#i don’t even qualify this as a spoiler bc it has nothing to do with the match results (this was during his entrance)

[adampage]

💋✨ yuta girlies (gn) please enjoy but specifically @vonschweetz ✨💋

[antiloreolympus]

5 Anti LO Asks

1. 191 spoilers: so Hebe basically grew into Hera 2.0, Persephone basically said nothing was her fault when a lot of it really was her fault, she thinks her green hands are a turn off (can she stop being hypersexual for one minute please), and she lives in a treehouse now??

What the fuck happened in that four month hiatus, seriously

2. Reading episode 191 was somehow rage-inducing and depressing at the same time.

We're still on the "Persephone did nothing wrong and shouldn't be punished"-train. Everyone, including the narrative, gives Zeus crap for doing what every sensible authority figure in his stead would have done. We're somehow supposed to pity Persephone for....being sent to a safe environment with supportive friends to clean up the mess she made and refused to fess up about until literally being forced too.

Like jfc Peresphone isn't even doing any work??? The first time we see her she's creepily hitting on an inanimate object and hiding away from her responsibilities??? The bare fucking minimum and she's too lazy and self-absorbed to do even that???

Oh, and we get zero news about how Demeter's feeling or doing meanwhile, because who gives a shit about her, she was just there in the first place to be an obstacle for hxp to overcome.

3. How come nobody's eyebrows are ever normal in LO. Why are they always pitch black blobs

4. The new chapter is just confusing . Hebe is a Hera clone. Like I was literally so confused why Zeus and Hera would on decent terms. I get she’s older to show time has passed, so why right now is Zeus thinking Persephone? What’s special about today? She still hasn’t done any of her tasks, so why after so long would we even question it?

Flash back to the trial: I’m sorta confused what the importance was to the freak out. Are they freaking out because they can’t go to the mortal realm, losing Demeter to a less qualified goddess to handle her job, or as Poseidon puts it “you lost the closest thing to the queen of the underworld” (are we forgetting that hades planned on proposing to Minthe but never got the chance)

Persephone: “hey guys I’ve been banished for a long ass time, but at least my ears as pierced am I right??”   I also hate how she goes “some of it’s my fault but not all of it.” She’s had 0 growth I feel, she killed a bunch of people and she’s more focused on the whole “well if my mom was just cool about my fertility powers/if I was just zeus’ kid he would have let me off the hook”

Is that nymph Daphne? Persephone was able to save her tree form but not Minthe? Or is Persephone just choosing not to save Minthe as a whole “I don’t need to help out the people who’ve hurt me” idk

Artemis, Thanatos, Eris: aren’t they not allowed to see Persephone or have any contact with her or they’d be heavily punished.

Why is Helios there? He’s been pretty indifferent about Persephone.

Prediction: the next couple chapters is gonna be a failed meeting with Zeus and then a flash back catching everyone up to speed, but it’s gonna take so long at first to get there.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

5. Okay so I read the new chapters bc why not and tbh I was pleasantly surprised with how the characters were drawn in the premiere. Idk but they felt like they had more time put into them and their hands especially were really nice and looked like they came from a reference. That all changed in the next chapters tho ofc.:/

Fast Past Spoiler:

The time skip in itself is not bad, but oh my god it feels like none of the characters have actually changed except Artemis’ relationship with Zeus. Like they’re all the same characters just grown up a bit, but only characters like hebe actually show that. And of course everyone is so up in arms over Persephones punishment. I can get why Hades would be mad and why Poseidon would be upset because his brother won’t talk to him anymore, but everyone else is wayyy too upset over some random girl. Like everyone but Artemis hates Zeus rn and EVERYONE loves Persephone. And god the whole Minthe and Daphne thing? The point of their stories were that they were the victims of a tragic circumstance. In the case of Minthe, because of her own doing, and Daphne, because of Apollo. It’s like there are no consequences for anyone who Persephone likes. Daphne and Minthe should’ve stayed as plants. It would be the end of their stories and would equate to actual loss for Persephone. I see Rachel hasn’t gotten any better at writing. So much wasted potential to turn the story into a chance for growth in both the characters and writing. The only thing I liked out of the four new episodes was the touching moment between Zeus and Artemis. Why has their relationship grown  and changed but no one else’s? This story feels more about Zeus and his actions and consequences and growth than Persephones tbh.

[pianjeong]

congressional debate zukka au

this is inspired by @owlsantuary‘s post i was a congressional debater in hs so here u go

sokka is captain of his school's debate team; he joined as a freshman bc he was like "a club that lets me expound on my opinions for five minutes straight? yes plz" and was good enough that he made captain as a sophomore when the previous one graduated

- the idea of "politicking" is really important in congressional bc it's how you get people to support your bills if you wrote them, or if you have a really good argument and want that bill to be higher on the docket (bc sometimes you run out of time)

- sokka absolutely OWNS at this bc he's that guy that everyone wants to be friends with and half the people he talks to don't even realize that he has an agenda

- he also makes actual friends with the people from rival schools bc that's just what he's like

- his assertiveness sometimes gets him into sticky situations bc ppl get offended by him cutting them off during question time, but it's usually bc theyre trying to run out the clock and he is NOT having that

- i always led tongue twister exercises at the start of every competition to get our voices warmed up and im imagining sokka and his team SHOUTING the "betty bought a bit of butter" one in the middle of the hallway and getting weird looks (if you haven't heard of it look it up it's HARD)

- he always gets full points for pathos (yes that's a real thing) bc he'll tell jokes abt his teacher dads or his sister but then he'll turn around and make his dumb joke into a big-picture argument about the value of education or something; sometimes it backfires though bc he makes a joke at the wrong time

- i think he’d struggle with arguing for opinions he doesn’t agree with…bc he has CONVICTIONS and is basically physically incapable of arguing against like. a climate change bill or something

- this means that he sometimes scores low bc he only argues what he agrees with

- zuko is research captain for his team, which happens to be no. 1 rivals with sokka's school

- he is the master of the rebuttal bc he loves nothing more than tearing holes in people's arguments

- he isn't the best at being adaptible if the debate takes a turn away from what he predicted/researched for, and he does have problems with looking down at his notes WAY too much (youre allowed notes but youre meant to make as much eye contact as possible), but he always shows up with exorbitant numbers of sources and flattens people with FACTS

- when he's not speaking he is the most awkward of the awkwards and he despises politicking bc it makes him feel self-conscious; this means that he honestly doesn't have v many friends besides his own team but at the same time everyone Knows Of him and the "oh SHIT zuko sozin is in my debate room im so screwed" whispers are real

- he's better at arguing whichever side of the debate is available instead of only sticking with his own beliefs, which allows him to rack up a ridiculous amount of points bc he's speaking every ten minutes

- he's also at least co-author, if not singular author, of like 80% of the bills his school submits for debate (which also contributes to everyone knowing his name)

- sokka and zuko had definitely heard of each other before they actually meet; sokka bc of zuko's Reputation (tm) and zuko bc ofc he'd know of the captain of their biggest rival

- also bc they're always getting called up at the awards ceremonies for best speaker awards (and best bill for zuko)

- they do NOT understand what's so great about the other...but also are Looking Respectfully bc debate requires formal wear and ofc zuko shows up in a tailored three-piece suit and sokka's probably wearing his dad's old suit but makes it look good anyway

- this changes the first time they're assigned to the same room and sokka bounds up to zuko to introduce himself and immediately stutters bc o god cute boy cuter up close and zuko thinks this is precious but also has no idea what to say and blurts out something dumb and then they both sit down and look Determinedly Away

- zuko is very surprised when he finds sokka is actually kinda funny and even tho he thinks that him only arguing one side is disadvantageous he's also v impressed by the strength of it (and oh my god a good family relationship what???)

- sokka is floored by zuko bc his speeches literally sound like poetry with sources (insert that line from rwrb that's like "'see attached bibliography' is the single sexiest thing youve said to me")

- and THEN...they both get to go to the captains' lunches which is where they really sit and talk for the first time over pizza and sodas and maybe exchange numbers :0

- there is definitely "fraternization with the enemy" talk from their teams mostly joking but also sokka youre CAPTAIN you cant do that hes ZUKO SOZIN PLS STOP (spoiler: he doesnt care)

- it takes ages and ages for them to progress past being friends but they always sit together at captains' lunches and sometimes their teams....sit close at awards...and they trash talk and flirt across the bleacher dividers......

- it all comes to a head at the state competition which both teams make it to and they're both REAL nervous the night before and run into each other in the hotel lobby and it turns into them sitting up half the night talking and theyre both exhausted on competition day but it's ok bc coffee is a thing

- and then oh shit....sokka qualifies for nationals and zuko doesn't but someone else on his team does......and everyone expects zuko to be mad about it and sure he's disappointed but also hes just so happy for sokka that it kinda overshadows it

- they sneak away from the celebration dinner that both teams just Happened to be at the same restaurant for (actually, the sponsor squad aka iroh, hakoda, and piandao definitely planned this) and make out outside and tell their friends to fuck off when they come looking for them; they've both been dancing around this forever they deserve it

[justsasuke]

Here’s the thing about Kakashi. He’s quite possibly Konoha’s worst (yes, you read that right) worst Sensei. Mostly due to the fact that he’s so caught up in his guilt and past that he literally had nothing to give his students.

I’m not saying this to hate on Kakashi, he’s his own person with very valid struggles and I don’t want to slam him bc of his life experiences, but for the purpose of this here writing I’m going to ignore Kakashi’s right to be stuck in the past and talk about why he isn’t qualified to do the job the 3rd Hokage assigned him. Specifically in relation to Sasuke (bc let’s be real, after shippuden started was Kakashi really Naruto and Sakura’s sensei anymore? also this blog is about Sasuke so if you’re expecting any other type of content IDK how to help you)

Let me start by saying Kakashi had a lot of potential to help Sasuke out; they come from somewhat similar backgrounds - prominent families in the village that at some point were no longer favorable to the village, and then losing said families.  Both were child prodigies and (I assume) had a lot of external pressure to live up to and not enough time to work through their own feelings...

you’d think with everything they had in common Kakashi could have used his experiences to relate to Sasuke and then guide him down a much healthier path--but instead he only made things worse.

and here’s where we get into the main meat of this rant and my list of reasons why Kakashi was a horrible sensei (grab some popcorn bc I’m about to go off)

1) Kakashi identifies Sasuke’s issues early...and then does nothing. without a doubt, Kakashi knew who Sasuke was.  He knew what had happened to the Uchiha clan, and he could probably imagine what kind of pain Sasuke was going through and yet when Sasuke very openly admits that he doesn’t have any purpose for his future except to avenge his clan Kakashi simply makes a mental note that it was ‘just as he thought’

2) Kakashi doesn’t really say anything nice... your mileage may vary with this one, and of course it’s a matter of personal taste, but Kakashi doesn’t say anything nice about Sasuke.  Not to his face anyway.  and it’s not just that he isn’t nice, he taunts him too. To a regular person this may not cause much damage, but we have to look at the fact that Sasuke has grown up alone and un-nurtured for the last 5 years and that the last person who was important in his literally told him that he was worthless and unfit for anything (hello root cause of Sasuke’s insecurity) Kakashi’s words then become really destructive and damaging to any chance he had of creating a safe space for Sasuke to open up and feel looked after/get the help he needed

3) Kakashi didn’t get it This happens during the infamous treetop chat, where he literally ties Sasuke to the tree so he can say what he wants to say. (red flag right there bc honestly what is with this village and constantly trying to force Sasuke to do what they want him to do without actually taking the time to listen to him or address his problems directly.  Seriously.  Also why are you waiting until just now to reach out to him when you’ve known he’s been struggling since day one.  see #1 on this rant)

I hate this scene because it’s a really good moment outside of the context of, well, Sasuke and all that he is and has been through. It was meant to be a call to reality scene where Kakashi helps Sasuke see that he’s not alone in his suffering, that he has friends who care about him, that leaving the village isn’t going to help him, and his life situation isn’t actually all that bad. (can you spot the sarcasm?)

