#i can't believe it i think we've done this more than once in this series as well I just can't remember for what

[nexus-nebulae]

ok. no spoilers but. how tf did we figure out Xaden's Biggest Secret in the middle of the first book

[sunnyie-eve]

29 | Zoo

Series: Unexpected

Paring: (Matt Sturniolo x OFC Brock!) (Chris Sturniolo x OFC Brock!)

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: none

| MASTERLIST |

"Today we are doing something we've never done before." Nick starts.

"Something a little different." Chris adds.

"Something a little extra. A little pizzazz and flare." Nick adds more.

"Basically this video, me, Matt, and Nick splurged and spent a good amount of money." Chris explains making Nick hate the word choice, "And bought out the entire Roar and Snore Safari at the San Diego Zoo today."

"I have hidden cheez-its in here so I hope they don't find it." Chris shows his bag/

"Are we surprised though?" Dani laughs at him as he points of the fruity pebbles too.

"Dinner's like at ten and they serve till like 5 am." Nick tells the viewers.

"Like, we're not 80 years old." Chris adds.

"Hey, sometimes I get late night munchies." Dani tells them since she didn't find it odd.

"You catch me at 4 am in the elephant habitat." Chris jokes around.

"With a flashlight on." Nick jokes as well.

"With a flashlight on and fruity pebbles. Isn't it crazy like Elephants really like in the wild, they don't know what a flashlight is." Chris tells the group.

Dani looks over to him with a concerning look, "Chris, I love you but don't speak your thoughts."

"You shine a flashlight at it it's probably like what the heck." He laughs.

"I think that's with all animals." Matt says following the group.

"I'm so afraid actually..." Nick says as they walk to the Zip-line.

"Memo and Dani are going first." Chris lets viewers know, "We've never formally introduced Memo. He's just filming for us."

"Have fun guys." Nick shouts to the two.

"I hate heights but whatever." Dani looks over to them.

"She really does." Chris confirms.

"You talking shit over there?"

"She's such a pain." Chris mumbles.

"Chris, I can literally hear you over there still." She laughs at him.

"Sorry,"

After the zip line the group gets confused on which way they were supposed to go to get to their guide, "Ah it's so cold." Chris shakes, "This is the left." He points for the group.

"That the... this is the right." Nick tells him and the two start to debate which is the right way to go while Dani stood still with her arms crossed at them.

"You're going the wrong way." She speaks up to tell Chris.

"It's to the left, am I losing my mind?" He looks around so him and the other two walk off while Dani stayed behind before going in the right direction alone finding their guide.

"I think we should listen to Dani." Matt says slowing down as the three walk together.

"Then go back to her." Chris tells him.

"I think she was right about the other way."

"We did leave her alone back there." Nick tells the two then look at Memo recording them.

"I gotta use the restroom." Matt finds one leave the two so as they wait for him they talk about Dani.

"I bet she went to the camp alone." Nick tells Chris.

"But this the left so she's wrong."

"Dude, she's a girl so she's smarter than us three combined." Nick laughs.

"Don't give her too much credit."

Once Matt was done they walk back in the direction they just came from and saw Dani was no longer there, "Dani literally left us because we went the wrong way." Matt couldn't believe it.

"Because she went left unlike us." Nick points out.

Chris rolls his eyes, "We went left, you can't tell me I was wrong. I don't know how she somehow got it right." He says refusing to admit he went the wrong way.

"Because she went left!" Nick raises his voice a bit.

"If we were lost in the wild, we would get lost more and die." Matt points out to the two.

"And she would live." Chris agrees seeing where Matt was going. "I can't believe she didn't come get us before wondering off."

"For one, we wondered off first lost and confused." Nick corrects him.

"It's not wondering if she saw us walk away from her." Chris snaps back while Matt was busy trying to figure out what tents were around them.

"This tent, this tent according to my map... Is tent number..."

"Oh, Joseph and Dani!" Chris spots the two in the distance, "She's with our guide." He and Nick jog off ahead of Matt.

"That was tent 38 by the way." He still finishes.

When they get to Dani and their guide, Joseph, he talked to them a bit before asking if they have any questions and they tell him no.

"It has a step for Dani." Chris jokes about the telescope pointing it out.

She just gives him a look before going over to the other free one to look through it, "Nothing." She left go of it not knowing Chris had his hand in the way getting it crushed.

"Oh my god are you serious? You just let go and hurt my hand." He holds it with his other hand as Matt laughs at him.

"Don't put your hand there. Why would you, dummy." She tells him before reaching for his hand to look at it, "Doesn't even look hurt you big baby. Sorry but next time watch out."

-

"How tall is a baby giraffe?" Chris asks their guide as the come by them, "Like how tall is Elliot?"

"So at birth how tall would you guess?" Joseph asks the group and they all say their guesses and only Dani was close and right.

"Meanwhile Dani is the size of a baby monkey." Chris jokes looking back at his brothers while Dani stares at him sitting next to him.

"She's gonna punch you. Look at her face right now." Nick sees the death glare across her face so Chris looks at her sticking his tongue out at her shaking his head making her giggle.

"You're such a pain."

-

"Can I run to the bathroom quickly?" Nick asks as the head to dinner so they point it out where it is for him and Matt goes with him while Chris and Dani get their food.

"I feel odd." Dani laughs as she gets her food.

"Because it's just us here really."

When the other two join them to eat, Dani kind of just sits in silence while they all chat. She was just enjoying the food and the night.

"I can't believe... I'm super respectful that the lions are over there. But like, I can picture... other teens." Nick starts as they stand in their tent.

"Throwing rocks at them."

"Shining the flashlights at them." Nick  adds more.

"We're fully unsupervised and there's an African Elephant right there. Like we could do just about anything right now." Chris points out.

"I've never had this much easy access to an African Elephant ever before in my life." Nick says making Dani laughs at him.

"Of course you wouldn't in the past. Why would you?" She laughs more so Matt covers her mouth.

"They're right there." Nick points in the direction outside of the tent.

"I could probably hit them with this cup. I'm not gonna but I definitely could." Chris looks at his cup in his hand.

"It's just crazy that we're here and have Dani with us." Nick gives her a smile and the other two cheer.

While they look at the tigers and Joseph talks about them, Matt looks at Dani and leans towards her, " You radiate baby Tiger." He laughs.

"I hate you so much." She shoves him away, "How do I?"

"Small and thinks they're all that but they aren't yet till they're grown." He shoves her now.

"I'm gonna get you in your sleep one day." She glares at him.

-

"I think of Perry the Platypus from umm," Chris starts and the guys knew what he meant so they agree.

"Ooh look Matt!" Dani calls him over moving her hand to tell him to hurry up. They watch two lay next to each other compared with to all the others staying away from each other.

"Normally the males and females avoid each other except to mate. Those two are oddly don't follow that that and it's our first time seeing such a thing. As soon as we brought her in a couple of months ago he has been by her side. They are the closest two in there. Not even the siblings we have are close." Joseph explains to the group.

"So the platypus version of you two?" Chris laughs looking at the two.

"Shut up." They both tell him at the same time.

-

Before bed, they all have some s'mores, enjoying the night before getting ready for bed. Dani felt weird in the bathroom alone since the boys were all together in their bathroom. Not sure wanting to be alone for too long she hurry's then goes back to the tent.

For bed, Dani slept in the middle between Nick and Matt. It was the most comfortable she's even been since they were all squished.

"Good morning world. Good morning friends. We're gonna get ready for today." Nick holds the camera as they wake up for the day.

"We just got a wake up call at the zoo." Chris adds out of view.

"Literally, we woke up and she's like Good Morning. Sounds like me starting a podcast." Nick mocks the lady.

"Matt move over." Dani whines wanting to get out of the bed having trouble breathing a bit.

"Don't unzip it, I need to change my underwear." Matt tells Chris as he messes with the tent's window.

"I'll zip it back up."

"I want out of the bed but I'm stuck!" Dani gets annoyed and panicking deep down.

"Get out of her way Matt." Chris tells him.

"Yeah, we were sardines last night." Nick explains for the viewers, "This is a 4 person tent so Dani slept in the middle between Matt and I. Why did we think three 20 year old's would fit in a full size bed?"

Dani finally gets out of the bedroom going to the bathroom seeing a her neck and chest were in a rash. She knew she hadn't had any food with or near pineapple so she looks around the bathroom. Her eyes come across on of the bars of soap and it was Pineapple.

"Son of a bitch." She tries not to over react.

"Dani, you okay? You've been in there for a while." She hears Nick after some time.

She comes out scratching her neck to hide the rash from him, "I'm not feel good. I'm having an allergic reaction to something. I have a little rash and can't breathe so I'm just gonna stay in the tent." She lets him know.

"You don't want to join us for breakfast?"

"I'm good. Y'all continue with your day." She leaves him.

"Dani isn't feeling well this morning." Nick joins the boys at breakfast, "She said something is irritating her. She can't breathe and has a rash. She thinks it's an allergic reaction to something."

"Is it serious?" Matt asks worried.

"She said it's nothing serious."

As the guys continue with their visit, Dani starts to get worse so she tells someone. They were gonna take her to a hospital nearby but she told them not to tell the boys because they would worry. That if they were to ask says it was nothing too serious and they could go pick her up when they were done with the trip.

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Still With You | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Teaser

Every day, every moment If I knew this was going to happen I would have remembered more of them

-Still With You

Summary: With You Still is a story that follows the lives of Luna and her most cherished friends. Love, Lust. Life, Loss. Passion, Pain. Desire and Death. Those are the many things that befall them as they navigate life trying to find their purpose. Will she be able to find a way to reach that utopia she had once dreamed of? Or will she realize that things that might've felt like a dream come true can soon be twisted into her worst nightmare. Read as Luna, Jungkook, Grey and Jimin navigate this thing called life. Will they get through this with their friendships intact? Only time will tell... Pairing: Luna (reader) x Jungkook and Jimin, f2l love triangle Word Count: 600~ Warnings: Explicit language, yändere, mental illness, death, substance abuse, sex, domestic violence and sexual assault. Please keep this in mind as the story progresses. a/n: I transferred this story over from Wattpad but decided to change up some of the characters P.s. I have no set plan for this story so any suggestions or requests are more than appreciated

I never thought it could end up like this, that things could go to shit so easily.

Where did I go wrong?

Those are the thoughts that run through my head over and over again as I hold their cold lifeless body in my arms.

This doesn't happen, this couldn't happen! Not to us.

Everything was just falling into place and yet, it all went up in flames the moment I heard that blood curdling scream.

What did I do to deserve this? What did they do to deserve this? They were so young, had their whole life ahead of them, our life...

It was ripped away from us before it even began.

Endless sirens pierce my ears as they make their way to the scene but I can't help but feel that they're too late.

I can't lose them, not like this.

I could see our future fading away with every wave that washed over our bodies. Why are the young taken away in such horrific ways?

If things had been different, if I had been different, would it have changed anything? Or was it inevitable from the start...

Nothing in this world could possibly make me feel whole again, not after what he did. How could he do this? After everything we've been though he just goes off and hurts the one person I knew I could always rely on.

And for what? Because he was jealous?

I guess jealousy and revenge are more important to him than my happiness.

To think that I trusted him with my life because for once I let my guard down so I could actually feel something is laughable now after everything he's done

He proved to me that my worst nightmare could happen just because I wanted to feel loved.

Huh, well never fucking again will I ever love someone as much as I loved them.

I gave up my whole life just so I could be with him because I thought he was good for me. That he was going to take me away from all the pain and suffering I had dealt with my entire life.

When in actuality, his mind games were the ones that were twisting my reality into something that I didn't even recognize.

I never once felt like I needed someone to make me feel complete. And then he came around and I couldn't help but feel empty without him.

Everything about him made me want to get closer. But like Icarus I flew too close to the sun and in the end I got burned and in turn took everyone I knew and loved down with me.

Toxicity is the only word that can be used to describe what we had. I thought that he loved me the way that I loved him.

I was naÏve and had my vision tinted with pink colored glasses when it came to us. Even when everyone was telling me no, I couldn't help but say yes.

He was my one and only, my first true love as the fairytales call it.

Yet it all ended in the most excruciating heartbreak that I didn't even know existed.

Love can be cruel and rip you to shreds. I don't believe in love, and I never will. And I swear I will never allow anyone to get close enough to hurt me ever again.

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[aida-sparks]

To 9-1-1: Just Take One REAL Step Toward Buddie. See What Happens.

Hello fellow 9-1-1 buddie fans! I've been mulling over season 7 and a topic close to our hearts: the possibility of buddie sailing into full-on canon territory. We've heard people say the show can't give us buddie, using the unfortunate reason that it's because the larger general audience doesn't "see" buddie as a thing. That while the buddie fandom is huge, it doesn't compare to the size of the overall viewing audience, most of which don't even engage online in the fandom and might not know about the potential of buddie as a ship.

So that's the reason we may only ever get a love story that's written entirely in the subtext of the show? No, that's not good enough. I want to believe this show of ours is daring enough to let the general audience in on things and let them make up their own minds on the matter. Give the idea of buddie canon a fighting chance. Sure, the subtle nods and secret messages woven into the show might be crystal clear to us. But casual viewers probably don't pick up on those messages nestled in the nooks and cracks where buddie has been written up till now. We need to aim for more than subtext. And definitely don't settle for that color theory. If we are to get anywhere, we need to see them start spelling it out with explicit dialogue and storyline moments for the entire audience to interpret on their own.

By this season's end, the show needs to step out of the carefully crafted, unspoken undertones they always give buddie fans, and instead they need to explicitly spell out to the casual viewing audience, 'Hey there's a strong potential that Buck and Eddie might just be more than buddies (no pun intended). It has to be well done with clear hints leading up to it, of course, not just something in a single scene that's dropped on the casual viewers' heads like a piano. But it's more than possible to do, especially using flashbacks to buddie scenes and stolen glances throughout the seasons. Think about it. Eddie wrote Buck (and Buck alone) into his will; that's no small gesture! They can weave and layer these past moments into a current storyline, building up to a revelation from Buck and/or Eddie that feels like a "Whoa!" moment for all viewers (not just the buddie shippers), like, "I didn't see it before, but it makes sense. I can see those two as something more now."

