#i need a cohesive and competent plot sorry | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

woniverse-writes · 1 year ago

Text

"MOTH TO A FLAME (part 2)"

Bada Lee x Fem!Reader

part 1.5 ⟵ part 2 ⟶ part 3

series masterlist

summary: y/n l/n is the youngest team member of Jam Republic, competing in the second season of Street Woman Fighter. she’s got the sweetest smile and the most vibrant personality, but she also may or may not be the biggest hothead on the show when it comes to defending her teammates. apparently that’s attractive to Bada Lee.

word count: 12.8k (i'm so sorry)

warnings: swearing, suggestive at times, both Bada and reader are highkey obsessed with each other, Redlic, reader is described as younger and small a lot, Bada is kinda confusing with her feelings, sometimes isn't very accurate to swf's actual plot, also this isn't proofread so... sorry for any mistakes lol- lemme know if I missed anything!

After heading back to their rooms, each team celebrates finishing the first mission. some are more excited than others, based on their ranking. Like Jam Republic for example, whose first thought is to shake some ass for their victory. Kirsten and y/n keep posing and dancing toward the camera, blowing kissing, and having fun again.

“I can’t believe we just did that” Audrey sighs out, flopping back on the couch. Y/n piles on top of her, causing the slightly older girl to dramatically huff out a breath as to tease Y/n for plopping on her. The younger adjusts quickly and stares at her friend with a glare that holds no real malice, but is simply another teasing moment between the two. Audrey laughs and squeezes Y/n’s face.

“Oh, angry bunny!” she shakes the girl's head from side to side, still holding her face. The younger whines out loudly in protest, quickly pulling herself away and running to the other side of the room. The other members laugh in admiration of their youngest members.

“I hate it when you do that!” Y/n continues to whine but she also laughs along with her crew.

“Oh, but if Bada did it it’d be fine, right?” Ling provokes, and all heads whip in her direction. She has a knowing smirk and all the members burst out laughing with wide eyes as their youngest stands there shocked beyond words.

“That- that’s not- that is absolutely NOT true.” Y/n tries to suppress her nervous smile, but her bright red face and inability to cohesively string a sentence along doesn’t help her case.

“Right… yeah okay we believe you…” Emma crosses her arms and relaxes, letting out the last of her chuckles. Y/n throws her hands up and nods about to move on before it all goes downhill again.

“Puppy” Emma finished off her previous statement, sending her teammates into an even more intense frenzy of screams and chaos.

“ENOUGH” y/n’s screaming and covering her face in embarrassment, falling to the floor and curling up in a ball. They’re all laughing so hard their faces are red, and some even have tears streaming down their faces. Kirsten is trying really hard to be a responsible leader and get them to pull themselves together, but every time she looks over and meets y/n’s panicked puppy eyes she can’t help but start laughing again.

“Okay, okay, we need to take a lap and pull ourselves together” Kirsten manages to get out as everyone has calmed down for the most part. Shortly after, an announcement appears on the screen and the host is back, beginning to explain the next mission.

After it’s explained how the competition is going to work, and each team has picked its members, the lineups are revealed. The rookie class is revealed first and every team just about loses their minds when they see y/n is put in rookie.

“Ugh, I knew she was gonna be here, but I was just really hoping somehow she wouldn’t” Redy whines into her hands, receiving a comforting shoulder pat from Harimu. When Bebe sees the lineup, they’re just as worked up seeing y/n as a rookie.

"How is this even fair???" Tatter whines in despair, throwing her head back and running her hands down her face.

"Oh girl… You better get to work NOW" Lusher adds in, leaning back in her seat, side-eying the blonde.

"Maybe she's not good at choreographing…" Bada tries to ease Tatters’s mind, but as everyone turns to look at her, they can all tell even Bada doesn't believe her own words by the way she sinks into her seat

"You can't be serious right now." Tatter scoffs, covering her face and groaning.

"Yeah I'm sorry, I don't know what you want me to say- I can't think of a single bad thing to say about that girl."

"Yeah, we know" Bada's mouth drops open slightly at the jab from Cheche, who has a slight smirk on her face. To be completely honest, Bada didn’t know what to expect. It made the most sense to put y/n in the rookie class, as she’s the youngest in her crew and has danced less years than some of the others. BUT- she also has a ton of experience in different settings and styles, making her a versatile performer. Knowing her background, Bada can’t help but worry for her teammate as well as the others who have to go up against her.

The rest of the lineups are revealed and everyone gets working on choreography. Y/n is really excited yet focused as she works on her routine. The vibe of the song suits her style well and she feels confident that her choreography will at least be one of the top choices. She brings attention to every beat by articulating her movements and adjusting the strength of each one in accordance with the strength of the beat. The girl feels good about it, feeling her interpretation was executed well, but she wants to express the lyrics directly more. Having some basic knowledge of the Korean language was definitely helpful in times like this.

When it’s time to present the choreographies, y/n is one of the last to show hers, and everyone is blown away. Most of them weren’t expecting her to directly interpret the lyrics as well as incorporate the beats. Her combination of straightforward articulation and usage of lyricism, on top of her naturally flawless musicality really drew everyone in and caused her to stand out. When it came time to decide the choreography that everyone wanted to do, almost everyone thought y/n’s was the best… but that meant nothing in this competition.

"Y/n, I thought your choreography was amazing, and I'd love to dance it…" Redy starts, but a timid smile appears on her face. Y/n begins to smile gratefully before hearing the rest of Redy’s statement.

"After the competition… I think you'd be uneatable and no one else would stand a chance if we did this choreography. I'm sorry." She nods her head in apology, and y/n nods hers in understanding.

The time comes for them to all make their final decisions and Rena is the only one to vote for y/n, who happens to be the only one to vote for Rena as well. After Capri’s choreography was chosen, they all quickly conversed about when they would be back to start learning it, then went their separate ways. Along the way, y/n was stopped by Rena.

“They must be really scared of you” the Tsuba Kill member declares with a joking lilt in her voice as she walks up to match pace with the younger girl/ Y/n turns her head to look and Rena before grinning a little.

“I could say the same about you. We both got dropped for the same reason.” Y/n replies disappointed but not surprised. Rena ‘tsks’ and tilts her head, laughing off her annoyance.

“Ehhh, what can you do?” she shrugs before continuing, “We’ll just have to work even harder to prove why we’re the only ones suited for the main dancer position, right?” the older girl challenges raising an eyebrow at y/n. The younger girl raises her eyebrows in response, then sticks her hand out to Rena.

“I think we’re gonna make a good team.” She smiles and jokes slightly. Rena giggles and shakes her hand before they go to their individual rooms.

Yeah so Tatter comes back from the meeting and everyone can immediately sense her stress, so she explains how everything went down.

"I really loved y/n's choreography, but I knew she'd look best doing it, so I couldn't bring myself to vote for her" Tatter sits back and sighs, running her hands down her face. All of Bebe nods and hums in understanding. Not even Bada tries to counter the fact that y/n would look best doing her choreo, because it’s true, and she couldn’t bring herself to lie about that.

“It’s okay, you made the right decision. It’s better for you to have chosen something you were confident in learning and executing, rather than something you wouldn't have been able to achieve in the short period of time we have.” the leader calmly reassures her member and pats her head, smoothing out her hair.

When y/n returns to Jam Republic’s hideout, she’s not as visibly as upset as she was before talking with Rena.

“How’d it go??” Kirsten asked with wide eyes, seated and ready to listen. Latrice tuned in but continued to work on her own choreography. Y/n sighed and closed her eyes for a second.

“I did really well” she started with her eyes still closed. Kirsten straightens her stature and throws her hands up in excitement.

“That’s great!! And you must've done REALLY well for you to be able to say that yourself-” she praises her youngest dancer, excited to see her recognizing her own talent, but then Kirsten takes notice of the lack of excitement on the other end. Her face drops slightly and she lets out a sigh

“But…” Kirsten urges, and y/n takes a deep breath

“But they all thought I did too well… they all loved my choreo and wanted to learn it, but not for the competition. None of them want to compete because they think I’ll look the best doing it, and no one else will stand a chance.” she explains and looks even more disappointed than before. Kirsten clicks her tongue and stands to give her a hug. Latreice stops working on her piece and also comes to embrace the girl.

“That’s such a stupid reason not to vote for your choreography. They should be picking based on which one is the best, and if they recognized yours as the best but still didn’t pick it, it’s because they’re intimidated…” Kirsten begins to explain, tucking a piece of hair behind y/n's ear, and then petting her hair affectionately.

“Exactly, so now you just need to go out there and show them exactly why they should still be intimidated. Because no matter who’s choreography gets chosen, you’re gonna eat it up.” Latrice finishes, gently rubbing the younger girl's back. Y/n exhales and nods.

The next day of practice goes well and y/n feels confident with Capri’s choreography. It was easy, but she knew how to accentuate and execute each move to suit her style best. When they all finish learning their respective dances, the teams meet back the next day to battle for the main dancer position. They have a few minutes before they actually start shooting, so most dancers are getting some last-minute practice in or discussing with their team. Both Jam Republic and Bebe are working non-stop to perfect the pieces they’re about to compete. When y/n pauses to grab water, Bada sees this as an opportunity to quickly catch up, and maybe even an opportunity to psych her out a little in favor of Tatter. Did Bada feel bad thinking this way? Of course she did, but she held no ill intent, she just knew y/n would be amazing no matter what, so maybe just a little bit more pressure and it’d cause her nerves to hinder her a bit. Because at the end of the day, this was still a competition, and Bada was dedicated to winning.

The Bebe leader sauntered over to a focused y/n with a cool expression. The younger girl stood with her hands on her hips, head back and eyes closed as she caught her breath. Bada didn’t want to startle her necessarily, but we all know how she loves to tease. The older girl tugged on y/n’s beanie, pulling it down over her eyes, causing her to yelp in surprise and stand up straight, quickly pulling the hat off her own head. Her wide eyes meet Bada’s, who’s busy giggling at her shocked expression- but when she processes everything, her hands are back on her hips and she tilts her head with what’s supposed to be a stern expression.

“Hey.” is all y/n says and it has Bada dying laughing. Both of their respective teams are now subtly watching the interaction.

“You should probably put your hate back on” Bada raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms as she recommends the younger girl. Y/n fakes pouts and crosses her arms as well.

“And why should I? Hm?” she questions raising her own eyebrows. Bad pokes the inside of her cheek with her tongue and grins, pleasantly surprised at y/n’s lack of obvious nerves. She notices the girl’s slight blush, but that’s her only present giveaway.

“Because your hair is a mess” she states calmly but still teasing, and ruffles the short girl’s hair, messing it up even more. Y/n whines and moves her head back so it’s out of Bada’s reach. She pouts and tries to fix her hair by running her fingers through it.

“You’re so mean to me!” she pouts trying not to smile or laugh, the blush on her face becoming much more intense as Bada continues to laugh at her. y/n finally gives up on trying to fix her hair and turns to fully face Bada again.

“Fix it.” she demands, looking up at Bada, still pouting. It’s the older girl’s turn to be shocked, as her eyes widen immensely and her face goes red in an instant.

“Eh?” she tilts her head and giggles, only slightly confused.

“You made my hair a mess, so you fix it.” The small dancer just continues to talk with a pout, still trying not to smile, waiting for Bada to do something. The older dancer hesitates slightly before sighing and pretending to be annoyed at the demands, before starting to run her fingers through y/n’s hair. The second Bada’s hand makes contact with y/n’s head, the pout from the younger of the two immediately dissipates into a gentle smile. She’s staring up into Bada’s eyes, who happens to be avoiding eye contact, opting to focus on smoothing out y/n’s hair.

“There, you should be good.” Bada nods, still not meeting y/n’s eyes, causing a small pout to return to the younger’s face. She just takes the beanie that y/n is still holding and positions it neatly on her head, tucking her hair so it sits comfortably but still looks nice. Meanwhile, anyone who happens to look over right now would how lovestruck y/n is by the older dancer. Her eyes glitter and she’s trying so hard to suppress the biggest smile ever that she has to bite her lip- which in turn causes Bada to have to focus even harder on anything besides the girl in front of her. When she finally does glance down to meet y/n’s eyes, Bada’s breath catches in her throat, not expecting the look she was getting from the younger girl.

“Alright, get out of here. Go back to practicing.” Bada turns y/ns by her shoulders and shoves her slightly back in the direction of her team. Y/n just laughs, feeling so at peace with Bada, not realizing the effect she has on her.

“You’re the one who came over here to bother me!” the younger of the two exclaims, still laughing and watching Bada retreat backward, still keeping an eye on her. The older waves a hand dismissively and shakes her head.

“No wayyyyy, that’s not what happened.” She elongates and smiles charmingly, still trying to tease and get a rise out of y/n.

“Yeah?” y/n raises an eyebrow and Bada can’t help but think how attractive she looks when she’s confident. She’s only ever been shy around her up until a few minutes ago, and Bada can’t tell which she likes more yet. She shakes her head at the younger girl and continues back to her team’s area with a smile and blush painting her face. Bada was expecting to get y/n worked up before she had to go on in hopes of getting her nervous enough to slightly underperform, but she’s pretty sure that totally backfired, because now Bada herself is the one feeling flustered, and Y/n seems more confident than she did before. Once reaching her team, Bada doesn’t even go back to practicing right away, she just sits down and takes a large drink of water.

Y/n puts her earbuds back in and goes back to practicing with agrin on her face after watching Bada sit down.

“So she’s not even gonna debrief with us what just happened?” Emma questions from her seat near Latrice and Kirsten. Ling, the biggest y/n-targeter, glances at the girl again to see her marking the routine but with full facials and can tell her adrenaline is pumping even more now. She turns back to Emma and chuckles

“She’s on a different level right now- I don’t think we can disturb her even if we tried” Ling just laughed and stretched her arms above her head.

“It’s like Bada’s attention gives her energy” Audrey notes smiling at how focused her friend is on executing the routine diligently

“Bada could probably spit in her face and tell her she’s the worst dancer she’s ever seen and y/n would just be like “I have to be better for her”.” Emma mocks in a dainty voice causing the others to laugh.

“Oh leave her alone, there’s nothing wrong with having a little crush.” Kirsten, ever the motherly type, gently comments to the rest of the team. She herself glances at y/n to see her taking another short sip of her water, eyes still sparkling, but also fiery with determination.

As the time arrives for the rookie class to compete for the main dancer title, all of the teams are hyping up their rookie. y/n is being shaken around by her members in an attempt to hype her up, which is very effective until she steals a glance in Bada’s direction to see her pressing her forehead to Tatter’s.

"haha that was cute- I'm killing myself" Y/n fake laughs and the look in her eyes says “I’m fucking dying inside”. Her teammates panic for a second and whip around back to face her direction, then follow her line of sight. Emma tries to cover up her laugh with a cough.

"Don't worry y/n, I gotchu-" Audrey jokes around, aggressively grabbing y/n by the face and planting a fat kiss on her cheeks, making sure to cause an annoyingly loud 'smooch' sound. y/n yelps in surprise but then laughs and shoves her away, not even bothering to wipe away the lipstick stain on her cheek

Bada doesn't see the interaction but notices the lipstick print on y/n's cheek when she steps into the center, and suddenly feels bitterly confused. Now she can't even focus on the competition in front of her because she's so stuck on trying to figure out which Jam member's lipstick matches the one of y/n's cheek. After she realizes how obsessive she's being, Bada tries to solely focus on watching everyone perform

"Let's go, Tatter!" she's screaming and cheering for her teammate, but her eyes are mostly focused on the girl next to her. y/n dances the choreography as if it's her own, showing her truest self as a performer. Bada feels like it’s truly amazing watching her dance because it’s almost like the music lives inside y/n with the way she hits every beat and accent flawlessly and effortlessly. Every move she makes looks natural- like this is too easy for her.

It comes down to the final four being her, Capri, Tatter, and Rena. They rematch and Bada is just happy Tatter made it that far- of course, she hopes the blonde is able to secure the main dancer title, but she’s pretty positive y/n’s had it secured since she learned the choreography. Watching the rematch only confirms Bada’s thoughts, y/n somehow executing the piece even more excellently than the first time. She cheers, albeit slightly resigned, already knowing the outcome.

The judges converse for quite some time and then finally face the dancers.

“We’ve chosen this member as the main dancer based on the quality of their movement and their ability to flawlessly interpret the song’s vibe” Monika prefaces the reveal with their reasoning.

“Main dancer for the rookie class is…” Mike Song starts back up

“Jam Republic’s Y/n.” Her tense figure relaxes as she sighs and the rest of her crew comes running up to surround her in a hug. She’s grinning and giggling slightly as the mic is passed over for her to say a few words about getting the position. She can barely even bring the mic up to speak into it, as her members are still hugging her tightly.

“This really is an amazing opportunity, and I’m extremely grateful. I’ll continue to improve the performance and show everyone an even better version. Thank you.” she bows politely (or attempts to, still secured in place with the loving arms of her members). The other teams applaud her again and Jam Republic walks back to their seats, y/n is in the back of the bundle. As they walk past Bebe, Bada confidently shouts out

“Y/n-ie congratulations, you were amazing!” and the small girl whips around, confused puppy dog eyes quickly scanning and finding Bada in the audience near her. She smiles the brightest smile ever seen and her breathing quickens a little bit.

“Thank you, so much” she replies a bit breathlessly, bowing and then not even trying to suppress her girlish giggles when she turns away from the older girl.

“Wow… she even got a recognized by Bada… y/n really is THAT good, huh…” Yeni Cho gushes, jealous of the praise and recognition the youngest competitor is getting.

“Did Bada just compliment you?” Kirsten murmurs the question once y/n gets closer to her. The younger of the two just giggles again and shrugs her shoulders, trying to suppress her smile.

“I guess she did…”

__________________

Next was the sub-leader battle, which let’s just say, did not go well for y/n. She was still riding her high from getting crowned main dancer, and she was so excited to watch Latrice perform after watching her choreography, but she was still mildly annoyed at the others for doubting her members. The judges ask about the process and hardships and Redlic begins to speak. She expresses an irritation towards Latrice’s apparent lack of professionalism, causing all of Jam Republic to prickle slightly, especially their designated hothead, y/n. She was able to control her distaste for a bit, but then Redlic started talking out of her ass again and y/n couldn't help but roll her eyes and scoff in irritation.

