#i know in my head i was like: i need to fucking end s7 so i can stop watching this put me out of my misery. thats how bad it was.

[fiovske]

jesus christ you guys were NOT kidding about how bad the last few seasons of veep were huh

[roadkillremi]

A better man

Negan X F!Reader

Era - S10/11

Summary: After being stuck in a cabin with Negan, things got hot and heavy. Is there regret or enjoyment?

Warnings : Minors DNI, Legal Age Gap (Negan is in his 50s, Reader is in their 30s) , mentions Reader's and her ex's having bad fights (mentions leaving a bruise), unprotected sex, language, p in V, the pet name Doll, mentions rubbing poison ivy on hickey, the whole smut is a flashback of "yesterday night".

A/N : My first Negan fic <3. Also a couple of side notes ; Reader calls Negan Carl's and Ricks killer, I know this isn't true. It is more of the way she viewed him during S7/8. There's no use of 'Y/N', Negan refers to the reader as "Doll". Italics are used for past quotes

There were no words once you went inside the house. Your brain scrabbled with the thought of him. Your backpack slid off your shoulders leaving a thud on the ground. It laid by the entrance next to some abandoned shoes.

"You're back!" Judith and RJ ran towards you giving you a hug. You smile kneeling down to their level.

"Sorry it took me so long..." You wrapped your arms around them. You heard a creak behind you, you turned around to find Michonne. She stood in the doorway looking down at you.

"I said To be as quick as possible." She muttered. Your chest wrenches with guilt, "We were surrounded.". Michonne nodded and stepped closer, she took a good look at you.

"What the hell is that?" She pointed at your neck. You quickly reached your hand to the spot she pointed.

"What?"

"That better not be what I think it is.." she walked away. Her kids followed behind her like little ducks. You quickly went into the bathroom moving your neck around.

There it was.

A cherry red spot on your neck, your heart rate quickened. You said no hickeys, you shut your eyes hoping you're imagining things. Flashes of last night just flood your vision.

His hands roamed your body, touching you so gently. It was a mistake, you didn't mean for things to build up. You were surrounded by dead sacks of shit. It grew colder and less safe for you two to head back. You two barricaded the windows and locked the doors. He placed his crowbar by the door and sat on the couch kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

After all these years I barely know shit about you, sweetheart.

That's what led the two of you to share stories. Stories you wouldn't dare share with anyone else. He knew about your shitty ex boyfriends, the shameful hook ups. The terrible fights you'd have with said shitty ex boyfriends that ended in bruises.

If they were still alive I'd beat the shit of them

In return, he told you all about Lucille and her death. Teary eyed he stared down at you waiting for a response. You weren't sure how to react, so you hugged him. You whispered sweet nothing's into his ear.

I bet she loved you so much.

Then you two kissed in a fit of passion. Your senses are overruled by the longing of a man's touch. Undressing each other as quickly as possible. He laid you down on the old couch, his lips exploring every curve. You patted his shoulder signalling for him to stop. He looked up at you his lips pink with saliva coating them.

Before we continue we need ground rules... Don't release your fucking seed in me. Don't leave marks. Got it?

Fuck yeah, doll.

Just like that he was on top of you, his forehead on yours. He looked into your eyes watching you whimper and moan. His smug smile didn't leave his face once, he chuckled to himself before speaking.

God, this pussy is so Fucking good! No man should teach you like shit..

You pulled him down by the nape of his neck. His lips smash into yours as his beard tickles your chin. He leaned down leaving kisses all around your neck. His teeth teasingly digging into your skin, him leaving the hickey...

He made sure you finished first, holding himself back until your release coated his cock. He pulled out of you before he could spill his seed. You reached in between the two of your bodies. Your hand pumped his shaft helping him chase his orgasm. He thrusted into your hand his head tilting back. You placed kisses on his collarbone and traveled down to his tattoo. His come falling onto your torso, he groaned.

Shit, Doll... Lemme clean you up.

He grabbed his t-shirt whipping your torso off. He tossed it back into the ground before laying on top of you. His head rested on your chest as one of his hands rubbed up and down your thigh.

You buried your face into your hands. You can't do this, Think about Rick, Glenn, Carl, Abraham. They saved you, you were their family, and you slept with their killer. You focused on your racing heart, he's a changed man. You had to get rid of the hickey before anyone else sees it.

You stormed out the house grabbing your ax on the way out. You head towards the gate, your heart echoing into your ears. Negan noticed you stomping towards the gate, he got up from the steps he was sitting at. He followed you with curiosity plan on his face.

"Where are you off to? We just got back." He grinned. You didn't look at him, "To find poison ivy.". He's taken back by your response, " 'cuse me?". You sigh moving any hair in the way to show your neck.

"You got sloppy last night. Will someone open this damn Gate?!" You fussed. A man rushed towards the gate opening it for you.

"Whoa whoa, doll. Slow down you're gonna rub poison ivy on yourself?!" He grabbed your shoulders getting Infront of you. He leaned down to your height, the greyness in his hair shining in your eyes.

"Yes.. I told you not to leave marks." You start walking out the gate pushing into his shoulder. He follows you back out the gate, "Back in my day girls used makeup." He tries to lighten up your mood. You sigh, "Negan.. I told you I can't.. no one can know.".

"What happened to you saying I was a better man?" He leaned on his leg a hint of hurt in his voice. You looked down, a bit ashamed of yourself.

"You are.." you whispered. He walked towards you, "I get it, I'm not a fan favorite out here. But Doll, talk to me.".

"You hurt my family. And me sleeping with you is... Like betraying them" you mumbled. He sighs, "I... I don't regret it. Hell, it was probably the best sex I've ever had... But.." you lose your voice. You look out into the overgrown neighborhood.

"I'll keep it a secret." He speaks up. You turned towards him with hope in your eyes.

"But, don't ignore me. I wanna see that pretty face of yours often." He gently grabs your chin lifting it up. You look into his hazel eyes feeling your heart flutter.

The same eyes that cherished the sight of your body. You leaned into his touch, "Alright. But help me find poison ivy-" you smiled.

"Yes ma'am." He grinned walking into the woods with you. His hand went to the small of your back as the ground became rougher. You smiled to yourself thinking of the night before, this time willingly.

[raayllum]

i just need to humbly know...but didn't you start predicting chet crazy fucking early like season 2?

im sincerely amazed that it seems like every single one of your predictions has come true, that is some insane story analysis and deductive reasoning. how have you kept track of so many details over the course of six seasons?

also whenever something you knew was going to happen happens you must do the kicking legs and squealing and gasping thing, right? cuz I'm doing it all the time in this show and I've barely predicted shit lol 😂

you're pretty awesome

I did!! Ever since Callum got the Key I figured it'd be something that Aaravos would want back, though that actual Theory came about after Through the Moon was released early (so like, Sept 2020?). I predicted right after S3, though, that Callum's main arc going forward was going to be 1) going too far with magic like a little Icarus figure, 2) being worried about his mind being unsafe / too much like Viren, and 3) trying not to but inevitably playing into Aaravos with that damn cube, cause you just don't give your main hero an item that connects them to your main villain if you're not going to draw on that connection tbh. I thought it'd likely be a key related to his prison or power up he needed to get out / wreck havoc on the stars, either way something Aaravos was invested in getting back

To this day I'm still pleasantly surprised at how much it manifested going forward (aka "Callum's worst fear being that his mind is unsafe/invaded" was because of how much he relies on his intelligence and his tendency to get stuck in his head, which literally happens in 2x08 lol)

I still kick my legs and squeal a lot when it's something I thought might happen but wasn't sure we'd get even if I liked/wanted it a lot (Viren-Ezran interactions in S6 or the whole "Callum won't kiss Rayla till he's told her about the dark magic" thing), for more overt predictions (like Rayla being his light/truth or one of the quasar diamonds being taken and put into the staff) there's more of an excited "I knew it!!" and then sometimes days of processing that a long held theory or something was Actually Right in the end

I expect going into S7 with CHET I'll be both waiting with baited breath and crying my eyes out if it (or something close enough to it) Happens, since in 5x08 I mostly sat there in joyful disbelief just as I did for 6x03. Like what do you mean I got Rayla saying "If you ever have to choose between me or the greater good" and Callum reiterating "You told me to never sacrifice the greater good for one person (specifically)" like?? I'm still in shock tbh, I just no longer have doubt (though a longer meta on CHET is still being chipped away at for now)

[writingforfun0714]

So I wanted to wait and let the new Bad Batch trailer sink in before posting about it.