And there are many different paths the show can take to get Buck and/or Eddie to this revelation. (I have my own idea of how it might go. The options are as diverse as all our fandom theories.) But how they get there isn't the important piece. What matters is that the possibility of something potentially happening between Buck and Eddie is CRYSTAL CLEAR in the narrative! Actually written into the dialogue and storyline, in a plausible way.

The show doesn't even have to commit buddie-end-game. They just have to give them a fighting chance by putting the possibility of it out there in the plain light of day, in front of the entire audience and see how it sticks. They could shift course in future storylines if it doesn't go over well, but my honest guess is that a majority wouldn't mind buddie becoming canon at all once they're exposed to it, especially if it was written/produced well; Oliver's and Ryan's on-fire chemistry is already there to carry it through. Many would come to root for buddie, especially over another new love interest introduced so late in the series that can't match all we've seen Buck and Eddie build together. Some viewers might not care one way or the other; they might just be in for the crazy emergencies each week. So then if we the remove this perception that buddie canon would not take well with general audience, what else is stopping it? I can't think of anything.... full steam ahead!

Now, am I prepared for the heartbreaking possibility that buddie might never go full canon in the sense we hope? That we may only ever get a love story buried in the subtext, if that's the best the show is allowed to give us? Sure, but it's much harder and so unfulfilling to come to terms with that outcome if the show never gives them a real chance at it in the first place.

This long ramble is all simply to say that I'm not demanding that buddie become canon. I'm asking that the possibility of it becomes canon.

If nothing else, it would take the "delusional" and "clown" stigmas off of buddie shippers' shoulders because addressing the potential of buddie in the show tells the audience that hey, maybe there could be something there; they didn't just "see things that weren't there". I don't see this as such a heavy thing to ask for. Please let this make sense to everyone. It does in my head. lol.

[duhragonball]

Chainsaw Man ch.96-97

tfw you can't believe you ate the whole thing.

Last time, Makima defeated Chainsaw Man once and for all. She's about to savor her victory, but first she pauses to pay a visit to Flavor Country.

To be clear, Makima's goal was to secure control over the Chainsaw Devil's power. For that, she needed the Chainsaw's heart, not the version we've seen through most of this series, which was "weakened" by the merger with Denji. Makima's story is that Chainsaw is the one devil that other devils fear, because when it kills a devil, they die forever, and the thing they embody is erased from existence. Makima wants that power to alter the world for what she considers the good of humanity. Unlike other devils, Makima likes humans, although she sees us as little more than dogs. Her utopian vision isn't exactly big on free will.

But as she plans for her new life with Chainsaw, it turns out that she forgot one thing. One very important thing...

Motherfucking chainsaws.

This is awesome, because even though it doesn't make a lot of sense in the moment, it also makes all the sense in the world. That's because in the last chapter, Makima kept scolding Denji for failing to be the Chainsaw Man in the way she expected the Chainsaw Man to be. She thought he didn't "get" Chainsaw Man. She thought he wasn't worthy of being Chainsaw Man. Well it looks like he gets it pretty well from where I'm sitting.

Turns out the guy Makima defeated in Chapter 95 was a decoy. Several chapters before this, Makima was able to launch Chainsaw Man into space, and he got back down by pulling out his own heart and tossing it back to Earth, where the heart could regenerate itself a new body. Denji vaguely remembers doing this, and figured out a way to do it again here. This time, he tore off a piece of his own heart and it grew into a second body, a proxy who could fight in his place.

We saw Reze do something similar when she attacked that Public Safety facility, so maybe this is something unique to hybrids. Anyway, the important point is that while Makima was complaining about Denji's weakness, she never suspected that she was being lured into a trap.

I think Denji must have made the switch when he was covered in that pile of bad guys earlier in the fight. That way the real Denji could lay among the corpses without being noticed. Either that, or he set up the decoy from the very start, and the real Denji was better hidden than I would have imagined.

Okay, but so what? Makima's taken worse damage than this and come back from it. What was the point of setting up this whole fight just to do a single sneak attack? Well, that was no ordinary chainsaw Denji just used. He made it with Power's blood. Remember, they made a contract in that dumpster back in Chapter 91, and she gave him her blood in exchange. So I guess that means Denji could use her blood-weapon power, similar to the way Makima could use the Angel Devil's powers. Denji had to exhaust tha ability to pull this off, though, so it's not like he's got Power powers for all time.

Anyway, he sent Power's blood into Makima, where it can attack her from the inside, and apparently that's enough to slow down her regeneration and keep her in this vulnerable state.

Makima isn't impressed, since she can still recover from this, but Denji's not finished yet. No, he's only just gotten started.

We jump ahead a few hours, I think. Kishibe complains about his back, like he just helped Denji do a bunch of manual labor. There's still work to be done, but from here it's up to Denji. Kishibe is skeptical that this plan of his will work, but he wishes Denji luck and promises to return and see if Denji survives the attempt. So what the hell are they talking about? What is Denji going to do?

Well, he starts cooking dinner. He talks to Makima while he does it, and explains that while he still loves her, he can't just ignore all the people who died because of her.

All he has to do is become one with her. Are you getting the picture yet?

I don't know how long this takes, but eventually Denji meets up with Kishibe and he's got Meowy and all of Makima's dogs with him. he informs him that he ate it all, and by "it" he means Makima's body.

Kishibe still can't quite believe this actually worked, but Denji says she didn't regenerate in his stomach, or from the toilet when he pooped all those meals out. Denji believes that his intentions have a lot to do with it. He wasn't trying to murder Makima, but he became "one with her" as an act of love.

Kishibe is more practical about it, and speculates that there must have been some loophole or except in the contracts she made to empower herself. For example, she said she made a contract with the Prime Minister of Japan to transfer her own deaths onto random Japanese citizens. If the specific terms of that contract only referred to enemy attacks, then Denji might have managed to get around it with his "act of love" thing. Makima probably never imagined that someone would cook and eat her, so she never bothered to make a contract to deal with that contingency.

What Kishibe really wants to know is how Denji was able to get the drop on her like he did at the end. Kishibe's been trying to stay off her radar for a long time now, so the fact that Denji snuck up on her so easily is probably the most impressive part of this story for him.

Denji says he took a gamble, based on everything he ever heard from and about Makima. She seemed to only perceive people by scent.

And so he gambled that if Makima were in the middle of fighting a Chainsaw Man decoy, she would never notice Denji sneaking up on her until it was too late. Because she never really noticed him at all. She was only interested in the part of Denji that she could exploit for her own purposes.

I don't want to read too much into this, but this whole story feels like it was inspired by a bad breakup. You have this manipulative woman who draws people in by feigning attraction, kindness, and interest, and then once you're in her sphere of influence, she ignores and dismisses you except whenever she decides you're doing something she doesn't approve of. And in the end, no matter how badly you want to please her, no matter how much you want her, you ultimately realize that she never thought much about you at all.

While they're discussing all of this, some creepy little girl wanders over to pet one of the dogs, and when Denji tries to shoo her away, she bites his finger, and he sees her eyes look just like Makima's.

Kishibe reveals that he brought the kid with him for this meeting. She's the Control Devil, but she's not Makima anymore. He found out she was in China, so he abducted her and brought her here.

Kishibe figures that if she's left in the hands of some government, or if she's on her own, she'll eventually become just like Makima, so the best thing to do is leave her in the care of Denji, who can bring her up right. Kishibe expects to get busy soon, so he can't handle this himself. Denji tries to bow out of this responsibility, but...

... Kishibe pulls a Batman on him and vanishes without a trace. So now he's stuck with the girl, but look at her riding that dog like a horse. That's adorable. She says her name is Nayuta.

So he takes her in. They go home and eat dinner, and then they go to bed, and this looks really cute with all these dogs everywhere.

As he sleeps, Denji dreams of Pochita, and he finally gets to cuddle with him again. Pochita tells him that his dream was to get hugged, but as simple as that sounds, it was nearly impossible, because the Chainsaw Devil was too powerful and untouchable. So he became Pochita and befriended Denji, and then merged with Denji to become what they are now, and his dream has come true.

Pochita then explains that the Control Devil's dream was similar. She wanted to have equal relationships with people, but she didn't know how, because she could only experience other people through power or fear. What she wanted was like a family, and that's what led her to try to remake the world. Pochita asks Denji to fulfill that dream for the Control Devil, since she couldn't do it herself. Denji asks how, and Pochita's answer is simple:

Give her lots of hugs. D'awwwwwwww.

So where does that leave Japan? Well, there's still devils out there, and the public still needs saving, and Chainsaw Man is still a big hero to the people. Even as these panicky civilians flee, they can't stop talking about Chainsaw Man news 'n' rumors. But while they run away from the monster...

This dude stands his ground and pulls a cord in his chest. Roll credits.

I don't know, this last panel kicks a lot of ass for some reason. It really does feel like the final shot of the hero at the end of a movie about his origin story. Except I usually find those movies kind of uninspired, and yet somehow Chainsaw Man manages to pull it off. I guess it helps that this storyline has been so long, and it really feels like he earned this moment. The problem with Spider-Man doing it is that everyone kind of already knows how it'll turn out, and Spider-Man's origin doesn't take that long to tell, so there's not much suspense over whether he'll actually get good at this Spider-Man thing.

But Denji's come a long, long way in these past 97 chapters. At this point, all that's left of the main cast is himself and Kishibe, and Kishibe just left town. I guess Kobeni might get back into the Devil Hunting game, but I'm pretty sure she's done with this. So it's all up to Denji from here on, and in spite of everything, he seems to have grown into the role. He's beaten a lot of powerful devils, and he understands the importance of the work, and he has the emotional maturity to stick with it. Plus he's taking care of all those pets and Natuya, so he's more responsible than ever before. He's earned this final panel.

And yeah, that's the end of the Public Safety Arc of Chainsaw Man. There's a Part II of the series, and it looks like it's about 75 chapters or so in, but I don't want to dip into that this month, mostly because I don't think I'd have time to cover it all, but also because I'd like to wait until that arc is finished. So for now, that's it for me and Chainsaw Man.

But I'm definitely impressed with this comic. As I drew closer to the finale, I wondered how the story could get me interested in Part II, and I have to say it did a great job. Denji seems to be on his own, but he's got plenty of old business to tackle, like raising Nayuta and seeking out the Blood Devil. Plus, it's not clear just what happened to those Hybrids he fought in the last several chapters. They seemed to be unkillable, and with Makima out of the picture there's no telling what they might do next.

So I'll definitely be back for more. We'll see how things stand next year.

I kind of hope Denji doesn't eat the bad guy next time...

[natsubeatsrock]

Lisanna Makes Me Hate My Fandom More

Is Lisanna overrated by her fans?

No.

I can't believe that I even have to argue this.

And yet here we are.

I even debated the necessity of this post. Do we need another post saying fandom doesn't value Lisanna? Do we really need ANOTHER one?

Well, I need to get back into this writing on this blog somehow.

I reblogged a post about how fans worship characters you dislike some time ago. Someone reblogged my post all but saying they don't like how Lisanna's elevated over others because of filler moments by her fans. I know the person is a Nalu shipper, but I want to keep this about Lisanna. I have to imagine they think fans of Lisanna elevate her over Lucy. I'm not really interested in talking about that. All I care about is that argument about Lisanna's importance.

Part of me agrees with this. Much of the noise made about Lisanna comes from overestimating her relevance before coming back. This post wouldn't exist if I didn't like her, at the very least. However, as I've mentioned, she wasn't built up like multiple other characters or elements in the series.

Do I think we're on the same wavelength about this idea? Almost certainly not. If you think otherwise, remember that they ship Nalu.

But why make a post about this?

Honestly, this post has been on the back burner for years. I've posted it now as a prelude to another post I've been working on. Despite talking about Lisanna almost too much, I don't think I've emphasized something enough.

I've been talking about how fans handle Lisanna, given canon. I happen to be more generous than others are. Though, I have the opposite view of the situation. I don't think fandom does enough with Lisanna. Especially considering everything we've gotten from her.

I've done this a few times, but entertain me. Put Natsu & the Dragon Egg and everything the anime added to the side for a moment. (I need to talk about that special one of these days.) What has Fairy Tail actually told us about Lisanna?

Lisanna is the younger sister of two fan-favorite characters, Mirajane and Elfman. She'd had a close relationship with the series protagonist before the series started. (Yes, I'm considering Natsu as the protagonist for now.) About two years before Lucy met Natsu, she was presumed dead after a mission didn't go well. However, she was actually transported to another dimension. She spent two years working with an alternate version of Fairy Tail, pretending to be their version of Lisanna.

I know that's only a paragraph's worth of information. Admittedly, canon doesn't show a lot of this information. You're not getting the same focus on Lisanna as you would any member of the Strongest Team. Heck, you're not getting the same focus on her as people like Juvia or Cana at nearly any point of Fairy Tail. We've seen more of Mira and Elfman individually after Lisanna returned than just Lisanna over the entire series.

But let's break down each sentence of that paragraph.

Are fans doing a whole lot with Lisanna's relationship with her siblings? Are people writing about the Strauss kids as siblings? What do they think of each other? How has their relationship been affected by their experiences before and since joining Fairy Tail?

Are fans doing a whole lot with Lisanna's relationship with Natsu? I know most people dismiss their past relationships as currently irrelevant. However, it doesn't seem as though Mashima's forgotten about it. What about their past relationship affects their current relationship? What would a partnership between them look like at this point in the series? (I say this knowing this isn't very likely with the sequel's current events.) Is it possible that they could become closer than they are now in canon?

Are fans doing a lot with the mission that supposedly killed Lisanna? How does this affect those close to Lisanna? How do they treat her once she's back? How does the rest of the guild think of the situation?

Are fans doing a lot with Lisanna's time with Edolas? She spent two years with alternate versions of nearly every character in Fairy Tail. How does this affect her views of characters she didn't know before going to Edolas? How does she feel about Edolas and Edolas Fairy Tail? Does she resent being away from Earthland for so long or miss being in Edolas?

As far as I can tell, most people don't address these questions. People don't seem really interested in trying to read into Lisanna's relationships with her siblings or Natsu beyond potential shipping drama. People aren't interested in how Lisanna being in Edolas impacts anyone or anything in the series.

Now, people care about answering these questions. I've talked about these things quite a bit since Fairy Tail ended. My stories involving Lisanna in-series treat her time in Edolas as formative. And I've read several stories that provide answers to these questions from a number of perspectives.

