#honestly we truly do deserve a second season after that finale

[beauforte]

YES MAXTON HALL S2!!! LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!!

DKSLKDFSFKJHSDFJK IM SO HAPPY

[wishful-thinking64]

One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion #05

Apology Tour completely dismantles the very thought of Stolitz ever being a remotely healthy relationship once they actually become canon on account of AT proving that Stolas doesn't truly love Blitzø for who he is but rather the idealized version of him that Stolas created within his own head and could be replaced by anyone who's willing to take/play Stolas' idealized role of a partner. __________

As much as I hate Full Moon for wasting so much of the audiences time, it did give us that scene where Blitzø was finally sick of Stolas' shit and told him off for it. However, since it's HB the show immediately tries to run damage control in it's next episode, Apology Tour. This is not only another episode that I despise but it's also the one that solidified my hatred for Stolas and his character. In the beginning of Apology Tour, Stolas bitches and moans over how Blitzø is still making their "relationship" about sex when, news flash, it's ALWAYS been about sex because you, Stolas, have kept it that way to the point where your victim feels like he has to sleep with you in order to DESERVE to keep his OWN BUSINESS RUNNING!

And Blitzø isn't wrong! Their "relationship" has always been, as Blitzø worded it back in Season #01 of HB, "a transactional fucking." Why would he see it as anything different when that's how its always been? Now, how does Stolas reply to this?

Honestly, this IS very shocking Stolas as I believe this might be the first time where you and Blitzø have interacted with one another where you're not blatantly sexualizing or romanticizing him on screen! After this he says that Blitzø should respect the fact that he isn't in the mood to sleep with or even speak to him right now. Mind you, whenever Blitzø has told Stolas in the past that he isn't in the mood to sleep with him or be flirted with, Stolas has respected that notion ONE TIME which was after the fiasco at Ozzie's back from Season #01. Otherwise, Stolas hasn't respected his boundaries for shit. Boundaries are important but you two aren't in a real relationship and even if you were respect is still a two way street. If you command respect from someone you choose to CONTINUE to disrespect on a CONSTANT/CONSISTENT basis then why the hell should they respect you? If it wasn't for his book, Blitzø wouldn't have any incentive to cross paths with Stolas at all.

Anyway, literal seconds later, Stolas tells Blitzo how he got invited to an annual anti-Blitzø party and comments on how he's above such silly nonsense only for him to quickly change his tune upon seeing Blitzø's annoyed and enraged reaction to seeing that Verosika is behind this petty pity party.

This starts a back and forth with Stolas demanding that Blitzø leaves. This results in Blitzø, yet again, reinstating on what their relationship truly is and how Stolas fetishizes him which discomforts Stolas because deep down he knows what Blitzø is saying is true.

Now, I won't get into the conversation that takes place after this comment as the critical side of the Helluva Boss fandom on Tumblr has already (rightfully) torn it to shreds. So instead, I'll save us all some time by simply skipping ahead to when Stolas is at the party after that Incubus guy (that rabbid Stolitz shippers hate) asks him if he wants to dance and why I despise that entire scene.

We see that Blitzø is uncomfortable with this and Stolas KNOWS that he's uncomfortable with this random guy asking Stolas to dance with him as Stolas made DIRECT EYE CONTACT with Blitzø! Now, Blitzø does effectively advise that Stolas take up the Incubus' offer with a hand gesture HOWEVER for Stolas to claim that he's always been in love with Blitzø and that he has eyes for him and him alone only to later MAKE OUT WITH A STRANGER just proves and validates Blitzø's feelings that you don't actually love or care about him! And moments before this scene Stolas says this.

THEN GO AND FIND THAT PERSON AS LITERALLY ANYBODY CAN DO THAT! YOU DO NOT LOVE BLITZØ, YOU MERELY LOVE THE CONCEPT OF BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM BECAUSE TO YOU, YOU SEE HIM AS A "CHILDHOOD FRIEND" WHEN IN REALITY YOU KNEW HIM AND HUNG AROUND HIM FOR ONE DAY SINCE YOUR FATHER BOUGHT HIM TO BE YOUR PLAYMATE FOR A SINGLE DAY! ... *Ahem.* In conclusion, there's no amount of future retconning that Viv and Spindlehorse can do to successfully make Stolitz appear as a genuinely healthy ship without trashing the entirety of Apology Tour but even that would create/introduce an entire new set of problems. __________

Man, I've been wanting to get this one off my chest for a while as I haven't seen many people bring up these scenes from AT when discussing how and why Stolas doesn't love Blitzø. I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts this time around and I'll see you later!

[jillianallen14]

Incredibly proud of Crowley and how strong/brave he is in the finale

This is gonna be really long, so if you’re in a rush, here’s a TLDR: Crowley is hella brave for confessing to Aziraphale even after Aziraphale spoke first, especially given Aziraphale’s track record of rejecting him, and I’m so proud of him. I’m also proud of him for standing his ground and not giving in because he usually always does whatever Aziraphale asks eventually. Crowley needs to learn to truly stand on his own two feet in order to have a successful relationship with Aziraphale, and Aziraphale needs to learn how to choose/put Crowley first just as much as Crowley chooses him and puts him first. Basically, in human terms, Crowley currently has an anxious attachment style and Aziraphale has an avoidant one, and they both need to get to healthy attachment styles in order for them to work.   

See how long that tldr was? That’s what you’re in for if you read this whole thing lol. 

Alright, here we go. 

Disclaimer: I love Aziraphale so much, but I think he has a lot of work to do before he’s ready to “deserve” the kind of love Crowley is offering him. I also think he is 100% going to put in that work, though. 

So Crowley’s tried to advance things forward with Aziraphale many times over their thousands of years together, and usually these advances are rejected, though sometimes Aziraphale does come around. He’s the one who suggests the Arrangement (and sort of gets rejected at first). He’s the one who is constantly pushing the idea that the two of them are on their own team. He makes grand gestures, rescues Aziraphale, and he makes a lot of sacrifices. In the 1960′s, he tells Aziraphale that he’ll take him anywhere he wants to go, just to be told, “You go too fast for me, Crowley.” I sort of count this as “run away together” offer #1 because I think that’s what Crowley is subtextually offering here. His second offer of running away together is also rejected during the almost-apocalypse. He suggests Aziraphale stay at his place when Aziraphale’s bookshop burned down and is once again rejected, though not as directly as some of the others. Aziraphale calls their friendship/partnership “fraternizing” in the 1800s. In the bandstand fight scene, Aziraphale tells Crowley, “We’re not friends” and “I don’t even like you.” 

Of course, we as viewers know that Aziraphale says and does most of these things because he’s constantly trying to protect Crowley from Hell’s punishments. We know that Crowley is what Aziraphale loves most in the world, and honestly, Crowley probably knows it, too. But I’m sure that doesn’t stop the constant onslaught of rejection from hurting and from discouraging him from ever really wanting to have The Big Conversation (the “what are we and what do you want us to be” conversation, as it were lol). 

Crowley has been relentlessly chasing Aziraphale for literal thousands of years, and Aziraphale never really gives all of himself to Crowley in return. That’s got to sting, and that’s got to be so disheartening, even though Crowley is definitely aware Aziraphale does love him/care about him. We all give Crowley shit about not communicating properly, but imagine how hard that would be when he gets that kind of a reaction whenever he does try to communicate? It would certainly not make it any easier. 

In addition to the chasing that Crowley does, he is also the one to almost always give in and apologize. We’ve established that Aziraphale says no to many of the requests Crowley makes of him. And yes, often Crowley says no the first time Aziraphale makes requests of him as well, but Crowley usually comes around. And Crowley always apologizes, even when he really shouldn’t have to because Aziraphale was also at fault or, at the very least, they should both be apologizing. We rarely ever see Aziraphale actually apologize for the hurtful shit he says and does to Crowley. Yes, we know from season 2 that Aziraphale has done the apology dance, so we can infer apologies do happen from time to time, but how often do we actually see this? Not often. 

I love Aziraphale to death, but he has a “my way or the highway” mentality, and Crowley gives in like every single time lol. (Because we know Crowley is so in love it’s not even funny and would do pretty much anything to keep Aziraphale around. #Aziraphale fell first but Crowley fell harder (or at least accepted it earlier) #I will die on this hill). 

