#i don’t have any commentary on that i’ve just been. sitting with it i suppose.

[pinkfey]

is this a safe space

[hold-him-down]

🤝 - Some help performing a basic task

✥ I Got Something For You ✥

Trigger warnings: semi-explicit noncon. 18+ only.

Notes: 2-ish months into West Peterson.

✥ ✥ ✥

When the doorbell rang, and Mr. Peterson inclined his head toward Leo, that should have been the first warning. The, “I got something for you,” should have been the second. Neither, though, prepares Leo for who greets him on the other side. When Leo opens the door to find a man, no older than he is, with short black hair and deep, charcoal eyes, wearing a Department of Labor Services branded t-shirt staring at him, there’s only a brief moment of confusion before the pieces fall into place.

✥ ✥ ✥ 

[Weeks Earlier]

“Come over here,” Mr. Peterson calls to him one night, abrupt but not exactly unexpected. Leo finishes the plate he is cleaning and sets it aside. He dries his hands, unrolls the sleeves to his crisp black button-down, pours himself a glass of wine, and makes his way over to the older man who currently holds his contract. 

He sits down cautiously, and Mr. Peterson offers him a genuine smile. “I'm– I'm just going to cut to the chase, Leo. I’ve been giving this some thought..." He reaches for his tablet and turns it on. “Now that you’ve been here for a few months, and you know– well, you know how fond of you I am,” he continues.

Leo returns the smile and nods, mouthing a soft, 'thank you,' to be on the safe side.

“I just have been thinking it’s too much for one person,” Mr. Peterson continues. Leo takes a breath, his eyebrows rising. “All of this. And, not just that. But they said, uh–” He runs his hand over the back of his neck and takes a long sip of his scotch. “Well, they said you like interacting with your peers. That you crave companionship. Something like that.”

A silence buds, and so Leo, eager to prevent the void from growing uncomfortable, says, “I suppose neither of those things are untrue.”

“Great. So I've– I’ve been thinking it has to be hard on you. When I’m away, or when I’m otherwise occupied. I thought it might be nice to… I don’t know, procure you a… a companion. To help keep you sharp, and uh– to help keep you happy, I guess,” he finishes. 

Leo swallows, tilting his head to one side, as Mr. Peterson turns his tablet so he can see the screen.

“I know that some might think of this as some type of perversion of justice,” he continues, immune to Leo’s curiosity shifting into something more tense. Leo takes a long sip of wine, peering at the screen. “I asked the director at Greenwood to pull a few options for us." Leo's jaw drops. "Before you say anything,” Mr. Peterson adds quickly, “I want you to know that I’m doing this as much for me as I am for you, and I don't... I'm not asking you for permission here, or for your blessing. I think it’ll be good for you to have someone here, but it’ll also be good for me.

"All that said, I do want your input." Mr. Peterson shows him the picture of a worker, and Leo forces himself to remain neutral, if for no other reason than to disguise his discomfort. At seeing this. At getting his first glimpse into this side of things.

“I don’t need you to make any type of final decision about the suitability of these boys,” Mr. Peterson continues. “My attorneys will review their files and ultimately determine if they’re a good match to my, and by extension, your needs. But I’d like to give you the opportunity to veto any, or if you feel strongly attached to any, I’d like to know that, too. Ideally, I'd like to find someone we both find attractive, and someone who may hold your interest through the duration of your contract.”

The evening is spent scrolling through the pictures of seventeen workers, with Leo mostly silent, entirely focused on keeping himself calm, and Mr. Peterson running a verbal pros and cons list for each one. Occasionally, he requires commentary from Leo, and in these instances, as subtly as he can, Leo tries remind him of their humanity. And all through it, Leo actively avoids thinking about the last time Mr. Peterson did this, about his own image appearing on the screen. What he had said then, with whom he had reviewed these files. Inevitably, those thoughts do creep in, but Leo shuts them down as quickly as he can.

And when Mr. Peterson closes the last of the files, glancing finally at a stunned silent Leo, and then, perhaps because he notices something in Leo's expression, excuses himself to bed, Leo finishes his wine in silence and promises himself he will not think about this night. Ever again.

✥ ✥ ✥ 

“Oh,” Leo says now, opening the front door wider. He shakes his head in a kind of detached disbelief, then steps aside, turning in time to see Mr. Peterson making his way to the foyer. “Mr. Peters–”

“You must be Will,” Mr. Peterson says, and Leo, in that moment, wishes he could be anywhere but in this room. Will is… around his age, he guesses. Around his height, around his build. Dark eyes, easy smile. He can’t help but think that Mr. Peterson has a type, and he also can’t help but wonder what– 

“Leo, introduce yourself,” Mr. Peterson says, sharply enough that Leo doesn’t hesitate to reach out his hand.

“I’m Leo.” He smiles, as he would greet any other of Mr. Peterson’s guests. “It’s nice to meet you,” he continues.

Will takes his hand, offering a gentle, if not a little bravely assertive, handshake. He watches Leo closely, holding his eye contact for just a moment too long.

“Well,” Mr. Peterson says, loud enough that Leo drops his hand abruptly, locking his fingers behind his back. “Looks like you two will be just fine.” He nods, as if to punctuate the thought.

Leo can’t shake the unease he feels as Mr. Peterson looks over Will once, then lets his gaze shift to Leo.

✥ ✥ ✥ 

They spend the first few days falling into a new routine. Leo, on edge since the day Will showed up, waits for the other shoe to drop, and Will puts a razor-sharp focus on assimilating with as little fanfare as possible. And he’s good at it.

Will, who, it turns out, is one year younger than Leo but has been in the system since the day after he turned eighteen, is, in a lot of ways, a perfect product of the training. He meets Leo in the kitchen every morning at seven, and while Leo makes breakfast, Will sets the table. While Leo cleans the bathroom, Will does the laundry. While Leo helps with the restaurant, Will does the yard work. 

Will seldom attempts to speak to him, but when he does, he keeps it light. It’s almost too easy, Leo thinks constantly, so at the end of their fifth night together, when Mr. Peterson stops Will from going to his bedroom with a terse, “Wait,” Leo immediately goes rigid. Partly because it has, he’s decided, been way too easy, and partly because Mr. Peterson is on his third scotch, but mostly because of the way Mr. Peterson looks not at Will as he speaks, but at Leo.

“Sit down,” Mr. Peterson says, and he inclines his head toward Leo. Will feels the danger here, too, Leo thinks. He’s hesitant in his step, maybe not noticeable to Mr. Peterson, but noticeable to Leo, who has watched him navigate the house with nothing but undiluted confidence for the last week. “I want to try something,” he says then. 

Leo nods, and Mr. Peterson says, “Finish your drink,” and so Leo does so without waiting, taking two big gulps of thousand-dollar wine, and then discarding his glass. “Would you like another?” he asks, and Leo eagerly agrees. Mr. Peterson looks to Will, who fills both of their glasses, and he watches as both of his workers body their drinks.

“I thought maybe,” Mr. Peterson eventually says (and here, he has the audacity to sound nervous), “I thought it might be nice for the two of you to get to know one another a little bit better.” He stands, stretching, and says, “I’m going to help myself to another scotch. When I get back, I trust you’ll both be ready to move things along here.” He looks only at Leo, with an expectant stare that makes the hairs on Leo's arm stand up.

Leo waits until Mr. Peterson has retreated out of sight before he speaks.

He looks straight ahead as he speaks, but he knows Will is listening. In his peripheries, Will leans forward, and takes a slow sip of his wine.

“Whatever happens," Leo hears himself saying, shoving his hands under his legs to keep them from shaking, "I want you to know that I didn’t want this." He keeps his voice low, loud enough to reach Will but not loud enough to reach the bar. “Whatever he makes me do, or whatever he makes you do, just know that I didn’t… I didn’t choose this.” There’s a panicked edge to his tone that grows with each word, and he knows he needs to lose it quickly. He takes the deepest breath he can, as his eyes track Mr. Peterson making his way back to the living room.

“I know,” Will responds, equally softly. And then, as Mr. Peterson lowers himself back down onto the sofa, he says, “It’s okay.”

✥ ✥ ✥ 

Leo waits until he’s sure both Mr. Peterson and Will have fallen asleep before he allows himself to stand, unsteady on his feet but eager for this night to end. He walks as calmly as he can to the bathroom before he doubles over the toilet, expelling everything his stomach has to offer before letting his forehead rest on his arm.

The feeling of Will’s hands on him, of Will’s mouth on him while Mr. Peterson coaches every movement. Mr. Peterson's voice, look at his face, and he likes that, and god, fucking perfect, and keep going, and use your tongue, and don't be afraid to go a little rougher, and fucking hands down, Leo, and you're doing good, and you're so fucking hot, and every word plays through Leo’s head on repeat and Leo wants to scream to make it stop, but he can't. There's no stopping it, and there's no end to it, and it reminds him, in some ways, of how... He thought he was done, but as images of Mr. Peterson's weight landing on the sofa next to him, of Mr. Peterson stopping Will to look at him, to touch him, as Mr. Peterson's guides Leo's hand, he doubles over the toilet once more–

A knock on the door pulls Leo back to the moment, and there's a second of sheer, perfect panic where he realizes he was too loud, and someone's awake, and things are going to get infinitely worse, before he looks up. And it's... it’s Will who stands in the doorway, backlit by the dull yellow of the hall light, and Leo can breathe again.

“I was that bad, huh?” Will asks, kneeling to a crouch next to him. Will smiles, an apologetic, soft smile that Leo isn’t accustomed to, because frankly, he's not accustomed to Will speaking to him at all, before he lets the back of his hand sweep the slightly overgrown hair from Leo’s neck.

“It’s not you,” Leo says, voice hoarse and still teetering on the edge of hysteria. “It’s me.” 

Will laughs then, and it's a genuine sound that Leo hasn’t heard in years, and something about it is all too much, setting off the months, or maybe years, of pent up anxiety, and Leo can’t stop the cascade of tears that silently begins to fall.

Will, for his part, sits next to him, and with no pressure for him to stop, and no one waiting for him to get his shit together, Leo cries harder.

Until eventually, he takes a long, deep breath, and he forces himself to calm down.

Several minutes pass, with both boys silent and processing the events of the evening, before Will finally says, “Did I hurt you?”

Leo replies, almost instantly, “No.”

“Okay," Will says. "Good.” He pauses, leveling his gaze on Leo. The silence draws out again, until finally, Will stands, putting his hand out to help Leo up. “I wish I could promise it won’t happen again,” Will says, quietly. “I… whatever I can do to make it easier, I’ll do. But I’ve been with guys like Mr. Peterson before, and I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and I… I think this wasn’t the end of something, it wasn’t a satisfaction of some dark repressed urge he had as a one time thing. I think it was the beginning of something.” Will opens the door and gestures Leo out first, but squeezes his shoulder as he does.

“I know,” Leo replies.