Spoiler alert: this scene is another example of people who thought they understood Sasuke and knew how to help, which is not the same as actually understanding him and knowing how to help. See also Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara to name the most prominent other ones.

4) “sure, but everyone I ever loved is already dead... :)” Ok listen.  I get where Kakashi is coming from, I really do. but this line.  I hate it. Again, it’s a great line out of context of everything Sasuke is dealing with. And yeah, I can see why Kakashi thought it might help. But just to recap, Sasuke’s entire clan, his immediate family, probably the bulk of his friends because Bigotry™, his extended family, everything he’s known and loved and held dear, his security, the family culture he grew up with, any promise of a bright future etc. was taken away from him by his older brother whom he loved more than anything in one night.  He literally lost everything that would help him gain any sort of bearing of identity and sense of worth, not to mention anyone to love him, in one night.  and it was taken by the person he loved most, someone he trusted and looked up to and believed in.  And then that person told him he was completely worthless. Kakashi on the other hand lost his best friend during a ninja mission (a devastating loss but common within the context of everyone being ninja and it being wartime), and lost his father and other friend/crush? to suicide. All very real pains, but different than Sasuke’s.  

Sasuke’s lash out of “what if I killed everyone you ever cared about” was a plea for someone to understand the kind of agony he was carrying everyday, and Kakashi--who honestly out of everyone else should have sensed a need to sit and listen--ignored it by taking the opportunity to invalidate Sasuke’s very specific pain.

5) Kakashi kind of ....gave up? At some point it seems like Kakashi just gave up trying to help Sasuke and decided that it was unavoidable and inevitable that Sasuke was going to “go bad” and leave the village. I mean, he noticed it on day one, right? (srry, I’m salty about that one if you couldn’t tell).

6) Except he didn’t At some point he decides that as Sasuke’s sensei he should be the one to take responsibility for Sasuke going “bad” and kill him. Forget talking to him, forget apologizing for not taking the time to talk to him earlier, he decided that he’s going to fight Sasuke and “take care of the problem once and for all”.

I could go on, but at this point I think I should stop and take a really, really long walk. In summary:  While you’d expect Kakashi to have seen and treated Sasuke differently he didn’t, and while he was set up to be the perfect mentor character to Sasuke (Naruto got Jiraiya so you’d think Kakashi would’ve stepped in to help Sasuke more) he really fell flat. Overall as a sensei I think he was too bogged down with his own pain and survivor’s guilt to really be present, and maybe he was too scared to help Sasuke grow because he thought if he fed the fire it would only get worse. In any case, other than teaching Sasuke chidori, Kakashi was really detached from Sasuke’s struggles except when he thought it had gone too far.  And by then it was too late to do any good. I think if he had stepped in a little more, listened a little more, helped Sasuke channel his feelings productively, maybe even helped Sasuke work through said feelings, things could’ve been great. He could’ve been the Iruka to Sasuke’s Naruto, you know?   but he wasn’t.

[today-in-abeltownship]

An actual thorough report on the Musical

(Spoiler warning - the ZR:TM follows the events of S1 and S2 of ZR, and so I will be talking about those here)

Disclaimer: I know nothing about music, or musicals, and am in no way qualified to have a valid opinion

(also this is going to be v long so rip)

First of all, Act One is just a whole beautiful emotional rollercoaster. Just amazingly done.

1.1 - Overture: The feels. The beginning! JUST RUN! the piece of accompanying music is absolutely beautiful, big fat stunning and I will be listening to this next time I replay the first mission. The orchestral part honestly made my heart flutter. Such a beautiful opening song. 

1.2 - Welcome to Abel: The hope. The cacophony (thx Caity for using this word yesterday I’ve now used it a dozen times and it’s your fault) of characters is just so so in character! The multiple singing really encapsulating the overwhelming time of Runner Five. 

1.3 - Run For You Life: Sara. I love this character. Yet somehow, this song makes me love her more. The lyrics really really really encapsulate her. The voice of Sara is so on point i can’t even put into words. I know this one is going to be stuck in my head and I’m living for it. I know nothing about music or musicals so i don’t know the technical word for this but the whole atmosphere(???) ambiance (???) of this song is so so Sara. 

1.4 - Raise The Gates: A Bop. This one was so upbeat i honestly forgot how the mission actually ended for a minute there, and then was surprised. The back and fourth between Sam and Janine was so funny and so perfect. DON’T SHOUT Then the twist had my heart like -OH no!!! The instruments really snapped like damn, atmosphere change. I felt that urgency.

1.5 - A Voice In The Dark: More feels. Two lines in and I’ve got tears in my eyes. SO SOFT. I cannot put into words how this one affects my heart but it’s something along the lines of mushy and pain and love and all that good stuff. Hearing the line “for just one friend, would you run?” honestly made me want to start going for a jog. Really tugging at my heart strings here. Just when you think the heartbreak is over Sam gets more and more emotional until it ends with both him (and me) being heartbroken. 10/10 would recommend.

1.6 - Cain and Abel: Villain. The vibes are so unreal. This song made me hate Van Ark more and i mean that as the most sincere compliment to the writers and singers. Top tier villain vibes. Also it’s so Van Ark to blatantly not answer Paula’s question and just end up rambling dramatically. 

1.7 - Archie To The Rescue: My Gal. The pep! MY GAL! The accent! Blue! Wait, are we a cult?! The atmosphere, ambiance, general vibe is so accurate! The voice is so so good and I really hear the spirit of Archie coming through (not a pun but also a pun)

1.8 - Morning Run: King of the Apocalypse. Oh goodness the beginning had me cackling. SIMON! How is a song about the apocalypse so cheery? The answer is beautiful craftmanship and a wonderful voice. And a ukulele. With a smidge of Abba. I’m currently looking to make this song my alarm. (also the foreshadowing had me 👀)

1.9 - Reunion: Tears. Just in case you had any liquid left in your body from the first 8 songs of laughter and crying, this song is guaranteed to make you dehydrated. These gals (the characters and the singers) are magical. The feels. The backstory. SO SO SOFT. when they both start singing at the same time I started shrieking bc it was so so emotional. And then when they get to the last bit and just ????? I just???? *combusts into tears*

1.10 - You Haven’t Met My Friends: Ouch. My GAL *crying*. Her birthday *crying*. Her gusto *crying*. I! CAN! HEAR! THE! FEELING! Evening knowing what happens to Archie, this one caught by offguard and I love it. The reverse use of the piano and the lower notes (idk if that’s the right musical term) compared to 1.7 just soo soo good. Genuinely think my heart stopped at the last bit. 

1.11 - Oh, Look At That: Ahhhhhh. One of the great things about this musical series is not knowing which plot points are going to be covered in which stage. The title of this one had me clueless, and even the art was a bit mystifying. So when the tone changed????? AHHHH. The piano had me amped up in this one. Oh, look at that - OH SNAPP!!!!!!! BETRAYAL! I wasn’t expecting it and yet I was! AHHH

1.12 - There’s Still Time: Drama. Van Ark’s theme is just so supervillainy. Big Love That. Love Sara interrupting him about to solo again. And then the twist! The Music! The Beat! The do doo doo do do! All Fast! All Drama! ITS ALL GO! Then the drama in the comms shack, the back and fourth again, Janine’s desperate denial... AAAHHH

1.13 - I’ll Be Waiting: Sobbing. The artwork for this one had me crying. The notes. The Slow pacing. Hearing the singer’s voice break made me break. The turmoil. The whole Sara attitude in trying to be strong and also... THAT. Sara and Paula being SO SOFT. I honestly had to take a pause after this one ended because THE EMOTION

1.14 - Close Your Eyes: AcTiOn. The fallen king of the apocalypse. This song really, really, really, does such a good look into Simon’s character and motivations! I don’t know what you call the bit when they all start singing and Simon sings in response but SO GOOD! SO EMOTIONALL! and then the softening and regret.... and then the return of Van Ark! THE COUNTDOWN! The music in this one was so paced and changing and atmospheric and good and just so good and so very really good. FIRE! (the S3 foreshadowing omgosh) 

1.15 - To the Fallen, And To Freedom: Grief. THE GRIEF. Janine’s solo had me crying (not that I had stopped crying throughout). AND THEN WHEN THE ENSEMBLE HIT????? ARGHHH!!! Listen that bit definitely changed my BPM and idk how. We’re Not Alone <3 AND THEN MOONY COMES IN. THE TONE SHIFT. this part was haunting and ethereal and so so so fitting. AND THEN THE PANIC. ARGGHHH

This whole act was just a wild ride of heartbreak and healing and heartbreak and action. I am literally in awe of how much talent has gone into this. The Music. The Lyrics. The Voices. I have been put into a blender, with all these songs thrown in, blitzed up and now i am just a pile of emotional crumbs. To everyone that put work in to this I cannot put into words how amazing this musical you’ve created is. tbh i can’t believe i still have words to describe it at all because i think i’ve been emotionally beaten up. 

TL;DR - AHHHHH GO AND LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL

[goldrushzukka]

1, 2, 7, 8, 9. (Sorry, i know that's like...all of them)

1. what themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

i love writing coming out storylines. it’s not really that they’re uncommon, i just find a lot of catharsis in them. 

2. what are some common elements of stories you are tired of seeing? what would you avoid writing about?

i tend to avoid writing sibling dynamics bc i’m an only child and therefore not really. qualified. i love reading it though!! 

7. favourite description in your WIP?

it was really hard to pick one so i have a few answers for this bc i love to talk about myself so. (under the cut bc JESUS this got long but spoilers for and i’ll do anything you say (read it here!) ahead!!!)

- from chapter 2:

Sokka looks at him, a fantasy come to life, and takes off his stupid sweatpants.

He throws them at Zuko’s head, and earns himself a short burst of that real laugh, shocked and unguarded.

“You asshole,” Zuko says. He sits up and grabs Sokka’s hand, pulling him down on top of him. Something comes alive under Sokka’s skin where Zuko’s fingers graze his wrist. He calls it lust and ignores the fact that it feels nothing like it.