Warnings: Spoilers, some thoughts/opinions will be critical

Alright so I don’t think it’s any secret that I don’t care for the Bad Batch. Even ignoring the horrible, incredibly RACIST clone model, the writing is mid/passable at best and not even watchable for me. Most of S1 and 2 combined is the typical ‘mission of the week’ type of story where only a few Empire-focused episodes stand out. There are also instances of ableism concerning Echo in particular (CF99 are also super dismissive of him in general—going along with that whole fucking ‘superiority over regs’ thing—seriously wtf).

Most episodes were very bland and predictable. S1 had no stakes despite its finale. By Mando/ST it’s clear that something has happened to Kamino. Didn’t really need to see a 2pt ep of the city getting wiped. Plus AZI should’ve been sacrificed. Even Ahsoka learns the lesson that you can’t save everyone in S1 when she disobeys Anakin and Admiral Yularen. TBB S2 had no character development from anyone besides a little bit for Omega (and Tech—but that was always speculated by fans since S1 and he’s dead now so it doesn’t really matter). A lot of the dialogue felt…basic. I think the only thing that TBB does well is the music. It’s really amazing and beautiful along with the smooth, crisp animation/scenery. Shame they ruined it with racist clone models, racist tones with the ‘reg’ dispute in both seasons, and being ableist and dismissive towards Echo.

Which brings me to the trailer. Oh boy. First, right off the bat I noticed how similar the trailer opening is compared to the S2 trailer. I do like that Phee is back. She did take time to grow on me but I do like her character and am curious to see where they will go with her.

It’s interesting we are seeing Crosshair back with the group so soon. Personally I do believe that is Crosshair and not just someone else wearing his armor like some think. I like the idea of Omega and Crosshair escaping early on but Omega gets recaptured/separated and taken back to Tantiss.

I’m interested in Hemlock and his backstory (is his gloved hand robotic?). I wish they’d create more interesting and unique characters like Phee and Fennec Shand instead of relying on cameos of established characters/fan-favorites like Ventress. I loved Dark Disciple and I thought it was a great ending for her.

I know it’s officially said that Ventress’ story will follow Dark Disciple but I don’t see how unless they retcon her death or pull a ‘somehow she survived’. Either way that sucks. Reminder!! DAVE FELONY DIDN’T EVEN FOLLOW REBELS FOR AHSOKA. SABINE IS NOT FORCE SENSITIVE IN REBELS. DAVE RETCONS THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING. I have no faith that they will remain loyal to DD. Anything that will be ‘canon’ will be mid at best because even Crosshair’s arc has been messy (which is due to the weird S1 ‘reset’ the characters go through. Like they totally should’ve appreciated ‘regs’ by the end of TBB arc in TCW S7–there was no need for that awkward food fight scene in S1).

I hate that this show has to rely on cameos to get the viewing numbers. Here is a list of every character cameo we’ve seen so far:

—Rex*

—Tarkin*

—Palpatine*

—The Lawquane Family

—The Syndullas/Chopper

—Nala Se/Lama Su*

—Cad Bane

—Bail Organa

—Riyo Chuchi

—Gungi

—Gregor

—Wolffe

—Cody

—Scorch

—Saw Gerrera

—Martez Sisters

—Kanan/Depa*

—Muchi/Rancor from RotJ

—Taun We/Halle Burtoni

—Ventress

*I consider these important/relevant cameos and am not bothered by them like the others*

What a list right? I might even be missing one. These were just off the top of my head. Some are big players, others smaller and almost not-relevant to the plot. Not counting the one’s I asterisked, it’s 15 characters. There are original characters but a lot of them, especially in S1 felt like one off, not important characters. And I hate Cid so much—glad to see she was absent in the S3 trailer. I’m really starting to love Phee and I’ve always loved Fennec Shand, and Hemlock is definitely an intriguing villain and Emerie feels like a total mystery (though the reveal was not shocking due to the similar design and accent to Omega). Like why can’t they create more characters like these? The rest just feel forgettable. And it’s clear that characters like Saw, Gungi, Scorch, Cad Bane and even the Syndulla and Lawquane families just felt like fan service. The rest kind of make sense that they’d show up but it also feels a bit like fan service.

Moving on..

I know a lot of people think that new weird dark trooper at the 1:40 mark is Tech. While I’m inclined to agree as I think the ‘Winter Soldier’ story is an obvious choice to pick, I also think that Tech is dead. I’ve changed my mind and kind of hope that Tech isn’t brought back.

I hope this is someone new. I also wouldn’t mind if it was a bounty hunter we’ve seen before. Due to the frame and stature, I could almost think of Boba due to him being older than Omega but it’s definitely more likely to be Tech than either of these choices.

It’s interesting a lot of cameo characters from S2 do not make an appearance in the trailer. Bail, Riyo, Gungi, Gregor and Cody are all absent from the trailer. Trailers usually show action shots to avoid story spoilers, but with Gungi, Gregor, and Cody all being capable fighters, I’m surprised they didn’t appear (usually stuff with politics is a story spoiler).

Overall I’m skeptical of the trailer. I don’t like Ventress being alive/in TBB being a Dark Disciple lover. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the story of S3 so I don’t feel like I can give an accurate take on that. I hate how Omega’s longer hair looks. Curly haired Omega is adorable!! The animation (everything but the clone model) is definitely getting better. However, based on how S2 was marketed as a ‘darker story compared to S1’ and was like 80% fetch quest I’m definitely skeptical.

Those of you that made it through this post, thank you for your time and I hope I gave you something to think about. If you wanna learn more about the racism and ableism portrayed in this show, check out @unwhitewashthebadbatch for more info.

[mandy4ever69420]

elaborate on your last post?

i've actually been marinating on this more or less nonstop! like how to phrase it and stuff. i have, like, notes.

& part of this is i had some spoilers as to who mickey WAS before i watched the show because he was what was dangled in front of my face like a pie in a window to get me to watch shameless. but the thing about mickey is like every thing you learn about him CAN absolutely be traced to his behavior in s1. mickey's one of the most consistently and unrelentingly himself characters in the show (the other is debbie). everyone else has like personality crises.

you can fit a shitload of development into someone like mickey being aggressively himself the whole time because he has every reason to be afraid of the consequences of his personality w/out actually being insecure or not knowing himself. so we as the viewer get to know him w/out any of the information being startling in any way from the jumpoff of s1. it's insane that i'm pretty sure he was meant to only exist in season one i just know he'd be haunting some psyches.

he like never apologizes for his personality. which is i think easy to attribute to "confidence" as a sort of nebulous concept but i think he's just kind of a realist. everything he hides has a very straightforward reason behind it and when the reason disappears so does his hesitance to just be that. & i think a lot of what reads as confidence comes from disinterest in other people's opinions & a pretty intense pragmatism and get-shit-done-ism. mickey kind of sorts people into "who gives a fuck" or "useful" & eventually he expands his "people who matter" category enough that even people he doesnt gaf about in the main cast he at least doesn't want to piss them off.

another thing about this is i've seen sometimes people who over-relate (very understandably) to mickey sort of take very seriously how much he must've been hurt in end of s5, end of s7. which is. i mean i will be honest i KNEW it was coming and watching love songs in the key of gallagher RUINED MY WEEK. which is a good thing. because i am out of my mind. but i think sticking on "well, ian should've been more sorry, or said something nicer later" out of feeling bad for mickey misses a little the point where what i really see in mickey is a "it hurt. obviously. extremely badly. fucking anyway" sort of angle.

this ^ isn't something i know how to explain very well. there's kind of a difference between going "well that was horrifying and i need to throw the fuck up" and moving on, and the sort of therapy-speak adjacent urge to linger over how everyone should be looking at their feelings about it. not mickey's language IMO. so mickey's pretty in tune with what's going on in ian's head so when ian hurts his feelings on purpose he's like mad that it worked, you stupid jackass. and then ian's guilt is sitting right there and he's like well you were so mean but it's more important to me that i can be around you than that my feewings are made much of. mickey's pretty steadily uncomfortable with touchy-feely validation or anything. this interpretation is also a me thing. obviously everyone's reads are going to be informed by their life experience but this is what makes sense to me.

