaving as personal betrayal of Dean himself while John takes it as betrayal of the mission. John goes on to say this:

Trying to work out what to do about this. We can’t tolerate any of us quitting. We’re better as a team.[...] How many tight spots have we been in since he was a baby? And now he’s going to college? He can go to hell, is where he can go.

Obviously John is angry and bitter, but he is very much focused on the mission, on losing someone in his neverending quest for revenge. There have been mentions before about John arguing with Sam who doesn't want to accept his role in the family and wants to be normal, so much that at Sam's 18th birthday John writes he is surprised Sam didn't take off. So this fight isn't really a surprise for John, he knows what's been going on inside Sam.

I don't think Dean does. I don't think he ever seriously considered that Sam would leave - that he would actually dare to leave Dean after he took care of him his whole life. I think he was surprised and shocked to his core and feeling utterly betrayed when Sam revealed his plans for Stanford, hence his emotional, volatile reaction.

Then these two paragraphs which are killing me.

Sam’s gone because he’s headstrong and because I couldn’t make him understand how important this is to all of us. Now Dean tells me he’s cut off contact with Sam, and it’s killing me. I can’t stand the idea of the boys separated. It’s one thing for me to take a stand. I’m the father, I have to lay down the law for the family. Maybe that’s the Marine in me talking, and maybe it’s not the right thing to do all the time, but it’s gotten us this far. Brothers have to stick together.

Still feel conflicted about Sam. I don’t think I did the wrong thing, but I also don’t want him out there alone and vulnerable. I’ve been through Palo Alto half a dozen times in the past year, just to make sure he’s okay. I look around, see if there’s any sign of anything happening that shouldn’t be. He’s my son. I can’t abandon him. But I also can’t go back on what I said. You don’t stop loving a kid, but you also can’t let love blind you to what’s right.

They are so dysfunctional and have literally no communication skills. Like Sam is at Stanford feeling unloved because John isn't able to tell him that their fight doesn't mean he stopped loving Sam. Meanwhile Dean cut off contact to Sam, and I find the concept of Dean cutting Sam out of his life because he thinks that's what John wants really fascinating. Like John said, he's the one laying the law for the family, and I don't think he understands just how much Dean idiolizes him. What if Dean felt like he couldn't be truly loyal to both John and Sam? And why should he be loyal to Sam who betrayed him, who betrayed the family? He can't understand that Sam leaving wasn't about him, that it doesn't mean Sam loves him any less. Obviously this makes Dean miserable, John is unhappy as well, and for all that Sam finds new friends at Stanford, he clearly misses and is afraid for his family like crazy. So everyone is unhappy and no one does anything about it because they've got all these wrong assumptions about each other because they're not able to properly talk to each other.

John has been emotionally destroyed since Mary's death and hasn't been able to show them how to deal with emotions in a healthy way. The family as a military unit thing is very much not working, and it's left Sam and Dean emotionally stunted. Again, it's really no wonder Sam and Dean are the way they are.

[camelotsheart]

I think it's really interesting how one of the worst barriers in BBC Merlin is ignorance.

Almost everyone in the show is trying to do the right thing from their perspective. It's the ignorance of certain things that makes their actions seem wrong to different people, and it’s easier for the audience to relate most with Merlin because he knows as much as they do. Morgana (at least up till the end of s3) and the sorcerers supporting her are trying to engage in revolution to free themselves without knowing that Arthur is the one destined to free them. Arthur is trying to protect his people. Merlin is trying to do both, but with the knowledge of his and Arthur’s destiny.

How many of the sorcerers who attacked Camelot knew of Merlin and Arthur's destiny? I can only remember Nimueh, who's antagonism seems to be more of a personal hatred of Uther and his betrayal, similar to how Morgana's hatred of Arthur overcomes her sense of justice in s4 and 5, and Mordred, who I think would at least have second thoughts of opposing Arthur had he knew Kara was given a chance. It's very telling that Alator was quick to change sides after he learned of Merlin's identity despite supporting Morgana before. He even says that there are many people like him who are willing to sacrifice their lives to bring about the golden age.

Was Alvarr and his band of renegade wrong? Was Mary Collins wrong? Was Edwin wrong? Were the people who wanted revenge upon Uther for the loss of their loved ones wrong? Is it wrong to understand Kilgharrah's motives when he attacks the kingdom who killed all of his kind and entrapped him in a dungeon for 20 years? Everyone plays with different views of right and wrong because those views are not centralised in the first place. This is what makes the series so interesting - because it wants the audience to have stakes on both sides of the conflict.

This works for Arthur's side too. Arthur's most positive views of magic comes from season 1. That's because in that season the memories of the druid raids are closer to him than in later ones, and also because he is given more positive experiences with magic (the ball of light, Will, the unicorn, etc). However, after that point all the magic that he encounters, according to the knowledge which he possesses of the situation, has been used negatively.

He nearly dies because of a creature of magic, Sigan tries to take over Camelot, druids kidnap Morgana, a troll uses his father to take over Camelot, Gaius nearly dies because of Aredian,  Morgause tries to use him to kill his father, a shapeshifter kills Camelot's citizens, the undead attack Camelot, a dragon kills innocent people, a goblin wrecks havoc, he is nearly killed in a tourney by the use of enchanted swords, Morgause and Cendred use Elyan, Gwen and Morgana to get to him, Dragoon tries to bring dishonour to Camelot by enchanting him and Gwen, Morgana betrays Camelot, Gaius is tortured (yes, his actions does play a large part in this and he is shown to wrecked with guilt by it. There's a reason why in the next episode he talks so highly of Gaius), a monster of magic kills people in outlying villages, Morgana takes over Camelot and kills innocent people again....

The only positive experience he has with magic in seasons 2 and 4 is the knowledge that Dragoon tried to save Uther. And yet in season 5 he still stops a sorceress from being executed despite people claiming that her magic brought down a plague upon the village. He still gives Mordred a chance to become a knight (I hc that Arthur knew Mordred was a druid, but not that he had magic. Mordred was half naked when being treated by gaius in 5x05. Arthur would have seen his druid mark, unless he came in after Gaius bandaged him up. He also doesn't question how Mordred knows Kara, a druid). He still believes that in his heart, he should save Mordred and lift the ban, but his mind - his experiences - become an argument against his heart. And it is a strong argument from Arthur's point of view. You could say that Arthur was a hypocrite when he used magic to save Gwen and Uther, but you could also say that there was a part of him still hanging on to his views from season 1. What Dragoon and Dolma says to Arthur in both occasions regarding magic echoes Arthur's own views at finding a poultice at Gwen's - to save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. One's the act of, of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart. / There is no evil in sorcery. Only in the hearts of men. / I know you have suffered because of magic, as many have. But not all magic, and not all sorcerers are the same. I wish only to show you that magic can be used for good. And I think that after 5x09 Arthur does internalize Dolma's saying. He never once speaks against Kara's heritage as a druid when he talks about or to her. He explicitly states that her wrong is in murder, not in possession of magic.

This is what Merlin understands - that the conflict comes mainly from differing points of views caused primarily by ignorance of the prophecy itself. Merlin sees in 2x08 that Arthur is completely able of accepting magic and going against Uther, just like he knows that those who possess magic have an ultimate right to fight for what they believe. As one of the most informed people in the show, this is the line that Merlin tries to straddle everyday; to give his people freedom by making Arthur the king he is destined to be, even if to outsiders the two seem mutually exclusive. 

The true wrong of the show was to place that burden on one shoulder alone.

[deans-haunted-baby]

Okay I see there are those who are confused as to why most of us are pissed about 15x19 I will gladly explain in depth:

Let’s start off with our boys Adam Milligan & Michael. These characters have not been seen for 10 fucking years. During that time there were Adam stans like myself campaigning like mad to have him and the infamous archangel return for some much needed closure. We had to content ourselves with headcanons, fanfictions and metas based on what we briefly knew of Adam and Michael as people while they unfairly sat in Hell. You might have seen the “Adam’s Still in Hell” memes that circulated. WE WAITED OVER A DECADE FOR THIS. And finally SPN answers our prayers and returns these boys back into the story for the final season. None of us anticipated what their arc and dynamic would look like. Before we could only imagine who these two characters were/are after having been trapped in a cage so long; what their personalities would be like and if they’d be antagonistic to TFW. 15x08 was a surprise because not only were Adam and Michael likable right out of the gate but the writing for them and their dynamic was damn near flawless! And Jake fucking stole the show he killed it as these two. It’s a crime they were not featured in more episodes because the chemistry between these characters is amazing and they’re played by the same dude.