"I'm so fucking sick of her attitude" and Kirsten's eyes get so wide, she immediately turns to her and covers her mouth

"You really need to start remembering you're on camera," she says seriously but laughs a little. y/n doesn't even look pissed at this point- she's got this annoyed, almost disgusted look on her face.

"your girl is pissed off again"

Bada immediately turns to look for y/n, and Tatter throws her hands up in defeat. y/n keeps listening to Redlic complain, now with an exhausted glare, waiting for her to shut the fuck up

"I'm so tired of her shit-" she starts with arms crossed, "maybe if she was better she wouldn’t have to rely on making excuses as to why she couldn't pick up the choreo." y/n speaks evenly and surprisingly calm, but one look at her face tells everyone that her comment was a genuine dig intended to knock the blonde dancer down a peg. Members from both Bebe and 1 Million hear her, as they are the two teams sitting on the outside of Jam Republic, and can’t help but either laugh in shock or sit there with scared wide eyes.

“Waaaah y/n is so scary!” Redy exclaims hiding slightly behind Lia Kim, giggling nervously.

When it comes time for them to finally dance, y/n is already on her feet ready to cheer Latrice on louder than anyone has ever cheered. Although she’s ready to cheer, y/n still looks cold and scary with her arms crossed and the tired glare beaming in her eyes. The music starts and y/n is already screaming.

“Let’s go Latrice! It’s yours! TAKE IT!!!” her screams even had Bada raising her eyebrows in shock at the volume and continuous energy coming out of the small girl. She suppresses a smile and goes back to watching Lusher dance alongside Latrice. Once the music stopped, y/n was critiquing openly in an instant.

"She tried too hard to make it sexy, it ended up looking cheap" she states, cold eyes trained on Redlic.

"damn, you are RUTHLESS" Audrey comments, laughing at her friend's easy to activate temper.

The judges converse once again, and they seem to make a decision quicker than when y/n had competed.

“The dancer chosen to fill the main dancer position is Jam Republic’s Latrice.” they announce and y/n shoots up in the air like a rocket, screaming her lungs out. The relief she feels after hearing the news is very evident on her face. As the judges gave their opinions and reasoning behind their decision y/n felt herself finally feeling satisfied, a proud smile overtaking her features. Her peace is disturbed very quickly though by Redlic, who expresses how she thinks the decision was unfair, and that Latrice was only picked for her physique.

Y/n had never felt more enraged at that moment.

“Is she fucking serious?” she outwardly and quite loudly questions, causing everyone to look at her, and Kirsten to put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look as to say “watch yourself”. Redlic meets the girl's eyes and immediately regrets everything. Y/n has never looked more dangerous, poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue. She’s got this angry, evil smirk- and she laughs when Redlic turns around and goes “sorry” while hanging her head.

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought” Y/n crosses her arms and leans back in her seat, face still hot with anger, and eye trained on Redlic as she walks back to her seat. Kirsten sighs and massages her forehead, stressed because 1) why the fuck did one of her dancers just get talked about like that in the grand year of 2023, and 2) she doesn’t know how she’s gonna deal with little-miss-attitude-problem. Even after putting her rage aside for a moment to congratulate and celebrate Latrice, y/n is back to glaring at Redlic, unable to pay attention to anything else, until it’s time for the leader lineup to compete.

The leaders all step away from their crews and into the fight zone, preparing to battle. Audrey, wanting to cause some mischief and tease her friends some more, turns to y/n with a look that can’t mean anything good.

“So who do you want to be the main dancer y/n? Are you still our team member or has Bebe won you over?” the short-haired girl ponders sarcastically.

"What kind of question even is that? Of course Kirsten- she's my mom, Bada is just my girlfriend." y/n answers sounding fully serious, but obviously joking when she shares the second half of her response. Emma ‘tsks’ and looks over at the two of them with a strange look.

"Why do you always have to say stuff that's gonna get you canceled when there are cameras around" the oldest of the three asks jokingly, causing the youngest’s jaw to drop in confusion.

"Why would I get canceled??"- "BECAUSE YOU AREN'T DATING HER????" Emma and y/n go back and forth just like siblings. Audrey laughs at the chaos she caused, Ling sighs- disappointed but not surprised with the banter, and Latrice minds her own business- focusing on Kirsten and the competition.

"I just wish for one day of peace where y/n isn't saying weird shit and being delusional-" "DID YOU SEE THE WAY SHE LOOKED AT ME BRO???"

yeah…

It’s officially time for the leaders to battle and, y/n is sat, ready to go. Bada and Kirsten are in separate groups, much to y/n’s satisfaction, as she can freely watch both without having to worry about missing the other. y/n tries to control her awe while watching Bada, but she gets a little too excited and ends up outwardly cheering- and she panics and laughs when Audrey playfully side-eyes her. She sits back down and tries to suppress her excitement, but Bada is just too good to be real. It’s not a style that y/n would be able to pull off unless she was 100% confident in knowing the choreography, but watching Bada do it so effortlessly made her want to learn it too. When she does the final ‘lighter’ pose at the end, Bada comes back to reality and can feel eyes on her, which makes sense since everyone was watching, but she still shifts her eyes slightly to meet with y/n’s. Y/n, who is holding her breath, covering the lower half of her face (hiding a blush). Y/n, whose eyes widen about three sizes when she realizes Bada is staring at her. The girl fumbles for a second but then moves her hands away from her face to give Bada a double ‘thumbs up’ and frantically nods in approval, revealing a blush in the meantime. Bada just smirks and turns to exit the floor in order to make room for the next group.

When she's watching Kirsten though- it's a shock how y/n hasn't passed out yet with how much she's screaming and cheering. Bada’s eyes are going back and forth between Kirsten and y/n. She’s surprisingly able to focus more on the leader’s dancing, rather than the younger member’s cheering. Either way, she’s irritated. If y/n were on her team, would she cheer for her like that? Does she truly think Kirsten is better than her, or is it just because they’re on the same team? Bada’s head is full of questions, but she forces herself to push them aside for right now, putting her full focus back on the competition.

When they rematch the first time, y/n controls her emotions even less. Again, Bada and Kirsten are in different groups, allowing y/n to enjoy both of their performances. Then when they rematch the third time, all her restraint is out the door. She’s screaming and cheering as loud as ever, and everyone just assumes it’s for Kirsten- which most of it is! But occasionally y/n will react to something Bada had done, and nobody even questions it.

The two finish dancing together and everyone can admit that they’re untouchable.

“Can’t they just both be the main dancers?” Y/n groans and whines in anticipation as the judges take their good ‘ol time deciding the main dancer. When Bada is announced as the winner, y/n claps respectfully with a disappointed but somewhat satisfied smile. Of course she’s extremely happy for her, but it’s still a loss for her team. So the young girl stands up and claps slightly more enthusiastically, just happy to have been able to witness such an insane performance.

Bada is feeling unexplainably proud. She falls to the ground and thanks the judges. Kirsten did such an amazing job and Bada truly felt honored to have been able to dance with her. She really did have a better understanding now why y/n admired her so much.

Then Bada kisses Kirsten on the cheek, and the young girl stops smiling and clapping altogether- she just kind of freezes, her mouth slightly hung open. With her body still frozen mid-clap, y/n just slowly turns her head to Emma who's already looking at her with an amused smirk, trying not to burst out laughing at her younger teammate's jealousy.

“Why is it everyone BUT ME???” y/n snaps out of her frozen frame and dramatically crumples to the ground.

___________________

On the day of the video shoot, everyone is getting their hair and makeup done. Bada is sitting away from the rest of the leaders when she feels her phone buzz. She picks it up to see a text from y/n, and when she opens it, she's met with a selfie of her and Tatter. It's the two of them making scrunched-up faces and pouting playfully at the camera. They're both holding onto a ribbon-tied strand of the other's hair, pretending to tug on it. Bada smiles subconsciously and hearts the message, saving the picture. She then aims her camera at the mirror snapping her own selfie and sending it. She’s honestly really glad y/n set that because the two hadn’t texted since Bada first got her number a few days ago.

Y/n’s phone pings twice and she opens it, only to slam it back down. It wasn’t even that serious but Bada looked way too good in that picture for y/n to think rationally. On top of that- she didn’t really want her stylist to accidentally peek over her shoulder and see that she was texting Bada. So she waited for the stylist to walk away for a second, before opening her phone again to heart the message and reply with ‘stooop, you look so good😩’. She hesitated for a second before ultimately deciding to save the picture to her camera roll, smiling then placing her phone back down on the counter as her stylists came back.

Bada opens her phone again, smiling at the message. She types out ‘call me on your break’ but decides to change it to ‘text me when you guys get a break? I wanna talk to you<3’ then presses send. Y/n receives the message and turns her brightness down to make it harder for anyone else to see. She bites her lip to suppress her smile and replies ‘ofc!!’ with a heart emoji.

The shoots begin and everything is going moderately smooth until it's announced that people have the opportunity to switch parts, but only the main dancer can make that decision. y/n groans and throws her head back while covering her eyes. She starts laughing in disbelief and looks around at the other rookie members

"Let's just have fun, please. Obviously- work hard and strive for your best, but just have fun when you dance cuz that'll make all the difference to me" was what she told everyone when she was asked how she felt about it.

The rookies were all laughing and having a blast, especially Redy, y/n, and Rena- the other two shared the center with y/n a lot, although they often alternated with Tatter and Gooseul. Gooseul, trying to get on y/n's good side, always comes to find her on breaks and takes lots of selfies with her, making sure to compliment every aspect of the girl. Redy, who actually has taken quite a liking to y/n feels a little defensive and worms her way into any conversation Gooseul tries to have with the main dancer. So now Gooseul and Y/n selfies are Gooseul, y/n, and Redy selfies, which eventually just become Y/n and Redy selfies.

Now THIS catches Tatter's attention- and Tatter is making a move to start conversation with y/n- asking her about certain moves and how she wants the quality of a specific section to be portrayed. She has to stay on y/n's good side because 1) she knows this girl is ruthless and will easily tear her apart if she needs to, and 2) Bada would probably die of heartbreak if Tatter and y/n didn't end up on good terms.

The go on a quick break and y/n thinks about texting Bada, but she worries she won’t have much time to talk. Instead she just reviews the notes she made for the shoot regarding what she wanted to do with the concept.

“I wish we could do an outfit change” y/n express with a slight pout.

“You’re the director- you can make the call do have an outfit change,” the staff tells her. They had prepared multiple outfits in case some hadn’t ended up blending well with the others, so it wasn’t a problem.

“REALLY???” She gets so excited and runs to tell the other girls her idea. y/n explains how she wants them to do the final chorus in different outfits that are a bit more girly and cunty to bring the vibe together more, to which they enthusiastically agree. Y/n keeps sharing her ideas, and making changes to better the final product, and surprisingly no one is complaining about it- or ar least not to her face.

“I want the second verse to be all small groups or duos” She shares her next idea, which everyone agrees with in a heartbeat cuz they all want more screen time. She organizes it so that Yeni Cho and Buckey take the first chunk of the second verse, and Rena and Capri take the latter half; leaving Tatter, Redy, and Gooseul with the build-up to the chorus; and y/n coming back in as the center for the chorus.

As they practice the blocking for this part, y/n works with the groups one-on-one and the others continue to practice, except for Yeni and Buckey who are trying to figure out a way to make their screen time last longer.

Ultimately Yeni and Buckey try to get y/n to make their part longer, but she politely declines saying she choreographed each part for a specific reason and it wouldn't make sense with the music to elongate their part-

“Try not to worry please because the camera angles will capture you- I promise you’ll have other opportunities to be seen” And they’re obviously not happy. Yeni kind of just resigns in defeat after trying and failing to get more screen time, but Buckey’s attitude is a little less cooperative now. As they continue the shoot, Buckey’s not really being a team player because she’s trying too hard to stand out, and causing it to look messy. Y/n keeps monitoring and asking to redo shots because Buckey isn’t blending well with everyone

“Buckey please try to blend better- maybe relax your movements a little here-“ she starts but it cut off by Buckey

“Why would I want to blend in with everyone?” She questions irritated. Y/n’s eyes just widen in gentle confusion, because why is she suddenly upset?

“Well you need to blend but not necessarily blend IN- you stand out too much right now” the main dancer tries to explain calmly and evenly while still genuinely trying to appease Buckey’s stress

“Y/n I think I look fine, You have to realize I’m competing to win too, so I have to do what I can to catch the judges' attention” It’s silent among the girls as they all stand baffled by mannequeen’s dancer. They turn their glances towards y/n who’s standing firmly with her arms crossed, looking eerily calm, her eyes starting to have the daring glare that only appears when y/n is so angry that even she knows it’d be bad for her to speak before thinking.

“Buckey I want everyone to stand out, but as of right now, you’re only doing so in a negative way. I understand you want to catch the judges’ attention, but this is the wrong way to do it…” she takes a deep breath

“And if you continue with this current attitude, you’ll end up placing last by the judges and be voted worst dancer.” Y/n’s firm statement sent a chill down everyone’s spine. She cracked her jaw and then let out a heavy sigh

“Let’s get back to the shoot.” she directs loud and clear and turns around to head back towards the set. Everyone glances around at each other, then discreetly at Buckey, before following y/n

"She's so scary when she's upset" Gooseul whines in a whisper

"Yeah and that's exactly why you shouldn't make her upset-" Redy whispers back

"just don't do stupid shit around her and you won't make her upset- y/n seems to be really chill unless you cross a line with her, which makes sense." Tatter joins the conversation with the other two who nod and hum in agreement.

After the slight incident, the rest of the shoot went really well. Buckey got it together but still had a sour attitude, yet everyone looked amazing. Y/n felt really proud of them and honestly wished to work with them all again. They wrapped up the shoot by filming the final chorus in their new outfits, in which they all made sure to take plenty of selfies in. When they finally finished everything, all the girls went to their dressing rooms to take off their makeup and put on their regular clothes. Y/n had been so focused on directing the video, that she totally forgot to text Bada on her break.

She whipped out her phone and typed a quick ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t text you when I had a break- I was so focused on perfecting the project that I didn’t even have my phone on me’, feeling stupid for already screwing things up. Bada didn’t respond for about 45 minutes because the leaders were still shooting, and when they finished up they had all done the same as the rookies and immediately washed off their makeup and put on comfy clothes. When Bada saw the message, she felt bad for leaving y/n on delivered but quickly rationalized that she couldn't have helped it.

‘It’s totally fine! I completely understand- we actually just finished filming so that’s why I wasn’t able to respond right away.’ The older girl replies to her text, and receives an almost instantaneous response of ‘oh okay! How was it??’ and they discuss how each of their days went. The two continue talking for the rest of their way back from their shooting sites, and even after they’ve both showered and changed into their pajamas.

‘I’m honestly obsessed with the outfits we had today’ y/n texts. ‘Oooh do you have pics?’ Bada replies. ‘Of course I do! But…’ ‘...but what?’ y/n debates on whether or not she actually wants to send Bada all the cute pictures Redy took of her, but she ultimately decides against it for now.

‘But I want you to see them tomorrow and be surprised 😋’ the younger girl finally responds, feeling like teasing a little bit. Bada smiles at her phone but acts annoyed over text- ‘Ugh you can’t be serious’ she replies then adds on ‘Not even one picture? :(‘And of course y/n can’t help how fast her heart beats and how much of a loser she is for Bada, so she gives in.

‘Fine, you can see ONE picture, and it’s not even gonna be my full outfit cuz I still want you to be surprised- so just makeup and the top half!’ the young girl offers, to which Bada likes the message and hits her with a ‘yes, of course, I promise I'll still be surprised’, just excited to see her again. Y/n giggles and sends her one of the mirror selfies she took after changing into her second look. Bada was absolutely speechless- the girl had her hair in two high pigtails with a few wispy pieces left out and had in blue contacts with pink makeup- pink eyeshadow, strawberry gloss, rosy blush, and of course glitter. Along with her makeup, y/n’s entire outfit (from what Bada could see) was pink and glittery- she truly looked like a Barbie. What really secured Bada’s astonishment was her expression- y/n’s plump and glossy lips were ever so slightly parted and her eyes (accentuated by her makeup making her look more cat-like than the usual puppy-eyes-girls that Bada was used to) holding a sultry, seductive stare. Bada didn’t hesitate at all to save the photo and expose herself by immediately sending it to the Bebe group chat with the text ‘I can’t do this anymore’, to which Lusher responded with ‘my gf is so fine🤭’ and the leader’s immediate response was ‘muting the group chat now and blocking your ass’.

She was about to continue her argument with Lusher until she got another text from y/n. ‘Uhm okay yeah just beg me for a fit pic and then leave me on read, okay🙄 jk lol’ and Bada panics for a second realizing she did in fact open her first message and not respond. ‘Sorry! I’m gonna be totally honest I was literally left speechless and didn’t know what to say’ and when y/n read this, she laughed slightly in disbelief ‘ohhh okay, suuuuure’ she types out and presses send with a relaxed smile overtaking her face. The feeling y/n has whenever talking to Bada, whether it be in person or over text, is just so indescribable that she doesn’t even wanna think about what that could mean for her. Bada reacts to the message with the ‘haha’ button and continues to try and defend herself. She and y/n joke around some more before talking about how excited they are to see each other’s videos, then saying goodnight and falling asleep shortly after.

The next day all the main dancers are called in to help edit their videos. Y/n and Bada pass by each other exchanging quick ‘good-mornings’ and shy smiles before heading their separate ways with blushes already painting both of their faces.

A few hours of editing go by and they all go on break, getting up and walking around to get some air. As Bada walks out of her designated office space that she’s been working in all day, y/n comes bounding up to her with a gentle yet vibrant smile.

“Hey!” she stops in front of her and stares up at Bada with bright eyes. The older of the two suppresses a giggle but smiles endearingly never the less.

“Hi, y/n” Bada greets her in a soft, some could say “loving” tone, with that same gentle, endeared smile that seems to have become her default when seeing the small girl.

“Sooo I was wondering…” y/n starts by elongating the first word of her sentence and looking around, dramatically avoiding eye contact, causing Bada’s smile to grow at the girl’s silly attitude.