However, most fans don't write about Lisanna thinking about these things. Has fandom moved past the kind of Lisanna that maliciously sabotages Lucy's place in the guild? Can't say. However, they're not doing a whole lot positive with her now.

"Why does it matter? Mashima obviously decided not to do a lot with Lisanna. Why would fans care about a character the series didn't do much with?"

The funny thing is that it's actually the opposite. Fans do (and should) care about Lisanna because there weren't canon answers to the questions surrounding her. Fans are interested in how these questions could be answered.

And frankly, this wouldn't be the first time. Mashima has done hilariously little with Meredy. But fans love her and create stuff for her all the time. She's one of my favorite minor characters to ship.

Heck, we got more of Levy because fans wanted to see more of her after Phantom Lord. The anime got Changeling to introduce Levy before Phantom Lord. However, there wasn't much else to her relevance to the series before and during that arc. It wasn't until the Fantasia arc that Levy became more plot-relevant and active. Mashima's gone on record to say fans are the reason why.

Fans have argued that Lisanna should have stayed dead for years. I've argued against this numerous times before. I've never understood why this matters to people. Of all the death fakeouts, why is Lisanna's such a big deal for fans? Mashima's written sloppier comebacks for characters. He's brought back characters with less importance. Why is Lisanna where fandom draws the line?

"What else do you expect from the Nalu vermin?"

Calm down, Chris. Of course, shipping has something to do with this. Nalu was always going to be popular with fans. Nalu is synonymous with the fandom. I've seen bias against Nali at work, even where it doesn't make sense.

However, you're not seeing the anti-Gruvia crowd write stories about Juvia being tortured and/or staying dead en masse. The issue with most isn't even with Juvia herself. Isolate her from Gruvia, and the problem is solved. The anti-Gruvia crowd falls into two camps: put Juvia with someone else or keep her away from Gray. Unless we're willing to argue that either is equivalent to killing Juvia, we don't have a discussion. (What day is today, again?)

The closest thing fandom's come up with for Lisanna is Bixanna. Unlike many ships, it feels like the fandom exists to give Lisanna someone to love. In fact, there's a small gap between AO3 stories with Bixanna and Nali. However, much of Bixanna's stories have the ship as a side attraction. Nali stories usually focus on Nali. That's telling on its own.

One last thing before the end. It feels irresponsible to end this post without making a suggestion to write Lisanna. Is there a good way to write Lisanna?

Incidentally, the anime gave us a solid approach. Lisanna has a tendency to tease others. We see it with Natsu at different ages in Natsu and the Dragon Egg. We see it with Elfman on Tenrou Island. If you're wondering, that crack about marrying Natsu aligns with that. That was also in the original chapter, so it's not without precedent from Mashima.

If you're writing Lisanna, you don't have to fall into many pitfalls other writers do. She doesn't have to be evil. She doesn't need to be possessive of Natsu. She doesn't have to be Mirajane's little shipping gremlin. (The fact that this is the best of these worries me.) She doesn't have to be the sacrificial lamb. At least make her a fun character to read.

In Conclusion:

Drink your respect Lisanna juice. This is not a request. This is a command.

[savagebisand]

Let's do a deep dive into the complexity of Mew and Ray rebounding on each other and how it leads to a huge necessary parting of the entire core four.

It reaches a head at that cursed Halloween Party in this ep. Because y'all. We've had sweet and bitter but today we really saw it blend together and I think this whole series tackles the futility and perseverance of love and connection but we really saw it during episode eight at it's peak.

There is literally no room in my heart for hating on Mew over Ray right now because like Mew has taken every opportunity to insist that Ray isn't controlling or changing him, Mew is changing, Mew is saying fuck it so what to everything he despised before because he's tired of fitting in a box. it has nothing to do with Ray other than that Ray makes it easy. Ray won't judge because he cannot as he's done everything Mew is trying. Mew himself is telling everyone he's a grown ass man who is coping with shit the best way he can right now and Ray just happens to be the only one not trying to restrict him or tell him how to cope. the others blaming Ray for Mew's spiral is just what's easiest for them to swallow the truth. they don't see that Mew is using Ray's unconditional love as an excuse to be the worst version of himself because to them Mew is the only vulnerable one. So let's unpack all that shall we?

Ray on the other hand knows full well that Mew doesn't love him or want him as anything other than a distraction but he's humbly accepted his role. you can tell when Mew only kisses Ray in front of Top, when Mew can't tell Ray he loves him back that Ray knows because he knows Mew, Mew does not and can not love Ray at least not the way Ray imagined Mew could. but it's alright. because for once when Mew is falling apart he's picked Ray to get to stand fiercely at his side and give him arms to cry in. all Ray wants is to feel important and connected to Mew some way and so when Mew asks for cigarettes and coke and drinks and parties, Ray doesn't question it because if he did he loses the little limited space Mew has let Ray reside in whilst everyone else has been pushed aside.

I mean hell Ray even tells Sand that Mew and him "have to see if things will work between them first" when Sand insists Ray has had his dream come true getting to be with Mew. he insists they aren't serious yet but instead seeing how things go, that Mew is at least letting them try and that's good enough. The way Ray talks about it, you can tell he doesn't believe Mew will let him stay around as a boyfriend for long. It's not just because it's Sand he's talking to, there's this understanding in how Ray addresses it. He's okay with it because all that ever mattered to Ray was trying, was having the concrete proof that Mew and him don't and can't work in romantic love instead of Mew's half assed denials.

Ray understands perfectly his role as Mew's supporting character, he isn't blind like some insist. In fact he's got more in common with Nick and Sand than people would like to recognise. Remember how Nick insists that Boston "doesn't have to love him, doesn't have to make nick his priority, he just cannot hate him?" Well that's very much Ray now that Mew has given him the time of day. Everything is still all about Top and Ray can tell but as long as Mew is happy to pretend his spite overrules his lingering love, Ray will play along. I think its very telling in the moment when Mew says this:

Literally right in front of Ray's face and Ray says nothing about the fact they're supposed to be a "we" not an "I" right now. They're supposed to be playing the hosting couple, a united front. Yet here Mew is proudly proclaiming he doesn't need anyone anymore because he's learned to only care about himself for once, he's happy on self destruct because at least he only has to be his own priority and worst enemy. No one else gets to set his rules and break them and let him down except for himself.

So yeah Ray knows exactly where he stands but, look, as easy as it is to blame him for playing a part for Mew and not recognising Sand's love, we have to also bear in mind that Ray stands in this very fragile precipice currently where his loyalty to Mew is the difference between total alienation and having at least somebody from the broken family of the core four still remaining. Mew easily tossed Boston and Top aside, ruthlessly, and he will do the same the second Ray takes any high ground over Mew's actions because Mew will waste no time reminding him how much of a hypocrite he'd be right now.

And yes it's wrong that Mew is using Ray as collateral damage to his first real break up induced sad manic girl break down but in grief we become people we don't recognise. We go numb. I don't think Mew realises fully how detrimental it will be to rely on Ray right now as he cracks before he heals, he's too caught up in going through motions, one all nighter to the next. One revenge plot to the next. He does his best to protect Ray by insisting to Cheum and Top these are his own choices and consequences to handle but when your loved ones see you a certain way, they very staunchly refuse to recognise when you make choices they don't like for you.

Cheum and Top are kinda hypocritical for blaming Ray and not noticing their own flaws in their bid to "protect" Mew but it does make sense. They can't reconcile this new Mew with the one they have grown to understand and care for and rely on. It is far easier to look to the nearest external factor influencing Mew and pin everything on that. It doesn't make it right but it does explain their motivations. They can't see Rays complexity the way the viewer can so it's far simpler for Cheum to say Ray is careless and too greedy so he can never just settle. For Top to insist Ray can't love Mew if he keeps negative shit around Mew whilst forgetting he can't exactly be one to talk when Mew wasn't much better off with him.

Basically they're all getting to that point in this journey where they have to sit with some hard home truths about their friends and themselves and really no one is to blame anymore for anyone other than themselves. No one is responsible anymore for anyone but themselves. It's no longer a blame game and more a time to sit and ask questions about who they are and why they let things get to this point. It's the only chance they stand at not spending the rest of uni totally lost and alone. The only way they might all find a way back to each other, stronger than they were before, different yes, a little broken yes but stronger together.

I think this episode did a particularly beautiful job at showcasing how love remains and prevails even as things shift and recalibrate. Mew is downright vengeful to Top but Top quietly takes it all and refuses to quit when Mew pushes him away the way he gave up on Mew before. He stands steady and strong and he's the one who carries Mew to bed and cleans him up and gets him comfy. Treats him like he's precious finally and refuses to leave.

Boston is told by everyone he has no right to show his face but he insists he has to be there anyway, even as he challenges Nick for daring to approach him, a part of Boston clearly wishes Nick had told Ton about his project because he wanted to share the celebration but Ton can only hear Nick bragging that he's moving on to better things whilst Ton still keeps company with red solo cups in a hidden room, stuck in the sidelines. And yet Boston can't find it in him to treat Nick spitefully, the best he can do is dismissive. He still shows up in a panic on that staircase, helplessly searching for a way to save Ray even as he knows it's all too broken to fix.

Cheum explodes on Ray like a mother or sister whose lost all hope not once but twice but it comes out of a place of concern, a desperate final plea that if they really aren't enough then Ray has to want to help himself. And as hypocritical as we may find her for saying Ray is careless to those around him, she's not wrong that Ray, the night of the party in particular, has only dedicated himself to Mew. She knows now that none of her hopes or wishes for the boys to be better and focus on doing the best for themselves will ever be enough alone to make them care more about friendship and futures than sex and love. She's realising how little she noticed about how deep the cracks ran and she's having to struggle with that but she still begs Top to save Ray from a place she knows will take him to the point of no return even as she chooses to walk away.

Hell Sand and Nick don't even want to be at that party but against all odds they turn up because they owe it to themselves to save face and at least try to move on. To be mature and talk to the people that they've hurt and who have hurt them instead of burying their heads. Boston and Ray are cold to them and yet they don't leave. Sand still turns back and tries to protect Ray because even if he pushed him to the ground earlier and told him they're over. He can't watch Ray rot in prison when what Ray really needs is rehab. When thats the worst place Ray can go.

Top even helps Ray avoid jail time. He says "sorry for my friend" and even if his motivation is more to help Cheum or to do this because Mew will totally tip off the edge if Ray goes down, he gains nothing from this. There is a genuine flash of concern and recognition in his face as he watches Ray cry and scream that actually maybe they aren't so different. Maybe both of their realities are pitiful and lonely.

It's just so interesting that even as things come to a close and we can tell these characters are going to split apart and take some distance, abandon each other and pray it means they come back one day able to show up better for each other as friends... they still choose love, against all odds. It's a bittersweet goodbye because they're all angry and hurting and confused about who they are and why they're behaving the way they do but even in that final moment as Cheum pulls the curtain closed, she's that last string to break when Ton has been forced to pull away and so has Top, and we can tell Ray will try to cling to Mew a little less as he battles with Cheums harsh truth that maybe he really is bad for Mew and maybe Mew really isn't enough for him. They all show up to protect Ray and each other one last time. Even if it's hopeless.

Because love and loyalty remains unconditional even if they don't like the versions of themselves they can see right now. Because even when you don't agree with choices your nearest and dearest make, even when you can't forgive it, they will still always be your broken fucked up little family.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Daughter of the Rain and Snow

Concept: Around ten years after the events of Crooked Kingdom, 25-year-old Captain Inej Ghafa frees Maya Olsen from a pleasure house in Ketterdam. Maya is looking for revenge against the man who put her in her position, a man who she knows nothing about except his name: Kaz Brekker.

Tags: @wraith--2 @lunarthecorvus @just2bubbly @real-fragments7 @cartoon-clifford @origami-butterfly @lady-a-stuff @thelibraryofalexandriastillburns @inej-ghafa-deserves-the-world @thatdelusionalnerd

If anyone wants to be added let me know :)

Content Warnings: in more general terms I want to remind people to be aware of the nature of Kaz and Inej's experiences and relationship since even if I'm not directly addressing these things they tend to be implicit in any writing about them, but specifically to this chapter there's ptsd references, anxiety, violence references, blood, wounds, and fear of losing loved ones

Note: Oh my goodness we only have the epilogue left to go... this is insane I can't believe we've reached the end

AO3 link: Daughter of the Rain and Snow - Chapter 145 - She_posts_nerdy_stuff - Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo [Archive of Our Own]

Chapter 144 - Kaz

At least the Crow Club was back in working order. Beyond that things weren’t looking at their best. Kaz knew from Anika and Pim’s reports that the damage was mostly repaired and they’d reopened the closed wing a few months ago, but he also knew from the income reports Yara had been sending him  that they’d taken a hit. Her projections looked sunnier for next month, but Kaz wasn’t feeling particularly confident. There was a nervous energy about the Slat when he walked in, still as rowdy as it usually was in these early hours of the morning but with a slightly frantic edge. Kaz had known his extended absence would take a toll, but he’d tried to keep in control of what he could. 

“I assume there are rumours going round about -”

“Your mysterious disappearance? Yeah,” said Anika, “We’re treading water trynna cover up for you being missing,”

“Anyone get wise?”

“To the fact you weren’t here or to what you were actually up to?”

Kaz shot her an unamused glare. Clearly he needed to stop telling Anika up to 50% of the truth, because she was getting too good at picking up what the rest of it was. 

“I don’t think so,” she said, “Not with any proof you weren’t around. Few people here and there are convinced you’re dead,”

That didn’t particularly surprise him.

“Any attempts at territory grabs since you last wrote?”

“Liddies are still riled up, but nothing new except a pretty hollow looking threat from Black Tips,”

Kaz sighed. They weren’t staying in Ketterdam for long, he’d have to get through work quickly and make a few choice appearances if he could spare the time.

As far as Kaz and Inej knew, the plan was for them to drop in on Jesper and Wylan for the afternoon, then go to the house overnight whilst Nina stayed on the Geldstradt. They didn’t have the space to have her at the house by the harbour - especially when Alyssa was staying with them too - and anyway she would only be kept up all night by Sadja. But apparently Jesper and Wylan had other plans, as soon as they were through the door it was all but a demand they at least stay there the first night. They’d even set up a room for Alyssa upstairs, so she was close if Inej or Sadja needed her.