So now we get to their fight in the finale of season 2. 

Crowley was so ready to confess. Our boy was prepared. He probably sat in that bookshop rehearsing what he was going to say over and over [just thinking about this hurts my heart lol, ouch]. Then Aziraphale comes in and Crowley literally asks Aziraphale if he [Crowley] can talk first, and Aziraphale still interrupts him (lol, Aziraphale, come on). [I really do wonder how that scene would have gone if Aziraphale had let Crowley speak first; fanfic writers, I’m looking at you]

Then Aziraphale proceeds to say Crowley’s worst nightmare lol. We can literally see on Crowley’s face that his heart is already breaking, and I’m sure he knows there’s a good chance he’s about to receive “let’s run off/be together” rejection #3. To be fair, Aziraphale is literally also telling Crowley he wants to be together, but all Crowley seems to be hearing is the “in heaven, as angels” part. So at this point, Crowley can be pretty sure the love of his eternal life is “choosing Heaven” over him once again [we, as viewers, know this isn’t really the case, but Crowley doesn’t]. 

Yet, he interrupts Aziraphale. He makes Aziraphale let him talk, he doesn’t just let himself be talked over or unheard this time, and Crowley proceeds to confess anyway and practically does the Good Omens equivalent of asking Aziraphale to marry him. Like holy shit, y’all. That takes some massive balls. 

Crowley is “rejected” (kinda-sorta; Aziraphale isn’t rejecting Crowley this time, just the “running off” bit, but Crowley sees it as a rejection of him). Fighting ensues. Aziraphale says accidentally hurtful things because he’s just as bad at communicating as Crowley is lol (ie “Nothing lasts forever” instead of saying, “You matter more to me than this bookshop,” which is what he meant). Crowley is literally beyond heartbroken, you can see it all over his face, especially when he puts the sunglasses back on. And yet he still has the courage to kiss Aziraphale? BRO. BROOOOO. I want what Crowley has lol because he’s certifiably insane for having the balls to do that. 

I’ve seen people say that the kiss was the wrong thing for Crowley to do in that moment, but I don’t agree. They were still talking past each other, and Crowley needed to do something to make sure Aziraphale knew exactly what he was offering (marriage). Crowley needed to do that because if he didn’t, there was still going to be ambiguity, which would make their eventual resolution harder in the end. I also think Crowley just wanted to kiss him out of desperation because he thought it would be his last chance and because he wanted to show Aziraphale exactly what he was saying no to, but that’s beside the point. And yes, the kiss broke Aziraphale’s heart, but I truly and genuinely think Aziraphale needed to have his heart broken this time in order for him to grow. 

Then Aziraphale once again says something incredibly hurtful and rejects him again. And what does Crowley do? He doesn’t run away this time, like he usually does. He goes out by the Bentley and stands there and watches Aziraphale. I think he did this partly out of the desire to give Aziraphale one last chance and partly out of a desire to make Aziraphale sit there and look at him as he chooses Heaven again. Balls, man, I tell you. 

And Crowley doesn’t go back to him, and he doesn’t beg him to stay. And he doesn’t give himself up completely to be with this person who can’t accept him as he is. He lets himself be known, and then he holds his ground. He doesn’t let someone fundamentally change him just for love. He doesn’t lose himself to love. 

And this leads me to my next point, which is that this fight needed to happen because both Crowley and Aziraphale have lessons to learn. 

Crowley’s lesson is that he needs to learn how to stand on his own two feet. He needs to learn how to put himself first sometimes so that he doesn’t completely lose himself to Aziraphale. He needs to learn how to say no, to really say no. He needs to learn how to hold his boundaries. He needs to develop an identity outside of Aziraphale and what Aziraphale wants/needs him to be, discover what he wants even when Aziraphale isn’t around. He also needs to learn how to clearly state and ask for what he wants and needs. I think him learning this lesson will also help with his anger issues because the kind of people-pleasing self-effacement that Crowley does for Aziraphale only breeds resentment, which comes out every time they get in an argument. 

And Aziraphale’s lesson is that he needs to learn how to really choose Crowley, not try to change him, not try to pretend he’s something he’s not. He needs to learn how to take Crowley exactly as he is. He needs to learn how to give Crowley as much as Crowley gives him so that their partnership is on more of an equal footing. Essentially, his lesson is the opposite of Crowley’s: where Crowley needs to learn how to not lose himself completely to Aziraphale, Aziraphale needs to learn how to lose himself a little bit to Crowley. I’m not saying Aziraphale is selfish because he’s absolutely not, but I am saying that his sense of individuality is a little too strong and that doesn’t exactly work when you’re trying to have a long-term, committed relationship/partnership with someone because yes, you’re still an individual, but you’re also now part of a unit. And that requires making decisions together and genuinely hearing the other person out. It requires compromising, which Aziraphale is not particularly good at. 

Crowley needs to let go a little bit and Aziraphale needs to hold on a little tighter so that they can meet in the middle. You can see this in almost all of their fights. When things don’t go Aziraphale’s way, he immediately resorts to telling Crowley he can leave. Think of this as the two of them holding on to opposite ends of a taut rope: Crowley pulls a little too hard, and Aziraphale lets the rope loosen, leaving Crowley to fall backwards on his own. Aziraphale needs to learn how to hold onto that rope just a little tighter so that him and Crowley are putting in equal amounts of effort.

And folks, they’re gonna do it. They’re gonna put in the work. They’re gonna learn their lessons. And then they’re going to kiss and make up (preferably with Aziraphale initiating the kissing this time lol, let’s give poor Crowley a rest and let him be chased for once). And then we’re going to get the most beautiful, loving, healthy relationship. But they just have to go through this first. It’ll make their resolution so much more satisfying. 

So Aziraphale, it’s time to do some chasing.  

[overthegardenwirtt]

top ten books I read this year, ranked:

10. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (pub 1939)

Honestly this wasn't the most mind-blowing or memorable book, but it was my first Christie and my introduction to this genre. It got me out of a slump too which was great. Christie's style is so very british but I thoroughly enjoyed this as my introduction to this kind of mystery, and I found the reveal to be surprising and well done! This book definitely made me want to pick up more Agatha Christie in the future, but I'm not in any particular hurry to do so.

9. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood (pub 1939)

This was actually my most recent read. I picked up this book knowing that it was the inspiration behind the musical (and film) Cabaret. This book feels much more of a piece of creative nonfiction/memoir than a novel, but it tells different stories in vignettes of people in Berlin in the 1930s. Between dancers and artists like Sally Bowles, queer people in Berlin, and Jewish people living through the rise of the Nazi party, these true stories were incredibly touching and really made me think about the way we talk about fascism today. The modern way in which people spoke in Weimer Germany, and the extent to which they knew what was going on in Germany at this time and still just let the Nazi takeover happen, is terrifying and all too real, and I am glad this book exists to highlight that.

8. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin (pub 1953)

My first Baldwin of the year and third Baldwin book overall. I really enjoyed this book, as it was an exploration of a Black family in Harlem, and each family members' relationship with one another and with God. I loved the way the story was told, through flashbacks and memories of each character as they sat to pray in a church. Each story was both incredibly humanizing and devastating, and the ending was surprisingly somewhat hopeful.

7. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (pub 1976)

I read this after the second season of the amc show aired. Honestly, this book was so much better than I was expecting it to be, given what I know about where Anne Rice takes the series in the future. In this novel, the prose is so beautiful and breathtaking. Anne Rice also delves into such deep and thought-provoking discussions about God and religion, goodness and evil and monstrousness, through her characters and their philosophies, and how they deal with their vampirism. I fully feel that this book deserves to be called the modern Frankenstein.