“Would you maybe wanna get lunch after this? Or- I guess dinner depending on when we get out- either way, it's whatever… but… yeah!” she tries to finish confidently but gets tripped up once she realizes he doesn’t know exactly when they’d both be free during the day. The smile on her face, when she concludes sharing her idea, makes Bada feel so terrible knowing she has to decline. The older immediately sighs and her face drops, causing y/n’s to do the same and Bada feels even more guilty seeing her sad, wide puppy eyes.

“I’m so sorry y/n-ie, but the rest of the team and I made plans to go out to eat tonight since we haven’t had much time to actually talk to each other with filming and all…” Bada explains and it genuinely pains her to have to decline y/n. The smaller girl just furrows her brows and shakes her head quickly dismissing Bada’s apology.

“You don’t have to apologize at all! It’s totally fine, really I promise!” y/n smiles reassuringly, even though she’s a little crushed. Bada still has this regretful look in her eyes and the younger girl giggles when Bada’s frown turns into a full-on pout.

“I promise you, we will go out soon. The two of us.” she assures, looking into y/n’s eyes. The girl couldn’t look more in love than she does when staring into the older girl’s eyes. y/n just keeps smiling and the feeling of warmth and happiness is so intense even she herself is sure her eyes are sparkling.

“Promise?” y/n asks softly, trying to suppress the giant grin that she knows would be taking over her face if she wasn’t trying as hard as she was now. Bada has a similar look on her face- a gentle smile and soft eyes.

“I promise.” she confirms with a nod. There’s a short pause as the two just look into each other’s eyes before y/n breaks eye contact. She looks down and finally stops suppressing her smile, letting herself giggle a little bit before looking back up and trying to retrain herself again.

“Okay.” she replies softly and nods, then turns to walk back to her office space. She looks over her shoulder to glance at Bada, then turns around fully to walk backward while talking to her again

“You should probably get back to editing your video so you can go enjoy free time with your team” the younger teases a little with a smile. And Bada’s slightly knocked out of her lovestruck stare, scoffing and rolling her eyes playfully.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever- and you should be doing the same thing” she starts walking in the same direction, as both of their respective spaces are on the same side of the building.

“Actually, I have all night. I don't have plans, remember?” y/n teases again, raising her eyebrows at the Bebe leader, causing her to throw her head back and groan. The smaller of the two laughed quietly watching the other.

“I’m sorry- I feel awful, I really do want to go out with you!” and even though y/n knows she didn’t mean it in that specific context, her heart still picks up the pace and she flushes a little, once again suppressing a grin.

“I’m totally messing with you… ya know- like how you like to mess with me” as they reach y/n’s office space she finishes her teasing by coolly crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on the door frame, looking at Bada once again. Bada makes eye contact with her and holds her breath for a second. She sighs and then chuckles softly.

“Yeah… I guess I do like to tease you…” she avoids eye contact, standing with her hands in her pockets, but still smiles knowingly. Right as she’s about to leave she flicks the brim of y/n’s cap then pulls it back down over her eyes,

“But I guess we’re even now” She shrugs and and walks off after teasing the younger girl, leaving her to groan and laugh in annoyance.

___________________

After editing and such, the day ends for the main dancers and they prepare for the following day, which is when each video will be shown to the rest of the dancers. When they all arrive at the studio that day, everyone is excited and chattering. After a while of setting, everything is ready and it’s time to watch each group’s music video.

The rookies go first, and y/n feels like electricity is shooting through with how excited, yet nervous she is to see the final product on a big screen. When y/n appears for the first time- everyone is once again in shock at how different she looks. The professional hair and makeup, along with the outfit she had on, turned her into a totally different person. The charismatic, alluring girl on the screen was definitely not the same as the excited baby girl who was currently hiding behind her teammates, shyly peaking over their shoulders to watch the video

The video is playing about 30 seconds in, everyone is losing their shit. Why? Because Rena, Tatter, and y/n are already a powerful trio that no one knew they need, but on top of that- them shaking ass on each other like their lives depended on it in the first 30 seconds of choreography was just too much to handle for some people.

Some people being Bada Lee- who was so baffled that after she screamed probably the most fangirl-esque scream ever, she didn't know what to do with herself. Her jaw just dropped to the floor, and her eyes slightly glazed over as she hyper-fixated on the screen in front of her. She only came back to reality when y/n was no longer on the screen for the moment, and Redy and Gooseul took over briefly. When y/n repapered, she was doing partner work with Tatter, and Bada's excited smile and cheers made a comeback

"Ugh, I love my girls" she gushes, staring ahead affectionately at the screen. Bada is just so blown away by the music video as a whole. She’s mainly focused on y/n and Tatter, very appreciative and thankful to see how much screen time her teammate got. But besides that, Bada can’t help but mentally praise y/n for directive skills. The set and concept suit every member so well, and when the bridge arrives Bada can feel something the tension rising, and anticipates whatever creative decision y/n made.

As the final chorus arrives, the camera transitions from just y/n in her main outfit to the whole group in their matching pink outfits, per y/n’s request. Everyone flips again, surprised by the full outfit change and slight alterations in set design.

Bada screamed and clapped, totally forgetting that this was the outfit y/n was talking about yesterday, still just as surprised, as she promised. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty though, as now she found it absolutely impossible to focus on anyone else in the video, even her own teammate, since y/n’s full outfit was revealed. Bada’s face got red and her eyes slightly glazed over again as her face went serious trying to erase the thoughts of y/n dancing confidently in a tight top and mini skirt, with her thigh highs and ribbons.

The video ended and the studio was filled with applause and screams from everyone, including the judges who all stood and cheered just as loud as the rest of the girls.

Bebe’s leader sits there with her jaw dropped and her hands on her head, just absolutely astonished by the final product of the rookies’ video. The rest of her team is still cheering and clapping, and once Tatter notices Bada’s frozen figure, she starts laughing and playfully shakes her by her shoulder out of excitement. Bada turns slowly, smiling lightly, still in a daze

“Tatter, you might have to start planning my funeral” she informs her jokingly in a soft tone, but in all honesty, Bada feels dizzy still.

After everyone settles, middle-class and sub-leader-class videos are played, both getting similar reactions to the rookies’. Once both have been viewed and gotten their respective reactions and attention, the leaders’ video is the last to be played.

“Why am I actually so nervous…” Bada anxiously laughs and sighs rubbing her hands together. Tatter leans her head on her shoulder and glances up at the leader

“Because you want y/n to like it.” the blonde states matter-of-factly, not moving her head off Bada’s shoulder, but turning her attention back to the screen where the video is about to play. Bada huffs out a laugh and nudges her slightly, just enough to disrupt her peace, but not too much to knock her off.

“I want everyone to like it.” Bada clarifies, even though everyone knows how much more she seems to value the Jam Rrepublic dancer’s opinion these days compared to other dancers.

The video starts and the cheers for Bada start from the second she appears. When she takes off her helmet and shakes out her hair, everyone is going feral, obviously including y/n.

“A MOTORCYCLE???? SHE HAS A MOTORCYCLE?????” The girl is screaming and then she pretends to faint onto Audrey who just laughs and shakes her out of excitement and adrenaline. y/n’s next cause of heart failure is when Bada holds up the lighter and then blows out the flame before everyone starts dancing.

"Kirsten I love you so much, but I think I might have to leave with Bada after all this" “Y/n it’s been 40 SECONDS- please have some decorum…” Emma, ever the y/n-delusion-destroyer, sighs out, shaking her head, but still managing to laugh. It’s no use, Emma, this girl is red in the face already, and definitely not thinking tv-appropriate things.

Variations of the same situation continue to happen throughout the viewing of the video, except y/n gets even more excited when Kirsten and Bada appear at the same time, sharing the spotlight. The video ends and y/n just stands up and claps while shaking her head in astonishment.

“I’m never gonna move on from this…” She sounds worn out and by the way she was screaming and freaking out, it made sense.

Since all of the videos had been viewed, it was time for each main dancer to pick the worst dancer from their mission crew. They end up going from bottom rank, therefore starting with the rookie class. Y/n’s mood has totally changed, and now as she walks to the center of the fight zone, her bright smile and confident aura nowhere to be seen.

"I really didn't want to pick anyone as the worst dancer, because I sincerely enjoyed working with each and every one of them…" She starts holding the mic with both hands (Bada's beginning to think this is a nervous habit of hers)

"Even when there were some issues, I was still very proud of everyone and felt very lucky to be able to create such an amazing project with these people…" y/n bites her lip and looks up, blinking fast, feeling tears start to build up. The mood in the studio was completely different than it was only a few moments ago.

"Ah poor y/n, she really did have such a good time with everyone" Rena expresses, frowning along with her team, nodding her head in pity.

"Oh no, this must be so hard for her" Sayaka sympathizes, pouting in understanding of the young dancer's distress. Other teams shared similar looks and small conversations. Y/n took a deep breath and held the air in her cheeks, causing them to puff.

"AWW I'M GONNA CRY WITH HER-" Mannequeen's Yoonji expresses as she feels for the girl in the middle of the dance floor

"Oh my god- how can she still be so cute even when she's crying" Yeni Cho comments with an endeared smile directed at y/n's small stature settled in front of them all, cheeks still puffed up. The young dancer finally lets out a big sigh and lowers her head for a second, letting a tear fall

"DON'T CRY BABY- IT'S OKAY!!" Lusher shouts over her teammates' heads trying to reassure her friend, and giving her a big comforting smile and a thumbs up when y/n meets he eyes. Y/n laughs a little, wiping her tears and then tucking a piece of hair behind her ear before clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry- ultimately I made my decision based on the fact that there were some points when professionalism was sacrificed for the sake of wanting to gain attention, which in turn put the quality of the project at risk… and for that reason…" she lets out a shaky breath, tears building up quickly again.

"I choose Mannequeen's Buckey as the worst dancer" she finishes in a choked voice. Holding the mic away from her in one hand now y/n hangs her head and covers her mouth with her other hand as she cries silently. She heads back over to her team, sniffling and they all immediately hug her, causing her to burst into full-on sobs

"This is so much harder than I thought it was gonna be." She looks up again, trying to get the tears to stop flowing. From across the room, team Bebe is just about as worried as Jam Republic, seeing as y/n is practically an honorary member now.

"This is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen." Bada stares directly at y/n's distressed frame and feels herself sink into her seat, the sadness of the whole situation getting to her. Or rather- the sadness of y/n is getting to her. Bada feels her own tears beginning to prick in her eyes.

"I know… poor princess" Tatter shares the same expression of sympathy as the rest of her crew, wishing she could just go and give the girl a big squeeze and tell her she did a good job.

"It's sad, but at least it wasn't you" Lusher points out, still just as somber as her teammates. They all nod and Bada's focus is only on y/n until the next class is announced. She doesn't pay attention as the main dancers for the middle class go up, too focused on making sure y/n is able to calm down. The Bebe leader made a mental note to go right to her when they went on break to make sure she was okay.

When it’s Bada is picking the worst dancer for leader class, y/n seems more nervous than Kirsten

"I think she might pick me" Kirsten calmly admits

"Don't say that, I'll cry. If she picks you… I don't think I'll be able to recover from that heartbreak" y/n expresses in a daze, genuinely starting to worry about the results. Then Bada declares Mina as the worst dancer, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief, except deep n dap of course.

y/n's eyes are trained on Bada with a worried look mixed into her signature puppy eyes. Once she sees a tear roll down her face, y/n has to turn away or else she knew she'd start crying again too. She could already feel the pressure building in her eyes and heart. She hugs her leader and looks up at her for a second, silently communicating how proud she is of her, before leaning her head on her shoulder. Kirsten hugs the younger girl back and rests her head on top of y/n's, letting out a sigh.

"I hate when people cry, but it makes me especially upset seeing Bada cry" y/n whispers, a tear escaping down her face, while still clinging to Kirsten, who pets her hair and nods.

"That's because you're an angel, y/n. you care so much about the people in your life, and can't stand when they're sad…" her leader declares gently.

"You also are pretty much in love with Bada, so she's been subconsciously added to your mental list of people whose emotions you pick up." She finishes with a little bit of teasing in hopes of brightening the young girl's mood. Luckily it works, as y/n glances up at Kirsten once again, with a playful pout before huffing in faux-annoyance and letting her head fall somewhat aggressively back onto the leader's shoulder causing her to let out a gentle laugh

All the main dancers have picked the worst dancer, meaning it’s time for the final mission ranking. y/n is so excited that Bebe goes from sixth to third- once they're announced, she shoots up out of her seat with wide eyes and jaw dropped, her hands go straight to the sides of her head as she stands there in excited shock. When everyone's individual scores are shown, and it's revealed that Bada got a perfect score, y/n isn't shocked at all- in fact she expected it and was satisfied with the result

"waaaaah…as expected of Bada Lee…" she expresses proudly, staring up at the screen in admiration.

"She's so much more than a dancer, like- she's just absolutely insane… wow" This is the calmest y/n has ever been when talking about Bada, and her teammates almost feel like her lack of panic is somehow worse than the girl's usual blush and frantic expression. They all just look at her and while some smile along with her, others chuckle at the girl's proud lovestruck expression.

"We've officially lost her…" Emma jokes, shaking her head, purses her lips, and then lets out a sigh

"Please take care of our y/n, Bebe" Audrey joins in, wiping a fake tear from her eyes

Other teams are announced and once the girls realize Jam Republic made it into the top two they all start lowkey freaking out. they are announced as the first-place team and all celebrate respectfully making sure to hug each other. Their scores were revealed and the cheers got even louder. y/n had gotten a perfect, same as Latrice and Bada.

The girl just about collapses to the ground in a ball, covering her mouth in shock. Bebe applauds and cheers loudly, especially Lusher and Tatter-

"LET'S GO Y/NNNNNN!!!" the blonde screams alongside Lusher, both happy to see their new friend succeed. The younger smiles brightly, now standing again with the mic held in both hands as she expresses her gratitude, with beautiful sparking eyes

"I'm honestly a little shocked with myself, because of how many great dancers I had the opportunity to perform alongside with." she begins, looking around the room at each of them. Her smile somehow gets even bigger

"Thank you so much for making this such a wonderful experience, and I'll work harder to show you an even better version of myself, as well as Jam Republic. Thank you" she finishes elegantly and bows before handing the mic to Latrice.

"Wow… she really is a princess." Bada mumbles, dazedly gazing at y/n with what could only be explained as the same lovestruck look the young girl had earlier. The leader smiles softly in adoration at Jam Republic's youngest member. And Bada's members don't even tease her, they just smile and Tatter pats her on the shoulder, as they all agree- Y/n is definitely a princess

The small but mighty member of Jam Republic sits elegantly admiring as Latrice gives her speech. No one could deny that when y/n wasn't performing (or being pissed off) she looked like an actual angel- a beautiful angel fairy princess that definitely doesn't seem like the type to have such a temper as she actually does

Once everyone finishes their speeches, the next mission is announced- Kpop choreography mission

Everyone freaks out and starts excitedly chattering. But mostly, everyone is talking about the songs, or more specifically who’s already choreographed/danced to them. A lot of the teams start mentioning Bada, especially seeing next level as one of the song options

But then they do the same with y/n mentioning her since she danced center for "Not Shy" and "Kick It" at k-con, as well as choreographing a cover for “Eve, Psyche, and the Bluebirds Wife”, and went viral all three times.

Everyone is a bit worried about competing against Bada and y/n specifically, even if they won’t admit it. Some are still underestimating the teams, saying how Bebe is only Bada and her students- and how Jam Republic is less skilled because they have less experience in kpop style dance. None of them wants to recognize that the rest of Bebe is just as talented and charismatic as Bada, and that Jam Republic is able to adapt and adjust quicker than any other team.

"y/n's known for her dance covers, but she's the only member of her team with experience in this setting…" Yoonji comments looking in the direction of the pink team.

"She's gonna have to carry the members" Funky Y added

"We're getting a lot of side-eyes" Ling points out her observation, and y/n surprisingly responds pretty calm

"Probably because they're all expecting us to do badly since we don't have much experience with the style" the youngest member responds maturely, nodding and observing the room

"Well you have plenty of experience, and we're all fast learners, so I'm not really worried" Kirsten coolly states, giving her members a confident smile

The dancers are given a break and teams begin to separate and head back to their rooms to decide which company they want to go for. Y/n starts to hop down the bleachers and stretch her arms above her head.

“This is just too much right now” y/n whines, pouting while she stretches. Her members look at her with adoration

“You’re such a cat…” Latrice comments, causing y/n’s pout to turn confused and the others to giggle

“No, she’s definitely more of a puppy” Kirsten counters ruffling her hair causing the pouting girl to whine at the older members’ teasing. She’s never gonna live that down.

From across the room, Bebe is discussing a strategy already, not paying any mind to the fact that they’re on a break right now. That is until y/n comes bounding over, with her signature smile.

“Congratulations Team Bebe!!” she cheers and throws her arms up in the arms. All of their serious faces immediately soften and Lusher hops off the bleachers to throw her arms around the younger girl

“My baby! You’ve cried so much today, are you okay?” she asks and frowns while holding the smaller girl's face in between her hands to dramatically look into her eyes and make sure she’s okay. Y/n laughs and lets the sub-leader pat her head and coddle her.

“I’m okay! I’m just very emotional…” she finishes softly, almost a little shy. Bada, not even caring about everyone else being around right now, holds her hand out. once y/n grabs it, the older pulls her towards her seat and sits her down next to her. Bada puts her arm around y/n’s shoulder and pulls the small girl in even closer, resting her head on top of y/n’s. All of Bebe is shocked, as well as y/n herself. Lusher and y/n share a wide-eyed look, causing Tatter to burst out laughing.

Shortly after, Audrey and Kirsten make their way over as well. Audrey sneakily has her phone out and snaps a candid picture of y/n and bad that she’ll be showing the girl later. Bada makes eye contact with Kirsten and doesn’t even bother to lift her head off y/n’s all the way

“Do you need her back now?” Bada asks with a slight pout in her voice, but it’s so subtle they almost didn’t catch it. Kirsten smiles and Audrey giggles behind her hand.