“How are you feeling?” Kaz had asked, watching Inej’s hand find the railing on the porch of the Hendriks house.

“I’m fine,”

Kaz shook his head, looking down at Sadja.

“Once you can talk I’m going to teach you to shout at your Mama every time she says that,” he told her, gently readjusting the sling in hopes of helping her settle.

Nina laughed.

Sadja had done well on the boat, Kaz thought, for a stubborn two month old who had never travelled further than the Grand Palace until a couple of weeks ago, but she hadn’t slept well last night and still didn’t seem to be interested in sleeping now.

“Kaz, really,” said Inej, shaking her head, “I’m okay. I’m just tired,”

Kaz nodded, but he and Nina had shared a brief glance. Inej rang the doorbell and Sadja immediately jutted out her bottom lip in indignation; for a moment Kaz thought she was going to cry but she settled again, still looking a little grumpy. He readjusted his cane so that he could remain balanced whilst he offered her his finger, and once she’d acknowledged it he gently rubbed his hand up and down her tiny tummy.

“Do you not like doorbells, Sadja?”

“I think it’s quite normal for babies not to like loud noises, Kaz,” said Nina, peering over the sling, “You’re okay, aren’t you Sadja? You’re a brave little muffin,”

“Brave little muffin?” asked Kaz.

“Hey, that is just about the highest compliment I’ve ever given anyone,”

“Well, you are brave aren’t you Sadja? You’re just like your Mama,”

She wriggled a little in the sling, as though she was trying to look up at him properly, and smiled. Kaz glowed. 

The door had barely been opened when they were met by the practically shouted words:

“Where’s my niece?”

“Well, hello to you too, Jesper,” said Inej, sharing his soft laugh.

She leaned into the arm he offered and he kissed her on the cheek, ushering her over the doorstep. Kaz followed, nodding at Jesper.

“Saints, I’ve missed you,” said Jesper, hugging Inej again.

“Oh, I’ve missed you too,”

Nina cleared her throat, glaring teasingly at Jesper. He threw an arm around her shoulders.

“I’ve missed you too, darling, obviously. And I guess I missed you Kaz,”

“Always with the compliments,”

Where’s Wylan?” asked Inej.

“Couldn’t get out of a meeting,” Jesper replied, shaking his head, “He won’t be long. Now, where’s this little Sadja you’ve been withholding from me?”

“Withholding-? She’s only been alive two months - and you were in Novyi Zem for one and a half of them,”

“Withholding,” Jesper repeated

Inej laughed. Kaz gently scooped Sadja out of her sling and into his arms, rocking her for a moment before he passed her to Inej so Jesper could lean over and greet her. He looked like he was about to burst with glee.

“Oh my goodness, you two she’s so beautiful. Aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are,”

Jesper looked up at Kaz and Inej, grinning.

“She’s wonderful,”

“She most certainly is,” Kaz smiled, pushing the door to behind him before they walked together towards the living room, “It’s good to see you, Jes,”

“You too. And honestly you with a baby is quite possibly both the funniest and cutest thing I have ever seen, so thank you for that,”

Nina snorted. Kaz glared at them both. 

“And how are you?” Jesper had asked Inej, as they sat on the sofa together.

It was about twenty minutes later and Wylan had just got back, all apologies for being late and overjoyed to see them all again. He was now sitting in between Inej and Kiada with Sadja in his arms, smiling.

“Well, I haven’t slept in about two months,” Inej smiled, leaning her head onto Jesper’s shoulder, “But other than that I’m doing pretty well. How are you? - How was Novyi Zem?”

“I’m good, we’re all pretty good at the minute, actually. And Novyi Zem was lovely, good to see my Da, and everyone did a very good job,” he squeezed Aimee’s hand lightly, from where she was perching on the arm of the sofa next to him, “There were a few moments where we thought we’d have to come home early - that was always in the plan as an option, if anyone needed it - but we ended up staying the whole time,”

“How’s Colm?” asked Nina, leaning forwards to pick her coffee up from the table.

The conversation floated on, and Kaz had drifted in and out of paying attention to it as he kept his eyes on Sadja. She started wriggling uncomfortably and Wylan passed her back to Inej, then a moment passed before she started crying. 

“Is she alright?” asked Kaz.

“She’s just hungry,” said Inej, looking at Kaz in a way that meant calm down, she’s a baby, she’s going to cry, you do not need to worry as she stood up and gently rocked Sadja against her chest, whispering to her in Suli, “I’ll take her upstairs,”

At some point, Kaz wasn’t exactly sure how long it had been, it was only him, Nina, and Jesper still sitting in the living room. Focus had switched freely: the trip to Novyi Zem - two weeks with Colm followed by a month and a half through in Weddle and Shriftport, then another two weeks with Colm - Kiada had struggled with the boat, Aimee had struggled on the farm, Kiada has struggled in Weddle; news on the Ravkans and their new little prince and princess, twins about three months older than Sadja; Clemmie Boscht had started renting an apartment in the city and came to the house to share roast dinner with the family once a month; updates on something Kaz had forgotten to pay attention to as he was wondering how long Inej and Sadja had been gone and if he should go upstairs to find them. Now Nina was asking about wedding plans - the original date should have been last month, but it hadn’t been set in stone when Kaz and Inej first went to Ravka so Jesper and Wylan had decided to postpone and visit Jesper’s father instead of him coming out to them. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Jesper was saying, “Nothing will ever make up for the fact that Kaz Brekker got married before I did,”

Nina flopped against the back cushions of the sofa.

“Yeah, it’s a real blow to the ego isn’t it?”

“Aren’t you two just the height of comedy?” said Kaz drily.

“To be fair, Jes,” Nina added, “I think we were all surprised you weren’t the first to get married. I mean how long had you two known each other before you moved in, two months?”

“No, well I really only joke,” said Jesper, glancing briefly at the door and lowering his voice, “Wylan told me ages ago he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to get married, after everything with his parents he just kinda… lost faith in it,”

Jesper had told Kaz about it at the time. It was years ago, around the time of the Van Eck trial, and Wylan was having an unsurprisingly bad time of it. He said he’d burst into tears and told Jesper that it had been evil of him to trap him in a relationship that would never go anywhere, and that he could leave if he wanted to and Wylan would understand. Apparently Jesper had stared at him for almost a full minute, and then said:

“Wy, you’re seventeen,”

“Well, clearly,” Kaz had said, “You handled that well,”

“I helped him afterwards!” Jepser had cried defensively, “That was just my first thought,”

Now Kaz sat behind his desk at the Slat, flicking through the endless pile of papers laying in wait and watching the hands move on his timepiece. Almost five bells. He wanted to be back by six.

Sadja had woken up not long before three bells, screaming loud enough to bring the entire house down. Kaz fumbled in the dark, searching for his cane, before Inej turned on the gas lights and handed it to him, smiling and shaking her head. They sat next to each other on the side of the mattress as Sadja nursed, and for about half an hour afterwards Kaz was still rocking her slowly whilst Inej lowered the lights and lay back down. Sadja seemed on the verge of settling back to sleep and Kaz stood to return her to the cradle next to the bed, only for her to immediately start wailing again.

“Well I hope you’re not still hungry,” he said softly in Suli, giving her a gente bounce “I think Mama’s asleep,”

She flailed one of her tiny fists into the air and it whacked lightly against Kaz’s chest.

“Not bad form,” he told her, “But you need more strength behind it if you want to do real damage. We’ll work on that when you’re older. What can we do to help you sleep now though, hm?”

Sadja wriggled in his arm and Kaz moved to sit on one of the armchairs so he could set down his cane and support her more comfortably. 

“I don’t have anything new to read to you,” he said, “But I could tell you a story if you’d like,”

There was a pause broken only by Sadja’s impatient cries, before Inej’s soft voice came from the darkness on the other side of the room:

“You know the whole idea of us using one language each with her whilst she's still learning kind of depends on you speaking to her in Kerch, right?”

Kaz looked up.

“Inej? I thought you were asleep,”

“Kaz, if you think anyone could fall asleep through this then I have serious concerns about your hearing. And, again, you’re supposed to speak in Kerch,”

“I’m still not convinced that’s going to work,” he replied, “Isn’t she just going to hear us using both with each other anyway?”

Inej groaned.

“It’s three in the morning, Kaz, can we talk about this later?”

He laughed softly, nodding though he wasn’t sure if she’d see in the dark. He’d known that he needed to go to the Slat - the last word from Anika and Pim had been concerningly vague -  but he could stay here a little while yet, couldn’t he? What harm would it do, just to stay here for a little longer? He sighed.

“You need to go, don’t you?”

He didn’t know how she did that.

“It can wait until tomorrow,”

“You can’t,” said Inej, quietly, “Go on. I’ll get her settled, just don’t be long, okay?”

“Never,”

He really needed to stop watching the clock, or he wouldn’t get anything done and have to bully himself into staying longer. It was a good while past five bells when he left, ignoring the shouts for attention that followed him from the crowd. The Hendriks house was mostly still sleeping, though Wylan was unsurprisingly up and in the kitchen making coffee by the time Kaz arrived at six bells. Inej was awake but she was still upstairs, not long dressed and part way through brushing her hair when Kaz knocked softly on the door. She opened it slowly, pressing a finger to her lips as he slipped inside.

“Sadja’s asleep,”

Kaz stood over the cradle for a moment, watching her. She really was perfect. Inej appeared next to him, her arm slipping around his waist once he’d nodded confirmation. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

“She already looks like you,” she whispered.

Kaz shook his head.

“She’s beautiful. That’s all you,”

Inej shook her head then, her hand finding his and slipping beneath the rim so her fingers brushed his wrist. Kaz’s heart leapt, thinking of holding her on the floor almost a year ago, a knife in her gut and her blood soaking over both of them. He swallowed and she felt him tense, starting to pull away to give him space. His fingers tightened over hers, holding her to him. 

“We’ve not…” she hesitated, “We’ve not talked about a plan for where to live. For what to do next,”

Kaz had been avoiding the conversation, because he didn’t actually know what he was going to say. But it was a year ago when he couldn’t tell her everything he’d thought he should be able to say by now - 

Their happiness, together. In Kerch, in Ravka, they could move to the permafrost in Fjerda for all he cared. He would carve a life for her in the face of a mountain, if that was what she wanted.

- and so much had changed since then. He should be able to tell her that now. And he did.

Inej turned and leaned her face up towards his, glowing in the soft dancing light of dawn leaking through the window, her dark eyes shimmering. She lifted a hand up to cup his cheek, and slowly they leaned into each other. Their foreheads pressed against each other, Kaz’s hand slipped down Inej’s back, and their lips met in the warmth of spring and joy and a family that for so long Kaz had convinced himself he didn’t want, because he never thought he’d be able to find it. 

The entire world was golden.

[mickimagnum]

Before Sundown Interview

"Hey, everyone! Welcome to Devin's Dude Ranch: Before Sundown. I"m your host, Venessa Jeong and here with me is the star of our upcoming series, Devin's Dude Ranch, our Bachelorette, Devin Delaney. Welcome, Devin!"

"Thanks, Venessa. I'm excited to be here. Honestly, I can't believe this is happening," Devin said with a nervous laugh.

"Well, you better believe it! We've hand-picked five single men, especially for you, and they're all chomping at the bit for a chance to win your heart."

"Nice. A horse pun," Devin replied, trying to distract from the crimson that began creeping into her cheeks.

"I thought you'd appreciate it," Vanessa smiled before moving on, "Now, tell me, Devin, what made you decide to look for love as a Bachelorette?"

"When I was first approached about doing the show, my first reaction was 'no way,' but after thinking about it, I couldn't deny it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You know, I really don't have time to go out and meet people, but I do want my happily-ever-after just like everyone else. And I figured, why not try it? Plenty of people have found love doing the show, so I'm going into this with positive expectations."

"I like that. And, I for one, cannot wait to see how your love story unfolds and who you choose."

"Yeah, me neither," Devin joked and sat back in her seat.

"For many of our viewers, this will be their first time meeting you. How would you sum yourself up for them, Devin?"

"Oh, gosh, you're coming with the hard questions," Devin replied as she draped her arm across the back of her seat to carefully consider her answer before continuing, "My life has revolved around training horses and my nectar business, Echo Valley Nectar, came about only as a way to fund it. All I've ever known is hard work, which I think has kept me humble and my feet planted on the ground. Really, Venessa, at the end of the day, I'm a simple girl. Just give me open sky, good company, good food, good nectar, and horses. Then I'm happy."

"Don't forget Mr. Right!" Venessa laughed as she shuffled through the cards in her hands.

"If you can find him, I'll take him," Devin grinned.

"Speaking of Mr. Right," Venessa continued, "As you know, our experts have matched you with five single men who we feel are of excellent compatibility. But, what will it take for them to impress you?"

Devin paused a moment before answering, "Honestly, if they can just come in and be themselves, that will impress me more than anything else. Like, don't put on airs and try to impress me. That's one of my biggest pet peeves - you know, when you can tell someone isn't being genuine," Devin then turned and looked directly into the camera, "Just be yourself, guys. It's better we find if we actually click up front than a year down the road when we're engaged or whatever. Let's be real. From day one."

"Well said," Venessa replied with a bob of her head, "I feel like more people could use that advice."

"All I'm saying, is I'm going to be upfront about all this shenangiousness," Devin then gestured to her entire person, "so I would respect the hell out of any man that is willing to do the same."

"Did you just invent a word?"

"I very well might have."

"I love it."

"Me too."

"Besides someone who's confident being themselves, what else are you looking for in a partner?" Venessa then asked.

"Someone who likes horses, obviously," Devin laughed before continuing, "But also someone who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty and sees themself living and enjoying the ranch life with me. Someone who is real-world smart but kind. ..And will he definitely need a good sense of humor to survive any time me."

"After having just met you, I can second that last one."

Devin shrugged, "Life's too short. We might as well get silly with it."

Venessa's laugh rang out as she shook her head and Devin settled back in her chair again, as if satisfied that her job was done.

After glancing at the last queue card, Venessa said, "Alright Devin, last question, ultimately, what is it that you're hoping for from your experience?"

"I mean, the same thing everyone says. I want to find my person. Down the road, hopefully marriage and a family. That's it."