6. Babel by RF Kuang (pub 2022)

The youngest book on here by far. I am often weary of the trendy new books and the 'booktok' books, especially those that seem to be fulfilling some kind of aesthetic. So, my expectations going into this weren't the highest, I was expecting, as is true with most 'dark academia' books, a rip-off of The Secret History. However, I was so pleasantly surprised by this book! This book is an anti-colonialist response to The Secret History and the like, and explores how academia always serves the institutions in power, and how specifically British academia has driven, and continues to drive, imperialism. This book was also very science-fictiony, and completely deserves its Nebula award. The magic system in this book is so interesting and novel to me, and i truly think Kuang is a genius. Also, I personally loved the footnotes. It's so clear how much work and research went into this book, and it adds so much to the quality of the book.

5. Animal Farm by George Orwell (pub 1945)

This was technically a re-read, since I read Animal Farm with my mom in elementary school and didn't understand it at all. So, I finally got back around to reading this and it was great. Just so perfectly told, the story of revolt from one authoritarian regime and the decline into another, arguably worse regime. It was also incredibly heartbreaking, and made even more so by making the characters farm animals. It is truly a perfect book and I know it sounds cliche, but everyone should read it. George Orwell is well-known for a reason.

4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (pub 1969)

This one was unexpected! I have owned Slaughterhouse-Five for years, I think it has been sitting on by bookshelf for over five years untouched. I finally got around to reading it a few months ago and it was incredible. Kurt Vonnegut has a witty and to-the-point writing style that was difficult to get used to at first, but I definitely believe it worked in this book's favor. The childlike, simple way of writing and speaking, combined with the grim topic of WWII and PTSD, really highlight the sadness of Kurt Vonnegut's situation and how young he, and Billy Pilgrim, and all these soldiers really were. I absolutely loved the sci-fi interludes as well. It worked both creatively, to provide an allegory for war and PTSD, and literally to show just how dissociative Billy Pilgrim would get after the war. This book left me feeling incredibly sad, and I know that was just the point.

3. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (pub 1969)

And the book that beat Slaughterhouse-Five for both the Hugo and the Nebula! This book is not one that I would typically read, but I am so glad that I did. It is considered a seminal work of feminist science fiction, and tells the story of a human man named Genly who goes to a planet where all the people are genderless. It is a beautiful story of finding love and understanding with other people, and learning that there are strengths in our differences, and those differences can bring us together. This is a truly great novel, and left me feeling the way the protagonist felt, having gained a new empathy and love for human beings, no matter how different we may be.

2. Another Country by James Baldwin (pub 1962)

My fourth and final James Baldwin novel to date. I absolutely loved this book. The writing style, the beautiful vibes, and the beautiful and devastating story of a group of friends in Greenwich Village, New York was so compelling. This was one of those books that I could not just put away after I finished it. I had to read and reread the book, go over it in my mind for a while afterwards. This book explores Black masculinity and Black womanhood in America, it explores queerness, and specifically Black queerness during this time, and it explores the complicated dynamics between a multiracial group of friends in 1960s America. It feels so shockingly ahead of its time.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (pub 1949)

yeah yeah, this is cliche, but it's so well-known, and so spoken about, for a good reason. This book, outside of its talk about authoritarianism, was actually just a thoroughly enjoyable and effective work of psychological horror. The way that language and history can shape our current really was so brilliantly done that it had me questioning whether O'Brien was telling the truth to Winston at times. I feel like this is a controversial opinion, but I felt that many of the characters, including Winston, Julia, Syme, and even O'Brien to a lesser extent, were humanized in a way that I felt terrible for these characters. This book had such incredible world-building that I would have been okay with reading 300 full pages of Winston's day-to-day life, that's how interested I was in this horrifying world Orwell created. However, the plot was equally as compelling! I truly felt like I was there with Winston through every step of his journey, and that made this novel feel so sickeningly horrific, and so effective.

[alexalessandro]

These are just my jumbled thoughts about the fantasy high junior year finale so you know they won’t be in order. They won’t be linear. here we go. (T-T-TAKING OVER TEENAGE REBELLION)

So first of all, I am fully satisfied with the junior year finale.

My main concerns were the character arcs for the intrepid heroes- for the bad kids. I was worried about the bad kids and I wanted their arcs to be resolved (I never really gave a shit about the rat grinders sorry not sorry).

I’m glad that all of the rat grinders except KipperLily Copperkettle got redeemed (I actually hated that bitch). Glad that she was the truly evil one out of the group and like Osin and Ivy were not great but just got worse because of the shatter star (and they now have a second chance with Jawbone which is nice, we might have some interesting dynamics with Ivy and Aelwyn THINK ABOUT THE TOXIC LESBIANS GUYS AELWYN WAS MISSING EVERPETAL)

We got Maryann back so hell yeah W on the board and Buddy was just fucking hilarious. Love that he stayed a stooge right to the end even after the shatter star he just changed beliefs that is the funniest shit ever.

I’m actually very satisfied with the finale for the rat grinders very satisfied that KLCK was not a complicated woman, but just a fully evil woman that killed her best friend Lucy Frost blade and was fine because she willingly got shattered to have her best friend be dead forever.

Let’s just let that sink in everybody: KipperLily Copperkettle that was very fond of Lucy and Lucy was the only person on her team that really liked her, and she killed Lucy in a HEARTBEAT to get power and was fine with her staying dead, so let’s sit with that. Let’s rationalize that really KLCK was NOT a complicated woman just fucking evil all right, the rat grinders are better off without her sorry girlies

Now going back to the bad kids I am very satisfied with everyone. I am really glad that figs arc was to be a school dropout and to find that centeredness within herself and realizing that the unsteadiness that she felt was the fact that she really wanted to keep her friends, but she felt like dropping out of school would mean losing them. I’m really happy that she got to the conclusion of you got to center yourself. You can do things for other people but you deserve to get help and part of that realization was “I don’t need school”.

I don’t wanna be in school but I can still have my friends- and like honestly honestly, at this point, the bad kids are all fucking related. There is no way that they’re splitting up OKAY? The family polycule is getting bigger by the day.

Kristen tried to poly-pill Gertie with it. Maybe she can get Jawbone to help (I don’t know appropriate that is) but hey the future is Poly so that’s amazing actually.

Oh and getting to Kristen the fact that she now doesn’t have the sole responsibility to be the bearer of keeping Cassandra alive in this world? the fact that the pantheon might fuse into one religion? amazing.

The main thing with Kristen was the fact that she’s just a 16-year-old girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders and it’s a very similar arc to figs in a way because Kristen‘s whole Thing this season was recognizing and finally asking for help.

She is 16 and she shouldn’t have been doing this all alone, so the fact that her pantheon (like she might be the priestess and of a pantheon and not necessarily just single Goddess), the harbringer of the age of the lesbians with Cassandra and Ankarna and Ruvina and Galacae making a pantheon of just lesbians. I love that, that is amazing. That is what I want. Thank you.

And Adaine and Aelwyn are finally gonna kill their mom! finally! finally killing off that one loose thread that has literally been haunting their lives with like the allowance and all the other shit that Adaine had to deal with this year because of the fact that her mother is still alive glad that that’s hinted at being resolved.

Glad that like Gorgug finally got Mariann-pilled. That was amazing.

Glad that Fabian finally got a healthy relationship with a girl that Isn’t toxic. Hopefully Mazey will get him to talk to Jawbone a little bit and get over his number-one-nemesis his baby brother, though I think it is a very fun even (if tragic) dynamic for him to be nemesis from day one with his baby sibling. I think that would be a really funny bit thing to have.

And Riz! Riz finally taking a break (although brief) you know fuck unnecessary stress, fuck it let’s get some tea. Let’s chill out. I feel like Riz is someone that needs to be in constant motion but it’s nice that now he knows that he doesn’t have to be ON all all the time you know? It’s a marathon not a sprint.

There can be times when you get tea and times when you need to get the coffee, but the fact that he doesn’t feel like it has to be coffee all the time, the expectation that Sklonda put on him thrown out the window and in a beautiful way it mirrors Fig’s arc this season.

fig realized that school wasn’t what she needed what she really needed and wanted was her friends and she didn’t need to go to school for that and riz realized the same thing that he doesn’t have to keep a white knuckle grip on things and get his hands bleeding each time. A more casual hey let’s see how life goes like that’s a very beautiful character moment for both of them.

realizing that you don’t have to see the same people every day like the reality of things is that you drift apart and you drift away from the people in high school, but there is also the thing where I still keep in contact with my high school friends. it’s further and far in between because we weren’t really close in high school but had we been closer in high school maybe we would be seeing each other every day you know like I know a lot of my high school friends that have kept really close contact afterwards and became uni friends so like it’s not impossible.