1 of the biggest things i've noticed rewatching is how FAST plotlines start moving when mickey decides he's getting something done. which is interesting because he's also one of the least ambitious characters in the show.

mandy and ian both really believe they can get something nicer and safer and better (&fancier) out of life. mandy has the strongest drive out of them to grab something nice for herself (like.. even vicariously through lip, she's always trying) mickey is kind of right that it's not realistic for everyone to get something better than where they grew up. it's depressing as fuck to be resigned to but especially with a criminal record it's pretty predictable under capitalism that you would just get stuck. these things happen to people

it's very sweet to me that ian keeps dragging mickey along to like nice places and optimism while mickey is like be so for fucking real. weird enough this is the most mickey has in common with lip - the "steal it or scam it" observation that lip makes, but mickey is chill with breaking more serious laws and being arrested for it. & lip also doesn't go for ambition the same way other people in the show do because he has noticed these patterns. he aims for a nebulous "more" jump up in the class system ONCE specifically because of mandy.

fiona is the opposite to all this ^ naturally. in the way that her ambition keeps coming back to bite her way harder than anyone else, because she gets caught up in her ideas of how to expand and do better and bigger really fast. funny enough both lip's "well it has to be a scam and you can't ever actually get anywhere" and fiona's "i bet if i just played my cards right i could make a million bucks rn" philosophies are frank traits.

BUT ANYWAY i also really like how mickey's pragmatism sort of lands him to being a very romantic person. because once he has reason to care more about someone else he decides to put all his eggs in that fucking basket. contrast -> ian is A Romantic. he wants to believe in like a soulmate and he pretty obsessively pursues validation through means of romance. m/while mickey never plans to be in a relationship and commits really hard when he decides that that's where he's going.

which comes to mickey's impressive skills at reading people. when he's not just completely disinterested, he can predict people really well. which is obviously like a survival technique but is also the only explanation of why he'd come back twice after getting written out. maybe it wasn't supposed to be the way his character played out but it can be traced back to s1 with the information we have and is the only way that his actions make sense.

& in like. the completely fucking insane way that mickey is as gentle as he is. you even see the intent here in his introduction. sure, he's showing up in a violent way to enact revenge. which being into prison abolition i don't necessarily agree with. but it's sweet! like, i know the revenge mob is kind of a THING but with everything that he does following it also seems very personal. so he shows up and the first thing he really wants is someone to look after. ian gallagher you may not believe you need a fucking caretaker but you literally snatched up the single person most desperate for someone to take care of

-> wrt gentleness also: i cant get over how fucking bonkers it is to be a violent teenager having a Massive mental breakdown and that mickey refuses to start the physical side of the "you love me and you're gay" confrontation. not a hand until ian shoves him multiple times. even though ian showed up explicitly as an attempt at using mickey to punish himself for something he really thought was his fault! what the fuck!!

um but anyway with mickey's fucking anger going on also i was personally very touched by him as a fantastic way to represent irritability and anger as an anxiety response. because anger is really fucking like that. again, visible from his intro to the end. ya habibi...

[latibulater]

The Venture Bros Rewatch notes: Careers in Science

gonna start a new reblog chain every two episodes so they dont become too long. this one is a doozy to me. SO much of s7 is scraped from this one episode

I can't stop imaging the implications of Venture Industries going from being a fairly sized cutting-edge company that had over 2000 employees just on the Gargantua 1 (so way more on earth), to having absolutely zero staff and their main HQ building in NY closing (to become the impossible building (and then impossible industries crashing when he goes evil (and tHEN VENTECH CRASHING [literally!!!] after JJ dies (i just think that scraper is cursed))))

I love how Brock is in sweats and a beanie. He saw those dorky spacesuits and said absolutely fucking not

Also, the opening conversation between Brock and Baldavich is SO funnnnnnny. This woman hasn't had sex in 6 years at least and is getting off on guiding a rocket into a space station.

okay i dont care about bud as a character but he'd be a great inciting incident imagine if he had interpreted the Morse and opened the machine and saw Jonas - and THAT was why Rusty and Brock were called up to the Gargantua 1 during this episode

we know Bud was the paperboy on Gargantua 1, so he has essentially been on that space station since Jonas died, for the past twenty whole years. Not straight, literally, but still, jesus. Mentally at least. I'm actually surprised he wasn't able to remember Morse code and decipher the blinks of the Problem Machine. i imagine it was incredibly traumatic and that why he hasn't led a life in any other way, he's still a paperboy twenty years later.

Bud thinking Brock is dr. venture is hilarious it reminds me of fullmetal alchemist. if we want to be gay, he COULD

what is WITH brock's shorts over his sweatpants wtf on earth. so superman

Doc never even took the pills before he hit his head on the console after the gravity was turned back on. i TRULY think he was talking to Jonas' consciousness. the conversation between them is so funny. "youre a hallucination" "fine maybe. but even if im a hallucination im still your dad. what did you do to my space station"

the way hank and dean get so mad and upset when they think doc is dead its actually very touching and sad when you think about how at this point theyre still being endlessly cloned

"you were just flipping switch. think! cmon tiny wonder, you helped me build this thing." "i was just a kid i just wanted to play cowboys and indians, who lets a ten year old help build a space station anyways!"

hank and dean thinking brock is wrestling the phantom space man, and then fucking the phantom space man, they just took it on the chin and assumed immediately Brock would have sex with a man

"oh rusty you don't need diet pills, you just need to figure some things out. remember lad, the solution was in you all the time." either rusty is hallucinating jonas saying that or the man's bodiless head really is trying to encourage his son.

either way it speaks a lot to their relationship. i feel like verbally jonas was very upbeat and forceful optimism, and it was his actions endangering rusty and lack of emotional care that really traumatized rusty as a child

"he has a huge mushroom, does he have a smurf living in it!" i laughed

"you already took it! in the lap! from...not! me!" laughed so much

rusty's childhood toys gunking up the gargantua 1 console. there is a metaphor living in here somewhere

the way bud talks is so old fashioned even for the show. he's got to be the same age as rusty yet he talks like professor impossible or even more anachronistically. maybe baldavich has only been there for 6 years, but bud has been manning the station for multiple tours on end and has only old media to entertain himself with

i love the little zhu-zhu-zhu-zhu-zhuuuuu music its only in the very early episodes

"oh man whats it like being a giant liar"

the suit pee dripping....SO GROSS yet as an animator lover i appreciate it

overall i really do love this episode. first one without racism, thank god above. the joke of baldavich being super ugly is lame, but its tamer than in its always sunny in philadelphia with the way dee is treated like a bird.

i seriously am trying to wrap my head around what it would be like if jonas had actually been recovered in season one. so much character development not done, so much just hasn't happened yet would it even matter? would it be better for jonas jr to be born after jonas comes back to life or after?

tiny bit off track, but i keep picturing an alternate universe where rusty and jj are born at the same time and jonas is still disabled but more interested in science but stuck at home whereas rusty is terrified but able bodied and expected to follow their father everywhere. rusty being a big brother.........

[imreallyloveleee]

2023 fic review

thank you for tagging me @onlyalittlebookworm! <3 <3 <3

What is your ao3 account?

loveleee

2. How many words did you write total in 2023?

32,717

3. How many fics did you publish in 2023? How many multichapters vs. oneshots?

3 oneshots, 1 new WIP, and updated 1 WIP. this was definitely one of my least "productive" years for fic-writing in quite a while (although i don't think i published much in 2022 either, looking back). for obvious reasons: i was traveling for more than half the year; and also Riverdale canon was so fucking awful to our ship specifically that i think it just killed off everyone's desire to read and write about them. thanks RAS! <3

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

longest: i feel like i win when i lose, my bughead four weddings & a funeral-inspired fic. 16,379 words (and i need to finish the last chapter ahhhhhhhhhhhhh)

shortest: honeymoon phase, my (very first!!) jimmy/kim fic. 1,927 words.

