#i heard a rumour that s4 never happened

[nariko-senpai]

Let's discuss Five and Lila because I need to vent urgently. They had a great relationship s2 and S3 which I found really entertaining and wholesome to watch. Like this twink of a boy and this badass woman running around trying to save the world and not strangle eachother? Cool!

But S4 Lila and Five... Thought it was kinda cute (in a platonic way) when they were investigating the Cleanse together and that they made a cool duo. Silly Diego for accusing Lila for cheating, she would never... Oh. Nevermind. 😃 Her and Five are a thing now.🥰🎀😃

Okay, all jokes aside, it's weird as hell for the two of them together because LILA, HEY, REMEMBER WHEN HE WAS LIKE THIS:

WITH HIS SCRAWNY KNEES AND SCHOOL UNIFORM?? Like yes, he's hot now, but woahh. Not to mention your adopted mum was hitting on him when he was this size too, weird AF.

AND FIVE? DID YOU FORGET THAT YOUR BROTHER LOVES THIS WOMAN?? THE BROTHER THAT YOU TRIED TO SAVE A BILLIOM TIMES FOR THE APOCALYPSE AND DEATH?

It's so bizarre that the writers thought 'yes, five needs a love interest so we'll use a character already ready as his love interest' completely disregarding the age gap (physically and mentally) and the fact that Lila and Diego are a thing.

And if I'm being completely honest... Lila and Five were cute together, all cottagecore and loveydovey. But it's weird as hell considering Lila knew Five was physically a minor and the fact he's mentally like 70 years old now. So I kinda get if you shipped them this season but the people who were shipping them in s2 and S3? Creepy AF, that's disgusting.

Honestly I don't like most of Tua canon ships (apart from Klaus and Dave, Allison and Ray and Sparrow Ben and Jennifer) all the other ones like Diego and Lila, Sloane and Luther, even Victor and Sisi jusy doesn't rock my boat, but Five and Lila is rockbottom.

[mekazashitpost]

S4 SPOILERS AHEAD! SCROLL AWAY!!!!!

I honestly liked the last season. I do still have a bunch of questions that were never bought up ever again which sucks.

If they needed to sacrifice their marigold/themselves for everything to fix itself..then what about the other kids? There were 36 children created (I think??? I haven't watched season 1 in like 2 years so correct me if I'm wrong) only 14 were found/adopted (15 if you count Ben twice) sparrow academy all died, Sloane just vanished, emo Ben carried over with the rest of the UA..what about the others?

On-top of that, what about the Ben with the glasses at the end of season 3? Is that supposed to just be emo sparrow Ben before he went and did the crypto shit?

Also what happened to Allison's rumour? Like did the writers forget she had that ability or?? There's just so many times she could have rumoured something and be fine. ESPECIALLY when that guy hit her on the head with the metal bat so her power wasn't working. Ma'am, seriously? Your blinking eyes won't work? Ok, "I heard a rumour you punched yourself in the face with that bat" "I heard a rumour you told me where Klaus was" SIMPLE.

I feel like with the 4 missing episodes for the final season, everything was just rushed. It felt like everything was just "this happened and then this, oh and that happened but that's ok- OH AND HERES THAT! Oh nevermind we won't bring it up again, this happened by the way lol".

There's plot holes from what I can see and possibly even more as people watch it and point them out. I wish they got to address things. In saying this though, it is 3am and I only just finished the season since it came out whilst I was working, so I'm most likely just misremembering everything anyways..

I will say this though. I did like the ending, it felt right. If they were the reason the timelines were fucked, getting rid of them permanently was the best cause of action for both the end of their stories and the happy end for series. Im glad they came back as flowers in the end though, just a way of saying "hey, I'm still here"

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Dear Steph, firstly thank you so so much for your work, you‘ve lead me to so many brillant stories. I wonder what your idea might be as to what happened between season 3 and 4? Were they called back from the gay, was it all just a joke to begin with or have we fans never understood their intentions? I would sooo like to know. What do you guess?

Hey Nonny!

So glad you enjoy my blog, and continue to visit!

Ah, my speculations vary between petty / gossippy thoughts and likely causes based on speculations going around at the time.

I talked about this back in 2020, but I believe the major rumour was, at the time, the BBC was going through a shakeup in management between TAB and S4, and in turn, said management wasn't happy with the direction the series was going. WHICH makes no sense, so I suspect a threatened lawsuit from the then-copyright holders on the remaining stories, because they were ridiculous, and BBC just didn't want to deal with that, so put an axe on the original plan.

A few of my more petty, most-definitely wrong theories and gossip niblets I know of:

Mofftiss HATED that the fandom "figured out" TAB so changed the whole game plan to Shyamalan the whole series because it pissed them off that they couldn't have a twist if everyone knew.

Mofftiss supposedly REALLY didn't like the the fanbase was primarily women... JUST A RUMOUR I saw going around at the time, that's all. They wanted to bring in the more General audience and casuals and in turn ended up making something everyone hated.

Mofftiss got too full of themselves and thought they didn't need a third writer after the success of TAB. If I recall correctly, they were doing rewrites right up until filming days, so even the actors were blindsided by the scripts, I imagine.

Mofftiss just got bored with the property, because they wanted to do Dracula, so purposely sidelined it, but not enough to not still cash in on the Brand Sherlock with the Escape Rooms. This is why I think they won't confirm or deny an S5, because The Brand™ still gets them some residuals.

A big gossip/rumour going around at the time was that a certain Actor wanted to make it big like their co-stars before things got messy, and buddy-buddied up to Mofftiss so much to feature heavily in the series, and in turn screwing over a fellow co-star whom they were having a falling out with so that said Actor basically had the scripts tailored to what they wanted. Just made everyone uncomfortable, especially when said Actor was NOT supposed to drag the drama before the release of the series but they did. AGAIN, this is ALL RUMOUR and GOSSIP. Just giving you the info I saw at the time.

Those are all the rumours and gossip I remember at the moment; there's plenty more I missed, I'm sure.

It boggles me that they thought they really did something with S4, and then just played it off like the show was always that way :/

Anyway, if anyone recalls any other reasons they heard through the grapevine as to what may have happened behind the scenes, please add to this one.

[alloftheimaginesblog]

Trust Me {Steve Harrington}

Plot: Your brother, Steve Harrington, has been acting weird. You follow him and see him doing some pretty freaking weird stuff. You investigate.

Character: Steve Harrington x Sibling!Gender Neutral Reader

Requested by anon: Hope you like it!

Note: This takes place during S4 Volume 1, no major spoilers though.

"Why the hell are you out here, Steve?" You muttered to yourself as you made your way through the woods towards the lake. You were following Steve Harrington, your brother, and his friends. The last week, Steve had been acting super strange and had barely been home so you were following him to see what was going on.

You frowned as you squinted through the darkness to see Steve and his friends in a boat on the middle of the lake. What the hell? You were used to your brother hiding his new girlfriend of the week from you because you usually teased the hell out of him but what was he hiding now?

It was then that Steve stood on the boat, pulled his shirt and shoes off, and dove into the water. You gasped. Quickly, you hurried through the woods trying to see what was going on. You recognised the other people in the boat; Nancy, Robin and was that... Eddie Munson?! You'd heard what had happened to poor Chrissy and you'd heard the rumours that it was Eddie Munson who had killed her. Obviously, you didn't know what was the truth but why would Steve be hanging around with Eddie Munson, helping him evade police, especially at night time on the lake? Something was fishy about this whole situation.