In the end I’m fully satisfied this finale. It leaves the bad kids lives in a better place from where we found them and you know like junior year did what junior year does. I think a lot of the bad kids realize what they want what they needed what they were lacking and the steps that they needed to take to achieve what they wanted and I think that’s beautiful. I really like the place where the bad kids ended up as a group And you know it might be my brain screaming that they will not drift apart, but also the family tree is on my side so you know we’ll see. 



[lanadeldixon]

Sunshine ☀️

Pairing- Daryl Dixon x Reader

Setting- Season 5- Alexandria’s introduction

Word count- 1.8k

Summary- Daryl’s arms in the sun>>

Warnings??- slight nudity, mention of scars, mention of blood

The sun warmed my skin as I stood outside the gates, the heat was strong today, it was getting harder and harder to bare. But as we watched the gates open revealing rows of perfect houses and strangers laughing, walking their dogs and talking about such minuscule, trivial things like their new hairstyles and whether to bake a cake or cookies for the new comers. It all became worth it so quickly, excitement filled me, we were finally finding a place to lay down our roots and settle, Judy and Carl deserve a place like this, we all do. Some of us may not see it but we need this more than anything. Any longer out there would be too long.

We walked through the door, a trail of blood following behind Daryl from the “dinner” he shot. I watched him for a second, observing his muscular frame as Aaron showed us around the town.

I’d always noticed how strong his arms were but with the sun beating down on him and the beaming light making his veins more visible and causing a single drop of sweat to drip down to his hand, it became almost impossible to not notice his form.

He must’ve felt my gaze on him as when I finally looked up, his eyes were on mine. He had a stern look on his face, his lips pursed tightly together, head lowered whilst looking at me through hooded lids. It felt like an eternity of watching until I was snapped back to reality, “so Y/N, are you ready for your interview?” I turned to Aaron quickly, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

“Hm, oh um, yes?! Definitely!” At first I spoke with a slight tone of concern before speaking with confidence. It took me a minute to process fully what he had said, my mind was still lurking with thoughts of the archer.

I could feel his eyes on me still as I spoke, he watched me like a predator would its prey, making sure not to miss a single step, getting ready for any move I might make.

“Okay good!” Aaron said, I promise there’s no reason to be concerned” he specified with a compassionate look, I smiled, “thank you Aaron.”

I gave one last look before walking away and to my content his eyes were still locked on mine.

After the interview I was exhausted, Deanna had asked some really personal questions, she seemed like a good person, she just wanted to know more about the dynamic of our group and my place in it, so of course she had to ask tough questions. However it was truly a struggle to talk about some of it. "Oi Y/N"

I turned quickly recognising the thick accent.

"Oi to you to Dixon," I said with a large smile.

"Woah Sunshine, that smile just for me?" he let out with a huff.

I blushed and instinctively averted my gaze, that name always made me lose it, looking back at him I was drawn to what was in his hands, his grip was tightened around the handle of a knife, the other hand tight around a rock, scraping it against the blade.

“Why'd ya keep doin' that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ya keep looking at ma arms and ma hands,”

My face reddened to the shade of a tomato, as the idea that he’d catch on to the “thoughts” I’d been having of him crossed my mind.

“Are ya okay?” A wave of concern suddenly washing over him.

“Yep” I said quickly, my voice catching in my throat causing it to come out in a squeak.

“Nah, ya face it looks all red, I think ya comin’ down with heatstroke.”

He strutted over in a timely manner.

He rested the back of his hand against my forehead.

“Shit y/n, ya burning up.”

Part of me was relieved for the excuse the other felt guilt for his concern.

“I’m fine honestly.” I said with a relaxed expression.

He looked me up and down silently, it was always hard to figure out his intentions but right now I knew there was only worry.

“Are you okay?” I said with an almost accusatory tone.

He looked into my eyes sternly before grabbing my arm and pulling me away. He was gentler than I expected, making sure not to cause any harm.

“Where are we going?”

Without looking back he just muttered something and sped up in guiding me.

We got a few concerned looks from the people we walked by but aside from that we made it to our destination with no hassle.

“So this is where we are staying?”

“Hm” he said looking away, his energy shifting altogether from the man teasing me a few minutes ago.

“Wanna go shower” he said not even looking at me.

“Huh? You want us to shower?!” I stated shocked, once again blushing as an unholy image flashed through my brain.

“I meant ya take a shower cool off, it’d help against the heat.”

Silence took over the room as we avoided eye contact.

“Oh, well I’m going to go shower then,” I said breaking the silence, and turning to rush away, he grabbed my wrist stopping me in my tracks.

I looked down at his hand finally on my body where they belong. We stared in silence at the sight as if it was the first time either of us had ever been touched. Our eyes met in sync and I instinctively took a step closer to him.

“Look Y/N it ain’t that I don’t wanna-“

He was interrupted by the sound of a door banging, we separated immediately.

Moving ourselves as far from one another as possible.

“Oh hey guys, how did the interview go Y/N?” Rosita said with a smile on her face. She wasn’t looking up, she had her eyes focused on her shirt, it looked like she was attempting to rub out a rather large stain.

“Yeah it was fine thank you,” I said rushed, with a hint of embarrassment to my voice.

“That’s good, I hope she didn’t push you too hard, I know you don’t-“ when she finally looked up she paused for a second looking between me and Daryl, perhaps confused as to why we were so distanced.

“You both okay?” She said, there was a slight smirk on her face and an almost suggestive tone.

“Yep” we both said immediately.

“I need to shower!” I had practically rushed up the stairs before I could even finish my sentence.

I spent 20 minutes just feeling the cool water against my body, washing away all the grease and mud that had built up after weeks of travelling. As I ran my hand through my hair a certain someone entertained my thoughts. The thought of his hand on my wrist, his rough calloused fingers exploring my body. My neck, my chest, my-

“Ughh” I mumbled with annoyance.

“What is wrong with me?!” I muttered angrily to myself before turning off the shower.

The sun was setting by the time I finished up, I left the bathroom almost completely ready for bed, aside from the fact I needed to grab I change of clothes.

The bathroom and bedroom were right next to each other so I assumed it’d be safe. I scanned the hallway making sure no one was there before rushing into the bedroom and lightly closing the door behind me as not to wake Judith.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned around preparing to change but was immediately distracted.

Noticing a scarred back infront of me, my eyes widened, completely entranced by his moves, wondering how just a back can hold so much beauty yet still so much pain.

“Wow,” I whispered to myself as my breath hitched.

He must’ve heard because his head spun round.

“Shit what the hell Y/N?!”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry!” I said quickly turning around.

“Y/N!” He yelled, I looked back to him confused, only seeing the back of his head and his tinted red ears.

“What’s wrong?” I said suddenly concerned.

“Ya- ya towel, it uh- it ain’t quite long enough.” He stuttered as he said it, I’d never heard him tongue tied before.

“Fuck!”

I scrambled grab some clothes from the drawer. Throwing on some clean underwear and clothes the community had gifted us.

“You can turn now” I muttered still embarrassed.

“Sorry I wouldn’t have changed here if I knew this is where ya clothes are, Rosita said ma clothes were left here.”

“It’s fine, it’s my fault, I should’ve knocked.”

After a few awkward seconds of silence, I finally broke it, “before, when Rosita came in, what were you going to say?“

He turned a deeper shade of red, it was fun to see him be the mess for once.

“Ya cant guess?” After that line I took a dangerous amount of steps close to him.

“Please Daryl?” By this point i was almost stood on his toes, mere inches apart.

“Fine.” He let out a low huff before continuing “you’re playing a dangerous game Sunshine… But we can’t…”

“Says who?” I remarked quickly.

“Me, it wouldn’t be smart.” He said with such authority that I almost believed him but I could still sense the uncertainty beneath it.

“Say you don’t want me and I’ll leave,”

He opened his mouth but closed it just as quickly.