“No we just wanted to come join the party.” the Jam leader explains shrugging her shoulder. Kyma is the first to enthusiastically agree, having gotten along with Audrey pretty well when they worked together on the middle-class mission.

“WAIT- that actually just reminded me that I never showed you the pictures I took the other day!” Y/n excitedly recalls, sitting straight up as she stares at her best friend and leader with wide eyes. She unlocks her phone and opens her camera roll, scrolling through he pictures and showing her teammates. Bada just stares at the side of her head, with her own puppy eyes now, hoping y/n will show her too and she won’t have to ask.

“I can finally show you know” It’s like y/n was reading Bada’s mind or something, because right as she was about to complain about y/n not showing her the picture, the younger girl turned her full attention to her and started scrolling from the beginning.

The pictures had Bada mesmerized- y/n looked fucking amazing. Some were cute, while others were sexy and Bada couldn’t help but think about making some of them her wallpaper, but then she realized how strange that would be.

One of the pictures caught her attention in a not-so-good way though. it was a mirror selfie of y/n and redy- y/n was leaning on the table and redy was posing directly behind her, holding onto y/n’s hips, both of them sticking their tongues out and looking cute and sexy. Bada tried not to be jealous and rationalize that it was just a normal thing for girls to pose like that with their friends. Was she upset because it was Redy and not her? Or was it specifically the position you were in? Was it both?? Bada didn’t know, but she also didn’t seem to realize it was bothering her so much- as she unexpectedly commented out loud on it

“We should recreate this one” she swipes back to the picture that was pissing her off. Y/n couldn’t even hide her shock if she tried. And since none of the others could see her phone, they had no idea which one Bada was talking about- and were only left to imagine what it could be after seeing Bada’s teasing smirk and y/n’s astonished, very red face.

y/n laughed out in shock and just closed her eyes, nodding her head. She opened her eyes again and Bada was still smirking, leaning back on her hands.

“Sure… sure we can recreate it” y/n massages her forehead and sighs trying to regain a normal pace of breathing, as well as her natural skin tone instead of burning red. Bada’s smirk shifts more into a teasing smile and she leans forward to throw her arm around y/n again

“But for real- send me the ones of just you…” The older girl starts focusing on the phone in y/n’s hand.

“You look extra pretty in them, and I wanna stare at you some more” Bada shifts her gaze to look y/n the eyes with a darker look that she’s only ever received two other times. At this point Audrey and Kirsten have begun to converse with the other Bebe members, leaving y/n and Bada in their own little world. Their faces were so close, y/n felt like she was holding her breath.

“Okay…” she whispers and nods slightly, not wanting to disrupt the peace, even though the situation made her feel far from peaceful. She looked back at her phone and started selecting which pictures to send to Bada, whose arm was still wrapped comfortably around her shoulder. She leaned her head on the shorter girl again and began to tell her which pictures she wanted. y/n giggled a little at how serious and demanding Bada was being over some selfies.

After all the pictures were selected, Kirsten and Audrey finished up their conversations with the other members and began to descend the bleachers. Once they reached the bottom, they looked and y/n and she lifted her gaze to meet Kirsten’s

“Time to get working?” the youngest questions.

“Unfortunately, yes. But don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time afterward.” The Jam Republic leader reassures, and y/n stands up and stretches. She turns back to wave at the Bebe crew members then looks at Bada. She smiles a different smile than the one she had towards the rest of the members- this one being shy but knowing.

“I’ll talk to you later!” she tilts her head waiting for Bada’s response. The tall girl nods with a smile and leans back on her hands again to look up at the girl standing in front of her.

“Maybe we’ll be seeing each other sooner than we thought- we might pick the same songs and get to compete against each other” Bada tilts her, raises her eyebrows slightly, and smirks at the idea. Y/n’s face says it all, as that idea actually sounds quite terrifying to her.

“Please don’t manifest that” She laughs but is very serious, causing the other girl to laugh as well, knowing she also wouldn’t be able to survive competing against y/n.

The trio from Jam Republic meets up with the rest of them and heads up to their room, ready to start discussing the next mission. Audrey and y/n are at the back of the group as they walk down the hall, a bit of space between them and the older members.

“So…” Audrey starts with a knowing smile- y/n’s eyes widen, nervous for what she’s about to say

“Oh no… what now?” y/n variously laughs and Audrey chuckles

“You and Bada??” “I KNEW THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE GONNA SAY”

notes: i really did NOT think this part was gonna be as long as it was. also-it's 2 am here and i'm falling asleep writing this but i had to get it posted, so i'm sorry of the end is kinda shitty lol

taglist (open): @tinybada @angel-hyuckie @violetinferno @jesuschrist2006 @1luvkarina @uwulyn @justandloyal2961 @deadgirlwalking3 @heeheemich @squidvoldyvoid @vivzyo @ouhaika @jksjx @ocyeanicc @idontknownemore

#bada lee x reader #street woman fighter 2 #street woman fighter x reader #bada lee #moth to a flame #bada x reader

965 notes · View notes

bonefall · 1 year ago

Note

I’m not sure if you talked about it, but what do you think about A Thief in Thunderclan? I actually liked it, though it definitely had a few ehhh moments

Eh, honestly? Im kinda disappointed that James Barry had to go out on such a low note. I did not like it, it felt like a waste of time.

It wasn't like... offensively bad but I have very little good to say about it. It was fine. If you want to see more ThunderClan you can check it out?

(A lot of Thief in ThunderClan critique below the cut, I didn't like it much)

First of all, the mystery was just bad. I'm sorry. An owl? Swooping in at night for dead animals and leaving perfect scores in the dirt? It felt like a real "running out of ideas" type plot.

Brightheart was NOT fun to follow. She was uncomfortable for most of the story and secondhand embarassment is an emotion I really don't enjoy. Even moments that were supposed to be thought-provoking (like the Brambleclaw name confrontation) just felt like cringe because they were written so poorly.

Like, seriously? "Firestar why did you name Bramble after his father who disfigured me?" "Oh its because i uhhhh wanted to remind ppl of it so they would stop being reminded of it eventually" WHAT? That was a brainless enough choice when it was FIRST made, you can't fucking tell me any cat with a brain cell would go "wao... really makes you think... hngsociety"

I disliked the fact they decided to give Brightheart serious suspicion towards people like Longtail and Brambleclaw, I strongly disagree she would be like that. She feels so much to me like someone who would feel awful for doubting people she logically knows are innocent, and express to Cloudtail that it makes her feel like a bad person, but she CANT help it. She is such a kind, loving, and self doubting sort of cat... or, was, I guess? Or maybe it was never there at all and I'm the fool.

On that note? Her character arc was a mess. As much as I hate Shadow in RiverClan, I can say that Feathertail's arc was a competent *story*. Brightheart is having nightmares, suspects Bramble and Long of treason, is trying to figure out this mystery, trying to help train Rainpaw, the fact she resents not being his mentor is mentioned and dropped, she is pregnant... so much shit is going on and it feels absolutely unfocused.

And even worse, because it's overlapping with the beginning of Firestar's Quest, we end up having to Show Off The Continuity instead of telling a cohesive story. Oop Willowpelt died and Rainpaw is kind of sad about it! But wait we have to say bye to Firestar, make sure to squeeze in the Brambleclaw name confrontation before he goes! GO BACK Longtail has been blinded!! ALSO THE OWL! HERES WHY THE OWL WASNT MENTIONED IN FQ!!

And DUDE if there's anything that's a SERIOUS problem, it's Brightheart's stupid ass cutesy "look who's being USEFUL in here!" When blinded Longtail is helping out in the medcat den

First of all fuck you for the wording of that line! Second of all, GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD that disabled people shouldn't have to find a way to be "useful" to belong to their society.

The fact we're getting a book from Bright's perspective as a disabled person and the whole thing is chock full of "useful" language as she struggles with PTSD makes the fact this is COMMON in WC sting so much more.

Anyway back to just, normal critique and not frustration with ableism in wc.

I feel like they really wasted Brightheart's family. I enjoyed finally getting Cinder and Bright hanging out as sisters, but we got a MENTION of Frostfur, and barely anything with her brothers. It's already a mess so why not go the whole way?

Ashfur also has his post-TBC personality retcon which absolutely kills me. Why do we need this shitty "foreshadowing"? Why do we need him to have been so obviously controlling and argumentative? Why are these writers fucking allergic to having a villain that people thought was nice and normal once?

NITPICK: if i have to see another cat gently picked up by a large bird of prey without at LEAST getting a cracked rib I will shapeshift into 10,000 crows and fly away forever

I have some good feelings towards it though, and I have to be clear, this is actually Ambivalent Bones. I'm only mad at the "Usefulness" rhetoric, the rest is just my normal amount of whinging lmao.

I do really like Cinderpelt and Brightheart finally getting some interactions. It's long overdo lmao

I like Cloudtail and Brightheart as a ship so it's nice to see them hang out.

Uhhh this is a bit of a backhanded compliment but I liked how she was upset at not getting one of Whitestorm's children to mentor? I don't like how it bodes for the wider narrative though, because we know this ends in her getting shafted FOR YEARS and unable to get an apprentice. But I liked the plot setup of her having resentment for Cloudtail because of this. I thought that would make a really good plot point for putting a wedge between them to work through. Like, stop being cowards, LEAN INTO Firestar making some very serious, insulting, short-sighted mistakes, and it interfering with Brightheart's ability to heal. Kill your darling.

There were some nice lines. I do remember Ashfur's lame "greedyclaw" insult, which was funny.

I enjoyed the cute moments between the cats in ThunderClan. Ferncloud chasing after her kids, Brightheart convincing people to help her investigate, the Willowkin being upset about their mom. It's a mess but there's some nice stuff in that mess, y'know?

Overall, my memory hasn't been kind to it. I think I was giving it a 6/10 when I first saw it, but it's dropped down to a low 5/10. Not (very) offensive but too messy and pointless to revisit.

#bone babble #Also funfact in bb im turning cinders weird purple snail into a special leech #Little gave it to her because there is literally no stronger display of autistic affection than gifting your best friend a favored creature

74 notes · View notes

jakowskis · 8 months ago

Text

sloppy gay ramble about why i ship owento lets go

(this was meant to be a server ramble but it got too big for discord so here’s a ginormous messily formatted semi stream-of-consciousness type essay on why i ship owen x ianto and what’s compelling about it to me. starts out kinda babbly n then i got serious abt it n then i got babbly again so sorry for the tone switch fhsdjkfd. i do not know if this is cohesive, let alone persuasive, i'm not trying to sell you the ship so much as im yapping incoherently about the Themes n Motifs that drive me mad. but yeah. also this is purely based on the first two seasons of the show, nothing else. im not normal about these guys btw im Deranged. anyway here.)

for starters, background. i must explain what first roped me into this pairing. the answer? season 1 episode 12. singlehandedly. and then i felt Haunted for a while, and then i read some fic and something clicked in my head and it's been my torchwood otp since. im very consistently an enemies/rivals to lovers enjoyer so at first i was just like 'heh nice i love toxic yaoi' but then they decided not to leave me alone. and a lot of it's bc of the Themes 🫵 do not underestimate my ability to overthink and overcomplicate a barely-there relationship whose connotations are entirely subtextual

see, owen and ianto are mirrors in like ten ways, and where they're not mirrors, they’re foils. on the mirror end, their backstories are jarringly similar (abusive parental figure; rebellious phase as a youth (punk vs goth); losing their fiancée/serious girlfriend as a young adult to an alien threat). their relationships with jack are adjacent (emotionally unavailable authority figure they look to for approval; owen as jack's second in command versus ianto as his right hand man). most interestingly, imo, is their personalities. at their core, theyre not entirely different. owen in his backstory? he's a lot like ianto. faithful, loyal, quiet, gentle. they're not markedly different in who they are deep down, they just have extremely different coping mechanisms that make them look like opposites. ianto dissociates + turns things inward - owen self-destructs AND lashes out. owen's like a ianto that hardened and got mean - ianto's like an owen who still values being quiet and dutiful and not making trouble. (basically, history + personality-wise they’re mirrors, coping mechanism + temperament-wise, they’re foils. two sides of the same coinnnnn)

they both recognize this, although possibly not consciously - and it bothers them. ianto dislikes + feels threatened by / wary of owen's impulsivity and aggression (partly bc he fears he himself is like that deep down, and he isnt willing to access that part of himself. we see a handful of times that ianto does in fact have repressed anger and its SCARY. and i wouldnt doubt hes intimidated by that part of himself, given his control issues. esp considering his plot in adam, if you wanna read it that way). meanwhile owen dislikes ianto for what he perceives as subservience + weakness (partly bc those are things he sees in himself and HATES. a lot of owen's character is his struggles w his own nature + feeling a need to compensate for perceived deficiencies). and they also look down on each other for these qualities, and, i think, bolster themselves a little bit by comparing themselves to the other. we know owen does this (“it’s like you finally won.” “i didn’t know we were in competition.”), but considering ianto’s preoccupation with competency, i don’t doubt he also feels a little bit better about himself when owen fucks things up by acting rashly.

so ianto's like a version of owen that he tried to bury entirely and move on from when katie died, and owen's reminiscent of what ianto's afraid he's capable of becoming. and they both project these things onto each other - owen more outwardly, in the way he feels the need to attack ianto in both of their significant one-on-one scenes. in ianto we see it more as avoidance + slight disgust. in their lighter scenes ('lets all have sex', and the tin tin discussion) we see owen trying to be companionable (...can u call the sleeper scene that fhsdjkf) and ianto having none of it. funny enough, i think owen likes ianto more than ianto likes owen, at least by s2. liking aside, though, ianto does care for him. but another thing i like abt owento is owen's a litttttle bit fixated on ianto for some reason (i think it could be interpreted ten different ways, but him repeatedly bringing up ianto & jack's relationship is wiiiild to me) - n then ianto doesn't think abt owen much at all, he's just sort of there. it's fucking funny. i like a darker take on owento, as u can probs tell, but also they can be hilarious if you want them to be. two guys who can't stand each other and should kiss about it is always good. but yeah, as they exist in canon, as of s2, they're just sort of... comfortably colleagues, albeit maybe still a bit combative.

but i’m eternally caught up in what episode 12 teased me with. (and i knowww ep12 was specific desperate circumstances, that's not their norm, but what's presented when they're both at that point is soo compelling to me. i like characters at their worst.) see, episode 12 is when we really see that half-mirrors half-foils thing come to a head. owen’s spiraling because he just lost diane. he feels weak, he feels powerless. he’s essentially doing what ianto did in episode 4, putting love first, and you can tell owen was kind of disgusted with + felt betrayed by ianto in that ep, so he’s also being a hypocrite and breaking his own standards for how a torchwood agent ought to act. (not to mention i think owen deeply resents his own emotionality, but that’s another topic.) and during that spiral, ofc, he gets mean and frantic, in typical owen fashion. then we have ianto. despite the threat of losing jack, ianto does his best to stay level headed and focus on what their job is, rather than personal feelings - something owen usually values.

so there’s this moment where their traits are both blurring a bit, where roles are being swapped but without straying from the heart of each character, where the mirrors are RLLY reflecting each other (infinity mirror? on and on and on...). owen’s simultaneously being self-destructive and rash, but also vulnerable and love-lorn, which is something he looks down on ianto for in regards to lisa and then jack (and his verbal attack on ianto is majorly projection, too. ‘part time shag’ is especially notable when 1) him and gwen’s affair literally broke off last episode. owen was HER part time shag, and 2) him and diane were meant to be casual too and owen caught feelings - same as ianto with jack. major projection lawl. and we see owen do this multiple times, it’s a trait of his. another notable instance is him telling tosh “you want someone as broken and screwed up as you”, lmao).

and ianto’s being pushed to his limit, too; he’s trying to hold firm and stick to his values about the rules, but it’s the most hardened and merciless we ever see him. when you’re carefully watching, there’s a Brutality in him in a few key moments when he’s pointing that gun at owen and it’s SO critical to my understanding of + enjoyment of the character. i just find ianto’s inner darkness reallyyy compelling haha. my other fav ianto moment is “pray they survive” in meat. there’s something SCARY to him that the show doesn’t often bring out, and it’s what i find most intriguing about him. (both moments are also some of my fav bits of acting from gareth, too. i also think burn’s a much better scene partner for him than barrowman, there’s just something about the way they play off each other in ep12, man. i am… not always impressed by gareth’s acting, but in those scenes i think he’s brilliant.)

so ep12 introduces the things that my concept of owento heavily revolves around - and then you expand upon it. see, the ship is almost entirely hypothetical. what they Could be - what they have the potential to be. that’s not everyone's thing, especially in a fandom with canon gay relationships, but i loveee it, and i love that there’s tons of freedom in it. it’s also fun as hell + very stimulating as a fanfic writer. other writers have done a lot too, there’s been many fantastic interpretations over the years - there’s a fair amount of rlly rlly good owento fic, particularly by one author back in 2007 who wrote t o n s of amazing stuff + rlly established a great dynamic that most other people have kind of followed (including me). my favorite take on owento (and, imo, the best, and the most plausible, one) is that they hooked up between s1 n s2, while jack was gone. i think its brilliant, i think there's a LOT of rlly insane connotations there + in a show like tw its not far-fetched, like i could see it happening. it's an extension of things we see in canon - for starters, when they’re desperate, they end up in bed with another member of the team. and then the way owen’s always in jack's shadow… gwen wanted jack from the start but she turned to owen instead bc he was there. the idea of that happening again, with a ianto who wants jack but can't have him… owen's consistent trend of being someone's mistake, of being someone’s second choice. his consistent tendency to be there when someone hits rock bottom to offer them a sexual reprieve. because he’s always down there himself, and misery loves company. he doesn’t like being alone in it. (torchwood and its persistent loneliness, btw.) and then there’s the recurrent theme of the power struggle between jack and owen - owen often wants to get one over on jack, which occasionally entails trying to covet the things jack has/wants… rubbing his grubby little hands all over jack’s toys. or maybe that’s just the only way he knows how to establish some claim over torchwood - sleeping with half the members. why not add another? why not give jack the finger a third time? i love drama 🕺

and on ianto’s end… for starters, owen’s a lot like jack in certain ways. a lot of it seems to be a front he puts on (and i wont get into the intriguing implications of owen choosing to or perhaps subconsciously emulating jack in certain respects when he started fresh at torchwood) - if ianto’s kind of like owen was, jack’s kind of like what he’s trying to be, he just doesn’t pull it off as well. not quite as good at being superficially charming. pulls it off in his own way, though. point is, despite the fact that canon implies ianto has zero interest in owen, some of the things he’s intrigued by with jack are in fact present in owen. the inaccessibility, the compensatory arrogance, the brooding, the intensity. this is arguably further present in gwen’s attraction to the both of them. there’s some surface level similarities that canon even seems to reflect on a few times (esp in s2). additionally, i don’t tend to think owen was in charge while jack was gone (i think he stepped back and let gwen do it, but maybe took charge during field missions, as implied by kkbb), but it’s an interesting angle in some owento fics, ianto gravitating towards whoever’s the boss. more than that, though, after losing lisa AND jack, he’d probably end up looking for someone else to preoccupy himself with, against his better judgement. a trait owen and him have in common, it just manifests in different ways. (and, finally, i think he'd also be compelled by the differences between jack and owen. owen's a complicated guy, but i think ianto understands him well enough. there's not really a mystery, he doesn't have to guess with him. owen straight-forward and a bit of an open book, and i think ianto might find that a relief.)