FIGHTER TAG LIST: @whump-cravings @afabulousmrtake @crystalquartzwhump @maracujatangerine @pumpkin-spice-whump @distinctlywhumpthing @thecyrulik @highwaywhump @batfacedliar-yetagain @finder-of-rings @dont-touch-my-soup @skyhawkwolf @suspicious-whumping-egg @also-finder-of-rings @whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump @peachy-panic @melancholy-in-the-morning @urban-dark @nicolepascaline @quietly-by-myself @pigeonwhumps @whump-blog  @seasaltandcopper @angstyaches @i-msonotcreative @mylifeisonthebookshelf @anonintrovert @whump-world @squishablesunbeam @considerablecolors @whumpcereal @whumperfully @pirefyrelight @whumpsday @whumplr-reader @lonesome--hunter @darkthingshappen @alexmundaythrufriday

[maygrcnt]

been reflecting on the season a lot recently and on the topic of bucks bisexuality storyline, and i think ive come to the conclusion that theres maybe some catastrphization on the part of people who think the arc is horribly written, but also other people seem to be looking at it through rose tinted glasses and accepting anything given to them just because the storyline was such a long time coming. And i’ve had a hard time with figuring out why both sides of these takes just bother me so much so i sat down with my thoughts while work was slow and i rotated evan buckley in my mind until i had coherent thoughts

When it comes to the self discovery of it all i think that is probably the best thing the show did with the arc. episodes four and five were ultimately huge successes in my opinion on the topic of bisexuality. My main issue with this part of it is not specifically to do with the bi-ness of the storyline but the show in general. The show, showrunner, and Oliver want us to believe this storyline is different, that this is the one that finally changes everything, and I fully believe them in that being their intentions. However, they didnt show that to us well enough. The show has a glaringly cliche formula when it comes to buck and eddie love storylines that i used to think was intentional parallelism but now believe to be a writing rutt that they can't seem to break out of. They meet the partner, they have a romantic moment, something gets in the way of that romance, they meet up at a restaurant to “start over”. Ali, natalia, ana all follow this exactly and taylor sort of. its just tired? And the fact that this is exactly how buck and tommys relationship starts too just makes it so i cant convince myself that this is any different than before. Like i said i truly believe the writers thought they were pulling buck off the hamster wheel and the commentary outside the show tells me that he’s supposed to be doing something new, but they just can't escape their own romance formula enough to actually do it in the TEXT. and one thing about me is i think when it comes to TV, a viewer response lens is the most important way to analyze the story. the intention of the writer doesnt matter as much as the interpretation of the viewer because the average viewer of prime time television isnt reading tim minears interviews or listening to the podcasts oliver stark does, theyre tuning in at 8pm est and tuning out at 9. to conclude on the topic of bucks self discovery arc, i think it was done well. i think this is a general consensus, i feel like most people who think the storyline went sour still believe that episode four was done well at the very least

when it comes to the coming out of it all, this is one spot where i believe there’s some catastrophizing. the storyline had to choose carefully who got the long coming out scenes and i think it’s crazy to say that they chose wrong. do i wish there was a little bit of a longer beat with both hen and bobby about the storyline, yes absolutely. but i don’t think scenes with buck sitting down to formally come out to them would have been either necessary nor in character. bucks strongest canonical ties are to maddie, eddie, and bobby. two of which he never felt the need to come out formally to either by the way. i think a lot of people wanted to see more hesitation and fear from buck about his sexuality, but what they decided to show us instead was a man who realized something new about himself and immediately understood that the people around him were going to love and accept him no matter what. the only slip we see in this confidence is around eddie where… im trying to keep this analysis unbiased by non canon things so im not going to get into what i think of that but… in any sense bucks coming out moments were not about coming out at all but instead always about him being loved by his family. i rate this part of the storyline 10/10 because it all felt so natural and real for someone who has the support system and love that buck does (not saying it isn’t hard to come out even when people are supportive, just that i get why it wasn’t hard for buck). the storyline matched the character really well, but if they were to give the same easy breezy coming out arc to a character with the same backstory as say eddie then i would understand the want for more turbulence.

now the most polarizing part of the storyline for sure is the “established relationship” part of the season i guess you could call it lmao. my personal main complaint here is that we immediately lose any and all insight into the *new* of it all. if you want to make a big deal about this romance storyline being different than the other ones, you actually have to show us on screen what’s DIFFERENT about it. it doesn’t bother me so much on a relationship side of things because the relationship isn’t my personal cup of tea, but i think it would have been nice to see more scenes focused on the reasons this relationship is something new for buck. i’m not a tv writer, i honestly don’t have a suggestion for scenes that could have made this better for me. i think a tone thing is big part of it, if they lightened up tommy’s interactions with buck made him a little more flirty and lively it would have felt truly like a new relationship still in the phase of navigating a new dynamic rather than. well it doesn’t matter what i thought the relationship felt like by the end that’s not the point here. another place i feel like they could have put some more effort in is the bobby of it all, he was very preoccupied but their conversation felt stilted and not actually how i imagine it going. when it comes to the acknowledgment of bisexuality and newfound personal experiences i rate the end of the season: bad. i don’t think this was by virtue of the show not caring or wanting to portray the storyline anymore, but just by virtue of the entire end of the season being… kinda bad.

finally the finale, oh the finale… i swear im trying to come at this as unbiased as i can when i talk about the BT dinner scene but just know that i didn’t like it and that may bleed through. i think it was unfavorable of them to frame this scene the way they did. by having the scene start en media res and having us jump in to the dinner already in progress it feels disingenuous, because now im supposed to believe buck left the hospital, cooked an entire meal, set up a date, started eating and only THEN was the topic of bobby’s health brought up? it feels like this scene was written in a way that it would be for a well established long term couple, not a new relationship we’ve barely seen on screen. in this very scene is the first time tommy even learns what bucks relationship with bobby is like, this is very obviously not a deep connection yet so why are they being given the framework of it? the show is telling us that this relationship has gotten more serious without any proof and i find it very hard to believe them. i think there’s ONE simple change that makes this scene work 100x better and makes me feel like buck is actually settling into the relationship rather than having to take tim minear word for it: just start the scene with buck coming home to tommy! if buck is just getting home from the hospital it doesn’t feel as out of character because there’s less assumed time where buck is for some reason not worried about bobby, which he WOULD be don’t even try to tell me he’s not. and if tommy is already in bucks apartment when he comes home we learn so much about their relationship with such a small gesture. that buck feels comfortable with him there, that tommy feels comfortable alone there, that they spend time there often enough that tommy knows his way around. it just feels like this scene was written in good faith but the forgetfulness by the writers on the overall context of where this scene was in the episode created a strange tone in which i’m supposed to believe evan buckley would ever plan a romantic date night while bobby nash is literally comatose. thoughts on the bisexual storyline in the finale: no. i’m not gonna get into the daddy issues line of it all because that’s a lot more opinion based and it would make this like double length. ask me about it if you want i guess.

all in all, i think there’s … a lot that could have and should have been done differently in order to maximize the goals and effects that tim continuously told us he was trying to achieve. when it comes to carefully telling a story of late life sexuality discovery, i think they did well. when it comes to most other aspects, i think the ball was dropped. pls feel free to send messages or asks regarding this topic because i think im still developing thoughts on it and id love to have conversations regarding :)

[melacka]

Calendiles Secret Santa 2023

Hello @snails-in-my-mouth! I am your Calendiles Secret Santa and I have written a S2 fic filled with workplace banter and flirting. Wishing you and yours a very happy and safe holiday season, and I hope you enjoy your gift!

Title: take my love and wear it by Melacka

Summary: Giles and Jenny suffer through a Sunnydale High staff meeting with banter, innuendo and spilled tea.

Rating: T

Word Count: 1314 words

Read it on AO3 here or under the cut!

Rupert Giles had learned to hate the weekly staff meetings that Principal Snyder had implemented at the start of his tenure. They rarely included any truly useful information and would more often than not devolve into snide commentary and petty asides traded between teachers who barely interacted otherwise. Sometimes he tried to make the time pass quicker by entertaining himself with ideas of the various cliques and groups forming within the faculty, but that only took him so far, given the frequency of the blasted meetings. And so over time he had simply resigned himself to indulging in his hatred of the meetings, quietly seething in a corner until he was released to do his actual job.

That all changed, of course, when Jenny Calendar became more of a fixture in his life. Jenny was an enthusiastic participant in the staff meetings, and she had a habit of positioning herself directly opposite Giles, seemingly for no other reason than so that she could throw amused glances his way. In the last staff meeting before the winter break, however, she chose to sit right next to him. He looked up at her in surprise when she sat down.

“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked. “I can find another chair if—”

“I don’t mind at all,” Giles said quickly. “Please, join me.”

“Do you have any plans for the break?”

Giles stared at her in surprise. The only plans he had for the break was to spend as much of it as possible with her, and she knew it. They had discussed at length their plans for a sort of hibernation at his place, free from the distractions of the world.

“I have some plans,” he said cautiously, looking around the room. “I hoped to spend some time with a friend.”

“Time with friends is so important,” Jenny agreed solemnly. “Where would we be without our friends?”

“Indeed. And you? Do you have any plans?”

“Oh, I have a few things lined up. There are a few things I’ve just been dying to try.”

“I hope the break offers you the opportunity to try all that you wish.”

“That’s very kind of you,” she murmured. “Your co-operation with be vital, Rupert”

She took a sip of her coffee, her eyes alive with mischief when she looked at him over the rim of her cup. His lips twitched in response, and he hurriedly took a sip of tea, wincing when the person on his other side jostled his elbow as they sat down. Giles sighed as he dabbed ineffectually at the drop of tea now staining his trousers.

“Be careful,” Jenny said, offering him a napkin with a smile, “these staff meetings can get a little rough sometimes.”

He waved away the napkin and gave the stain one last despairing glance, before he turned his attention back to his companion.

“I’ll be sure to keep my guard up against any potential attacks,” he said, trying to inject a little humour into his tone.

“Oh good, I’d hate for something to happen to you.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve barely begun to enjoy our time together, Rupert, it would be a tragedy for you to be taken from me due to fatal inattention at a staff meeting. This is Sunnydale, after all. Anything could happen.”

This surprised a laugh out of him, and she grinned.

“Should I arm myself before attending next time? I do have quite a cache of weapons in the library.”

“Don’t you worry about drawing undue attention to yourself at these things?”

“I suppose a crossbow would give the wrong impression.”

“On the contrary,” she said, grinning, “it would give the right impression.”

“That I seek to commit violence against my colleagues?”

“Merely that you are open to violence against your colleagues, given the right provocation. It prays on my mind, Rupert, really it does.”

She took another sip of coffee, and her eyes held a challenge now.

“Rest assured, I will endeavour to avoid unnecessary violence so that you may continue to enjoy all the benefits of our association. I would so hate to deprive you of something you enjoy, Jenny.”

Jenny tilted her head and regarded him carefully, a strangely tender expression on her face. Giles raised an eyebrow in question, and she shook her head slightly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was just caught up in thinking about all the potential benefits of our association,” she said quietly, doing a truly terrible impression of him. “But what can you expect, engaging in such sexually charged innuendo in the workplace? I truly am shocked.”

Giles, who had chanced another sip of his tea, nearly choked on it. Jenny offered him the napkin again for the fresh drops of tea on his trousers and he waved it away again, red-faced from embarrassment.

“Jenny,” he gasped, looking around to see if anyone had overheard.

“Shh, Rupert, I’m only teasing.”

“Yes, I know, that’s the point!”

“Would you like me to stop?”

“Never,” he answered honestly.