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular?

even though it kind of feels like cheating, head underwater was most popular, because even though i started it years ago, i updated it in 2023!

for least popular, if we're going by kudos, it was three conversations about one thing, which was my desperate attempt to make some sense out of the penultimate episode of riverdale s7 lol

6. What fic didn't perform as well as you thought it would?

honestly, i try to keep my expectations low for everything i publish, to avoid disappointment. i guess the answer would be that last one, "three conversations." but like, the show's ending sucked? i'm not surprised people were not dying to run out and read fic about it 😂

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

i really did not know what to expect from posting a Better Call Saul fic. the show ended over a year ago, and i don't really have much of a sense of how big/active the fandom around it is, or was at its peak. that said, i was EXTREMELY happy to discover that there are way more fics for Jimmy/Kim than there were for the last "prestige"-y show ship i wrote for (Peggy/Stan on Mad Men).

so, all that to say, i was really pleasantly surprised to get as much engagement as i did with that little story! and i'm working on another one now and really enjoying writing it. :)

8. What was your favourite fic you wrote in 2023?

i feel like i win when i lose!!!!!!! the first four chapters of that story just FLOWED out of me like they already existed. it was so much fun to write and i think it's a super fun story in general. i reeeeeeally want to finish it.

9. What was your favourite fic someone else wrote in 2023?

Beautiful Broken Things by teaandpinkfrosting: a well-written, well-plotted, sweet, emotional, in-character season 1 Bughead fic in the year of our lord 2023? WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?

Eighty-Six Years by jimmymcgools: a grounded, believable, heartwrenching, yet ultimately hopeful continuation of the most devastating finale i've ever watched in my life? again, WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS? [ETA to be extra clear that the finale i'm referencing here is bcs NOT rvd lol]

10. Tag your friends to do this year end fic review as well!

@absnow @burberrycanary @andsmile if you're into it! <3

[shittinggold]

🎵 FUFFY!!!!!!!

Okay. OKAY. You have to have known that I would never be able to narrow it down to just one song. I am going to have to dump about a dozen songs on you, each corresponding to a different era of Fuffy. If that's a problem - tough, you knew what you were getting into.

To start us off, both Bodybag by Chloe Moriondo and Saccharine by Jazmin Bean capture that early-Fuffy feeling of "I'm not sure if I want to fight you or fuck you and frankly I think it might be the same thing".

I could cry when I hear you speak but that just makes me angry Wanna kiss you on your cheeks but I also wanna punch your teeth I just don't get it, I just don't know Don't know if I hate you or if I wanna date you Put you in a body bag instead of my bed

You make me afraid Come closer, wait no, go away Disgusted at the fact I care Cut you the fuck off like dead hair

Speak Your Mind by Alice Merton is the anthem for That final scene in Revelations. I saw her in London a couple of months ago and she was great, but I need to see her again until she performs this song.

And you know that it's hard for me To look at you and realize you're part of me But nowadays you seem so far away from me So out of reach Won't you speak your mind? There's a silence in the room and it is killing me Won't you speak your mind?

If you wanted something for their wild nights bonding in Bad Girls, then Untouched by The Veronicas is a classic, and 100% captures that vibe: horny, but perpetually unconsummated. Speaking of Bad Girls, the song that plays when they dance in the Bronze - Chinese Burn by Curve - is a very Faith song.

She burns friends like a piece of wood And she's jealous of me because she never could Hold herself up without a spine And she'll look me up when she's doing fine Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture She's just someone's favorite daughter Spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters Friends and enemies they're all the same

I know they're TSwift, and putting Taylor Swift songs on a fanmix is a cliche beyond parody at this point, but I have to shout out three songs from Folklore - Hoax, My Tears Ricochet and The 1 - for being unavoidably great Fuffy songs.

For what it's worth, any song that references "the one" instantly rings Fuffy bells in my head, because "the one" is SUCH a loaded term for them (being soulmates who are in direct competition to be The One). As such, I present Uno by Muse, which gets at that post-Enemies feeling thy both have of feeling like the other really messed up by not following them.

You could have been number one And you could have ruled the whole world And we could have had so much fun But you blew it away

For the same period, but more focused on the rage and denial that comes with self-recognition through another, we have Anything Like Me by Poppy, which is definitely up there as one of the most Fuffy songs around.

I'm everything she never was Now everyone's out for my blood Stop, you're making a scene You're coming at me with blood in your teeth You shouldn't be anything like me You shouldn't be anything like me You'll never be anything like me You shouldn't be anything like me I feel her heart beating in me Get her out of me Love is never-ending in me Take it out of me

While we're doing cliches, I obviously have to mention that Kiss With A Fist and Girlfriend In A Coma both exist. They're like the complimentary breadsticks of Fuffy mixes - they're not what you're there for, but their exclusion would be a choice. Knife Going In by Tegan and Sara is also another surprisingly appropriate set of lyrics given how on-the-nose the title is.

I feel the knife going in I'm feeling like she's not enough to kill me I thought it up and fast But I'm feeling it now And I feel like she's sleeping inches from me I let it pass

Before we finish, I wanna take us to S7, which is just a goldmine - so many songs about that specific feeling of "we were once friends and now we're so far apart". I'll shout out Bad Blood by Bastille, I Want You by Mitski, and Maria by AliceBand, but most of all a slight wildcard - Forget About What I Said by The Killers.

We used to tear it down But now we just exist. The things that I did wrong, I bet you got a list. Now I know how you remember And those moments that you choose Will define me as a traitor Stealing everything you lose.

If S4!Fuffy is more your thing, then we have When I Needed You by Carly Rae Jepsen and Crash and Burn by Maggie Lindemann to both capture Faith's jealousy and anger after waking up.

You picked him over me And you left with no apology Felt a knife in your back Yeah, you thought I was the killer You're looking in the mirror

Or for the Who Are You body-swapping soul-muddying you-and-I-have-begun-to-blur of it all: Bloodstream by Stateless.

Words can be like knives They can cut you open And the silence surrounds you And haunts you I think I might've inhaled you I can feel you behind my eyes You've gotten into my bloodstream I can feel you floating in me

(Yeah, knives is another trigger word for the Fuffy bells)

To finish off, I'd like to bring us back to S3, and Graduation Day Part II. For me, this is the absolute peak of love and tragedy that makes their story what it is. Strawberry Gashes by Jack Off Jill is a great Buffy-POV song that expresses her feelings of wishing she have reached out and done something different to save Faith, while also understanding that it was Faith's choices that led them to this.

Scold me, failed her If only I'd held on tighter To her pale white skin That twisted and withered away from me, way from me Watch me lose her It's almost like losing myself Give her my soul And let them take somebody else, get away from me Watch me fault her "You're living like a disaster" She said, "kill me faster" With strawberry gashes all over, all over me

But if there's one song that works for both of them at this moment, it's Switchblade by LP. If I had a gun to my head and was forced to pick one song to sum up Fuffy, it would be Switchblade by LP. Both the mood and lyrics manage to capture the soul of it - the wistfulness and melancholy, the lost love and lost innocence, the doom and destiny, the pain that comes intertwined with affection. The homosexual yearning. Seriously, go listen to Switchblade by LP.

We were electric We were wild, we were free And I thought that you meant it It's hard to accept it That it's not meant to be But I'll never regret it I don't, I don't No, I don't, I don't Long live the beautiful hearts Who find love and tear it apart Long live the beautiful hearts Who find love and tear it apart All of the hurt you've been hiding away Cuts me at once like a switchblade So take every stab you can take And I'll give it to ya, give it to ya I always knew that you'd cut me someday I fell in love with a switchblade And I know that you did the same And I'll give it to ya, give it to ya

[mairaiscarrierofthepaperclips]

Maira Live-Reacts! - Held Up a Lightning Rod (Wonder Why I'm Struck)

And we're back with another absolute banger by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels. It's the Platonic Sugar-Baby fic of your dreams, go and read it immediately.

Spoilers below, read at your own risk!

I'M SO EXCITED AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED READING

***

TORRES? MAIDEN NAME TORRES??? 👀

***

Every time I have to read about the scene where they want to take Chris away I feel such rage. And the I remember the end of S7 and I rage even more.

***

*Eddie trying on a suit* I feel you, my guy, there are so. many. colours.

***

AN ALARMING BRITISH ACCENT YAAAAAS 🤣

***

We all need a friend like Mel. Someone to click the button for us because WHAT THE FUCK NO WHY!

***

'Everyone checked out hot guy's asses' oh, Buck. Bless your heart.