the other thing that compels me, and that i think would compel ianto, is that, oddly enough, owen's someone ianto ends up having power over pretty easily (although not without a fight). this is a sharp contrast to jack, where jack's always the dominating force (i dont mean that perversely, i mean, like, he's all-consuming), and ianto's always kind of at his mercy. a really interesting part of episode 12 is that neither of them, owen or ianto, really win, and yet they both score a victory over the other in different ways, too. owen successfully opens the rift; but ianto prevents him from doing so for quite a while, and does in fact shoot him over it. owen may have succeeded, but ianto established physical dominance by putting a bullet in him. which, cough. that in itself. and not to get additionally horny with it cuz thats not what this is about, but there’s this other really interesting bit in the episode that haunts me, as well: when ianto tells owen to go home, owen sneers at him and refuses, and then ianto stares him down - and owen caves. he’s still sneering, but he caves without fuss. that right there… is the crux of what i find so enthralling. owen, for all his rebelliousness + pride, does briefly bend to ianto’s will. but he does it in such an almost back-handed way, he twists it, almost like ‘you forced my hand, happy now?’ even though… ianto didn’t try hard in that moment to coerce him. owen gave in on his own free will, but had to feel like he’d been made to, and tried to twist it to take some of the ‘satisfaction’ away from ianto (even though it’s not about winning and losing to ianto, at least consciously)… the mind games u guys!!!

and on the flip side, the way ianto was able to come out on top (NO EUPHEMISM INTENDED I PROMMYYYY) simply by standing firm. not raising his voice, not being physically aggressive. he stood there and looked at him. thats insaneeeee. and that's a moment of control for him that he doesn't get in his onscreen relationship with jack, or in his career at torchwood. and we see it for just one moment the only time owen & ianto interact in an substantial way. there's so many crazyyy things that could come out of those two falling into something messy, and i think it's really interesting that the power dynamic that's implied by canon puts ianto in a position of power we don't get to see him in in his canon relationship with jack. i want to see more of a ianto who's not just an accessory to jack, who stands on his own two feet, and that ep is honestly the only time in all twenty-six s1 and s2 eps where that happens. he's not only owen's equal in that ep, he fights for control and manages to command things. that? is a ianto i'm endlessly intrigued by. and then there's the fact that this is all right after owen's gay little fight club episode, where we learn that owen's a guy who lovessss mixing homoeroticism with violence. not only that, the power plays and mind games mark and owen play with each other in ep 11 - ep 12 is a direct continuation of that, between ianto and owen. and thats SOOO sexy to me fhdsfjkds.

so we have something angry and visceral and raw - which isn't everyone's cup of tea but its my LIFEBLOOD. they bring out the worst in each other, the aspects of themselves that they dislike. and personally? im always compelled by ships that have that dynamic - but then they both get a bit Addicted to it. i LOVE the thematic theme of surrendering to the worst parts of yourself, and of being drawn in by the ugly parts of someone else. and i think there’d be smth rlly interesting in the form of them each realizing the other’s their mirror, as well. something almost self-punishing, potentially. lil bit psychosexual. i like the thought of owen recognizing that ianto’s more than meets the eye, recognizing that he’s got a sadism to him - i think he could be compelled to draw that out, because that’s already something we see with owen (most explicitly during the whole gwen affair). owen’s someone who wants to find someone as fucked up and lost as he is. we see this with gwen and diane - and we can deduce that's what drew him to suzie. but it should also be noted those relationships were all with women - in the show, as previously mentioned above, owen’s attraction to men is always associated with aggression, with violence. a lot to be said about that, and i have a wip essay on owen’s sexuality in my drafts, but the point is owen’s queerness exists in anger and in power struggles with other men - which makes it obvious to me, given how they're presented in ep12, that him and ianto’s relationship could very, very easily trip over the line into being something More. owen’s turned on by aggression, he’s canonically attracted to ianto - i really dont think it’d take much for him to make a move. particularly if jack were gone. and i could very easily see him ending up looking at ianto and thinking ‘hm. there's something fucked up about him. i bet i can make him worse’.

and ianto… see, this is where it gets fun, and also where my personal interpretation deviates from most owento writers, because a lot of people write this pairing as very brutal; the ianto in owento fics is usually much harsher than any ianto i’ve seen elsewhere. it’s rarely ooc, bc we see that ianto in the show, just not often, and it’s one of his most interesting forms n i’m fond of him. that being said - i’m personally intrigued by the idea of ianto figuring owen out and realizing that aggression and casual sex isn’t what he really wants after all. owen’s soft, deep down, and there’s a need to be understood and cared for. that’s… kind of ianto’s specialty. and there’s an angle of power there, too. maintaining control in a way that simply being rough could never sufficiently achieve. because i dont tend to ship enemies-to-lovers in a way where the characters aren’t being self-serving and conniving. i like when two characters are exploiting each other and fucking themselves up in the process. that’s my shit. i especially like when it eventually becomes something that almost looks like a really bastardized version of love. all in all i think they just have the potential to bring some crazyyyy shit out of each other

um. theres a lot more i could say but this is already really long and i ran out of steam. basically i think they should have hatesex but then get obsessed with each other and wage psychological warfare on each other👍

#txt #mine #torchwood posting #ya so thats what im doin over here! haw haw. did u know im utterly insane 😂😂😂#and i wrote a huge fic about all this btw but where im at w my ocd rn i hate it so i dont wanna rec it fhsdfjkds #anyway. yeah. im fine im normal #owento

5 notes · View notes

polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 2 years ago

Note

Pausing halfway through reading one of your fics to pop in and say I really love your narration and character voices. It’s not common in fanfic for an author to write in a way that’s layered enough for the reader to gain their own insights and conclusions. Like I’m in the last chapter of therianthropy and there’s the stuff that happens on the same page when there’s dissonance between thoughts and actions or when Karen buys Matt the sympathy muffin and Matt’s mad that that tactic totally works, and there’s also the longer story motifs that must be so hard to tie together when you’re publishing at the same time as actively writing.

The bit that got me to stop is when teenage Matt’s at Fogwell’s. Previously we saw Fogs starting to talk about the little boxing found family and Matt’s all “oh geez I hope he doesn’t start the lecture about sacred boxing fraternity 🙄”. And on its own this was a great scene because it showcased the characterisation of Fogs, Matt and Lisa in a few short paragraphs. Fogs is real passionate about this one thing, Matt’s heard this windbag go on about it a million times and is comfortable enough to be a little bitch, and Lisa’s relaxing for the first time in a /long/ while. And it’s beautiful.

But then. BUT THEN!!!!!!! This *fucking* speech Fogs was about to launch into!!!!!! Is the very thing that made Matt feel genuinely loved for the first time since Jack died!!!!!!!! Nearly ten years!!!!!!!!! And when Matt finds this traumatised teenage soldier that needs reassurance, love and support, he takes her to the the place where that unconditional care was given to him all those years ago and arhgrgahgrhhogohrgohhhh don’t even get me started on kintsugi ok I hope u never stop creating ok ur fics make me wanna howl at the fucking moon

2/2 Sorry my coherency evaporated real quick there. Your stories are also laugh out loud funny

Hello extremely kind ask I have neglected in my ask box for far too long. Thank you for your kind words they made me extremely happy and made me feel more competent than I actually am.

The tough part about fanfiction is that everything y'all get is basically a first draft because, like you said, it's publish-as-you-go and I don't have the chance to go back and rewrite the story to be more cohesive. Like, the act of writing itself means the plot and characters are still developing, and i really rely on editing and second drafts for that in a way that's not super possible with fanfiction. Sometimes the characters just Do Things and i'm like "wha--stop that. why are you. since when do you. why didn't you do that like 100k words ago." and it gives it a very flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants vibe from my perspective.

I am a very big fan of Recycling when it comes to my writing, and i think it makes it seem a little more put-together than it is. Like, I always have big Scenes in my head that exist from the start of the story that I know are going to make an appearance, so I just bury references to them them I need to craft the moments leading up. Or, if I don't have a scene planned and there's something missing, I tend towards trying to tie it back to something that already existed in the story, so there's a little bit more of a common line running through it. Granted, if you do this too much it seems a little kitschy, so I don't always do it, but I'm a firm believe in using what you have to the fullest extent.

If i recall correctly, Fogs' confusing Matt into staying by just sort of talking until he passed out was a Big Scene and I was just planting my chekov's guns like a deeply unqualified gardner who should have been fired a long time ago and never given access to the guns safe. I knew that I wanted Lisa being taken in by Matt to parallel his own recovery from Stick, so it was sort of low-hanging fruit to have Fogs go off on the same rant. I also kind of liked it because I think time does a lot for reframing how we think of things.

Like, when Matt first gets Fogs' speech about Ancient Sumerian Men Beating The Hell Out Of Each Other, he's half starved, half feral, and trying to fling himself back out into the hostile streets of New York because he feels safer alone than he has ever felt with other people. He passes out, wakes up with a blanket over him and Fogs asleep at his desk even when he doesn't have to be. Like you said--it's the first time in a very long time that he's felt safe.

Then, when he's in the future, it's just very casual. It's not really framed as remarkable, and Matt doesn't hold it in his mind as something that glitters. I thought it showed an enormous amount of healing for him to be so comfortable with Fogs that he didn't seem to remember that this was something that once brought him to tears.

And you're also right about Matt bringing her there--it was easy recycling in the sense that i needed to answer the question of "where would he bring this traumatized child he doesn't know how to help" and figured the answer was "probably the place that helped him."

Thank you for your kind words they made me extremely happy and I'm very glad you like my writing

#if you have an unanswered ask in my ask box you are not being ignored I’m just still chipping away at them #one day I’ll finish cleaning out my ask box and it will be over for all you bitches #see I go through this cycle where I start to answer them and then I can’t finish in one sitting and then it sits in my drafts for months #when i say some have been in my drafts for like. a year.#see i was doing them in order that they came in but that just ended in a lot more asks getting very old so now i just answer at random #with zero rhyme or reason #will you get an answer in a minute or a year even i don't know #but yeah from my perspective its messy screaming hurtling down a cliff and landing wrong but trying to make it look purposeful #i'm thrilled and touched you like it

8 notes · View notes

genshin-attorney · 4 months ago

Text

part.1 aa genshin au:

Stuff you need to know and characters

With 'a' names

this will eventually cover all playable characters in alphabetical order + some non playable characters + some general lore. Plz note despite having all pc xingqiu is my main/focus character because he's my favorite and it's my autism fueled au- so the more xingqiu adjacent the character the more there probably gonna have on them- also all characters will definitely not be important some are just guys and that fine and some of them are even(gasp) made to be antagonistic - have fun only reading the description for your fav character because that's what i would do if i saw some guys long ass au ranting-

Also I'm apologizing in advance for any perceived mischaracterization. Genshins got a lot of characters and knowing all of them personally would be hard but I did read the lore page on their wiki while formulating the au so nothing should be toooooo different (and if it is it's probably based on my own genshin headcanons but i will try and specify when that's the case) I tried to keep all relationships kinda similar to canon while aa translating (ex. Albedo and klee still have a sibling relationship just now klee is more sidekick-ishhhh) but liberties were taken obviously to make things more cohesive mostly just that characters that don't really interact will interact but like genshin does that all the time with events so it's not that unbelievable ok man.

And ok some personality traits will be exaggerated because aa has lots of very,very exaggerated types and character gimmicks and we're goin for that aa spirit yk.

Ps. sorry for any name/place misspelling or just any misspelling i'm dyslexic im doing my best- dyslexia works hard but the autism works harder

Pss. here's a link to the google doc if you prefer that (it is dyslexia friendly or at least it's my dyslexia friendly so hopefully good)

Basic things to note:

The fitui is a crime ring in this au like a baddd crime ring

Every time i say “for plot reasons” i mean it i just need to finalize everything to make sure there isn't massive plot holes im missing or anything it's not just cuz i don't know

Magic is not really an aa thing past some spiritual stuff so i will be changing that about magic based characters and also part animal characters they will either be replaced by a more aa alternative or something equivalent to the best of my ability.

A character being an archon will mean very little to this au other than that they will generally be in senior positions but the (important) futui will also mostly be senior positions sooooo.

A characters:

Albedo- He would be a competent detective on the rare occasion that he did actually work on a case. I imagine he would be more willing to take on/help with the harder cases given his pre- existing relationship with xingqiu- in genshin cannon he is xingqiu’s illustrator but now his is still that just like differently- basically they originally met when xingqiu needed and illustrator but he also happens to be a detective and the first time albedo and xingqiu met outside of their author/illustrator relationship it was in court with albedo testifying and it was really awkward for a bit but there is now no hard feelings and they get along well inside and outside of court. Now to address the elephant in the room: albedo being a synthetic human in genshin cannon. In this au he is not that anymore because the aa magic is mostly just spiritual channeling BUT if it makes you feel any better he is aware of spiritual channeling and likes to study it and he's a competent investigator unlike every aa detective. Now in aa terms/mechanics this meansssss he would only really be detectiving for the final case of each game to drop integral info or to give good hints he's like op herlock sholmes you don't have to fix what he's saying so he would have to be used sparingly in gameplay. Klee would be around more though as his kid sidekick and also a nerfed version of albedo (more info about all that in klee’s section <3)

Alhaitham- He is a really, really, pretious witness like he will tell you what you need to know but only if you ask very specific questions. He's one of the witnesses you have to press literally every statement to get the info you need, he won't lie but he won't tell you the full truth either until the last minute + he gets annoyed pretty fast (not technically hc just something kehva says that iv accepted into my perception of him). Outside of court he is basically the same as he is in genshin, just modern, yk scholar, kinda self centered, pretends to be mechanically rational.He also still lives with keveh because he went bankrupt due his really bad financial choices but now the reason they were living together the first time (in standard modern au fashion) is because they were college roommates & went halfsies on a place but then they fell out and keveh moved to be successful architect and thennnnn bankruptcy blah blah blah see your old friend at a bar,not doing well something something roommates.

Aloy- idc about her but she is playable so she gets to be a witness for the duration of 1-2 cross examinations and then gets killed during a recess to further the plot-

Amber- headcanon time (very plausible headcanon) amber is a hardcore adrenaline junkie . Anyway- she would be one of the people accused of committing murder and one of the key points people use to accuse her is pointing at her adrenaline junkie nature to say “see guys shes a thrill chaser and what brings thrill?? Murder.” Meanwhile, she's like the sweetest defendant ever and 100% trying to clear her name and being upset that anyone would even think she'd do something like that. She did not do the murder just at the wrong place at the wrong time btw. Outside of the murder accusations she is super chill and rides a motorcycle everywhere. (more amber characterization on collies section because 1 sided admiration babyyyyyyy) ( i want them to be friends so bad i will probably write them interacting more in this au)

Arataki itto- He is just a guy you have to talk to during an investigation. He has some evidence but is never questioned at the stand he just gives some hints and sends you to a new location where you get more info. The reason you have to talk to him is because he is a gang leader but it's a chill gang that's heavily misunderstood as a baddddd gang when they're mildly troublesome at best but since they have negative perception they (mostly him and kuki) get blamed really hard for crimes. Also heizou is usually just kind of around him lurking to make sure he's not being an inconvenience (not 24/7 i just think it would be a fun lil gimmick)

Arlecchino- She is fatui so as previously mentioned she's in a crime ring thingy. But she's also A PROSECUTOR!!!!!!! (first prosecutor in this list babyyyyyyy) she's cracked she's an epic lady girlboss prosecutor she's like van zikes without the racism. She would probably be the main prosecutor for 1 game and then dip for plot reasons. She is so soft on kids to a kind of comical degree ex: really mean/insulting until she realizes a kid is there and then will be like “oops sorry don't repeat that, child” and then censor herself around them even when being aggressive. She also has 3 kids of her own that pop up sometimes (we will get there). She has had many a’ run -ins with klee because of klee and albedo being around xingqiu semi-often and klee is a little scared of her/just straight dislikes her and that hurts her a bit even if it's reasonable and she knows it.

#genshin au #genshin impact #genshin albedo #genshin arlecchino #genshin alhaitham #ace attorney au #ace attorney #fandom crossover

0 notes

inheritorofmemories-archive · 4 years ago

Text

Twitter is not a good place and I have opinions.

Okay so, just visited Twitter to see how they like The Old Guard and please remind to never go there for anything more than artist’s posts and memes.

(This is more of a rant than a cohesive explanation of my thoughts but I won’t lose my time on Twitter for that and I still need to talk about it, so we’re here. Okay, here goes-)

Of course spoiler warning for the whole movie.

"it's bad, it's not creative, it's boring, there's no story apart from bad guys pharma and good guys mercenaries."

Did we watch the same movie?? It's like those Mad Max Fury Road reviews who kept saying "they leave and come back, no plot har har I’m very funny" when the whole point of the movie is about staying where you live and make this place better, not abandoning it because you risk abandoning your true self with the land (amongst other things the movies tries to say).