“Not such a fuddy-duddy after all, huh?”

“I have it on good authority that I’m a sexy fuddy-duddy, actually,” he returned, leaning in as close as he dared while surrounded by so many people. “I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or—”

“Oh, it’s a very good thing, Rupert,” Jenny interrupted, her voice dropping low. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Unfortunately, Principal Snyder chose that moment to call the meeting to order and they pulled away from each other to resume a more appropriate distance. Giles took another sip of his tea and tried not to scowl. Jenny turned to face Principal Snyder with a look of bland interest on her face, but she spent the duration of the meeting running her foot up and down Giles’ leg under the table. It really was deliciously distracting.

Giles couldn’t remember a more enjoyable staff meeting.

When they were finally free to leave, by unspoken agreement they allowed most of their colleagues to wander out before they made a move.

“Did you enjoy the meeting, Mr Giles?” Jenny asked mildly as he held the door open for her. “You seemed a little distracted at one point, I do hope you didn’t miss anything important.”

“Impossible,” Giles murmured as he fell into step beside her. “In order for me to miss something important, there would need to be something of import at one of those ridiculous meetings. I regret to say, that there has been no such thing.”

“Not even the ongoing feud between Mr Irwin and Ms Talbot?” Jenny said, her tone amused. “They seem to think it’s important, at least.”

“Perhaps they just enjoy the attention,” Giles replied absently. “Why else would they seek to have the same argument in front of their colleagues every single week?”

“Maybe they’re in a long-standing secret relationship and all the fighting is just a ruse to throw us off the scent?”

Giles smiled as they approached her classroom, and he reached out to open the door for her.

“Do you suppose there is a lot of that going on?” he asked quietly. “Secret relationships disguised by public vitriol?”

Jenny shrugged and tossed her things carelessly onto her desk. Then she spun around and pushed him against the door, laughing at his grunt of surprise.

“I’ve never understood the need for vitriol, Rupert,” she said, leaning into his space and tilting her face up invitingly. “Our secret relationship has always had more than enough fuel without resorting to vitriol.”

“Not even when we were arguing over the relative merits of books and your awful machines?”

“That wasn’t vitriol, it was simply a difference of opinion between colleagues. Now are you going to kiss me or am I going to have to—”

Giles didn’t wait to hear what she was planning to do as he closed the gap between them and kissed her firmly.

[delucadarlingwriting]

I'm really struggling to write the last few weeks, so I've instead been going through some old wips and such. I found the first fic I wrote with Kira and Barbie together in it, but the thing that really interested me was this Lucas/Adam scene I forgot I'd slipped in toward the end.

In this AU, Barbie and Lucas both work for the Agency (Lucas as Unit Alpha's handler, Barbie as a researcher) while Kira is Wayhaven's detective. Adam and Lucas have a past, and they haven't quite gotten through it all.

(I really hope I haven't posted this before)

***

“She’s okay,” Lucas says, his smile bright despite the bags under his eyes and the way he hunches over. The chair he’s sitting in is clearly one of the ones kept in meeting rooms around the facility. Adam wonders if he dragged it over himself, or if someone brought it to him. 

“That’s good to hear,” Adam says. It doesn’t remove the guilt weighing on him, but it does lessen it somewhat. 

Lucas bobs his head. “They say she’ll wake up soon. It’ll be a long recovery. Well…” Lucas gestures vaguely to his leg. “Not that long. A few weeks at most and then she should be up and at ‘em.”

“How is your leg?” Adam asks without really meaning to. Lucas chuckles.

“It’s far from my biggest concern right now,” he says. He straightens up, then leans back against the seat back, folding his hands behind his head. His heartbeat is a steady drum, not the frantic thrashing it had been earlier. “But mostly it’s fine. PT did wonders. I don’t have to use the cane anymore, but I can certainly walk a lot longer with it than without.”

There had been a moment where it was uncertain if Lucas would be able to walk. Amputation had been on the table, but the medics had managed to save the leg through some sort of minor miracle.

Lucas peers at him, a smile tugging at his lips. To Adam it seems exhausting to always be smiling, grinning, laughing, but Lucas does it all like he can’t help himself.

“I’ve missed you, bud,” Lucas says. Adam shakes his head.

“We’ve seen each other recently,” he replies. Lucas snorts.

“Literally in passing while you were getting into a car and I was getting out does not count,” Lucas says. Adam remembers that moment well, and how hard it had been to make himself turn the key in the ignition when his eyes had been stuck on Lucas in the rear view mirror. Shifting, Lucas lifts an eyebrow. “You could also text me back here and there.”

“What am I supposed to say?” Adam asks in a huff. “You send pictures of inane things with no commentary.”

“Hey, that box turtle was neat as fuck,” Lucas argues, but he lets out a laugh. “But I guess you have a point.”

“So you’ll stop?” Adam asks, unsure what answer he’s hoping for. Eyes sparkling, Lucas grins.

“Not a chance, big guy. You’ll just have to suffer gracefully about it.”

Rolling his eyes, Adam puts his hands on his hips and starts to say something, when the door to Barbara’s hospital room slams opens, revealing Mason. He looks at them blankly, while Adam and Lucas stare back in shock.

“You two are loud as fuck,” Mason says. Lucas sputters.

“When did you get in there?” he demands, then more loudly, “Why are you in there?”

Mason smirks. “You don’t wanna know.”

Adam glares at him. “Leave.”

“Sure. She’s passed out anyway,” Mason says with a shrug. He spares a glance back at Barbara, hospital blanket tucked around her sleeping form, then closes the door and strolls away. Lucas manages to pull himself together by then and starts struggling to his feet.

“I’m gonna beat his—” Lucas grits his teeth, snatching his cane up from where he leaned it against the wall. Adam steps closer, hands out to placate him.

“I doubt he did anything to her,” Adam says, no small amount of annoyance in his tone. “He wants to get a rise out of you.”

“He managed it!” Lucas replies brightly. He’s holding his cane more like one would hold a war club than a mobility device. “She’s hurt, in what world does he think any of what he’s implying is appropriate.”

Adam can’t help the laugh that escapes his lips. Lucas whips his head toward him with a scowl.

“I’m sorry,” Adam says. “Do you hear yourself?”

Lucas blinks, and his hackles go down. A small smile tugs at his lips. “Alright, yeah. But it’s different when it’s your baby sister.”

Adam nods. “Then trust that I believe Mason wouldn’t let any harm come to her.”

That seems to shock Lucas enough that he has to sit back down. “You think he gives enough of a shit?”

“I do.” Adam rubs at his chin. Mason’s fixation on Barbara has been long lasting, but it’s clearly more than his usual ‘flings’. The way he’d reacted to Murphy abducting her had been…very different. It’s a side of Mason Adam has not yet seen. Of course, Nat has rose colored glasses on regarding the whole affair, which doesn't surprise Adam a bit, but it also sets him on edge, almost as much as Nat’s own fixation on Kira. 

They’re vampires. Kira and Barbara are human. It’s too risky to involve themselves too deeply, and the last thing he wants is anyone getting hurt over it. 

“Well,” Lucas says, relaxing fully now. “Alright.”

The quiet lingers for a long moment before Adam can muster the strength to say, “I should go.”

“Why, am I not riveting enough company for you?” Lucas asks, humor dancing in his warm brown eyes. Adam takes breath to steady himself, but all it does it bring Lucas’ scent further in, distracting him all the more. 

“You should go as well,” Adam replies, dizzy. “Maybe find a shower.”

“Rude!” Lucas exclaims, then cartoonishly lifts his arm to sniff himself. He puts on an exaggerated expression of disgust. Adam rolls his eyes. “Though you might be right. I’ve been traveling since yesterday, and the employees at the airport tend to look down on sink showers.”

“I can imagine,” Adam says dryly. He sighs, unable to shake the worry that lingers over him. “Barbara will be fine. You should look after yourself better.”

“I look after myself just fine,” Lucas says, waving him off. Considering the number of times Adam has heard through the Agency grapevine that Unit Alpha’s handler has landed himself in the infirmary yet again, somehow, Lucas’ words do nothing to convince Adam. He has the alarming urge to grab Lucas and drag him somewhere else, to take care of Lucas himself so he can be certain of Lucas’ health and comfort. 

Heat rushes to his face, something he’s aware shows far too easily on his pale skin, so he turns on his heel and marches away. 

“Try deodorant,” Adam calls.

“Go fuck yourself!” Lucas calls out with a cheerful laugh.

[04tenno]

You’re pretty spot on with the Mine view. The way in which he’s viewed by Japanese and western audiences is an intriguing and at times painful experience. The way dudebros see him is especially painful. His speech at the end of the game just went through one ear and out the other. You can’t convince these people otherwise on the fact he’s not straight. Like you’ve said before, they’ve always got some sort of “proof” such as a convenient Japanese friend who thinks the subs are lying or some other nonsense. Interesting how Mine is set up as a character who you need to understand loves another man, or you don’t understand him at all and everything falls apart. I think the worse read of their relationship is that some guys try to press that Mine views Daigo like a father…

Oda gets this to some degree, too. I’ve seen some be in denial, and again, try to claim it was a bro type thing. It really seems like a number of these guys project their own concerns and fears of being assumed gay with telling their male friends they love them. I’ve seen that come up quite a bit with Mine especially.

There’s a pretty large group of mostly dudebros and some girls who get really angry when people make more serious claims about Majima not being straight as well. Guys are 100% okay with making jokes, but then will jump to defend him with bizarre excuses like “He’s just being a troll”, “He’s just straight and depressed”, and other strangeness. I really don’t know when or how he got pulled into their sphere of traditional masculinity, but possibly due to his mass popularity, he ends up with these types of fans. The comedic angle they take with Majima’s character is also something they try to lean into for the aforementioned commentary.

Zhao’s direction throughout 7 doesn’t really have anything for dudebros to project onto. Admittedly after the amount of nonsense I’ve had to sit through without even looking for it, I feel a little relieved that Zhao has never been someone they can shape for themselves. But at the same time I just know they’ll probably start getting a different kind of weird about him at some point.

Thank you so much for writing in! As always, putting up with all that willful ignorance would be completely unbearable if not for the solidarity. That being said, The Never-ending Search for Evidence to the Contrary has reached truly laughable levels of desperation in the past. Please take this verbatim quote from when KHHSubs found my post:

[. . .] that native Japanese players of the game don't come out of the experience thinking Mine was romantically attracted to Daigo [. . .] I spent ages the other day trying to find some Japanese sources (reviews, random forum posts, yahoo questions, anything) [. . .]

Yahoo Answers?

Like, if you're forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find Japanese people who have even posed the question, let alone Japanese people who agree with you, maybe reconsider your stance. Perhaps you can't find what you're looking for because it should be as obvious as the color of Kiryu's shirt.

Moving on, when it comes to Mine and Daigo, there's both the Brother Contingent and the Father Contingent, and uhhh Both Are Deranged. The weaponization of the found family trope has been nothing but disheartening to see, as someone who loves the trope. It's supposed to be about deconstructing the conventional idea of family, not recreating the nuclear family in your head with characters who are neither related nor see each other as such and then throwing accusations around. There's enough weird shit in both the games and the fandom, I promise we don't need to invent more.