“It’s not smart,”

“Come on Daryl, you know I don’t care about whether it’s smart or not. Just say the words and I’ll go.”

“Y/n“ he said my name with such longing and desperation, I felt it in my core.

“Say it” I let out in a pained sigh.

I searched his face for any sign of pain or discomfort but all I noticed was his eyes on my lips.

“We shouldn’t,” he muttered, quickly contradicting himself by leaning towards me. His eyes lifted to mine as if for approval before shifting back to my lips. I leaned almost closing the distance, leaving less than an inch between us.

“Fuck it” he said, colliding his lips with mine in a rushed manner, as if either one us could disappear at any second.

He placed rushed kisses against my jaw before reaching my neck. He was certainly skilled to say the least. His teeth slightly nipped against my skin leaving small bruises, I softly moaned as he did so. His hands searched my body, one tightening around my waist the other travelling to my neck. His grip slightly tightened as he moved towards my ear, I could feel the heat radiating from his mouth.

“Are my hands finally where you want them,” he whispered with a smirk.

[mischiefbuckley]

What do you think Tim meant by "by episode 10, everyone's life will have changed?"

hi anon!!!

honestly it could mean a lot of things… well for the kidnapping episodes arc wrapping it it leads us into the tone for the second half of season 8 but I wouldn’t even know what he truly means by that. I’m guessing that again they did mention the whole Eddie and Texas and moving of it all and how it would impact Buck, so what’s not to say that Eddie finally makes use of all the vacation hours he must have from work and take a few weeks off to be in El Paso and while that’s happening you have Buck possibly over here kidnapped possibly or he knows how he feels like in terms of like him realizing his feelings for Eddie while Eddie is away in El Paso.

There have been quiet a few parallels to season 5, so I really wouldn’t put it past them to do the first two episodes like are about the kidnapping and serial killer and then episode 11 is the episode about Eddie and El Paso and him bringing Christopher back. Basically a Boston style episode where it’s Eddie in El Paso and we see him trying to figure out the logistics of moving back or we get some scenes finally of him and his sisters as they are visiting home or again maybe leaves the audience a little shocked where Eddie comes back to move “indefinitely” to El Paso but as he finishes off at the 118 and gets ready for his last day he’s reminded of why he moved away in the first place and then he yk figures out what he wants for his life. I think if we are getting a little into Eddie’s past with the whole priest storyline that was also introduced in season 8 and the “Confessions” 8x06 of it all, I think Eddie deserves to be honest with himself and experience joy and that joy is not going to ever be in Texas for him, so I just think it could also mean like Eddie has his moment of realization or like he’s like everyone at the 118 has always been there for me when my family wasn’t and since the beginning despite everything they have always been there not only for me, but for my son as well and we get a montage of moments we haven’t seen before and like it then makes it even more obvious how Eddie is leaning in terms of fully wanting to move or not. They have already dragged this storyline a little too far now, so I’m hoping it gets wrapped up at the beginning right away after the whole kidnapping/serial killer storyline since 8x12 also technically marks Ryan’s official 100th episode on the show and 8x12 is also the 118th episode of the show, so something focused on the Eddie and 118 of it all would be interesting to watch

Thank you for sending this anon I hope that makes sense lol I know I probably wrote way more than you expected

[taleofharrison]

Finally watched episode 5 and I have more things to add to my Lila rant.

First of all I still like the Lila and Diego marriage being on the rocks cause they feel miserable without powers and missions because their whole lives used to revolve around that. Had we had more episodes I would've loved to see how they navigate that, try to solve things not only for the kids but for themselves as well cause we've seen how they developed for 2 seasons and it just went to hell, fuck the writers honestly it seems like they just gave up on Lila and Diego and it's not fair to the cast, the characters and the fans.

Second of all it saddens me how Diego while at the CIA and his quest of being important again he realized that what really mattered was Lila and his kids while Lila was in that cottage whatever it was with Five.

And third the Five finding the code and still hiding it from Lila how selfish of him, I don't think he's ever been selfish not once during the whole show and after he's been through he deserves a moment at least to be selfish but not at the expense of Diego's family, the moment the writers decided to "develop" (like they said) Five's emotional arc and give him something good for once it's at the expense of Diego's happiness, his sibling who he has fought the apocalypse three times now, we can even say four if we count the Ben/Jennifer thing.

So far everything is ruined for me, Klaus is back at using his powers for whatever but showing us their true potential with a plot that has nothing to do with the main one, Diego's family destroyed and the soundtrack is not even good and it was the thing I was looking forward the most, at least in my opinion it didn't hit as hard as the third previous seasons did with the music department.

I don't know what episode 6 has in store and tbh I'm not sure if I wanna watch it, everything they built these past 5 years feels like it was for nothing, clearly 6 episode for this many characters and this storyline was not enough, I'm truly sad cause this show was one of my favorites.

[sserpente]

Let’s talk about Loki | S2 Episode 2! 😍

*takes a deep breath* HEAVY SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2 OF LOKI!

Is it just me or is it hot in here? Not just me? Oh, good. I mean, honestly… that shadow scene was fan service. And trust me when I say that this will continue to make appearances in my future Imagines. Good gods… that suit and those green glowing eyes? Um, yes, please?! 🥵

Well… and on that note—you don’t mess with Loki. I told you X5 or Braaad (you got to say his name like you’re drunk) was gonna be trouble. Still hate him. He’s the type of douchebag who has no purpose when being bad. Blergh. He deserved Loki’s mischief. Also, can we please talk about how Loki was towering over him? That dark, purry and slow voice?! It would have worked on me… or I would have pounced on him and kissed him senseless… one of the two. Probably both at the same time.

Now I can also, finally, say what I’ve been meaning to say since last week but I couldn’t because of spoilers—I am so FREAKING MAD at Sylvie! Look… I know that in her mind, it was Loki who messed up. She thought he was gonna help her kill He Who Remains and he didn’t. Okay, fair enough. But it baffles me how she seems to think that Loki screwed things up when she was the literal cause of all this chaos and the one who kissed him and then dumped him through a time door. Literally and figuratively.

The fact that she thinks she’s happy… working at a McDonald’s on a branched timeline in the 80s… please. She finally has freedom and she’s doing this out of spite but this isn’t the life she truly wants, we all know that. I think she’s overwhelmed and she doesn’t know what to do with her feelings now that she’s killed He Who Remains. It didn’t give her the type of satisfaction that she wanted and if you think about it, she made it her life mission to bring down the TVA. Now that that’s done, more or less (she did realise after all that all those branches mean the TVA won’t go away properly) she’s a bit clueless and it shows. She’s gonna have to come around of course eventually… I mean, plot and story progression, after all, buuuut still—she’s gonna have to make up big time if she wants me to forgive her. She hurt him. That’s practically unforgivable. And on that note, I know there are Sylki shippers here reading this but every time I see these two together, they give me sibling energy. Soooorry, I can’t help it! 😂

So now the branched timelines are gone—for now, leaving only the Sacred Timeline, more or less—for now. There’s gonna be new branches again, of course. Something came to my mind the second time I watched it today though… didn’t they say in Season 1 that once a timeline reaches the red line, it can no longer be controlled by the TVA? Did I miss something here, was that a lie made up by He Who Remains so they’d take care of branched timelines as soon as possible? Because if it was true then how did they prune those timelines? Almost all of them were way past the red line! Or maybe this will have different types of consequences later on? Who knows!

That key lime pie tastes as good as it looks, by the way. So let’s talk about Loki’s and Mobius’ conversation while they were having a slice. I already read a few comments today and saw that a lot of people were missing the fact that Loki failed to mention that he was mind-controlled by Thanos when he attacked New York. I agree—it could have been thematised more but then again… I still think it was. Hear me out:

We know that the sceptre was influencing Loki—but not in the way he was using it to influence others. The sceptre/mind stone brought out the worst of Loki’s emotions and intensified them—in this case, his anger at his father and his brother (which he mentioned) and which is what Thanos used to manipulate him, promising him the “throne of Midgard” etc. It was a slippery bargain of course, because The Other was watching Loki and making sure he upheld his end of this bargain, or else Thanos would kill him. After all, why did he strike a bargain with that purple grape in the first place? He was hurled through space when he fell from the Bifrost. Remember? “I remember you tossing me into an abyss, I who was and should be king!”