We were given so much background into both Adam and Michael’s psyches in just a short period of time. Their motivations, interests and how they viewed those that wronged them (like the Winchesters); how Hell affected/changed them both and how they viewed their families. We got to see them banter, cooperate with one another and most importantly their different personalities. With Jake Abel appearing in only a handful of SPN episodes, he still fleshed out Michael and Adam beautifully; giving them layers and complexities that most side-characters (who’ve appeared more times than they have) didn’t. The way Jake played Adam’s anger and resentment towards his brothers was brilliant because it’s more under the surface compared to his angsty teenage self in 5x18. He’d become somewhat restrained, laid-back, gentler and wiser which works because Adam displays traits similar to Sam and Dean. He’s kinder and has a sense of humor but none of that distracts from rational thought as he’s quick to analyze and dissect situations. Man, he would’ve made a great hunter/Men of Letters recruit. We know right off the bat Adam’s pissed at his brothers for abandoning him in a thousand-year-prison-sentence and didn’t lift a finger BUT that ironically doesn’t compromise his willingness to help them unlike his past self in 5x18. Jake gets the point across with this character without saying much and that’s what made him so compelling to watch in this episode.

Now Michael was even more of a mystery onion since he wasn’t onscreen as much as Adam had been in past episodes so Jake got to really build on top of this character. Going from the uptight, cold-blooded merciless celestial warrior/dutiful son of God we saw in 5x22 to someone whom despite his arrogance and regal princely demeanor was very human, intelligent, fair, mindful and compassionate. He trusted Adam and respected his opinions even if he didn’t agree 100%. Whereas most angels take over the vessel completely from their original occupant; Michael chooses to share his vessel with Adam as a mutual agreement which says a lot about who he is. He’s fascinated with humanity and wanted to explore it instead of returning to his throne in the clouds. We know that Michael was created specifically to be Humanity’s protector and guardian of Heaven and Earth so these quirks he’d demonstrated in 15x08 aren’t too far off. He holds a lot of pain inside from his abandonment issues with his father whom he loves to a fault and grief over the death of his brothers. On the surface there’s very much an abused child syndrome thing going on with him though he masks it with a domineering presence. And above all this we saw that he was capable of forgiveness. Whether or not Michael always had these traits inside to begin with, its very evident that his friendship with Adam influenced the person he became post-Hell. And that was someone who, like Castiel, chose to rebel for the sake of free will by aligning himself with the Winchesters after witnessing the evil his father had committed. He actually cared about saving the world. This is what we call character development.

What does 15x19 do? It shits all over that. We don’t get to see Adam and Michael’s dynamic at all; and this was perhaps one of (if not the first) most healthy portrayal of a relationship between an angel and its original vessel occupant in the history of Supernatural. Adam is just killed off-screen Thanos style without so much as one last word and Michael barely reacts like he gives a crap. It was just established to us in 15x08 that he’d developed an emotional bond with Adam through years of inhabiting the same body. He protected Adam while they were trapped together in Hell. They were each other’s only friend and source of comfort. They’d developed a certain co-dependency on each other while respecting one another’s space. They’d both made peace with their joint situation. All they had was each other and the writing in 15x19 basically tells us their relationship meant absolutely NOTHING to Michael based on his OOC actions in this episode. He shows up much darker and shadier now that Adam is gone and its like all those years of friendship, things like that independence, newfound strength and humility he’d gained from living with a human for so long are erased. Michael just reverts back to Chuck’s 5x22 bitchboy persona in the most ridiculous 180 shift I’ve ever seen in my whole damn life. And all because his little brother called him mean names. Pitiful. Just when he lectures Lucifer about standing up for what’s right; he betrays his own words, his allies and the rest of humanity in T-minus 2 minutes. That is total character assassination. Nothing about this motivation makes any sense.

There’s no build up to it, no foreshadowing in 15x08 or throughout 15x19 until they get to the lake. He’s completely deconstructed as a character in this episode and rendered weak. It’s like 15x08 never happened. Stripped of all his development for lousy shock value. Instead utilizing all of what he’d learned through Adam and sticking it to Lucifer by proving he could be more than what Chuck tried to mold him into; Michael becomes just another NPC in the story forfeiting the hero he was. And his reasons for siding with Chuck are never specified. Was it about about saving Adam? Was it about proving something to Lucifer (whom he’d already killed in anti-climatic fashion)? Was it all an act that he was in on with the Winchesters; cause there’s absolutely NO FUCKING WAY they could’ve predicted he’d flip on them like that for their magical plan to work. Not after everything Chuck’s done, killing Adam and Jack and leaving Michael to rot in Hell for eternity. And why would he suddenly go along with destroying the Earth when defeating Chuck would probably get Adam back (if that was his goal) which IT DID not to mention its his sworn duty to freaking protect humanity, hello? So his betrayal meant jack shit in the end as it got him killed by his fucking dad!! He’s brought back into the show only to be ruined forever and killed off in the stupidest fashion.

Moving on.

Jack Kline & Castiel. This iron-clad relationship has been in development for 4 in 1/2 years since before Jack was even born. And next to Adam & Michael its the other most healthy relationship on the show. Castiel, a million year old celestial being, spent the first 9 years of his arc on Supernatural following around the Winchesters, being torn between his loyalty to them and to Heaven. He rebelled when he was supposed to be a straight-by-the-book warrior of God. And he defied every rule in the process even when the odds were stacked against him. There was an endless rinse and repeat cycle of love, loss, betrayal and redemption when it came to his relationship with Sam and Dean. It made his character complex, interesting and layered but it still didn’t give him an arc that was his own. Castiel started out moreso being written as just the Winchester’s angel BFF/side-kick. Until Lucifer got Kelly Kline pregnant in 12x08 then things really took off. Before this, Castiel was a lost soul. His faith was broken, he was depressed, lonely, battered and rundown from years of being conflicted over the other angels and Sam & Dean. He felt he’d lost a sense of self and meaning in his life. And didn’t have a mission. Once he turned on Heaven’s orders, Castiel was a rebel angel without a cause so to speak. But like I said this changes the moment he meets Kelly.

Originally Castiel was suppose to kill Kelly in 12x19 because she was carrying the child of the devil and Nephilim are considered forbidden abominations. Told that if Lucifer’s kid was born he could unleash even more evil into the world. But instead of doing what he thought he should, Castiel decides to runaway with her. Choosing to protect her from all threats (Lucifer, demons, other angels, princes of Hell); this especially included the Winchesters. During this short time-frame the angel develops a strong, emotional bond with Kelly and her unborn son that stretches all the way to the S12 finale; to the point where it actually gave him a power-boost. From the womb, Jack appoints Castiel to be his father and protector and he’s given a glimpse into the child’s destiny that he’ll bring paradise to the world. A prophecy that the writers establish head on. This is an unusual circumstance because right here is where Castiel’s solo arc apart from the Sam & Dean takes shape. The journey of becoming a first time parent and guardian. Its a new kind of independence that for the first time has nothing to do with his friends or his family members/colleagues in the sky. Its his own personal mission that he willingly accepts, the second he connects with Jack from inside Kelly. Castiel immediately falls in love with him, before they even see each other; and adopts the boy devoting himself to keeping him safe. Making a promise to Kelly that would later become a vital plot-point in the seasons to come.  

Castiel literally risks everything (Heaven and Earth) to ensure Jack’s birth and ends up dead by 12x23′s startling conclusion. Leaving the newborn infant Nephilim alone in the care of the Winchesters going into season 13; scared, confused and aged into a seemingly 18 year old boy for his own protection. And Alexander Calvert who is a fantastic addition to the cast really brings something wonderful to this role; he’s like a breath of fresh air and a bright light in the middle of a dark room. Jack’s naïve, innocent and curious about his surroundings but also as Castiel once put it “remarkably intuitive”. Right when he’s introduced his arc is intentionally paralleled with Castiel’s. Their alien-fish-out-of-water beginning is practically identical as is their adorable stoic facial expressions. Like father like son. And this helps because while the angel is currently dead in the beginning of season 13, there’s an empty void he’s left behind. So Jack is kind of his temporary stand-in. Odd enough this type of switcharoo would’ve been considered very controversial but it’s handled quite well. Alex is so likable and charming I almost wish Supernatural had introduced him sooner. I mean I really thought I was looking at Castiel’s actual mini-me and not the son of Satan. But I digress Jack’s story in the first half of this season is pretty much about discovery and reuniting with Castiel. He’s a baby so everything is new to him but he’s also one of the most powerful beings in the universe destined for greatness which makes the Winchesters very nervous.