With regard to Oda, I had a great talk with @skajador that I'll paraphrase here (decently, I hope). In terms of the wiki, the articles are sort of symbiotic; it's always been the case that any evidence for Oda has been equally applicable to Mine and vice versa. So while both articles have been subject to back-and-forths, and both are often mentioned in the same breath, Mine's is significantly more controversial and draws more heated responses.

There are probably a number of factors at play here, one of which is, of course, the insecurities you mentioned. Another is that, while Oda's character doesn't tap into wish fulfillment the way Mine's does, he's still a "male role model" for both Kiryu and by extension the player for most of the game. He's still masculine, and he's still meant to be taken seriously, so like with Mine, there's an extant "attachment" to not perceiving him as gay.

It's worth addressing why there's been less "backlash" to Oda, too. For Mine, the fact he's gay plays a major part in his narrative "twist." With Oda's twist being the bombshell it is, him being gay sort of takes a back seat. It's a hell of a lot easier to dismiss if you barely register it, you're more willing to accept it as "minor," or you just don't engage with it because he's crossed the Moral Event Horizon already or whatever.

Additionally, the question of whether it's mutual isn't prodded at nearly as much for Tachibana and Oda as it is for Daigo and Mine. A lot of dudebros are specifically mad because they (mis)interpret Mine's relationship tag as being mutual. The idea of a "devoted subordinate's" unrequited love for his superior is tenable, but the alternative is not.

With Majima, Nishitani, and some others, it's definitely the case that it's all fun and games until it's not. When it's Too Real, when it's no longer For The Bit, when there's no more plausible deniability in the form of Homiesexuality™, that's scary. It really speaks to the fears a lot of these people have, like you said.

I should've talked more about Zhao in the original post, but that's exactly it. And, hey, if he's Repelled Them Successfully for this many years, I think that's a good sign for him.

[macadam]

I miss your posts and tags a lil sometimes, but I hope you being a bit more absent here means you've got some really cool stuff going on in RL :)

Aw thank you anon T-T

I’ve been getting into sewing recently and picking up a bunch of projects that have been piling up in the scary corner of my room. Some of it’s very exciting like this bear I’m finishing turning into a bag today:

But a lot of it is fixing torn clothes or tailoring stuff I’ve thrifted (went to a church rummage sail recently and got soooo many things. They had a big clear out sail the last hour). Not as fun. Still necessary

It’s been very nice to finally get around to some of this stuff but has also meant that I’m not consuming any tf media rn (or media in general) and thus have no commentary to make lol.

I really do miss making posts and chatting with people on tumblr and discord, but I don’t really have anything to say about transformers right now. I suppose I could sit and brainstorm possible things to talk about. I am very good at that and used to do that a lot just to make conversation on here, but I dunno. School has also been crazy

[norgbelulah]

I’d love to get the directors’ commentary on this excerpt from “Now you wear your skin like iron:”

Boyd lets a silent, not quite tense moment pass before he tells Raylan, “I want to talk to him.”

Something hard and stubborn comes into Raylan’s eyes and he sits up, limbs tense and rigid as he tries to pull himself together. He looks right into Boyd’s eyes and says, “Are you out of your mind, son? Why would I do that?”

Boyd doesn’t try to hide the pity from his expression, or the plea. “I’ve done a great many things for you, Raylan. Things you’ve thanked me for before today. Will you do this for me? Please.”

Raylan is angry, frightened, and Boyd knows he’s trying to hide it with a mask of self-righteous confusion. “You’re asking me to give myself over to him? For what? So you can get yourself off with your ghost boyfriend? Christ, Boyd.”

“He may mean nothing to you, for all he’s been with you your entire life--even if you don’t believe he’s--dammit.” Boyd shakes his head. He can’t get into this debate with Raylan, shouldn’t if he’s going to get what he wants. He forges on, “But you know what he was to me, Raylan. I’d like to see him again. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Raylan turns away for a moment, braces his forehead in his hands, as though it’s paining him. “I can’t. I can’t, Boyd. He’s not me. He’s--it’s too much. An’ the echo,” he mumbles, “it’s so loud.”

Boyd frowns and steps nearer to him. He could reach out and touch Raylan’s shoulder now, if he thought Raylan could stand it. He’s never talked about an echo before. “What echo?” Boyd asks softly.

Raylan doesn’t want to answer. His lips are tightly sealed, his eyes pleading, just as Boyd’s had done. Boyd knows he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Raylan,” Boyd says his name clear and plaintive. “What do you mean?”

“Everything he did, I know. Everything he felt, I can feel it,” Raylan answers, his voice breaking. “When I talk to you, Boyd--Johnny,” he grinds out the name, like it was forced through his teeth. He never calls him by that name. “When I look at you, Boyd, I feel the past, but it’s here and now too and--” He shakes his head again, like he might knock it all loose. “It’s all his and not mine, everything--I can’t--please, don’t ask me. Please.”

I think that the one thing I always highlight in my characterization of Raylan is that he's extremely good at lying to himself. So, here, Boyd is discovering just how deep the lies and obfuscation of Raylan's whole past lives deal goes.

Another thing that seems to come up again and again in my fic is Raylan and Boyd's perpetual struggle to communicate with each other. They are two people who have had so many of the same experiences, growing up in the same place with bad dads and no money etc etc, but they react to it completely differently. With the reincarnation thing going on here, it's even more compounded. And it's key that what shapes these men aren't really the things that happen to them, but the choices they make in reaction to what happens to them. It all spirals from the choices made by two different men, who are also them.

Raylan reacts to the strange knowledge and feelings he has as a kid with fear, mostly because there's already fear all around him anyway, how else is he supposed to feel about something he has so little control of? So, he buries it. It feels very Raylan to me that he can have a whole person inside his head, feel all the things that person has ever felt and still be like, nope, that's not me and I refuse to think about it any more deeply than this.

Boyd on the other hand, knows himself always, I think. So that's easier for him, but he's tied to Raylan and is still always having to navigate this tangle between them, always having to ask and give and take what he can get. I hope it came across how exhausting he finds it, but he'll keep going, even forcing Raylan's hand to put himself in jail to help him not get swallowed whole by their past.

This feels like it's gotten rambly...

Anyway, I think what I love about this bit in particular is that it's Boyd asking Raylan for something, when in the past he's mostly given, that brings about a new revelation for them both in how to relate to/love each other. Communication!!!

[mcbitchtits]

okay my weekend got shuffled around and i saw dial of destiny today rather than friday.

completely unspoilery point of doubly-pedantic nerd criticism: hey marching navy bugler in the back ARE YOU AWARE that you are out of step. okay thanks for your time.

now spoilers

this has been bothering me for a hot sec

is it a German thing the way they pronounce it? A British thing? is it a Roman-Latin vs Catholic-Latin situation? I mean, Wikipedia here has it the way I’ve always said it, so what is behind their choice to Not Pronounce It This Way in the movie?

also related to the pre-adventure plot, i was sitting there in the middle of it thinking, like, when the nazis were in disarray and lacking supplies and their empire was falling apart, would anyone have even noticed a jacket with a bullet-hole in it? (i realize this is just a plot moment, ignore that for a second.) and then like ten minutes later i realized i was probably just thinking about the Confederates rather than the Nazis, but ehhhhhhhhhhh tomayto tomahto

also i think it’s very funny that the plot is just like “where did voller get the anitkyhera? who fucking cares. PLOT TIME”

also-also: i know it’s for Plot Reasons but i really wish they said “antikythera mechanism” more than they said “archimedes’ dial”. bah. fie on you

i’m still, every time, in awe of the wacko billing. who’s in this movie? HARRISON FORD and PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE and ANTONIO BANDERAS and TWELVE OTHER NAMES and also mads mikkelsen. i’m sorry. your villain gets last billing? i know why, it’s hollywood nonsense, but like. COME ON. maybe he deserves a few more minutes of screentime also?

i think i posted this in one of my last few shotgun-blast-commentary posts, about all the marion pics being from 1936. i noticed today, waaaaaay in the blurry background, at the end of the movie, there’s one from Crystal Skull. (and I had to go look it up and I realized it was not an Indy & Marion photo as I thought but rather one of the stills of Mutt and Marion. which. PUT THAT UP FRONT AT THE BEGINNING!!!!)

okay. do you see my four exclamation points there? so the subtitles, and forgive me that these are in spanish, but

they do that twice. my freshman high school english teacher is out there somewhere having a conniption fit

i think it’s interesting how much time the score spends with helena’s theme. there are at least a few spots where we should have been hearing the raiders march, and instead we get her theme. and it’s not like mutt’s theme where they harmonize and interplay. i don’t think we ever get it. which is... such a fascinating and, IMO, weird choice.

one of my friends who i saw it with, and i may have already mentioned this also, came out of the movie and was like “not to be an asshole, but it doesn’t make sense that the boat had 100 centurions. the centurions were the military leaders. they would definitionally have one centurion” and i’m just like. this is why we’re friends, and also, i’m so glad you are also a pedantic historian about indiana jones movies because that is Exactly How It Should Be.

speaking of which, every single time we get to Greece i’m just like I AM PRETTY SURE THEY DIDN’T SEW GARMENTS THAT WAY? YES THIS IS A PRODUCTION DESIGN CHOICE BUT ALSO IT IS BOTHERING ME. are there any extant garments like that? i feel like everything i have ever read is chitons and himations and peplos and. you know. mostly big, seamless, rectangles?

in related notes and deep dives into the world of production design vs. historic elements, the graphikos feels like it’s supposed to be like the phaistos disk? perhaps. i like it better than the “dial” design, for whatever that’s worth

and also re: my previous criticisms on the script being poor, “it’s not in a language, it’s in a code.” OH I’M SORRY. I FORGOT THAT CODE RESULTED IN NON-LINGUISTIC OUTPUT this is nonsense and i might hate this line more than any other for sheer stupidity? this being polybius i assume you’d still have to, you know. know how to read ancient greek.

now we’re off to the next part of our journey, If The Script Is Like This Then Surely I’m Overthinking It:

This is about Kythira, as in, the island opposite Antikythira, but also, in light of choosing to Do The Last Crusade Thing Again And Then Failing To Give The Indy-Helena Relationship A Solid Landing i am SO MAD i gotta go scream into a pillow or something brb

On the other hand, in regards to Overthinking The Writing And I Think They Did Mean It On Purpose: Basil naming his daughter Helena. I’m assuming he was obsessed with the Antikythera before all of that, although we never see any indication other than perhaps it catching his ear when he’s tied up on the train. But. Anyway. Helena. now i have to go Lie Down About It

(side note: do we think Indy is the only one who calls her “Wombat”? she does say, in the bar, “it’s been a long time since i’ve heard that”. were, like, he and Basil hanging out being archaeologist buddies and Helena thought he was super cool and wanted to be like him and found out he was named after his dog? like. aside from the “we are just writing in a new, younger Indy character”, that’s kind of just such a sweet little moment to ponder.)

fascinatingly, in every single showing i’ve been to so far, Helena gets the biggest laughs (or all of them). mostly the “I’m a... fan” moment, and then today she got a rip roaring response from knocking indy out. which i appreciate. but also it is interesting to note indy doesn’t really seem to get the laughs in his own goddamn farewell flick.