***

The 'I'm an ally' blue screen Buck convo is always hilarious.

***

HOW MUCH FOR A WATCH?! 😳

***

*does conversion to NZD*

*passes out*

***

Ah, sweet sweet revenge *cackles*

***

THE EQUIPMENT! 🤣

***

'Take me.'

... Buck. Baby, honey, sweetness. Giving the man a coronary was not on the agenda for tonight.

***

'I'll just fantasise about the guy once! It's totally fine! Out of my system!'

*insert Sure, Jan dot gif*

***

Y'all are idiots, is what you are

***

Good grief I adore Mel. I feel like she's Eddie somewhat-safer Lena (no street fighting, please and thank).

***

And that's how you deliver a smack down.

***

... Oh, Buck, you little shit.

I ain't even mad, this is gonna go great. *grabs popcorn*

***

*applauds* Bravo, boys, excellent performance.

***

I JUST WANT TO CLONK THEIR HEADS TOGETHER OH MY GOD

***

I know it's needed for character and plot progression but THE SHANNON ARC has me EMOTIONAL for MANY REASONS

***

'He was never Buck's to lose' my fucking HEART, Mads, how DARE.

***

This death scene is still brutal as fuck, damn.

***

Woof, this is bringing back some memories I was NOT ready for today.

***

The Diaz parents haven't even spoken yet and my Rage is already Peak™️

***

Oh damn we're still doing the bomber storyline noooo

***

How dare you drop Chimney Name knowledge off screen like that. Rude.

***

PotC guidelines quote, yuussss

***

Hand flex hand flex HAND FLEX

***

... No stupid lawsuit arc, I BEG OF YOU

***

Eddie, no, you didn't fail. 😭💔

***

Mel! 😭💔

***

Fucking Helena, I stg

***

And now tsunami gate? Mads.

***

That line slays me every time, no matter how times I hear/read it. Goddam.

***

Okay, phew, at least we're not going with slimy mcdouche lawyer.

***

Aaaand there we go. Finally. Some sense for our beloved characters.

***

LEGALLY BLONDE JOKE YAAAS!

***

Ah, poker has replaced fight club. Healthy.

***

Wait. Never mind.

***

Eddie Diaz, my beloved 💔

***

Skynet is already here, of that I have no doubt

***

Oh Lena and Mel are gonna be dangerous together and I am HERE. FOR. IT.

***

CLONK CLONK CLONK

***

Oh, this is new...

***

"You will never be enough for the wrong people" is a fucking line and a half, damn.

***

BOY HOWDY IS THE REPRESSION GONNA COME OUT, JUST YOU WAIT!

***

Yeah, Mel, get some! 🤣❤️

***

Out of the mouths of babes, damn.

***

FUCKING DIAZ PARENTS I STG!!!

***

Ah, meta.

***

I loathe the Elder Buckleys with the fire of a thousand suns.

***

Charli-noooooooo

***

I definitely need an epilogue scene to have Mel's speech at their wedding

***

THE SPPECH! THE CHEESE! THE SMOOCH! 😍

***

The two are so soft for each other in the best way, I can't even

***

KARMA'S A BITCH, AIN'T IT, BUCK? *cackles madly*

***

Not his team still dying 😭

***

One must never disappoint Yousseff!

***

Meddie friendship confirmed, huzzah!

***

What a fab read.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

That's so weird because my reaction to S4 finale is it was the moment that convinced me Buddie was going to be endgame. Now two seasons later and we could be heading back to that same ending for the season depending on the events of the finale leaves me doubting things ngl. The only things I'm clinging on to are the couch theory, Eddie saying that relationships with people you meet at a rescue never works, and the fact that we're being introduced to these women so late in the season. It just seems like the writers even know they're giving this the most superficial things so that they can fix what they did in early S7.

To put it bluntly it just sucks that you know if this was gonna be the final 2 episodes that instead of going towards a story they've been telling since S2 they decide to put Buck and Eddie with women we don't even know their last name or anything about them. But they got renewed and will be moving to ABC so they can do the story they wanted to tell and I imagine these women will be kicked to the curb early in S7.

Okay, I'm gonna be real honest with you. I've seen that you've sent asks to a few of my friends, all generally saying the same thing. So to see you send me this ask makes me feel like you don't really want to have a discussion and aren't looking for actual support or positivity, you just want to keep being upset and tell people until someone agrees with you and tells you that your opinion that the writers made a shitty choice etc is valid.

So, to repeat a few things my friends have said:

They have not been doing Buddie since season two. I don't know why people persist on claiming this. Buddie was never the original plan. They did not decide to have Eddie get with Buck in season two. In fact in season two they seemed kinda unsure what to do with Eddie since he wouldn't be with Maddie any longer, but they still wanted the character, and Ryan, on the show. For my money, they started exploring the possibility of Buddie and discussing it seriously in season three, and season four was when they locked that in.

Now, I don't know about you, since you're a stranger on the internet, but to me, as a writer, it is a much, much better choice for them to have taken the risk rather than cram Buddie together, for a few reasons.

One: They cannot walk it back once Buddie is together. You're telling me you wanted them to sacrifice their story's integrity to give us a rushed unsatisfying get-together? Get out of my house. Watching television is, inherently, a gamble because it means you might get your stories unfulfilled. If you can't take that risk, then leave the casino. I am willing to risk it because I want a truly satisfying get-together, not something that was rushed and therefore isn't worthy of the delicious slow burn they're building.

Two: How many times do I have to scream at everyone to consider the behind the scenes issues before people start actually listening to me? Oh, forever? Because everyone is operating in bad faith and nobody wants to actually listen? Good to know. This will be the last I say on the matter.

We do not know what behind the scenes was going on in addition to the cancellation. What if certain Fox executives weren't supportive of Buddie? You're telling me that the writers and cast and crew should have, right when they'll need new jobs, guaranteed that their last employers will talk shit about them for disobeying orders and putting two characters together that they were told not to put together?

This is purely conjecture on my part, but I have seen time after time in fandom certain cast members and certain crew members and certain writers want a ship to become canon, and others not, and I have seen the way that back and forth played out, and guess fucking what? NOBODY WANTS TO LOSE THEIR FUCKING JOB. NOBODY WANTS TO BE PREVENTED FROM HAVING ANOTHER JOB.

Now, again, that's pure conjecture, but Fox really hasn't treated OG well for a while in terms of renewal, marketing, etc. And I have never, EVER, seen a show snapped up by another network so quickly. It's always "we got cancelled!" and then a few days or weeks later it's "we were saved by another network!" ABC was ON it. This gives me hope for a lot of things, like perhaps a 22 episode season. But given Fox's lack of promotion and appreciation for OG, it wouldn't surprise me if the cast and crew wanted Buddie and some people in the network didn't, and that is why we've been delayed on Buddie going canon. And while YOU may cry viva la revolution, it's much easier to have your principles when you've got a belly full, and while it may suck creatively there is no reason to piss off your bosses right when you need them to write you a recommendation for a new job because your show got cancelled - and while I'm sure they were hopeful, given the cast's social media I do not think anyone knew until it was publicly announced that they had, indeed, been saved and gotten another season.

My point is, this is just one theory I'm pulling out of a hat like a rabbit. We do not know what other BTS stuff is going on that made them choose to delay Buddie until season seven.

Three: To go back to point one, I do not think you've seen the reactions when a ship goes canon poorly. I was there, Gandalf. I was there the day that Booth and Bones got together. I was in the trenches. It soured SO many people, including me, on the show. To quote MBMBAM: YOU DIDN'T STICK THE LANDING! YOU JUST FLIPPED IN THE AIR FOR TWENTY MINUTES!!!

Sticking the landing when getting a ship together is possibly the most important moment in the couple's story. You cannot fuck up that landing. The writers chose to take the chance on it never happening in order to stick the landing the way they wanted. If that pisses you off, FINE. But stop coming into our inboxes to say the same thing over and over again about it, because we do not agree and we are never going to agree. We are at an impasse.

Now, to move onto some other points, WHY IS EVERYONE CONVINCED THAT EDDIE WILL STILL BE WITH SOMEONE WHEN THE SEASON ENDS!? WHEN DID WE DECIDE THIS!? He could be! But holy shit he could just go on one date with her that fizzles out! We have no clue! If someone in this fandom can see into the future and knows for sure this is going to happen then give me the winning lotto numbers right this second!!! Give them to me!!!! I need to fund my world domination campaign!!!