Jack remembers choosing Castiel as his dad which is why he already feels strongly connected to him. Its a bond so powerful that it actually resurrects Castiel out of the Empty the first time. Something Chuck himself was unable to do (that was until the mess that is 15x19). When they’re finally reunited the payoff comes so naturally. Misha and Alex have such a phenomenal onscreen chemistry starting with that first hug; they really play off one another so well that it doesn’t feel like two angels interacting but a genuine father and son duo. So much of what makes Jack and Castiel’s relationship so relatable, deep and endearing is because of what the actors bring to it. But they’re not just a fascinating relationship, they’re compelling on their own too. Both trying to find their way in the world and within the Winchesters’ lives. Death is no stranger to either of them (tragic being that Jack is only a toddler). They’ve each experienced their own personal pain, traumas, life lessons, mistakes and decisions. The biggest for Castiel would be his deal with the Empty to save Jack in 14x08. While for Jack it was the consequences of said deal that would lose his soul causing him to accidently kill Sam and Dean’s mom in 14x18 as a result (something that Jack struggles with immensely to the brink of depression from so much guilt and regret that he’d rather die). Repercussions that would follow into the shows final season. What’s interesting about this deal though is that Castiel made it on parental instinct alone not as a promise to Kelly. He chose to sacrifice himself for the sake of his son as a selfless act of love and kept it a secret from Sam & Dean until his death in 15x18. That’s the extent how much this child meant to him. The other great thing about their family dynamic is that it parallels nicely with the Winchesters. Castiel and Jack share this unconditional love that can never be broken. its even greater than their ties to the Winchesters themselves just as Sam & Dean’s love for each other is greater than any of their other relationships. They would do anything for each other. Castiel would go to the ends of the earth for the little nougat baby because that’s his son.  

Each time these characters were faced with danger or died, Castiel and Jack were overcome with extreme devastation and distress. That said its not just pain that binds these two its happiness. Jack is the best thing that ever happened to Castiel. Literally becoming a father to that child saved him. It brought him back to life, restored his faith and gave him a sense of self-worth and hope he’d long since abandoned. And for Jack, Castiel is the best dad he’ll ever have! He gave this baby comfort, wisdom, nurturing, strength. Was always there when he needed him whether it was to talk or to have his back. No other person in Jack’s life has ever made such an important impact nor made him feel more safe and loved than Castiel. Even when Jack had done such a horrible thing to Mary alienating himself from his family; it was Castiel’s unyielding devotion to Jack that ended up being his salvation. This was huge because once again he’d chosen over the Winchesters proving that no matter what (whether it be the world ending) his son comes first. So when Castiel’s pact with the Empty finally comes due in 15x18 you’d think it’d have an earth-shattering affect on Jack in 15x19. I mean for the first bit it does...until he becomes God. Then its like to hell with that relationship. Castiel is a complete afterthought to Jack and the rest of TFW in this episode. JACK DOESN’T EVEN GET TO GRIEVE HIM PROPERLY. And he just lost his dad because of a deal he’d made a year ago for him. A DEAL JACK HAS BEEN FUCKING DREADING WHILE HE WAS SOULLESS MIND YOU. And when he finally has the power to bring him back, he doesn’t? Jack just walks around with a conceited smirk on his face, bids Sam and Dean adieu and fucks off. I mean who gives a shit right, its only your dad that you love more than anything. This was extremely OOC given that time in 14x14 Jack nearly lost his shit when Castiel got infected with gorgon poison; the anti-venom wasn’t working so Jack resorts to using his powers putting his soul at risk.

I mean if he was so limited to helping Castiel in the Empty AT LEAST FREAKING CLARIFIY THIS TO THE AUDIENCE. This is not about shipping a certain pairing btw. Jack becoming God is not the issue its his characterization after the fact. His first instinct would’ve been to save his dad above getting in touch with the Earth. Yes we knew this transformation was coming it was foreshowed way back in Season 12. Does that justify bad writing or character assassination?? HELL NO.

This is what I’m talking about, episode 15x19 deliberately butchers these characters and their relationships. It shat all over them. No one is behaving like themselves. The pacing is wonky and inconstant. The script feels like it underwent several rewrites and I swear there were scenes cut out. The acting is off too and maybe the pandemic could be blamed for these things but it ultimately falls on the writer. Buckleming screwed up by showing us they don’t know who the hell these characters are, their motivations nor do they give a rat’s ass. And its noticeable on screen. I’ve known better fanfiction writers for SPN than these guys. It’s like they all came back to work but just didn’t care to put the effort into it. That’s why people like me are upset and we have every freaking right to be. Some of us have been with this series for the entire 15 year run. I at least expect these characters to be handled better and for things to make sense. 15x19 doesn’t and its not satisfying its just a cruel joke. The writers and Dabb should be embarrassed to have put this out there thinking we’d just swallow it and shut up. But far as I’m concerned the only thing this episode serves is to disrespect and ruin everybody while angering long-time fans.

MICHAEL. ADAM MILLIGAN. JACK KLINE AND CASTIEL DESERVED BETTER. And that’s the tea.

[threeclans]

As the time for our Moving Mountains opening draws closer, we’d like to take the opportunity to present to our followers the array of adoptable characters that will make up the roster for this opening! When you apply for Moving Mountains, you will be given the choice to select an adoptable to write an application for.

These adoptables come with a baseline of a name, an age, a design, a group alignment, and a general backstory from which our members will build a more in depth history off of. Most traits that these adoptables have can be modified slightly per the taste of their future roleplayer, though we’d like to ask potential applicants to work with the baseline they are given! Consider it a “starting point” from which you will write a more detailed application.

These next four adoptables are extra unique! Their backstories are each tied to that of a Moving Mountains character roleplayed by a current member of ThreeClans. As the first of these four special adoptables, meet...

Jehan

Rebels | 26 moons | Any Gender

A gray mackerel tabby cat with green eyes.

Jehan and their sibling, Din, were not born into the rulers, but joined the faction at a young age when their father, Gotham, grew tired of wandering. Though Jehan aligned themself with the rulers, they did so out of a perceived necessity, and not any type of loyalty towards the group, its morals, or Monarch. Jehan’s sibling, however, began walking down a dark path. Din became brutish, using his claws to solve problems more often than not. Jehan grew uncomfortable with their brother’s behavior and asked Gotham to try to speak with Din about his behavior. Though Jehan is unsure what happened during the confrontation, Gotham left the rulers silently afterwards.

With their father now gone, Jehan took matters into their own paws, again attempting to talk to Din. Din seemed understanding, even empathetic, but Jehan quickly learned that their brother’s loyalty was for Monarch and Monarch alone. Din reported Jehan to the high ranks of the rulers as a traitor, and he was ordered to kill his brother. Despite the instruction, Din couldn’t bring himself to perform the act. Instead, he drove Jehan out, promising that he would not show mercy if he ever saw their face again. Instead of escaping the conflict entirely, Jehan defected to the rebels, fueled by their brother’s betrayal, though Din is unaware of their sibling’s whereabouts as of now.

Jehan and their backstory was developed by current member Ras, who will be roleplaying Din in the Moving Mountains event.

If you are interested in playing Jehan, keep an eye out for applications opening soon! When we announce our opening officially, we will provide a document that goes into further detail regarding Jehan’s history, alongside the stories of our remaining adoptables. We hope you are all excited to get to know the rulers and the rebels even further!

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

The Time Traveling Cabinet

So! Time travel AUs are fun. But what if, instead of sending back Tommy and Wilbur, we try something new for a change?

Concept: Time Travel AU, but the people getting sent back in time are the New L’Manberg Butcher Army.

Ranboo, Fundy, Quackity, and Tubbo are all scattered into the past on December 16th, and it only gets More from there.

Beginning

- Somehow, the New L’Manberg cabinet are all sent into the past at different points of the events of December 16th.

- Ranboo is sent back during the fight in front of Technoblade’s house.

- Fundy is sent back once Punz starts attacking the execution.

- Quackity is sent back a millisecond before Techno’s pickaxe hits his face.

- And Tubbo is sent back right after seeing the pillar and thinking that Tommy is dead.

Ranboo

- Ranboo gets sent back to about a week before Tommy joined.

- He is, understandably, confused.  But he mostly just vibes, leaving cryptic messages, building stuff, and exploring. It's nice to get a break from executions and warring and the messy life in the present day.