It was as you cleared the trees you realised that Steve hadn't yet resurfaced and you could see in the dim moonlight Nancy standing up, preparing to jump overboard. Something was wrong. Nancy leapt in first and then Robin and then Eddie. As soon as you saw the three of them disappear under the surface of the black water, you wasted no time in kicking off your own shoes and wading quickly into the water. You were never a strong swimmer, that was Steve's strength, but you swam as though your life depended on it (well, Steve's life depended on it) and it wasn't long before you could see a reddish glow illuminating the bottom of the lake. As fast as you could, you pushed forwards looking at the red glowing almost flesh like tendrils that lay in the sand. You reached a hand out and pushed the middle thin fleshy bit, it tore open and almost immediately, fleshy vines stretched out, grabbed you and pulled you in.

"Holy shit!" You screamed, gasping for breath as you were lifted from the water and thrust onto hard stone, "What the fuck?!" Moments previous you'd been underwater at the bottom of the lake and now... now you were somewhere else, you had no idea where but all you knew was that it wasn't home. The sky was red and the ground was covered in the same weird fleshy vine things that had dragged you from the water, they moved like snakes. You didn't have much time to really process anything because you heard a yell from behind you. You turned to see Steve stomping on a weird bat looking creature.

"Steve?!" You shouted out, scrambling up and running over to the group. It was only when Steve stopped jumping on the bat thing that the group turned to you.

"(y/n)?!" Steve panted, hands clutching at his side, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"You're asking me that?! What on earth are you doing out here?!" You hissed, "What the hell is this place?" Steve winced as he pulled his hands back and realised they were covered in blood, "Jesus, Steve, what happened?!"

"Steve," Nancy said quietly as she looked up to the sky to see the Demobats circling as they prepared to attack again, "they're coming back."

"Dude, we gotta go," Eddie said, tapping his foot impatiently, "like now."

Steve glanced anxiously upwards to the sky, "(y/n), I'm really sorry but we seriously don't have the time for this. You gotta come with us." It was the first time you'd really seen your brother look scared, "I promise I'll explain everything but right now, I can't." He shoved his hand out, "Do you trust me?"

"Steve, I-"

"(y/n), do you trust me?" He spoke over you, voice loud and quick. He glanced upwards to the sky again, something was coming.

As soon as you heard the panicked edge to his voice, you nodded, "Yeah, I trust you." You put your hand in his.

"Then we gotta go." You allowed him to pull you away with the rest of the group. Into the depths of hell you'd follow your brother so of course you blindly put your faith into him and ran like your life depended on it.

[eclecticflowerbanditathlete]

I may be too optimistic but I’m starting to get the feeling that there was a last minute rewrite of Titans S3 to focus on/extent the Redhood storyline. And I’m about to rant about it and what they should’ve done

The 3rd season of Titans started off ignoring how Kory got her powers back, telling the Titans about her recent trauma, and remembering how to active her suit; dealing with Connor and Gar trauma from Cadmus, how all them picked their hero names, or the team dealing with grief of Donna’s death. Where was all of this, it happened off screen during the time jump. Also what happened after Kom came to earth and took over that lady’s body, it could have been a great introduction to the character. Like she Kom really there or she still inhabiting that lady, cause she was not wearing those cuffs that hold her suit; and if that is really her where is the ship she came in and how’d she get captured by the US government so fast and no heard of the fight she put up to be considered hostile?

Then they rushed Jason becoming Redhood (he was barely even Robin) and gave us episodes on the background on how that happened rather then scenes that would develop Titans characters *Korys background and Gar discovering how to turn into other animals. We were supposed to have Blackfire become the villain second half like it was rumoured-but there’s 3 episodes left and she still with the Titans and we hanger really seen or heard her doing anything shady beside steal Korys powers.

I think someone higher must have saw the excitement for seeing a live action Redhood and thought they’d get more views and fans by extending that story and the writer had to abandon their thoughts on the story arc for season 3 and or the story that they planned Blackfire.

Redhood could have waited until s4 or not at all; Jason could have become Robin in Gotham, cause in s1 the cops said robin hadn’t been seen in a year. During that time he was training with Bruce, then he was with the Titans where he was also training; never really seeing action. When he returns to Gotham (not told how he got back with Bruce s3) and be Robin for a couple of months and dies late in s3 off screen, Dick and the team hear about it Dick returns to Gotham and mourns before returning to the Titans. Since Jason has a vendetta against the Titans it would make more sense to attack them in San Francisco, where that have made a name for themselves, once he was resurrected. During the time jump between season could’ve had him working with other Titans villains giving them info about how to beat them before revealing himself mid season to Dick. They fight resolve some stuff and that’s where the Redhood spin off starts

[just-a-fangirl13]

Why s5 *might* be the season MacRiley happens

Okay so...Hear me out! I'm not crazy I promise!!

Firstly, after 5x03 (and probably 5x04) it may seem very unlikely that MacRiley could ever happen. But I thought of a few reasons why they might actually happen by the end of s5 after all.... (it gets a lil long winded and kinda complicated but just stick with me till the end!)

1. All the MacRiley moments including the ones in 5x03.

[this Mac smile could not be an accident or something that slipped through both production and post-production right?! that in itself is a whole reason!]

Every Macriley moment we have ever had- whether it's the hugs, Riley saving Mac, Mac saving Riley, the ultimate show of loyalty when Riley went after Mac during Codex or even just the looks exchanged between the two- to any outsider it would seem pretty obvious that they are dating or at least in love. Keep in mind the writers would have written each of those scenes and Lucas and Tristan have acted them out with a specific build up in mind aka MacRiley.(think about the date episode: Riley just got dumped but was still thinking about how Mac might be hungry. She didnt have to do that. She could have just shown up at his place..) I mean how can they write two people so perfectly in sync and so perfect for each other and not have them end up together? It would just be a waste of all that tension and slow burn. (not to mention all the hugs and glances)

2. They know we exist. 

The MacRiley fam is very active on twitter with the writers and while they were writing 5x01 they knew we were around. They know we are a huge group. They would not want to risk pissing 90% of the fandom off by not making MacRiley endgame.

[P.S.yes 5x03 was a bait and switch but if you were paying attention you would have noticed that neither Lucas not Tristan live tweeted or hyped up the episode. They knew we would probably hate it so they didnt publicise it too much! so in the future if you have doubts about the episode being a MacRiley one just check their stories or posts on twitter/intstagram]

3. Yes 5x03 happened. 

I really think it was an episode they HAD to write. Ok so after 4x13 they had 7 more episodes planned and were filming 4x20 (aka the finale) when the pandemic struck. So they have these 6 episodes but no finale for it. [Idk if anyone else has noticed but in 5x01 there were clearly some parts cut out. For example the conversation between Desi and Riley towards the end seemed a bit jilted. Riley asking Desi to forgive her but Desi replied with yeah we are cool (still no apology ofc) I feel like something happened during that which ended up getting cut out so it could fit with the final story.]

This makes me think that they have rewritten a few bits to tie into the new finale episode. In 5x03 when Mac asked Desi to come fishing with him which was clearly something very personal to him she was like no do better.. then we see Mac's disappointed expression. She could have easily said okay but maybe not for our first date? Or its not really my thing? Or just about anything else rather than laughing in his face like that. Eventhough MD is together they still arent compatible. Mac’s final words in 5x03 was him being desperate. I truly think he is so broken and lost that Desi is the only safe thing left, the only thing he feels like he can fix right now. Once he finds himself again and heals...then it's going to hit him like a pile of bricks!!

4. But Riley doesn't have feelings anymore...WELL doesnt she? 

When it comes to Mac, Riley is always in denial. We saw it in s4 when she tells Bozer not to make her say it. I think s5 will show her finally accepting it. Finally accepting that she is in love with her best friend and that it definitely isnt Codex adrenaline because she caught the feels when Codex wasnt even around. While Mac's arc would include realising he and Desi are never going to work and that he is unhappy and that RILEY is the one for him.

[why else would they give Riley feelings for Mac? Something has to come of it.]