Yeah maybe the story is a bit seen, pharma and all. But the whole plot revolve around the Old Guards and their emotions. It's about a tired warrior finding hope, and a young immortal finding her place, and how to deal with loss and grief and solitude, it's about finding purpose in helping other because that's what human do, help each other. It's a lot more than fight scenes and bad pharma (which, maybe it's an old trope but it's still very true to this day, please keep portraying pharma CEO as comically bad because they are!)

It's like men can't understand a story unless there's lots of death and unnecessary trauma. Can't you enjoy a story about found family and hope and kindness for one another like everyone else?

Here are the critics I saw, and why I think it’s bullshit, point by point because I’m petty like that:

The characters are flat and two dimensional: I mean, no? Sure, Joe and Nicky are not the center of attention, and we see Booker tired and a traitor, and the human ones are bit glossed over (though we see enough to understand them, Copley and his wife, the scientist that thinks she’s helping humanity, etc.), but Andy and Nile are fully developed? What else do you need?

Andy is a very old, very tired immortal that has a very complicated past (that we see a lot of) and her motivations, state of mind and thoughts are well explained (they all say she’s old, and tired, we know about Quynh; hell, Andy’s first line is about that) and we know she lost purpose, and she finds it within the film! She changes! Her character evolves in interactions to other but mostly Nile. Speaking of her- i know I’m repeating myself but what else do you need to consider a character not flat? She loves her family but doesn’t run to them because she’s not an idiot. She’s a fighter, a marine, a very competent one at that, but she still gets scared by being an immortal, she asks questions, she’s compassionate, she feels! All while being a bad ass fighter. She has agency, makes her own choices and choose her way, she has motivation and she know what she brings to the team and is not afraid of saying her thoughts and needs.

And even Booker and Nicky and Joe have full character, even if shown less. We have Booker’s back story, and we know he cares a lot despite all his hurt (he says he did it to help Andy die, which was still wrong and selfish, but he was genuinely trying to do something because he hurt so much). Nicky and Joe have a softer side, and sure it’s mostly conveyed through their own love story but they hug the other Guards and Nicky brings food for Andy and Joe jokes around (still thinking about that “faster than the elevator” line). Yeah it’s not a deep character study but it’s more than about half action movies today, and it’s enough in the story to make me care about all of them, even Copley. Although a lot of that may come form the actors too.

The fights scenes are bad: apparently they’re boring and do not do justice to the comics. I can’t speak for the last one, but boring? Again, did we watch the same movie? Yeah, there’s no big explosions and fire everywhere and collapsing buildings, but they’re not boring. I’m sorry my tastes are superior but I’d rather be shown the talents of a covert team of immortal warriors though discretion and efficiency. Why would they need explosions when they can juggle swords, axes, rifles and guns so smoothly you don’t even see a shift in their stance? See first fight in South Sudan. Why would I need collapsing buildings when I can have a team of fighters swapping weapons together like nothing? That scene at Merricks’s building where they all reload and change guns and the camera turns around and panel over all of them? That was dope and a very creative way to show how smooth they work together (with Nile added! So way to go to show the new group dynamics.) through a smooth and continuous camera movement. I could go on, but where did you see the boring fight scene. Yes there’s no cool lights and tricks a la John Wick, but if it did they would have complained it was a rip off, so...

The cinematography is bad: Just because it’s more understated doesn’t mean it’s bad. Yes, there’s no neon lights or cool shots like other might have (looking at you John Wick, since everyone seems to compare the two movie) but it serves the story. It’s because it’s so simple visually that you can get into the feelings and story. You don’t look at the light, you look at the actions and the faces. And honestly, I think it suits the Guards better. They look timeless, they fit in everywhere. A photography that’s striped down to the necessary only serves the story. I don’t see them in safe houses with a bunch of lights and modern furniture, just like I don’t see expensive shots and over the top choreography for them. As I said, they’re a covert team, they’re smooth and efficient, I like that the photography align on that and show them in simple shots.

tl;dr: Just because it’s simple doesn't mean it’s bad, sometimes that's what you need to work with the story and its characters and themes.

Not enough story and too much nothing to fill in: I mean, they die 12 minutes in, you get all the stakes, antagonist and themes in like 20 minutes, what else do you need? There’s break in the actions to expose plot and concept, but it never feels wrong or too much of a info dump, it’s fluid and natural because we’re following Nile into the immortal world.

Bad Pharma is Bad: Yeah, let’s talk about that. (Cautions, purely opinions, no real arguments to change someone’s mind here) I don’t care if it’s cliché, not when pharma in the US keep rising the price of Insulin every month, not when pharma all over the world send their faulty medicine to third world country because there’s no one that cares enough there, not when you know they purposefully don’t finance HIV researches because triple therapy gets them a lot of money, not when you hear about the experimentation and how they get their resources and literally everything that I’m not getting into right now. Who cares if they’re show as bad people once again, they are! You think CEO care about anything but money? If it feels wrong in the movie it’s because it is wrong.

Tell me no one in our world would kidnap and torture immortals to find their power. And don’t talk to me about bad representation of CEO and exceptions, I don’t care. One exception doesn’t make all the other suddenly better or worth the wrong they’re doing. So yeah, give me more cliché good guys fight bad CEO, I love it.

They did not use their concept enough: Again, where? To me, they did all they could with that concept, you get all the things you can only get with the concept, interesting and fun one. They are still afraid of dying one day, and even if they’re not (i.e. Andy or Booker) their brand of immortality doesn’t mean they’re not afraid of being captured: the Quynh scene happens literally just before Nicky and Joe are kidnapped exposing us the stake of being immortal, talk about good script work, right? Talking about fun trope: you have the millennium old couple that use to kill each other but now love each other, the classic ennemies to lovers we all love, you have the strategy of using your immortality to your advantage and destabilize your opponent: Nile walking into Merrick’s building and getting herself killed on purpose only to stand again and use the guard’s shock and lack of preparation against them, you have the fun references to real historical figures that comes with immortality: Rodin, Napoleon, etc...

I’ll link to this video I found that talks about this better than me, but basically, they did use their concept, a lot, and well.

The music: I can’t really say anything about that one. Maybe you don’t like the style they used, and that’s fair. To each their own. But it wasn’t too much like other Netflix’s movie (Looking at you 6 Underground. Four (4) song of the same artist in one movie?) but again, it’s Netflix, they use modern songs in their soudtracks, you should expect it. I didn’t bother with the lyrics accuracy to the actions, but each time the music fit well in tune and mood of the scene. And the actual score made for the movie was really good, not too much but still supported the actions and dialogues on screen like it should.

And my favorite yet, we’ve already seen it. I don’t have any smart answer to that apart from I’m sorry you’re a cishet, but found family is the superior trope and I hope you can one day see it too. Who cares if we’ve already seen it, it’s a different flavor! It’s no X-Men flavor, it’s Old Guard flavor and I love it. Have you heard of the Hero’s Journey? How Lord of the Ring, Star Wars and Harry Potter all have the basic same plot? And yet you can like all three of them for different reasons? Because they’re not the same flavors? Well, apply that to the immortal group of fighters and enjoy it.

Okay, that’s most of my thoughts on the film for now, but to make it short: it’s good and those people can’t appreciate good things that are more feelings and humanity than fist fights and nihilism. How dare a movie say we’re good and need each other and not end in a pathetic discovery that all the word deserves to burn.

#tog #nile freeman #andromache the scythian #quynh #yusuf al-kaysani #nicolo di genova #sebastian le livre #kaysanova #andromaquynh #yeah most of the critics were form old dude that can't fathom why someone would feel emotions and seek help #and want to have good people around and help the rest of the world #can you tell i'm salty this fine evening?#it doesn't have to be bourne or james bound or john wick or whatever to be meaninful stfu #em speaks #I have opinions okay and I keep forgetting that Twitter is the sewer of the internet

7 notes · View notes

thetygre · 6 years ago

Text

I don’t think this blog is going to be destroyed at this point but

I don’t think tumblr knows what good writing is. I don’t mean in the ‘read a book that isn’t YA for once’ sense, I mean literally. I do not think a good portion of this site’s userbase knows what things like plot arcs or theming is. Good writing is judged purely on an ‘I like this’ or ‘I don’t like this’ basis. And this wouldn’t be such an issue, but I keep seeing people throw around the term ‘badly written’ like they know what ‘well written’ actually is.

How things operate in real life does not necessarily translate into narrative effectively.

I hate Coffeshop AUs not just because they show utter contempt for a story’s setting, world-building, and potential, but because I also hate the romanticization of coffee shops. It’s a store where I go to drink overpriced bean juice so I don’t fall asleep while driving; it is not special.

Y’all keep talking about pro-fascist themes in media and why we need to be on the look out for it, but every week I still see Attack on Titan trending at least once a week. The story is literally ‘What if the Holocaust, but maybe justified’. This is common knowledge. Explain.

I’m sorry, but articulation in an argument actually does matter. If the feeling I get from your writing is the same feeling I got from the homeless man who told me Agent Orange was a hoax after he told me he could kill me, then you did something wrong.

That is not what ‘Lovecraftian’ means.

RWBY was never good, and has inherent flaws in its setting and writing that make it impossible to be taken seriously.

Ditto for Overwatch, at least in terms of writing.

Korrasami was badly written and is only slightly above LeFou’s gay subplot in the Beauty and the Beast remake in terms of representation.

I spent five years on 4chan. They are, indeed, a racist grease-stain on humanity. But it’s 2018 and y’all are still giving them way too much credit in terms of cohesion and competency.

No, but seriously, read another book.

I don’t understand the mindset of blaming the creator of a given piece of media for the bad things that happen to the characters as if the characters are not direct products of said creator and the conflict is not the driving force of the narrative.

If you don’t like a given piece of media, just stop consuming it. It’s that simple. Just walk away. Either admit you still get something from the media, or leave it.

That applies to tumblr as well. Sometimes this userbase infuriates and confuses me, but I have good friends here, and I think I’m a better person for having met them. I see cool and artsy stuff. Sometimes I actually laugh in a way that isn’t mocking or sardonic. It’s not all bad.

It’s been five years on this blue hellsite, and I’ve only seen someone praise RENT once. Good job. I wanted to end on a positive note.

#personal #the airing of grievances

12 notes · View notes

pass-the-bechdel · 6 years ago

Text

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, three times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Three (15% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seventeen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Film Quality:

A mess of illogical plot contrivances that does nothing good with the themes of the first film, but still entertaining on a basic level.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

‘Natalie’ attends to Pepper; they pass again later. Pepper and Christine trade a line.

Female characters:

Pepper Potts.

Natasha Romanoff.

Christine Everheart.

Male characters:

Ivan Vanko.

Anton Vanko.

Tony Stark.

Howard Stark.

Happy Hogan.

Larry.

Senator Stern.

Justin Hammer.

James Rhodes.

JARVIS.

Elon Musk.

Goldstein.

Major Allen.

Nick Fury.

Phil Coulson.

Jack.

Meade.

OTHER NOTES:

Naturally, Tony’s opening presentation includes a bevy of half-naked dancing girls, because Tony loves women as shiny pretty objects. Yay.

Don Cheadle is a superior Rhodey. Terence Howard was good, don’t get me wrong, but I get so much more organic personality from Don Cheadle.

Hammer calling Tony ‘Anthony’ at the hearing is such a power move. It’s really the only power move (or at least the only successful one) Hammer makes in the whole movie.

Happy, you asked for that ass-kicking, and you know it.

“I want one.” Cool, Tony. She’s a person. If you had a respectful history with women at this point, I would let this line pass without mention, but...ya don’t.

Pepper is VERY rude to other women. It’s not endearing.

Second-hand embarrassment over Hammer is so so real.

Ah yes, glass showering everywhere. My kind of party.

Tony requesting a phat beat is gold. I don’t know if him cracking up laughing as he said it was scripted, ad-libbed, or pure accident on Robert Downey Junior’s part, but it’s what sells the line. It wouldn’t have been half as funny if he’d just said the line straight-faced.

If you missed the post-credits scene at the end of the first Iron Man, then this is Nick Fury’s first appearance: asking Tony to get out of the giant donut. The narrative here really treats Fury like we’re totally familiar with him at this point, and considering the extreme brevity of that post-credits scene, it’s kinda weird.

So, wildly-rich Howard Stark had his partner DEPORTED for daring to want to make money from his work? He didn’t actually do (or attempt) anything nefarious, he just wanted to get paid? And we’re supposed to shrug it off and think deporting him was the right call? Howard kept his partner’s work - including the profits! - for himself, and hung the other guy out to dry like a total jerk, and, what? The whole thing is just kinda mentioned in a throw-away fashion as an explainer, with no implication that Howard was in the wrong at all, and it’s VERY dissonant. What the fuck.

Those strawberries look very plastic.

So, how did Howard magically know to hide those blueprints to a new element in a scale model that would one day save his son from Palladium poisoning that Howard had no way of knowing he would have? This is so many levels of idiotic nonsense I don’t know how they convinced themselves to bother.

Did we NEED Happy oggling Natasha as she gets changed? Was it necessary?

It’s played for laughs, but I appreciate Rhodey making the distinction that even though he’s apologising to Tony for his own behaviour, that doesn’t make all of this any less Tony’s fault. You can be sorry for the way you personally handled something without letting the other person off the hook for their own culpability. Good, important distinction.

The Big Bad ends up being taken down SUPER fast. Disappointing.

“you guys look like two seals fighting over a grape.”

The good:

1. Robert Downey Junior’s maddening charisma allows Tony to be great fun despite his many and sundry personality flaws; it is charisma with the strength to carry the entire film, and that’s saying a lot because the film really, really needs the help.

2. It may have a significant amount to do with the quality of the content being given to the character, but Don Cheadle definitely makes something of Rhodey where the first film barely gave him more life than your average prop.

3. Tony continues to progress in his relationship with Pepper, with the script allowing space for her to be assertive and express grievances, as well as having Tony respond by actually hearing her this time, considering her perspective, and acknowledging his own shortcomings if not exactly making inroads on overhauling them. It’s not a lot, but there is at least some evidence that we’re making good on Tony’s attempted self-improvement from the first film by working on his basic respect for other people. Damn, it’s REALLY not a lot.

The less good:

1. the introduction of Natasha ‘Black Widow’ Romanoff isn’t terrible, but it’s not strong either, and I ALWAYS forget that she’s even in this movie until I’m watching it and she shows up. The narrative attention paid to how she’s ~super hot~ is frankly overdoing it - her ability to use her appearance as a tool/weapon IS relevant to the kind of character/operative that she is, but the framing hammers the LOOK HOT button so hard it all but obliterates any other presence or function she has in the story. She gets a pretty cool fight scene, but even that is so preoccupied with LOOK HOT (and is also fairly inconsequential to the plot) that it tends not to compute as a demonstration of character, and ultimately Natasha doesn’t leave as much of an impression as she could have with just a little less objectifying camerawork and a little more narrative purpose. Much like with Bruce Banner, I feel like you can ignore Natasha’s introductory film and just pick her up from The Avengers without missing a beat.

2. Also low on purpose: Pepper Potts. Where the first film gave her several plot-instrumental actions to ensure she wasn’t just ‘Tony’s annoying love interest’, this movie doesn’t try very hard to give her a reason for sucking up screen time. Low point: a gratingly unnecessary amount of screaming and not throwing Tony his suit-case (hehe, geddit?) while Happy rams Vanko with his car. The entire set-up is stupid, but the screeching (from Pepper and Happy both, really) sends it all way overboard. Happy also has no real purpose, but the difference is, I don’t care. When Pepper is one of only three female characters around - and one of only two with significant presence - I really, really want the story to give her something more memorable and functionally plot-relevant than screaming in a car.

The bad:

Everything else? This movie has no shortage of problems: it has too many plot threads, and it leaps from one to the next with no sense of cohesion or narrative pacing and then never follows any thread to competent completion. Tony is dying, and that leads to some self-destructive behaviour but ultimately has no relation to any aspect of the plot before it is suddenly and ridiculously rectified in the single most nonsensical contrivance of all the nonsensical contrivances that compose the flimsy backbone of the film. Some daddy issues are sprinkled in there like seasoning, but again, they don’t go anywhere or matter in any way, which is both weird and deeply unfortunate since the idea of Tony dealing with his father’s legacy is both a clear carry-through from the themes of the first film, and extremely relevant to the half-assed Vanko story-line. The plot (’plot’, for lack of a better word, we’ll keep privileging to call it that) doesn’t seem willing to actually get in the dirt with Howard Stark’s transgressions, against his son or against his old business partner, and so we get a handful of telling-not-showing exposition-exchanges with none of the emotional fallout or follow-through that such bombshells deserve. Justin Hammer is in there somewhere (and Sam Rockwell is good fun, but the content doesn’t rise to meet him). There’s also a hearing at the start where Tony defends his right to the Iron Man technology, but the rest of the film completely ignores all of the valid and serious concerns raised by Tony’s arrogance and lack of accountability (topics which will be revisited in future films, with infuriating results), and the obvious conversation - expanding on the first film’s themes again by looking at the Stark weapons-manufacturing legacy - falls completely by the wayside within minutes so that we can focus on the completely unfocused senselessness of the rest of the ‘story’. Oh! And don’t forget the completely awkward inclusion of SHIELD! What better way to set up for The Avengers film than to just drape some pointless extra character presence over an already overstuffed ‘plot’?

All of it together is an absolute mess of a movie that feels kinda like it was constructed by a game of beer pong, with different plot ideas written on Styrofoam cups and the creative team way too fucking smashed by the end of it to realise that beer pong is the wrong way to build a story. In my review for The Incredible Hulk, I said there were other contenders for worst MCU film to date, and this is one of them. The Incredible Hulk at least had cohesion up until it went to pieces at the end, whereas the different pieces of Iron Man 2 are so disparate and lacking in gravity that the whole film seems to go for about a decade too long and builds absolutely nowhere in the process. The only entertaining advantage Iron Man 2 can boast is that same old saving grace, Robert Downey Junior, making Tony Stark enjoyable even when you’re not so sure he deserves to be enjoyed. It is a good advantage, no mistake. But there’s only so long you can coast on that, and only so far, and this movie abuses the Hell outta that power until we all welcome the end credits with at least a little bit of relief.