"And I hope you find it," Venessa said sincerely, "Devin, thank you so much for hanging out with me and answering the burning questions I know we all had."

"Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me!"

Venessa then turned directly to the camera, "Thanks for joining us for this episode of Before Sundown: Devin's Dude Ranch. Don't forget to tune in tomorrow, Monday December 4th, for the premiere of Devin's Dude Ranch, where Devin will meet her five contestants for the first time! And now, here's a sneak peak of the full cast. See you tomorrow at Echo Valley Ranch, SimNation."

Stay Tuned: Devin's Dude Ranch Begins Tomorrow, December 4th!

[evilwickedme]

I would like to see the Jewish headcanons please

Hi yes thank you so much I wasn't fishing for this at all

We've already covered this in that post that gained me 150 followers in a week, but obviously Peter Parker is Jewish. My personal headcanon is that he's Ashkenazi and somewhere between Reform and Conservative. Like he flip flops on keeping Kosher and observes the high holidays as best as he can assuming there's no world saving he needs to get done, but overall being Jewish to him is about community and culture over the religious part of it

For Bucky Barnes, however, being observant was a way to reclaim his identity after... Well, you know. He's vaguely conservadox? He doesn't really define it beyond being Sephardic. He keeps Kosher (which was difficult during WWII unfortunately) and wears tzitzit and goes to shul whenever he can. He'd love to keep Shabbat but it's just not practical most of the time - essentially it's like being an on call doctor, where your job is essential to saving lives and therefore he can't keep Shabbat properly, but he likes to have Friday night dinners with his friends (and Natasha, whether they're together at the time or not) whenever he can. He doesn't know if God exists, but during the High Holidays is when he comes the closest to believing it

Bruce Wayne is canonically Jewish but like, by accident? I feel like he less defines himself as Jewish and more defines himself as Not-Christian™. His mother used to take him to Synagogue but the memories are vague now, but he always enjoyed lighting the candles on Hanukkah, especially with Jason. He stops celebrating the holiday after Jason dies, because he loved it so much. It's a shame because I KNOW Cass would love Hanukkah and Steph would be so into the Maccabees' story

Tim is also Jewish but he's entirely non practicing; his parents were never around to celebrate any holidays or impart any Jewish traditions on him and Bruce had stopped doing the one Jewish thing of lighting the hanukkiah/menorah (whichever you wanna call it) by the time he became Robin. The main Jewish thing in his life is antisemitic garbage being published about both Bruce and himself, especially once he becomes CEO of WE

Damian was raised Muslim and doesn't really know how to feel about being half Jewish. When he grows up he might try to find a way to reconcile those two parts of his identity, but the only Jewish person who actually practices that he sees even irregularly is Batwoman, who's his cousin once removed and he's not exactly close to, so he just doesn't feel the need to deal with it yet

The Thing and Batwoman are canonically Jewish this doesn't count as a hc I just love them

Same for moon knight minus loving him cause I have a bunch of his comics but just haven't gotten around to reading them

Actually can we talk about Mayday Parker? Because I feel like Peter would absolutely raise his daughter to be Jewish. He wants her to feel that connection to the Jewish people even though he's always been so wishy-washy about it and she grows up to be way more observant than him

I actually don't want canon!Clark to be Jewish, but I think exploring his Jewish subtext in fic can be so interesting? Cause, you know, he's Moses and shit. I feel like an Modern Orthodox Clark would have the exact same values as current Clark but also I'd love to hear his thoughts on certain Mishnahs, you know? Also having read the Death of Superman arc earlier this month I can confirm all Jesus metaphors in adaptations are such bullshit oh my God did you even read the comic

Anyway I think that's it for now? Unfortunately I have not read Every Comic Ever yet so there might end up being even more HCs later on (especially since I plan to read Greg Rucka's Lois Lane series soon and I'm hoping for some Jewish subtext in that)

Thank you so much for asking this was so much fun!!

[pippin-katz]

Post Red, White, & Royal Blue Viewing Thoughts

Okay, I have now watched this film from start to finish four times since it dropped, and I think I'm ready to share my thoughts. This is a lot of thoughts, so if you click "keep reading", be prepared to read.

Total Word Count: 6,579

Part One: First Impressions

After the first watch, I didn't really know how to feel. I finished it not feeling very satisfied.

After the second watch, it clicked.

I adore it. It is a beautiful movie full of hope and love and it is definitely one of my favorite movies now.

I realized that I had watched it wrong. I was enjoying myself watching the film, but my mind was far too focused on thinking about what would and wouldn't be in the movie to truly watch it for the movie it is. This movie is not the book. It's not trying to be. It is a separate entity with its own unique take on the story. It is an adaptation, not a recitation, as Matthew Lopez put it.

If you watch it focusing on the book and wanting it to be a perfect copy, you will be disappointed. However, that's part of the point. It is not trying to recite the book.

Part Two: Film VS Book Format

In order for a perfect, 100% accurate recitation of the book to film to even be possible, a series would have to be made. Red, White, & Royal Blue is not a very long book, but it is truly stuffed to the brim with content. Casey did not have to worry about a budget or time constraints when they wrote it. That meant they could write lots of scenes with the side characters, and whole side plots without a problem.

That is simply not possible to do in a single movie. That is not what the format of a film is made for.

That's why sequels and series exists. That's why the television format exists. Multiple plot lines can be explored at once and you have more time in total, however the trade off is the audience dynamic changes and the risk that brings.

A series needs to have a strong concept in order to for it to successfully hold its audience and keep it watching through to the conclusion of the plots. It's bit different now due to streaming, but with series, if your audience does not remain interested and active, you may not get to even finish telling your story. All that time spent on the side plots and great scenes is wasted because you never even got to follow through with the main plot, let alone those.

A movie is made and then it's done. They can't unmake it. That story is always going to be told from start to finish in that movie, however it tells it.

With the way the industry works nowadays, getting anything more unique than the expected blockbuster movies to be made is difficult. The corporate side of the film industry has practically made it impossible to make anything that doesn't already belong to a franchise. I have not seen a trailer for a romance centered film in what feels like years.

This is a romcom, which have already been struggling, but also a QUEER romcom. It's incredible that the movie was made at all when you think about Hollywood and its absurd views.

We've already seen that Red, White, & Royal Blue got an R rating in the US despite not really showing anything actually explicit. Matthew Lopez even voiced that he believes if it had been a straight couple, it would've been PG-13. I believe it 100% would've been PG-13 if it was a straight couple.

To anyone who might be wondering why the rating matters, the maturity rating of a movie can heavily impact its audience and marketing. Obviously, an R rating steers away any preteens and parents with kids, but it also puts a preconceived notion of the movie's contents into the heads of anyone who sees the trailer.

When you see that R, you expect either heavily graphic sexual content, extreme violence, or vulgar language, sometimes all three depending on the movie. There are lots of adults who are fine with the idea of a bit of sexual content in their media, like a scene that implies it but cuts away or shows the bare minimum of the actions for the viewer to get the idea. But I think a lot people draw the line at something graphic enough to get an R rating, like Fifty Shades of Grey for example. They're going to the theater to watch a romance film, not a pornography film.

Red, White, & Royal Blue already has to fight for its audience by being a queer romance, and getting an R rating adds an extra hurdle that impacts what kind of audience will even consider their movie.

All that being said, it would've been unbelievably difficult for Matthew and the rest of the production team to secure a series rather than a movie.

Part Three: Adapting Your Point of View

In the case of this adaptation, it is not meant to be the book. After I realized this, rewatching the movie as the movie fixed my reaction.

It recontextualized the movie for me. I stopped sitting there like, "oh he didn't say this line" or "damn they cut that scene" for the entire thing. I approached it as a separate entity, so they didn't "change" the story, so to speak; I completely pushed the book aside and focused on the movie.

Lots of things are different in the movie world, but instead of focusing on them being different from the book, approaching it is as the standard of the movie allowed me to appreciate it. Some examples:

So Henry's last name is different; not to them! To them that's always been his name!

So June got removed; not to them! To them Alex was always an only child!

So Luna got removed; not to them! They don't know who that is because he never existed in their world!

The book still exists the way it has always existed. It is not changing, and not going anywhere. It's world will always be there within those pages. The movie exists someplace else, in its own world. What makes it an adaptation rather than an original story is the common denominator of the main characters and their relationship. Everything else is secondary.

Part Four: Cuts

To expand on that last statement, everything other than Alex and Henry's relationship is secondary. Their story, their scenes, their dynamic comes first before anything else. They are more important than June, than Nora, than Pez, than Luna, than anyone else. Their dynamic is more important than the campaign, the divorce, than the sexuality crisis, than Nora, Pez, and June's polycule, than the Powder Princess, than anything else.

Alex and Henry's relationship is the most important thing.

It's not a story focused on Alex learning his bisexual identity. That's a side plot.

It's not a story focused on Nora and Pez (and June in the book) hooking up. That's a side plot.

It's not a story focused on Beatrice's past with cocaine. That's a side plot.

It's not a story focused on Luna's role in exposing Richards. That's a side plot.

People need to understand what a side plot's role in a story is. It pulls away from the main story to discuss something different, but relevant. They're good for development, filler, or connecting dots between major events, but without them, the primary plot should be able to stand alone.

Red, White, & Royal Blue's plot stands alone. The plot of the first son of the president of the United States falling in love with a prince from Britain is an independent storyline.

With Alex and Henry, they're rivals-to-friends-to-lovers, so there is so much to say and show with so little time. It's not like two best friends realizing they're in love; their bond has been on screen the entire time already, it just changes into something more. It's not like a meet-cute where they go on one date and fall madly in love in minutes. Alex and Henry have to dislike each other, then build an understanding that they can like each other, then further that understanding into loving each other.

That takes time! Think about how many pages of emails are in the book! Those are there to show the reader the progress being made between them, and there's a lot of them, probably canonically more than the ones we get to read. A movie can't spend half its runtime narrating emails, it does not have time for that.

Believe me, someone adapting a piece of media that they love, as much as Matthew has said he loves the book, does not take pleasure in removing things. You find interviews he has done where he's talked about it, and admitted to having to be very ruthless when it came to cutting things. We know that the original cut was three hours long! He did not set out to hurt your feelings by removing and changing things.

Part Five: Miguel & The Waterloo Letters

Aside from the obvious removals, I think the biggest change in the movie is presence of Miguel. I've seen a lot of people already unsure or hateful of his character, though he did not bother me that much because I see what he's there for.

Miguel is a combination of Liam's character and Luna's/Richards' plot line.

Liam is obviously in the book as part of Alex's realization that he's not straight. He's the "I've played around with the idea" character. They have that phone call about their past "relationship" and he's done. Other than that, he's a cameo role that shows up like two times.

Miguel flirts with Alex and he gets a bit embarrassed/flustered because we learn that they had a make-out session while naked in a hot tub. Alex does not flirt back with Miguel; if anything, he ignores the insinuations that he's clearly making. He actively refuses to acknowledge their hook up when talking to him. He's not looking for a relationship with him, despite being aware that Miguel definitely wants to hook up with him. This is a symptom and storytelling method of giving off the impression that he's not really sure about his sexuality. He's not in complete denial, but clearly not super confident in himself to even acknowledge Miguel's attempts at flirting with him. It can be swept under the rug or brushed off. He only acknowledges Miguel's attempts to hook up again after he's slept with Henry, after he's become more comfortable and confident in his bisexuality.

Miguel is also a substitute for the Richards plot line, specifically the exposing Alex part. He's not the same as Luna by any means, but he was someone Alex was friendly with that turned around and stabbed him in the back, which is what he believes Luna to have done for most of the book. Miguel is clearly the one who got ahold of the emails and leaked them, filling in for the role Richards' campaign has. He's the one who has his team stalk Alex to expose him. Again, Miguel is not Richards by any means. He does not actively stalk Alex, but he fills in the role of the person behind the leak for nefarious reasons. Richards wants to expose him to win the election. Miguel wants to expose him for his journalism and because he feels personally slighted by him. It's not the same, but it works. They're both self-serving reasons for why the emails got leaked.

Part Six: Keeping It Light

I've definitely seen some people upset that the leak wasn't played as big of a deal as it was in the book. I think this change is tied to the role of Miguel filling in for Richards, and I believe it's intentionally not as intense as the book.

They have made it clear that the movie's goal is lift people's spirits, to give them hope and courage for the future, to make them feel seen, and bring joy.

The side plot of Ellen's competitor legitimately stalking her son and setting him up is fucking horrible to say in the least. That part of the book is the heaviest of the despair and public humiliation that hits them.

While it's important to the plot that the emails get leaked, I think Matthew made a point of skipping around it a little because it would've brought the entire tone of the movie down to a truly depressing state. It's heartbreaking to read, and probably would've been absolutely devastating to watch, and while there's angst, Alex and Henry's story is meant to be a happy one, an inspiring one. They would not have had the time to properly engage with that level of angst and then get out of it without the viewer getting whiplash.

I think that's probably also why the conversation with the king was far shorter than the conversation with the queen in the book. With the goal being to make people happy, spending too long on the seriously negative parts of the narrative would have been problematic and counterproductive. Like I said in part two of this essay, Casey had all the time in the world to set that up and drop that bomb on the reader, and then all the time in the world to get Alex and Henry to climb out of the hole they'd fallen into.

The movie doesn't remove all the angst and heartbreak, but it does its best not to pull the viewer out of the fantasy. When something on screen hits too close to reality, when it's not supposed to, it can ruin the movie experience.

I just watched Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade the other day, and legitimately had myself yanked painfully back into reality with the Nazi scenes, specifically the book burning one. That movie takes place in the past, the idea being that things aren't like that anymore, but with the way things have been going in America, and specifically in the state of Florida, where I live, it was too much. It used to be ridiculous to watch historical fiction where Nazi's hung swastikas everywhere and burned books, but now I see pictures of modern day swastikas being worn and flown and it crushed me. I couldn't enjoy the rest of the movie, despite it obviously being a piece of action/historical fiction about the Holy Grail, not actually about WWII.

I think it's also why they removed the Luna and Richards plotline, because an older Republican politician using their position to take advantage of young girls and boys is very, very dark. It's too close to what we hear coming out of the news every day.

I can also see this being the reason they decided to keep Ellen and Oscar together in this version. The book has the time to go into how their divorce both negatively and positively effected their family dynamic.