5. The slow burn rule.[this point is a lil complicated] 

Now season 5 is rumoured to have 13 episodes. So here’s what I think: If MacGyver follows the pattern that most shows do when it comes to slow burns, then technically MacRIley should have happened at the end of season 4. But since the season got cut short and they didnt get to air/finish their final episode the writers had to improvise. 

From what I know, 4x19 which is 5x04 for us is the episode where Mac meets Desi’s parents and 4x20 was supposed to be the finale that was left unfinished.(they are definitely moving the timeline ahead if a pre finale episode is suddenly a mid season one.) There might have been a 4x21 or 4x22 but I haven't heard anything about those....EVER.

So what I think they have decided to do instead is extend the MD storyline a bit longer just so they dont end up scrapping all their s4 episodes where they would be together and write a new finale that ties everything together, aka MacRiley.

If you think about episode counts, s4 and s5 together would have 26 episodes which is a how long a normal season runs. Basically what im trying to say is if we follow the ‘slow burns end by s4’ and take season 5 as an extension of 4 then MacRiley should get together in the season 5 finale or maybe the episode just before. (IM REALLY TRYING TO GET SOME LOGIC INTO THIS)

This would be a typical TV thing too where the couple finds out about each other’s feelings while the main arc of the show is also at its peak, which perfectly sets up a future season where fans are hyped but still has a satisfying ending.

6. So what about MacDesi?

So far the macgyver writers have given us characters we love. Think of every character on the show apart from maybe Desi... Mac, Riley, Bozer, Jack, Matty, Leanna, Samantha, Russ and even Murdoc. WE LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. So then why is Desi such a strange character? I think shes purposely been written as an opposite to Mac or even Riley (I get she’s supposed to kinda replace Jack but Jack is really irreplaceable). 

It's not necessarily a bad thing its just not a great thing to do or have great execution. People have said things like Desi is a badass and shouldnt have to apologise or say I love you back to her boyfriend because she is a strong woman...I'm sorry but your opinion of who a strong woman is, is EXTREMELY skewed. A strong woman is someone who can make mistakes and when she does, she is ‘strong’ enough to own up to it, she is loyal and fierce and also caring while being a badass who can take down bad guys. And for GODS SAKE, RILEY DAVIS IS A STRONG WOMAN...people have called her mushy and feminine on twitter and I'm just very confused by that.....

Anyways before I go off on a rant, it seems like Desi is intentionally being written this way. Every opportunity they get to redeem her and make her more relatable or just a better person they just dont take it. While Rileys character arc is one of the best I've ever seen. Either its intentional or they’ve forgotten how to write characters...which is worrisome but ill give them the benefit of the doubt.

The writers also know we dont like Desi. The amount of times we've tagged them in the toxic posts or pointed out problematic things we can be sure they've seen at least half of those. So theres no way they dont know. RIGHT?

So why then is MD still a thing you may ask??

Well for one they cant break them up again off screen because of those unreleased s4 episodes. (not to mention the other parts of the audience who arent as invested in mac’s love life would probably be very confused.)

Secondly Mac has to be the one to pull the plug, not Desi. 4x13 made it seem like Desi was the annoyed one not Mac. He apologised to her which meant he wanted to fix things. 

Thirdly, they are opening the chpt one last time before they permanently close it. MD is going to be a stark contrast to macriley(it already is in every way possible). Every issue Mac and Desi had can be used to show how amazing macriley really is as two people who arent even dating yet.

Fourthly, MD being together is a sort of commentary on Macs mental health as well. We can see how happy he is with Riley but around Desi he becomes some one else. If the writers are doing this on purpose or subconsciously still remains to be seen.

And Yes keeping MD around for a few more episodes seems like a necessary risk right now but I have a feeling its going to be worth it later.

[I know we have had like 4 desi entered episodes already but I really think 5x04 will be the last of it since 5x05 is the Jack episode and 5x06 is Mac+Riley+Bozer episode with no mention of Desi at all!]

The writers know we are a dedicated bunch and they know that once MD breaks up for the last time the entire fandom will be waiting and watching. That's when the show will be at its peak. That will be the perfect moment to bring in MacRiley’s arc to a new start!

Congrats if you stuck with me through this whole thing! if you agree/disgaree with any of these or have other reasons why they could be endgame in s5 let me know!!

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 24 - Penalteam

Thankfully I managed to see Penalteam today and I was shocked that this time there was no problem with subtitle synchronisation, I didn't have to shift times even once. :) It should not be a long post again, because there are not many things to comment really.

The thing that payed my attention the most in Penalteam was its animation. It looks like an episode animated by SAMG, there're only few done by that studio for season 4 and I'm 99,9% sure this one is one of them. It's definitely the best looking episode of this season and one of the best in history of this show. The animation is very dynamic (no wonder since it's sport-themed episode), colors are so vivid and beautiful. The effect is even stronger to me since I've just seen Qilin yesterday that looks horrible in comparison, especially colors are so bland.

There's one more reason why I enjoyed the animation the most in this episode, its main theme is not my thing at all. Literally almost the whole episode was a football match and I dislike it. I'm even sick of it, since it's the most popular sport in many countries, including Poland, it's discussed everywhere, especially during the biggest events. That's the only sport which is constantly extremely popular in my country, no matter how good Polish national team, that's not very successful since... I know? 40 years? Or more? I know we have Robert Lewandowski and few other great players, but the team doesn't belong to the greatest in the world or Europe since decades, from what I've heard Polish football clubs are also very weak compared to the best ones in the world. Personally I can't stand watching one full football match, it always bores me too much, so I could not find this episode interesting as well. So this is why I don't know how to comment plot of this episode since it was mostly a football match. Great animated, but it's just a match of a sport I don't enjoy.

I also noticed that hand-drawn artworks are definitely made in the artstyle referring to Captain Tsubasa, though I don't remember if I've seen a single episode of it (and of course I haven't read the manga). But since it's one of the first anime that has been ever aired in Poland in 90s, it's a iconic series in my country and I've seen people mentioning it so many times. It's possible I've seen some of it, as I was born in early 90s, but I really don't remember. Though I remember seeing my two older sisters watching Sailor Moon in 90s (also one of the first aired and one of the most popular ever anime in Poland) when I was very little, too little to enjoy it myself.

As I mentioned, I've seen the end card when looking for the episode, so I knew it features all the heroes minus Bunnix and Rena. I wasn't totally surprised, as I've heard that all the remaining superhereos are going to debut this season except for Bunnix months ago, but I thought it was just a rumour, since I didn't believe there are enough episodes to show them all. I never expected they would introduce four new heroes in one episode. That's terrible decision in my opinion. That's extremely for these characters that their introduction was so rushed, there was no time to show their superpowers properly, not even transformation sequences. Everything was too chaotic and happened way too fast to enjoy it. They all deserve their own episodes like other characters, especially Sabrina. I always thought that she should get the dog Miraculous in a episode about her in which she will start distant from Chloé. Someone from writing team has promised in an interview before S4 started airing that Sabrina and Chloé's toxic behavior is going to be addressed in the show, so a such episode should be created. I'm especially angry because of the dog, I was curious of the power of this Miraculous along with the tiger the most. Also Barkk is one of my favourite Kwami, I wanted to see her first interaction with Sabrina showed in a proper way and more screentime with her. They ruined introduction of four heroes, it's another big thing they handled terribly in season 4. I don't think these heroes are going to get more attention in season 5, seeing that Ryuuko hasn't gotten even her full transformation sequence. This season heroes introduced in seasons 2 and 3 are more in the background, except for Rena and Viperion.

I have no idea how it could be possible that Adrien knows nothing about football. Is there a country in Europe in which it is a not very popular sport? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure football is a big thing in France as well. Being sheltered and homeschooled for the most the life is not a reason to know anything about thing as much well-known around the world. That's impossible. Adrien wasn't kept in the cellar without access to the TV or the internet. Sports like rugby or baseball aren't popular in my country, but I know something about them thanks to American movies. And hey, I just remembered something. Weren't Ladybug and Chat Noir playing football using Miracle Box as a ball in Furious Fu and wasn't Chat score a goal? So that thing was not only stupid but also inconsistent with thing that happened before. All the more, there's no way Adrien could not know the most basic rules of this sport.