So… yes, Loki was manipulated and mind-controlled by Thanos, we already knew that, of course, and personally, I think it’s still so traumatising for him to think, let alone talk about it that he would rather focus on his anger that caused all of this. If Loki was the honourable hero character (who we don’t need him to be anyways) he probably would have let Thanos kill him no matter what he offered. Maybe he wouldn’t have talked his way out of it with a bargain that meant the cost of many innocent lives. Instead, he let his anger drive him and Thanos used that to his advantage. That’s my ten pence on it!

From now on, I’m as in the dark as you guys. No clue what’s gonna happen in Episode 3 but I reckon we’re gonna meet Renslayer again. Let’s give her a good slap in the face when we do, shall we?

[theviceadmiralswife]

Kizarus death... fan theory /speculation

Salute recruits and soldiers to this massive Monday ⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️🌊⚓️

Here's a topic I mentioned in my recent post briefly but I think it deserves more of explanation. Feel free to disagree for the sake of discussion. And keep in mind this a fan theory and therefore speculation until proven wrong or right.

The vice admirals wife over and out.

Ooooh god... where do I start with this one....I hate this theory and I don't want to piss off all the "Lino" lovers...I like Kizaru as a matter of fact he's godfather to mine and Dobermans kids.

But I think with the way Kizaru acted during the Egghead a disturbing and broken pattern emerged. A pattern of behavioural inconsistencies and emotional stress.

From confident smug....

...to utter break down..

Now just to be clear Dr Vegapunk isn't an innocent victim in this either and I hate the OP fandom taking a one sided approach to this. Vegapunk knew what he was doing and was aware of the consequences. A friendship is nourished on both sides and while Kizaru assassinated Vegapunk it was Vegapunk who meddled with the world government in the first place, thinking he can outsmart them utterly, without a proper back up plan.

Okay im getting sidelined here it's an intense topic and the arc was a disaster. As far as I'm concerned what Oda did to Kizaru is emotional r***. Plain and simple.

Sue me if you don't like it. But it is what happened. Clearly everyone of the Marines will be at the very least shaken up if not downright suffer Ptsd after these events.

I observe severe depression in Kizaru as we have seen with very untypical outburst of his at Sakazuki.

And show of raw emotions.

His own statement that he needs to rest because he's injured without any obvious physical injuries.

Again this I kinda blame on Vegapunk if he truly is Kizarus best friend he would have known that Kizarus mentality is that he thinks of himself as a mere cog in the machine. Something that needs to be considered.

Now on the flip side Saint Saturn is to blame too for the lack foresight here he should have substituted Kizaru for Aramaki, or brought the green admiral as second escort, let's face Aramaki that Celestial fanboy would have had less issues killing Vegapunk or bonney.

The more I read th manga the more I see a disturbing trend by Oda himself. The hate he seemingly has for the Marines. Turning some into joke characters, representing them as a bunch of hobos, rather proper military, character assassination and killing marines off which unlike maybe Sakazuki and Onigumo aren't military extremists. The most noticeable vice admiral T-bone, who was maybe not the most popular but hell he sure was one the honest and nicest marines.

Okay makes a mockery out of the Marines!!

So I think it's likely that Oda to make Kizaru commit suicide ... suicide and PTSD in veteran marines he hasn't exploited yet and the shock factor of this would definitely spike the numbers of readers and people's interest in season 2 of One-piece on Netflix. Oda using a main character death to push for more interest... possible. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Kizaru gets killed of via unaliving himself before the new season starts.

>>>>>(The Kardashians have done something similar, I think it was Khloe Kardashian and her boyfriend that broke up before a season aired but people had to watch the series to find out) <<<<<

So applying a similar strategy isn't that far off.

Kizaru will NOT join the strawhats and there won't be a happy end for the light of the Marines.

Please don't hate me I like Kizaru and this is just a fan theory. But I can't shake this dreadful final feeling. Please anime gods let me be wrong !!!

Found this picture on Reddit, credit to whoever you are you lovely artist spot on.

(I think cam be found reddit via user admiral agenda)

[caribbean-ace]

Alright so it’s been a hot minute since i’ve been here, life truly gets in the way and i feel that i’m going through the motions but finally after the buzz has settled i wanted to reflect a bit on Station 19 season 6.

I think we’re standing at a different place than we were by the end of season 5 and i believe that’s great. We went from that insanity -not in a good way- of season to something much much better. Few changes were made and it showed from the very beginning of season 6. To put it simply it was raw, by far the rawest season in terms of storyline, obviously because of what Maya went through, the repercutions it had on Carina and so on… Mental health was the overall arc for season 6 and honestly? I loved how it played out… Fair to say a LOT of people saw themselves in Carina and Maya which sparked the conversation -the very much needed conversation-

It was a rollercoaster but i’m glad we went through those moments because it lead to a healthier outcome instead of a quick fix it showed a more realistic side of a journey that can’t be taken lightly. On the other hand i wished they would’ve handled the Beckett story a bit better, by the end of it the writers made a good job by Vic checking up on him and just sparkling that conversation. I enjoyed the brief love triangle between Andy/Eli/Travis, it would have been funnier that they explored that angle deeper but i guess it turned out alright.

The expectations were so high when a female chief was announced but it turns out that it was just another love interest for a man, love to see it (please notice the sarcasm). While i don’t mind that Ross had history with Sullivan i kinda hated how her character just became the woman simping for the guy. They tried to redeem her a bit but it wasn’t enough. I would have LOVED that she actually made some changes within SFD to support women and actually make things better. Remember the storyline about fighting sexism? Yeah, me too. Anyways it was terrible that she was shamed for having a consensual relationship with another adult but it makes me grit my teeth the double standards: the whole you’re heroic for basically organizing a mutiny but when someone breaks protocol for saving a life that’s wrong or having a relationship with someone who outranks you but we’re totally ignoring that too, i get it, it’s for the sake of drama but certain things needs to make sense.

All that leads me to Andy being captain, we all saw it coming, there’s no way Maya was going to be captain again -at least not while being on 19- and while it should have been handled a bit better (the woman does have ambitions and putting a pause to pursue her dreams to heal does not mean she needs to abandon it) i think Andy deserved something a bit better, not just: alright you’re captain now. At least her first “shift” as captain was packed with action but still…

And that also brings me to Theo: at first he was like alright, laid back dude, gets the job done but the second he got promoted it’s like it flipped a switch on him especially being such an ass to Vic for absolutely no reason like ??? But at least she left him, i really liked how she pointed out that being happy for her friend does not mean she’s not supporting him (i wonder if that friendship also extends to Maya, after yk, call her a nasty person and do absolutely nothing to stand for her. Yes i will always be bitter about how everyone turned their backs on Maya).

Jack can’t seem to catch a break and God knows what’s gonna happen to him but at least he’s healthier and trying to stay out of other people’s relationships which i’m glad. I loved how Ben and Miranda where kinda there for Maya and Carina (i say kinda because it’s not like Maya had the greatest support out there but Ben did listen so that’s something. Also shout out to Diane, she’s incredible and i love whenever she appears)

Finally -because this is way too long lol- we know where we are standing in terms of Maya and Carina growing their family, for a solid minute i thought well, they are being ambiguous because it’s probably leading to that but no, it wasn’t. I wasn’t mad that they didn’t make Carina pregnant by the end of the season, if anything the scenes where they are discussing how many kids and stuff makes it so much more meaningful because Maya is obviously in such a better head space. Oh and just as a quick comment: Carina should have gone to therapy too, she needed to heal from that rocky period of time and it would have been cool to see her perspective, even if we saw sneak peaks with Vic, Miranda and Diane i believe sitting down and leading to a backstory would have been so much better.