OKAY ENDING ON A POSITIVE NOTE i noticed something today which i had not caught yet which is, at the end, when marion shows up and indy goes into the kitchen to talk to her— when she opens the fridge to put the food in there, he slyly slips the magnet off of her photo that he put on there at the beginning. that is an indy moment. that made me laugh. sweet and silly.

[maybege]

Hi, May! How are you?

Okay so first things first: I’m sorry about taking so long to do this! But I FINALLY got some time to write down my thoughts for what if (part 1)! Every time I tried to sit down things got hectic again and it’s been annoying me endlessly, cause I’ve been looking forward to this for like 2 weeks now.

I’ve decided to split this up into multiple posts because it got a bit long. I hope that’s okay! 😅 and I think I should also warn you that I’m not the best of putting into words how stories make me feel, but I hope this is getting my feelings across anyway.

First of all: mixing the Calmer AU with a fix it AU? Sign me the fuck up! (Side note: I am almost over what happened in season 3 but only because I’ve lowkey started to view their Paz as the fanon!version of your Paz 😅😅🙈)

Also, another sidenote: I love when your stories feature your characters like chants and briggs because my brain always goes „oooh I know that name“ (same goes for Dreks… who will forever be a dick in every universe). (Part 1/5)

Putting the rest of the asks under a cut because I am LOSING MY MIND THIS IS SO SWEET:

Okay okay, but now for the actual commentary:

“Maybe because they will use any chance they get to exploit the innocent omegas of other clans.”You frowned, not liking any of Axe’s implications. Were omegas of Djarin’s tribe not innocent? Did he think you were incapable of defending yourself?” EXACTLY. AXE NEEDS TO SHUT UP! I was so happy that you immediately noted that cause i legit immediately went „what are you trying to imply, man 🤨“

And about Paz.. him immediately being offended and also „What startled you most, however, was how big that man was.“?? 10/10 no notes, immediately the perfect vibe

And then, „When you heard your name called, it was like you were in the clouds. Far away from everything and everyone. Maybe you could still say no, maybe you could just go and disappear forever. […] What if you weren’t good at the whole claiming thing at all and your failure resulted in a war that was to last centuries?”That is such A MOOD. I, too, would sign up for something and then when it’s happening, realise that it’s real and have my anxiety kick in hard. and the way you describe the feeling is soo realistic??? My anxiety would yell those exact things 😅 (No seriously, I texted my bestie the other day that I’m not prepared for my tutoring session because what if people actually show up 🤦‍♀️)

“Paz Vizsla was a warrior through and through and it showed in the way he was sitting too. He took up almost all the space on the little bench and even when he was sitting down and you were standing up, he seemed so much bigger than you?” HOT. that’s it, that’s my notes on that. 10/10, the size kink for fictional men is clearly a part of my personality now and I am okay with that.

“taken aback by how gentle he sounded. He did not look gentle. He looked dangerous”. Again, 10/10. The appeal of someone looking tough but being a secret teddy bear is honestly always amazing and I love that it’s happening here. (2/5)

“I don’t bite, you know?” “I suppose the helmet would make that very hard,”. THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOUR WRITING 😭 (reason number 1 of ♾️). This genuinely made me laugh out loud. Like, it was funny and also immediately made me go “don’t say that to the intimidating guy, you dumbass 😂”

And then the “Do you not think I should know the name of the omega I am about to make very happy?”???. OKAAAY, no reason to be so cocky my guy. I do love the banter in your stories though. It makes the connection between your characters feel so fun, dynamic and honestly real.

And then you immediately hit me with “as an endearment,” […] “Not because I won't know your name.” I’m pretty sure if you listen closely enough, you can hear me swoon from all the way over here in Vienna, cause I’m now a puddle that is yearning for this man.

And just generally, I love how you make Paz so soft and considerate. (Like making sure that reader is actually fully on board with this). Because that is a big strong warrior and I feel like the obvious way would be to make him just cocky and this intimidating badass (which isn’t a bad thing, if someone wants to write that!) but you just make him feel so grounded and comfortable as a character.

Also, I’m rereading this in order to pull quotes from the text, and I just got hit with “are you wet” and DAMN MAY. I knew that was coming but the mood shift still hit me like it the first time. Again, 10/10.

“Maybe a little bit,” that’s such A LIE! I just know that reader is melting on the inside!

Also, I love when these ‘downplaying moments’ immediately get followed by getting a description of how it definitely affects reader more than they are letting on in that moment. It makes me feel like I have fun inside knowledge. (3/5)

PAZ WITH TATTOOS! PAZ WITH TATTOOS! I LOVE YOUR MIND.

“Shocked at your own daydreams, you tried to focus instead on what you could see and not the images your brain came up with.” Me too, reader. Me too. Very relatable.

“Stars,” he hummed, thick fingers settling on your tongue and pushing down, “I think we are going to have a lot of fun, aren’t we, omega?” genuine question… are you trying to kill me?

I was gonna comment on the next couple sentences as well but I cannot put into words how this makes me feel 🫠

“No one is watching us,” he assured you, pushing his fingers back in your mouth, “No one is looking at you, omega. Wanna know how I know?” […] Because everybody knows I don’t share […]” May, I may not have the words or the knowledge to give actual writing feedback to anyone but I hope you’re aware that your writing is incredible. Because this has me HOOKED.

AND THE “Thank the stars it was you,” he whispered, running his wet fingers over your lips, “I hoped it would be you.” don’t mind me, I’m just crying over here because this is the softest thing ever and I love gentle, sweet men more than anything 😭 and the reassurance that follows like three paragraphs later?? Such a sweet vulnerable moment between Paz and reader that manages the balance between smut and sweetness so well

The trope of “what if it won’t fit?” gf x “I will make it fit” bf? Made for Paz and I will stand by that statement. And just… the smut? I can’t quote it here because it makes me blush and stare at the screen too much but damn… I love your writing so much 😭

And lastly, the last paragraph: nothing better than having the gentle giant calling his partner “love”🥺 (4/5)

Okay, so this was my (not so) condensed review of the new story. I had to try very hard to not just quote every line and tell you why I love it and why I think it’s works so well 😅

Anyway, final thoughts because this is soo long already:

10/10. I genuinely love your writing and this story is just another example why I love it. The way you write makes me actually experience the emotions while reading and be completely submersed in the story. Also, I am not at all a reader of romance novels (or generally books where romance is the main plot), but if you were to ever write a full on romance novel (or any book for that matter), I promise I would be the first person in line to buy it and tell everyone about it. Just like I will always be excited to read any story you want to share here on tumblr/ao3! You’re truly one of my favourite authors and I hope you know that your work will always be appreciated 🧡🧡🧡 (5/5)

___ HOw dare you ask me how I am doing when this basically made me cry in public 🥺😭 Reading this is EVERYTHING and just reminds me every time why I love to share my writing with you all. It made my entire weekend!!!! I am so happy you liked and I am so so so so SO lucky to have people liek you engage with my little ramblings on the internet 🥺

[aphroditestummyrolls]

Something from the Engagement Series??

Hello! Thank you so much for playing ❤️ it took me a little while to settle on what to write, but this has been rattling around my head for days. Enjoy!

It started on their last visit to Novyi Zem.

The council had been coming down on Jesper especially hard since the engagement was announced— what used to be whispered rumours had become outward antagonising. Councilman Veld treated him like an imbecile, going as far as to mention his dropping out of university in the middle of a gala. Boer, Gekkehuis, and even Hansen, though, had started to act as if he was a criminal, about to murder Wylan for his money. Like that had been the plan from the moment they met.

That bothered Jes. Wylan could feel it in the way he’d kiss him after nights like that— both hands on his cheeks, tilting his face up to guide every moment, lush and deep. There was a tension up his spine, even while he made Wylan melt right into him.

Plenty of people thought Jesper was stupid, or a garden variety Barrel bum. They would be wrong, but Jes was used to that— there was so much that could roll off his back. But these men thought Jesper didn’t love Wylan. They thought he was using him.

The constant barrage of insidious commentary had started to get under his skin.

Council dinners had become interrogations. Garden parties were so frosty, Jesper had tried to joke that the flowers were going to die.

It didn’t quite reach his eyes, and his smile was a wane thing. It was Jes who was wilting, frostbitten as autumn set in.

So, Wylan did the only thing he could do— he called a meeting at the Church of Barter, a special meeting. There, he made abundantly clear, with every inch of intimidation he had learned from Kaz, that he and Jesper were taking a trip to Novyi Zem for the rest of autumn, to visit Jesper’s father. And by the time they returned, the council had better start treating Jes with the same respect they’d give to any other mercher spouse.

Their bags were packed before he even told Jes that he’d booked them passage.

It was in Novyi Zem— when Jesper’s tense muscles had finally begun to thaw, and the long hours in the Zemeni sun had brought the freckles out in Wylan’s cheeks— that Colm gave him the idea.

“It’s tough right now, isn’t it?”

Wylan smiled, sitting on the porch step when the old farmer joined him. “What gave us away?”

“Could’ve been the sudden visit, or could’ve been the way Jesper joked about being a gold-digging whore, which… sounded a little too bitter for his usual humour.”

He barely swallowed an apology— Colm would call it needless, he usually did— but the crush of feeling in his chest demanded some sort of explanation. For that moment, he felt like he’d failed Jesper, and failed Colm. His son wasn’t happy with Wylan. Jes was withering under the gazes of these dour old sentinels, and he wasn’t sure yet if he’d been able to make it right.

“I… I think I’ve handled that.” He better have, at least. “But, Jes claims he’s a city boy, through and through. He loves Ketterdam. And I don’t not believe him, but I…”

Out in the distance, under the endless expanse of blue sky, with the jurda growing gold behind him, Wylan could see Jes as he made his way from the barn. He had an empty pail in his hand from feeding the animals, a contented type of grin on his handsome face that Wylan could see all the way over on the porch. Saints. He hadn’t looked that relaxed since the announcement.

“Son?”

“There are some types of joy he only feels here, and I just wish there was a way to bring a little bit of Novyi Zem home with us.” He tugged a hand through his curls, looking out at his lover, the most beautiful thing in the world even while he chased a goat kid who’d escaped their pen.

The answer was right in front of him, he supposed.

“Has Jes ever told you about his old horse?” Colm asked, squeezing Wylan’s shoulder comfortingly. “I bought him a horse of his own when he was a lad. Saints, he loves anything with fur and four legs.”

Which was how they got here— back at the geldstraat estate, with Wylan leading a blindfolded Jesper by the hands. To the stables. Where their two, distinguished old draught horses had a new companion.

Thanks for playing! And feel free to send more or ask questions! ❤️

[itsatechreel]

My Thoughts on HBO Max’s “Velma”

Welp, I watched the first episode of “Velma” aaand yep, it was about exactly what I expected if not somehow a bit worse 🤦‍♂️ I wasn’t sure that I’d want to write out a review for it, but I’m mad and immediately fueled to talk about it, so let’s go.

⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EPISODE 1 ⚠️

Literally the first scene of the whole show is Daphne and other students in a gym shower, very exposed, making a rough attempt at meta commentary, and all after the image of two cockroaches having sex..  😳 And that’s just one example of MANY jokes/visuals of this nature. Seriously why is this show SO horny?? IT TAKES PLACE IN HIGH SCHOOL! THEY’RE MINORS!! (Velma specifically, according to the “Velma” Twitter, is canonically 15) If you wanted these types of jokes and imagery so bad the LEAST you can do is put them in college so it’s not so majorly uncomfortable.