- He befriends Tommy again, and they burn down George's house again. This time, Dream barely cares. He doesn't need a reason to hurt Tommy yet.  

- Ranboo also gets to meet his best friend and future husband again!

- Tubbo's a lot less guarded, more willing to speak his mind, doesn't have firework scars on his face and arms. Tommy's still a gremlin, but he's a gremlin with dreams and schemes.  Ranboo doesn't know what to think about this.

- He doesn't get involved in the L'Manberg Revolution or any of the big conflicts, saying something about "preserving the timeline".

- He can’t change anything important anyway. According to the message anonymously whispered to him in chat every time he was stopped from changing something, multiverse creation is disabled until the arrival of all parties.

- Ranboo doesn't feel that bad about it. He isn't in the mood to create paradoxes, and there's nothing during the revolutionary time that he'd really change.

- Except.

- Didn’t Eret do some kind of betrayal thing?

- Ranboo can't recall what they did. Probably just switched sides, and people got mad about it, as people attached to sides often do.

- Then, on August 2nd, he hears explosions.  Against his better judgment, Ranboo sneaks over to L'Manberg to see if Tubbo and Tommy are okay.

- They aren’t.

- Yep, the country has been blown up, and to make things worse Eret leads the L'Manbergians into a death trap that takes more canon lives than anything else in SMP history.  Ranboo's legitimately horrified.

- He sticks around for the peace era and helps rebuild, maybe works at the embassy a little. Mr. Boo is not allowed to be a L'Manberg citizen due to being American, but he remains on good terms with the country.

- Basically, Ranboo learns the true history of this "just a drug van" country, and what it actually stands for.

- He's ready to wait it out until December, so he can get back to the present day with no complications.  One problem: He isn't alone anymore.

Fundy

- Fundy arrives to the Pet War confused as can be.

- He's pretty sure he's dreaming. That's the only explanation for him being in one of the worst times of his life again and Ranboo being there too for some reason.

- So, he tries to stop some of the pet murder, to varying success. He can't kill Sapnap during the duel or save Fungi, but he can save some of the chickens and Leonard the enderman and such.

- Leonard is his emotional support monster. He’s going to need one.

- Next, Fundy finds and yells at a bewildered Wilbur.

- Wilbur isn't allowed to hear the whole rant, but he does get 1) He screwed up as a father, 2) He's probably dead?? This does not help his paranoia and self-loathing.

- Fundy also gets to chat with his younger self, who according to one Ghostbur Soot was 14 at the time of the election? I don’t know, fox/phoenix/trickster demigod aging is weird.

- The conversation goes along the lines of:

“Do they ever start taking us seriously?”

“...Yes. Definitely. Sure.”

- Finally, Fundy tells a heap of lies about what he's like in the future to look cool.

- He’s generally is a fan of this situation because time traveling from the future means one thing: Attention. And it has been a while since he's gotten any of that.

- (Ranboo tries to stop him from messing with the past. He's only sometimes successful, and gets roped into Coconut 2020)

- In summary, Fundy clings to his moment in the spotlight, tries and fails to get closure with his dad, and gets to observe the unraveling ball of angst and issues that was his teenage self.

Quackity

- Quackity is sent back to the day of the election.

- He has to see his naive younger self screw up history and plan a spring wedding with Schlatt. It's awful.

- After trying and failing to assassinate the drunken dictator during his speech, and getting the memo about not being able to change the past in big ways, Q runs over to spawn to wait for Wilbur.

- Wilbur shows up after dying to Punz, and Quackity helps him get to Pogtopia for the first time. 

- There, Quackity chats with him and Tommy. He explains as much as he knows (which isn't much), and offers to join the rebellion.

- Wilbur doesn't trust him for five seconds. Honestly, Q's still wearing the Butcher Army uniform. He’s covered in blood!

- So, Quackity is sent out into the night in an offhand "don't call us, we'll call you" way. On the way out, he tries and fails to murder Technoblade. He's got a hit list, and he's going to complete it.

- Meanwhile, Past Quackity does not get along with Future Quackity at all.

- Past Quackity was a neutral good idealist. Future Quackity is a machiavellian, chaotic neutral guy with a murder list. They despise each other.

-Quackity tries to settle things with Schlatt. Not sure how well it works, but he does try.

- He also maps out complex strategies for how to change the future once all members have arrived. He's got Plans.

- Ranboo is very opposed to these Plans. Fundy is mostly onboard with these plans.

-Finally, Quackity desperately hopes that the last member of the party will arrive before the festival. Maybe, just maybe, he can do something to stop the execution.

-Unfortunately, the festival arrives, and Past Tubbo gives his speech, and Technoblade is given the order.

-The execution goes according to plan.

-Then, in the wreckage of the Red Festival, a figure appears.

Tubbo

- Tubbo has been having an awful day.

- First, he fails to execute Technoblade. Then, he finds out that he killed his best friend Tommy is gone. And now he’s standing smack-dab in the middle of the worst thing that ever happened to him?

- It’s all way too much. Tubbo runs away.

- Tubbo disappears for a solid week before finally accepting that he isn't just imagining all of this as a weird stage of grief.

- He then returns to Pogtopia in a suitably dramatic moment.

- Despite the fact that they're all in the past, Tubbo's probably going to end up as the character who gets the most focus. He's having the most Emotions about all of this.

- He's got to deal with his coping mechanisms (Ignore and Avoid) being taken away because he's back in the place he tries to forget.

- On top of that, he has to deal with the fact that he feels guilty about Tommy's death, but can't even process that because Tommy's technically still alive in the past (and in the future, but Tubbo doesn't know that).

- And he has to deal with seeing Wilbur again, and figuring out why Wilbur made him president.

-He’s going to go through a lot.

Character Motives

- Ranboo: Preserving the timeline so they can get home vs. Wanting to keep his friends safe and caring about L'Manberg now.

- Fundy: Fixing things for his past self, and getting closure with his dad.

- Quackity: Completing his hit list and completely changing the timeline. And punching Schlatt in the face.

- Tubbo: Dealing with the various emotional turmoils listed above, getting Tommy and his past self to run away from it all.

- Past Tommy: Finding out what the actual fuck is going on, and protecting the Tubbos (Tubbi?). Also, he wants to know what happened to upset Future Tubbo so much. (His regular Pogtopia motives are also there).

- Past Fundy: Measuring up to how great his future self said their life was.

- Past Quackity: Not becoming his future self at any cost.

- Past Tubbo: Regular Pogtopia motivations, but now he has both Tommy and Ranboo to worry about.

- Past Wilbur: Wilbur already believed that he had a scripted role, and was always going to end up the villain. Well, now he has confirmation of just that. Awesome!

He actually goes through with it. He actually blows it up. He doesn't know if he's proud, disgusted, terrified, or what, but he knows that it's not up to him to go against fate.

And if fate demands a grand finale and a little trinitrotoluene on the side? He can do that.

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Yes, Father (August Walker x Reader)

A/N: Hey folks. It has been a while. This piece has been sitting on my drive for over a month and I finally decided to post it. I hope you enjoy it. I based all the mass rites on my own experiences, even if it has been a while since I last went to church. 

Summary: AU! After much insisting, your fiancé convinces you to go to church with him and you find yourself strangely captivated by the priest celebrating the mass, which so happens to be your fiancé childhood friend.

Pairing: August x Reader

Genre: Smut; AU   

Wordcount: 2,9k

Warnings: smut (dirty talk and fingering); It’s worth noting that this is a seriously sacrilegious fic, so if you’re religious and think it might bother you or conflict with your faith, maybe it would be best not to read it.

You were never one to particularly care for going to church or anything like that. You weren’t raised in any faith and if it was up to you, your future children would be educated the same, but it was so important to your fiancé James.

He came from a feverous catholic family and he grew up going to church, Sunday morning mass, and being part of every possible event his church was involved in. He was ever an altar boy growing up and he hoped that he could continue the tradition with his own children.

And after a lot of cajoling on his part, you agreed to start attending mass on Sunday morning with him. He promised that the current priest presiding his church wasn’t one of those misogynist and full of prejudice old farts but actually a good old friend of his.

“I promise you’ll enjoy August’s sermon,” James assured as you combed the inexistent wrinkles on your plain, knee-length grey dress.

James insisted you were being too conservative with your attire choice. That it looked more like you were going to a job interview than mass, but you rather be safe than sorry. His parents would be there as well and for some reason, that made you even more nervous with this whole attending to church thing. As ridiculous as it might sound, a part of you was slightly afraid of busting into flames the second you stepped through the threshold of the building.  