And finally, I feel like you've answered your own concerns, here. Given that you have sent similar asks to my friends, I don't think you're actually interested in allaying those concerns, because you keep answering your own questions and repeating yourself ad naseum. I could be wrong. Again, I don't know you. But this sure seems to be the case given that you're saying to me similar stuff you've said to my friends in asks they've already answered.

But to look at your own ask, you just said why we shouldn't be worried. "It seems like the writers even know..." YES. YES, THEY DO KNOW. I would love to know who the hell decided that television shows are made by the Television Fairy who creeps into the studio at night and waves her magic wand to create all the good stuff we see on our screens while the writers sit around with their thumbs up their asses.

Let's imagine you are a showrunner and you are going into the second half of your season, and you learn that it is extremely likely this season is actually your last. You guys start negotiating quietly with other networks to move the show, while hoping against hope this is not, indeed, the end. But this means you now have, what, nine episodes? To put all your characters in a place that is, if not ideal, at least somewhat positive for your audience?

You can't start any too-major arcs. You can't end on too bad of an emotional cliffhanger. This means some things will wrap up faster. Other things will get pushed forward. And some things have to be delayed, because they might never happen, and you can't give people a third or a half of an arc. Which means that you're going to be throwing in some filler for those characters instead, and doing things differently than how you might have wanted.

I do not know how many times I have to explain this, but television is not fanfiction. When I sit down to write a fic, there's not a damn person in the world who can tell me what to do. I write the story that I want, and if someone doesn't like it, they can hit the bricks.

Television is not like that. Television is one of the biggest group projects there is. Picture the worst group project you had to do in school and then times it by ten. Welcome to the television and film industry. The fact that any film or show, even the truly awful ones, gets made is nothing short of a miracle given all the people involved and all the ways the ball can be dropped. As a show runner, you are answering to multiple executives, to the creators, to the executive producers, to your own writers' room, and to the fans. You are trying to balance what everyone tells you to do, what the fans want you to do, and what you and your (hopefully trusted) writing team want and plan to do. I could never be a show runner and while there are quite a few with whom I've got bones to pick, I cannot deny that they all do a job I would never, ever be capable of pulling off. I'd quit on day three.

So, yeah, they gave Buck a temporary girlfriend as filler, to kinda cap off his current arc if this was the end, or to provide more layers to his full arc if they got another season. If you don't like that, then that's okay. Nobody is telling you to like it. When you come into someone's inbox like this, the assumption is that you're looking to be reassured, and so that's why you're getting the responses that you are. The previous people who've answered you have been trying to reassure you and allay the concerns you seem to have.

But it seems to me like you want a more full conversation, and possibly, that you just want to rant and vent. That's fine, but find a friend for that. Join a discord server. Because when you send the same stuff over and over again to different people, all of whom give you basically the same reply, it just makes you look like a very obstinate stick in the mud who wants everyone else to join them in being upset, and people don't much like having the same conversation multiple times, or being pushed into being upset when they're not.

You might just have to agree to disagree, and move on. Find other ways to get this out of your system, because my inbox, and the inboxes of others, is not the place for your venting in circles.

Now, in spite of my firm tone, I hope you will believe me when I say that I hope you're taking care of yourself, and that you are staying safe in this scary world, and that you have a good rest of your day.

[evansboyfriend]

Hugh Eddie/chris/Buck fan To say I hated the final would be an understatement, been reading every Eddie/chris reunion fic I can find.i don’t know if u like story ideas but I can’t get these out of my head..Buck drives to Texas to bring Chris back to surprise Eddie at Xmas, Chris calls Eddie in the middle of the night because he is in the hospital and needs his dad, no one told Eddie what happened

the eddie storyline in s7 was heartbreaking. honestly. i think we saw his grief as rage in s3 but i dont think he ever truly processed the loss - and beyond that, the trauma of that relationship while shannon was still alive, because it was a fucking mess. he says in s7, they spent more time apart than together, and we saw in 'eddie begins' the struggles they faced as young parents (esp of a disabled kid) - and sidenote to the sidenote, i am so fucking peeved that we didnt get to see more of shannon because she is actually such an interesting character, and they just brought her back and killed her off so quickly? but anyway - after s3, we see eddie trying to date, and he's always hesitating "because christopher" (is that a legit reason or a bit of an excuse, because christopher loves ana, and seems to get along with marisol just fine?) and the man's gone to therapy and talked about his army days/ptsd etc, but he never really got into the issues that were present in his marriage and the scene where he's (lowkey coerced into) roleplaying with his dead wife's doppelganger brought up SO MUCH GRIEF AND PAIN in such a brief scene

and listen. s7 was PACKED. it was 10 fucking episodes. it was always going to be a little rushed, a little ~ underdeveloped. i'm really hopeful s8 is going to get into eddie's storyline. i liked what we saw in s7 because it was more of a set up for what's to come in s7. and there was actually so much eddie in s7. his "reservoir of catholic guilt" comment is always joked about, because they did that whole nun thing, and this show is a little bit of a comedy at times yeah, but like, let's get into it, actually? he talks to bobby about possibly having 'commitment issues' and if we go back to s6, his desire for the way he clicked with shannon, he's looking for that "magic" BUT BOY? YOU NEED A LOT MORE THERAPY ACTUALLY? i want to see him confront the fact that his marriage was less than perfect, that he's not over the pain shannon caused by leaving, the grief of her death.

eddie has made a lot of mistakes in s7 and it pains me to see the collateral damage he caused christopher in the process, but it was nice to see him let his son go. even though it kills him inside. eddie is such a good dad actually. the separation in the finale showed that once again. yes it's heartbreaking. but it was necessary.

ok sorry this got rambly. im in my eddie feels.

i love story ideas! and buck going to bring chris for christmas is so nice, the two of them conspiring to surprise eddie. so cute. although you lost me at the end there, why is chris at the hospital? is there a car accident during the road trip??? aaaa???

[insert-niche-name-here]

Legends Season 8 Headcanons

Listen this is over a year late but I'm finally coherent enough to give em now that the fandom's more dead than usual–

also some of this is me not liking the writer's choices at the end of s7 and fixing it by Force

(Disclaimer! i am not up to date on the flash or arrow! Or Batwoman! actually i'm only up to date on Legends and Supergirl.)

Instead of the Legends all escaping somehow, they’re stuck in the facility for a month.

Everyone’s learning how to be good time cops, and getting the unpredictability wired out of them, and then–

Oh, fuck. Rip’s not dead. Since when was he not dead? Who knows.

Rip and Jonah Hex are here. And apparently Jax, Ray and Nora, Amaya, Mick, Wally, Lily Stein and Nia Nal are here, too.

Yeah, Nia’s boyfriend also got caught by the time cops, so she’s busting him out and we decided to just join forces. The dream powers were useful when we were trying to find you lot.

Wait, this is where the old time master HQ was?

Fuck.

Welp, time to make it go boom.

Hey, is that an alternate version of Sara–

Okay, okay, everyone’s out and on another alternate waverider, but who the fuck is–

Oh, Necrians grow incredibly fast and that’s Mick’s kid? Sweet.

So, there’s like half a season left–

Oh, right. Alun.

Welp, shouldn’t be hard to make Past Gwyn think Alun is dead so he invents time travel while Current Gwyn and Alun elope in the 21st century.

Update: This man is a scourge on humanity and Alun almost gave it away so many fucking times–

He and Gwyn are societal menaces.

Oh, right. Sara’s pregnant.

She gets coached through giving birth by a combination of Gideon, Lita, and Alex Danvers, who is guest starring this episode to drag Brainy and Nia back and has helped with way too many births of a similar nature.

Isn’t Nate still in the–

Oh, right. Time shenanigans. Zari Tomaz and Nate realized when they were stuck together that they actually are not the same people they once were and Nate is projecting. Oops.

Right person/wrong time. With both Spooner and Nate.

While Ava and Sara are basking in the glow of motherhood, well–

Gwyn and Alun deal with their shit. Finally.