Another Chloé's akumatised form, really? But maybe she is not going to be willing akumatised anymore, because it seems she's starting seeing power gotten from Shadow Moth's as weak and useless.

And finally Lila has gotten a speaking role this season! Almost the whole season of silence and suddenly they remembered that she is supposed to be a bad girl who is plotting against Marinette all the time. In S3 it's been shown that Lila is doing her evil things throughout the whole season, in this one she has been completely ignored when she was useless for the plot. I hated that, especially that at the end of S3 she made a deal with Adrien that hasn't been mentioned even once after Ladybug episode. But of course since Marinette wasn't directly involved in that, it wasn't that much important to show consequences of it. :/ I hope this time Lila and Chloé will make a deal that will go somewhere and she will be active again finally. I miss Lila's evildoing, really.

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

Something not related to the episode, but I can't help myself. Today I saw Polish premiere dates of the second half of season 4 that's going to start at the end of this month and I noticed that Hack-san will be aired on the 1st of April. There could not be a better day for the premiere for that episode, since Hack-san is the biggest joke in the history of this show. It's just a shame that totally unfunny. Good job, Disney Channel Polska. ;)

[theaceace]

I started writing a funny little piece about Martin listening to gossip, and then the spirit of hugjonsims2k19 took over. Set in a nebulous s4 au wishy-washy sort of timeline. Enjoy?

It takes Martin longer than he is proud of to realise that there’s something off – that there has been for a while, really. He’d like to say it’s because he’s always so busy these days. Peter keeps him bogged down with endless paperwork, and should he ever manage to find a spare moment between forms, scheduling, budgets, and worrying, then he’s trying to take to heart what Peter told him. That he needs to keep himself isolated – that a clean break is better for everyone involved, that dragging the process on will only hurt him more in the long run.

Hurt him more – at least Peter had the good sense not to lie and say this way would be painless.

So between all of the… everything going on, it’s a while before Martin walks in on Sonia and Rosie giggling over something Cam had supposedly said and realises that he has no idea what they’re talking about.

They don’t notice him walk in, and if they look up and see him leaving, neither of them reacts.

It’s stupid. It’s office gossip. His stomach shouldn’t be twisting and cramping like he’s about to be sick, there shouldn’t be sweat starting to bead along his hairline, he shouldn’t have to swallow down the thickness in his throat. It’s stupid.

But Martin had always known exactly what was going on. Birthdays, weddings, all the antics people’s children or nieces and nephews got up to, all the quiet little fallings-out and goings on that came with cramming so many people into one building and asking them all to work nicely together. He doesn’t remember how it started, or quite why, but he had always been considered trustworthy – a good person to talk to. Once that might have made him laugh. After all, so much of who he became at this place was built on lies; harmless, maybe, but still lies.

In retrospect, it’s impressive that it took so long for anyone to figure him out. Somewhere like the institute – the domain of the Beholding, that draws in the sort of tenacious people unable to resist a mystery – isn’t conducive to keeping secrets.

Martin, though, Martin’s always been good at keeping secrets – he knew about two pregnancies, an engagement and four divorces weeks before anyone else, and once word got around that he was a good person to talk to (compassionate, quiet, always ready with a smile and an offer of tea), well. Suddenly he had a lot more secrets that needed keeping.

He remembers, sometimes, how quickly he had given up the truth to Jon, and wonders how much of that was the Archivist, and how much was simply that he was sick, so sick, of keeping everyone’s words bottled deep beneath his ribs. If he hadn’t just been so grateful to give up this one thing that he would have blurted it out anyway. (It isn’t a fair comparison, of course. He would tell Jon anything, because he’s Jon and there’s very little Martin wouldn’t desperately wish to tell him, but was it really Jon asking?)

Now, Martin is out of the loop. He has no idea how Rosie’s nephew is getting on with preschool. Knows that Jenna’s birthday is coming up but hasn’t heard anything about her plans, even though she’d always invited him along for drinks with everyone from artefacts storage to celebrate. Doesn’t know if Dale ever managed to work up the courage to ask Rob out. His tongue feels stuck to the roof of his mouth as he hurries back to his office and near slams the door shut. When was the last time he had a conversation with someone – anyone other than Peter? When was the last time he had to say something more than ‘excuse me’, or ‘have you seen a stapler round here?’

He doesn’t know, doesn’t know, doesn’t know.

Too long, he thinks a little hysterically, and has to take a moment to get his breathing back under control. It’s good, he tries to tell himself. Or, well. Not good, maybe, but necessary. Right.

And so what if he doesn’t know all of the ins and outs of every employee under the institute’s roof? That’s not a bad thing. He doesn’t need to know any of it (doesn’t need to know in the way that Jon needs to know, that pressure, the weight of a single question that could force someone to their knees, and).

No.

Enough.

Now that he knows, though, he can’t help but listen in gently to all of the conversations he hadn’t realised he was missing.

Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised by how many of them are about the archives.

And Martin can’t help but feel bad when he listens in – like he’s spying, almost. Of course, if anyone actually paid any attention, they’d realise he’s there and listening, and probably yell at him, or throw something (and it’s awful how there are times when he thinks that’d be preferable to nothing). He doesn’t feel bad enough to stop, though. He doesn’t dare venture down into the archives, knows that he’d be lost if he did, so this is the only real way he has to gauge what’s happening beyond the odd statement tangled haphazardly in his coat pocket, or Peter’s snide little comments.

He… isn’t sure how to feel about what he hears.

Basira, he learns, spends a lot of time outside, officially following up on statements. Unofficially, she has a bad habit of dropping completely off the grid for days at a time. There’s a lot of speculation aboutlll where she goes and what she does, but never anything in an official capacity. Martin suspects that Jon knows where she is should he ever think to check, so it doesn’t really matter if half of accounts assume that she’s just slacking.

Melanie – it sounds like she’s recovering. Slowly, but when he hears her name these days, it’s less wary, more conspiratorial. Of course, there are rumours that she can’t be in the same room as Jon; that the last time Jon stumbled sleep-deprived and almost hilariously unobservant in the break room while Melanie sat sipping tea, she threw the mug at his head. Martin isn’t quite sure if he believes that one or not, but there is a suspicious new stain on the wall at roughly Jon’s eye level.

There’s also talk of a new figure that’s been seen lurking around the archives – no one’s met her, and the way they tell it, no one’s even caught more than a glimpse of long limbs in a patterned suit and a cloud of dark hair. Martin tries not to think about it, and checks that he remembers every door he opens. So far, she hasn’t done anything more than exist in the same building as him, but even so.

And there’s Jon.

At first he’d tried, tried so hard not to hear anything about Jon. Left the room when his name came up, once even resorted to sticking his fingers in his ears like a child until he was sure the conversation had moved on. But his resolve only stretched so far until it snapped, and left him hovering uncertainly in the doorway to the institute’s library and trying to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping on the gaggle of new researchers sat around a nearby desk. Though generally unnoticed these days, he hasn’t quite worked himself up to Peter’s level of sneaking around.

“No, seriously! I walked in and he was just curled up in the armchair asleep! I’ve literally never seen him set foot outside the front door of this place,” says one of them whose name Martin doesn’t know, but has spitefully decided to call Too Big Glasses. She’s speaking far too loud to be polite for a library, and waving her hands around as she talks. “And he just had actual piles of those statements lying all around him like a nest. I think someone had piled a couple of them on top of him too – like it was so funny, you know like those videos of people stacking things on cats? Yeah, like that!”