“Honestly, it still surprises me that out of the two of us, August was the one that ended up with the collar and not me,” your fiancé declared with a chuckle as he parked the car and you two stepped out to see a considerable group of people, mostly women from the looks of it, quietly making their way inside. “He was such a ladies’ man.”

“Doesn’t seem like much have changed,” you commented as the two of you walked up the steps, making him chuckle and nod.

James’ parents were already waiting and after a quick greeting, you were all made the way inside, miraculously finding seats in the front pews, right in front of the altar. The ample ship of the church seemed to amplify the buzzing of conversation all around, but it all came to a halt at the first chord of the piano.

The silence was heavy and it seemed to you that if someone dropped a pin, it would be heard by the very heavens. Finally, the eerie melody started and you felt your heart beating to the tempo of the music as everyone rose and the procession started.

Front and center, leading the group was a young boy, no older than 12, carrying the processional cross. The dark, shaggy hair and green eyes reminded you of James and you could picture your fiancé in your mind’s eye performing the same task as a child and it brought a smile to your lips.

You watched as the group advanced in time the melody playing, some members of the congregation carrying images of saints and other holy objects and finally, closing the group, Him.

Father August was a tall man, broad shoulders and built like a bull, the white and green clerical robes barely disguising his bulky form. His dark hair was neatly combed, one stubborn curl falling over his left eye but he seemed unaware as he walked and murmured the words of the hymn under his breath, his ocean blue gaze never wavering from the altar. He would look like the picture of a Godsent angel if it wasn’t for the dark stubble covering his face and the abominable mustache that in anyone else would look ridiculous but on him was actually attractive.

Heat rose to your cheeks as you realized your treacherous thought and your gaze fell to your polished shoes. You were really thinking of a priest as attractive? How much of a sinner could you be? Ashamed by the betrayal of your mind, you didn’t dare to look up again, not until the velvet smooth voice of Father August asked all to be seated and the ceremony started.

You let his voice washed over you as mass progressed as expected, taking your cues of when to rise or sit from James, that remained next to you oblivious to your suffering. You barely listened to the gospel reading or the adoration too focused on tracking Father August’s every move despite your best attempts of ignoring the handsome man presiding the celebration.

Finally, the congregation was seated once more to listen to his sermon. You kept your eyes on your clasped hands as August took his place at the pulpit and started speaking. You didn’t hear a word said, only the calm, husky tone of his voice that seemed to set your very soul on fire if the wet warmth between your legs was any indication.

Despite your brave attempts to keep your mind clean, you couldn’t help but daydream of that very same voice whispering all sorts of sinful pleasures in your ear. Clearing your throat, you dared to look up, finding his blue gaze fixed on you as he spoke and that was enough to set your heart racing and lock the breath inside your lungs. It felt as if Father August could see deep inside you, all the unholy thoughts you had been entertaining during his sermon.

Finally, he ended his speech and another hymn began. The congregation started rising, taking their place in line for Eucharist.

“You’re coming?” James whispered, startling you.

“I shouldn’t,” you replied quietly, your eyes darting to the priest feeding the congregation the wafer.

“Come on,” James encouraged with a smile and a wink. “No one will know.”

You rose from your seat against your better judgment. Your brain was unable to reign in the dark desire that pushed you toward the priest. As you took your place in line right behind James, your heart was pounding and your nerves wrecked as each step brought you closer to Father August, until finally, you stood in front of him, under his piercing all-knowing blue gaze.

“The body of Christ,” he spoke, voice haunting as he presented the wafer and your whole body shook as you let your lips part in welcome, eyes focused on his as he set the wafer on your tongue.

There was something so intimate and arousing at been this close to Father August, to let his thick fingers brushing against your lips as he fed you, his eyes darkening and his nostrils flaring as if he could see and smell your sin. Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as you two stared at each other.

It took the small cough from someone behind you to break you from your spell and you scurried away, shame bitter and acidic in your stomach, drying your mouth and throat as you forced yourself to swallow the wafer and move back to your seat, feeling the weight of your guilt as you waited for the mass to be finally over.

You had hoped to be free from the priest as soon as the proceedings were over but instead Father August remained at the door, exchanging polite words with the members of the congregation, and of course, James and his parents got in line to speak to the holy man.

“Amazing work as always, my dear,” you heard James’ mom, Magda, said as she kissed Father August’s cheek. “But when will you remove that awful thing from your face?”

“I don’t know, mom,” James interjected with a smirk, hugging his old friend. “I think it suits him, gives him a star quality. Of the porn variety.” James’ mom gasped in horror, while August just chuckled.

“You’re jealous because you never managed to grow a single hair in that baby face,” the priest joked back, completely unfazed by the teasing as his gaze set on you. “And who is this?”

“Oh! You haven’t met my fiancé, yet…”

You barely heard the rest of James’ words as he ushered you forward, presenting you to Father August and as his large hand enveloped yours in a warm touch, you could feel the flitting throb between your legs once again.

No man had such an effect on you before, and you wished you could run away, put as much distance between yourself and the temptation in the form of a man.

“So, what did you think?” James asked once the two of you were in the safety of the car, on the way to his parents’ house for Sunday lunch.

“I know it might not seem like it, but it wasn’t my first time in church, James.” Your words earned you a chuckle from him.

“I know, sweetheart. I meant of August.”

“Oh!” You could feel the heat returning to your face as you shifted on your seat, looking away from him. “He seemed nice and you’re right, his sermon was ok.”

“Is ok enough for you to consider coming along every Sunday from now on?”

The look in James’ eyes was pleading, like a little puppy dog that was kicked out of the moving truck. The look of a man that was used to get his way and he knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.

“I’ll think about it,” you conceded it as he pulled the car in the driveway, right behind his parents’.

It wasn’t like you could say no point-blank. Not without a good reason for it and saying you were lusting over his ordained childhood friend wasn’t exactly an option.

“That’s all I ask.”

James smiled brightly at you, pressing a kiss to your cheek before you two stepped out of the car just as a third vehicle pulled in the driveway, and the last person you wished to see got out.

August was donning a pair of black slacks and a black, long-sleeved dress shirt, the clerical collar being the only evidence of this man’s chosen career.

“I’m glad you could make it!” James greeted his friend cheerfully and August smirked.

“I wouldn’t miss this delicious…” he paused for just a second, his eyes flickering towards you, making you gulp and look away. “Meal for anything. Sister Agnes has many talents, bless her soul, but cooking isn’t one of them.”

James snorted, leading the way inside as August walked right beside you so close his arm brushed against yours, raising goosebumps on your skin as it tingled with the brief contact.

“Why don’t I help your mother?” you announced as soon as you crossed the threshold, trying to put as much distance between yourself and the priest as you could.

James didn’t protest. Instead, he led his friend into the sitting room and as you disappeared behind the kitchen door, you could almost feel the cold blue gaze of August on your ass, if that was even possible.

You managed to relax some as you helped Magda with the meal, chopping vegetables and stirring pots as the two of you talked about the upcoming wedding, only months away. You never thought you would be this excited about it, but you loved James with all your heart, and you couldn’t wait to become his wife.

The sound of the phone cut through your chatting and Magda’s face opened into a wide smile as she reached for her phone. It could only mean one thing: Her daughter Mary, who had been in a charity mission in Angola, was on the line.

“Go on,” you encouraged with a smile as you surveyed the kitchen. “I can manage everything.” She flashed you a grateful smile before scurrying off, phone already pressed to her ear.

You hummed to yourself as you worked, tasting the potato salad and adding a little more seasoning before your attention turned to the roast on the oven. You bent over to get a better look, smirking to yourself when you sensed someone standing right behind you, close enough you could feel the heat of his body,

Of course, you thought it was James. Who else would you expect? Instead, As you straightened up and glanced behind yourself, you were startled to find August there, browsing the pots over your shoulder. Too close for comfort.

“Father,” you croaked awkwardly, unable to really move without risking touching the man and that was the last thing you wanted. Your body was already heating up just by his mere presence. Anything else would be too dangerous.  

“Sorry for the intrusion, I wanted to give them some privacy to speak to Mary and I thought you could use some help.” His words were innocent enough but there was this edge in his voice… a sort of dark tone that made you doubt his intentions.

“That’s really thoughtful of you,” you managed, shimmying out of the way so you could move to the sink to start on the dishes. “But I got it covered.” The priest hummed in response and for a moment, a tense silence reigned between you two.