Zuko kisses him, his mouth still in the shape of laughter, and the alive thing screams for his attention. Sokka buries it and hopes it won’t deafen him before they’re done.

im very fond of this whole chapter (i think it’s probably my favourite? it was definitely the easiest to write) but i really love looking back on this part particularly now that we’re in the angsty part of the story bc this is where it all started. yes technically it started in chapter 1 but this is when sokka starts to fall for zuko. this is the beginning of all those pesky non-casual feelings that he’s going to pretend don’t exist until someone else calls him out on them.

- also from chapter 2:

He’s forty-five minutes late already, and when he knocks, a woman made of pursed lips and sharp angles answers the door. She looks elegant and expensive the same way a skyscraper does. Or a cache of medieval weaponry.

“Oh,” Sokka says, digging into his pocket to find the map on his phone. “I must have the wrong place, sorry -”

She looks him up and down, her eyes narrowed in a way that feels violent and practiced, and her smirk turns distasteful. Sokka risks a glance down at himself, at his torn up jeans - not distressed, just torn - and the Madonna t-shirt he’s pretty sure actually belongs to Katara, and thinks she might have a point. The bag in his hand feels heavier when her eyes land on it.

“Zuzu,” the woman calls into the apartment, “your dinner’s here.”

“I didn’t order -” Zuko appears in the doorway, bitter frustration in his expression as he looks at the woman.

His eyes fall on Sokka, though, and his face clears into a light-pollution smile.

this is technically two so i will start with: i love azula. i haven’t found any room to bring her back yet but believe me i am LOOKING. she’s hot and mean and gay and i LOVE HER. oh also insider scoop but suki’s date from earlier in this chapter.......WAS azula. they probably won’t see each other again because once azula met sokka and connected his face to the Best Friends Forever picture frame on suki’s desk she stopped answering the phone.

pt 2: i’ve had a couple of comments mention the “light-pollution smile” line specifically and i am always so happy to read them bc yeah. YEAH. i’ll admit it. that line HITS. 

- from chapter 4:

He sets his phone down - only, he doesn’t. He misses the table by a mile, and in his scramble to catch his phone before it breaks on the hardwood floor and wakes Momo on the cushion beside him, his hand finds the lip of his cereal bowl, and then that’s falling, too. He manages to catch the phone, but something in his head gets lost in translation on its way down his arms, and he ends up with a boxers-only lap full of soggy Cheerios.

Momo gets a splash of milk on his back and hisses at Zuko for his crimes, and somehow that’s the worst part of it.

haley @fruitysokka said that this passage reads like an action movie and i think about it all the time. (thank u haley i love u)

- lastly this extended metaphor from chapter 6:

The soup is good, once the heat of it clears him up enough to taste it. It’s thick and warm and there’s enough pepper that Sokka gets a kick from it even in his condition. He feels it all the way down his throat and into his stomach, where it mixes with the prickly nervousness he’s feeling from Zuko’s attention.

He sets the bowl down on the table and asks, eyes stuck on his hands in Momo’s fur where he’s climbed into his lap, “How was the date?”

“It was good, actually,” Zuko says. “Jet seems like a nice guy. He’s very - uh - passionate, I guess you could call it? He’s a climate and human rights activist.”

The spines of Sokka’s nervousness turn to daggers.

...

“I said yes. We’re getting lunch on Sunday.”

The daggers are swords now, and Sokka’s heart sinks down, down, down, right to the hilt.

...

“I’ll text you when I’m home,” Zuko promises, and Sokka’s heart skewers itself on a second sword.

Zuko’s smile when Sokka says, “Thank you for the soup,” is a third.

The door closing behind him is a fourth.

The silence as Sokka shuffles back to bed is every single one that remains.

something something canon swordsmen something pride comes before the fall something chivalry fell on his sword from eden by hozier. you guys get it i dont have to explain myself

8. favourite dialogue in your WIP?

ok so i cant share my actual favourite dialogue bc it's a spoiler for chapter 8 and i technically haven't written it yet (it's in my brain just.....plaguing me) but it's GOOD i SWEAR so. once again i have more than one answer bc actually? i love this fic and im proud of it. deal with it.

- from chapter 1:

“Hey, stranger,” Sokka says, still watching him in the mirror. The corner of Zuko’s mouth ticks up.

“You’re not following me, are you?” Zuko’s tone is seductive, endlessly so, and Sokka wonders while he dries his hands if he has to put it on or if he just sounds like that.

“You give a guy one compliment and he thinks you’re stalking him,” Sokka mutters, and Zuko laughs, low and enticing. Not the genuine, endearing laugh of this morning, but one with an agenda.

Well. Sokka always likes a plan.

“Are you following me? ” Sokka asks. He spies a miraculous dry patch on the sink bank and tries to be casual about the way he hops up to sit on it.

“I might be,” Zuko says, and at Sokka’s raised eyebrow, he continues, “I saw you at the bar and I wanted to talk to you. Sue me.”

“You wanted to talk.”

“Amongst other things.”

as a chronically awkward person i am INSANELY proud of the flirting in this fic. no idea if it would work in a real life situation. excited to never find out bc im not about to use lines from my fanfiction on real women. 

- from chapter 2

“You must be Suki,” Zuko says. He meets her gaze, and his fingers go still under Momo’s chin.

“And you’re Zuko,” Suki replies, her smile all different shades of intimidating. “I’d shake your hand, but I know where it’s just been.”

i wrote this entire scene just so i could have suki say this. im not even joking. suki is my favourite part of this entire fic and its not even ABOUT her.

- from chapter 3:

When Sokka crosses the room and slips under the covers beside him, Zuko says, “I can leave, if you want. I can go home.”

...

He asks, still barely hovering over Zuko, “What if I don’t want that?”

Zuko swallows. “I can stay.”

“So stay,” Sokka says, and lays his head down on Zuko’s chest.

i just think it’s sweet. i like it a lot. makes my heart hurt a little when i think about it. 

- from chapter 4:

[Suki // 15:13] there is a LOT of chmpagrjn

[Suki // 15:13] cahpmhagne

[Suki // 15:13] chsanpghn

[Suki // 15:14] alcohol :)

once again: suki is the best part of this whole fic. i love her so much. she is the reason the word bestie exists. im really proud of the texting in this fic bc it’s my first time actually including it in fic and it’s turned out really well!!

- ok last one bc i just realised this is turning into a novel. from chapter 4:

“How’s my baby?”

Zuko glances down at Momo, batting at the untied laces of his shoes with one determined paw. “He’s doing just fine.”

“And how’s Momo?”

“He’s - what?”

are there better written, more narratively important and emotive lines in this fic? yes. is this the best part of the entire thing? also yes. i invented the jin/yue wedding because i needed a reason for zuko to have a key in what became chapter 6, but sometimes i think the entire fic exists just for this exchange. best dialogue i have ever written.

9. what scene was the hardest for you to write and why?

the start of chapter 6 of aidays was difficult. i kept wanting to skip ahead to the meaty parts - i.e, zuko and his soup - but i didn’t want to do sokka a disservice like that. it was also really hard to maintain the balance of accurately describing the delirium of illness while still being coherent for the reader? so that took me a couple of days to get right.

[neptrabbit]

So. Here are some of my personal thoughts on ith movie. since this post is LONG, most of the thoughts are leaning towards criticism & ofc it contains spoilers so imma put my bad takes under cut. they’re my personal, subjective opinion, so it’d be normal if you agree/disagree. anyways, you’ve been warned.

The opening song

stage performance & movies are two VERY different media, so unavoidably they had to make many changes to adapt the musical to big screen. One thing they were trying to adapt was the breaking the fourth wall narration in the opening song. they changed the setting of a lot of these lines to Usnavi telling a bunch of kids in an unknown future timeline abt Washington Heights. I personally am not a fan of this decision. the cut between the two different timelines in that 8 min release got me pretty confused & taken out & that feeling did not change much when i was watching the movie either. in the course of the movie, suddenly cutting to future timeline breaks the flow & consistency of the narrative for me, esp since the future scenes rlly aren’t that long. Ik it's for the reveal in the end. I still don't like it.

Choreography

the choreography & cinematography by themselves are hella fantasitc. there’re VERY pretty scenes and choreography, esp during songs. from top of my head i can name a few: the reflection of dancing in the opening song, the running scene in It Won’t Be Long Now, the pool scene (with Vanessa floating on a life saver in the middle) in 96000, THE FUCKING ENTIRETY OF PACIENCIA Y FE, the dancing in The Club, the horizontal dancing scene in When The Sun Goes Down, etc. But a lot of the scenes, esp those that involve group dancing, seems a bit out of place when they seem to take place in the real world rather than on stage. This is prolly another demonstration of the difference in the media of stage performance & movies. I had a hard time to suspend my disbelief, and the movie trying to place some of the dancing in the actual narrative rlly didn’t make it better for me.

(at first I thought for some reason the pool scene in 96000 was everyone’s imagination coming together & was looking forward to it. I did not expect it to actually take place in a pool in the movie & they even used a whole sequence of them going to the pool to show them going to the pool to set it up. So is the dancing in the intro. i did not expect an overhead shot to reveal that it actually happened. Moments like these gave me serious pauses & made me unable to rlly appreciate the fantastic cinematography & choreography.)

bc of the reason i stated & the fact the movie is so centered around these songs & the plot gets cut by the narration from the future, this movie kinda strikes me as a series of well-made music videos connected by loose plots & themes rather than an actual movie.

Plot change

as we all are aware, they made several choices regarding the plot. 

changing nina’s reason to leave Stanford from unable to take care of school & jobs to provide for her living at the same time to experience of racism. i’m personally not a fan of this change - i am not implying that racism is not an issue that poc experience daily. It’s just, I expected a more nuanced discussion on racism & identity in a movie centered around a socially & financially marginalized minority group than a few lines of “my roommate lost her shit so her & RA searched me”, “the school board thought i was a waitress at diversity dinner”, “the waiters looked at me in the looks that question if i am with them”, and “i felt lonely and without a community there”. They are pretty superficial considering their impact in the story. tbh the line “when i was younger i’d imagined what would happen if my parents had stayed in Puerto Rico” did a much better job to capture the identity crisis that first gen immigrant children go thru and gave me more emotional impacts than all the horrible things stanford did to nina. 

deleting Hundreds of Stories and putting Paciencia y Fe right before abuela’s death. i understand it’s a narrative choice bc they decided to reveal that abuela won the lottery later & make it that Usnavi had saved to move to DR in the beginning. in the changed lyrics of Paciencia y Fe we also had a peak of abuela’s struggle of deciding whether to leave or stay in Washington Heights. which is nice. but putting that song right before abuela dies rlly makes her conflicting feelings unimportant to the story... maybe the leave or stay refers to her dying, but she doesn’t rlly have much of a choice either way, does it. she’s just.. kinda like some characters in anime.. whose tragic backstory is narrated right before they die to get the readers emotional... but in a pretty song sequence... the choreography & lighting is very pretty tho. gotta give credit where it’s due.