If you got to this point i love you, i wanted to ramble a bit and finally found the moment to sit down and put this together (it’s a bit all over the place, just like my brain but bare with me). Catch you on season 7🤍

[darlin-djarin]

so din becomes a cop at the end 😐 he starts working for the new republic. he… truly would NOT do that but. the writers did that. they made him a fucking cop.

honestly if people genuinely enjoyed the season, i’m happy for them. i’m not going to shame someone for enjoying something, but i wish there was a safe place to properly express my frustration at it without people coming out to defend the horrible writing and characterization. like god forbid that i ACTUALLY have opinions… damn.

making din a landowning cop was just so wrong. like i’m glad he got to settle down with grogu and thank god there’s no dinbo- but the finale felt so. sad. like it just wasn’t as amazing as it could’ve been. sure there were cool moments, but how the writers progressed the plot was anticlimactic and it was just so disappointing. i had so many high hopes for this season and the writers went fuck all and decided to make this season just as marketable as possible. istg we’re gonna start seeing ig-12 and grogu toys with stupid “yes” and “no” buttons. that’s DISGUSTING. and then they brought back ig-11 in the finale. like was his sacrifice NOTHING to you? was his death not enough for you guys to respect him? just because he’s a droid does not mean you can just fuck around with his corpse and bring him back. it’s always “respect the dead” until it’s a droid. blah blah “droids aren’t real people” it’s still borderline if not outright racism.

moff dying was sad. he kinda just stood there as fire exploded around him. i think there could’ve been better ways for him to go. the way he died in the finale left a LOT of opportunities for him to come back (like anakin after mustafar). him crushing the darksaber was also anticlimactic. it happened in half a second. as much as i’m glad the saber is gone, i think we could’ve explored SO much more with it’s lore and it’s force sensitivity or we could’ve seen it used better in action before it had to go.

also what the fuck was that “i’m going to deal with them myself” and then he WAITS and doesn’t appear until AFTER din destroys all his clones and fucks everything up. WHAT WAS HE DOING?? was he just standing there behind the door practicing his big villain monologue? that was stupid.

good for the armorer and bo-katan for their forge ceremony, that was really nice :) also koska fighting was super badass i actually loved the choreography. axe woves my MAN you were cool.

what i didn’t understand was what the hell happened to the sickly people that the armorer brought back up to the fleet. did they just. forget? what happened to them?

there was a scene with plant life growing on mandalore after the purge and it was fucking awful. it was supposed to be all “hopeful” and “meaningful” and they said “they just needed room to grow :)” like BITCH was satine NOTHING TO YOU? you don’t even have to like satine to know that it was utter bullshit and that satine would’ve JUMPED at the opportunity to help grow gardens of indigenous plant life. not just that- but the whole season REFUSED to bring up satine’s name at all. like NOTHING. truly NOTHING. just to erase bo-katan’s horrible past and to make her seemingly all innocent and the one who was being manipulated the whole time. i LOVED bo-katan in the clone wars because she was a horrible person. it made her INTERESTING. but this season just erased that to make her “honorable” and deserving to rule. good for her i guess 😐.

was paz’s death NOTHING to you as well? not even a fucking mention- not even a “your father would’ve been proud” to ragnar. did they never retrieve the body since the base blew up? and also din beating those red dudes with grogu in comparison to paz fighting by himself was so frustrating. paz deserved better.

the whole fandom is being so fucking annoying over “din grogu ahhhhh!!!!” like just CALM down and LISTEN. there are MANY naming conventions in the world. in my culture, incorporating your fathers name into your name is COMMON and completely normal. din’s first name is probably still din, not djarin. it’s not that deep, it’s probably just how their culture refers to clan/apprentices etc. for the love of god it’s not that deep. think outside of your own way of life for a moment. it’s fucking star wars.

i have so many opinions about this season and it’s hard to just put it all out at once. i truly TRULY don’t want to be a hater, but i just can’t help but express my frustration at the writing. i’m glad that SOME people enjoyed it, but i definitely didn’t.

[officialjeffprobst]

Survivor 46 Finale and Overall Season Thoughts

Wow! You know, I actually really liked this season, but it fell a bit short narratively that keep it from being really great. Let's get into it.

First of all, my finale predictions were decent. I could see Maria going next from a mile away. Not only was she a threat that everyone wanted gone, but there was just not nearly enough content throughout the show that told us she would be a winner. That standing ovation was TOO much though, dear god, honestly a little embarrassing. This isn't Rick Devons, guys, come on now.

I had predicted either Kenzie or Ben won final immunity and took the other. I am SO glad Ben won, it was a great triumph for him we didn't really get to see all season, plus it created heavy drama for who he would take. I knew Liz was going to fire, and knew she would lose. Prior to the episode, I expected Ben to take Kenzie and make Charlie do fire. After watching, we see how Ben valued Charlie's alliance to him since day 1, and we also see Charlie's confidence in winning without fire. While I totally understand where he's coming from, and in another world he would have won even without fire, I think that going up against Liz would have been a huge boost to his final game that may have awarded him the win.

All that season long foreshadowing for NO TIE?! This is the narrative I'm talking about. If we had ended in a tie, this would have been an EPIC season with a truly entertaining narrative from start to finish (ignoring Bhanu). That build up was, I suppose, for fire? Or maybe it was a build up to an expectation, only for that expectation to be broken? Although I am happy with Kenzie winning, she totally deserves it, a tie would have led to a different outcome that ALSO would have made me happy. At the end of the day I'm glad we ended up with two strong players at the end, but I wish there was more pay off.

Jesus Christ, that Maria vote. This is a bit like Michelle vs. Aubry all over again with how split the fans are on this. I think Charlie played a fantastic game, but Kenzie was AMAZING socially, and that is usually the great determiner. Tiffany was Kenzie's champion for days out on that jury. Maria was CLEARLY not that person for Charlie. If the jury had heard more about Charlie's game from Maria, I think he would have stood a better chance. Maria's explanations of why she voted for Kenzie don't necessarily make no sense, but I truly think that she had an ego and thought that she did more of the work of Charlie. I would love love love to see Charlie play again. It's unfortunate that this jury blunder cost him his game and he deserves a second chance! (Although I would see Q play again before anyone else on the cast.)

School is ending soon and I will have lots of time on my hands, so I will probably update my season and winner rankings and post them by the end of next month!

[myimaginarywonderland]

This episode feels so weirdly placed somehow, like I have no idea where they are going with anything? This final season is so all over the place.

Why do we need Kate or even Theo to be a focus point? Not meant to be mean but why are we not focusing on our mains since like season 1?

This Theo relationship drama is so messily all over the place I just want it gone. No one cares about Kate, they flip-flop Theos characters every second episode and Vic just deserves a gold final send off without some messy relationship.

Ross is annoying me somehow, I hate that her relationship is ruining this all. I predicted it and I feel like this was avoidable.

While I want to focus on the OG main cast, I love Beckett being more included. I just somehow wish it was with Travis because I feel like him and Travis would definitely be the ones most aware right now about Vic being not okay.

Travis was completly right about Warren and it just seems out of character that Warren would put others in danger when he is injured.

Why is Kate still there? She has no role, she doesn't need the time, we have so many more interesting things and people/relationships to focus on.

I love Vic being overworked. I have felt this coming ever since Dean did and left her with Crisis One. This was a long time coming. I just hope we can solve it in time.

The team finally crashing and Andy flipping out is also what I have been predicting for a while but I just feel like this drama is so unnecessary when it is the last season. I want them to get closer but not on this expense. I hope this episode is the wake up call so they all can start to really be in tune with each other and work together.

Maya leaving honestly would not surprise me but it feels a bit like a disservice in a way? Then again, I don't care enough about her to truly care.

The Warren storyline is so random and out of nowhere, it just feels uneccesary after they have already lost Jack?

Speaking off, are they truly just going to write Jack off like that without giving us any true closure on his story? He just leaves and that's it. No follow up, no talking about what he does next, how he deals with all of this etc.

This final season feels like an unmanaged dumpster fire because there is too much for too little episode with way too much uncoordinated small stories. Not to mention there is no clear real general structure for me so far and plots feel all over the place.

[whencallstheheart]

Ugh where to begin.....

First of all, watching the end where it was previewing next week's episode; why must Lucas always ask Elizabeth if she trust him? It's so annoying. She agreed to marry you I would hope she would.