Man /broke time/ for Alun and the man in question is getting hit with a ton of shit at once. I think this time it’s not Ava who goes in and fixes shit, it’s either Amaya (who got plucked from her time into a world of chaos) or Nate (hc’d experience as a repressed queer person who didn’t realize he loved someone until it was too late twice)

Give us an Alun who realized he might like a guy and freaked the hell out. Give me an Alun going through the same 12 stages of WTF Gwyn and Amaya and everyone else time-displaced did. Give me an Alun who doesn’t know what the hell to do and a Nate and Amaya who say neither did we.

An Alun who knows he ain’t ready for a meaningful relationship but goddamn, Gwyn looks like he missed him. An Alun who says That’s My Friend! I Love My Friend! Immediately regardless of how things have changed.

Give me a Nate and Amaya who realize that somewhere along the lines, they changed, too.

The season in my head has ten episodes total– 2 of the Legends getting the fuck out and blowing the prison/time organization up (a la Time Masters Oculus), 1 of massive reunions and 'wow shit's changed' and introductions, 2 of Alun Subplot (because as previously stated, he and Gwyn are tricky shits and it feels like they'd need Outside Help still), 1 Sara's Still Pregnant and Alun's Having A Crisis, one final crossover episode as all the OG shows say goodbye in Style with a chaotic Smell party and get their proper endings if cancelled, and then three that's just straight 'Goodbye, we loved you, thanks for watching the Arrowverse' as characters resolve their final issues to the backdrop of chaotic historical, magical, and temporal missions.

What happens at the end of the season, you ask?

Everyone goes home, whatever that looks like for them. Mick and Kayla and Gideon and Gary and whoever else end up taking over the waverider.

I loved legends of tomorrow. Joined after season 3, had Thoughts but mostly it ended up just coming down to 'this is a chaotic adventure and i'm glad it existed, however briefly'. This show deserved an ending, here's mine.

[hypermania]

I stopped watching the walking dead at the end of season 8 and only know what happens after that from seeing other people post about it when it was airing and there was so much negativity so it’s really interesting to see you watching it now and seeming to have mostly positive thoughts. Do you think watching it after the fact helped or am I totally misreading your feelings? 

this is a very funny ask to receive because i feel like all i've done is complain about how bad the show became starting around 7x01 but apparently all of my complaining has been confined to other spaces haha. i do, however, think that not having to wait and watch week-to-week helped me get through it and enjoy it more than i would've if i'd still been watching it live, but even the ability to binge it can't fix what i think are the show's three fatal flaws:

1. negan—i know this is an unpopular opinion but negan is one of the worst things to happen to the show. he takes up so much space and energy and yet the show never fully commits to actually doing anything with him. in s7 they literally bashed us over the head with his villainy and it was boring. his monologues were supposed to be menacing; they were supposed to make us scared to find out what he was capable of, but all they really turned out to be were long and corny and so fucking frequent that you couldn't help but tune out. i didn't need to hear him monologue about being an asshole to know he was cruel. i got that perfectly fine from his actions and the actions of the people who worked for him.

and he was cruel, in a way no other villain on the show was, but the show so desperately wanted to keep jdm around that they shot themselves in the foot by trying to pull back on the cruelty. yeah sure negan will bash several people's brains out with a baseball bat just for fun in front of a child but he would never lay a finger on that child. no, no, he didn't threaten the kid. he was just bonding with him.

yeah sure negan will force women's hands so that they feel there's no other option than to marry him and therefore sleep with him but he'll kill a blatant rapist. don't you get it? he's evil and you should fear him (but forget all that because he's totally redeemable).

yeah sure he'll help burn hilltop to the ground but don't you see he's actually on your side. like?? it's not nuance or moral complexity or shades of gray. it's just bad writing so that jdm can stick around, despite there being zero reason for negan to still be around. negan is responsible for so much damage and loss of life (and loss of potential in the form of community building) that it is unconscionable to me that he can ever show his face among any of the survivors. he wasn't a compelling villain and he's somehow an even less compelling reluctant ally. let maggie kill him already. at least there'd be a little catharsis in that.

2. rapid world expansion—this is difficult because long-running shows need world expansion to keep from becoming stale and repetitive but you have to strike a balance between expanding the sandbox and straight up changing the sandbox. i think the show did a really good job of opening up the world in the first six seasons. everything up to and including alexandria felt real and grounded in the world that they had established. in atlanta (and the outskirts of) they were such a small group and operating within such a limited amount of space that it made sense whenever they came across new places and/or new people (the farm, the prison, woodbury, grady memorial, terminus, etc). and then making the pilgrimage up to dc and finding alexandria all made sense as well. they spent time establishing what alexandria was and how it came to be.

but that explanation relied heavily on the idea that alexandria was isolated (i mean, aaron had to go out and travel just to recruit people ffs). so when you then add in the kingdom, hilltop, the saviors, the scavengers, oceanside, etc. you're saying, "actually there is a giant interwoven network of communities all around that somehow just magically never crossed paths with alexandria, not even when they were dealing with the gigantic horde that should've threatened all of them." and it makes no sense. and then add to that the commonwealth, the whisperers, and whatever the fuck the crm is. it's just too much. and none of those places they added in are ever really established in any meaningful way, with any real connection to our protagonists.

the commonwealth is the worst example of this. it's a a community of fifty-thousand people, most of whom seem to be completely out of touch with the reality of the apocalypse, and it's never really explained how. how do they keep walkers out? how do they have plumbing? how do they have electricity? how is noise not an issue? where is the food coming from? the weapons and ammunition? what were they doing with the train cars at the beginning because it seems like actually they accept everyone? why were they so suspicious? none of it's ever explained past a few comments and vague allusions here and there. they just plucked us out of the zombie apocalypse and plopped us into a dystopian society and said, "have fun at your new playground!" and i'm sorry but i'm not having fun. this is not the playground i signed up for.

3. rapid cast expansion—this one goes hand in hand with the world expansion. the show needs to add in new characters to replace departing characters and to introduce new and fresh dynamics but it's important that those characters matter in relation to their connection to the found family the show's been establishing for 5+ seasons. in my opinion, the last time the show successfully added new characters to the group was when they introduced abraham, rosita, and eugene (*there's a notable exception of 1.5 characters to this but i'll get to that in a second).

it's not that i don't like any of the characters they add after that, it's that none of them feel like family. none of them ever feel fully integrated into the group or fully realized as character in their own right. they're just... there. i like ezekiel and enid and jerry and princess and connie etc but they just don't matter. they're just people who also exist. the thread that ties them to the group i care about is a shared living space and desire to survive, not anything they've actually been through together. and that's kind of stupid because they've been through a lot together (fighting the saviors, building their communities, the whisperers, the stuff at the commonwealth, etc). it just doesn't feel like it because they're all so spread out geographically (due to the rapid world expansion) and because their connections aren't really to the family, but to the communities at large. and that doesn't work on a character-driven show.

*the exceptions to this are, in my opinion, dwight and maybe jesus. dwight is the only later seasons character that the show puts any effort into actually making me root for. some of that's because he starts out as an antagonist and therefore has to redeem himself but a lot of it is because he does actually redeem himself. i understand why he did everything horrible he did in the first place and i sympathize with it, but then i also watched him put his own life on the line over and over and over again simply because it was the right thing to do. dwight was held more accountable for his actions than any other single character in the history of the entire freaking show and despite proving himself, they still send him away just so they don't have to look at his face. and i know it was because he was going over to FTWD but damn does that suck because he's one of the only later seasons characters that actually feels fully developed.

i have some thoughts about jesus as a character and why he feels more fully integrated and realized than, say, gabriel or aaron but they're still very jumbled so i'm not going to get into it right now.

anyway, the point is that there are all these characters that the show is telling me matter and are important to my characters but they don't ever give me a reason to believe that beyond the fact that they just all happen to be on the same side.

so. yeah. i don't like the show anywhere near as much as it probably seems like i do and those three issues are the main reasons why. i have smaller gripes too (eugene never being held accountable for anything ever, rosita dying, michonne leaving her children, etc) but they're not structural issues, you know?

and despite having said all of this, i immediately started rewatching as soon as i got to the end because i do really love the found family of it all.

[firstaidspray]

So I'm thinking of making more, if not all, Veep characters in the sims since I already put Kent and Nonia in the same world as Sidney and Lydia. It'll be fun!! But it will need to follow my au that basically redacts s6 and s7 of the show and makes it happier.