Sonny’s subplot. i rewatched the movie and realized that there was some foreshadowing of his illegal status in the beginning when Daddy Sonny was talking to Usnavi, but tbh it was quite easy to miss.. so i was a bit surprised when they brought up Sonny’s subplot when there was only 45 min left of the movie. that was not enough time to fully develop this plot, esp given that time is used for other subplots too. we know Sonny is very aware of the politics & is sorta an activist, but him wanting to be like Nina & wanting to get into college wasn’t established earlier, so that part following the protest scene feels a bit flat.

Other things

I’ve seen the discussion of the film’s lack of rep of Afro-Latinos, but I am not the most qualified person to talk abt the experience of Afro-Latino community. I’m keeping my ears open and learning on this subject. 

I liked that they made Daniela & Carla a couple and was excited when i heard the news. The movie itself was not rlly explicit on their relationship tho - there were scenes of Carla pulling Daniela outta bed in the beginning & their dancing. but tbh the fact that they added a third Salon lady, Cuca, who’s always hanging around, makes D&C relationship harder to notice. Im not gonna say blink and you’ll miss it, but it’s pretty easy to miss. obv their relationship has nothing to do w the main plot, but eh. wished it was more explicit.

Tl;dr: i think they have a lot of interesting ideas that they didn’t explore fully so the movie feels a bit all over the place. this goes for Vanessa’s hope to become a fashion designer, Nina’s experience of racism & identity crisis, Sonny’s illegal status. Loved Daniela and the songs tho. Piragua song’s funny as hell. A bit sad they didn’t paint abuela in the finale :(

i am familiar w the source material & liked it a TON but i don’t like it enough to feel nostalgia.. so i can’t go in there with a fresh mind & see it without comparing it to the original, and neither do i hold so much affection for it that i can happily ignore the defects. so honestly i’m probably in the group that has the worst experience watching it

also: pls lmm i beg u pls don’t make a live action adaption of hamilton, pls

[val-kay-rie]

how the cards fall [quentin beck x reader]

summary: two different people on opposing sides with the same objective; make the other fall in love with them. 

word count: 2281

warnings: far from home spoilers!! and slight cursing bc of nick fury smh

a/n: ah, here we are again. it is confirmed that quentin beck owns my ass now, and honestly i’m not even surprised. i would also apologize in advance because i suck at updating, but for now.. enjoy! 

GIF not mine!

“Sir, we’ve been thinking..” William started on behalf of the team.

“What?” Quentin quickly asked in return.

The short-statured man glanced at his teammates and, with a nod from Guterman, continued, “We were thinking on how to humanize you more.”

“Humanize me?” was the response William received, “Our poor hero has already lost his family, what else are you suggesting? We’re days away from our first Elemental attack.”

“We were thinking you could expand on that,” Guterman stated, “You lost your spouse, but what if you re-met them on this Earth?”

This sparked the interest of the man in the motion-capture suit, and he urged them to go on, “I’m listening.”

“It’d be an easy addition - to feign affections for someone,” William elaborated, “And if it were to be someone in SHIELD--”

“I’d have someone on the inside if things go south,” Quentin completed, William nodding in agreement. A wicked grin grew upon Quentin’s face as he said, “Well this is brilliant, boys.”

William and Guterman let out a sigh of relief and smiled at one another in excitement as Quentin began to brainstorm, “We have to be careful with this, it can’t just be the next agent I meet. We’ll have to research someone, study them.”

“Who’s Fury likely to call to Europe?” Guterman thought aloud.

William suggested, “Maria Hill?”

“Too risky, she’d never let her walls down,” Quentin shot down, “We need someone that’ll open up emotionally.”

“Agent Johnson?”

“Fury wouldn’t call her out overseas.”

“Agent L/N?”

“L/N, Stark’s friend right?” Quentin inquired. 

“Yes sir, even attended the funeral,” William confirmed.

“That creates the perfect emotional vulnerability we need,” Quentin told the others, “And if they’re calling the kid in to give him EDITH, L/N would be a good incentive for him to stick around. They’ve known each other a while, Stark’s death only brought them closer.”

William and Guterman exchanged a look before William carefully asked, “We found the one, didn’t we?”

“We found the one,” Quentin confirmed with a smirk, “Find out everything there is to know about Y/N L/N.”

---

“I’ve seen better,” you told Fury after you stepped out of the car, Dimitri getting out of the driver’s seat behind you. You hadn’t seen the man in front of you since attending Tony and Natasha’s funerals, yet your first reaction was to lighten the air.

Fury gazed around at the makeshift base that they had created and with a small, quiet laugh said, “We’re making do.”

You let out a laugh and said, “It’s good to see you, Nick.”

“It’s good to see you too, agent,” Fury genuinely replied.  

Fury led you through the tunnels and to the pop-up SHIELD base that they established in Venice for the time being. You walked and talked, “What are we dealing with this time?”

“More creatures from another world, can you believe it?” 

You scoffed and remarked, “Just another day at the office.”

Fury gave you a knowing look as you arrived at the center of the base. You spotted Maria Hill and nodded at each other as a greeting as Fury led you over to someone new. Their back was currently turned to you, so all you saw was the long, draping cape as Fury said, “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to. Meet Quentin Beck, Beck this is--”

“Y/N?” Quentin whispered, almost inaudibly. His eyes, that were full of shock, looked you over up and down, taking in each and every inch of you. His wide blue eyes met yours and, while his were filled with disbelief, yours were filled with nothing but confusion. He took a breath and composed himself, “My apologies. Agent L/N, it’s a pleasure.”

Quentin held out a hand for you to shake and you cautiously took it, still completely baffled as to why he reacted the way that he did upon seeing you. You couldn’t understand the longing look in his eyes, and were relieved when Fury cleared his throat and carried, “Beck is here to help deal with Earth’s new friends.”

“New friends?” you asked both Fury and the man in front of you for clarification.

“We called them Elementals,” Quentin informed you, and it was in that moment that he realized he still had a grip on your hand. He glanced at your hands for a brief moment, then reluctantly let go and told you, “Sorry again.”

Quentin then began to explain everything to you, and you half paid attention as your mind began to slowly drift. Why did this man act so peculiar towards you? 

Your complete attention was regained when Quentin spoke of the catastrophe the Elementals had brought to his world. The stakes were incredibly high and you couldn’t deny the fact that it made you nervous.

“The Elementals cost me everything. It’s because of them I’ve lost my whole world, my friends,” Quentin’s eyes found yours again as he softly said, “my family.”

You quickly broke the eye contact and gazed at the holographic display in front of you. When you dared to steal a glance at Quentin, you could see him mindlessly fiddling with a ring on his finger. A ring that you could only assume was a wedding band.

This, combined with the odd introduction, was a bit unsettling to you. Your mind couldn’t help but leap to all kinds of different assumptions, you were nearly convinced that you and Quentin had known each other on his world. And knew each other well, at that. 

“The next attack is happening here in Venice in two days,” Hill informed you.

“So what’s the game plan?” you asked, looking towards her and Fury as you deliberately tried to avoid any more eye contact with Quentin.

“I’ve dealt with these things before,” Quentin said, “so I should be able to deal with them again.”

Fury added, “Still, we’re trying to get Beck whatever backup we can, yet somehow everyone we know is other-wise occupied. Everyone, but Parker.”

“Peter?” you asked for verification. When receiving a nod, you went on, “Come on Fury, he’s just a kid.”

“A kid with remarkable powers that the world needs right now,” Fury responded. You gazed at the other two people currently in the little meeting, hoping that someone would see things from your point of view, but to no avail. 

Hill had seemed to have her mind made on the matter, and naturally she saw eye to eye with Fury and took his stance. You couldn’t really say you were all that surprised, but you were still hoping she’d understand.

Quentin looked at you with nothing but sympathy, and you were really hoping that the new and spectacular hero would realize this wasn’t the most ethical of ideas. He remained silent, and you couldn’t say you were surprised here either considering he didn’t even know Peter.

Fury could sense your uneasiness about the situation, nodded his head towards the direction of more tunnels in this dark underground base, and said, “Walk with me, L/N.”

You let out a sigh and did as you were told, starting off towards the direction Fury had pointed out. Quentin’s eyes never left yours as you exited the area, something that both you and Fury couldn’t help but notice. 

As soon as you were out of earshot to Hill and Quentin you said, “I get that Peter’s powers as Spider-Man are amazing, but at the end of the day he’s just 16-year-old high schooler in need of a break.”

“And I understand that,” Fury said as you realized he was walking you the out the way you came in, “I also understand that this is a global threat and we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”

An audible exhale left your lips before you admitted, “I just don’t want to see anything happen to him.” 

“Which is exactly why I called you out here. Help Parker, watch his back, make him feel more comfortable,” Fury instructed. 

“I just don’t understand why you’re trying to get Peter here when Beck seems to have everything under control,” you told him.

“Because I don’t completely trust Beck,” Fury confessed.

You two made it back outside and underneath the night sky as you asked, “Why not?”

“Everything about this situation and about him almost seems too perfect, too good to be true.”

You joked, “Why? Because he listens to you?”

“Because nothing seems to falter him,” Fury said, “or, at least nothing did.”

“What do you mean?” you asked for clarification, though you were a bit nervous to hear his response.

“The man had no weakness, could take down these damn creatures in a matter of minutes,” Fury replied, “Then you show up and literally take his breath away.”

“What are you saying here, Fury?”

“It’s evident that you and Beck knew each other on his world, and we can use that to our advantage,” he explained. 

You were a bit confused as you recited, “Our advantage?”

Fury said, “If the man doesn’t have a weakness, we’ll give him one.”

You hesitated before you stated, “I’m not sure I’m entirely following you, sir.”

“You need to let Beck in. Make him trust you, confide in you, make him believe you’ll always be there in the end,” you were told.

“You want me to make him love me, the way he loved me on his world,” you realized, softly saying this statement aloud as your mind wrapped around what the man in front of you was asking. 

“If that’s what it takes, so be it. We need a contingency plan, and that contingency is you.”

Several thoughts raced inside your mind, all pertaining to the same general ideas: There is no way you could pull this off. There has to be someone better qualified. There has to be a more effective contingency that doesn’t involve messing with his emotions.

“With all due respect sir, are we sure this is the best route? I can’t make someone fall in love with me,” you expressed your worries, “I’m no Natasha.”

“Which is a considerable advantage in your case,” Fury reminded you. “We’re out of options here, agent.”

You looked away from Fury and gazed up at the stars for a brief moment, letting out a deep sigh of realization. The truth was, you didn’t have a choice in the matter and had to follow orders. 

When you glanced back at Fury, the smug look on his face made it evident his thoughts mirrored yours. You caved, “Alright, where am I staying?”

---

Dimitri dropped you off at a rather nice hotel, much to your delight. You went to the room that Fury instructed and pulled out the key card he had handed you out of your pocket, before holding it up the doorknob and being met with a satisfying beep that was accompanied by a small green light. 

You stepped into your temporary living space, shutting the door behind you as you dropped your bag on the ground. Careful feet walked across the room as it was late, but the view outside of the window was calling your name. After gently pushing the sheer curtains out of the way, the beautiful city of Venice came into your sight. 