#Marvel Cinematic Universe #MCU #Iron Man 2 #Bechdel Test #female representation

6 notes · View notes

semirahrose · 7 years ago

Note

First off I would like to thank you for answering my ask and directing me to some pretty awesome Sam-questioning-reality fanfiction. Second is what I wish the Supernatural writers did for the last six or seven seasons (so it's gonna be long and ranty.) So I noticed that after season 5 Supernatural didn't seem to know where it wanted to take the show. For the first five season there was the overarching story of starting and ending the apocalypse. It did have a monster of the week going on but

each monster of the week added something to either characters, lore, or plot. They also had an overarching theme of Hell going on. The watchers are introduced to demons and demon deals, two major characters enter demon deals, two characters go to hell and the third gets to go to the center of Hell at the end of season 5. But after season 5 the writers just seemed lost like they didn't know what to do with the show or the characters. (Especially Sam). So the next 7 seasons it kind of seemed like

they were just wandering around saying 'oh this seems cool lets add this' or 'this will bring the drama so lets do that.' There was no overarching story or theme. What I wished (since you can't go back in time and change the future yet) they did was a 5 season theme arch about purgatory. The boys would learn about the history of monsters (I know they kind of did that with eve but it was not very in depth like they did with hell.) Learn about souls, more about angels and the seasons actually

having a story over arching the whole five season instead of 'oh this seems cool to do.' I also wound't drop important character plots (cough Sam's Sanity cough) like hot iron (or give them lame conclusions *I never liked the idea of Cas just being able to take on the hell memories and they never bother Sam again, it just seemed like a cop out*). What i also wished was for consequences. For awhile now there haven't really been any weighty consequences for any of the characters. Even Death is

irrelevant. Kevin dies, it's okay he's now a ghost, the brothers can totally still talk to him (I know it was only one episode but it made his death seem kind for the shock value.) Cas dies (nope he's in another universe). Charlie dies (she hasn't returned but if she dies it will be in a convoluted way. It's getting to comics level with characters dying and coming back to life). Mary coming back to life destroys the tension (and I do like Mary, it interesting to see the interaction between her

and the boys) but her being back is bad writing. We all know that if we want a character back all the writers would have to do was invent some magic wand and all the dead characters would be back. So I miss consequences and having what character do matter. For the purgatory story arch the soul-less-Sam thing would lasted a whole season or close to (insane Sam the following season with a better less lame conclusion) The writers could even keep in the leviathans and have Dean go to Purgatory and

Sam has to go to Purgatory to get Dean. (Purgatory was another cool plot concept that the writers flung in to left field). The next five season theme would be heaven (hey, this is reminding me of Dante's Inferno). This is where the heaven civil war comes in (and Cas character arch would make more sense if the overarching theme was about Heaven. It could have the trials at the end (you could have even brought back Mary and John and any other characters in the purgatory arch) so when they do the

the trials they would have to lose all the family they got back during the purgatory arch. (this is good writing. When a character has to lose something to gain something, it gives more tension and depth to the characters.) So if they want to close hell Sam and Dean would lose their parents (and any other character that came out of purgatory) it would also be an interesting morality question (is it selfish to keep you parents and not close the gates of Hell *which had been there for all of human

history*) After the Heaven Arch there could even be a Mortal Arch that all about what Sam and Dean do after saving the world several times over. It would be about how you return to just hunting ghosts/spirits after dealing with heaven, hell and purgatory. And It would probably be the final arch/5 season as well. (Hey that would have been a good 20 season. That's 20 years playing the same character, the actors might want to do something different or pass the torch to new characters (like charlie)

So what do you think? Would that have been better then the meandering story line we have today? Sorry this was so long but it really needed to be said. I always hear people complain about Supernatural when things don't go their way (whether its Sam, Dean, Cas or Other) but I don't always hear people give solutions or a 'what i would have done' (then again the internet is a big place I'm sure I just missed the corner the solutions to all my problems are). So thoughts? Sorry about the length.

No worries! I love that you took the time to share this. Gonna put this under a cut because I may also talk a bit and I fear this might get long...

Those are some really cool ideas! I think the way the first five seasons melded Heaven, Hell, and our favorite mortal fellas’ fates together really made them what they were. The first five seasons had direction, consequences, originality, and a world that we learned more about with each episode. Like you said, the later seasons don’t work that way.

Instead of—sorry for the tired metaphor—peeling pack the layers of the onion until we get to the core of things, the later seasons just dart off in random directions hoping to strike ratings gold. I’ll be honest and say there are parts of seasons six, seven, eight, and eleven that I liked quite a bit, but later seasons have fallen into the trap of... basically neutering heaven and hell, making them into the butts of every joke.

The writers took away all the mystery and mysticism and terror and awe that made both heaven and Hell such interesting places to contemplate. Now they’re just suit-wearing big corporations. The wonder and fear I felt in the earlier seasons is gone. This show hasn’t been genuinely scary in years. The earlier seasons capitalized on the fear of the unknown. The pacing was solid, and as viewers, we were always aware that we were working toward something. They’d either defy fate or they’d go down in flames.

The later seasons have fallen into the trap of believing that having a bigger, badder villain will make the show better.

Really, for a long time now, they’ve been needing to look inside.

The characters have been made into plot puppets rather than real people who drive the action with their choices and desires and fears.

The show has also lacked cohesion and (as you mentioned!) consequences.

It really does just feel like they’re sliding from one thing to the next, trying to one-up themselves. Mark of Cain --> God’s Sister --> Lucifer’s kid --> ???

And it’s just a pale imitation of what it used to be.

I’m not sure if dedicating five seasons to each arc would work, since it might get predictable and formulaic if the writers weren’t careful, but I’m loving the idea of a Dante’s Divine Comedy sorta structure.

The thing is, I feel like some of the things the writing team has actually come out with could have been interesting under a competent showrunner and with writers who had a solid concept both of show canon and of consistency and consequence.

I love that there are so many people out there who love this show so much that they want to see it go on forever. I think that’s amazing and courageous.

I would rather see the show end than ruin everything that made it beautiful to me, though. If the writers could competently handle the story, I’d watch it for 100 seasons, but the show is losing amazing writers as fast as it gets them. (Nancy Won, anyone?)

Ack, sorry that this is kind of depressing.

Your ideas are wonderful and I think the writers could benefit from having the sense of balance you have. Thanks for sharing. :D

#spn #show critical #wank for ts #ish?#bitter sam girl is bitter #and maybe my thoughts are just salty and subjective #fatcat1991 #semirah replies

20 notes · View notes

words-writ-in-starlight · 8 years ago

Note

So your rant on Supernatural? Also I fell in love with the story you're talking about and basically want to know more. Sorry.

My buddy, you have made An Error, but let’s do this shit. To any SPN fans who have wound up herethrough Ye Olde Search Function, I encourage you to stop reading now.

I watched up to about halfway through Season Five before Idecided that I could Do It Better (I think this is the novel you’re talkingabout, anon, unless it’s Earth is where the trouble comes from), and draggedmyself up to about halfway through Season Seven before I packed it in and gaveup, resigned that the parts of the show I loved were about four to five seasonsdead. So like that’s the information I’mworking on here.

So, obviously, lots of people have lots of legitimatecomplaints about Supernatural,including treatment of queer characters, characters of color, and women, aswell as their fairly rampant history of queerbaiting. And lots of people have covered this in morecompetent detail than I could ever manage, so like google “sexism in Supernatural” or something and you cando your own reading there. Hell, if youwant to do it the lazy way, you can knock out two of the above with this onearticle in friendly, easy-to-read Buzzfeed format. To the nominal credit of the people involved,I will add that the cast seems acutely aware of these problems and finds itdistasteful, HOWEVER the problems persist and therefore that credit is minimal. Anyway. These things are covered much more thoroughly by many other people whoare far more cogent than I could hope to be, so I’m going to leave those alone.

Instead, my rant is mostly summed up as “YOU CALL THIS SHITSTORYTELLING.”

So there are four basic parts to this rant, or rather fourbasic flaws that form the fundamentally weak foundation of Supernatural as a narrative.

Failure to commit to a single cohesive narrativearc, also known as “SOME OF THAT AND SOME OF THAT AND SOME OF THAT AND SOME OFTHOSE” syndrome

The persistent and erroneous belief thatcharacter death = character development and narrative progression

Inability to commit to a major change ofparadigm, also known as out and out narrative cowardice, which I personallycall “flinching during Plot Roulette”

Total incapacity to put their characterizationwhere their script is regarding the Winchester brothers and the other major players

*cracks knuckles*

POINT THE FIRST

Right, so first it’s the story of Sam having strange powersand their dad being MIA, which segues pretty naturally into the story of Sampotentially being the Antichrist, and then there’s Dean’s sacrifice of his soul,which at very least holds up even ifit sort of acts like the previous plotline about their dad’s soul didn’t happen. Upuntil this point, I was pretty comfy. Ihad some complaints covered below, but I was copacetic. Season Three is largely about getting rid ofthe contract on Dean’s soul. Okay, seemslegit, you have a tangible problem with potentially serious consequences. Now, having had not one but TWO seasons whichwere easily summed up with ‘so Sam is mebbe the Antichrist or at very leastAntichrist-adjacent,’ I made what I thought was a logical leap and went “well,gee, if I was mebbe at the very leastAntichrist-adjacent, I would leverage the fuck out of that to do somethingabout my apparently beloved brother’s soul.” Even when they didn’t go withthat (news flash: I wrote that novel mydamn self and amazingly it worked out 100x better, narratively speaking,because it’s fucking logical), I wasstill kind of like “gosh sure is a good thing they remembered that they spenttwo entire seasons building up to Sam mebbe being Antichrist-adjacent.” And there’s the whole drama with Ruby which Ijust…am very uncomfortable with for a lot of reasons, not least of which isthat it’s a very thinly veiled endeavor to rehash the same ‘Sam being afraid oflosing touch with humanity’ plotline as Seasons One and Two but without havingto worry about really altering the paradigm, see Point The Third, and alsobecause it’s really intensely literal about the concept of having a femalecharacter exclusively as a prop for consumption. And Castiel shows up and a thousand ships arelaunched, blah blah blah, and then after the end of Season Four…we never hearfrom Sam’s powers again for more than a couple lines.

As of about Season Four, the focus of the show abandons Samand shifts tangibly onto Dean, who is now The Interesting Character because hehas Been Through Hell (literally). Furthermore, we are now given Dean’s POV on any quandry between him andSam, which is a personal complaint because I honestly just think it’ssloppy. Season Four is mostly dealingwith angels being assholes, which is really not as original as SPN likes tothink (Good Omens did it first and Good Omens did it better, get out of myface), plus Dean being the Righteous Man and the question of the oncomingApocalypse (sure is interesting how we spent two seasons building up to Sambeing Antichrist-adjacent). The Apocalypseis less oncoming and implied to be more ongoing by the end of Season Four. So Lucifer escapes and Season Five is prettymuch About That, involving the fairly unhelpful description that Dean isMichael’s ‘sword’ and they’re the true vessels of Michael and Lucifer,culminating in Sam being locked in the Cage because presumably someone realizedthat, hey, we have two maincharacters and we must make them both Interesting Characters. Season Six is 50% about finding Sam’s souland figuring out how he got out of the Cage (sure would be helpful if we’dspent two seasons building up to Sam having inhuman powers and beingAntichrist-adjacent) and 50% a wickedinexplicable plot about the Mother-of-All and some kind of fucking jigsawmonsters and…Alpha monsters? But thatnever really gets explained in a pertinent way except that they needed to anteup because they beat the Devil at theend of Season Five. Oh, and a bonus 50% of some bullshit withCastiel and Crowley and ~Scheming~. Andthen Castiel gets possessed by Leviathans (?) from Purgatory, which he openedwith Crowley (??) who he then betrayed (???), and Castiel decides He’s God Nowand also dies (????), and somehow these metaphysical more-powerful-than-angelsbadder-than-Lucifer things are sensitive to fuckingBorax.

And it was at this point that I stopped the show in themiddle of a fight scene like 1/3 through Season Seven and actually said outloud “Gosh it’s almost like you needsomeone who’s Antichrist-adjacent to help you out here” before turning off the TV. And then I stopped watching and got better taste in TV and blew throughwriting a 250K novel in 18 months of being a full-time student because I waspowered by pure bitter spite.

Now, here are the two major things that matter about thiswhole deal. First of all, the firstplotline is the most reliably coherent, although some degree of cogence lastedup until about Season Five—we understand why Lucifer wants out of Hell, weunderstand to some extent why Dean and Sam matter on the cosmic scale, we getpretty bored of watching Castiel do heel-face and face-heel turns like he’s ona Lazy Susan but like logistically it all makes a reasonable degree of sense. That being said, the whole plotline ofSeasons Four onward would make a lot moresense, would it not, if they remembered that they’d spent a good solid twoseasons and change (Season Three, intermittent, Season Four, major) designingan Antichrist-like character who is now the last survivor of that batch ofexperiments. Then, instead of having Samand Dean just be Inexplicably Special, you have Dean (who can still be theRighteous Man!) acting as the foil for Sam being forced into increasingly darkchoices, and Sam who’s a viable candidate for Lucifer-puppet because he’s partdemon. Or, alternatively, Sam whomaintains his stance as the gentler of the two despite his demon blood, which would add a lot more depth to Supernatural’s fanatical hardon for theAngelic Asshole trope. Honestly Irewrote the entirety of this show one time, predicated on the assumption thatthey actually went with the idea of Sam as the Boy King, and I think it wouldbe much less haphazard. (Basically: hey,what if Sam actually used his status to strong-arm Dean’s deal into beingdissolved, as it’s implied that he’s totally capable of doing that and totallywilling to sacrifice his own humanity for his brother, and then Heaven sentCastiel to kill Sam, which would add a fuckton of legitimacy to Castiel’s LazySusan and Dean’s antagonism. But no. Instead there’s monsters whose only vulnerability is fucking Borax.)

Second, and far more critical, is the total failure tocommit to a single plotline. Okay, Sam’sstatus as the possible Boy King is a major plot point for two seasons, not somuch for the third season (he literally…a demon straight up tells Sam that he could have an army if he took up hisposition and it never occurs to himthat he could use that to help Dean), more so in the fourth season, and then itnever comes up again. Even when it is unarguably pertinent to thesituation—Lucifer! Fucking Luciferpossesses Sam and drags him to Hell and he comes back soulless and yet none of the writers ever, not once, went “Gosh, maybe we should remember those seasonswe spent developing Sam into sort of the Antichrist? Maybe including at least a minor nod to thator somehow wrapping up the plotline would help cohere our current trainwreck ofa plotline?” Nope, it’s just left as aloose thread, flapping in the breeze with all the subtlety of a limp dick. It’s like Supernaturalis actually a Frankenshow of two shows with the same characters but totallyunrelated plotlines—maybe when Lucifer escapes he shunts them all sideways intoan alternate universe and there’s another show somewhere with a Dean whosebrother has never been even a little bit demonic and died through normal huntershenanigans suddenly having to deal with Sam the possible Antichrist, andthat’s the show that an alternate me is still watching.

And this is an ongoing problem. Sam’s powers are just the major point that Ialways latch onto, because, first, I always think the phenomenon of “well fuckme sideways I might be obligated to end the world and ain’t that a messy thing”is pretty great (I really, reallylike Hellboy), and second, IT’S FOURSEASONS OF WORK YOU CAN’T JUST ABANDON IT. But seriously. Just. Throw a dart, you’ll hit a loose end. Because Supernatural is theequivalent of that one fucker we all hate in sitcoms—you know, the guy who’sdating a great girl he totally doesn’t deserve, but he can’t ~commit~ sothere’s all this ongoing Drama™. Exceptthat in Supernatural, not only canthey not commit, they accidentally defeated their biggest gun—the literal Devil—less than halfwaythrough their series! Whoops! Quick, someone call up Satan’s cousin twiceremoved who’s even worse and more evil than he is! And sensitive to Borax!

No, no, I’m kidding. We all know that Satan’s cousin twice removed, who’s even worse and moreevil than he is, is actually named Metatron.

Fuckin’ Supernatural.

POINT THE SECOND

I know this is going to come as a shock, but rampantcharacter death does not actuallyqualify as a legitimate way to progress your narrative or develop yourcharacters. In order, the major players(nominally on the Winchesters’ side) who die or seem to die in the first fiveseasons are Sam’s girlfriend, John Winchester, Ash, Sam, Bela, Dean, (Deanseveral times in Mystery Spot), Ruby,Castiel, Jo, Ellen, Sam, Anna, Sam, Dean, Gabriel, Castiel, Bobby, and sort of Sam with the whole Cagething. And those are just the peoplewith arcs that extend over more than a season (except for Sam’sgirlfriend). It’s entirely possible,even probable, that I missed some. Thatdoes not include the one- ortwo-episode characters whose deaths we’re supposed to observe as emotionallywringing, nor does it include the frankly vast numbers of civiliancasualties. So, for the ease of reading,we’re going to divide ‘character death’ into ‘reversible character death,’which is largely the prerogative of the primary trio, and ‘permanent characterdeath,’ and we’re going to talk about why there are real problems with the way Supernatural treats both of them.

First of all, the problems with reversible character deathare obvious—there are no fucking stakes! Like, arguably the stakes are ‘the whole world,’ but obviously not (seePoint The Third), so practically speaking the stakes should be life or death, because the show tells you that the stakes are life or death. Now, sometimes resurrection is an importantplot point, I get that, in my spite novel there is, in fact, aresurrection. But here’s the thing. Either you have to straight up establish arevolving door policy and change your stakes (example: the show Forever, where the point is that the MCis immortal and would very much like to not be immortal anymore), or you can only use that resurrection once. You use it once, and you still get theemotional gut punch of “Oh God, they’re dead”and the flood of relief when it proves that they’re not dead after all. You use it more than that, and the audiencebecomes complacent that, well, you won’t reallykill them. By the time you’re on a levelwith Supernatural, it just…doesn’tmatter? A major character dies, but youraudience has already hit compassion fatigue because of the death rate, whichI’m about to cover, so there’s not really any oomph to it.