Second, I'm glad Henry stepped up and suggested that Elizabeth really look in and examine why she was truly upset. Henry sees it so, I think it's only a matter of time before the town does too. You can't hide anything in Hope Valley. Was it truly over Nathan? Was it just bringing up Jack and how it all ended? Was it a little bit of both? I guess only time will tell. I definitely don't think she has fully grieved or moved on from Jack. Will she break up with Lucas & go towards Nathan, I just don't know. Personally, I would like to see it yes, will it happen probably not but, you truly never know.

I know we are getting a next season but, personally I'm not sure how much longer this show has in it. It's just hard after 10 seasons, will be 11; it's hard to just not watch. I really am beginning to wonder what the end game of WCTH is; and many more seasons they truly do see continuing. I mean would everyone stay in Hope Valley and live the "happily ever after" ending? Would the town just not survive and everyone would need to move to the bigger city? The possibilities are endless but, it's not gonna last forever and I just curious from a "big picture" type of thing what you kind of see for the future of WCTH is.

The trust me thing is about his run for office to save the town. That's his big plan that'll surely work somehow.

The Henry stuff was fantastic! I love that he finally got to be the one to give someone advice instead of everyone always trying to nudge him in a certain direction. I honestly couldn't believe they went so full-on with Henry noticing it and going to her about it when he could've just let her deal with it herself since it's not his business. Henry cares about Elizabeth and I felt like that was him really looking out for her like she's done for him. That seemed like a big moment that might get put on the backburner now with so much else going on. I'm kind of thinking we're in for a frustrating cliff hanger this season.

I definitely don't think Elizabeth has fully grieved but, like we've been over before, why involve Nathan? She can grieve and work through whatever apprehensions or fears she has on her own. Or better yet talk them through with the man she chose to marry. She seems to forget he exists sometimes. She claimed that her feelings and fears with Nathan were about Jack years ago so now we're just gonna be back to that? She hasn't done any work on herself since then? If so, she needs to leave Nathan alone. She's making it so messy. She's uncomfortable with Allie getting so close to Jack but Allie's cool with everything. She's moved on. Elizabeth is the one making it a potential problem because of her unresolved feelings.

I'd obviously love to see Elizabeth come to her senses and get with Nathan but I'm so conflicted about the whole thing. Nathan deserves better. He deserves to be someone's first choice.

I honestly could see the show continuing for a lot longer. It's still doing well. Hallmark still seems really excited about it. I think it would just kind of continue as it is. We've never really gotten to see Elizabeth as a wife with a family so that would presumably be season 12 and beyond. She'd have some more babies I'm sure. I want to see Henry find love. Bill, too. I want to see Lee and Rosemary raise Goldie and maybe have more kids. There's a lot they could do with the characters that people would still stick around for. Yeah it's been on for a long time but there's still so much people want to see happen with these characters they're attached to, you know? More new people would be introduced. Maybe we'll follow Allie or Robert or Angela as they get older.

[imaginativeamateur]

[Itachi Uchiha X Reader] First Snow Season 2 {Prologue}

Season 1 Prologue

Pairing: Itachi Uchiha x fem!Reader

Note: It's been a very, very, VERY long time, but I am back after a seemingly infinite period of hibernation! Thank you for still staying with me! Okay, I have spent the last month getting inspiration and ideas for this plot, by this I mean watching drama reviews LOL, so expect heartfelt moments in this season, but the beginning is quite angsty! I feel like you all deserve fluff for First Snow because of what we have been through, honestly! I will be uploading weekly and updating the masterlistS, yes, I am creating a new one for this series! My taglist for First Snow is all over the place right now, please, if you requested but I haven't added you, comment on this post! Thanks! This is just the prologue so expect more hehe :) Enjoy!

“How have you been?” 

Itachi’s words rang in your ears like a siren. Amidst the light breeze of spring, you felt your heart closing shut. “Better than I used to,” you replied halfheartedly and the room fell into a deep silence. It was the first time you met him, again. You expected that you would, sooner or later, face the Uchiha, given that you were still a part of the Clan, but not for a matter like this.

After you returned to the North, everything was centered around rebuilding the place, everyone was in high spirits that they finally found their way back home. At first, you used their jubilance to drag yourselves through the endless days, to be their role model, you supposed. At night, when they would be returned to their families, you would sit alone in your own place, piecing together the letters your parents left behind, gazing at their belongings, and crying yourself to bed. Being back to where you were born and raised, now without your family, did nothing but add salt to your open wounds yet to heal.

If home was a place for assurance and serenity, you were the farthest from home.

Earlier in the week, you received a letter from Kakashi outlining that he and Itachi would be coming to the North to hand over the Clan’s responsibilities. Your heart shuddered at the thought of having to come face to face with the man you could never forget, for good and bad, who you would never be able to mistake even in your sleep. You narrowed your eyes and fixated them back onto the figure standing several feet away from where you were, unfathomable. However, your gaze lingered on the person standing behind him, a woman.

“Why is she here?” You cleared your throat and sucked in a quick inhale, feeling a bit nauseous as you spoke. The sight before your eyes was enough to shake you to the core—Izumi stood casually with her hands intertwined behind her back, smiling slightly at your perplexity. Your face was ashen when the two of them exchanged glances—disgust. 

You never heard of any information regarding her release, nor her appearance in your land. Feeling your burning stare on his back, demanding an explanation, Kakashi shook his head sideways and stepped out, closing the door behind, leaving you and the pair inside your office.

“Izumi will be living here from now on to atone for her mistakes,” Itachi did not waste an extra second to spit the words out. “She will be working like all other members, helping to rebuild the place.”

“Hello, Y/N-san.” She bowed. “I am truly sorry for everything I have caused, for all the things that I made you go through. I was blinded by jealousy, but right now, I want nothing but to fix my mistakes. Please accept my deepest apology, Y/N-san.” 

You opened your lips to say something, but before you could, Itachi interrupted, telling Izumi to go outside and wait. You glanced as her back disappeared, still in disbelief. Itachi took a seat across from you, beginning to pull out some documents. You crossed your arms and furrowed your brows, “Is this a joke? You never spoke to me about this. Do you think that I’m here just here for show?”

“Before giving me a lecture, would you listen to what I have to say, first?” His voice was as light as a feather.

Your blood boiled. You wanted to ask if he would, if he was you. But Itachi’s deadly gaze, though unwavering, spoke volumes. He slid the papers across your desk and folded his hands on his lap. “Izumi is now released on parole, the Advisors want you to be in charge of her.”

“I won’t,” you smirked, “I can’t.” The raven-haired remained expressionless—he expected this from you. You shifted in your seat, slowly dropping every word with gritted teeth. “It’s out of my capabilities—what she did and what she will do. Just like whatever happened to get her out of prison.”

“Stop beating around the bush.”

“I was just wondering how talented she is to be able to walk away from her punishments just like that.” You chuckled lowly, “It was only three months.” Itachi seemed rather disturbed and you took satisfaction in it. Leaning forward, you smiled gently. “Is it her money? Her status? Her skills? Perhaps her body?”

Itachi was taken aback by your forceful candor, his face stiffened. Never in his memory had he recalled this side of you. The woman sitting in front of him was no longer the Y/N that he used to know. For a moment, he felt the urge to apologize, for ruining you, but he knew his effort restraining his emotions the moment he saw you—the moment you left his side—would be in vain if he let his heart overtake his mind. Instead, Itachi looked outside at the cherry blossoms dangling in the wind ever so slightly with a condescending curve on his lips. “You’re not…wrong, but there’s one thing that I need to remind you, Y/N.” There was more into the situation that he wished you would know, but for your sake, he was willing to play the devil. Itachi tapped the table, relaxed, but his words were the opposite. “You don’t have a say in it, better take the easy way out. You are smart, make the decision that you won’t regret. You have the lives of many in your hand now.”

With that, he pushed himself up and turned for the door. You bit our lips, your eyes growing red the louder his words repeated in your head. Succumbing to the highers—not your morale, but your route. You crumbled the papers in your hand and released a trembling exhale. Right now, you were overwhelmed with an inexplicable sense of frustration, regret, disappointment, and loss. But what you did not know was that on the other side of the closed door, someone quietly blinked away the tears that were yet to shed—this was the only option.

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