A small smile of content reached your face because, though you didn’t exactly like the circumstances that got you here, you were more than happy to see Italy. An idea popped into your head as you realized this may very well be the only moment of peace you’ll get in the country, so you decided you’d take advantage of that. 

Stepping away from the window, you made sure you had your phone and your keycard before heading towards the door, eager to get outside and explore the city while you had the chance. When you opened your door, you were met with an unexpected guest in the hall. 

Quentin had gotten out of his whole superhero costume and stood there in a maroon sweater and dark jeans with a keycard in his hand. His back was initially facing you before he heard your door open and turned around, making it evident to you he was staying in the room across the hall from you. Of course.

“Oh, um, hi,” you so poetically spoke. 

“Hey,” he said back with a smile, “Where are you headed?”

You put your hands in your pocket as you replied, “I was just gonna go walk around the city. Take it all in before things get crazy, ya know?”

“Oh yeah, I understand,” Quentin said, fidgeting with his keycard as he debating his next words, “You’re heading out there alone?”

“Yeah, well, this line of work starts to normalize solitude,” you spoke, suddenly growing nervous inside. 

“Let me come with you,” the man before you suggested. Before you were even able to protest, he continued, “Come on, it’s late at a night and you’re in a foreign city. I’m sure you can handle yourself but at the very least, it’d put my heart at ease if I accompanied you.”

Your eyes met his as you thought of ways to get out of your current situation, but then Fury’s words and your new objective came forward in your mind. You internally panicked because you knew a late-night stroll with the newly deemed hero would undoubtedly progress you in your mission, whether you actually wanted his company or not.

You held back a reluctant sigh and opted for a slight smile instead before telling Quentin, “That sounds great.”

“Wonderful,” he grinned back at you, before slipping his keycard back in his pocket. He gestured out to towards the elevator at the end of the hall and said, “After you.”

---

thanks for reading | masterlist | part two coming... eventually 

[finewalls]

i live in finland, im 18 next month and i would really appreciate it if you‘d answer this :) but if you don’t know anything about this it’s fine i can use google myself. my question is: do you think i could get free therapy? i think my family is middle class but im not gonna pay someone 60€ x ? to tell me to just try harder. nothing is seriously wrong; i know i won’t kill myself, i don’t think there is anything drastically (needing medicine) wrong with my brain and i smile/laugh normally (i watch a lot of tv and stuff). still i hold very negative views on the world like +85% of people me included would’ve been “better off” not being born and not waking up tomorrow would be neat. moreover im not doing my school work bc im just too lazy and don’t feel that good panic or stress i used to a couple years ago (i don’t feel a lot of anything) summary: nothing is wrong but i can’t pull myself together. 2nd question: do you think i should even try to get it free when there are people who need it more?

Okay I am here with my reply finally! First of all you sound a lot like I was around your age. I thought I was textbook ‘’okay’’, but since I kinda didn’t think I was doing as bad as some others I was like, I’m gonna be fine. Spoiler alert, it was a slippery slide down.

I am not a professional so do not take my words as facts obviously, but  ‘’i don’t feel a lot of anything’’ sounds a lot like depression to me, and all the not being able to pull yourself together. What helped me realise that I actually indeed have depression (bc I was in denial for a long time) was doing this test. Now even if you get 0 on that test doesn’t mean your feelings aren’t valid, and you don’t need help or you don’t deserve therapy! I for one always courage people to go talk to someone at least once or twice if possible even if you feel completely fine. Again I cannot diagnose you and I highly recommend getting a professional diagnosis if you see yourself fitting certain traits.  Also you said you don’t think you need medicine and that’s super valid, and even if you ‘’needed’’ it doesn’t mean you have to medicate yourself. Medication isn’t for everyone but therapy is definitely a good ‘’medicine’’.

Now my first suggestion is to visit a school psychologist (if you go to school and have access obviously). From there you can meet a koululääkäri who is qualified to give a diagnosis if that’s needed and can send a lähete to your local mental health centre. My sister is currently waiting to get approved for the free therapy that HUS proved, so I only know that’s how it works here in Uusimaa, but if you live somewhere else I suggest looking into your sairaanhoitopiirin mielenterveyspalvelut. But definitely a good start is school psychologist as they usually have the right resources. In case you know your school has a shitty psychologist (like we did) or maybe you don’t go to school or your school doesn’t provide them well, the best place to start looking for help is here. 

Since you’re still young I would recommend this site to look for what your city provides. And if you live in pk-seutu my friends have used this site as well, as well as an adult you can go through HUS if you live around here. 

So as for free therapy your best place to go is through school psychologist, and some cities provide like 2-5 free therapy visits for young people. But if you feel like not a few therapy sessions are enough, and you feel your mental health going downhill rapidly, I would recommend visiting a doctor. You can just visit your local doctor and tell how you’ve been feeling and they can send a lähete (love that idk the word hfgsdjk) to health care professionals, and from there you can visit a psychiatrist who can give a proper diagnosis if that’s apparent. The reason why I’m suggesting getting a diagnosis is because if you get a proper diagnosis, maybe even start medication if that seems fit, you are eligible for KELAn kuntoutuspsykoterapia. More on that subject you can read here, or just go to KELA’s website for more info on how you can get it. Now therapy through there isn’t free but it’s definitely cheaper than just paying for a private therapist. 

Vaihan suomeen nyt hetkeks, mutta siis julkisen kautta on paras mennä jos haluu halvalla päästä, mutta tunnetusti se on aina hitaampaa ja saattaa joutuu odottaa kauemmin. Niin jos päädyt sitä kautta kattomaan terapiaa kannattaa sen odotus jakson aikana kattoo vaikka keskustelu ryhmiä tai nettiterapiaa. Itte tykkään näistä mielenterveystalon sivuista et siellä on aika paljon hyviä apuja ja neuvoja yms. niin kannattaa niitä selailla. Mutta tosiaan jos nopeasti haluu päästä niinkun prosessin aloittamaan niin yksityinen on todella tehokas, mutta ne sit tosiaan on hintavia vaihtoehtoja. Jos niitä haluut kuitenki tutkia niin Mehiläinen ja Aava on hyvä paikka etsiä nuorisopsykiatreja (ja niiden hintoja jotka tosiaan ei ole pieniä, mut laitan nyt kuitenki esimerkiksi). (Täs viel STM ehdottamat palvelut)

Back to english bc I like to mix things up hjfgsdjkfhasdkl... Just remember no matter how small you think your issues are, they are never too small to ask for help. I was hesitant to first call for help because I thought exactly like you ‘’other’s need it more’’, but remember that you needing help doesn’t take away from others.  You are just as valid, and if you keep thinking ‘’someone has it worse’’ you might find yourself being worse off if you postpone getting help yourself.  You saying ‘’nothing is wrong but i can’t pull myself together’’ doesn’t sound like nothings wrong honey. But again I cannot diagnose you, or tell you what to do, but just know I’ve gone through something very similar and I went and got help and I am in such a better place now. 

Sorry for the extra long answer fdhsalk. Hope I could help you out in someway! Take care of yourself darling ❤❤

[k-dramalaland]

Hospital Playlist (Episode 8)

I lost count of how many scenes I cried in Hospital Playlist 😭😭 And apology for this messy “review” bc I haven’t sorted out my feelings in this show

— spoilers ahead —

So many heartwrenching moments:

The baby’s heart - I cried here a lot like the parents must be so devastated. Who says Jun Wan has no sympathy or sensitivity?! He shows it as well in this episode and his empathy towards the couple. My heart💔

The residents painful and tiring experience - Yes, the life of a resident is not easy so I always respect doctors. They really went through this intensive training just to be qualified to save lives. This drama did really show us how tough the work here in this field.

Jae Hak and Jun Wan - Again, we see Jun Wan taking care of his mentor even if he does not show it, he has your back. Jae Hak is lucky 👍🏻

Dr Chu stepping up to save patient - At some point , I can understand her frustration. I was super mad about the other resident on how flighty she is and everyone still seems to like her while Dr Chu is taking up so many night shifts to cover her. If that doesn’t make one think of resigning... But her stepping up and being a responsible person really makes her character stands out. I’m rooting for her to be a successful doctor!!

My opinion on the pairings/ships:

I’m surprised on the pairing beetween Min Ha x Seok Hyung. He do understand her better than what we think. And the tteokboki, that is so sweet 🥰 I’m not sure if they will develop this relationship but I support this. But the last scene tho 💔, hopefully he’ll be okay ☹️

I feel so bad for Gyeo Wool. There’s nothing more painful than accepting your one sided crush has to end. I’m so confused about Jeong Won, I’m starting to think he has really no feelings for her aside from thinking she is just a work colleague. I am thinking that Dr Jang should just move on or else it’ll be just so painful to keep this unrequited crush going on. But the preview is really playing with audience heart like pls don’t make us hope anymore. I just want this two to be happy and if they are not the end game, I’m fine with that too🙏🏻

Aside from this, we have ik jun and song hwa. Just for the record, this may be the funniest episode so far for Ik jun. Gosh I just love his jokes and antics and it seems I’m not the only one, Song Hwa too!😂 I’m not really sure on this ship but if both are happy, so be it🥰

Lastly, we have so little scenes between jun wan and ik sun . And the kiss he gave when she was asleep is so cute !! And it seems to be going to a serious note *ahem* marriage seeing from the preview. Lmao I can’t wait to see ik jun’s reaction on this though HAHA

==

As usual, hospital playlist did not fail to make me laugh and cry every Thurday😌 I really enjoy this beautiful gem ! I’m loving the storyline of our main leads and their relationship with others as well as all the patients side stories. It’s like we can see the growth of the doctors and the residents . This group’s friendship is just so beautiful. Plus this drama have wonderful music so what else can we ask for?! I’m just really curious on which pairings would develop ~

[thats-sir-dyke-to-you]

On self diagnosis

There is a culture on this website in support of self-dx and people will often call you classist/ableist/whatever for saying "hey, don't do this shit."

I get it, sometimes doctors are inaccessible, and as the person living in your body you have a very good understanding of whats going on in it. But, for the love of god,,, Don't Do It!

When did it become "problematic" to say that trained professionals know more about the human body than you do. Doctors aren't even allowed to diagnose themselves! So why the hell are you qualified to do so?

There's nothing wrong with reading up on a condition, seeing that it strongly applies to your situation, and then seeking out a diagnosis from that point. (Spoiler alert, thats how it goes a lot of the time).

What does Not work and what is Not okay is saying "wow I have some symptoms for x disorder so therefore I have it" bc oh my god ive seen far too many self-dx'ers list a bunch of illnesses in their bios that are literally impossible to have comorbidity.

If every person with vague symptoms has an exotically rare illness that they self-dx'd, it waters down the term for everyone else who has it.

Yes, you have to self advocate when you're disabled, but you as some random person on the internet do not have the authority to act as a doctor, and suggesting you/anyone else can do so is straight up harmful.