I saw someone complaining that Oscar talking about his and Ellen's relationship being a risk didn't work because they were still together, and the conversation in the book is to make Alex realize that it's worth it even if it doesn't work.

Yes, that's the point in the book. That is not the goal in the movie.

Again, they wanted this to be a fantasy romance that uplifted everyone. Approaching that decision with the more pessimistic idea that they probably wouldn't work paints a different mood than the hope his parents being together gives Alex for him and Henry. These are two entirely different approaches! It's intentional!

If Red, White, & Royal Blue had done more with those parts of the book, it very likely would have pulled the viewer out of the immersion and remind them of the depressing realities of real life, which is not the goal.

Part Seven: Intimacy

I was absolutely blown away by the intimate scenes in this movie. I'm demisexual, on the the ace-spectrum, and I am not personally a fan of sexual content in film. This is mostly because it's usually poorly executed, unnecessary, or over-the-top. It pops up in places it doesn't need to be, and makes me roll my eyes or get pissed off.

Part of this frustration undoubtedly comes from my bias as part of the queer community, and I'm willing to admit that. I've developed a slight bitterness towards most portrayals of straight couples in media from it being shoved down my throat my entire life.

It was new for me to see intimate scenes with a queer couple, or rather a gay couple specifically. I have encountered lesbian sex scenes, like in Wynonna Earp. However, I had never seen two men together. I think the reason for this difference is fairly obvious, as it's been widely known for some time that lesbians are very often fetishized by straight men, who are unfortunately the majority of higherups in Hollywood. It is far more likely to have a straight executive sign off on a lesbian sex scene than a gay one, because to them, women together is "fun", while men together is considered "uncomfortable".

This is not to say that gay men aren't fetishized, because they unfortunately are too, but only to point out the disproportionate amount of lesbian intimacy vs gay intimacy in film.

The point being that I had never seen two men be intimate with each other on screen. I was nervous going in because of my issues with most sex scenes, but there was something magical about how they handled them in this movie.

Like I said, I hate when sex scenes are tossed in for no reason, but in the case of Alex and Henry, it is a core part of their relationship and its development. It was the first time I watched a sex scene start without going "here we go with the sex" with a sigh. Their sexual dynamic is part of their dynamic as a whole, that is a key element in becoming closer and understanding each other more.

The thing is, I say all that knowing that there is still a lot of "gays being horny" moments in the book, some of which making it into the movie. What was wonderfully done about that though was that the fast and aggressive encounters were limited. They didn't show any further than making out and the motion of taking off pants. All of those horny moments were handled perfectly to provide the right amount of comedy and yes, sexiness, without shoving it down our throat (pun not intended).

I personally don't need to see a guy giving another guy a blowjob in a romantic comedy film! Ace-spectrum or not, if I wanted to see that, I'd go to a porn website like everyone else. Romance and pornography are not the same thing! Having them go far enough for the viewer to know what they were doing without showing it was perfect.

That brings me to the sex scene. Yes, the work of art that is their first time in Paris.

I said before that a lot of sex scenes make me annoyed or roll my eyes, because most of them are just thrown in for the sake of playing to their audience. In this case, this scene was not for the audience.

I've seen several people say this, and I have to agree, that watching that scene feels like you're intruding on something very personal and it is the truest example of intimacy I've ever seen. It's the most graphic scene in the film, yet it does not show the graphic parts, if that makes sense. Yes, they're naked, and you know what they're doing, but they don't film them in a way that made me uncomfortable, aside from feeling a bit bashful because, I mean, have you watched the scene?

There's no showing of their genitals or private areas at all. It's almost entirely focused on their faces, and the few cuts to their bodies only include Henry's hand on Alex's back and shoulder, in his hair, and the two of them holding hands. This is because they're not just "having sex", but as Henry put it "making love". Yes, that's a bit of an old fashioned way to put it, but it makes far more sense than simply saying it's a sex scene.

It's not just "two characters have sex whoo!". They're not crazily fucking like porn stars. They're clearly going slow and cherishing each other. It's almost impossible to put into words how intimate the scene feels and how not like a sex scene it feels despite being one. There's only some soft instrumental as the background as well, not some pornographic moaning and whatnot that you might find in other movies or shows.

This is all coming from a demisexual who has no interest in sex and gets genuinely annoyed with how often it comes up in film. That is how different this scene was. Their intimacy coordinator, Robbie Taylor Hunt, deserves a huge bonus.

Part Eight: Taylor & Nicholas

I mentioned this in a post before the movie came out, but I'll gladly say it again now that I've seen it. I've never seen a couple on film convince me so entirely that they were two real people in love, and not just fictional characters. It's astonishing to me, and I cannot put the feeling into words. I've seen couples in real life that look less in love than they do.

Both of them deserve awards for their performances in this film. Their chemistry on screen together is indescribable. They are amazing in every way. Both of them nailed their characterizations and nailed their dynamic together.

I had never seen either of them before this, and I can say that I desperately hope they are given the opportunity to be in another project together after this. I've been reading the interviews that were conducted prior to the strike and my respect for the two of them is immeasurable. They are both incredible actors and they did not take the responsibility of the representation lightly, and you can tell. You can tell through how electrifying the two of them are in every scene they share and in their individual moments of standing up for themselves.

Alex's speech about the queer community was beautifully written, but Taylor's execution is what drove it home. The energy he put into Alex on a whole truly brought him to life. Nicholas is one of the most expressive actors I've ever seen. His facial expressions spoke so much with no words in the way Henry has to because he's not allowed to share his thoughts.

I have so much respect and admiration for them, and I hope that even though they can't say much at the moment, they can at least see the impact they've had after just the first day of it being available.

Part Nine: Queer Identity

"The conformity of the closet cannot be answered with the forced conformity in coming out of it." - Alex Claremont-Diaz

I have never heard such a beautiful sentence regarding coming out. It could not be more perfect, especially considering how people immediately started assuming that Taylor and Nicholas are straight men playing queer roles.

As far as I know of, neither of them have publicly discussed their identities, and they do not have to. That does not give anyone the right to assume they're straight. If they are, I see that only as another testament of their skill and talent as actors. If they aren't, then they aren't and maybe they used their own personal experiences as part of their performances. Either way, they don't have to tell us. They have a right not to.

Nicholas obviously did a fucking phenomenal job with Henry and was amazing in portraying how that lifestyle can effect someone like him. He was truly heartbreaking to watch in his sad scenes.

The multiple lines where Alex discusses being bisexual are fantastic. The B is not silent! Having his bisexuality continuously reenforced to the audience was a great call, and they did it without being obvious about it. It's not like he's saying it every five minutes, but he doesn't just say "I like both" and never mention it again. He specifically uses the label bisexual when speaking to Henry and telling his mom. It's important for people to hear that word and be unable to ignore it.

Even though Alex had less of a crisis about being bisexual than in the book, there was still an arc to his confidence in his label. You can feel the uncertainty early on through Taylor's performance. Alex pretends to be suave and confident, but as soon as he goes to tell Henry his label, it takes him a second to say it. Then in Paris before their first time, he admits he's never had sex with another man before, and is clearly nervous. Taylor nailed those moments where Alex's confidence cracks. And you can see Alex become more comfortable with the label as the movie continues. When his mother asks, he's laughing and simply says "I'm bi" without any preamble, unlike when he needed a minute to breathe before saying it to Henry.

Speaking of his mother, although they didn't have the time to do the PowerPoint presentation, they still made sure to have Ellen not just be accepting, but supportive too. She doesn't just say "okay, that's cool", but takes it seriously as a part of her son's life. As embarrassing as it is to have your mom talk sex with you, it shows how she was immediately prepared to help him feel safe and healthy while being in a relationship with a man. She did not tiptoe around it or shy away from it. That is not just acceptance, that is support. That is important.

This movie is important in so many ways. It is honestly still hard to believe it exists.

Part Ten: Pacing

The film moves fast, but this is because the book also moves fast, but the film has way less time to get the same point across. I may be in the minority, but after I disconnected the book from the movie, I didn't feel like it was rushed.

Here's the thing, a lot of movies have a nasty habit of being stuffed with filler. There's so much unnecessary stuff that's put into films to pad the runtime, make it longer. Most people don't really think about it, but it's actually super common, and annoying for those who notice.

Red, White, & Royal Blue does not move too fast. It simply does not waste time.

The minimum runtime to be considered a feature length film in the US is 60+ minutes, but a lot of movies nowadays try to get closer to 120+ minutes, which is a big difference. Consider the original Avengers film, 143 minutes, which is a lot, and then we got Avengers: Endgame which was 183 minutes.

For some perspective, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers released to theaters with a 179 minute-long runtime, but the extended edition runtime is 235 minutes. The Lord of the Rings films are notorious for their extended versions and the fact that they are extraordinarily long. Almost everyone who watches the extended edition trilogy spreads it out over several days, if not a week because it is too much to watch in one sitting unless you have the entire day free.

These massive numbers come from the fact that they have a lot to show, most of which is vital to the plot. Too many movies now add unnecessary content to make their runtime longer.

There is not a single scene in Red, White, & Royal Blue is meaningless. Even the fun montage scenes like those at the lake house are there to communicate the development of their relationship, and how far they've come.

While we can see their love showing up early on, obviously they lead with friends-with-benefits relationship that makes for most of their physically shared time being sex centered. The lake house shows them genuinely enjoying being around each other outside of that context, like reading together on a hammock or Henry doing drunk karaoke. Their small conversations are picked carefully to showcase their banter, then their growing connection.

The story is about them, and therefore, there's no point in taking a winding sidetrack to go into the details of Alex's college classes or the campaign progress. That's all great for the book, but in the movie, they don't need to do that, and the decision not to was the right one. It only would've taken the focus off of them.

They have a lot to do with just them. There's no reason to drag their feet around, so they don't! There's no point in spending fifteen-twenty minutes to show something they can accomplish in five. There's no point in dragging out the passage of time.

The fast pace only doesn't work if their progression as a couple isn't believable, and we've already established that their progress as a couple is perfectly balanced.

That's my take on the pacing, that it's not rushed. I prefer them just going, not wasting any time. That's the other part that makes the cuts not bother me.

As much as I love so many scenes that didn't make it, they didn't need to be there for the story to progress as it needed to. Trying to cram more in would've only made it hard to keep up with. That would've made it rushed. The way it is is fine.

Part Eleven: Texts VS Emails

I saw some complaints that they didn't continue the way they did the text messages with the way they did the emails, and I have to say, I disagree that they should've.

The texts are conversational and work really well to have pop up graphics and edits, but those emails are letters. They are a lot more serious, and using purely voiceover is far less distracting. You can focus purely on what they're saying and the inflection of their voices. It also gave them a chance to show the progress of time through Alex's campaign work.

Most of their emails are exchanged over a period of time where nothing particularly interesting is happening. They are the interesting thing. Alex is busy with college and Henry's just doing his royal duties. That doesn't make for the most entertaining action on screen.

Alex's devotion to Texas in the book is his binder. It works really well in the book because we can hear Alex's thoughts, considering there's not much actually said about the binder. He has that confrontation with that guy in the White House, but the binder is his private, secret project. Hearing his thoughts and feelings directly works better than how it would've played out if they did the same thing in the movie. It would've been some shots of him with it, foreshadowing and hinting at it, but its true importance would've been lost on those who haven't read the book.

Instead, they were direct about it. He tries to get his strategy implemented from the beginning, while in the book, it's a secret plan that he doesn't intend to share yet. Instead of the argument with that coworker, he has the argument with his mother, which hits the beats of his desires for Texas. He wants to go out there and make them feel heard and reach out to the younger population, and that's exactly what he tells his mother in that argument.

Having him working on the campaign during that stretch of time between Paris and the lake house accomplished what all those thoughts and emails and Luna's role did in establishing what politics means to Alex, what Texas means to Alex.

Being able to watch him working while hearing him and Henry write to each other through the emails was a perfect blending of two parts of the book.

And again, their phrasing in the emails is very different from the texts. The pop-ups would've felt a bit odd. In the texts where they do that, they're bantering back and forth, sending the articles, and sharing interests, but in those emails, Alex is talking about the pressure he's under to succeed and Henry is talking about how inspiring he is. It's better to keep the audience focused in on them rather than the fun graphics and whatnot.

Part Twelve: Alex's Speech

I've been seeing some people upset about the changes to Alex's speech, and I have to say that I feel like they're overreacting. What he said in the movie was so, so important, and for the people who are freaking out like "he wouldn't confirm their relationship without talking to Henry first", do you not realize that people can have an unspoken understanding?

We don't get the same conversations, but Henry is obviously scared about going public, but he never gives off the impression that he doesn't want to, or that he wants to lie about it. There's also the undeniable fact that they had conversations we did not get to see, book based or not.

You think they didn't say anything else to each other the rest of the night after the V&A visit? You think we got all the emails they shared over the year they were seeing each other?

This is one of those moments where I'm like, "get over yourself" to those people. Who do you think knows Henry better? You, or the actual character he's in a relationship with?

Part Thirteen: Important Messages

Another thing I've been seeing driving me up the wall is people complaining about some of the messages from the book not being in the movie, and again, I have to say, do you not understand what an adaptation is?

The message of this movie is the primary message of the book. That love should not have to be justified to others.

That's essentially what Henry says to the king near the end. He directly questions him about maintaining a traditional royal image, and puts the king in the position of having to admit his discriminatory views. The king had been skirting around it, saying things like "your love is genuine" and whatnot, but still forcing them to lie and hide, which Henry puts his foot down to. He doesn't let him get away with dancing around it.

Henry's line of being who he is and not who they want him to be is powerful and potent. He refuses to keep justifying who he is. Philip refers to their love as a mad infatuation, and Henry shuts him down. He and Alex are in love with each other, and he is not going to pretend otherwise even though he's scared.

That is the core message, that love is love, and love wins.

The other messages are still in the book. They haven't gone anywhere. They simply did not fit into the movie format, but that does not mean they're not going to be heard. The opening credits tells you right off the bat that this is based on a novel, and those who enjoy the movie are likely to go read it afterwards if they hadn't previously.

Trying to cram too many themes and messages into one movie can destroy the impact of all of them. Sometimes it's better to focus on nailing one major theme and making sure that it hits powerfully than bouncing all over the place in an attempt say as much as possible. Messages that are alluded to or mentioned, but never followed through on harm the movie more than their inclusion helps it. It makes them feel hollow, like they're just there to be like "see? we're talking about this important stuff, give us credit".