The writing was rough, some scenes felt like they were speeding by unnaturally, highly specific references to various media were all over the place and never in a funny way, almost every character is completely unlikable (ESPECIALLY the main Mystery Inc. cast) meaning there’s nobody to root for, and the show is truly just being vulgar for the sake of being vulgar. It’s honestly amazing how unfunny it is at times, it just prioritizes half-baked attempts at basic jokes, profanity, and overused cliches rather than a well put together story with interesting characters. To be a bit brutal, there were truly some moments that this script felt more like a student’s first attempt rather than a greenlit HBO Max series.

The only points I can really give this show is in animation/design, it all moves pretty well (with some occasional choppiness, though that might’ve just been buffering/my connection) and the style is alright for the most part. There definitely are some odd choices in the mix, one of them being the chosen look for Norville (who I WISH I could call Shaggy, but this is more accurate). His look just doesn’t fit the Shaggy vibe enough, I’ve seen so many redesigns that look leagues better. Though I suppose you could argue that since he (and the rest of the gang) is barely written or acted as the original source character correctly, why bother having a design that fits that? 😤

Last point I want to bring up, I’m not at all enticed by the serial killer plot or who killed Brenda. If it wasn’t enough to change how characters act and how vulgar the series is, now we don’t even get monsters to unmask? It is only episode one, and masked monsters were referenced in background details and at least once in the trailer, but the fact that the main plot of Scooby-Doo as a franchise barely exists in the first episode of this series just made the whole thing drag and feel boring to watch. I’m not saying the franchise can’t branch out here and there by doing things other than the classic formula, but also we know this show is built on mystery solving and will include at least one if not several masked monsters, so to not have any in episode one just makes the show as a whole hard to anticipate. Like is it a simple serial killer mystery? Is it normal Scooby-Doo monster hijinks? What am I watching?

Of course these are all just my opinions, if you’re curious you can watch for yourself and maybe you’ll like it more than I did. All I know for myself is that the only reason I’m even considering watching any more is pure morbid curiosity over how much worse it can get, and even then at least in this moment I don’t know if I can get myself to sit through episode two.

[wutheringmights]

*gently knocks on window* Hey latest chapter got me fucked up in the best way possible

Do you got any commentary for this chapter?

With two of you asking, how can I say no?

Do you remember that bit in chapter 8 where Warriors implies that Time and Lana have something going on, leading to all the boys getting up in a tizzy about it? And Lana ends up slapping Warriors and telling him to get new tricks? This incident with him spreading rumors about Spirit is what she was referring to.

Sometimes I read stories where the passage of time is there, but never really felt. With Mask’s birthday, I was really aiming for that sense of shock when you realize that a whole year has now passed. Like, Warriors and Spirit getting older is expected. But Mask is the Child. He’s not supposed to age. Yet, he does.

I have been sitting on the fact that Mask’s birthday was back during the mass hangings for so long. So many people had commented back then that they felt so bad for Mask in that chapter, but they had no idea. I’m sorry.

Biggest apologies for the bad sewing in this chapter.

Remember what I’ve said about how a person’s spirit reflects the biggest impacts on their lives? Warriors’s spirit reflects his mother’s yellow dress and her sewing, which is why Spirit seemed shocked to see the spool.

A lot of content got cut from this chapter due to space constraints; one of such scenes was going to be this sequence where Spirit let lose on the guys barking at him. Those guys were sons of nobles, which would lead to a scene where Warriors had to defend Spirit in front of the generals. He did (to Spirit’s shock), but the whole episode was ultimately wrapped up by Zelda declaring that it was just boys being boys and everyone should forget the whole incident.

Favorite scene from this section is Mask and Warriors talking during the mission. Everything from what they talked about to it being contrasted with them killing the moblins was just really fun to write and I think it came together great

(Also you can see me bend over backwards trying to let Mask talk about his adventure without giving Warriors enough information to realize he’s the Hero of Time lol)

Second favorite scene is Warriors and Spirit’s fight. Just, christ. Everything from their shouting match to Warriors just trying to hurt Spirit to Spirit finally snapping. I had a fun time reading that argument out loud to make sure it sounded natural.

This is important and I am already getting questions about it to listen up: Spirit’s relationship with Zelda is 100% consensual. But it sure as hell isn’t ethical. No one is winning here. It’s just a whole mess.

(Like, I try not to tell you guys how to feel about certain characters. But just this once, I am going to point out that as upset as Spirit is right now, he planned this.)

Link spending a whole chapter being unable to recognize that he’s having a crisis of conscience, only to turn around and be like “it’s okay cause he’s punishing me for it :)” is the most on brand thing he could have done. It’s surpasses being a poor little meow meow. I don’t even know what he is now.

Okay time for the present day--

I 100% planned to have Warriors and Four in Faron and reunited with the rest of the Chain by the end of the chapter, but there was just too much to cover. I never wanted Warriors to spend so much time away from the rest of the main cast, so I hope you all can forgive me and aren’t too disappointed.

Ayane pleading for Warriors to save Shigeo is not my favorite scene in this chapter, but it is the most important. I don’t think a story should get too dark without acknowledging all the places where people are good and loving

Four’s similarities to Warriors is really interesting to me, though I didn’t get to explore one aspect about him that really sets him apart from Warriors. I’ll do it next chapter, but just know I had way more planned for Four’s heart to heart with Warriors.

Also, Four’s kill count in reference to the knights was based on how many areas in FSA that the Hyrule Knights are enemies. I just decided arbitrarily that Four killed one knight per an area.

My favorite bit from Four’s speech is his line about his father never confronting him about what happened. You know I spent way too long agonizing over what would be the most succinct but telling way Four could summarize his estrangement from his dad.

Okay, let’s chat escape ideas

In my original draft, Lincoln and Linkle were going to catch up to Warriors during Four’s raid of the Kakariko Well. They were going to defeat the wallmaster and spirit both of them out; I dropped this idea to make room for Impa to have a moment in the story again

I thought about Lincoln surprising Four and Warriors with a rescue, but dropped it so that Four would have more things to do

I had another inexact idea where Ayane helped them escape, which would have led to a funny scene where Linkle complained about how childish Ayane was, only to be reminded that Ayane’s only a year younger than her

I had this idea where Lincoln and Torgi) would cause a scene to give Four time to smuggle Warriors out of the estate

And finally (and the most hilarious idea), Lincoln was going to get fed up and declared that he was just going to walk through the front door and take Warriors with him. He would just walk through the estate slaughtering anyone who got in his way. ABBA music would be playing in the background. It’s horribly out of character, but it would have been so funny.

Off screen, before Lincoln snuck into the estate, he gave this big speech to Linkle about how he didn’t want her to get involved with all this violence and how she deserved to have a normal childhood; she could help, but she could not kill anyone. That’s the context for Linkle shooting someone and Lincoln immediately shouting “I said non-lethal!”

Along with that, the only reason Linkle is with Lincoln now is because they both knew that no matter what he did, he could never convince her to stay in Gerudo Town with Ganondorf, where she would be safe. Lincoln didn’t have the time or energy to drop her off and cope with her inevitably following after him, so he agreed to let her tag along.

Also, deepest apologies to the Linkle propaganda anon: I wanted a scene where Warriors and co were being chased through the canyon on horses and Linkle took out their pursuers with her mad marksmanship. This got cut for space. I’m so sorry.

So the Chain is currently separated right now. I swear that next chapter you will find out who is okay and who is not, so make your bets now

Everything about Impa’s plan makes sense to me, but it might not make sense to you. This could be either because I didn’t explain it well enough or I’m an idiot who shouldn’t be writing this kind of stuff. If you’re confused, please let me know and I guess we’ll find out which of those two camps I fall in

[imabillyami]

Thoughts on Summerslam?

Hey lovely anon! Thanks for asking and being interested as always 💜 I appreciate you! 

A little warning: this contains a lot more complaining and bitching than my opinion pieces usually do, but I honestly expected more from this PLE and I’m feeling a little meh about it, cause a lot of it didn’t live up to the hype for me personally (if you wanna read mostly positive things start reading from the Gunther vs Drew portion onwards). 

As always, these are my personal views, other's might differ from that and that’s completely fine and valid. We all enjoy different things and it’s good that we do. (Disclaimer, cause I don't want any drama in my inbox from anyone reading this.)

I thought the first half of the show pretty much sucked. I wasn’t invested in it at all and had a tough time sitting through all of it. 

Match by match under the cut:

Logan vs Ricochet: Anyone who knows me or has been following me for a while knows that I fucking hate LP’s guts. I wish he’d walk out and never come back, cause yes, he’s a fucking terrible human being and a quick google search will tell you all the reasons why. He doesn’t deserve the spotlight he gets, he deserves jail time. I’m glad Ricochet got an opening match at a big PLE though. He’s one of the best in-ring guys of this generation and seeing him perform is always a blessing. I fucking hate that he lost, but we all knew he would, didn’t we? And Samantha having to announce LP as the winner had me 🤢🤢🤢 As for the match: It was okay. Too much posing and showing off for my taste. Classic LP. And don’t get me started on that screwy finish or the commentary about Samantha. (+ As much as I’m happy Ricochet got to be on the card in that manner, I’d rather have seen Becky vs. Trish or a Rhea title defense in that spot.)

Brock vs Cody: Y’all know my stance on Cody. I don’t like him. I don’t care about him. I fucking hate the “finish the story” narrative and how he forcefully inserts himself into shit all the time. He’s not as great or talented or charismatic as he thinks he is and I cringe so hard every time he opens his mouth. I don’t know what other people see in him, but I guess to each their own. I for one wish he’d leave and never come back. But that’s just me. He called himself “the best wrestler in the world” in an interview recently and I’m sorry, you’re not the best wrestler in this company and there’s many more wrestlers from other promotions who are way above you on that list, sir. Plus your acting and selling sucks. Sorry, sorry, this wasn’t supposed to be an anti Cody rant. If you like him, go ahead, but I’m not gonna hide my dislike for the man. Brock is awesome, I’ve always respected him immensely as an athlete. He’s always been very legitimate and very protected and rightfully so. I don’t know when opponents (other than Roman) started getting up and walking off an F5 through the table, but apparently that’s a thing now… The highlight of that match for me was seeing all of Daddy Brock’s good parts lmao 😂 

(I’m still bitter about Becky vs Trish not being on the card. They had time for 10 minute video packages between all the matches, but they didn’t have time for this highly anticipated match? If I speak 😶 That feud could have been one for the ages if it had gotten the proper booking it deserved)

Battle Royal: I know they had to do this one for sponsorship reasons (and probably to give LA Knight a win and appease the audience, which don’t get me wrong, I LOVE LA Knight, but what good does that win do him?), but I could’ve done without it. Again on my women’s matches agenda here. With how over he is, the crowd wouldn’t have accepted another winner, so it was predictable. It gave the audience a feel-good moment though, so I’ll take it. 