“Funny?” Asks someone Martin thinks is called Toby. “Wait, you actually think something about that guy is funny?”

“Yeah?” Too Big Glasses says – she sounds confused. “I mean, if he’d tried to turn over the whole lot would’ve toppled!”

“Yeah, but,” Toby glances around and lowers his voice as though that might encourage her to do the same. Martin has his doubts. “How can you find anything about that guy funny? He’s – ugh, he’s creepy, and I don’t say that lightly these days.”

“I guess,” says Brown Jumper, looking up from her book for the first time and blinking owlishly at them both. “But I overheard Rosie saying that a lot of shit’s happened down in archives lately, so I mean, it’s not like he’s the only creepy thing down there.”

Martin bristles, almost forgets himself, almost marches over. A thing. A creepy thing. How dare – they have no right –

He catches himself just before he steps across the threshold. Can’t go undoing all of Peter’s hard work now, he thinks sardonically.

“What kind of shit?” Asks Too Big Glasses, who must be even newer than the other two.

And Martin – he doesn’t want to hear a play-by-play account of the last six mon – the last yea – any of it. He doesn’t want to hear these strangers talking about any of the things that have happened since he moved down to archives like they know a single damn thing about it, like they have any sort of authority to be talking like that about his life, about the things he had to see and do just to keep himself sane and mostly human.

More human than Jon, at any rate, he thinks before he has a chance to stop himself, which just brings back the awful twisting knots in his stomach.

He steps forwards, purposeful and completely unnoticed, and starts browsing through the shelves for the book he’d originally come down here in search of. It’s hard to completely tune the researchers out, but he does his best – he even manages to hunt down a few older editions of the book he was looking for that might offer some valuable comparisons to the conclusions a previous follow-up had come to on his latest statement. In fact, he’s almost made it back to the door, to the corridor beyond, the stairs beyond that, and finally to his safe, quiet little office.

Almost.

They’re still talking about Jon, he registers dimly, and doesn’t notice the way his feet slow. He doesn’t listen because he doesn’t need to know. In fact, he does such a good job of not listening that it isn’t until he hears a hushed

“- dead!” Whispered across the table that he freezes up, shoulders lifting high and curling in as though bracing for a physical blow. He has no context, he tells himself frantically, they could be talking about anything now. A statement, probably, that they’ve finished researching and passed on to Jon to be archived. That’s all it is, he tells his shuddering lungs and frantic heart. More words filter in through the static suddenly buzzing through his mind, between his ears and behind his eyes, but he can barely make sense of them. He knows they’re still speaking English, but the sounds are all wrong, jumbled up.

He isn’t, Martin tells himself. He can’t feel his arms. He’s fine. You’d know if he wasn’t.

At least, he thinks he would. Even Martin – secluded, isolated, lonely Martin – would have heard something. Basira would have – or, or Melanie – even Peter –

The books are on the floor, he thinks hazily, and the researchers have turned to stare – at the books, but then up at him. He doesn’t have enough space in him to be embarrassed at the looks they’re giving him. Can’t bring himself to be horrified at his lapse. So they can see him. And? And? If he’s failed already anyway then what does it matter.

He’s already hurrying down the corridor, doesn’t hear them muttering to each other about Wasn’t that Martin? Didn’t he used to work in archives? Haven’t seen him down there in a while, wonder if he knows what’s going on? Don’t know, haven’t seen him anywhere in a while. Maybe he’s scared of the spooky archives ghost too, woooo!

He doesn’t hear any of it. By the time they’ve moved onto a new conversation, he’s already racing the familiar halls of the archives, the sound of his footsteps swallowed up by the carpet. There are more twists that he remembers, an asinine part of him thinks, more branching paths than there should be, and he isn’t sure if it actually takes him twice as long as it should to reach Jon’s office or if time has just slowed to a thick, lethargic stream clinging at his legs and slowing him down. Like running in a dream.

There’s nothing dreamlike about the way the door bounces against the wall when Martin throws it open, the way it rattles on its hinges. Nothing dreamlike about the way Jon flinches so hard his chair rocks back, the way he begins to splutter –

“Good lord I – Martin? Martin are you quite alri – are you about to faint, god, come here, sit down, I – “

Jon. Stuffy, fussy Jon, with his brow creased heavily over filmy eyes that haven’t cleared since he woke up, reaching out to Martin like he wants to help him into the worn desk chair but isn’t quite sure how, hands fluttering and twitching around. For a moment, Martin doesn’t move, doesn’t speak – isn’t sure he can. His throat is dry, and he has the horrible, creeping suspicion that that’s because every drop of water in him is threatening to spill from his eyes in a horrible, humiliating mess, but he doesn’t care.

There’s more grey in Jon’s hair, he thinks as he takes a determined step forward. Deeper bags under his eyes. He’s been chewing at his thumbnails, and when Martin finally gets close enough to feel the unseen barrier warp and strain, and finally give way, he can smell on Jon’s jumper that he’s been smoking again.

The smell is almost comforting, he thinks, as he presses his nose into it.

He’s imagined hugging Jon before. Of course he has. Thought about how easy it would be to completely envelope Jon, who is narrow and angular enough that Martin sometimes thought he’d be able to wrap his arms around him twice. He’d liked to imagine Jon laughing as he did, just the softest little huff of breath against Martin’s neck.

It’s nothing like that.

Martin is still biting back tears and bowed over until they’re almost the same height; Jon’s skin is icy where Martin’s cheek is pressed against the side of his neck, and there’s no comforting thrum of his heart between their chests. Jon is drawn tense as a bowstring, arms by his sides, and Martin thinks he can see his fists clench and open, clench and open. He should pull away, he thinks, and apologise but as soon as he tries to bring himself to, he can feel that static push trying to crawl its way between them, and so he can only cling tighter.

He’s already made a mess of things. Might as well go all-in now.

“Martin?” Jon asks softly. Disbelievingly. There’s a hesitance in his voice that Martin doesn’t think he’s ever heard before – that he definitely doesn’t want to hear again. He shakes his head mutely, still afraid to try to talk to Jon (afraid that he won’t be able to) but somehow Jon seems to know what he’s trying to say. Or maybe he Knows. Martin can’t bring himself to care.

Very, very lightly, Jon’s hands rest on Martin’s back, smoothing broad strokes across his shirt so gently that Martin could almost believe he’s imagining them. But his imagination’s never been this good, and he’d never think to include the smell of Jon’s cheap laundrette washing powder, or the heavy weight on the back of his neck that feels like someone staring.

“Martin?” Jon asks again. There’s no real question to it, no compulsion – still just that faint disbelief, as though he is as afraid as Martin that this isn’t real. Martin doesn’t let go, but neither does Jon, and he doesn’t speak again. Just guides them, eventually, to sit against the wall, still clinging, still pushing back against the static that hums along Martin’s skin. There will be consequences, says a voice in Martin’s mind that sounds disconcertingly like Peter.

But consequences, Martin thinks, are for later. When he can breathe steadily again, when Jon stops running a clumsy hand over his hair. For now, he looks up and offers Jon a watery smile.

“I didn’t say it earlier,” he manages. “But I’m glad you’re not dead, Jon”

[themostrandomfandom]

Hey JJ! What are your favorite episodes of Glee Brittana wise and why?

Hey, @tryingtoohardddd!

Unsuprisingly, my answer got wordy. I put everything under the cut.