I feel like people deep down know that, that if they had tried to fit everything they would've disliked it for a whole different reason, but they're still so determined to be cynical and negative that they can't acknowledge what the film did say.

Part Fourteen: Final Thoughts & Cake

Congratulations if you've read this far! I did not expect this essay to be as long as it was, but everything I wanted to say needed more explanation, which led to more branch offs, and that's why I ended up sectioning it.

I can safely say that I absolutely adore this movie. I am going to be watching it on loop for the next couple days since I have the house to myself for the weekend.

This movie is definitely its own entity. It is unique from the book, and should not be judged by how "accurate" it is. It's a different telling of the story, and a fantastic one. It deserves to be appreciated, and gushed about.

If anyone tries to bring you down with their negativity towards this film, ignore them. I don't mean people who are politely providing valid criticism. I mean those people who have been basing their opinions entirely on how the movie compares to the book, and deciding that any changes made automatically makes it inferior. The people who are ignoring all of the fantastic aspects of the movie because they're so wrapped up in their own head.

I'm finishing this off with that reminder, that the movie is not trying to be the book. Please keep that in your mind when you watch it. For those who may have felt a similar feeling of unsatisfaction after watching it for the first time, rewatching with this as your focus may allow you to find what you were missing from the experience before.

To put it into a simple metaphor, Red, White, & Royal Blue is a cake. Yes, I'm aware of the irony, but it works very well here.

Let's say that the base story of Red, White, & Royal Blue is a chocolate cake.

The book can be a chocolate cake, with buttercream between the layers, pink icing, and sprinkles. The movie can be a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse between the layers, blue icing, and flowers.

They are both chocolate cakes. They are the same and different at the same time. Most people are going to have a preference, but that does not mean you can't enjoy both.

You have two chocolate cakes! It's a win-win!

And to the people who are simply trashing this movie, I'd like to stop and ask you something. How is it that the original author, and creator of these characters and story, approves and loves this adaptation, but you can't?

I'm an author myself, and I'm fiercely protective over my characters and ideas, and immediately get my claws out when someone suggests a major change I disagree with or a false interpretation of it.

Casey themselves has said basically the same thing I did at the start of this when I explained that the movie exists separately to the book, and they love it. If the original creator loves it, sorry, but I really don't give a damn what you have to say about its "accuracy".

To everyone else, remember to try and not let people's negativity influence you too much. If you love the movie, you don't need to justify it. You're allowed to.

Thank you for reading this. Seriously, fucking congrats if you made it this far. I'm expecting this to get like no notes and still spent an entire day writing this lmfao

Update: If you enjoyed this essay & would like to support me, you can give me a tip on my Ko-Fi! ☺️

[eventinelysplayground]

This is my second entry for @aquagirl1978 challenge A Series of Firsts. I promise no heart lurching this time just fluff and some implied smut.

Dance Lesson

I hope she's in her room when I get there. We gotta sit down and have a talk about whatever has been going on with her lately.

Jin walked quickly down the hallway picking up his pace as he got closer to Emma's room. Just as he turned one corner he caught a glimpse of her hair going around the opposite one.

Damn, looks like I missed her. Guess I have no choice but to follow her now.

Jin quickened his pace again so he could catch up to Emma but then he suddenly slowed down.

You know maybe it might be better if I just follow her. She's been coming up with all sorts of excuses not to see me during the evening lately.

*Flashbacks*

Jin: Hey Emma, I got a new type of whiskey from a minister today. Want to join me in my room tonight for a private sampling?

Emma: Oh that sounds great Jin but ummm I actually have a lot of studying I need to do. Sariel's lessons are brutal.

Jin: Well I was your tutor. I could always help you study.

Emma: No thank you! I know where that will end up.

****

Jin: Emma, how about we go out for a bit when I'm done work?

Emma: Sorry Jin I'm busy.

Jin: Too busy for some quality time with your lover?

Emma: I'm really sorry, next time I promise.

****

Jin: Hey Emma.

Emma: Sorry Jin I'm in a hurry. I'm already super late, I'll come see you later ok.

Jin: No problem.

*Flashbacks End*

I know that she's only just come back to the palace for good and it's going to take time for her to get used to everything but this isn't like her.

Jin followed a close distance behind Emma. Thankfully Emma's thoughts were preoccupied and she never noticed him there. When she reached a little used parlor she cautiously looked around her then entered.

Now what is she up to in there?

As Jin was about to go after her he saw Nokto come down the hallway and enter the same parlor as Emma.

Well well, just what are you two up to?

Jin's inner voice may have sounded calm but he was anything but. He seemed to freeze to the spot for a moment before he headed for the door. Once there he could faintly hear Emma and Nokto's voices from inside.

Nokto: You've gotten a lot better at this.

Emma: Thanks! I'm having a lot more fun now too.

Nokto: Well if you want to do something really fun.

Emma: No thank you!

Jin chuckled to himself.

Seriously what the hell are you two up to?

Jin pushed open the parlor door, inside he found Emma dancing with Nokto. Nokto gave Jin a wink and spun Emma around, as soon as she spotted Jin she came to a dead stop almost knocking Nokto over.

Emma: Jin! What are you doing here?

Jin: I was walking past and saw you come in here. Figured I could get some time alone with you finally.

Nokto: Real subtle, have fun you two.

Nokto gave a lazy wave as he left the room.

Emma: I'm so sorry Jin.

Jin: For what?

Emma: For not telling you what I was doing.

Emma hung her head. Jin walked up to her and lifted her chin with his fingers.

Jin: Hey, I don't have a problem with you learning to dance but why keep it a secret?

Emma: Well I haven't been back at the palace long and when you told me last week about the ball at the end of the month I got worried. We've never danced together before and I didn't want you to be disappointed with how bad I am at it.

Emma, you always amaze me. I can't believe you went to all this trouble just for me and over something like this. You're right though and I guess I got to make it right.

Jin: We haven't danced huh. Well why don't we fix that now.

Jin stepped back and bowed to Emma then offered her his hand.

Jin: May I have this dance Emma?

Emma's eyes sparkled and she smiled as she took Jin's offered hand. They got into the starting position and then Jin led Emma into a dance. His movements were graceful and Emma followed his lead as if it was the most natural thing for her body to do.

Emma: I think I'm doing better than when Nokto was teaching me. I'm definitely having more fun!

Jin: Well if you want to do something really fun.

Jin scooped Emma up into his arms and planted a passionate kiss to her lips.

Emma: Mmm Jin.

Jin: I love it when you say my name like that. I was going to take you back to my room but I don't think I'd make it and that look in your eyes tells me you probably wouldn't either. I can't wait to spend all night touching every inch of you.

Jin gently laid Emma down on the nearby sofa planting a row of kisses down her neck before getting up and walking over to the door. As soon as Jin heard the click of the lock he turned back around to Emma who giggled at him.

Emma: See I knew if you helped me study we'd end up like this.

[melrosing]

Do u think the north will be separate from the rest of the other. 6 kingdoms?

I think what's more likely is the eradication of all kingdoms to create a singular nation (i.e. as it once was), because I think the conclusion of ASOIAF is really supposed to be about unifying the land and its people.

The concept of the Fisher King (which Bran is obviously inspired by) is of a figurehead who represents the land and the wellbeing of its people - in mythology he's more of a symbol, but I think King Bran in practice will also have powers and abilities that make him a King who is able to govern, but for the good of the people and the land rather than the good of certain factions or others.

That might leave elements of feudalism still in-state (e.g. the Manderlys will still rule White Harbour etc) because I can't imagine Westeros getting rid of monarchy and feudalism all in one fell swoop (though who knows, they might), but Bran will not become King because his Ned's eldest living son or because he's a Stark, but because Bloodraven chose him and because this is a story about magic returning to Westeros. And Bran is the most magical guy in the series. He will be succeeded I'm sure by the person he himself chooses, the same way Bloodraven chose him.

So really there's no point in the North separating from the rest of Westeros because it implies that the North is now embracing the notion of 'the land and its people' and leaving the South to continue the game of thrones, so they... make all the same mistakes as before I guess?? And that really defeats the point of what King Bran is supposed to represent, which is like.... land and unity and the good of all the people.

I think Dany is a good and earnest ruler based on everything we've seen so far, who herself strives to embrace land, unity and the people as much as she can. But even supposing that from here nothing goes wrong and she takes the throne and rules a perfect rule and marries a good man and has a host of good children... sooner or later, it'll be the same shit all over again. Maybe Dany never makes a single mistake, maybe she raises her children so well that they never do either, but what about the grandchildren? What about their children? etc.

Like idk are we meant to believe that the return of the Targaryen dynasty and indeed ruling dynasties in general is a net good because for one generation or two, the Targs in charge were nice people who would only use their dragons for the right reasons? Like sure, and then what? You don't even need one evil monarch, just one ineffectual one for everything to go to shit in approximately five mins - look at Viserys I.

Anyway I digress but I think that the North will absolutely remain united with the rest of Westeros because Bran is going to be King and that's what Bran as King is meant to represent: one land one people etc, or rather Westeros itself. He's removed from the politics that would even define what the North is. And there's not going to be any room left for absolute monarchy when this series is done, so the South will remain tied to the North under Bran.

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 164

Chapter 164: "The Smiling Devil"

These two soldiers need a raise. Or some sort of promotion after all this chaos is over with. We've seen just how rare it is for demons to think what's best for their whole society rather than their own personal needs and I hope these two are doing well once Mujika eventually takes over as queen.

As great as their intentions and views are, these two soldiers really can't change much on their own, especially not when the majority of the town, the other soldiers and the higher-ups are against the use of the evil blood. Even with the whole world against them, they still wanna help out these two kids and that's more than enough.

We barely see anything of Awla & Mawla's parents but I already feel so darn upset about them. Their poor kids.

Dude if the evil blood was such a threat, then why did y'all wait a whole three days to get rid of Sonju & Mujika?? Literally one of Peter's biggest mistakes. At he would've had some sort of backup plan after Isabella & the other moms & sisters betray him, but since Leuvis wins over the citizens by praising the evil blood upon his return and everyone in turn accepts Mujika and their new queen, Peter loses all the support he had on the demon side.

I hate this man. I hate his stupid, little grin as he breaks Nat's finger. Sure, a finger seems like nothing compared to when Isabella broke Emma's leg, but Nat is our special pianist! Damage done to the fingers is literally the worst for this boy!

I don't think I have ever laughed so hard at anything Peter ever said more than during this moment. He's asking the kids if their mother aka Isabella aka the person with the strongest facade in the entire series has taught them to not lie.. bitch, that woman practically invented lying! Who are you kidding? She might not have told them outright how to do so, but she was the perfect example of how to lie successfully and make your actions believable. How else do you think Emma became such a brilliant actor? She watched and learned from the master herself and I'll always be proud of that.

I wish to hold this man's neck firmly in my hands and not let go until his face turns twenty shades of purple.

When I said I wanted Anna to get more spotlight, this is certainly not what I had in mind. I just wanted to see our bright, young medic prove how smart and exceptional she is, not be forced to make such an impossible decision between Jemima's life or the trio's and the state of the new promise.

Favorite panel/moment:

The fact this simple lie works without any issue is wonderful.

Also, Awla & Mawla's faces are too cute. Even they're surprised the other two soldiers believed the lie. Thankfully they're a bit dumb and didn't even think to double check if the kids had the evil blood or not.

[smolwritingchick]

Forced to Believe Chapter 7- The Shield's Girl

Chapter Summary: Morgan continues to manage The Shield and play her part in making sure they win their matches

Words: 2,000+

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'RAW'

The Shield are in the ring cutting another promo. "When we arrived to the WWE, we said we would bring justice to an unjust world and that's just what we've done." Ambrose said.

"Brick by brick by brick, we have torn down the wall of injustice that has been building up in this company for years. From the moment we began our crusade at Survivor Series until, well, right now, not a person that has stood in our way has been able to stop us. As a matter a fact, we changed the course of WWE we stopped Ryback for becoming WWE champion." Seth spoke.

"No one can stop the hounds of justice. Not the great one." Roman recalled.

"Not even a giant...Not a warrior..." Morgan added.

"And not even the champ." Ambrose said. "But those men, were mortal. Last week, we look at immortality right in the face, we forced injustice to the Undertaker." The crowd cheers for Taker. "Deadman, Phenom, call him whatever you want, but call him a victim. For too long The Undertaker has been justice for the WWE, generations bowed down to him, but you see, The Shield bows to no one."

"Rest in peace." Roman said the catchphrase as the titantron shows a promo about what The Shield did to The Undertaker last Friday.

"Thing is, justice doesn't care if you're undefeated at WrestleMania, doesn't care if you're the champion, justice doesn't care who you are. When your number gets called, justice strikes without warning. Without mercy." Ambrose continues.

"And John Cena, Ryback, despite The Shield's repeated lessons of justice­-" Morgan began but got cut off.

'We're a three man band!'

3MB comes out as Morgan starts to look annoyed. 

"Morgan doesn't look too happy about 3MB interrupting her." King said

"Shield, shut up." Heath spoke on the mic as the crowd cheered at his statement

"Whoa, wow." King said, taken aback.

"You think you got business with John Cena and Ryback? You got some unfinished business with 3MB tonight!" Heath continued.

"I'm sorry but did you just interrupt me?" Morgan asked in a stern voice.

"Yeah, we did. Problem?" Heath questioned, not bothered.

"I'm sorry but do you know who I am? I break faces and I don't mind breaking yours. I'm more dangerous than I was when I wasn't with The Shield. I kicked the Undertaker in the face! In the face! You can't touch this!" Morgan yelled. "...But you three are really killing my vibe so how bout you and your little boy band that isn't going anywhere, head back to the locker room before things...get a little Morganized..."

"Morganzied?" Cole asked as she earns a few cheers, while The Shield smirked at her comment.

"You see, back at TLC you did an injustice," she went on. "You messed with the Spanish announce team. Did you really think you were going to get away with it? I wanted some revenge of my own for that. I have been waiting to kick you three in the head and give you three a backfire. And...tonight may be my night."

"Are you done, sweetheart?" Heath asked 

Morgan's jaw drops. "Excuse me?"