Shayna vs Ronda: I love Shayna ❤️ 100%, no questions asked. As for Ronda… I’m not gonna say much, other than I hope this really was her last match in WWE. I still don’t get why we got an MMA rules fight instead of a proper wrestling match, but then I haven’t been following the build to this very closely. I’m glad Shayna won and I hope she gets to move on to bigger and better things in WWE now that she’s out of Ronda’s shadow. But that’s probably wishful thinking. 

Drew vs Gunther: Was exactly what I wanted it to be. Just two big meaty men hitting and chopping away at each other, manhandling and throwing each other around. Beautiful. I knew I was gonna like this and I did. I love seeing both of these men in the ring. Gunther winning was no surprise, but this time I didn’t mind. He deserves breaking that record. He’s been doing incredible incredible work for a long time and he deserves all the good things he gets.

Seth vs Finn: You have no idea how much I love Seth and Finn, no idea 😭 These two (+Sami +Bryan Danielson) to me are the best technical wrestlers of this generation. No matter what, they will always be able to put on a banger wrestling match, so I’m always always always loving it when they get into the ring together. It’s just beautiful to watch them move. Art art art. I love Seth’s mind games, I love the whole arena singing Seth’s song, I love the history between them. I love everything about it. Either of them deserved that win and that title, I’m glad Seth retained though, he deserves a good long title run. (Also can’t wait to see what TJD getting involved in the match will stir up. That ever growing tension between Damien and Finn is delicious to watch 👀)

Asuka vs Bianca vs Charlotte: The build to this match was terrible, not gonna lie. The match delivered though! The crowd didn’t appreciate it enough, which is a big L on their part. These three did amazing! Sure it wasn’t all smooth sailing and some of it was visible (also thanks to some not so great camera angles), but the quality of the match was still awesome! 

Cash-In: I’m so so fucking happy for Iyo!!! She deserved this for such a long time and I’m so glad they made the decision to put that title on her (I was fully expecting Bayley to cost her that title, so it was a nice surprise that she didn’t and that she was actually the one taking everyone out, so that the path was clear for Iyo. A beautiful showing of friendship 😭 And I loved seeing Dakota and the sweetness that was these three friends celebrating together ❤️ For me this was the highlight of the night!)

I’m also hoping this will be the final straw in turning Bianca heel. She looked like she reached her breaking point during all this, so I’m carefully optimistic. I’ve been wanting it for a long time and with the Profits now having turned heel the dream of heel!Bianca feels closer than ever 👀 WWE I’m begging you! 

Jey vs Roman (aka Jey vs everyone in Tribal Combat): Moment of deep deep appreciation for Jey’s beautiful beautiful back ink and the man who put it on him. Incredible 😍 As for the match: I’m not gonna lie, I had my difficulties with this match. The buildup was so epic, the match itself felt a little disappointing to me in comparison to their earlier bouts. I adored Jey vs Roman at Clash of Champions and HIAC and I loved the tag match at MITB, so I had very high expectations for this match and maybe they were too high. Idk to me it felt a little off and very much not like Jey’s usual pace and what these two are usually capable of.

Don’t get me wrong, it had some very good spots and some very emotional moments (and some highly comedic ones too, Jey telling Paul to grab the other side of that table? I was cackling! Solo screaming at Roman and looking seconds away from murder after that spear? I was pretty much on the floor, cause it was too damn hilarious!), but overall it felt to me like something was missing. Plus most of us saw that Jimmy return and him turning on Jey and costing him the match, the championship and the tribal chief position weeks ago and from a million miles away. I still think it’s too soon for this and I would’ve loved to actually see this for WM40 next year, just the way Josh and Jon have been dreaming about, but we’ll see.

Seeing it coming doesn’t mean I’m not devastated about it. That ending with Jey crying and screaming all alone in the ring? OH MY GOD. I’ve been watching them as a tag team from the day they arrived in WWE with Tamina and I never thought we’d see the day they break up, but I guess I’m comforted by the knowledge that Josh and Jon are going to have the time of their lives with this feud. For us though? Emotional pain awaits, but what else is new

I’m very curious to hear Jimmy’s reasoning (I'm guessing jealousy or Jey leaving his side when he got hurt to challnge Roman) and to see where Solo fits into all of this if Roman is really taking a break for longer. I can’t see Jimmy realigning himself with Roman or Solo tbh, cause that would make everything that happened since NOC pretty much useless. I’m pretty happy if he goes down the lone wolf route for a while. As for Jey? We know that man had deep trust issues before, but now that his entire family has turned on him, imagine how bad it’s gonna get. Sami come help your man! He needs you and you’ve got nothing going on anyway. WWE please make it happen! We need this! Give Jey back the only person who never turned on him! It could be epic! (doesn't convince you? it could make you loads of money!!) Don’t fumble this, idiots!

All in all: Hated the first half, loved most of the second half. And the parts I didn’t love… well, it is what it is and we’ll deal with the aftermath of it as we always do - by being delulu while writing copious amounts of fix-it fic and crying about it 🤷

Hugs to you anon 💜

[higheldertala]

revolution of the daleks salt commentary

guess how many times they say the word dalek in this episode? (answer at the bottom)

funny how ch*bnall delegated the daleks as the holiday special villians and yet he still can’t get the ratings

this isn’t a specific ch*bnall problem, but i cannae stand the daleks sorry to be a fake fan :/ please can we put them away, seriously what more is there to say?

i hate how this episode was marketed as the doctor being out of the action and therefore the companions would be saving the day… but this is a ch*bnall episode so of course that didn’t happened. anyway on with the episode.

we don’t need to rip off star wars do we now? like why is this needed? nothing about this episode is based off or parodying star wars. you could just have a ‘previously’ or a ‘two years ago’ caption. thanks for reminding me how shit resolution was tho.

also to answer the question about whether i give a fuck about what happened to the reconnaissance dalek two years ago… no i don’t. tough shit for me i guess cause there’s 70 minutes of this :/

why is the text orange? choices were made here.

character work is when you have a side character say ‘i have a family’ then die.

also yeah this woman poisoning this guy is very contrived, like how would this woman know this guy would stop at this specific spot? also who does she work for? i assume robertson, but how does he know about the dalek and the transit? also when this guy goes missing when transporting an alien death machine wouldn’t that raise some alarm bells? god were only two minutes in and the plot is already falling apart, that must be a record.

you know how i complain about things happening off screen and the characters just saying the thing that happened offscreen, well for once i would actually prefer it they had done this this time instead of spending 10 whole minutes of this of characters i don’t give a shit about.

yay more social commentary being spelt out right in front of you(!)

also on my daleks are overused point, like it’s annoying how people just forget about the daleks in universe. not a ch*bnall specific problem but annoying nonetheless.

i’m sorry but it’s crazy that no one checked these dalek drones for secret guns they had.

i can’t believe how long the start of this goes on for without showing any of the main characters, but what’s pacing lol. a whole 8 minutes in til we see the doctor.

aside from the writing cliche of putting a character in prison when you don’t know what to do with them, this lasts all of a few minutes, god it’s pointless.

‘you can’t eat the cage. believe me, i’ve tried’ this is the funniest bit in the episode. even more funny the subtitles say ‘SIGHS’ from the pting.

these prison scenes are so dull. i presume that’s the point, but there’s so much more you could do with this concept.

on broadcast i thought the doctor was gonna recall a serial from classic who which would have been a much better decision. choices were made when ch*bnall decided to quote jk terfling.

first lense flare of the episode.

‘she was barely in here for a couple of minutes and yet she coded the entry lock to our dna’ and the point of this dialogue was….?

follow her? where? also she’s presumed dead. also going back to the timeless children, why the fuck would they let ko sharmus go out on his own and not one of them go out for the doctor. again no fucking loyalty but i digress.

also i wish at any point we were shown that yaz is the most desperate to travel and/or wants to be with the doctor.

‘what if she needs us?’ she doesn’t, you literally don’t do anything.

‘how many times has she saved us?’ i repeat myself from last episode, but like once lol.

how do they find robertson? is he conviently in sheffield? did they travel? i suppose it doesn’t matter and i don’t have the energy to care.

‘so we’re going to have to find another way’ so you mean sit around and wait for the doctor to come back. actually laughable that this is all the fam can achieve (nothing) without the doctor’s presence.

‘this is hard innit?’ YOU HAVE BEEN COMPANIONS FOR TWO SEASONS. literally the worst companions ever, please leave.

so with jack saving the doctor from prison, am i wrong in saying that the fam have never saved the doctor from any situation? lol. im pretty sure every companion has had at least one instance of saving the doctor during their tenure. or like at least 90%.

the prison scenes literally take up 5 minutes of screen time.

how does this tech guy know how to do successful alien cloning? like nah sorry im gonna need a bit more for this one.

lol another ‘i have a family then dies’ side character, does chibnall not know how to write any other way?

‘you don’t have a room, you’ve never had a room’ im sorry does she think jack slept on the fucking floor? i don’t believe this for a second, why does she say this???

i love how jack’s entire reaction to learning that the doctor went against his warning and gave ashad the cyberium is the single word: ‘what?’ and then this is never mentioned again during the entire episode.

‘i fixed it. eventually. just about. sort of’ no you didn’t, the cyber wars still happened and decimated the human population that ain’t fixing it :/

i guess it’s in character, but for the doctor to be really closed off even to an old friend like jack is so weird. like she doesn’t even mention running into the master or anything.

not my point, but ive seen someone make the point of that jack has also had memories taken from them from the time agency, essentially identical to the doctor’s situation and that this is literally never brought up in the episode.

honestly crazy that ch*bnall wrote for jack for two seasons and still he is reduced to background furniture. i swear he writes bad on purpose.

‘i was in prison for being me’ chr*s ch*bnall wrote this with his own two hands im crying.

more lense flares! also why is the camera at an angle. ive made a post about this, but the directing is so bad this episode and like most other episodes this era.

‘i was in space jail!’ she sure is Quirky™️ isn’t she?

yaz shoving the doctor is very funny. honestly where is that suppose to have come from.

i love the delivery of ‘10 months’ as super serious when so many other companions have waited years to see the doctor again, honestly it makes the fam come across as so wet.

chr*s ch*bnall literally wrote ‘oops’ (said by jack) as a response to that.

also the sad music as if someone’s died.

god this scene is awkward.

how did possessed leo get to osaka? did he just walk past customs with a squid on his back?

‘she’s good. yeah we all are’ …..um no comment.

‘yeah they killed me once, long time ago, no big deal…i can be killed but i come back to life pretty quick,’ why does he tell them this like that? it feels so unnatural.

‘partially her fault’ how is it partially the doctor’s fault? it’s a stretch to say that at the least.

‘partially a friend of hers on earth called rose but she’s trapped in a parallel universe now’ literally all of this is unprompted, why does he need to tell the fam any of this, especially since it would be a sensitive topic for the doctor surely? but hey it wouldn’t be a ch*bnall episode without our constant exposition dumps.

‘i saw the way you shoved her’ i hope ch*bnall never picks up a pen again.

i’m sorry i know this is Emotional Scene™️ and whatever but i don’t care about yaz as a character. none of this is earnt in any way, shape or form. i need the set up if you want me to satisfied with the payoff.