______

My top five favorite Brittana episodes are:

6x06 “What the World Needs Now” because it is the closest Glee ever comes to giving us top quality Brittana fanfiction played out on screen. The characterizations for both girls are so spot on, and especially in the hallway scene, which, in addition to providing a perfect reversal to the Hurt Locker scene in episode 2x15, also presents us with some of the best-conceptualized Brittana dialogue and cute, flirty Brittana interactions of the entire series. Throughout the episode, Naya and Heather’s performances hit on all sorts of levels: Brittany’s exasperation with her parents and zany Queso Por Dos trolling with Alma are pure comedy gold, while Santana’s heartfelt confrontation with Alma in the auditorium makes me cry, and the courage and resolve that both girls show in standing up for their love are enough to make me want to leap out of my chair and cheer because THOSE ARE MY GIRLS and LOOK AT HOW FAR THEY’VE COME. While the episode does contain some logistical plot holes, the Brittana in and of itself is about as close to perfect as possible. There’s angst and fluff, heartbreak and triumph, but most of all, just so much love. This episode is all about Brittana coming full circle. They started off as two girls who, due to the potential consequences of speaking up, were afraid to admit how much they wanted each other. In this episode, they show how they have grown into two women who are willing to fight for their love, no matter what may come of them doing so, because, to them, the most important thing is just being with each other. 

2x15 “Sexy” because, on a personal level, this is The Brittana Episode for me, the one that pulled me in and made me ship these two cheerleaders with everything in my little fangirl heart. Then, on a more universal level, because it is also just so pivotal. When it comes to Brittana, the entire timeline can be divided according to episode 2x15—the before and the after. It is their watershed, the moment they went from background to foreground, the love declaration heard ‘round the world. The Sacred Sexy Sharing Circle started it, “Landslide” kept it going, and then the Hurt Locker hit it home. To this day, Naya Rivera’s performance in that scene remains the single most affecting thing I’ve ever witnessed in any episode of any television show ever, and I continue to find new significance in the bravery of Brittany’s actions every time I examine her behavior from her “I think we should talk to somebody” line on. Everything that Brittana eventually achieve and become all traces back to what they do here. Ultimately, their whole narrative arc on the show has its basis in those four little words: “I just want you.”

6x03 “Jagged Little Tapestry” because the bedroom scene alone is worth the price of admission, and then there is also a marriage proposal on top of it. As with episode 6x06, this episode reads like really, really super good fanfiction. The dialogue between Brittana in the bedroom is some of the best in the whole show, and Santana’s proposal to Brittany and Brittany’s reaction to it are so incredibly heartfelt and pure. Way back when episode 2x04 originally aired, if someone had come to me and said, “In five years, there will be a Glee episode in which you see Brittany S. Pierce and Santana Lopez cuddling in bed together, trading on-the-lips kisses, making pillow talk about how happy they are, and promising to love each other until infinity. Oh yeah, and later in the episode, they’ll get engaged,” I would have laughed them right off the internet, because back then I couldn’t have imagined that Glee would ever develop Brittana to such a point or to give us fans so much cause to celebrate. But this episode made that stuff happen—live! and in technicolor!—and it did so so deftly, with such nuance, feeling, and heart. For years, I had gotten used to Heya delivering quality Brittana IN SPITE OF poor Glee writing and a lack of narrative focus. This episode gave us an A+ Heya performance PLUS the excellent writing and narrative focus to support and highlight what they enacted. It’s Brittana the way it always should have been, and it just feeds into S6 being my favorite Brittana season overall.

5x12 “100” because after the kick in the teeth that was S3 and the harder kick in the teeth that was S4 and the even harder kick in the teeth that was the beginning part of S5, and after Brittany not graduating, Brittana breaking up, Bram happening, Dantana happening, and, oh yeah, that little part where Heather Morris left the show and no one knew if she would ever be back, suddenly, SUDDENLY, there was this episode, and it was so unexpectedly wonderful that, all at once, the fandom had hope again. Brittana supporting each other regardless of their current relationship status is my jam, so I love seeing Santana try to cheer Brittany up and help her access her creativity again. “Valerie” 2.0 is one of the cutest, dorkiest performances in all of Glee, and the way Brittany responds to Santana just reaffirms how deep their bond runs. Plus, this episode has some of the best Brittany dialogue, hands down. Her speech to Santana in the choir room is incredible—the kind of great writing that I thought Glee had forgotten how to produce after the Hurt Locker. And then there is That Kiss™. Again, if someone had told me way back in S2 that someday we’d get to see a Brittana kiss like that one, I’d never have believed it. This episode really is the precursor to all the Brittana goodness we’re treated to in S6.

2x19 “Rumours” because it is the quintessential Back Six episode from S2. At this point, Brittana want each other so badly, but they’re both still so afraid—Brittany that Santana won’t fight for her, Santana of the consequences of being true to herself. Still, through everything, it is clear that they love each other so much, almost more than they can stand. The Blurt Locker, nose-booping, promposal, and Revert Locker are all such monumental Brittana developments, and “Songbird” is an experience all of its own, one so moving and intimate that, to this day, I can only bring myself to watch it about once a year because anything more than that feels like an intrusion. This episode’s sweetest moments are so tender and affecting, while its angstiest moments are so heart-rending and poignant. The “soulmates” exchange hurts like a motherfucker, and yet it also provides hope because while JBI is asking Santana about Karofsky, it couldn’t be clearer who her answer is really about.

Thanks for the question! 

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2019 | Pt III

I can’t fucking edit my post because this website is crap, so we get a part three even though there’s only two more months to 2019. But whatever, I’m not bitter or anything.

Reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read one hundred books this year (finished!), finish five video games (finished!), write something novel-length (not so much, does it count if I wrote a novel’s worth of short stories in October?) and write something original (technically done? don’t know if I want to count a snippet that didn’t even hit 1k). These last two goals CAN be combined (I might try NaNo this year, so we will see).

Part I: January-July Part II: August-October

MOVIES

November

The King

(V For Vendetta)

(Avengers: Endgame)

(Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas)

Frozen 2

(Winnie the Pooh)

Journey to the Sun

December

Klaus

(Aladdin: Return of Jafar)

Hotel Artemis

(The Santa Claus)

(Star Wars: A New Hope)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(Love Actually)

BOOKS

November

The Gilded Wolves | Roshani Chokshi [Fin]

Words of Radiance | Brandon Sanderson [Fin]

Oathbringer | Brandon Sanderson

The Hating Game | Sally Thorne [Fin]

Again, But Better | Christine Riccio [Fin]

The Queen of Nothing | Holly Black [Fin]

North and South | Elizabeth Gaskell

December

Oathbringer | Brandon Sanderson [Fin]

Snow, Glass, Apples | Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran [Fin]

North and South | Elizabeth Gaskell [Fin]

The Starless Sea | Erin Morgenstern [Fin]

There There | Tommy Orange [Fin]

The Secret Commonwealth | Philip Pullman

The Library of the Unwritten | A.J. Hackwith [Fin]

PODCASTS

November

The Penumbra Podcast s3, Eps 2-3

The Magnus Archives Eps 160

King Falls AM Eps 11-30

Adventure Zone Moonlighting Pt 1

(Zero Hours: When the Beat Drops)

December

The Magnus Archives Q&A

Outliers s1, ep 1

King Falls AM Eps 31-34

TV SHOWS

November

Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural, s6

His Dark Materials, s1

She-Ra, s4

(Gargoyles, s1)

South Park

Rick & Morty, s4

Star vs the Forces of Evil s1, s2

The Flash, s4

The Dragon Prince, s4

The Mandalorian

Star Wars: Rebels, s1

December

His Dark Materials, s1

The Mandalorian

The Dragon Prince, s4

The Untamed

The Good Place, s3

The Witcher, s1***

The Great British Bake Off, s7

VIDEO GAMES

November

Assassin’s Creed: Origins (10 hours)

Death Stranding (10 hours)

Pokemon: Shield (20 hours)

December

Pokemon: Shield (20 hours)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (2 hours)

DELIGHTFUL FIC

November

The Sun Dog by ambiguously | Star Wars | Finn/Ren/Rey | 5k | Finn and Rey, with their semi-prisoner Kylo Ren, attempt to meet up with the Resistance on a planet that has been taken over by monsters.