"I don't think 3MB listened to Morgan." Cole said with amusement.

"Bad move, they'll regret it later." JBL warned

"No one wants to hear you. Now if you excuse me, I'll be getting back to these three men in the ring. Not the Philly bombshell." Heath said, ignoring her.

Morgan scoffed and dropped the mic. She was about to get out of the ring but Rollins grabbed her by the waist, holding her back. 

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are?" Drew asked. "We were mere seconds from showing Triple H exactly how we rock and roll. But no, you, The Shield decided to crash our party."

"But now, we crash your party and rock your face!" Jinder said as Rollins released Morgan once she calmed down. 

"You got to be kidding me..." JBL says as Roman looked amused.

Heath kicks the steel steps and so does Drew and 3MB surround the ring.

"This might be interesting." King looked on.

"I admire their courage." JBL bluntly said, knowing what was about to happen.

All of a sudden, Morgan grabs Heath by the hair and throws him in the ring. 

"Whoa!" King exclaimed as the crowd cheers when she gives him a quick backfire. 

The rest of 3MB were about to attack her but The Shield gang up on them and start to take control. Then, Kane's theme comes on as The Shield look alert while Kane and Daniel Bryan walk out. When Team Hell No gets in the ring, The Shield quickly leave and watch as Team Hell No fight 3MB. Daniel starts kicking 3MB and then starts throwing them out of the ring with Kane.

"Does everybody hate 3MB?" JBL asked as Daniel started doing the yes chants. "Think The Shield are gonna come back?"

"Maybe not." King replied.

Morgan tweets twice, 'Got some revenge tonight. I thank Team Hell No for helping me out. Thanks for those kicks Daniel. #IOweYou'

'That will be the #LAST time 3MB will interrupt me. Wonder who will be on my list to get #Morganized'

'Later'

During The Shield's match against Team Hell No and Cena, Daniel throws Roman out the ring as the crowd goes wild. Daniel tries to crawl toward his team to make a tag as The Shield desperately tries to get Roman back in the ring. 

"There's some panic in the team of The Shield." King said. 

Kane gets tagged in and starts to take control of Ambrose. Rollins gets in the ring, only to get his throat grabbed and thrown out the ring by Kane.

"And the numbers are in the favor of Team Hell No and John Cena." Cole looked on. Kane throws Ambrose out the ring and gets out the ring. "Oh no."

Kane takes the top off the announce table as the crowd's cheers get louder. 

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Morgan yelled, getting nervous.

"What is Kane doing here?" Cole called out

"He wants some payback for his brother." JBL noted.

"No, don't do it!" Morgan shouted as she ran toward Ambrose and Kane. The crowd was shocked by her outburst.

"Did she just defend Ambrose?!" King asked in disbelief.

"I think hell has frozen over!" JBL exclaimed.

"Look at Morgan, trying to beg for mercy." Cole said as she continued to beg Kane

"I don't think that's going to happen though."

"Don't do it, don't do it! Please! I'm sorry! We're sorry! We didn't mean to powerbomb your brother! I didn't mean to kick him in the face! We're sorry! Just don't hurt him! Please!" Morgan pleaded

"Is she trying to sweet talk Kane?" King asked.

Kane looks at her and then he grabs Ambrose into the chokeslam hold.

"No!" Morgan shouted

Rollins runs to hit Kane but Kane hits him to the floor and releases Ambrose. In the ring, Cena is talking to the ref and that gave time for Ambrose to do the DDT on him as Morgan grins.

"That's what I'm talking about!" she applauded. 

Ambrose crawls back into the ring. The ref starts counting and Kane gets back up at 9.

"Wear him out!" Seth exclaimed as he watched Ambrose take control of Kane in the ring.

"I beat your brother and I'm gonna beat you!" Ambrose yelled at Kane. 

Ambrose does the Undertaker's taunt and runs toward the ropes only to get caught in a chokeslam.

"Chokeslam!" Cole shouted. "Kane finds an opening." 

Ambrose tags Reigns while Kane tags in Cena. 

"Here comes Cena!" Cole went on as Cena started to take control.

Morgan gets on the apron. "Hey!" she yelled and then started trash talking to him. 

Cena looks amused and runs toward her, pushing the ropes she was holding on. It makes her lose her balance and grip as she begins to fall back.

"Whoa!" she shrieked, mentally preparing for the pain of the ringside mat to hit her back. 

But she ends up getting caught bridal style by Ambrose as she falls into his arms. He lets her down and releases her and Morgan slams her hands on the apron.

"Are you kidding me!?" She screamed as Cena and the crowd laughed

She tries to get back in the ring but Ambrose holds her from behind by wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Calm down, calm down," Ambrose murmured in her ear.

"Is it me or is Ambrose and Morgan really touchy." King pointed out in concern.

"Indeed they are, King." JBL replied, liking it.

"First he saves her, then she returns the favor, now this?"

"She got brainwashed by Ambrose. That's why she's acting like this." Cole declared.

"For crying out loud, she is not brainwashed. She believes in The Shield." JBL disagreed. 

Ambrose releases her and gets back on the apron as the crowd starts chanting 'Harley Quinn'

"I am not Harley Quinn!" Morgan screamed at the crowd as Cole laughed. She turns to him, pointing at him who had his reading glasses on, "This is all your fault, four eyes!" 

"What? I didn't do anything." Cole exclaimed as she went to continue watching the match.

As Morgan watches, she sees Cena preparing for his signature move. Cena looks at her and does the 'You Can't See Me' taunt, earning a glare from her. He then performs the five knuckle shuffle on Reigns. During that, Seth runs to get on the turnbuckle to deliver a cross body on Cena, only for Cena to pick him up easily.

"That is God-given strength." JBL looked on, impressed.

"Cena pulls through!" Cole exclaimed. 

Cena prepares for the Attitude Adjustment but his leg gives out and Reigns spears him for the win.

"Yes!" Morgan yelled and ran in the ring to hug Reigns. Seth ran in too, joining the hug. 

"And the winners of this match, The Shield!" Justin announced as Ambrose rolled into the ring to celebrate with his team

'Smackdown'

The titantron is darkened and the crowd can hear someone getting beat up. Ambrose picks up the camera as the crowd cheers. 

"Doesn't it just break your heart when the champ becomes the chump?" Ambrose asked.

"The so called Phenom isn't so phenomenal," Seth added.

"We broke John Cena, we broke the Undertaker, and we're gonna break the deadman's little brother next." Reigns said with confidence.

"Kane, you are so misguided. You think justice is taking vengeance on your family? That's just your head messing with you, justice is when we put the raging monster down. And that's you." Ambrose continued.

"Justice is inescapable, you can do all the running and hiding you want but sooner or later, it's gonna catch up. Now Kane, we put your brother down." Seth said.

"And I kicked your brother straight in the face as he rested in peace." Morgan spoke up, reminiscing on how good it felt to do so.

"And it could of been a whole lot worse. You don't believe? You don't believe us? But, by the end of the night, you're gonna believe."

"You're gonna believe in The Shield" Roman said and dropped the camera as the camera showed Daniel Bryan hurt.

'In The Ring'

During Dean's match against Kane, Kane hits Ambrose off the top rope. 

"Get up Dean! Get up!" Seth yelled.

Kane chokeslams Ambrose as The Shield start to get upset and worried. Morgan bangs on the mat.

"Come on Dean!" Reigns starts to throw a fit. 

Kane was about to do the tombstone piledriver but Rollins gets on the apron and Kane releases Ambrose to kick Rollins in the face. Morgan goes to check on him after he hits his face off the announce table. 

Ambrose clotheslines Kane out of the ring but gets his feet grabbed by him as he pulls him out and bounces his head off the announce table. Reigns tries to hit Kane but Kane throws him to the steel steps. 

Morgan looks shocked at the chaos and starts to back up once Kane turns his attention to her. 

"I didn't do anything, why are you looking at me?" she asked with her hands up in defense.

Later on, Ambrose rolls back in the ring and hits Kane's injured knee before taking the victory after hitting him with his finisher. Afterward, Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose hit Kane with the triple powerbomb.

"Pick em' up..." Morgan ordered as they picked Kane up for her. "I'm not sorry about what I've done to your brother. He deserved it. Just like you deserve this." she said before giving him a hard spinning kick to the face.

'Next week, Raw'

Morgan wears Black pants, black boots, a black tank top with fingerless black gloves and her hair is in a ponytail. She watches The Shield's match against The Usos and Kofi, managing them at ringside.

"Damn!" Morgan yelled in shock as she saw Seth kick one of the Usos off the apron after giving the other a scoopslam.

"Rollins with a cheap shot." Cole said. 

Kofi looks upset but the ref tells him to stay on the apron. Later on, Ambrose gets tagged in and so does Kofi as he takes control of Ambrose. Later Kofi does a crossbody on him but Reigns breaks it up. An Uso and Roman fight outside the ring and then he clotheslines them outside the ring.

"Freaking clothesline!" JBL exclaimed. "Wow!" 

Kofi was on the top rope and as Reigns distracts the ref Morgan quickly pushes Kofi off the top rope so Dean can do his finisher for the win.

Morgan shrugged. "Nothing personal..."

The Shield celebrate in the ring and have their fists out. "Believe In The Shield!" Roman yelled

"This is a dangerous, dangerous team boys." JBL announced. "This is their yard. They own it."

'Welp. #NothingPersonal WWEUsos TrueKofi #BelieveInTheShield' Morgan tweets.

'Smackdown'

During Dean's match with Daniel Bryan who has Kane at ringside, Daniel traps him into the No Lock.

"No! No!" Seth exclaimed. 

The Shield start to panic. Seth Rollins tries to get in the ring but Kane and the ref try to stop him. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns breaks up the submission. Morgan looks relieved as Kane gets attacked by Rollins and Reigns. 

"What the hell!?" She yells as Kofi runs in and attacks Ambrose. 

The ref rings for the bell as Ambrose wins by DQ. The crowd cheers for Kofi.

"Kofi getting himself some!" Cole exclaims. Then Team Hell No and Kofi fight off The Shield and throw them out the ring. Morgan helps up Ambrose.

"Are you kidding me!? He was about to win!" She yells at Kofi. Kofi's theme comes on as The Shield escape and look mad.

'Unbelievable! #Injustice! TrueKofi had no right to interfere while #MyJoker was about to win!' Morgan tweets.

'Next week, Smackdown'

Ambrose wraps his arms around Morgan's waist, standing behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder as they watch Seth and Roman's match against the Usos. 

"Ugh...they make me sick..." Cole gagged.

JBL laughed. "Not to me. I love these two."

"How can she let him touch her? After all those months of going against The Shield and slapping Ambrose. She hit him with all those chair shots, does she not remember that? He had to had done something JBL. It's like as the weeks are going by she is changing for the worst,"

"For the better, Cole. For the better. She has probably opened her eyes to see what a great man Ambrose is,"

When one of the Usos hits Rollins out the ring, Ambrose and Morgan release each other and look at the chaos. Reigns spears the other Uso to win the match. 

Afterward, the hounds of justice start attacking the fallen Uso while Morgan watches in delight. Then Kofi comes to their rescue but The Shield throws him out the ring. They start to continue their attack with the fallen Uso but then Kofi comes back in with the chair and hits Ambrose as the three male Shield members get out the ring.

Morgan shrieks and ducks from Kofi's chair shot and quickly gets out of the ring. The Shield regroup as Kofi's theme comes on. The Philly diva shakes her head and glares at Kofi as he talks trash to The Shield. 

"What you gonna do? Come on!" Kofi yelled

'Almost got #Whacked in the face by a chair. Not pretty.' Morgan tweets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favorite hashtag?

#IOweYou

#Morganized

#NothingPersonal

#BelieveInTheShield

#Injustice!

#MyJoker

#Whacked

[moonstone27ls]

Chucky season 3, ep 4

Spoiler warning...

Now....

...............

Thats about it... I mean I don't think there's a LOT a lot to talk about....

........................

Sooo... Chucky's old/dying. And that last attempt didn't work. Is this the final season?o3o I dunno just wondering, not judging. Just curious, cause we've gotten over the writers' strike but the actors' is still going on. I know studios will chop a show rather than wait/or negotiate

I'll only be disappointed there won't be a Chucky/Freddy crossover. I feel like this show missed an opportunity to have Freddy (since I think Robert Englund officially retired).

I... feel REALLY sorry for the White House family ironically. The big brother actually wanted to feel like a normal teen and have friends. The poor baby brother is so manipulated that its just like Andy level sad. Cause you know Chucky once told baby Andy that he was sent from his father (from Heaven). And that scene were the father was chasing what he thought was his son. I dunno you could see that sliver of hope in the father, even if it was scaring him, to see his deceased child.

Uhhh... soo Tiffany is using voodoo to get out. Not shocked, just feel like the show is stretching how its used for a minute. But I'm just nitpicking for a bit. Even if I believe that the scene were she got the cook inmate worked. Thats not entirely it, though this is my nitpicking side, lol... I think she took a big jump knowing she'd been in the kitchen. What if she had cancelled, what if she was sleeping or outside. But whatever. Lol This is Chucky.

I think what I find a stretch that her "coddling" the doll suddenly brainwashed the guard/and eventually guards. I've seen a lot of voodoo used in TV thats never really done. But again its Chucky, can't expect logic.

Villain wise, Tiffany is still just very much an icon. Just trying to figure out what this show's plan is for her. All this whole "accepting her identity" crap is confusing me. I dunno if Tiff's delusional or just plain stupid. Its like watching What We Do in the Shadows, and the Baron kept publicly announcing he's a vampire. She trying just to escape, be another killer?o3o She's not a 100% interested in seeing Gigi. I just I dunno.

As much as their avoiding she just still feels more destined to cross paths with Chucky again. But I'm gonna guess Nica's gonna attempt to kill her orrrr Tiff's gonna use voodoo to control/force love on her(which is creepy).

But then that brings to mind... why didn't Tiffany do that in the beginning of the series instead of cutting off Nica's limbs oO.

Thats about it. This show wasn't entirely focused on giving our hero trio attention/or development.

The only other thing I'm wondering................. who was that the President saw/chased in the beginning of the party. It wasn't Chucky (again first part not the end), it wasn't Caroline too short... was that really suppose to be the ghost of their deceased son Joseph?