The problems with permanent character death aresignificantly different. Now, I myselfam a Happy Ending person (like…the world sucks …let me have my happy fiction),but even I recognize that a certain percentage of the characters in a story orshow like this one are basically just cannon fodder (it would be great if itwasn’t so consistently the women, POC, orLGBT folks, but whatever). Theproblem is that it’s constant. And not just “well that person’s a corpsebecause that’s what vampires do to people” or “some kid pissed off the localspirit and now they’re six feet under,” it would be totally fine and reasonableif that situation was an every episode thing (it…kind of is, that’s kind of thepoint). But every few episodes, we’reexpected to get attached to a one-off character and then be deeply affectedwhen they die. Take, say, Season Three:you have the hunters Isaac and Tamara in the first episode, Casey and FatherGil in the fourth episode (some flexibility as they’re demons, but we’resupposed to be shocked and horrified that Sam kills them both), Callie in thefifth episode, Gordon in the seventh episode (again, we’re supposed to behorrorstricken that Sam kills him, even though it’s clearly self-defense), all the civilians in the twelfthepisode, Corbett in the thirteenth episode, and finally Bela, who admittedlyhas had some nominal presence for a while. This does not include any Winchester trauma, which you’re always supposed to be deeply affectedby. I’m sorry, but after a season or twoof being expected to work up that kind of emotional upset between five and tentimes over the course of thirteen to twenty episodes, your audience is going toburn out and start to lose emotional engagement.

So, basic summary: the Anyone Can Die trope does not playwell with main characters who are on a Revolving Door of Death, because itmeans that minor characters don’t matter because Anyone Can Die, while majordamage or trauma to the main characters doesn’t matter either because they’reon a Revolving Door. You can’t kill yourmain characters once (or more!) a season and expect people to still…worry aboutthem.

On a more strictly structural note, using character death asthe primary way to drive character development is just fucking lazy. It’s just an indicator that the writers don’tactually know how to progress their character development in any other way,which is a major problem because, since they only develop the charactersthrough the deaths of others, they have to hit the Personality Reset buttonfairly regularly to make it look like things are actually happening to thepeople who are supposed to be developing. Which, in case you were curious, is why you feel that overwhelming senseof déjà vu when the Winchesters getinto a huge blowout fight about ‘don’t sacrifice yourself’ in about thethird-to-last episode, followed by one of them sneaking out to sacrificethemselves, followed by the other onebeing angry about it. It’s the samegoddamn script, it’s just that Sam’s hair is probably longer and Dean isprobably scruffier. Furthermore, thefixation on developing characters with the deaths of others means thatbasically every character is fair game but NO ONE’S DEATH HOLDS MEANING,because of the above, which means that SPN’s ‘character development’ turns intothis recursive self-congratulating circlejerk of killing someone, developingSam and Dean accordingly, and then somehow regressing them so that the writerscan do it over again and be proud of themselves for Such Dynamic Characters,Much Develop, So Change, Wow.

And I feel like the reasons that character death =/=narrative progression should be pretty clear from the rest of this rant, butbasically if you’re killing someone to progress your plot, it needs to be asolveable death (emotional payoff is what makes walking away from a booksatisfying, such as catching a murderer) or a terrible tragedy that drives thecharacters to great acts or both. Supernatural is basically a horror/fantasymurder mystery, so it would be fine if they stuck with that model, but theykeep trying to sell the deaths of any number of major players and many many minor players as this greatand terrible tragedy that’s pushing the Winchesters forward. And like, I’m sorry, but if you commit withinthe first episode to a dead mother anda dead girlfriend and a missingpotentially dead father, you’ve already pretty well maxed out your terribletragedies. Find a different motivator,or else it looks like your characters just leave huge amounts of collateraldamage and refuse to take responsibility. Or, alternatively, it looks like the individual deaths don’t matter toyour main characters, which is NOT going to help with making your audience giveeven a single fractional fuck.

TL;DR: Character death is a powerful tool that rapidly losesits weight and import if you overuse it, and can make your audiencedisinterested and emotionally detached if they’re expected to care every time. Slow your motherfucking roll, stick to aMAXIMUM of one resurrection per character unless their immortality is anexplicitly discussed plot point (at which point their deaths need to not mattermuch anymore), and remember that you can progress your plot in literally anyother way before you go for a shock-value death.

POINT THE THIRD

Don’t be a little bitch in your writing. Honestly it’s that simple. I’m gonna get into it some more, but that’sthe gist of it. If you already know whatI mean, great, skip to the next point, because the TL;DR is “don’t be aninfant.”

This is something that plenty of shows are guilty of(Merlin, anyone?), but SPN is terrifiedof actually changing the paradigm. Theshow must always include a certainlist of things:

The Winchesters in the Impala, which, sure, I’llgrant you that

A home base, also totally reasonable

Monsters to fight, fair enough

A masquerade (meaning ‘civilians do not knowabout magic’), which should honestly have broken down after, like, Season Twowhen they accidentally release massive numbers of demons into the world

A world to have the show happening in, which isa problem since they started theApocalypse in Season Four

Now…listen.

It’s fine, even necessary, to have some fixed points in anarrative. It offers a way to anchoryour characters against the ongoing changes that the plot demands. That, however, is very different from beingtoo much of a coward to alter the paradigm of your story when the major driving force is a change ofparadigm.

The first major change of paradigm they cop out on is Sam’spowers. If Sam was the Boy King, thishypothetically Antichrist-esque position in the cosmic dichotomy, that would radically alter the dynamic. Sam would automatically be the most powerfulbeing in any given room unless he was in a room with a respectably high-rankedangel or demon, and he would certainly be able to go toe-to-toe with most oftheir targets on their own terms. Telekinesis is an exceptionally goodpower, guys, like, as powers go—even disregarding his position in thehierarchy, Sam would be pretty strong in his own right. Which, I’d like to point out, can be a reallythrilling change to a narrative, because it means that you have this additionallayer of ‘well, how do we deal with the fact that Sam doesn’t like being this strong, how do we dealwith the way demons and monsters have started to view him as more us than them’ and would give a much more legitimate basis for the questionof humanity that they shoehorn in later with the Ruby plotline. Buffyhas its flaws, but at least it frequently brings up ‘hey, Buffy might be ostensiblyhuman, but she operates on the level of her enemies more than on the level ofher allies’ as an issue that she thinks about. But they don’t do that in Supernatural,they bail completely on the Sam plotline because they panic about theimplications of having such a powerful character. And then they bring in fucking Castiel likethat’s not exactly the same problemcloaked in ‘well, noninterference.’ Like, please, that ship has fucking sailed,choke down your anxiety and figure out how the rules of your powerful characterwork, and then let them be powerful. It’s gonna be okay. Deepbreaths. If you make an OP character,that’s fine, you just have toactually deal with it rather than having their powers be an asspull every timethe main characters are in Real Trouble (*angry sigh* Merlin).

The second one they balk at is the unveiling of thesupernatural world and oh my God it is constant. But let’s deal with the biggest and mostimprobable of these here: Season GoddamnTwo, where they bust open the doors of Hell and unleash some thousands ofdemons into the world. Like, is that asmany demons as it could be, in comparison to your six to seven billionhumans? No. But it’s still a huge population and is implied to be accompanied by a huge uptickin various other supernatural happenings and is furthermore really visible. The Devil’s Trap is suggested to pass throughat least a couple towns and it’s a big flashy event, so like…sure, maybe peoplewrite it off as swamp gas or what have you, but sooner or later people who havehad demons exorcised or seen some vampire/werewolf/etc shenanigans and lived totell about it are going to start running into each other. They start hearing people say “it’s likeshe’s a totally different person” and they take that seriously rather thanwriting it off. They were maybe saved bya hunter who confirmed that the supernatural exists and they maybe tell thatperson that, hey, something like that happened to them, maybe they could cometake a look around. Maybe they couldcall the person who helped them out. Andyou end up with this fucking Ponzi scheme of The Great Truth, where each personwho’s in the know finds one or two more people who’ve seen evidence and brings them into the loop, and then they find one or two more people who’veseen evidence. And for every personwho’s determined to call it bullshit or think they’re insane, you’re going toget one who saw that person turn intoa hairy monster and murder someone, or who waspossessed by a demon, or who witnessedblack smoke merge with their spouse and turn them into a killer. So you get this whole rickety network ofamateurs who’ve…kind of learned the thing. And like any Ponzi scheme, sooner or later it collapses.

Basically the point is: there is a limit to the parts permillion of The Great Truth that can be present before that shit becomes commonknowledge. Look at any availablegovernment conspiracy for confirmation. The more people you tell, the looser the rules of ‘secret’ become, so ifyou have a big flashy visible disaster that involves drastically increasing the number of uninitiated civilians who areaware of The Great Truth…you’d better be ready to deal with that. What I’m saying here is that by Season Seven,you’ve not only had this whole demon situation for a while, and increased those numbers several times with variousdisasters, but you’ve also had at least one big flashy disaster in a city. So the Winchesters should pretty much be ableto walk into a given town and wander into the church or the bar or somethingand go “So, I heard there’ve been some weird murders” and have at least oneperson come up to them later and be like “Yeah it’s a ghost here’s all theinformation but I have no idea how to get rid of them.” And when the Winchesters go *gasp* “How do you know The Thing” theperson should look at them like a fucking moron and go “It literally rainedblood last year, everyone in this time zone knows The Thing and also it’sevident that the end is pretty seriously nigh, so get on that.” Commit to your big flashy disasters, youcowards, or at least have the decency to make it an ongoing Sunnydale joke.

Far more crucial is the fact that they bail on the end ofthe world…let’s see. End of Season Fouris when the Apocalypse properly gets underway, so they balk at the end ofSeason Five (Lucifer and the Cage), end of Season Six (Mother of All andPurgatory), and like minimum once bythe middle of Season Seven (Godstiel) as well as at the end of Season Seven (Leviathans, I am now past where I kept watching),end of Season Eight (Metatron, angel tablets, falling angels), presumably endof Season Nine from what I understand of the summaries online (some…war onHeaven nonsense), and based on the trend I’m guessing that Seasons Ten throughThirteen keep to the model, do youunderstand my point here. Thesearen’t even all the near-Apocalypses that they avert. Off the cuff, I can think of the Croatoanvirus (…twice? Three times?), as well asthree out of four Horsemen within episodes of each other. They’re probably averting the Very Seriousand Catastrophic End of Days two or three times a season by Season Five, and that number only goes up. This is very similar to the character deaththing: quite simply, if the audience is expected to get that worked up multipletimes a season, and brace for thatkind of disaster multiple times a season,you are inevitably going to bore them. Yourplot has to be intensely recursive sothat you can ‘reset’ and avoid a new Apocalypse the next season, which getsboring, because it feels like you’ve been there before, similar to how usingcharacter death to advance character development demands that you hit thePersonality Reset button on the regular.

Furthermore, repeating the same level of disaster over and over and OVER again means that it starts to lack emotional weight, and yourcharacters start to seem really, really stupid if they don’t start to treatthings accordingly. One of the things Ithought of constantly during thelast, say, season and a half that I watched of Supernatural was a quote from Buffy,specifically from Riley who I usually very much dislike but who NAILED thisparticular thing. “When I saw you stopthe world from, you know, ending, I just assumed that was a big week for you.It turns out I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural ofapocalypse.” And that’s the running jokein Buffy! That they literallydeal with an Apocalypse every few episodes, and they lampshade it, and thecharacters respond accordingly—Buffy and the Scooby gang start to act cavalier,almost unimpressed, about each new disaster. Like “well, we saved the world, I say we party.” That’s a direct quote from Buffy (IN SEASON ONE NO LESS), and Supernatural could stand to take a pageout of their book with that one. BySeason Seven, the Winchesters seem like they have somehow missed out on thelast decade of their own lives because they always act so shocked and horrifiedthat somehow someone could try to endthe world. Like! Yes, yes they could and yes they would,welcome to the party boys! Please try toget in touch with your own history on this subject!

So the highlights here are: don’t be a fucking baby aboutyour writing. If you’re writing toward abig paradigm shift, you need to recognize that you’re playing Plot RussianRoulette, and you have to pull the trigger. Change the paradigm of your narrative and deal with the fallout like afucking adult, you tepid fools, you limp-necked cowards, you ink-stainedwalnuts.

POINT THE FOURTH

Listen very carefully. Do you hear that? It’s the soundof the Winchesters promising eternal brotherly devotion and saying things like“you’re my brother, man” and vowing to always have each other’s backs.

Now wait a moment longer, and listen very carefully. Do you hear that? It’s the inevitablesound of the Winchesters stabbing each other in the back and/or throwing eachother to the wolves because they’re feeling pissy, and then getting a whole(static! See Point The Second!) “character arc” about how distraught they are.

All right, y’all, I don’t have siblings so maybe I’m wrong, but I do write a lot and I think I’m right, and you should probably put yourcharacterization where your script is. If your primary relationship that you expect people to care about isfraternal devotion, you should maybe nothave those people cheerfully feed each other into metaphoricalwoodchippers. Like. Okay, maybe you get ONE chance to have adramatic falling out. ONE. And then when they repair the relationship,they need to actually sort their shit out and not keep having the exact same dramatic falling out because thatshit gets boring and is a sign of lazy writing and—shocker!—lack of character development. Next time they fight, it has to be aboutsomething demonstrably different, notjust the same issue with a new set of tits (c’mon y’all, this is Supernatural, it’s always a set oftits).

Let’s do a real fast recap. There’s a one episode plot in Season One about the two of them fallingout over the question of whether they should follow their father’s orders. Dean spends a good percentage of Season Twotaking his guilt over their dad’s death out on Sam, but we’ll give a passbecause they explicitly acknowledge it and take steps to resolve theproblem. A major plotline develops inSeason Two that hunters have started trying to kill Sam, and Dean reliably,consistently has his back. Props. Season Three is kind of a mess (if you have a big visible semi-Apocalypseyou should probably deal with it, see Point The Third), but whatever. Pertinently, Dean’s big ongoing concern isthat Sam isn’t acting like himself, because he’s being much more ruthless(something Dean has consistently told him to do), while Sam’s ongoing concernis that Dean is being reckless (justified, he has a death sentence onhim). Season Four is when things startto break down. Castiel shows up and Deanresponds with aggression, Sam gets his rehashed ‘humanity’ plotline with Ruby,there are a lot of really incredibly poor decisions made and a lot of lies toldwith minimal regard for the trouble that’s gotten them into before (@Sam). There’s a fight that includes Dean callingSam a monster, which has been canonically identified as the thing Sam is mostafraid of, and acting like this whole demon blood thing is a terribletremendous shock, despite the fact that Dean…knew and totally failed to reactin any way except to penalize Sam (for trying to save him! Much like Dean sold his soul for Sam! And got pissy about Sam being pissed offabout!). Cue Lucifer. Apocalypse, possession, Horsemen, etc, etc,more Lazy Susan Castiel, infighting about who should say yes to what in orderto save whom, whatever.

And then Sam apparently dies in the Cage and Dean…goes offto get a nice white picket fence? Um…this is not consistent with the characterization of a dude who soldhis soul to resurrect Sam literally just three years ago. Their falling out has never been intenseenough nor consistent enough to justify this. Even if you say that Dean’s honoring his brother’s final wishes by nottrying to resurrect Sam or anything, Dean should be drinking himself to deathor something similarly dramatic, because allthe drama in this show comes from the relationship between the Winchesterbrothers.

Basically, here’s the problem: the show spends a lot of time and effort on telling youthat the Winchesters would die for each other. And while they do use that trope a lot (John dies for Dean, who dies forSam, who sacrifices his humanity for Dean, who risks his life for Sam, whojumps into the Cage for Dean…), they seem to have forgotten that, generally,you’re only willing to die for people who you actually like. Like, peopleto whom you are genuinely emotionally attached,not just people who are your family because Blood Is Thicker or whateverbullshit you’re trying to pull there. And by Season Five, I’m just…not convinced the Winchester brothersactually like each other anymore. Andthat never gets dealt with, they just expect you to believe that the Winchsterslove each other because the show says so,and listen, I hate the saying of ‘show, don’t tell’ as much as the nextperson who’s suffered through a college writing class, but honestly. Supernaturalneeds to stop telling its viewers that Sam and Dean care about each other andactually…demonstrate that shit on a regular basis.

Example: there’s the incident at some point where someoneplants a phone call on (I think) Sam’s phone, apparently from Dean, telling himthat he’s a monster and he should go do an incredibly stupid and dangerousthing because the world and Dean would be better off if he was dead. Which Sam then believes and listens to. This seems totally justified based on therelationship they’ve had for the past season. Pro tip, kids. If your majordynamic includes two people who readily and easily believe that the other isliterally calling them an inhuman abomination and telling them they should justdie, that…that is not a Loving Affectionate and Devoted Familial Relationship. And if you’re pitching it as one, A, you needsome therapy, probably urgently, and, B, your audience is only going to stickit out for so long before they give it up as a lost cause.

The point of this whole thing is that you better be ready toput your money where your fucking mouth is, and keep your characterizationsconsistent with what you’re telling the audience.

ANYWAY.

The ultimate TL;DR here is that Supernatural’s storytelling is approximately as competent as thenovel I wrote when I was eleven, which I have hidden in a deep dark hole neverto be seen or discussed ever again. Less competent, even, because at least Icommitted to a single individual plotline and dealt with the fallout of majorchanges to the universe. And it’sfucking tragic, because this was a show with some real potential buried underall the chaos. If you ever want my fullrewrite, please do ask and I will tell you, but this is now over 6K words andon its tenth page, so I’m going to stop now.

Long story short? Supernatural: What The Fuck.

#right so i've been formulating this for four years #sorry folks #you are the unfortunate casualties of my exasperation #sorry it took so long to answer this my dude this is a very lengthy answer though so i hope that makes up for it #i'm pretty annoyed #rant tag #i spend a lot of time thinking about what makes a story work and shocker it is not these things #these things are a problem #i can do a post about my actual rewrite if anyone's interested #starlight writes stuff #the inevitable supernatural tirade #the graveyard of shows with potential and terrible execution #anonymous #asked and answered

566 notes · View notes