Self diagnosis is bad and you shouldnt do it, how is this controversial. Stop creating hypochondriacs!

[hirazuki]

Can't say I'm a fan of tdp s3's pacing, it felt way too quick (and ngl, the pacing has me rooting for Callum and Rayla to break up by the end like call me cynical but these two haven't even known each other a month.) Also I don't like the direction they took Viren in :/ he was actually starting to seem really sympathetic thanks to s2, until he gaslit Soren in s3.

Under a cut because salt and spoilers! :D

Yeah, exactly :/ The pacing was really weird, the humor was off (idk if it was just me, but most of the jokes or things that were played for laughs were… just not funny), Callum/Rayla was way too quick (I think that most fans would have been fine with them going in this direction but maybe only like 1/3 of the way by the end of the season?), and the discrepancy between what was going on with their easy-going fun little romantic adventure vs. the crisis the rest of the world was having and Viren’s body horror galore situation was just really jarring.

I have no idea what they’re trying to do with Viren and tbh I don’t think they do either – he started as a very pragmatic villain in S1, then became sympathetic antagonist in S2 with clear and understandable motivations, and now it feels like they went “oh shit we made him too sympathetic BETTER PUT THIS WHOLE SHINDIG IN REVERSE AND SPRINKLE SOME EVULZ FOR GOOD MEASURE,” which had me going 😑Not to mention his perceived horror at Claudia bringing him back from the dead -- if he was really that evil of a person, I feel like he wouldn’t be horrified? But from his expression, it looks like he thinks that maybe his daughter went too far??? Which makes no sense given how they’ve been building him up??? Are they setting Claudia up to be the next big bad? Is it because Aaravos is no longer in his mind/did dying release him from some star elf magic shenanigans? Wtf? Adding that to what we know about him being named after Ehasz’s close friend and that he’s a staff favorite (and remembering that Lotor was also based off of one of JDS’s close friends and was, supposedly, a staff favorite), I’m just not too hopeful about even things as basic as keeping character consistency.

It just felt like the whole show suddenly gave up any nuance it had built up in S2. The animation has gotten a lot smoother, to the point where I can actually watch without getting dizzy, and even though I’m not a fan of the visual world building as a whole (I can’t tell if they’re going for a medieval society, or renaissance, or enlightenment or what with their setting, there are too many conflicting elements for me to not find it distracting), the individual character designs are super cool, so I was really hoping this could be a series I eventually managed to settle into. I’d much rather genuinely enjoy a show than salt-watch it :/ 

I think what bugged me the most is that it professes itself to be a super progressive show, with representation and sense of morality, etc., except that it continues to glorify really archaic ideals without providing any kind of solid proof as to why these are good things. Like child monarchs or divine right to rule, etc. – I know Opeli said kings are chosen by vote, but there’s been nothing but proof to the contrary for that. Whereas Viren, who has been the only non-royal main character (along with his kids) and essentially the voice/perspective of a more common type of person, esp in S2, keeps offering some of the most forward-thinking and pragmatic courses of action, but which always keep being undermined as “dark magic = evil lolz.” I just… don’t get where they’re trying to go with this, I guess.

The dynamic between Aaravos, Claudia, and Viren was super enjoyable though. Kinda makes me wish the show was about them lmao. It feels like, once again, the writing surrounding the villains is more compelling than that of the protags, and I think that it’s, again, because of the fact that villains don’t have to be “cinammon rolls uwu” and can be real people, whereas the heroes have to be P E R F E C T. I just wish people would write characters as just people, regardless of where they fall on the archetype/moral scale X_X

(I’m not even gonna touch Kasef lol, someone better qualified than me can do that XD).

If anything, I feel like it’s super obvious there was Stuff™ going on behind the scenes, and if we didn’t know about it from the tweets, I would have def wondered what the hell was going on with the writing team. I read some reviews that chalked the pacing up to the show runners not knowing if the series will be renewed and wanting to provide closure should this be the end of the show, but also leave it open enough so that they could continue it if they got the chance, but like… supposedly this season was done some time ago and there was never any risk of it being cancelled, so there should have been no need to make it so rushed? 

 Idk man ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I feel like my biggest takeaway from this season is that either the whole AtLA team had one single braincell between them so that when they split to do their own projects, all those projects went dismally, or that the stars were in alignment for some kind of magic to birth AtLA. or it was actually ghostwritten by some third party lmao bc I literally have no other explanation for it. 

[quietlysomethingalso]

What makes Chuck the bad guy?

AKA, some extremely disjointed, overly-long, informal and fever-dream-esque thoughts about Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship. AKA a big rant-y meta post of the sort that I have said in the past that I was too lazy to actually make. And yet here I am. Spoilers for BCS season 4 (and earlier) ahead.

I also, though I know I probably shouldn’t, feel the need to point out that all of this is just my interpretation, and I’m not trying to say my take on things is perfect or (least of all) better than anybody else’s. Just tossing in my two cents is all.

So, first things first, I... don’t actually think Chuck is the “bad guy”, not exactly. That characterization is way too simplistic and I definitely do not think that is meant to be the ultimate takeaway from Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship. There is a scene at the end of season 3 where Kim makes it clear that she is wracked with guilt about the events of the bar hearing. Jimmy has no such scene- instead, not long after this, we get the scene where Jimmy sabotages Chuck with the insurance company. Not as a strategy, but just to lash out, out of spite. In the aftermath of Chuck’s death, as Jimmy and Kim grow more distant, we see Kim’s lingering humanity being juxtaposed with Jimmy’s stubborn refusal to accept any responsibility, or feel any remorse, for what he did to Chuck. It is the spark for Jimmy’s incredible season 4 descent into total, Saul Goodman moral bankruptcy. And I think this is evidence of the fact that Jimmy mishandled his relationship with Chuck.

But with that said, to say that Chuck mishandled his relationship with Jimmy in turn would be an understatement, and I do personally believe that he bears the brunt of the responsibility for the conflict the two of them had.

Chuck is a widely hated character across a lot of the Better Call Saul fandom (and yes, there is definitely a part of me that irrationally hates him, too), so it feels weird to be saying that lately I have been feeling like Jimmy needs someone to go to bat for him against his brother. Recently hollenius has made some incredibly insightful and well-articulated posts describing the nuance in Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship and explaining their reasons for identifying with and sympathizing with Chuck as a character. I’m absolutely not trying to call them out; they made really good points which I am not trying to criticize or “debunk” or anything (or even really directly address). But they did get me thinking more about my own thoughts on Jimmy and Chuck. I have never found Chuck to be more sympathetic than Jimmy- not by a long shot- and I think I just wanted to articulate some of my reasons for that. Partly just to get it down on paper, but also because I think it might help me to better understand my own thoughts on the show.

Better Call Saul is, just as Breaking Bad was, all about how characters change. In BCS, a major part of that is the characters’ attitudes about how people can change, if at all. The final scene of season 4 is so heartbreaking because it is the culmination of something we have seen over and over again in Jimmy and Kim’s dynamic- Kim believes that Jimmy can change, and that he can be a good person, and Jimmy is ignorant to it, and squandering it. (I have said before and I will say again, the tragedy of their relationship is that Jimmy has from Kim what he always wanted from Chuck, and he is just too stubborn to realize it.) We know what Chuck thinks about change, too. He puts it in as plain terms as possible. “People don’t change! You’re Slippin’ Jimmy!” In Chuck’s eyes, Jimmy was bad once, and so that’s all he will ever be, no matter what, full stop.

Is he wrong? Everything Chuck says about Jimmy seems to be true. Jimmy breaks the rules all the time even when he says he will try to change, and you can hardly pin that directly on Chuck (Chuck didn’t make him take a bribe from the Kettlemans, or go around Cliff’s back at D&M, etc. etc.). I believe it’s perfectly reasonable to look at the two of them and determine that Chuck simply knows Jimmy better than Jimmy knows himself, and is right not to trust him. But that’s not how I interpret it. In fact, I believe that Chuck’s beliefs about Jimmy have virtually nothing to do with Jimmy’s behavior in the first place. And I also believe that Chuck’s prophecy for Jimmy is self-fulfilling.

Here’s what I think: I think that Chuck hates Jimmy. Hates him not for his deeds, but hates him as a person. And he uses Jimmy’s troubled past as an excuse to let himself off the hook for it. I am actually extremely confident that this is what is going on with them. Chuck has a deep-seeded resentment of Jimmy. Mistrusting him is a foregone conclusion, and a crutch.

I think it’s really about jealousy. Specifically, Jimmy is good at making people like him, and Chuck is bad at it, and Chuck resents that. I don’t have any interviews to pull from off the cuff but I believe there are quotes from people involved with the show to this effect. It’s also really apparent in the flashbacks we get. Chuck is deeply disturbed by Jimmy’s platonic chemistry with Rebecca. And he resents Jimmy for being the favorite child of their parents. It goes hand in hand with Chuck constantly expressing his frustration that people have affection for Jimmy. This personal struggle that Chuck has with relationships is actually an incredibly sad and moving story that, in a certain way, makes me very sympathetic to him. What I find unacceptable is that he turns around and resents Jimmy for this. He blames Jimmy for being more loved than he is- after all, Jimmy is the “bad” one and he is the “good” one.

To answer the question of what makes Chuck the “bad guy”... well, really, a better question would really be, what do I think Chuck did wrong? In my opinion, it’s not really about what Chuck does to Jimmy, exactly, but how Chuck treats Jimmy. Was Jimmy entitled to a job at HHM just because he passed the bar? I certainly don’t think so. Not even after bringing in the Sandpiper case. (Although it obviously proves Jimmy could potentially be a major asset to the company, that doesn’t oblige Howard or Chuck to actually hire him; even if he were a flawless candidate, which he isn’t, that’s a decision they have the discretion to make.) The reason those decisions of Chuck’s are wrong isn’t because of the decisions themselves but the reasoning behind them. Chuck doesn’t reject Jimmy from HHM just because he doesn’t think Jimmy is qualified for the job (that’s something two brothers with a healthy relationship would be capable of having a rational conversation about, for goodness’s sakes!)- he does it because he actively wants to avoid giving Jimmy a chance to succeed. If Jimmy ever actually did succeed and improve himself, that would invalidate Chuck’s justification for resenting Jimmy. That would take away his crutch. And that is unacceptable to him.

Why did Chuck continue to pretend that he believed in Jimmy? Why did he make Howard take responsibility for him? Why did he allow Jimmy to idolize him and attach to him? I believe it is because Chuck knows on some level that his beliefs about Jimmy are wrong, and that’s what he is trying to hide.

I think the tragedy of Jimmy’s devolution into Saul- what we are meant to take away from his relationship with Chuck- is that Jimmy was, at one point, able to change, and Chuck prevented it. Not that Jimmy is flawless, but that his motivation was genuinely to be a better person. Would Slippin’ Jimmy have ever been concerned about whether it was ethical to take a bribe? Would Saul? Jimmy is ashamed of himself for it. The same way he is ashamed of himself for the billboard stunt to the point where he hides Chuck’s newspaper, just because he knows Chuck will be disappointed in him.