‘we lost each other’ either this is intentional from jack to soften it for yaz or chris ch*bnall doesn’t actually remember jack’s story. the doctor knowingly abandoned jack and jack knew this. yeah sure at the time jack didn’t know this and they moved past this but still weird choice.

also this is stupid because yaz does fuck all in two seasons so what the fuck is she missing. also rose’s speech in parting of the ways is 1000x better, here yaz is like ‘i miss it cant tell you why tho’ :/

‘the joy is worth the pain’ i guess this is a nice poetic line but this is my salt commentary so im gonna bitch about it :/ i think the conversion is a lot bigger then this and it’s a lot more complicated. like jack knows first hand what travelling with the doctor did to a.) himself and b.) to both rose and martha, was travelling ‘worth’ all the trauma they both suffered? idk saying ‘be happy even thought it might hurt’ is definitely one perspective i guess… idk where i was going with this. i think martha’s conversation with donna (and sarah jane’s to rose) is a lot more realistic. also yaz is like 21 here, i would of hoped jack would have had a more mature take on this situation, more than just ‘be lucky you’re going to be traumatised’.

‘are you feeling insecure? cos you seem to need a lot of praise’ literally no idea where ch*bnall pulled this line out of his ass from because im pretty sure insecurity has never been a key trait of jack’s. starting to think the chris ch*bnall who wrote torchwood was an entirely different person (aka i want to know how much of ch*bnall’s torchwood scripts were edited).

i hate the green lightning :/ why do they love doing this?

why the fuck are we letting robertson into the tardis??

‘this is about daleks. please stop using that word’ i second this motion. you know what im gonna count how many times they say dalek in this episode.

wait did they really put daleks on downing street cause that would be pretty funny. or aren’t tv shows allowed to film on downing street i don’t know.

‘you do love a beanie’ i know she’s suppose to be Socially Awkward™️ but god… the dialogue is always so awkward, i have never believed the doctor and fam as friends, let alone companions of two seasons.

‘four minutes til osaka’ it’s so funny ch*bnall takes time to signpost that we taking a four minute break from the plot to talk about feelings.

it’s quite funny tho because has the doctor and ryan ever had a one-to-one scene before?? honestly don’t think they have (correct me if im wrong). lol ch*bnall will never convince me these people are companions and not background furniture.

the awkwardness of this conversation makes it look like the doctor is in physical pain at having to make small talk to her so-called ‘friend’.

ch*bnall literally wrote ‘and how does that make you feel’ with his own two hands. i honestly don’t understand what people get out of defending this era.

‘if i’m not who i thought i was, then who am i?’ hey chibnall we did this last episode remember? you wrote it so you should.

‘you’re the doctor, same as before, same as always. right same doctor same ryan nothing’s changed’ weird how she’s perfectly okay with this advice from the fugitive doctor, but not with ryan.

nice advice/ consoling from ryan but again this is never earnt between the characters so ehh.

omg just thought ryan should had just said in response ‘i should say a reassuring thing now shouldn’t i? i’m still a bit socially awkward’.

‘thank you ryan for being my friend. thank you for being mine’ ….footage not found.

‘did you really have to bring him?’ again i second this motion.

this lighting has plot purpose but it’s still ugly as fuck.

‘you're feeding cloned dalek creatures liquidised humans’ this era never gets any less patronising to its viewers. also disappointing that doctor who veteran j*** b******** would accept such shit dialogue (or such basic characterisation for that matter).

‘there's something else that's bugging me’ umm… the quality of writing?

‘thanks yaz! missed you yaz!’ god this dialogue is so forced.

and now the dalek lights are red in case you didn’t know they’re now evil(!)

glad to see even jack now immediately backs down from conflict against the doctor. we hate it here.

this plan bad, as im sure you all know.

if they keep on saying the word dalek istg.

‘your bodies are too slow for daleks’ this is one of weirdest lines of dalek dialogue i’ve ever heard.

the extreme close up of the dalek, something something directing bad you know the drill.

‘yeah i can’t be spotted by the daleks!’ proceeds to park right in front of them.

‘maybe i can make a claim on insurance’, okay so that was a funny joke i admit.

bad guy of the episode goes to side with the bad guys, pretends to be shocked.

one of my favourite pieces of physical comedy is when the daleks rotate their heads to look at each other. i’m sure this probably isn’t even intentionally funny, i just find it hilarious and sassy of them.

‘you never forget your first death’ and jack is so hung up on this because…?

so is jack just carrying an abundance of bombs on his person or…?

‘no alien ship is safe from us two bad boys’ oh graham 😂

aw graham got left hanging, he didn’t deserve that 😔

if the daleks can locate the tardis now how come they didn’t before?

‘im captain jack harkness and im immortal’ imagine being happy with writing this dialogue, imagine being happy performing this dialogue. i have to ask. also why is ch*bnall obsessed with mentioning jack’s immortality when it bares no purpose to the plot. like yes ch*bnall i do remember jack is immortal you don’t need to keep telling me.

also like jack risks getting any one of them shot because he has to make Quippy Line™️???

ch*bnall loves solving the day by making the villian extremely dumb.

jack saying goodbye through ADR… hmm i want to know the tea.

i don’t know why the doctor frames ryan wanting to leave as ‘missed my time with you’ when ryan literally just gave his reasoning as it is because he has grown as a person and now know what he wants to do with life.

i mean ryan leaving does have its arc throughout the series so im not gonna say it’s not there but also im gonna not applaud a fish for swimming so.

‘she needs you’ there’s only so many times i can make the same joke… and im gonna keep making it, no she’s doesn’t lol (im sorry😅).

i will say that graham’s exit isn’t as good. not that that it’s unjustified, it’s perfectly fine but yeah less of an independent choice and more just following ryan.

nice leaving gift of psychic paper, just don’t tell them that others got a k9 😂

‘i could always use the tardis to go back arrive an hour after you guys, change the timeline. then we'd have more time together’ why is this doctor so bothered about companions leaving to this degree, she never even looked at them twice when they were on board. also the doctor has never reacted like this to any other companions and it’s not like the fam are that special lol.

also i noticed in the credits there’s a ch*bnall side character named after me lol. i think i’ll stick to my welsh biker girl thanks x

concluding thoughts: this episode definitely has some (2) nice emotional scenes in insolation, but 22 episodes in to start putting actual emotional development is just too little too late. jack ends up being almost a caricature of himself featuring all his Greatest Hits™️ of lines and quirks. nothing new is added to his character which is a shame. honestly the depth of emotion in torchwood s3 and s4 is so profound that seeing jack reduced to the gimmick of quirky sidekick is insulting to longtime viewers. aside from the start the doctor and jack barely interact which is also frustrating. the prison cliffhanger/ scenes are extremely pointless and add nothing to the plot or character as usual. the fam are the fam. not a big fan of dalek stories nowadays so i don’t really care much about it.

they say the word dalek(s) 91 times in this episode.

[mlemedt]

The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath

💛💛💛💛🤍 (4/5)

—————————————Introduction——————————————-

It feels bizarre to sit here and type my comments for such an incredible piece of literature. I’ve always considered it strange to critique classics, when they’re held on a pedestal so high above any other book. As if im simply not worthy to propose an opinion. It’s actually quite daunting to consider, to the extent this introduction is perhaps much harder than any other.

🍼

Although every review so far has been by a female author, these are perhaps rather the exception. To be transparent most of the books sat upon my bookcase are classics, all written by men with the exception of Jane Austen and Sylvia Plath. I’ve considered this before which is perhaps why I’m exploring new genres in this summer ambition. Many of the books I have lined up for review are books that make me excited and I’ve bought recently. These are female dominated. Perhaps recently I’ve been more drawn toward female focused literature because as Hwang advised in my previous review, that you ought to resonate with what you read.

I will be honest, previously I read a lot of Dostoevsky and Camus, and I still have some of their books on my shelf left to read. I enjoyed them because they made my brain turn, they made me think about the world and what it is to be alive. But sometimes I’d put down their work feeling hollow. I suppose this is the nature of existentialism, but actually, my main issue was that I didn’t feel a part of the story. As much as I understood the characters, I didn’t connect with them. And I think that’s because their authors don’t know who I am. These frankly male dominated books, in character and thought, are stifling. They feel grey and unalive. (However that’s not to say they don’t have incredible meaning.)

The Bell Jar was one of those books where the characters come alive between the lines and beyond the page. When you feel you’re no longer reading words, but dreaming of another world. There’s no greater satisfaction than a character so well realised and characterised that you can see their motions and movements between lines.

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-----------------------------—Commentary—------------------------------

One could argue that, the main theme of this book is its exploration into the dark and harrowing corners of the human psyche, but this cannot be observed without its stimulant. The suffocating role of women and gender expectations in the 1950s. The two cannot be considered without the other.

When I read these pages I understood Esther, I could share her pain and feel her suffocating as if it was the air around myself that had become stale. Then I would put the book down and carry on with my day, I’d think of Plath, and the realness Esther holds. I can’t pretend to understand the extent of Plath’s suffering, but the vividness in which she portrayed her mental health, created a hollowness in my heart, unlike any of the existentialists could ever. To be trapped in the pages of someone else’s torment, to feel yourself suffocating with them, feeling your limbs go weak as they try to drown themselves, it sparks real human compassion and solidarity, and paints clear the constraining experience women have faced for centuries.

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As I’ve said, reading is a way to enrich oneself and understand not just the experience of others, but to further understand yourself. Perhaps, I have not quite yet understood the impact Plath has had on me yet. Unlike other reviews where I’ve taken a couple of days to compile my thoughts, I have just an hour ago from writing this finished ‘The Bell Jar.’ I think that speaks volumes as to how impactful it was.

I don’t feel it necessary to follow my usual format in these reviews, I think you only need to read just one paragraph of this to understand how I feel about this book. And I don’t think it’s necessary to discuss how well realised her image of mental health was, and how that made me feel, and then reflect upon my own experiences. Perhaps I did not cry, but perhaps that was because her experience was not lyrical but realistic.

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——————————————Conclusion——————————————-

I’ll leave you with one final note. The title. I contemplated for a while, why Plath had called it this, there was little mention until the end of the novel, when it finally began to make sense. ‘Bell jars are often used in laboratories to form and contain a vacuum.’ The specimens inside are meant to be preserved for observation. Imagine you are inside one. There is no air, your lungs are constantly screaming for breath, your throat dry and starved, itching for a taste of air. Despite your tormented state, you remain motionless and cold, with a rod here or there to prop you up, and make sure you look pretty and observable. Whilst you suffocate, you must maintain appearance for the many eyes upon you. All whilst you claw for oxygen, bodies circle, and eyes watch. They are inflated and disgustingly huge as they are bent by the glass. The wall maintains between you and the world, and you feel you will never escape. That’s the image Plath painted for me. Perhaps my metaphor isn’t entirely correct, after all I’m quite sure most of the specimens in laboratories aren’t usually alive, and are rather propped to be observed rather than look presentable, but I digress.

It seems cruel to conclude that my favourite part was the ending, but it left me with hope. Hope that we can escape the Bell Jar.

♥♥♥

-Gaia

⚠️ Content Warnings ⚠️

This book is of its time and infrequently uses racist terminology. The protagonist also refers to lesbianism as ‘disgusting,’ however this constitutes only about a page of discussion.

-Sexual themes (discussive rather than descriptive)

-Heavy suicide theme (Protagonist tries to take her own life many times and thinks of it often. Other characters also commit suicide. If you struggle with mental health, I would heavily caution you.)