Seeing Ghosts by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 4.5k | Ryan blames the entire thing on temporary insanity.

silver in our lungs by taywen | Spinning Silver | Miryem/The Staryk Lord | 3.6k | The marks had been with Miryem for as long as she could remember. 

sing all your questions to sleep by Wildehack (tyleet) | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon | 1.5k | Jon, Martin, and Basira take a breath.

as ordinary things often do by lymricks | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 4k | Max is yelling out the window, “She means like, two weeks--” before they’re turning around the corner and--And Steve is standing on the front steps of Billy Hargrove’s house, keys jingling in his palm, thinking what the fuck?

on hairpins by Lirazel | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Gen | 3k | When the citizens of Attolia complain that the Thief of Eddis is a terrible influence on their queen, they have no way of knowing the truth of their own words.

the umbrella by Wildehack (tyleet) | The Magnus Archives | Martin/Jon | 4.6k | "And to think—all of Jonah Magnus’ carefully laid plans, the centuries of scheming, the murders, the sacrifices, all of that work could have been completely undone if Martin Blackwood had gone back for an umbrella"

you got me begging, begging, i'm on my knees by plalligator | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 5k | (or, that struggle when you're a guard who's in love with your rulers and it turns out you would kind of like it if they bossed you around a little)

rumour has it by plalligator | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 1.5k | “Costis, what in the name of the gods happened? I have heard from five separate people that you have a secret sweetheart who you went to meet on your day off.”

Home Was A Dream by impertinence | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 3k | Lunch, a mysterious fruit, revelations, and sex. In that order.

Well Loved by SerenadeStrong (ninja_orange) | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 3.5k | Gen finally convinces Costis to sleep with his wife.

and so begins by romanoff | Marvel | Steve/Tony | 8k | After Tony's death, Steve is adrift. He carries Tony's body, and thinks: I never said thank you.

something more alive than silence by pageleaf | The Queen’s Thief | Costis/Attolia/Eugenides | 21k | It was a good thing that six months after the king had promised to halve the guard, he still hadn’t done it, because since then, there had been two attempts on the king’s life.

Covenant by liesmyth | Stormlight Archive | Kaladin/Adolin | 9k | Adolin had never imagined he’d meet his match like this, on the dusty streets of Sadeas’s warcamp - or that it would be a bridgeman of all people, defiance clear in his dark brown eyes.

How Do You Catch a Storm and Pull It Down? by liadan14 | Stormlight Archive | Kaladin/Adolin/Shallan | 4k | It takes Shallan approximately two months after the wedding to realize that she is an idiot.

Keep It In Your Sights Now by LuckyDiceKirby | Shades of Magic | 9k | Holland travels with Lila and Kell. Somewhere along the way, they reach an equilibrium.

waiting for the sunlight by sarcasticfishes | Buzzfeed Unsolved | 18k | Sara had always known, growing up as both an only child and a princess, that she would likely not marry for love. 

Fifty Shades of Gold by beethechange | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 21k | That’s his official position: he’s over Ricky Goldsworth.Shane’s unofficial position, regrettably, is that he’d rather be under Ricky Goldsworth.

(these things take time by sonhoedesrazao | Les Mis | Enjolras/Grantaire | 63k | He’s always wary of making assumptions; even more so when Grantaire is concerned. He knows he’s not the easiest person to deal with. People either like him or can’t stand him, and it’s easy to respond to those reactions, but Grantaire—Grantaire is hostile and mocking, Grantaire scorns his beliefs, and Grantaire stays.)

December

Begin the Begin, Over and Over by beethechange | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 33k | Shane only agrees to be handcuffed to Ryan for a video because he can put up with anything for twenty-four hours. That’s the funny thing about time loops, though—they don’t always adhere to the parameters set by clickbait videos.

When I Fall to Rise by lc2l | Thor | Loki/Thor | 41k | Loki wakes up to ship alarms blaring, the air full of ash and Valkyrie saying she brought him back because she needs his help. She's captaining a small emergency vessel containing the last handful of Asgardians desperately looking for a place to call home. And she's having to do it sober.

From Orbit by astolat | Star Wars | Leia/Han/Luke | 4k | “You’ve got to quit doing this,” Han said.

Charioteer by petrichoral | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 14k | Captured in battle and stuck in the Mede capital, Costis has given up all hope of seeing his country again. But Eugenides has a habit of turning up where he's least expected.

ready if it happens with you by sarcasticfishes | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 4k | It’s not a thing. Ryan’s just a little… touch-starved. Intimacy-starved.

I fancied you’d return the way you said by ambiguously | Star Wars | Reylo | 3k | No one else can see him. Rey is used to that.

i kill giants by diasterisms | Star Wars | Reylo | WIP | 7k | "Rey Skywalker?" There's a vaguely sardonic twist to the corner of his mouth. "Does that make you my cousin now?"

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

November

MARVEL/DC - Runnin

THE WITCHER | MAIN TRAILER | NETFLIX

(GoT) Daenerys Targaryen | Meant To Fall

Game of Thrones | Never Wanted to Leave

young god.. (multifandom)

Poison & Wine | Ben and Rey

Multifandom ][ Glitter & Gold

rules of nature [multifandom amv]

December

what's up danger [Death Stranding]

Kylo Ren || Destiny

star wars || blue monday

K[L]AUS | High Enough

2019 Movie Trailer Mashup

Reylo | My Love Will Never Die [tros spoilers] Rey & Ben

Reylo | Dusk Till Dawn [+TROS Spoilers]

REYLO || SOMEBODY TO DIE FOR (+tros)

Multifandom Mashup 2019

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

November

Frozen 2 Soundtrack

Les Mis Soundtrack

December

Spotify Unwrapped 2019

Reylo Playlist

POSTED FIC

November

open the walls, play with your dolls | Coraline | Coraline/Wybie | 2,886 words | Halloween at the Pink Palace is a lot like any other time of year.

December

yule gift #2 - 4,639 words [fin]

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

November

December

yule gift #1 - 1,267 words [unfinished]

yule gift #2 - 4,639 words [fin]

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

November

Havoc

December

Somebody to Die For - a Reylo playlist

[takadasaiko]

The Blacklist Appreciation Week, Day One: Favourite Season

I’m not sure I have a favourite season. I hate to start this awesome appreciation week sounding so undecided, but I do have a reason for this. I’m a huge fan of character growth, and with each season we’ve seen amazing character growth for most every character. Season One cracks everyone wide open and set the questions up. Who is Liz to Red? How is all of this connected? Is Tom Keen a good guy or a bad guy? So many, many questions and so few answers. S1 was fresh and exciting and we were starting to wade into the depth of the story.

Season two started out so dark. Liz was living out of motel rooms, jumping at shadows, and just hurting so deeply. But hey, we can’t expect our heroine to ever have smooth sailing. 2A was rough, but besides seeing how what’d happened to her was effecting Liz, it led us into Ressler’s struggles after losing Audrey, Samar’s introduction, and 2A announced that we hadn’t actually lost Tom (even if he was a total ass on the boat, but hey, being shot, tortured, and chained up can make people cranky).

I love 2B though. Character development and mythology are where my heart lies with this show, and the Luther Braxton episodes brought so much to light. That’s where we were really introduced to the fire and the Fulcrum and the Cabal. Between that and the fact that 2B started the slow re-acquainting of my favourite couple, I could never do without it.

I also love that we got the connection between Tom and Red in S2. Ryan and James’ scenes together are some of my favourites throughout the series.

I had a lot of ups and downs with S3. I was 100% against the baby arc when it first started circulating the rumour pool. I was terrified that it’d work as a “quick fix” for the Keens that needed so much work put into their relationship if they were going to put them back together, but it turns out that (as of right now) my favourite episode for the series is in S3 and I really like it. Most of my fears for it were done away with by excellent writing that taught me to put more faith in the writing team for the show, including the worry over the baby arc. I adore Agnes now, and that quirky little family highlights one of the major themes of the show overall: family and the lengths parents will go to protect their children.