Selina wins the house vote in her run for president- yayyy!! Tom James is her veep, as she initially planned. All the staff stay on- Amy, Dan, Ben, Kent, Richard, Nonia (in my verse ofc), Sue, Mike, and obviously Gary. Of course some show typical shenanigans go on, including Selina crashing a wedding (based on an ask about Nonia lol), her on and off friends w benefits thing with Tom, and Amy/Dan becomes more serious, especially after the abortion (which remains in the story). Although she knows Dan won't ever truly mature, Amy tries her hardest to make it work with him. He also tries. Yet to see if it goes well.

Re-election season comes around and there's the same kind of campaign things that go on in the first parts of s7, including the trips to Iowa- Richard still becomes mayor of Lurlene and Dan his chief of staff and the whole Sidney incident occurs, because it has to for Lydia and Sidney to meet. However, just like in the show, Richard is promoted. Dan continues to work for him.

There is no fallout with Selina and Amy or any other staffers, so there's no nonsense with Jonah's campaign interfering. Selina still has Tom so she never resorts to Jonah, nor does Amy. He loses, as he should. The Meyer administration continues on as usual. Selina never has to bargain with Buddy Calhoun and ban gay marriage so its all good on that front, as are Catherine and Marjorie. Andrew dies still fuck that idiot.

My main focuses are of course on Kent/Nonia and Sidney/Lydia. Kent and Nonia continue their work in the White House as well as their relationship. Sidney and Lydia end up forming a fashion designer company with Lydia as the head designer and a model, they call it simply call it "falco." in that exact stylization.

That's about all I have to say on it now, but there will be updates and such esp on the oc/canon front. I just wanted to establish my ideal version of the series that I want my stories to take place in.

[colnerys]

if not for 90s homophobia i think kira couldve had some truly messy wlw romance arcs like here lemme give some example:

her and jadzia having so many will-they-wont-they moments in s1 and early s2 which eventually leads them to dating before s3 happens or smth.

the whole joran shit happens with dax, life support happens with kira (i think bareil wouldve been her wise bestie with the good kush), and honestly ds9 major canon events happen

which leads to s7 having kira struggle to not kill dukat with her barehands because she knows if she kills him he'll haunt her forever and thats exactly what he wants : to live in her head rent free.

so ezri shows up, theyre awkward for a bit but kira loves dax so they kiss n hookup but kira also knows abt the reassociation taboo and respects how much love jadzia had for her people despite the system fucking over dax.

so she knows how important it is for ezri to find her own identity but shes so drawn to dax ... or is it ezri?? she doesnt know!!

so she makes the hard decision of beginning the rite of separation with ezri and ... i guess j.ezri can happen ??

and kira n dax just shoots longing looks at each other across ops every day until one day kiras sent to cardassia

and if we think about it the amount of stardates thats passed from when she met with damar to when the war on cardassia prime ended was roughly 3 months

kira definintely went in there knowing she could die and that the odds were stacked but she had to fight to live.

so in garaks basement during the down time she had a lot to contemplate about life and reflect. she thinks abt her relationship with jadzia and then ezri

realizing she liked them for different reasons and remembers how jadzia was there for her when she didnt really know who she was after the occupation

me thinking abt how her wanting to see her found family again, see sisko play baseball again, and just to be able to talk to dax one more time giving her the resolve to survive

so kira comes out the other side and the minute dax and her see each other they just leap into each others arms and kiss

its okay bc in the ideal universe jezri at the time realize they arent good fit then and needed time so they stay friends

anyways, they talk for hours n hours n kira really gets to know who ezri was prior to joining

shes smitten but in the "oh shes so awkward like me" way not in the "oh wow shes so together, shes so wise, so smart, so kind, nothing like me" way she felt for jadzia. which tbh reflects a kira self love journey also

anyways she promises to support ezri thru her tough times and all is well

...well u never know its trek

or alternatively:

kira having aliens of the week encounters with wlw / nblw characters

imagine her with natima lang — how messy is THAT?? like shes still in her i hate cardassians phase but like is slowly opening up. and she sees natima and just quietly admires the shit out of her for risking her life for the future and truth

her and grilka finding each other in the gym and sparring and then it becomes a heated affair that leads to kira being the subject of gossip and her blushing profusely for like days

those three cardassian scientists

obviously cannot forget keiko

her and kahn having a moment and it being messy bYE

anyways my point being kira had such potential on that front and still have it be true to her character. narratively it wouldve been interesting to have a character who isnt actively flirting all the time, a character whos entire background is embroiled in sadness, loss, and tragedy to just have love and connection be there for her constantly

[variousqueerthings]

Heyyy bestie guess who...

I think your point about love interests is so right, there's less of a focus on how they interact because they're just friends in the later seasons, theres no winning over a nurse moment because they don't need to be won. Also I miss ginger :(

I like your idea about the names and faces mixing too, it plays into the idea of time blurring so three years plays out over 11 seasons.

His fear(?) that he's seen and done too much over his time there is also so interesting, he doesn't feel like he deserves love or affection almost. I mean this in an aro or non aro way too, im even thinking that it would be really interesting if Hawkeye realised his views and feelings about romance and romantic love while in Korea and it took a long time for him to realise that it wasnt something that the war did to him, that it was just a natural part of who he always was.

Also heres where i admit that I stopped watching around season 8 i think(?) because, as you said, of the way the show seemed to constantly punish Hawkeye and how the support he'd had from the beginning has been draining away. (with the exception of Margaret, but one person can't hold him together when he's trying to hold everyone else) I do plan on finishing but i just got away from a similar problem and I don't want to watch it happen when I haven't talked it out properly first lol.

Also all of his lighter moments in the later seasons, especially the ones you mentioned, lack the sort of catharsis he really needs. They're all still about what he does for others, i cant speak on it until i watch them of course bit there seems to be much less gestures and acts of kindness for him.

Okay last points! I really feel like its too late to start censoring fuck my dude, that ship has sailed. I plan on saying more about your last response but its such a beast that im leaving it for my train ride tomorrow where I'll hopefully be able to put it together<3

-majoranon

I hope your train ride is good!

I am personally a glutton for pain (yes I'll leave that phrasing as it is), so I don't mind seeing him upset and worn down 😈

but I definitely feel like he's not given so much softness -- and the turning point was around season 8 I think, because I literally documented Moments between him and BJ and Margaret in s7 (+ season 8 was when Radar left and Period of Adjustment happened and Preventative Medicine was near the end of s7....), and I guess it's because he's increasingly Keeper Of Narrative Themes (vs other characters who carry mainly themes related to themselves and their personal journeys), which puts him in a slightly disconnected space -- the Narrator, Mad Max, Puck, (my flatmate was like "Horatio is also depressed and gay and tells the narrative" and they're not wrong) etc.... so even when he's having fun with the others, or having a moment where he's been relinquished for a second from Narrative Themes to be in the ensemble it feels to me watching like he's on a leash (no I won't change that phrasing either) -- he's still in the prison of the story, it's just giving him a bit of enrichment here and there, but less and less as we careen towards The End

also about aromanticism (forgive me if you already know + you know... things Many Queer People Feel For Similar Reasons) is that it's framed as brokenness by wider society. Romantic Love is the highest form of connection between people and so not being drawn towards this idea is an indication of something being wrong with you and a lot of aro people internalise that

and so the idea that Hawkeye can't disconnect his "incorrect feelings" from war trauma + his thematic role in the Story in which he's being increasingly separated narratively from the others... *charlie day meme*

all of this to say, yeah yeah "communal sub sounds sexual and also that," but mainly I think if someone cradled the back of his head while they gave him a really big hug (kinda like in s7 "Ain't Love Grand"), it might break me (and also him) and that I will on my rewatch document when we've had a moment like in "Peace On Us" where for a second Hawkeye is protected from the violence of the role he plays by the whole camp throwing him a party

(also that Stars and Stripes + Bottle Fatigue + Heal Thyself + Dreams were s8 and I don't know what I'm trying to say there but it certainly makes me stare at a wall)

(also this isn't to say that other characters aren't also occasionally doing their turn as Keepers of Themes or even that Hawkeye-centric episodes tend to be that, so much as when there's ensemble work happening he's increasingly given the War Is Hell perspective)