You were very aware of every sound, every motion of your body and his. You wished he would leave already or, against your better judgment, press closer, blanket your body with his, let those long, elegant fingers trace the skin of your thigh, inch under your skirt, and towards your throbbing cunt which was soaking your panties.

You let out a gasp, cutlery clattering loudly into the sink as your mind registered the filthy thoughts circling your brain. How could you? This was a man of God, for Christ’s sake, and a good friend of the man you loved.

“You know, James and I were always very close,” Father August spoke suddenly, making you start because once again he was standing right behind you, his hands resting on the marble of the sink in front of you. “We shared everything.” He whispered those words right in your ear.

One of his hands came to your stomach, not yet touching but close enough that you could almost feel it, the ghost of his fingers brushing the fabric of your dress, making your breath hitch and your body shake as it paused right at the edge of your skirt, hovering there so, so close…

“Please,” you whimpered, not sure if you were asking him to move away or touch you, even if your body was obviously aching for him.

Father August decided for you, dipping his fingers below the hem of your dress, tracing your thigh up until he found your center, the brush of his fingers featherlight against your drenched center.

“Dirty little slut,” he mocked, massaging your cunt and making you moan and rest against him. “I could tell all your filthy thoughts when you stood in front of me at the altar. Did you want to get on your knees and suck my cock in front of the entire church?”

“Yes, Father,” you whimpered, rocking against his light touch, desperate for more.

“In front of James?” he asked, pushing your panties aside and dipping one finger inside your hungry little slit that seemed to almost pull his digit in.

“Yes, Father.”

“Whore,” he clicked his tongue, fingering you roughly now, his middle finger buried almost to the third knuckle as the heel of his hand rubbed against your throbbing clit. The pad of his finger rubbing that sweet little spot, and all you could do was squeeze the sink and press your legs together around his wrist, keeping his hand trapped there.

“You better cum soon or James will find out exactly what kind of slut his fiancée is,” August taunted, his voice like smooth honey dripping against your ear as he rubbed his hard cock against your ass.

“Yes, Father,” you gasped, rocking between his hand and his erection, lost in the ecstasy of such filthy action. “I’m so, so close…”

“Do you want my cock, slut?” he asked, his other hand coming to your throat, squeezing just slightly and you nodded desperately as his motions sped up. “Want me to fuck that tight little pussy?”

“Yes, Father,” you gasped.

“You’re gonna come to the church on Wednesday. I don’t care what you tell James. Just be there.”

Even if you wanted, you couldn’t find in yourself to answer, your whole body going taut with pleasure as your orgasm washed over you. The sort of white-out ecstasy that blinded and deafened you to anything and everything around you with the exception of your body quivering and quaking and the gush of warmth soaking his hand, your thighs and dripping to the floor below.

“Good girl,” he murmured, pressing a soft, almost chaste kiss to your cheek.

Father August stepped away from you, hands in his pockets as you tried to recompose yourself just moments before the kitchen door opened and Magda walked in.

“Wednesday. Don’t forget,” he said, his smile, to anyone looking from the outside, was completely innocent but you caught the malice in his ice-cold eyes before he left.

“What’s on Wednesday?” Magda asked, checking the roast.

“Father August is just gonna help me with something,” you managed, brain still hazy with the aftershocks of your orgasm. “For James.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Magda grinned. “He’s such a good man, isn’t he? Our August. A true man of God.”

You could only nod, your voice caught in your throat. If only she knew…

---

If you enjoyed this work, please consider leaving a comment and/or reblogging. Feedback is really important for us writers.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Lies

You guys ready for almost twenty straight minutes of Angstdrien Depreste? Neither am I.

Let's get into the third (chronologically the second) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Lies (Oh, I get what they did there).

We open with Marinette struggling to decipher the grimoire she inherited from Fu, before two of the Kwamis screw around and play a video about Adrien.

Jesus Christ... it hasn't even been an episode since she broke up with Luka, and the writers are already back to making her simp over Adrien again. And this part of the episode takes place during “Truth”, where she's still dating Luka. This is supposedly meant to show her conflicting feelings regarding both Adrien and Luka, but it just comes across as yet another joke about Marinette simping over Adrien because the writers have forgotten she has other interests outside of her hero life.

And here we go. The writers are going to go out of their way to make the audience feel bad for Adrien in this episode by showing how tough his life is. What do we see him do that is allegedly so exhausting? He models for another statue, goes to a photoshoot, and then goes to some drama class where he repeats some phrase (I think it's supposed to be a warmup, but it's never explained why he's there in the first place). That's it. This is his definition of an “endless day”? Oh yeah, his life must be soooooooo hard.

Adrien is a rich white boy who is the son of one of the biggest names in fashion across the world, has legions of fans, an honest education, and is also one of the most beloved superheroes in the city while not having to struggle with the same responsibility his partner has. But no, Adrien's life is much harder than anyone else who has suffered this past year. It's yet another trick the writers are pulling to make people feel bad for Adrien instead of criticizing his behavior. I'm sorry, but I find it a little hard to relate to someone whose biggest problems amount his diamond shoes being too tight.

Good lord, I'm not even a minute in...

So Adrien transforms into Cat Noir and heads off to patrol. Keep in mind that the first part of this episode takes place during the events of “Truth”, so we see how he reacts to Ladybug not showing up for patrol. He waits for a while before he starts, but not before leaving a message for his partner.

Now, this moment honestly could have worked. What doesn't make it work is the air quotes Cat Noir starts off with. If he had said something like that honestly and kept his feelings a secret, it could have shown he understands the burden Ladybug has to bear now that she's the Guardian, but doesn't want to worry her. The problem is that the way he phrased the first sentence coupled with the air quotes make it seem like he doesn't care about what Ladybug has to deal with now, and only wants her to spend time with him.

You think I'm being overdramatic or I'm just jumping to conclusions? In the very next scene, Cat Noir actually tries to see if Mr. Ramier is emotional enough to get akumatized into Mr. Pigeon again just so he can see Ladybug.

This is just... why? Why would any of the writers expect the audience to feel bad for Cat Noir here? It's one thing for him to miss Ladybug's company, which is natural considering how much time they spend together, but wanting to start a life-threatening situation just to see Ladybug just isn't cool. What makes this any different from Chloe causing a subway to go out of control so she can save it herself, or Lila intentionally akumatizing herself and working with Hawkmoth just because she hates Ladybug? If you can find a reason other than “because the plot says so”, I'll want to hear an explanation.

So Cat Noir goes to Le Grand Paris to drown his sorrows in alcohol with his favorite drink, a White Russian without the vodka and coffee liqueur. Also, instead of cream, it's skim milk. And speaking of Chloe, we see her get into a brief squabble with Sabrina over missing a bag she has underneath her shoulder, and Cat Noir gets excited again at the prospect of getting to fight an Akuma, but thankfully, the situation is resolved fairly quickly.

Ignoring how unheroic this makes this supposed “superhero” look, I have a quick question. SHOULDN'T CHLOE BE IN PRISON RIGHT NOW? She essentially committed treason against her country by willingly conspiring with a terrorist. I get that everyone in Paris was paralyzed at the time, but did Ladybug not tell anyone what happened? How is she not in trouble? Did her father pardon her or something? Is she not even going to do any community service? You would think given how much Astruc hates her, Chloe would be forced to face more consequences for her actions other than losing her Miraculous permanently. Hopefully, “Queen Banana” will shed some light on Chloe's situation, but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that.

But yeah, Cat Noir actually gets excited at the prospect at fighting an akumatized Sabrina, while ignoring how cruel Chloe's being to her, because I guess it's a day that ends with a “Y”. Remember when Adrien actually called out  Lila and compromised with her in order to get Marinette back into school? Good times.

Cat Noir keeps calling and leaving messages for Ladybug, but changes his mind as soon as he sees Kagami, because he has the attention span of a puppy looking for someone to play with. Adrien stares at his phone's wallpaper of Ladybug, implying he still has feelings for her, and is then informed by Nathalie that his fencing class with Kagami was moved back by an hour. In reality, it was a trick by Kagami to get the two to spend some quality time together.

They choose to hang out in the art room because, get this, Kagami has always had a passion for drawing. Of course! That explains why it's never been mentioned in any earlier episodes, not even the one where she attended the premiere of an animated movie, which is a similar form of art. It's almost like the writers wanted to have Kagami do something that doesn't involve swinging a sword around. It's a good reason, mind you, but maybe if it was foreshadowed more, I would be more open to it.