We start to see Liz smile again in S3, which is something that I had truly missed throughout S2. She has a real turning point when she decides to keep Agnes, and that struggle and the decision to keep her also seemed to set her on a better path for joint decisions when it came to family issues with Tom. They’re not perfect in that regard, but compared to the way they worked around each other in S1, they’ve come so far in it.

Even though I was mostly certain they hadn’t killed Liz off for real, it broke my heart to see the reactions around the cast with it. Aram’s stress, Samar’s reaction when she just bent over crying when she heard, and Ressler’s perfect reaction to the agent cleaning out Liz’s desk. The funeral scenes broke my heart, and I wasn’t certain until the finale if Tom was in on it or not.

Oh. And Daddy Tom.  Something I didn’t know I needed quite as badly as I did until I got it.

Season Four has been such a wild ride. The reaction of the team to finding out Liz was actually alive, the way they fought for Agnes, the way that the Keens supported each other throughout Liz’s family drama first and then on into 4B with Tom’s... I just love it all. Red’s story seems to be coming to a point with the way he is all but drowning in the process of trying to keep everything afloat, and mythology-wise, I think S4 has been beyond excellent.

Like I said, I’m hesitant to pick one as my favourite, because they all have such great moments in them. There’s a build up of character development and mythology and if you take one away, it all falls apart. In other shows that I’ve loved I’ve gotten very nostalgic as time goes on for the first couple of seasons, but I don’t feel like Blacklist has lost its way like that. Steadily they’ve built and built and built and this deeply layered plot is unfolding. It just leaves me on the edge of my seat for Season Five, because these show runners have yet to disappoint me.

[nariko-senpai]

So... Just finished watching S4 of umbrella academy (im late as hell but I was watching it with my dad he likes watching episodes in one sitting idk) and hm. Just hm.

I'm going to make a list of the stuff I liked and then the stuff I didn't like, but these lists are going to be unbalanced as heck cause wtf was that season.

Stuff I liked

Ben and Jennifer (they were really cute together and I liked how they interacted with one another)

Jennifer's role in the season (it was an interesting storyline with how she was the opposite to the family and how she and Ben caused the end of the world Yadda Yadda)

The Timeline Subway (badass, made sense too imo)

The upgrade in the powers/getting the powers back(cool seeing them upgrade with new stuff but I'm going to go into the weird stuff of it too)

Sober Klaus (I'm just happy for him tbh)

Claire (she was such a baddie)

The Cleanse (Having a one true timeline and having these ordinary people try to save the timeline was interesting to watch)

Stuff I didn't like/Confused me/Hated

Explicit vomiting (what was the point of that it was foul)

Baby shark being played a million fucking times (it was funny the first two, annoying the rest)

Plotholes galore (how tf did Jennifer end up in the squid? Why didn't Umbrella Ben tell Klaus how he died? How tf are the kids still alive in the timeline if their parents got erased for existence?)

Fatphobic jokes towards Diego (he's literally buffer then most of the characters stfu he's cute)

Nuking Diego's character in general (he did not deserve any of that shit)

The power upgrade (Specifically why did Luther get his ape body back even though it had nothing to do with his powers and why did Lila get laser eyes it doesn't even have anything to do with her og power)

Five and Lila 🤮 (separate post because there's so much to say about this)

Five, Lila, Diego love triangle.

Changing Five's character

Forgetting about important side characters (Wtf happened to Sloane, Ray, Sisi, Dave they were barely mentioned)

Klaus succumbing back to drugs, alcohol ect...

Luther being a stripper was a new low honestly.

Heaps more but omg I want to forget about this season and pretend everyone is happy together and Reginald got blown up.

[qthewetsprocket]

The Doctor is dead...long live the Doctor

Some scattered thoughts about my deja vu for a similar period in Who history, the unaccustomed sensation of pure fandom joy, and unexpected melancholy and uncertainty for the future.

(SPOILERS ahead probably.)

The run-up to this year’s s10 finale has reminded me a *lot* of the 2009 ‘End of Time’ s4 finale. For those who maybe weren’t in the fandom back then, we had:

1) Simm!Master coming back to the series.

2) The current actor playing the Doctor making his final appearance.

3) John Simm coming back as the Master.

4) The programme changing showrunners.

3) Did I mention Simm!Master? Yeah. We were all kind of pumped.

I don’t remember ~ever~ being as excited for any episodes of television as I was for The End of Time part 1 and 2. And it seemed like most of fandom felt the same way… there was spec; there was meta; there was silliness; and the fic and fanart flowed like Tardises through the vortex.

It was one of the few golden times when the whole fandom seemed immersed in pure joy. (Or maybe it was just me. Either way it was a rare occurrence.)

So yeah… I don’t remember ever being so excited for any Doctor Who episodes… until now.

To quote the Fourth Doctor, though: it feels different this time. For one thing, we don’t know for certain who the new Doctor is, and I’m pretty sure that last time when we were this close to the actual regeneration, we’d already seen Matt in all his inadvertent Doctor-y glory. He even got a whole special episode of Doctor Who Confidential just to introduce him to the fandom. (RIP Confidential; you are sorely missed.)

I’ve only heard rumours about the favoured (male) replacement for Capaldi this time around, but I have to say I’m hoping very hard they aren’t true. Miranda Hart would rock my world as the Doctor. Olivia Colman would kick all available ass and then some. The male favourite? Gross.

We also had a better idea of the new showrunner’s style and intentions the last time around. Steven Moffat had already written some of the most iconic episodes and characters of New Who by the time he took over (The Empty Child; Captain Jack Harkness; River Song; the Weeping Angels). Plus he was a self-admitted fanboy, and to my mind that should be a prerequisite requirement of anyone helming the show, ever.

Chibnall’s a little more of an unknown quantity. His Life on Mars eps were sort of hit-and-miss... the one where a suspect died in custody was pretty solid, but the one where Sam tries to educate his future mentor in how to be black in a racist all-white workplace has several cringeworthy moments. Still, it gets points for ‘fell short of what it tried to achieve, but was actually trying to achieve something pretty worthy, so.”

Same with Broadchurch. Solid characters; strong attempts to write women who weren’t extentions of male characters; and thank GOD he never tried to make Hardy and Miller go to bed together just because male and female lead.

I’ve been less impressed with his actual Who output, though (42; The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood; Dinosaurs on a Spaceship). Nothing outrightly offensive, mind; but nothing really standout, either. Also, AFAIK, he’s not the bona-fide fanboy that Moffat and RTD were. (If anyone has other information, please do enlighten a worried Q.)

So, yeah… there’s a little more uncertainty this time around; a little less exuberance. Last time I felt like I knew more about what we were getting into, and I felt really optimistic about it. RTD-era Who’s treatment of female characters made me so angry it was bad for my blood pressure, so I could have kissed Moffat - the man who wrote River Song as an equal for the Doctor instead of an inexperienced, hero-worshipping 19-year-old girl - for taking over. Also, Matt Smith was so much the Doctor that within 30 seconds of seeing him speak I knew we were in excellent hands.

Last week’s episode, with the brilliant Simm!Master Rumplestiltskin disguise, really rekindled some of that pure End of Time Who fandom bliss for me. But even though we’ve got the Missy-Master face-off to look forward to this week, I’m a bit hesitant. I don’t want this era to end. I’m not ready to let it go. Short term, anything coming after John Simm and Michelle Gomez playing the same character is going to have a very tough act to follow; and long term, the future feels much less secure than it did seven and a half years ago.

But I’m hopeful. I’ve been proven wrong about Doctor Who before (extremely rare, but it has happened), so I’m very much hoping to be pleasantly surprised by whatever Chibnall brings to the table.