After Jimmy learns the truth about what Chuck thinks of him, he has a complete crisis of confidence and returns to Cicero. As Slippin’ Jimmy, he believed that trying to do the right thing just made you vulnerable (wolves and sheep!). He let his guard down when he tried to change for Chuck, and he got burned because of it. I don’t think Jimmy could ever get over that (again- the tragedy of Kim and Jimmy’s relationship!) Ever since, Jimmy slowly stopped questioning the ethics of his actions, and committed to his “the ends justify the means” mentality. And now he has found security in the old Slippin’ Jimmy mindset. Every man for himself.

Once again, to be clear, I’m not trying to say that I think Jimmy is free from blame, or that Jimmy was right to do what he did to Chuck. Absolutely not. Jimmy is incredibly flawed, and he makes bad decisions constantly, virtually nonstop; it’s one of his defining character traits. But I do believe that Chuck’s mistreatment of him is the reason for Jimmy’s downfall. And in that sense, it does make Chuck the “bad guy” of Better Call Saul- the reason that Jimmy went down the path to becoming Saul, in the end.

There’s that scene near the end of season 2, when Chuck is trying to convince Kim that Jimmy sabotaged him. Kim knows that Chuck is right- she knows that it is exactly the kind of thing that Jimmy would do, and that Chuck knows that, too. But she defends Jimmy anyway. And she lays into Chuck.

“I know he’s not perfect. And I know he cuts corners. But you’re the one who made him this way. He idolizes you. He accepts you. He takes care of you. And all he ever wanted was your love and support. But all you’ve ever done is judge him. You never believed in him. You never wanted him to succeed. And you know what? I feel sorry for him. And I feel sorry for you.”

I think it’s the single most important exchange in the entire show.

[seasaltmemories]

1, 9, 13, and 15 for Pretty Lies and Their Brutal Truths?

What inspired you to write the fic this way?

Hmm, “this way” is an interesting qualified so I guess I’ll specify more the dark, sexual tone

Well, first it started off as nothing more than a one-shot exploring an arranged marriage au bc I am a sucker for those, while tense, that oneshot was still mostly potential and could have gone off in multiple directions, that was part of the fun, but then I got a crazy amount of support for the fic and requests to expand on it, I didn’t know the exact direction I wanted to go with it, but i did have one semi-fleshed out scene in my head, their wedding night, so wanting that validation, I banged out my first sex scene figuring that it would be a one-time thing, but aside from the continued positive reception (and a lot of fans of the smut lol) mostly vague ideas kept carrying me until chapter 4, 

it was then the plot had to get a lot more grounded, it was also the first time we got Alm’s POV which upped the darkness level a lot, there were multiple factors to this shift, first of all, I have written plenty of dark stuff in the past, I’d still call PLBT my darkest but to make sure I wasn’t just retreaded old ground, I wanted to dip my toe further, second I had finished Revolutionary Girl Utena around that time, which both spoke to my then aesthetic and has further shaped my current one, and the biggest inspiration for PLBT was the fact that you got to see characters and their lowest and most repulsive but they still maintained a humanity that made you want to follow them, third, in my efforts to keep Alm from seeming OOC, he was kinda a weak antagonist, while the audience knew on an intellectual level that he had done some shady things, on the page he had been accommodating and almost meek, he needed more shades of gray and so right after betraying Celica, him revealing what fucked up desires he had been hiding kinda made him betray the audience as well and kick him out of the ‘nice guy’ box he had been floating around in

So yeah looking back the transition was probably wild for readers and if I could do it again I would prefer to make it more tonally consistent to make sure I hadn’t strung along any readers into darker waters than they had planned for, but from my ramblings it must be pretty obvious I find it all fascinating to reflect on 

Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Ever as a fleshed out idea? No, but like I mentioned above it took a while for the fics identity to come together, at first it was intended to mostly be like chapters 1 through 3, a sandbox sorta approach to Celica trying to maneuver around Alm in different scenarios, but as I tried to figure out the details of this world, the politics would be so heavily altered that to leave out the full impact would be to blunt the effects of the Rigelian invasion which would in-turn make Celica’s reaction seem overblown (pretty sure a reviewer had already called her a bitch by then) so if I wanted the stakes to feel real, I had to follow the plot threads I had set up which led to it snowballing into its current incarnation

What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I make playlists for writing projects less to listen to when writing, but while going about my day to get ideas rolling, that monster has 20+ songs (and when the fic is finished I play to compile a fanmix that is shorter and can have spoiler songs) so to keep this post relatively brief

Paramore’s album After Laughter overall captures the tone: Rose-Colored Boy being specifically fitting

The Violence by Rise Against could the OP if this was a show and consequentially I used it for a trailer of the fic, captures the greater-scale continental wide aspect of the conflict

Sex Yeah by Marina and the Diamonds is a runner up in the OP department, more focusing specifically on how the leads view and are affected by sex, and how that later defines their goals

Opheliac by Emilie Autumn and Big God by Florence + The Machine really fit Celica’s mindset, Opheliac emphasizing her relationship with Rigel and Big God her relationship with Zofia (and might hint at later trajectories of her character)

What did you learn from writing this fic?

I feel like I am still in the middle of it, so I can’t do a full reflection, but it’s given me a lot more courage to pursue the specific inspiration that comes to me even if I don’t feel 100% confident in them, and I think I’ve gotten more confident to tackle more plot-heavy works with a variety of actors

[wintersoldeer]

ok here's some totally incoherent thoughts about endgame that i just have to write down or i might explode spoilers: i loved it also actual spoilers spoilers very spoilery spoilers

1. Steve and the goddddamn mjölnir!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! when thor, iron man and cap were like 'aw yeahhh we're gonna fight thanos' i was like what the heckie is steve even doing there, supersoldier or not he's just a human. then thor drops his hammer and i’m like oh my gods please literally crossing my fingers. then thor’s fight is not going so well and oh no he definitely needs someone to save him! i’m like ohhhhhmygooddss. and THEN IT FINALLY HAPPENS I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARS HELL YEAHHHHH

2. steve & peggy dance. yes. just yes. fucking finally. i love it. it was perfect i cried

3. clint should’ve died. (finally haha) he was my fave since before the avengers and i was so sure he was going to die back then, but then he didn’t and look what’s became of him since.......... i had a violent flashback to watching age of ultron for the first time and for the first time just hoping that my fave character (that would be clint) would just die, bc they’re screwing his character over so badly........ and most definitely it. should.  not. have. been. natasha. who. died.  that was such a bullshit i mean WHAT THE FUCK????  i mean maybe clint and natasha were the only remaining avengers that actually loved each other (?¿¿????¿¿¿?¿ tho that’s just flimsy, i’m just trying to....idek) and that’s why it had to be them on that stupid fuckin death cliff, but why did natasha have to die?? just because clint had a family (still with no actual characterization, not that i even care, or maybe i would if the movies had given me any reason to...) to return to and she didn’t??that fucking sucks and what sucks even more is that not only was natasha the only character that died (i’m not even counting tony, bc that was very Different) but she’s the only original female avenger AND it’s the same stupd fucking rock that the only original female gotg gamora died in such a bullshit way just last movie??? goddddd i hated that so much like maybe if she hadn’t been the first one to die and all the original avengers would’ve died as was i kinda hoping (tho i love happy endings so i didn’t actually hope that it would happen..), maybe then i would be okay with her being dead. now i am very much not okay, and that means very much not okay in a angry way, not in a sad way

4. speaking of death: to me tony’s was perfect. i might not be the biggest fan of how he always got the most screentime and a bigger role than other characters, but i can’t deny that he definitely is the heart of the whole mcu and it had to be him who saves the day in the end and what else could it have been that a very tony-like self-sacrifice..... god i cried. i loved that he got a funeral (even tho natasha didn’t...) and i loved his funeral with all the people and fricking harley and then the kid saying how much she likes cheeseburgers and the frickin ‘proof that tony stark has a heart’ and sfghkklkghhhh

5. i gasped audibly when i noticed that natasha was wearing the arrow necklace

6. i kinda forgot that vision ever even existed..... in the end i first thought that wanda was talking about pietro and then i was like ok well maybe not maybe she’s talking about tony or something WHICH MAKES NO SENSE LOL i don’t even remember what she actually said, but as was pointed out to me, she was probably talking about vision. who was a thing that existed... whoops

7. ugh i hate brucenat, i really thought we were over that shit already. i also very much disliked that they actually decided to go with professor hulk, but idk w/e i don’t care that much. but natasha’s death sucked tho and the one thing i do not want to see is bruce’s pain or whatever when the movie didn’t even give me the time or reason to actually grieve for her goddd that whole thing was such a bullshit

8. i did not like that thor was treated as a joke most of his screentime........

9. that stevepeggy dance tho. love it. it’ll probably take me at least another seven years to get over it

10. i fricking adored the whole going back in time thing, especially the 2012. the callbacks and the humor really worked for me, the elevator scene straight from cap2 but reversed and hail hydra and steve fighting steve and loki’s expressions when things go wrong and goddhhh i loved it all aaaaaaa, that was the moment when i was like ok i need to see this movie again immediately.... also the fact that their time travel rules were that they were just creating new paths or w/e i guess, and not actually changing what happened to them specifically... good. so many aus

11. that final battle was so perfectly epic

12. tho shouldn’t valkyrie’s (who really just doesn’t have a real name, now does she..) horse have died after being shot haha

13. i loved that clint had the gauntlet for so long, like he’s definitely the Least Qualified Person to keep it safe, why would that be his job, it was amazing

14. i hated natasha’s death with burning passion, but i loved how she and clint fought each other over who gets to throw themselves off that cliff. tho i really hoped that their ‘yeahh we know what we have to do’ would’ve rather meant that they decided to just throw red skull down bc who even knows if it even actually needs love sacrifice or w/e, a soul is a soul is a soul

15. i loved the human jarvis whatever-his-first-name-was cameo and i really need to finally watch/rewatch agent carter

16. i really liked the tony howard scene even if i thought it felt a bit iffy, bc i feel like there’s so much more to unpack w/ those daddy issues.... but maybe that scene means that there is that one universe where howard was actually a good dad. i want to believe that. yeah. (maybe not but let me dream)

17. i like how they totally forgot that sharon carter ever even existed

18. damn that moment when black panther comes through that portal

19. damn that moment when gi ant-man is giant

20. damn that final battle was so epic

21. damn that steve with mjölnir

22. this movie was SO GOOD when it was good and so mehhh when it was bad, and i’m really glad that it was just good enough that i can forgive overlook all of its flaws. (tho i will not forgive what they did to natasha, even if i can mostly ignore it when thinking about how good most of the rest of the movie was) but idk if it would’ve been perfect, maybe i wouldn’t have survived like there’s this One Huge Thing (natasha) that really brings down the movie that otherwise would’ve been just Amazing

23. i don’t know if my heart has ever beaten as fast as when steve finally picks up the hammer. never while watching a movie, at least

24. i love that carol has her short haircut, bc it bothered me so much in cpn marvel that she should not have been able to see anything when her hair was just constantly on her face haha

25. i feel nothing but seething resentment towards clint’s stupid family and that stupid family man role he is stuck with

26. why was natasha’s hair so weird and ugly. why can’t it just be red??