Kagami says that she loves drawing because “art never lies”. Because it's not like someone can draw something completely inaccurate to what's actually being depicted, much like a certain character who likes to make up stories of people she knows to get others to like her, right? Kagami also says that her mother doesn't let her draw because she doesn't think her art isn't good, even though she's blind. Because when it comes to parents in Miraculous Ladybug, they're either amazing people who love their children, or they're emotionally abusive pieces of garbage who make you wonder why they even had kids in the first place. There is literally no middle ground. Maybe some of the writers have daddy issues?

So Kagami decides to draw a picture of Adrien, but wants him to give her a more “natural” pose instead of the standard model poses he usually gives.

Okay, this scene is raising so many red flags, the dialogue might as well be in semaphore. Where the hell did this side of Kagami come from? Why is she so controlling and forceful all of a sudden? In fact, why is she so obsessed with Adrien being “perfect”? The two made jokes before in the past (Desperada), and even spent half of the Season 3 finale playing around with Marinette? Why is she now Little Miss Serious?

Also, Kagami is really overstepping boundaries with Adrien here. Like, to a seriously uncomfortable degree. I get she isn't good with social cues, but how can she not see how anxious Adrien looks while she forces him into a pose, all while saying how wrong he is for doing what he sees as “natural”? This is not what a healthy relationship looks like, and spoiler alert, this isn't exactly why they even break up at the end of the episode.

Before the two can kiss while they're actually at fencing practice, Adrien is forced to leave Kagami to help Ladybug fight Mr. Pigeon (which means the narrative basically gave him what he wanted for no reason), leading to the same scene where Ladybug almost kills him, while he jokes about how he likes how angry she gets, and she apologizes for something that wasn't her fault. Just remember, he flirts with Ladybug right after he left his girlfriend to join her for an Akuma battle. The same montage from “Truth” happens, only it's Adrien missing opportunities to be close with Kagami, culminating with the little Kitty Section concert that happened right before Luka got akumatized.

While the two wait for their rides, Adrien accidentally drops the charm Marinette gave him all the way back in “Gamer”, which Kagami picks up. When he sees an Akuma flying, Adrien soon heads off to fight him, saving Ladybug from blowing her cover. After the events of “Truth”, Adrien apparently heads to Prince Ali's birthday party (yet Rose isn't there for some reason), meaning the second half of this episode takes place immediately after the previous one, even though it's been established that Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth needs time to recharge.

After Cat Noir flirts a little with Ladybug again, he heads off to the party to meet up with Kagami. When he had to leave to fight Truth, Adrien claimed that he left something on the Liberty, which Adrien later claims was the charm Marinette gave him. Kagami soon realizes he's lying about something, and doesn't take it well.

There's a good performance from Kagami's voice actress here, and it's a nice parallel to Luka, who also feels a sense of betrayal when Marinette can't be honest with him. But this scene does tie into the problem with Adrien and Kagami in this episode, and I'll get into it towards the end.

Kagami storms off, and is immediately akumatized by Shadowmoth, turning her into Lies.

Like Truth, the design here is really forgettable. The design is all white and gives Kagami a haircut that looks like it belongs in The Jetsons, but that's it. The one thing I like about her is the way her powers work. Instead of going from victim to victim, Lies creates an energy dome that slowly grows and paralyzes anyone has lied before in the past, which is basically everyone who comes into contact with it. It's a pretty interesting idea, and it means that Ladybug and Cat Noir have to rely more on strategy while avoiding any contact with the dome.

Adrien transforms into Cat Noir and charges into action, with Jagged Stone offering to help out.

I don't think you can say the same for your family, can you, Jagged?

Cat Noir tells Jagged to get to a safe place, but much like his one night stand with Anarka, he refuses to pull out, so he gets paralyzed by the dome, along with everyone in the building.

Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir and immediately summons her Lucky Charm, a remote control drone. Since it hasn't lied, it can go into the dome and be used as surveillance while Cat Noir distracts Lies. While it seems like nobody inside the dome can touch Lies, Ladybug realizes that Fang, Jagged Stone's pet crocodile, hasn't lied either, so she uses the drone to lure him out of the building.

Cat Noir thinks of a way to distract Lies by doing what he always does to increase the tension.

You know, I thought of a little game we could play. Why don't we count how many times Cat Noir sacrifices himself this season? So far, the Cat Noir Self-Kill Counter is at 1, but I'm guessing it will be higher the longer this season goes on.

So while Lies is distracted by Cat Noir's unconscious body, Fang runs over and breaks her corrupted object, Marinette's charm. So after using Miraculous Ladybug, Ladybug runs over and, for good reason, I may add, scolds Cat Noir for recklessly sacrificing himself yet again.

You know if this plan failed, not only would Shadowmoth get your Miraculous, but Ladybug would be all alone, you idiot! And we're supposed to find this reckless endangerment funny!? Seriously, Ladybug smiles at Cat Noir's stupid little quip as he still flirts with her right after he got into a fight with his girlfriend.

The next day, Adrien apologizes to Kagami, but she says she can't trust him, not as a boyfriend, and not as a friend either. And here is the problem with the Adrigami breakup. Like with the Lukanette breakup, it chooses to focus on one detail instead of the other, and glaringly obvious detail. The episode is trying to say that the whole reason Kagami and Adrien can't work as a couple is because of Adrien keeping his life as Cat Noir a secret. In reality, both of them have problems that they need to work on before they consider dating. Kagami has shown herself to be a massive control freak in this episode because of her own vision of what Adrien is like, showing she doesn't respect his boundaries or beliefs.

And Adrien? Where do I begin?

Adrien clearly shows several signs that he hasn't moved on from Ladybug with how much he flirts with her, even before he and Kagami got together, and there's the fact that unlike Marinette who realizes how she can't have a love life, it doesn't feel like Adrien actually learned that lesson.

We are supposed to see Adrien focusing on his secret life as Cat Noir as the responsible thing to do, and that like Ladybug, he needs to prioritize being Cat Noir over dating. The thing is that this episode has only showed how he doesn't take any of the hero stuff seriously. Throughout the episode, he treats being Cat Noir as a fun pasttime, when it comes to craving Ladybug's attention to the point where he's just short of causing an Akuma attack out of desperation until he sees someone else to spend time with, constantly flirts with Ladybug despite how annoyed she can come across, doesn't understand any of the stuff she has to deal with now that she's Guardian, and will sacrifice himself all so Ladybug can do all the work for him. He doesn't care about anything unless he gains something in return. It doesn't matter if lives are in danger, he thinks his personal feelings are more important because his civilian life is sO hAaArRd.

At one point when we were all kids, we all wanted to be superheroes because we all thought the idea of having superpowers and the freedom to do whatever we wanted sounded awesome. But that's not what being a hero is. We never thought about the responsibility that comes with being a superhero. One of the main themes of superhero media that we all watched growing up was that they would help us to learn right from wrong, and that sometimes, personal sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, and our feelings just aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. Whether we learned this lesson from Superman, Spider-Man, Sailor Moon, the Power Rangers, or even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what matters is that by the time we reached the age of these heroes, we would have a similar moral compass so we would understand why these heroes would make some of the choices they did, and we would be able to make similar choices if we encountered situations like the ones they went through.

Part of growing up is realizing that being a superhero isn't all fun and games. Sometimes, you need to put your own personal desires aside to make sure nobody gets hurt because of something you did or didn't do. We are currently in the fourth season of this show, and after 82 episodes, Cat Noir has still failed to learn that lesson. He doesn't understand that even if his “true self” is clowning around, that's not how a hero acts. You don't see Batman or Captain America acting this way, and you don't see real life soldiers or emergency workers acting this way either.

And that's not even getting into the fact that this is the same problem the Lukanette breakup had. Even though Marinette had a valid reason to break things off with Luka because she realized being Guardian was more important, the narrative framed it like she was still into Adrien, no matter if she was making an effort to get over him. Likewise, even though both Adrien and Kagami have issues the narrative refuses to actually acknowledge, they frame it as Adrien's hero life was ruining their relationship, when in reality, the reasons for both the Adrigami breakup and the Lukanette breakup should have been flipped. “Truth” should have been about Marinette coming to terms with her new responsibilities as the Guardian, and “Lies” should have been about Adrien realizing he needs to work on his own personal issues before he considers his feelings for Kagami or Ladybug.

So the episode just ends with Ladybug and Cat Noir saying that even if they have to keep secrets about their identities, they can still trust each other. Also, before Kagami dumped him, Adrien reaffirmed his feelings for Ladybug (the only time they were actually referenced outside of flirting and his phone's wallpaper), which implies that Adrien is going to continue to pursue Ladybug, having learned nothing from this whole episode.