27. clint’s hair was weird and ugly too and i think i have finally kinda given up on mcu!clint (tho he has those small Very Good moments and i cry for what could’ve been.....we could’ve have it aaaaaalllll.... i think i’m going to watch swat (2003) again and still pretend it’s the clint backstory movie i deserve haha, it’s been ages since i’ve seen it idk if it would still work for me, i’m gonna try)

28. i love nebula tho

29. i loved the trip down memory lane! frigga!!!! the way the continuation of the avengers capturing loki just felt so natural and like it probably happened just like that! nebula and rhodey judging quill’s singing and dancing haha yes! everything! just as i was hoping it would be!

30. doesn’t really have anything to do with this movie but: i still firmly believe that coulson never died. i still firmly believe that pietro never died. 

31. falcon cap helll yeah!!

32. i guess i’ll never get my strike team delta movie with clintasha best friends soulmates and with buckynat and the red room.........  goddd there really should’ve been a black widow movie after cap2. like that was The Perfect Spot for a black widow movie, it’s really a crime that there isn’t one, and even if they make a black widow movie now, it’ll definitely be too little too late.

33. like..... a for effort..... for that female heroes girl power.... ughhhh.... scene, i guess, but that. does. not. cut. it. when you have just killed natasha

34. things i really wished they would say in some perfect moments: “hail hydra” “avengers assemble!” “i am iron man”. things they did say in those moments: “hail hydra” “avengers assemble” “i am iron man”, gogssgddd that was perfect (ok i also really did wish steve would’ve said the “i could do this all day” in the fight but couldn’t say bc the movie had just made fun of that.. i’m kinda sad but haha it’s not that big of a deal, maybe if he hadnt said it in civil war which i dont like but well...)

35. haha people are already complaining about the steve going back thing and how it’s definitely not moving on and erasing character development or whatever and HA. i finally got my stevepeggy dance i don’t care about anything else i am so happy!!!!!

36. i am so glad i managed to avoid any spoilers bc i hear that there was some pretty massive ones going around??¿?¿?

37. also: ok from here on out i am not here for any of you negative nancys complaining (probably very reasonable complaints idec) about the movie, god i really wish it was 2012 again

38. in final thoughts: i absolutely loved it and i love that it turns out that i’m apparently still very much marvel trash........ if natasha hadn’t died, especially in such a bullshit way, i would’ve been able to overlook everything else that was kinda meh about the movie and just purely and blindly loved it. i still did love it, a lot, but now there’s that bitter aftertaste.....

ok now, maybe that’s enough rambling and repeating myself....... i’m going to need to see it again asap

//EDIT

39. I FORGOT TO MENTION IT BC I FORGOT ABOUT IT but goooooooooodddd i loved nebula and tony playing that game in the beginning and tony letting nebula win ääääää

[loracarol]

I may or may not do a Proper Review of the Twisted Tales series at a later date, but here’s my brief summary/review of the first three. This WILL contain spoilers. 

Also @fantastic-nonsense​, have you heard of/read any of these? I know that fairy tales are kind of your jam. :V

A Whole New World

Easily my favorite of the three by far

Really leans in to the whole “the same Disney Movie You Know but with One Twist” thing they claim to have going on

Jafar gets the lamp

And that’s where it all goes to shit

Everything builds off of this one singular change in the timeline - while things are built up/expanded in the past, frankly it’s nothing that goes against the actual movie. 

For example, the King being little more then a man-child ignoring the problems in his city. Not specifically mentioned in the movie but given the King’s personality/the slums we see, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. 

Building on Aladdin’s past friendships - again, not something we actually see in movie, but not necessarily ooc either.

Also Jafar kills the Sultan, uses magic to raise the dead (the genie can’t do it, but Jafar uses his newfound power to look for a way around that.) 

BUT YEAH there are zombies all of a sudden, including children. 

This book was baller, 10/10 would recommend, even if just for the Holy Shit What The Fuck-ness of it.  

Once Upon A Dream

Middle of the pack IMO. 

I don’t actually have anything against the idea of the plot.

Aurora is highly different from her movie counterpart. It’s not necessarily bad IMO, but it was Distracting. 

Aurora and Philip were cute, though. 

Aurora’s parent’s get killed before she gets a chance to meet them. :( 

But then?? She/the plot seems to agree with Maleficent that it was all their fault for sending their child away?? 

And, of course, ~Maleficent~ wouldn’t ever do something like that

Ignoring for the moment that they sent her away because Maleficent had put a curse on a fucking baby that was supposed to kill her 

and it was only because another fairy intervened that she didn’t die

Maleficent, you don’t get to police how other people deal with that shit when it’s your fault  they have to deal with it

And also you killed them and it’s your fault Aurora never got to meet her parents. 

I was worried they were going to pull a Maleficent at the beginning with the framing device that Maleficent was the good guy and the three good fairies/the King and Queen were the bad guy, but the twist was nice

Not my fav, and while I did laugh out loud at some parts, I ended up feeling like I was reading about two OC’s who’d snuck into the plot rather then the Disney versions of the characters. 

This was especially annoying bc the part where the book “twisted” the tale was around Aurora pricking her finger/Maleficent dying - aka the end of the friggen movie.  

6/10 wouldn’t recommend but wouldn’t anti-recommend either. 

As Old As Time

This book was very... Yikes

Yikes Yikes Yikes

Okay, maybe I’m overthinking this - I’m not actually Jewish, but it felt like this book appropriated/exploited a lot of Jewish historical suffering? 

This one is under a cut bc potential antisemitism

Twist is that Belle’s mother was the Enchantress, but honestly, that didn’t feel like enough of a twist to justify everything that happens in the book

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a kingdom. This kingdom had many people within it’s borders, including a number of Jewish people magical folk. Belle’s mother is one of those Jewish people magical folk, only she’s a good Jew magical person with her “Aryan” looks blonde hair and light eyes (tbh I can’t remember if they were green or blue). 

Among Maurice’s companions include a man who hates his Jewish heritage magical abilities and thinks of magic as unnecessary/evil. 

Belle’s mother settles down with Maurice and has a baby with him, but things are starting to go poorly for the Jewish magical people. A plague arrives and the magical people (you get the point so I’m going to stop now) are blamed for it. Belle’s mom goes to the castle to try and bargain for help and because she is a Good Magical Person she casts a spell of protection on all of the children in the castle. 

Meanwhile, magical folk are disappearing, but no one knows where to. To combat this, a series of people - including Mr. Potts - run a smuggling ring to get magical people out of the country. This is Important as things are continuing to go Wrong and the magical people are being blamed for all the countries ills. 

In the end, the bad guy is the man who hated his magical abilities. He’s also Monsieur D’Arque - the asylum owner. He experimented on his brain (like, actual brain surgery) to get rid of his powers, and he’s been kidnapping and torturing magical beings since in order to try and figure out how to destroy all magical beings. Let me be clear, he is pretty much a Disney Fanfic Version of Josef Mengele. His experiments were horrible. Belle’s mom was one of those taken*, and she was tortured so badly... It’s horrifying, reading the description. 

*As one of her last spells, she had removed everyone’s memories of her connection to Belle & Maurice to protect them, and that’s why D’Arque didn’t go after them at first. 

There are other things, too, little bits here and there that really made me feel uncomfortable, like the book was appropriating this historical persecution of Jewish people for it’s own ends, but again, I’m not Jewish, and therefore not qualified to make A Statement on Antisemitism. I’m just noting the things I noticed.

That’s my Number One Big Problem with the book, and why I’d probably give it 1/5 stars, if that. That being said, that wasn’t my only problem with the book. The thing is, it wasn’t a good book that used unfortunate metaphors, it just felt like really really really bad fanfic on top of that. I don’t mention the following because I think they’re equal to what I noted above, I mention the following because these were other things that really annoyed me, and I wanted to rant about it:

Who the fuck are you, and what have you done with the beast? 

You know how, in the movie, when the Beast knows that Belle is a chance to break the curse, and he still is an angry asshole to her even though realistically being kind would be more likely to cause her to fall in love with him & to break the spell.  

Yeah, forget all that. 

Belle touches the rose, learns about the curse, remembers her mother, and knows that she’s unlikely to fall in love with him now that she knows she “has” to.

The Beast, in return, turns into Bad!Fanfic!Draco/Zuko. You know, the kinds that show up in bad Dramaione/Zutara fics. (I’m not saying they’re all bad, but come on, you know what I mean when I refer to Bad Versions Of Those Fics. 

You know the archetype. 

Despite finding out that he may be Cursed Forever he puts on a tablecloth like an apron and helps Belle cook. 

................................Yeah. 

I read a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic that was Beauty and the Beast and something similar-ish occurred, but there it made sense. There it was in-character. 

Also there’s a scene where the Beast is literally groveling on his hands and knees to get Gaston’s help.

Do you see what I mean about “bad fanfic”? 

Anticlimax

The whole mob @ the asylum ends because LeFou recognizes his aunt (?) as one of the patients and that’s pretty much all it takes to turn people’s minds around. Maybe this could have worked with better set-up (LeFou’s POV book?) but... Yeah............

Anticlimactic Gaston

You know all that power he had over people in the village? How he was so well-liked he had his own theme song? How he was able to get everyone to set up a wedding in like... A day? How he had girls swooning over him? How the tavern was his house of worship? How he was able to get a mob going to attack a Dangerous Beast by sheer virtue of Who He Was in the village? How it took him plunging to his death to stop his cruelty? 

Yeah, there’s none of that in this book. 

People start recognizing the people in the asylum, and that’s just... It. They don’t turn on him, but they do turn away from him, and he just kind of... Takes it. It’s like they gave canon!Gaston valium. Why wasn’t he angry when he lost control? Why didn’t he rage when people betrayed him? Those are canon actions even before Belle meets the Beast! It just doesn’t make any sense that he’d just lie down and take it. 

And the Furries Rejoiced 

Belle doesn’t break the curse, but her mother has enough power to break part of it. The Beast somehow Stops Losing His Humanity because Luv (??) but that’s not enough to actually break the curse. The Beast asks the enchantress to break the curse on his people instead, and she does, leaving the Beast totally fine with being trapped in an alien, monstrous body. There is hope - if they can gather other fairy tale creatures to his palace*, they might be able to band together to break it. And like, I get it. People seem to have a hard on for the beastly form, but the book totally glosses over his canonical frustration with his inhuman form. See again, the cooking, and turning into LeatherPants!Draco/Zuko. It’s frustrating - again, that’s something that could have genuinely be fascinating, but it just felt like a cop-out so that the book could end with him still a furry. 

Like, do that if you want, but actually make it a consequence with some emotion behind it rather then just being kind of... Meh.   

* His palace was magically hidden & that part of the curse didn’t break meaning that it has the potential to become a haven for persecuted magical beings.