You know, after watching both this episode and “Truth”,  and seeing how it undid two of the major changes from the Season 3 finale, does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all? Does it almost feel like you've been here before? How am I gonna be a optimist about this? Hell if I know, this episode's honestly worse than “Truth” was.

Put aside your feelings on the Adrigami breakup, the pacing here was awful. Because the writers thought it would be interesting to have some continuity for once by having it take place right after “Truth”, the timeline is incredibly confusing. Can Shadowmoth just create more Akumas at once without having to recharge? And shouldn't Ladybug and Cat Noir be exhausted from having to fight two Akumas and a Sentimonster in one day?

Even then, about half of the episode was spent following Adrien as he whined about how hard he supposedly has it, proving despite what Astruc continues to state, he is far from perfect, and like what he loves to say about Chloe, refuses to change. Wow, that's so interesting. And we're supposed to feel bad for Cat Noir and be mad at Ladybug for missing their patrol, forgetting everything she's been going through in the last week, considering how Gabriel just fixed the Peacock Miraculous, suggesting that the events of “Truth” and “Lies” happened not too long after “Miracle Queen”. Even the Akuma fight wasn't that interesting because it was crammed into about five minutes thanks to everything else going on in this episode.

In an attempt to make the audience sympathize with him, this episode only made me loathe the way Adrien is portrayed even more. Seriously, he reaches “Frozer” levels of unlikability in this episode. Maybe he'll get some much needed character development, but given how much Astruc will put him on a pedestal and ignore his flaws, I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

But I still don't see the point of spending so much time building up this relationship for two seasons just to end it as soon as they hook up. At the end of the day, all Lukanette and Adrigami amounted to was filler. It was a way to get in some romantic scenes for the fans while the writers continue to drag out the Love Square drama like a taffy puller. And now that Luka and Kagami have served their purpose, watch as Astruc and the other writers start to slowly remove them from the narrative until they appear about as often as Nino does now.

After all, why care about anything in this show that isn’t related to the Love Square? It’s clear none of the writers do.

[random-french-girl]

Daughters & Mothers

For a show ostensibly about patriarchy, it’s thematically coherent that when the girls’ backstories focus on a parental relationship, it’s always about the father. Whether it’s a tragedy, like Dot’s dad, a betrayal, like Fatin’s, or a threat, like Shelby’s. Which got me curious: how do mothers fare, in The Wilds? 

1- The absent moms

We have two mothers who are absent from their daughters’ lives, Dot’s mom and Toni’s mom. Dot’s mother is so completely absent she is not even a character in Dot’s story. She’s not mentioned once. In fact, we don’t even know if Dot has a mother, and Dot doesn’t seem to care: she has a parent who loves her, and the only problem is that he can’t take care of her anymore, so she has to take care of him instead.  

What I find interesting is that Toni’s familial situation is the reverse: she doesn’t know her dad, he’s not in the picture, and it’s her mother who has become unable to care for her. But Toni’s feelings about her mom are starkly different from Dot’s feelings about her dad: there’s a lot of anger and resentment, mixed in with a lingering yearning for connection. Toni’s mom is a drug addict, and she’s the reason Toni is in foster care. Her absence is the stem of Toni’s abandonment issues, of her distrust in people, of her trouble with regulating her own anger. 

Things I want: We haven’t seen Toni’s mom onscreen yet, whereas we have seen Dot’s dad struggling with what his daughter has to do, and loving her, so the comparison favors him, of course. But I’d be interested to see what exactly Toni’s relationship with her mom is like, to see if she’s given as much nuance and empathy as Dot’s father. And I would like for Dot to be given the space to be angry about what she was asked to do - even if she loves her father, even if she misses him and mourns him.

2- The traitors

Yes, I am putting Fatin and Shelby’s moms in the same category, even though they are very different people. Mrs Jadmani is a second generation immigrant (I think?), a career woman who earns a lot of money and is pretty strict with Fatin because she wants her to succeed. By contrast, Mrs Goodkind is quiet, nice but effaced, a white Christian woman in a traditional, religious marriage ; we don’t know if she works, but we see her cooking. They don’t have much in common on the surface. 

And yet, they both equally fail to protect their daughters from their husbands. They both fail to take the girls’ sides. Fatin’s mom is hurt by the affairs, obviously, and also hurt by Fatin’s reckless behavior, but in the end she chooses to punish Fatin and not her husband. When Dave Goodkind makes decisions about the lives of his children, whether it’s the kind of breakfast food they’re allowed to eat, or a medical procedure, Shelby’s mom may timidly protest, but mostly she defers to him, and doesn’t speak up - instead, just like the children, she waits for the threat to pass. We can feel for her, but she is of no help to Shelby, she is not Shelby’s ally in this conflict with her father. 

Things I want: Obviously, Shelby and Fatin both have a lot of strong feelings about their fathers - whom they love, and are hurt by - and I think these feelings will continue to be explored in the show. But I hope the show also delves more into their relationships with their mothers, and with enough nuance : how can they negotiate this betrayal from their moms, with the knowledge that these women are also hurting?  

3- Moms who don’t understand

And finally, our last category of moms: they are well-intentioned, but they simply don’t understand their daughters, whether it’s because they don’t actually make the effort, or because the girls are too good at hiding their feelings, or a mix of both. The result is a serious communication problem, a growing distance, and the moms’ inability to help their daughters in a positive way. 

Leah’s mother, for example, seems well-meaning, and genuinely worried for Leah. But she’s also clearly unable to talk to Leah, or more importantly get her to talk. I’m the first one to make fun of Leah’s dramatic lines (affectionately, I love her), but when her mom refers to what is like... some sort of intense depressive/self-harming state that has been going on for many months? as a “funk”?? I get where Leah’s dismissal/resentment comes from. And that’s not even touching on the fact that Leah’s mom lies to her about the retreat.

Same thing with Nora and Rachel’s mom. She loves her kids, she’s proud of them, she clearly wants the best for them! And yet, somehow she completely fails to understand how isolated and starved for attention Rachel feels in this family, and the extremes to which that leads her. And I don’t know whether Nora has told her mom about Quinn and his death, but it doesn’t look like it, which is partly why Gretchen is so successful in her manipulation. 

And then there is Martha and Bernice. Bernice, in my opinion, is the most positive portrayal of a mother in the show - she’s worried, she’s loving, she takes actions, she feels responsible, she tries - yet even she doesn’t understand her daughter at all. Bernice just can’t communicate with Martha in a way that works for both of them. Strikingly, we even get a scene where Bernice is more comfortable talking about Martha with Toni, rather than to Martha. I don’t think there’s any other girl who is absent from her own flashback. 

Things I want: “I want my mom,” Leah cries in episode 9. Please, let these kids reconnect with their mothers (and fathers). Let the moms make amends if needed, let them learn to listen to their daughters, and better communicate their love and worry. Let the girls learn that they can, actually, trust their moms to protect them - obviously the experiment is going to accentuate the distrust, for a while, but I’m hoping for some positive resolutions. 

4- Gretchen’s mother complex

To end this already very long post, here are a few thoughts on Gretchen, and her relationship to motherhood. We learn at the end of the season that Gretchen has a son, and we get some insight into her immense guilt/fear that she failed as his mother - and how she covers/explains/understands what happened by blaming the lures of patriarchy. I think it’s interesting, in that context, to remember that she refers to the girls as her children, in the mental health hospital, that she refers to her work as the duties of a mother. Gretchen doesn’t just have a God complex, she has a mother complex too. She created her ~Gynotopia : she is the mother both of this new world, and of the girls she chose to inhabit it. And, as gods and parents alike sometimes do, she both wants to control these ~daughters and mold them and bend them to her will, but also, paradoxically, she wants them to grow and flourish and succeed. On that note, I also think it’s interesting that Gretchen chose two men as “authority figures” for the interviews - two “father figures”, if you will, for the girls to confront and rebel against, while she remains, for now, in the shadows, the ultimate authority. 

And let me add one more thing : in Gretchen’s team, it seems there’s only one other parent. Agent Young is a father. To a girl. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s the first/only one to break and want to help the girls. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that he is narratively linked to Leah - Gretchen’s favorite daughter - and Bernice Blackburn - our most sympathetic mother figure (since Gretchen asks him to find some blackmail material on Martha). If Agent Young doesn’t redeem himself by helping the daughters, then I hope he will by helping the mothers.